001Mrs. Anderson? Here. Mrs. Bense? Here. Mrs. Bowman? Here. Mr. Briegel? Here. Mr. Camilletti? Here. Mrs. Schotary? Here. Mr. O'Neill? Present. Dr. Payne? Here. Mr. Taylor? Here. All members present. Thank you. I'd just like to move into the celebration of excellence. Thank you. Excellence in education in Peters Township School District. This year is off to a great start. The high school hosted the first open house of the year on September 3rd, welcoming parents for a chance to connect with teachers, learn more about offerings from the counseling office, and enjoy dinner from the food trucks. The event was well attended by families and included a special performance by the high school marching band. Our fourth grade students at McMurray visited the Peters Township Public Library this week to learn more about the resources our public library has
002available. They toured the main library and the children's library, heard about the programs designed for children their age, and even explored the makerspace. Parents have the option to sign a permission slip for students to get their own library card during the visit. Coffee Tree Roasters opened this week at Peters Township High School. Students and staff may visit from before school till 9 a.m. for a delicious coffee treat. The coffee shop is a collaboration between our business classes and learning support classroom, where students handle everything from the business plan to managing inventory to making the coffee. Third graders in Mrs. Barnes class made dream catchers to go along with their literature lesson. Students studied Native American tribes and their tradition of making dream catchers to catch their bad dreams. We hope there are only sweet dreams
003ahead for these students. The middle school hosted open house on September 11th, welcoming parents for a chance to connect with teachers and to visit the classrooms and learning spaces. It was a busy night with families stopping by and also taking advantage of the food trucks arranged by the PTA for the event. Students at Bower Hills celebrated International Dot Day today with some special classroom events and of course reading the story by Peter H. Reynolds. The dot is the story of a caring teacher who dares a doubting student to trust in her own abilities by being brave enough to make her mark. What begins with a small dot on a piece of paper becomes a breakthrough in confidence and courage. U.S. News and World Report has ranked Peters Township High School as the number three high
004school in the Pittsburgh metro region and number nine across the state. Rankings are based on factors that include college readiness, state assessment proficiency and performance, and college curriculum breadth. September 5th was the annual team building day for McMurray Elementary. Team building day is all about getting to know your classmates and staff and learning about how we can work together for a great school year. Our students played games, took on challenges, and generally had a great time getting to know each other. Three students from Peters Township High School have been named semifinalists in the annual National Merit Scholarship Program. The 16,000 semifinalists nationwide represent less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors and includes the highest scoring students in each state. Seniors Allison Griffith, Calla Heinrich, and Joshua Zang now have the opportunity to continue
005in the competition for National Merit Scholarships worth more than 30 million dollars. This month our sixth grade social studies staff and students welcomed Ms. Toni Sulkowski to Peters Township Middle School. Sulkowski was born and raised in Peters Township, a former PT teacher and administrator and an ongoing volunteer within our community. She helped kick off their study of ancient civilization by teaching the students more about the history of the community they live in. Peters Township School District, Peters Township School District values parent and community engagement. Speakers who signed up in advance per 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 communication effort involves taping and sharing videos of our board meetings to help our
006community stay informed on matters before the board. Any guest speakers or members of the public who are taking part in the proceedings in the meetings are reminded to come to the podium and use the microphone when making comments so that they may be heard by those of us in the room and those watching online. All speakers are reminded to state their name and resident status for the minutes. The public comment period of the meeting is not a question and answer format between the public and the board. The purpose of public comment at board meetings is to allow the board to learn the thoughts of the public prior to board deliberations and actions. Is there any public comment on agenda or other items? Seeing none, I will proceed. Executive sessions were held on August 18th, 28th,
007September 2nd, 3rd and 10th and immediately prior to this meeting to discuss personnel and litigation. Is there any new business to come before the board? Seeing none, we will turn to the business office. We have a recommendation to consider a motion to approve business office recommendations as follows. Second. How about a motion? So moved. So moved. Second. Second. Got it. Thank you. Any discussion? Any public comment? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. That brings us to board committees. Mr. Taylor, you have personnel. Mrs. Bowman, there is no personnel update today. All right, thank you. Mr. O'Neill, you have buildings and grounds. Thank you, Ms. Bowman. A buildings and grounds committee meeting was held on September 8th, 2025. It was a wonderful time and I encourage everyone to check out
008the video. That's all I have. Thank you. Mr. Briegel, you have education. NAP, got nothing. Mr. Kameletti, you have finance. Nothing to add. Ms. Anderson, you have policy. Yes, a policy can be scheduled for October 6th, 2025. Thank you. And PSBA comes up next. Yes, recommendation. Move to recommend the following candidates for Pennsylvania School Board Association offices. President-elect Paulie Arnold, vice president, Matt Benoit, PSBA insurance trust trustees, Kathy Spook and Roberta Marcus. Second. And those were the only people running, so it is what it is. If we vote no, what happens collectively as a board, right? Okay, I heard a second to your motion, Ms. Anderson. Is there any discussion other than the fact that if you are interested in becoming involved in the PSBA, there are obviously lots of opportunities. Lisa, do you have
009any gouges on these folks? Like, do you like them or? Okay, thanks. I can tell you Kathy Spook is a past president of PSBA. She's one I know. And I've encountered Matt Benoit. I don't particularly have an opinion, but the alternative to these folks is a vacancy. So that's a recommendation. We had a second. Any further discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? No. No, there's no one opposed. I'll take the vacancy. Just on principle. We have one choice. I'm not making the one choice. Thank you. We've noted that. The motion still carries. Understood. As expected. Western area, Ms. Schotary. The next joint operating committee meeting will be held on September 24, 2025. And that brings us to the superintendent's agenda. All right. Thank you, Ms. Bowman. I'm requesting action on certificated personnel,
010items number one through five. So moved. Second. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Lisa, I didn't hear you say aye. I was trying to unmute at the time. Thank you. Motion carries. I'm requesting action on non certificated personnel, items number one through four. So moved. Second. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. I'm requesting action on extra duty personnel and programs, items number one through five. So moved. Second. Any discussion? I would point out that middle school now has a forensics advisor about which I'm extremely excited because that means I can go back and pick up the fifth graders over at McMurray Elementary. So we will have two forensics teams at the not senior high level. So we're looking forward to that. We will be asked
011to host. We've already been asked to host the December tournament. I'm working with Mr. Sikorsky on that. With Ms. Moodge. Don't get me wrong. I'm not preempting anybody. Any other discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. I'm requesting action on professional conferences, trainings, and trips. One item only. So moved. Second. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Requesting action on educational programs and student activities, items number one and two. So moved. Second. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Requesting action on other items numbered one through seven. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Yeah just one. What are they going to be doing at the farm? Right now it's just the store. We have students going there working as kind of a
012work experience. Eventually, potentially, it could open up to the farm but right now we're starting small at the store once a week. Thank you, Jen. Is that part of a program or? Yes it's a lot like coffee tree roasters. It will be an extension of the greenhouse. So it's it'll go along with the greenhouse with in-school learning and then opportunities to go out of school. That's great. Well kudos to the you all and to the Simmons farm for making that happen. Thanks. I have a question about number one, the golf practice facility. I know last month there were other donations. Is it about done or like can somebody give me an update? I think completion of what they want to have at the facility is done but there is ongoing maintenance cost of it. The
013goal has always been that it'll be a standalone facility that that won't be won't use district funds to maintain. So you'll probably still see some more donations coming coming through just to maintain and then I'm sure they're going to come up with some some updates along the way too. So yeah I don't think this will be the last one. Thank you. I just wanted to thank all of the various parties mentioned here for their donations and their support of the district and its mission. Thank you very much. Anyone else? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Is there any board information that needs to be shared? Any public comment on agenda items? Solicitors report. My solicitor report was all delivered in executive session. Thank you. In terms of correspondence and matters of
014information is there correspondence that needs to be brought before the board? We have a policy meeting scheduled on Monday the 6th of October. We have our regular board meeting in October on Monday the 20th and our regular board meeting in November on November the 17th. Actually I do have a piece of board information. I am Ms. Schotary's backup at Western Area and it just so happens that I am backing her up in November. So I am continuing my tradition of inviting a middle school student who is a Western Area prospect to go with me. That's the holiday dinner so we're allowed to take a guest and so Mr. Sikorski is out recruiting for me but I just wanted to share the fact that I will continue doing that since I happen to be backing you
015up. Anything else? I will entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Didn't think so. Thank you very much.