School Board Meeting - 4/10/25

001I'll call to order this uh April 10th, 2025 regular uh meeting of the board of education. Please rise for the pledge to the flag. 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. Right. May we have roll call. Elizabethman, here. Mary Lee Hall here. Samantha Hall here. William Hall here. Jeremy Hash here. Jennifer Hankle here. Nathan Hankl here. James Holly here. Joseph Wilson here. Thank you. All right. Um, I can't remember. We We haven't had any uh meetings any executive sessions in between that we have. Okay. I didn't think so, but uh it's running together a bit. All right. Uh moving on to item 2.01. Uh approval of the April 10th, 2025 board

002agenda. I'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda as presented. So moved. Second. Motion in a second. Any discussion? Any nays or abstensions? Hearing none, that motion carries. Uh item 3.01. I'll entertain a motion to approve the March 20th, 2025 minutes. So moved. Second. Motion in a second. Any discussion? Any nays or abstensions? Hearing none, that motion carries. Brings us to item 4.01. And I will turn it over to you, Caleb. Thank you. So, heading into a busy spring season, we've got a couple dates and a couple repeats from last time because we're a week earlier. Next um next week is spring break, the 17th of to the 21st. Then the 23rd of April, we have rising senior night at 5:30 p.m. Then the following night on the 24th is the district's arts and tech

003fair at 5:00 p.m. Uh little side note, there will be the Balsson salsa competition. Again, if you guys all remember the uh balsa wood and then students from the food classes are paired with engineering classes and their scores are combined. You like I forget the science stuff. Um I've taken engineering class. Um but the salsa is very good every year. So I'm judging again. So very happy with that. Um, then on the 26th we have the Jazz Fest at 6 PM at Shrewsbury Elementary School. Then the 29th of April is the SYCSD percussion music festival at 6 p.m. April 30th is the spring orchestra concert at 6 p.m. Prom is May 3rd at the Valencia Ballroom in York. Very excited for that. Then May 5th to May 16th is AP exams. Good luck everyone. Then

004Night of the Winds Music Festival at 6 PM on May 5th. Then Keystone exams will be the 13th and 16th of May. And scholarship awards night will be May 14th. School is closed for Memorial Day, May 26th. The last day of school is May 30th. And graduation also May 30th. You guys right to the end there. Don't stretch. And that is all I have. Thank you. Thank you. Moving on to item 5.01, overview of the feasibility study process by Mr. Scott Shank from Beers Hoffman. This one. All right. very pleased to be here. Uh we did hand out copies of the drafts of the study. Uh and also there's a separate since it's more confidential security safety report. So there's two documents for you. Um I'm we're not going through every page. Uh we would

005be here four hours and I'm not quizzing you tonight. So uh we we can look forward to that next month. Uh but moving through the team that was involved. Of course Beers Hoffen is architects. Uh I'm Scott leading the team. We also had Barton Associates do the mechanical, electrical, plumbing, those reviews through the buildings and site logic was the construction manager. They looked at the cost estimating and in some cases kind of scheduling. So I got a quick presentation here kind of talking about how to use the documents that are in front of you. So first of all we want to note first your your facilities maintenance is very good that that that's a great thing that we see looking at different facilities the maintenance of the buildings the teams are doing a great job

006in keeping your buildings up and operational doing a nice job and then a comment too is about in the past again the facilities uh the the board and and team has really looked at trying to keep the the buildings in great shape um and recognizing that sometimes you do some improvement projects and again you're looking at a longer time frame frame and making sure that over time you're actually saving cost by dealing with things sooner. U and again I think we're we're hoping as you can see in this building uh with the upgrades and things that are done done here I think you see you know respect for the buildings and taking care of buildings when things are in nice condition. So, it's a great job that the district does with the facilities you have

007going through the assessment from uh December through really the end of March. Again, the teams that went went through the buildings, we focused really on uh Shrewsbury Elementary, Southern Elementary, and Southern Middle School. Uh we did also look at Friendship while that was the last one to have some work done at it. Uh we did look really more at the MEP systems, mechanical, electrical, plumbing. uh for those and even Susu Hanok there was uh some windows and some things here that we just want to put on the radar for the next 20 25 years the the areas that we looked at that you'll see in the document is the HVAC system for heating ventilation air conditioning the mechanical system electrical systems plumbing we also were looking at code regarding ADA ane those types of things

008with code compliance uh the building envelope that's the the ex the the building construction as far as the walls the the the roof roof uh you know the thermal component of keeping the weather out of the building uh sight and grounds also then interiors looking at finishes different types of equipment and those things of how to make the curriculum uh work well in the classrooms safety and security we pulled that piece out that's a separate document there um and then programming again trying to look there aren't major curriculum plans that I think any of the principles or teams are looking at doing but that's something we look at just programming wise how you use the spaces. Um, so some of the data again I'm going to kind of move through some things here quickly. You

009know, we looked at the assets. We we documented these items. Again, we were looking at the code review. Uh, we have plenty of photos. We we have put some of the photos in the booklet. Uh, but there's hundreds of photos, videos. Uh, Site Logic did a 360 uh in all the rooms so that we can take a look if there's a question about what's that window like or that door condition or restroom. We we have that documented so uh we we can look at that quickly. As we're going through the document, we're referencing industry standards such as ashray and other items, BOMA, especially for the mechanical systems. Um again, we talked to the principles numerous times. Uh faculty, the admin team, again, uh uh Randy and Dave know these buildings very well and the and

010the mechanics at the building. So we're we're making sure we understand uh what's happening in the facilities and again looking at some manufacturer research on different types of products etc. as we look into uh maybe the carpeting that's that's there now and the carpeting that you could have if you switch that out. The the one we'll back up here one moment. So on the you can see some different pages there. I'm going to reference for a moment in the large book if you go to maybe page 52. I'm just going to walk you through. Now we printed it tiny so that this is about the smallest I can see without getting a bright light and readers. Um the younger people in the staff this is perfectly easy to read but uh this is we know

011it's a little tiny but the data is there. So as I go through the next slides here what we're talking about is in the end we looked at 431 items throughout the district. All those items then we've documented here per building. uh and what we did was we gave a system we assessed the condition and we gave it prioritization. The assessment was more of a simple poor fair good. Now related to that and you'll see that poor fair good in like the fourth column over on that sheet. Uh so where you see something like boilers it says poor. We then went a step further and we kind of prioritized them one through four. one being the most critical or or we're going to call it the highest risk that you need to address or do

012something here sooner than later. And going down through the list to number four where it's low risk or maybe no risk of doing something. So again on this page you look at the first item that's there HVAC boilers you know it says poor and it says one. It's saying that that's something that that should be addressed. explaining a little bit more of how we the one through four. Uh we're looking at a bunch of factors with that component. Uh one of the factors is time. Uh and we're listing down there in general where you're looking to see how long how long do you have with the components that are there. The the high risk you really should be addressing within three years. The the very high risk the high risk the the number two was

013maybe four to seven years. Moderate gets you up to 10 years. and low and no risk was 10 years plus as far as time wise when you deal with it. But I'm going to reference we filtered it subjectively with code issues sometimes safety security energy savings uh collateral impact. So you know an item there would be code u at southern elementary school the elevator could be sized larger to meet the latest ADA and any code uh for accessibility of having a larger cabinet. So, we may have bumped that grade up a little bit. Um, it may not be timewise as much. Uh, this seems to be a little bit more important to deal with. So, again, we're trying to be fair with how we put all these numbers together. Uh, because you're going to see

014later that we can group those together to help you assess what what you what you may be able to address. Again, here's a note between our firms. The three firms involved, the firms themselves have a hundred years um experience. Uh, I was just reminded this week at my firm's my 31st year. Um, I'm not sure they're correct because I can't possibly be that old. So, you know, we have been around looking at buildings and have worked with over 300 school districts. Uh, so we we have some knowledge ourselves of components we've seen. Again, the Ashray standards. Uh, those are referenced at the back of the book uh in the index at the back. The appendix has some of those items. They talk about the life expectancy. Again, as we look at the different systems in

015the building, we're looking at them life expectancy, you know, that risk of failure. And then also, as we talk about efficiency, the operation costs, you know, are you at the point with with some of the units, you know, that if you switch out, you're going to have something more energy efficient, uh, and when is the time to make that switch and and try and save. Again, it that's not a huge savings, but it's something to think about is energy savings. And that relates again to the utility budget. So again looking at the utility cost and can we bring those down operationally for years you know you change something out have that savings not only next year but for the next many years and then other district concerns and needs that were brought up as we

016look at the items. So uh the the picture on the right is Southern Elementary. The boiler did have a little issue last year that should have a panel on top of it. You should never see into that space. That meant that the panel came off of that unit. Uh so as you see us talking about boilers uh in the in the different buildings, all these boilers are right now about this the same age and they're all kind of at that maximum um you know life expectancy age or or the area that you can start seeing problems and should be thinking about addressing those probably sooner than later. Um now over I'll try to give you some positive things here too. Uh you know what makes a good classroom was one of our questions we were

017asking. Um, and we talked about warm, safe, dry, obviously a good learning environment. You know, at the bottom there, we're noting some of the things, temperature and humidity control, uh, indoor air quality, noise and sound, noise transfer from inside hallways or outside. Um, also lighting, whether that's indoor and the artificial lighting or how much natural lighting, how much you get from daylighting from the outside of the room. Many times the more daylighting you get, you can bring down and not have as many lights on in the room. You have less lights. There's less heat that's generated, so you need less cooling. So, there's all these factors that tie together as as you look at the entire building. Greatest needs. Uh, as we look through the this the study from the our design team, what we

018were seeing that jumped out really that a lot of things were the the boiler boiler rooms. Uh those would be the boilers and all the uh the water heaters, the other things that are in within the boiler rooms were all a priority one status. Those are rooms you can get into, make those changes and not necessarily impact much of the rest of the building. So that's that's pretty good to get into. Other than that, you very much have to start looking at some of the remaining HVAC equipment. Uh we did change chillers out a few years ago when we did a greatest needs before the high school project, but there are a lot of other components uh to the mechanical system that are in that priority one. And just noting again that we're things that

019are in priority one are things that should uh be be planned and and be addressed for that are the most urgent. Those are again are the greatest needs items. So you have those items that we can somewhat break apart if you like. Uh but we also recommend anytime you can have an integrated solution, put things together. Um as you put different products together, doing either boilers and multiple buildings or doing more things in a building itself, doing a a building by building project. Again, there's economies of scale. Um again, you have general overhead conditions by the contractor, a trailer when they're out there. So the more work you're doing that relates to having that one uh general contractor you know brings that general conditions down. Um timeliness again looking at the supply chains right now

020you know we all are watching what's happening with lead times supply chains um you tariffs seem to change here daily uh but the the lead times we're still recognizing that things like uh when we did the high school I think it was about a 50we lead time until we got some of the switch gear for electrical. So if you look at 50 weeks that's that's a year. So that's why if you need we need to start planning sooner than later just to get get some of these items. Um and again looking at procurement strategies um different ways you know how can we secure the the products and do the projects. Just touching base a little bit on the the buildings at Shrewsbury. Again the building you know the book has a lot of details. Um,

021and again, you're welcome to to read through all all that and and ask us any questions as you go through. What you'll see, you know, for priority one, there's things in the mechanical system, plumbing, there's some code items. A lot of the restrooms in in in the elementary schools. The latest code ask for a vertical grab bar that aren't in the rooms. Not the biggest deal in the world, but if you want to meet the latest code, we could add a grab bar. That's not even really huge expense, but you would making things more accessible. Uh building envelope, things like Shrewsbury is the roofing. Uh right now, that's going to be pretty much the last building that hasn't been touched with roofing projects. Uh and then other interior finishes as they wear out, plastic laminate,

022uh original counters there at Shrewsbury Southern Middle School. Again, some of the priority ones. You you see the same mechanical, there's plumbing items. U the code requirements there again go to some of the ADA. There are some sinks that would either be lowered or heightened to actually meet the current ADA. Right now, your grandfather, the buildings aren't violating anything, but once you touch them and do something, uh, then then you want to look at the latest code. Again, building envelope, uh, finishes for Southern Middle School. And then commenting, the third one that we took a real deep look into was Southern Elementary School. Uh, this one really at this point is the HVAC as far as priority one. some of the code items again, interior finishes. So, there's, you know, a list as you go

023in and see the the spreadsheet, a lot of different items listed there. And again, you can see how they're being graded and the priority ranking. U just touching upon right now, we've been discussing a lot with the priority one, but there are two, threes, and fours. Uh so, we we don't want to forget about those. You want to, you know, take a look as we're going through uh what it means. what are things in the priority two and threes um and even fours that that make sense to do. Um so just uh you not ignoring that that the only thing we do is priority one at least you know take a look there and see what what may be working to put into projects. So again going back to the idea of greatest needs uh

024there's a quick list here and you'll see it then in in the book of some of the greatest needs. I keep touching upon the boiler rooms that are there. I mentioned the ele the roofing at Shrewsbury. Uh some plumbing connections at Shrewsbury. Uh those three kind of I will admit jump out as kind of the highest on our list. There are some other than items that could be broken out as separate projects. Um also recognizing as you look in the book you'll see the comments that all the cost numbers you're seeing the cost numbers are based more so on when they're combined on a larger project. So when you pull a number out it isn't simply that number. We got to look at it if it is a bid project. The smaller the the item

025you pull out and the smaller the cost, the more percentage increase it's going to be. Uh you'll see that then later in a greatest needs where some of these things are listed with prices and we're showing a range of of the higher number it gets to. The elevator is something where you break that number out and and that range is up maybe another 50% if you do it separate project, not part of a big project. So we're just trying to make it clear you know as you look at these things we're trying to give you accurate numbers uh particularly if you try to break different pieces out uh integrated solutions again you know looking at whether we are combining things like boilers etc or you know example shrewberry you know again do we do that

026more as a integrated project uh do we break out roofing and HVAC equipment or once we go that far do we do ceilings lighting you know again we can we can look at all the options that are there. Uh again, we recognize there's budget and the things are budget driven, so we want to get the most the most for the bang for the buck. Um so that's kind of a a quick review of what's in front of you. There's a you know a lot to look through. Uh at different points there's summaries kind of at the start or ends of the chapters that are probably good to look at. Um but you can you can get a feel. Then at the end of the the document, we start showing we're calling them options, but we

027show you for each building if you did the priority ones, if you did one and two, one, two, three, one. So you start seeing those numbers. We show them how they add up. And and again, we're going to spend more time at our next meeting going over those items. But right now, it's trying to get you to take a look in general. There's plenty of pictures, so if the words are getting tiring, you can just at least look at the the pretty pictures there. And um now we're glad to help out. Timing wise, we are April 10th. Our goal here is is coming back on May 6th presentation to talk through and any questions more in detail. Uh and looking at the board presentation then again looking that's kind of at the end of the

028book of hey here's different options what we could pull together. We gave two examples at the end. There's all sorts of variables how we could pull projects together. So this is where we do we want your input. We we put this down. the existing conditions are what they are, but as you decide, hey, here's what we may want to do. We we want to help you with what those options are. Our goal here is that by the June 19th meeting, uh, that we could adopt the study. And if you see some of the projects in there like greatest needs, if you would want to do do all the boiler rooms in the three buildings, we need to start moving on that design, frankly. So, uh, timing wise, if we want to get a project for

029the following summer, we need to design that, get something out to bid later in this year, we really want to try and bid in October, bring things back in November, uh, so that we could get contractors on board in December to get equipment for something like a boiler room. Um, that allows us to get the work done then starting the following May. So you're you're looking about a year out until you get the contractor on site, but they're going to need three to four months for some of the equipment, etc. So, um I guess I'm open to any questions here, too, if you have any. Uh I normally sit here and listen to all the needs, so it's interesting to be talking more, but we we were glad to put this study together and there's

030a lot of data there to look through. So, uh Randy, Susan, the team has been working through with us. So any questions you have can filter back through and and we can help you out. Make sure if something doesn't make sense or it's confusing, we're here to help you. All righty. And Len said I need to do the presentation under four hours. So I I think we achieved that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Right. Next we have uh item 5.02, 02 a district website presentation. Good evening. So I am excited to be here because it means that our website is launched. Um it's been a a long road getting here. Uh and we still have more content coming. Uh and of course working towards ADA compliance is a continual process.

031Um, but we have a lot of really exciting things up and a lot of new content to show and to share today. Um, before I get into it, just a quick recap for anybody who hasn't really followed along with the process. Uh, our previous website provider was Blackboard, which was purchased by Final Site. And at that time, Final Site made the determination that they were going to discontinue the Blackboard platform. So we had to move to a new website provider and platform. And at the same time that this was happening um there were changes in regulations in terms of ADA compliance. Um so really a changing landscape for what we can post and how we post it particularly when it comes to things like PDFs um Google Docs any kind of a document that you're

032seeing linked on our website. So, I'm going to give you a quick tour of some of the things that we're really excited about. Um, at the top of the screen, and I'm doing this on a desktop. It will be slightly different if you are looking at mobile. So, we'll talk a little bit about some of the differences, but at the very top, um, on this side, you'll see a link. This is to YouTube. So, if you are at home and you want to watch a board meeting live, you can click this and it will take you right there. So, it's an easy way to quickly access um board meetings or other previously recorded videos. Also, at the top you have the district home. So, no matter where you are on the site, uh you can

033go home very quickly. Next to that is the schools menu and this will give you a drop down of all the different schools. So, you can go to any of our school sites. Underneath that, you'll see that we have um sort of an L shape here. And this is a result really of the feedback we've received from some of our surveys, from our staff, and from our parents. Uh these were the items that they really wanted quicker access to. So, if you think of when you go into a grocery store, you often will see the produce to your right. Um because that's how people go, right? They want you to shop in the produce, so they kind of steer you along that way. your eye on a website goes in this L shape. So, we

034put more of the um frequently used links and buttons along that area. So, the first one is the portal. So, if you remember from the old site, you kind of had to scroll down past the banners um to get to the portal. Now, they're up at the top. And if you click on that, you'll see that the portals are largely the same. It was really a balance of making changes and improvements but also keeping um things that people were used to in a format they were used to. So it wasn't completely different. One of the big differences that you'll see you can see it here is our picture. Um we have a lot of these hero images throughout the site which give us a chance to really show some of the neat things happening around

035our buildings and our schools. Next to that is the quick links. So again, these are items that people wanted to access quickly. So the first one is attendance. Um, so if you have a a sick kiddo, you've been up all night, it's 6:00 a.m. and you have to send in that my kid's not going to be in school today email, uh, it's very easy to find. It's right here. And all of the attendance information now is in one spot. U, previously we had the trip and tour form somewhere else on the site. um attendance was in a different location, the inclement weather, they were now they're all together in one location. Next to that is the safe to say. If you have a safety or security concern, there's information that you can find to report

036it to safe to say here. And believe it or not, our old site did not have a contact us button. So now it is much easier. You can see all of our addresses, phone numbers, as well as a staff directory. And this will also take you back to attendance if you need that information. Search button is next. And this is the menu icon. And this is where it is a little bit different um depending if you're on mobile or if you are on a desktop. We wanted to make if if you remember on the old site, these things that you'll see this drop down here, these items used to run across the top. But if we did that with our desktop on this site, then when you went to mobile, you would have moved to

037a different format. You would have moved to something that looked like this. You would have had one thing on desktop and one on mobile. This way, um, it's pretty consistent. So whether you're on desktop or when you're on mobile, when you go to that icon, you'll get that drop down. The difference is these links here that are across the top. When we move to mobile, obviously you're moving to a smaller screen, so you will not be able to see those across the top, but they will show up when you click on the menu icon under these. You'll see the other utility links. So, you're safe to say your quick links, your portals will all be right here. Under this, we have um our calls and call to action buttons. here the this is the calendars

038and we did a total overhaul of our calendar page. This was an area that we really heard from parents that um they wanted some to see some changes here. So, one of the things that's super neat here is if you have kids in different school buildings, instead of having to go to each school's calendar page on different pages to find their calendar, it's all here and you can filter it by their school. So if you have a child at Friendship and you have a child at Southern Middle School or if you have a Shrewsberry Elementary kid and a Cescohanic high school kid, you can just pick the schools that you want to see the calendars for and then you can see the events on those days for your kids. We'll have more coming soon. They

039also have a search button if you want to search for anything in the calendar. Uh and we'll have a little bit more information coming out soon. There will be ways that you can um link and there's a little information here, but you can link this to your own phone or your own devices and pull in our calendars so that you can pull them right into your personal calendars. Under that there is an enroll button. This will take you to the information you need if you want to enroll a child. We did hear from a lot of our um front office staff in the buildings that they wanted to be able to direct people quickly when they called to enroll a child to a place where they could do that. Um similar similarly the apply button

040will take you to Appllet track and to information to apply if there a district opening you're interested in and what everybody's interested in our cafeteria menus and how to put information in my school books right here. The next three sections are the se sections I'm really excited about, but they are sections that we're going to see a lot of new content coming. So, this right here is welcome to Southern. It tells you a little bit about our district. And if you go to a school page, it's similar. It'll tell you a little bit just about our district. We will have new aerial shots coming. Uh we finished with the construction in the middle of the winter when we didn't have pretty leaves. So, um once everything's green again in the spring, we'll have some new

041aerials coming. But uh in the meantime, we have this up. We also have information here. This will take you to information about our curriculum page, but we have more information, more content that'll be coming soon for academics. Um this is athletics, which I'll show you in a bit, but that athletics got a total overhaul and uh information for getting involved. You'll see more links coming here for things like the arts, for music. Um, we'll have more information coming if you do click to athletics. So, you'll see we have a slideshow here. So, we can really show um some of the neat things happening in our sports, a link to live stream and an athletics calendar. So, previously you would have been going to Arbiter Live if you were looking for sports events. Now, those events

042are pulling straight through to our athletics page. So you can see our events there. If you want a full calendar, you can just click to see all events and it'll take you to a full calendar of the events for all sports. This is similar to what we had before. These will take you to links for rosters for each sport and information about attending events. Uh this is new. We have a new athletic news page and so this will be filled with more information as it comes um and more content in terms of things that are happening uh in our with our sports. This is a chance for us to little brag a little bit. I'm very excited about this page. So this part of the page, so we'll have more about just the great things

043um happening throughout our schools and really a chance to show both the depth and the breadth of some of the things that are happening. Uh a news and events section and again this will show you some of the more current calendar events underneath this. Um these are links that were requested but maybe not as used as frequently as the things that you saw in that L. So things like the student forms, the student handbooks, transportation links, alumni have a link here. These are direct links. They're just a little bit further down on the page. And that is a tour pretty much of our site. If you go to our schools pages, they are very similar at the moment. You'll see that there's going to be more customization coming. So you can see they have a

044little bit more already here on the high school page uh with links to different departments and as we move forward um there will probably be more you'll see some differences between the buildings in terms of what you're seeing posted in news and events. So that's a quick tour. There is more coming. A ton of more content will be coming as we move along. But it gives you an idea of where we are now and how to find your way around our site. Questions? I just want to say thank you. I've worked on projects like this before and you make everything look really simple, but there's so much backend work that goes into what you're talking about and I just really appreciate it. Looks very well organized. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. It's beautiful. Yeah. Thank

045you. Thank you. All right. Moving on to item 5.03, the proposed budget presentation by uh Mr. Green. Good evening everyone. So um we had our detailed budget presentation at the U March uh finance and budget meeting. Um this evening we'll do a summary presentation for the public. Um if anyone from the public wants to see the detailed presentation, it is out on the YouTube channel and we now know you can get that right from the top of uh lefth hand side of our website. So this evening we're just going to review a couple things um in summary uh basically the 2526 budget um some of the major challenges and budget drivers um some additions and deletions um understand where our revenue streams are and then talk a little bit about um some vulnerability areas and

046then what our next steps are. So summary of the budget what everyone always wants to know right away. So we'll just start out of the gate. Um it does not include a tax increase this time. Um, we have increased to revenues about 2.63% or $1.7 million and increased to expenditures of almost $2 million, uh, a little under 3%. Budgets made up um, as we talk about every year, most of our budget is made up in s salaries and benefits um, as we are a professional service organization and our teachers are really um, those that um, educate our children. Um, so that's most of our budget in the salaries and benefits area. So looking at it from a different standpoint, um really the areas like I said, salaries and benefits are the major changes um because

047that's the major piece of the budget. And then we'll also talk about a couple other areas briefly. So as we look at staffing, um again, as I said, that's our major um expenditure category. Um we also look at each year, we look at um the students and the student needs and where we need staff. Um, so it's not just um have the same staff every year because um each year we have different students and different grade levels with different needs. So each and every year we're taking a close look at that. We're also looking at charts such as this um to see where we are compared to our peers. Um we're slightly below average but pretty much average um to our peers. This is as of the 23 24 uh fiscal year. Um but as

048we know we are down slightly in enrollment. Um so we're doing well with staffing. Um and so as we put the budget together, um we do have a reduction of three professional staff positions for next year. Again, that's based upon student needs. That's all done through attrition. Um we do have the addition of the school safety and security coordinator position. So Mr. Lightel started in March. Um that was not in the budget for uh 2425. So we need to add that for 2526. Um and then overall, as I said, there's about a 3% increase um in salaries. So that's the one of the largest items um in the budget. Employee benefits um are the largest item $1.2 million or about 7%. That's driven by two um main cost drivers. One being the retirement contributions even

049though the rate only went from 33.9% to 34% because that is a percentage of the total payroll. Um that amounts to about $32,000. The other driver is health insurance. We've had many years, probably a five, six year period where we had very low um if not negative health insurance uh rate increases. We now are having um higher rate increases. Um so that is uh about a 15% increase overall or about $800,000. And we talked in depth um in November and December about health insurance purchase services, another big area about $547,000. So that includes things like transportations, repairs, insuranceances, tuition and student placements. So our large drivers there are contract for transportation and student tuition and placements which we have another uh quick screen on that. And then um areas of decrease again as we talk

050about student needs um we have a reduction in the areas of nursing services and substitutes um just because again they're based upon student needs. So that is a reduction. Um so we talk about meeting all student needs. Um we have about $5.9 million or about almost 9% of the budget um for students that go to other organizations like York School of Technology, Lincoln Intermediate Unit, um and other placements. Um so that is a large portion of our budget also. Uh and then just like at home, uh we have the same kinds of things going on here. So, um while it's only a it's not as huge of a number, it's still $270,000 um natural gas and electricity um increases again that we're experiencing just like you are at home. So, one of the big reductions

051for the budget um we do have a reduction about 838,000 or 14% um for millillage that was phased in to prepare for um future building renovations. um we've reduced the debt back to what our debt actually is. So there is not additional money left in the budget for um issuing additional debt. So they were basically to pay that that debt we have in place. And to put in perspective, the debt we have in place is the same debt we had in place in about 1718 um which was prior to the um high school building project. So it is the same debt service. Um and then the money that we have um set aside in the sign signed fund balance is what we have for uh renovations at this time. So new items in the budget.

052There aren't a whole lot. We talked about the school safety and security coordinator position. We also um added assistant girls tennis coach. Um that roster has um gone up significantly in the last couple years and we only have one coach there. uh girls wrestling program. Again, the need more and more um females are going out for wrestling. Uh we have a budget for staff wellness. Um we're in year three of our warrior wellness program. And then replacement radios. Um so we use radios for communication throughout the district. So we'll talk briefly about revenues. So we have local, state, and federal. And you'll notice the dark blue um the bulk of our revenues about twothirds um is from local. So, our local revenues, 50% of those are real estate revenues. Um, there is a very small

053increase um in real estate since we're not having a tax increase. Um, earned income does have a a slightly larger and then um interest earnings which is basically about a tenth of a percent normally is about 2% now that we are getting the interest earnings from uh the money we have set aside for building renovations. State revenues are up about $1.3 million. I'm not going to go through this whole slide, but basically what we did was we took a look at the money that we had from state revenues for this year. We put in a modest increase of about 2% in the areas of basic ed and special ed. Um, and as we know, uh, we we never know before we pass our budget or before June 30th what, um, state funding would be. Um,

054even if the budget would be passed, usually it takes weeks after that to to have an understanding what's in there. Um, so we base it on, um, what we believe may happen. Um but it's it's a conservative estimate um for revenue. And then federal revenue, we're back to um the norm for federal revenue, which is a very very small piece of our budget. Um and and we knew that that Easter funding or COVID funding was going to go away. Um and that's why we had the plan that we did. Um so when it went away, we would be fine in the district. So we're back to what I consider normal for federal funding. tax rate comparison. Um we, as I said, there's no tax increase in this budget, so we continue to be on the

055low side. We're the dark green proposed. Um so over the past five years, not including next year, um our increase um average was about point half a percent um for each year. So if you factor in next year, it will be lower than that B versus the what they call the PB index or like the inflation index of about 4.58%. So this just shows that our budget balances using fund balance of about $2.7 million. Again, if you look at the detailed presentation, we talk about how we come up with that and it's based upon a combination of of revenues and expenditures. So I just want to take a minute to talk about some of the areas of vulnerability. Um again, we talk in more depth at the detailed presentation, but we do have little growth

056in our real estate assessments even though we see building going on in our district. um compared to the size of our district, it is um not a large amount. Um so it takes quite a bit quite a few houses um I think 26 on average to to get $100,000 of revenue. So it's not like each house is bringing in that much revenue. So um again, as we see building around, it's really percentage- wise not going up very much. Um so that's an area of vulnerability. The other area is the interest earnings. ITE but briefly touched on that. But right now there's two things um going in our favor. One, we have the money um set back for um future building renovations. Um so we're earning interest, good interest on that. Um and the second piece

057of that is interest rates are good. So um as interest rates would decline and our cash would decline as we use that for building renovations, that number is going to go down. Um so that's about $1.6 million this year. Um, but it's been as low as 20 to 35,000. So, it's a big big difference. And then state and federal funding are always state funding has been very good, I will say, for the last couple years. So, that's always a concern what what that's going to be in the future. Um, from an expenditure side, um, we talked about health insurance. I do expect that to level out, but that is something we're keeping a close eye on as we have had large increases. And then we saw the presentation from Mr. Shank this evening. um on

058building renovations and maintenance. Uh and we really just have the limited um that assigned fund balance right now to use for that. Um if we would need additional money, we would need to issue bonds and add millage for that into the budget. So this just shows our fund balance right now about $26 million um and the uses of that um with that assigned for uh future capital projects of about $18 million. So next steps. So, we have this evening approval of the proposed budget with the final approval in May. If there would be a tax increase, it's always set in May, not in April. Um, and then we also will have the homestead farmstead amounts from the state. Um, we don't have that information now. So, your PTE 2028, which is what you're approving this

059evening, does not reflect the homestead farmstead amounts because we won't have that till probably two or three days before the board May board meeting. Okay, any questions? Yes. If the uh amount comes in from state and it's higher than what we think it is, is that less we would have to pull from fund balance to cover the the deficit? Yes. So um basically we're using the deficit because we have to balance. But if we would get additional revenue from the state, federal government or from another source, then yes, that would that would ultimately result in less use of fund balance keeping us away from that cap. the unassigned cap. Well, yes. Any other questions? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. All right. Moving on to item 5.04, educational updates by Thank

060you, Mr. President. School board, uh, good evening. As you know, April showers will bring May flowers, but I know talking to some of our students in sports, they're just hoping those showers end and the warm weather does return. So, uh I know it's only been three weeks since our last meeting, but I do have a couple things to highlight with my uh traditional uh monthly theme of safe, supportive, and collaborative. And as we continue uh under safety, you know, we continue to provide our students with the opportunity to be situationally aware uh not only in our buildings, but also when they're outside of the building, when they're at restaurants, whether uh movie sporting events. So, as we finish out the school year, just a reminder to all of our students, please make sure you carry

061that situational awareness into the summer into the summer and beyond. Um, also as a reminder, I mentioned this last month or three weeks ago, uh, just with the volume of students involved in extracurricular activities, just for parents and students driving, uh, please be extra careful, not only on our campus, but, uh, throughout our community because we have a lot of youth leagues that are currently participating. So, just be extra careful. Um, under supportive, just to follow up, uh, we've had several more school visits, you know, in the in the last three weeks. Uh for me, I was able to pack in many of those because we're getting into testing season uh that that's starting up in in uh in about uh two weeks now. So, a lot of engagement that's continuing to occur, creativity, and

062the thing that I really love at this time of the year, you see it throughout the year, is the student work that's displayed in and around the buildings. uh walking through several of the elementary uh schools. There is a uh a height limit uh because I do have to duck and bob and weave as I'm walking through the elementary schools. Uh but just seeing their artwork and the work that's out in the hallways. Just kudos to all the teachers and the sports staff for showcasing the work of their students. Um under collaborative, congratulations goes out to Grace Wilson who will be representing Cesuanak High School at the distinguished young women's program on March 18th. Uh this is a uh opportunity, a national scholarship opportunity. So congratulations going out to Greece. I want to take a

063moment to wish our the following Cisco Hanok powerliffters that are currently competing uh in the 2025 powerlifting America high school national competition in Wisconsin. Uh students under the supervision and leadership of Mr. Nick Duca are in position to succeed. Those are Jaden Claps Saddle, Dylan Lore, Brady Park, Charlotte Rhodess, uh, Jacob Rhodess, Tyler Stal, JT Thomas, and Megan Voss. Um, as some reminders, Caleb, awesome job. You took almost everything I had with the exception elementary districtwide coral concert is Tuesday, May 15th at 7 p.m. Uh, PSSAs will start for grades 3 through 8 on Tuesday, um, April 22nd. And finally, the Southern Middle School Southern Sesak High School spring coral concert will be on Wednesday, May 7th. So, let's make it a great month of April or not. The choice is yours. Thank you. All

064right, moving on to item 6.01, uh, public comments. Um, as a reminder, when you come up, please state your name and municipality residence. Um, and then just observe property quorum. Uh we'll start with Val Dennis. Good evening. I'm Val Dennis from Shrewberry Township. I'm speaking in reference to curriculum policies and vetting speakers. Um as a librarian with 35 years experience um in public schools, I often recommend books. I'm just finishing up The Caretaker by Ron Rash. um an amazing book about poverty and middle class in Appalachia. Um lots of phenomenal twists. Um also please thank your website development team. I've worked on website development for public schools and I know the time commitment. Um and also I was able to get straight into the library section and the research databases. Research databases are information that

065is not on the internet. Um high quality information um by experts that is vetted and published. So, I'm thankful to see how much research database we have and that we can teach our students how to find highquality information. I wrote something for tonight and I rewrote it and I looked at it and I did edits and I thought about what to say and not say and lots of stress and I realized that I just um like all of you care about our students. That's why we're here. The challenges are that we see many of our issues differently. I have confidence that we can continue to have conversations across those divides and that we can work together for the sake of our students. And then I also realized what I really wanted to say tonight. I

066wonder how each of us and all of us are creating so much chaos here and beyond our district out in the world. What are the reasons for the chaos and how does this affect our productivity here, local, state, country, world? And then I realized what I feel is pure disappointment. absolute disappointment in myself and in human beings. Few days ago, I was on a plane that was landing in Harrisburg. I looked out above the giant nuclear reactors and thought about whether they might be helpful or harmful or beginning to believe that climate change is real. If enough people work together, we can slow or reverse climate change. If we do not choose to work together on climate change, none of the other challenges in the lives of humans will matter anymore. That's not to send

067fear. It's just the reality of our situation, whether we want to see it or not. From the air, I also looked at the beautiful farmland and the forests and the massive Suscuana River and thought how blessed we all are to live in this place. I thought about the people who lived here 700 years ago. Are we moving forward now as humans or are we regressing? Here we are again in a cycle of moving forward and then destruction of moving forward and then backlash in a seemingly endless sea of change all around us. in our local area, our country, our world. Most of which seems completely unnecessary, unproductive, and the possibility to be incredibly harmful. We look at different news, completely different news, 100% different. We don't trust each other's facts or experts or information. We

068yell at each other online and seemingly endless circles of drama. We refuse to sit down at a restaurant and talk about anything other than the weather, which even now is potentially controversial. I believe that we can talk with each other, and I am here. Um, here's our school district in the newspaper yet again with blame and defensiveness and drama. I remember a school staff member saying to me, "You're the reason for all the problems in this school. I grew up around here. There was racism and other forms of impression oppression in the area, but that I was causing harm by bringing it up and by listening to the concerns of our students." In reference to recent questions about a speaker here, I remember this story of being hissed at for causing divisiveness. people who are

069black, brown, and white all here that we are causing some of us causing divisiveness. This is written by S. Patton. Slavery was divisive. Jim Crow was divisive. Redlinining was divisive. Lynch mobs were divisive. Bombing black churches divisive. Some don't want unity. Some want submission and silence. I want people like me to smile through eraser, nod through bigotry, and clap politely when you rewrite history. I'm not dividing anything. I'm refusing to hold hands with folks trying to push us off a cliff. I'm not going to sit here and harmonize with oppression of marginalized peoples just to keep the peace. If truth feels divisive to you, that's not my problem. I'm not divisive. I'm just refusing to pretend we're all on the same side of justice. A principal once told me, "I talked to some black students,

070Val, and they don't know how to fix racism. So, how should we?" And racism's been around for centuries. So, what could we possibly do? And I will say to that, I can do better. I can look at my own biases. All of us have them. And we can all do better. We are capable of working together and talking together. with and for our children and teenagers. Thank you. Thank you, Ashley Morrison, Shrewsbury. Um, I was a little disappointed when I wasn't able to make the last school board meeting, but now I'm kind of glad as it gives me an opportunity to directly address the comments made by the board in regards to the denial of Kai the Chem Kai the chemist as the artisan residence. First, I want to mention that just because someone isn't

071racist in one circumstance doesn't preclude them from committing a racist act under another circumstance. Secondly, racism comes in a range of forms. For most people, a racial slur is an obvious act of racism. But it can also come in the form of microaggressions. A microaggression is defined as a statement, action, or incident regarded as an instance of direct, indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalized group. Here are a few examples. telling a black president who is a Harvard graduate, "Oh, you speak so well," or, or refusing to say a person's name correctly, even though you know how to say it because they're the vice president of the United States. Another example is listening to a native family tell you how harmful a racist logo is to their family, but dismissing their experiences

072because some people are nostalgic for the old logo. And yes, saying, quote, "We don't invite this sort of thing into our district." End quote. when talking about a black female chemist and referring to cultural bias and racism as simply a peripheral social issue that isn't appropriate for fifth graders to understand can be viewed as a microaggression. Which brings me to my next point. I'm concerned that there are board members that think fifth grade is too young to learn about cultural bias. How do you expect us to resolve issues that we are seeing at the elementary school level without dialogue about cultural bias and racism? These issues can't be resolved without talking openly about it. Also, I'm not sure what age the board thinks that someone should start learning about cultural bias, but I can guarantee

073you that the majority of people in marginalized communities don't have the luxury to wait until fifth grade to learn about it because they've already experienced it. Now, I obviously can't speak to the experience of being a black female scientist, but I can speak to being a female in the scientific community for about 30 years, either pursuing bachelors and masters free or working in the science science industry itself. And while yes, some of the subjects were challenging, the biggest frustration I experienced in all these decades was the bias I experienced as a woman. Dealing with instances like having to have your idea repeated by a male colleague before it's accepted time and time again. But through that, you know what helped the most? Leaning on and being supported by fellow female colleagues that experience similar biases.

074Knowing that we are not alone in our struggles encourages to keep fighting to be successful. Kai sharing her story isn't going to discourage kids from pursuing science because yes, she ran into obstacles, real obstacles, but she overcame them and reached her goals. Also, Kai's unique approach to talking to kids about chemistry through sneakers would actually engage kids that may not already be interested in science. And as human beings, we grow by learning about other stories and their adversities they face. It makes us more empathetic. And I know some people consider that a weakness, but it's quite the opposite. if you want to truly strengthen a community. Speaking of her unique approach, I know some board members expressed there was concern that Kai's approach to science communication is not traditional. But alas, I just don't understand

075the artisan residence program, students would still go through their typical science curriculum, and it's not as if Kai would be substituting for our science teachers. So, there's no risk in kids not being taught science with the traditional curriculum in parallel. Kai's approach would just be a supplement, not a replacement to our current science curriculum. Finally, at last month's meeting, a school board member mentioned that the donle of Kyle chemist does not mean an end to the artisan residence program and the 17-year relationship with ARC with York Cultural Alliance. And another said, quote, I sincerely hope that we can smooth things over with the Cultural Alliance. I believe in the program. End quote. But that same board member later made a comment on social media stating, quote, Sure seems like the Cultural Alliance has some discriminative

076mindset mindset against white straight people. End quote. How is this help? How does this help the situation? I don't understand how this types of comment will mend our relationship with the cultural alliance. It would be great to hear from the board on how they intend to fix this relationship so that future students can take part in the artist and residence program. Thank you, Jason Decker, New Freedom Bureau. Mr. President, I have followed with great interest the public discussion, if you want to call it that, taking place in the media, online, and in this room regarding the board's decision to not approve Kai the chemist for the artisan residence program at Shrewsbury Elementary School. Of particular interest to me are accusations that this board targeted and excluded this individual from the program based on her race.

077If the school board in this community I reside in is discriminating based on race, that would cause me a great deal of concern. I believe that to accuse one of racism is a very serious matter. As such, the person or persons bringing the accusation have a responsibility to also bring evidence that the accused does indeed harbor racial animus. I decided that as a concerned citizen, I must investigate for myself as to whether there was evidence of racism on the part of our school board. While shallow accusations abounded, I was able to find no such evidence. Seeking answers, I decided to visit Kai the Chemist's website myself. The first thing I noticed on her website was the photographs of her. I must say that based on how she represents herself photographically, I am inclined to like

078her. There is something whimsical and fun about her personal style. You can imagine my disappointment, Mr. President, when I moved on from her photographs and began to read her ideas. The person in question states within the first paragraph of her website mission statement that certain persons are quote unquote excluded from the steamfield because of their ethnicity or race. This type of statement contains an inherent presupposition that there are systemic forces at play to keep minorities out of the steam field. In a blog post on her website, she states, "Getting the next generation to participate in chemistry will require dismantling normative approaches to education and mentoring. Inclusive pedagogy that incorporates social issues and innovative teaching with special attention to historically excluded groups are keys to unlocking the full potential of future scientists." In an interview with

079Kai regarding this social experiment she was intending to perform on our fifth graders, she made the following remark regarding traditional chemistry curriculum. I had a hard time feeling like I could even relate to the material because a lot of the stuff was about white people. Chemistry is about white people. Really? I don't remember the element blanco being on the periodic table. Mr. President, I feel a sense of empathy for this individual. These ideas which many members of our community will instantly recognize as critical race theory are not original to her. For her for the sake of brevity, I will not provide protracted comments about their origin on another continent. The fact of the matter is somebody brought these ideas into a classroom that she was once a pupil in. This ideology which is corrosive to

080one's entire worldview is a learned ideology. It is evident to me that this board clearly did not discriminate against this individual based on her race. What you did do is discriminate based on her ideas. People are equal. Ideas are not. It would be irresponsible for this board to consider all ID ideas equally valid. The folks who are crying racism don't actually believe that racism was at play here. These are people who believe in critical race theory and have bought into cultural Marxism. I wish that they would just state in the open that they think critical race theory is a good thing. that we should take our fifth graders, put all of the oppressors on one side of the room, put all the oppressed on another side of the room. I would respect these people if

081they did so. I would vehemently oppose them, but would applaud them for making their arguments open and in good faith. They won't do that, however. They know that a plurality of this community rejects such a divisive ideology. They know that their ideas cannot win in our community because this is a community made up of good people who want our elementary students focused on reading, writing, arithmetic, and sciences devoid of corrupt social theories. And so these false accusers go back to a tactic that they all themselves learned in school, bullying. Thank you. Thank you, Bella Morris. My name is Bella Morris. I live in New Freedom. I'm 14 years old and a freshman at Cesco Hanok. My first year of high school experience has been substantially tougher than I could have ever imagined it to be

082because of what I'm about to tell you. I want you to imagine your daughter, wife, sister, or even yourself in my position. Earlier this school year, two boys in the high school were charged for using AI to alter photos of several female students, including myself, to make them nude. There are five confirmed victims, though potentially more. Neither boy was expelled, even though the incident was first reported to the school, then later to police by the school. And some of the photos are of victims while inside the school. The other girls and I now carry the worry that at any point in our lives, these photos could surface without any backstory of how we were victimized. The photo that they used of me, I was standing in the hallway of the middle school. I did not

083give that photo to either of the boys. I did not post it. I did not send it to them. They got it from another friend's social media. While the two boys were at a party, the nude pictures were seen by other boys, which led to the initial report to school staff. After it was reported to police months later, my family was notified that I was identified in the nude photos. I had no idea this was going on and I was completely unsuspecting. One of the two boys now does online schooling and the other boy continues to attend Sesuhan. Since the photos were discovered, there have been multiple times at school that I have run into the boy who is still who is still attending. In fact, it used to be a daily occurrence. Seeing him

084is a constant reminder of the events that took place. Every time I see him, I get hit with a wave of nausea. My skin crawls and I am repulsed. I feel disgusting that they and who knows who else have seen me so vulnerable and without my consent. Using my face and my body for the unimaginable. I'm confused as to how I'm supposed to feel safe knowing that he is in the same building as me. How am I supposed to know that it won't happen again if there are no rules put in place to restrict it from happening? In this crime, his weapon was his phone. And yet, he is still allowed to bring his phone to school. What if he takes more pictures? What if he wants to join a photography or yearbook class, which

085would put him the in an environment that would enable him to strike again? I want to feel safe in my school. It's my right to feel safe in my school. But so far, I believe things have been handled poorly and unfairly. A safety plan has been put in place in attempt to limit me from seeing him, but it still happens. So, how effective is the safety plan really? Especially when administrators have neglected to follow the rules designated in the safety plan regarding their ability to speak to me about this matter without parental consent. The safety plan gives no closure, but instead puts restrictions on the victims. I am no longer allowed to walk in certain hallways because that's the way he walks. I have to wait until his hall passes over. So, I may leave

086the classroom. Some other victims even have classes with him. The offender because there are so many victims, it was impossible for the offender schedule to be created around all of the other victims schedules. That alone should be an indicator that these boys should not be allowed in the school. By allowing these boys to attend school, it not only significantly affects the victim's academic life, mental health with continued psychological trauma, but it also prevents them from moving on. I have personally expressed this to administrators and am left feeling nothing but unheard, brushed off, and small. I have been consistently shut down. I just want what I believe is right. I want a change in the school policies to ensure that offenders of crimes of this type are not allowed to attend school with their victims. I

087want these boys expelled and out of my life as well as all of the other girls they have victimized. Thank you for the opportunity to be heard tonight. And thank you to my supporters. Thank you. I have copies of very nice Mary Shrewsberry um burrow. So, everyone is mad that chem the Kai the chemist was denied. We had one person out of five who actually did their homework and had the guts to say that she would not sign. Three of the other people, I truly don't even think made an attempt to see what this presenter was all about. They just knew we had a 17-year relationship with the Cultural Alliance, and we do this every year. So, why would this be any different? Our own principal according to the vetting sheets only looked at two

088websites about this presenter. One was the page and the one was her page and the other was the York College site that she talked that talked about how this program she attended was a program that helped her to get her name out and some financial help. The website had no had little to no information on what her program was about. He also never researched any other professional organizations where she has presented. Now we look at reviews for hotels, restaurant, verbos, verbos, etc. But looking into a presenter that will spend several weeks with students that you serve and oversee, but he but we couldn't research a program that's coming to our school. It was even asked if there were any other concerns on the form, but the answer was no. There were concerns concerns about the

089survey. Actually, a survey which asked fifth graders about music by Taylor Swift, Kendrick, Drake, and Olivia Rodrigo. Now, honestly, the only one I know a little bit about is Taylor Swift, but I do know that Kendrick and Drake are having a rap beef or something because of their songs that were sung at the Super Bowl. And truth is, I don't understand that either. And although I'm not saying the fifth graders would not understand these artists, I'm pretty sure mine would not. My child my child would put down something like for King and Country, which I know would cause an outrage in their songs were played. The love of Christ would really cause outrage in the schools. But although one of our administrators signed the vetting paper work, he was concerned about the survey, too, because

090he knew that it was probably not appropriate for most fifth graders. and therefore the survey was not going to be a part of the program if we had this program. Now, everyone in the circle of people that were talking about this knew this and yet it was never mentioned when emails were distributed to parents. It was easier just to blame the one person who had the honest issues about this program. Other things that were never mentioned were was that the program was decided what nine months to a year ago. Why was it just put through the vetting process? Why were contracts signed before the program was ever even approved? Anyone that is involved with the school knows there's a vetting process. And we know the board is not a board that rubber stamps or just

091has formality. They actually look before they sign. Never mentioned emails either, just blame that one person. This program had many goals. The social studies goal was to work through the Civil War. What's that exactly mean? How does mixing colors and dying fab fabrics tie into the Civil War? Why does Miss Simpson mention George Floyd on her website? Why does Miss Simpson say the program applies across all cultures with targets and hopes to impact those from under reppresentative, undeserved, and marginalized community? Miss Simpson, in her own words, says, "This program is not for my son, a white male in a suburban area." In her own words, says that the a very and who lives in very vanilla shrewsberry that is no way under reppresented, underdeserved or marginalized at least in her eyes. Why don't why didn't

092she just stop and my program applies to all boys and girls because that's not really was her method or mission. Several signers of the vetting process knew this but were afraid to sign in my opinion. I guess being called a racist, a Nazi, a bigot, Christian nationalist is not their idea of fun. Especially when we all know it's not true. So, who are we really mad at? The person that did their job, did her research, kept money in our school, or the ones that did little to no research, and now has left you without an artist. My child will miss a great opportunity this year, but it's not because of this person. the only person that took the blame. It's because of the others who were afraid to stand up to do what they knew

093that was right for our district and our students. Thank you. All right, moving on to item 6.02. Um, if I could make comment, please. Yeah. Yeah, it's time for it was um a little hard to even hear much else um Bella after your account was given. Um we as a board really need to dig into this. um if our policies are not strong enough um that this type of activity is not mitigated, they need to be changed. Um I'm sorry that it happened to you. Um you know, I have a daughter, too, and I can't imagine the the pain that you and your family must feel from it. Um, and I assure you that I won't just let this go as a speech from a podium that um, we will look into this for you.

094You are heard. And thank you for the courage to do that. That's that's admirable and I'm sure very painful. Sorry to come to this. Any any other comments? I mirror what um Mr. Hall said. I can't talk about it because um I'm amazed you could. And uh is that your mom there? Got a brave girl. Thanks guys. Likewise. Thank you for coming out and speaking about this. It's I can't imagine how difficult it is. Obviously, you know, it's even difficult for us as adults to hear what's what you've gone through. So, um as Mr. Hall said, we will Definitely not. Yeah, definitely address and look into [Applause] this. All right. And anything else? All right. Moving on to item seven, uh, consent agenda. Um, I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. Or actually,

095is there anything that anyone wants to pull out? Sorry, I remember that was mentioned to me. Yeah. Can I go ahead and lift out 7.15 renewal agreement for source technology for the spring math program? And that's the only one I have. Okay. Any other items to pull out the consent agenda? All right. Um, we'll go ahead and take up 7.15 first and then we'll revisit the rest of the consent agenda. Uh, okay. Go ahead. I So, well, I mean, we have to move it, don't we? 75. Uh, yeah, sure. So, I'll I'll entertain a motion to uh renew the agreement with Sourceville Technology for the spring spring math program. So, moved. Second. Okay. Uh now, uh discussion. So, you know, I actually is it okay if I call you to the podium, Dr. Hughes? I

096know you weren't anticipating it. Can you just explain to the rest of the board exactly what you were telling me? And I think I'm not getting ahead of myself specifically. The questions that were given to me were whether or not these target conflicts with the Chromebooks and and any anticipation that we might have moving forward with Chromebooks. So, yes. Okay. So, um all of these pieces, so for um the all of the the pieces we video, all of the the other um um contracts that we're looking at, they require um our students to use minimal amounts of um online time. So as we go through we were looking to say how do we blend a lot of these pieces. So for example um spring math I'll use that one. There is an online component for

097that but it is for our teachers to look at data relating to spring math. Um we video is a subscription that's mo mostly used in our high school um and our admin and our teachers. We were as we went through each one of these, we looked to see were we able to find um a cheaper arrangement to them. We video actually replaced another um vendor that we were using that was more expensive. So, as we went through, we identified that all of the agreements that we're looking at are things that would be able to be used if we did um one or if we did carts in our classrooms. Okay, fantastic. Um, does anybody else have any other questions for Dr. Hughes? Um, if I can, um, maybe I'm just misunderstanding. So, you were saying

098it's mostly used in the high school, but this states that this is for kindergarten through sixth grade. So, is it two separate for we video? Uh, spring math. Spring math. Okay. Spring math is for um our our elementary students, K through um sixth grade. The spring math is actually um a program that allows our teachers to do more paper pencil where our students are given a number of math problems and it is a timed assessment that they go through. It's an addition subtraction depending on their grade level. It allows us to have our kids do some wrote um math work to be able to see how they're they're doing in this. We track their progress so that we're able to see how our students are um increasing in their math skills. Each student is given

099a goal with our spring math program. So we look at those goals and we see when they are able to overcome them and then we add another goal on. So it's allowing us to see on a frequent basis how our students are doing and improving in their math skills. Okay. So, and so it sounds like an assessment, you know, the teachers are using it to assess progress over time and it's it is so our teachers use it to assess that's the computer program part of it. The inclass part is all paper pencil for our students and they track their progress as well. So the only online piece to this is really the the part where our teachers are tracking their progress and they're able to see like over time. So they're not being tested through

100this. They're being still tested through paper pen. Yes. The students. Yes. And Mr. Hall just to make a clarification when she was talking about we video and consent agenda that 7.16. U Dr. Dr. Hughes was kind of just referring to we were taking a look at all of these uh contracts and then how they're being utilized where the students may have to use the device where at the secondary level high school we video is part of the course where they would still be you know utilized and they'll be onetoone utilizing those and that's the high school that's high school. So I wanted to come back and clarify that because I when you asked that question about what I thought we were talking about is one of the I knew where Dr. Hughes was when she

101was talking about that. She was just talking about the overall contracts that were in the consent. Thank you so much, Dr. Hughes. I totally put you on the spot, but you're just that awesome. I guess we need to Okay, we can approve that one. Yeah. Any So, we did a second. Yeah, we had a motion in a second. Yeah. I'll just I'll just say really quickly that I I'm glad we're moving to pencil and paper because I've we've used uh computer-based math uh programs at home. And one thing that I noticed was happening was the kids were not working out the paper problems on paper and they were trying to do too much in their heads and and you know and and they weren't actually benefiting from the exercise as much as if they so

102I would always tell them nope even though the problem's there on screen bring it to paper. Um, so I I'm I'm glad we're moving moving toward that. Right. Any naysay or abstensions? Motion carries. Back to the rest of consent. All right. I'll entertain a motion to approve the rest of the consent agenda as presented. So move. Second. Motion in a second. Any discussion? Any nays or abstensions? Hearing none. That motion carries. Moving on to item eight, our education report. I will turn it over to Mrs. Henle. Are you okay? You're good. Yeah. So 8.01. I'm going to turn that over to Dr. Ruffer. Thank you, Mrs. Henle. Uh for the board this evening, you have uh in front of you uh level 1.3 where teachers have formal roles and decision m making process regarding school

103initiatives. So that's for your information only that's been provided to you this evening. All right. And 8.02 02 is the revisions to the district student handbook. That is Dr. Rford as well. Thank you again, Mrs. Hankle. Uh for the school board, uh this is the first and ever uh Sun County School District combined uh student handbook. So, this is for information only uh that uh for your review and then we will vote for that or vote on that in for approval at the May board meeting. Uh this was a very comprehensive uh task that not only included the work of our administrators uh but as well as some of our other staff members that had specific involvement, specific parts uh to address. Uh so when you take a look at the combined uh handbook, you'll

104see a lot of track changes. So when you see those, you're going to see a lot of strikethroughs from the original. Uh because a lot of those we had moved from certain parts from what was the elementary, middle, high school now to condense them to the part where you you will see um the impact of certain areas, academics, cell phone use, etc. that now has direct relation to elementary bill and high school. What makes it even more uh efficient now for our parents that have children in multiple levels that are going to be looking at one uh specific handbook. Uh there is specific changes that have been updated as I mentioned cell phone uh was one I know Mr. Wilson we that was brought up last school year. So now when we take a look

105at how specific expectations are handled in uh our buildings now they're in one concise area. Uh so when we move forward to 2627 uh when we look at the revisions to the handbook uh the revisions would be minor. uh we do have references that are in the handbook where we identified policy that are specifically related to uh specific areas that are currently within the student handbook. Uh so it's it gives us the opportunity and parents that if they have a concern or there's a uh a certain area that has a policy reference then they're able to go to the board docs and look specifically at that policy. Does anybody have any questions? I have one one quick one. So, um there's a a line in there, um that says, "Students who come to school in

106a private vehicle may be marked tardy/ unexcused if they are late due to mechanical problems, road conditions, or delays uh due to construction andor accidents. Um I can see how that possibly could create some confusion for a parent if they if their child was marked unexcu, you know, because it's May, so there there seems to be discretion there. Um, and I wouldn't as a parent necessarily know well under what circumstances like um, so I think we may want to try to clear that up just because I I think leaving it open like that is is we we should decide what what are the circumstances and and maybe more clearly define it because a lot of a lot of the tardiness is very clearly defined. Uh, but that that particular piece is usually somebody's late every

107day because they go through the same Well, Right. Right. They're like, "Oh, sorry. I'm late again." I mean, yeah. And multiple tardies are are are certainly a different thing from from wine. Well, they use the same excuse day after day after day after day. Certainly. Certainly. But there's also some serious consequence if you're on a team mispractice because you're late and you can't go to games and then you have a game the next day, you can't play. Well, yeah. And I think that for any party excuse, I think the parent is needs to be behind it. Um I I don't I think you know if if a child is late because of uh because of any reason whether it's illness or or any other reason they need to have the parent saying yes this happened.

108Now could a parent say say something wasn't really the case? Sure that could happen but but I think that adds a level of of accountability hopefully at least for a lot of students. Um, so I for me it's just the the lack of clarity there I think could be could be frustrating maybe for some parents uh that it's May. I also have a couple of things if you don't mind. Yes. Go ahead. Um I know we have a bathroom policy that we'll be considering. So I'm I'm assuming that that can be added in pretty quickly, you know, if it passes through the board, which I can't imagine it wouldn't. And as far as athletics um information, there's a lot of great stuff here, but it reminds me um of when we have an issue in

109a sport or someone gets in trouble and maybe doesn't have an idea of that contract that they signed initially in the beginning of the season that allows them, you know, certain um consequences to be listed. Bless you. Um I don't see that in the handbook and I'm wondering if maybe it's just in another section if maybe we can bring it forward to show exactly you know A B and C is acceptable you know C D or D E and F it is not um so that in the past we've had issues with you know abusing drugs alcohol tobacco whatever it might be Um, and there were questions about the consequences. We changed some of those policies. I just feel like it would be nice to have that right in this area, unless I'm missing it.

110So, please show me if maybe I'm not seeing I just think it's best to have it all in one place. Okay. Well, I'll have to take my thought. I I'll specifically have to take a look at that. And you do bring up a a question that I think I can highlight right now regarding regarding policy. Yeah. Um because I know the board at times will be approving specific policies. I know there may be some policies that are going to be on this next cycle. Yes. That may not be approved right until June, which would be the second reading. Um and at this point, we're looking at the student handbook to be approved in May at at that point. Uh but I think we can uh speak to some minor revisions especially regarding policy uh that

111may be in this next cycle that we can add to the handbook once those policies are approved. Sure. Through through the second reading. Sure. At least to have it by the beginning of the year right when everybody's starting. Thank you. Those are the only two things that I found. That was a lot of reading in there. the the extracurricular contract is actually an appendix because it's a document that's signed by um the students. So, okay, go to the table of contents, which is typically where we send folks because they're quick links versus trying to flow [Music] through x number of pages of the handbook to find it. Um, I'm looking and I'm just not seeing it. Dr. Bryson, is there is there a page that I need to look at? On mine, it would be

112116. Which tab would that make it a quick jump for a parent? 16. I just don't see it. Yeah, the participants on page 91 of the district student handbook clean version. Are you looking at the I am looking at the Okay, so xed out. Right. There are Yeah, there aren't 116 in the clean version. So it look at the uh looking at the draft. Okay. So appendix C extracurricular contract. Got it. So if I'm a parent looking at that table of context, is that easy to find? Yes. In the table of contents, it is it is alphabetized. So look, I believe it's on like the third page or so of it. Yeah. Extracurricular contract is under E. So could we have a double tab athletics extracurricular? Uh so that that might be up there closer

113to where it you're expecting to see it under athletics. Sure. We've just we've just had so many inquiries about that extracurricular policy and we've made those changes uh to accommodate. I think it would just be nice to have it. It's an easy fix to add another link above. Okay. Because I see it all together. Athletic awards, athletic teams. I think I think we could e we we could do another link that might work. It also might work to just say extracurricular if if someone was searching because there's a lot that can go under extracurricular. not necessarily all athletics. Yeah. So, what whatever makes more sense, either another link or or a slash there, but then include athletics in the um in that link title, I would say. And I love that it's all combined. I

114think that's going to be so easy. Yeah, it was quite the labor of love, I think, that they did. And a lot of information there. Thank you. I'm sure it was a lot of hard work. Thank you. Anybody else have any questions? All righty. So, that was just public. um we'll be re-evaluating it in May. Uh that brings us to 8.03 which is the approved graduation date for the class of 2025 which is as Mr. Caleb Bro said May 30th and that's also for information. 8.04 is Keystone testing schedule for spring 2025. Again for your information 8.05 05 are the additional field trips for the 2024 2025 school year. Dr. Reppert. Thank you, Mrs. Hankle. Uh we do have one addition. Um this has been something that our uh teachers at Southern Elementary in the

115autistic support program was looking for an opportunity for for their students that would uh be most fitting. and the curious little playhouse was an opportunity that uh was presented and uh they did a little little vetting of the program and felt that this would be a great opportunity for their students to participate in before the end of the school year. Excellent. Going to go ahead and move to approve the addition to the field trip list for the 2024 2025 school year. May I have a second, please? Second. And any questions? It looks exciting. Sounds like an awesome opportunity, doesn't it? Wish I had a little win in elementary school. I'll go. Any nays or abstensions? All right, that motion carries. That brings us to 8.6 8.06 revisions to the educator induction plan for the school

116year 2024 2025 through the 2029 2030 school years. Um Dr. Robert, thank you. Mr. uh for the school board back in the fall uh you had approved our induction program uh for that time frame uh there had been some uh legal changes regarding uh some guidelines related to one of the regulations. So I would like to have Dr. Hughes come up and kind of speak uh specifically to what those changes were and then how we're making the recommendation to make the change to our induction plan for reapproval that we could submit to uh PTE. Dr. Hughes. Thank you. So, one of the things that um was identified is that Pennsylvania Department of Education changed the requirements for the CRSSE. They renamed this area and came up with different competencies. They changed them slightly in the

117regulations. So we were looking at our induction plan to make it in alignment with the requirements from Pennsylvania Department of Education. Their updated um area that we must comply with is called common ground. So that would be the first thing of renaming that area to common ground. And then what we did is we looked at the requirements and we looked at the presentations that we've given now and in the past and we identified that the bowling presentation um would fulfill that and also sticks in alignment with what we're trying to do with really helping our students um across all grade levels be um respectful to one another. So, we looked at taking and moving that bulling um presentation to all three years of our new teacher program. So, we would be replacing the ones that

118we had before. This still fits in with the requirements of Pennsylvania Department of Education in the common ground requirements, but allows us to focus in on the bullying, which is an area concern that we want to continue the work on. Thank you, Dr. Use. All right. I'm going to go ahead and move to approve the revisions to the educator induction plan for the school year 2024 2025 through 2029 2030. May I have a second? Second. And then let's go ahead and start conversation. Um Dr. Hughes and Dr. Rupert were very generous with the way that they talked about this with the Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Department of Education. I will be less generous. Um, so basically this whole thing was a lawsuit uh brought to us by the Thomas Moore Society against the Pennsylvania Department of Education

119and uh PTE settled and was forced to rescend these guidelines. I will leave it to your interpretation what you might think my opinion of these guidelines were. Um, but I'm going to go ahead and read to you what this case is because it's really important both to understand the wrongs that we're trying to write right now and whether or not what we're considering as a substitute is a good idea. And so, um, as part of a November 13th, 2024 settlement agreement secured by the Thomas Moore Society, attorneys in a lawsuit filed on behalf of the Pennsylvania School Districts, educators, and families against the PDE, that's Pennsylvania Department of Education, the state's education department has agreed to resend its, and we keep saying CRSE, but I want to spell that out for you what that is,

120culturally relevant and sustaining education program framework. work guidelines. You can see why they lost the lawsuit or CRSSE. Under the terms of the agreement, all public schools, school districts, charter schools, and other school entities across the state will no longer be required to implement or comply with the Pennsylvania Department of Education's previously issued CRSE guidelines. First issued in November 2022, Pennsylvania CR CSE guidelines sought to mandate that educators affirm and impose on their students highly ideological beliefs about contentious social and political issues. That sounds familiar, doesn't it? This require This required educators throughout Pennsylvania to make acknowledgements of the biases that exist in the education system. Microaggressions, we heard about those earlier today. and unconscious biases among other ideological tinted points. Literal examples of ideological standards in the CRSE guidelines that were mandated to educators

121were, and I'm going to read these word for word, disrupt harmful institutional practices, policies, and norms by advocating and engaging in efforts to rewrite policies, change practices, and raise awareness. Design learning experiences and spaces for learners to identify and question economic, political, and social power struggles and structures in the school, community, nation, and world. The plaintiff, the Thomas Moore Society special counsel, reacted and said, quote, "We are incredibly pleased with a se settlement agreement which forces the Pennsylvania Department of Education to resend the state's culturally relevant and sustaining education guidelines, securing an important victory for Pennsylvania parents, students, and teachers. Our agreement is a triumph against the department's blatantly ideological and illegal attempt to inject woke activism into school curricula across Pennsylvania, which demanded educators affirm their belief in these ideological tenants and then impose

122the same upon their students. And so that is what we're dealing with right now. I want to also go ahead and clear the air. Our school district wasn't doing anything wrong when it came to doing what the law was saying. We were mandated. We had no choice. But the point is we have a choice now. The mandate has been rescended, but you can still do this if you want. And so it took a board member to point out that this case had been won by the Thomas Moore Society and that we don't have to do it any longer. And that just shows you and that that director was um Miss Samantha Hall. That just shows you that what we have to do here. I mean, it's it's kind of crazy. It's not like the Pennsylvania

123Department of Education gives us an update saying that thing that we told you to do. Yeah, we lost. You don't have to do that anymore. We have to be on our toes to know what flexibility we have and what we we have freedom to choose. And so, thank you, Miss um director, Miss Samantha Hall, for that. And also, thank you for our district. The second that we said that, you know, we might want to go in a certain situation and give us something that we can look at, it it took some time, but I mean, these frameworks do. And you know, this is the first time we have the ability to to write this wrong. So, I'm going to go ahead and open up the floor to everybody else. Any questions you have, I surely

124won't be able to answer them, but perhaps somebody else can. So, it it sounds like CRS is a different acronym for CRT. If I were hedging, I would say some people say, but I'm not in a hedging mood. Yes. Yes, that is CRT, Bill. Thank you for pointing that out. So um clearly that's not something that uh this board would want to be implemented upon our students or our teachers. So what um what assure do we have that whatever PTE has now rescended on that we have adequately removed it from our processes. So that was one of the questions the constituent asked me and I is it okay if I ask you to come back up to the podium Dr. Hughes and just so everybody again understands this was not Dr. Hughes she did not

125do this was mandated we did not have a choice. Okay. Um one of the questions I had asked you on the phone was a constituent asked me will this just be a symbolic move and how can they be assured that we really are truly getting rid of this nonsense? So one of the things that we looked at whenever we um had the the the mandate came down, we always want to look for what are we doing in the best interest for our students. And so one of the things that we looked at was um in the third year we had the bullying policy and for all of our elementary teachers that's where we started with that um piece that would fulfill the competencies and a lot of those competencies went back to um ensuring that

126students feel safe in the environment, ensuring that students feel that they are a part of the community. Um, so we looked at those pieces and we looked one of the things with this um the presentation that they do through the the bullying. It's through the attorney general's office that we first had that brought in. And they looked at really helping our teachers to understand what is bullying, what does it look like in the classroom, what does it look like in other areas, and then what do we do to prevent that, like be preemptive to this to stop that from happening. So a lot of those pieces as we were going through we were looking at the competencies that we're requiring and we were identifying it doesn't matter if a student is of a lower income

127that's an area that sometimes you know male female you know interaction. So we looked at all of those different pieces and looked at our community and said what can we do to help this? From the very beginning, we have been having conversations about how do we decrease the bullying and the pieces that are going on. So, that was an area that we really wanted to focus in on. And it did check some of those boxes that we were required to do. And I'm seeing that in year one, you guys are proposing to take out the entire class on bias 101. I think that's a spectacular move. And then on year two, if you look, everybody every board director has a copy of this. It's um advancing as culturally responsive educators. I can't tell you how

128happy I am that you're scrapping that. And then uh does anybody else have any other questions? Um I just have a question about just the statement about common ground that we have to comply with it because um in in everything that I've read it said that it's encouraged but not required. So I'm I'm just trying to understand what what we have to comply with. So I will tell you from PTE's viewpoint and then I'll let Dr. Reppert talk from the lawyers viewpoint. So when I called actually Pennsylvania Department of Education and they said that while it was rescended for the um the culturally relevant sustaining education was rescended that the um there were still common ground is still an expectation that districts put that in place. So they're still having a requirement in that. So

129then I went to Dr. repert who called our um legal advisor so that we could get more um feedback from a legal standpoint as to what that means. Thank you Dr. Hughes and Mrs. Hall. I think where we got the guidance was that the guidelines according to Thomas Moore case we were no longer required PD we were no longer required to utilize or follow but the regulations were something the regulation was the part that we still had to address. So the common ground does fall underneath that but it gives us as Mrs. Hankle indicated the districts now have the flexibility to determine under the regulation as to what we would specifically focus on. And as a district, we determined that the bullying component through our teacher induction year 1, year two, and year three cast

130such a large umbrella that when we take a look at what do we do to support our students from the teacher perspective in the classroom, on the playground, uh things that they might hear uh that that are occurring, you know, in in the hallway, then we're equipping them with the skills to help address those as opposed to looking at you know uh specific groups of as you know we're looking at bias or the culturally relevant sustaining education which was in year two. It now gives us the ability to focus specifically on uh that bullying as a piece. And we do have a board policy on bullying and cyber bullying that is shared by board policy every year does get reviewed with our all staff members at the beginning of the school year. Uh but that's

131for our staff members that have been with us. you know, they get that year after year. But now we're focusing in on our new teachers, year one, year two, year three, specifically on uh strategies to, you know, help make our students feel safe in the classroom. So, could you differentiate for me between the guideline and the regulation? Well, specifically the guidelines, as Mrs. Hankle had initially spoke about, though I believe there were eight guidelines or or so. Well, there's a number of guidelines that were specifically in there that we were required at one point prior to uh to make sure that we had implemented within our teacher induction plan. Those guidelines now are no longer required for us to util focus on whereas now we have the flexibility to determine what we want to include

132within our induction program. What were those eight guidelines to have? I do not I do not have those specifically. I don't have the uh I don't have that in front of me. I can look, you know, specifically what those guidelines were in the in the regulation that provided that as an area focus. So the the part where I'm struggling is not with the bullying piece of it at all. My my issue is that it looks to me like PTE took CRS and put a new name on it and the changes are very slate. And so while we're not opting to do any of these things, the thing that is making me nervous is that we feel that we have a requirement that we have to follow some of them. So to the point that um

133was made earlier um with the Okay, so I just want to read the difference between these two things. Okay, so CRSE the competency was to identify, deepen understanding of and take steps to address bias in the system. Now I know this is not what we're doing, but I'm just trying to sort of illustrate my point. So the competency was disrupt harmful institutional practices, policies, and norms by advocating and engaging in efforts to rewrite policies, change practices, and raise awareness. I don't really understand what this has to do with teacher induction, but listen to what the rewrite is for the common ground. Identify institutional practices, policies, and norms that may be harmful by advocating and engaging in efforts to rewrite policies, change practices, and raise awareness. They change, disrupt, harmful to identify. I mean, it's the

134same thing. And I don't understand how when the lawsuit was about them not having the authority to be able to do this, how we could say that we are required to do it when the lawsuit said that it wasn't. So, this is where I'm struggling. It's not on the bullying piece of it. It's trying to understand um what the difference of the guidelines and the regulations are because honestly, it's all circular. I feel like all those terms can be um interchanged with each other. So, I don't know if anybody else has any other um thoughts on that, but that that is where I'm struggling. I I do I mirror that and that's that's what I would call a symbolic win, but not not real. Well, the question is I guess where So, we're not obligated

135to follow either of those, right? Either either the earlier one or the later one. So, the question I guess is I see two things. So, in the program outline, I see two things that were removed. uh the bias 101 and the advancing as culturally responsive educators. I guess is are we saying that that the the dis the disrupting and now identifying was that part of those was that that that was where those were found? Um would you would you say that? So, I guess when it comes to all of the all of the material that we're using uh to to to implement this, how much of that is developed in-house and how much of it is developed externally? Um, the bullying? Well, all of it. All of it. All of them were through the attorney

136general's office. Most of it's felt through the attorney general's office. Are you you referencing the whole induction plan or just that? just the bullying for now. Well, I mean I mean the pieces 101 the pieces we took out, the pieces that are staying in. Um I I suppose there are some that probably are not that interesting like you know food services and lunch. It's probably not in that one. Um but but how I I guess the question I I think the concern is some of the things that are obvious in this summary have been crossed through. So the the three courses, one for each year, those were the ones that specifically went back to that regulation. So the bias 101, the culturally relevant, and then the bullying. Okay. So those were the actually came out

137of common that that came out of what they had before CRSE. Yep. That they're now calling common ground. Those were the three pieces. Do we develop the the bullying piece is developed by the attorney general? Yes. Uh, and is that something we are obligated to take as given? No. Are we taking it as given or are we We have because it was it's been very well received. Okay. By our teachers. Could we see that whatever that presentation is? Yeah, absolutely. So again, my just for clarity sake, there are so many things that as a board we have to look at. We have to look at laws. We have to look at codes. we have to look at regulations and it's often times not easy to decipher kind of where they are. And so the reason

138why I'm taking issue with this is because the the way that I mean I I will read to you what's on PTE and you can see how it contradicts each other. So on the first footnote they have common ground refers to the department's term that encompasses the state board required culturally relevant and sustaining education competencies and standards defined in the school code. Right? So they're saying okay so it basically refers to that common ground refers to CRSSE and then the second thing that it says and this is where there is contradiction school entities have no legal obligation to implement or comply with the CRSE program framework guidelines although induction and professional education plans must continue to comply with applicable regulations concerning CRSSE they are the same. They are the same. So, it doesn't make any

139sense to me that this lawsuit came, they rescended it, but essentially in their own website, they're saying, "Well, you're not legally obligated to do it, but you have to follow the regulation." Well, what is the regulation? Um, so I I'm just concerned that um I don't know what is in that attorney general. Um when you look at the definitions under um the when you look at the definitions of how they define the different aspects of the you know, different things related to the induction program. This is the definition for CRSSE. Education that ensures equity for all students and seeks to eliminate systemic, institutional, racial, and cultural barriers that inhibit the success of all students in this commonwealth, particularly those who have been historically underrepresented. Culturally relevant and sustaining education encompasses skills for educators, including but

140not limited to approaches to mental wellness, trauma-informed approaches to instruction, technological and virtual engagement, cultural awareness, and emerging factors that inhibited equitable access for all students in this commonwealth. So, you can see how I'm confused by they're they're saying, well, we're not doing this, but really the other thing that we are doing, it is really the same as what it is. And so they're saying you don't have to follow the guidelines, but really the guidelines are exactly the same thing as what the regulation says. So I I'm just it it concerns me and I just want to make sure I understand what's in the attorney general presentation. Yeah. And if you specifically look and I I appreciate all all the feedback, the bias and the culturally responsive educators has been completely removed has been completely

141removed. um the bullying and harassment with how others speak up uh for educators has now not only was in year three is in year two and year one. Um if the board uh is you know would like a copy of that presentation we can uh get a copy of that presentation that was uh facilitated with with teachers uh because when we look at the bullying and harassment like I mentioned before the policy that were required by school board is that that is presented and shared at the beginning of the year with all teachers but for our new teachers that is the area that we're honing in on not honing in on bias not honing in on marginalized groups, uh, culturally responses, sustaining education. Those had been completely eliminated, uh, which were at one point in

142our plan. But Mrs. All once again, I as Mr. Nichl said, thank you for bringing that to our attention. uh because we wanted to make sure that we had those items removed so that when we're looking at our teacher induction, we're focusing in on an area that we know we need to focus on the bullying and the harassment. not only with those two specific policies but also if you look at Title 9 bullying and harassment and other forms of harassment um is also you know focused in as as an area that you know we need to do continue to do better but the way we do better is that educating our teachers you know and our par profofessionals that they they know what specifically you know to look for and what we could do to

143address it. Yeah, I appreciate that and I only want to be able to see it just because the information that they have is so circular. Um, so that would be great. I would really appreciate that. Thank you so much. And yes, thank you. So, if I can, I I assume that your conversation with the solicitor confirmed that although maybe it appears circular, it's not that can be removed or Well, that's where when I when I spoke with Mr. Litz he indicated that we have the flexibility to do what we want with that with the teacher education program and I had shared you know where our focus was going to be which did not include the bias which did not include the culturally relevant sustaining education. Do you do you think that some of the confusion

144might come from even though we are making this unique to our district they're still going to call it what they call it right? I mean, is that part of where the the disconnect is, do you think? Because not every district is going to do it the way that we're doing it. They still call the things what they call it, but we're removing those portions of it. Um, does anybody see in what's proposed things that you would like to have because we can propose amendment? So, let me just go ahead and say first of all, question to Dr. Hughes. When would you guys need this to be able to start doing teacher onboarding for the new year? So for when we come back to school, we would be doing the um new teacher meetings in August.

145Okay. So it would be before the August meeting. Okay. So we we could we could table this until May. We could table it. We could pass it with the understanding that we're going to come back. I I will say what gives me pause about not tableabling it, but I'm open to what other people want to do. I don't want another day of this hot garbage, not another day. And I'm okay with going ahead and passing better to then next month make best. I'm okay with that. But I don't like the idea of Jen Hankle had the ability to get rid of CRT today and didn't. So I guess that's the question is if we if we pass what's here which does seem better than what we've had but there are concerns where directors want to

146look at some things and possibly make additional changes. We could make additional changes in May. We could bring this back up and for additional changes is that and I think the other thing would be um we're not tied to the attorney general presentation. So, we could always do that with like our admin group where we create we've done that before for some of these presentations where we create our own bullying um presentation based upon the pieces that we're trying to ensure that our students are getting those pieces that they need. So we could we could give direction on that even without passing a further amendment because this is are we just are we basically passing the outline and the presentations are still being developed. Yeah, that was a question. Yeah. So so I I mean

147I guess when I look at the outline I don't see anything with those two taken out. I don't see anything objectionable in the outline. I have something. Um, Miss Hall, when you were reading the change of the that it was just that symbolic change, was that still coming from the thing that I just want to make sure I understood what you were reading. Is that something that is is coming out or still is in the framework? It's in the It's in the common. So, I read the framework and the competencies from CRSE and then I had a comparison with common ground. And so, it's what was and what is. Mhm. and we don't have the flexibility to take that out. Um, we do. So, my interpretation of that is you can pick from your you're

148you can pick from that list that's provided in that what you're reading. Um, and that's the interpretation. It's not you need to do every all things. Mhm. Um so by the fact that they're selecting we're selecting bullying which is one of those items within those guidelines we are meeting that meeting that criteria so to speak. Thank you for that Dr. Yeah. And I think this the second piece to that is you're exactly right. We still have we still have the ability to manipulate adjust the training for our need within those areas. So it's not we're agreeing upon every by passing this we're not we're not approving the use of the attorney general's presentation if that turns out to be something exactly and it needs the because it says attorney general or I was just going

149to point that out. Yeah. So so is this something that's used throughout the year or is it only used at that initial orientation? So this is new teacher induction. So it's a combination of both. We start out year one beginning of the year and they have additional training beyond others and then they have follow-up meetings and trainings throughout that first year which then get reduced year two reduced year three. So let me let me re ask the question. Um if a stu if a teacher is onboarded midy year is this process used midy year or is it only used from the beginning of the school year? So they would we would still have them potentially if they're a full-time employee versus a long-term sub that it makes a difference but we don't start it with

150that person midyear. They might come to the first year teacher meeting, but they'd still have to participate in that beginning section the following year to come. Okay? So, they're required to do the whole. So, pass or not pass, pass or table tonight, its implication isn't felt until August either way. So, so in that having the opportunity to see the boiling component, which at face value I would say I'm 100% for, but still being able to see that boiling component and and you know understand its totality in light of the other things that are being removed. I would be in favor of tableabling it if it has no implication until August. If it had implications immediately that would be different. Well, the implication would be that we have a document that our district says that we

151require today. Like still if if let me bring back again if we wanted to make further changes to this in May, we could. Absolutely. Yes. and and and what I would say specific to that if there's any changes on our part once it gets approved by the board we would then resubmit this to PTE to replace the previous one that we currently have um on file with with PTE. Uh so we do table and get some additional feedback we can make those changes because this will really just focus on as Dr. You said what we will start next school year with not only for our year one teachers, but we also start next school year with our year two teachers and then we also start with year three. So, you know, we do have time,

152you know, if we're looking at specifically how or what that bullying, harassment, you know, if we're going to use the attorney general or if it's something that we develop administratively, which we have done in the past. Um it does give us the uh we still have time to do so. But currently what we have, you know, approved by PTE was what was approved by the board this past October, which was the plan that included uh those other two components in year one and year two. I guess my my view would be the only reason to delay making a positive change would be if it cuts you off from making further positive changes. And it sounds like that it wouldn't. We could we could we could again amend if we looked through this and said, "Oh,

153you know what? This thing uh I didn't realize what this what this um acronym stood for and actually I that's something I don't like." Uh we could come back in May and and make those further changes. So, I think a positive change is a positive change unless, you know, unless there's anything about this that seems to be moving in the wrong direction, I'm I'd be in favor of passing it tonight if if we can make further changes. Uh obviously, we don't want to stretch those out too long. M I'm ready. I'm not in favor of tableling. Yeah. Um could I ask um that on a future version of that for that bullying if we tie like a mapping? So could we tie it back to which competency it refers to because I'm looking at them

154and I can't immediately see like where the bullying would fall into place um with the competencies they have listed. So that would be helpful just so I can map it. Um, and I I had another question unrelated to that. Um, I don't I just wondered how since we're did year one and we're getting ready to go into year two. Um, what are our like how are we evaluating how this is doing with our teachers? Like what what are the measures of success for it? So, one of the things we have a survey at the end of the year that we give to all of our teachers that give like um recommendations as well as what things they've learned throughout the year. Um the other piece is our mentor teachers that are working with them. We

155have conversations with them as well to see what are areas of continued growth. Um just a reminder that all teachers now that are in our um as new teachers, they have a mentor year one and year two. So that really helps, you know, keeping that person that's helping to support them throughout the that time period. Who creates the survey? We have that created through our administrative staff. Any way we could get a copy of that? Mhm. Any other questions? Right. Is anyone making a move to table? Okay. Uh any nays or abstensions? Okay, that motion carries. Takes us. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. You guys did an incredible amount of work. Thank you so much. And thank you, Dr. Hughes. We're not mad at you. 8.07. It's speakers approved through the vetting

156process. Hang on one second. Let me get my paper. It is just information and you can see on the agenda those speakers. Um I don't have anything to add. Dr. Repert, do you have anything? No, Miss Nickel, I do not have anything to add. Okay. 8.08 Stage One curriculum maps as districtwide master maps. Dr. Hughes, you did it again. Have the floor. Okay. So we have quite a few maps this um month. So Kat, if you would bring bring up personal finance for us. So the um map that we wanted to highlight tonight is personal finance. Our business um department actually went through in the last couple of months they've been working on this to the new standards that PTE put out. One of the things that is really exciting about this is that this

157is an area that when we were doing our comprehensive plan, our community spoke very loud and clear about how they wanted to see more of this. So, we are looking at all types of activities to be able to bring in more and more personal finance. But this actual course is something that really helps our students to be able to see um really how to manage money and those pieces. Along with that, you'll be seeing things in the future also um continuing the look for what we're doing at our elementary and our middle school. So in addition to the personal finance, we also have this month advanced video production, algebra 2, algebra 2 honors, engineering, power, transportation technology, English 9, English 9 honors, foundations of construction, high school band, high school concert choir, high school orchestra,

158library media, kindergarten, first and second grade, Metal Tech 1, Middle School Concert Band, Middle School Orchestra, Music Theory, Robotics 1, and Woodtech 1. It has been a very, very busy couple of months. Um, I have to first of all tell our teachers, um, thank you from the bottom of my heart for the hard work that they are doing. Just to give you a little bit of a practice as to how this happens. So our teachers, whether they're working in small groups or even sometimes with just two people, they're creating this map based upon understanding by design. So we do a training with them on what is understanding by design. They create the maps, they go through and they put each unit in. So and our maps go from anywhere from one unit to sometimes up

159to 15 depending on the course. our music classes had quite a few units. Um, but then once they have that completed to their understanding and say this is solid for them, they give it to me. I go through every unit and look to make sure that everything is written in the understanding by design language. So is an understanding truly an understanding a knowledge piece, skill and um essential question. From there, we have conversations back and forth as to questions. Hey, do we want to do this? Is there something over here that we need to change? Then it gets sent back to them for a final review. It goes through an two audits to make sure that spelling and other things are all in complete agreement and then it comes to you for approval and then

160it once approved it gets published to our um our new the website with our um blueprint our curriculum blueprint. So, just to kind of give you a little bit of a a background as to our teachers are working extremely hard on this and it's really going to help us as we're moving into HRS level three, which is really that guaranteed viable curriculum and ensuring that the classes that our students have are really have the the best curriculum that we can get. If I could just add one other point, a big thank you to our administrative staff who really take uh a close look, you know, dotting all the eyes, crossing all the tees, you know, in in everything that's done. So, what you're seeing is a real solid uh uh real solid map that's coming

161forward. I like the uh personal finance. That's good. That's something I wish I'd learned way earlier in life. We we hear from constituents all the time, you know, what about the basics, you know, and it's learning how to do taxes. Like, it's phenomenal. I And I could just from your presentation and what you were telling us, just a little bit of behind the scenes. I think that you and the staff here at uh at our school district can definitely handle the name five things you did last week email. You would just five. You guys knock it out of the park. Thank you so much. Does anybody else have any other questions for Dr. Hughes? I just actually on the personal finance. So I'm looking there and I want to make sure I'm reading this right.

162So there's actually been a shift from personal finance being offered to just 11th and 12th grade. That is huge. Thank you so much for doing that because we definitely have heard feedback that at the younger grades kids until they get a job they just can't really relate to it. So thank you. Wonderful work going on in the high school and just listening to that feedback and being able to make that change. I'm so happy about that. I want to also give a shout out to like our junior achievement and the other community um events that we have like yes career seminar and all of those pieces. But we're continuing to look for how do we bring more of this into our elementary and middle school as well. Thank you. I'm excited that our uh students

163will learn what zerobased budgeting is. It's incredible. Anybody have any other questions for Dr. Dughes? All righty. Thank you, Dr. Hughes. The hard part's over. I'm going to go ahead and move to approve stage one curricular curriculum maps as districtwide master maps. May I have a second, please? Second. And uh do we have any other discussion? Any nays or abstensions? That motion carries. 8.09 agreement with JSON's for the Southern Middle School yearbook. Dr. Reppert. Thank you, Mr. Nel. uh for the board directors. This is for Southern Middle School um who has partnered with Justins. They actually in your board brief had taken a look at um some other companies that you know may have had some information you know have yearbooks out there uh based on the feedback and the vetting that the uh the

164middle school would like to continue to utilize just as the vendor for their yearbook for the next few years. Okay. We'll go ahead and move to approve an agreement with just for the Southern Middle School yearbook for a three-year period beginning in 2026. May I have a second, please? Second. Uh, any discussion? I love the price. 20 to $25 per book. That is a discount. Very reasonable. It's about half of what it is, if not more than what the high school is. It's also thinner. Anyone else? Any nays or abstensions? That motion carries. That brings me to 8.10. Other items of business. I have none, but Dr. Reppert, I hear you have one. Yes, Mrs. Hankle. Uh, thank you. I just wanted to uh just provide some information. We did receive some uh questions regarding

165our high school music and the my high school music field trip that was approved earlier in the year. Uh just for the uh the board community to know that there was originally scheduled a Broadway show for the high school uh music department to attend. Uh they had were only able to purchase up to 100 tickets uh which did not accommodate all the individuals or students that could go at that point. So, the music department did make a decision that they would not be going on the that field trip for this year and they'll be looking at other alternatives or options going into next school year. So, I just wanted to uh follow up with that based on a request. Yeah. Uh Dr. Reert, because I'm feeling spicy, I'm going to cross-examine you, but it's a

166friendly cross-examiner. Are you ready? Was it the board's fault that the New York bus trip fell through? Mr. Ankle, it was not the board's fault that the trip did not go through. Thank you so much, Dr. Refer. Back to you, President Ankle. Thank you. Moving to finance and budget. I'll turn it over to our treasurer, Mr. Wilson. Can I ask a question before we move on quickly? Sure. Sure. No. Is there anything that the board could have done to make that happen? It's sad that they can't go. Well, it's a very interesting question. If we can go back to 8.1, please. Thank you. Um, actually Mrs. Hankle and I had that conversation earlier in the year uh when we talked about the uh trip to New York and seeing the show about securing a large

167amount of tickets to see a show um which we know is a challenge uh depending on how soon or how late you wait in order to order those tickets. So, I don't believe there's anything the board could have done. Um, it just depends on the the the number of students that may have an interest in going. Uh so I do know that uh we'll be working with the music department as they're forecasting into next year uh to take a look at student interest uh take a look at numbers that they're looking at and then looking further into the future of securing you know the the amount of tickets that would be necessary. This is the first I'm hearing about it so that is a one day trip something else. Is there a way to split

168it into That's what I was going to say. Can you split it? Half go up one day and half go up another week or Well, I think what what you're going to look at transportation. Yep. Right. You know where you know you're looking at if if you're splitting that. Could it happen? Double the transportation. Yes. But then you have transportation cost. Now that transportation cost would be incurred upon the individuals that would be going on that trip. But then we also have chaperones. Yep. Uh that would be going, you know, staff chaperones. And we also take a look at their availability, you know, especially the staff that would be attending, you know, where currently we have three um staff at the high school that are in the music department. And now if you're splitting, would

169they be available for two separate weekends to go? Uh that that's not my decision. That would be something for their discussion. I guess we could look into that early earlier in the process next time if if if it's the tickets available splitting it because I don't think the transportation cost would actually be double because you wouldn't have as many buses. Yeah, you going twice but you wouldn't have as many buses each time. Well, still if you have a good point if you have if you can only get 100 tickets and say 200 kids want to go, you still have to shuttle the hundred and then do it again. Right. But but you each bus holds how many at once? Yeah. just ju I'm I'm just going to throw in it. The advisers are the ones

170that own this and they're going to plan it and do all that and like I hear but they'll get it done. And I think the other piece to it is they do separate trips as well where band might do one, orchestra might do one, chorus might do one. It becomes a bigger challenge when they want to combine all together and trying to do it. So, but I know they're on top of it and they're the ones that have to actually go and support and do and collect the money. So, I'd like them to really come up with those solutions and and follow through. So, appreciate it though. But, but you can understand there's probably some level of disappointment. Sure. Absolutely. Absolutely. All right. Can we move to item nine? I'll turn over to our treasure,

171Mr. Rolls. I I've already taken over, so sorry. All right. So, item 9.01, financial reports. Um, cafeteria report, tax collection report, the treasures report, and budget status reports for both general fund and cafeteria fund are there for your perusal. I'm going to do my monthly numbers. Um, balance at the beginning uh for the concentration account beginning of the month of March, we are at 5,28,4561. And at the end of the month, 5,143,222.65. Uh the investments account started the month at 36,222,810. And the balance at the end of the month was 32,520,916.16. So the rest of the information there is your is there for your review. 9.02 review of bills for payment. I'm going to make a motion to approve the bills for payment as presented. May I have a second? Second. Any questions or discussion?

172Hearing none. Uh any nays or abstensions? Hearing none. Motion passes. 9.03 exonerations refunds. We have none. Uh 9.04. I'm going to make a motion to approve the budget transfers as presented. May I have a second? Second. Uh, any discussion on this? Mostly these were some overages due to snow removal, um, some LIU service and athletic equipment overages. Um, any discussion on this? Any nays or extensions? Hearing none. Motion passes. 9.05. This will be a small one. The uh going to make a motion to approve. Let's see. How do you want me to do the motion here? Approve the resolution. I'm going to approve the resolution authorizing the 2025 2026 proposed final general fund budget PDE 2028 totaling 68,43,834 and direct the administration to advertise as required by law. May I have a second? Second. Uh

173is there any discussion on this? Any questions that we wanted? this for months. We've been discussing this for months. If you if if you're just now asking a question, this is your last ch. No, not your last chance. We will be give one more. We one more time. Excellent. So, uh any nays or abstensions? Hearing none. Motion passes. Thank you Sue and Trevor and the finance team for your work on this 9.06. 06. I am going to make a motion to consider approving or to award the food service management company contract to Compass Group USA, Inc. by and through its Chartwells division for the year 20 July 1st 2025 to June 30th 2026 as required by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. This is the second year of a potential five years. I have a second.

174Second. Any discussion on this? Um, from our conversations, it sounds like Chartwell is doing a really good job for us. Um, yeah, I think they started out and we knew there was going to be a struggle with staffing because we had a a struggle with staffing at the end of last year, but they're really they they're almost fully staffed and uh um you can definitely tell um I think they're definitely ramping up on on what they're doing. So, I met with them on Wednesday and they said they're down to one position that's not staffed. Oh, good. And uh we meet with the chef and I can't remember the lady's name, but Jon Jonathan. Huh? Jonathan. Yeah. But the the lady's name on the Oh, Crystal. Yes. Yes. And they're bringing great ideas of what they

175can improve and because the main issue we're hearing from students is lines too long. Line's too long. So, they're constantly coming up with ideas of how can we make it go faster? What can we do to make it go faster? And they seem to be really involved in that and it's it's good to hear their ideas. Do we have any student input? I pack my lunch every day, but I I can't say fiscally respons anything on the matter. Um, okay. But I don't ever really hear complaints from people. Um, I know there's that little kiosk that allows people to voice their complaints. So, if you have a complaint, I encourage you to use that. Well said. Or a positive comment. That's true. It's Yeah. Yeah. We have two students in the food committee um that

176come and they they just started talking to all their fellow students and getting some good feedback on that. Well, Mark doesn't complain. He buys every day, sometimes twice, right? Um, any other questions on this? Uh, any nazs or abstensions? Hearing none, motion passes. 9.07. This is for printing services. I'm going to make a motion to award select printing services to DRS Printing Services, Inc. and Wise Printing Company, Inc. effective June 1st, 2025 through May 31st, 2026 with an option for two one-year extensions. Combined total cost of this award is $9,16.50. May I have a second? Second. Uh, any discussion on this? I know we've we've we've got two printing services now, so that's a bit of a change, isn't it? Mhm. So we've been probably doing this request for proposal for I don't know 12

17714 years with the idea that um economies of scale if you put everything together. Um it is nice to have more than one company. Um what we also do with the companies that um win this part of it if we have individual like smaller jobs that aren't part of this then um we allow both of those companies to quote it. So it does help us then when we have other things that we need to print. So, it's been a good relationship and and we kind of the bid fell this year that or the the request for proposal that there were two major groupings. So, it was nice to award to two companies. Okay. Um any discussion? Any ns or abstensions? Hearing none. Motion passes. 9.08 addendum to the Chromebook bid. I'm going to make a

178motion to approve an addendum to the Chromebook bid and replacement plan for the 2025 2026 school year. May I have a second? Second. Okay. Uh discussion. I'm going to start this off. Back in February, we issued a u an RFP for 630 Chromebooks. U based on prior purchases. That's about $250,000ish expense. Um, in the intervening time, I've heard from some elementary parents with concerns about the amount of time, you know, students are using Chromebooks and just the weight of a first and second grader taking them to and from school. Uh, we didn't actually have any data at that point um as far as how much we were using the screen the the Chromebooks in elementary. So we spoke to um Mrs. Hankle and I spoke to Dr. Reppert, Dr. Hughes and we just started the

179conversation. Do we is you know this policy of a one:1 device ratio started with COVID. Is it still valid? Are we seeing the benefits of it? Are the kids getting enough use out of these? Um, so we actually sent them away with a little bit of assignment to uh talk to it and get us the analytics as far as how much time our students are spending on Chromebooks specifically broken down by grade. Um, you know, we do I'm going to jump down to that first. So, the data that we got back was kindergarten or kindergarten students are spending an average of 25 minutes a day on their Chromebooks. Um, get up to second grade, they're averaging 40, you know, 40 45 minutes a day on their Chromebooks. Now, that's not really a lot of time

180for the amount of money that we're putting into the Chromebook program. So there we also took a step back and said okay well how are these affecting the learning environment. There are concerns and you you can look online and see a lot of this you know how how technology is deployed can either help students learn or basically enable them to signal that they're learning without actually doing the learning process. um speech to text AI which I know is coming up um as far as a policy spell check you know correlation between screen time even with declining attention span especially in elementary students. Um we all know that too much screen time is bad and a lot of parents spend a lot of time and effort to you know protect their children from too much screen

181time and there are good reasons for that. you have nearsightedness. Um, British study came out in 2024. As of 2023, 38% of kids now have myopio, which is nearsightedness, from too much screen time. Uh, that is up significantly. It's accelerated after uh 2020, the COVID era. Um, we do know that excessive blue light exposure affects children's circadian rhythms. Um, and we know that the recommendation from the experts, you know, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychology, that was a acronym I didn't really know before, recommends no more than an hour per day for kindergarten students and two hours per day for first through 12th grade. So, um, jumping back into our analytics, we did see that elementary we're we're like 25 to 45 minutes up to middle school. Then middle school for some, you know,

182our analytics show that they're they're seventh and eighth grade are spending more than two hours every day on their Chromebooks. And interestingly enough, when they get to nth grade, it actually goes down to about an hour and a half to um 90 to 100 minutes. So, u the reason I'm bring all this up is one of the things that we discussed with Dr. Reert and Dr. accused was basically making our kindergarten through fourth grade not onetoone device grades starting next year. So that being the case then we would have to adjust the Chromebook bid to make sure that we are still replacing the Chromebooks that we need. And I know thank you Sue and I assume Greg was involved in figuring out actually u Mr. Hunt and Mr. Carrington put together a new plan. Okay,

183I won't thank you. I'll thank Trevor and Trevor and Mr. Hut. So that's adjusting this um adjusting this Chromebook bid is basically we want to signal to the community and to the teachers that our intention is to go to a 2:1 device ratio in kindergarten through fourth grade which um through our conversations with the administration indicate that will work that we will have enough Chromebooks for the uh 41 assessment testing necessary days of the school year. So then we would go back to pre-COVID era when they were all on a cart and the kids just used them in the classroom occasionally rather than taking them back and forth. I I would say that I've been said I was told not to mention the word cart. Oops. That's an implementation piece. I miss that mouth, but

184that's an Yeah. Mhm. So, I just remember seeing it. Rocket man, the rolling station. Yes. Yes. Thank you. So, what happens on FID days? Like, I mean, is that is it all going to be paperwork for up to How does the teacher teach during the day? We already have that the FID day packets, right? Yeah, they do, right? But aren't they joining online also? Or in elementary school? In elementary school, how it usually works is they get on a screen at like 9:30 or on there for 15 20 minutes and then it's no more, right? I'm just asking like I mean for families that don't have a computer or can't get online, how does that work? It would not be computer. It would not be I mean basically if this is the approach we go

185then that signing on to do a Zoom call at 9:30 in the morning would not be part of a FID day or remote learning day. I don't think we're not even called them fid days anymore, are we? It'll be uh virtual learning days, you know, because So they shouldn't be called that. What's that? So they shouldn't be called that then. They're not going to be virtual. Remote remote learning, virtual learning. It would provide the students then, you know, the students would then be receiving work like we anticipating a date that there's going to be the snow. as we've done, elementary students have their folders that they do take home, right? Uh which would be kind of precoid uh where you know there's work that would go home with the students in order to work, you

186know, to complete that work uh during that day uh inclement weather, whatever it may be. So kindergarten through fourth would not be checking in with the teacher. They would just be sent home with paperwork is what we're saying. So I'm just going to add to that. that it's a good transition. Uh utilizing the term FID locks us into the legislation that surrounds FID. So by utilizing the term remote or virtual, whatever you want to whatever we reference it moving forward, you can still do a remote virtual day. However, it in theory provides you flexibility to do paper pencil versus virtual because if you're doing um a fid day, you're locked in the legislation, which means you have to account for attendance that day. Okay? Versus if I get my assignment done, then that counts for

187I had attendance during that day. All right. So, I actually have a question on that. So the fid day was to give us the five days. So if we're doing a remote day, then does that does not limit you to five days, but we can still we can make that decision on our own. We don't need that to come from the legislature. Got it. Okay. So you probably have already picked up on we've begun to flush out that term FID to get to get away from that. Don't say f. Don't think that anyone else from this point on. Uh the See, I almost said it. You almost um the the reason we're avoiding that term is um by moving them around on four wheels, we tend to do door more damage and there's less responsibility

188to that equipment. meaning use it for a period and then hey it's somebody else's and all of a sudden I get the 25 and four of them aren't working and so which is okay because most of how we implement now and you can see the minutes I mean literally from K to fourth grade you're looking from 24 to 44 minutes or so somewhere in that neighborhood um there honestly We utilize them in small group anyway. So you might be utilizing six devices in this group over here. Throughout the day, kids are rotating through. Um so we're we're more than look likely looking at let's say 10 devices 12 devices per room and they stay there. That way we're not moving them. or not. And then when you have uh PSSA assessments where we would need

189them, we combine grade levels at the primary so that we start the assessments at third grade. We'll be okay. Threes and four we combine. We still have extras. Um or if we're doing diagnostic testing, which might be half hour, 40 minutes, again, we're just going to have to schedule where we combine them. So I think administratively we're okay with the plan. U might add to Greg's plan a little bit. We want to roll it in um just because of the age of the devices. It's not as easy as just yanking half the devices out of grades K for four next year and redeploying them. We're going to create other issues that way. Um so it's more of a a threeyear two to threeyear at the end of two to three years we'll be the 2

190to one devices at the the element. Yes I can add a little bit to that. So the original plan that we had if you remember we we've been phasing that in. So I know sometimes we get away from the presentation but that wasn't actually supposed to be phased in till the 2728 fully phased in till the 2728 school year. So we were still working on phasing that in. This new plan would not be 100% phased in until 2829 just based on changing changing gears a little bit. Um so we are also working and I won't say the C word but we are working on um getting getting um equipment that teachers might need in order to have like charging stations. So we make sure that the you know devices are charged and it's easy for

191the teacher to do that. So they make a carry right. Yes. Yes. So they're carrying racks or other. Does the rack have wheels? We have purchased for we have we are we've ordered a couple of those um so that we can deploy them and get feedback um before we would get those for um all the elementary schools and all the grade levels. Uh so I know um our our folks are working on that now. Um so as we work through it um just want to put that out. It's really what the plan does is it allows us to make sure uh that our devices are one to four years old. Um we do put fifth year devices in kindergarten um when we get to that point. Um because again they use it at that 24

192minutes. Um but they're good fifth year devices. The other thing with elementary I want to say out loud is they're still going to be one to fouryear devices. I know some of our longer term staff, there were times when, oh, we get the new stuff, it goes to the upper grade levels, and then when it gets older, we send it down to elementary. That is not what this plan is. It's still new devices at the elementary level. Instead of deploying them in first grade, which is the original plan, we will deploy the new devices in fourth grade and then push them down. Um, but they will still be one to four and under warranty. So we will still make sure there were they're good devices for all of our students. If I understand you correctly,

193you were talking about the financial implications. We were easing into that and this will still be you said 2028 is when we 20 28 29 we would be completely in. But the 2:1 implementation happens next year. Yes. But it won't be So we have this beautiful colorcoded plan. They did such a great job. So the colors won't be exactly on the lines. they're supposed to be until 28 29. So for instance, eventually those fifth year the good fifth year machines will be in kindergarten and they'll be purple for every year but because of COVID money and us phasing it in for the next two years they'll have two and threeear machines and they always were going to because we don't have any fifth fourth and fifth year machines because of how we bought them right

194originally. But the idea is to to really get it to a point where we make sure we have those good machines in each grade level and we have um for a budget standpoint, it's an even amount each year. So we don't have these huge like we need 300,000 this year, next year we need 50,000 like that that causes budget uncertainty. So um they did a great job with transitioning that. What's the estimated savings on this? Do we have that yet? Um we the the addendum that we are that is here to be approved is going from 630 down to 460 60. Okay. I knew we were Yeah. So it's about 100 down 170 machines. The one thing we don't know um with all the tariff talk and everything um so when the bids come back

195in based upon the dollars prior to all that probably um 50,000 but then when we buy those other that other equipment that doesn't start with the C um you know we're going to need some money for that. So we we were thinking like 35,000 you know this year but that's per that's going to be per year. So that's not a one-time thing. That would be going, you know, going forward, we would be reducing the number of devices each year compared to the current plan. Yeah. And and and the equipment that doesn't start with the C, uh that's a one that's a onetime purchase. So So that reduces the the savings this year, but we'll we'll realize more savings in in future years as we don't know the we don't know the the longevity of those

196things. It certainly, but we're not having to buy them every year, right? Last a while. they they should last a while and and again, you know, keep our fingers crossed. We do have a lot of um a lot of vendors that are interested in the bid, but there's a lot of uncertainty obviously surrounding right now. So, we'll see. So, we'll put that addendum out and we we pushed it to I think like coming in the 29th. So, we'll have a April. So, we'll send it out tomorrow then. All right. So um I mean one of the goals I think for for us educationally out of this you know little shift is giving us a little bit more pencil and paper that you know the tactile that was one of the things that Dr. Hughes was

197saying, you know, we really um want to do more of the tactile writing, handwriting, cursive. I mean, cursive alone, the benefits of motor skills and eye hand coordination in elementary students is, you know, would be very worthwhile to do more of. So, um any other discussion on this? I would just like to thank Dr. Reert and Dr. Hughes, when we brought the idea to them, they just jumped right on board. And it really does show the collaboration between the district and the board. And thanks to Joe, this was your brainchild. And I know that that this is your passion. And thank you for saving the district money and for providing better education for our students. You're welcome. Yeah. Thank you. Yes. Thank you, Dr. Reppert. I thank Dr. Hughes, but she snuck out before we

198got together. She's probably still listening. Yeah, this is reported. Dr. Hughes, can you please come to the podium again? You haven't been in my section yet. Okay. Um, any nays or abstensions to this? Hearing none. Motion passes. Thank you. 9.09. Other items of business? I have none. Back to you, President Hle. All right. Next, we have our personnel and policy committee report item 10. And I'll turn it over to uh Vice President Hall. Thank you, President Henle. Uh item 10.01 is the second reading of policy 8005.3, school security personnel use of force. Um tonight constitutes the second reading of this policy. It was published for public review after the March board meeting and upon passage of the um vote tonight, the policy is final, approved, and effective. So, I'd like to make a motion to

199approve policy number 805.3, school security personnel use of force. Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? Any nays or abstensions? Okay. Hearing none, the motion carries. Item 10.02, the appointing of Matthew Litzel as armed security. I would like to make a motion to approve appointing Matthew Litzel as armed security effective April 14th, 2025 upon completion of school resource officer training. Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? Any nays or abstensions? All right. Hearing none, the motion carries. Item 10.03, adjudication for student A. the board of education to consider approval of adjudication for student A. The board hereby permanently expels the student from the Southern New York County School District effective immediately, provided, however, that the student may maintain eligibility for graduation as set forth by a district chosen alternative education setting and the

200students individualized graduation plan and the student has met the following conditions. It shall be further noted that eligibility for graduation does not include participation in district sponsored graduation activities. Number one, while expelled and enrolled in an alternative education setting, the student must fulfill all expectations of the district chosen alternative education setting. For the safety of the student and others, participation in a district chosen alternative setting may require virtual participation as determined by district administration and the students chosen educational setting. Item number two, the student may seek an alternative education other than what the school district offers, but it shall be at the parents expense. Number three, while expelled, the student is prohibited from entering upon any school district property and attending any school activities unless authorized by a school administrator. I make a motion to

201approve adjudication for student A. Do I have a second? Second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion or questions? Any nays or abstensions? Hearing none, the motion carries. Moving on to item 10.04, administrative compensation plan. Um, just a quick note on this because I know when I was coming to board meetings before I was on the board, I didn't know what all these things meant, but in Pennsylvania, Act 93 is a law that governs how school districts handle compensation and benefits for school administrators, but it's not a collective bargaining law. The administrative compensation plan is effective July 1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2028 and shall supersede all other plans approved by this board. For the purposes of definition, the administrator shall include our building principles, our building assistant principles, our director of curriculum

202and instruction, our business manager, our director of special education, athletic director, director of operations, and our school safety and security coordinator. and if there would be um such a time that administrative positions um as determined by the board may create and designate as covered by this plan. And just for context, this represents 17 administrative positions in our district. So with that, I would like to make a motion to uh approve the administrative compensation plan for three years beginning July 1st, 2025. Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? Any nays or abstensions? All right. Hearing none, that motion carries. Um, moving on to 10.05. This is for information only. Um, the board um has received copies of policies for review. Um, we have a list of new and revised policies for consideration. The first reading

203of these policies will be at the May 15th, 2025 board meeting. Review of these policies will take place at the personnel and policy committee meeting on at 5:30 on May 6, 2025. And then item 10.06, other items of business. I have none. So I turn it back over to you, President Henle. Thank you. All right. Item 11, buildings and grounds. Mr. Hall. Thank you, President Hankle. Uh 11.01, 01 our water test report uh is there for our information until 11.02 our buildings and grounds report for March. Mr. Buffington uh just for your information uh the report uh we put on u a field inspection report where uh Mr. Keiny and I um raided the fields and things and I think you'll notice that um the work we're doing with seating and um top dressing fields,

204you know, is is underway and is working well. So, we'll we'll continue those efforts. Certainly a nice rainy spring helping us in that it is venture. Maybe not the sports, but the fields, right? Thank you. Moving on to 11.03 Sysuanok High School project financial report and timeline. So the financial report the slides up there just kind of report you know we're getting close to closing this this big project out. Remaining budget 875,000 735 just kind of point that out. Um and uh no change orders to report this month. Um Kat, if we can flip the to the second part shows uh the contingencies. Um the 7,000 $7,625 uh is for construction management help as they um continue to help close out the project, which is going um very well for the size of this this

205project. So um you know, we're we're getting really close. Um I think also had some good news to share as far as PennDOT is concerned. We do uh our existing front drive that's been here since the campus was uh created um we got news this week that um it will be permitted um with um no additional changes needed. So that's that's quite the dodge there that very thankful for. Okay, moving on to 11 uh.04, the proposed schedule for the feasibility study and any potential greatest needs uh building projects. Um this is there for information. Um some of this we discussed earlier. Um, so pretty um pretty light on that tonight, but um there's a lot of heavy lifting that's coming as we move into really digging into that uh greatest needs and what that implication

206is going to be for our district. Um moving on to 11.05 use of facilities. Um that is there also for our information. Moving on to 11.06 06 other items of business which I have none. All right. Turn it over to Mr. Hash for transportation health and safety. Thank you, President Henle. Uh 12.01 student transportation report for March 2025. Um is there for your information? 12.02US between Bethlehem Steel Reformed Church and Grace Church Shrewsbury. Um, I would like to make a motion to approve the following between Bethlehem Steels Reform Church and Grace Church of Shrewsbury. Do I have a second? Second. I have a second. Uh, any nays or abstensions? Any discussion? That motion carries. Other items of business? I have none. Back to you, President Angel. All right. Uh, Miss Doberman, athletics and extracurricular. Thank

207you. Item number 1301, the athletic report. Um, the Warriors are off to a strong start in the spring season. Participation numbers are up as we have nearly 400 student athletes participating in spring sports. Here are some highlights. Um, girls lacrosse team is off to a strong start. They currently are tied for first in the YIAA Division 1 at 7 to zero. and 70 I don't know how you say that but and ranked second in PIAA district 3. Boys lacrosse is currently sitting at three wins five losses on the season and is ranked 12th in PIAA district 3. Warrior girls softball is currently tied for first place in YAA Division 2 at 4-2 and is ranked 12th in PIAA District 3. Warrior baseball is currently second place in YIAA Division 2 at 5-1 and is ranked

208number six in PIAAA District 3. Warrior boys tennis is currently sitting in third place in the YIAA Division 2 and is ranked 15th in PIAA District 3. And track and field season is off and running, but weather conditions have impacted their schedules. This past weekend, the Warriors competed in the Herb Schmidt relays at York Suburban. The Warriors brought home several medals with the girls throwers, winning overall. League schedules are just starting, but Warrior Track and Field is off to a strong start. And item number 1302, I have no others items for business of business. So, back to you. Some good stuff there. Congratulations, Warriors. Item 14. Other business? Anyone? Item 15.01, legislative council. All right, so there's a lot to chew on here. Don't fall asleep on me. Uh, so in the few weeks since

209we last met, the Pennsylvania state senate convened and worked to highlight fixes to the career and technical education equipment grant funding formula. Senate Bill 315 locks in a formula as of June 1st, and it passed unanimously by the Senate Wednesday, April 2nd. So, it just ensures that um the school districts know their grant allocations prior to the start of the school year rather than getting reimbured at the end of the school year. Senate Bill 470 creates a firefighter training pilot program for high school students. Legislation will award three grants used to establish fire training programs for students in high school during the school year, which will result in students earning a firefighter one certification while they're in high school. It's pretty good stuff. Can you hear me, Mr. Hall? Senate Bill 65 will extend the

210stopping distance requirement from 10 to 15 feet before reaching the school bus when reds are flashing. That's a good one. And also the stop arm activated. So, the bill also established a tiered penalty system uh for a second offense. So, the bill will require the Department of Transportation to also include an educational document on the renewal of notice for driver's license. It's pretty good, too. And Senate Bill Nine, authored by Senator Kristen Phillips Hill, the Save Women's Sports Act. So, that will require public schools and higher education entities to be expressly designated by male, female, or co-ed, creating uh causes of action for harm suffered by designation. It's a good one. Uh, passed by the House, resolution 93 directs the joint state government commission to conduct a comprehensive study and issue a report on junior

211reserve officer training cores, better known as JOTC programs in schools in Pennsylvania. The study will develop information on overall health of JOTC programs in PA trends in enrollment and contributing factors to the health enrollment and availability of JOTC programs in schools across the Commonwealth. I really like that one too. Um, April is also distracted awareness uh for driving month and Pennsylvania will soon implement Paul Miller's law which prohibits a driver from using a handheld device while driving. That's a big one. So, of course, we all know things that can distract us while we're driving. Eat, not just a cell phone, right? Um, eating. Check your look in the mirror. Talking with friends in the car. Check my little belting out a great tune, talking on the cell phone, texting, reaching for stuff that dropped on

212the floorboard. Can't tell you how many times I've done that. I'm sure you can think of many other things. Looking at deer as you're going by. I can tempt you and keep your eyes off the road. So, the law aims to remind drivers of the dangers distracted driving uh causes and of course decreasing car crashes, fatalities, and injuries that no one wants. Uh, it's named after Paul Miller, who was tragically killed in a crash with a tractor trailer in 2010 in Monroe County when a distracted driver reached for their cell phone. So, enforcement of the law begins this summer, June 5th. For now, the first year, violations will be a warning. After that, in 2026, June 5th, the penalty will of course be a fine, points, court costs, and other fees. So, as summer is

213soon upon us, I wanted to include it in the legislative report because we want everyone to come back safe and sound next fall. Um, so just be safe out there. Also, if you've been to the capital in Harrisburg lately, you may have noticed over 4,720 small little blue flags planted in the gardens surrounding the Capitol building just last week. The flags represent each substantiated case of child abuse in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for just the last year. Very sad. There are also nearly 60 black flags which represent lives lost from child abuse. It makes me shaken just to think about that. So, April is also child abuse prevention month. I put that in here because of course we're all committed to preventing child abuse and one victim is too many. So if you see something,

214say something, submit an anonymous tip online, safe to say pa.org or call 844723-2729. So within seconds, someone can be notified and offer that child some assistance and and a a voice. And also on a lighter note, advocacy day is coming up for school directors to partner with PSBA on the hill. Tuesday, May 13th, superintendent, business managers, and school directors are invited to join PSBA for an 8:15 a.m. meet and greet at their office across the street from the Capitol building for a light breakfast and then head over to the Capitol at 9:00 a.m. to meet legislators. PSBA will schedule meetings and provide messaging resources surrounding priority principles. Every year we talk about the legislative platform principles and they are just as a refresher supporting effective child- centered public education, support standards of accountability and performance

215and student achievement and strengthen the work of school boards securing adequate funding for educational needs. And for school directors interested in attendance, all you need to do is register on your myba account using your access credentials. The state house will return to Harrisburg for session Tuesday, April 22nd, and the Senate reconvenes on Monday, May 5th. And if everybody's still awake, that concludes my report. Thank you. All right. Uh, York County School Technology Stubborn. Sorry. I'm just going to jump in here. It is 10:03, well past my bedtime. Feel free to head out. Thank you, Caleb. Yeah. Thank you. Have a good evening. You, too. Drive safe. Thank you. Don't be distracted. I won't. Mhm. Don't reach for your cell phone. I won't. Okay. Um for York Tech, they did um they went over the estimated

216enrollment numbers. Um a total of 492 students were accepted out of 1,150 applications. Um I apologize I don't have Southern York County because I forgot that paper. Um it ended up in a pile. Um but the estimated enrollment for next year is um 1748 students. Um graduation is set for May 22nd and all accepted students. There is an open house from on April 17th from 5 to 7:00 p.m. That's all I got. Thank you. Lu I have nothing. All right. York Cadams Tax Bureau. Southern York County School District Foundation. Okay. always the favorite subject. So, last Thursday, the scholarship selection committee matched senior applicants to a total of $159,846 worth of scholarships. How awesome is that? So, the SYCSD Foundation met just Tuesday this week to approve all those selections and now we are all

217very much looking forward to awarding those well-deserved recipients. Wednesday, May 14th at the scholarship awards ceremony is when that's going to happen. And invitations are going to go out to senior recipients very soon and we couldn't be more excited for them. Until then, we've got the online silent auction coming up in celebration of Give Local York. That's happening Monday, April 21st to Monday, April 28th. So, there's going to be communications coming out from the school. So, feel free to keep an eye out for that. There's going to be some wonderful summer items that are going to be up for bid. And of course, all proceeds benefit SYCSD scholarship and alumni programs. And it's not too late to donate items. So if anybody wants to call TIA and offer a hundred bucks or so, you know,

218you're more than welcome to do it. tia.walker atsycsd.org if you might have a donation. And thank you in advance. The foundation will also welcome special guests in appreciation of their scholarship donations Thursday, May 1st at the distingu distinguished leadership recognition dinner. And that's a great opportunity for foundation members, community leaders, and board members to show our appreciation to donors for giving SYCSD seniors a boost from high school to college with their generous giving. And also, the Suscoanak High School Alumni Association has selected Bethany Miller, 2014 graduate of Sescuhanak High School, to receive the 2025 Sesuhanak High School Distinguished Alumni Award. Bethany Miller is the sports director at WGAL News8 and we are excited to welcome Miss Miller back. She will speak at our commencement ceremony on May 30th and look very much forward to her

219inspiring message for the 2025 graduating class. And that concludes my report. Thank you. Thank you. Other items of business 15.06. All right. Uh secretary support the student activities report for March 2025 is attached for your information. Uh resignations and retirements we have uh four there um for your information. Other items of business 16.03 I have none. 17.01 Dr. Reppert. Thank you, President Hankle. Uh taking a look at the current enrollments of homeschool charter uh our digital academy. Currently homeschool we're looking at 218 students outside cyber 87. Uh we currently have two students enrolled in our southern county digital academy and in the Lincoln Edge Cyber Program currently 28 students within the district. All right. Thank you. Uh announcements by board president and superintendent. Uh there will be a personnel and policy committee meeting held on

220Tuesday, May 6th, 2025 at 5:30 uh immediately followed by buildings and grounds committee meeting in the Thomas R. Hensley District Administration Center. Uh the next regularly uh scheduled meeting of the board of education will be held on May 15th, 2025 in the Thomas R. Hensley District Administration Center beginning at 7 p.m. And I will also announce uh that there will be a brief executive session immediately following this meeting uh for um uh matter involving personally identifiable information. Um and that's all I have. Uh real quick big thank you to the school board members that had an opportunity to go read to our elementary school students. They love it. I think I can speak for everybody. You guys love it too, those that that are able to participate. Um, and the only thing I have left

221list left on my list, thanks to Caleb and Dr. Reppert, is a big thank you to the Giant Company uh this afternoon. They presented a check for $7,174.56 uh as a result of the Shrewsbury Giant store in connection with feeding school, the feeding school initiative. um and all of the donations that were made as you're checking out, earning points, all of that good stuff. So, big thank you to Giant. Uh we appreciate it and certainly our cafeterias will be able to utilize that and they're looking into cool ideas to promote promote um feeding school kids initiative. That's all I have. Thank you. All right. Item 18, new business. Anyone? I do. Yeah. Just keeping a promise. Um, we received a board email asking about possibly adding a secondary public comment and I just wanted to

222ask for clarification purposes. Uh, we used to have it in our agenda and we don't now and I just wanted to know where the board stands on that idea. So, I actually I responded to that email. Um, and my that uh public comment section I recall historically was rarely used. Um, and it didn't have a clear purpose. Um, our policy. So, one one possible reason that boards use that is for overflow. Um, because policy limits public comment to an hour. Um, we historically, I mean, we've extended that and I think that's a reasonable measure in the case of overflow, uh, is to extend it at the beginning rather than making people wait until the end of what's already going to be a long meeting. Yeah. With a that already had an hour or more of

223public comment. Uh, the other reason sometimes is to bring up items that are not on the board agenda. Um, I actually think that's that's even less good a reason because uh and I think there's actually a case to move the Sunshine Act or sorry to move the not Sunshine the public comment before the uh uh before agenda approval because the Sunshine Act does allow us to modify the agenda based on public comment. Now, we could always uh you know do do a motion to reconsider and go back to it um and and open it up again. Uh so I'm not broaching doing that doing that change moving moving it at least right in this moment but that's something to consider but again I think having it earlier in the meeting uh for those sorts of

224items is better um because if there was something and we wanted to have a motion to reconsider go back and add something to the agenda that um uh that would give us more opportunity to then address it during the meeting if that that were to come up. Um, so that's my my thought on it is it wasn't really used and and I I I don't see a clear purpose that we can't address with the first se segment of public comments. Yeah. My my thought was we haven't to date we haven't let anyone who doesn't want to speak have the opportunity if they qualify in the first round. So, yep. We we haven't even used it as an overflow. So, yeah. And we haven't implemented any restrictions of any sort ever. Mhm. Um I guess it

225would give someone the ability to um have a moment of rebuttal. Um but I would say in general that usually by the time we would get to that point there's no one here to have a rebuttal. We have a few dedicated. Um I said in general, not always, but in general. Um, but I I I wouldn't I wouldn't be against having it as a line item in the agenda. And if it were used or not used, it would seem to be inconsequential. Agreed. If I can clarify the the one thing I will say, we mentioned if we used to have it, but when we had it before, I did double check it did specifically say that it was for those that had signed up at the beginning and weren't able to speak. So overflow, it

226wasn't that you could later then sign up afterwards. It was really for to make sure that people that had signed up had the ability to speak. Right. and and and I have I don't think this is in policy, but I've been as just a a method of of of making sure that it's that it doesn't get out of hand. Um sign up before the meeting like uh I I think we've had people raise hands and I don't think that's a good way to handle things that raising hands in the middle of the meeting to to add to public comment. I think sign up it before the meeting is reasonable that you know we even I think online it says sign it before 4 but we still allow it like 2 minutes before the meeting. Uh

227so I think we're pretty accommodating on all of that. Um and I think that's I think what we do is reasonable. That's all I have. So if if someone wanted to bring it forward as a policy change, you could. But um I'm not going to. Uh, all right. Any other new business? All right. Uh, I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. So moved. Do I have a second? Second. All right. Any nays or abstensions? Hearing none. That motion carries. We are ajourned.