001Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Mr. Rao, roll call please. Mr. Adrian. Here. Mrs. Binsay. Here. Mr. Briegel. Here. Mr. Camilletti. Here. Mrs. Schotary. Here. Mrs. Kennedy. Here. Mr. Lynch. Mr. O'Neill. Here. Mr. Soder. Present. Eight members present. Thank you. Moving into superintendent's comments. I'd just like to move into the celebration of excellence please. Okay. Excellence in education in Peters Township School District. High schools. Peters Township High School has been named the 2025 AP School Honor Roll as a gold member. Research shows students who take AP courses and exams are more likely to attend college and graduate on time. And even for those who don't earn college
002credit, AP coursework provides early exposure to college-level work. Last week, students at Pleasant Valley took part in the Pittsburgh CLO's Young Washington presentation. This dynamic history lesson is part of the CLO's Gallery of Heroes and brings to life the story of a young George Washington as he overcomes obstacles to fulfill his destiny as a leader. This presentation helps to kick off the district's celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. On January 15th, Peters Township Middle School held their annual spelling bee. After an impressive final round, the championship was decided with the correct spelling of the word Kilimanjaro. Congratulations to our winner and runner-up listed above. Many thanks to Mrs. Caglione and our teacher volunteers for organizing this event. Each year, Senora Ulf invites alumni from her Spanish classes to
003come back and share how they are using their language skills in college and beyond. In December, we welcomed back grads from as far back as 2010 who shared their experiences using Spanish-speaking skills to converse with clients in a construction supply business, talk with patients in a doctor's office, and even to conduct an international wine business. It was great to hear what these students are doing and how their time in Peters Township has helped them on their journey. In December, our 8th grade student council members volunteered to play it forward at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. This holiday toy drive collects and distributes toys for families in need throughout the Pittsburgh area. Students helped organize donations where families can shop for free, making the holidays brighter for children across the community. Student council members donated
004toys, helped shop for children, and boxed up items for families in need. Mrs. Gallagher's 3rd graders put on a fantastic performance of A Christmas Carol for Mrs. Kewin's and Mrs. Bodnar's 2nd grade class. As part of a 3rd grade drama unit, students brought the story to life with acting and props they created themselves. During the week leading to winter break, high school physics students took part in the Fabulous Physics Fun Fest. The week began with Mrs. Lewinsky's class and their homemade launchers, followed by daily events including can rolling, tower building, and more. The Washington City Mission was the real winner of the can rolling event with almost 1,400 cans of food being donated for future meals. On December 10th, 13 students from Peters Township High School signed National Letters of Intent to continue their athletic
005careers at the collegiate level. Please join us in congratulating these students who bring pride to our school and community. The district welcomed FBI analysts to talk with parents in December about the dangers of online activities for children. The more we know, the better conversations with our children can be about staying safe and using their devices responsibly. In February, the district hosted state police to talk with parents about safety related to online gaming and social media. December 12th was Career Day at McMurray Elementary with our 4th and 5th grade students rotating through a variety of career opportunities throughout the morning. Among the professionals were an engineer, veterinarian, pilot, nurse, attorney, and yoga studio owner. Many thanks to the parents and community volunteers who gave their time to share their career journey with these students. Last month
006our high school students performed their annual coffee house variety show for packed audiences. Students sang, danced, performed skits, and entertained while guests enjoyed coffee, cocoa, and desserts. Proceeds from the annual event support the theater program at the high school. Members of the Pleasant Valley Best Buddies packed 12 boxes of candy from their Halloween donations and traveled to Meals on Wheels to deliver sweet treats, Thanksgiving placemats, decorated bags, and festive centerpieces to share with community members who received meals from the organization. Students received a tour of the kitchen and learned about how food is prepared, packaged, and delivered. Josh and Gab brought their performance to Bower Hill last month using musical comedy to talk with students about bullying and kindness. Students sang, danced, and laughed along with a show that reinforced the school's hero values, helping
007everyone respect others. Congratulations to our PT Indians who took home the WPIAL championship with an incredible comeback win over Pine Richland. This is the second title in three years for Coach Plaque and his dedicated team. PT Polar Express is a kindergarten tradition in our district with elementary students and staff in their pajamas lining the hallway to cheer on the youngest students as they make their way to a storybook telling of the classic holiday tale. Mr. C and Mr. T at Pleasant Valley and Bower Hill respectively were the conductors who led the train of students through the school with classmates cheering and singing holiday songs. This tradition is a special part of the holidays in our schools. Pleasant Valley students and adults finished up their holiday shopping at the third grade economics fair in December. Students
008created unique items for their store and learned how to market them to their classmates, including making their own commercials. As the culmination, students had a chance to shop at each other's stores and enjoy the benefit of all that creativity. Third graders at Bower Hill visited first grade classrooms in December to give the gift of reading. Students shared a favorite book and brought along props to help illustrate setting and plot in their story. This collaboration helps to encourage the love of reading with our youngest students. January is School Board Recognition Month and we end our highlights by recognizing and honoring our board for their dedication to our community and the time and talents they lend to our students and staff. This evening our schools have provided small tokens of their appreciation to our board members. We
009also have with us a few special guests who would like to say a few words. Good evening, everyone. A lot has happened. When that showed the Whipple championship, I'm like that was so long ago, but we haven't had an actual board meeting since then. But I'm here tonight to honor all of you. On behalf of the Act 93 team, and for those of you who are new to the board, the Act 93 is our team of administrators here in the school district. I want to take a moment to publicly recognize the vital role that you play in the success of Peters Township School District. In our district, we have long enjoyed the privilege really of a strong working relationship between the administrative team and the school board. This partnership is the foundation of our success.
010To our returning members, we thank you for your continued leadership. And to our new members, we're excited to have you join our team. We look forward to working alongside all of you to build upon the tradition of excellence here in Peters Township and all of our schools. We recognize that your role requires a deep commitment and selfless giving up of your personal time. We especially want to thank you for the weight of the difficult decisions that you make, decisions that require a great deal of balancing, balancing the diverse needs of the community with a singular focus on what is best for our students. So thank you for your service, your integrity, and your unwavering dedication to Peters Township School District. I wish you great success this year. You're welcome. Anyway, good evening. For those of
011you that may not know me, I'm Caroline Oble, and I'm the president of the Peters Township Federation of Teachers, and I'm joined tonight by Harry Buschmeyer, our vice president, and Shannon Ardela, who is our secretary. So on behalf of the Federation, I also want to thank you for your continued support of the teachers, the nurses, and the counselors who are our members. Feeling valued and respected matters, and your support makes a real difference for our staff and our students. So we understand and I reiterate all the time that serving on a school board is not easy. It's a volunteer role that involves tough decisions, I know, and a strong commitment to public education. And we truly appreciate your time and care you give to this district and the community. And Dr. French, this is sad.
012This is going to be our last one where you're on the board. So we want to thank you also for your leadership and dedication to Peters Township. We are grateful for the work that you've done and the relationship that we've built with you here. And as we move forward, we are very grateful that Dr. Murphy and Dr. Fisher are continuing with that collaboration that keeps our schools strong and student focused. So I'd like to take a moment, too, to welcome our new members. I know Mrs. Kennedy. I want to make sure I pronounce the names correctly. I feel like this is the first day of school. Mr. Mr. Soder, Mr. Lynch and Mr. Adrian. Right. So we also look forward to working with you. And as always, it continues to be an honor. I keep
013reminding myself that this was the meeting 26 years ago that Peters Township hired me. So I've been here a long time and it has always been an honor and I've always felt like such a big part of this community. So thank you again for all that you do and your continued support for our students and staff. We appreciate it. I just want to thank you all for coming this evening. I know you've all worked long days. And so it's very much appreciated that you're here at seven o'clock. Don't feel the need to stay for the whole meeting. I promise you. But thank you for coming out. And I want to just throw my two cents in and thank the board for being here and all the time you're putting in. I'm looking forward to working
014with all the new members and keeping the momentum going. And again, in advance, I'm grateful for your hard work because we will be heading into some hard work and looking forward to it. And thank you. All right. Well, moving on public comment on agenda agenda and other items. Peters Township School District values parent and community engagement. Speakers who sign up for in advance for policy 903 will be allotted a maximum of five minutes for public comment. All other speakers will be allotted a maximum of two minutes for public comment. Part of our community effort involves taping and sharing videos of our board meetings to help the community stay informed on matters before the board. Any guest speakers or members of the public who are taking part in the meetings are reminded to come to the
015podium and use the microphone while making comments so that they may be heard by those of us in the room and those watching. All speakers reminded to state their name and resident status for the minutes. Any public comments this evening? All right. Seeing none. President's comments. Executive sessions were held on December 22nd, 2025, January 5th, 2026 and January 12th, 2026 and immediately prior to this meeting to discuss personnel and confidential student matters. Any new business? Seeing none. Moving on to the business office. I'd like to consider a motion to approve business office recommendations as follows. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Public comment. All right. Seeing none. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Moving on to board committees. Personnel. Ms. Schotary. Recommendation. Move to approve salary adjustments for the 2025-2026 school year for Act
01693 administrators in accordance with the Act 93 agreement and contracted employees as presented. Second. Any discussion? Public comment. Seeing none. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Thank you, Mr. O'Neill. That concludes my report. Thank you, Ms. Schotary. Buildings and grounds. A buildings and grounds meeting was held on January 12th, 2026. There are two recommendations this evening. The first, move to approve Civil and Environmental Consultants, Inc. to provide professional land surveying services related to the preparation of a topographic and utility survey of the Peters Township School District campus located at 264 East McMurray Road at a cost of $13,900. Second. Any discussion? Public comment? Seeing none. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Second recommendation. Move to approve a guaranteed energy savings agreement, GISA, between SiteLogic Energy Services, Inc. and Peters Township School
017District for the Middle School Pleasant Valley Elementary Site Lighting Improvement Project in the amount of $1,391,754 on terms and conditions approved by the Solicitor. Funding is to be provided by capital projects. Second. Any discussion? Public comment? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. That's all on building the grounds this evening. Education, Mr. Briegel. Thank you, Mr. O'Neill. I don't have any information to report tonight, but I think we're going to be requesting a meeting at the end. Okay. Thank you. Finance, Ms. Binsay? Nothing to report this month, Mr. O'Neill. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Binsay. Policy, PSBA. Ms. Kennedy? Yes. For policy, we are working on a cell phone working group with the community, and I just wanted to see if any board members want to help with that or want to be involved
018in that. Just reach out to me after the meeting, and more information to come soon. And then the PSBA, for new board members, they have excellent Zooms that are available. One just happened last Wednesday. The next one is February 18th. It's on board policy. And then the following is March 18th. It's on amping our advocacy. These are great resources, so if you guys are able to join those Zooms, I would recommend it. Great. Thank you, Ms. Kennedy. Ms. Kennedy, I was only, I didn't hear, cell phone working group. Yes. It's going to involve the community. Just to look at cell phone policies in the future, we just want to have community involvement in what would be favored. So more to come in the next week or two. But again, if any board members are interested
019in being included in that cell phone working group, please reach out to me. More will be to come very soon. Great. Thank you. Western area, Ms. Schotry. Thank you, Mr. O'Neill. The next joint operating committee meeting will be on January 28th. Highlights from the December 17th meeting. There was a board restructuring. We have a new president, vice president, treasurer. They were nominated and approved. We hired a new full-time paraprofessional, and two new CDL state examiners were approved. They had previously worked for Western area as contractors, but both needed to be directly employed by Western area. And the grant opportunities, there are four that are waiting for application window. Three are submitted, and three are in progress. And thank you, Mr. O'Neill. Thank you, Ms. Schotry. Moving on to the superintendent's agenda. Requesting action on certificated
020personnel, items number one through six. So moved. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Public comment? All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Requesting action on non-certificated personnel, items number one through five. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Public comment? All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Requesting action on extra-duty personnel and programs, items number one through five. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Public comment? All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Requesting action on professional conferences, trainings, and trips. One item only. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Public comment? All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes. Requesting action on educational programs and student activities, items number one through three. So moved. Second. Any discussion? I'd like to thank all those groups that submitted this so early so we could get an idea
021ahead of time what we were looking at. Any other discussion? Public comment? All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Requesting action on other items numbered one through seven. So moved. Second. Any discussion? We have a few donations on here, a few grants donations, one from Kickline Dance Center and one from the Peters Township Education Foundation. Again, it's always nice that there are so many groups that are contributing to what we're trying to do here at Peters. Certainly a lot depends on the teacher and the administrators, but the students get a lot of support from a lot of different places and that's nice to see. So thank you everybody. Agreed. Thank you, Mr. Briegel. Any other comments? Public comment? All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Thank you, Mr. O'Neill. Thank you,
022Dr. French. Any board information? Public comment on agenda items only? Seeing none, solicitors report. I just wanted to second everything that was said earlier and thank the board for their time and your commitment. It is a huge donation to your community and I appreciate working with all of you. Thank you. Correspondence and matters of information. Mr. Briegel, you request an Education Committee meeting? Yes, Dr. Murphy, did we ever decide on a date I can't remember? Do you recall? Not to put you on the spot, but I guess I'm putting you on the spot. Works for me. Do you have any 9th works for everybody? If you have a sneak preview, what will we be discussing at that meeting? I think we're going to be going over some data, standardized testing. Do we have AP results
023as well? Yes, it's our annual kind of report about the district and our student data. Depending on timing, we may look at any potential new course proposals or anything for the high school as well. Do we have a preference for meeting time? I would recommend 619. I'll support 619. 630. All right. 630 it is. 630 on February 9th. Thank you. I'm out of town that day, but it won't make a difference. That's why we picked it. February board meeting, Tuesday, February 17th at 7 p.m. March board meeting, Monday, March 16th at 7 p.m. And I'm pleased to entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. All right. Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.