2025-06-02 Scranton SD Board Meeting

001trying to get my thoughts at this moment. Good evening. The call to order of the board meeting for Monday, June 2nd. Please rise 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. Roll call. Mr. Bwick, here. Mr. Casey, present. Mrs. Jezik present. Miss Fox present. Mr. McCandrew present. Miss Mark Merkel present. Mlei present. Mrs. Yanni present. Mr. Holmes present. I present. Have a motion to approve the agenda. So moved. Second. On a question. Uh I would like to pull B1 from the consent agenda. I wanted to pull the permissions to attend. Is that D1? D1. Correct. Yes. to pull back. Any more motion to approve the agenda with

002the pulled motions? Second. Wait, did you Yes, the the history curriculum needs to be taken out, too. I apologize. I'm sorry. It's on the consent agenda. The health curriculum's D4. Can we also pull and they're t they're they're not going to be voted on tonight. Okay. So, can we table D4? So, pull B1 and D1 and table D4. D4. We'll have to leave the table. Roll call. Mr. Casey? Yes. Mrs. Chess? Yes. Miss Fox? Yes. Mr. McCandrew? Yes. Miss Merkel? Yes. Mki? Yes. Mrs. Yanni. Yes. Mr. Bourswick. Yes. Mr. Holmes. Yes. Right now we have the new teacher indoctrination. Right now I'd like to call down Holly me. Hi. Um, thank you for having us again. This is the third time that we've done this and I'm just so incredibly proud of this group. Um,

003we'd like to introduce you to the induction class of 2025 2026. They have completed their first half of new teacher induction and will be continuing on with the second half next year. They are the first group um to do two-year induction program. This group of new teachers is full of caring, kind, inspirational educators, and I can't wait to see what they can do next year. Um this is a special group of new teachers. We have some new teachers in this group that were actually paras in the district for many years who went back to become new teachers. So they've actually gone through a program at Keystone and it took them three years. So they're officially new teachers even though they've been teaching for a couple years and they were paras many years before. So I'm

004really proud of them. Um and all of these new teachers, their dedication to their students and love of learning shines through in their daily lessons and interactions with their students. I could not be more proud of this group of teachers. I would also like to thank Amy Alange and Ro Robertson. Stand up. um they have transformed this group of new teachers into the next educational leaders of the Scranton School District. I want to thank them both for all of their commitments to this program and all you've done to help every new teacher through their first year, which we all know is not an easy thing. I'd also like to recognize another group which are their mentors. These master teachers are the ones who receive those late night phone calls about how to help a student

005in their classroom or even if they go home crying on the first day. Um, some of our mentors have mentored for many years. Some of them are retiring. So, if we could have all of our mentors stand up. I'm so I'm so proud of these veteran teachers. A lot of them do it year after year and um they're really making a difference um in these new teachers lives. So, I just want to thank them, too. Um, and now we're going to introduce our new teachers. So, Erin, hi. Um, we're going to do elementary, intermediate, and high school. So, I'm going to call all the elementary people first. Put this down. Sorry. I'm going to do all the elementary people first. And if you want to come up and then we'll take one big group photo.

006So, our first elementary teacher is Carly Caro, Jacob Keeler, Carly Lucas, Caitlyn Pagnati, Ashley Sweeney, Sarah Walsh, [Applause] So, if you guys want to hold your certificates and then get with Dr. Keading. [Applause] This year we had 12 elementary teachers, 26 intermediate teachers, and eight high school teachers. Just some little stats there. Um, okay. For our intermediate teachers, which is a rather large group, we have Leah Balk, McKenzie Bell, Justina [Applause] Chorba, Ashley Dabru, [Applause] Melanie Dietro, Jennifer Jones, Kelsey Martin, Thomas Manelli, Kelly Scaris, Lindsay Suma, Lindsay Sutton, Beth Anne Tangley, Masters, Tessa Vendetti, Courtney Zukauski, I'll bring up to you. Sorry, Suma. Beth and Bernett. Let's hear it for our intermediate people. Thank you, intermediate people. And finally, we're going to go to our high school people. We're gonna start with Give him a

007second. We're going to start with Jeremy Carl, Payton [Applause] Cook, Angela Reno, Stephanie Vazquez, Patrick Vogeling. I'm praying I didn't forget anybody. Did I forget anybody? Shout out to our high school people. Shout out to an Stefani, our perpetual mentor, for stepping in for Ro because Ro couldn't be here. So, thank you so much. And uh we're really excited for all our new teachers. To our new teachers, if there was someone in your building that wasn't here tonight, if you want to grab their um certificate, it will be in the back. And if you could take it with you, that would be awesome. Or any teachers that are here who know some people that were not here tonight, can you grab the certificate? Thank you. Uh, can we please have Rosemary Bolan come up to

008the podium? Jenny, or did you have anything to do with this? I knew nothing about Oh, boy. I wouldn't have told you anymore. I know you would. You have to. Yeah. Okay. So, so if you know [Music] as superintendent having worked before administrator [Music] yell how And that's kind of rel tomorrow. And that makes the lives of everyone at [Music] level but also the role she had on teachers new and old and those to work with her. It's been a privilege to work with her. I will miss her. She would always ask [Music] question and I thank her for all she's done. Before we present this award, we would like to take a moment to thank Rosemary Boland, someone I've had the privilege of knowing for 30 years. What some of you may not know

009is that Rosemary was my fifth grade teacher at Whittier back in 1995. Sorry, the secret is out. So, teachers do more educate. They help shape the future of their students. So, we are honored to present her with this plaque that reads in honor of Rosemary Boland with deep gratitude for over 56 years of dedicated service to this Scranton School District. As a devoted teacher and as president of the SFT union, thank you for your unwavering commitment, leadership, and constant support. With appreciation, Scranton School Board 2025. Thank you, Rosemary. Good evening, directors. Um, this is a surprise. Uh, I've asked people not to do anything like this. So, that tells you the authority I have that they don't listen. Um, I am so proud of my student, director Jezik up here. Uh, she is not my

010first school director. Uh, I had director Todd Hartman as a student. Um, and, uh, I was always proud of Todd and, uh, was a good kid in class, too. She was a terrific kid in class. People always ask me that. Um, it's been my honor to work for the Scranton School District. I taught school for 37 years at Woodier. I had probably some of the most fabulous students the district produced. Uh parents from Southside East Mountain who were the best parents to work with and that is the reason your school according to Dr. John R. Williams was called the academy. Um, when you're working with people like that, with parents and students, the kind I had all those years ago, uh, it leaves me with a tremendous amount of good memories. I could go to

011mass on Sunday and I would see some characters acting up and I would just clear my throat and they would turn around and then they would quick turn around and pay attention at mass. Um it's it's um 20 years that have flown by doing this job and 37 years could add all that up uh as a teacher at John G. Woodier Elementary School. Um I've worked with probably some of the best educators going in this country. Uh the people of the Scranton Federation of Teachers who you the board have sought to hire and the boards prior to you have sought to hire and They're amazing people. They're brave people. They go into school every day and they face the odds. And sometimes those days are really tough. But one thing I will share is most

012of us at Woodier, no matter what the day looked like, at the end of the day, we were outside together. We said, you know, goodbye, have a great night or have a great weekend. And that made it all the better. We had I had served for eight building principles and I think Dr. Kading, you might be my ninth superintendent. So I used to have a shirt. Old teachers never die. They just lose their class. And uh I like to think about this job in education that I have that I learn every day something new. Um my whole life has been learning. I don't intend to stop now. It's just another kind of journey that I'm on. And uh I do intend to help out my union. Um and if this means anything to any of

013you, I was listening to a Pete Seager song the other day uh in the car. And I said to my brother that I'm going to have them play that at my funeral mass. Uh so my brother's like, "Don't talk like that." I said, "No, no, I'm going to plan. And I want that song played because it talks about women in the unions. So, um, that's my family. I I I think all these people that I've learned to know and appreciate and respect, I can't thank them enough for helping me grow into who I am today. uh the Scranton teachers, the University of Scranton, my Delta Kappa chapter, uh all the positions I've held along the way have made me who I am and made me ready to do my job. But I want to thank

014you, the board, for representing all the other boards that I've worked with and of course all these marvelous new teachers. Uh Lanne just asked me a bit ago, you know, about induction, and I said, "No, when I got hired by the district, we had a two-day inservice at the Castle Restaurant on North Main Avenue." So, that was our induction, and that's what we were. There you go. Go get your classroom and let's go. So, anyway, thank you. Thank you so much. This is obviously a surprise. Um, like I said, I said I I didn't want anybody doing anything, but I They should have known that uh Ty Holmes, my good friend, uh would would pull something like this on me. And Bobby Case, I'll probably get you. And Jen Tlesco, help me. Oh, now you're

015squealing. Well, anyway, thank thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. And um I'm only a phone call away if you need me. I do have a little bit of background knowledge. Mr. laughy told me that I I do know a little something about history here. But um I hope you all are as successful and feel as good as I do right this moment. Thank you so so very much. Thank you, Rosemary. Okay. Communications to the board. Executive sessions were held on May 27th, 2025 and this evening to discuss personnel litigation, real estate negotiations, and safety. So, sir report um yeah, most most of the matters I've been working on are uh confidential and I'm not the holder of that privilege, but I what I will say that I've been asked to say is that

016uh I'm working with my counterpart, attorney Mike Rogers, who is uh PIAAA District 2 solicitor. uh and eager and hopeful to finding a resolution to the West Grant res wrestling um uh situation as I'll call it. Um confident that we'll be able to get some direction uh and um be able to provide that going forward uh within the next two weeks. Thank you, Superintendent Report. Thank you, President Holmes. Um very excited that we made it into the home stretch. We only have nine days of school left. Uh seven not counting the weekends. Um, and here's some highlights at the end of the year. For those of you who didn't see, the governor came to visit on May 21st, uh, at Isaac Trip Elementary School. It was an incredible experience. We thank the governor for his

017visit and for choosing the Scranton School District as the location and the platform for advocating for public education and for the adequacy funding that we so um, desperately need here in the Scranton School District. We'd like to congratulate a little early Francis Willard for winning the Love Math Challenge. The Love Math Challenge is a product of First in Math, a program that gifies math topics to help students improve their skills. The program was endorsed and promoted by Senator Flynn, who will be celebrating students this Friday with a press conference and a celebration at Francis Willard. I will give a shout out as well to um Weston Intermediate, Whittier, STEM, and Isaac Trip who also finished in the top five and had a great showing. This Friday, we will be celebrating the reveal of the JFK

018playground. This has been in the works for two years, and we're very excited to see the students hard work and the playground they created. I would like to thank TLP, TPL, and Valley in Motion for their role in this. Our STEM students worked with Lacawak to release 150 trout into the Lacawana River, which is really cool. I'd like to thank our high school teachers, administrators, and students for the awesome work they did and their participation in the Keystone exams. We're going to begin, can't believe I'm saying this, fall sports physicals in July. So, please make sure you're paying attention and keeping an eye out for specific dates and times. We're really excited. We're hosting an inaugural inaugural Scranton School District registration fair July 10th from 11 to 3. Our central registration team is putting all

019of their effort into this. I'm excited to see it come together. We're hoping to capture anyone who's new to the city or needs to register in any way. And again, that will be on July 10th. Very excited that our annual golf tournament will be held Thursday, June 26th. If you'd like to participate, you can register online using the link on the website or on social media, or you can email Sydney Toy forsome or dinner ticket. We would love to see everyone there. Tomorrow, McNichols Plaza will host their end of year picnic from 4:00 to 5:30. This is usually a very big blowout. I'm going to try to stop by. So, it's going to be an awesome experience. Um, to anyone in the community or if you know anyone in the community with a kindergarten age

020student, please make sure that they register. It is so important to get your kindergarten registration done. Though our numbers have been good this year, we know there's still lots of people out there in the city who are excited for their first day of kindergarten and may still need to register. I'd like to offer a special congratulations to Omeel Gusman, who I've been told likes to be called Ammy. Ammy was a student at ECA. With the help of his teachers, the office of vocational rehabilitation and others, Ammy was able to participate in the Johnson College and simplex programs, allowing students like Ammy to learn skills study with the hope of being employed after graduation. Not only did Ammy do that, he did so well that he was offered a full-time full benefits position with the Simplex

021company. Ammy also refused received a few certifications from Johnson College and was accepted into this position. This is a huge accomplishment. So, congratulations. Uh this morning I sent out an email, but I couldn't sit up here and not give just a long, happy, and healthy retirement wish to anyone who is leaving. know that those of us who have 28 years in are immensely jealous of your ability to walk off into the sunset and enjoy what is a welldeserved retirement. We are so grateful for all your years of service and your dedication to the Scranton School District and our students. You earned it. You deserve it. Go enjoy it. Um, congratulations to our graduates as well, gearing up for the big graduation ceremonies on June 11th. Um, we are all very proud of your accomplishments and

022we cannot wait to see you walk out into the world and be a success and join the alumni from West Scranton High School and Scranton High School and see the marvelous things that you'll do. We'd also like to make a special congratulations to Declan Morin and Maddie Martin. There are seniors who have been with us at all of our board meetings. Um, and we just want to uh thank you. Congratulations to all our first year teachers who were here. You're at the beginning of the most awesome journey of your life. So, um, stay with us because there's great things to come. And finally, once again, congratulations to Rosemary Boland on your retirement. Um, we can only hope to achieve what you have. So, I hope yours is long, happy, and healthy as well. Uh, I

023hope everyone has a safe summer. I'm going to go back to being a high school principal. Make good decisions and return to us safely in the fall. Have a great summer, everyone. Thank you, Dr. Sailor. No report. No report, you said. At this time, we will have the student representatives. Maddie, she's on a field trip out of state. Okay, so someone's filling in for her. Techn, are you doing double duty? Good evening. May was a successful month in the district and June is looking to follow. Scranton High senior prom was celebrated on May 16th at the Hilton downtown and students had a great time. The National Honor Society convocation was on May 21st and awards night was on May 28th, both held at SHS. Congratulations to all. Scranton High pioneered a new centralized hub at

0242025.scranths.org for all end of the year events and important information for the classes of 2025 and 2029. Students can use this when preparing for graduation. The Scranton High students representing our school in Leadership Lacawana's Tomorrow's Leaders Today program are Maria Alexis Leica Fernanda, Joseph Benol, Grace Burn, Manoa Casius, Elif Garova, Samara Hassan, Elena Shay, Geneva Tullin, and Max Hoffner. Max Hoffner is also here tonight observing as next year's student representative. Class Day is this Friday, June 6th, at 12:30, and graduation is next Wednesday, June 11th, at 5:00 PM in the MySell gym. Congratulations to all graduates. Overall, May and June are great months filled with activities across the district. Thank you for listening to me the past two years and thank you for your time. Dean, could you please join us on stage? Can you

025come up here? So, we have another plaque that we would like to award. This one presented to Declan Moore from Scranton High School in recognition of your exceptional commitment and dedication throughout the year as a student representative on the Scranton School Board. Thank you so much. [Applause] We also have one for Mandy Martin and we're going to give it to her principal to make sure she receives it. PSBA report. I don't have a report, but I know um in the packet there were some webinars and trainings that are listed if anybody's interested in the next couple months. Okay. Public comment. At this time, we will have entertain public comment. Three minutes are allotted for personnel to speak. Union heads will receive four minutes. Luna Good evening board members. My name is Lannne Heinahan. I'm the

026uh president of SEIU 32BJ. I'm also the building supervisor at Scranton High. I'm here. First, I'd like to say congratulations, Rosemary. I'm so jealous. I really am more than you know. Uh, I'm here again to talk about Operation Heroes. Sadly, uh, three things I want you to know. It works. It's already full of a ton of information that we the building supervisors have input into the system along with some inspections that we have done of our buildings which you know is important and if we lose this we lose that and it's a lot of hours of work. Uh, and when it's gone, this is the third and probably really important. When it's gone, if you don't pass pass it, we have nothing. Nothing. None of our information will be there. We have no work order

027system. Nothing. So, but you all had questions. You said last month at last month's meeting, you all had these questions. And I know for a fact that a Zoom meeting on May 13th was put together and you all had the opportunity to go and ask the questions of the CEO and the president of the company, the salesmen, the technicians. You each had that opportunity. Do you know how many of you took the opportunity? Not one of you. How do I know this? I took the opportunity to be on that Zoom and there was me, there was Robert Rucker and all those important people on that Zoom. So all the questions that you had, you had the opportunity to ask and get the answers from the experts and you all chose not to do it. And

028that's really all I have to say. I know that I took the opportunity to have my questions answered, but I'm sad that not one of you took that opportunity. And I don't like to stand here and talk this way, but this is it. I don't normally do this, and I think you all know that. Thank you for the opportunity tonight. That's all I have. Amanda Good evening, superintendent and school board members. I wanted to thank everyone who came to see The Wizard of Oz. Um, our West Scranton High players did an excellent job performing Friday night and Saturday afternoon and night as well. We sold out all our of our tickets. It was phenomenal. People were giving us feedbacks about our children's performance and I'm very proud of my drama club children for doing an

029excellent job at the Ritz Theater performing their hearts out what they love to do. So, thank you for all coming and supporting our drama club children. Thank you. Phenomenal job. Yeah, I was there on Friday. It was excellent. amazing talent. President Holmes, may I just take a moment to respond to Lannne because I I think there may be some confusion um regarding that meeting that was held. Um I know that we tabled that because we had questions regarding it wasn't regarding the functionality. I mean, I I listened to every word you said when you came up and spoke as I'm sure all of my colleagues did. I think we had questions regarding what was included in that and what the cost out was. So it wasn't regarding the actual program. You you came up here

030and you spoke and I took every word that you said at face value. So I just want to make that clear. Jenlesco administration. Guys, we're done. I did. We're going to move on from this. Jenlesco. Good evening. Um, Jen Tolesco, uh, the presidentelect of the Scranton Federation of Teachers. Um, at the same moment that most people congratulate Rosemary. They also offer their condolences to myself sometimes. But, um, I am proud to continue on the work of Miss Bolan. Um but tonight I'd like to take the um opportunity to congratulate our new teachers that were honored tonight who have successfully completed the induction program in their first year of teaching in the Scranton School District. May you continue to experience success and professional growth in the Scranton School District for many years to come. But I'd

031also like to take a moment and congratulate the professionals and pair professionals from the Scranton Federation of Teachers who are at the other end of their careers and are soon to be retired at the conclusion of this school or calendar year. Um the following names were approved in April for professional um retirements. Patty Carr, Patricia Cosgrove, Kim Gennall, Nanine Gagna, Kelly Guerrera, Colleen Hartman, Donna Holmes, Brett Matter, Lisa Michaels, Dean um Haron, Carol Munley, Gerald Murray, Marie Roseski, Katherine Stanton, and Marie Witner, Andrew Witkco, Ellen Posus, and Aaron Cardona. Thank you for sharing your talents, expertise, and guidance with our students. Whether you help them master a foreign language, understand and apply content knowledge, nurtured our artistic talents, lent a helping hand, or cared for their overall health and well-being. We thank you for making

032such a difference in this Scranton School District. And as a point of personal privilege, I would be remiss if I didn't specifically acknowledge and thank Rosemary Bolan for her professional dedication to both her students and colleagues for the past 56 years. That's correct. As you heard before, Rosie or Mrs. Boland sometimes has referred to her Rosemary has been a staple of the Scranton School District and the Scranton Federation of Teachers for um well over 56 years. I know that's a a large number. She's acrewed more years in service than some of us are even alive. But in all seriousness, if there was one person to have in your corner and be on your side, whether you be a student, a parent, a colleague, and yes, even an administrator from time to time, it would be

033Rosemary. As her tenure as SFT president draws to a close at the end of this month, I know what you're thinking. Thank God. Well, you're half right. We at the SFT are thankful for her dedication, solidarity, and leadership. Thank you. And for the last time, Rosemary Bowling. Well, that's a first. Thank you, Julie Ferguson. [Applause] Good evening. My name is Julie Ferguson. I'm a lifelong city resident, taxpayer, member of the SFT, and the chorus teacher at South Scranton Intermediate School since 2002. I have never spoken at a board meeting before tonight. Although the district has made great strides in attempting to restore the middle school schedule from the drastic cuts of 2018, the middle school music schedule has not been reinstated. The district must commit to bringing back music classes year round. This is not

034a new concept. This was the norm prior to 2018. All students chose strings, band, or chorus. The students would then have that class for the entire year on a rotating basis, two times in a five-day cycle. That would result in a student having 72 classes per year. Essentially, 72 group music lessons. That schedule would allow us to go back to performing winter and spring concerts with our strings, band, and chorus ensembles. This foundation would allow the middle schools to once again serve as a feeder program to our two high schools. Currently, our students receive one quarter, 45 days of strings, band, or chorus each year. Music is a skill. You cannot learn and master that skill in 45 days, then stop playing and pick it up again at some point during the next school year.

035We are doing a tremendous disservice to our students, and they deserve more than the district is currently offering them. The proposed fifth grade music pullout program is not the solution. There are many questions associated with the program and no answer. Who will be offered the pull out? How often will a pullout occur? What class will the students be pulled from? An academic, another related arts class. The cost of the instrumental rental program is an issue. 20 to $40 per month depending on the instrument. The financial burden will possibly restrict some students from participating. A pullout instrumental program services approximately 20% of the student population. A fifth grade class with 180 students will only see about 36 students serviced by a pullout program. This isn't equitable. All students should have the opportunity to play an instrument,

036not just the student who who can afford the rental po program or who are academically strong. The pullout program should return to the elementary school where it took place for many years before it was cut. I understand the situation the district finds itself in because of the current political climate. I understand we cannot implement everything all at once, but please commit to reinstating the music schedule, to financially supporting music by purchasing more instruments if necessary, provide a budget for annual instrument repair, and securing a reliable repair vendor for the entire district. Thank you, Angela. Good evening. My name is Angela Cherelli and this is Melanie Ditro. Both of us have uh been fifth grade teachers, art teachers at South. We both have transitioned into the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade teachers northeast and south. And

037we're here to talk tonight about the 30 or 36 day schedule. Um, as we know, they are on a six- day rotation for fifth grade. And I'm here to express to you that I'm in favor of the 30 or 36 day consecutive 6 to5 cycles a year instead of the 45day one that we have now. This is due to being able to give the students more indivi individualized attention. We are not only creating art in my classroom, but we are strengthening fine motor skills using critical thinking skills and problem solving. Sometimes I am handoverhand with the students. This requires time per child. When it moved to 45 days, it limited my ability to give the one-on-one attention these students need. We have a student body that requires individualized attention. not squish them into 45 days

038because it fits into a marking period. The report card can be opened up to put the grades in for a 30 or 36 day cycle. It is not impossible or difficult to do. We need the fifth grade integrated into the same schedule. Right now, I have fifth grade special needs students in with the eighth grade students. Many are scared of the noise that goes along with older students and there are behaviors that fifth grade should not have to witness. Another reason I am in favor of the 30 or 36 day cycle is that in an art room we are sculpting, painting, which are two activities that require more space per student. It requires more space in an art room to store projects. Safety is an issue in a crowded room. Since I have had art

039classes three different ways, I can attest to what worked best. There are many working parts in an art room. There are supplies to pass out. Clean up of not only students hands, but the supplies, the tables, and the floor. Cramming all that into a 45day marking period does not have the students best interest at heart. I'd also like to add that I haven't received any art supplies in two years, and I am down to one working sink. There should be an art budget in place so we can plan accordingly. Thank you. Greg, sorry, your name's Hustle. Hall again. It's a little dark up here. Hard to hear. Um, good evening members of the Screen School Board, administrators, and members of the community. My name is Greg Hulse, and I am a 21-year veteran teacher at

040South Intermediate School. I'm also a product of the Scranton School District, having gone through West Granon Middle and high schools, both of which shaped my education and pushed me to become an educator. I would like to thank you for the opportunity to speak here tonight so that I may voice my strong opposition to the proposed schedule as it has been laid out and distributed. I'm here to implore you to provide music instruction to students throughout the entirety of the year. As you may or may not know, prior to 18, music classes were offered twice a week during the standard fiveday weekly rotation for middle school students. Not long ago, we value teaching music as a part of a students foundational education. It was not offered as something extra but something essential as and we have

041the capacity to offer our students the same type of opportunity that students almost a decade ago were receiving if we simply understand its importance. Middle school is a critical time for identity growth and discovery. It's a stage in which students begin to ask themselves who am I? What do I love to do? Where do I belong? A robust and balanced schedule helps answer those questions. And music is an essential part of that equation. Music isn't just an elective. It's a discipline that cultivates focus, persistence, collaboration, and joy. It is a space for individual expression. And for many of our stu of of our students, it is the reason they come to school. Cutting it down to a brief 40-day rotation, which skills are learned, honed, and eventually lost risk sending the wrong message that music

042is an extra when it is in fact essential. A full music curriculum provides consistency. It allows for meaningful skill development, ensemble cohesion, and personal growth. It builds community across grade levels and gives students something to be proud of. This kind of continuity can't be replicated in a short rotation. It takes time, trust, and most importantly, sustained effort. Could you imagine if the board was proposing giving every student mere exposure to algebra for one quarter and then expect them to take an eighth grade Keystone exam? Would this fly? If your answer is no, your reasoning should be the same. Any subject, as with any skill, needs continuity in order to produce success. Music is not a try at it once and move on type of class. It is a sequential developmental journey and one which provides

043students with an essential skill set that can be used in other classes as well as its students respective lives. Rotating music out in a hitand-run fashion disrupts that journey. I would also like to address another critical point in the proposed schedule which is the current proposal for a fifth grade instrumental rental program. A few weeks ago, administration and my faculty met with a vendor for a no bid contract proposition that quoted us 20 to 40. Can I finish? Yes, please finish your sentence. 20 to 40 a month fee to participate in the fifth grade band pullout program. As you know, we are very very impoverished school district. While our students are afforded all we can offer them in school, some of our students are homeless or living housing that is highly suspect at best. In

044a time in which parents are worried about being able to keep food on the table, a 20 to $40 fee to participate music education is impossible for many of our students. This fee seems impractical, but in today's economic climate, we would unintentionally be creating a system where some students get to pursue music while others are left behind. Not because of ability or interest, but because of income. I can continue, but I know I'm not. Thank you. John Hafner. Hi, good evening everyone. My name is Don Hafner. I am a lifelong um resident of the city of Scranton, a proud alum of the Scranton School District. My children are from the Scranton School District as well. I am a member of the SFT and a teacher at South Intermediate. I'm here I had a couple things

045going through my head is what I wanted to say and um it's basically with the schedule. Um I'm I'm only at you know south a handful of years maybe like six or so. And when I got it got there it was pretty it was okay. Um, I will tell you though that personally I know how wonderful a child can can appreciate everything that we could offer them and should be offering them. Um, only 10 years ago my daughter went to South and she was with me all through preschool, all through John F. Kennedy. So when I had to let her go like was a lot longer, you know, than any other parent really had to let go of. And I was so worried about her leaving air conditioning and going to South. And then she

046came home and I said, "Babe, how was your first day?" She was a sweaty, clammy mess and said, "Mom, that's the best place on earth." Our students deserve that. They deserve more. Um, when you when you look at the schedules, you have a six- day rotation and then a Monday to five Friday rotation. Okay? I either everybody should be six or everybody should be Monday to Friday. music as they already spoke of it. I am a proponent of it going all year round simply because we can open up the doors and welcome our families into our schools. I don't know the last time our families were in our schools and uh physical education. I know a couple kids complained when it was the increment of like a quarter and then the 30 days where we

047have the physical fitness contest. Well, some kids never had the opportunity to go because they didn't even have a gym yet. So if you had gym all year round, you can prove yourself to your gym teachers and say, "I'm I'm in this. I I'm I'm proud of this school and I want to win." You know, not not everybody is the whole that academia child and they really like the arts and the music and the gym and it just makes them a more well-rounded child. Speaking for South, you have veteran teachers there that I am asking that you refer to them because you add up their years together and it's decades that they're at that school. They know what schedules can work and what schedules won't. And right now what we're looking at can't see it

048happening. Um we need the best for our students. Fifth grade was forced into the middle school. Let's include them. Let's welcome them full throttle. Please, I'm only asking that you make it make sense. Thanks, Kathleen Beck. Good evening. Uh, my name is Kathleen Beckwith. I am a sixth grade teacher and a member of the middle school committee since its inception. But before I start my I have to thank Rosemary Boland. Um, when I started my job 27 years ago at Whittier, I was her fifth grade partner and we worked together for many years together. So, I just want to thank her because she taught me to work hard in my classroom but also speak up when things aren't right. So, that's why I stand before you tonight. Although we have made some improvements, we have

049not truly brought back the opportunities students had prior to 2018. Imagine having less seven years later. Students have lost music, gym, and health being offered all year. They've lost the ability to take French, German, and Spanish. They've lost cooking and sewing. They've lost library class and are limited to one day a week for the whole school to circulate. And don't forget that we at South have lost wood shop with nothing to replace it. The district's proposal nothing is being offered full year to sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. Health is being dropped from seventh and eighth grades. At South replace the wood shop with the same course being offered to sixth, seventh, and eighth grade this year. Just take it and split it in half. Fifth grade is on a six-day rotation and the rest of

050the building is on a Monday through Friday schedule. Fifth grade only has six related arts. Related arts will be on a quarterly rotation. We on the committee have asked for a schedule that fully incorporates the fifth grade into the same related arts schedule. We had hoped that we would return to the schedule where all students have music, gym, and help all year long. We expected another related arts course to replace woodshop at South. So why are we not really working to provide their students the best? If research supports the significant benefits of an arts education impacting academic achievement, social emotional learning, and civic engagement. And if studies show that arts education can lead to improved writing skills and increased school engagement, fostering empathy, resilience, and a sense of community among students. Who wouldn't want to

051provide only the best sound related schedule for our arts and our students? Our students deserve better. Thank you. [Applause] I have a motion to approve the meeting minutes from April 10th, 28th. So moved. May 5th. So moved. Second. On the question. Roll call. Miss Fox. Yes. Mr. McCander? Yes. Miss Merkel? Yes. Mr. Sley? Yes. Mrs. Yes. Mr. Bourswick. Yes. Mr. Casey. Mrs. Chzik. Yes. Mr. Holmes. Yes. Affirmative. Motion to approve the consent agenda. So moved. Second. On the question. Roll call. Mr. McCandrew. Yes. Miss. Merkel? Yes. Miss Leki? Yes. Mrs. Yianni? Yes. Mr. Borthwick? Yes. Mrs. Chzik? Yes. Miss Fox? Yes. Mr. Holmes. Yes. Affirmative. Budget and finance. So, this is pulled out. It's B1. Um, the motion says listed bill payments 960,191.96 financial impact respectfully submitted. Second. On the question. Yes. On the question,

052I just had two questions. The first um is when reviewing the legal bills that we received, there was the $5,000 retainer, but then also $4,290 for April bills that I did not see listed on the bill list. Um Mr. Laffy, can you speak to that? Certainly. Um yes, we uploaded them to the drive, which is our standard practice, obviously for the board to review, which is per our policy. If if it appears that the $4,290 invoice for hourly services prepared was missed, we will be resolving that through our summer bill payment policy, which you just approved on the consent agenda. It authorized me during the summer months when the board is on break to prepare payments bills for payment. Okay. So, just to clarify that um on this bill list, we already approved the summer

053list. So, the April bills for 4,290 to JCM will be approved within that. And then um now with this bill list, we'll be approving the $5,000 retainer. Correct. And at our next meeting, most likely on July 28th, you will be presented with the summer bill payment list to date as of that time. And then in September, when we return to our regular schedule meeting, you'll be presented with anything that's fell that has fallen in between. Essentially, these are what we call our exception bills. We run them on the bi-weekly payroll cycle and it's for essentially the bills that we have ongoing contracts for and that are timesensitive such as utilities etc. Okay. So, so that will be able to be processed so that we're not violating our contract with the days to be paid. Correct.

054Correct. Okay. Um and then my other question um was regarding the retainer. I did send an email and I did get a response back. Um my question was um so this is our first bill with the retainer with our new law firm and it is not itemized with our previous law firm. It was so I did send an email just saying my concerns that as a public body managing taxpayer funds I believe it's essential for us to maintain clear documentation of services received in exchange for any expenditure including retainers. So I just I just have some concerns of not having an itemized retainer. um example with our previous law firm, we knew that a retainer based um payment method would be good for us um because we we made out well with it. Um we

055were you know the the law firm the previous law firm put in more hours than the retainer so we knew it worked. So without something itemized we don't know what services we are getting with that fee um structure. I don't know if anybody has um anything to offer to that. I believe the response was just that emails, calls, and meetings are included in the retainer. Um I just like I said, I think just it's a lot of money overall that goes to the retainer and I don't really I don't feel comfortable not having an itemized list of what that money is covering. Sure. Um yeah, I'll add detail the next retainer invoice. retainer is actually defined in the executed legal services agreement. Um I think it's phone calls, emails, weekly attendance at virtual Thursday meeting

056with administrative staff. Um I think that invoice that we're talking about right now was sent the first day my contract started May 1st uh which did not include the itemized uh detail that um subsequent invoices will. Uh we keep our time to the tenth of an hour. Uh so everything is meticulously detailed. I think if you wait till one month in, maybe next month, you'll see invoices that are probably more consistent with what Kingsry was doing. Uh my office sent that $5,000 invoice because that's what I told them to do. But I mean, I can either add that to the uh the detailed invoices going forward. Uh I can add separate uh detail to the retainer invoice, but I'm sure we can uh address your concern with more detail. I appreciate the explanation. Thank you.

057Roll call. Uh, Miss Merkel, yes. Miss Tresley, yes. Mrs. Johnny, yes. Mr. Borthwick, yes. Mr. Casey, yes. Mrs. Chzik, yes. Miss Fox, yes. Mr. McCandrew, yes. Mr. Holmes, yes. Nine. Affirmative. Okay. So, we have a motion to approve a request to apply for the fiscal year 25 Department of Justice School Violence Prevention Program Grant. So, the executive summary is the Grand School District seeks board approval to apply for the fiscal year school violence prevention program grant offered by the US Department of Justice. The maximum award is $500,000. If awarded, the grant will fund the purchase of one evolved express unit, six evolved expedite mobile units along with three years of prepaid software subscriptions. These additions will improve access control and weapons detection across our six secondary and um schools and electricity academy. The application requires

05825% cash match and must be submitted by June 18th according to grants.gov and June 26th going to adjust grants. The financial impact if awarded the full amount is of 500,000 and requiring a local 25% match that would be $166,6667 an additional $7,000 uh $7,338 contribution is also required. Um so the estimated total district cost grant term is $174,467. The future year cost of the soft of year four software subscription is $64,428 respectfully submitted. Director Borick, just to clarify, these will put a new evolve system at the ECA Academy and it's also looking for the bag scanners which were piloted at Scranton High School which are like airport bag scanners which would up our ability to detect anything serious or weaponike. Um, if we were awarded this grant and if we were awarded this grant, we

059would be very transparent that those would be put in. Second one on a question. And just Dr. King to confirm they would be put in at both both high schools and all three middle schools and all if if we're awarded the grant. If we're awarded the grant. Okay. Thank you. Roll call. M. Stressky. Yes. Mrs. Yanni? Yes. Mr. Bwig? Yes. Mr. Casey? Yes. Mrs. Chzig? Yes, Miss Fox. Yes, Mr. McCandrew. Yes, Miss Merkel. Yes, Mr. Holmes. Yes. Night. Affirmative. Okay. We have a motion to approve real estate tax settlements for properties described below and as per court order. So, there's a couple, so bear with me here. Pin number 13513048008 for the tax years of 2014 to 2024, refund credits of $1,43082. PIN number 146770200032 tax years to 2024 refund credits of $2,8623. Uh pin

060number 156600 to0032 tax years 2015 to 2024 $1,442.65 in refund credits. Uh pin number 16711 070055 2015 to 2014 $1,413.39 in refund credits. Pin number 01101 from 2015 to 2024.97 cents in refund credits. PIN number 13501 0201601 2016 to 2024 uh 1,2130 in refund credits. PIN number 1576201032 2017 2024 $1,620.91 in refund credits. Uh pin number 5613080065 2022 to 2024 $25156 on refund credits for a total impact of $11,239.33 respectfully submitted. On the question roll call Mrs. Yanni? Yes. Mr. Borthwick? Yes. Mr. Casey? Yes. Mrs. Chzik? Yes. Mrs. Fox? Yes. Mr. McCander? Yes. Mrs. Ms. Marco? Yes, Mr. DKI. Yes, Mr. Holmes. Yes. Affirmative. Education. We will have a motion to approve the building reconfiguration plan as follows. Starting the school year 2025 2026 Charles Summer Elementary. We have D1 to do first. D1 permission

061to attend. Thanks. I apologize. Thank you. Um, approval of staff attendance to conferences and meetings contingent upon required approval of all supervisors, principles or administration. Second. On the question on the question, I just wondered if we could get an explanation from Mr. Laffy for we received the email over the weekend. There was an additional additional $331 added to that. Uh, yes. Um, as you are aware in the previous permission to attend, director Casey attended the National School Board Association conference in Atlanta. Um, that at that time, I do not know what the total permission to attend was that was approved, but due to a change in flight, this additional cost that he incurred personally was that which was not paid on the digital the district credit card, which the original reservation was. Okay. essentially put

062the total expenses for reimbursement above and beyond what was previously approved by the board. So, we're asking permission to amend the permission to attend to then issue reimbursement. So, this was just the flight charge that you he paid for on his own. Correct. Got it. Okay. Thank you. Roll call. Mr. Borthwick? Yes. Mr. Casey? Yes. Mrs. Chzik? Yes. Miss Fox? Yes. Mr. McCandrew? Yes. Miss Merkel? Yes. Mle? Yes, Mrs. Yianni. Yes, Mr. Holmes. Yes. Nine. Affirmative. Now, D9, I apologize. Motion to approve the building reconfiguration plan as follows. Starting the school year 2025 2026, Charles Sler Elementary School from K through grade 4 to preK through grade 4. Jada Adams Elementary from K through grade 4 to preK through grade 4. And McNichols Plaza from K through grade four to preK through grade four. Second.

063Another question. I I have a quick question. This is probably directed to Mr. O'Donnell. We you talked about um this being the minimum um of potential classes. What happens if we have the ability to say get even more preschools? Are we going to be able We will be coming forth with another Okay. I just want to make sure we I just want to let everyone know that like summer open in the middle of the year. The way that this works, that could happen, not for the first day of school, but we may very well get a call October 1st that says, "We're giving you three more classes." And we will come to the board with that information. Okay. Thank you. Roll call. Mr. Casey? Yes. Mrs. Chzik? Yes. Miss Fox? Yes. Mr. McCandrew? Yes. Miss

064Merkel? Yes. Mr. Ley? Yes. Mrs. Yanni? Yes. Mr. Borthwick? Yes. Mr. Holmes? Yes. Can I affirmative? President Holmes, may I may I ask a question related to this before we move on? Okay. Um Dr. Keing, I I was able to watch the work session and you talked about the designations for schools. So, I just want to revisit that real quick here. Um that because we're here we're redesating these schools to be uh prek through four. So I would I think you stated that Scranton High was designated as a 7 through 12 school and that's the reason because it's a STEM academy. That's the reason why the test scores can't go back to their correct. It's not a program. It's a school. It's a school. Um I I believe it was director Borick. I'm not sure

065who said is that something that you could look into. So, I was able to Wednesday when I was in Harrisburg talk to someone from PTE um who is getting me a contact to see if that is possible in any capacity. Um, we've also been looking at can cyber become a school and Mr. Genza has been having problems kind of getting the pass around a PTE. So, I'm hoping somebody can get me a designated contact to reach out to. Okay. I mean, if you could just keep that on your radar. I mean, I I know that we've been asked, as you said, that our best and our brightest are are going to STEM and, you know, that is pulling those those test scores from our our other middle schools. We have um we have like a

066to-do list after board meetings that we all go over. So, part of my to-do list is to make sure I'm following up with can that revert to a program, can cyber become a school. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Appreciate that. Thank you, President Holmes. Um, sorry. D10 motion to approve the memorandum of understanding with the Scranton Federation of Teachers effective July 1, 2025 to January 31, 2026 as outlined in the attached second on the question. Um, on the question, so this is just theou for the early learning program. Um and um so this motion and the next motion I'm just going to abstain from the two pertaining to ACE because it's come to my attention that my eldest child's father works in the maintenance department. Roll call. Um I'm sorry. Mrs. Chesik, yes. Miss Fox, abstain.

067Mr. McCander? Yes. Miss Merkel? Yes. Mr. Leky? Yes. Mrs. Young? Yes. Mr. Borthwick? Yes. Mr. Casey, yes. Mr. Holmes, yes. Eight affirmative, one abstension motion passes. Okay. D11. Motion to approve the letter of agreement with ACE of NEA agency for community empowerment of NEPA effective July 1, 2025 to January 31, 2026 as outlined in the attachment. Second. Final question. Roll call. Miss Fox, abstain. Mr. McCandrew, yes. Miss Marco, yes. Mr. Ley, yes. Mrs. Johnny, yes. Mr. Borthwick, yes. Mr. Casey, yes. Mrs. Chzik, yes. Mr. Holmes, yes. Eight affirmative, one abstension motion passes. Yes. Special. Okay. D12 approve special education settlement agreements following legal review and negotiation. Settlement summaries previously provided to the board for review. 2200257HP and 3010524 JMBB. Second on a question. Roll call. Mr. McCandrew. Yes. M Miss Merkel. Yes. Mr. Leky? Yes.

068Mrs. Yanni? No. Mr. Borthwick? Yes. Mr. Casey, yes. Mrs. Chzik, yes. Miss Fox, yes. Mr. Holmes, yes. Eight affirmative, one negative. Motion passes. Operations. All right. So, we have E1. Motion to approve the purchase of operations hero. The module is the work order system and the basis of the operations hero platform financial impact. The five-year cost is $42,255.65. Year one is $10,190.50 and includes inflation fees of $2,749.30. Year 2 is $7,6644. Year three is $7,894.37. Year four is $8,131.20 and year five is $8,375.14. Second. On the question. Yes, on the question. Um I I did send an email following the last meeting. So just to kind of explain a little bit um more to public comment. So the motion we have in front of us tonight is the same motion as the mo that we

069had in front of us last meeting except this one is for three years rather than one year due to I think make good on the implementation fees and such. But the last motion was $38,734.75 more than this motion because the attached proposal included other various aspects that we did not yet discuss nor was listed on the motion. So, there was um I don't know if you want to say an error or something of the sorts of in putting that together that if we approved that last meeting, we would have been approving $39,000 in um software that we did not yet discuss. Correct. Um so, sorry. So, I'm sorry. No, go ahead. You're fine. Correct. So, there were pieces on that that weren't vetted through committees like we vet things through committees. They are going through

070that process now and will be brought back up to you for consideration upon that review. This is for the work order management portion only. Um, and I know there was concerns raised. I said this at the work session about abandoning programs quickly. So, this locks us into this for five years. So, we are seeing a return on the investment of implementation. And can you touch on I know it was asked and then I think I followed up too of where we're at in terms of getting a list of systems that we are using and that we have and who is using. Yeah. So, we're still we're still working on it. You're we're trying to get our arms around it. I'm being very honest with you. I emailed um I texted Mrs. Maloney, Mr. Suma this

071morning because in my calendar there was renew two things and I'm like, do we still have these things? Are we using these things? So, um we're we're still trying to get our arms around everything. And one of the goals that that we're working with as a central administration with principles is not having 18 separate islands, but having consistent programming through all the different buildings. How do we make that a priority? We are making it a priority, but it's it's harder than you think because if if one person has something and they're using it, let me use let me use communication tools. This is the easiest one to use. Some schools use Remind, some schools use dojo, some schools use Seesaw, some schools use one call. When we move, if the vote goes through to move

072to Infinite Campus, Infinite Campus has their own system. Everyone's going to that. we're removing all those other things. So, we have to do it methodically and approach things that as we're as we're implementing new things and getting rid of or or moving to new programs, we're able to give people transition time out of things and be prepared to move to what the next the system's going to be. So, it's it's it's more cumbersome than I thought it was going to be, too. Okay. Um, and I I just want to follow up one more thing on this motion. I think because of Director Fox's thoughtful, you know, financial questions into this, um, I think our concerns have now been addressed and and I think that administration has looked into those, taken care of that. We revised

073the motions. We now know what we're approving and that's always the goal of a board member is to understand what's in the package and what the expense is that that it's covering. So, thank you, Director Fox, for for your work on that and thank your administration for listening and making this motion so that we we fully understand it. Now, did we receive an invite for that May 13th Zoom? There was. So, Mr. Lafy, because I looked at my calendar and I'm um it was in a memo that was sent to you. So, it was in one of the board memos. The link was in the board memo. Okay. Regarding that, um can we do better like when something like that comes up? Because I know a lot of us like we expect email and also

074most of us have full-time jobs and families. So, if something like that comes up and it's that important, like something that we're going to be voting on, maybe send it in an email and perhaps if somebody can't go, allow us the opportunity to have questions asked by a representative from the district. So, that way we still have that opportunity to participate even though we can't really make it. And also, um I understand like we you know, the need for this system and everything like that. I do feel backed in the backed in the corner um based on what was said before being that you know we're going to lose data. We won't have anything as a backup. I just I feel like we have no choice right now but to approve this. So I think

075in the future maybe we could just do better with that as well. Understood. Roll call. Miss Merkel? Yes. Miss Trosky? No. Mrs. Johnny? Yes. Mr. Borthwick? Yes. Mr. Casey, no. Mrs. Chzik, yes. Miss Fox, no. Mr. McCandrew, yes. Mr. Holmes, yes. Six. Affirmative. Three negative. Motion passes. All right. We have E2. Approved contract for the Scrant High School gymnasium floor. Sanding and refinishing to Miller Sport through Co-Stars contract 008 E22845. The district previously released a an invitation for bid for the repairs and maintenance and received no competitive proposals. Uh guaranteed profit is $34,720. Second one question. On my question. Go ahead. Go ahead. Is this a project that um normally is performed by our painters and maintenance staff? I was just going to ask that same thing because two years ago, West Scranton's gym needed

076similar work. I mean, I haven't seen the gyms. I did see West Grant at the time and our painters and our carpenters went in there and repaired the gym. So, I do I had that same question. Director Casey, I'd ask for um Director Rucker to help out with this. Um I believe that this is a a much more thorough sanding, like taking it down to the original wood, um removing all the current as well. Um, I believe some of our guys would do some annual maintenance to the floors, but I'll ask Mr. Rucker to help us with this. Yeah, I was just going to say my past experience not here was that my guys would wax the floors every summer, wax the gym floors, but right before I I came here, we had to do

077the same thing. Shut the gym down, bring in big things that sanded it down and took it down and then repaint the floor and everything. Yeah, this is, as uh Mr. He stated, "This is taking it all the way down and removing everything, all wax, all paint, taking it right down to the wood, refinishing the wood, and then laying down new new graphics, paint, whatever, new lines, and then there would be a top coat of wax on top of that." Uh, to my knowledge, I don't think this has ever been done. So, this isn't a routine maintenance item. This is this is kind of a refresh of of the floor itself. So, our guys do to add into what Dr. Keading stated, uh, our guys do do perform the annual waxing of the force. We

078do not have the means, abilities, or tools right now to perform this work. And I I spoke to principal Coyle as well. Um I believe he's been at that school for quite some time. This we don't feel like this has ever been done before. And I believe the court Mr. Rocky can speak to this is showing some signs that some of the lines are fading etc. Yes, it's it's getting time. It's getting I'm having a very really hard time hearing. I'm so sorry. When uh they bring it down to the wood, they're going to have to come back and read a letter like Scranton High School nights and all that. Correct. That is in there as a part of a a graphics package we're looking at. It's part of the motion. It's part of the

079motion. Yes. No. So part the the 34,720 again Rob was making sure we get this right is to replace it as it currently stands today. So it's the same graphics, same lines that are currently there. Correct. We did in the board packet which we which I received personally myself late on Friday evening did provide a let's say an enhanced graphics graphics design that we do not have a cost for yet. As I stated in the memo, is if the board would like to consider that, we should amend the motion on the floor to be a not to exceed. We don't know what that additional cost is. We anticipate it to be more. I believe Mr. Rucker thinks it could be between8 to 12,000 more. Correct. I'll make I'll make amendment not to exceed. There there

080is a reason why I'm asking this and I'm going to go into another uh part of this and it probably should be directed probably should be directed to you uh Mrs. Yiani seeing that you're chairman of athletics. Uh but I keep hearing complaints and they're they're valid complaints that Westside High School uses our gym at Scrant. Well, they feel like orphans uh actually going into uh Scranton High. Uh everything is Scranton High. Uh nothing is West Scranton. I know that we do have a feasibility study out there. Uh but I do have a a solution and what I would like to see is if we can't do this solution add um some um uh lettering for westside invaders. Um it is there Jim also people from west side also pay taxes. Um, but the idea

081that I came up with and until we could get a new gym at Westside High School, uh, we have a gymnasium that I feel would be adequate, maybe it wouldn't. I haven't been in there for a while over at South Scranton Intermediate School. Uh I believe that the uh gymnasium there as far as the uh actual court is larger than the one at Scranton High. Uh, and I also remember if the bleachers aren't in too bad a shape, uh, you could probably get as many people over at South Intermediate and use that until we could get it use that as a home gym for Westside High School. And this way, uh, we could make it their gym for the meantime. And in the same token, it would also uh make things a lot easier where

082we probably wouldn't have a lot of scheduling problems and you have plenty of parking out the back. Uh it's only a solution and I throw it over to the athletics committee uh to Mrs. Yanni to investigate and come back with a recommendation. Can we look to have this potentially later on down the road at one of your meetings? We can have an athletics committee to to take a look at it. Yeah. I I don't Yeah, I don't know anything about the right. I don't want to step on your toes. And I think in South Scranton feeds into Scranton High, correct? Pardon me. Or does that does that feed into West half and half? Half and half. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. We could certainly We could certainly have a committee meeting. Yes. But

083I would like to see if we can't do that, uh, Westside High School at least acknowledged and felt welcome, right, at the, um, Scranton High School gym. It is on the scoreboard when you put the scoreboard. Well, we know. Go ahead. But I just I think I mean I I'll be very transparent here. I did send an email to administration saying I'm not sure in what world this is going to fly with the West Granton community to have this gym all night when um you know we have since I've been on the board and since West Scranton has been using Scranton High gym we have told um our West Grant community it is it's the Scranton school district's gym so both schools should use this equally and feel welcome in it. So, um, I'm for

084that reason I I I certainly think we need to move ahead with this motion. I'm not in favor of any enhanced graphics that designate the floor as all night. So, I just wanted to throw it out there for conversation. Seems like you have the same thoughts. It seems like you have the same thoughts. So, we know we have to talk about the graphics probably at a later date. So, should I I would make the friendly amendment to make sure it doesn't uh exceed the cost of 34 720 graphics package will be in addition to So So again, I I because now I I just want to make sure I have this in my brain, right? If we approve this tonight at 34720, the floor is going to look identical to how it looks right now.

085Correct. Okay. And again, in the in the board memo, there was an additional graphic. That is not what it looks like right now. Right. That would add some more painting to the baselines. different areas as well as the knight's name and also a a caricature of of the night on the court. That is not currently what it looks like and we don't know what that would cost but we feel it's approximately$8 to $12,000 and once that comes in we can have this conversation then when an actual written bid comes in then we can revisit this conversation right now personally I think we should focus on what is what we do know the number we do know for safety because the floor is getting slippery this is what I was told so I'm clarifying this the

08634720 will just put the floor back down as it looks. Correct. But it but we don't want to do all that work and then have to change the graphics later. So even if we change the graphics with West and SCR and stuff, shouldn't we put a little cushion in this? Um what is the So is the the floor I can't picture it off hand. Does the floor So if we want to be neutral per everyone's opinion, if someone thinks that it should stay more neutral, we would approve it as it is right now. Well, you know what? I only threw that out. No, you're not the only one that feels that way. So I don't think your name may for uh the sake of getting it done I'll withdraw and let's just go with the

087original motion and we can talk about motion I think he wants to make an amendment amendment Pat do you think I mean I know you brought up possibly make an amendment do you think we should or should it want I hear both sides like like I'm saying maybe we maybe we discuss the design later on have another discussion at a committee meeting but when are they going to start the work because once they sand and they start painting we can't go we can't back if if if you approve it right now, there's no going like this work's going to start. I don't know if it's immediately, but it'll start fairly quick, but I just want to point out, you know, talking about neutral, what the way it currently is right now is with a large

088single line S in the middle with the word nights. There's no other anything. So, there's no keeping it neutral. If you go base, it will be returned back to what it currently is with an S. There's nothing else there. If you look to add or change anything, that would be the additional graphics package. It has an or it says nights. This has a big S in the middle of center court and it says nights along the baselines. Right now at this point I have a picture resolution and then possibly talk about what we're going to do with the west side at a later date. Or maybe we should consider making it a standard gym floor so that it really is neutral for both West and Scranton. But I think that's why if we did the

089amendment like we cushion the the overall cost and then we can have that decision before it gets to a certain point like we you know I mean if we amend if we accept here for $34,000 we know that extra graphics about eight grand possibly. Correct. We would have to come back to you for approval right in the middle of their working asking us to explore something different. We could always do a change order. God knows we do enough. Yeah. But what I'm saying is once they start we got to have that decision before the work start. So, are you making a motion or Yeah. Well, I I don't know how much is the graphic package. We don't have that. We're guessing right now. So, I don't know if Mr. Recker has a picture of the

090gym as it looks now. If you want I I thought the S in the middle was just for Scranton Scranton School District. That's how I I took it, but it does say uh Scranton on one side and then Knights on the other. Maybe maybe we put a Scranton and Invaders. Well, the thing is no matter what, if you change it, you have to approve. So, could So, I think no matter what, we're unsure. Is it possible for us to approve it with the cushion of what you think it will be? And then maybe can it come back to us for a consensus? I'm I'm gonna be real honest with every uncomfortable guessing a cushion. I'm real like I like because if I say to you guys the cushion $7,500 and it comes back as $16,000,

091I'm going to be like tail tucked between my legs going, "Well, guess what? I gave you the wrong information." So then we should leave it as it is for safety reasons at this point, right? If we want to come back to the floor I'm I'm not they have not been raised to me I'm asking you but we can always take consensus at a later date definitive number am I correct before we're going back and round to around we can do a consensus once you contact the company say tomorrow get a definitive number get an okay that they can do this come back to us and we can do a consensus before they start to work they're not starting to work those schools out correct we have days correct Correct. Correct. So then why don't we

092do look at moving forward with that? Approving the motion as is. If we need to change and amend that, then you provide the information that Pat sends it out. We move forward. Attorney Moran, would your recommendation be to table to approve or to vote no with the idea of getting consensus on the design? I wanted to hear um Mr. Rucker's answer to Dr. question because if there wasn't any pressing safety concern, my recommendation would be to table it, especially since it seems like there's some debate, we might be going with a totally different design. Sounds like even if the $12,000 cushion, as we're calling it, doesn't contemplate West Grant, right? So, I mean, if if we're going back to the drawing board now with new ideas, we're going to move forward with something totally different,

093then the recommendation would be to table it and come back with a new motion to act on. But and I'll make a motion to table. Thank you. Well, but I'm asking about about the safety concerns that we see. Motions are made to table. I have a second. Second, Pat. Uh, just there's been a motion to table right now and there is a second. So, who on the question? On the question. We're on the question now. Okay. So, on the question, Pat, there's no on the question. We need motion table. Correct. Correct. Oh, okay. Sorry. Just have to roll call it, Jenny. I'm sorry. This is a motion to table. Correct. Okay. Mrs. Leki, yes. Mrs. Yanni, yes. Mr. Bourwick, yes. Mr. Casey, yes. Mrs. Chzik, yes. Ms. Fox, yes. Mr. McCandrew, yes. M. Merkel? Yes.

094Mr. Holmes? Yes. I affirmative. Now, I have a question. Can we take consensus on an item that was tabled? Is that okay? No, we'll have to put this up for another motion. So, Remember I just said here you're going to have to yell at me here. Here goes the first time. If say say Rob goes out comes back Rob could send a design and a cost to all of you and because we don't meet again until the 28th of July. President Holmes can send that to all of you and take consensus to begin the work and you can ratify that on the 28th of July. But that's okay because we tabled it. We could still take consensus in between meetings. Do that normally. Yeah. as long as we Okay. Director Borthwick, did you have something

095towards Pat? Yeah, I was just going to say um Director Casey's thought might be a worthwhile solution because half of South goes to Scrant, half goes to West and it's a large gym that might be able to accommodate our needs. I don't, you know, admin could just look at that report back. We can certainly that would that could save some time and maybe we get it done before we have to worry about this. Let's will allow us well allow us to talk about it and and make an assessment of that possibility. So I just wonder if I know I was supposed to receive that pricing today. I did not receive it. So what's that? I was supposed to receive that pricing today but it was not received. So you should have it very soon. Thanks.

096I think we would need a lot of input and feedback from the Weston community um before we made such a big move like that. I mean, I'm not saying it's not a viable idea, but I would definitely want um the the administration and the principles and most certainly our athletic director all weighing in on that. We have to keep in mind what director Borthwick said too because that's valid because if if they come back and say West can use Scranton, South Scranton, then you don't need to. So, we have a couple of balls in the air right now. allow us to assess the parking, allow us to assess the seating capacity, the condition, get that input, the the condition of the floor itself, you know, and then I think if it's something, but I would

097want all of that before I would I here's what I'm here's what I see happening here. I see them saying, "Okay, we're going to give um West Scranton South Scranton's gym and then we're going to give Scranton their nights flooring." That's how I see that going. This is only a temporary situation till we could get a new gym built. Yeah, but we don't have I'm I'm absolutely in favor of that, but I don't know when that's coming. Could be years and years down the road. So, I don't want to say to West we don't have a crystal ball. And right now, West Scranton doesn't have a home that they feel like they could call themselves, right? Their home. All I'm trying to do is give them a home. Uhhuh. at least for the next couple

098years till we could get this all resolved. If it's a feasible option and the West Grand community is in favor of that, I'm all for having that meeting and discussing that and the central administration will run this to the ground and provide information back to us. Correct. Yes. I'll be honest you. I have not been south quite many years. Some improvements needed. Okay. All right. Um, now we're going to have E3. Motion to reject the bid received for the West Scranton High School locker replacement project due to lack of competition. Second. On the question. On the question. Are we still going to pursue this? We I thought we had a quote, right? Uh, the motion. Oh, right. Right. The motion follow up to this one will be to move forward with the alternative proposal. Got

099it. Thank you. Roll call. Mrs. Yianni. Yes. Mr. Borthwick. Yes. Mr. Casey. Yes. Mr. Chzik. Yes. Miss Fox, yes. Mr. McCandrew, yes. Miss Merkel, yes. Miss Droski, yes. Mr. Holmes, yes. Affirmative. All right. So, now we have E4. Motion to award West Grand High School lockers to third dimension specialties utilizing the co-ar contract. Financial impact is $86,285.40. Second on the question. Can I just clarify these are the lockers for the football and not because there was multiple locker emails, multiple locker memos. The 1.1 million was for the lockers. Yep. Okay. Just I'm sorry. And this is so no matter what is decided about the gym and such, these athletic lockers, these are the lockers that are in the area that are just they're currently just not repairable. Roll call. Roll call. Mr. Borthwick. Yes. Mr.

100Casey? Yes. Mrs. Chzik? Yes. Miss Fox? Yes. Mr. McCander? Yes. Miss Merkel? Yes. Mlei? Yes. Mr. Johnny? Yes, Mr. Holmes. Yes. Affirmative. All right. And finally, we have E5. Motion to approve change order GCCO006 for the West Kran Intermediate School Windows per attached AIA document. Financial impact is PR51- RFCO number 49 ASI 29 window replacements cost is $616,5768. And then we have U PR52 RFCO number 50 ASI 29 slope curtain wall replacement cost is1 or sorry 140,388 $338.38. Your total cost is $756,9146. Second. Second. On the question. So I talked about this a little bit at the work session. This was a big miss and I I there was a memo that um that Mr. laugh he gave us explaining that when the board approved this in 2022 that was not part of the scope.

101I wouldn't expect the board to to to drill down that level. That's not a skill set that necessary necessarily all of us have. But when we have, you know, contracted people uh or employees who who see this stuff when they're going through making these kinds of contracts or or agreements or plans. the fact that these blatantly rotting windows where teachers were informing me, yeah, the there's it rains sometimes inside the building when we're spending the tens of millions that we're spending. It does not make sense that we have this big of a miss. So, if we can going forward, I know we don't have any like crazy major projects like this one, but going forward when we're doing these kinds of rehabilitations, we need to be vigilant. um because we just missed a $750,000 cost

102that, you know, if we caught it in 2022, which it it clearly was rotting back then because that stuff doesn't happen overnight. Um it might not have been this much money. So, we just I just want to say that, you know, I'm in favor of this project because it needs to get done because I don't want to see damage happening to a building that we're renovating, but I just want to see more v vigilance in this regard. Thank you. So, can I can I just respond to that briefly? I I have to respectfully disagree with you, Mr. Borthwick, because I I was on the board at that time and I I did watch the work session and I feel your comments are very unfair. Uh I reached out to Mr. Laffy. I asked him about

103this. Um this was never in the original scope of the budget and I wonder Mr. Laffy, could you just share what you shared in that memo? I I don't want the public to walk away hearing this thinking that this was missed or um you know blatantly rotted windows in 2022. I'm I'm not sure that was the case. So could you please share what you discussed with me? Certainly. And I and I can't speak to the conditions of the windows in 2022. What I can say is that there was approximately six different scopes of work for this project. It evolved from something as small as I think it started out as a $2.5 million project to what was then approved by the board in April of 2022 with a total cost of approximately 12,000 that includes

104soft 12 million excuse me that includes uh the soft cost to then being amended I believe in August of 2022 with option two plus let's call it where we authorize KCBA the designer of the project to design the project at an estimated budget of 24 million. So, there was a few iterations of this. Again, I I I can't speak to the condition of the window, but I do know that based on some funding and again, if if you recall in 2023, we issued a $20 million bond issue to to do to finalize some other projects that were in the works and also substantially fund this one. And again, we were we were bene we were a benefit of the state's RACKP program for this on this program as well, right? But um yeah, so there

105was certainly some I think maybe tough decisions that had to be made in terms of what what scope was included and what wasn't. Um I I can't how do you say the windows that were that were included? Clear story. Yeah, the clear story windows were always included in the scope. Um but uh again, multiple versions of this project were um discussed whether with our integration team or whether with the board, but ultimately option 2+ is what we enhanced on at 24 million. And I remember a lot of discussion on that and we we did we had to take a look at all of our old buildings and we had to make some really tough decisions to keep all of those buildings open. So, you know, I I I know that we as a board at

106that time worked really hard to try to make the best decisions with the money that we had. So, are we stating that it was intentional to then not do it because it was a tough decision and we financially decided not to include the windows despite evidence of rot and um I'm not saying anything again I can't go back and recall exactly which components of the building were selected for what reasons but I will say again the project scope changed at least at least six times I think. Yeah. And since we're talking since you mentioned director Yanni like you know being fair and talking to the public I think the public would know that rot doesn't happen immediately that should have been brought to our attention as soon as anyone discovered it and the fact that

107it wasn't is problematic. That's why I said that we should be vetting these things a little bit more closely so that we don't have change orders like this come up or rain on happening in classrooms with new construction. So thank you Dr. Katy. Were you not informed of this at any point? I mean, did you just go over there and say, "Oh, look, that window's rotting. We need to fix it." So, on January 27th, so back in January, when we were first, I believe, talking about, and I could be wrong here, the gym ceiling, somebody said, I might have been director of Borthwood, get a list of all the things that aren't done. So, I have that list. The cafeteria floor was one. We've put that out to bid. That's done. The painting was one.

108We've put that out to bid. That's done. The carpeting um put out to bid and not and that's done. There are a few areas and the night that we went over the carpeting, I gave everyone a map that still aren't done. We're waiting on a cost of what those areas would be. Something that is not done is the little theater seating. The little theater is only getting new carpeting, ceiling, lighting, and HVAC, but there are broken chairs, and we don't know if the upholstery will match. Mr. Rucker is going to put out a bid for that to see what that would cost. The rekeying of interior doors wasn't included in the renovation. Um, so the electronic badges have to be looked at for that. The theta bathroom was one that wasn't being updated. Um, however,

109they were supposed to talk about that. I don't have an update there. The gym ceiling was done. Um, and the gym ceiling has been put through and the windows and now the windows have been put through. So, it is it is a short time period that we have addressed almost all of that list except for the few things that I just went over. And I brought this to you with gravity because I happened to be at the West Grant Intermediate Scholar Breakfast Student of the Month breakfast. And while I was there was one of the Fridays where it was just torrentially raining like all of May. And I was able to see it in person. And upon seeing it, I then said this has to be expedited on this list. But we have of the

110list. I I do want to say a number of things have been addressed. I just gave you the full list. There are things the little theater seats, the re kinging of doors, the theta bathrooms that have not been addressed and they may be things we have to bring forward. What safety safety ballots were also brought forward, but they were done before they were right. Yeah. with this motion. This is the first I am hearing of like the water damage. So, I feel like this is news to me like just brought up now. Like I don't remember it from previous motions. But my my question is would there be any sort of concern like from an environmentalist standpoint such as mold inhalation or anything like that? Have we conducted any testing to ensure the safety of

111our students and staff? We can have air quality testing done, Director Chzik, but when I went in there was water. There was no visible anything else. it was just water was coming through because I mean like usually I know like you know with the water there could be like mold that is growing or anything like that. So, I just want to, you know, I'd rather be cautious in this. Just the only thing that comes to my mind hearing all of this is I'm glad that things are being addressed that need to um I just want to like as a director concerns me if we're I I understand it's a new construction project. So, we're making sure every I I know someone said, "Why would you leave the carpet looking like that in a nice new

112building?" But then I just think of the way that other teachers and parents and students might feel in other buildings that have a lot greater needs than a broken seat in the theater, which I'm not saying isn't important or needs to be addressed. I just don't I just get concerned of I I I know you you've been working on on things and stuff. I don't want to see us put other things that aren't a priority before things that are uh you know where I'm going with this. It just makes me a little I think some of the carpet, if I'm not mistaken, might have been damaged and like worn out even more when they're moving all the equipment. Yeah. The dust and everything. Yeah, I'm sure there's some of that. Just when you're saying you

113needed to get an inclusive list, I don't want to see us put it something above a school that needs something a lot more greater than a seat. And and and I just again I wanted to share that list because it was a follow through so you you kind of knew what else was wasitt so that everybody knows what else was was sitting out there. And again there there there's a lot and to no no fault no blame. I'm not saying anything negative of anyone. We all know there's a lot in this district that has to be done and and there's a lot of days looking at all of the capital projects that I will personally tell you I feel like I'm in the deep end of the ocean drowning because I feel immense pressure because

114I know people want them fixed and I understand what a building feels like and I I I it's it's it's slow and it's we're trying to be methodical and I I know that it's not at times, but like I I just I I know it has to be done. I want everyone to know that I'm aware we're trying to move the needle in the compass as quickly as we can and get to these things. Um, but some things have been put off for a really long time. Thank you for saying that because I can tell you in the six years I've been on this board, I feel that immense pressure because we have so many old buildings and we hear from so many faculty and staff and even students of their their building needs. So

115I know um not just you but previous administrations have worked really hard to try to allocate those dollars the best that they can. And so that's why I I struggle um when I hear that you know this this was blatantly ignored. Nothing I I can assure you that from the time I've been on this board, nothing has been blatantly ignored. We have really tried to address all that we can and make the improvements that we can with the with the pot of money that we have. But I think so I know director Fox just asked me about all the programs. I think director Borth what you're saying too is where is the top five list after this of what we have concerns over. Definitely we need to be we just need to be on top

116of it because the fact that you know I see you know what I'm saying. So that like I could say at the July 28th work session, you know what, we sat down and here's here is the top five. This is this is what I want to say to you. Yeah. And the thing is like you said that it you moved on this quickly, which is I'm glad you did, but somebody saw water before you did and that should have come that should have got taken care of before the superintendent happened to be there. That's my concern. You know what, Tom? Um, I understand both points. Um, and what we have to realize is we're now in 2025 where we're financially better off than we were in 2019. But what we also have to realize, even

117though we're in 2025, we have to go back and start thinking the way we did in 2019 because the money isn't going to be there. And back in 2019, there were a lot of projects that just weren't uh earmarked uh to be done for the main reason we didn't have the money. But as I said again, we're in 2025. We have to realize the money is drying up and we have to start thinking like we did in 2019. That's all I want to do. I want to I I just want to make you realize. I mean the the faucets are turned off. We have some problems locally. God forbid uh um um regional hospital uh packs up their bag and leaves. I mean uh we have to start looking what could happen instead of like

118uh well we have all this money now let's spend it. Well, we have to prioritize too. And uh um in all fairness to Tom, I could see where he'd be upset, but in all fairness, I could see where uh the administrators are saying, "I only have so much money to go around." And that's thinking of 2019. And what we're now thinking of is how we are in 2025, which we have to get that totally out of our mind because we don't have the money. We don't have the money coming down the pike. So instead of uh putting new and I'm hey I'm guilty as much as anybody wanting to put invaders on the floor. But we we have to realize the faucet is turned off that people in Scranton are leaving in droves because they

119can't afford the taxes. Now that I said my piece, could we call for the vote? Anyone else have anything they say? I'm sorry. This is for E5, correct? Correct. Okay. Um, Mr. Casey, yes. Mrs. Chzik, yes. Miss Fox, yes. Mr. McCander, yes. Miss Mkel, Miss M Strky, sorry. Yes. Mrs. Yanni, yes. Mr. Borwig, yes. Mr. Holmes, yes. Ada, personnel, one motion to approve personnel report as All hires are contingent upon all background checks and clearances. On the question just maybe on the question. Sorry, I'm just how how come um I was just looking at um okay so there's there's an intern on here for the human resources but the next motion is to approve summer interns. Is there a reason why one is on the I think it's just that they added it to the

120personnel report standard. If you want to take that off and put it on both, you can. Um, they started like looking to interview if that was approved that night. It was approved tonight so that we can get people in place to start helping. Okay. So, I don't know if that's if they would need to go backwards. Should we do that? So there's an intern on the personnel report, but the next motion without names. Um, should we flip the motions? Yeah, let's do that. So interns first and then just to clarify, so the second motion is to approve the positions essentially and then on the personnel report is to specifically hire that one person. So then will we eventually have a personnel report to approve those other people? Yeah, it'll be it'll just be retroactive. We'll

121send you the names. So we are swapping the motions right now. We're going to ask for F2 first. You're going to read F2. So we're now reading F2. Okay. So a motion to approve the hiring of summer interns not to exceed the following. Human resource department two, technology department five, two Scranton High School students, two West Scranton High School students, and one college student. business department not to exceed five. Interns will be paid an hourly rate of $12.50 an hour. They will not begin before June 9th, 2025 and will terminate no later than August 22nd, 2025. No question. Roll call. Mrs. Chzik, yes. Miss Fox, yes. Mr. McCandrew, yes. Miss Merkel, yes. Mr. Ziki, yes. Mrs. Yanni, yes. Mr. Bwick. Yes. M. Mr. Casey. Yes. Mr. Holmes. Yes. Nine. Affirmative. Okay. So, back to F1.

122Motion to approve personnel report as attached. All hires are contingent upon all background checks and clearances. Second. On the question. Roll call. Miss Fox. Yes. Mr. McCandrew? Yes. Miss Merkel? Yes. Mr. Sleek? Yes. Mrs. Johnny? Yes. Mr. Borthwick? Yes. Mr. Casey, yes. Mrs. Chosik, yes. Mr. Holmes, yes. Nine. Affirmative. Sorry about the back on that. Thank you. F3, approve the pharmacy proposal from Meritain CVS pharmacy effective July 1st, 2025 as recommended by healthcare consultant BSI. And as outlined in the attached, this proposal represents a significant enhancement in our current pharmacy contract, including numerous benefits, including enhanced discounts, reduced dispensing fees, and more favorable rebate guarantees. Second on the question. Roll call. Mr. McCandrew, yes. Miss Merkel, yes. Miss Trosky, yes. Mrs. Yani, yes. Mr. Borthwick, yes. Mr. Casey, yes. Miss Mrs. Chzik, yes. Miss Fox,

123yes. Mr. Holmes, yes. Affirmative. Vendor relations. Okay. Uh first one, uh motion to approve Ben from the campus uh student information system. Second. So I think Yeah, I think we need to read the cost. Okay. The cost is uh $378,5430. Second on the question. So, I understand that we need a student information system. I understand that that's necessary. I'm going to go back to our discussion with Operation Hero. Um we we asked for that list of programs, operating systems, and their purposes. And I I know it's a lot to get your arms around, but I'm going to my colleagues who are sitting here now who um may recall a very large legal issue and settlement that was regarding a student information system. So I'm not comfortable approving any large um expenditures like this until I

124know every system, every operating system and its purpose in this district. as a as a board member, I feel like I kind of have to put that pressure on administration to say until you get me that, I can't make the best decision uh on something like this. I know that you had a committee that vetted this, but there's parts of this that I'm understanding would be replaced. Um different systems this would replace. I don't think I have a full understanding of that until I have that list in front of me. So until I get that, I'm not comfortable approving um something of this financial magnitude. It is um it can replace multiple uh programs. Uh Mr. Suma has also been involved in the successful transition of student information management systems in other districts. Um which

125I believe will negate the concern that happened in the past. I can say that I worked with infinite campus system and it does do what it's supposed to do. Um on the question, um yes, I I feel as though I am traumatized from previous systems. Um scared to approve them essentially. Um I know the most we could do is get your buy in saying that you'll what you always do. We'll make it work. We'll make sure um you're really good at um pushing that the district learns from from their past and moving forward. And um I don't think you've let us down on that yet. So um I think you'll continue doing that. Um it it does make me worried. I did look up as much as I could about Infinite Campus and I do

126see a lot of districts are moving to this uh phasing out of Power School and going to Infinite Campus. Um I do see that a lot of a chunk of people say that it's it's definitely something hard. It not it it takes a transition because there's a lot more clicking is what I'm learning um than maybe from other systems. So um you know just our staff will know that this is in the best interest of the district and you said it it takes over e-haw pass right and one call and um IP right okay so yes I am very nervous um with approving this um but I I'm sure we have your full support behind implementing and following through and then like we've talked about with the previous the implementation fees um I think this

127board I think we're just kind of scared right Yeah, I I large numbers of dollars and then not going anywhere good. I respect that. I believe Mr. Suma's up there, but Mr. Suma has successfully transition student information management systems before. Um the committee overwhelmingly selected this product um after vetting numerous products. Um I have myself as as director Merkel said who worked with the system reached out to other schools um who are happy with the system in place. In addition to that they are offering us additional seats on the special ed side to be able to help develop and and find uh refine that product. Um I don't know if there's anything you want to say Chris is you've been in the seat before. Yeah, just from a confidence standpoint, I know it's been something

128that I even stressed when we talked about bringing this project to the table because I know uh what happened in the past. Uh I think the difference this time would be the great team of people that not only do I have in my department, but with Mrs. Maloney and some of the people that work with her uh on the student information system side of things, we're going to have a great team of people that will lead this. Um, from a programming standpoint, Director Yanni, to answer your question specifically, um, we are going to replace the one call now system and we will replace the e-haul e hall pass system. Um, a student information system is just that. It's just demographics, it's grading, it's discipline, it's attendance. It doesn't do a whole lot of others unless

129they bring those other products in, which is what we talked about with e-haul pass and with the uh calling system, the mass communication system. So, we're we're getting everything under one house here with this system. Um, I think it's going to create a lot of efficiencies. Uh, and and as um Dr. King said, you know, this is something that I've done three other times. Um, I've gone through the process. We are starting a little bit earlier than I have on other projects if this passes because of the how dirty our data is in the current system with the amount of duplicate um contacts that students have across many entries entries district entries that they've had in and out of the district. So, we're going to use that time wisely to get us up and running

130for July of 2026. So, we do have quite a bit of time between now and our expected go live time to be able to ensure that everything is put through smoothly. Um, campus has put in some additional hours of training to ensure that our staff have exactly what they need. So, this has been well thought out. Um, and it it should go very smoothly from an imple implementation side. But I I don't I don't foresee there any gotchas here again in the history that I've gone through this process. Stu SIS's are pretty straightforward. You you get what you get from, like I said, grading, attendance, discipline, mark recording, communication, translation pieces that they're adding in now. So, um it's really to to build efficiencies. Uh Mr. Sumat, uh did you implement this system in your

131last district? I did. Which district was that? Southern Le. Okay. So, just just to be transparent and clear, um and I'm sure this was I think this was when you were leaving the district, right? you were coming here. Um the it says that the transition from for that school district to um infinite campus was had complications that seniors were not able to access their transcripts. Um I think there was some transferring issues um that it didn't it did not go smooth in Southern Lehigh. I I think part of it was my leaving u and I don't know who they hired to replace me that would have picked up that baton and ran with it. But I I do know um I think more of the issues were with special education but that lent to that

132team in their involvement or or how in-depth that team took upon that uh conversion process. So, but I have not encountered any sort of transcript issue or mark reporting issues with seniors. The four years of their academic histories are always brought over and entered into the new system to ensure that they would have all the the documentation necessary. So, my my question sort of goes handinhand with what director Fox just asked, but so you anticipate the data migration process to last over a year. Is that what I understand? with with a district this size and again only because of how I use the term dirty, but how um unorganized some of our data is, it's going to take a little bit extra time to really clean up the it's basically cleaning up contact information, making

133sure that we have one or you know, if it's a split household, making sure that we have the correct contacts with the correct students because it's messy in our current system the way that it stands right now. And the only way to really kind of get ahead of it is to do something like this where you can get a clean bill and make sure that you're as accurate as you can be with the right context to the right students. Do we have any sort of like plan if there is some if there is data loss with that migration just to make sure we don't lose anything on our students? There wouldn't be data loss. We we have access to all the data. If there's a missing link, that would be the something that could happen.

134But those contacts are already they would be built into the new system and then it would just be a matter of linking that student with that individual. So it would be again more of a missing link than it would be we didn't have it. Okay. Thank you. Uh so just uh I appreciate the information and the clarification. So just this so that I just want to be confident and comfortable. So this one was from like eight months ago. I guess that's when they probably I don't know transitioned or something. It just said that when the information was transferred from Sapphire to Infinite Campus, there were a lot of errors. Um, that was probably been the most difficult part for us. It tends to cause the most concern for students trying to send their courses to

135colleges. So, they had to literally go through every senior transcript and delete and correct and handinenter. So, I guess my question at this time because this is here we are and I understand that we need a student information system is just to have those plans in place for technology. There could be human error and technology error. Obviously, we can't um we can't prevent everything. So, just that we have a plan in place for if this transition doesn't go as smooth as we hope it does. You're bringing up your own concerns of our data and such. I can't speak to what happened after I left every the wheels the wheels were on the bus when I was still there. Yep. So, just to follow up on that, um, do we have a a plan in place

136if if Mr. Zuma decided to leave or seek alter? I understand, but I mean like I'm going to go back to the the previous system and for lack of a better word, this this administration, this district paid out heavily and there was somebody there who left who made that recommendation that left. So it could very easily happen. We're crossraining right now. Um Mrs. Maloney will be involved. Suan Sandy will be involved. Your staff will be involved. So Mr. Suma has built a process right now of making sure there's depth in his department. So there will be other people involved in the data migration and and in getting this ready to go 100%. And that's on all processes, not just the student information system as far as the things that we're doing in our department right

137now. We're we're this summer is going to be a big summer of learning where we're crossraining a lot of our employees in my department. So, as soon as we can get that documentation of all those other processes, I'll feel a lot more comfortable making these decisions. Roll call. Miss Merkel, yes. Miss Tresley, yes. Mrs. Johnny, no. Mr. Borthwick, yes. Mr. Casey, yes. Mrs. Chzik, yes. Miss Fox, no. Mr. McCandrew, yes. Mr. Holmes, yes. Seven affirmative, two negative. Motion passes. Vendor relations. Okay. Um, second. Motion to approve PSBA all access membership which includes services um outlined in the attached uh financial impact is $19,199.15. I so move second on the question. Um, just on a question, I wanted to compare this to um, previous years and from what I was looking at since I've been on

138the board, we haven't approved um, the PSBA invoice. I'm not sure if why is there do you know I I know you weren't here. So, is there a reason why it has something that I've always approved as a superintendent? Because it has board member benefits tied to it. Okay. So I've always made sure and and the other thing is any new board members. That's where your required training can be completed. Right. So to me this is not just a school district purchase. This is a board purchase. So I've always done this as a motion. Pat. Yeah. And it auto always automatically renew in the bill list. Yeah. It was on the bill list. It would have been probably on a like a it's a budgeted expense with within the budget. Right. Right. It just normally

139wasn't a separate motion for us to approve. So That's 100% Aaron Kitty that I think I I literally knew you were going to say transparency or something. 100% me who did that. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that. There were also questions about NSBA um where originally online it was a $75 quote, but that wasn't right. I did put that in the packet of what that cost would be. So, if somebody wants to tell President Holmes for me to move that forward, I also have all that information. It was in this week's packet for you. Okay. Thank you. Roll call. Mr. Ley. Yes, Mrs. Yanni. Yes, Mr. Borthwick. Yes, Mr. Casey. Yes, Mrs. Chzik. Yes, Miss Fox. Yes, Mr. McCander. Yes, M. Miss Merkel. Yes, Mr. Holmes. Yes. Affirmative. Okay, the next one. The Scrant School

140District issued a request for proposal RFP for security services beginning July 1, 2025 through June 30th, 2028. After a thorough review of all submitted proposals, including a detailed cost benefici, Mr. Holmes, if I may read a statement. Yes. Before we proceed with tonight's motion, I want to clarify that rejecting all bids for contracted school security services signals the district's intent to move forward with expanding our current cadre of district employed school security officers. These positions will be aligned to the standards established by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency under Act 67 of 2019, ensuring compliance with all training, certification, and operational expectations outlined in state law. This direction reflects our commitment to strengthening school safety through district oversight, consistency, and staffing, and a long-term investment in our district's internal security infrastructure. That will be

141a motion on July 28th brought forward to the board for approval of those employees. So, should we could we consider I don't know if we should do this, but making an amendment to this motion to to include that this motion is strictly to reject the bids. That's how again I'm doing your job. We have to have closure to that RFP process. So the the action tonight is to to reject the bids. And I think we've indicated the district's intent to move forward with a hiring process that will bolster the ranks of our existing SSOs. You'll have the option to to decline to hire people at the July 28th meeting, but that that'll be the action. I think the administration will bring forward candidates to be selected and to be formally hired to again bolster the

142ranks of the SSOs. Roll call. What are we going do on a question? We did on the question. I'm sorry. We were already on the question when was speaking. I thought just Dr. Keing spoke and then I don't know. May I speak then? Yes. Okay. So, I I just would like to say that um I appreciate Dr. making that very clear that by voting to reject these proposals for outsourcing our security, we are effectively voting to greatly increase the number of our in-house security that we manage. Am I stating that correctly? That's the plan. Yes. Okay. Um I I know that everyone sitting here um it's a shared goal of all of us to ensure to the best of our abilities the safety and security for our students and staff. So I just want to

143um be on the record here. Dr. It's your recommendation. You feel confident in the the plan that we've been able to discuss and Attorney Moran, you feel confident in what you've reviewed. Um this is the best option for our district to move forward. Yes. Yes. Okay. And just one more thing, we we will be permitting then public comment at that July 28th meeting. Um so if anybody in the public wants to discuss this further um they can they can reach out certainly ahead of time but then they they could make their comments at that time. Yes. On the question you how you described it signals our attent intent. So between now and then if if uh we're rejecting these is it possible if if something changed to put this back out for you could put

144it back out for bid at any time. You're rejecting these current bids. You can always put something back out for bid again. Again, all all all you're bound to do tonight by this motion is to reject the bids that were already submitted and accumulated. Uh but as Dr. Kinging said, we certainly reserve the right to do another RFP process for a contracted uh security firm if that's the the direction the board wants to go in after consideration of the current plan to bolster the ranks. Uh if for some reason um that doesn't meet with the satisfaction of the board, you absolutely have the right to uh solicit for security proposals again. Thank you. And and if we were to move ahead with our in-house plan and a year from now we decided that that might

145not be working in the way that we thought it would, would then it still be an option at that point, right? To then relook at outside services? Yes. I mean we we we would have to go through more labor hoops, I would imagine, if we've if we've you know hired people and then the decision would be to move on from those people, of course. But yes, in a theoretical world, absolutely. Roll call. Mrs. Yianni, yes. Mr. Borthwick, yes. Mr. Casey, yes. Mrs. Chzik, yes. Miss Fox, yes. Mr. McCandrew, yes. Miss Merkel, yes. Miss Dresky, yes. Mr. Holmes, yes. Affirmative. Okay, the next one. Uh, did you announce the vote, Jen? I did. Nine. Nine affirming. Okay, next one. Motion to approve Noah Catz Esquire for legal services for an independent investigation and expulsion. Attorney Katz

146will receive an hourly rate of $175 or $175 per hour build at onetenth of an hour and reimbursement for mileage and work related expenses. I so move. Second on the question on the question. So if there is further need for conflict counsel beyond the two listed reasons here would that then come to the board again? Uh it would be my preference to uh more generally qualify uh conflict counsel whomever that would be because I think I do think these these things are going to come up just as it did in the uh RFP process for legal services. Uh there was a conflict. I think Kick Sprry uh was was was implicated and the board acted to hire somebody without having to avail itself of an RP process. Point of that is these things happen quickly.

147Uh so I I would not be committing to that because um my professional obligation would be to identify the conflict, say I can't represent you and urge you to find somebody who could. Uh so uh I wouldn't want to feel like you're without legal counsel for the duration that it would take to go through an RFP process. So I guess my only concern with that is consistency. So, is this something we should even be approving? If we're not I think it's fine to do it if I mean, look, if if if if what you're asking is if next time there's a conflict, we can come to the board for consideration and hiring of conflict counsel. Yes. What I'm saying is I don't think um it would be practical to slow down and do um a

148competitive procurement process every time a conflict comes up, but I I certainly think it's practical to to come to the board who's the hiring authority anytime there's a conflict and ask for uh for that uh that lead to to use somebody else. So yeah, in this situation we have we have identified two two scenarios and I think that's why this is narrowly asking about um the expulsion and about the internal investigation. But after we left the uh the gathering the executive session where we're considering this um an issue came up at the work session. uh it was either a board member or administration started asking me about a uh a contractor who performs municipal tax collection and I said uh that cl that that contractor is a client of mine and I pointed out to

149the fact that they were hired back in 2017. They were from out of town and they sent me as their attorney to answer questions of the board. So if that matured to a proposal in a contract, that would be a situation where I would like to recuse myself uh and say, "Hey, I've already identified that this as a a client of mine. I don't think it would be appropriate for me to represent the district adverse to this client. Uh you might want to engage conflict counsel to review that proposal." That's just an illustration. Did you say last time that I I can't that you like do you you technically don't have to bring conflict counsel to us, right? Don't you like you have the authority to or is that not No, I I can't spend

150any money so I have to bring it to you. Okay. I thought we were talking about that the last law firm maybe used conflict counsel that we did. I was saying that it was it was my understanding from what I was told was it was customary not to come to the board for conflict counsel. Um and that that this is just the first time it was done. Correct. They had a dedicated You know what? Okay. I I I have to tell Mr. Moran that I'm pleased that you brought it up publicly because And everybody knows, everybody out there in TV land knows that I had uh a complaint filed against me when I first got on the board and I was told that we're going to have independent counsel. It'd be somebody not related to

151uh anybody independent. It took me six weeks to get the complaint that was filed against me. The complaint wasn't given to me until after the complaintant actually was interviewed. Then when I find out, I think that it's an independent investigator. It turns out that the investigator was part of the solicitor from the board and he had a direct conflict of interest, but nobody questioned whether or not there was a conflict of interest there. I give you all the credit in the world for coming out forward. And then the second complaint that was filed against me, the same thing happened. Matter of fact, at our last meeting, uh I asked uh Solister Moran, now I know you weren't there, Tara, and I said in the back room, but I want that second complaint investigated because the

152complaint and the actual interview of the people who filed it are contradicting and they, as far as I'm concerned, they filed a false report and I've been asking what's going on and everybody keeps saying you're not Casey, do you think this is something that you and I can talk about? I can get some detail and get No, because I want to let people know. I'm not hiding anything. I agree with you. I just I'm trying to follow this and I think I think I can probably digest it and get back to I apologize. Accusing me of something because I didn't make any complaints against I just want to clear the air. Nobody's accusing anyone. We are still on the motion. Okay, let's stick to the merits of the actual motion that we're talking about. We

153have a motion on the floor. I think we all said enough. No, we're still going to ask people to speak. Does anybody else over here want to speak? I I'd just like to say something if I could. Um and and maybe this is kind of directed at um Attorney Moran. So, um, so during Attorney Katz's previous engagement with the district, I became aware that he could represent or does represent the healthc care facility um, where my son is um, a healthcare provider. So, I guess out of an abundance of caution, I'm going to abstain on this vote. But then moving forward, um, how would that work if I were to reach out to him? If there was, you know, he's handling a conflict of interest for us, but I had questions, would I not be

154able to do that? No, you abs he's absolutely you're a lawyer. Even if you abstain, you have you have every right access to attorney cats that any other director would have. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Same if you voted against him, for instance. I mean, if he's hired, if if it carries by five votes, so there's no conflict of interest that if he's representing my son and I'm reaching out to him in a different I think you're you're you're handling it appropriately. Uh but he he is still an attorney and and available to you as he would be any other director. Okay. And then off of that, so just if you abstain then are you to abstain from the bills to pay that person also or is that separate once it's ratified by the board? The

155abstension here seems like it's a personal decision. I can tell you based on what the fact pattern you just said, I don't think there's any legal requirement for you to abstain. Um, so we can take that on a case- by case basis. I think if director Yanni feels like the abstension should carry to to the payment of bills, you know, to make aware then I guess if there's a bill in there for him, if that's what I need to do, we'll continue to if that's your recommendation, I'll do it. If it's not, yeah, I mean, the the ethics act is would would be, you know, if if if we're if we're voting to hire a relative of yours, if we're voting to give a contract to a relative of yours, but but Attorney Katz is

156not a relative of no. So that ethics act really isn't implicated there. But I understand you know just the proceed. So roll call. Oh sorry I was just going to say I mean on a more positive note Noah Cass was fantastic when we had him as council. I think he'll be do a great job. Happy to see we're going to use him and to quote Director Casey let's call for the vote. You have anything? I'm not the one who calls Mr. Bwick. Yes. Mr. Casey. Yes, Mrs. Chzik. Yes, Miss Fox. Yes, Mr. McCandrew. Yes, Miss Merkel. Yes, Miss Troski. Yes, Mrs. Yiani. Same. Mr. Holmes. Yes. Eight affirmative, one abstension. Motion passes. Okay. The last one that I have is the uh approval renewal of the agreement with Excelsular Insurance Management Services for 2526, 26,27,

157and 28 29 um uh years following following the same terms, conditions, and cost award in the previous request for proposal. Financial impact is $57,000. I so move. Second. One question. President Holmes, may I make an observation? Um I believe we have a typo in the years should be 25 26 26 27 and 27 28 just wanted to clarify that for the record. It wasn't right on the agenda. So just for clarification it's a three-year contract. Threeear contract. Okay. Roll call. Mr. Casey. Yes. Mrs. Chzik. Yes. Miss Fox. Yes. Mr. McCander? Yes. Miss Merkel? Yes, Mr. Leki. Yes, Mrs. Yianni. Yes, Mr. Borthwick. Yes, Mr. Holmes. Yes. Nine. Affirmative. Funding committee. A motion to approve the attached cyber charter letter in support of Senator Rosemary Brown and SB 354. This bill would allow public school districts

158that offer their own cybermies to pay cyber charter tuition only up to the actual per student cost of their in-house program. Second. One question. Roll call. Mrs. Chzik, yes. Miss Fox, yes. Mr. McCander, yes. Miss Merkel, yes. Mr. Trosky, yes. Mrs. Yani, absolutely. Yes. Mr. Borthwick? Yes. Mr. Casey? Yes. Mr. Holmes? Yes. Affirmative. New business. Yeah. Under new business, I just have one thing. I know I brought it up last week and it was in our packet. The science labs at West. Can we take a consensus either today or this week to uh put it out to bid? So, we have we have three bids going out right now for West. One is the Yeah, let's we're going to we're doing a request for proposal for design services for the auditorium as we sit here

159currently. The interior door replacement project and we will add the consensus is taken. Do you want to take consensus tonight or do you want to take it later on? Read the consensus. We'll take consensus now. The consensus would be is we are submitting proposals for designs to add the West Cretton High School science rooms to that um RFP that will go out. Start over there, Dr. Casey. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. We will make sure that's done. It will go out. All three will go out together. Anything else on the new business? All right. Under the president's report, first and foremost, like to say thank you, congratulations to again all of our new teachers. Um we appreciate you choosing Scranton and hope that you stay for 30 plus years. Um to

160all the students getting ready to graduate, first and foremost, congratulations. Thank you for being the best part of Scranton School District. We look forward to seeing you do amazing things and conquering the world. to all the people that work in the schools. Um, thank you so very much for nurturing, protecting, educating, um, and loving our students and just being a phenomenal stability in their lives. Um, none of this gets done without you. To our central administration, thank you for the fantastic work you've done. To Rosemary Bolan, I'd like to say after 50 years, um, again, thank you very much. Please enjoy your retirement. I don't expect to see you here at a podium anytime soon. Jen will take that spot for you. Um again, congratulations on all the years that you have dedicated to education.

161Um the Scranton School District and thousands upon thousands of students, teachers, par profofessionals are better because of your presence. Thank you. Best of luck to you on your future endeavors. And with that, I will ask for a motion to adjurnn. Move to adjurnn. Second. All in favor? I need a jar.