001board meeting. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisibley and justice for all. Roll call. Mr. Borthwick here. Mr. Casey. Mrs. Chzik present. Miss Fox present. Miss Merkel here. Mr. McCandrew present. Mrs. Yanni present. Mr. Holmes present. Eight present, one absent. Or seven present, one absent. Sorry. All right. I make a motion to approve the agenda. I move to approve the agenda. Second. All in favor? I Ain communications to the executive board sessions were held on February 25th in this evening discussing personal litigations, real estate negotiations and safety. Solicitor's report. No report. Thank you. I'm sorry. That should say March 28th. That was last week, correct? Okay. Last Monday. Sorry about that. Superintendence report. Uh,
002thank you, President Holmes. Uh it was a very very busy March. Um especially with central office uh level administration. I spent a lot of time on the road during March. Um and I'm really excited to share back with some of the things that we've done. Uh at the in the middle of March, Rob Duca, Tim Wolf, Pat Laffy, Katona Miller, Liz Hempill, and I attended the Ignite session for the University of Virginia project. You've heard me speak of the University of Virginia project before. This is called partnerships partners in leadership through the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. We are being funded for this project uh by the Pennsylvania Department of Education and we are working under Dr. Sailor uh for this project. This summer we will have a cohort of six
003principles along with six central office administrators going back to the University of V Virginia for extensive professional development. It really was an awesome experience. Um, each of the participants shared out to the full staff what they took away from the experience and we're really excited to be engaged in the work. Uh, today Rob Duca met for an extensive amount of time with the women from University of Virginia who will be working with us. I also had the privilege of representing the school district at the Urban Superintendent of America Association's Women in Leadership Conference in Austin, Texas. Um, I was asked to present on a panel with fellow female superintendent from across the country. It really was an awesome experience to be able to sit with other female superintendent um from around the country who learn
004run very large urban school districts. the opportunity to network and hear best practices that are working for them, programs and curricular enrichments that are working for them, things that I could bring back here for the teachers and the students of the Scranton School District is really an awesome opportunity. and to be able to sit on stage with a panel of other superintendent representing Los Angeles County public schools, Detroit, Michigan public schools, uh Missouri, um and then a woman who was 92 years old who was one of the first African-American female superintendents in the country. Uh to represent Scranton in that was was really awesome. Um and I was really proud to share the great things the Scranton School District is doing. Uh to everyone out there, we did give a small extensions on when grades
005are being due. Uh from teachers, grades will not be due until Tuesday, April 8th. So for parents and guardians, we anticipate report cards being available next week. So this is third marking period report cards. I cannot believe we are in the fourth marking period, but here we are. Fourth quarter progress reports will be sent out on May 2nd. Um, that's before the next time that I'll have superintendent comments. So, I wanted to get that out there. Real important, our PSSA testing for grades 3 through 8 begins Tuesday, April 22nd, and it runs through May 1st. Our English language arts testing will take place April 22nd, 23rd, and 24th. Math testing is April 28th and 29th. and science testing is April 30th and May 1st. Whether you agree or disagree, this is the litmus test by
006which we are held on state standardized testing. Please um these are so important. Talk to your children about the relevance of these tests. Um our teachers have worked so hard with our kids to get them ready for them. This is the first year we'll be testing fully online. Um so it will be a little bit of a change in our testing. Uh just as an update, we've been working um with our teachers on curriculum updates. Uh you're going to see updates to 512 social studies, 68 art, K12 music, advanced journalism, and um a submission of the prek curriculum. So, thank you to all of the teachers who've served on those committees to help write the curriculum and the curriculum updates. Um you did a really awesome job. Administrative Professional Day is April 23rd. I would
007like to take this moment beforehand to thank all of our administrative professionals for their hard work and for all they do to keep our buildings running smoothly. I know that without Peggy, there's a real good shot I wouldn't make it through the day. So, these are uh our administrative professionals are vital parts of the school functioning. And to Mrs. Orur, thank you. We love you. April 2nd was paraprofessionals day. Um we did send something out to all our paraprofessionals. Again, schools only run because of the work that everyone brings forward and our paraprofessionals are such an integral part of helping educate our children. I want to thank them once more for all the hard work that they do. For everyone out there, April is autism awareness month. Um, here at the Scranton School District, we
008uplift and celebrate the marvelous exceptionalities of all of our children and we support our autistic community. Um, it's something that's personal to me. Um, having autism in my family and I really want to take this moment that everyone should take just a few days and celebrate the fact that it's autism awareness month. I would like to make a big congratulations to all of our employees and students who participated in the Scranton half marathon on Sunday. This is an incredible achievement and we're very very proud of you. I'll throw a little shout out to Mr. Wolf who did the backtoback on the 5K the first day and the Scrant marathon the half marathon the second day. Way to go, Mr. Wolf. Um, last Friday, Mr. O'Donnell and I had the opportunity to go to City Hall
009Friday evening for a small ceremony celebrating artists from both high schools. When you walk into City Hall right now, the artwork that's hanging there from West Scranton High School and Scranton High School is absolutely magnificent. Please, if you get a chance, stop by. Um I there was a picture of Ella Baker that I couldn't stop staring at. It was absolutely unbelievable. But to all of the artists who had their artwork chosen to hang in city hall, congratulations. It is just awesome. Um, I would also like to inform the the board and the public that we have began partnering with NEIU, the central administration on our strategic plan. Um, that will play out over the next five years. The overarching goal of the strategic plan is to look at what is the pathway for us to
010do what I said I wanted to do almost a year ago at Scranton High School, which is be the premier urban school district uh in the state of Pennsylvania. So, we have members of central office, principles, community partners, teachers, members of all of our bargaining units, other stakeholders who were part of the steering committee meeting on the 24th of March. Um we reviewed the pillars to this plan. We are going to be looking for volunteers to serve on the subcommittees for those pillars. Um, and this is really exciting work. Uh, I will be in Washington DC the next two days. This is the end of my worldwide travel just so everyone knows I'm not leaving after this. Uh, but I will be as part of the ELPC fellowship. I sent the agenda out to the
011whole school community today. We have a number of highlevel speakers representing a lot of people in Washington DC that we'll be interacting with on Tuesday and Wednesday. In addition to that, we will be having meetings with Senator McCormack, Senator Feder Federman, and Representative Representative Breahan while we're there. So, I'm very excited to advocate for the Scranton School District during that time. Um, lastly, I'd like to throw congratulations out to the district. We were just given an official award that we received $284,000 from the PCC and this will be used towards our PA systems. Um so we're really excited and thankful to receive that money and um from a personal level uh tomorrow is my first anniversary. I started here on the solar eclipse last year on April 8th. I've completed one year of service. Um
012it has been awesome to be back. I am so proud of the work that we've done in all areas of the district. I think we've accomplished tremendous things together in one year and I look so forward to the next four years with all of you. Thank you, President Holmes. Thank you. We have no uh CRO report, correct? Dr. Sailor's online, correct? Yes, I am. Congratulations, Erin. Keep up the good work. That's my report. Thank you, Dr. Sailor. All right, we'll now move on to the PSBA report. I think we're going to do Don't we do the um students first? I'm sorry. Yeah, jumped up. Apologize. We will have the student report from Mandy Martin from Weston. Right. Good evening, members of the board. I'm happy to be presenting at my second home here at West
013Scranton and to provide you with a brief overview of the months of March and early April, focusing on the students in West Granton and the surrounding elementary schools. Here at West Scranton, this Thursday, April 10th, will be the music from Pop Pop Culture showcasing at West High put together by the music and arts department. Doors open at 6 PM for the art show. At 6:30 6:30, the auditorium will open and the concert will begin at 7:00. Entry is free to the public and donations are accepted. West Granton High will be hosting an art fest this Saturday, April 12th, from 11:00 a.m. to 4 pm. There will be live music, craft venders, art showcases, kids activities, and an egg hunt. There will be a spring fling on May 9th. It'll be in the courtyard from 6:30
014to 9:00 p.m. Tickets are $20, and students are encouraged to come as you are, meaning grab something right out of your closet. No fuss, no stress, just dancing at West Middle School. Congratulation congratulations to Ria Patel, grade six, on her selection as scholar of the month for March. The subject area was reading. Congratulations to Wyatt from Fr from sorry grade five on his selection as student of the month for March. The characteristic was courteous and respectful. Coach Mangan planned and hel planned and held a very successful threeon-ree basketball tournament. Each grade had a separate bracket and winning team. It was a great event at WSIS and fun was had by all. A big thank you to coach Aaron Mgan and all you do for the invaders in and out of the classroom. Coach Megan also
015represented WSIS and get against the Harlem Wizards last Friday night. At Charles Sumner, they enjoyed their third quarter blowout with a bubble dance party in an egg citing relay races. There were 12 students who were awarded the title Sumner Star for the month of March, which are Sumner stars who are responsible, respectful, and ready to learn each day. Their kindest star is Kalia McKenzie. Her name was on their Sumar kindness tree the most in the month of March. These are students who are seen being kind and their names are put on the tree and announced every morning. There are 50 students who had perfect attendance for the m month of March as well. At JF Kennedy, they wrapped up Girl Scouts during lunch and recess for kindergarten through fourth grade with special ceremonies which included
016certificates, song, and recognition. Their scouts, formerly Boy Scouts, participated in very first JFK Pinewood Derby this past weekend. Scouts raced the cars constructed during recess and lunch. The spring session of Girls on the Run is well on its way, and the third and fourth grade girls are mentally and physically prepared for the May race at JFK. JFK had a record number of readers participate in the Robo Readers Wilsur Scranton Penguins in incentive program coordinated by their very own Mrs. Tesla. They celebrated Women's History Month with a guest visit from the Lacawana Girls softball team. The team came and read to all of their classes for the afternoon. JFK is wrapping up on one school community one book event with the reading of the Magic Treehouse book, The Nights at Dawn. Participating families received a copy
017of the book to read at each night, discussing and log readings. And classroom teachers are reading a chapter each day to the students as well. All the students at JFK participated in big prize bingo as part of their schoolwide positive behavior support this past Monday. And April is autism acceptance month at JFK and they are participating in a number of activities to continue to draw awareness and acceptance to the school community. For the cyber for the Scranton Cyber Academy, they had a student and family engagement event at the electricity aquarium today. 191 cyber academy students and 172 parents attended this event. This was by far Scranton Cybermy's most successful event to date. Their next event is their annual end of the year blowout at Nyog Park. This is scheduled for May 28th where students and
018families will be served lunches, participate in several different types of lawn games and are also will be eligible for several different raffles run by the teaching staff. For the Wildcats, on March 6th, the Wildcats had a visit from the Jumping Jack from the Harlem Wizards. They were making their rounds for these elementary schools. The kids were very excited for Mrs. Rucker to be playing against them. On March 11th, members of the third grade playground committee explored the trails of Naong Park, learned more about natural water sheds and the river systems in our area. Thank you, Valley Emotion and Trust for Public Land for this amazing opportunity. On March 30th, in partnership with Valley in Motion and Trust for Public Land had a playground pizza and a hunt party. More than 200 Wildcats gathered for some
019fun and to plan for the new playground together. The Wildcats ended the month with Mr. Peter the reptile guy. Students who displayed the w willarded way slithered, hopped, and crawled celebrating their excellent behavior. Great job, Wildcats. It's clear that these students have had much progress since the beginning of the year, and I'm confident that they will continue to surprise us until June. Thank you all for your time, and have a good night. Thank you, Maddie. Um, as Declan's walking up to the microphone, Declan, I don't mean to embarrass you, but I was just given a very big piece of information I'd like to share with the audience that you were awarded a full presidential scholarship to the University of Scranton. Dr. Why he did so well was he is a graduate of Prescott Pre. That's
020true. So, Dean, no introduction. Congratulations. Congratulations. That's awesome. Uh, good evening. March is a great month within the district and April's looking to follow. I'll start with McNichols Plaza tonight. The N show visited McNichols Plaza and taught about growth mindset. Penn State Math gardeners also visited and presented to first grade on poison prevention and being safe at home. Fourth grade has been hands-on this quarter, creating projects by upycling items in their homes, using old materials to create and invent new ones. They ended the quarter with the annual science fair and had a great time. Many fourth graders also participated in NEIU reading relay this year. Congratulations to all. The Girl Scouts hosted their end of the year celebrations for the kindergarten, first, second, and third grade girls who participated in their brownies program. Students earned
021their badges and celebrated with their families. The Plaza's third and fourth grade students that participated in Boy Scouts competed in a derby race. Students made their own derby cars and raced them at lunch in front of their peers. The winners were Annie Mahia Mendoza in third place, Chrisley Fernandez in second place, and Caleb Meers in first place. Miss Norah Hanos from the Attorney General's office presented to the students on and staff on cyber safety and being safe on the internet. PLA Plaza also hosted their first annual family showcase. Parents and guardians were invited into the school after dismissal. Teachers gave a short presentation and shared resources for families and students. Students toured the school with their families to show them their daily routine show of hard work. Lastly, the Plaza wants to congratulate Miss Stuke
022and Miss Sinclair's class. They went on a field trip to the art house theater and received an extremely kind email regarding their behavior and manners during the field trip. The email was to commend the outstanding behavior, manners, and overall decorum of the plaza students, representing the school with grace and respect. It was a great month for McNichols Plaza overall. On March 13th at Scranton High, the school counselors held the trade and industry fair where students were exposed to and allowed to explore several career paths. It was a great time for all involved. Freshman semi was held last Friday, April 4th, and students had a great time at the Green Ridge Club. Prom contracts are available and tickets will be sold the beginning of the week of April 28th. A successful blood drive was held with
023Red Cross. Also on April 4th, thank you to all who contributed. Last Tuesday, April 1st, Trisha Patel and Isabella Liddell represented Scranton High and got a tour of the Capitol building with the Marty Flynn program. Emma Carney, Matthew Hill, Addison Bone, Hope and I represented the Scranton High at NEIU Academic Challenge, also held last Tuesday. The Scranton cheer team joined with the Mid Valley Pride Squad for a charity event and raised funds for the Ark of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Scranton High Susical the Musical will be held April 10th to 13th. Shows are at 700 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are $10. Good luck to the cast. The night ambassadors will host Take Your Child to Work Day on April 25th. The kids have lots of activities planned around the school and
024are set to have a great time as always. PSSA testing starts April 22nd for STEM students. Good luck to all taking the exams. Drug Endangered Children's Day is on April 23rd and activities are being planned to raise awareness. A mental health awareness week is being held the first week of May and Avidum, Night Ambassadors, and Sack Club are planning activities around the school. Overall, March was a very productive month and April is aimed to follow. Thank you for your time. Thank you to both. Congratulations. Uh the great thing about modern technology, President Holmes, is that you can be um corrected and scolded during meetings. Um it is assistant principles week. Um I did not know that. Um I would like to thoroughly uh thank our assistant principles for all of their hard work because we
025would not function without them. They are amazing people. So thank you for all they do as well. Thank you. Now, we'll move on to the PSBA report. All right. So, just uh the PSBA updates. They just had on the 4th a virtual spring legal roundup. So, I'm not sure if anybody attended it. Um there's one on April 14th for the ethics act, how to stay out of the papers and out of trouble. And PSBA advocacy day in Harrisburg is May 13th this year. That's it. Thank you. Thank you. We'll now move on to public comment. At this time, the board welcomes public comment. Each speaker will be allowed three minutes to speak. Union officials will be allowed four minutes. And if your time is p when your time is passed, we ask that you finish
026your sentence and kindly wrap up your sentence and turn over the to another speaker. You cannot pass your time on to another speaker. At this time, we'll welcome Barbi. Good evening. My name is Barb Mali. I'm a resident of Scranton. I'm here to address the contract for legal services on the agenda tonight. Specifically, the proposal from the firm of Joyce Cardy and Moran, which I'll refer to as JCM. It is my understanding that President Holmes directed the vendor committee to negotiate the contract with JCM, but that of course was before the public was made aware of a letter JCM attorney Brendan Fitzgerald wrote on company letterhead pertaining to a Scranton City Council candidate. An unusual move for a Pittston based law firm, wouldn't you agree? JCM interjected itself into the race based on concerns about
027transparency, public trust, and ethics. All very important, wouldn't you agree? Yet JCM has not identified on whose behalf they wrote the letter. So much for transparency. Wouldn't you agree? The only link that I can see between JCM and Scranton City Council is Director Mccandrew, who is a candidate who is a candidate for Scranton City Council. to Ben busker. Good evening, school board members and Dr. Ken. Put on your ruby slippers. Click them three times and join Dorothy, Toto, Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion at Ritz Theater at 222 Wyoming A as they adventure down the Yellow Rick Road to meet the Wizard and help Dorothy and Toto get home. Show dates are May 16th at 700 p.m. and May 17th at 2 p.m. and again 700 p.m. Tickets will be $10.15. We all hope to see
028you somewhere over the rainbow. Thank you. Thank you. Much appreciated. Holly me. Hello. Um during the last work session um it came to our attention that the board was hiring a new solicitor. Initially it was stated that our current solicitor was charging $200 per hour and the new one would charge $240. When I looked at the agenda this morning it now says that the new law firm will be also charging $200 an hour with a retainer $60,000 for this year. as stated in the resolution. One, phone calls between JCM central administration and board members on any non-litigation issues. Two, email correspondence between JCM central administration and board members on any non-litigation issues. Three, weekly virtual meetings with JCM and senior administration. And four, attendance of all regularly scheduled board meetings andformational sessions as well as
029attendance on any company accompany executive sessions. I noticed we paid our current firm roughly about 35,000 for the month of February and about 45,000 for the month of April. So this is a very lucrative contract for whichever firm the board chooses. My questions to the board are what is the annual expenditure for our current law firm services? How many hours were billable in the 2023 2024 school year? What was the reasoning for terminating the new law firm's contract back in 2018-19? The reason behind all these questions is money and money that the students in the Scranton school district deserve to have spent on their needs. Fundies funding is extremely hard to obtain from the state. I just want to make sure that we're spending these critical dollars wisely. I'm not asking these questions to be
030a smart alec. I'm really just asking them to understand why we are choosing a new a new firm. Thank you. Right now, Rosemary Bolan. Good evening, directors. I want to start with an event that took place at the courthouse this past Saturday. It's a handsoff rally that I attended. And I was so happy to see so many people turn out and stand up. As all of us know, Washington right now is being dismantled. Our government is a mess. And they are dismantling the Department of Education. They're dismantling the health that we've had since forever, I think. And I just learned again today another child died because she was not given a vaccine for measles. And there's an epidemic now. Over 500 children in Texas alone because people are listening to false science and acting upon
031false science. And I think we all have to stand together on this. And we do have to say hands off our public schools because the people he put in charge of our public school system and the system throughout the whole country is disgusting. It's all about money and cutting public schools, cutting funding for our IEP students, cutting funding for free lunch, free breakfast, and the list just keeps on growing every day. We all have to stand together on this. It can't be an administration uh standing one way and the union stands another way. We're all in this together. Every one of us needs to be strong and strong willed about standing in opposition to all of this that's coming out of Washington. It's it's a national national disgrace. People told me he talks and he
032doesn't mean what he says. He does talk and yes, he does mean what he's saying because the proof is in the pudding. We had four soldiers come back to the United States on the weekend on Saturday. The Lithuanian people lined the streets to honor those four soldiers. Our president was in a golf course in the state of Florida driving a golf cart. We stand with the veterans in this country and their families. This is like a national national disgrace that I never thought I'd hear about. I want to thank uh Dr. Keading. We were having some trouble over at Scranton High School as you may or may not be aware. Uh we had rodents. It's that time of year and I called her and and she acted on it immediately. I can tell you that
033somebody from this school called me today and said mice were dancing in a classroom. Now, I've never seen mice dance myself. So, I said, "You better check that out for me and get back to me tomorrow." But I would ask the board and Dr. Keading if we could have the inspectors come into this building and and please check this building out to see if we are having another issue over here. I know with construction and we have a lot of it going on in our district. Um, that seems to bring them out any disturbance. And so, um, I'm asking for a little bit of, uh, forethought on this thing and get get the team in here to check for infestations in this particular school. And while we're at it, right down the road at West
034Intermediate, um, I want to also uh, thank Dr. Kading for remembering our pair of professionals. It took forever to get them that title because they were called AIDS and finally now they are have a title that they deserve. They are parah professionals and they do a wonderful job every day of the week and they do some jobs that probably most of us in this room would not do. And so I I appreciate her uh speaking out in favor of our parents. That's very important. Uh I'm not going to keep you very long tonight because I know uh some students I guess are home reading books with their parents and that goes along with our literacy job and so let's keep that moving. And if we could plug that uh for all of our buildings to
035have the parents help their kids read every night, that would be awesome. And I think that would show up on our state testing. As everybody knows, I'm no fan of those tests. But they're there and we that's some of our subsidy comes from that. So let's do our best and and get this thing done. And I thank the board for your kind attention. Thank you. Virgil Agenta. Good evening. I'm also here to ask about legal fees. I'm a candidate for Scranton City Council advocating on transparency and accountability. I attended a recent schoolboard meeting and inquired about legal fees. The agenda tonight and local newspaper articles indicate the board is accepting the immediate resignation of Katie Gil Martin as a school director. Can you clarify why she resigned? There are rumors of a plea bargain or
036a plea deal with prosecutors, transparency and accountability. Does the public have the right to know the reason behind the abrupt resignation? President Holmes, are we allowing this? Your silence appears to Excuse me, sir. to be like a cover up. We we only have a letter of resignation. We do not have any additional information at this time. So, we can't present it for I understand that's a personal issue, but spending taxpayer funds. Point of order. Just as director McCandrew is a director sitting here and stopped him from speaking, director Gar is still a director until such time as we accept her resignation. So, point of order, please. It's been cut off. I'm not going to say your last name because I will butcher it. Frank starts with an M. I'm sorry. How do you say your
037last name? Frankie Valario. Sorry, I would have butchered it. No problem. Yeah, it's it's fine. Long one, nine letters. Um, since the paper was sold, Sarah Hall, who used to do great reporting, um, unfortunately, uh, the new owners don't have someone on the schoolboard beat quite like Sarah was. Um, a lot of information that happens here doesn't really get out to the community. Um, but recently there's been a lot of word spreading through the community and in the paper this time regarding the law firm that is up for vote uh for legal services today. I'm not politically connected, so I don't know I only know what's reported in the paper, but it smells fishy from like a layman's perspective. Um, unfortunately I believe the PA ethics code is too narrow. I'm asking um that if
038any board directors has had personal business relationships um with any of the uh vendors that are up for bid to recuse yourself um the PA ethics doesn't define as having a business relationship with someone. Um, so if you were maybe represented by this firm before, um, in order to try to be a little bit more transparent, um, I would ask if anyone has had any relations to recuse themselves from this vote. Um, I'm asking for you to go beyond the bare minimum as public officials. Um, and that is what the bare minimum of the law would be. Um, thank you for hearing me out and appreciate your time, directors. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Uh before we move on, there's one thing I'd like to address. At no point, Mr. Ali, did I direct
039the vendor relations. I was none of the board members had anything to do with negotiation. That was handled through the solicitor we hired. Central administration. At no point was any director part of negotiations at all. So again, that's false information I'd like to clear up. The board would not be in part of that. We have not been a part of any negotiations. We allow the central administration the legal representation negotiate. That is standard practice. Not one board director has had any part in that. Now we'll move on to approve the meeting minutes from 121924 2325 and 3325. I'll make the motion. Second. One question. Roll call. Mr. Boriswick. Yes. Mr. Casey. Yes. Mrs. Chzik. Yes. Miss Fox. Yes. Miss Merkel. Yes. Mr. McCandrew. Yes. Mrs. Yani. Yes. Mr. Ms. Yes. Affirmative. Motion to approve the
040consent agenda. I move to cons to approve the consent agenda. Second. On the question. On the question. Um, we do have a lot of donations on the consent agenda. So, I would just like to say a big thank you to everyone that donated to the district. It is greatly appreciated. Roll call. Mr. Casey? Yes. Mrs. Chzik? Yes. Miss Fox? No. Miss Merkel? Yes. Mr. McCandrew? Yes. Mrs. Yianni? Yes. Mr. Borthwick? Yes. Mr. Holmes? Yes. Seven affirmative, one negative. Motion passes. Budget and finance committee. So, we have a motion to approve the sale of 2024 delinquent taxes to municipal revenue services per the attached resolution. The financial impact is $4,31,435.15. Fees are not to exceed $250,000 respectfully submitted. Second. On a question. Well, we have a first. You have to make a mo. You can't make
041a motion. You make a second. I'm sorry. Question. I second. Okay. on a question. Roll call. Mrs. Chzik, yes. Miss Fox, yes. Miss Marco, yes. Mr. McCander, yes. Mrs. Yanni, yes. Mr. Borthwick, yes. Mr. Casey, yes. Mr. Holmes, yes. Eight affirmative. Okay. Uh, we'll have a motion to approve real estate tax settlements for properties described below. So, the first pin number is 1233010 05. Tax year 2013, current assessment 713,700. Uh the new assessment for that year will stay the same, budget impact zero. For 2024, uh the new assessment will be reduced to $272,000 for a budget impact of $65,35. For 2025, um the new assessment will be $266,600 uh for a budget impact of $66,13. Uh the second PIN number is 010004. For 2023, the current assessment is 1 point uh 1,296,000. Um the assessment
042stays the same for 2023. For 2024, it goes down to $666,400 for a budget impact of $93,86. In 2025, the new assessment goes down to $651,000 for a budget impact of $95,363. The final pin is 167191000003. The tax year is 2025. The current assessment is 539,200 and the new assessment is 434,000 for a budget impact of 15,554. Second. On the question. Roll call. Miss Fox. No. Miss Markle? Yes. Mr. McCandrew? Yes. Mrs. Johnny? No. Mr. Borthwick, yes. Mr. Casey, yes. Mrs. Chzik, yes. Mr. Holmes, yes. Six affirmative, two negative. Motion passes. Education. We will have a motion to approve the budget of the Career Technology Center of Lacawana County for the fiscal year July 1, 2025 to June 30th, 2026. As previously provided for board review, financial impact to the SSD is 1,783,448, a $49,414
043increase from the prior year. Second on the question. Roll call. Miss Merkel? Yes. Mr. McCandrew? Yes. Mrs. Yanni? Yes. Mr. Borthwick? Yes. Mr. Casey? Yes. Mrs. Chzik? Yes. Miss Fox? Yes. Mr. Holmes? Yes. Affirmative. We will have a motion to approve special education settlement agreements following legal review and negotiation settlement summaries previously provided to the board for review. 308062425 K. Second on the question. Roll call. Miss Merkel. Yes. Mr. McCandrew. Yes. Mrs. Yanni? Yes. Mr. Borthwick? Yes. Mr. Casey? Yes. Mrs. Chz? Yes. Miss Fox. Yes. Mr. Holmes. Yes. Affirmative. Operations. All right. E1. We're going to have a motion to approve Kelly Brothers for replacing interior vestible doors hardware at Grand High School. This door hardware is required to make the door ADA accessible. Financial impact is $10,470. Second. On a question. Roll call. Mr.
044McCandrew. Yes. Mrs. Johnny. Yes. Mr. Borthwick. Yes. Mr. Casey. Yes. Mrs. Chzik. Yes. Ms. Fox. Yes. Miss Merkel. Yes. Mr. Holmes. Yes. Affirmative. All right. Sorry, I'm getting my papers together. Um E2. Motion to award contract for West Intermediate School interior painting bid to Shaun Brin Construction. Second. On a question. Roll call. Mrs. Yianni, yes. Mr. Borthwick, yes. Mr. Casey, yes. Mrs. Chzik, yes. Miss Fox, yes. Miss Merkel, yes. Mr. McCandrew, yes. Mr. Holmes, yes. Affirmative. E3. Uh E3. Uh motion to approve change orders for costs associated with work to remove uh the acoustical lay in the ceiling and provide an open ceiling for West Scranton Intermediate School Renovations project number 033029. Uh the first change order is GCCO-00005 cost $19,42710 to the general construction contract. The next one is MCO0000003 cost $1,979.50 50 cents
045to the mechanical construction contract contract. Um, next one is EC CO 007 cost $38,400 to the electrical construction contract. And finally, it is PCO00004 cost 20,370 or $32721. The plumbing construction contract with the total financial impact is $80,133.81. Second. The question. Another question. Uh Mr. Lafrey, is any of these funds being used with co COVID funds? Uh these are not CO funds. Uh the Weston intermediate project is funded through uh our capital improvement funds as well as a grant with the state of Pennsylvania through the rack P program. So there's no federal funding for this project. Ro, what's our design fees on these? I don't have I can get them for you. You want to table motion to table? Yeah, I'd like to table the motion. Second. Roll call. Mr. Worthwick. Yes. Mr. Casey? Yes.
046Mrs. Chzik? Yes. Miss Fox? Yes. Miss Merkel? Yes, Mr. McCander. Yes, Mr. Johnny. No, Mr. Holmes. Yes. Seven affirmative, one negative. Motion passes. Personnel. I will prepare that and have it in a board memo this week. Thank you. Thank you. Personnel. Okay. Um F1 motion to approve personnel report as attached. All hires are contingent upon all background checks and clearances. Second. On a question. Roll call. Mr. Casey. Yes. Mrs. Chzik. Yes, Miss Fox. Yes, Miss Merkel. Yes, Mr. McAndrew. Yes, Mrs. Yiani. Yes, Mr. Bourswick. Yes, Mr. Holmes. Yes. State affirmative. F2. Motion to approve election of board secretary in accordance with PA school section 404 and board policy 005. The board shall elect a secretary during the month of May in every fourth year who shall serve for a four-year term beginning the first day
047of July after such election. Therefore, this Scranton School Board of Directors hereby appoints Virginia Orre to serve as board secretary through July 2029. Second. Want a question? Jenny, you do a great job. So, thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Jenny. Very appreciative of all you do for us, Jenny. Thank you, Jenny. You're an asset. Thank you. Roll call. Mrs. Chzik, yes. Miss Fox, yes. Miss Merkel, yes. Mr. McCandra, yes. Mrs. Yanni, yes. Mr. Borthwick, yes. Mr. Casey, yes. Mr. Holmes, yes. Eight. Affirmative. Thank you. F3. Motion to approve with SEIU Local 32BJ. Motion to approve the MOA memor memorandum of agreement as outlined and be attached between SEIU 32BJ and the Scranton School District dated January 1st, 2021 and effective through December 31st, 2028. Second on a question. Roll call. Miss Fox, yes. Miss Merkel, yes.
048Mr. McCandrew, yes. Mrs. Yanni, yes. Mr. Borthwick, yes. Mr. Casey, yes. Mrs. Chzik, yes. Mr. Holmes. Yes. Eight. Affirmative. Policy. A motion to accept the resignation of director Katie Gil Martin effective March 28th, 2025. Second. On the question. Uh, yes. On the question, I would like to take a moment to thank Director Gil Martin for her professionalism and her dedicated years of service to the Scranton School District. Katie navigated this school board through some very difficult times while we were in financial recovery. I'm a better person for working with and knowing Katie Gil Martin and I'm grateful for her friendship and wish her all the best moving forward. Yes, on the question. One week ago, almost to the hour, New Jersey Senator Corey Booker started his 25-hour marathon Senate speech, as I'm sure we're all
049aware as we're sitting here. Everything okay over there? Yes. Let me just open the door. Okay. Oh, we're getting some water. I need it. Um, some of what he spoke was John Lewis. So many heroes before us would say that this is the time to stand up, to speak up. This is the time to get in some good trouble, to get into necessary trouble. I can't allow this body to continue without doing something different. speaking out. The threats to the American people and American democracy are grave and urgent and we all must do more. We all must do more against them. But those 10 words, if it is to be, it is up to me. All of us have to think of those 10 words, 10 two-letter words. If it is to be, it is
050up to me. Because I believe generations from now will look back at this moment and have a single question. Where were you? Where were you when our country was in crisis and when American people were asking for help? Help me. Help me. Did we speak up? It is my firm belief that Director Gil Martin got involved in the Scranton Stu School District in a very critical time. In 2017, there was a $33 million deficit in the budget. She was top vote getter in both Democrat and Republican in that election and then went on to win another election. I am saddened um as it is very well known that um director Gil Martin has been a great help to me. um a person who loves my children and you can disagree with somebody politically, but there
051is no reason to attack someone personally, especially when you don't know them personally. I make this pledge to make necessary trouble when needed in your absence. You never made trouble. You never would make trouble. And that's why we go along good together because I will always speak up. Always. And no one will ever make me back down. So, I want to thank you for everything that you did for this district through tough times and I pledge to you to continue this path forward and I will not back down. Thank you. Yes. I'd like to say thank you to Director Gil Martin. She welcomed me with open arms to this board and I'm I told her that just in a in a text that she has to do what's best for her and she appreciated that.
052Thank you. Roll call. Miss Merkel. Yes. Mr. McCandrew. Yes. Mrs. Yanni. With regret. Yes. Mr. Borthwick. Yes. Mr. Casey. Yes. Mrs. Chzik. Yes. Fox. Yes. Mr. Holmes. Yes. From vendor relations. Okay. Uh the first motion is to appoint u special counsel for the legal RFP and um the motion to appoint attorney Noah Katz as special counsel for the legal RFP. Financial impact hourly rate 175 per hour build in one/10enth hour increments expenses reimbursement for any expenses incurred including travel if necessary at the prevailing rate I so move second uh before I on the question do the question first yeah the question I know some questions were directed at me um during public comment um I have no relationship personally or financial with the firm at all. That lawyer um so I want to answer you
053know um Mr. Malik's question um and that lawyer who sent a letter I never met in my life. So um tonight's vote I'll be making a vote based on what is best for the district um from the hours and hours we put in interviewing reviewing contracts discussing us as a board um it was a great process that we had. We had three phenomenal law firms put in and had phenomenal interviews and it's good to see when we have a lot of people in in good companies who want to work with us and for us. So, um that's all I have to say. Um in regards to the motion at hand, um there was no stipulations on utilizing this service, right? This was just an open service to board members to work through this process of
054the legal RF. Thank you. Mr. Cats, would you please come up? Good evening. I just didn't know if you had anything to add to this before obviously anybody else speaks. Uh, no. I just like to process thank the board for uh choosing me for the this job. It's been nice to meet all you, work with all you. uh nice to work with Dr. Keading again even for just a limited amount of time. Um and just as to the process, I I would say that I can't speak to any legal advice that I gave obviously in public. Uh but I do think the the process was very thorough. Um and I do think it was very transparent and I just thank you all for your due diligence in that process. So thank you again. Thank you.
055Thank you. I just wanted to thank attorney Catz for, you know, for working with us during this time. He's been available answering a lot of questions. So, we really appreciate that. So, thank you. As the president of the school board, I stand behind a process that was conducted by the board, central administration, and our legal counsel. This process has been transparent from the beginning. All information has been shared with every single director. Every director had full access to the lawyer hired to guide us through this process. The lawyer responded to every question posed to him. I want to emphasize this vote is about professionalism, not personal. Personal has no place on this stage. No one here has the right to judge another person's character based on the decision-making. U when we've heard too many comments
056about people's character and question their integrity. Each director has to make their own decision as we vote and we move on. It's called democracy. Each director has the right to be and cast their vote without being ostracized. Far too often the line between professionalism and personal are crossed. Our job is to make professional decisions in the best interest of this district, our students, and city. Not just for today, but for years to come. Each one of us should cast our votes based on our individual moral compass, our interpretation of the information presented, the interviewing process, and the supporting material that was presented to us, and the questions posed and answered by the lawyer who helped guide us through this. Decision-m is the cornerstone of democracy. It is each individual's responsibility. Collectively, these individual decisions shape
057the overall outcome of a motion. It's become un it's unproductive and inappropriate to second guess a Monday morning quarterback someone else's vote. While I may not agree with every decision that has been made over the past four years, I deeply respect the principles of democracy. The beauty of the democratic system lies in a freedom it grants for individuals to voice their opinions and vote according to their beliefs. Each with the perspective different. No one should be persecuted for exercising their fundamental right to vote. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, a general school district and general school district code, a school board can terminate the services of a solicitor with a majority vote at a public meeting at any time. There is no requirement to issue an RFP before doing this unless specified by district
058policies. So, in order for us to be transparent, we did issue this to ensure this process was done correctly. When we did post this, we submitted this out to anyone and everyone. We received three vote, three people, and we moved forward with the process. Again, for anyone to say this wasn't transparent in my four years, this was the most transparent thing we did with again answering every question thanks to our a lawyer and every piece of information was shared with every single director. I think me people misconstrue that the RFP process is done in the public. It has never been. I don't think that's even legal. We do that until we come out and vote. With that said, roll call. Mr. McCandrew. Yes. Mrs. Johnny. Yes. Mr. Borthwick. Yes. Mr. Casey. Yes. Mrs. Chzik. Yes.
059Mrs. Fox. Mr. Fox. Sorry. M. Merkel. Yes. Mr. Holmes. Yes. State. Affirmative. Okay. Next resolution. The Scranton School Board hereby appoints the law firm of Joyce Harmony Moran as special education council for the Scranton School District at an hourly rate of $200 per hour partner, 180 per associate and 130 per hour peril legal for the calendar year 2025-2027. 7. All rates will be increased by a $10 per hour for the calendar year 2028. Said firm has met all proposal specifications service to begin on May 1st, 2025. This Granton school district duly advertised request for proposals for special ed legal counsel. I so move. Second one question. On the question, my comments, I meant to actually probably say an H5 and H6. They just cover all three of these topics. So, same thing. Okay. Um, I
060guess I'll go. Um, Miss Boland, I also attended this weekend's hands-off rally and I found it to be um encouraging and yet also I struggled because I had the opportunity to communicate with parents, friends, and community members and I also heard their concerns regarding the future of public education. Those concerns are are valid and they're very real. Uh with these conversations in mind, I reflected on the themes of experience, expertise, best interest of our district, and cost, which were to be our guiding principles throughout this RFP process. So, I'd like to speak to experience first. Kingspry currently serves over 30 school districts. Attorney John Finn has been practicing for over 45 years and is one of Pennsylvania's most experienced practitioners in education law. Attorney Freud was awarded the Pennsylvania School Board Solicitors Association President's Award
061for Distinguished Career Achievement in School Law. He also served eight years as a school board member, four of those years as a board president. Attorney Jonathan Werta is chair of Kingspry's Taxation and Assessment Practice Group. Along with Mr. Laffy, he has negotiated numerous tax appeals and assessment matters for the benefit of our school district. In 2024, Attorney Werta achieved a favorable ruling at the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The court ruled in favor of Attorney Wera's school district dismissing a charter school's attempt to collaterally attack real estate taxes collected. Because of Attorney Werta's efforts, he safeguarded over a quarter of a million dollars for that school district and their funds. That is the attorney I want on my team. Attorney Glenna Hazelton's career has evolved from an educator in the classroom to focusing on laws that are
062applicable to special education. She holds weekly meetings with our principles at this time and our administrators and she provides ongoing training regarding current issues facing our district. In the 22 23 school year, Attorney Hazelton stepped in to serve as acting director of special education for the Scranton School District. In that role, she developed strong relationships throughout the department, leading the charge to strengthen documentation and make the district's position more defensible while ensuring any settlement dollars are used for education purposes only to benefit students. Leads me to expertise. In my opinion, a law firm that specializes in public and special education law is exactly what we need right now. With the federal mandates to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion in our public school districts and cut off our co relief funding, we face challenges designed to
063significantly impact our most vulnerable students. I feel strongly that changing our legal council at this time is not in the best interest of this district. Kings Fry is well positioned to use its vast resources to continue to serve this district during such uncertain times. And that brings me to the final element for consideration, cost. I understand that the RFP process allows for negotiation and that cost has been eliminated eliminated now as a factor as the firm on the motion tonight has agreed to match King's Spry's proposal rates. However, in my opinion, that has no bearing on value. My mother, a retired public high school English teacher, will not like that I'm going to use this quote. But because it sums up this process for me, I'll share it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
064Thank you. On the question, do we have the contract? Contract was sent this afternoon. I could go into my email and give you the time. What was that? I I didn't receive it. You know what? It was sent. It was sent Ty. It wasn't for it. They don't have it right now. We never received the contract to vote on. It is my request at this time to table the motion being as we do not have a final contract in hand. Second. There's a answer question. So all emails were forwarded to the president. They weren't forwarded to us. It was It is sitting there. Okay. Got the motion to table because we don't have the contract out. Roll call. Mrs. Yanni? Yes. Mr. Borthwick? No. Mr. Casey? No. Mrs. Chzik? Yes. Miss Fox? Yes. Miss Merkel?
065Yes. Mr. McCandrew? No. Mr. Holmes? Yes. Four affirmative. Three negative. Wait, I'm sorry. Five affirmative, three negative. Motion passes. I apologize. Next. Final one. H6. Before I put this up, do we have a contract for this? No. I'm I'm asking uh Dr. King, I'm sending everything. I'm doing it right now. I'm doing it. You don't? Then at this point, I'm not going to put this out on the floor. We don't even need to table it. Just remove it because I didn't make a motion to put it out. Okay. Um so I guess like what Wait a minute. When do we expect to have this contract? You're going to have it in 30 seconds. Then, Mr. Holmes, seeing that uh we don't have a contract and we want to have the um um uh these voted
066on. I'd like to call for a special meeting uh to be advertised and to vote for this for legal services and general purposes. Uh hopefully next week. We will circle back with the central administration team and get back to everyone tomorrow. Yes. And we will call for a special meeting. Yes. But I'm not going to commit to a day and say it's next. No, I I don't expect you to commit to a date. I'm just asking to commit to a special meeting. And matter of fact, uh uh today is Monday. If we could even have it this week, I'd appreciate it. If we can have it later, I'd appreciate that if we're going to Well, we have to see what everybody's availability. I don't want it strong armed. Yes, I think we'd have to probably
067take a look at the policy to see what it is to call a special meeting. I'm not sure what it is. That's what I said. Terra, we could call a special meeting at any time everyone's email at the call of the president. It's been done before. It's part of the legal. We're not doing anything illegal. Excuse me. Point of order. We're going to circle back with central administration. Then we will communicate to everyone in the board. We will come up with a day and time. We will get it advertised and we'll have the meeting. Okay. Okay, Karen, you have anything else? No, it's time stamped in everyone's email right now. Okay, I I sent it. All right. May I ask one follow-up question then? Um, will Attorney Cat still be available for follow-up questions with
068the contract if we have them as once we have a chance to review it? Attorney Cats. Thank you. Okay. No. Anything else? Anybody? Motion to adjurnn. Motion.