001Good evening. Welcome to the January legislative meeting of the Rose Tree Media School Board. This meeting is called to order. Please stand if you are able for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Dr. Scott, Dr. >> Tonita Austin >> here. >> Michael Fox >> here. >> Jackie Gusig >> here. >> Susan Henderson Udis >> here. >> Shelley Hunt >> here. >> Carlen Kreniki >> here. >> Miles Foster Learner >> here. >> Erica Jonahan. >> Grace Moore. >> Ken Dennis >> here. >> Terresa Napsson Williams >> here. Madame President, we have a quorum. >> Thank you, Dr. Scott. We'll move to the approval of minutes. Is there
002a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Discussion. All in favor? >> I. >> Opposed? Motion passes. We'll move down to presentations and awards. We have board of school director recognition. Dr. Napster Williams, January is school director recognition month. Schoolboard members volunteer more than 20 hours each month to provide effective governance, ensuring a clear and shared vision for public education. They set high standards for all students, approve budgets, adopt policies, and take on the many responsibilities necessary to support the efficient and effective operation of the district. The challenges and difficult decisions faced by boards of education often extend well beyond routine educational matters. Rose Tree Media School District is proud to join PSBA in recognizing our board of school directors for their outstanding service. Thank you for your continued commitment to our students, staff, and
003community. Thank you all board members. And to our elected board members and our student board members, there's a special little candy bouquet that was prepared by the students in our TOPS shop program and delivered earlier today for each one of you. As you go through it, there are little notes that are on each of the different types of candy, specifically highlighting and thanking you for the work that you do. So on those students put it together on behalf of all of the children, the 4,000 plus kids who are here to thank you for what you do. We'll move to reports. We'll start with the student le the most discussed by far has been the change regarding AP classes. In the previous month, me and the other student representatives have had the most students come up
004to us in a one-month time span than in any other period for any other issue. They came to us specifically for the affforementioned changes. The issue has been widely discussed among the student body and is also widely disapproved of. Most students feel that they will be become more stressed out during the next school year with the new changes and most feel that if they have a first semester AP class, they will struggle when the AP test comes around the following May. We understand that it may not be possible to change what has already been scheduled. And as such, we simply ask for better transparency the next time that things like these are being discussed. Another observation we have been discussing is Penrest not being involved with MLK Day of Service like the rest of RTMSD.
005We believe that our school could make a change by adding to the great and amazing things that people already do all over our country for this incredible holiday. Some Pankress students have the ability to drive which would make others lives easier and create the possibility that we facilitate deliveries that younger students from other schools are simply not able to do. Some ideas that we had were working with the media fellowship house, the YMC togetherhood pantry or cradles to crowns clothing drives which you can find all in Delo. The best part about Penrest is we can get the help of our amazing clubs and organizations that already exist to give feedback and contribute to this day of service. Some of our clubs and organizations strictly do exactly what MLK day is about and working with them
006could be the perfect way to start this goal. Another way we could achieve Pankress starting MLK day is working with the group that Springton Lake uses. Springton is a great example of what we would like to achieve in our goal for Penrest becoming an amazing MLK day of service supporters. Thank you very much. Dr. Dash, can I just um respond real quick to to the students? First of all, uh all three of you always do a beautiful job. I appreciate you being back uh for 2026. Grace, as we get ready, right, only a few more months before graduation. Um Miles, thank you for the comments that you guys made uh or that you made on behalf of the three of you. I would say two things. One, with the AP stuff, definitely continue to meet
007with Mr. Roth, right? Sit down, get regular scheduled meetings. I know there's some meetings took place this week. Um he and I have had some conversation. you know, your voices, your input, your perspective is incredibly valuable what that looks like. Uh, the second piece, I agree wholeheartedly, there's always more that we can do, especially with with MLK. Um, I would say, and I'm happy to sit down with you as well, let's start to talk about that for next year, right? Because the planning for next January because it doesn't need to be just a one-day event, right? What leads up to that? What can lead up to it? What can surround the day? Um, but let's start to talk about what things can we add and say that they cover, you know, the student body here
008or involve the student body or invite the student body for that day of service. There are so many amazing things that go on in this high school and adjacent to this high school involving our students throughout the course of the year that I think we can target, you know, specific things for for next year. So, let's talk about that. Let's think about what does that look like? what student organizations because you know you three are are great examples of the student leaders who exist in this school um clubs organizations, music uh music groups, athletic teams um that we can take advantage of and if these each group or each individual you know takes on a small piece or a small part uh we can make something truly tremendous. So start to think about that. Let's
009talk about it. All right, thank you for bringing it up. >> All right, next. Next up, board liaison reports. We'll start with uh Delaware County Community College. Miss Hunt. So, three quick things. One is the new campus open Tuesday was the first day of class. Um everybody's very excited to be in this incredible new facility. That's the quick one. Um then the other part is I know that I've shared many times that Delaware County um community college services a wide variety of students from our high school students who are doing dual enrollment to our graduates who go there for their early um training and education for their for the next stage of their their lives and their careers for people who are retired people who want just want to learn something. But also a large
010part of their um base is uh a a a group that has generally been um unable to achieve higher education and they've go above and beyond to support their students with food pantries and clothing closets and things like that to ensure that their students can continue their education um by getting extra support um financial support for their basic um living things. So, one of the good things that happened recently is that um there is a Delaware County Community College Educational Foundation. If anybody ever wants to donate it, it goes to these students. But this week um they received a $16,800 grant that's going to go to the food pantry from the Delaware County Interactive Gaming Revenue Authority. So, a good place to get money from in my opinion to help students who really need help
011on that end. So, uh, but if anybody ever wants to learn more about, um, the Delaware County, uh, Community College Educational Foundation, it really does support a lot of students who are very welld deserving. The big news, and I think that, um, Joe shared the news with the, um, the school board, is the enormous grant that um, they got from the federal government, um, $8 million from the federal government. So, in the past, I've talked about the welding opportunities that were being offered um with uh all expenses paid. That was all through the Hanoa shipyard. If you're familiar, it used to be Kvernner. Before that, it was the Navyyard. So, Hanoa is a South Korean company that took over that um shipyard. And so, a lot of those welding opportunities were paid for by Hanwa.
012And Hanwa and Delaware County Community College had an exclusive pipeline of students who would be trained at Delaware County. and then go work in these very well-paying jobs over at the shipyard. So, the $8 million is from the United States Department of Labor over four years. Um, they've done about 120 students per year and they're going to get up to 500 students per year by 2027. They need a total of 4,000 workers to get everything up and running. Some of these students, um, and it's not just available to students who have recently graduated. If you decide you want a career change, everybody is has an opportunity to participate in this program and some of the trainees will actually go um to South Korea to learn from some of the experts at their plants in South
013Korea. So that is an opportunity everybody in the community should be very happy about and if you're interested certainly um reach out to DCCC and try and figure out how you might become a part of that. >> All right. So um we'll move to Delaware County Intermediate Unit. Uh Mr. Dennit, >> thank you Dr. Napson Williams. Uh the DCIU is in the midst of a significant uh construction boom on multiple sites uh including the Falcraftoft campus uh where the career and technical school is located. A new parking area and new entrance and exits to the parking area have been completed and that's going to allow for a three-story Head Start addition to the campus to begin to accommodate our many Head Start students. Uh so that building is underway at the Marple campus. A new
014building to house the practical nursing program has been completed and uh just this month the students moved in uh to the new facility. It's much bigger. It's more flexible. There's more advanced classrooms and labs. Um and this is uh just so you know, the practical nursing program is an intensive one-year program that results in a practical nursing license uh for the adults who are the students. Uh the new space will allow DCIU to double the number of students served from 50 a year to about a hundred a year with different uh rotations moving in and out at different times. Um some during the week full-time, some evening and weekends. There's already a waiting list that would fill one of those slots completely at this point. And the move also frees up the space in the
015main building for renovation which will lead to additional classrooms for the special education programs which are also experiencing unmet demand across the county. And speaking of enrollment, demand for DCIU's programs is high across the board, including at the preschool level. All of the Head Start programs are 100% uh subscribed at this point. 32 kids in DCIU care. um 80 kids uh through the child care partnerships um and all the that's early Head Start that's kindergarten through no birth through three years old and then three to five Head Start programs are full with 527 kids involved. PreK Counts has 120 students uh working directly with DCIU and the PreK Counts partners program has 87 students. All of them is just completely full maximum capacity for what DCIU is able to provide. Finally, some of you may
016be aware that the DCIU's wonderful executive director, Dr. Maria Edelberg, recently announced her retirement, which will be effective later this year in August. The DCIU board of directors recently completed a comprehensive search process for the next executive director which included a competitive recruitment effort and multiple rounds of candidate review. At the conclusion of this process, the search unfortunately did not result in a candidate moving forward for final appointment. Throughout the search, the board remained focused on the significance of the executive director role and the responsibility associated with selecting the right leader for the organization. That commitment continues to guide the board's approach as it considers the needs of DCIU and its long-term success. So, at the moment, the DCIU board has suspended the executive director search and we'll revisit the process later this year. Thanks.
017All right, we'll move on to the Pennsylvania School Board Association, Miss Austin. >> Thank you, Dr. Napsson Williams. Um, I attended the quarterly liaison meeting today. Um they discussed um the wireless connectivity programs and the advanced medical care. Um all that information is on the psba.org website. Um that also talks about the Keystone Education Report which the next um report is January 28th. Um it's always the second and fourth Wednesday 7 p.m. on the PCN network. There's a new launch of the my PSBA. So, if you haven't checked it out, do that. Um, PSBA also has a YouTube channel. Um, February [clears throat] 3rd is Governor Shapiro's budget proposal. And then February 6 at 12:00 noon, there's going to be a PSBA webinar that kind of breaks down what it means for our districts. And
018then there are different um educational and training resources that um are also located on the website. And lastly um they are seeking volunteers for their May 4th advocacy day in Harrisburg. >> Thank you. Uh the committee highlights and reports are contained within the minutes. So we will move to the superintendence report. Dr. Malash. >> Thank you Dr. Napster Williams. Happy new year to all. I hope that the beginning of the 2026 calendar year has been a time filled with joy and peace in your lives. January is once again designated as school director recognition month to honor school board directors and their dedication to public education excellence across the Commonwealth. Nearly 90% of Pennsylvania's students attend public schools, including the more than the more than 4,000 students in the Rose Tree Media School District. On behalf
019of our students, staff members, and the community that they serve, I want to thank each of the members of our school of our board of school directors. Our president, Dr. Theresa Napson Williams, our vice president, Ken Dennitz, Tonita Austin, Hillary Fletcher, Dr. Michael Fox, Jackie Gusk, Dr. Who's Dr. Susan Henderson Udis Susan probably doesn't isn't the one that normally gets messed up in that, right? Shelley Hunt and Carlen Kreniki. We are grateful for your volunteer service. I was delighted to spend time with so many of our students last week as they participated in activities leading up to the MLK Day of Service. Participation in these activities offer students a powerful opportunity to turn the values Dr. King championed justice, compassion, and civic responsibility into meaningful action. Through these activities, students learn that leadership is rooted
020in service to others and that positive change begins at the local level. These experiences foster empathy, strengthen community connections, and help students see themselves as active contributors to a more just and inclusive society. By engaging in service, students develop the character, responsibility, and sense of purpose that are essential to both personal growth and democratic citizenship. Thank you to all of our parent volunteers and staff leaders who organized the many experiences. January is passing by very quickly. We are almost to the exact halfway point in the academic year. This is a great time to touch base with your child to discuss how they are doing, what is going really well, and what they want to focus on more for the second half of the year. Academic success is inseparable from student well-being. Safe, welcoming, and well-maintained
021school facilities play a critical role in student success. Mike Nolan, our supervisor of maintenance and operations, and his dedicated team of men and women through the throughout the district have been doing an amazing job in keeping our schools ready for students and staff. This time of year can definitely be a challenge and we will feel that again in the next few days, especially with the bitterly cold temperatures and the extra early morning hours to address snow and ice. But our facilities folks at all levels continue to come through for us. Please make sure everyone that you thank the men and women who serve our district in these roles. At the heart of our work is a simple but powerful commitment ensuring that every student, regardless of background or circumstance, has access to a high quality
022education that prepares them for college, careers, and civic life. That commitment guides the decisions we make and our path forward. We are proud of our pro progress, realistic about our challenges, and pragmatically optimistic about what is possible when we work together. Thank you all for your commitment to the students and community that we serve. >> Thank you, Dr. Malashsh. We'll move to the president's report. Happy new year to the members of the Rose Tree Media community. We are very excited about the continued developments and the progress on the new full day kindergarten and first grade center. While there have been some challenges in the past few months, we are deeply committed to our path of continuing to make improvements in our facilities and our academic programs to benefit our students, staff, families, and community. As
023a reminder to the community, regular updates are presented and discussed at the monthly work sessions of the board, which generally occur on the second Tuesday of each month, beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the library at Springton Lake Middle School. We'll now move to presentations. We have Janette Verdor from RTMA. Good evening everybody. It's great to see all of you. Uh a quick legislative initiative update from PSEA. Our vice president Jeff Nye testified before the PA House Majority Policy Committee urging support for House Bill 180 which would provide funding to guarantee access to school lunches for all students. So PSA is strongly behind that and uh we'll be reaching out to legislators as that bill moves forward. And also um the your teachers have taken some inspiration from Dr. King's legacy as they've prepared and executed
024their lessons this week on Dr. King's life and work and recognized his commitment to fairness, justice, and peace. And we try to mirror those principles and let them guide our work every day here in the schools. And then finally, I just want to take a moment to thank all of you on behalf of RTMEA. Thank you, the school board, for everything you do for our students, staff, and families. I know sometimes your role isn't easy, and you have late meetings and a lot of tough decisions and challenges, but your commitment to doing what's best for our kids truly shines through. Because of your leaders leadership, our schools are places where children are supported, encouraged, and given every opportunity to succeed. You help create an environment where teachers can teach with passion and students can dream
025big. So, thank you for leading with heart, for showing up even when it's hard, and for believing in the power of public education to change lives. You're making a difference every single day and we're very grateful. So, we do have a little token for you today and I'll quickly show you and um it's a fleece. I love it. It's a little throw fleece and it's in the colors of the district. So, I hope you enjoy them. But the bad news is I wavered from my commitment to buy locally and half of them haven't arrived yet. So, we had we had a meeting to decide who would get the ones that are here and we decided the kids and then the new board members and then Teresa because she's the president. So, thank you. >> I'll
026hand these out and thank you for everything. >> Thank you. All right, we will move to unscheduled presentations. District residents and taxpayers wishing to address the school board are encouraged to do so at this time. Written items are strongly suggested. Speakers will state their name and their municipality for the record before commenting. Comments are limited to three minutes. The school board may suspend the public comment period after a reasonable amount of time. Use of profanity, shouting, or personal attacks are discouraged. Please note that the public comment period is intended to provide, excuse me, an opportunity for citizens to address the board. However, it is not an opportunity to participate in public debate or a question and answer dialogue. Therefore, contact information should be provided to the administration and board so that the school district can
027follow up with citizens concerns following the meeting and we have no unscheduled presentations. All right. So, we will move on to old business. Letter A, a vote for uh policy second read and approval. Is there a motion? >> So moved. Second. >> Second. >> Discussion. All in favor? >> I. >> Opposed? Motion passes. We'll move to human resources. I suggest we group letters A and B together. Letters A and B together. Is there any objection to this? Hearing none. Is there a motion? >> Some moved. >> Second. Second discussion. >> Dr. Napson Williams, if I may just take a moment to acknowledge the retirements um that are up for vote. Um I would like to start by acknowledging Miss Jenny Extramm um who has been a librarian at Springton Lake Middle School since 2013. Miss
028Extramm uh has taken great pride in making the library a welcoming and inviting space for all children who pass through the middle school doors and has been instrumental in bringing popular authors of young adult literature into the building to speak with students. She will be retiring after 13 years of dedicated service. Next, we have Miss Tracy Jackson, who has been a French teacher here at Penrest since 2011. During her time with us, she has helped to grow the French program and has supported students outside of the classroom through various extracurricular activities. She has made a substantial mark on the Penrest and Rose Tree Media communities and will be greatly missed as she retires after 25 years of dedicated service. Finally, Mr. Ray Carluchi has been a bus driver in the district since 2016 and Mr.
029Patrick Restnik has been a substitute bus driver in the district since 2017. Both of these gentlemen are retiring after 10 and nine years respectively of dedicated service to what we all can only imagine must be a rather hectic job. And so we thank them for that dedicated service to our children. >> Um I do want to say about uh the retirement of Tracy Jackson and just a a note, she's been here since 2001. I want to make sure she get her time and she might be listening. That's 25 years. >> I wrote the wrong number down. >> That's okay. That's okay. We know 25 years, Tracy. But um she has been an important part of Penrest High School and the Rose Tree Media community. And I was sad. I knew it was coming, but I
030was sad as I know many of her students. Um and parents are that she will be retiring, but we do wish her well. >> Here. Here. I I certainly appreciate everyone. Everyone has done an amazing job who's retiring. I do also want to give a shout out to Miss Tracy Jackson who has managed way better than I ever did with my daughter to ignite my daughter's love of French and willingness to try the French language. Um, as a mother, I failed completely and she took it on and it's been transformative. So, um, and I know that, you know, it's way beyond my child. So, I want to thank her for all of that. It is daunting sometimes speaking another language and uh it's been fantastic to see the results so far. >> All in favor?
031>> I opposed. Motion passes. All right. Next up, I suggest we group letters D through M. D as in district, M as in media together. Is there any objection to this? Hearing none. Is there a motion? >> Some moved. >> Second. >> Discussion. All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion passes. Letter O is policies first read and review. So there is no vote. So we will move to finance. We'll start with letter A. Is there a motion? >> Some moved. >> Second. >> Discussion. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion passes. Next up, letter B. Is there a motion? >> Some moved. >> Second. >> Discussion. Dr. Scott, can you take a roll call vote, please? >> Tonita Austin, >> yes. >> Michael Fox, >> yes. >> Jackie Gusk, >> yes. >> Susan Henderson,
032Udis, >> yes. >> Shelley Hunt, >> yes. >> Carlen Kreniki, >> yes. >> Ken Dennis, >> yes. >> Terresa Napson Williams, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. Uh, next up, I suggest we group letters C through K. C as in cookies. Girl Scout cookies are apparently available. We have a bunch of them. Uh C through K. K as in kids. Kids with the cookies. [laughter] Is there any objection to this? Hearing none. Is there a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Discussion. All in favor? I >> I opposed. Motion passes. We'll move to financials and bill lists. Uh letter A. Is there a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Discussion. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion passes. The addendum will start with letter A. Is there a motion? So
033moved. >> Second. Discussion. >> Dr. Napson Williams. If I if I may uh make a few comments about Mr. Melvin Krauss, whose uh retirement is included as an addendum to tonight's agenda. Uh Mr. Krauss has been a custodian here at Penrest since 1989. I think I got that date right. Um and by all accounts, he is considered to be an institution here at Penrest. and his friendly smile will be greatly missed by all of the staff and students as he retires after 36 years of dedicated service. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion passes. Next up, letter B. Is there a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Discussion. All in favor? I >> opposed. Motion passes. We will move to announcements. The executive sessions. There was an executive session held from 6:00 p.m.
034until 6:30 p.m. before the legislative meeting on Thursday, December 11th, 2025 to discuss the sale of property pending the court decision and personnel matters of a particular employee. The executive session held from 6:00 pm until 6:30 p.m. before the work session on Thursday, January 8th, 2026 was held for confidential student matters protected by law. Our future meetings, there will be a work session on Thursday, February 12th, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. at Springton Lake Middle School in the library. The next legislative meeting will be on Thursday, February 26, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. at Penrest High School in the auditorium. As we have come to the end of our agenda, this meeting is adjourned.