Monday March 23, 2026, School Board Meeting

001We'll call the meeting order for uh >> Mrs. Paul >> Uh we have a roll call, please? >> Mrs. Baney-Shaub, here. Dr. Bowmary Mrs. Bush Here. Mrs. Coperly >> Here. >> Mrs. Reinstein >> Here. >> Mr. Vankus >> Here. >> Mrs. Wesneski >> Here. >> And Mr. Wood >> Here. >> Uh I don't know if you can check Alex is here. He is here. He'll be back. >> Oh, okay. >> Hang on. He'll show up. >> Okay. >> Uh If there's anybody for public comment, it will be held during the voting meeting, which will happen directly after this committee meeting. Uh there was an executive session uh prior to this meeting which was for finance and personnel. And we'll have uh the motion on the regular voting agenda to approve the February 23rd committee meeting

002and voting meeting as presented. Budget finance uh there will be a motion on the regular voting agenda to approve the financial report for the month of February 2026. The motion on the regular voting agenda to approve the following disbursements as listed. And the credit card statement for the month of February 2026, total of $4,630,659.06. And for February payroll, $1,151,165.37. There'll be a motion on the voting agenda to approve the plan Con K for the general obligation notes series of 2026 in the amount of $1,360,000. There'll be a motion on the regular voting agenda to approve an agreement between the Pequea School District and Priscella for the school learning suite and individual virtual learning session from August of 2026 until July 31st, 2027. There are motion on regular voting agenda to accept mail ballot method through

003the IU 10. There'll be a motion on the regular voting agenda to approve the CIU budget for $2,228,211. There'll be a motion on the regular voting agenda to approve a resolution at the Pequea School District for center kinds of compliance for a public facilities improvement grant for $1,206,492. We must pay 25% cash match of $402,164. Yes. Do you have any background on that one? >> Yeah, so the the facility improvement grant is a grant that the state puts out. School districts can apply for those funds. We are looking at different roof projects at near the completion of the roof project at the high school. We were awarded this in the past and got a small grant for it to do the high school. This again, we just have to commit 25% match. So again, total

004cost of the projects at both of those roof projects at OME and the high school will be 1.6 million. Our match would be $402,164. >> Thank you. We'll be a motion on the regular voting agenda to approve the following drivers for Son's Transportation for this school year as listed below. Under building and grounds, uh we have nothing on the agenda for building and grounds. But, and I did hear the uh van was auctioned off. So, the van will be leaving us from the high school. >> It was picked up. Yep. >> It was already gone. Uh curriculum and instruction, >> Yep, we'll have a memorandum of understanding for the early college program with the Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania. And we'll also have field trips on the agenda for >> Planning. Under personnel, uh Maneisha's going

005to read those. >> We have a motion to accept the resignation of Jane Ann Melinger as a accounting specialist. We have a motion to post that position and the job description for this is included. We have a motion to accept the resignation for retirement purposes of Tammy Cashlin as kitchen helper at the middle school. We have a motion to accept the resignation of Ann Dixon for retirement as a kitchen helper at the middle school. We have a motion to accept the resignation for retirement of Wilma Foster as kitchen helper at the high school. Motion to accept the resignation for retirement of Jean Rolls as kitchen helper at the high school. We have a motion to accept the resignation of Stephanie Neville Cook at the middle school. And post that position. We have a motion to

006hire Hayley Jones as a special education instructional assistant at the elementary school. We have a motion to accept the resignation of Breanna Melnick as a special educational instructional assistant at high school and the votech. And to post that position. We have a motion to hire Madison Nesky Hawk as a 4 and 1/2 hour special education instructional assistant at high school and the votech. Motion to hire Jamie Huso as a special education instructional assistant temporary shadowing fourth grade at Osceola. We have a motion to hire Mary Jean Pollock as a special education instructional assistant temporary shadow for fifth grade at Osceola. Motion to accept the resignation of Laura Titcomb as a special education instructional assistant PCA autistic at Elmer L. Hosmer Elementary. Motion to post that position. Motion to close a special education instructional assistant position

007at the high school. And then to open a special education instructional assistant position at the high school and votech. Motion to transfer Jeffrey Lindeman from a district wide custodian at the middle school to the high school. Motion to accept Motion on the agenda to terminate employee 2026-1. Motion to approve separation agreement between the Hillsboro School District and the school district and the education support professional association for employee number 2026. Batch two as presented. Motion to approve Elliot Mann as a Quest Tech summer intern. Motion to approve an addendum to the agreement between the school district and ENS Northeast as presented for the athletic trainer. Motion to approve a school-based quota evaluation form as presented. Motion to accept seven requests for unpaid days due to exhausting all sick and personal days or for reasons not approved.

008>> What time? >> Uh 6:30 schedule. >> There will be a motion on the regular voting agenda to agenda to revise policy 610 purchases subject to bid quotation as presented. There will be a motion on the regular voting agenda to revise policy 611 purchases budgeted as presented. There will be a motion on the regular voting agenda to revise policy 619 district audit as presented. There will be a motion on the regular voting agenda to revise policy 626 federal travel compliance as presented. There will be a motion on the regular voting agenda to revise policy 626.1 travel reimbursement federal programs as presented. There will be a motion on the regular voting agenda to retire policy 450 relationships between adults and students. There will be a motion on the regular voting agenda to revise policy 824 maintaining

009professional adult student boundaries as presented. >> Thank you, Mr. Przedziecki. >> There will be a motion on the regular voting agenda to approve a local education agency higher of agreement for Pennsylvania's education for children and youth experiencing homelessness program for the 2026-2027 as presented. There will be a motion on the regular voting agenda to approve a local education agency higher of agreement for Pennsylvania's >> Thank you. >> education Did I just read that? There will be a motion on the regular voting agenda to accept the resignation of Bradley Wood as junior high assistant volleyball coach effective immediately. There will be a motion on the regular voting agenda to accept the resignation of Michael Herr as head varsity softball coach effective March 5, 2026. There will be a motion on the regular voting agenda to accept

010the resignation of Douglas Myers as varsity assistant softball coach effective March 4, 2026. There will be a motion on the regular voting agenda to accept the resignation of Cindy Sankey Teamer as varsity assistant softball coach effective immediately. There will be a motion on the regular voting agenda to accept the resignation of Jamie Frank as junior high head softball coach effective March 4, 2026. There will be a motion on the regular voting agenda to accept the resignation of Abby Sellers as a junior high assistant softball coach effective March 4, 2026. There will be a motion on the regular voting agenda to approve the revised list of coaches and volunteers for the 2025-2026 school year. There will be a motion on the regular voting agenda to add the following extracurricular positions for the 25-26 school year as

011presented. There'll be a motion on the regular voting agenda to approve the following position volunteers for the 25-26 school year as presented. There'll be a motion on the regular voting agenda to approve the following extracurricular positions for the 25 or I'm sorry, for the 26-27 school year. There'll be a motion on the regular voting agenda to approve a facility use agreement between the Philipsburg-Osceola Area School District and Tyrone Anderson for Philipsburg-Osceola Elementary Basketball as presented. There'll be a motion on the regular voting agenda to approve a facility use agreement between the Philipsburg-Osceola Area School District and Tyrone Anderson for the Central Pennsylvania Lions AAU Basketball as presented. There'll be a motion on the regular voting agenda to terminate the lease agreement between Philipsburg-Osceola Area School District and Thor Marlowe and Douglas Marlowe effective March 23rd

012of '26. There'll be a motion on the regular voting agenda to approve a memorial field lease agreement between Philipsburg-Osceola Area School District and Aaron Sandoval for the period March 24th of '26 through July 31st of '31 as presented. >> Is there anything else in the committee meeting that can come before the board or given information? Everything that was listed. Is there anything else? Two questions. Anything else come before? This meeting will adjourn. Uh the next meeting will come at 7:00. You have to wait till it was advertised at 7:00. Um anybody who is going to speak, there is a sign-in sheet right over in the corner. If you do speak, it will be a 3-minute limit. Any questions? I'll have a motion to adjourn, please. >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Aye.

013>> All in favor say aye. >> Aye. >> Motion carried. >> Mhm. >> Meeting in order. It's a voting meeting of March 23rd. We're going to change up the order a little bit. We have some youngsters that have obligations that have to get out of here, so First, give Justin five to discuss the wrestlers. >> All right, good evening. This year we had a really successful season for both our boys and our girls wrestlers, so we wanted to recognize the individuals who put in a lot of work to achieve their accomplishments this year. So, we'll start with in junior high, we had a junior high state place winner this year. He finished eighth in the state, that would be Mason Bond. >> Yay! >> For for our high school team, we had four or we

014had two state qualifiers this year for the boys. We had Caleb Hummel. And we also had Avery Gable. For our regional place winners, the regionals are as the the area you get to right before you get to the state tournament. We had five regional place winners. We had Caleb Hummel, Avery Gable, Jacob Dugan, Ace Foster, and then our girls, Daisy Glessner was a regional place winner. We have multiple state or district place winners with Caleb, Avery, Jacob, Colton, Ace, Hayden Kopchak, and Connor Genout placing for the boys. And Daisy and Kendall Miersand placing for the girls in the district. Also, we wanted to share that Ace Foster earned his 100th win this year. And we also have Caleb Hummel, who not only has reached 100 career wins, but set our all-time school wins lead record

015at 160 wins. >> Thank you. >> Connor Genout, baseball. >> Thank you, guys. Thank you. >> Real quick, we're going to do our Mounting Pride Awards. Uh Um, we have one award for uh Mounting Pride teacher for the quarter in the same way um with the staff member. So, this award has been established to recognize PO's outstanding educators and tonight we have Samantha Sanker from the middle school. >> Stick around. >> Picture and then we also have for our staff member uh this award has been established to recognize PO's outstanding staff members for their dedication, excellence in their positions, and professionalism. And tonight we have Joanne Shimmel, our custodian for Polsburg and Osceola and North. >> Congratulations. >> You're always You're always at your peak. >> 1 2 Thank you. >> And then we have

016some young students here who have been doing a STEM presentation so they can get to their next event. >> All right. Hi everybody. We're your Polsburg and Osceola CSOs and today we're here to talk to you about our 2026 activities. >> We're going to start by introducing all of ourselves. Uh I'm Maddie Anderson. >> I'm Missy Bush. This is my second year as a CSO. >> I'm Star Bell. I've only been here for a year. >> I'm Jackson and I'm taking on the sophomore >> I'm Logan Icklin. This is my first year. >> And >> pretty much all year to help younger people with giving giving them more opportunities to learn and figure out more about their natural world around them. And our fourth goal would be getting the community involved. And we're just trying

017to help everyone get together for STEM projects. >> So, these are our 2020 science and physics field trips. So, every year we have three cabinet meetings or field trips. That's field trip one, field trip two, and field trip three. Our fall meeting was here at Hillsborough. And we were supposed to come to the building and have us interact with the schools. Uh our winter meeting was in Belle Glade. We visited a health clinic focused on eating disorders. We got to learn about what causes them, and we also did a one-day where we learned about processing food in the science department. Our spring meeting was in St. Cloud. We visited the Lake Kissimmee Marsh where we were talked about where we we were talked to about the restoration. And then the CSI team was talking briefly

018about the school's aspect. Then we went to where we got to learn about the cool stuff that the broadcast does. >> All right. Our action plan that we chose this year was to have a STEM night at the middle school for all the students. Um it was February 20th, and we had over 104 students participate in our STEM activities. >> In order to make our STEM night possible, we had over 15 businesses help uh donate and come and run different booths at our STEM night. Um these businesses included Avnet, Das Tech, Diamondback Waste, Blaze Alexander, Chick-fil-A, Lincoln's Tavern, etc. Um all of these businesses that contributed are going to receive a handwritten thank you card by us. Um yeah. >> Um we received an abundance of positive feedback throughout all the social media and many

019comments through the media proclaiming that the STEM night It an really event and would and they would like it to be an annual project. >> Um so behind the scenes for our STEAM night, uh we had multiple meetings throughout months leading up to our STEAM night to talk about our various tasks to prepare. Um we emailed all the businesses that came. We got our donations. Uh those of us that could drive drove to different pizza places in town and begged for pizza food donations. Um we tested out all of our activities that we had to make sure everything worked before the STEAM night happened. Um and side note, uh all of the some a lot of the tables were run by students uh in the NHS program. So they were all rewarded with um community

020service hours for their participation. >> And this is our friend Katie. She couldn't make it tonight. The slime didn't go too well for her, unfortunately. >> Thank you and that was really good turnout for everyone involved. And we were really happy with the turnout. >> I thought >> Excellent job. >> Keep up the good work. >> Thank you. >> Good job, both. >> Thanks. >> Good job, both. >> Good job. It's so good. >> Awesome. >> Good job. >> Okay, we have a list for public comment. Don Rev. The first three here. I just want to say that I really support coach of the year Mike Kerr and I stand behind him. He uh he seems to be great guy, known him for years and uh being coach of the year, you know, it goes

021a long way and I wish you guys would see him the way that the rest of the public sees him. That's all I've to say. >> Thank you. By the way, here. >> I'm also here to speak uh in regards to Mike Kerr and and honestly uh the handling of the situation and the optics uh from a public standpoint. Um I've known Mike Kerr for better part of 35 years. Um he coached my daughter in JO softball. Uh I honestly can't tell you that I know a better guy uh for the job and and again, coach of the year uh kind of says a lot about the job he's done. Um and back to the optics, um you know, seeing the things in the uh the news that we saw about the situation um and

022for folks that weren't in tune with it, um it certainly doesn't reflect the situation and uh I I I question the process. Uh you know, and and what was presented to the public in regards to the situation. Um I think you should should question that yourselves. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh Karen Severson. >> Um I just want to talk about uh transparency as a whole in the district. I think the transparency within the district very is severely lacking. Uh whether it be hirings and firings and why those things have taken place. It's not just about sports. These are kids' lives we're playing with here. These are kids' safety. Um I think we need to be a little more transparent on why What are What are the allegations that are happening against these people? Not

023just Mike. I do know Mike and I support Mike 100% but it's it's throughout the district. I mean, there's other people I know who have been fired and they have not been even told that they're been fired. They're on a docket. There's one today that's on a docket doesn't even know that she's technically let go. So, I think that's very uh short-sighted on on your guys' part and I think that needs to be improved. With such a small community, a lot of people talk. Um and it's not looking good for Philipsburg right now and that's unfortunate. >> Judith Marotz. >> Here. Um I'm here in support of Coach Mike Herr as well. I've known Mike for over 30 years and to be sitting with my family in my living room watching the evening news as

024we do every evening and I see about Coach Mike Herr. And to be honest with you, I'm speaking on behalf of myself, but it ripped me apart for what this has done to him personally, to his players, to his family, to his friends, what this has done. I think there was a a mistake that's been made. >> Donald Tomasic. >> Please bear with me with my throat. I've known Mike Herr for 45 years. 35 years ago he became a part of the Novasky family. My sister and her husband raised Micah when he was 12. So, he's my nephew. Micah's been through a lot in his life. He's had his ups and his downs like every one of us. He's come through hard times. I've been with him through those hard times and he's become a

025stellar young man. I don't know much about this situation. I don't get involved in school school politics as I'm don't have kids. I I guess I'm ignorant. But, um when I was dying 25 years ago Micah came to see me every week as a young kid. And when he was dying 15 years ago my family and others were there for him. He's worked for me and my company Novasky and my Jack Rabbit and he's been a stellar man and in the last 10 years he's shown that with the people he works with now. And I'm not here to say good bad. I'm just here in support of my nephew Micah. Thank you. >> Tiffany Stewart >> Hello. My name's Tiffany Stewart and I'm simply here to say that I'm in support of Mike Kerr. Work

026for a local nonprofit and I understand the whole process behind reporting and when Sam is you know, when you saw that on the news it's just completely disheartening. So, I wanted to come here to say that I'm here to support Mike. >> Brandy Vaughn >> I'm Brandy Vaughn. Um my son was announced he was um a place winner for the PJW's money wrestling and I owe that to the coaches. The people that respected him and believed in him and cared for him and pushed him to be a wrestler, okay? I now have a daughter who has played softball um for Mike Kerr from a tiny tot to chasing balls and picking up bats for the older girls. He made her into the softball player that she is today. He made a lot of those girls

027into the softball players that they are today. And what really is disheartening is the fact that some can just disregard that and make decisions based on accusations. I believe that you do have proof, you know, of the accusations. I don't know what they are. Mike doesn't know what they are. None of the girls know what they are, but you guys know what they are. So hopefully these accusations will come to light just like the accusations that have made against a lot of people here at PO as far as administration, teachers. It's just really sad the fact that some accusations that are made against teachers and administration and coaches and nurses and uh financial people they never get thrown under the bus or maybe we don't take the time to pull and pick and choose on

028who gets torn apart maybe by WTAJ maybe maybe not. I don't know. I just know that I'm here today. I support him 100% 150%. I would trust him with my daughter. Trust him with my granddaughter now. And it makes me sad that you people didn't give him the chance to be trusted by you. Thank you. >> Um Mr. Wood Hi. Good evening. Um I wrote a letter because I could go on forever then I and I don't want to bore you all and I want to go home to my family. But I can tell you that I am a very proud graduate of Philipsburg-Osceola 1997. Some of my classmates are in this very room. I have known Mike my entire life from going to the youth center, being involved in the sports and athletic program.

029I'm a former booster club president of the elementary basketball. And I am writing today out of deep concern and disappointment of you all regarding the recent termination of coach Mike Kerr. I'm not only appalled by the decision made by the school officials to remove him from the position, but not even continue to to continue through the investigation and put him on just paid time leave. No, we just terminate him. And then we publicly embarrass him on WTAJ. He has a family, a beautiful wife I got to know and talk to, many friends. The love and support has been very overwhelming. I have over 300 signatures in a week that signed a petition that do not agree with your decisions. Will we ever know why? Probably not. Just one of the many things that we will

030never know. It is an ongoing mystery. But no matter, in a community as small and connected as ours, decisions like this do not go unnoticed, nor do they go without consequence. I am one of the many voices in the town that could testify to the damage of the false accusation, public humility, and have caused to a man that has long served as a friend, mentor, leader, and coached by many. Not only is the situation affected coach Kerr, but the athletes, the families, the coaching staff who loved and believed in him. Coach Matt Green, uh Sydney Danker, I could go on. There's multiple, but they all stand beside him and honor and respect his decision. Do we want him reinstated? Absolutely. Do we want him reinstated? Will it happen? Probably not. But I really feel that

031an apology is necessary. Um You know, the the one heartbreaking thing I saw coach Mike Kerr just the other day. The distraught look, the embarrassment and embarrassment, humility when he's walking in streets that he has grown from a little tot like Chuck the masky said holding his head down. I've never seen Mike walk the street with his head down ever in my life. And it is disgusting. Y'all you really ought to be ashamed quite frankly. But in just one one week over 200 names were collected another 100 done online that's 300 names in a short amount of time. That number alone speaks many volumes. Had there been more time I believe that the outpouring support would have been much greater. I know that's your timer and my timer to quit so I will close. But

032I have reached out to the superintendent. I have reached out to Dr. Kelly Reese. The response I received was minimal. Okay, thank you. I feel this is unacceptable. I've reached out out of concern for my own son. Pretty much I've been told the same thing. Okay, thank you. When is enough enough? Have you all made a mistake? Ever in life? I'm sure that you have. So I am here today that I really feel a formal public apology is necessary. I know that this letter may not seem like much and the people surrounding this room with tears in their eyes or maybe quite honestly maybe too shy to come speak in front of a crowd. But I am not. I owe nothing to nobody in this town, this community, this school district. But as a concerned

033mother and a friend I really still have faith in my school PL that you will do the right thing and justice will prevail. I pray each of you choose to do what is right. And now with the easiest thing that I have to leave you tonight, lead with truth, lead with fairness, lead with integrity and do what you teach our our children. Respect, safety. We want to feel those things. You all just blindsided many and I hope that you take the time to consider. >> So, I am now a PA softball player and I played for coach Mike Herb since I was really little like my mom said. And I'm going to try not to get emotional because it's just dumb. It's all stupid quite frankly. Um you guys made a really big mistake and

034the people that ruined it, just want to say to them, we're the same team. Mike built us up last year and we are strong and we will still win. Like we will still succeed and we will still do like great this year. But it does help having the coach that built us up, the coach that taught us every like helped us actually become a team and just stop all the drama. And some girls just didn't quite like that and some coaches also didn't like that. And they ruined it for everyone else. But us as a team, this is our year and we're not letting anyone ruin that. And like I said and my mother said, I played for coach Mike for my whole life. I've known him my whole life. And he is the best

035guy I've ever met. He cares for the players which we don't get. We get moms and dads for coaches at this school district. We now had an amazing coach that cared for the players, loved the game, wanted to watch everyone succeed, and people just couldn't deal with the fact that they didn't have relations to someone in charge. And I just want to say I hope you guys come and support our softball team because you made the decision. Obviously, everyone here haven't heard anyone say, "I'm so glad Mike has been fired. I'm so glad that he's gone." Haven't heard any of that. All I've heard is you've made a mistake. Thank you. >> Does anyone have anything to say? Going back to the agenda. Back up Monica. Um we need to do the roll call and

036that's my fault. >> This is This is Beanie Shaw. >> Here. >> Dr. Bowmary. >> Here. >> Mrs. Bush. >> Here. >> Mrs. Humphrey. >> Here. >> Mrs. Weinstein. >> Here. >> Mr. Banks. >> Here. >> Mrs. Besta. >> Here. >> Mr. Woods. >> Here. >> We have Linda and then we have the second agenda. Um do we have a motion I need a motion to approve the February 23rd meeting and meeting that presented. >> Motion to approve. >> Motion. >> I second. >> Second. Do we need a roll call on this? No. All in favor? All right. >> I. >> No also have a I need a motion to approve the February 23rd voting meeting minutes as presented. Motion? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> All right. >> I. >> We

037have a consent agenda. If you would like anything pulled from any category, we'll go through each one separately. >> Pull item eight. >> Oh, we'll go back up again. >> That's cool. >> We'll go ahead and approve the whole agenda because I just skipped through items. >> Correct. >> Yep. >> Vote report. I can first presentation. You guys threw me out of the same here today. >> I really just make a note there was an executive session before tonight's meeting for personnel and litigation. >> Did you announce that for me? >> Mhm. >> Thank you. Presentations. Josh Banner, are you finished? >> I can go again. >> You don't have nothing else in your agenda to do today. >> Do you want me to >> Hold on. Hold on. >> I know what you're going

038>> We're going to skip the report board. This is Mrs. Harker. Mrs. Harker, you're up. >> Yes. All right. So, good evening. I am excited to share some good news from the high school. A recent article was in the Centre Daily Times and it published assessment data for surrounding Centre County schools and I'm proud to share that in the category of building level scores, PO High School outperformed every high school in Clearfield County as well at or I'm sorry, except every high school in Clearfield County and every high school in Centre County except State College High School and Tyrone High School, which is partially in Centre County. So, I'm really proud of that. Um for your reference, the Future PA Ready Index uses building level scores to evaluate individual school performance. They use attendance, testing

039proficiency and growth, and they also factor in the number of economically disadvantaged students that the school has. And you can see the exact data there in the chart that I provided in my school board notes. Um the high school academic decathlon team recently competed in the state championships in Hershey, PA. They finished sixth place overall and they placed second in the state in math and science. We had four students who took home individual medals. Grace Henry had a bronze medal in music, Davian Ritchie bronze medal in math, Gavin Kraus bronze medal in science, and Ty Thomas silver medal in speech. On Friday, we had our second blood drive of the school year. We collected 60 units of blood, which exceeds our best collection ever by 15 units. We had a number of first-time donors, and

040we also had 10 double red donors, which I recently just learned what that was. It's when they take the red blood cells only. Um so, that was a huge success for them, and I just want to remind you that the blood drive at the high school is 100% student driven, student organized, and all donations come directly from the school. Good stuff. >> Good things happening at the high school. Yeah, good job. >> Markle. >> Thank you very much. >> Good evening. Like to It's a couple of things on our board notes here. Friday, February 27th, we uh we were lucky enough to have Dr. Petishne come in and carry in the Olympic flame for our PBIS first games of the the school Olympics. Here we had the grade levels compete against each other. The kids

041had a great time and we got to celebrate positive behavior. So, that was really fun and I know the kids got a kick out of it. Couple big dates coming up at the middle school. We have Seussical Jr. coming up in mid-April, April 24th and 25th, April 26th. We also have our spring choir and band concerts. We had to move those dates because of a conflict with with track. So, we moved those to Wednesdays, April 8th and April 15th. We're sending 10 students, all eighth graders, to Oh, and one seventh grader to the regional They're regional finalists for the National Civic Bee in State College with Mr. Rishel. We have several students also going to a STEM competition with Mr. Gomola as part of their gifted education curriculum. And we have a great uh number

042of junior high athletes out. We have 11 softball, 39 baseball, 44 track and field, 34 musical, and we maxed out our sixth grade reading team with 12 kids. So, really proud of that. Thank you. >> Dr. Black >> Um it fills for Galen Elementary on to share our February students of the month. Uh the kids work hard every month that we have an assembly at the end of each month and we present certificates to the students. The teachers present it. They always get excited to and I mean the the smiles on their faces, they run up to the front, they're super excited to hear their names called. Um just want to share a couple other things. Couple weeks ago we had Read Across America Week. I want to thank everybody who was able to come

043in and read with the students. We had National Honor Society from the high school. Some of the Lady Mountie softball players came in. We had state police. We had the Penn State softball and volleyball players there. Uh we had Lavar Arrington read to both buildings and Dr. Petuchnik read to the entire school. So there's some pictures there you can see of all the the different guest readers we had and the fun we had throughout the week. And the last thing I want to share is next Wednesday, April 1st, is paraprofessional appreciation day and I always try to give a little shout out to somebody within our building. I want to thank all of our paraprofessionals for everything they do every day. They're the ones that are really behind the scenes doing a lot of work

044with supporting the teachers and the kids and and making sure the kids are successful. So I have all of our paras listed there. I want to thank them. >> Hello everybody. I'll just piggyback off Justin and Read Across America. It was a really fun week. We love celebrate we celebrate reading in our school. Dr. Petuchnik also read to our students. We had Lavar Arrington which was a huge hit across our school. Mr. John Filippi who runs the music academy locally in town and then Theo high school students came and read. Students of the month this month they were honored for to be honest and trustworthy. I'm sorry my pictures didn't come through. I had mentioned about our math 24 challenge. The snow crippled that first date but we have the makeup date in April so

045I'll be excited to report to you who how we do with that. We just completed benchmark testing. Our final round of Linkit and then we use that data for the fourth nine weeks to do some interventions. I always talk highly of our student council and this group of fifth graders this year have done a really nice job and they noticed that our classrooms weren't very clean. So they take a lot of initiatives in our building so they created the golden dustpan. They created prizes. They made posters. They went into every single classroom. Talked about what it means to keep a clean classroom, how it is being respectful. And so every Friday we're announcing the golden dust can winner, um, and then that classroom gets a little prize. So, kudos to our kids that see the

046need in our school and step up to make a difference. >> I'm going to talk a little bit about student services. Our counselors have been very busy this month. We've had our counselors and social workers from all of the schools going to our elementary schools. They're working on the social emotional needs by facilitating them in groups. Um, another group that they've been doing is called the tides group. And that is a specific group to help navigate grief and loss with our students, and it's been pretty impactful especially in our elementary schools. Our high school counselors are have come to the middle school to meet with our rising ninth graders, and have met with the high schoolers to talk about core classes and electives cuz it's almost time to start scheduling. They've also on March 12th

047our counselors at the high school took our juniors to the Clearfield fairgrounds to meet with colleges and, um, career groups so that they can help them pick a plan for after they graduate. And today was the first day of kindergarten registration at OME. We were doing it online and the parents came and they brought their little ones and it was, uh, smooth online process and it was great to see everyone and get ready for next year. >> You're up. >> Okay. >> Oh, you're just getting up and getting ready. >> I'll be short and sweet. Uh, I want to congratulate coach Fi and all of our wrestlers that were here earlier today. Uh, super exciting how wrestling ended up. Uh, hopefully moving forward in basketball uh, kids on the great track with the girls that

048go to districts for the first time in a while. Our bachi team uh, finished strong with at the tournament Um, this season. But now we're in the spring sports. I'm just hoping for some sunny days and breezes to dry up our fields and get some baseball, softball, and track and field in our home events have been canceled so far due to the weather. We'll have to rely on Shawn and our Eric Pizzello for our fields coming up here. But Yeah, at high school we have a JV mercy baseball teams, varsity softball, girls and boys varsity track. At the junior high we support A and B teams for baseball and softball and girls and boys can do co-ed with track and field. So, we are at Westmont will talk tomorrow for track. Hopefully weather cooperates. Thank

049you. >> Our school counselors and our special ed teachers are working together right now to get everything in place for state testing. It's a lot on school counselors. It's also a lot of responsibility on our special education teachers because the process for students who require accommodations is pretty regulated. So, they work really closely together to make sure that all of the kids have what they need to be able to do those tests that are required by the state. I did reach out to you the special ed teachers this month and I asked them to send me just some highlights that were going on in their classrooms for the month of March and the month of April. One of the things I wanted to talk about was that Courtney Twig who is a speech therapist at

050PE, she is partnering with Meg Beardsley who is one of our special education teachers. They have a small population of students who primarily use AAC devices or alternative communication devices. They're iPads. They have icons on them and um um lots of you might hear people refer to them as talkers. So, that's for those students, that's their primary mode of communication. And so, they have started a weekly group that works on social skills and also communication with those devices. I've been able to watch the group several times. The kids love it. They get super excited. They've done food. They've done craft activities. They've done games. So, they work They work a lot on taking turns, on sharing materials, on asking for the things that you need, on asking for help, um and building those social skills

051and communication. And Mrs. Twig brings a big basket in with her. And so, when they see when the kids see her like bringing the basket in, they know that it's time for the Friday activity and they get super excited. So, that's one of the awesome things that is happening. Um you've heard me talk about Mounty Market before, but Mr. Rossi is always trying to put Mounty Market to the forefront. So, he sent me some information as well. It's been a fantastic thing to have at the high school. Um our general education students are getting to interact more with students from our autistic support classroom or students from life skills classroom who otherwise maybe would have limited contact. It's open over the lunches and our special needs students are running the store. So, they're running the

052point of sale device. They're stocking. They're making sure that the shelves are clean. They're making sure that stuff is fronted. Um they wait on customers. They work on their communication and their social skills through that interaction as well. So, just a really fantastic stuff going on in your schools right now. >> So, if I go over the 26-27 proposed 10-year budget for expenditures. Remember last time we met, we you all remember we could see that our state revenue was pretty much minimal for 26-27. And then we look back at our revenues for the property taxes. We can see a 10-year trend of 2010-2011, where we if we kept our taxes flat for that time period, we would have had about $2.9 million in tax revenue. So, as we look at 26-27 budget year for expenditures,

053the estimated amount for 25-26 for like the last year is 38.5 35.1 million. We're estimated to come in at about 38.7. Our lowest number for 26-27 38 million is about $1.1 million less than 25-26. We're going to talk a little bit about why. This is a breakdown by different benefit type from salaries and benefits all the way down to supplies and other uses of funds. And it breaks down where the money's being spent. As you can see, about 65% of our money is on the salary and benefits level, about 14.4 million salaries, benefits of 10 million. Professional services 1.7 million, property services 355,000. Other purchased services 6.6 million. Supplies 2.2 million. And this includes things such as energy or software, curriculum. There's a lot of things that fall in under supplies. Anything that's not a

054capital asset would be considered a supply. So, anything under $5,000 that we purchase is going to fall under supplies. Property, this would be again a capital asset over $5,000 with $45,000 budgeted. And then the other objects and other uses of funds are for our our bond debt and interest down and that number is 3.5 million. Again, if you look back to last year's budget and look at the differences, you can see in salaries, um we're down about 500,000 from 2526. Benefits, 927,000 from the prior year. And we'll talk about some of the reasons why in future slides with that. Professional services down a little bit. Um right now, we have an occupational therapist um on staff. We used to have that that service um outsourced, so that's why the professional services are down. Our other

055purchased services, um again, this is our transportation services, tuition, outside tuition um for our special ed students at private schools, 6.6 million for 2627. Supplies, uh 2.2 million. And then again, if we look down at the other objects there, it's pretty uh pretty much the same for other objects, other uses of funds. One of the big change areas, again, uh professional purchased services over the years. So, we've seen increases um again, starting out in 2122 about 6.7 million dollars combined between those two um mathematical regions. When we look at 2324, you can see it jumped from 6.9 to 7.6 million or about a 10% increase. Again, in 2425, that number increased to 8.6 million. Again, what what are made out of professional services? Okay, we outsource again um our information technology, um parts for our

056facilities department, our legal um and audit services are under professional services. CIE 10 provides a lot of occupational speech therapy. And then we have um psychology services also. Our purchased services, um we have transportation, our career technology center. So, transportation is probably about $2.5 million to transport our students to the different buildings. Career technology center, almost about a million dollars, um, that goes there for our cyber and charter schools and brick and mortar schools, we're looking at about a million dollars. And then the private schools and special education students is 2 million bucks. And again, just kind of pointing out, back in 2021, we had 326 specialized students. In '25 '26, we had 396. And this isn't unique to the school district. We're seeing this in all the different school districts. One of one of

057the things that are coming up with special ed, um, costs are going up, number of special ed students, but also, um, health insurance. Again, we're going to talk about that in some future slides here. Again, if you look at salaries for '25 '26, 14.9 million. So, we have a $495,000 increase there. Benefits, 10.9, down 927. So, the majority of our change from '25 '26, the majority of it is in salaries and benefits. This was a survey that was done in '23 '24 by CIU 10. And all the different school districts that are part of that were part of the survey. And it just shows, um, we just pulled some comparable schools here, Pocono, Clearfield, Tunkhannock Valley, and our school district. And we just looked at the number of administrative positions that were in that survey.

058And so, it shows that number across there. So, the numbers in '19 '20, '20 '21, '21 '22, '22 '23, '23 '24. 17 in Tunkhannock Valley, 14 in Pocono Mountain School District. And again, um, it just kind of goes through and breaks out the average salaries for both different groups. And it just You have those listed down there. But, obviously, with the Pocono Mountain School District, we outsourced our maintenance, food service, and our IT, um, positions. So, again, those would be three positions that are in there. But again, um, as you can see, the average salary salaries range from 84,000 to I think the highest in tennis was 102,000 for 23-24. Again, this is for 26-27 looking at our administrative positions, our professional employees, and then our security employees. And so we have 14 positions budgeted

059for administration, 134 professional staff, and then five for the security positions. The proposed salaries are there. We have the average salaries across the board there, number of days that each one of those employees will be working, and then the average daily wage. So you can see the daily rate down here for administrative is that 386, for professional employees 389, and security employees 212. I can tell you by going through the CIE 10 survey that all these groups and their salaries are are within the range of all the other schools. This is our um This is a breakdown of our our hourly employees, our paraprofessional employees. We have 57 positions budgeted for 26-27. Secretary and coded positions, we have 12 positions. Food service employees, we have 26. And then for facilities, which would be our custodians

060and maintenance workers, we have 28 positions. So we have 123 total positions budgeted. If you look here, you see the total hours budgeted about $150,000. Total cost for all of that about $3,000. And here's the average hourly rates down there. They're $18 an hour, $22 an hour, 18.3, and 20. If you look on average, yeah, go ahead. >> Um well, on the last slide, just a quick question. Reading through the survey, public survey we had, um just kind of give me for an example kind of in the business office. I think we're down to how many employees now? >> We have We have two that that report to me directly in the business office. Yeah. >> Couple years ago we were at five. >> So we we initially had three people that would have So,

061the total business office before would have been There would have been four total employees in there. We're down to three, so we we're down one employee within that business office. >> All right. And then, I guess one of the things we read through when we saw raises that would have been maybe a little bit more than a percentage like an average contract, that individual would have taken on significantly more responsibility for the reduction of positions. >> Right. Our our cost in the business office for 2026-2027 is less than it would have been back in 2021. So. >> Thank you. >> Yep. Yep. And again, if you look at these average hourly rates, compare that again to that CIU 10 study that we had there. On average, we're about probably about $3 an hour higher on

062average than most of the other school districts. So, if you look at the 150,000 hours, take that times three, you're looking at over a half million dollars a year between that and benefits that that are getting paid out to to these groups. This is a breakdown of our health insurance. So, in 2021, we had 211 uh enrolled staff members on the district insurance. You can see we had 39 retirees um at that point, which made up an 18% of that total. Um a lot of those employees that would have been on the plan that were retirees um would have not even been paying for the insurance. We were paying the full plan same plan and premiums for them. The average premium cost back in 2021 was $17,315. Our total premium for the year with 211

063uh individuals is 3.6 million. Fast forward to 2025-2026, current year, we only have eight retirees on the health insurance. They Each one of those individuals pays for their premium. Uh we still pay for the claims. Go down through the groups, we have 148 people um enrolled enrolled staff members. Again, 108 for administration professional staff, which is 73% are support staff, 22 people 14.8% and facilities and which is best audio maintenance and 6.8%. The average premium cost is 25.26 of all of these groups $32,000. Um $4.7 million is what we budget for 25.26. 86% increase per enrolled staff member just in that 5-year period. Again, CIU 10 study average cost for employees spouse and family broken down by PPO and high deductible. You look at Bald Eagle, Clearfield, Penns Valley and then Philipsburg, we're about five

064grand higher a year for all of the high deductible plans. With the PPO plans were we at that point 23-24, we were 10 grand a year higher. For each one. This is fast forwarding um to current rates right now for 25.26. Um again, a single high deductible plan is a $13 million cost to the district, a family high deductible $40 million or sorry, $40,000. Um on the PPO, again, single is about $14,000. The family plans are about $40 or $44,000. Our employee premium percentage, in other words, what the employee contributes out of their paycheck is about 3% of that total. So, again, if you have about a $44,000 policy for a family, they're contributing 3% or about about $100 to $120 a month. Okay. Of course. The insurance. So, the district has a self-insured health

065plan. What that basically means is basically, we take on all the risk of the claims directly. It gives us flexibility to be able to adjust the plan. Um if we had a fully insured plan, um there would be risk of those costs going up dramatically from year to year um through rate increases. We wouldn't also recognize if we actually perform well, we wouldn't recognize those savings either. When you have a self-insured plan, you have a third-party administrator who basically goes through the day-to-day operations of the claims and processes everything for us in the self-funded program that we have. And then we would have we have a medical network, which would be the network that you know, so again, you think of like Highmark, Aetna, Geisinger, different networks that are out there. And then pharmacy networks

066that again have agreements where basically everything's either is it in network or out of network. So, in June of 2016 those first four districts left the CIECH health consortium and they forfeited $3.5 million surplus to become a member of the CIECH CI consortium. In June of 2020, the district had an accumulated deficit of about that same amount, about $3.5 million with that with the CIECH CI consortium. December 24th, the district informed the consortium that we were going to withdraw effective 6/30/25. The deficit amount had decreased, but it was still $2.9 million. At the end of April 25th, the district received two proposals with the current third-party administrator that we have, current Highmark medical network and pharmacy network, and then with a new TPA, new medical and pharmacy network. So, basically we're going to leave that

067consortium but keep all the same basic players in place. In May of 2025, the employees voted not to approve an MOA to allow a change in these networks and the TPA. The feedback that we got following the vote was that the process felt rushed. That they needed more education and a review of benefits. Again, we got these proposals in, it wasn't until like the end of April, and we needed to have a decision by the middle of May. So, fast forward this year, February 9th through the 12th, the superintendent and myself held meetings to each school district to review our self-funded health insurance plan and answer questions about proposals. About the proposed changes to the TPA and medical and pharmacy network changes. Following those meetings, we received a lot of different inquiries from different people

068asking questions about, you know, is my doctor in the network? Is my provider in network? Is this drug covered? Uh we went through and were able to answer yes to all of those questions. I I think I both had over 20 25 people reach out to me with different scenarios, and in each scenario, everything was in network. March of 26, um our PO PO Education Association voted and approved an MOA to allow a change in the TPA medical and pharmacy network. PO Education Support Professionals leaders, they actually reached out to us and notified us that they were not They were declining and not having their membership vote on the MOA. So, at this point, um that's where we're at with that process. Um mid-April, we're going to get the renewal proposals in um from our

069current proposed network, so we'll find out um what those amounts are going to come in at. For budget for 25-26, we budget $4.8 million in health insurance expenses. >> So, um I think last slide is where we were. Um with everything that you're we're talking about, whenever anyone would ask questions, I guess my question for clarification, let's say I am on the district's insurance plan, which I'm not. Say I was, and I'm going to doctor, you know, one of so-and-so. >> Yep. >> Everyone had the opportunity to ask, and every through all the research and everything that you guys did, there would be actually no changes, someone would not have to switch doctors, they wouldn't have to switch >> Right. >> anything, correct? >> Right. And then basically, they're going to get a new card.

070Because the problem, a lot of the miscommunication when we were talking with people was I have so-and-so this kind of insurance. Name the insurance company. And the reality was no, you have Philipsburg School District Self-Insurance Plan. You have access to that network. And so basically the question that had to be answered was if we switch these networks, is it is it still in network? And every time we were able to answer and say yes, it was in network. Whether whether it would be like a Penn Highlands we got questions about. Is the chiropractor up the road, is it in network? Yes. So that we were able to Yeah. >> Any change to anything, it's just simply >> Right. >> I have a new card and in like the corner just the state on it. >>

071Right. And when we get to the like I said, when we get to the next slide of pages, we'll kind of go through what what changes there would have been. So what what it would have looked like. >> And then current slide, I'm sorry. >> No, that's okay. Um >> When we have the March 2026 >> Yeah. >> With that we said the they're declining and not having membership. But what do you mean exactly by that? >> Well, what I mean by that is again, you know, I have Dave Yoder here and again the teachers were gracious enough to vote on it and they voted in favor of it and um as a group, the whole group has to kind of go, okay? So again, as you saw back on the slides prior, we have

07222 individuals in the support staff that are on health insurance. And um we went through and did education with them also. They were part of these groups that we talked with. And uh again, when we had sent out an MOA for them to review, the response we got back was is that they weren't interested in the MOA and that they weren't going to have their membership vote on it. >> So yes, for me I cuz I don't understand really how this type of stuff works. Um exactly. I don't deal with it daily basis. Right. So say if um Mr. Yoder, the teachers, they would have all come together, all the members would have had an individual vote and they would have all come together and said yes or no, and then you would basically take

073the majority wins in that situation. And we would have Is it where there's three different groups that have to approve a change? >> Correct. Correct. >> With the teachers being one. Um Who would be the >> So we have the support staff and then we have our custodial. >> Okay, custodial. That was kind of worked and there was no issues. >> Right. >> Okay, so then with this one, what you're saying basically Who Who declined this? Is it an individual or would it be like someone like Mr. Yoder who would be like the the representative of them saying we're not interested or who would be >> The leadership of that group. >> Okay, so they would not have had the 22 different people come in and cast a vote yes or no. >> Correct. >>

074So basically it's the leader saying speaking on behalf of everyone saying we're not interested in voting whatsoever. >> Correct. >> You can't do two out of three. >> No, because we are self-insured. >> Small group says we're not going then nobody goes. >> Well, correct. Because again, we're self-insured groups. They won't do a self-insured plan for a smaller group like that. So then you get into a fully insured plan. >> But the difference of where we're at now and where we could be would be X amount of dollars. >> Yeah, we're going and like I said, we're going to talk about that, but we're looking at $300,000. Yep, we're looking at 300 grand probably in savings. And we'll talk about where those savings would come from. >> Before we move on, I just as part

075of the conversation, but as far as Dave Yoder and Jackie, um part of our conversation from the fall, from my presentation in the auditorium back in October, um the teachers were teachers and the teachers union really stepped up and uh we're very appreciative of basically we meet monthly just in general, but um they came to the table what can what can we do as a team and as a school district to help reduce costs and help uh have a favorable financial path forward. And bottom line is we we sat around the table and come up with some options and just very appreciative to Dave, Jackie, and the teachers union for a while for what they've they've done in the last couple months. That's to be commended. >> Yeah. >> And then, I'm sorry. It may

076be in a future site. I think Mr. Whiston Whiston dollar amount that >> 300 grand. >> The in >> 300,000. That is just by switching the name on a card with no changes in benefits. >> Yep. So, we'll fast forward to So, these questions. What estimated savings would there be? Estimated at 300k. Put that in equivalent of real estate taxes as 3% increase in real estate tax. Where would the savings be coming from? Lower administrative costs. In other words, what we pay the TPA. Lower stop-loss premium rates for the catastrophic insurance. Currently, with the group we're with, if you don't take their stop-loss, they they charge you a stop-loss surcharge per member. So, again, why would you charge us a surcharge? Cuz you want me to take your stop-loss insurance. And then, drug rebates. Not

077receiving our drug rebates. So, again, um the more higher-end branded drugs, they receive lower rebates. Currently, the agreement that we have right now, the TPA's keeping that. And we get a credit each month per each member, but it's substantially less than what we're actually receiving. Should be receiving. So, what changes would our employees have seen if we would have made this network change? No changes to the services, no changes to copays, no changes to deductibles, no changes to premium share. That's all negotiated within a CBA. That is what it is. They would have received a new insurance card in the mail and they would have received a new health savings card. What benefits besides financial savings would there have been? We had there was additional programs with the new TPA and new network Regenix, OnPoint

078and integrated medicine, the Cleveland Clinic clinical review, Cleveland Clinic Centers of Excellence program, and First Stop Telemedicine health. Um another advantage would have been there would have been no health savings administrative fees for employees in the individual count right now. So, uh there would have been a savings there. >> Now, the one question I do have >> Yeah. >> if you have an answer, if not, when we say we have an estimated savings of 300,000 for 26, 27, now does that mean that let's say let's say our our health care is a million just to keep it simple. Um you know, if it would have if we don't make a change it'd be 1.3. Just right now we drop it down to a million to $300,000 savings, is that going to continue to stay at

079that? So, are we going to have on the on the budget line is it going to be significantly less each year moving forward or is this just a one-time >> Every every year every year that we stay with the current network that we're in in the current current setup and everything, we're forfeiting hundreds of thousands of dollars, you know, and again, it will vary depending on the amount of the branded drugs that are coming through. But again, when we looked at the 25, 26 proposals that came through, it reflected that kind of a change. Again, it will always depend on what your membership enrolls enrollees look like, but the reality is is the agreement that we're in right now, we're losing money because these thing and again, it's basically look at it like this. We're

080writing a check every month that's leaving the school district and it's going to the insurance company. That's basically what's happening every every month and that will continue as long as we stay in the current arrangement that we're in right now. >> So, we can realize over a couple of years >> million >> you know, at least a million dollars in a not too >> Yeah. >> distant future. >> Correct. Correct. Again, impact areas, health insurance renewal. It's projected to be a small decrease from from our current renewal rates. We'll have firmer renewal numbers by the second or third week in April. Again, the consortium that we were in before, never going to have a decrease. It's always going to be an increase. We look at again, if we look at last year's numbers, what we

081budgeted, we budgeted 4.8 million and we actually are proposed to come in at about 3.9. So, we're looking to save $900,000 on health insurance for 25-26. We had stayed with the consortium, we'd have been 5.1. So, we would have spent $1.2 million more for just 25-26 and that number would just keep increasing because it's going to keep getting higher. Retirement incentive. Again, Dr. Patishnock said, "I appreciate you working with with us, Dave and just trying and Dave, Jackie, um trying to work together." We had 10 professional staff take retirements resulting in a reduction in salary expense for 26-27. So, typically, we would have probably seen about a $500,000 increase in salaries. We had that $4 500,000 decrease. Something to keep in mind again, our retirement contribution for the state funded retirement system is 34% of

082$4.8 million. And that's the reality of with the health insurance. It would have been 5.1 with the consortium. So, our health insurance would have been even higher than that. So, you're looking at between the two of them, 68% of your salaries just going to those two line items. Health insurance network changes implemented would result in additional savings, 300k. Increased special education costs professional and personal services at the private schools and then we talked about that. Future budget dates. April 27th I'll come back to you guys with an adopted to adopt the proposed budget and make it available for public inspection. So this won't be final. It's part of the drill that we have to go through. We have to do this and uh make it available for public inspection. We will put a notice in

083the paper on May 12th saying that we have an intent to approve the final budget on May 26th. At the May 26th, the goal is to adopt the final budget and set tax levy. And implement the homestead and farmstead exemptions. We should have those numbers for the homestead and farmstead at the beginning of May and then we'll go from there. Um And so that's where we'll be at in the process again. So we've covered all the revenues, covered all the expenditures. What I'll tell everybody is it's a moving target still. Um we'll finalize as much as we can with the expenditures and any updates we get on revenues for this again proposed and then we'll get to the end of May and then go to public hearing again. The April 1 doesn't finalize anything. It's

084just part of the protocol of what we have to do. It'll be the May 26th where we adopt the final budget and then we set millage rates. >> So I do have a question. So if I have a small group of people do not agree >> Right. >> to the insurance. >> Right. >> Is that what we would discuss then more about what the tax increase would look like? Wait, is that >> It's going to impact Yeah, it's going to impact your tax increase because that again, when your constituents come in and say, "Well, why are my taxes going up?" This is something that you can talk about and you can say, "Well, we were able to get this in place and everything is what helped in that area because again, $700,000. >> Yeah. Okay.

085>> So, these are the things and then again, we don't we're not going to have proposals come in till the middle of April. So, there's still time for them to reconsider if they choose to, but it's this is where we're at right now. >> Okay. >> Well, you know, let me thanks everybody who's put the time in to come up with 10 retirees and all groups working together. I was trying to drill down recently and figure out what our inflation rate because what happened with hopefully what work was done here >> Right. >> we end up with a small hopefully a smaller tax increase than we first anticipated with all the work. >> Right. >> What is the inflation rate right now that's happening >> Right. >> or 2.25? Do you have that information? >>

086CPI right now is running running on average around 2.4%. So, that's where we're at. And again, right now as far as our budget goes, what we got from the state is about about a percent and quarter of our total budget. So, we got about a percent and quarter difference. >> And we had to make up partial of the projected budget for next year. >> Right. >> Compared to what we got this last year. >> Right. >> So, we have we don't forget about that. >> Right. Right. >> All right. Thank you. Good job. Any questions? I might get the rest of the agenda right. I put me out of order again. So, we do have a consent agenda. Is there anything else I'm missing? >> I want a few things pulled. Is that is that

087what you're asking? >> Well, I'll go through every letter of the agenda and as you get through it, anybody who wants to pull it, give me the letter and the number. >> Okay. >> Looking at C budget finance. Want to pull anything, let me know, please. D, building and grounds. E, community relations. F, curriculum. G, personnel. >> Are you talking, Woody? I can't hear a thing. >> Uh right now, no. Uh >> Okay. >> Which one did you want to pull? >> I want I. I want numbers three, four, five, six, and seven pulled, please. >> Go to G. Anything else under G? >> Um wait, I have something in I, I eight. >> I eight? Yes, yes. Item A will be pulled and passed. H, which is policy on my proposal number seven. H

088seven. Anything else on any item to get pulled? >> I have a couple of questions on two. >> We don't know exactly what we're looking at, yet. >> Okay. Uh We'll approve the consent agenda pulling of H seven, I two. I'm going to pull I two, also. And I three, four, five, six, seven, and eight. So, it'll be I need a motion to send it back. All right, those are what we're matching. Do I have a motion? >> Motion and a second? >> Second. >> With a motion and a second, could you pull the board, please? >> Board. >> Mrs. Vaney-Shank? >> Yes. >> Dr. Boumerhi? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Bush? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Cockerly? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Reinstein? >> Yes. >> Mr. Vance? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Best? >> Yes. >> And

089Mr. Boyd? >> Yes. >> Thank you, Carrie. >> First item was pulled. Let's see, seven. Two, three, four, five, and six. Policy, if you read eight seven, do you have any questions on that first? >> Um no, no. We can read it out. I guess I do. This policy we're adopting for 2026, is that the or what how what exactly are the rebate? >> This is the new policy. This is the the updated policy. >> Updated how? >> Pardon? >> Updated how? >> So this would be the latest So we we pull them from the Transylvania School Boards Association. So the last one was 2016. This one would have been last January, I think is when the volume one of 2025 came out. Um main items to note are going to be you're going to

090have including the administration is going to be the Title IX uh coordinator being involved. And there's also the idea of when we get down through let me look here. There's an and uh versus an or on notification. So let's use uh say of being in a vehicle, whether it's just a parent notification or a parent and the principal being notified. Um and those are the two main ones that have been communicated here in the last months. >> And this was adopted last about a year ago. >> Yeah. >> The the original >> Oh, so 824 would be 2016. >> Okay. Then Okay. >> So the this is the latest version out of PSBA. >> Okay. >> This is the nine-year update. Basically. Uh and I'm I'm the one that pulled it. And I pulled it

091for a couple of reasons. One was uh on the delegation of responsibility. making sure that everybody is informed of the policies. In their hand, email, or whatever, every employee in the district. Um Under social interactions, number eight, initiate or extend contact with student beyond the school day or outside of class without a legitimate educational reason. I thought that was a little vague on what are the good educational reasons. Um On number 10, inviting a student to the adult's home. You know, you have family friends and you have say it's an athlete and you have a friend and they come to the home, you know, what's what's the boundaries? You can't can't come over. Um Number 16, this was uh concerning talking to a student if they wanted to talk to you about some family problem

092or something, you should refer it to the appropriate school resource. I know as a teacher you're not supposed to be a counselor, but sometimes you need to be a set of ears for I get Um >> Are all those items changing? Or No, were they previously on the policy? >> Some of them were previously on policy. Uh the one on the vehicle transporting, it was the or you could have a parent or uh the principal. And that's a change. These are not all changes. Uh I was aware of policy 824 about as much as anybody else. I was >> I think in the future it would be helpful to have the previous version and the updated version with the changes highlighted cuz when I looked at the site earlier I wasn't sure what I was

093supposed to be zeroing in on them. >> Yeah, I'm just I'm trying I don't want to see anybody violate a policy because they're not aware of the policy. This is assuming that >> I think what's important to note I think I agree 100% on that point. But in the old days it used to be in a boardroom like this you would have binders over there and that's where there would be agreed upon with the with the unions that there would be a policy manual here, there would be a policy manual maybe at every office of every building and that's more or less if you wanted to access policy that's where you went. In today's day and age everyone has access to every policy that's approved right now on our website. So, the times have changed

094a little bit in the um the access to them is there. So, if we have 300 and some policies so we say, "Well, everyone ought to have this one emailed out to them." You could also make the argument that all 350 of them should be emailed out to every employee to make sure that they are aware of them. Like those are that's that's the like where do you draw the line of just saying you're accountable for every word and we're going to make sure you email them or you have you have access access to them. >> Well, I >> I agree you're whatever they get their employee handbook that it references the policies within the yearly employee handbook, correct? >> We did we did have a review but by the year yes, right. >> But

095then if it changed >> I have a I have a policy manual book binder. I was given one probably the first or second year I was on the board. And I don't know if Veronica did, but the other secretary when there was addendums, she would print out and give it to us to put back in our manual. I have a binder. I don't know if anybody else does, but I do. >> These are all pretty readily available on online, correct? So, I think if you even the public version of BoardDocs, you can go on >> Every day, yes. >> Yeah. Like you can go and you can find all the different policies. >> I think that's great for for staying up to date on the policy when it changes. I I just think it would

096be helpful to have that part of >> version. >> the specific that whether it's a word or a sentence or a paragraph to just highlight it like this is to just as what it was. This part of it was not on >> No, I agree. So, like right now, if you look on this policy, see how there is bold print? All right? That's PSBA's way of doing it to the last version. The problem was we went eight or 10 years. So, we we aren't on that last policy. We're back five five revisions maybe. So, that's where PSBA tries to do it that way. But to your point, it would make absolutely make sense to have a redline. Yeah. >> Now, Mr. White, do you have with these specific this how would we want to reword

097these to make things I guess acceptable within the terms of And is there certain things that or is it just stuff like the the specific thing or how would >> Well, no. I'm I'm not against policy at all. You know, I don't know. I realize they're all available. This one has been highlighted lately. >> The I mean like the not the I don't know 824, but the small things within. >> The things I was pointing out uh I think it could be addressed by the policy committee. Uh a couple of things. Uh >> Is this language >> I'm still but I personal feeling is I still think we're it is ready and it is done and all of our people have a hard copy of it. >> Not just coaches, but every district employee because

098several things in here that have changed since the old the older people like Mr. Blankenship used to be here yourselves. But now things have changed over time from when you were in school. >> It's a good suggestion. >> And I think the people need to be aware of it because they get in jeopardy. Let's take not writing a taking a person home as we have discussed I've discussed with other people. And if you're waiting after practice and you're going to take them home you know, 10 years ago you had no problem. You called hey mom, he's stuck here. Can I give him a ride home? And I'd like to go back on that part to say, you know, the parent needs to know or uh the principal. If get a hold of the principal, Mr.

099Polk is not going to come because of one kid. He's not going to drive up here and stay because he's waiting for a kid on the curb. >> Now, I guess for legal um our CEO represents a lot of different districts and we all typically have the same policy. And what what would be the other districts to use kind of on the particular lines that were highlighted? >> I have not had any other districts highlight these lines the same way. >> Now, I guess you know, policy are policies and they're all always, you know, very specific situations. Um >> If there's a particular revision that you would want out of what's been presented, um the board can request that it be re- referred back to committee or you would proceed with a vote and see

100if the board is in favor or not of policy as presented. >> Either way. >> So, when you when I guess with some of these with I mean with some of these things, I guess my question would be in legal interpretation. You know, you go through or we have examples of prohibited conduct um that violate professional boundaries. Now, a lot of these would be non like non-emergency situations. Um You know, do we see Is there a specific one that addresses emergency situations and it being okay to take a kid home? >> I think that you would have to the I believe what you might be asking is any situation would need a case-by-case analysis versus being able to just give a blanket legal opinion on what if this happens or what if that happens. >>

101So, um So, I guess when I just like read through all this stuff, it just seems like giving a student a ride would be one of the examples like in a non-emergency situation. That would to me just kind of reading through this would be this would more be like, you know, someone's going to I'm going to pick up a kid every day of the week. I would it would be prudent to have a parent notify coach, principal and say, "Hey, this is cuz this is how we would do like school pickup." I think if you're um you would write a letter to the principal or >> You notify the office. and so is my grandma is going to pick up my kid every day of the week. You would probably write something very very similar

102to a coach or principal. It's kind of by this guideline. Would it would seem like that's what this would be asking? >> I think that you can develop administrative regulations or procedures on how to implement the policy without adjusting or specifically stating it within the policy. >> They they like that added into the policy? >> No, not necessarily. Administrative regulations don't typically um require board approval nor are they 50/50 50/50 I'd say if if they're posted online which they certainly could be um but it's more a guidance on how your a framework for your administration to implement policy whether it's requiring notes, whether it's um whatever the how you want it to actually play out. >> All right. Did you approve this policy then come back to it at a later date and add or

103subtract? >> Absolutely. Yes. >> And if this if this was >> The old policy is still in effect. >> I but with the new changes on this the latest one I'm sure it's much better than the one from 2016. So >> Suggestions on this building. >> Right. >> And then with this we also have retirement of >> 450 and with this we were taught if let's just if we retire 450 and we put this on on or is it still still okay with the previous 824 from 2016? Or is this something that we have to make it >> So when I talked with Mr. Beard about it, we should have retired 450 when the new 824 come out. They re-numbered it. So we really had dual policies, just old verbage, new verbage, 2014 to 2016.

104This is just re-upping that 2016. So >> 450 basically >> should have went away in 2016. Okay. >> And one of the suggestions from the PSBA are based on updated laws and things like that. Correct. So we are leaning towards what PSBA is suggesting. >> Going further on? >> Anybody else? >> I have one question to answer. >> And So we'll do that >> We'll do that one separately. It'll be the policy. You made a motion. >> Need a motion. >> Second it. >> Right. We read it. Is that your motion? You're making that motion to approve? So we'll need a second. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Dr. Bowmary. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Bush. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Cookerly. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Reinstein. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bankers. >> Yes. >> Mrs.

105Vestnyski. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wood. >> No. >> And Mrs. Bainchon. >> Yes. >> Motion carried. >> Under student affairs, we have number two. >> I see through I 8. >> You have to read it when he says. >> Oh, I'm sorry. So, we have I 2 motion to accept the resignation of Friwood as junior high assistant volleyball coach effective immediately. >> First, this would be to accept his resignation, correct? >> Both. >> Motion. >> I'll motion and second. >> Second. >> I have a second. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Bush. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Cooksley. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Reinstein. >> Yes. >> Mr. Vankus. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Vesnesky. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wood. >> Abstain. >> Mrs. Bain-Shaw. >> Yes. >> And Dr. Bulmer. >> Yes. >> Motion carried. I 3 motion

106to accept the resignation of Michael Carr as the head varsity softball coach effective March 5th, 2026. >> I have a question. This is to accept the resignation. >> Both. >> Right. >> I have a motion, please. >> Motion. >> Second. Roll call. >> Mrs. Cooksley. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Reinstein. >> Yes. >> Mr. Vankus. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Vesnesky. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wood. >> No. >> Mrs. Bain-Shaw. >> Yes. >> Dr. Bulmer. >> Yes. >> And Mrs. Bush. >> No. Motion carried. >> Do we have to do the three through six separately or can we group them? >> I think separate. >> They're all pulled separately. We should follow that procedure. >> Number three. >> We're on four now. >> Yeah, we're on four now. >> Four. >> Motion to accept the resignation of

107Lois Myers as a varsity assistant softball coach effective March 4th, 2026. >> I have a question. Just to accept the resignation, correct? >> Correct. So, need a motion. >> Motion. >> Second. >> Roll call. >> Mr. Vankus. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Wesneski. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wood. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Beaney-Shaw. >> Yes. >> Dr. Bromery. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Bush. >> No. >> Mrs. Cockerly. >> Yes. >> And Mrs. Reinstein. >> Yes. >> Motion carried. >> Number five. >> Motion to accept the resignation of Cindy Sankey-Deemer as a varsity assistant softball coach effective immediately. >> I have a question. We are looking to accept the resignation. Right? >> Yes. >> But, need a motion. >> Motion. >> Second. >> Mr. Vankus. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Wesneski. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wood >> Yes. >>

108Mrs. Bain-Schwartz >> Yes. >> Dr. Bommarito >> Yes. >> Mrs. Bush >> No. >> Mrs. Cockerly >> Yes. >> Mrs. Reinstein >> Yes. >> Motion >> Number seven >> Number six >> Number four >> Question to accept the resignation of Dan Thornton as junior high head softball coach effective March 4th, 2026. >> Question >> This is to accept the resignation, correct? >> Correct. Motion >> All in favor, good. >> Any opposed? >> Motion >> Second >> All in favor >> Mhm. >> Mrs. Vesnesky >> Yes. >> Mr. Wood >> Yes. >> Mrs. Bain-Schwartz >> Yes. >> Dr. Bommarito >> Yes. >> Mrs. Bush >> No. >> Mrs. Cockerly >> Yes. >> Mrs. Reinstein >> Yes. >> Mr. Vankus >> Yes. >> Motion carried. >> Number seven, please. >> Question to accept the resignation of Abby

109Showers as a junior high assistant softball coach effective March 4th, 2026. >> My question would be we are accepting the resignation, correct? >> Correct. >> Motion >> Another motion? >> Motion >> Second >> Mr. Wood >> Yes. >> Mrs. Bain-Schwartz >> Yes. >> Dr. Pomery. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Bush. >> No. >> Mrs. Cockerline. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Reinstein. >> Yes. >> Mr. Vankus. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Vesnasky. >> Yes. >> Motion carried. >> Motion number eight. >> Motion to approve the revised list of coaches and volunteers for the 2025-2026 school year. >> Let me make a question. Let me This would be everyone after the resignation of previous staff, correct? >> That's correct. >> I'll second the motion. >> Motion. >> Second. >> Mrs. Jamie Shaw. >> Yes. >> Dr. Pomery. >> Pardon? >>

110It was >> Dr. Pomery. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Bush. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Cockerline. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Reinstein. >> Yes. >> Mr. Vankus. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Vesnasky. >> Abstain. >> And Mr. Wood. >> Yes. >> Motion carried. >> Anything else to come before the board? Motion.