School Board Meeting - 5/16/24

001e e e all right I'm going to call to order this uh May 16th 2024 regular board meeting of the Board of Education please rise for the pledged uh Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all can we have roll call Elizabeth goberman here Mary Lee Hall here Hall here William Hall here Jeremy hash here Jennifer hle here Nathan hle here James holl here Joseph W here all right um going to announce uh just one meeting uh which is an executive session uh that occurred immediately before this meeting uh discussing uh matters of student discipline uh legal matter and uh personel matter um all right moving on to item

002two uh I'll entertain a motion to approve the May 16th 2024 board agenda so moved second Motion in a second any discussion um were we able to Bob were we able to move that agenda item yeah we we'll move it up once right after public comment okay yeah I I I don't know if that I don't know if constitutes to Chang the agenda but we'll go ahead and we'll go ahead and talk about it um we'd like to move uh agenda item uh 10.01 up uh just for courtesy to the um to our uh incoming uh uh High School principal uh so he doesn't have to wait as long all right um I guess uh we'll have a vote on that any any n abstentions to that Amendment to the agenda to move that item

003up all right that Amendment carries um and then um any n or abstentions to approving the agenda all right uh moving on to um approval of the minutes I'll entertain a motion to approve the uh minutes of the April 11th 2024 regular board meeting second motion second any discussion any n or abstentions that motion carries uh and then we have our student representative report Miss Dum so I'm going to be honest I did not write a report for the meeting today um as uh this senior's last day of school is tomorrow um and the last day of school for K through 11 is uh a week from now next Thursday uh I will say that I'm looking forward to getting to do the walkthr through the elementary schools in our caps and gowns um and

004I'll also mention prom was a big hit it was a lot of fun uh the post prom party was also a big hit from what I heard and um I'm looking forward from Queen and I'm looking forward to graduation so that's all I have you're not alone there all right moving on to uh five uh item five 5.01 uh retirees presented um I'll turn it over to Dr Bryson thank you president ankle we truly value and appreciate each member of the southern New York County School District family and at this time of year we wish to pay special recognition to District staff members who either have retired during the current school year or will be doing so at the conclusion uh of the 2023 2024 school year we have nine outstanding individuals from a number

005of varying positions throughout the district who'll be honored this evening we have noticed that especially those who have retired midyear uh are already entrenched and enjoying all aspects of their retirement and are unable to be with with us this evening but I can totally respect why that is uh since they're already enjoying their retirement but uh we'll make certain that they get their gift even if I have to deliver it to them personally somewhere on a beach I'm hoping um as a part of these special recognitions we have invited the respective building administrators to join us tonight as well to share some tidbits of information about these amazing folks uh that we may not already know first uh I'm going to turn it over the presentation to uh Dr Rob vanv from shrewbury elementary school

006followed by Dr Melissa Bell from middle school and Dr Kevin Mullen from the high school and last but not least Mr Randy Buffington from our operations um and quite honestly just uh before Dr Van Bor gets started uh I think tonight we be recognizing over 200 years of service to the southern York uh County Community School District and and specifically the Youth of our community uh in 200 years is an amazing amount of service to our community I have this on the end uh just to say this in recognition but uh instead of doing it the end I'll do it right now because our retirees who are here with us this evening you will be able to get up and get out of here uh after the recognition but I just want to say a

007a heartfelt thank you to all of you uh um you'll never know the impact that you've made uh not only on the students but the the staff and and the support that you've been uh a veteran at what you do and moving on and certainly uh we can all hold our heads High um and say that's what we aspire to do someday as well so thank you Dr Van Bor the floor is yours okay so out of all those years of service 73 years of service go to Lori biter Linda fodell and Missy Taylor at Shrewsberry Elementary School so I want to share a little background on each of them with you um because many of them started in the early 2000s with us um Lori biters her employment with the district started as a

008substitute secretary and clerk during the 20012 2002 school year and within several weeks Lori was recommended for the position of substitute instructional assistant a year and a half down the road after you know really recognition for outstanding connections uh she was recommended for a newly created instructional assistant position where she continued to grow within the Shrewsberry Elementary School family jumping down to the 2015 2016 school year Lori added to her experience as a personal care assistant bringing the same degree of dedication and expertise to this position as well laua spent a brief time sharing her support with friendship elementary school before returning back to Shrewsberry as an instructional assistant supporting our emotional support program when reflecting on Lor's exceptional qualities it's been shared and I quote Lori always went above and beyond and did so

009with sincerity and professionalism she maintains an extremely positive approach and the district has been very fortunate to have Lori as a part of our team now in retirement I know Lori is going to spent time with her grandkids I've heard she has five grandsons I'm pretty sure five so she's going to be pretty busy with that uh she is a self-proclaimed homebody so uh she will be spending a lot of time with her husband Kevin at home and she talked about doing some traveling as well so thank you uh to Lori for all her years of service uh to the district moving on to Linda fodell organized detailed thorough meticulous and comprehensive are really just a few of the wonderful Act attributes of Linda fodell after Linda's appointment as a substitute instructional assistant as well

010as a substitute secretary clerk back in the 20022 2003 school year it took the district no time to realize what an asset Linda represented and that led to her appointment as an instructional assistant in the learning sport classroom at Southern Elementary School shortly thereafter Linda received a transfer to a learning support instructional assistant role at Shrewsberry in 2010 Linda's course changed a little bit with her interest uh and her interest to transfer to the position of building clerk at Shrewsberry Elementary Linda excelled in this role transitioning to the uh title of administrative assistant 2 which led to her eventual appointment to the position of administrative assistant 1 in January of 20122 in direct support to Dr danosky myself and the rest of the team a true R veryy Elementary School Linda consistently brought a tremendous

011degree of professionalism and Stellar work ethic to every position and we express much appreciation for 20 plus years of dedicated service to the district now if I know Linda she loved her home projects and we often talked about different home projects especially in the summertime and I would share my opinions with her of what I thought and uh so I know in retirement she's going to keep working on those home projects um at home and uh we just saw her the other day she stopped back in it was still good to see her and finally uh Melissa Taylor better known as Missy Taylor uh our one of our dedicated third grade teachers it was 29 and a half years ago that Missy started her journey as a warrior and once on that path she never

012looked back 1992 was the year during which Missy started as a day-to-day substitute which promptly transitioned to a permanent position in the 1994 1995 school year year and she's been sharing her instructional expertise ever since Missy was on the Forefront of peer collaboration which has continued to this afternoon she is not stopping Missy let no grass grow under her feet she was always looking for ways to help students and colleagues especially in the areas of Technology Missy Taylor is devoted a professional lifetime to the betterment of each and every student academically socially emotionally and I personally and we as a district are better as the result of our years of dedicated service although Missy could not be with us this evening I want to share her message which speaks to her humility of spirit I'm

013so honored that the district would like to recognize me I'm touched and honored and really Missy the honor is ours well truly we wish you the best in retirement and we hope it's rewarding and fulfilling in her retirement believe in not she's already expressed wanting to come back and volunteer and read with students uh in different classrooms I'm also sure she will be spending a lot of time with her grandson and granddaughter so those are our three retirees at Shrewsberry Elementary thank you for all of your service Linda [Applause] for good evening at Southern Middle School we have one retirement Mary pedrick Mary began her employment with The District in August of 2008 at susqu hanak high school as a main office clerk in June of 2012 Mary transferred to Southern Middle School to the

014position of a 12-month office Clerk and then in July of 2017 to the position of administrative assistant 1 in December of this year Mary retired from Southern Middle School during her retirement she spends time with her beloved grandchildren in family Mary loves the beach and a good yard sale so those who've had the privilege of crossing paths with Mary know that Mary's Mary always was positive she smiled she welcomed everyone who came through the door and she was willing to help you with anything regardless of what you asked Mary's response was always absolutely don't worry we've got this we'll take care of everything and she would give a wave with her arm for her 15 plus years of service and for all that she represents to our Warrior family we really thank Mary for everything

015that she's done at Southern Middle School in susco hanok and we hope she continues to Joy enjoy her [Applause] retirement so the high school has four retirees um this year we have two that uh were able to join us this evening um so I'm going to start with Sharon um Sharon was appointed to the position as a personal instructional assistant in Friendship Elementary in 2007 uh she didn't just limit herself to the elementary school she has worked and progressed her way through middle school and high school for a second time in her life um and she has shared her um all her talents with all of her students um our support staff which include our personal care assistants uh and our par Educators um are the very spokes that keep our district as wheels turning

016smoothly and safely and successfully and Sharon is a much valued member of our support system I have seen firsthand in our US history class how Sharon supports and serves and promotes Independence encourages her students inspires them and she does it with great sensitivity and heart after over 17 years as a warrior staff member Sharon will truly be missed both at the high school and in the district by everyone in our building as well as the entire Southern family and as a whole we wish her her are her absolute best in [Music] [Applause] retirement go okay our second individual that's here is coach Steve WS um some of you may know him Mr WS um who is a Sanic High School social studies teachers others know him as coach WS but regardless Steve has represented and

017has been a true asset with within our district academically instructionally and athletically Steve actually entered uh our doors as the head varsity coach while still working at another district and the following year in 20156 uh he joined our shs faculty uh to join our social studies Department uh both in his roles as an educator and a coach Steve has exemp exemplified our Warrior expectations of being safe respectful responsible and resilient Steve's unique position and talent both as a teach teach and as a coach have enabled him to extend lessons that learned in the classrooms onto the playing fields the memories and lessons learned from Steve will remain with his students and his student athletes and I have no doubt that those students who have had the privilege and it's close to a little over 4,000

018total students in over 30 years of as an educator um will not only remember uh those lessons for him but they'll pass them down to their children and to me that is probably one of the greatest uh sh signs of respect so Steve spent uh nine short years here with us and he served over 30 in education Steve thank you for your service to the district and always modeling for us what it means to be a warrior our two other retirees who couldnot join us uh first one is Maryann Rankin Maryann began her time as a warrior in 2002 and has paralleled her path to some of her other colleagues providing invaluable support through all instructional levels from elementary to middle school and to finish at the high school mariann's nurturing approach ensures that our

019children that she works with feel safe supported and valued she goes above and beyond to meet their needs creating a positive and safe and caring environment so that they can thrive on behalf of the last 20 plus years as well as the several days yet to remain this week we say thank you to Maryann for all that she has done uh and done for our district and our students so thank you [Applause] Maryann last but not least Grace Meyers um it's safe to say that Grace has probably forgotten more about the history of susco hanok high school in the southern School District than most of us will ever know uh grace started with the district as a student and then came back to be an employee and she began her employment in 1998 uh first

020as a bookkeeper in a tax office and then uh during the 20022 2003 school year uh she became one of our counseling uh office secretaries uh in her role as an administrative assistant within the counseling office Grace was involved in just about every aspect of the day-to-day Logistics of running a high school uh from scheduling to transcripts to greeting new students and their families as they came to the high school uh all the way through the graduation process she's embraced the role uh and had to embrace the role being a kind-hearted mother to some of our students and at times we all know that Grace had no problem dishing out the tough love when people needed that tough love uh and for that we were eternally grateful for her Miss Grace if you're listening thank

021you for your 25 years of dedicated Service uh to our district and we wish you all the happiness in the next phase of your life with your grandchildren and your [Music] family and well not on the script so I'm going to steal a couple minutes or seconds I just want to say while she's not retiring cuz she's moving on to uh new things just want to say as principal thank you to Caroline for sitting on the school board for the last two years and doing a fantastic job representing her peers so thank [Applause] you good evening from the operations and maintenance department I have the pleasure tonight to honor John Wilson John U speaks softly and he's quiet but I'll tell you he's got a big sense of humor so listen closely John worked 33

022and a half years for southern New York County School District he started part-time at friendship Elementary and within a within a year and a half uh became full-time um at friendship and then uh in 2009 transferred to to Southern Elementary John retired this past December um but a couple things about John um he was the cesco hanok alumni sport Spirit Award winner in 2012 the sasque hanak high school alumni Spirit award is presented each year to an individual who exemplifies outstanding school spirit for an extended period of time it was well known that John would take vacation days and you could tell where he was he was in the stands of the football game basketball games he was around our Sports and he to this day continues to to support our teams uh so it's

023it's a pleasure it was my pleasure uh to be his supervisor and uh Southern York County School District is a better place because of John [Applause] seat all right um anyone who was recognized you're certainly welcome to stay but if you want to get if you want to take this moment to get up and leave uh we can let you do that just like everybody who wanted to did all right um all right item 5.02 uh 5.02 thank you to student representative Caroline Dum so I wanted to uh thank you Miss Dum and recognize you for uh these two years of service to the board a little little gift on on behalf of the whole board um and I can say uh sincerely on behalf of the the entire board that we really do wish

024you the best uh as you move on to the next phase of life you did a great job thank you thank you in Carolina I have a resolution of commendation on behalf of the board whereas Carolina Dum has faithfully and distinctively served in the role of student board board representative for two consecutive years and Caroline has positively represented Sanic high school and the southern York County School District in leadership roles throughout her educational journey and Caroline has also been an active and devoted member of the susco antic High School theater Department sharing Stellar dramatic as Dramatics as well as musical performances it is resolved that the Board of Education as well as the York County School District adds its recognition gratitude and admiration for the way in which Carolina Dum has represented Susan High School

025her dedication leadership and exceptional success as a student representative will serve as a role model for others given this day in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on the 16th day of May 2024 and bear Witness by the rest of the board members [Applause] um thank you everybody it has been a real pleasure to get to be on this board I have learned a lot and um I'm very fortunate that I get to take those skills on into my next phase of life so thank you thank you all right uh 5.03 presentation by Mr Tom Templeton on potential culture and climate evaluation and I'm going to pass out these handouts that he all right there's a handout there for you thank you uh very much um I think we just have a few minutes to to go

026over the document and then be able to answer any questions first of all I just uh one of the ways to improve your culture and climate is doing exactly what you're doing the way you're celebrating your people here and personalizing it I'm in a lot of board meetings and I don't always see that so this that's just really nice how you do that um so thank you for the opportunity to uh to speak with you uh this evening uh and uh Mr hkl reach out to me he had talked about whether or not there's a possibility that I could uh potentially uh do some kind of organizational Diagnostics of culture and climate uh it's uh it's work that I do as a consultant throughout the state I provide a a series of um products and

027services Consulting products and services for school boards and for leaders and one of the things I do is focus groups and surveys and to that end I just stop I'll start with uh focusing your attention at the top of the document everything needs to come back to the mission I know people look at mission statements as just these nice things but I really try to focus in on the intentional work that I do with the with providing a quality learning environment that promotes character Fosters responsibility and challenges students to achieve their potential all of this needs to come back to that somehow somewh way directly or indirectly the responsibilities of the board I always like to in every uh uh talk that I do take just a minute to focus in on the key responsibilities

028of a board which is planning core value setting policy evaluating results even though those are only three things there's a lot of subtext underneath all of that that can really help you influence your organization so as we look at the possibility of of a kind of a diagnosing organizational Effectiveness the method ology that you see here is uh first there's just a a summary of kind of what organizational Effectiveness is as as it regards it being essential to the district's ability to implement strategy manage change create impact and really kind of look at the overall health of an organization as perceived by the staff administrators and others understanding there could be a difference between perception and perspective perception can be one thing how but placing someone's P perception into perspective and context can be another

029so it's important to kind of talk through those things as as we do this we you to move forward five-step process starting by kind of collecting data uh that's through surveys participation and focus groups and to really designed to look at the um District strengths weaknesses challenges we all have those uh and there's just a a series of questions there that you can look at these are uh certainly not um final by any means these are just things to kind of think about everyone clear on the Mission Vision goals the strengths the challenges District culture Communications collaboration collegiality uh what does the day of a in a week and a month look like in a life of a teacher administrator and and really kind of just dig in a little bit and see how people

030see the district and how they view it and then from there you go to step two through step five step two would be to analyze those results now again this is more diagnostic than evaluative diagnostic meaning you're looking at the system evaluative May is more you're looking at people this is where we're diagnosing the system what do you see in the system that's really going well what would you like to see maybe grow and improve some of the results of this could go into evaluations for the future uh so you evaluate the data collection efforts to diagnose the district's core strengths and areas of growth and then step three is really develop options and best practices where would you want to go with that information you have this information in front of you what do

031you do with it could you maybe make sure that it's memorialized into your strategic plan I know you have a comprehensive plan that's kind of state driven big big document uh but do you do you want to put this into the Strategic plan is this something that you want to have an evaluation instruments is it something for board goals we can talk about how to take the information and actually use it in terms of developing options and best practices then you would move to implementation let's Implement some of these things and it seems like it makes sense to do so and then from there let's assess what we're what we the results that we're getting from that implementation and then let that cycle begin so ultimately what it's designed to do then is really start

032to keep you moving toward your vision uh which is a dynamic organization that'll work in partnership with family and community and will continuously strive to develop productive contributing respons responsible citizens capable of meeting the global challenges of the future that is extremely hard work to do and to do well and to do consistently over time uh so and it's just hard work to teach and administrate and to be sure that you're leading as board members today so I I come here under no illusions that this is even though I'm giving you a quick 10-minute overview that this is simple stuff this is tough to do well and to do it consistently so that would be kind of a process we would undertake my job would be to learn as much as I possibly can about

033your District through Reading as much as I can and then working with the board and the administrators to the extent necessary and with teachers to see if you would want to walk through that type of process so I'm open to any questions you have I know you have an absolutely jammed agenda uh but I'm certainly open to any questions you have uh that I'd be happy to uh to answer talk about any other factors involved in this um what would if if we were to engage with you for this what what do you believe would be the ideal time to conduct something like this well we're coming up on summer so I would think summer may be more in the planning phase a lot of me kind of reading a I would say probably as

034we get into that September October period that would be my instinct certainly want to work with where the majority would be on it but that would be my instinct um the summer being what it is um and I think letting people get back into school get things going focus on what they're doing and then maybe bring that into play that would be my where I would think it would make the most sense but I'm again I'm open to anything that you would guys would want to do but that's just top of my head any other questions um our district is familiar with surveys yep where do you get your questions from surveys how do you make those you know particular two districts what is the methodology that great question um well I can look at

035standard questions but to your point you want to make them customized so I want to sit down with you guys and say hey here's some questions that I'm looking at here's some topics and questions but now what does that mean to Southern York County so you tailor it yes and I let you and I I want us to work together to tailor it this is no this is not something that's imposed it's something that's developed through collaboration so people feel very comfortable moving forward and is does this really get to the heart of what you're trying to tease out from your culture um culture and climate being a little bit different but yeah that's how we would do that okay thank you so could you elaborate a little further into focus groups and you know

036how they work and yes you maybe how they're organized yep several different ways but I'll just try to keep that brief uh you know you can do it in in terms of different staff groups um when I do a superintendent search I like to sit down with uh teachers administrators act 93 maybe central office uh your support staff uh and various groups like that to let them have their individual time other times you can have maybe a focus group that's a mix of those you know kind of representation from each of those as well I like to do a fair number of focus groups I think they really give a more three-dimensional look than a survey surveys are important informationally but when you sit down and talk to people you can have really good exchanges

037with them and do a lot more followup so it's it's uh again I I bring a methodology that you would then choose from but that's just a couple of examples and it's and uh to your student Representatives Point um good to have students involved it's a good ide just to kind of you know students because they're kind of the consumer you know so it's a good idea just to kind of see how they see it too but really we we work it that way thank you hope that helps I have a question yes um so we you know we do the the PVE climate survey yes so explain to me how this would be different than that or what in addition we would get to it I did hear you make the distinction that you

038have a diagnostic that would be looking at the system versus evaluation which would be looking at people just help us understand what we might get from this different than what we yeah good question I don't know to the extent that you I don't know right now if you would get something substantially different I think where it may get a little different is in the focus groups I mean when I'm talking to people and you're really getting information extracted through conversations that tends to be my this is just my experience much richer but I don't know if I can tell you right now you're going to get X versus y um but I do think that the comprehensive Nature by which I come in and really try to sit down with a lot of people and

039go back through and try to make sure that I'm getting it right is thorough so it I I I would think and hope that it would be more customized that's just my instinct what what what's generally the order survey focus groups focus groups survey or is it uh yeah I mean if if you asked me I probably would start maybe with survey because survey gives me kind of a macro assessment and then when I and I like to use that information to kind of inform how I have a conversation which is then more of a micro assessment when you come in and talk to people and talk to focus groups um so that's probably the preferred method um yeah thank you for that question it's making me think now you're keep thinking about Tom a

040question for you what role does the superintendent play in your process um that would be completely up to the board but I would say that c C is part of the focus group conversations um I would want to be talking with administrators as well including yourself um so and you're also a 10th member of the team uh but in terms of uh any other role I would leave that up to the board you had said you do a lot of reading so what types of things are you looking for when you start the process yep I'm I'm going to I'm the first thing I like to do is and I kind of like your website I don't know if anybody else has but I kind of I'm going to want to look at your comprehensive

041plan I'm going to read that pretty thoroughly just to kind of get grounded in that I do take I do like to take a look at as much as I can on your budget because sometimes I the budget gives me a better understanding of culture than most people realize uh as a matter of fact the one thing I read that was I'll be very brief here I'm trying to go too far but one of the things that I read was within your budget was you recently I guess completed negotiations for your teachers and within that there was a statement saying that we intentionally worked on making sure our negotiations focused on retention and whatnot there was a statement in there that was made so I'm going to be looking at those kind of documents I'll

042probably read some policy I'll want to look at as much as I can but that's those are the things I would certainly want to read um I'd like to look at superintendent evaluations not the evaluations but just kind of the instruments um and I also like to look at the triple zeros of the policy manual uh which is the board operating guidelines so those are just some things but I just try to immerse myself as much as I possibly can in the district understand its culture before I even commit and if there's any suggestions you would have on what I should read I'd be happy to take that so I have a follow-up question so um just knowing what we do with PD and that climate survey and then the things that you are indicating

043that you would want to look at sure um I think one thing that I see that could be of benefit is what an action plan might look like you know what what you know helping us understand how we would actionized some of that information MH sure and I I think that if there's information that comes out of the surveys that one of the things that I try to do is say is there a direct line of sight between things that come out of the surveys and focus groups and what could become priorities in the district goals in the district and then what do we do with those goals do they need to be do they need to be a part of board training do they need to be a part of evaluation instruments where do

044we want to make sure they're memorialized so we are measuring those types of things again with appropriate transparency what could work what couldn't work but really taking something and once it's manifested into some sort of a Target how do we then make sure the target is being addressed and how do we measure it thank you yes sir what's the cost of your services the cost of this would be $3,000 and what would be your ultimate goal what are you trying to reach here what would be my ultimate goal well I think the ultimate goal would be to make make sure that coming out of this that there are deliverables that you would be able to take and make actionable in a way that you could see that could enhance your climate enhance your culture enhance

045your organization so if there's things that come out and I mean you know let's say that there's some things come out that there needs to be more enhanced communication I'm just making this up here for now well okay um are there do there need to be maybe some tweaks and enhancements to communic ation protocols throughout the organization that need that could be placed into evaluative processes that could be placed into methods and methodologies that you would use to be sure you're delivering information out to your community to your staff Etc so that's just an example of something that a topic that has been raised consistently through the process that then may be something you'd want to take action on and what are some of the best practices around communication that school districts use that would

046be just an example of something that I would hope would be a result of it so um one if I can take apart one thing you just said um because you've done this for other districts you would be bringing in practices they use um I'm always looking at I'm always looking at at Best Practices I'm always looking at Best Practices in other school districts correct and best practices that I may have seen I mean I'll tell you right now I will take this just might sound real simple but tonight I just watched a really really good way to recognize people when I go to other school districts I will highlight that and I will let them know look I just saw a really good way to do it that's a simple way but if you

047go to the next level yeah I am always mining for what's the best practices that are out there just so people can continue to learn from each other and grow what other local school districts have you worked at I've done this kind of work largely through superintendent searches where I do focus groups and surveys then put that that into evaluation instruments for superintendents so a lot of it has been done through that process working with school districts uh in superintendent search processes where you do surveys and focus groups then really try to take that information and make it actionable usually through the evaluation process or practices that the board may want to use to enhance their work as a governing team so I've done a lot of superintendent searches and I've used that this method

048as part of that but you haven't done these in of the York schools or well I've done a lot of searches in York schools this is I mean a tad bit unique for York schools correct how do you guarantee anonymity for focused groups and surveys well I mean certainly um if people do not if if if that's an upfront issue and a concern that somebody does not want to speak or do not doesn't want to have their name attached certainly I can have private conversations if they would want that but I don't take names and Take role and and attach names to comments I'm really trying to look for Trends and overall I try to keep the focus again on the system and on the information that's being shared with me as opposed to trying

049to attach it to people but if folks really do have strong feelings about anonymity and sometimes that might be the case then you know certainly if they would want to have a side bar conversation or what have you I wouldn't welcome that I just try I want to try to make sure that as people participate they just feel comfortable and whatever I can do to help that I'll do it president hankle might have asked two questions Tom um just following up on uh Mr alman's question about the about what you've done for other districts have you specifically done a culture and climate evaluation for another District I know you mentioned you've done these superintendent searches and evaluations but have you done something specific to what has been explained here tonight in other districts and if

050so what districts have you utilized this specific thing in terms of culture and climate assessment would be unique this would be the first time I've done it in that way I've done a lot of culture and climate Assessments in terms of using that information from focus groups and surveys to make it act yes correct this would be somewhat unique to that correct and then going back to your timeline you indicated that you would start this potentially in the fall you know October what would be your time frame from start to uh final results to share back with the board and the community fair question um I mean I would think that that would probably go throughout the fall so I would think that we would certainly be looking toward the beginning of that following year

051maybe to have something done I wouldn't hold myself necessarily to that only because until I come in and talk with folks and really see kind of what they're expectations may be thank you other questions thank you so much thank you all right very good thank you so much guys appreciate it have a good evening you too all right uh item 5.04 uh educational updates by Dr rer thank you president heel School Board uh just some overall comments I still can remember the start of this school year we blinked and now we're getting ready for the class of 2024 to walk across that stage in in less than a week it is true when they say time flies the older you get just wish it would start to slow down right je great okay all right

052uh uh kind of staying in line with uh my message uh previously uh focusing on safety um as our main campus continues to transition uh with the new with transition with the building project and we continue to take safety measures as our top priority uh new drop off and pickup patterns have been established are working very well I'd like to thank everyone involved uh in the thoughtful planning of everything that is occurring on campus uh one thing as a reminder please be sure you're obeying the speed people are obeying the speed limits Etc as you're going in and out of not just this campus but Shrewsberry and friendship uh we not only have students still here but there are Athletics that are occurring here uh in the even evenings uh under the supportive portion uh

053congratulations to Harrison maybon and Chloe Warner they represented Cisco hanock at the pmea All State Orchestra and Orchestra and concert band Harrison qualified for All State for the All State Festival placing fourth out of 16th in first violins uh Harrison attended the All State Festival in Erie paa on Wednesday April 17th through the 20th congrats to Harrison uh congratulations goes out the following middle school students for the participation in the pmea district 7 string Fest on April 27th the five students were among 94 other 7th and eighth grade students from the surrounding counties and the concert took place at Central Dolphin middle school so congratulations go out to Ali na uh J Krauss uh KO win Leila let me get this right Elmo parola there you go I SPAC it out there and Natalie Shand

054bger uh Dr Bryson and I had the privilege of attending many of the events over the last month I wanted to take a moment to recognize all the students that participated in the concerts um as well as those recognizing the elementary school board recognition as well as Dr Bryson referenced earlier um about the National Junior Honor Society at the middle school huge thank to all the parents relatives friends that packed the auditoriums your support is truly appreciated um under the collaborative culture on April 23rd US news report released 2024 best high school in America report which provided statistical analysis of all the US high schools the ranking system is based on the following percentage of students that took at least one AP exam percentage of students who passed at least one AP exam mathematical proficiency

055reading proficiency science proficiency and graduation rate the status then ranked using uh were used in the following categories uh career Readiness College curriculum State assessment proficiency State assessment performance and graduation rank uh our overall score for the year was an 88.9 three out of 100 so southern cesco hanok high school rank out of over 25,000 schools nationally uh 1,954 now please keep in mind that also includes acmy charter schools and magnet schools okay uh 74th in Pennsylvania out of 656 number one in York County out of 13 and the rankings uh place our high school in the top 10 in the nation and top 11% in the Commonwealth uh though these report rates uh rates to high schools throughout the country we know that this is a result of our K12 system our elementary schools

056provided this foundation for our students while the Middle School provided an expansion upon the foundation and providing them uh opportuni academic opportunities and to continue to shape their challenges on learning our high school provided the students the ability to focus on their interest and continue with our goal to prepare our students to be College and Career ready uh the data utilized to calculate the these ratings go back several years therefore it is not something that just happened overnight I wanted to thank all of our faculty and staff for this recognition it's a truly deserved and I hope we continue to strive to be the best District in the county and Beyond [Applause] see if he's hiding out there uh just a couple reminders I want to be like Caroline uh I don't have many uh

057but Caroline thank you for two amazing years I sitting across from you for my first two years I I've learned a lot uh in my role but I appreciate you always setting the tone with all the events because it gave me time to check off what I had on and then Dr Bryon the same thing so we wish you the best in your future endeavors and you've made us Warrior proud so thank you graduations next Thursday right you ready all right and we are really looking forward to the class of 20 24 to walk across the stage and receive their diplomas that's all hope for some awesome weather so we could be outside um in closing I would like to make a final comment over the last month I received notification that two of our

058principles were resigning their positions to embark on new careers in education though this news was a big blow to me in the district I know their decisions were based on what they believe they needed in their careers I want to public thank Mary danski for many years of service in the district as a future assistant principal and principal Shrewsberry Elementary you truly put your heart into everything you did working all those years working all those years with you was an honor and I've learned so much from you your school contined to excel academically and your leadership contribute contributed to our US News ranking I'll never forget the many unique spirit days and always anticipating what your building was going to do next to possibly impact your school I want to wish you the best of

059your transition in your new position next school year you'll be missed finally I want to thank Dr Mullen for his service to the district as a high school assistant principal and high school principal in our district Dr Mullen provided the vision and direction that put our High School on the map he continued to focus on research-based instruction that had a major impact on the overall success of our high school his team centered approach clearly had an impact on the growth of his faculty and staff his attention to D detail and collaborative focus on the high school building Pro uh building project also helped us prepare our district for 2024 and Beyond it's never-ending smile well maybe I'm exaggerating that a little bit will be missed uh but Kevin you'll truly be missed by all want

060to wish you the best and your luck as you transition your youth career as an in your new educational career go Cowboys um so that's all I have so to close things out let's make it the last great week of school or not choice is yours thank you um uh before we move on I did receive a request um and I think this would be appropriate um for uh us to observe a moment of silence for um the family of uh Dakota Dixon so um thank you um all right moving on to uh public comment um so uh just as a quick reminder of after I call your name make sure you come up and state your name and Municipality of residents um I do need to uh address a few things um because for

061several meetings now it has become increasingly evident uh with the behavior of some commenters that if some of our students are having trouble following the rules uh I one doesn't need to look far to find some of the examples that they may be imitating so I'm going to take some time right now to set ations policy 9903 public participation in board meetings exists to permit fair and orderly expression of public comment on educational issues in order to support this goal of fair and orderly expression the policy States among other things that public participation shall be permitted during the portion of the B board meeting reserved for public comment in case it is unclear this implies that it is not permitted during other portions of the meeting calling out during other portions of the meeting will

062not be permitted each speaker will be limited to 5 minutes speakers shall direct all comments to the presiding officer no speaker May address or question board members individually speakers will not be permitted to make slanderous remarks about a board member employee or student profane language will not be tolerated a speaker will be ruled out of order and deny the privilege of continuing to speak for violating this courteous and proper decorum during a presentation will be required now unfortunately courteous and proper decorum seem to be particularly difficult concepts for certain commenters so I'm going to spell out a few items in case it is unclear this requirement applies to the speaker as well as anyone else in the room hollering jering clapping and other rockus Behavior do not fall within this description failure to abide by

063this requirement will result in being ruled out of order and being denied the privilege of speaking comments must be made from the podium and although it is unlikely a is likely unusual to need to refer to anyone by name when doing so refer to them by a proper honorific such as Mr Mrs or Miz and their last name or title for example Mr Wilson or Mr treasure a first name may also be included if necessary to disambiguate I would also remind those present that this board is well within its rights to establish rules of conduct and to remove those who disrupt meetings through repeated violations of the rules of conduct all right so our first commenter Valens good evening I'm Val Dennis from Shrewsberry Township this evening on my way home um from substitute teaching

064our exchange daughter from Maldova gave us a call um gave me a call and it struck me as I hung up later that in mova the average yearly income for a family is $3,000 and typically a parent needs to work um um six months in another place to be able to afford food and to be able to afford education and I thought about the fact of how much each of us forget to be grateful um the beautiful area we live in the sunset is going down over there our neighbors all of them um our teachers who we just welcomed our administrators and all those we live with in this community I will also say that I believe for multiple reasons in the separation of of church and state um and yet the door has been

065opened um it was brought up in a meeting that Jesus loves everyone and I absolutely believe that I'm here because of that and I absolutely believe that Jesus would welcome Hindus Muslims Buddhist all Races all ethnicities and that's what we're here for to absolutely welcome everyone so I hope that we'll continue to think about that as we work together and to look logically and rationally and communicate as compassionately and empathetically as we can with each other in this community I thank you for the conversations that we're having about questions and solutions I ask that you please Focus From my perspective in 35 years in education on four of the primary challenges in education personal responsibility and accountability respect cell phones parenting styles there is an enormous amount of US versus them and we can each

066do better US versus them doesn't work well for any of us about anything please keep the current practice of arranged and announced classroom visits please do not vote for visiting classrooms unannounced and unaccompanied School staff do not need this kind of added stress and distraction or the students this idea literally makes my heart race knowing the stress that already faces our teachers for so many reasons please use the lawyers that we have and do not add additional lawyers I know that you want School Reform I do too it's constant I've served on school Improvement teams and led them for years I've run culture and climate surveys for years as he mentioned change is not easy I've taken graduate classes in school law I have worked with school law lawyers and lawsuits have rarely made lasting

067changes in education and nearly always create backlash sooner or later lawsuits often deeply damage school funding and the climate and culture of our schools fear of potential lawsuits often prevent rational Solutions and create additional challenges admin are too often reduced to putting out fires and legal challenges rather than actual School Improvement in any kind of school there is no magic for school Improvement it takes hard work as he said and rational conversation yesterday I saw a sticker on a car that said hey snowflake shut up stop whining and get a life I smiled because I feel like both sides and all sides and a whole lot of people are losing their Marbles and that is not good for any of us while some may absolutely see me as a snowflake I have not melted I

068absolutely believe in expectations and responsibility I am still talking I'm not whining and I do have a life my life has been and will continue to be about education for all students and preparing them for their future adult lives some say let's avoid politics I so wish we could with regard to schools politics religion Social Challenges and education have become so intertwined that now we have the task of finding our way through we seem to be debating education on social media in separate groups with yard signs Flags waving from trucks bumper stickers and sometimes skeletons we can choose to admit that this is not working with well I will continue to show up this summer and Beyond at the Mason Dixon Diner unless I can't like when my parents Plumbing burst during the 95th birthday

069celebration or the other day after I AP Proctor a test which most of us have no idea about test preparation the logistics that takes for our staff and how much goes into all that the teachers shared with me an amazing amount of comments I have a whole list that I'll email you to because I'm going to run out of time um but I forgot to come to the diner because I was so thinking about all the things they told me the last thing teachers need is unannounced visits please choose to use the current procedures thank you so much and I'll email the rest thank you uh Mrs Dana Rous real quick sorry I have to use a chair okay hi my name is Dina Ral I'm with kador Township thank you for giving me the

070opportunity to speak tonight if there's anything that I say that is not okay just please let me know um in advance um good evening to everyone I'm here tonight to advocate for the families within our district I would like to read some statements from families who have reached out who have been severely impacted by this news here are some of the parents statements the school has traumatized my child I had to get medical attention for both of my children because of how admin treated them the same issues within the the district are being handled completely differently no uniformity my child was not provided a proper investigation my child has been retaliated against from admin as well as the family my child was wrongly accused and come to find out the info I was told by

071admin was false I was notified by a parent that my child was questioned not by the school there was no proof only allegations School admin School admin is underqualified or maybe not caring not wanting to deal with certain issues and behaviors and it has caused me to have to resign from my job a family members sent an article on children their ages and why they may say or be afraid to tell the truth or fabricate things this is coming from a teacher I had to stay close to school while my child was there so they would feel safe my child's grades dropped because they were so upset by the way the school handled their concerns more often than not is the victim of the bullying who gets punished because they have been pushed to their

072breaking point we have had a terrible experience all year it's a hot mess I've spoken with many parents that have had the same issues it is an admin that refuses transparency lies to the parents and refuses any kind of accountability for their actions or inactions my problem is with the way the admin handles things tries to hide behind laws they don't understand refuses to communicate simply because they seem to be afraid of Confrontation these are from students these are now student comments the admin talks in circles backtracks their statements and lies I don't know why admin is getting mad at kids for not defending me isn't that their job I do not want to go to school because of what admin did and how they question me admin kept asking the same question over and

073over and asked if I wanted to change my answer they kept leaning in and getting close to my face I didn't like it it is not right to have to miss out on opportunities because the school mishandled things I am not going to repord anything anymore they don't do anything so why even bother do I need to make my situation go viral for the school to act on it why won't the school do anything when and other students are telling me to kill myself I do not feel safe at school the school admin does not care about me this is from a police officer as well as a pediatrician School needs to take action for all bullying appear parent should be called especially in the elementary level when questioned this is from a students family

074member who is also a lawyer in logo parus does allow education Administration to question students however it is unethical to do so if they are asked to stop or if a parent is requested this is from a parent liaison who is also a charge nurse for adolescent psychiatric unit admin is dismissing students which is having a huge impact on them I have seen what can happen to children who have not been provided a supportive and safe environment at school it can only be extremely negatively life-altering or even life ending a child's feelings should never be clearly dismissed as I witness this is the worst thing an education professional can do to a child and I feel it should be addressed immediately the following statements um is what we should be striving for we have policies

075they must be enforced by everyone equally clear boundaries and repercussions and enforcement across the student body has to happen all bullying is wrong discouraging it needs to be a joint effort between the district the parents and a student it takes a village as a district admin myself we need to do better and training the admin better um the statements from the district needs to be needs to hold true unless you want to deal with the most important issue of all which would be having a child in the Sy ycsc Community becoming another statistic like Sammy a 10-year-old boy in Indiana who just committed suicide because the school did not take him seriously thank you thank you uh Mrs uh Miss Ashley Morrison Ashley Morrison uh Shrewsberry I'd like to speak to two items tonight first

076I wanted to follow up on the school board director visitation policy listening to the other speakers last month it seemed the main concerns included the visits could be unannounced notification to the principal was not required the number of visits allowed per week entering and disrupting during class instruction instruction and that the directors do not require being escorted I did read the revised policy that was posted as part of tonight's agenda and was hoping that the revisions would reflect the concerns voiced by the community but as I read through it just brought up more questions for me so based on the revised policy I'd like to walk through each concern I did see that the concern around notifying the school in advance was addressed on page two yet how much notification required was not indicated so

077does this mean that a school board member could notify the school with minimal time wanting and expecting to visit a school within a half an hour that needs to be clarified in regards to the number of visits the revised policy now States quote the number of all School director initiated visits by the board will not exceed 10 visits per week end quote I'm assuming this is for the collective board and not each director if so could one director utilize all 10 visits how's that going to be tracked um either way as mentioned at the last meeting this seems a bit bit excessive um for the next concern I was glad to see that there was clarification around entering a classroom that's on page three but it only specifies when a director is unescorted so if

078the director is escorted is there an intention to enter the classroom could they ask whoever they're being escorted by can I go in there um and then that person might feel pressured to say yeah you can go in um the final concern was around directors walking around unescorted during their visits that keeping in mind could last up to a half a day um the necessity for being unes still hasn't really been explained especially since the intention of these visits which was very clear because it was mentioned multiple times is to observe the environment um so it's hard to see if that's being hindered how the observations would be hindered whether you're escorted or not and then this brings me to my final question regarding the policy if the intention is to only observe the environment

079then why is it necessary to have one-on-one conversations with students as mentioned on page three I acknowledge that I just asked quite a few questions but I think it's important to provide clarification around the wording of the policy um second I want to address the board discussing the idea of retaining the ilc the proposition of retaining ilc and seeing what they have to say on a number of issues was brought up as something as benign just free council with no downside I don't necessarily agree with that when push further on what issues the board wanted to speak to the ISC about Athletics and parental rights were mentioned for any of us who have followed what is going on in other schools that have retained the ilc we know what that means when it comes to

080Athletics they are known for their anti-transgender gender policies and while the board may say that they just want to listen to what they have to say there's something called perception I think that was actually mentioned by Tom I swear I didn't talk to him earlier according to a recent study conducted by the Human Rights Campaign that surveyed 13,000 lgbtq plus teenagers covering all 50 states and DC compared to their non-lgbt plus peers LGBT plus youth reported much higher rates of depression anxiet and lower self-esteem I just want to read some additional information from the HRC report quote prior research has found that student athletes report lower levels of anxiety and depression higher higher levels of self-esteem and self-confidence and better grades and higher levels of academic performance participation in school clubs art programs and other

081EXT extrac activities have similarly been linked to improved peer social support academic and academic performance and positive Youth Development both Sports and extracurricular activity participation are associated with school connects which in turn is associated with reduced risk behaviors higher grades and graduation breaks and lower levels of suicide and poor mental health end quote if we already know that lgbtq plus teens are more vulnerable to depression and anxiety Then how do you think it's going to make them feel knowing that their school board who should be supporting all students is seeking to retain the ilc who is known for its anti L lgbtq plus policies I am greatly concerned that this board is following the Playbook of so many other local school districts and we've already seen that the outcome has not been favorable for the

082communities thank you uh m m step muser good evening my name is Steph muser I'm an alumni and parent and my family lives in cador's Township as a lifelong resident of this community I have fond memories of our town my childhood here my family attended fistle church just down the road I look forward to the annual summer picnic every year and love listening to broex ban to perform my Sunday school teachers instilled responsibility for my community and respect for my neighbors that's why I was so disappointed to hear about an incident at fistle church on Election Day 2023 I'll preface what I'm about to say by sharing that I'm telling the story with the permission of this student and her family I will not use any names a 14-year-old student was handing out literature at

083the polls with her mom when a supporter of the syc conservatives got inches from her face shouting and spitting at her and threatening her safety even more upsetting one of the male school board members sitting in this room looked on and did nothing in that moment he made a choice he chose politics over a student safety that vote was more important to him than the children he was pledging to serve weeks later he entered the same students classroom for a visit the child was still upset trying to come to terms with what had happened to her the same male School Board member approached the female student and put his arm around her without her permission in that moment she froze unsure what to do this was an adult male in a position of authority over

084her could she say no and tell him he wasn't allowed to touch her without her permission with her family's support she saw counseling to help her work work through this traumatic experience and the second violation of her personal bodily autonomy this school board continues to choose politics over student safety your number one priority after being sworn in last December was to reinstate a mascot over the protests of students who told you that the mascot was sparking intensified racial bullying the months that followed a spade of racial bullying erupted in our schools now on the guise of supporting teachers and protecting ing students you're requesting unprecedented access to our students and classrooms you have already broken the students trust and the community's trust with your politically motivated actions and it won't end there the retention of

085the independence Law Center signals your interest in violating the safety of our LBGTQ students as well all at the direction of the pack that bought your votes before you were elected to the school board you're sending a clear message only straight great white students are welcome and deserving of respect in our school Community while you have the right to personally hold these beliefs you don't have the right to craft School Board policies that align with them it's a violation of state and federal law and it's not just that you're choosing politics over our student safety let's examine your other campaign priorities from your website you choose politics over fiscal responsibility in December as newly elected board members you added an item to the agenda without the prior notice of the community exposing the board to

086a potential violation of the sunshine act through a right to no request I learned that the attorney's fees to attempt to justify this choice and subsequently cure it for nearly $3,000 and additionally the school had to settle the case in the amount of $2,000 now you want the taxpayer to putot the bill for a $10,000 survey to tell us what everybody already knows our teachers and parents don't feel comfortable giving you unlimited access to our classrooms choose politics over transparency the syc conservatives pledged to spend no money on the return of the old mascot but not only did you cost the community $5,000 by adding it to the December board meeting you buried the court settlement in the consent agenda and didn't disclose the additional attorneys fees either so much for the transparency you pledged

087to bring our community and finally you chose politics over parental rights instead of engaging parents on the school board policy you're engaging the PA economic growth pack because clearly dark money political organization should have more of a say in how our school is run than the taxpayers or parents sending their kids here that's why I'm standing here again today because someone needs to demand that you finally choose to keep your promises please choose student safety for all students choose fiscal responsibility choose transparency and choose to respect all parents rights not just the ones that voted for you our community deserves better thank you uh M Miss Katie wo this week I'm from Glenrock I always forget to say that um this week at my son's Elementary School we experienced a tremendous loss one of our

088students lost their battle with illness and like a large Stone crashing into a Still Pond grief that point of impact it's painful disorienting and chaotic and it ripples throughout the community leaving us All Shook I hold that family in my heart and the impossible pain that they as they navigate through this loss grief always leads me into contemplative prayer around the nature of life and the nature of loss and prayer to me is a sacred private personal relationship between me my trusted loved ones and the Creator I don't participate in prayer when I don't have trust in community I can't trust in the board members whose cruel actions and resurrecting the racist mascot C are causing harms to people in our community I can't trust board members who want to change visitation policies so that

089they have unfettered access to my children for their own political agenda I can't feel safe safe in a community where their where their board members align themselves with questionable organizations that seek to establish bigoted policies in our schools my beliefs around prayer align more with Matthew as he instructs followers in Matthew 6:5 to pray at home with your family and not boast fully in public he describes that as hypocritical and I tend to agree with him that's how I understand prayer in my relationship to Creator divinity God the universe that's mine and that's how I see it and we all have the right to have our own beliefs and that's why the Establishment Clause is so important I don't have the right to put my beliefs and understanding and my boundaries around prayer and Faith

090onto someone else and nor do they nor does someone have that right to put that on me yet when I see B when I see board members cozing up to groups like The ilc who seem to have made it their mission to attack The Establishment call us it worries me to use their misguided interpretation of scripture to influence their harmful bigoted policies that do real damage to children in real time I know that they do harm because these Pol policies have already done harm to children in and around Europe they have harmed children that I have worked with I am tired of writing safety plans for children who feel that the world is so hostile towards them that they believe that their only answer is to take their own life I am tired beyond the

091telling of it I am aware that my words might not have a lot of impact but I will not be silent because silence is compliance and I will not be complicit in this but for tonight for now I'm going to go home and I'm going to hold my children and I'm going to tell them how much I love them and how much joy they bring to me in my life just from their very mere existence and then that will never change no matter how they grow through life however they learn to understand themselves however they learn to be in the world they will always have my love and acceptance bottom line period And I will fight for them whenever I can and however I can and I suggest that we all do the same thank

092you Miss leer the aner Shrewsbury Township Matthew Shephard Elijah mlan Trayvon Martin remember those names maybe remember them better by the reasons they died fword RW nword let me backtrack as candidates five current board members ran as a Coalition in exchange for money they made a pledge with the PA economic growth pack which included a promise to quote replaced the solicitor if he didn't reflect representation of the board end quote after being elected the Director of Education from the PA economic growth pack invites board members but not too many members L they have to make details of the meeting public per the sunshine act to a meeting where she refers them to the independence Law Center four lobbyist lawyers funded by the Pennsylvania Family Institute also known as the Evangelical Council for financial accountability and

093here we are tonight the retention of the ilc what did they say follow the money anyway the ilc is a law firm that specializes in drafting anti-lgbtq anti- Dei and anti- book policies by engaging with them you are sending a clear message and it is not one of support to our marginalized students our f-words our RWS our nword I'm going to use my clout as the mother of one gay son and one bisexual son to speak on why we the parents of lgbtq students are effing terrified at the prospect of the ilc informing any decisions about our schools and students there are people in this district and even on this board who see my kids as Sinners and the way they love a sin there are people in this district and even on the school

094board who equate homosexuality with pedophilia who think transexuals are mentally ill and rapists that is when they're thinking of them as people at all when you seek counsel from the ilc to for example draft a draft a blanket policy Banning trans girls from girl Sports you take an extremely complicated issue and stop seeing the very real children at the core of it and instead reduce them to its affirming the attitudes of hate and judgment that they already face when I say I'm effing terrified it's because when a student says they're going to use the pride flag for target practice how long is it before the joke isn't a joke and the flag Isn't Enough Of A Thrill how long before my son the FW is the next Matthew Shephard or Rachel's son is the next

095Elijah mlan or Sierra's son is the next Trayvon Martin how are we supposed to feel anything other than effing terrified when you want to bring in the people that draft the policies that condone the hate when you see Council from the L ilc to for example ban sorry I mean restrict books by lgbtq and black authors and about lgbtq and black people you send the clear message of which voices are not welcome in our district of course when you hear from mult multiple students and parents of the racial bullying and harassment they receive and you decide you need to see it for yourselves and so create overreaching policies that both parents and teachers find troubling instead of just believing what they've told you over and over is true we already see which voices matter to

096you and which are not to be trusted but here's the kicker according to many parents parents it is you all who are not to be trusted maybe it's because they've seen you berate a student or stand by while someone else did or get beligerant with other adults or show blatant repeated disrespect toward others or support falsehoods spouted by your puppets because they suit your narrative or who knows why there's a lot out there about all of you you want the right to speak to our kids one-on-one you have the audacity to create policy that to specifically gives yourselves the ability to do that you have a long road ahead of you in earning that trust maybe the ilc can help you redraft that policy yet again in a way that it won't get your dirty

097laundry aired out in a Curt court of law fword RW nword or Matthew Shephard Elijah mlan Trayvon Martin working with the ilc tells us what you see when you look at our babies and it tells us what we see when we look at you m py cop I'm Peggy cop and New Freedom BAU and I'm speaking tonight to express my opposition as ad many parents to the retaining of the independence Law Center a special councel to advise our board in the drafting a policy and since the April meeting there have been no specifics provided to the community about the types of policies other than the vague mention of of Athletics um but again given that the ilc lobbies for the PA Family Institute and has already advised multiple York County Schools districts on controversial policies

098related to library materials gender bathroom use athletic restrictions for Trans students and pronoun use in the classroom for Trans and non-binary students I think it's reasonable to assume that these are the types of policies that will be discussed I hope we can all agree that we do want our schools to be a place where students feel valued where they feel safe where they feel free to discover who they are and to thrive as such I oppose a retaining the ilc because I believe that they have zero interest in helping our school Community to achieve that goal rather the policies that they have helped other districts draft restrict student access to diverse voices and experiences and seem to specifically Target lgbtq youth as we've heard tonight two areas that I've seen the ilc has been involved

099with um drafting policy in other districts include the participation of transgender students in sports and the use of pronouns and classrooms for transgender and non-binary students and first I wanted to address the concept of policies regarding transgender students in sports um denying these students the opportunity to participate in sports that align with their gender identity not only perpetuates discrimination which we say we're against but also potentially denies them the chance to experience the physical the mental and the social benefits that sports do offer it also is a platform for inclusivity for team teamwork and personal growth and it should not be a tool for exclusion and marginalization from my observations most policies seem to be particularly geared toward restricting trans girls from playing on girls sports teams I do understand that this is a very

100nuanced issue and that many people have not yet made up their minds as to where they stand on the issue I still have a lot of questions myself however as a teacher I work with trans students every day and what I do know without a doubt is that these are just kids like any other kid they're no more they're no less they have the same fears they have the same hopes they have the same need for friendship for belonging for participation for understanding for guidance they kids who belong to our community and we are responsible for them by inviting an outside lobbying group with a clear agenda and yet not inviting our trans kids and their parents and other community members into the conversation we're sending a damaging message of exclusivity and potentially leaving our

101trans students more susceptible to a harassment as a teacher I'm also particularly troubled by policies such as the one adopted recently in a district in York County that allow an educator to refuse to use a student's preferred pronoun I know from firsthand experience that the use of preferred pronouns in the classroom for Trans or non-binary students is of utmost importance to them it is everything it's just a matter of basic respect and dignity for the student it's not always easy and I often make mistakes but I know that those students in my conversations with them they know and I know that I respect their choice I respect their identity even when I don't always understand I do know that to fail to acknowledge and affirm a student's gender identity creates an environment where the trans

102and non-binary students feel invalidated and unsupported it leads to feelings of isolation anxiety depression I believe that as an educator every student deserves to feel safe and accepted in their learning environment and denying them this B acknowledgement only serves to further marginalize an already vulnerable population I know we haven't retained or voted to retain the ilc this evening and you haven't been clear about what policies you're looking to have them advise you on but I would really urge you to consider again that these are kids these are Middle School kids these are high school kids these are elementary kids they just want to be a kid thank you thank you uh Mr salvator laru all right good evening members of the board Administration and staff uh salvator Laro Shrewsberry burrow I'm a long time listener

103first I'm speaker so I've had ample opportunity to hear many of the board meetings I wanted to start by telling you I've been disheartened by the lack of support attentiveness and understanding towards our main voice of the students there have been multiple board meetings where the voice is not heard or just dismissed I could count on a number of occasions where what was said didn't matter and conversations continue as if the representative didn't speak or were talked over none of you would be your positions to include the board Administration and staff if it weren't for the students of this District we're here for them we need to listen to them understand them and we need to empower them uh I I learned earlier uh this evening that the voice is for just the upper level

104uh it probably would be nice if we had lower level representation in that student body as well or somehow where they could connect it I was once told it's not about your present position but your trajectory and Final Destination and I see our trajectory is horizontal and not upward I'm a person who finds Solutions uh when I see a problem deficit or issue our students need us I've heard it in the meetings I've seen it while while teaching in classrooms and volunteering in the school and what better way to support them and some of their needs is by finding solutions they may not always be the perfect fit but it's something in a recent meeting with my job I discovered that Pennsylvania recently passed legislation in 2022 it enact it was enacted last summer and

105it would would award schools and school districts Andor the designation of a purple star school I emailed everybody hopefully everybody had an opportunity to read the email and look through the material uh I spoken with several principles and staff already about uh this designation and being part of this program and I have a meeting next week with the administration to further discuss how our district can be recognized a purple star school is a school or District that supports military connected students of members of the Armed Forces to include the national guarden reserves well how would this help students you may be asking yourselves given recognition to the school and District well if awarded the program comes with abundance of additional resources not only financially but physically resources such as additional counselors for mental health classes

106from outside entities on ways to cope with anger loss absentee parents or training for the staff this would help lift the burden on our current pair of professionals and have a direct impact on our students not just the military connected students as I work with the administration and we meet I could provide an update and a proposal for the board uh in moving forward additionally in my research I found many many many more opportunities for our district to take part and be recognized for efforts that not only benefit our students but also our staff why are we not taking advantage of these grants and programs that are out there I even found a program that we do receive a grant for currently in the safe schools initiative but that we are not taking advantage of

107the additional funding that's available there Mr President you have the power in accordance with the board policy manual to create a ad hoc committee to this board this would be the perfect opportunity for the purposes the benefiting the students in the district to do so I don't mind chairing this committee as a parent thank you thank you um Miss Nicole Hammond good evening I'm Nicole Hammond um I'm here tonight as a parent to honor and thank Dr Mullen I know it'll happen um with the administration and the staff later but for his decade of leadership at cesco hanok um before I begin though Dr rert as much as I respect and appreciate you I will have to defend Dr Mullen and our love of football so go Eagles um okay in my long professional career

108as both a classroom teacher and a yearbook journalism educator I have worked for and with dozens of principles there have been some who've made my fun job fun and challenging some who left me feeling unsupported and unappreciated and I will say without reservation or hyperbole that if I were to go back into the classroom it would only be to work for him thank you also for being the first person to show a little emotion so I don't feel bad about it um it has been my pleasure to work with him on the principal's advisory and to sit on hiring committees with him Dr Mullen Foster's collaboration between parents students faculty and the administration he truly listens to all of our concerns when he asked for the advisor's help to figure out how to mitigate some

109of the students mental health issues related to academic expectations we pointed out that the grading scale was likely putting undue pressure on them and we mentioned that it hadn't always been a seven-point scale he jumped to action forming a committee to compare our grade and weight scales with those of similar systems talking to the students for their feedback and um looking it how to integrate and make a new grading system work with sapphire we were very thankful for his Swift action as well as his support for changing the system and this is just one example of many of the ways that he has listened to us he also cares about his students and he Champions the activities and the causes they support when he gave advisory members a tour of the renovation before school started

110last summer we exclaimed over so many of the details and to almost everyone of our comments he replied that is the students idea it gave him so much pride to show off how their Vision came to life he shows up for them whether it's officiating at Powderpuff um using the jaws of life with the EMT class or finding a way for theater parents to see their students perform in person just like the athletes parents during a Global pandemic his answer to almost every request is let me see what we can do about that and it's not a platitude he follows through he demonstrates true servant leadership he does not ask his staff to do anything that he himself is not doing even teaching classes while being a full-time administrator he has earn the respect and

111admiration of the men and women who work for him and he makes them want to be better he values the opinions experience and expertise of others and is willing to Pivot when shown a better way it's heartbreaking that he won't be here to see the entire High School renovation completed or to confirm my son's diploma in two years but I thank him for the amazing work he has done for our students and our district especially to move us to number one in the county and in the top 10% in the entire nation he leads and will continue to with Integrity humor heart and more than a little bit of eye rolling I also want to thank the District administration for presenting Dr Sterner as the new high school principal and I would like to offer

112him my wholehearted support as I appreciate his great sense of humor and his advocacy for the students I know that he is respected by them and by his peers and I believe he is perfectly positioned to carry on the legacy of excellence and to Foster the same cooperative and collaborative atmosphere we've been blessed to see grow during Dr mullen's tenure thank you Mr Brad ran good evening Brad renan shrewbury Township uh Mr President I'd like to thank the board for their guidance on the budget and that there will be no tax increase that's a welcome to relief for the taxpayers on the current economy that we are all experiencing I'd like to thank Susan green and Trevor Carrington for their hard work on behalf of the taxpayers of the district I'd also like to ask

113Miss Mrs Green later to later to explain so that the public understands that you follow the direction given to you by the board of the directors and it is not just her to thank for the no tax increase uh just a question to the board the administration just stuff has come up recently as was wondering if we could get numbers on the district if we'd had any immigrants have come into the district over the last three years and uh since the Border has been opened up and what kind of financial impact the immigrants have had on the district also I welcom in the change in letting the policy decision process to be open to the public it's not always Pleasant watching sausage getting made but it does give assurance that the public has been given

114a chance to speak I am for bringing in the independent Law Center to give advice to give additional advice to help the district even the solicitor has welcomed it look at Dover um I know one of the board members has a lot of concern about the do District um and their activities they have a lawsuit filed about denying parental rights that they could have been prevented if they had been advised by the independent Law Center we all want our schools to be the best learning environment it can be for our kids and this includes all nine of the board directors we have a different op we just have a different opinions on how to make that happen I want to speak to the decorum or lack thereof of the recent board meetings just because meetings

115are held in a Junior High cafeteria doesn't mean you get to act like you're in junior high your adults act like it this isn't a pup rally the election's over it's time to move on like it or not this is your school board my mom had a saying you attract more bees with honey than you do with v vinegar I think she was right I voted at some point for everyone on this board and everyone on the previous board to the new to all the board members I say stay strong stick to your principles and let God lead you in the way best to serve this District hope you have a productive meeting and God bless thank you uh Miss Susan Donnelly good evening uh my name is Susan Donnell I'm a parent here in

116the district and a taxpayer in the Shrewsberry burough where my family has resided for the past 15 years our family has been part of the Southern York County School Community for 11 years now and it's hard to believe we're just one week away yet another summer break and graduation for for some of us this has been again a fabulous year so far uh and in no small part as the result of the amazing teachers staff and administration uh we have here in Southern and while we are truly disappointed to see Dr Mullen embark on a new adventure outside of our district I know that Dr Sterner will be equally as great of a principal for the students of sus hanak now the remainder of my comment tonight will be focused on agenda item 9 .21

117the independence Law Center for legal council uh for those who may not be familiar with this firm this Harrisburg Area Independence Law Center is a politically charged organization run by lobbyists who claim to offer free legal services to school boards throughout PA the ic's reputation is well known throughout the Commonwealth mainly for their history of developing anti-lgbtq policies and their attempts to restrict books in school libraries more more so however they are known for costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars in legal fees because their policies more often than not are illegal while the ilc is focused on influencing School boards in Pennsylvania they are one of many or several pro bono law centers popping up throughout the country uh whose policies regularly infringe upon laws set forth by the United States

118Department of educations Title 9 regulations they follow a cookie cutter process with every District advising school boards to Institute the their extreme policies then seamlessly transitioning to represent these same districts it is at that point where the free work of the ilc becomes massively profitable for the organization as they now defend these same school districts from the lawsuits that exist only because of the policies they helped right in the first place this fiscal irresponsibility should be infuriating to all taxpayers uh who suffer the B the burden of poor decision-making by school boards who opt to engage in contracts with the ilc the financial impacts are real in Central Bucks County taxpayers are being burdened with more than $2 million in legal fees due to policies that clearly violate Title 9 not to mention the $100,000

119they already paid out as a settlement and it's happening here locally in York County the ilc are the firm that developed the policy that ban books in Central York County couple years ago Central York school district made national news for all of the wrong reasons they are also the firm that has consulted with the Red Lion Area School District who subsequently passed policies that have also resulted in multiple ongoing lawsuits against the district which are undoubtedly costing the taxpayers there an inordinate amount of money finally just last night in Dober two anti-lgbtq policies written with guidance from the ilc were introduced that will certainly result in lawsuits for that District due to blatant Title 9 violations in the policies agenda item 9.21 includes a proposal to engage in an agreement with the ilc to provide

120legal counsel to the southern York County School District knowing the history of this firm knowing that policies similar to what they have developed have resulted in millions of dollars being paid out by districts throughout the state is hard to imagine that one could in good conscience and sound mind vote to bring this firm on as a consultant why would you trust a firm to provide guidance to our district whose past work has resulted in and continues to result in school districts hemorrhaging legal payments to them signing a contract to get legal counsel from a firm that has a history of developing illegal policies that result in lawsuits does not sound fiscally conservative nor is it based on Sound Logic it actually sounds like a terrible financial decision based upon upon a false pre prents of

121getting free advice that will most certainly end with the taxpayers in the southern York County School District putting the bill for Hefty legal fees possibly in the millions that will be paid to the ilc it would be completely irresponsible for this board to knowingly engage with this organization who fully intend to make a profit off of us there is nothing conservative or transparent about this decision to be made here tonight the taxpayers in the southern New York County School District deserve a school board that makes meaningful decisions and passes policies based on Sound Logic that are fiscally responsible and at a bare minimum legal thank you thank you uh Miss Adel bason Mr Bob Betts excuse me good evening Bob bets Shrewsberry Township um to reiterate something that was said earlier uh I wholeheartedly agree

122nothing that we discuss in these meetings should be considered political or used for political gains in anyway uh we should base everything we do here in Morality true morality uh so any all discussions that have had in this room shouldn't be based on left versus right but right versus wrong what is good versus what is not good good versus evil evil left unchecked will not stop itself it takes those who are courageous to stand up and stop it uh will be cliche it takes a warrior um we talked about does last month I'm just going to quickly hit on both topics again assuming that the district is going to follow the procedures it has always followed for every person ever entering the buildings I want you guys to have access to go and go through

123the buildings I don't think anybody on this board is asking to be with children individually unattended without supervision if that's the case I'll change my opinion but I haven't heard that asked yet I do however believe that if I was in your position I would want to know what was happening in the buildings under my own eyesight so that I knew what I was being held responsible for for there's lots of conversations I've heard over the last month about the uh Independence Law Center I've I've still not heard anything that really is considered more than an opinion but based on what I read online from two websites um the goal of their firm has been focused on fighting this is in their words for first Amendment rights and those rights those rights include all First

124Amendment rights speech religion Etc uh so this firm if uh if doing what it's saying it's doing is fighting for everybody's ability to stand at this Podium and speak tonight they're fighting for everybody's ability to live in a constitutionally protected country whether or not they've uh presented policy to another District that may or may not have implications I have noide idea how truthful that is I don't believe everything I read on the internet what I do believe is that I entrust the board member sitting at this table that if we engage with the ilc and they provide in uh not instruction but direction if they provide guidance on a policy that I would expect our directors would review that policy and if it's legal and legitimate and our solicitor agreed that we may implement it

125and if not we won't I am not however going to worry about about what other districts have done we are our own District I think we should operate accordingly um you know in the depths of Co I had submitted a multitude of mask exemptions uh based on religion I had a religious exemption for masks I was denied everyone I was everyone I submitted and I came to board meetings about this regularly and spoke about it it's what engaged me in coming to these meetings and I was told by many opposing parents in those meetings that if I really had an issue with how the district was treating me and my family and how they were operating that I always had the opportunity to go virtual I didn't have to come to the buildings I didn't

126have to deal with the policy issues I could go virtual I extend that invitation to everybody that has an issue with how the policies are being formed now I wish there was a firm out there at that time presenting facts like many firms are now so any firm that's willing to give us direction or assistance at no cost I you to take it it's a savings to the taxpayers um and then quickly surveys were brought up earlier on the gentleman's presentation just as a notation I'd like to request that moving forward when we get surveys maybe there's a comment section put in them because too often the surveys are very just kind of bland uh they're boilerplate in nature and there may be an issue that falls inside a 10 point category that I have

127an issue with and I hate hate to give that whole category a negative review based on one or give it a positive review based on one positive and nine negatives so if we could maybe incorporate comment sections in the future so that we can call out individualized issues that would be a help to all of us I believe um and in good fashion 1 Peter 510 and the God of all Grace who called you to his eternal glory in Christ after you have suffered a little while he will restore you and he will make you strong firm and steadfast I implore all of you to stay strong and steadfast better days are coming thank you thank you all right believe that's the end of the list um all right uh and then moving on we

128moved uh item 10.01 up so if we can jump to that please okay um item 10.01 is a CES the hanic high school principal appointment um what we'll be speaking about is I'm considering the approval appointing Dr Sterner as the cesan high school principal um with that I'd like to make a motion to approve appointing James sterer as the sesan high school principal at a salary of $139,000 effective July 1st 2024 thank you second any n or exensions or any any discussion any discussion sorry welcome Dr ster okay then any needs or extensions okay motion carries um think we can yeah we can [Applause] so first of all I want to thank you all for this opportunity for trusting me with this opportunity it is definitely big shoes to fill uh following Dr Mullen and

129his great work at susqu hanok um I can say I'm very personally excited for this opportunity to continue the good work that we've done at susqu hanok and the opportunities that we provide for our students I'd like to also issue some personal thanks to the students to my colleagues and to the community who've reached out with kind words and of encouragement um as I transition into this position I'd be remiss to not thank the mentors uh at susqu hanok and in the southern York County School District um colleagues that have help to shape me who I am uh as an educational Professor professional and as a human being uh This truly is a district where we grow not just students but our staff as well and I and I'm very very thankful for them a

130guy like me doesn't get an opportunity like this without a great support system behind him though so I have to give big shout outs to my family I have two awesome parents five great brothers and uh a very supportive wife who also is blessed to work in this District I am looking forward to working together with the community with our students and with our staff to continue to provide top-notch experiences for our Warriors and to prepare them for life in College and Career Beyond so again thank you all thank you than you all right Dr sternard just a real quick comment um your wife doesn't know what's coming yet but she has a little bit of flavor of it as an assistant principal um but you need to hang in there with the tons of

131hours and what this job means to you as a family um I'm glad I know both of you James I'm still convinced that uh Mrs sterer has the better math background but don't know why that is um but congratulations to you it's well deserved and uh thank you for taking on this opportunity all right uh moving back to our regularly scheduled board meeting um the with the uh consent agenda item s um there were a couple of items here that uh some board members uh indicated would like to have pulled out uh and including at least one that I I certainly agree I'd like to pull out so um I think we can just we can just pull them out we don't need a motion to do that um am I correct about that yeah

132yes um so item um 7.20 7.21 and 7.24 we will be pulling out um now do we want to go ahead and vote on or is are there any other items that anyone would like to pull out of the consent agenda no um did you did you mention 724 yes yes 720 721 724 those are all one okay um so I guess we could go ahead and vote on the rest of the consent agenda first all right so I will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda uh with the exclusion of the uh items uh for mentioned so moved have a second second all right any discussion any nay or extensions all right uh those items carry all right um let's start with 7.20 um it so my uh the reason given pull this

133out given to me was just that some board members needed additional information uh before they felt comfortable comfortable voting on this um and I did uh speak with uh Dr Bryson and he indicated that tabling this until our next meeting um would not be disruptive so um is there any discussion before we get into uh get into that item I think it's just more information needed I don't I don't know that there were any um any direct objections just more more information needed all right so uh I will move to approve items 7.20 and 7.21 to bring them to the table do I have a second second okay and then I'll move to table them uh do I have a second second all right those items have been tabled um so that was um Mr

134hanko and Mr Wilson for the tabling just want to make sure I get correct okay yeah and did I did I call vote any n exensions no okay all right all right uh so those items have been tabled uh 7.24 um this one also I think more information is needed but in addition to that some of the information that was present was concerning uh at least to me um so I wanted to call out a few things that I that I found uh in this item so this is the renewal agreement with Panorama education um so looking through the the the contract here um this is a this is a company that performs surveys of students and I believe may maybe others as well but it does perform surveys of students uh where it asks

135um what could be considered fairly personal questions um and there are a number of laws uh governing when uh what what surveys can be conducted as students especially of this nature asking questions related to mental health and and that and that sort of thing um and those laws furpa uh PPR Copa um they they specify requirements around uh opin about parental opt-in as well as uh I believe there's some anonymity requirements I believe the opt-in requirements might be the state level anonymity requirements I think are at the federal level um and the some of the lines in the contract that I find concerning client hereby gives its consent to panorama on behalf of parents and as the finded under furpa PPR and the children's online privacy protection act of children of from from whom any

136personal information as defined under Copa may be gathered in connection with this agreement and the platform Panorama shall not be obligated to obtain consents from parents directly and then as between client and Panorama client owns data input into the platform or otherwise provided Panorama by client and authorized user that constitutes personally identifiable information as defined under furpa uh such as student survey responses reported on an individual level so I I understand that there is later a step to anonymize this but it it is it's fairly clear both from looking at the surveys themselves and from this that the the data the the surveys are not uh Anonymous all the way through that there there is a there is a point uh in in the process where the surveys are not uh Anonymous um I don't

137know that anyone's looking at them but that's still a concern uh that it would be that it possibly be would be available so if if I'm understanding this correctly this to me this contract flagrantly undermines parental rights and I believe one of the primary functions of government is to create an environment where thriving families can Pro Prosper with liberty and autonomy and that any governmental body that usurps that delegitimizes itself so the fact and and the fact that as a school board we're entrusted with so much responsibility it makes it all the more important and then on top of that it's it's all the more distressing to me that this was in our consent agenda that typically indicates the expectation was that this would be uncontroversial it's entirely possible that this is because the contract

138was not carefully read or that it was not read with an eye that was watchful for these issues or hopefully I'm gravely mistaken while I am concerned about a broad uration of the roles role of families by especially with what we've encountered over the last few years the uh usurpation of the role of families by experts so-called uh governments and other actors I'm not accusing anyone at this table of intentionally participating in that however I think this underscores the need to be vigilant and to seek out eyes that are watchful for such appropriations of the family and of the role of parents um so with that um because I think there was a desire to understand more um I'll I'll start by uh I'll bring this to the floor uh so I'll entertain motion to

139bring item 7.24 to the floor well I'm just wondering for what purpose we need to have these surveys like I believe well so we'll bring it the floor and then have disc session oh sorry I I guess I I started into it but um in my explanation but okay yeah I mean it doesn't matter you want to bring to the floor first or have discussion um whatever you think okay oh so uh yeah go ahead go ahead well so just I know that this is something um that we have had like we have used these previously correct so I'm just trying to understand the purpose you know how is it that we use this information um I know Dr rert you sent some samples of those surveys um can you just again clarify for everybody

140here the the grades that are surveyed um and again what what how we utilize that information yes we've we've started the use of the Pam Panorama uh the 2019 2020 school year uh currently well from then until now it is grades 3 through eight that that participated in the survey students it's three three times a year and the staff is twice a year and it's perceptual data and the perceptual data is developed and I just wrote down uh just a couple of the focus areas self-efficacy self-management growth mindset uh emotional regulation social perspective taking as well as social awareness and as the students complete the survey assessment the teachers also are completing one based on their perception of the students in those areas and what it does is it provides the teachers the ability to

141take a look at where maybe those perceptions be uh may be different uh the other component that I observed as being Middle School principal is this helped the building identify the students that may not share things may not vocalize the things things that are occurring with them and it provided not only the team of teachers but it also provided the school counselors the administration as well as now our social workers the ability to work with students that are now identifying areas of concerns that they're having in in those areas that I've have identified so as they go through the school year you're able to determine how the student is at the beginning of the year but then what the areas that they may show a percentage growth in or maybe a decrease in and as

142we know people change throughout the year you know when they when students walk through the beginning of school you would hope they're coming through you know very excited about things that are going on but we know that not we know that every student does not walk through the doors they may walk through with that facade up but there's things that are challenging to them where this differs from the other surveys that we had talked about the pte climate survey Etc this one coincides with some of the other programs of responsive classroom and the other programs that we have 3 through eight in our schools that really help our students focus in on what are the things that are challenging them and it gives them the opportunity to voice that through the survey and then the

143teachers are able to take a look at how each of those students scor themselves but more importantly the teachers are able to identify what are the areas that they need to hone in with those specific students have those conversations make the recommendations for uh time to speak with your school counselor social worker and it could even be a recommendation for counseling service through student assistant or through our uh Pennsylvania comprehensive Behavioral Health which is the uh counseling that occurs within the individual Cy occurs within our schools so I mean understand that there can be an importance with checking in with students um it's this this uh legally looks very tenacious to me um the way they're doing it and and I mean read looking again further um client here by grants Panorama a non-exclusive worldwide

144royalty free fully paid up sulic will write and license during the term to copy distribute display create derivative works and use of the client data to PR form panorama's obligations under this agreement uh Perpetual irrevocable right and license to copy modify and use client pii to create aggregated non-personally identifiable data sets uh otherwise known as blind data but that would suggest that not only are these surveys not Anonymous within the district but they are provided to Panorama with with with still with pii Associated um which again um is is very concerning to me and I'm I'm it's it's not clear to me that we need to provide all of our data to this firm that's you know it looks like they might be data mining our children um in order to do those check-ins I

145mean it seems like that could be done without this giant uh aoth of a firm that's aggregating all this data is this require is it pde requirement no okay so it's so it's not a question of if we don't use this firm we have to use another firm it's it's not a requirement at all so were there problems with the questions because I read through all the questions and they are just Define and appropriate I did not see anything that was sexually explicit or danger for the children to answer so I can see where the concerns would be as far as you know anonymity or what have you but as far as the survey itself I I don't see an issue yeah the the the question questions themselves did not seem hugely problematic to ever

146ask a student uh many of the questions would be fine uh questions for for a teacher in many cases or a counselor to ask a student um but there are legal issues with um with doing this and and it's it's very concerning to me the idea that that we would be giving consent on behalf of parents I mean if if a if a law is written saying parents have to opt in uh this seems like a weird end run around end run around that that I'm not would actually hold up if they were challenged Mr litz has he waited now what I would I mean I'm just off suggestion we want Jeff to take a look at it we can certainly do that and table it just like we did 7.2 or 7 yeah very

147much would love to to hear your opinion on it Jeff as far as legality is concerned um it's not illegal uh Nathan correctly pointed out there are some federal protections uh with regards to uh gathering information um on certain um personal characteristics or or individual beliefs uh which parents can inspect surveys and and if they don't wish their child to participate can opt out furp also protects personal information but there are 30 odd acceptions about potential disclosures without parental consent one of them being aggregate data as then in the State Board of Education regulations there's also U an independent right under state law to review certain surveys uh and potentially op kids out I'm assuming the administration complies with uh all of those Provisions uh but that said if you want me to take a

148look at the contract I can um probably not going to uh it's going to take a little bit schedule wise um but we can take a look at that and ask questions of the company um but so I wasn't asked to look at the contract you know I can't talk off the cover about it but I I do know the background of some of the things that Nathan did share but I'll be happy to look at I'm also not not comfortable with you know the parents not being aware of the situation I also think that the parents knowing about the survey or or even having access to the survey could Foster good conversation between the student and the parent uh in areas that the they they may be struggling or or you know maybe bring

149some things to light you know to parents about their their student things they might be struggling in but um I'm really not comfortable with it being um parents being excluded from from that decision I don't know that that's totally true because I remember Dr reer correct me if I'm wrong when our kids were in middle school we would get an update that the Panorama survey was going out and if we had any questions to reach out to the administration at that time it was you and I remember you know calling in and just having some questions about hey what kind of survey questions are on there and there I remember that phone call yeah and it was a very open conversation about you know what was available so what was being asked you know how

150the information was being used parent I did have a heads up that it was coming to my kids I'm assuming that's still happening with grades 3 through eight I mean our kids are in high school now so it would be a while and we can look at how to improve that process but I think tabling it gives us an opportunity to look at the data piece and also here's exactly what how it's put out there right yeah you kind of heard how it's utilized but how can we put it out there is there an improvement that can be made sure I'm I'm certainly not opposed to tabling it and I don't want to beat a dead horse but I did want to speak to something Mrs Hall that you had brought up sure I I

151do not believe uh looking through the questions I didn't see anything that was asking an inappropriate questions they were all to to my knowledge something that was perfectly appropriate to ask a student but I would caution the board um you know it's surveying children is not the same as surveying adults we have to be more careful with that they don't have the self-efficacy that adults have and some of the questions though appropriate in nature subjectwise I will say even some of the simple ones they are leading questions that do infer that she would have a negative expectation and the data that we get from these surveys are only as good as you know the things that we we pushing and inferring and so to to ask a student you know whether or not one of

152the questions and I'm not going to summarize it correctly but you know do you have the ability are are you are do you have a good faith ability to be able to retain all of the information that you've learned over the school year do you feel like you can handle hard Concepts it sounds like it's a harmless question and it and overall is a harmless question but it does infer by asking the question that you might not and it puts in the mind of a student that maybe didn't ever think that they would have this problem that gee maybe I will and certainly students that do we want to hear those things but we don't want to infer that you will I I think that setting students up for expectations like that and that's where

153the surveys surveys for children will always give me pause and I'll just go on record saying that so but I I think the interesting thing so it's a perception survey right it's it's this and one thing I I don't know that Dr rer hit on strong up one of the things I think we're also getting is more of a trending are are kids trending towards a more positive or negative response to that not not the individual student like if you answer it this you have you there must be a problem but more are we for that particular question is it a growth mindset or is it a you know I see your point yeah that so I think that piece to it too is I don't want it to appear like we're trying to identify

154mental health problems and then get and it's more of a what is it we can do in a classroom that develops growth mindset and how do we know we're doing that you would look at this trending area over the course of the year and say look where they were in the beginning as a class versus where they are at the end and that's that doesn't hit on the thing what the data privacy piece which I think take a closer look at well and and even if even if it turns out to be uh technically legal I'm I'm very uncomfortable with the idea of of of opting in on behalf of parents if this is if this is opt in I think the parents should opt in and I think the contract should be written that

155way um so um right you know and so what we're looking at here I don't think I could vote for um on top of that I think more more than more than what you're saying about the use to identify students I think what what Mrs hle was getting at was that giving the survey to students um and it it depends on how much you survey them but giving them a survey that has certain certain questions can imply that there that it's likely that there is a problem and so then ites it doesn't even matter if you track the data if you threw away the surveys after giving them to to the children it would still have that impact so I think it's it's it's worth being cautious about the questions that we ask because there

156has been depending on the survey some surveys are harmful um uh you know they they they create a certain perception by the way the questions are asked and I'm I'm not saying this one is but I would rather we we we look at this carefully ourselves um for what our students need and not Outsource it to a general an organization that's giving the same survey to every school that doesn't know what our particular uh concerns are um so I I have concerns both at the conceptual level and also at the at the Privacy level um but if we're talking about tabling it I mean it seems like I've heard a number of people say table um I I certainly can't see myself voting for it in the form it is I'm not sure I can

157vote for it in any form but I'm perfectly happy to to entertain a motion to table it so we'll if there's no further discussion yeah moved okay you're moving it so we're going to move it to the floor so move moved it moved to the floor um I could say one more thing yeah yeah um so it appears that we were already notifying parents in some form that this is happening um and that's great um it's just I would definitely want to see the contract reflect you know what we're doing and not not reflect what what we're doing so that would be although it may appear to be a problem it may not be a problem but it being in the contract that way presents itself as a problem I would also um when you

158talk about um having parents have to opt in or consent for students to take the survey um I think about the children who maybe their parents just like don't check their email or like aren't very present like if those parents aren't consenting and those students voices don't get to be heard so I get that you like like yes it is important important for parents to be involved um and like agree to what their children are doing but I think that there are some parents that are not involved at all and won't even be able to like say like yeah sure cuz they just you and that's the students you want to check in on yeah I hate to say that but it is I mean which means we would have to have the appropriate safeguards

159let's say you know we didn't pursue this we would have to have the appropriate safeguards which I believe our school already does to help those but I I caution I I am hearing what you're saying Mrs Caroline I caution it's a slippery slope the idea that because there are some awful parents we have to violate all parents' rights wouldn't go down that road additionally I think we get we we get that information anyway the the students whose parents are not involved who you know their parents their their kids have having trouble and they don't come to the first parent teacher conference I mean we get that information um okay so um we have a motion uh to to bring it to the floor a second or second there wasn't a motion in a second so

160well Joe moved to bring it to the floor just now or a little bit ago yeah second okay there was discussion in between the moot it was Mr hankle and Mr Wilson to bring it to the floor okay we can we just need to make sure we've got it that's fine we can go with we can go with I brought to table it is Mr hankle yes I'll I'll move to table it um and then uh do I have a second on that second all right um any discussion on the mo motion to table uh any n or exensions all right that is tabled all right and that completes the consent agenda with more more uh drama than usual um all right on to uh committee report education and I will turn it over to

161Mrs hle all right we have 8.01 which is the student handbook revisions for the elementary school Southern Middle School and the high school Dr reer take it away thank you Mr ankle uh what we have in front of today is the student handbook uh that we presented in I get this right March and then we came back in April uh now we're uh it's back in front of you today uh we had revisions that were provided to us from uh some board members uh that was revised uh by the administration in a meeting on February 26th uh 2024 uh just some of those r Visions uh that were noted in the document uh some grammatical pieces equal signs uh post adding the word post on page 25 uh looking specifically at the elementary uh removing

162an and/or detention on page 40 in the elementary um added sunglasses to address code uh as number four on page 35 uh to be consistent across the district and I'll come to that in a moment updated language to the dress code about short uh short and skirt length on page 35 uh to match to middle school and high school for consistency across the district and simplified the language for exposed undergarments on page 35 uh to match the middle school and high school for consistency across the district uh within the Middle School remove the prohibition of bandanas on page 39 uh for consistency across the district district and added coats and jackets to the dress code on page 39 to the middle school for consistency across the uh uh the district and we discussed and revised

163dress code sections in all three documents for consistency across the district um and speaking with the administration um in multiple meetings they viewed the high school uh dress code uh that was as it was written as the one that they we wanted to have modeled as consistency throughout the district for the middle school as well as the Elementary uh so those were the revisions that were proposed to us by board members on the 26th and uh they were taken care of at that time and posted as such on the website all righty I move to approve the revisions to the 2024 2025 Elementary Southern and Sanic high school student handbooks may I have a second please second do we have any discussion I do um what you got Mr Joe I would like to make

164a revision propose a revision to the dress code uh similar to conversations that I've had with Dr reper and I believe Dr Bryson um should I amend should I amend the motion I mean you could make a motion to amend okay you could discuss it first and then make your motion whatever you prer let's discuss it first so one of the things that I'd like to add to the dress code is something that is currently in the Middle School dress code um I summarize this as sunglasses hats caps hoods or any items that obscures one's face or identity may not be worn indoor during school hours exceptions are granted for religious or medical reasons can you read that one more time sunglasses hats caps hoods or any item that obscures one's face or identity may

165not be worn indoors during school hours exceptions are granted for religious or medical reasons this was previously removed from our dress code in our 2021 2022 handbook for the elementary and the high school but it still remains this year in the Middle School handbook which was just shared again um with the spring weather on May 6th by Dr Bell reminding families of the current dress code um currently we would be this would bring us in line with the rest of the schools in York County and their dress codes so if I get may I ask you a question our Middle School our already has this role so by you amending the policy you're trying to bring the high school and the Elementary in line with what is already for a cohesive what the middle school

166is is that correct in theory yes I mean I I think this this language is better than what we've what we have currently and if it were implemented at the high school and the other handbooks as well to keep it consistent as Dr reer wants to do which I think is appropriate propose the amendment do you can I ask a question yeah sure um so Dr Brayson how do you see this as impact on the so I would summarize it by saying no hats no hoods that's how it's going to be viewed um it it's never an easy shift to take something away that they're used to having flexibility with so original this was from the students um specifically hats maybe more than hoods that they wanted flexibility in being able to wear hats um

167and I think administratively and from a staff perspective tired of policing something that wasn't necessarily impacting instruction I see I see your point there what was the reason Reon for Middle Sor sorry to interrupt the reason for the Middle School taking caps away as well so I don't it it they never had they never had the flexibility to have the hats okay so it was true it was truly student council engagement of students give some get some and it was you know working through some of the behaviors that potentially we had and if that was something that kids wanted and we didn't see as a safety concern um so and I think that's administratively where they it's not come to us as a as a concern as a concern um in our discussion with Joe

168uh Nathan I think safety concern came up as one of the reasons to look at that and I think an argument and this is personally maybe more than superintend but an argument can be made that hoods are uh potentially a safety concern if you're unable to identify kids it's not been a real issue for us because we're small enough school that we know the kids are whether they get their head Hood up or not it's and it we don't have a large number of students with either really um I ventured to say that back in 2020 or 19 we may have had more kids wear hats when you weren't allowed to wear hats than we do today when it is allowed it's kind of that rule of force the rule and you know you're dealing

169with the issue but so with us relying on video a lot which you know we do discuss the use of video in you know dealing with student behavior issues and things of that nature um do we do you find that you have that that causes you any issues I have not as a principal and in my role we I have not seen an issue in identification of students because it's pretty easy if you see Mr hash wearing a hat and it's and it's backwards and he's walking down the hallway you know that's going to be Mr hash yes um you know even with with the hoods I mean I think there are students that may not have the hood on but now all of a sudden that hoods up now let's go back to that

170perception uh perceptual things we're talking about earlier something's going on with that student um I have not and I went through the discipline data when this came up as discussion we have not had an issue this year regarding anything with Hats being taken thrown hoods being pulled there we haven't had anything that has come across uh administratively in address in that um the one thing Mrs hankle I'll go back to I think we're or I mean I think maybe Mr Hall you asked this what what have you asked it about you know what's the the hesitancy or what might be some of the concerns I would have a concern for our teachers because now our teachers are going to have to address a student that's wearing a hat and then next thing you know they

171turn that corner guess what's going to happen that has going on and now we we get into a power struggle with between the student and and it's really not about the Hat you know when it comes down to it and some students may need it for medical reasons but now you're putting that student that has a medical reason that they're wearing it now you're isolating them now they're wearing it for a specific reason and others aren't and we'll run into that situation I Dr CH and you dealt with that as principal where now you're going to have other well why does he to wear it or now that student's wearing it and somebody doesn't know why they're wearing it and they're telling them to take it off you know and so I think you know

172in our initial discussion about the hoods you know I could see you know where that may that may become a a challenge and I know not I'm not a voting member here but I know when we're looking at the hats that has not caused a concern um but identification wise we'd be able to where we're able to tell on the the video but where I mentioned about the hood piece we have a lot of students that don't wear them if they go up that's one thing we took some quick data in the cafeteria over the last two weeks I believe it was Dr Bryson less than less than a handful of students wearing hoods same thing with Hats so you know you know if there's a concern that's you know with parents expressing the concern

173or students say there's a concern about it I can understand that so I just share that with the board we have not experienced any or heard of any concern from students or parents administrators or staff to this point regarding the the current use of the hats and why the why we decided to go in an alignment because it was brought up back in March in the April or at the April meeting is the high school had one that was very similar to Elementary and the administrator said we need to have one that's uniform and because there isn't a concern at the elementary with the hats and there wasn't one at the high school the Middle School uh agreed that allowing students to wear hats would be a uniform way of moving forward so if I'm

174understanding you you're you're it is in the Middle School handbook or it isn't it is it is it is yeah it's C it was currently in the middle it current it is currently 2023 2024 before it's in the handbook but when we have three different schools doing individual handbooks and we'll talk about next year handbook one uh uh one handbook districtwide but uh when they're in different handbooks different ways that there's not that cross communication between the buildings because they're focusing on their Level Elementary speaking about theirs middle school and the high school had their own so we're proposing to keep it in the Middle School the high school middle school is proposing to take it out schol take it to allow students to wear hat District wide what do our uh school resource officer

175say about the hoodies specifically and my off my conversation with officer Hansen had indicated that hoods are a concern for safety reason yeah so so if we took this revision and we remove the hats and caps from this that would be agreeable can you read it without okay let me sunglasses hoods or any item that obscures one's face or identity may not be worn indoors during school hours exceptions are granted for religious or medical reasons I like that better personally I I will say for my my opinion I don't see hats as being disrespectful I I do see hoods being up during a teacher's presentation I don't think that that's be fitting of an academic Organization for dress code I I also think that with a dress code there there are multiple goals one one

176is the the one you people usually think of which is uh you know some level of modesty or decency in dress uh but there's also an attitudinal component um that I think students um should when they're in class they should they should appear to be ready to learn and if you have a hood over your over your head it doesn't look like you're ready to learn um and and and you're not going to feel ready to learn I mean I think that it works its way in from the outside uh the way the way that you uh carry yourself into the school will affect the way that you that you approach the entire day um so I think I think you know the attitudinal component can't be underestimated I think it'd be it's very important

177um did you amend he hasn't moved which is good because we're uh because it's looks like it's going to be a little different from the original anyway so okay so I guess I should make a motion to amend right so um how do you see that impacting the students and we discussed the hats so I mean I I want to really want to hear your perspective on how you see that impacting the students just HS I think I mean obviously you're going to get opposition from students no matter what you take away um but I definitely think there would be more of an upro of like hats that's what I was thinking TOS yeah and I I I take Dr rper's comment that students who are wearing them for medical religious reasons if there's not

178a Prohibition on it then that doesn't stand out um whereas I don't you know so and obviously anyone can wear the G they need to for for medical religious reasons but um but that way there's a partic you know one one entire uh reason uh is is not that doesn't call you out um you know so what's uh a comment please can I make a comment yeah about the discussion MH none of the board members de have to deal with the students every day but yet the people that created these handbooks and the changes they want to make they're dealing with it and they know how to deal with it we don't deal with it on a daily basis why are we taking over their job they know what they want they know what it

179creates the problems it creates the things that that it corrects let's let them do their jobs instead of sitting here and trying to nitpick every little thing that we you personally may think is better but yet you don't have to deal with it on a daily basis like they do let them do their job and this is why we ask their opinions and we ask the opinions of the resource officers and we're taking those opinions into account but at the end of the day this is on our agenda as an action item so it literally is our job Mr to approve this but they also said it hasn't been a problem has actually but the resource officers are concerned about it Mr Holly I would expect that for for you to be consistent with what

180you just said you should probably abstain from the vote for the handbook because you wouldn't want to weigh in correct I didn't quite understand all that you said if you're a board director you're voting on a handbook you're giving oversight I I would expect for you to be consistent that you would probably not weigh in and not vote on that correct I'm going to vote but you don't believe this is your job you don't believe it's your job to to oversee this and and and make suggestions for for changes that you believe would be would be necessary or helpful with the input of various stakeholders I haven't heard anything yet that that really is a necessary change well you're free to vote the way you want I certainly hope so so I was you know

181trying to to dig down a little bit that you know we don't necessarily create you know unintended consequences you know so that's I'm trying trying to get your guys perspective do you do you see that as something that's going to create unintended consequences or do you see it as something that is healthy for the students I see it potentially a little bit of both and I don't mean to be Wishy was I okay I was pretty transparent with my thoughts on the hats versus I I personally really probably side towards I'm okay with hats and hoods and if the hood is an issue then it's not a problem for a teacher to ask a kid take their Hood down um but it also makes it possible the kid comes in and is in a bad

182place and puts their Hood up I might not ask them to take their Hood down it might be a cue for me to say you need five without having conflict with the kid so there's leeway there but if I'm compromising I'd compromise with the hoods because there's a piece of it that if I don't know the kid at all it is going to it's going to be difficult to to identify so but there's that perception we can't identify because of the hood but yeah I can't if I'm in reading or somewhere I don't know and the kid well I'm not going to be able to identify that but we actually did a test one day one faculty meeting where we did a video with a kid of the hood on and I was it you

183that's Doo I'm not saying so they were trying to prove the point and we kind of counter approved it and like it's not even a kid dude that's the so because we are around each other all the time I mean the kids are around each other all the time but anyway so I don't think it's huge safety concern I get it in theory yes if if I'm trying to identify in a lineup of kids I haven't seen before I'm not going to be able to do that if there were in hoods my final cell would be heaven forbid if something were to ever happen I remember that my vote at this time at this place if I said sure kids can have their hoods up in the building and something happens and I heard that

184the resource officers they are very uncomfortable with that and it's a security issue I can't in good conscience V for it so and I would say Mr Holly um there was an item uh on the agenda um some time ago uh with a number of of expenditures to approve for various buildings and grounds items this is before I was on the board um and one of those items was a scoreboard for the baseball fields and several community members asked to hold off and wait on some of those items and today that scoreboard is if you ask the coaches it's on the wrong field it was on the field that was at the time being used as the primary field but it wasn't the field that the coaches actually wanted to become the primary field so

185now we will have to build another scoreboard or move that one there will be an expense associated with it because we because the board did not wait and your comment was if they didn't need it they wouldn't be asking for it you commented if they didn't need these items they wouldn't be asking for them that was your comment on that agenda item you don't there were board members who wanted to ask questions and you did not and I see that as the same today yeah the scoreboards at the wrong field now so asking questions and collaborating and listening to the input but still using judgment is our job at least that's how I see it any further discussion for Mr Wilson I assume will make his Amendment motion to amend Jen real quick yes I

186get it and that's I think that's what I'm say my like if if you're just somewhere in between I agree with you I think I think the freedom of the hats is a good compromise I I very much compromise yep I like hats no really how are you going have V I couldn't have predicted that so are are we the the the exercise that you um referenced Dr Bryson about identifying and and it was it was do um was that in kind of wrangling with that with the with the school resource officers about what's what's what is it is it helpful is it harmful I think the re I think the resource officers would prefer not to have hoods okay yeah yeah okay okay thank you for that Dr Bryson and then and there there's

187that is based on I wish they were here we could ask in your mind that's based just on security yes they're out there they're right there the secretary's office okay I thank you but I mean we we have confirmation that that they um all right I'm going I'm going to make a motion to amend the handbooks across all three handbooks and next year it'll be one handbook according to Dr rert 2026 to read sunglasses hoods or any item that obscures one's face or identity may not be worn indoors during school hours exceptions are granted for religious or medical reasons do I have a second second any discussion um I do have a couple of things to say um I think that we need to get through this we're spending way too much time right um

188but at the same time I I do we hear about a lot of things that happen that shouldn't happen in schools because of safety and making sure that you know our our students are in a safe environment there's I don't even want to dig deep into it and talk about it is just that awful um so that's why I am going to vote for that Amendment um but I also see the other side of it too that if there's a problem that I think the the the teachers do build relationships with the students you know that I hear in and around being in the district that they'll just respectfully listen you know and take care of it if something's wrong so I it's not necessarily that I believe that it has to be you know

189something on paper but I do think that it's important to have it that way for safety purposes only nothing to do with not being able to tolerate it in a student just for the safety purpose alone my comment okay we have a motion in a second second on the amendment um you want to do a roll call on this I don't need to we do a roll call we don't to all right no why do we need a recall I mean if it's close yes if some if you hear a bunch of Nays then yeah still a roll call but otherwise um I guess then we'll do it all those in favor say I I I all those in favor say nayos opposed say n okay motion passes the amendment passes right less controversial 8.0

190we have to approve the it's been amended so so what do help help me here what do I do motion to approve the handbook well we already have a motion to approve we have a motion to amend so now we just need to take a vote call a question yeah so call the question because we were voting on the amendment now and now it's okay so question okay call the question motion to approve with the amendment correct uh any discussion all wait second that's fine we're already in there any Nays or abstentions that motion carries thank you guys sorry about that 8.02 it's the 2024 2025 Elementary Digital Academy student handbooks the secondary the uh Elementary digital the student contract and the secondary Digital Academy student contracts um Dr rer do you have anything to

191add to these no nothing to add to all right so I'm going to make a motion to approve the 2024 2025 Elementary Digital Academy student h book secondary Digital Academy Elementary Digital Academy and the secondary Digital Academy student contracts may I have a second please second any discussion with this one any Nays or extensions that motion passes brings us to 8.03 graduates for the class of 2024 yay I make a motion to approve the 238 graduates for the class of 2024 from Susan High School pending the completion of all graduation requirements may I have a second please second second any discussion congratulations woo all righty any Nays or extensions hold your breath that motion carries can't wait to see him walk across 8.04 novel adoption I move to approve the following novel adoption Hunger Games

192by Suzanne Collins 2008 Scholastic press for grade 8 may I have a second please second uh any discussion It's a Wonderful book it is I will say this one is near and dear to my heart and you know not everything and I'm not in any way criticizing the author but not everything has to be highlevel British literature this is what got my son to read so you go with what your kids read right and they are amazing so um we have a second uh and we does anybody else have any other discussion any Nays or abstentions all right that motion passes 8.05 clinical experience agreement between Western Governor's University and southern New York County School District and for that one um I'm going to go ahead and move to approve the clinical experience agreement between

193Western Governor's University and Southern York school Southern York County School District for term of 3 years through May 2027 we've got our content there at the end the bottom there may I have a second please second uh does anybody have any discussion with this one I believe Dr rert can answer any of the questions you might have with this no discussion all righty any Nays or extensions that motion carries 8.06 the speakers approved through the vetting process Dr reper take it away uh we do have two speakers uh Mayor Mike shy uh will be speaking to the uh third grade students at shrewbury Elementary uh that's part of one of the grants that they have completed so mayor Shar going to Comm in there's three questions that uh he'll be sharing to the students what's

194the purpose of Mayor talking about ordinance Etc um and the second one is for Colonel Arthur Athens uh he will well we've gone through the vetting process 8.07 will be the uh the approval of uh funding it uh but the colonel Athens will be our opening day in service speaker um and then we would utilize him U meet the team night um as we did this past year with John Paul Gonzalez as a community event uh the uh message will be me to we as a message uh to the uh students at the meet Team night all righty and that one was information and so that brings us to the next one that he just introduced 8.07 which is the cost associated with the speaker approv through the vetting process and it's just one it's

195the uh Colonel Arthur Athens so I move to approve the cost associated with the following speaker that's been approved through the vetting process Colonel Arthur Athens at a cost of $6,500 to present to The District staff during the opening day in service and to the community at meet the teams night on Monday August 14th 2024 may I have a second please any discussion I will give kudos to Dr Bryson on this one I don't know how you found the man what strings you pulled thank you he's he looks absolutely incredible the reading that I've done about him I just well done how did you find him by the way uh actually neighboring District utilized them and then um it's not often your schedules match up but we usually put an invite out to our colleagues

196to float around and see different speakers that are coming in that are vetted and it then I came back and Mrs screen said yeah I think I've seen him speak it whether it was pasbo or okay right so usually you start hearing it multiple times he was quite the fine thank you so much for for jumping on that when you had the opportunity and um yeah just well done he he looks incredible I can't wait to to hear this week anybody else have any dis discussion points yeah I would also like to thank you because you know that can really set the tone for the school year for the students yeah you know I I know last year's speaker you know really resonated with my my children and you know I I heard it from

197the stands you know through multiple sporting Seasons so uh that that stuff is really really great and a great way to set off the year for the kids y good mind uh any Nays or abstentions that motion carries 8.08 stage one Curriculum maps as districtwide Master Maps Dr reper take it away uh yes we uh have have many maps that are there to approve uh but this this time I want to pull just one out um I know we're hitting the 10:00 hour so we're going to pull out the one about culinary arts uh so it's a seventh grade map uh just follows the same format as we went through the last time but specifically with this one food safety quality control uh re recipe development collaboration being a be being a big component uh

198for those students when they're in there how to work collabora in a kitchen um and then basic culinary skills so I think Dr Bryson just went out to get us dominoes uh but there's a lot of other components that are in there hygiene prep uh awareness Etc so uh still following that same format uh as we presented last month and it really breaks down in these maps that we have uh you big kudos to Dr Hughes and the staff that are working with her and polling these together um it is it is a process uh but what we're doing is we're putting these these maps in a way that our students are able our teachers are able to follow these components in the map and our students are getting the uh the information that they

199need to be successful Dr Hughes anything else you want to share again I just want to give kudos to all of our faculty members and to especially Dr Kim Hughes the I was able to sit in on some of the method of her Madness and it was like a beautiful mind but in a good way of just how much time and effort this beautiful woman is putting into the curricul of our school it's I don't know where we would be without you thank you so much Mr ankle if I could also just Echo what our staff is also doing uh they're spending the hours when you when you approve on the consent agenda for the curriculum writing they're spending the hours and hours of of making sure it's aligned to uh the standards that are

200out there uh but more importantly developing activities that are authentic thank you so much for that all right I move to approve the following stage one Curriculum maps as districtwide Master maps and um is it okay if I just say as noted on the okay as noted on our agenda uh may I have a second second any discussion any Nays or abstentions I just also want to say thank you Dr GES for all the work you put in well done that motion carries all right that brings us to 8.09 and this is the purchase of the EMS portable suction unit for the the EMT class at the high school um this is is it not the type isn't filled in but it must be an action item yeah it's got to be an action item

201um this again kudos to our district for scooping this up um this is the second year that we've done the EMT class is that correct and for them to know that we should just go ahead and buy this thing outright and not have to worry about renting each time kudos to you guys for doing that again um so I'm going to go ahead and motion to purchase for $800 the EMS portable section unit for our EMT class at the high school may I have a second please second does anybody have any discussion points I'm sure that they will appreciate it as will miss Worley yes and I'm sure the Glenrock ambulance company will also appreciate the donation excellent thank you thank you for doing that all righty any Nays or extensions that motion carries as

202well that brings brings us to 8.10 musical equipment purchases for the susco hanic high school band from I'm not going to say that last name music service um okay what they said uh I moved to approve the musical equipment purchases for the ssoh hanic high school band at the cost of $1,972 185 as budgeted under the co-star's contract may I have a second please second any discussion items about this love our art love our music programs love the marching band can't say it enough um any Nays or abstentions for this item that motion carries as well brings us to 8.11 I do have one item of business the Kudos will continue with me I would like to publicly State uh just the cooperation that Dr rert Dr Hughes and I had when it comes to

203the burn center presentation uh several board members sat in on the grow and no I want to give a shout out to the burn center as well they accommodated us just the back and forth the collaboration we sat in on this and it was not just age appropriate but the climate and the culture and the professionalism it was one of the best presentations I've ever seen about a matter that is it could get uncomfortable and they were just incredible they were awesome the children were AB absolutely enraptured and just well done to our district well done to our professionals thank you guys so much that concludes the education report all right on to finance and budget uh Mr Wilson thank you 9.01 Treasures report for April 2024 uh general fund concentration account the balance at

204the beginning of the month with $13 million $ 41,5 4559 we ended the B we ended the month with a balance of 10,138 227.50 our investment accounts we started the month at $30 milon 245,000 111125 and ended the month at $30 million 75 this continues sort of our seasonal draw down towards the end of the fiscal year uh that the rest of that is attached there for review 9.02 reviews for bills for payment I'd like to make a motion to approve the bills for payment as presented I have a second second any questions any can no uh any Nays or extensions hearing none motion passes 9.03 is an easy one exonerations and refunds there are none 9.04 tax collection report that is attached for your perusal 9.05 budget status report that as well is attached

205for your perusal uh both for the general fund and the cafeteria fund 9.06 um motion to I'd like to make a motion to approve the budget transfers as presented do I have a second second um any questions or concerns no any Nays or extensions hearing none motion passes 9.07 the cafeteria report that is attached for your review and now the big one 9.08 adoption of the general fund budget for the 2024 202 fiscal year I'd like to make a motion to approve the adoption of the general fund budget for the 2024 2025 fiscal year per resolution do I have a second second any changes to this Sue from our last uh review uh no the only thing um in your board briefing um because the Homestead Farm said we didn't don't get those numbers until

206the beginning of May so um we U just Incorporated that into the budget so that would be the only only changes to the document okay any questions from the board okay um any Nays or extensions hearing none motion passes we have a budget 9.09 tax Le resolution for the 2024 2025 fiscal year I'm going to make a motion to adopt the tax levy resolution for the 2024 2025 fiscal year this resolution does not include a tax increase may I have a second second any discussion I'm happy about it that's all I'd like to say yeah and it's entirely thanks to Trevor and Sue and their excellent stewardship of our finances thank you guys so much we were able to bring it in zero we're not always able to do that so when we're not it's

207not our fault right that's not how it works take cred when you can yes thank you sir okay um any Nays or abstentions hearing none motion passes 9.10 Homestead Farmstead resolution for the 2024 2025 fiscal year like to make a motion to approve the homestead Farmstead resolution for the 2024 2025 fiscal year may have a second second okay um any discussion here soe can you um talk about the impact of this yes so um basically the homestead Farmstead money is State money that comes to us we must use all of the money for tax reduction U we got about an additional $266,000 this year um which equates to about a $42 decrease in taxes for each Homestead and Farmstead property uh that we have in the district so basically we take all of the money

208um and we divide it up by approved properties uh in the district so it's residential homesteads and farmsteads that have applied for um the exclusion forste said Farmstead so I always like to point out that while this money is great and important um it is not for expenditures of the district it is only for reduction in taxes so because we didn't have a tax increase um and we got more money um tax bills will go down $42 um for each residential and Homestead Property and it's not an average it is all properties get the same amount so a slightly lower tax bill this year for any of those properties um will that amount that amount changes year to year yes it's based upon the the um money that is released from the state and we

209usually um find out about that at the beginning of May okay thank you any other discussion okay any nay or exensions hearing none motion passes 9.11 revisions to the tax collection policy manual this is I would like to make motion to approve revisions to the tax collection and policy manual including the approval of senior citizen property tax rebate resolution for 2024 2025 may have a second second okay um any conversation on this mostly it was just date changes in the document yeah there are no substantive changes it's just updating the dates um and the tax Mage in the manual okay all right um do we have any Nays or abstentions hearing none motion passes 9912 tax collector resolution for railroad buau I'm going to make a motion to approve a tax collector resolution to appoint

210Rachel Wetzel as tax collector for the 2024 2025 fiscal year for railroad burrow taxes may I have a second second any discussion questions he none all right any Nays or exensions hearing none motion passes 913 tax collector resolution for New Freedom burrow I'm going to make a motion to approve a tax collector resolution to appoint Gail prgo as tax collector for the 2024 2025 fiscal year for New Freedom burrow they have a second second um any discussion on this m Mr Wilson if I may I just wanted to take a moment um the tax collect our tax collector from New Freedom Suzanne Webb passed away um so I just wanted to take a moment um she did a wonderful job for the years that she um was tax collector and um heartfelt sorrow to her

211family um as it was a sudden thank you thank you um any other discussion any Nays or abstentions hearing none motion passes 914 Workforce Development client training with harrisburger Community College we make a motion to approve the Workforce Development client training proposal agreement with Harris fgar Community College which is valid through December 31st 2026 May have a second second um any questions on this is there anything we want that you would like to add to this um this is so we work with Harrisburg Area Community College for the EM EMT program um in order for us to be able to do that um uh Miss rley has to also do some other courses um so they're enabling her to um teach uh some courses to staff like uh C PR training at The District in

212order to fulfill that so that's what this um agreement allows us to do thank you any other discussion okay any Nays or abstentions hearing none motion passes 9:15 resolution to request a public school facility Improvement Grant that's a long one so I'm going to make a motion to approve the resolution to request a public school facility Improvement Grant in the amount of 1,211 1836 from the Commonwealth financing authority to be used for replacement of certain sections of the Southern Middle School roof there is a fee of $100 to apply 25% match requirement and the application is due May 31st 2024 may have a second second any discussion here okay any NS or extensions hearing none motion passes 916 Public School environmental repairs grant program for aesus abatement at cesano high school I'm going to make

213a motion to authorize the administration to apply for the public school environmental repairs grant program for as bestus abatement at susano high school the application is free and due June 30th 2024 may I have a second second okay any discussion um is this the one that is potentially retroactive yes okay so um if I can I know you just approved the other on so these two grants are are the ones that um were announced at the end of December um and then the um information on them just came out I believe at the beginning of May um so our folks have been working fast and seriously so huge shout out to uh Mr Carrington and Mr Buffington for um all the work that it takes the uh Grant before we had to have three estimates

214in order to apply um so it takes a lot to put all this together um this one is retroactive to July 1st 2023 um because we bid for the ASB bestus before that we are still looking into what the requirements are um we're getting authorization at this board meeting but um we are going to wait till um um towards the end of June to the June 30th deadline to apply um because as they're working through the demolition we'll we'll find out hopefully we won't find out anything else but um if we were would have any additional cost so we won't be applying till closer to June 30 so we have all that information and shout out to Randy and sue for working through getting all the estimates and everything for this grant thank you um

215any further discussion any Nays or extensions hearing none motion passes 9917 renewal license renewal Microsoft enrollment for Education Solutions licensing agreement it's our Microsoft tax I guess we make a motion to approve a renewal Microsoft enrollment for Education Solutions licensing agreement through iu13 at an amount of $24,500 and10 per year for 5 years may have a second second any discussion any information on this Sue or um so um we've been using this for years it works well for the district so it's basically for the Microsoft Suite okay thank you um any Nays or extensions here none motion passes 918 agreement with csiu for the purchase of SC view I'm going to get all tongue tied on these acronyms going to make a motion to approve an agreement with csiu Central ssco Hanah Intermediate Unit for

216the purchase of SCV at a cost of $1,072 and the purpose of this may I have a second second um this is for tracking employee clearances um does this track volunteer clearances as well um we don't use it for volunteer I don't believe we use it for volunteer clearances because they're not going to be in our system the same way but it allows us with tracking of clearances and other things um we were using another um software for that which had a similar price this is a little bit more not much um but this software is our um financial information software so it'll integrate um and will be more efficient because right now we're having to use both systems to to track great um any other comments discussion any Nays or exensions hearing none motion

217passes 919 agreement with cisa for Network vulnerability scanning I'm going to make a motion to approve an agreement with cisa the cyber security infrastructure Security Agency for Network vulnerability scanning free of cost for the district may have a second second any discussion any Nays or extensions hear none motion passes 920 marching band trailer I'm going to make a motion to approve the purchase of a trailer to be used by the sus P High School Marching Band for $1,150 plus an estimated delivery fee of $1650 for an estimated total cost of $11,800 from Trailer daddy this onetime purchase will be funded with budget surplus may have a second second again any discussion I do have a question um is this replacing the other trailer that they have and what's wrong with the trailer that they have

218I I don't know I'm really just so they have two main trailers with the ban um one they the band boosters are placed in the fall and donated to the district if you recall um the second excuse me they asked um the high school put in for a budget request um during the budget process um because we had um a lot of new board members we we didn't bring onetime purchases in January like we usually do so this was going to be one of our onetime purchases because we had so many um newer folks so um it's part of that that request process um and just to kind of refresh people's memory or if you haven't heard before um when we have budget requests that are one time that for items that maybe last 10

219to 12 years we usually don't put them into the budget we usually do them as onetime purchases because otherwise it inflates the budget for one for onetime expenditure um so um as far as use it's just aged it's an age trailer so the one thing that we need to look at is whether um I just got an email today um whether we're going to sell it or what we're going to do there but we have to take a look at that thank you at the same question actually so the the smaller white one is the one we're replacing I believe it's the the two big ones I think the small white one's the a small white one and a big red one big red one is the new one isn't it the the band boosters

220bolt is that correct it's actually two you're actually three trailers out there correct right so we're adding a fourth or we replacing one of the three one of the yes the older yes okay the bigger ones all right yeah so I'm sorry I don't know the exact colors on I walked by them a good bit on the way in I got to pass I have to check those colors out but um yeah it's one of the older ones okay okay um any further discussion any nay or extensions hearing none motion passes we got new instruments to put in it too wait a minute okay 9.21 Independence Law Center for legal counsel I'm going to make a motion to approve to retain the independence Law Center for legal councel may have a second second any discussion

221I just like to make a comment I think we're making a big mistake by retaining this law fir noted so you said last time that they they cost over a million dollars um and I I knew that there was something incorrect about the claim um but I didn't remember the exact details so I went and looked it up and that's one of those examples of the media Lying by Omission um so the case that cost a over million was the uh kit Miller versus Dober case and ilc was not did not represent Dober School District in that case um they were actually represented by the Thomas Moore uh Law Center and in fact so what you'll see is Media reports that say Dober School District did such and such you know proposed this policy and

222uh and and then they'll mention ilc was involved in the case but ilc did not represent do school district in fact their Chief counsel uh Mr Wagner advised do against what do was planning to do so in fact they tried to save over from an ill-advised uh ill-advised policy uh and their involvement in the case was actually to represent a different party which was a uh book publisher uh book author or publisher I can't recall which but um so it's it's one of those things where the media always leave out uh that detail uh that their involvement was not representing Dober and in fact their advice was against the actions Dober took um I heard a lot of other wild characterizations of uh of both myself and other people that I ran with for this

223office and um and the ilc and I know a lot of the characterizations of myself and those I ran with are untrue and so I'm not particularly inclined to take the characterizations of ilc uh particularly seriously if they're not backed by some kind of concrete information so given that um you know I I I have a lot that I could say about this but I really I do think that given given that I think it's so important that with the the honestly looking back to the Panorama thing that we really look at how we are respecting parental rights and Families that um we retain legal councel that I think will help to advise us on some of those issues uh parental rights I think is is is very important um and so I'd like to

224hear from them and if their Council goes off the rails then we can say no thank you uh we're not interested um but I I'm the the the wild characterizations don't make me particularly disinclined to to at least hear from them any further discussion on this Mr h president hle sorry um would you be willing to name what exactly you want to hear from the Law Center there was just because there was seemed to be a lot of speculation from the public comment about what it is you might be discussing and I think it would possibly in the board be in the board's best interests to just publicly State what it is you're interested in yeah predominantly as I've said before Athletics and uh parental rights would you be willing to be more specific so

225I want to hear from them what they what their proposed policies are I I want to make sure that we are making sure our students are safe um uh and and you know making sure that there's there's fairness um and then um I might want to make sure that parents are aware of um really pretty much everything about their children and how the school is interacting with their children I think that parents parents have an absolute right uh to the uping upbringing of their children um and that that that right can only be um abrogated under the most most severe circumstances so I'd like to I'd like to hear more from them about how we can how we can ensure that that the parents are being respected um in in in everything we do if

226I could just add there was some comment in regard to Mr litz and being unhappy with his service and that is so far from the truth there is no inclination of the board that that Mr litz is going to stop serving our district there is absolutely no appetite for that so I just wanted to put that out there thank you Mr litz for you know all of your good advice and um willingness for coal um in a few of these matters and there was also some discussion about um hostility towards um lgbtq which there is no intention of that there was also some speculation of book Banning which there is no intention of that either uh so hopefully uh that will help with some of the assumptions that are mistruths that are being carried um

227that is not our intention at all and and um that's what I have to say I'd also like to say that um being the recipient of multiple occasions of M mistruth or even in some cases flat out lies from some of the same individuals who want to discourage uh the independence wall Center that it doesn't carry a lot of weight with me to be able to take it seriously when you have a comment uh when you know I know that you're you're proclaiming falsehoods from at the same time so uh there's a disconnect or disjoining um so it's difficult to accept that as uh being factual the only comment I'd like to make on this is obviously any policy that would come out of any conversations with ilc would be handled in public just like

228we have now established as the new standard of transparency in this District of sharing policies publicly so that we can get feedback so that we can hear from all the stakeholders involved and I would like to also add to that that I'm not considering any policy from any organization with out Jeff litz is who's you know served us with distinction has provided us with very valid guidance you know for my entire term all five months I'm I'm I'm well aware that uh we should not take them for granted because I I know of solicitors in other districts that I I would have a problem with uh I know I know things they've they've done and things they've advised that uh I do not believe represent good advice um just on the face of it and

229so um yeah I would I would mention yet again uh I have been pleased with his service to us um and his opinion will be taken has been taken seriously and will continue to be taken seriously by me and so far it seems like uh everyone on the board seems to appreciate you know appreciate his uh his uh expertise I mirror those Kudos um you're a straight shooter and I appreciate that thank you for that and I'd like to make two comments um regarding public comments about the ilc you can't really have it both ways it can't be that the ilc and their policies have cost districts millions of dollars to which I would ask which policies m one but then also that they make their profit off of representing districts then that if they

230make their profit off of representing districts that they made policies for wouldn't that mean those policies were defensible and that they won I mean if the representation is pro bono correct which so so if they're collecting legal fees and they're quote unquote making money based on the policies that they help write and then defend those policies then that means that those policies were sound enough to win in court you can't have it both ways so that's my comments for that and I would just like to build off of what Mr Wilson said with regard to developing policy um and being transparent about that um I know as the new chair of the policy committee one of the things that I've tried to do is to answer questions that I know that I had when I

231was sitting out there and I didn't understand necessarily all of the process and um I must be honest and say that the public comments tonight about the policy I don't believe anybody read it because there were actually changes made to it that were completely reflective of what had been asked of us um not only from our constituents parents but also from the um Teachers Association um and so there has to be some level of assuming good intent and when we did something so clearly and we've made that process and we've elongated it to allow that transparency and I heard multiple comments that did not at all represent the policy that we had that's been posted I don't find that there's going to be a way that for certain people we're going to be able to

232do what it is that they want us to do but we are always going going to be committed to doing the thing even if nobody's listening which is the right thing which means we're going to hear perspectives we're going to listen to them we're going to evaluate them based on our particular School District we will make the policies and we will be transparent about that and I'll just in the interest of being really really fair um yes there were several commenters who it seemed have not read the policies who were referencing un un un scheduled visits classrooms and that sort of thing uh one commenter did appear to have read the policy which was Ashley Morrison um so uh I just want to give credit where it's due um you know and I believe Miss

233Morrison still had some questions um and um I I believe that the policy is is adequate as it stands um despite those questions um but uh but I want to make sure that I I give credit um but yeah many many of the commenters it seemed had not had not read possibly even the original version of the policy but certainly not the the latest um but we're not at that part right now we're in the is true it's true but it it's save that for when we got to go there yeah we can yeah sorry sorry I just yeah it was it was more about I get what you're saying I get it okay um any further discussion on this um just to be clear is it untrue that you want to hear policies regarding

234transgender people students and sports so I mean we want to hear policies about uh participation in sports um and the you know I I want to hear what their policy would be um regarding transgender stud about students participation in sports broadly um about how we can maintain how we can ensure fairness and what that will look like but uh I would not prohibit any student from participating in sports I mean outside of a medical reason that their doctor was telling them they couldn't participate in sports um okay I'm going to ask for a roll call vote on this Elizabeth Doberman no Bill Hall yes Mary Lee Hall yes Samantha Hall yes Jeremy hash yes Jen hankle yes Nathan hankle yes James Holly no Joe Wilson yes 7 to2 motion passes 9.22 other items of business

235I have none back to you president hle all right moving on we have uh 10 committee report personnel and policy I will turn it over to our vice president okay thank you um obviously skipping 10.01 because we've already done that um moving on to 10.02 um I have the student adjudication item 10.02 student adjudication 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 apply for readmission to the school district after one calendar year which would be April 19th 2025 if the student agrees to complies with and has met and meets the following conditions while expelled the student must participate in the alternative education for disruptive youth otherwise known

236as the AED Dy program chosen for the student by the school district while attending this program the student must maintain regular School attendance and have no disciplinary referrals while enrolled in the program number two the student may seek an alternative educ ation outside the district at the parents expense number three while enrolled in the aedy program the student must participate in any and all counseling programs requested by the school district and or the aedy program including but not limited to drug and alcohol counseling the Student Assistance Program and mental health counseling the student must follow all recommendations as part of that process number four prior to applying for readmission to the school district the student must successfully complete two random drug tests at the parent or guardian's expense drug test dates will be selected by

237the school district and must be completed within 24 hours of the notification parents or Guardians must present results of the drug test to the school district within 48 Hours of the initial notification number five failure of the student to complete a test within 24 hours or if any test result indicating the Pres of an illegal and or non-prescribed drug will result in a delay of readmission Eligibility and additional drug test continued infractions will result in additional delays of readmission Eligibility number six 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 approve adjudication for student a do we have a second second I have a motion and a second any discussions or questions any Nays or

238abstentions hearing none that motion carries um item 10.03 the um contract with Southern New York educational Association support Personnel um just a broad note of how much we've value the support personnel and all that they bring to the district and our students um it was an honor to work on the negotiation process and I learned a lot I want to thank Mrs Green and Dr Bryson for walking me through that um so uh appreciate that uh while the contract was effective until June 30th 2025 the administration and board felt it was a priority to review it a year early so that any salary increases and benefit changes would be effective for the upcoming budget year the feedback provided Ed by the Association Representatives was very helpful and directed to ways that southern York County School

239District can remain competitive among New York County school districts in attracting and retaining support Personnel I'd like to make a motion to approve a contract with the southern York educational support Personnel Association from July 1st 2024 through June 30th 2028 do I have a second second any discussion [Applause] any Nays or extensions motion carries item 10.04 the board treasure at this time I would like to turn it over to Mr Holly as the chair of the nominating committee for nominations for the position of board Treasurer thank you Samantha uh when I heard that uh Joe's term uh would expire uh early this summer I contacted Joe and asked if he'd be willing to continue on his treasure and he gave me a positive answer and I saw no reason to inquire if anyone else was

240interested so I'm recommending uh Joe uh be reappointed to the office of treasure for the school board okay do you want to make the motion or should I I think it's it's up to me okay Mr hankle if you read the all right um I will um move to um approve the nomination of uh Mr Wilson um for board Treasurer any is there a second second I guess we second on nominations but all right any n or extensions to the nomination uh any or I guess we don't need n or extensions any other nominations from the floor all right I will close nominations now we can have our election um then we have so we just have a Voice vote for uh for Mr Wilson all in favor say I I I all opposed say

241nay um all right congratulations Mr Treasurer thank you thank you Mr Holly thank you Jim thank you Mr Wilson um item 10.05 act 93 plan um act 93 refers to the agreement with the administrative team this is a three-year agreement and we are in the third year of that agreement and the revisions being voted on tonight determine the base index and the 457 contribution um I want to make a motion to approve the following for the 2024 2025 year a base increase for ACT 93 salaries of 2% continuation of 1% for the 457 contribution and revision of a plan to reflect these changes I make do I have a second second um any discussion any NS or abstentions okay the motion carries item 10.06 um I have the 2024 2025 compensation and benefit program the

242Board of Education to consider adopting a 2024 2025 compensation and benefit program and this is specifically for our non-union support staff our Nona 93 salary staff which I think Dr Bryson had mentioned we it's kind of equivalent to our middle management and then other positions in substitute staff which could include um substitute teachers and game help so I'd like to make a motion to adopt a 2024 2025 compensation and benefit program for the positions that I mentioned um and do I have a second second any discussion any names or abstentions motion the only thing can we just can you add like the the fourth category that was listed on there was um act 93 and cabinet administrators because we need to approve the salaries oh s part of the do you want me to read

243it again I just well I just want to make sure it's included in there because you didn't mention that okay so let me let me redo so I make a motion to adopt a 2024 2025 compensation and benefit program for our non-union support staff for our Nona 93 salary staff for ACT 93 administrators and cabinet administrator administrators and for other positions and substitutes do I have a second second any discussion any NS or extensions that motion carries um item 10.07 the southern New York County School District Foundation Board of director appointments um just by way of explanation because I was curious about it the foundation bylaws indicate a mixture of the board of director appointments to the foundation as well as the the actual board and these terms are for three years being effective July

2441st 2024 so I make a motion to appoint the following to the southern New York County School District Foundation Board of Directors for three-year terms effective July 1st 2024 um Susan Barnhart Randall Buffington and Gail sites prgo do I have a second second any discussion any Nays or abstentions okay that motion carries um and then item 10.08 um this is voting on the delegates for the psba delegate assembly um just also wanted to share a little bit about that the psba delegate assembly will be held on November 2nd 2024 the board members that we vote on tonight will be our delegates at this meeting meeting and they will vote on any bylaw amendments as well as the 2024 psba legislative platform which includes both legislative priority items and core legislative principles and supporting Concepts so

245I'd like to make a motion to approve the following two voting delegates for the psba delegate assembly meeting on Saturday November 2nd 20124 Mary Lee Hall in person option preferred and Jennifer henle in person option preferred do I have a second second uh any discussion I'd just like to explain a little bit more sure everybody understands what it is um so just like you said the psba delegate assembly is an annual Association wide business meeting and includes the legislative platform and bylaw considerations Financial updates and psba Leadership election results so the 2024 delegate assembly it's getting together in November uh they're going to go over anything that school districts will submit for the current legislative platform we did not have any submissions we didn't have any changes additions or modifications to you know words that

246we feel like will be necessary to change um so we don't have anything to submit which is fine um however psba is still going to be sending out a link to all School Board directors so I wanted everyone to know about it to look for it um we are going to be be getting that in the beginning of June and what that is is an an invitation to participate in a survey uh to help select pba's legislative platform priorities for the 2025 26 session of the general assembly so that will give everyone a voice to have an idea of what you're going to be looking for associated with our district and our needs uh for the next coming year uh so please be on the lookout for that we need to respond by June 19th

247thank you any other discussion all right any nams or abstentions the motion carries um item 10.09 this is a reading of policy 012 School director visits to schools um as per our board policy I conducted a first reading of a draft policy at the March meeting for board deliberation and to listen to public comment the draft policy was then posted for the April meeting at that time we invited the community to email comments on the policy we also met with the Teachers Association to listen to feedback the comments from those stakeholder groups are included in the straft policy which was posted in advance of this meeting given that the edits amended the scope of the original draft which was read in April so that all the visits that are scheduled whether it's initiated by the

248superintendent building Administration board president or individual School directors the amended draft is presented this evening as information only and will be voted on on the June meeting the policy is listed on the website so I won't read it in its entirety but I will summarize the other changes that were made so again the big change is that all these visits will be scheduled other changes included detailing requirements for school visits to maintain school security protocols so they are consistent at all buildings amending the total number of director initiated visits not to exceed 10 in a given week and clarifying exemptions and prohibitions again the policy is on the agenda tonight for information and I guess I would just um ask if anybody has any questions or comments to anything I would like to say um

249thank you for hearing me out about um the giving the courtesy to the building administrators about notifying them ahead of time um on the second page towards like the bottom you Chang the language there um from at least one business day in advance to um um uh waiting for the acknowledgement and acceptance from said administrator and I think that that um is courteous and um we give administrators time to prepare should they feel necessary so thank you for I also appreciate the changes and listening um I do are we not doing a survey then is that well the the uh Association performed a survey and so rather than survey the teachers to death we decided to work with them uh and and discuss their the concerns they had and incorporate those concerns and um Dr

250Bryson I believe you said that the general generally at this point the feedback is um that they're amenable to the the current version agreed I think we're in a good place with where it's at and my other question is just 10 visits a week seems a bit exessive I mean like it could be seven so you're like visiting one school or one day a week but or five honestly like I don't understand why it's 10 that AC somebody can explain that that is across the entire board um as as I understand changed it so like one like so it's a total of 10 so if all nine of us went in and one of us went in one extra time then that's it I know the way it the way that it was worded before

251it was each board director could go in twice week that would have been 18 visits a week that seemed like a lot but you know putting at 10 at an even number seemed reasonable I was reading it as you could go in 10 times I'm like I do that and truly on occasion I feel like sometimes it can be a busy season and because of our board duties we could be in school five or six times in one week already you know outside of anything that has to do with policy I think it's just putting it out there so that it's on paper and you know everyone knows but I know there are some weeks I'm in school six or seven times you just for my duties that I'm doing so no I get that

252that's different that's not yeah well those aren't those don't count toward the 10 if I was going to ask that doesn't include like the if you guys choose to like volunteer in the classroom like with like that those 10 visits don't count no it's just a board initiate yeah that would only it would only if it was a board director initiated visit under this policy would account for the 10 visits so when I come in to meet with Dr Bryson to go over the agenda that doesn't count because that's he's initiating that and Dallas town like do some kind of like at the board like if they went into the school they give a report like that they went to the school and this is what they saw I I'm asking I didn't really check

253I got to be honest but I thought I overheard that but I don't know if it's a WR I don't know not aware just one I have one question uh the last paragraph says a school director's failure to intentionally comply with the policy will result in a first offense written warning continued non-compliance will result in further measures determined by the board including temporary and permanent suspension question is suspension from the visiting the school or suspension from the board uh I don't think we have the power to suspend from the board at least for something like that it would be the Privileges under the policy correct okay should that be you feel like that should be should we clarify that we clarify that I think it could be clear go have ADD yeah if we clarify

254that do we have to go through another reading well no you could you could make the change and then when it goes on there yeah we can make the change now but also that to me that's a Dom Minimus change a clarifying change like that is is not one that we have to have another read significant yeah okay and there was also some public comment about class in classroom Clarity um am I wrong in that the board does not have an appetite to sit in a classroom the policy says unless we're invited right so do do I have an appetite ever to sit in the classroom sure I mean would I like to see but but that's going to be cleared with the teacher and then also it was raised that that you know when

255we're accompanied there's no prohibition on entering classrooms if I if Dr Bryson's walking me around and that's on him um he he walked me right into the the fact classroom CU he wanted to show me the equipment in there and there was a class going on and and and he'll he'll have to accept resp responsibility for that discoring me and was some concern about one-on ones with students um my understanding is that's not something that anyone's going to be doing there's not be questioning I think we clarified that because that wasn't in the initial draft as far as um making sure that any conversation with a student took place in a public area sure in view of the public yeah I think that was a good addition MH yeah because I mean a student might

256approach us and and we're not going to be rude and say I can't talk to you but but it's got to have to be in a public area and and it's it specifies polite conversation so uh a student is walking by and I say hi that doesn't you know I I think that's acceptable yeah just clarifying for The Who keeping track of the 10 visits like whose job is that going to have to be well uh we do we notify so part of the policy is we notify Dr Bryson now we don't have to wait the the approval pieces from the bilding administrator um so I suppose if if all of us tried to do it all at once uh then that could create a problem but I I just there's a record I don't

257think that's going to be an issue but Dr Bryson will will be copied on any requests um and honestly I mean I I just don't see this coming up much because there are so many so many visits that I have that are for purposes of of being here that I do want to come and and visit and observe the school environment but um honestly with the with the number of calls that I have to take and the number of times I have to come over here it it I I would not be able to visit every every week you know even once and if every board member visited once every week that still would be within within it um I think the flexibility is is mostly that if for some reason you and and and

258especially with different buildings and and that's one thing that's not entirely clear to me it looks like 10 10 across the district so there's that as well uh is that it actually actually ends up being two visits per School per week across the entire board um so it's it's really not that many visits um if you think about it that way not a lot of us I you in my case at least you know I'm working 40 hours a week in the day so coming in would require a change of schedule and those so it's not so easy just to you know I mean yeah so often I'm already working late because he calls me in the middle of the day I'm a planner for my part he's working late too because of it so

259at least we suffer together for my part I was just I'm very encouraged that that this board can collaborate that we do listen to other um opinions that uh Mrs Caroline you you gave us some feedback too I'm I'm I'm very happy and proud of the product that we did I I think it shows that we can put our heads together and and be better for it and uh Mr litz I would actually like to publicly apologize to you when I reviewed the uh footage of the last meeting I said that if anybody wasn't happy with the way that the policy was drafted the first time count me in to I didn't like it that was by no means any kind of um dig on you you you did an amazing job trying to predict

260first time all of the external and so thank you so much for that no problem she's saying you can't heard words you can't make all the people happy all the time sounds like a challenge Mr L Mr hash did you have something yeah um since we're doing a little points clarification um page three middle of it says entry into private spaces including Laboratories must require permission from the superintendent I'm sorry U Dr Bryson but if I have to go I gotta go so we won't put well seriously I mean might want to clarify that they private bathrooms yeah it's either that or use like the ones that you know it doesn't say that though it says all all okay we come over to the administration building okay that's fine just saying that's okay is that

261are we good yeah and I mean I'm always unaccompanied when I when I do that currently and I'd like to keep it that way okay so item 10.10 other items of business I have none so that concludes my report thank you all right moving on to buildings grounds uh Mr Hall thank you president hle of course I just slid my [Music] screen okay buildings and grounds report for April 2024 Mr Buffington reports uh for your information I'll point out a couple things we've included the uh environmental update which we do on an annual basis uh the other thing I'd point out um and hopefully You' had the chance to see as you're coming up the main Drive the U main campus uh digital sign is in place um so hopefully you all saw that coming

262coming up up the drive any questions or on on the report sir 11.02 the water test report for April 2024 you can see the various tests that were taken and um with all good results 11.03 water testing for lead is required by law so annually we need to talk through that um in a public meeting but I'd like to update the board our plan will would uh include following the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection schedule uh which would include the main campus all three buildings friendship uh and we would add Shrewsberry not required but we would add Shrewsberry to it so all five of our buildings we are planning to test um lead in the drinking water um between June and September of 2025 so so next next summer uh we' be we'd be testing

263that and that's again um Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection um mandates that we test this campus and friendship uh during that time period but we're going to add Shrewsberry to it as well 11.04 uh the project update uh progress reports included for your information uh the financial report and I'd like to Kad if you could pull up this the slide for us just like to look uh there uh just a snapshot of of the the budget um with the uh expenditures and encumbrances and a remaining budget there you can see uh $800,000 and then if we can go to slide two specifically the contingency um actually went up since April so since the beginning of April um and we we look at the change orders here in a minute because we had a credit change

264order um that offset some of the other change orders so uh our contingency actually went up by the uh $3,287 which is a good thing um however we're going to talk about some other change orders here as we go um for the project schedule-wise um the bulk demo preparation is ongoing and that's about a month ahead of schedule um we certainly have a uh busy summer uh scheduled and we're on track to complete the entire project late fall of 2024 so if we can go to 11.05 change orders the first group of change orders gc55 ec29 pc16 and AA Phase 1 7 were change orders uh that I approved on site um all within you know under the $20,000 limit there i' point out the asbest um change order is actually a credit coming back

265um um months ago we talked to the board about um allowances that are included in in the contracts when we get to the end of that contract and you haven't used the allowance we get money credited back so um that may as we finish up phase two that may we may come back with another credit but for phase one um that that's our credit um that we we get back um with that so you can see um our final cost of a 3286 uh 50 um was actually you know to the good to the CR of a credit so then any questions with with those with with those change ERS that's great thank you thank you Randy so moving on to to 11.06 we have some other change orders um so these change orders well

266let me make the motion first and we'll discuss motion to app approve change order gc-c r-91 at the cost of 1973. 37 and gc-c r-100 it cost us of $15,366.00 [Music] so then those units had to be relocated uh to not interfere with the electrical utilities and in that there was work that needed to be done to support the weight of where the units were were going to sit um there was lots of discussion through that process that you know that that Randy you know worked on um in in in his to his credit um you know the it is two separate instances uh and he could have you know approved these on site because of because they're less than 20,000 it is two separate incidents however uh with their cost and their you know

267close proximity to one another he chose to to bring it to the board this way so the the engineer is picking up 15% of the cost because of the the error um and the cost of this is for the uh roof to be supported to carry the weight of the units um so not necessarily something that we were you know all jumping up and down to have to spend however um the work is has been completed uh would have held up would up the job it had it not been do you want to add anything into that Randy no I think you did did a great job there um yep so questions okay hearing none uh any nay or abstentions motion carries thank you just interrupt just for a moment Caroline I know it's super

268late I always feel like we need to give you the okay if you need to head out certainly we don't want to keep you here but you're welcome to stay I get to go in late tomorrow so I can stay wait you have to be by 9:45 tomorrow I don't have a first period you guys have a senior meeting just oh shoot yeah it's okay she's waiting for that Transportation report sorry Mr Hall it's very exciting okay moving on to 11.07 quote from Doug Equipment and supply company for the placement purchase of a dump trailer um so let me make the motion motion to approve a a quote from Douglas Equipment and supply company of York PA for the replacement purchase of a dump trailer for the amount of $9,400 do I have a second

269second all right so for some clarification for us on this uh we currently have a trailer that has had many homes uh it's it's our it's with us now but it is uh you know reached the end of its life um they use this trailer predominantly for for moving equipment between schools um and opted to go to a dump trailer because it also gives them some versatility of being able to do some small hauling you know in uh whatever the case may be it also gives them the versatility of being able to move materials directly to the location um and you also then have a trailer that has sides on it while you're hauling mowers or or you know whatever it may be so um it's definitely it's a good step up yeah has electric

270brakes versus the old one breaks so uh um any questions I given our recent experience with our truck I I I support brakes brakes are good um okay any nay or extensions hearing none motion passes moving on to 11.08 a motion to award the bid and unit price for the contract to Newar Demolition and Environmental Services of Gilbertsville PA for the aestus ab batment phase 3 at the Sano high school project costs are dependent on whether the abatement services are needed in demolition unit price number seven for bonds may be the only cost at $500 may have a second second so um the $500 is is great there that's the that's potentially the the least of our liability um this is the end of the bidding process which basically puts us in a position to

271be able to deal with any found aestus quickly um so the bidding process is already done as you can see uh in the executive content it breaks it out into different the different types of possibilities of finding asbest also some different uh possibilities for response time um but it just puts us in a position to be able to respond quickly and not hold up the demolition as we go throughout the summer would you like to add me Randy I was pleased with the results uh I think the mission we tried to to accomplish we we got it and now we're hoping we can have no esus found and only have a $500 cost yeah so we can all we can all hope for that so do I have a second second uh any uh discussion

272questions any needs or abstentions hearing none motion passes moving on to 11.09 yeah 11.09 summer campus access uh we've been talking um it's a busy summer uh here with with construction um it's estimated that at the height of uh the summer construction we'll we'll have approximately 40 trucks a day coming in and out of this campus um so certainly activities um are affected and you know we be restricting some of th those activities um you know so certainly um we're looking particularly to avoid the front drive um as they're they're working on the uh the old part of the building uh in the front and we'll be using using the back drive but just wanted to you know put the information out there that you know um campus access will be restricted um and uh

273you know as we get back to school certainly open open back up but uh um there'll be some evening activities and things that uh and certainly offices will be open and things but um certainly a busy summer for construction um and it'll be congested so certainly if you can avoid the the main campus this summer um we encourage that yeah so to reiterate that we will be sending communication starting the Tuesday after Memorial day you will not be able to come up the front drive um if you do have to come on Main Campus you'll have to access it by the back Drive um and to the point of if you come up the main drive you might get stuck uh because they're going the trucks are going to be rolling and we can't hold

274that up in order to make sure that we uh continue to to be ready for school to start um in the fall so um we're trying to put it out wherever we can um because if you drive up here where we are as you now know because the buses you can't get over across there there's there's no way to do that so the only way to get over that way to the back Drive is to go down to the Y and around the high school where you're not going to be able to do it so um um we just want to get that out as as much as we can um so that people are not stuck is that even at night time like I mean obviously construction is not happening at night could somebody

275go and be walk on the track I'm not asking for myself I'm just we are not recommending it because there'll be a lot going on but could they yeah I mean it's not we're not can't shut down the campus Because of emergency vehicles and things um they'll be signage to say that they can't come up the front drive but of course you can't block it off so you could drive up I'm just thinking when construction is not happening so you're not in the way of construction we are highly recommending Al we are highly recommending that we don't have because again they're going to be doing Paving they're going to because there's areas that have to be paved plus the demolition so oh yeah no I understand a lot going on I know people they'll be

276points will all get kicked off too for a couple days so um so I have a general question and maybe this is a little early but around mid August students are going to have to start rolling back into campus for various reasons you know with driver's license parking permits all those things that that the seniors and the Juniors need to handle I'm assuming that's probably going to be handled on the back end near door 27 rather than why yes so absolutely so that's why we're trying to get out on Tuesday the Tuesday after Memorial Day is when we want to really hit it hard so that when we get to that point we're in a really good place yeah excent as long as you have the big orange construction traffic only sign so that so

277I lot of stuff as I drive over we just want when we get someone stock we just want to be a say we put it out all over the place just have a big sign that's all I ask okay thank you moving on to 11.10 uh we have use of facilities uh the information is listed there um moving on to 11.11 other items of business um I have one I'd like to make a report about the uh greatest need feasibility study um we did have a um a meeting with uh multiple firms uh and a walk through um we had uh four respondents um um we are going to be and by by we I mean Randy no just teasing um we will be uh working on putting together uh an internal understanding at least

278as we see it uh of our greatest needs uh presenting that uh to these companies or these firms uh and then having a time of uh sitting down with them getting their perspective Ive on you know what what we're seeing as our greatest needs and then also then giving them the opportunity to have input into um you maybe the value engineering side you know whatever their input may be uh uh as then we will will move forward in the selection process so that's where we're at but I just wanted to you know make the board aware of of you know where we're headed and is the list of four that's that's the full list or could there still be additional uh I mean could we still accept someone else in at this point so we

279sent to what eight or nine and we we got four back but is it still open or is it no it's closed it's been closed for so that's all I have unless anyone else has um other business thank you you president hle thank you Randy moving on to uh item 12 Transportation health and safety Mr hash you all have been waiting for uh during the month of April there were 17 red light violations reported two were called on camera 15 were captured through driver observation um 11 of them occurred when a vehicle passed a bus on the straightway uh cameras were rotated during the month to uh go to the areas that were reporting the high offenses um they in addition addition to all of the uh Transportation needs that we have as day-to-day they

280also um covered 15 field trips seven van rentals and 68 athletic events for us one month and then also during the month of April um first student uh team members they celebrated seven service anniversaries so thank you to our drivers and our maintenance workers over first student for their continued dedication to our district and that is all I have for the transportation report other items of business Mr Ash I have one thing just wanted to share and this is just for the board uh deal Mendes and I will be uh working tomorrow going through the campuses not uh friendship Shrewsberry as well as the main campus to identify uh some of the signage recommended by the uh Pennsylvania State Police uh which would be signage on uh the buildings uh on our athletic fields playgrounds

281Etc so our goal is to come back to the board um in June with a proposal for specific signage that we can have installed over to summer so I want to give you an update on that thank you appreciate that that is all I have uh back to you Mr President hle all right uh onto item 13 athletic report Miss Doberman thank you um item number number 1301 the athletic report the Warriors had another Strong Spring season below are the current highlights girls lacrosse congratulations to girls lacrosse team for ending the regular season ya AI daa Division 1 co-champions with a record of 14 and one the Warriors is qualified for the PIAA District 3 championships as the number two seed and will play on May 21st here at cesco hanok boy lacrosse is also

282sitting in position to qualify for PIAA District three championships and ended their regular season with a record of 10 and 10 to 10 six um The Warriors will be will play in the opening round of the pwaa District 3 championships on May 17th tomorrow at lower dolphin Middle School at 700 p.m. Warrior softball is currently in the hunt for the ya AI division double a division 2 title with three games left to play they have been postponed from rain constantly and they are eliminating some games due to it they are also in position to qualify for the PIAA District 3 championships that begin on May 20th congratulations to the warrior baseball team for ending their regular season y a ible a division 2 Champions while the Warriors did not qualify for the PIAA District 3

283championships they earned their third consecutive division title The Warrior track and field team had another successful season the warrior boys team ended as ya AI daa division 2 runner-ups and on May 8th the Warriors competed at the ya AI daa track and field championship at Dallastown and will compete at the ya AI daa District 3 championships on May 15th or I'm sorry May 17th and 18th at Shippensburg University below you will find the medal winners from the yai daa championships and I know I'm going to pronounce his name wrong but it's Nicholas torosa Seventh Place 100 meter dash Michael Fox third place 400 meter run Jackson Ellie second place 800 met run Andrew hetzer third place 800 met run the 4x400 relay team second place that was um Michael Fox Andrew hetzer Jackson Elliott and

284Nicholas Toro um the 4x8 relay team got sixth place that was Andrew herzer Robert Russ Russell um LC Hanley and Jackson Elliot Dallas Bor got seventh place in the 400 meter run the 4X 100 relay team got seventh place that was Dallas fer Hayden mdof Addison Vickers and Abigail fiser the 4X 800 relay team got six place that was Emma Jordan Anna pach Madison ws and Ava lond Kirsten Holloway placed six in the long jump and Madison marks um placed fourth place in dist discus um for boys tennis congratulations to Derek Balman Balman I don't know for qualifying for the PIAA District 3 singles championships and to Derek Oh Derek and Dominic Dylan um for qualifying for the PIAA District 3 doubles championships girls basketball as noted earlier the girls basketball team earned the Gretchen

285wolf Schwartz sportsmanship award this season our two senior athletes were awarded a total of $75,000 in scholarship money by the gws foundation congratulations to our senior athletes coaches and the entire girls basketball team for this tremendous tremendous yeah honor we could not be more proud of how they respond represented themselves the school district and the entire community and that concludes that and then item number 1302 other items of business I have none so that concludes my report all right item 14 the other business committee report for the other items of business that couldn't fit into the any of the other earlier other items of business but can't wait for new business uh I have none anyone else nope it's a weird weird item um all right on to 15 leg uh 15.01 legislative Council U

286Mrs Mary Lee Hall uh yes sir I really don't have much to report from harisburg there's plenty of legislation in committee right now and more to follow at the next board meeting but but the house is set to reconvene on Monday the 20th and then um the Senate on June 3 so I'll have more at the next meeting thank you and that concludes my report all right uh York School of Technology Miss Doberman um on May 2nd they had new student orientation and as I stated before May 23rd is graduation at 5:00 p.m at the York Fairgrounds expo center and so they're looking forward to that that concludes my report thank you uh 15.03 uh Lincoln Intermediate Unit number 12 report is attached for your information does anyone have anything else on on that yes

287uh I went to the authority meeting last night and um the good news is we approve the budget for next year for 2024 2025 um membership fees are staying the exact same not going up um in addition to that there also good news is the bond payment on the building um that will be owned by the authorities or the authority that is 13 districts um will be paid off by next year um saying that though they are in talks um looking at feasibility studies of where do we go from here with expansions um the building's old and to upkeep that would be a lot so they're in looking at where do we go from here so coming down the Pike at some point will be something don't know what that is yet Dr Bryson do

288you have anything else to add to that no I think that's that's a good um I'll expand on a little bit the the building uh Jeremy's talking about is the York Learning Center which is the old Central High School right off of 83 and 30 uh 7 so um the building is in rough shape and they're going to have to decide whether they want to put a lot of money in renovation or whether it's cheaper to um move to a new location because there's more square footage than they utilize in in that building and as far as the Liu is concerned that's just one of actually multi- many buildings they utilize but they're even looking at leasing and different op but that's enough for now it'll be as I said to German it'll be months

289before yeah it gets deep into it uh 15.04 York Adams tax Bureau M green do you have anything all right uh 15.05 Southern York County School District Foundation this is all my favorite subject Lots going on at the end of the year here so I hope you got your notes ready all right so the foundation hosted an online silent auction April 22nd to the 29th in celebration of give local York I hope that you guys got to bid on some things and maybe won a few there were many great choices to choose from so thanks to the generosity of all contenders the auction raised nearly $2,000 for future scholarships so if you miss the opportunity to bid but we would like to donate we're always happy to encourage more giving and welcome as much giving

290as possible so you can always reach out to this little lady over here miss Susan green I'm just going to put her email out there susan. green sycsd.org for anyone who's listening in the future hopefully not right now it's too late but um always happy to accept a happy donation and the foundation also honors distinguished leadership uh to the foundation with an awards dinner this year the awards dinner was on April 25th Freedom outdoor design the high school boys and girls basketball teams Southern York County field and Dr Sandra leemon were recipients of the foundation distinguished distinguished leadership award this year upon receiving that honor they each shared a little something about their history and heartfelt care for students at sycs in their fure it was a wonderful evening of appreciation and gratitude for all

291the generosity and donations that are given every year and of course the exciting culmination for the foundation is the scholarship award W ceremony so last Thursday evening 88 students were awarded 154 scholarships totaling over $60,000 and there were plenty of smiling faces and families cheering on those seniors I'm sure Caroline can attest to that huge thank you to the many donors and organizations that made us possible and for all the recipients of scholarships be sure to accept your reward on chapter net by May 20th do it already and remember to write a thank you note to your sponsor let him know how every dollar counts and how much it means to you it'll keep those scholarships coming for years to come and we have one more wonderful event to look forward to and that is

292the distinguished alumni recognition dinner next Thursday which hopefully a bunch of you will be um present the Susan High School alumni association will honor Brian McCarthy and he is a 1989 graduate who will receive the distinguished alumni award and deliver the alumna speech at sanok's commencement car McCarthy is a 24-year veteran of the United States Air Force and previously served as an f-15e fighter pilot and instructor pilot very neat and exciting there an international Affairs specialist with the Air Force and a military liaison for the Secretary of State John kery so lots of wonderful conversation to be had there at that dinner I'm sure um and he has served multiple deployments earning the distinguished flying cross and he is currently an executive at Northrup Grumman we're very much looking forward to his motivating and encouraging

293sentiments for the 2024 graduating class and then after graduation the foundation is all finished up for the summer and we'll reconvene September 10th to begin next year's planning see how many scholarship awards that we can give out huh Susan and that concludes my report all right um 15.06 other items of business anyone all right moving on to uh 16.01 the Student Activities report for April 2024 is attached for your information um 16.02 we have the following uh resignations and retirements uh Cindy almany uh Mary danowski and Kevin Wen uh 16.03 other items of VIs business uh I have none anyone else all right moving on to 17.01 and I will turn it over to Dr reer how that one oh you're handling this one this time you sleeping over there no I'm not sleeping I'm

294just making sure he's awake all right what are we on 17.01 home education were you asleep do it nice job president hankle played that well uh home education 2011 outside Cyber Charter 75 Southern NK Digital Academy 7 and Lincoln Edge cyber program 14 you want me to keep going sure you keep going 17.02 real quick uh just an update for me um one thing I just wanted to say is I'd like to take a moment and give my sincere condolences to goa's family and friends friendship uh during this time there are really no words to describe um this level of loss uh but we can all remember the joy that he brought to each and everyone around him I'd also like to thank the entire Friendship Community and staff for rallying around uh not only

295the students but each other over the past week uh it certainly has been challenging but I couldn't be any prouder of of our staff and how they've handled it so please keep to continue to keep the entire friendship family Dakota's family friends and your thoughts and prayers throughout the end of the school year and certainly Beyond um Caroline couldn't be any more proud of of you and all that you've contributed to the board as their student rep uh certainly somebody is going to be very lucky to have you as an employee somewhere on this planet in the near future thank you I also want to congratulate the entire class of 2024 wish them the best can't believe it's over but I am sure all of them are extremely uh excited for a sunny 74 with

296a little breeze day next week uh and lastly a big thank you uh to all the retirees and also so Dr menen and Dr Dan casy just for being a great colleagues for the last decade plus appreciate it thank you item 18 new business does anyone have anything I have something mhm I'm going to test Dr rert and see if he's awake um I did not ask him if I could do this and so Dr rer you can go ahead and just say what you are able to say but I wanted to allow the kudos to continue with the theme that we were doing today um he had shared with me that uh well this portion is is what I'd like to say that due to the uh feedback that we were getting from public

297comment and the tone that the board had set during deliberation between ourselves that we were setting the standard of having a no tolerance policy well well no tolerance for the policies that we already have when it comes to bullying but specifically racial bullying um that can only work in so much as the cooperation and implementation of those policies with our Administration with our principles and he gave me some amazing news and I hope that the trend continues it shows that when you Foster responsibility among students when you set a standard they will rise to the occasion and so to whatever degree you can speak to that I would love to hear it and have everybody else hear it too yeah what thank you Mr ankle you know I think a lot of the situations that

298we deal with like we've always said Dr Bry and I've said if we know about it we can do something about it unfortunately we have no student that's perfect we have no parent that's perfect we have no adult that's perfect the biggest thing we want to do is make sure that our students live and learn uh from the situations that that they're dealt with so we're dealing more with our policy 103 dealing with the racial discrimination harassment Etc uh We've really put a large Focus to that you know and uh not to say we haven't before uh but as we' heard in public comment you know where the parents are coming in and the Stu students are coming in and expressing concerns our administrators are addressing things our administrators are going through this uh the

299steps to continue to make sure their students are safe within the school and put in the safety uh plans in place supportive measures in place and I can't be more proud of them and why because I'm in that communication daily sometimes many times during the day where they're reaching out to me so um not to say that you know we we won't have any more incidents because I think we will but I think it's how swiftly our administrators are addressing them uh when they come in and we're teaching the students different ways that they can handle themselves different ways they can express themselves by being respectful responsible and resilient thank you so much lovely to hear all right um any other new business all right I hearing none I will entertain a motion to adjourn

300so moved second Motion in a second uh any n or extensions hearing none we are turn