May 27, 2025 RTSD School Board Business Meeting

001liberty and justice for all. I just wanted to make a note, you may have seen us adjusting technology up front here, that um Miss Rosen Bloom is actually participating remotely this evening and that's not why she that's why she's not on the days. Uh our report on executive sessions, uh the board met this evening, Tuesday, May 27th, 2025 to discuss uh contract negotiations with two of our bargaining units. the sorry the RCCWA which is food service and custodial services and the RMESPA which is our maintenance group. Uh we also met to discuss administrative personal items and tax settlement negotiations. Next on the agenda we have a report from our students. We have two elementary students here this evening with us if they would come on up. um Audrey Farber and Christina Bolognia. They are fifth

002grade students at Wayne Elementary. Welcome, ladies. Hi, my name is Christina Bolognia and I'm currently a fifth grader in Miss Charlie's class at Wayne Elementary School. Hi, my name is Audrey Farber and I'm also currently a fifth grade student at West in Mrs. Charlie's class. We are here today to update you on all that is happening at West. The end of the school year is always an exciting time at Wayne Elementary. The fifth grade has just returned from Camp Canensis, a camping tradition where we had the opportunity to meet and build relationships with fifth graders across RER. We also experienced life outside in a traditional classroom setting which was both an exciting learning experience and an exhausting one. What made it so exhausting? A little bit of the rain, but there are so many activities.

003The fifth graders are also taking time to reflect on their time at West by writing the All About Me paper on their fondest memories from school. We finished our last math test of fifth grade last week and are now and now our teachers are introducing some sixth grade topics such as percentages and ratios. The fourth graders were extremely excited to go to the Franklin Institute for their field trip today. That is the first year that Wes has had the opportunity to visit there. While at the Franklin Institute, they got their own private presentation that just the fourth graders saw. Throughout the school year, some activities and/or assemblies that they have really enjoyed are the Harriet Tman assembly acted out by Dr. Sentry and the electricity unit in science. In social studies, they are learning about

004Pennsylvania landmarks, the populations who settled in the Northeast, and earlier this year presented their individual country presentations. Christina, what country did you do last year? I did Puerto Rico, but that's actually US territory. What did you do? I did Norway. Next, in ELA, they're putting dialogue into their writing and are learning about various signposts by watching many different videos. That was one of my favorite parts of last year. Finally, in math, they are wrapping up the year by learning about conversions. They are definitely prepared for fifth grade by all that they have learned this year. In third grade, they are delight they were delighted to go on their walk to Wayne field trip for social studies to help them learn about the history of our city. During Walk to Wayne, your group of kids and

005parents picked three businesses to interview to learn more about. Audrey, we were in the same Walk to Wayne group. Do you remember? Yeah, we went to the Wayne Senior Center. This is an incredibly old Wayne tradition. Quick show of hands. Who here participated in their own walk to Wayne? Raise your hand if you saw our students out there this year. In third grade ELA, they are developing their skills in poetry by writing their own poems. The third graders are full of relief that they have successfully completed their first year of PSSAs. That is all the exciting news from the upper grades and I will be will give you a brief explanation on all the lower grades. The second graders extremely enjoyed going to Mill Grove for their 2025 field trip. El Mill Grove. They they

006learned how to dissect an owl pellet and what is inside one. They prepared for the excursion by learning about owls in science. Right now in math, they are working on a graphing project to test their skills. In writing, they are creating their very own non-fiction book. And the ELA, they are reading different non-fiction stories for examples. In first grade, each student got their own caterpillar to watch it grow into a butterfly. They left their caterpillar or butterfly at school until the release date when they all took their butterflies out to send them into the wild. I remember the butterflies. I was virtual, so I got to take mine home. Do you remember the butterflies, Christina? Yes, that was Yes. It was probably one of my favorite parts of my first grade year. And now on

007to kindergarten. All fifth graders have a kindergarten buddy, and whenever we visit with them, we always they always want to tell us what we're doing. They're always so thrilled to share, so we didn't really need to ask the teachers for this one. It is a newer tradition that the kindergarteners get to hatch their very own chicks. It is always exciting for them. They got to watch them grow before sending them back so they could grow into healthy adults. In math, they're learning how to skip count from 1 to 100. In writing, they are getting creative with their opinion writing. Finally, the kindergarters took their field trip to the Mary me farm early in the year. There they experienced what life at a farm is like. Let's take a quick look into life at SPE in

008our specialist classes. In art, each project we do tries to teach us about technique, famous artists, and the elements of art. We make clay sculptures each year and it is one everyone looks forward to. Do you think that there's a schoolwide favorite project? Yes. In fifth grade, you get to sculpt food of your choice out of cardboard and tissue paper. Then you paperiermâché and make them look like realistic foods. I remember doing that. It was really fun. Some of the specials teachers tried to collaborate. For example, we sometimes paint props in our art for concerts and music. Finally, some events coming up are the spring fair and field day. During field day, you spend part of the day outside playing games and eating water ice. At the spring fair, you can buy tickets and to

009play games and earn prizes. There are there's also a silent auction and food such as pizza and ice cream. Thank you to our amazing parents and PTO for making so many of these events possible. We would like to say a final thank you to the staff for making our Wayne Elementary journey possible. Thank you for letting us share all about West and we can't wait for our middle school path ahead. Yeah, go W. Thank you very much, ladies. And I was going to tell you before he made a scene that I could see on his face that your principal was very proud of you the entire time you were presenting. So, but he made sure everybody knew it came directly from him. Uh, thank you very much. It's always a joy for us to hear

010what's going on in the elementary school, especially for uh most of us had children at the elementary school, so it's a lot of fun to remember those years. Um, the next person up is our regular student um presenter from the high school, Martina Baseril. Welcome, Martina. Thank you. Great job with the pronunciation, by the way. Okay, so good evening everyone. I hope you're all doing well. May has been super exciting. It's been super action-packed. It's a very, very interesting month here at RHS. So, first off, let's start in the classroom and all around the buildings. So, we kicked off the month with the civil service fair on May 1st. This is where students connected like sort of a one-on-one basis with professionals in law enforcement, government, and emergency services. and it was extremely inspiring to

011explore future careers that are rooted in public service. Especially me, I was very interested in this one. So, our incredible cafeteria staff were celebrated on Lunch Heroes Day with flowers, cards, and sweet treats from grateful students and staff alike. teacher appreciation week. It ran from May 5th to May 9th. Was a blast cuz we had handmade cards and staff lunch to an ice cream truck and our community just came together to say a huge big thank you to the people who guide us every single day. And also we're proud to recognize junior Shu who earned the highest RHS score in years on the Philadelphia Classical Society's Latin exam. We also announced our class of 2025 validictorian Alexra Decane, Alexandra Dain and Salatoran Caitlyn Rogan. I probably Rochen, I probably butchered that name. Um, and congratulations

012to both for their outstanding achievements. Moving into extracurriculars. So, our students kept the energy going beyond the classroom. On May 21st, the volunteer fair brought in local organizations which is similar to the civil service fair in the the terms that they connected a one-to-one basis with them. Um they connected with students and they sparked new interest in community involvement such as volunteer opportunities, internship opportunities, and just ways that us students can get more involved in the community. We're also proud to share that Seenor Alonso, the beloved Spanish teacher, received the RUF Educator Impact Award this month. So, she was elected by a plethora of students and this honor really reflects her deep commitment to her students and also the learning environment in general. Now, let's talk about sports because our athletes truly brought the heat

013up this May. So, we celebrated senior night for boys and girls, lacrosse, track and field, varsity, baseball, and softball, which honors the hard work of our senior athletes and also closes and brings to an end a great season of sports. And on May 12th, the boys varsity baseball team won the Central League Championships with a victory over Pancress. But the best part is that it was on their senior night. We also hosted our swimming and diving recognition night on May 8th, which celebrated another successful season in the pool in the waters. And of course, prom, we can't forget about that, which happened on May 17th, was a night to remember with also prom celebration that continued. Let's not forget about the music. On May 7th, our jazz students performed at the all district jazz night

014concert and they were joined by artist Auggie Hass. It was an unforgettable experience for our musicians. Then on May 21st, our talented choir and orchestra students, they put on the spring concert with a special guest appearance, which was none other than Mrs. Duncan. Finally, today we had our eighth grade move up day. Here we saw a bunch of student leaders that led the tours. There was a Q&A panel with underassmen and also Dr. Bachelor said life lessons. So whether it was in the classroom or on the field or on the stage, May was truly a month that was full of spirit, of success, and of celebration. Thank you. Thank you, Martina. And I think actually we have some late breaking news that the boys baseball team actually has won districts this evening. Okay, Dr. Bachelor,

015that's a tough act to follow, but you're up. Yes, it is. Report from the superendent brief tonight. Good evening. It's good to see everyone. Uh just a couple remarks I want to share tonight and and thank our student presenters as well. Uh and please know our student presenters, you're free to leave at any time. Uh that you if you have homework or other things or if there's a treat of treat of ice cream because you came and presented at the schoolboard meeting. Um but I want to just mention a few things. So first off, tonight we're really excited on our agenda. Uh we have Danielle Fston. She goes by Danny. Danny is here um on the agenda to be our assistant director of student services. Uh with Mrs. Miller. Miss Miller moving on to be

016our director of student services. Um we began that search for an assistant director and we are just thrilled uh Danny brings with brings to the district a ton of experience uh experience uh as a special education uh teacher, administrator, supervisor um working in the field for many years and we're thrilled to have her here with us tonight and her husband with us. So welcome. I won't put you on the spot. Um and then donations. I want to just thank our generous donors. each month. We are really so grateful um for those who support our school district. Um the Pennsylvania Associated School personnel administrators um the award that we mentioned, I believe we mentioned already acknowledged that. Um did we acknowledge that? CH communications. Yeah, Todd's getting annoyed because we're doing it again. But uh want

017to thank for the $1,000 uh that was donated um as on behalf of Todd Stitle and all his work um and being recognized as an HR director and all of his outstanding work in the state. uh the Giant Company, Giant Food, um 2025 school kid initiative, $7,160. I believe Mr. Pauling, that's the initiative where when parents are at Giant or somebody's at Giant and they said you want to round up, it'll go to your local school district. So those of you who hear that and Giant says if you round up, it comes to local schools. It does. It comes to uh your local schools and it helps us uh you know to feed students here in the district. So I want to thank Giant and thank all of our community members who take advantage of

018that. And then would also like to thank Linda Mitchell for the electric grand piano uh donation to the school district. Again, very much appreciated. Uh this has been a musical May. Uh there's been so many concerts going on between our elementary schools, our middle school, and high school, and it's just an exciting time of the year where there's so much talent being showcased. Uh even today, uh Dr. McNamera and the high school administration had our high school uh singing groups performing for um our eighth graders when they come over, which was pretty cool. I think they're going to see a little bit of a increase in interest especially as they they encourage students to sign up and they sounded so great. So just a congratulations to all of our um you know band and coral

019directors and all of our students for their outstanding performances. And then postp prom as we already heard prom happened and postprom and again postp prom our community comes together and puts together postp prom. So, a big thank you to our our parents who not only volunteer to make it happen. Uh, and this is many months of planning. Also to our community who gives to help uh provide for our students a place where they can go after prom, somewhere that is safe, somewhere that is some students will will tell me as they they come in that it's more fun than the actual prom. I could tell you I find it more fun. Uh not that I don't love the prom, but uh the after prom, the postp prom with all the activities are truly exciting and

020a great time. And the bottom uh your bottom left corner. Yes. Bottom left corner for everyone. Uh a unique thing that the Rner parents and community does which is just phenomenal is that memory hall. And still today hanging in the high school that's the piece of postp prom that they leave up. Um, so as our kids are walking the halls, the seniors who are still walking the halls, the freshman, the sophomores, the juniors, that whole hallway is filled with pictures of our seniors from kindergarten through 12th grade. Uh, it is really quite a a it's it's wonderful to see it. Um, for the whole school to see it, that it doesn't just last one night that the administration keeps it up uh now to the end of school year. I think as long as the

021tape holds up, right, we we we've had to reapply some duct tape. Uh but it's just spectacular to see cuz uh graduation is a culmination of you know K to 12 and that celebration and the growth of all of our kids. And then commencement it's coming up June 11th uh 400 p.m. And I think board members know you're all invited as well to be uh participate. And then finally the last thing is just our upcoming events uh for May. And there's still even though there's a little time left in the year there's a lot to happen. And that concludes my remarks for this evening. want to you already beat me to it, but a shout out congratulations to the baseball team that just won districts uh tonight. That is really uh exciting. Okay, next item

022on the agenda is a fun one. We have recognitions and uh Mr. Thornton is going to help us with this one. Thank you. So Jaden, would you come on up, please? So team sports and accomplishments are awesome, but individual sports takes a a special person, and that's what we have here today with Jaden Lee. So congratulations to senior wrestler and team captain Jaden Lee for taking sixth place at the PIAA 3A state wrestling championship at 114. He earned a state medal. Jaden's performance marks a milestone for Radner wrestling. He becomes only the second wrestler in school history to medal at states and the first since 1995. That's about when I graduated. In the 2024 season, he compiled a 39 and 11 record, including 12 uh pens decisions by pens. Jaden only began wrestling as a

023freshman and has gone on to become one of the most successful wrestlers in school history, closing out his high school record with a third closing out his high school career with a 97 and 41 record. Jaden plans to continue wrestling at Indian Hills Community College in the fall. The wrestling team is coached by Justin Sullinger and assistant coach Jordan Frink. On behalf of the superintendent along with the board and the Rner community, congratulations Jaden. Uh, we want to c congratulate Jaden, his parents, and coaches on this outstanding accomplishment. Thank you. That's really wonderful. Okay, next item on the agenda is public comment. Um, we're going to start with in-person public comment. I would just ask because we've had some issues in recent months. if you're going to give public comment or if you give public

024comment if you would make sure that you've signed in at the door so we have a proper spelling of your name for the minutes. Um, also we have started recently announcing to people when we've when you've hit the three minute mark your public comment is limited to four minutes. That gives people a chance to wrap up their uh thoughts without just being suddenly interrupted and then we end promptly at four minutes. Do we have any public comment this evening? Welcome, Miss RTOR. Hello. Um, I hate talking. Make sure you state your name in the town. Sure. Sure. Sure. My name is Jessica RTOR. Uh, I live on Morris Road in Rner Township. I have a current 11th grader at Rner High School and a 2023 graduate and I've been a member of the Radner Band

025and Color Guard Association parent board for the last six years. Um, so I wanted to share some thoughts I have about the music and arts program at Radner. Both of my children have been involved. Um, okay. Students don't work their instruments, they play their instruments. Play sparks imagination, which leads to innovation. And I liken this to art and theater classes as well, where teachers encourage students to explore different projects, work with different mediums, and try different approaches to a character. This kind of artistic exploration is the good stuff, and for some kids, it's the only thing they connect with. Um, back in 2023, the RTSD paid for a music curriculum audit from it was prepared by Dr. Jenny Nef. And in it, this is a quote, "Access to high school music courses allows students to

026develop many of the soft skills in demand by employers." It's a long list. communication, time management, interpersonal skills, flexibility, problem solving, collaboration, innovation, mentoring, multitasking, and proactivity. It is important to remember these benefits, especially when scheduling courses directly from that report. Um, so given all of this, I'm concerned about potentially taking our music teachers from the classes in which they are experts and loaning them out to other classrooms. By leaving music and arts classes off the schedule, we're chipping away at the program that we've worked really hard to rebuild since CO. We've had 10 Radner musicians go to states this year. That is the PMEA district festivals in orchestra, jazz, band, and chorus. 10. We don't talk about reducing coaching staff after a sports team makes it to states. And we're looking at a 25%

027increase in band numbers next year. The arts and core subjects play play vital roles in our kids' educational success and personal development. And I don't think that we need to choose between them. And one last thing, my daughter, who just finished her sophomore year in college, is an art history major. And that decision came directly from Tracy Dean's AP art history class. So, when we're taking away these classes, you need to consider which educational paths we're interrupting or altering for our kids. That's all. Thanks. Thank you, Miss Richtor. Hello. Hi. Uh, my name is Elizabeth Wangu. I have a PhD in rehab and I'm a physical therapist working for Pen Medicine. Uh, my daughter TW class of 2019. uh she finished her master and uh bachelor's degree from Cornell University mechanical engineer Sharon Su and

028she sang in a musical. She was the uh cast a of uh um the uh Little Mermaids. She was Ariel and uh music was very important part of her life. And also my son who is now a rising senior in Raner High School and he plays clarinet and he plays for the orchestra band and he made to the state last year. This year he's a little short. He made to region and uh we're still very proud of him. So I want to echo Jess about the cutting classes as well as making a music teachers um like part-time and substitute for other classes. That is very wrong and I'll share with you why it is wrong. I have five talking points. First is the value of art education. Art and music are not extra or optional

029subjects. They are essential for a well-rounded education. They develop creativity, critical thinking, discipline, collaboration, and self-expression. Skills that's needed in every career and part of life. For example, my daughters who is a mechanical engineer has a great job, but music is still her part of life. She sings, she plays piano. and equity and opportunity. Cutting these classes, you just disproportionately affect students who may not have access to the private lessons. That's very expensive or extracurricular art programs outside of school. School is the only place many students can explore and grow in these fields. And now we're cutting it. Every student deserve access to a complete education, not just reading, writing and math, but also the arts that help them finding their voice and passion in music. Three, the damaging effect on teachers and students, reducing

030art and music teachers to part-time and reassigning them as substitutes, sending a message that their work is not valued. as if like a master in music education is inferior to a master in math. This creates low morale and risk losing talented disdicated educators are music teachers and student notice these damages for sure. They feel it when their art or music teachers is stretched thin missing from class or treated as a filled in for other subjects. It undermines the quality of education and the relationships that make school meaningful and four long-term cost of short-term cuts. These cuts may save money in the short term, but the long-term cost is great. And then better solution. We understand that district is facing budget challenges but there must be other solutions that don't involve cutting the heart of students

031education. Please let's work together teachers, parents, community members to find creative alternatives that keep our art and music programs strong and alive. Please, I plead you to you. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Did that commenter mention her town? I'm sorry. She lives in Bidmar, I believe. Sorry. What town do you live in, Dr. Sue? Bidar. Yeah, Bidmar. Miss Gil, welcome. Hi. How are you? Good evening. My name is Heather Gil. I live in St. David's, Pennsylvania. I have two daughters who attend Raner School District. They are in seventh grade and 10th grade. It is my understanding that the following RHS classes have been removed from the fall curriculum. AP music theory, advanced music theory, modern band, honors theater, one of two classes will run AP heart art history and a drawing class. My goal in

032speaking tonight is to put the Rander Township School District on a trajectory to enhance, not remove art classes. We need to have an arts program that is inclusive, diversive, which will not be achieved by removing classes. I and other parents would like to understand the process for how classes were removed. Is it a numbers issue? Is it a budget issue? Was this discussed at a schoolboard meeting or other curriculum type meeting in order for Rner Township to be transparent about the removal of classes? As a parent who is involved in the music and theater programs in both Rner Middle School and Raner High School, I'm concerned that removing these classes could result in the band director or theater director teaching other non-art classes instead of teaching classes where their enthusiasm and expertise is unmatched. I

033viewed the curriculum information for other high schools locally, and we currently offer the least amount of music, theater, and arts classes. Are we going to be leaders or followers? Are we going to be strong in sports and academics as we are in music, theater, and arts? If we reduce music and theater and art classes, we could jeopardize losing these directors to other schools that have more robust programs. Given Rander's bud budget and increase band enrollment numbers, why are we removing classes? We've already seen our numbers begin to rebound from COVID and classes are being removed. For fall of 2025, I understand that approximately 23 students from the eighth grade will be joining the marching and concert panel alone. I'm sure you're aware that our art students continue to excel and are constantly selected to attend

034the Skookul Valley Music League, Pennsylvania Music Educators Association, playing at Carnegie Hall, attending an American Music Abroad program. This year, eight students will be traveling to Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. They will be playing in each of these countries at a high level. Our program yields talented, hard-working students that are inclusive, supportive of all who are new to the program. Older, more experienced students foster a positive learning experience and are happy to teach our new and younger students moving up from the middle school. I feel bad for the students who selected these classes that will not run in the fall. How disappointing for these students to find out right before school starts that they need to select another elective. There are many benefits of music, art, and theater, some of which I echo that have

035been discussed. But most importantly, there are two paths at this point. Either we build or we remove art classes. I would like to end with a quote from Pocahontas. Sometimes the right path is not the easiest one. Let's work together to embark on the right path. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Gil. Welcome. Good e Oh my goodness. Good evening, members of the Rner School Board Committee. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Natalie Duman and I live in St. David's, Pennsylvania. I am a 2024 RHS graduate and proud alum of RNER's performing arts programs, ensembles, and classes, including technical theater, musical theater, honors acting, and AP music theory. The news that several of these electives and more are being removed from the curriculum next year is greatly upsetting to me. I

036speak on behalf of my fellow arts alumni when I say this decision was made without consideration for the benefits these courses bring. Removing these classes leave prospective arts students unprepared for college applications and courses. Currently, I am a rising sophomore at Chicago College of Performing Arts, majoring in musical theater, and I can vouch that these courses have been a major asset. For example, the AP Music Theory credit is no longer just an advantage for aspiring college musicians. It is a near necessity. According to Professor Tom Hines at Asuza Pacific University, students who don't start music theory until college often struggle, particularly those musicians whose backgrounds are primarily or exclusively oral, such as vocalists, drummers, and guitarists. Additionally, these courses give students a way to stand out in college admissions in an increasingly competitive process. By

037my count, eight or more of us from 2024's graduating class alone went on to study music or theater in college. Getting into these programs was no easy feat. And I can say without a doubt that art and music electives played a key role in our success. I understand that from the administration's perspective, enrollment numbers lower than 15 make it seem not worth it to run classes. After the effects of COVID, enrollment numbers have decreased because for almost two years, kids didn't have the same chance to pursue passions that rely on in-person interaction and are largely ensemble-based. As with other long-term effects of the pandemic, we will continue to see this impact for some time, but we must keep the opportunities open in order to see eventual growth. Interest has and will continue to increase. Even

038though elective enrollment may be lower some years, Radner is a relatively small school. These are niche subjects that cater to specific interests. With such a healthy budget and high reputation, we should provide kids with arts and music courses. But compared to other local schools, we currently offer the least number of these classes before the proposed curriculum cut cuts. Moreover, 15 students is an unreasonably high number to expect. In fact, smaller class sizes are best for the arts so that students can receive the individual attention they need. If anything, Ranner should be prioritizing a smaller teacher-to- student ratio for these courses. Surely, we can afford to put quality over quantity. Not all students who take these courses will choose theater and music as a career path, but there are so many benefits of an education in

039the arts. According to Americans for the Arts, students who take four years of arts and music classes score an average of over 150 points higher on the SAT than students who take only one half year or less. These courses foster teamwork skills, discipline, critical listening, organization, and conflict resolution. Studies also show art students develop higher levels of empathy and kindness. Rner strives to be a community where every student belongs. Given our healthy budget, cutting arts and music classes only two years after the largest construction project in the school's history to massively expand the athletics department is sending the message that Radner devalues the arts. Is that really what we want to say to these talented young adults? Please, I implore you to rethink this decision for our school, for our community, and for our students.

040Thank you. [Applause] Thank you, Miss Duman. Welcome. Uh, good evening. My name is Quinn Donovan. I am a current senior at Rner High School. I live in Villanova, Pennsylvania. Um, and I plan to pursue musical theater in college. And a lot of these courses that um are not going to be run next year are courses that I have taken part of part in specifically uh musical theater, technical theater, honors acting, and AP music theory. As someone who's going to college for musical theater, all four of the courses that I just listed helped me to make my decision to pursue that and have also helped me grow in so many different ways. And in all of those classes, I would like to emphasize the way in which a smaller class size benefits those courses. All three

041years that I've taken honors acting at Rner High School, the class size has been over 15. And that hasn't been great for the class because when you have 15 kids and you all have to work on two monologues, it's very difficult to get all that stage time all done in the first quarter. And there's it's like you don't get the attention that you need with the material that you have and it's kind of unfair to everyone. I was once in an honors acting course that had like over 20 kids and we never got anything done because there was there were just too many people to successfully get a good grip on the material that we were working with. In my AP music theory class, there are currently five students and I am so thrilled that

042that class size was so small because I was able to understand the material so well and I was able to get a lot of time with my teacher to understand these really really difficult concepts cuz music theory is a very difficult course and you need that time and it is so beneficial to have a small class size and if you are pursuing music in college you need to have that background in music theory. I as someone who was solely a vocalist that course has helped me so much in my understanding of music and I would not have had that understanding if that class size had not been so small. In my technical theater class we had a class of 10 or under 10 and that was also extremely beneficial with what we were working with

043with lighting challenges and learning how to work sound because there there are a lot of small spaces to like work if you're you can't all look at a spotlight if it's a class of 15 kids. you have to walk to the auditorium and you have to go look at the sound closet and it's so much easier when it's a smaller group of kids and you all you get something more out of it. And in my musical theater class, we also have a small class size. I think there's eight of us. And again, you get a lot more personalized attention. It's so much easier to work with songs. And almost everyone in my class, aside from me, is someone who has not taken voice lessons before. And it's so nice because they get that whole class

044period to have a voice lesson. And that is so great if you can't take voice lessons out of outside of school. And I would also like to share that I have been in core classes that had under 15 people. Last year my AP Lang class was 12 kids and that was my favorite English class ever and it's the most I have ever retained from an English class. So I would like to say that small class sizes aren't necessarily a bad thing. Thank you. Small class sizes aren't necessarily a bad thing and the arts are so so important and there's a lot of kids from Radner who have pursued the arts and who have pursued music and it's very essential that we keep these classes. Thank you, Miss Oddonovan. Uh good evening. I'm Timothy O'Donovan from

045Villanova, Pennsylvania. Uh that was my daughter who just spoke and I'm just up here for the record to echo the eloquent comments of my fellow residents and and parents. Um I have two other daughters in the RER school system uh aside from my graduating senior and as she stated, she has benefited tremendously from the arts classes offered at Rner and it has inspired her to follow her passion and pursue a BFA in her college career. I couldn't be prouder of her. uh and I would just hope and pray frankly that there that future RNER students will be given the same opportunities to develop those kinds of skills and passions for their future life. So thank you. Thank you. Welcome. Hi. Thanks. Uh my name is uh Chris Malik uh from Binmar, Pennsylvania and uh I

046have three daughters um in the Rner school district and I currently have a a ninth grader specifically who is extremely passionate about music and I just wanted to come here and again echo the great comments uh from everybody else and and really reinforce it. Um and I decided I was going to speak about 20 minutes ago so I just wrote some notes down. Um, so, uh, so a couple things. I I heard some news on on the recent, uh, cuts to music. And I know it's obviously difficult to balance a lot of the decisions that you have, but I think it's also really important to have transparency and accountability in in decision-m, especially when it directly impacts the livelihoods of students, especially a lot of these students that you see where it is truly their

047path and their passion. So, we I think I think all take it very seriously. So I think that would be the one thing out of this that I would ask for is that level of transparency in the logic, the decision-m, the options that are available. So out of anything, I just look forward to having an understanding of the very direct and clear conversations of who, what, when, and how. So really appreciate that and appreciate your time. Um, couple other comments. Um, I think we all um, expect and that's been my experience so far in the Rner School District and I want to thank you for just truly being a leader in every area. So I look at this as I think we should have the same bar and same level of expectation um in every

048area as people said whether it's sports, music and arts. And so when we see um us taking a step back and and decreasing investment in an area um with valued students and with teachers that that's a major concern for us. Um, I think as well, not just that, but to literally have students that are signed up for many months for classes that are in a key time and and path in high school and to have it without explanation can uh classes being cancelled um and having to sort of scramble last minute. I think those are again those level of transparency and and things that that we really want. Um so I think again what I would just ask out of here look forward to it is is understanding the challenges that are causing this discussion

049to happen. What are what are the issues that are happening? And I think it instead of just cutting classes behind the scenes to really especially the the people that are the stakeholders to make sure that we have a a clear um and collaborative and proactive conversation with parents to see if we can be a part of the the solution to to make sure that we can I mean there's a lot that these parents do with fundraising and other things um to to really self-fund a lot of the trips that we take and everything. So we would ask it for this coming out of here to be a collaborative thing. And the al the other thing is to not have it be a knee-jerk reaction as a lot of people talked about. um you have we

050we saw the direct impacts of COVID from a uh enrollment standpoint in these things and you can see from the seventh and eighth graders there's a whole pipeline of musicians coming in so don't look at this as a snapshot in time and then the last thing I would like to understand as well is just what is the precedence for cutting classes is it is it arbitrary or are there specific protocols that need to be followed so um anyways really appreciate your time and I just want to reiterate that um we obviously expect and appreciate Rener to be a leader in every area here and we look forward to these conversations to be part of the solution to work with you all on um on solving this. Um so thank you for your time. Thank you

051Mr. Malik. Is there anyone else? U my my name is Christine Nass and I live in Wayne. I have one daughter who's a rising ninth grader and she was very excited to be at the on the tour today, but she's also very disappointed that her music theory class was cancelled. Um, and she doesn't know that there's going to be room in any of the other electives that she had possibly been interested in at the point at which she switches. Um, I'll add that I am a certified K through2 music teacher in Pennsylvania. I'm the associate director of student performing arts at Villanova. And I just have to say I want to reiterate the depth of the effect that CO has had on all of our programs. We're seeing it at the college level. I know

052that you're seeing it here. My my daughter, the rising ninth grader, was in third grade when COVID happened. And as you know, everything had to stop. All the in contact in-person contact. And it had a huge effect on our entire profession. It has had a huge effect on the pipeline of students who come into the programs. And what we're seeing is the worst of it in the high school level at this point. And just to base numbers on what you see currently or enrollment, it it is going to bounce. And I would hate to be shortsighted in cutting things because once you cut them to get them back, it is almost impossible. like we all know that that is a reality especially if other if some of the arts teachers are expected to cover classes

053that is not their specialty. So once you start counting on those things the the road back is very difficult um and there was one other thing um which is this is Rodner we are seen as the best one of the best school districts in the nation and to gut an arts program is just not right. that that's really the bottom line for me. And as someone who did major in music, I don't expect my daughter to do so. Things like AP music, um AP music theory, which I took, got me out of a half of semester, an half a semester of work. It's like it you're really robbing the people who are going to do this as a living. And and there as we've seen there's a lot of there's a lot of interest in

054a lot of students who are considering the arts as a field and while that might not be completely valued as things such as engineering and business it is a thing and to disenfranchise the students who would have taken that path and are now robbed of it is is really disheartening. So, I I hope that the these decisions can with whatever the decision is can be revisited. Thank you so much. Thank you, Miss Nass. I know I have some recorded public comment, but welcome. No, it's fine. I I wanted to wait and have give everyone who's here in person a chance first. Welcome, Mr. Sherry. Thanks so much. Great to be with you all tonight. My name is Art Sherry and I live in St. Davids. So, um, really admire everybody's public comments tonight. I would

055like to echo their sentiment. I think the arts are so priceless, so invaluable to our students at Rner. I went to the Rner schools from kindergarten to 12th grade. I was in the band and those were some of my happiest times making great friends that I still am friends with to this day, learning how to play an instrument. There's really nothing that's more joyful than that. And I substitute taught at RER schools. I was actually banned from substitute teaching at Ryner schools. I'm not really sure why. Dr. Bachelor, if you would ever like to maybe give me an explanation for that, I would love it. But I substitute taught ban quite a bit. All those courses that you guys are going to cut. I substitute taught those. And the students there, I would say they

056were so just like joyful. They love the creativity they could have, the freedom to really pursue their passion. I think we need more of those courses. We need to expand it. If you look at where technology is headed, a lot of these courses like English class, spelling class, reading class, we could combine those. We could if if you have a class like construction or agriculture, you can combine math into that. You can combine writing into that, reading into that. And we can also give them a lifelong skill that can stay with them. And just another thing on my mind, I guess, is budget in general. So, I'm a former CPA, so I I I get a kick out of looking over the budget and seeing how money is spent. And what concerned me a bit

057is athletics. So, looking over the athletics budget, I saw that the boys lacrosse for this year, it was $69,000. We budgeted that. And then for girls lacrosse, it's $45,000. A little bit less or significantly less, I would say. Then we've got boys soccer, 46,000. Girls soccer, 43,000. Boys tennis 24,000, girls tennis 15,000. Boys basketball 68,000, girls basketball 54,000. I could continue this, but I think we're starting to see the pattern now. All right. So, I'm just curious, how is it determined? How this money is allocated? I know there's title nine, but just from an equity standpoint, how do we decide that money is going to go to each of these sports? And then we have football where it's 126,000. That seems very very high. I know we have maybe a lot of athletes that play

058football, but how is it determined to spend that much money on that one sport versus the amount of money we spend on crew or ice hockey? I think if we really want to practice what we preach when it comes to equity, we need to say, okay, this is our student population. They can do sports, they could do extracurriculars, they could do intramurals, and they each get the same budget for the year. So they could fill out a form saying, "Hey, I'm doing band, I'm doing soccer, whatever it is." And then we can determine what our budget is for each of those sports after we get that information. That's one idea. maybe something else, but I think a more equitable approach would be really valuable and really help our students because it's really about helping them

059be happy and be well and pursue their passions, right? That's what school is about. We really want their wellness. And also, at my time at RER, I noticed that it's very sedentary. Students are just sitting in the classroom in a lot of classes. But these classes that we're going to cut, the students were moving around quite a bit, right? They're jamming out, they're playing music, they're maybe painting something, they're moving around, they're really, their mind is expanding. And I think we really want that. We don't want to dull a student's mind. Right now, I think the average student spends seven hours a day looking at a screen. Is that really healthy? Is that is that helping them out? How many steps are they taking during the day? Are they reaching 10,000 steps? That could be

060a good goal for them, right? I think a healthy body and a healthy mind go hand in hand. But thank you all for your time tonight. Enjoyed it. Take care. Thank you, Mr. Sherry. Welcome. Hi, my name is Jenna Harris. I live in Wayne. I was not going to speak until I sat here and listened and I appreciate all the people before me. I have a rise I have a ninth grader in the arts and music. Arts and music to me was very valuable in the 90s. I didn't sit in front of a computer screen. My people were the music people. Music became what I enjoyed. It was not my major, but it it enriched every aspect of my high school career. I still speak to all of those people that I was in high

061school choir with. I was directed by one of the top musical performers of the 70s and 80s. He came to our high school and I look back, I still speak with him. He was highly influential in my life. I have a ninth grader who is not an academic student. He struggles in every aspect of school. He has many learning issues. The only thing he finds joy in his entire day is the music program that he is part of. He never would have wanted to come to 9th grade had he not had the amazing band director Mr. Erbina in sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. That man got my son to do something he never would have done. He creates music on his own. He is he has found his people and had he not had the

062arts in Bradner that were provided to him that would not be possible. My son is not someone who enjoys coming to school. In fact, he tells me he hates going to school every day. He does not like school. He finds it boring and he's tired of sitting in classes. But when he goes to music class and he's in the marching band and he's now embraced the world of theater and I have seen my child grow from being this child who hated getting up every day and going to school to wanting to be with his people. He has people that are just like him. He has people that he looks forward to seeing every day. He feels included. I understand it is important to balance a budget, but how do you take away a music teacher

063that had to step in the shoes of a 35-year veteran teacher and she's improving the marching band, but you've stifled her ability to recruit students because she's not allowed to do any kind of recruitment in the school day. We recruit for everything else. I'm also going to say I'm a teacher in the Philadelphia school district. We don't put a priority on our music program, our arts, or our theater program. In fact, my high school does not have anything related to theater. We have one music teacher that teaches two music classes a day. We have two art teachers that teach three art classes each a day. That is the extent of the high school students that I teach get for their arts, music, and theater. I moved to Rner during COVID because I wanted to provide

064my children with the best education possible that was equivalent to my Western PA high school experience of a highle school. And in fact, when I looked at the direct one minute remaining when I looked at what the testing scores and what was available, Ratner beats my high school by landslide and we were top in the western half of the state for many, many years. I want the best for my children. But if you are taking something that has helped my child grow and my child is not the only one. I know this when you talk to other parents. This is what our children need. I understand budgets. I understand everything that goes with it. But what really boils my blood is I drive by that beautiful $30 million stadium complex you put in. And you

065put signs up for all of the athletic teams of the things they did. But we don't want to invest in our music programs that use the same facilities. We don't want to make sure that our students are well-rounded and this is the one way we can enrich their creativeness and allow a non-academic enriching environment that allows every student to express their creativity. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Harris. Are there any other public comments in person? Okay. Are you going to play the private? Thank you. Do we have a lot of recording comments? I'm sorry. We have two two recorded comments. Okay. My name is Ann Samuel. I live in St. Louis and I have two sons that attend Radner High School who are involved in music and theater at the school. I'm concerned and disappointed

066that music, theater, and art classes have been cancelled for next year because they didn't meet enrollment thresholds during initial registration. My older son has had wonderful opportunities to develop as a musician at RHS and he plans to double major in music and a liberal arts field in college. After not being able to take at music theory junior year due to a schedule conference with viewpoint, he was looking forward to taking at my music theory senior year before learning that it was cancelled due to low enrollment. At my music theory would have been a great class for him or any future music major. He would get to study music with an academic approach rather than a performance focus for the very first time. Because college freshman music majors typically take a music placement test before starting

067their studies. AP music theory would have prepared him for his first assessment in college. Music theory is a special class in the music department drawing students from across ensembles and even solo instrumentalists. When I took music theory in high school long, long ago as a band student, an unexpected benefit was building students parallel interests who I didn't know as well because they were in support orchestra. When my son couldn't get the music theory class he wanted this year, he took 18 art history instead. From what he told me, Mr. Spear is a dedicated, experienced, and enthusiastic art history teacher who would welcome the class the chance to continue teaching the course. Throughout the school year, my son found connections between artistry and content studied in English, history, Spanish, and music. Unfortunately, next year students won't

068be able to make those types of connections in AP art history because it won't be offered either to the students who registered initially or to those who might be interested in it later. Um, if like my son, they have a schedule opening caused by a course conflict. Schedule adjustments due to conflict happen and with the elimination of art, music, and theater classes, the opportunities to add an arts class will be reduced. I understand that scheduling courses and making faculty assignments is incredibly complex and appreciate the goal of meeting the needs of the maximum number of students. I ask that the district reconsider offering AP music theory and other arts classes next year. Though some arts courses may attract a relatively small cohort of students, they can be extremely important to the students who wish to

069take them. Hi, my name is Sandy. I'm a junior at High School. I was originally planning on taking it this year. There was a schedule confided to go with the classes I knew I only had one year. Um, I understand that low enrollment. So, I think that shouldn't be surprising given the bad school. It would be surprising if we could have six class of this high level of education and I think that only looking at the amount of students in a class like this that we offer or should offer maybe theory is offered to give ad numbers within math science engineering just about any other field. in the classific high school we have three teachers as well as actual theater teacher these teachers are teach theory teacher who's even more disciplined than I was the

070reason for the lack of the lack of subject music theory is being true the same way film and artist engineering art while these classes are all classes you need to take without any background knowledge. You need musical background music theory is offered in many high schools across the country and I encourage writers stay. Thank you. That's it. Thank you. Dr. Basher, you got a lot of public comments on this. Would you like to We don't typically respond to public comment in a meeting, but I think given the the outpouring, I wondered if you wanted to say something. Sure, I'd be happy to. Thank you and thank you for all being here. Um, and I would also preface it too say that, you know, Dr. McNamera is here as well and set up an opportunity for

071all of you to be able to talk to the high school administration uh to get further details. Um, first off, the board, the administration, no one is cutting the arts. No one has any interest in cutting the arts. No one wants to cut the arts. Everybody's trying to figure out how do we encourage more of our students to stay involved in the arts and yes we did see a big decrease uh especially after COVID when I look at our band numbers and a parent had emailed me on Friday when I look at our band numbers you know in 18/19 we had 144 students signed up for band you know for next year we have 92 students signed up for band everything that's going on with our course selection process right now has nothing to do

072with let's cut this nothing Nothing is being cut. Nothing is being taken out of our course selection booklet. All those courses and programs are still there. What happens each year though is the high school administration has to look at where kids sign up. And when it comes to electives, students look at their first choice and they list often in their they have to list what's your first choice, what's your second choice, what's your third choice. The one parent talked about AP music theory. We did run that this year with only five students and we knew we were running it with too few students. We were hoping to try to build that up for this year. And sometimes when a course doesn't run one year, we then will run it the next year, hoping that okay,

073we'll capture those students. Right now, this year, as of now, we only have four students signed up for AP Music Theory. But that's before the high school even creates the schedule. So once they create the schedule, that's an AP course. The students who sign up for AP music theory are likely to be taking other AP classes. We may only have one or two students that can actually be scheduled for that class once they actually run it. Our modern band, someone mentioned, one student signed up for modern band this year. One student. Behind the scenes workshop, only three students signed up for this year. Silkcreen, only one students signed up for. Uh, integrated global studies, two students signed up for. Sculpture, we had only four students sign up for. Journalism honors, we had only one student

074sign up for. Young adult literature, we had five students sign up for. We're not running that course. Creative writing honors, we had only two students sign up. We're not running that course. They've never they haven't been cut. This is part of the normal procedure. Unfortunately, each year, topics of philosophy and writing, only two students have signed up. PE, individual and dual sports, only one student has signed up for. We're not running that course. So what's happening now is the discussion. This isn't about the board cutting. This isn't about budget. The arts, we value the arts. I don't know any board member, administrator that doesn't truly value the arts and wants to figure out how do we continue to build up these programs, especially when we see our students are making different selections. I also think

075what's compounding it sometimes is and we're looking at talking with our high school administration, we added some new electives. You know, you add an AP African-American studies. You add a women's lit course. Students are drawn to those. We have over 56 students taking those courses. When students go to a different course, there's a given trade, there's a, you know, push and pull there with a high school schedule. We want to try to run as many courses as we can. I know um select choir, for example, select choir, I believe, had only six or seven students. We went back to the teacher and I say we this is all the high school administration went back to the teacher and said find more students. So that concept that somebody said they're not allowed to advertise classes. I

076got to tell you that's not at all what goes on. The the the counseling department and the administration said go see if you get more kids talk about it in class and they were able to get select choir up from six or seven students to nine students and we are running it. Is that significantly lower than our threshold? Yes. But we're trying to pick and choose where can we try to run and where can we also when students aren't going to be in one class. Is there somewhere we can funnel them to. None of our teachers are being cut. So nobody has been cut. So we're not at jeopardy of losing a program because a teacher is being reduced in their teaching load and now they want to look somewhere else. And we haven't removed

077anything from the course selection booklet. But what I would ask and I fortunately I can't have a dialogue here with you during public comment. Sometimes I can give an answer and I'll just give a little explanation here and if you could reach out to Dr. McNamera or somehow I think everybody when you do public comment you sign in correct so somehow set up a meeting and you can see these numbers. I think the one parent talked about transparency. We're willing to share. Here are our numbers. Here are the decisions we have to make. And the decisions this year, you know, when I look at it as and because I saw the email on Friday, you know, we have in all subject areas between art, English, French, health and PE, integrated, Latin, music, science, social studies,

078teched. We have courses that aren't running. That happens. That happens any given year. And then it's where then do we try to get those students to go as those different courses don't run? They're still in our course selection booklet. And then we figure out with the department with the teachers, what can we do next year? How do we try to get more students involved? Um so we really appreciate you being here. And you're always welcome to be here at the the board meetings, but it is a challenge that we're being faced with with what our where our students are making selections and and how do you run a class when there's just one or two or three students in the class? um is where we're being challenged right now. So, I'll ask Dr. Mack to

079look at the list of people that was here and and those who want to have follow-up conversations, we'd be willing to set up those conversations and thank you for being here. And then just to also the other comment uh that was made just about our sports. Um you know, we value all the activities in our in our district and we don't prioritize one over another. And even I will have um Mr. Pauling reach out um you know, to to Mr. Sherry just to look at what those numbers are. Sometimes when you look at our budget with sports, what is deceiving is it's based on numbers. So it's not based on what sport, it's based on how many students are actually involved in that sport. Um and how many coaches does that dictate? Um what are

080the um equipment, what are the needs of that sport plays into it. Uh but we work very hard to make sure that we do have equity among our activities and our programs. So those are just the last things I wanted to mention. So thank you. Thank you. So, I I think I hope that was helpful. I I want to say on behalf of the board, we we do genuinely value the arts. At least three of us are current or former band parents. Uh which is you know why I know so many of your names and faces. Um so I I I trust that the high school and I know Dr. Lee who's doing the scheduling this year is absolutely a huge fan of music and the arts. Um so I know none of this is

081any kind of attempt to get rid of those programs. Uh we're going to move on on the agenda to the reports from the board committees. Uh we'll start with curriculum committee Dr. Babson. Okay. So the curriculum committee um met uh when was that? Recently uh we reviewed clubs, trips, academic affiliations, book adoptions, crescent ander scholarships. Um we covered the uh 2627 instructional calendar and the 25 through 28 FIDS or flexible instruction day plan. Uh additionally, Miss Cara Miller provided an overview of the actions implemented since the 23 uh pay survey results. Recommendations were released uh last year and Dr. Davich and building principles updated the committee on the district's belonging initiative. Our next curriculum committee meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 3rd at 5:00 pm. Thank you, Dr. Babson. Uh, next is the facilities committee.

082You were busy, Miss Duffy. Yes. Um, we are, uh, facility committee met on May 13th at 7 p.m. We have two items on the consent agenda tonight. The first is 1401, which is the ratification for the installation of a new incline lift. This was um, our current lift broke. So, it was an emergency. That's why it's rat ratification and um you know, it's an accessibility issue. So, we're ratifying that. 1402 um is the early demolition project. Um it came in at 438,000. Um and you know, this is pretty close to what their estimated budget was. It's a little bit over, but um so that that's on there. We also had um that's not on the consent agenda, but we did have an update on the Ethan project. Um and the good news since that um

083committee meeting was that the township did approve our land development. So that's a good hurdle. And we still need the NPEDS, which is really the sewage approval. Um that we do not um we expect to get some kind of letter indicating um the status there in the next several weeks. Our next meeting is June 3rd at 6:30 p.m. Thank you. Uh finance, Miss Solomon. Thank you. The finance committee met on May 6th at 5:00 pm. Um I have a lengthy report because we had a lot of agenda items and we do not meet in June. So we had a lot to cover so bear with me. Um we discussed a several contracts that are on the um business agenda tonight. Um, the food service contract with Essen, uh, the Bayata home health care contract, Phoenix

084ABA therapy contract, uh, building blocks behavioral an analytics services contract, and then one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. sign power school contracts for several hundred thousands of dollars worth of their several year contracts for the use of P school in many different areas and I believe all nine are on the consent agenda tonight. Um, we had the discussion of the reappointment of Brian Pauling as the board secretary, the reappointment of Melissa Klouse as the board treasurer, um, the contract with the Pennsylvania School Board Association annual renewal. [Music] Um, and we had a discussion of the board of trustees for the Delaware County Public Schools Healthc Care Trust. Also, um, we had four donations listed, but I only see three on the consent agenda tonight. Um, there was also a mention of an

085Ethan Elementary School donation from Readyear forundred $96. Is that not occurring tonight? I don't know. That came through committee. I don't see it on the board agenda, but the other three came through committee. We'll we can get that answered later. It was actually a disposal that we took off the agenda and not a donation. Yeah, it was a disposal. Okay. It's listed on here as a a donation. Disposal slashdonation, maybe. No. Okay. No. Okay. Um, let's see. We discussed um the school uh meal prices for next year and um that's all detailed in the minutes from the meeting if you want to look at that. Um confirmation of the purchasing consortium, confirmation of the depositories and the list of depositories came through committee. Um the approval of the summer business office transactions and um also

086the approval of the property tax rent rebate resolution. The approval of the public meeting schedule for 2526 school year. Approval of the memorandum of understanding between Rner Township School District and Radner Education Support Personnel Association. The election of the Delaware County Intermediate Unit Board of Directors, which is on the consent agenda. All I guess it's Wait a minute. Is it an action item tonight? Which item are you asking about? It is. Yeah, that's an action item. Usually we need a roll tonight. Yeah. Not on the consent agenda. And then finally, we had a discussion of the 2526 um proposed final budget, which will be a big action item tonight for our discussion. Um, and I already stated we do not meet in June. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Solomon. Miss Stern, how was the policy

087committee meeting this month? Thank you. Thank you. The policy committee met on uh May 6th. And on the consent agenda tonight, you have two policies that are up for a second read. Both of these policies uh were reviewed kind of as normal curriculum or normal policy cycle to review them, but one has a an addition based on some state law. And then we have three policies that are up for first read tonight. Two of them deal with our library selection which has been this topic of much interest recently. So on our consent agenda, we have policy 144 which has been reviewed by the administration and our our policy liaison met with our librarians a number of times and that is strictly dealing with the selection of books that will be in our library collections and

088clarifying our our belief as a district around um our um how we believe our librarians should go about selecting our our books for the libraries. And then the other policy is uh 145A which deals with uh if a parent were to have a concern about a book that's in our library. So what has changed since our policy meeting when I indicated that uh both 145A and B would be on our agenda is um I spoke to leadership and we talked about really what's best practices for how we go about approving policies here in RER Township School District. And the typical process is that we talk about a policy in our policy committee meeting and then we bring it forth to the board meeting and you know the board either approves it or does not. That's

089the will of the board. Based on that work we go back and do more work at the policy committee. And so uh we made the decision myself as chair and with leadership and in consultation with our superintendent that these two policies 144 and 145 are on our consent agenda. Um they may get pulled. I I believe one will be getting pulled tonight. Um but that the work of the wording of our policies, whatever the board votes tonight uh around policy 145A, which really comes down to does this board want to have a challenge option for parents or not. Um just depending on the will of the board tonight, we will see that policy or a slightly different one at the June meeting for um future work. Our next policy meeting will be June 3rd. That's

090Tuesday, June 3rd at 7:30m. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Stern. Uh the government relations and communications committee met on also on May 6th. Um we discussed a number of items which I wrote down and promptly lost. Um we talked about um the legislative Oh, I know I put it in the wrong place. We put it we talked about the um upcoming which has now happened happened the Delaware Legislative Council sponsors a breakfast um a legislative breakfast with our local legislators um and the topic at that was um artificial intelligence um it was a good breakfast um I don't know if maybe it wasn't as well advertised as past years but it was good to see some of you there um we also talked Miss Thorn sorry Miss Girtton gave us an update on um the

091value of attending PSBA advocacy day. Again, I think that fell at a difficult time this year for anyone to attend. Um but I'm sure we'll hear about it in um future years as well. And um we talked about PSBA delegates. That's to the PSBA meeting in the fall where we set the board platform. The committee didn't actually make any recommendations for policies um or for um platform recommendations to PSBA this year, but we do still need people to volunteer to attend the delegate conference in the fall. So, if you are interested in that, please let me know. Uh we will not be meeting in June. We have a truncated schedule in June. We only have one evening for committee meetings. Um we will probably meet in August, but if not, then it'll be September. still

092me. Okay. Next item on the agenda uh is item 8.01, a personal action item. The action here is that the board approves the assistant director of student services candidate for employment. The candidate we met earlier is Danielle Falston for assistant director of student services um an effective date to be determined. May I have a motion? So moved. Thank you, Miss Solomon. And a second. Second. Thank you, Miss Duffy. Is there any discussion on this item or can we call the vote? Okay. All in favor say I. I see. Okay. And Miss Rosen Plum, I'm going to ask for your Okay. Thank you. And that's a 90 vote. Uh, next item on the agenda is the election of Delaware County Intermediate Unit Board of Directors. This we pulled from the consent agenda because Miss Solomon um

093always has a conflict. um was just simpler. Um okay, so the recommended action here is that the board appointments uh I think it should be that the board appoints the members listed below to the Delaware County Intermediate Unit board of directors for the period of July 1, 2025 through June 30th, 2028. These following members have been nominated for the Delaware County Intermediate Unit Board of Directors for the period I mentioned above. Uh Betty McLaren from Chester Upland School District, Edward Harris from the Inter School District, Dr. Andrew Babson from Rander Township School District, Christine McMenan from Ridley School District, and Sheri Monroe from the Southeast Delo School District. Can I have a motion? Point of order. I'm Yes. You can vote for yourself. You can vote for yourself the same way you can in public

094elections. Vote for yourself. You can vote against yourself if you've decided you don't want the role. Thanks. It's going to be too late. Thank you, Miss Miss Stern. Can I get a second? Thank you, Miss Girtton. And all those in favor, raise hands or say I. Okay. Do I have seven on the deis? And Miss Rosen Blum. I. Okay. So, I have eight in favor and one abstension. Uh last uh or next up is the adoption of the final general fund budget for fiscal year 2025 2026. I I got you last time. Thanks, M. Uh the recommended action is that the board approve the general fund final budget resolution in its entirety for fiscal year 2025 2026 with total budget revenues and expenditures of 124,998,193 requiring a real estate levy of 15.7965 mills for each

095$1,000 of assessed valuation which represents a 0.5856 mil increase or 3.85% in the local real estate tax millillage over the 2024 2025 rate. Uh before I read this, can I have a motion and a second and then I'll read the full So moved. Thank you, Miss Solomon. Second. I I was just going to ask that, but that's why I'm going there. And the second for Mr. Thornton, can I just ask, do I need to read the full published? Perfect. I appreciate that. Good. That's why I stopped reading. Um, is there any discussion? I don't want to rush people if there was any if there were any questions or discussion. I know we talked about the budgets, Miss Solomon. Yeah, I I would like to just make a statement about it. Um, so this is really

096to the community and um I want the taxpayers to know that and I'm speaking for myself. I really wrestle with this because I'm very aware of the financial uncertainty out in the economy right now and um I think that there's somewhat of a misnomer that we can roll through a budget like this that's somewhat based on what we think inflation's going to be and that oh you know people's salaries might keep up with that and and I just want to make it clear that I don't agree with that. I think there's many people in our community that are on fixed incomes that do not keep up with these um inflation estimates. There are people that are self-employed whose income may not keep up with that. There's uncertainty about these tariffs jumping around all over the

097place. So, I think that impacts people who are self-employed. And I personally know of several people in our community who've lost jobs with um you know the girrations in um what's happening with employment. So I I want to find this the sweet spot is what I call it every year between what this community expects. They expect excellent education. we have been able to keep within our class size recommendations every year that I've been on this board. And I'm really proud of that because I think that's where the rubber hits the road is where it's teachers in front of students with the right size classes for um all students to achieve. So, it's trying to balance what the community expects versus, you know, what's really fair to ask people to pay for. Um, and there are

098there's uncertainty within our district. We're building a new elementary school that hasn't even gone out for bid yet. So, um, I want the community to know from on my behalf, you know, I struggle with this. What's the right number to put forward? Um I I do feel that this is a hefty tax increase for a lot of people. Um but I think the majority of the board feels that um this is the the right spot for us to land so that we can keep education excellent and that's what our community also demands of us. So, um I just want to say that we have looked at this in committee pretty much for several months now. Um and this is where we landed. And so I think that this is a fair budget. I'm also delighted

099that we got in below the 4%. Um not that much lower, but we got in there. Um, and so, uh, just I just want to say that I think, you know, I I want the community to know that we do not take this lightly and that we we do really appreciate, you know, that this may be a struggle for people and I want Radner to be an excellent school district, but I want it to remain affordable for the people that want their children to go here as well. So, we're trying to strike that balance. Thank you, Miss Solomon. Is there any other comment? And I just want to also speaking to our community or remind those who are might be watching. Um, and this is something that we've been talking about since January. Um, and

100I want to thank Mr. Pauling for all of his work through starting in facilities committees in January till this point. And we've had other votes on this budget. So, while we don't have a a lengthy discussion, a lengthy presentation on this tonight is because we've had so many presentations on this topic uh in previous meetings. Okay. Um seeing no other comment and yes, I would like to echo that. I I appreciate that the the budget process for people who don't know starts when the school year starts truly that all the buildings put in their requests and and it's a long process of back and forth and a lot of discussions of what do we really need and and what are we willing to sacrifice and what are we not willing to sacrifice. Um so we

101we do appreciate that the this is a tax increase for the community and and that it is a hardship for certain people. Um, and we hope that you continue to have faith in us doing our best. Um, I will call the vote now. So, all those in favor say I. Okay, I've got eight in person. Miss Rosen Bloom. I. Okay, that's a 90 vote. Uh, the next item on the agenda is the consent agenda. Um for the consent agenda, although board action is generally required, um it's often unnecessary to hold discussion on certain items. And so with the consent of the board, uh we group them together and approval is given in one motion. Um but if anyone would like to pull an individual item, I will certainly pull that and we can have a

102separate discussion. Uh I would like to pull 15.05, please. Thank you, Miss Solomon. Any Yes, I'd like to pull item I think it's 10.02. 2. I just have to open. It's uh I think it's 10.0. 10.01. Okay. And then I'm actually going to pull 1402. So with that, may I have a motion to approve items 11.01 through 5if 16 uh through6003 with the exception of items 1402 and 1505. So move I started with 11. Sorry. So motion from Dr. Babson. Can I get a second? Second. Sorry I heard Mrs. Duffy first. Okay. And can I um all in favor of approving most of the agenda? I Okay, that's 90. So, uh 10.01. Miss Stern, you pulled this item. Yes, we'll see this on the June agenda. It needs some uh minor edits. Thank you. Thank

103you. Um, I pulled 1402 only because I I just wanted to note um for our service providers, our architects, our engineers, our uh owners rep, and anyone looking to bid on future work with RNER that this number is higher than we expected. Um, and I'm not happy about it. Doesn't mean I'm not going to vote for it, but I'm not happy about it. And to the extent we see bids that are over budget to any great extent and frankly maybe even over budget um for the full project I will have trouble with that. So I hope everyone who is watching this to do their due diligence understands that money is not infinite in Rner. I think Miss Solomon has made that point and while we may be seen as a very affluent district uh it's

104not a bottomless fund. So, um, I will now make a motion to approve 14.02. Can I get a second? Second. Thank you, Miss Duffy. Uh, all in favor? I. Thank you. That's 90. Um, the last item that was pulled, Miss Solomon, that's you. It's 1505. Yes. Um, I believe this is a new policy um split off from 14 the past policy 144. Um, and so my comment about this, hold on. If you want to make a comment, just point of order. Let me put it forth as a motion and get a second and then please make your comments. So, um, it was I was made aware that this would probably get pulled. That's fine. We're all good with that. We'll have a nice conversation. Um, but I'd like to make a motion that we approve

105item 15.05, which is policy 145A. Is that good? And a second from uh Miss Laauo. Okay. Thank you, Miss Solomon. Did you have comments? Yeah. Or questions? I'm trying to I'm trying to find my So, well, the background I will give this I'll give you some cover there. Here we go. I got it. Go ahead. So, this is um what I understand is split off from the past policy 144. This all has to do with um books in the library. um how books are um put in the library and how books are going to be cared for in the library. And so um it would be my request that we include in this policy we continue to have the right for parents to put forth a challenge to a book in our system in some

106form. Um, I I just think it is an important um I'll call it right for a parent to bring forth a challenge to a book and and have everybody look at it and and decide, you know, how they feel about that. But I I think we shouldn't take away parents voice to do that. Um, so I know that there was a policy put forth or options of policies put forth in the policy committee that did entail have still having a challenge option in it. And it would be my request that we continue working on that and put something like that back into this new policy 145A. And I will just say for the board, so you know, this is a a first read. Uh if the majority of the board moves this forward as a

107first read, uh the policy committee will continue to look at this policy 145. A everything that's in it and it does in essence take away that challenge policy as it was before. We discussed it in the policy meeting an an option of 145B, a different option that would create a different challenge policy but have a similar uh concept as the previous what was part of previously 144. So for tonight for the board, if there's a majority of the board that approves this as a first read, then this is the policy that we'll continue to work on and we would no longer have we wouldn't work on 145 point B. If the m if majority of the board does not approve this tonight, then at the policy committee meeting, um we would be discussing the idea

108of okay, this wasn't point A wasn't approved. Um let's look at option B now. What does this mean? Because there wasn't a majority of the board in support of this policy. Does that make sense to you, Mr. Stern? As chair. Yeah. No, that's that's accurate. And I do want to say that even within 145A, you know, we it does still provide for if a parent has 145A is the the policy that you would follow if you are a parent who or I guess a student, but a parent who has a concern um about a a book in one of our libraries. And we've outlined a procedure where you would speak to the librarian and and the uh building principal or their design. Um, what it does have, and it would be the case in both

109policies, but what it does have is the opportunity for you as a parent to say, I I'm not comfortable with my child having access to this particular book and working that out with the um with the school, with the district uh directly on what access to a particular book your child may have. So, we do still have an option to recognize, Miss Solomon, even in 145A, that if a parent has a concern as it relates to their individual child, and that's actually a very consistent um theme that we have in several other policies, when we have a controversial topic that's being discussed in a in a classroom or when we've had speakers in the past or um assemblies and things like that, when parents have concerns as it relates to their individual child, they are

110able to bring forth those concerns and in certain cases those parents make a decision that they do not want their child to partake and so we're trying to this policy kind of strikes the balance of do we want to have a challenge or not you know what is our belief about the books and that are selected under the criteria that are set forth by the way in policy 144 but recognize if parents do have individual concerns what's their path to discuss that and address their their concerns concerns as it relates to their individual child. But a lot of the public comment that we heard, which I think gave many of us some food for thought, was that we have a lot of parents in our community who don't want any one individual parent to be

111saying what their child can have access to. So, in any event, we're going to just, you know, we'll take the guidance of the board tonight with this vote and the policy committee will move forward. Dr. Abson. Sure. a couple comments. So, looking at the um American Library Association website and their policies and directions, I mean, they're, you know, the kind of flagship organization for these types of of issues. That doesn't mean that we have to go in lock step with what they advise necessarily, but the way that I understand their recommendations to summarize very briefly is that they make a distinction between informal complaints and formal complaints. And the way that I see us writing in this revised policy here is it seems to fall along the lines of more of an informal complaint um

112sort of template. And I just think it's interesting that the American Library Association has a section where they do talk about formal complaints. And I think that um for for better, for worse, for reasons that I've already explained in in earlier meetings, I think that having a policy like that on the books is a good thing. Uh the future is unpredictable. We don't know what future boards or future administrations uh how they will be constituted. Uh what kind of decisions or range of decisions might even be possible um going forward. So, I think that having a policy on the books doesn't necessarily um ha have to lead to a detrimental outcome either way. I think it's it's good to have the policy on the books. I would say however that uh it would just mean

113that we would double down in our efforts to make sure that such a policy would fall in line with uh ideas that Miss Stern just mentioned for example that is there a way that we can word it such that one parent perhaps might not have uh a certain path uh that might not have a few bumps uh so to speak uh before it gets to uh the point where um it might get to a small committee for example. Um there are ways in other words that we could construct this uh formal complaint process that could be different and improve upon what we've seen before. Food for thought. Thanks, Miss Lao. Um, I'm in support of removing the challenge mechanism from any of our school policies. Um, just because I think something as momentous as a

114decision to ban materials from all of the students in our district should be the purview of this body alone, the school board, because we're elected by the constituents, um, to make decisions as wide-ranging and impactful as banning books. So um we could have you know the alternative which is a challenge mechanism. We could put all the bells and whistles we want on it but I would imagine that such a policy would ultimately have an appeals process that would land the issue back before this body again. And I just think it's highly um you know wasteful and inefficient to put the administration, our librarians and then also this ad hoc committee that would be formed which would consist of both paid employees and staff of the district in addition to volunteers from the community. I would

115imagine parents and students um to put them through all of that which is extremely timeconsuming um to ultimately have it back to this schoolboard which is where it belongs right so for me um you know I'm all for um you know providing parents with the channel and venue to voice their concerns even ones that you know they believe should apply to every student in the district right like parents shouldn't you know they're not restricted to voicing concerns about their own child, right? I mean, they're welcome to show up at these board meetings and curriculum committee meetings or any other of our meetings and deliver public comment, right? And that avenue will always exist for them. So, if they do have concerns about titles in our libraries, I invite them to come to our board meetings

116or our curriculum committee meetings and voice their concerns that way if they want it to apply to the entire school district. So I just, you know, I wouldn't want to give them, you know, a challenge mechanism that has all the bells and whistles, but ultimately they're really not getting, you know, what they want, which is the ability to make a decision, a policy type of decision that affects all students in the district because I, you know, I strongly believe that kind of decision should only be reserved for the school board. So, I would recommend that they run for school board themselves or they come and they deliver comment and let us know how they think we should be doing our jobs. But I just think to um preserve the challenge mechanism to put in all

117this work, try to soup it up, put all the bells and whistles on it. Um you know, I I just think that's almost like policy theater. Um and ultimately I think even parents themselves who would um take advantage of such a policy would see through that and really you know see it as more performative than actually a substantive policy that they can actually use. Thank you Miss Laauo. Any other comments? I have I sorry Mr. Thornon. Thank you. I certainly take Miss Solomon's comments about uh parental input seriously. I I think that's an important aspect. I do think that's answered in this question. And as I think about applying the opt out or the challenge feature, I think about the conversation we had earlier. There's certain things that this board and this administration has to

118make decisions on and be accountable and responsible for. Uh why don't we have uh the opport opportunity for people to challenge classes? Why don't we have the opportunity for people to challenge sports programs? I think there's a basic pro level that we must uh abide as a board. I think the policy as written certainly provides opportunity for for folks to make comments and even opt their own child out. But I think we get into a slippery slope when we start uh opening doors for policies and procedures and books and programs and classes to be challenged. Thank you, Mr. Thornton. I Yes, Miss Solomon. Are you going to make comments or are you calling the vote? I was going to make the comment and I'm call I I I just I want to say that um

119you know we've we've seen we have lots of different types of policies and sometimes by necessity of the topic and the complexity of an issue we have to come up with a very lengthy policy. Sometimes it's just to cover all the issues that come up in a law. There's not a legal requirement to have a policy on book challenges. Um I think the board in this recent um review has has spoken on the concept of re removing books from our libraries based solely on the complaint of a a single or few members of the community. Um and I think it's a lot simpler especially in terms of the time that it involves to to and to host a book challenge um for the board to take this approach. Policies are fluid. this is the, you

120know, if this is the policy the board approves and two years from now there's outcry or we're real, we realize we made a mistake, the board can revisit it. Um, but I I would advocate for the simplicity of this approach, especially because it still allows for parents to address the specific needs um or concerns they may have around their students. And with that, I'm going to call the vote. Oh, sorry. Can I just ask one question? Um, and I I'm comfortable too with the spirit of um of what we said with 145A. I just in terms of I don't want to word smith here, but in terms of giving feedback, I'm just asking do we give it to Miss Stern or you know people who don't serve on the committee because I'm I'm comfortable with

121the spirit. I just would have some comments on the content and the specific wording and so just that I just want to recognize that that work will be done in the next committee policy meeting. Hold on. I I do want to be clear and I did go over this in the policy meeting and Mr. Kristoff is here so he can correct me if anything I say is substantially incorrect. If this policy passes tonight, it is the first read of this policy. We'll take it back to the policy committee meeting and it will it will have a review at the policy committee meeting for a second read. There's very few changes you can make to a policy when it's at second read without it um triggering the requirement for it to have another first read. So

122I'm happy to have any feedback from anyone. Please reach out to me. I try to make myself available. But, you know, just be aware that this is essentially the the policy. And if at the policy committee meeting or sometime before that we decide for whatever reasons that we do want to make more substantive changes, then the committee would simply review it again as a first read and it would be on June's agenda for a first read and then on July or August for a second read. Mr. Kristoff, did I state all that correctly? Uh, that's correct. And that's a process we have done numerous times. So, thank you. And I think in some ways the the purpose of this vote was specifically to make sure that the board was giving guidance to the policy committee

123that this is the right direction or the direction or the direction. This is the board's direction. Yes. Could you humor me with just one more comment? Sure. I think the ship is sinking. But um I just want to say historically we have had this policy on the books for many many years and it hasn't failed us. Um I understand and I agree with my fellow board members that the decision about what belongs in library belongs with the school board. And so we corrected that. I think you know I don't know the the vote did not come out unanimously but I think this board unanimously wanted those books back in the library. So, what I'm trying to express, and probably not very well, but um is that I think that Andrew alluded to it. There could

124be, you know, maybe a librarian. It's never happened before that they haven't been awesome, but maybe we have an a librarian that's putting things in the library that we don't discover. I'm not in the library reading everything that's in there. um and that parents discover. And so they have an informal channel here, but there's nothing that allows it to really the challenge mechanism for parents allows it almost to streamline up to a level of administration where it's looked at seriously very quickly if there should be something that you know gets through. Um, and I I think we're putting pressure on our librarians by taking away the parental challenge. We're taking away the community aspect of deciding what's in our libraries. And I I don't think that we should do that. We're we're putting faith in,

125you know, sort of an administrative structure that we're saying they can make all the decisions. That's easy for us. That streamlines our job and that's efficient. But is that really correct? I think that our community members and parents should have a right to do that without running for school board outright. I mean, I think that the policy, and again, I don't know how you're going to work it. I think that there should be a component that does allow for a parental challenge. um not just an informal one but a but a formal challenge that basically respects the rights that there's really different opinions in a community and we should take those seriously and you know we we came to a decision that I'm really comfortable with the books are back in the library let's move

126on why are we taking away um a mechanism that I I feel our parents should have so Miss Salman I'm just going to say I don't think that the librarians actually appre appreciated the book challenges that they've gone through. I'm not going to speak for them, but that's been my impression. I think that tonight the the members of the community came and spoke to us about music and arts. It's very obvious to me um that at least a a a not insignificant portion of the community knows how to email us, knows how to show up to a board meeting and a committee meeting. when they're unhappy about something, they show up and they talk to us. And and I I want to echo Miss Laauo's sentiment. Even if you think we disagree with you, it

127doesn't mean we're not willing to hear you. We are publicly elected officials and we consider that a a personal and a professional obligation to hear members of the community. I don't think people have trouble finding us and coming and saying when they're unhappy. And I think if there's a book in the library that even one parent is unhappy about, they will find a way to either show up in person or call and give the public comment that we created, the recorded public comment that we've had in the past. Yes. But by taking away the parent challenge, it goes nowhere. No, that's not Lydia. If people come to the board meeting and we can sit there and go, okay, but we can or we can look around and go, did you know that this book is

128in the library? And call Dr. Bachelor on the carpet. I don't think people here are afraid to do those things. I don't think you should be on a school board if you're afraid to approach the administration about these things. You certainly would. If somebody came to you and said, "There's a really offensive book in the library." You would ask. That's your job as a schoolboard member. But Sarah, you don't know subsequent boards and you don't know subsequent administrations. And without a formal mechanism to do that, it can fall on deaf ears. And you could all say, "Oh, well, the administration took care of it." And it never comes to light. Somebody could stand up and say that, but they have no teeth behind what they're trying to say without the provincial challenge in the policy.

129Well, I disagree and I'd like to call the vote if people don't mind. Well, actually, I just wanted to take ahead literally half a minute. I actually have the right to call the vote and not be interrupted, but go for it. Okay. Sorry. Um, I just want to just I'm just going to repeat some points that I made just to kind of round things up. Respectfully, if you've already made the points, I think I can call the vote and I think we have executive session to go into after. Can you give me 20 seconds to just repeat my points, please? Um, the just to repeat my points, the ALA has a formal policy template on their website. Why would they if they didn't think that the experts didn't think that this was an important mechanism?

130Number one. Number two, I'm just going to underline again, I think there's a little bit of a recency bias here that we don't know what the future holds. So, I think having a mechanism. Third of all, um we can we can significantly edit the policy to make it much better. So, uh finally, the board has the power to do many things. Uh we have experts that we hire to make choices, but yeah, um there is a dynamic there. So, um, saying that the board has the power to do it, that's sort of understood. So, those are just some comments. Thank you for the time. Appreciate it. Thank you. Okay, I'm going to call the vote. All those in favor of 1505 on the agenda. Say I raise your hand. 3456. Miss Rosen Bloom. Just so

131I know if you're going to be an I or an A. Oh, did we lose her? Sorry. Okay. So, I I think I have six in favor. I Sarah I Okay, so I have seven in favor and all those opposed. Two. Okay. Seven to two. Um the that is the full consent agenda which brings us to item 17 reports from the board liaison and community announcements. Miss Solomon, what's the report from the community college this month? No report. Okay. Dr. Babson from the IU. Uh recently we had uh when was it? It was last week. We had our um annual uh employee appreciation dinner. It's very nice. Great. Thank you. Um I'm just going to make one last plug for the PSBA delegates. Uh and doc, Mr. Thornton, the PSBA. Nothing in addition. Do we

132have the date of that in the fall? Uh I do not October 21st and I'll volunteer to be a delegate. Thank you, M. And people are welcome to stay at my cabin which is 15 minutes from Kalahari if they don't want to stay at Kalahari. So even better. and see if the board just might volunteer then. Are there any other community? I'm sorry. Yeah. No, the community. Could you remind me of the sing along that I'm not able to read that? Yes. Thank you. Uh there is in true fashion, as one of the commenters said, our community is very good at finding ways to fundra. Uh and the Rner High School band is fundraising um Sunday, June 1st, 2025th. This is actually fun. It's a magical singalong by um concert event by the Rner High

133School band in the Rner High School auditorium from 11 am to 1 p.m. again on Sunday, June 1st. And they will be playing uh various songs, I think primarily in the Disney theme. So, dress up as your favorite Disney character and join in the singing activities along with some photo opportunities. There will be light brunch options and prince and princess trinkets available for purchase. The tickets are $5 and I believe information on this is probably available in the RNER reader, but you can also just show up at the high school on that Sunday. So bum my three little princesses will not be here. Um, can I make one comment that it's just pertaining to a lot of the public comment we heard today in terms of trying to um increase interest in the band and

134um I sit on the RAF grants committee and we just approved um RAF just approved a grant that is um actually going to send band members to Penn State for um to go march to to have an experience marching with it's called the big blue I think the big blue band. So, it's really terrific. They're going to um you know, it's going to be I don't know if it's an overnight or if it's a one day or but um so so I just want to say out there there is you know concerted effort to address what we saw as a real dip in interest during COVID and trying to reignite that fire and get back to preandemic levels. So, thank you. That's exciting to hear. Um any other community announcements? Okay, then I'm going to

135move on to the board announcements. Um the board has two sets of meetings in June. On Tuesday, June 3, our curriculum, facilities, and policy committees will meet at the district building in our garden level. Uh and on Tuesday, June 10th at 7 p.m. we will be here for our regular business meeting. Final item is the live public comment. Is there any public comment in the room? Welcome another band parent. Hi, good evening Rachel Skarlaclo in Wayne, Pennsylvania. Anything else? Is that right? Okay. I'm actually going to talk about the band. Uh but also more broadly about class sizes and then I want to touch on quickly 14 policy 145 because my eldest turns 21 on June 3rd and we won't be here for the policy meeting. So sorry. Um, so first of all, thank you.

136I know there was a rousing discussion earlier. We were watching it while we were eating dinner, which is why we rushed over here. Uh, I'm glad we attended tonight and I want to thank the board for all the hard work and Dr. Bachelor uh that you've done this year and and your patience and your careful listening to all of the public comments we've had. Um, so regarding class size, I just want to mention that tonight my son would be here, but he's studying for his multilinear variable final tomorrow. He's also a German AP student as well as in the band. So all of those are possibly affected by reducing class sizes, right? Or uh not running uh classes that have less than 15 students. So that raises for me a couple of questions. What happens

137to his opportunities? Well, he's graduating so his opportunities are set. but future students opportunities when things that make the district really special and give students unique portfolios to apply to college when those opportunities are removed. So that is one concern that I have. Uh the other concern I have is what happens to the other class sizes when students who might be one of 10 or one of six now have to get folded into other courses. Do we raise class sizes? And I I didn't hear all of the public comments, so maybe that was addressed tonight. But that's a concern that I have is that as we reduce uh the number of courses that are optioned, the class sizes by uh default have to rise, right? The water rises, right? Um so that's something I'm concerned

138about. And then generally, I am a band parent and I have my eldest student is uh at the school of the art institute of Chicago. So, I feel very strongly about supporting the arts and I want to just really put a plug in. When uh my kids were in uh orchestra, there was a orchestra teacher in the middle school who was very short. Do you remember who that was? Elaine, right? Who said that? uh she told us that the best thing you can do for your kids when they're struggling with a math test is to put their musical instrument in their hand and let them play it because the music the way you learn music channels different parts of your brain that activates the math. So there's like also science behind the value of having

139a comprehensive program. So that's it for my comment on class sizes. I want to like remind us that that's what makes Radner so special is this variety of courses we offer. Um and really my kids have benefited from it. So thank you very much. Now to policy 145. I really would love to hear uh some integration of language in the policy that has opportunities for recommendations and suggestions as well. This would allow us to um have a voice if something is removed that we feel as parents we would like to have back in one minute. Is that what you said? Okay. That that would give us a voice to allow our uh things that we feel are missing in the district to also be written into it. Right. It's just a balance. If you can

140remove something, you should be allowed to recommend something. So, that's something I'd like to see in the policy. And let's see there. Let's see. There were two things I wanted to say. Um, I do have some concerns about policy 145 having the decision to sit on the shoulders of the superintendent. It raises concerns about transparency. One of the things that's nice about the challenge is there's a documentation of it right now. And if that rem is removed, then what are what are the opportunities to learn when things are miss uh have been removed from the district because of a complaint. Um I also just want to point out that the existing challenge policy also bypasses the school board to um Miss Solomon's comment earlier that only became aware the school the school board only became

141aware of it once there became some parental feedback and that is all I want to say tonight. Thank you very much. Have a good summer. Thank you. Is there any other public comment in the room? I'm sorry. And Mrs. You don't have to apologize. Oh, it just come up. Sorry, I didn't know there was another Just I did give some comments after if you have a chance to go back to the meeting and then Dr. Back offered to meet with people about the ban questions as well. Just wanted to let you know. Hi. Uh Vincent Low, Wayne, Pennsylvania. Um I'm Rachel's husband. I also have two children who uh the oldest one gradu graduated, you know, a number of years ago and uh have a senior right now. And um we just went to the

142Willows before the township meeting and um listened to the honor jazz band play and they are wonderful. And I said to my do to my child to my eldest Izzy and say if we were to have a wedding I will hire this band cuz they were so good you know. Um also I'm not sure if you gone to Legally Blonde or last year in Chicago where they were just just amazing. The theater kids were amazing. The pit orchestra is amazing. So, I just want to echo that, you know, like I don't know music. Um, and I'm so jealous. My kids know music and they benefited from elementary school, middle school, and high school. They just learned music. Um, you know, Izzy played a flute, Benji played trombone and all of them. And and they are

143wonderful musicians and I think this is something they're going to take with them for the rest of their lives. And so I just want to urge the township to continue to spend resources on promoting arts and music and theater and this is so important to them, you know, and thank you. Thank you, Mr. Low. Legally Blonde was great, but there's still some questions over the uh opening night. Harvard professor was a little questionable that night. Yes. Okay. Uh, seeing seeing no other public comment, I would looking for a motion to adjurnn. Is that Miss Stern? Did I hear that? Second. And Miss Solomon. And we're going to take a vote on that. All in favor? All right. Miss Rosenlum, can I get your vote, too? I. There we go. Up.