5/5/25 Board Meeting

001[Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Well, good evening Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to welcome you to the Monday, May 5th, Pen Manor School District School Board Directors Committee. The whole meeting, Mrs. Roach, may we have Oh, I'm Never mind. I'm skipping ahead. The next scheduled meeting of the Pen Manor School Board will be held on Monday, May 19th, 2025 at 700 p.m. in the large group instruction room of Penmanor High School. An executive session was held prior to the committee the whole meeting for the purpose of discussing personnel and student matters as detailed above. Mrs. Rhodess, may we have a roll call? Sure. Mr. Beaks is absent. Mr. Her here. Mr. Jackson here. Mr. Lombardo here. Mr. Strong here. Mr. Swigert here. Ms. Wood here. Mrs. Nassfiger here. Dr. Fullerton here. Eight board members present. The

002greatest thing that happened while you were reading roll call. I heard my voice coming from the back of the room. That's good stuff. It might have been Mr. Johnston who said he didn't want his name mentioned today, but here we are. May I entertain a motion to approve the minutes of our April 22nd committee of the whole meeting? So move. Thank you. A second. Second. Thank you. Any further comment or question? All those in favor? Seven affirmative votes. Mr. Jackson. Yes. But I have a I have a question on the minute. Okay. It said I was absent, but I don't know if I was absent. We lost phone contact with you. Okay. I just checked and that's all. Okay. Are you approving the minutes? I am. Eight affirmative votes. Okay. Thank you. Board development opportunities

003and reports. Do we have any board reports, please? Mr. Yes. Thank you. Uh Ed sent out the March minutes from the CTC meeting, March meeting. And uh those are pretty self-explanatory, but uh if you got any questions about that, certainly I'll try and answer. And then April meeting, which was April 24th at the Brownstown campus, we did uh have a couple of Penn Manor students who were students of the month. one at the Brownstown campus, Leila Melinger, who's a senior in the architectural CAD program, also president of the Skills USA group there, and she's headed to Stevens Tech uh to continue her education there. Uh great student. Everybody had very kind things to say and I got minutes to speak with her a little bit. She's just a perfect CTC student and a perfect student.

004So, and then Riley Heelman at Willow Street campus. He is in the junior in the intro to transportation program and he loves the program. He loves the CTC. I know he said he would like to get into the diesel uh group next year. I'm not sure if that's the case or not though, but that's that's what his aim was. So, those two were uh both students of the month. Also had a very uh positive report about our co-op students. 229 students are out on co-op earn about average of $17 an hour and have earned this year $742,000 on co-op. So, uh doing a great job with that and certainly learning at the the same time. So the other uh point from the April meeting, we get our updated uh list of applications and open seats

005and weight lists and I just compared April of this year 2025 with April of last year and it's clear the popularity has increased dramatically. uh weight list weight listed and this could be one student on two different weight lists. So it's not necessarily the actual number of students that are weight listed but it's it's now 1, 55 student weight listed on programs and we have uh total seat capacity 1,695 and total seats filled 1590. So essentially with the exception of a couple programs here and there, there just are no uh openings at all. And uh I I don't know that there's any quick remedy to that. You know, we keep trying to add 25 program each here or there, but it's that's not going to really solve the problem. So, just wanted to bring that

006up in case anyone mentions, oh, you know, my son or daughter just is being turned away. And I don't know how Pen Manor students are doing probably similar to every other place, some of them aren't going to get certainly their first choice or maybe their second choice. So, it's it's all fortunate. I just wanted to bring that to everybody's attention and obviously it's a concern, but there's just not a a good or easy answer to it. So that's that's all I have. Thank you. If there's any questions, happy to Chris, is the CTC looking at any larger type of expansion projects in the near future? Well, yeah, that's certainly discussed, but you know, that's a long-term view that would be multiple years down the road. But we're just trying to see what can be done

007to to provide a few 25 seat program increases here or there helps but doesn't uh doesn't solve the problem. But some of those conversations are beginning. Yes, conversations are beginning there. There's a a a committee and and reports being prepared as far as what can be done, what costs might be involved, and where it might be best utilized. The other question, we have three camps. You could as Dr. Perton knows all all three buildings are are not the newest buildings, still functional, but there's not uh not a lot of way to add space in those buildings. or possibly buy buildings that are nearby like as they did with the nursing the adult nursing there along 222 several years ago. Not necessarily add to the buildings that exist but yeah create another campus with a a

008uh underused or unused facility, right? It's good thought. Yeah. Are the the uh building that the Lions Club is using is that it fully like that transition has fully happened correct? has not happened. So, it does not doesn't look like it' be ready for next year. The thought is to move the administrative offices into the what used to be the Lions Club building and that would open up space for a couple of classrooms there. Okay. So, that's probably next 26 27. Okay. So, that would add a little capacity. That would add 50 50 seats. Okay. Has there been any conversation, Chris, with looking at any of the schools that the CTC serves that there would be space available there that potentially a program could move and then the space inside the CTE building could I

009know that has I don't know that there's been any real discussions about that. But again, it's a it's an idea that could help with some of that issues perhaps. Okay. Yeah. I mean, it's it's just a very popular the whole that whole area of learning and career opportunities is just very popular. Yes, it it is common across the state. There's weight lists and students who are not getting their choice of education just because you can't throw 75 kids into a a culinary kitchen. Right, Dr. Gail? Yes. Can you obviously you might not have that number now, but can you let us know how many of our students are on the wait list? Um just kind of keep us up to date on those numbers. And I'm also curious, I know uh we work with Thaddius

010Stevens, but have we um expanded to any ideas with like YTI or other technical schools in the area that may be able to give our kids similar experiences? Doesn't look like this problem is going away anytime soon. So, is that something we could look at expanding? We hadn't thought about that. Yeah. Well, we can we can look into it. Uh I'm looking at our numbers for our full day students and if I'm reading this correctly, we have about 107 seniors, 105 seniors who will be attending the CTC. Uh and then for our half day senior or half day students, mainly juniors, uh we have about 71. Okay. And the weight list, uh, we have some who are weight listed. I'd have to make more sense of this list. No, that's fine. I didn't need an

011answer today. I just thought it might be worth us doing some more thinking outside of the box to look at opportunities for seniors and juniors that are looking for that avenue. Sure. Is there a method how to pick is it is it like by grades and that's like it is attendance grades recommendations those are the basic the basic things so as it gets more competitive then of course it becomes more compressed as far as who qualifies under those circumstances. So the discussion we had earlier is certainly relevant to that issue as well that kind of becoming the best of the kids who want to participate are the ones that are going to get to do that. Thank you, Mr. Straw. Any other board reports? Seeing none, Miss Napsson. Sure. It is a busy week to

012be a pen manager school board director. On Wednesday morning, we have the high school breakfast at 700 a.m. and following that is the PMEF retirey breakfast in the LGI at 8:30. So, we should not leave here Wednesday hungry. Um, Thursday is the district art show at 5:00 pm at the high school. And then also next week, um, senior athletic awards are at 6:00 p.m. And, um, on Tuesday, May 13th, the PSBA state advocacy day in Harrisburg. Um, I believe that Miss Wart and I will be attending. Um, I still have two more seats and if you really want to get cozy, three in the back of my car. Um, so if there's anybody that schedule has freed up, let me know and we'd be more than glad to pick you up and have you ride

013along. Okay. Thank you, Miss Napsinger. So, we'll move into item one and staff recognition. Dr. Gay. Good evening everyone. Uh tonight is one of those nights where uh in some ways it's a celebration but also uh little little sad moment uh because tonight we are going to celebrate uh some of the members of our professional staff and our supporting staff who are ending their career with us at Pen Manor. Uh it's with mixed emotion because we know that 18 individuals in our in our ranks have uh made a significant impact on the students that they've had in class or the students that they've served. Uh their colleagues and the parents in our community. Uh yet we're sad to see them go, but yet we're also very excited for them. uh because we know that they

014are moving on to new maybe a little bit uncertain uh but yet exciting adventures for them in their life. And tonight we have uh four members of the 18 individual who are part of the retiree class of 2024 25 school year. So tonight, we want to take an opportunity to recognize them as well as provide them with a couple of uh goodbye gifts uh that they can't use until June 5th. Uh so uh but part of the gifts that we do have for them is a resolution from the board and actually Dr. Fullerton, if you would uh if you could please read the resolution that we'll be providing each of our retirees with, please. Thank you, Dr. Gail. And this resolution will be uh personalized to you but here in a generic form. Penmanor school

015district a resolution recognizing and commending our employee for their dedicated service to the Penmanor School District. Whereas our employee has provided outstanding service to students, families and staff in the Pennor School District. Whereas our employee has end de demonstrated personal and professional integrity as an employee of the Penmanor School District. Whereas our employee is retiring at the end of the 24 2024 2025 school year. Be it therefore resolved that the Penmanor School Board unanimously adopts this resolution honoring honoring the above named teacher and be it further resolved that the appropriate recognition and appreciation for this service be extended to our employee signed Dr. Joseph G. Fullerton President Penmanor School Board and Dr. Philip P. B. Gale, superintendent, Penmanor School District, proclaimed today or May 19th or whatever. Thank you, Dr. Forson. Uh, our first retiree

016uh that we want to recognize, he's actually been practicing retiree since retirement since about the end of September. Uh, and that's Chip Matias. Chip, come on forward. Uh, Chip retired at the end of of September. Chip was our director of buildings and grounds. And uh I can say I spent a lot of time with Chip over the years uh most notably as we were working on the construction of the high school project. Uh weekly meetings daily sometimes uh but at the same time Chip gave great oversight to uh this project but several others and and of course all of the buildings and grounds uh throughout the district for his time at Penn Manor. So congratulations Chip. Appreciate it. I hope you've gotten it down yet. Still working on practicing retiring stuff. Still working on it.

017Congratulations. This is our You also are receiving a retiree card which will gain you access into lifetime uh access to a lifetime of activities and a blanket to keep you warm on this chilly days. Congratulations. Uh, first teacher who we'd like to recognize tonight is Scott Herzog. Scott is an English teacher here at the high school and has been here at Penn Manor for 24 years. Uh, in addition to some years at some other school districts before he found out this is where he wanted to be and we're very glad to have him. Uh, Scott has been involved in a number of different outside of the classroom activities. uh probably recognize in some cases Scott's voice because of the podcast that he has created, but also has been the champion, the leader, kind of the

018co-founder, founder, whatever, however you want to say it, of our esports team. uh took it from me thinking that it was just kids playing video games to really demonstrate what it is that our students are doing when they are part of the esports program and the impact that uh that program has had on what is now hundreds of our students here in the school district. So Scott, congratulations. There we go. Congratulations. Thank you. I'll say Scott has the most interesting plans for after graduation or a Yeah, graduation. Sorry. You're graduating. You're officially finished high school. Uh yeah, finally getting out of here. Uh but he and his family will be moving to Portugal come July 1. So um if you need travel plans, talk to to Scott. Uh next retiree that we'd like to recognize

019is Joey Garrett. Uh Joey is one of our teched teachers and Joey works between Matter Middle School and the high school uh and has been involved in many of the different activities and and and programs that revolve around our teched uh program here at the high school and middle school. I think most notably, Joey has been the one who has been running our electronics lab uh for years upon years uh here at the high school and has certainly worked in many capacities with uh our students to help them develop the career skills that they will need and has helped some of make some connections with some of our alumni that are uh serving and and operating businesses in the area. So, uh congratulations Joey. [Applause] couple of us. Thanks. And our final retiree for tonight

020that we will be recognizing is Miss Wendy Latavic. Uh Wendy is an ESL teacher here at the high school. Uh Wendy has been with the district 25.13 years. It's actually a lot longer than that because she was working part-time some of those years. Uh, and actually this is Wendy's 25th year in the district, so we're recognizing her for reaching that milestone as well. Uh, at one point in Wendy's career, she did teach at Matter Middle School and then came here at the high school and has been working with our English language learners uh, in many different capacities. Uh, I started to think about some of the activities and programs that Wendy has been involved in over the life of her career, but uh, the list was too long and I knew I would forget some

021of them. but she has been a huge advocate for our students uh that have come to the school district needing some extra love and care and support as they've not only learned the school the content in their subject areas but also the language of English. So greatly appreciate Wendy and all of her extra work that she has done in many different ways. So congratulations Wendy. Now also tonight uh we are recognizing uh an employee or our employee of the year. Each year uh as a district we recognize a employee, an elementary educator and a secondary educator of the year. Uh these individuals are selected from a long list of nominations that we receive as a district from parents, students, colleagues, and administrators. Uh and tonight, special recognition uh and uh couldn't couldn't go to uh

022finer individuals that we get to recognize tonight. Our employee of the year as well as our secondary educator of the year. Both serve at Manor Middle School. Uh so uh we are very appreciative of their efforts and what they do uh to serve our students at Manor. Uh our employee of the year is Jen Roar. Jen, come on forward. Jen's already she has a speech prepared. She almost refused the reward when I told her she'd have to speak, but no. Uh Jen is currently serving as the as one of the secretaries at Matter Middle School. Uh, prior to this, Jen was a secretary at Echelman Elementary School for how many years? Eight. Eight. I won't tell you who she kept in line there, but uh and also was an aid at at Central Matter. Correct.

023Uh, Mrs. Roar, according to Dr. Murray, Mrs. Roar is someone who leaves a lasting impression on every person she meets. She establishes a positive rapport from the first meeting and keeps customer service at the forefront of everything she does. She's a true common at heart and represents all the qualities we hope to represent. I can say uh not only is Jen a valued employee of the district, but a resident and the proud parent of some Penman alums that made it through. Uh and uh it is really a pleasure to it has been a pleasure for me since I've been in the district office to have the opportunity to interact with Mrs. Roar and to see her bright smiling face and the way that she uh is really a huge support to our principles both when

024she was at Estelman but also at Manor Middle School. So Jen is our employee of the year. So congratulations [Applause] That's so you can go shopping. She You recognize the logo, huh? Sorry, Greg. And then this is for you as well. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. Uh tonight I also have the pleasure of recognizing our secondary educator of the year. uh amongst all of the different educators that we have, it is oftentimes extremely challenging uh to recognize just one secondary teacher and an elementary teacher. Uh because we have so many great employees uh educators that do such a phenomenal job year in year out. Uh but this year our secondary educator of the year is Kurt Ell forward. Uh tonight uh it it is really a a privilege for me uh to recognize Kurt. Uh

025Kurt is one of those individuals that you know day in and day out is coming with his whole heart. He's coming to give a full effort uh at various points in his career and my career. I've had the opportunity to work closely with Kurt uh both as principal and as he was supporting us in in different ways. Uh Kurt has been with Pen Manor for 18.317 years. Got to get that.37 years. Uh but prior to that uh prior to joining us uh Kurt worked for the IU and private schools. He has been serving students uh who need that extra support for a career and it really is is truly special to see Kurt uh work with students. Uh I think Dr. Murray summed it up really well. Mr. Ell is a champion for every student.

026He does all he can on a daily basis to ensure that every student has the support and opportunities to be successful. He is a team player. He emulates flexibility and collaboration. We are blessed to work with him. And I can say when we went to recognize Kurt uh and tell him that he was the recipient of this award, uh first I went to his classroom. He wasn't there. He was supporting another teacher and other students in a classroom. And I walked into the classroom. Mr. El was studenting sitting in a student desk. So it took me a minute or two to find Mr. Ell. yet he was right there working side by side with a with a student who needed his support. So uh Kurt, you're very deserving uh of this recognition and I know

027that many of your colleagues uh would also say that and and express their thanks for your support. So congratulations. All right, that's good. Congratulations. Uh, so congratulations Joey, Scott, Wendy, and Chip on your retirement. And then Kurt and Jen, we thank you very much for the work that you do uh both with our students, with your colleagues, and serving our community. And in keeping with the tradition that has been long time for Pen Manor, uh, each year we've done a video that captures the thoughts of our retirees. Like to thank Keith Henninger for his work on this. And at the end of this evening's vid uh meeting, uh Keith will be releasing our 2024 retirey video on the district's YouTube channel. So you can go and and watch that. I would encourage all of you,

028including those in the audience tonight, to take a few minutes and watch our retirees share about their experiences while serving Pen Manor and the and the community itself. Uh but also then sharing what you'll what some of you will be doing. Again, Scott, I think you win the prize. uh for the best plans after retirement. Uh but I think uh all of you have really truly blessed us as a community, blessed our students, and we thank you so much for the work that you have done. So this is our way of saying to you, thank you. Small small token of our great appreciation for what you have done and how you have served us and continue to do so. So congratulations and thank you. [Applause] on behalf of the board. Um, I will keep this

029very short and very sweet. Um, it's always hard to watch folks that we work alongside retire because we get used to working alongside them. We wish you well in in what's next. Portugal that wins the prize, right? I've got 10 years to figure out how I'm going to top that. But we hope you enjoy what the next chapter brings you just as much as you have enjoyed what you've done here at Pen Manor. It's a privilege for us to sit here at this table for the administration to be here because of teachers like yourselves. So, and and facilities guys that leave in September and then come back. We are honored to have been in your presence and we thank you for the dedicated work that you've done for our district for however many years you've

030been here. So, thank you. And for those that are outstanding and and secondary employees of the year, teacher of the year, what an honor to win that those awards. When you look at all of your colleagues that are sitting beside you in the in the lunchroom or at the inservice days or faculty meetings and you're the one carrying the hardware home tonight. Thank you for what you do on a daily basis. That's not why you're here, but you do what you do because of who you are. The cards that you received tonight from Dr. Gail, the retirees, those also not only get you in Pen Manor events, but they'll buy you whatever dinner you want at whatever restaurant you want. Just say you're Philip Gail. And if you didn't get one of those cards, see

031me afterwards. I've got a bunch in my pocket. So, thank you all. You really don't have to stay tonight, but if you do, we do have a budget presentation later on. So, thank you. [Music] So, Dr. Gail, we'll go to item number two. Mr. Johnston's not staying. Yeah, Mr. Johnston. [Laughter] It's kind of ironic that Mr. Johnson's leaving before the budget. I know. You would think he knows how it feels for everybody to vacate. He has some late excuse about an early flight to Disneyland. So, right. I did hear that. He is a little north of Disney. Uh thank you, Mrs. Roads. Uh tonight, uh like to go back and revisit some of the things that we've been talking about uh in terms of staffing, but also we'll visit the budget as we continue our

032talks to prepare for next year. Uh but tonight I want to start with this uh and it's a little bit of a confessional but yet also a challenge. Uh and there's been a statement uh that has resonated in my mind and I've gone over and over and over many times uh since I've had the opportunity uh to serve as superintendent. And this this statement comes from something that I read and continue to read uh from the author leadership developer Craig Rochelle. And his statement is an organization is only as good as the leadership as its leadership. And often times we think of leadership as just the person in charge or those in charge, but really when you think about leadership is for anybody who has impact. Okay? Anybody who has impact. Uh and then recently

033I I read it in another way and the qu it was posed as a question and it said are you the leadership the lid to the organization and whichever way you stated I am continuously thinking about how do we get better as an organization so how do we get better individually so that the organization gets better and as we talk about things and you know we our mission you know that the community the pen matter community will work collaboratively to help students define and achieve their academic life goals. Uh this is something that we need to continuously be thinking about. Uh and as you can imagine uh that resonates with me and challenges me and it has caused me to do a lot of reading, a lot of listening to podcasts, a lot of studying

034uh but also listening to those in our organization as they share what is needed with me but also what is working well. And sometimes the data and research that I am learning from is a high level uh but other times we do a very deep dive into that data from the questions that you as a board have asked and the requests for data. I want to share some of the in-depth data and research uh that provides the rationale behind the requests that we've been making for either additional positions or additional time for some of our folks. And we've talked about additional teachers being requested and I appreciate the straw pull that was taken last meeting and it was indicated that there's strong support for two positions, maybe three, minimal support for four. But please know,

035please recognize that with each request that we make, we consider what the need is, how that position can fill that need, and then also the cost that it would have on our total impact on the district. But most importantly, we consider how each position will further the organization. In other words, how will we get better? Our thinking is demonstrated in the positions that we have added the last few years. Uh specifically coming out of the pandemic, we recognized that supporting roles were greatly needed. We needed to support our students and we needed to support our teachers. And we have we've added uh many positions in total 14 positions. Uh some of those were bumping part-time halftime positions to full-time positions. Uh but each of those positions was added so that we would have additional support

036for their for various capacities. And our examination of the impact that those positions have had to determine have they been effective also has been doubled with or coupled with the examination of student data and that is what has led us to recommend or request some additional positions for the upcoming year. We looked at the number of our English learners in the district and how that number has continued to increase. We looked at our special education uh numbers and how students with needs uh continues to increase. We've looked at our class sizes as well as uh the additional courses that will need to be teach taught uh at the high school in the social studies department. And we've also looked at our student engagement facilitator. And tonight I do want to do a little bit more

037of a dive into this position, our student engagement facilitator, to provide some data, uh, but also to really look at how this is addressing something that has been an issue and continues will continue to be an issue within our district if we don't do anything differently. Uh so tonight uh when we look at this this position will work in many different capacities to port support students who are in need of additional supports. In fact this position will be more of a coordinator of supports. So they will be kind of the team leader on the behalf of a student who needs to work more closely with a counselor. Maybe it's with an IEP teacher. Maybe it's with our social worker or an administrator. And we've talked a little bit about some of these roles. We've talked

038about act one and how those in our district who are uh experiencing educational instability need to be working with a a person here in the district to help them come up and develop their plan uh so that they stay on track to graduation. We've also talked about the requirements of meeting Act 158 and the responsibilities that this person would have for those individuals that will reach graduation other than in the traditional manner or what the state is considering a traditional manner of proficiency on the Keystone exams. The question was raised last time about attendance and this as I mentioned has been and continues to be an issue within our district. Anytime that a student misses, whether it's one day or many days, this is an a student who is falling behind. And as we look

039at what we are doing with attendance, we thought it was best to look at first what are the some of the codes that we are using for for uh student attendance. And you'll notice on this list, this is pertaining to the high school itself. Some of these are considered excused reasons and then some of them are considered unlawful while some are considered unexcused or not counted. So we have a number of different categories but we also have a number of different what is referred to as status. So is the student excused? Is the student considered unlawful? Is the consider student considered unexcused in terms of their absence? Now, breaking down the unlawful, unexcused, really the ones that really hit home because a student is not in school for an excused reason. And typically the excused

040reasons would be they are ill. Obviously, if a student's ill, we don't want them here. Keep your germs at home. We used to say they have a doctor's appointment or they have a pre-planned trip. But in in addition to that or on top of those, we also have students who are unexcused or unlawful. and that designation becomes pertinent because of the student's age. So if the student is 18 or older because it's not compulsory age that is considered an unexcused. Unlawful is for any student who is under the age of 18 and should be here is required to be here. Then you can see that we also have truency where three or more unexcused unlawful absences. Habitually truent where it's six or more and then chronically absent is more than 10% of enrolled school days.

041So they are absent and again this is governed by not only our schoolboard policy but also the PTE guidelines and this has changed over the years. There was a significant change especially from PTE as we look at habitually truent truent and also chronic absenteeism because we recognize that when a student is absent we are seeing that they are absent in addition to those days that would be excused absence. So we pulled the data, we did a little bit deeper and we looked at what is this impact on our students. At the beginning of this year in our October one count that we submitted to the state, we had a total of 1,87 students here at the high school. We've gone back and looked at from the start of the school year up until April 23rd,

042last month, how many days were students unlawful or unexcused absences? And as you can see, there are a number of students who have that six to nine absences. Again, unexcused or unlawful. But there are students that fall into greater categories of the number of absences. Total of 284 students with six or more unlawful or unexcused absences. That may mean that they can have additional absences that would have been excused. But as you can see, we are experiencing a significant attendance issue. Another way to look at that information is over the course of a couple of years. What does this information how do these compare to previous years? We are making some gains and some improving some absences, some attendance issues, but yet we still continue to see significant number of students who are unlawfully unexcused

043or unexcused uh un unlawful or unexcused absent. Mr. Beaks. Yeah. Question. Are the I know 24.5 is up to April 23rd. Um the others is that for the total year or was that to the same current date, Mr. Rosier? Yes. You're the one that pulled Well, you and your team pulled this data. So you are correct. The current year is up to when did we pull that? April 20 something, right? The other years are cumulative for the entire school year. Yes. Correct. So we're not That's the full sum of the school year. Thank you. So as we've been looking at this data again we started as a high level that high level we saw the absentee rate and we saw the total but when we dig down deeper what we are seeing is that we

044have a number of students that have a significant attendance issue. When we look at this another factor of this is that it is a persistent issue. So some many of our students this is not their first time that they are habitually truent but it's a continuation of this. When we also look at this looking at who these students are you can see that they fall into a number of different categories. So in this role, this position, this person will be responsible again as kind of a team leader bringing in different aspects, different people, facilitating that conversation about how do we address some of these students who are in need of additional supports. We have to look at how they're going to reach graduation. What are they involved in or what is it that they need

045to do in order to uh pass classes to do well? And again sadly this position has been or this this issue of its school attendance has been and right now we've been putting forth efforts but I think really as this data shows that the continuation for so many of our students the same efforts aren't making an impact. So that means we have to do something differently and that's why we have been talking about and we have been thinking about uh this position as the student engagement facilitator for this person will serve as that team leader who will coordinate the different aspects. I recognize that the positions that we are proposing come with a cost. So I appreciate the board's consideration of these positions. I would love for all four of them, but recognize that, you

046know, we have to make smart choices. But I am asking that we give strong consideration to the student engagement facilitator position and that the job description be put on our next voting agenda for for approval. Dr. Gail. Yes. So, we have all the the data, which is alarming u to be quite frank. Um, but I guess my question when we're looking at this position, what is the goal? Like what are we expecting this individual the outcome of their position to be? Um, like are we expecting reduced numbers? Are we expecting them to find placements for the students that where they'll be successful? If that's the virtual our virtual school, if that is the Lancaster Academy, like what are we expecting them to do? Because from the outside looking in, like obviously they're not going to

047go to people's homes and like drag their kids out of bed and make them come to school. So what are we how are we going to engage these students so they want to be here so they want to learn and they want to be successful and like what is our what is our goal in that like to reduce it by what yes all the above and I don't say that flippantly but our goal is that we do address these issues and I think this person and why we've referred to it as a student engagement facilitator their primary responsibility is to engage with those students and their families. I think when you look at school attendance one of the main issues is that student oftent times is not engaged in what is happening at school. A

048lot of the research that we look at today you know postcoid what has happened what happened why are we seeing such attendance issues is that how do we engage the student and the family in what we are doing here at school and that's why some of the different activities that we've incorporated here at the high school I heard someone say boy we have a ton of clubs here that's to engage the students in different things but more importantly it's to make that connection with that student get to the bottom get to the get them to pointed to the different resources that we do have or that we need to have in place for that student. Yes, it would be the the number one goal will be that we see our student attendance, our act one

049or our student attendance decrease. Our goal would be to see our students who are fall under act one reach that graduation, develop that plan and reach graduation. those students who are going to have to graduate under act 158 that they would reach that goal of graduating in that sense. So do you have a goal of what these numbers should be? My goal I mean obviously zero but let's be real. My serious goal would be zero. But I think each year that we need to go back and see like this number here when we talk about 70% of students have a persistent truency issue that that number begins to drop and whether it's 10% 20% 30% per year to see that number so that we don't have that habitual habitual type of behavior from students. Okay.

050Mr. Beaks. So I think it's the next slide. I got I got a couple questions. So what do you you know the free and reduced lunch IEPs? Um how many of the students are already engaged with the social worker or some other um some other support staff that they're receiving some services from from That would be a I don't want to say a duplication, but you know, I know our social workers are phenomenal here. Um, but how many of those students are already engaged with a social worker on some of these issues already? I don't have that answer. And then I guess my next question is a couple slides back um next couple sorry the actual um one more I think sorry one more again I'm sorry going back to the beginning one more sorry

051um so anyway it's where you kind of outline the several goals yeah thank you Um, I guess my concern is is we we have a we're putting an individual where they're going to have multiple um multiple, lack of a better term, bosses, right? We want a student attendance and then we also want special education. Those are two totally different. Are are we saying that they'll they'll this person will operate under the high school principal? So, as they're working with student attendance, as they're working with act one, act 158, they'll be reporting back to the high school principal, but then they'll als they will be working as to your point, they will be working with multiple people. the multi the you know almost like the team approach of pulling together the counselor, maybe it is a

052social worker, maybe it is an IEP teacher, pulling those folks together so that we then do operate off of one page, one approach with that student. So where does the special education case manager piece of that come within under that if we're I guess that's where I'm one of the areas that I'm get student attendance. Yes, we got to get the kids you know, backsize into the seats. I get that. But where does that student um the special education case manager fit within the student facilitation? It would either be for some of these students who are falling into this, you know, like we look here, it's 34% of our habitually student, habitually truent students do have an IEP. So they might be taking on that case load might be a transfer from from another teacher

053because now they are working with that person or it might be in case some of our students that we do end up having at a different place because of attendance or because of behavioral issues we can't meet those needs we still have to provide those services. So then we would have that individual be the be the case manager for those And then just one last question again going back to our truency logs. How you know at what points do we send them up to you know district justice? What what point how many times do we send them? How how many times in the last year have we sent students there? You know have we made that a case of point then what does that cost us each year? obviously the cost of that as well

054to send a student up to our magistrate. um you know is there a way that you know are we doing that especially in some of these more extreme cases are we allowed to for after so many days each day after that as an individual try charge is that and do we send those over and how successful has that been with our magistrate and has it made it seen a difference or helped or so the the start of all that process happens when we put in a safe a student attendance improvement plan. So again, we pull together a team, counselor, parent, administrator, teacher, could be a social worker. Bring those bring those folks together, try to get to the bottom of what is happening with the student, what's causing them to be uh habitually truent. And

055then from there, then we consider, you know, all right, what's going to work? How can we help you? But then as if that student then continues to be absent, then we would go to citing them. And that citation could happen once or it could happen multiple times if they continue to be absent. So what is our standard practice and or policy around that piece of it? Do we, you know, again, every time the students tru it after we determine that that consent again to the magistrate or do we kind of backpedal and say didn't work out or sadly in some cases it depends on how frequent those habitually those truencies are because of the fact that we can't say it's going to happen at the next time because the next time could be one two

056three four absences. So we kind of look at it from kind of a case by case situation and is there a change? Is there a change in behavior? Are they coming to school or are they not? And then sometimes we do proceed with the with another citation. Thank you. So again, the request was made uh last time and and you know, had some approval of additional positions, but I would ask that we do put the student engagement facilitator job description on the agenda for approval for for next month or for next meeting. I do want to touch a little bit on reclassification of existing staff. Uh the last time we did uh make the changes and greatly appreciate the reclassification for our business manager, director of technology operations, our communications coordinator. Uh just as an

057update, we have posted the job for communications coordinator. Uh that posting will run for a couple of weeks and then we will be beginning the process of looking at uh a candidate for that. come back to you uh with the requests that had had previously made to increase the number of days that our learning facilitators uh operate and work under. Again, going from the 190day contract to 209 days. Uh and it goes back to again how do we that question that we continue to ask is how do we continue to move our organization forward? How do we improve? again done a considerable amount of studying on what keeps good quality employees engaged in moving forward. Uh plenty of the ideas declare that the external factors, you know, your pay, your work environment, your working conditions

058have an impact. But some of the research that I've read that was done by Frederick Herzburg argues that the higher determining factors are related to purpose impact. So the purpose that a person feels and has in their in their job, the impact that they are making, but where I see the biggest need and the greatest impact is also in their improvement through learning. Again, purpose, impact, improvement through learning are the things that drive employees to want to do better. And I believe this is essentially especially true for educators. Uh when you look at what an educator is asked to do on a daily basis, we know that the teachers do make the most important school related factor to support student achievement. What they do, the relationships that they build, the impact that they have on

059students is what will lead students to doing well. So the question that we consistently wrestle with is how do we support our teachers? This was the emphasis. This was the genesis for these positions. So how do we come out of the pandemic and support our student support our teachers so that they can further support our our students I should say. This question gains volume when we take into cons consideration the current how we are currently living in a mixed up and frantically evolving world and I think for some of us it's just become way too much. Uh this is why we have what is now referred to as a vaua banny environment. Anyone ever heard that term before? How about vaua? May have heard vuka, but it's been added bany to that. V u c

060a b a n i. Vuka. Bany stands for volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous, brittle, anxious, nonlinear, and incomprehensible. I think that kind of describes the world we live in today and part of the things that we are dealing with, you know, operating and expecting to excel in an in an environment that is sometimes just way too much. We think about all of the forms of information, all the information that we we have and the things that we are asked to do with the information that we have has given some of us calls to really think about what it is that we are doing, how we work, live, feel about ourselves. And this also applies to our educators. I think we can speak freely and and and thankfully that teachers want to always be competent. They want

061to be masterful. They want to be in control. They might have a control issue. Some of them, not all of you, some of you. They're all laughing, but they want to be effective. I think the worst thing that you can do as a teacher, that worst feeling that I can remember having is standing there in front of a classroom and not getting something to work the way you want it to. No slight, Charlie. With technology, it's often that area. But what do we do to be helpful in in these ways? And I think we do couple of different things. One is we create the guard rails within which we have to operate our systems. What are the things that we are doing? How do we develop our curriculum? How do we develop you know the

062things that we are focused on? How do we where do we channel our energy in specific ways? And then we provide that progressive learning experience so that our teachers build their knowledge, their experience. They build like our students the confidence that in the future when they have to navigate something that is uncertain. They have that success precess to rely on and they can feel effective and capable in spite of all that's going on around them. I think a great example of what we're talking about here for our teachers is what our teachers are doing and the new things, the new opportunities that they are providing with our students this year. I challenge them, what are some new opportunities both inside of the classroom and outside of the classroom for them to learn, for our students

063to learn, and for our teachers to do. Interesting enough, talked with our high school folks today. Our secretary, who's in charge of field trips, has approved or processed 420 field trips this year. Our teachers are looking for ways to get them out. We've had numerous numbers of uh guest speakers in classes. I know this week we had two of our alum come back and talk about cyber safety, cyber security to our students. But I think one of the examples of this vaua banny world that we're living in is AI. When we talked about AI back just a couple of months ago, like at the beginning of the school year, I think it all raised the hair on the back of our necks. There was that fear. What do we do? How do we do this?

064But now, as we begin to think about it, we put a policy in place, but that's only the tip of the iceberg. in what is becoming probably one of, as Charlie would say, a revolutionary concept bigger than the industrial revolution. We have to handle our fears, but we also have to help all of us be successful in utilizing this. We don't have to just try to outthink students so that they don't use it to, you know, find the easy way, but we also have to lean in and use AI to make ourselves better. And this is one of the areas that our learning facilitators, this is an example of how our learning facilitators have helped our teachers. A considerable amount of information in the instructional playbook focuses on how do our teachers utilize AI and

065it goes everything from some of the research behind, you know, how it falls in with Bloom's taxonomy, your hierarchy of needs to getting to frequently asked questions or schoolboard policy. But the bottom part of this page shows the different prompts and really it's encouraging teachers of how to utilize AI so that they can increase their strategies, how they can develop and utilize uh groups, how they can utilize prompts that will utilize data to help target student proficiency. As instructional leaders, our learning facilitators are not only growing teachers in their craft, but they're also providing support for organizational change. I will applaud our teachers, our professional staff. Over the last three years, we have become and are continuing to be a learning organization. We're collaborating more. We're looking at different ways to approach student learning. and

066we're and all of this is contributing to the support and the feel that our teachers have in addition to helping our retention efforts. So, as we talk about this these positions, the request again that we are making is that we provide our learning facilitators time to do the planning that they need to do but also help our our our teachers in being successful. So again, the request for tonight is that our learning facilitator job description as well as our student engagement facilitator job description be placed on the May 19th voting agenda. Any questions? Questions for Dr. Seeing none, may I have a motion to place these two job descriptions on our May 19th voting agenda? So moved. Thank you. A second. Second. Second. Any further comment for Dell, you still there? Yes. Do you have

067any questions? No questions. Okay. Any questions from board members here? The there anything I'd like to see um if if it does go through is I I want to see some goals for especially the student engagement facilitator. I'm sorry. I I want to I want to have some goals from the student facilitate uh student engagement facilitator. If it if it does pass, we're going to drive truency down from whatever it is now, 285 to 185, whatever realistic numbers just so we can track and monitor if it's, you know, if they're being effective or not. I mean, we're putting up whatever 90 100 grand in, you know, salary and benefits with all the expenses that we have coming down the pike. I think you know we darn well better start tracking some of these initiatives that

068we're actually get seeing improvement. So okay if it does pass all Dr. [Music] by next meeting would you be able to get the it's been a while since these learning facilitators could we see like their case loads like have the the requests you remember it was a while ago um you shared with I believe it was like I don't know if you called it a case load but the number of teachers that they're working with yeah actively is that something that you could actually I have I have the tip of the iceberg right here. Um, and again, this is some of the ways that they're working with teachers to be better learners. Uh, we have 20 teachers who are involved in personalized professional learning. So, that is a program where a teacher identifies an area

069that they want to improve upon. They work with a learning facilitator individually to set goals, to look at a process. They go through the process and then they examine did they reach that goals. So that's six hours that each teacher is working with one of the learning facilitators and there's 20 of those teachers. Okay. We have 10 teachers that are working through the high impact coaching cycle for the second year. So again, that's essentially going through the process where the teacher and the learning facilitator meet, develop strategies, lesson plan, look at what they're going to do during that lesson. learning facilitator comes in, observes and films the teacher and then the two of them sit down together and look at that and to determine did they reach their goals. Considering the number of new teachers

070that are either in their first or second year which you take about 20 and 20 so about another additional 40 they are working through that proc through those processes of the high impact cycle in addition to those 10 who would be veteran teachers and then they are also working with practically all of our teachers through the faculty meeting time that they have at each of the different schools and or as teachers are working on uh curricula that the learning facilitators are supporting the supervisor as they're developing new activities, learning activities. Okay. Thank you, Dr. Gail. On slide Oh, it's not wait where is it? Slide 23. Uh number four, I I had a question about this time and I still think this number is incorrect. Um that $9,331 is based upon nine additional days, not

07119. Correct. Because their current contract is for 190 days. Actually, their current their current contract is 190 days. Yeah. And then in the past two years, we've approved them at the curriculum hourly rate, right? Uh additional time. And that is taking the amount that they had earned in that manner. Okay. But then figuring out what the extended contract would be for both of them and subtracting that original amount that they were paying them through the curriculum rate. Can we see the actual number that the increase is based upon their current contract? I understand that we have approved on a on an annual basis additionally, but this is voting on a new contract essentially with them. So, I'd like to see the actual increase from one contract to the next, not just from what we've approved

072on a case- by case basis. Well, then we should also see what we're going to be saving by not having to pay them the hourly curriculum rate. Correct. Right. I want to know what the actual increase to cost to us from their contract to this new contract. Like I think I think it's what's on the screen because No, because we're not going to be paying them their hourly curriculum rate anymore. Yeah, but this is the difference between 200 and 209. Not the difference between 209 and 190. No, this this is the difference between 190 and two 20 days. It is. Mhm. For both. for both. For both. Yes. Minus the minus the extra money because they're getting paid hourly to write curriculum for us. So if we if we do want to do the 190

073versus 209, we have to show the district or show the board also what we're going to be saving by not having to pay them the hourly rate that they're making on top of their salary. I I understand what you're saying now. Thank you. And yeah, I think you're asking for the actual true cost. I'm act Yeah, I'm asking for the actual true cost. Benefits, peasers. What is our actual true cost from 190 to 209? Is it really this 933? Sounds like it. We payers um and payroll taxes on on our on what we pay teachers hourly, too. So this is really truly the difference between what these teachers, these learning facilitators are making now when you consider their base salary plus the extra money that they're making writing curriculum and what their set in stone

074salary will be at the 209 day rate. So Dan Pasers is included in this number. No, this is just looking just salary, right? So, can we see the actual true cost and if you can do the the 190 the what we've been doing paying the hourly and then what the new contract would look like th this is net cost right but can we see do you see what I'm saying to Mitchell's point if we if we just pay them for an additional 10 days at an hourly rate right what does that cost us I guess I'm confused because I think that's what we're giving giving you here. We're giving you what the additional cost from what we spent the last two years. Right? So that's that I would like to also know what was the

075actual cost the last two years and what is the actual cost if we just paid their contract. Do you see what I'm saying? I think what Miss Naviger is saying is if you take the 190 day salary, let's use round numbers and say it's 100,000. What is the 190day salary plus the 10 days of curriculum writing? And then what would be the 209day salary? Correct. And then what is the all-in cost including pasers? Because that is essentially what our taxpayers will be paying not just salary. Um, Dr. Joe, is it would it be difficult to um ask how many last meeting we talked about that the that the learning facilitators went and did presentations outside of the workday um Friday evenings or the weekend? Could we have a total number of those presentations? And um

076Dr. Fuller and there were about four. There are four four days. Okay. Thank you. But not just days uh sorry like four events. Four events. Yes. And those events are roughly two or three hours a piece, not including travel time. Yeah. the the longest one was the Penn State uh but the other ones are pretty local. Okay. Do you know did that yield any hires? Yes. Uh we've had a number of hires from those universities but we also typically get candidates from those universities as well. Okay. say that the caliber of our candidates are a bit stronger seem seem to be stronger. Dr. Gail, I have a question about the student engagement uh facilitator. Uh Mr. Beaks has said that we should have metrics and I wonder if it's a possibility that we could fund

077it for a year or two years and then come back and sort of revisit, fine-tune, eliminate or just go with it um when we have a better understanding. Is that uh is that a possibility or that we would make it not a permanent position at this point? Well, in order to I would say we need to make that a permanent position for not just one year, but I think we're going to have to see it over a course of time. Okay. I mean, if we look at that number where 70% of our students who are habitually truent have been habitually truent for more than one year, it's going to take some time. Yeah. To see a significant decrease in that. So I think one year is is on the short end. Sure. Two years, three

078years, we'd hope that there would be a significant impact on that. Okay. Any other comments or questions? When you say that they are involved in staff development, is that at all levels and all subjects or for the learning facilitators? All levels, all subjects, across the board. And how much money do you estimate that we save by writing our own curriculum? Millions. Yeah. Yeah. Neighboring district spent $1.8 million on middle level elementary science. Just that one. Just that subject. Really? Yeah. Purchasing it versus developing their own. Yes. That's just the purchase. So if you think about the purchase of it is in 1 million and then the additional staff training that would go into that and that is one of the aspects of learning facilitators. They're also becoming some of our trainers in some of the

079areas that we are required to Dr. Cox if you want to speak about the so part of the science of reading and it's structured literacy we we took the science of reading avenue. So um Tony and Elizabeth went and went through a full training on the science of reading. So last uh this October we opened up we had to do K to2 introduction so we all understand the the science of reading rope um foundations of reading and then our elementary curriculum um involves both the you know the phonetic approach and then teaching children to read. And so part of what we have in that um there was a little bit of foresight with Dr. Egan looking at the elementary level to bring in foundations but with our new staff um that we have gotten over

080the past couple years we need foundations trainers. Um, so Tony and Elizabeth are being trained to do that so that they'll be able to train our new staff when they come in, which is like a couple day training help to just be able to have those people on site every time we hire because you can't send people out several days a year to be out of the classroom where we can during, you know, our summer when we offer our our like our two weeks of inservice before school starts. starts. We can get our teachers in for our new teachers in for foundations training. We can have Tony Elizabeth in there to help them learn how to do it to to show them how to do it. And foundations is a with the owl with the

081letters. I mean, you're you're you're teaching kids, children, active learning, reading sounds. Um, it was not my favorite thing. I was never very animated with kindergarten first and second. So, um they're just the the benefits of of having on-site trainers for all these different pieces. Um that is why we went from the um I don't know if you remember the last time they were here, they talked about we had to go from the elementary and secondary um learning facilitator to K to 12 because we need them K to 12, we need them both all the way. And so, um, just having them being trained in all these pieces puts in I mean, we we can't the curriculum piece and being able to train our people. Um, I mean, you looked at books tonight, right? We're

082building those things. They were just in I think you guys recall last year we looked at the jump start um for eels's which was a lot of pictures and teaching our students who have eels for um like our newcomers and Tony and Elizabeth sat in on a training we did there and they helped practice with one of our newer teachers and in two weeks she had a student who wasn't speaking English using, you know, three, four word sentences. So, but they sat there, they learned the the the program with her, they practiced with her, they're just instrumental in helping people take the next step and and get us there. Um, it it's something that Jerry and I don't have, you know, we don't we can't put that level of intervention in to support our teachers

083at this point because we have to be bird's eye view writing the curriculum, leading those pieces. So, I'm I'm grateful that that we have them. very grateful that we have them and and thank you for that. The the position has has grown since since it was um since we started it. So where would they normally have to go for foundations training? How far away? It it varies. We we would we would probably bring someone in $20,000 a day. Okay. And do they are they involved in staff development days? Are they Oh, yes. They they lead. That's why I was curious. Okay. Yeah. Their session last year um like their high impact strategies one had had about 60 people in it. And that's a twoyear that's a two-year. Well, that was the first year. So, that

084was 12 hours. So, that was two days in a row. Then they ran high impact two. So that was for that would have been for like our tenure teachers teachers who are already here. So and then our our new teachers new teachers for induction have to do two years and that is that is a compliance thing that we have to do with the state. So they have to monitor that compliance, make sure that we are getting our new teachers everything they need in order to get their level two certificate when they when they reach the right amount of credits and have the enough years of teaching experience and enough evaluations. And what do we hear back from Tony and Elizabeth? Are they feeling that this is important work and they're really wanting to do this

085for a long period of time or are they thinking this is another year or two and then we're done with it? Uh if everyone had their level of job satisfaction we'd be it'd be pretty pretty remarkable. Uh they are fully engaged. Uh they are thriving. just had a conversation with one of them. One's in doctoral program to work on this. The other one is exploring doctoral programs. There's a commitment, there's a desire, there's the feeling that this is making a big difference and our teachers see it as well. Thank you. Well, we have a motion and a second. Any further comments or questions? All those in favor of placing these two positions on our next board voting agenda. Six affirmative. Mr. Jackson seven affirmative. All those opposed? Two opposed. Thank you. And if you would

086be so kind, Mrs. Rhodess, I if the rest of the board is okay, I'd like to have those positions split. Sure. So that we're not voting on them together and if we could have the information Miss Navinger requested as quickly as as possible. Okay. So we'll move to item three. Mr. for it. Good evening. [Music] So, a couple updates uh from uh last meeting uh taking a look at the budget information and uh and show you where we're at today. So obviously you know what we're trying to do trying to put a budget together that supports our students and the requests that the administration has put together for next year. As we've talked um realizing as as many of you have mentioned um each year builds upon the next and so how do we look

087at that? How do we bring things together? How do we make sure that we're not just making year-by-year decisions, but that we're understanding impact as they move on. So, we'll talk about that as well as we move through the process. So, tonight um we have some updates, some information that was requested last time. Um next time on the 19th, we will have the proposed final budget for approval. So, I need input this evening so that I can bring you the proposed final budget so that it'll be in the format and ready for approval in two weeks. Uh, so we talked about this. We're going to give an update tonight. Uh, next time is the adoption of the proposed final budget. Um, as we mentioned before, the that can change then be between what's approved on

088June 23rd. uh and we do have a meeting in between there if there's any specific questions that come after the uh adoption of the proposed final budget that we can talk about. So, uh numbers changed a little bit as we went through reviewed as we continue to get updated information. Um at this point, we'll talk about it, but these numbers have a few changes in them. Uh there are at this time only three of the four positions are in these numbers. Uh but we'll look at some more detail as we look at the next few slides. So one of the requests that came out of last meeting was to sort of look at well where are we at? What do things look like? And so we put together in the next couple slides uh you'll

089see here what the 23 24 actuals were. um what the 2425 budget is, what the year to date as of the end of April, and then what currently is in the 2526 budget that made up those numbers in the previous slide. Um you'll see here that as we look at a couple of these right now taxes are slightly above budget. Uh but the reality is is that taxes are in for the year. Um, anything that's coming at this point would be some delinquent, some others, but those are in other categories. Real estate is pretty well closed out. Um, and and although it is above budget, it is within 0.2%. Um, so that's pretty close. Mhm. Um, 99.8 is an A in most classes. Um, interest, you'll see, as we've talked earlier, we're pretty close to

090budget at this point. Um so I do expect us uh to be above budget. Um I do not expect us to be at the 2 almost three million that last year. So we clearly see that um and so that makes sense and why we projected some of the into 2526. Uh basic ed we uh as I explained back in I think August uh we will be under budget on basic ed because I put more in basic ed which then came through ready to learn. And so you see how that is. Uh basic ed also lags. Um and so um we will be around $15 million. Eventually the state will pay us. We'll get there on the same thing on the expense side as we looked at some of those categories two weeks ago. Put some

091uh basis back behind it. So same thing, what was actual, where are we at year to date, and then where are we at uh in the next budget. So, we talked about transportation last time. Uh, you can sort of see where we are with regard to the other categories. One of the things, and to knock on wood, um, I think we have the possibility of being close on healthcare. We're probably still going to be a little over the budget, but if trends continue, and they're only trends, we we definitely should have had a blip in 6 or 7.6 there. So, I think we'll be fine with what's in the budget for 2526. Um, the other big thing with salary and benefits is to remember or as a reminder to everybody, uh, all of our teaching

092professionals get paid for pays over the summer that are part of this year's funds. So, even though we're getting, you know, into the end of April, we still see a lot of gap there because that all plays into those four pays that come over the summer for the majority of our staff. So, we look at the next sheet that we looked at. um you see and and understand um I think we're fine utilities in the current year but remember we talked about it we we do know that there's a significant escalator particularly in electric next year and that's why that budget number feeds in there um I I think if we take out the um the remediation at Central Manor and the well work at PCway we're definitely in a better spot on the facility

093side Um, Martic well work at Mic sorry cyber charter it's actually I don't know um in the last few months we've picked up 25 new cyber charter students. Um I hope that we'll be okay. uh future construction, we talked about it and so uh when I pulled the one uh position out and made some other adjustments based on the data, I put a little bit more into the future projects. So that's why it's still a balanced uh budget that you see there. And then we talked about cap reserve. If you remember from the discussions with the Raymond James folks, ultimately that green number needs to get to $4 million in an annual budget, right? So, it's not one time we need to get a sustainable uh about $12.5 million a year capacity to pay the

094bonds. So, we're working our way up in that tra trajectory. Uh the recommendation, as we talked about last week, is to take all almost all of the tax increase and put it into that future projects to start to build uh that capacity in future years. Uh the other news that came out I think the end of last week uh the uh the farmstead homestead credit that is funded from the state uh we saw a pretty sizable bump. This is still preliminary till we get everything finalized but it's approximately $29 per household and farmstead. And so when you look at these possibilities we talked about last time, uh you'll see that the extra $65,000 is in towards the projects with the different tax rates. But you'll also see that all those numbers dropped because there will

095be more um in farmstead homestead credit going to each of the average homesteads and farmsteads. Just update and sort of talk a little bit about those projections updating the multi-year. And so you see, as I talked about earlier in that green number in the previous slide, what this does is it works to get that yellow line, that future project, that debt service closer to the $4 million that was laid out in the projections from Raymond James. So that's what we're stepping along yearbyear. And also you remember uh there's no increase uh beyond the 2% increase to state funding in those out years. Just trying to understand what that looks like. I still recommended moving forward with that emergency planning budget or reserve. What that does with the new numbers, you'll see that it would cause

096us to have a uh an unbalanced budget. Um but as we talked about, we do have a million dollars in the general fund uh assigned to or excuse me, committed to healthcare costs. So, this is the vehicle if we needed to from a health care side bring it over. Um, if we have a good healthy year, then it doesn't change and we don't spend that $750,000. So, you see this has in there um essentially the 1.565 towards projects, 3% tax increase, and the $750,000 in the emergency plan. The recommendation this evening would be to place the proposed final budget on the May 19th voting agenda. Um, and now I open it up to any discussions and feedback that you have on any of the slides that were presented. Questions for Mr. Ford? So in a

097in a sense if I'm reading the last side slide correctly. You're proposing a a 3% tax increase. I put a number there. Yes. And I did add the 35 in this slide so that the board can see what the different and and essentially we talked about every percent is $600,000. Thank you for towards the project. Can you go back to the slide with the fund balance? What was our fund balance slipping every year? Oh yeah. It's going to be a huge concern for the rating agencies. For the what? For the credit rating agencies when you guys go to uh bond the next project. That's going to be a huge red flag because not only do they look at your fund balance, they look at your fund balance as a percentage of your revenues. And so

098our revenues keep going up and up every year. But even if we only even if we do a 3% tax increase for the next five years, our fund balance drops by $5 million. So, it's going to be a big red flag to the credit rating agencies as our fund balance as a percentage of our revenue goes into the Can you say that again louder? He can't hear. This is a big issue for future school boards. Uh because when you go to bond out a project, um probably the number one uh thing that the credit rating agencies look at is your fund balance as a percentage of your revenues. And so our revenues keep going up as a school district every year. Uh, but this sheet that Dan's showing that even if we do 3% tax

099increases for the next five years, we're still going to lose about $5.5 million in fund balance. So, that's going to be a huge red flag to the credit rating agencies and negatively impact the interest rate that taxpayers pay on our school bonds in the future if this trend continues. Danny, you put a plug in three and a half and see what things look like. Three and a half for next year. Well, for all these uh for all those tax increases, right? Yeah. the the the challenge will be if you remember back to the um the slide that the folks from Jame James talked about um I don't know that anyone is predicting that the index will support 3 and a half% in those outlying years right because the index is coming down because the the

100things feeding into it um so I I could plug it in but I don't know that it's realistic to think that we're going to be able to raise to 3 and a half% in 27 28 maybe 28 29 what what's the predicted index stand for next year 3% 3.1ish yeah so then we get you ours will be higher so we might be maybe 36 for our pen matters adjusted um you know that that's one of the things is as you know what when they were here um you know we know what the index is this year. We know that the numbers that feed into the ex index is the calculation of the three-year rolling average. We know that that's coming down from everything we see right now. Does it come down again? You know, I

101don't know. So, what does a 35 and a 35 like a 35 this year and a 35 next year look like? If we think that that's feasible. Let me pull up a spreadsheet. Thank you. Where you still? [Applause] 21.8% like what you're saying, right? So if you if not changing anything else, right? If you uh put a 35 in this year, a 35 in next year, that deficit out at 20 930 um drops from the 3 million to 2.3 million. So it's about a $700,000 change, right? So correspondingly, it's dropping each of those, right? And this is assuming that we don't get anything additional from the state, like they don't come through with what uh they're being required to do by the Supreme. It's assuming we go back to historic state funding increases, right? Which

102would be in violation of a order of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Well, the order is pretty vanilla. It says yes, what you're doing is wrong, illegal. They're not telling them how to fix it. No. Right. But does this also include any impacts we might face uh with lack of federal funding? Yeah, it it it really looks like to me the what I read today, Title One, which is the majority of ours, doesn't change. um our our lunch funding which isn't is in the cafeteria fund not in the general fund isn't impacted. Uh there's some question as to the title three or two which is ELA two and four. Yeah. So but we're talking less than $100,000 that it really and there aren't any of this other special grants that we get that some of the

103the other schools are worried about. The greatest impact that we could see with federal funding changes is in our transportation because that's passed through through the state. It's federal funding that goes to the state that then passed down to us. Dan, do you have any any comment or thoughts on what Mitchell was saying? Um, just doing the quick math here. So, so right now we're like our fund balance is like 22%ish of our budget and then if you go out to 2930 we're at 17 million and we lose three. So, so in in 2030 we'd have about a $14 million fund and then our budget would s be one say 130, right? And so that's like maybe 11%. So we'd fall from 22 to 11. Is that an an issue? would you say with bond

104ratings and the price we pay? I I think it's definitely there's going to be questions. One of the things that um one of the things is at the same time and it really looks and I don't want to blind Mr. rising error. But if you look at this row, right, if you look at the yellow row, I'm I'm also putting money into future projects. So, okay, the overall the two of them may be stay the combination may stay similar, but but to your point, as the budget grows, the percentage is still likely to lower. It may not lower as fast as just looking at the general fund fund balance. Um, but they are definitely going to ask and try and understand, well, hey, what you're you you right now we have $15 million is committed

105to future projects. But if you don't have that, you know, what is that at that time frame? Where where are you looking at? Um, yeah, they ask all those questions. You know, what is the percentage? Where are you growing? What's the percentage of your debt service? Right. That's also the same thing that our percentage of debt service is dropping because our budget's going up in in time. And does these numbers anticipate addition obviously like the transfer taxes from all of these lovely developments that are coming our way. Um those are one time essentially things. But does are those captured in any of these numbers? the if you remember the last at least two that I've been involved in and I think three years we've been under budget and transfer right and so I've tried to

106hold that steady assuming that they're coming okay so those numbers are in there okay at least some of them and particularly as you heard from the gentleman the other week at you know if if the transfers take place 10 to 15 years that's not a whole lot of Yeah. Right. But we've got six developments that I can count that are starting in the next 5 years. So I mean 50. There's sure quite a bit going on. Mr. BS. Um two questions. It seems like so what what percentage of our expenditures do we have increasing year-over-year? And is that the same as what our tax or I'm sorry, our revenues is included or is it just seems like it might be a little bit higher. Right. So what what feeds into this is about 3,000 line

107items each of them looking at different predictors. We talked about it a while ago, but I can bring it back at some point. you know, what do we assume with regard to um uh salary related expenses going on and what do we assume with regard to healthcare expenses that increase annually? What do we So each of those categories have different um year-over-year changes associated with them. So it's not just oh we'll raise expenses by 3% and taxes by you know revenues by three like each of them looks at historic averages to input um and this is a summation of those things. So our expenditures but our expenditures are outpacing our revenues in this model. Yes. And that's why you you see that the fund balance is being used up. Okay. But again projecting five years

108out we need to best that we know today. Right. Um and then um I guess my one of my biggest questions is I have asked it before um you know expenditures are 106 million this year. Uh budgeted projected is 113 almost that's almost an $8 million increase, right? 7.5 8 million increase. We got 2.7 million from the state and we're assuming that's rolled over plus some additional 5 million increase in the state. 5 million. Well, when you go across the two years. Okay. So, um and then the 3% is roughly what? 1.8 million, right? So, that's that's where you're getting your $8 million, right? If we didn't get the increase from the state, what would we be doing if we weren't getting that $5 million increase from the state? Well, we already know that we

109know that we're going to get at least 2.7 of it because that came through in the current year, right? So, the question is what do we what are we doing with the other 2.7? And so, if you remember, we talked about it last week. Part of that is the last line item. Historically, we've transferred a half million a year to capital reserve to pay for projects. This has a 1.25. So So there's an extra $750,000. So that if for some reason the state said, "Oh, we're not you're not getting the 2.7, you're only getting 2 million." Then we just wouldn't make that transfer happen, right? If it dropped lower than that, then we'd have to look at, you know, do we not transfer to future projects where right what do we I I realistically don't

110think we're going to have a budget till October or November. We're not going to know. But with these transfers and those last two line items, you know, we we have some ability to react. So realistically almost $4 million, $3.5 million is um I guess do the math here real quick. $3 million is really funding that we can move, not move, but it's still part of that revenue or the expenditure. Correct. Now, it that jeopardizes everything we're trying to do for the future projects, but Well, right. But I mean, quite honestly, moving, you know, increasing our money by 8 million. In this case, almost 5 million because 3 million of it is ours to move around. And it looks like looks like a looks like a loss, but it's really just a smooth money. Um, okay.

111But, you know, at some point we might have to just look at what we can where we need to cut it to. So, to piggyback on Mr. Be's question, so this year we received the additional state funding that was not budgeted, correct? Correct. So in theory, like we didn't, my understanding of how we spent that money was that we realigned budget items. Correct. We moved buckets. So in theory, we have $3 million unaccounted for at the end of this year that we could put into our fund balance. We could put into I think we're going to be have have around a million and a half. Okay. So, because we had an in 1.5 million in expenses we weren't expecting, right, essentially. So, is that number shown in here anywhere? Because I'm looking at our projected

112Oh, my computer just died. Um, our projected fund balance being lower from this current year to next year, but we have that 1.5 million that we weren't planning on when we did last year's budget. Right. So, so I'm just I'm just trying to figure out where that money is going. So, I'm strictly looking at and it it's questions where you take the snapshot at, right? So, I believe that probably we're going to be at 24.6. Mhm. Okay. So, then you could just reset and say, well, okay, if if the start of 25 26 is 24.6, it's just going to add whatever whole way across. But you're still you still have a downward trend, right? But I guess to some of the concern that others have raised, that number actually is about $1.5 million higher than

113what's being shown in in theory, right? But it still goes down. Yeah, agreed. But we're looking at at the end of 2930 instead of 17 million, we're looking at 18.6, right? That's assuming that our expenditures stay at correct 3.2% and all of the assumptions under three the tax but we have another $1.5 million to go on that spreadsheet that's not being shown somewhere somewhere sinkhole no more sink holes no more wells and that's why to Mr. Schwagger's point it's It's less important about what that number starts at in 2526 as than it is what does the trend do, right? Even if we had $3 million, but we spend but it goes down by 5 million, it still goes down by 5 million. So the from the from the you know evaluation from the you know

114they're still going to downgrade you because you spent the your percentage is dropping. So if my memory serves, we have to in looking at your recommendation, we have to be specific for what we propose or what we put on our next planning agenda. Correct. cuz cuz as I mentioned we put all the numbers all the bondage items into the PTE spreadsheet and it puts out a PTE 2028 away we go. So if we we say 3% today you will see 3% on 3 and two weeks and that could still be changed for June 9th or no? Yes. Okay. Right. And if you said 5.1 today, it's like Miss WZ talking down there. Right. So I the big thing that I'm looking for is you know what are your thoughts on the tax increase and you

115know do the other is there any changes with any of the other recommendations that you've seen? The other thing that's in the in the drive is you'll see all of the categories, expenses, and revenues, right? I I just hit the high ones that we had hit two weeks ago, but they're all in there. You can see all the trends. Can I just ask a quick question? Sure. So, they were talking about that extra 1.5 million. I I'm just asking, let's say that holds true for the end of the year. Is it possible to put half of it towards the future projects? Sure. Is there a way to do that? What? Because we're ultimately trying to build that up. I I think what my recommendation as we looked at the as I looked at the numbers

116now probably bringing back to you, if you remember, Mr. Johnson had occasionally done it. You know, I think it would make sense before June 30 to move a million dollars to the capital reserve, right? because I think that gets us a little closer as we close out the year end books. Um, and if you remember, the capital reserve is pretty low because we haven't replenished it really since the high school project finished. Mr. Jackson, are you still with us? Yes, still here. Do you have anything to add? Nothing to add. Thank you, sir. You're welcome. So, Mr. Fory has made a recommendation. It's upon our our board. Are we happy with that recommendation? Do we want to change the tax increase? Do we want to make any changes to what has been presented to us?

117I recommend I kind of think I just kind of think that using this year 3.5 would make a lot of sense in that we would be able to keep the fund balance at least level or moving up for two years and hopefully beyond that. If if we have to go to 35 again, we could maybe year two, but I would I'm not saying 35 straight across, but 35 this year where we can. It's a I think I saw a seven I see a $17 a month difference to the average taxpayer. Yes. No, that's a year. I'm sorry. I didn't mean a month. $7.50. Yeah, I didn't mean Oh, you're going to get us in trouble. We'd be running to the car, Mr. Strong. Mitchell. Yeah, I agree with Chris. uh you know with my my

118new job and and sort of where I sit um you know our firm works with 250 school districts around the state and um you know fund balance is such an important thing and I think it's a disservice to future boards that you know I won't be here but I don't want to I don't think that they should be in a bad position. And I don't want to see this district in a bad position or paying more for future projects than what we have to because we didn't put ourselves in the best fiscal position uh now. So I think a three and a half% tax increase is just, you know, what's most prudent for the district given what's in front of us. So I I hear two 3.5s. Any other comments? And you said those numbers

119include the current three positions. Yes. I mean that's the other thing too. I mean if there's feedback if you want to see all four can put them in there. I mean my my comment from the last meeting stands true. If we're going to go raise taxes, then we need to look at what we're willing to cut. And I'm not willing to cut student basing services. I'm not willing to cut teachers. I want to be very clear on that. Um, but we need to look at what we're spending if we're going to ask our taxpayers to give us more money. Um, and so when we're looking at adding positions, when we're looking at adding things that are non- studententf facing, I think we need to really evaluate that before we go back and ask our taxpayers

120for more money. I agree. I don't want to micromanage that, but if you would like me to be on board for a tax increase, then I would like to know where we're where we're trimming, understanding that we're we're already leaning. I get that. But there's always somewhere. Can I just say Sure. So, uh, Mitch, you you're saying that we could have additional um cost because of the cost us more to um borrow that money and I and I understand that that that's a cost, but a 3.5 or a three is a is a continuous thing. What do you think? And I I know you're gueststimating, but I mean, how much more would that cost us to borrow that money versus us having to raise taxes more? All right, we're going to pay for it now

121or pay for it later. What What do you think? I mean, how what would that what could that look like? I mean, 2%, extra 10%. Yeah. So, typically what what happens um you know, you have the the index. So that's going to be your risk-free rate. So that's going to be uh you know with us as a school district, we pay a tax exempt rate. So it's typically 80% of uh whatever the interest rate is for the US Treasury. So that's always changing every day. And then as a school district, we're being able to borrow at a tax-free rate. So investors are willing to lend money to us at a lower interest rate because they don't have to pay taxes on what they earn. But then what the credit rating does is really impacts what's

122called the spread. So the additional your additional interest rate over the risk-free premium. So if you're AAA, which is the best credit rating that that there is, that's what the US government is rated, what treasuries are rated. So you're going to pay exactly what the Treasury index is for the duration of your borrowing plus or minus, you know, maybe 5 to 10 basis points. But as you get down lower and lower into worse and worse credits, then your spread gets bigger and bigger off of what the risk-free index is because uh lenders view your creditworthiness as as lower and lower. So that spread can go, you know, up to 150 basis points depending on how far what your credit rating is. if you're, you know, double A or I think we're a double A2 right

123now. So, we're pretty good, but that's a really bad trend seeing that, you know, not only is our fund balance not staying, you know, flat year over year. That would be great if we could keep it at, you know, 22 or 24 million, whatever it is, but it's not just looking at that. You have to look at it as a percentage of your revenues because uh you know that's looking at just like how you have a savings account at home like you know when you're a kid and you're you know making seven bucks an hour you know having $1,000 saved is a big is a lot of money because you don't have any expenses but as your expenses grow you need your savings to grow proportionally and so you know when I see that the

124number is not only decreasing but the percentage is decreasing ing doubly as fast essentially because our revenues are going up. That's concerning to me. So, you know, I don't know the math off the top of my head, but you can do, you know, $80 million a year times, you know, 5% interest rate would be 4 million bucks. Is that right? And then, you know, if you were a better credit rating, how much would we pay if we got a 4 and a.5% interest rate? Well, that half a point right there, that's the value of savings and future interest costs per year that we'd be looking at saving the taxpayers. They already make that up now and they're paying it for forever. So, Mr. Ford, can you put your recommendation back on the board? So, if

125there's no further question or comment, um, I'd like to entertain a motion based upon what I heard, the recommendation that's listed on the screen with the exception of a 3.5% tax increase. So that would be the the motion that I would need if you if you agree with it. I just want to put numbers out there. So we're hearing it. So you're looking for a motion to direct the administration for three and a half or the recommendation except instead of a 3% tax increase, it's 3.5%. That's what I I heard around the table. At least I heard two people. I didn't hear anybody else. I heard a 3.5 with cuts. I heard two 3.5s, but then I didn't hear anything else. You heard a tax increase with cuts. Tax increase with cuts. Yes. Um of

126which I would agree with Miss Napsinger. I I agree with a 35 only because our ability to I mean we're kidding ourselves if we're going to if we're sitting here saying we're going to build a building in 3 years for $80 million. We know that number is going to be north of 100. um and we have to prepare for that day at the time we we can do it. So um we had one year when we were preparing for the high school where we really had to increase taxes significantly and that's my concern. I like the, you know, $10 a month for some people is a lot of money money and and um and as we said, that's in perpetuity. That's not just this next next year. I like the fact that we're talking $29

127a year for Homestead that people are going to see that. Uh there's talk whether it'll happen or not that there won't be uh having to pay taxes on social security for those on fixed incomes. If that comes through, that will be helpful. We don't know whether that will or not. Um, but as Mr. Swagert said, we need to think of future boards. We know that we are probably going to be building at least one new school and we can't wait until the year before we want to build it to put money aside. It's too late. Mhm. Not to mention, as we said, that it can affect our borrowing. power. But as always, yes, it would be good to see some ways to cut expenses. Joe, I'll go ahead and make the motion for to direct

128the administration to look at a 3 and a half% tax increase at our subsequent meetings. Okay. So, everything on that board with a 3 and 12% tax increase. That's a motion. A second, please. Second. We have a second. Any further comment or question? Seeing none. All those in favor? Mr. Jackson, he he texted me recently. He signed off. We lost it. Okay, that's five affirmative votes. All those opposed. Three and one absent. Okay. So, this will appear on the May 19th. Mr. fory with a 3.5. Understand? Thank you. Thank you. Item number four, Dr. Gail. Thank you, Dr. Foron. Uh at this time, it is uh very exciting for me to share with the board uh the collective bargaining agreement uh that the district and Penman Education Association have been working on. I really feel

129that unfortunately the majority of what makes Pen Manor Pen Manor cannot be captured in a picture and that picture does not show the relationships that exist in our community in our education organization and a huge part of that relationship is the relationship we have with our teachers. uh the teachers, administrator, school board directors and community uh work well with each other and we are fortunate to have our outstanding educators that work with our students. And uh tonight I am pleased to share that uh we have reached a tenative agreement with the association uh that would be an ex a new contract that would be a three-year contract that would begin July 1st of 2026. Mrs. Wall is here tonight. Do you have some news to share from the association? We had two meetings before this

130meeting and unanous vote in favor of this grant for our membership. So, just some highlights of the agreement. Uh it is a three-year agreement uh that would go from July 2026, July 1, 2026 to Jul June 30th uh 2029. And again, this is through the agreement was reached through early bird negotiations as we still have one year remaining on the current agreement. So in essence this is something well in advance uh and I think it speaks proudly of the relationship that we have with our teachers uh throughout the process. It was uh a very uh very much a a collaborative approach to how do we come to the best agreement that is good for all. Uh the three-year agreement uh does have an increase in teacher salaries of an average of 4.4% a year. However,

131there were consensus uh in terms of health care as well as credit reimbursement and compaction of salary steps that does uh help us in reaching that. I do want to thank uh the board of directors for your guidance and support uh our teachers but also thank Mrs. Wall, Mr. Kersich, Mr. Bittenbender, and Miss Sennessy for your work in leading the association, but also in uh the negotiation process. So, I'm asking that the collective bargain agreement that the Pen Education uh with the educa pen education association be placed on tonight's voting agenda for approval. Thank you, Dr. G. Any questions? Seeing none, do I have a motion to place this on tonight's voting agenda? So, move. Thank you. Second. Thank you. Any further comment or questions? Would there just because of not having an opportunity to

132public digest, is there an opportunity to um put it on to the not tonight but next 19th meeting? The sunshine wall does not require us to produce all of the details. It it requires us to put on their the voting items, not what is being voted on it. This is a negotiated agreement between the education association and the school board directors. And because it was just recently ratified by the education association, it's now to the board of directors for their approval tonight. That's standard and typical. I understand. Yeah, I understand standards. But I know. Any other comments or questions? All those in favor? Seven. Affirmative. Opposed. One opposed. Not to the contract itself. procedures that I love the consistency Mr. Anything else for the good of the committee of the whole and thank you for

133your negotiations and of course all the good work that you do in our district. We can't do it without you. Without you there's no us, right? So, thank you very much. And with that, I will adjourn the committee of the whole. We'll move right into our Monday, May 5th, school board, Pen Manor School Board Board of Directors voting agenda. Please join me in a moment of silence and flex seat. Thank you. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The next scheduled meeting of the Pen Manor School Board will be held on Monday, May 19th, 2025. Following the committee of the whole meeting, an executive session was held prior to the committee

134of the whole meeting for the purpose of discussing personnel and student matters is detailed on the committee of the whole agenda. Mrs. Rhodess, may we have a roll call? Sure. Mr. Beaks here. Mr. Her here. Mr. Jackson is now absent. Mr. Lombardo here. Mr. Straw here. Mr. Swagert here. Ms. Wart here. Mrs. Nassinger here. Dr. Fullerton here. Eight board members present. At each of our board meetings, we offer two opportunities for citizens to comment. This first period of citizens comments will pertain to matters on our voting agenda. Do we have any citizens comments? Okay, seeing none, may I have a motion to approve the minutes of our voting agenda from April 22nd to 2025? So move. Thank you. A second. Second. Thank you. Any further comment or question? All those in favor? Eight affirmative votes.

135Dr. Gail. Superintendent report. Thank you, Dr. Forson. Uh, as hard as it is to believe, May is here and we're in the final month or so of school. Actually, uh, yesterday, one month we will be graduating and finishing up the school year. And I found it very fitting in the newsletter that the learning facilitators send out each month. Uh, they started their May meeting or their May newsletter with this. May is here and it comes with the final chapter of the school year. As we approach the final day, let's lean into what matters most, supporting students, deepening learning, and celebrating progress. The impact we make now will last long after the school year ends. Enjoy the last few weeks of the school year as we work together to finish strong. I also find it very

136fitting that we're talking tonight about a new agreement uh when it's the start of teacher appreciation week. And we do have a lot to be thankful for with all of our teachers and the efforts that they put forward. But we also recognize May brings uh while a lot of activity it also brings a lot of action and those actions often times uh lead to that celebration. Uh a lot of things are happening that we can certainly celebrate. I just want to highlight two things that I think are very important for us to to see. On Friday night, our link crew here at the high school organized an eighth grade dance for our 2B freshman students here at the high school. So, our our 11th and 12th graders organized the event for eighth graders from both

137schools to come together here at the high school as part of the orientation process that their new students will come from the 450. So students that are in the eighth grade, we had 220 attend. And what it did was it brought Martyville students and Manor students together in what had typically been two separate events. So, thank you to the eighth grade uh teachers, the middle school principles, our blink crew adviserss, and our link crew students in organizing this event that is a social event, but also it's starting the process for our students to become freshmen here at the high school. The second one is a a recognition that I'd like to share. I think I had shared it with the board in the email, but I've since gained a little bit more information about this.

138Our physics teacher here at the high school, Barney P. Barney Peace, was recognized as the 2024 2025 secondary science teacher of the year for Lancaster Lebanon on behalf of IU13 in the Lancaster County STEM Alliance. Uh, Mr. Pierce, Mr. She Mr. Peace. I think I'd be able to say that one name. Let's just call him Mr. Pierce. Mr. Mr. Peace uh was actually nominated by Jenna Fischer. uh and just the work that he has put in and the commitment to STEM education uh is the reason behind his uh nomination but yet subsequently winning this award. Uh tonight is actually the banquet when Mr. Peace was receiving this recognition. Uh so we're very pleased to congratulate Mr. Peace on this recognition. Uh it's welld deserved. Uh some of you have either witnessed in person or through

139pictures. uh what one of the aspects that Mr. Peace has brought to Penman in his short term here and that is the boat riata where our students have de have created made uh boats out of cardboard. We go over to Pillo pool and they try to make it from one end to the other without but great lessons in in physics and STEM and we've since expanded it to a number of different science classes. So Mr. peace is very deserving of this recognition. So again, two great things that are happening as we work and approach the end of the year celebrating all that has been accomplished that certainly will build us momentum as we go into next year. So thank you Dr. Ford. Thank you Dr. G. Any questions or comments for Dr. G? Okay, seeing

140none, let's review our agenda. Item two, A through C. Any comments or questions? Okay. Item 3 A through M. I'd like to pull item uh 3A. 3 A 3A. 3A. Okay. I have a question. Let's see. Mr. Rose, are you sure you want to do this for four years? Oh, that's a mistake. It should say 40. No, should say forever. Oh, you guys are so funny. We just like you, Mrs. Rose. Okay. Actually, it's not a choice. Um, school code. Now, the truth comes up. It's not. The school code says it has to be for four years. Okay. All right. Now I can leave a year in. We also don't have to accept your resignation. It's tough crowd here tonight, right? Tough crowd. So, uh, three 3A we're going to pull vote separately on then.

141Okay. And item four A through F. Further any further comment or question? Okay, seeing none, may I have a motion to approve item two? Item two, A through C. So move. Thank you. Second. Second. Thank you. Any further comment or question? All those in favor? Any affirmative votes? Okay. May I have a motion to approve item 3A? So moved. Thank you. Second. Second. Okay. Any further comment or question? I'm abstaining because I wasn't here during the executive session and with it being student related, I have questions and concerns, so I'm going to abstain from it. Okay. Thank you. All those in favor, seven affirmative votes and all those abstaining and one abstension. Thank you. A motion to approve 3B through M. So move. Thank you. Second. Thank you. Any further comment or question? All those

142in favor? Eight affirmative votes. And item four A through F move. Thank you. Second. Thank you. Any further comment or question? All those in favor? Affirmative votes. And we've reached the second opportunity for citizen comments. These comments could be on anything district related. Do we have any citizens who wish to comment? Seeing none, anything else for the good of the board? If not, happy Cinco de Mayo. We'll see you on Monday, May 9th. Meeting adjusted. [Applause]