1/12/26 SGASD School Board Meeting Livestream

001Yes. Good evening and thank you all for coming and attending uh this evening's uh board meeting. At this time, we're going to do a flag salute and a moment of silence. safe public. Please take your seats. At this time, do a roll call. >> Present. >> Ramsey >> here. >> Ritz >> here. >> Walers >> here. White >> here. >> Wilson >> here. >> Okay. All more all board members are in present. We did have a uh executive session uh for personnel, student discipline and some legal issues. Um now executive sessions held since last sunshine meeting was uh December 15th, January 5th, 7th and 12th. Okay. At this time uh we will have uh formal and and informal request to address the board. Do we have anyone in attendance to address the board at this

002time? one uh correspondence. So the uh board seats uh we received a letter from uh school Lancaster uh from Travis A. Witson, manager of enterprise applicators applications. And the second one was the Springrove area school district invitation uh to the District 3 Wrestling Championship uh from Tony Miller. If you are interested, please get with Suzanne for passes. All right. And at this time we have a uh special committee district departmental report and that was on buildings and crowns and safety that is at. So everyone received that. Next item is special items action. >> Oh Doug, can I ask a question about the report? >> Okay. the one the one that was uh you >> presented. Yeah. Yeah. Shared with us by Bill. I just had a quick question for Bill. Hopefully this is fast. >>

003At the end of the report, there were a couple of pie charts and I just wasn't sure if that was time or financial allocations or something that I didn't I didn't really truly understand the pie chart piece. If you could please. Yes. So those so those numbers represent work orders that were released >> regardless of how much time each work order >> correct takes place. >> Just the number of of the work orders. >> Got it. All right. Thanks, Bill. Thank you, Eric, for clarification. Appreciate that. Okay, moving on. We have special action items. Uh, Ben Ramsey, resignation, acceptance of the resignation of Douglas White as board treasure for the Spring Grove Area School District, effective immediately. Appointment of the school board treasurer, appointment of Jessica Waltersdorf as board treasurer for the Springrove Area School

004District, effective immediately upon acceptance of Doug White's resignation to fulfill the remainder of a one-year term through June 30th, 2026. So moved on special board actions requested. >> And do I have a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? Yes, I had [clears throat] some um I chatted with Jess a little bit before and so I want her to understand this is not a criticism towards Jess. We are new board member, you know, mates. Um but I was curious. I'm just seeking a better understanding of the process that was a that was followed to appoint Jess as the treasurer. Um, I just was unaware of any meeting or discussion that possibly happened to dis discuss whether she was suited for the position and I was just hoping for some clarification on how that decision was made.

005>> I appreciate that. So upon of her appointment and with her financial background thought it was a perfect suit for her our budget programs and have more of an insight financially and since she is in that field that's how and I my only concern is that Jess is brand new to the board and she's never been through any of our the budget finance. I mean, we've done it forever, but the not going through it ever be before it's going to be a bit of a fire hose for her. I don't doubt her credibility on working with numbers. That was just my concern. But so that was you and Miss Wilson that discussed it. >> That would be a Doug White decision. >> Okay. I'd like a separate vote on item B. >> That's fine. And

006then I also had another and this is hope. Um I was curious as to why uh Mr. Ramsay was sharing the special action items. I was curious as to why that wasn't either you or Nicole. Uh, the reason I could not do it is because I can't announce my own resignation as treasur. Okay. So, at this time, any other questions? I have a question. I'm going to piggyback on what Eric said and to head this off. Is there a reason why we're not just doing a vote on who the treasur is like we have done historically? If it was my understanding as uh since I was the still under my term, I was uh able to appoint for a new treasur at the time. >> That's just that it's never happened before. I thought we

007were going to >> So at at Yes. So standard times when the terms were up, we would vote for a new treasur. But my term was not up and I'm resigning. I'm appointing a new I just clarify Mr. White you are not appointing yourself you agenda it sounds like based on had with Miss Waldersdorf that you're not actually appointing it subject to a board vote. That's right. Tonight, I was asked uh after White was appointed board president, you know, back to the treasurer position, I explained he would need that is he can't hold two officer positions at the same time. uh that agenda item uh a this would serve whomever is appointed would serve through the rest of his original term uh uh through June of this year or next year. Okay. So, we'll do

008a ro roll call vote on A and then B. Suzanne >> Laringer. >> Yeah. This is a correct. Yes. Yes. >> Yes. >> Wilson. >> Yes. >> Ramsey. >> Yes. >> Wersto. >> Yes. >> Stein. >> Yes. And now we'll do a roll roll call vote on B. >> Wilson. Yes. >> Bomb. Yes. Sheer >> Haringer. >> No. >> Ramsey. >> Yes. >> Ritz. >> Yes. >> White. >> Yes. >> All right. Well, thank very much everyone for your votes. At this time, we welcome Jessica Waltersf as the board treasurer. Any words? Thank you, Mr. White. Yes, uh being new to the board, um I understand and I appreciated that commentary and those questions. Um I had the same ones. Um but I look forward to with um the background on banking and working with

009Mark and Jen um to being the treasurer and having that opportunity. So, thank you. >> Thank you and welcome aboard. Moving on, we have regular voting action items. At this time, we have policy and Karen Bomb. Uh, policy board action requested. Letter A, the 2026 board approval of the attached 2026 committee following reorganization of the school board on December 2nd, 2025. officers, new and reelected school board director. Uh, letter B, second and final reading, approval. Second and final reading. Following school board policies, board policy 815.2 and policy number. So moved on policy board actions. >> Thank you, Karen. And do I have a roll call vote? >> Oh, or I'm sorry. Do I have a second? >> Yes, I'd like a separate vote on item A. Okay. >> And I have a quick question for

010Chris. This is just a check-in more. Um, discussing the AI policy. I was just curious if you could give us uh like a heads up on the progress for the professional development piece and the student lesson pieces that we want to do hand inand once this is you know put into place this policy is put into place we discussed you you had shared that you wanted to do that so I didn't know where we were at with that >> we haven't moved forward um until or unless the policy is approved >> okay >> any other discussion questions. Moving on, we'll do a separate roll call vote on a >> Mr. White. Do we have a second? >> Did have a second. >> Thank you. Apologies. [clears throat] >> Yes. I'm sorry. Yes. >> Item a

011W store. >> Yes. Wilson. >> Wilson. >> Oh, sorry. Yes. >> Harshinger. >> No. >> Ramsey. >> Yes. No. >> Bomb. >> Yes. >> Rick, >> yes. >> Okay. So, uh, policy board number A passes and then we'll do a second B. >> Stein, >> yes. >> Ritz, >> yes. >> Waterstore. >> Yes. >> Bomb. >> Yes. >> Wilson, >> yes. Sheer. >> Yes. >> White. >> Yes. Okay. Policy B voted to approve and move on. And at this time we will call adjournment of the adjournment. >> Sorry Doug. My apologies. I did miss that. So personnel will be Doug Stein. >> Personnel board action is requested. I am a retirement acceptance of the following retirements. Lisa Burke, kindergarten teacher. Lisa Hall, reading specialist. Kim Miller, kindergarten teacher. Beth Mallerie, gifted support teacher. Sher Stan,

012gifted support teacher. Lord, great teacher. Lisa Whistler, sixth grade teacher. Right. Resignations. Accepting of the following resignation as listed. Item C, uncompensated leave request. Approval of the following request for uncompensated leave. Don Bearer. Item D. Prof. Approval of the following. Lisa Balm. Item F classified substitutes as listed. So moved on person. >> Second. >> Any discussion? I I do I just again I'm I'm got a lot of resonations here again and I just I hope we're doing something trying to get exit interviews and get why why they're leaving. Thank you. >> Thank you Mr. Shear. And if anyone did add those up, um, kudos to everyone and their retirement. That's 175 years to all of our retirees. Okay, we'll do a roll call vote. >> Ritz, >> yes. >> Marshinger, >> yes. >> Shear, >>

013yes. >> Water, >> yes. >> Stein, >> yes. Wilson, >> yes. >> Ramsey, >> yes. >> Bomb, >> yes. White, >> yes. >> Okay. Now, we'll do a journment of action voting meetings. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I a motion. I'm sorry. >> I missed the motion. >> Anybody? >> Mr. White motion to German. >> Thank you, Mr. It a second. Second. >> Sorry. First day. >> All right. So, director study forum meeting and we're going to call to order. Do we have to do anything to call to order? >> Thank you. Uh do we have anyone that would like to uh address the board at this time? Okay. Business and Finance Committee Buildings and Grounds. Uh this will be going to uh Bill Styles and this is

014ongoing capital projects general updates. All right. Since our uh our last uh buildings and grounds update, the walk-in cooler and freezer, we we've been having bi-weekly status meetings with the district lowbar associates and EI associates. Project drawings are 100% complete, including structural drawings. The Gordian proc proposal, excuse me, is pending approval. permitting has been submitted [clears throat] and if everything proceeds as plans, constructions is is anticipated to start the end of the month. The high school to Spring Grove Elementary access road base coat asphalt installation was completed. Electrical trenching was performed. During this work, a gas line was struck. GRPS performed the utility markings and missed the locating of the gas line between low bar associates and GRPS. They're covering all the cost associated with that repair. The light poles have been installed. The asphalt

015top coat was applied last Thursday. The gate is currently in route. Electricians still need to connect power to the inside of Spring Grove Elementary. And the final completion and the use of the road will be coordinated with the building principal, ensuring proper signage is installed and clear communication is provided to the parents prior to opening the road maintenance facility. Since the last buildings and grounds meeting, the build, excuse me, the the drawings have been updated. The updated drawings will be ready for further discussion at our next buildings and grounds meeting. Surveying has been completed. The boundary lines have been sketched. Once returned to the project manager, a crew will be set to put new corner lines and markers to asssure agreement by all parties. This work is anticipated to occur in January after which subdivision

016submitt can proceed once boundaries are finalized. YMCA renovation project renovation project remains on schedule with substantial completion by mid January. Main flooring work is underway and is expected to be completed in two weeks. Cleaning services are on site and punch list are starting to be addressed. Occupy is expected following completion of site work. The site work completion, occupy and facility opening presently is targeted to May 1st. The next steps, all items will be reviewed in detail at our next buildings and grounds committee meeting. >> A question. I I missed the last um rounds, but what's the Guardian proposal? >> It's it's it's supposed to be Gordian that that that's that's the co-op that Lobar Associates is is involved with. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I'm curious the asphalt. We've had some really cold weather and

017I know over the years I always hear you can't do asphalt when it's real cold. I was surprised that we laid asphalt two times and I just wasn't there any concern with that. >> No, both times it was laid it was 50° and rising. Um and that's PennD. Specs and um the contractor has is giving us full warranty on that application. >> Thank you everyone for the questions. Um, Ben, can you get with Mark and Bill and set up a uh buildings and ground committee meeting and let everyone know or unless you already have one in the works? >> We were going to do that today after we did the committee realignment. >> Thank you. Any more questions? Okay, moving on. Uh, budget and finance Ramsey >> or no, I'm sorry. >> Yep. I'll I'll

018take it, Mr. White. So, [laughter] >> so thank you. Um, >> since Ben did the last one. >> No problem. I got it. >> That's my second mistake. Sorry. >> Nope. We're not counting. Okay. So, you have the uh you have the uh uh memo of the 2026 27 our proposed budget update. I'm sure you have read it. I just do want to hit a couple highlights just making sure that there's uh if there are any comments or questions um feel free to ask them, but I just wanted to make sure that I hit a couple highlights. So um as we started the budget process uh one of the things we did was we um we accepted the audit of the 2425 and as you can see there you see our revenues our expenditures our

019surplus of nine uh approximately 970,000 that went into the general fund and you can see our assigned and unassigned balances. So that gave us the starting point uh for that 2526 as we u are giving our budget updates for the 2627 year. Um so 2526 a few weeks ago um the state um approved their budget well after the uh the timeline but one of the things that we promised you was we were going to bring you back more information when we received information on some of the charter school updates. So um over over past couple of weeks we received an updated uh PTE 363. Now that is the form that we use school districts use uh for charter school tuition. So um that was revised by PTE. It was released and then um Mrs. Leppo

020and myself in our office what um what we did was we were able to now um take a look at that and see what does that mean to Spring Grove for the 25 26 year. and that's what we wanted to bring back to you. So, as you can see there, um the um the charter school rates of what we would be charging charter schools are listed there. Um based on the current number of charter school students that we have here currently for the 2526 year, we're going to see a cost avoidance of approximately 480,000. So, some really good news there with the the charter school um uh reform um that's that's happening. So, a cost avoidance of approximately 480,000. That's based on the number of kids that we currently have. And we'll um in our

021next budget and finance committee meeting, we'll go into a little bit more detail on how um that 363 was was worked. Um the other thing as part of the budget that we uh we knew was the PCCD grant. Uh we re have been receiving them from the state for the past number of years. We knew it was going to be in excess of $100,000. We're not sure what exactly the number was. Um, uh, Mrs. Lepo was able to, uh, uh, uh, calculate that based on our ADMs and what the state provided. So, we'll be receiving $177,625 this year for, um, for PCCD, and that's updates to safety, uh, school safety, mental health safety. So, we'll be working with um, special ed department, Mrs. Ludwick, Mr. Styles, Mr. Ank, um, taking a look at all the

022tiers that the state releases and says you have to meet these sort of criterias before you can use the money. So we we'll do all that um and make sure that we use those funds appropriately and then that dovetales us into the 26 27 proposed budget uh items. So as the board knows uh the act one index was released in September uh for Spring Grove. It is a 4.7 uh% 4.7% is our enhanced index. The board voted in November not to exceed that uh by resolution at the November 24th uh meeting. So what we wanted to do was give you highlights. If today um based on our current um assessment, if we were to go to that full index, that act one index of 4.7 um that would um revenues for Spring Grove would be

023approximately $2.2 million. Uh we have seen some slight increases in our uh our taxable assess values. Not as high as what we have seen in the past number of years, a little bit less than 1%. Um so approximately uh $37,000 there. Uh so not uh the best news for our assessments. Uh we're hoping to see some more growth here uh in the next couple months. Um, on the expenditure side, uh, at this time of the year, we, uh, we reviewed those known contractual and program increases. As you can see, they're listed. Uh, last, um, uh, month, as we did our budget and finance committee meeting, we did a presentation from Lincoln Benefit Trust, what we call LBT. We know that there's going to be increases in our health care from approximately 11 to 15%. There

024you can see uh, that number. We do know uh based on our contract with our teachers uh union, our our collective bargaining agreement there uh we know that just for the teacher salaries, professional salaries, we're looking at $775,000 increases in LIU increases in York County School of Technology. I'm going to talk about the budget from the York County School of Technology next. Um and uh but you can see the uh increases there as well as uh insuranceances and the York Learning Center. So um those are the known contractual increases that we know as of today. One um um smidgen of of positive news is a number of years ago as we were um uh reviewing the transportation contract and negotiating that with Christ transportation in year five we um we were able to work out

025a 0% increase and I mentioned that uh a number of years ago. So we're actually hitting that this year which is which is uh good timing. So there will be a 0% increase uh for year uh for this uh for next year 2627. Um other expected increases working with uh with Dr. Lewick and uh and special ed department we know that there's going to be additional autistic support uh students uh coming to Springrove next year through um through the enrollment process. So, um uh we know that there's going to be um a number of increases in that um in in that u autistic support classroom area higher than the amount that we can currently um hold in a classroom. So, we need to now uh look at additional classroom for the for that autistic support.

026So um uh we are recommending at one teacher and three aids uh at a a cost of 106,000. So a little bit low because the teaching position what we will be recommending in the um for the 2627 is if you remember from last year uh there was a teaching position that was vacant and the board said to go ahead and keep that in the budget for the 25 26 year. That currently is still vacant in our budget for this year. It's currently not filled. Uh so we would be recommending that if that remains unfilled that uh we as we add that to the uh to the teaching position for the autistic support and not bill uh that position uh so that we wouldn't have to have an additional uh teaching position next year. Um I

027know I said a lot um our next steps are I'll be working with Mrs. Watersdorf. Um and just like the other uh committee chairs uh scheduling a budget and finance committee meeting before our February 9th DSF where we would be um looking at our first uh budget presentation. So what questions can I answer for you? >> Uh the healthc care increase of $86,500 at what percentage is that number? because you have your range 11 >> 11 to 15. I did we go low or high? We went high. >> We went low. Okay. 11%. >> It's at 11%. >> Okay. >> Thank you. And thank you, Jen. >> Uh I question and it's tangentally connected to what you had to share. You shared some cyber stuff and I was curious. I know I don't see Dr.

028Dietrich here. Sometimes he's here. Um, I was wondering, and this might be directed towards Dave, if could we have a presentation from him regarding cyber online schools? I know that's one of his responsibilities currently. And I'm curious, I'd like to get an update on what he's discovered and then what he's considering as possible solutions to that current issue. I don't want I don't want to ask for it next meeting because it's too short of a time period, but if I don't know, next month. [clears throat] >> Yeah. And Eric, absolutely. Uh no issues to uh do that. I just need a recommendation from the rest of the board if they approve and we'll certainly move on with that. >> I'd love to hear it. >> Anyone else? Fine by me >> and I think that's

029something we had asked for a while ago as well if I believe >> okay so we'll >> move that on. Thank you >> Mark. I had a question about the property insurance. I know the 33,000 doesn't seem like a lot but didn't we just go with a new insurance company to lower our costs? >> We went with a new insurance company. We did a request for proposal. Yes, we were. And we did we did have quite a few hundred,000 uh decrease. Um but in talking to our our agent, um the number of um I want to say global issues and even national issues that that they're seeing um property rates there. there was the their hands are very tied and they said that um this unfortunately this is going to be one of those years

030where all all types of insurance all and especially property insurance are going to increase. So yep um Mr. Leo and I have had numerous conversations with them on and and trying to as well as um with Mr. Styles making sure that our properties are kept up to date as much as possible during tours making sure that we have inspections with them. Uh, one of the things that we're um we're going to be talking at budget at buildings and grounds is a recommendation from the insurance company to help even lower it even more. So, uh, but yeah, we're we're we're constantly doing that. But great question >> and, uh, follow up on the autistic class. What level is that going to be at and do we have space for it? >> So, I'm going to turn

031it over to Dr. Ludwick, if she doesn't mind, if you can answer about the what level. Um, I'm not exactly sure where we would be housing this classroom as well. I think it's on. Okay. We're not sure where we're housing it yet. Um, we're looking to see where we have open space for the classroom. So, what it looks like is this. We just finished our second day of preschool meetings with Lincoln Intermediate Unit. And at this time, it looks like we have upwards of more than eight students that may qualify under the disability category of autism. I say may because when they're in preschool, um they don't have to fall under the same disability categories as school age. And so most students enter the portal from SPE to special ed with a developmental delay, a

032DED. Um, and then it's up. It used to be that the IU would do evaluations during this last preschool year and would give us an evaluation with that child, but they no longer do that. So, we have started meetings with parents. We have three days of those meetings. We finished two out of the three days. Then we will take um we will go and visit the our our prop our prospective students in their current classrooms, talk to their staff, talk to their parents and then we will complete um psychoeducational testing for those students to see which disability category that they will fall under. What we look at now is their paperwork and we're not certified school psychologists. Dr. Henry, nor or I or either neither of us are, but the paperwork that we see looks

033like those students may fall under the autism category. So, we'd rather be prepared um to to welcome those students right now and have everything ready in case that happens. And um usually we're pretty good at at um looking at the paperwork and and kind of projecting. So, that's where we are. And for clarity sake, the number the one I think it's 106,000 is what that is. That's that's you're still asking for that. That will cover the three aids, but it wouldn't be it's not higher because the teacher >> was that rollover position that we discussed, right? They're still asking for 106. Okay. >> Right. Most of our classrooms have two classroom aids, but we also put a PCA a classroom PCA for our classrooms with autism so that we can have extra hands with the

034littles. They need a little extra hands when they start. >> Thank you. >> All the other classes have just two aids, correct? >> No. >> All of our AS classrooms have three. Okay. >> And some of our other classrooms with additional with students with additional needs sometimes have that classroom PCA. Um that way we kind of don't have to have an individual PCA for students and we can share when we don't have one assigned just to one student then we can share a staff uh more effectively. >> Well, thank you. >> PCA is personal care assistant. >> Yes sir. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Thank you. >> Uh Nicole, go ahead with your question please. H yeah. Um I'm just curious if everybody can hear me I hope. Um in terms of

035the health care costs that seem to be rising rising rising um how is our I really would like to understand how our clinic is helping to contain those costs as we were told it would. Um, so I really would like to understand how that's contributing to at least holding costs level, which it doesn't sound like it's h which doesn't sound like it's happening, at least not at this point. So if we could get some data around our medical clinic, I would greatly appreciate it. >> Yes. Uh, Mrs. Wilson, so since our last meeting uh we had with Lincoln uh benefit Trust LBT, uh Mr. Rob Glus, if you remember that, I don't know if you were here for that presentation. Um, but what I did was I did reach out with him and Marathon Health

036to work in coordination for them to be able to review data. As he mentioned, um, it was something that wasn't happening. Um, he encouraged it. So, I reached out and we'll be working on that. I'm not exactly sure when that will be presented. Um, but we will fasttrack that as much as possible. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. You're welcome. Any other questions before I move on? Okay. Um, so you also have the York County School of Technology uh budget and I'm sure that uh you reviewed it. Couple highlights I do want to uh make sure uh you're aware of. As you saw in um in my budget memo, uh we're the district will be seeing an increase of 6.82% or approximately $118,000 uh next year. Uh most of this increase is due to um again

037uh York uh York County School Technologies increase to health care. Uh they're with Lincoln Benefit Trust as well. They're seeing those uh increases. They are recognizing um a 21% increase in their u in their student transportation. If you remember from last year um and I may um look to Mr. Ritz if he has any comments or um anything he wants to add. Uh last year your county school of technology uh did a proposal for 12 buses um I think it was uh four four a year for three years. Yep. And um so this will be year two. So that would be a 21% increase and they have um uh the same salary health care and uh benefit increases as uh we're recognizing as well. Uh currently Springrove has 120 students at the York County School

038of Technology. Are there any questions? Um either myself or Mr. Ritz can answer as far as for the York County School Technology budget. Okay. Um and then um my last um item have have for you. So um you have and I'm sure you have read the uh PA uh lead PA leadership cyber um settlement agreement. So um um back a number of years ago 1617 the school district as well as many other school districts across the state uh have been um involved in a dispute with PA uh leadership charter school. Uh and this is all relating from when PDE did a statewide change on how charter school tuition was calculated. So, uh I'm not going to go into all the details, but uh since uh over the past number of years, uh this PA leadership

039has filed claim with PTE. Um and now it was back to the school district PTE um and courts um asked for the the cyber charter school to show um uh this rule to show calls and what the amount was, what they were um testing. Um it was sent back to the school district. Uh Mrs. Aleppo and myself, we reviewed the that um I believe it was the 1516 PTE 363 from that time. Uh we both agreed to the amount that's listed um in the agreement and um as u I mentioned there in my memo, uh this would resolve the dispute for the 1617 school year only with a payment of $4,43.73. Um my last statement there, there's no admission to liability. Uh it uh releases us of claims related to that year and doesn't establish

040any precedents for any future uh funding calculations with this. So are there any questions I can answer on this settlement agreement? >> Are there going to be other years that they're go they're making claims against or should it only be this one? >> I am not sure of that. That is a excellent question. I'm not sure if Garrick knows. >> Yeah, not to my knowledge. This is the only year we're aware of that involved any funding dispute. >> So, we don't necessarily though have a choice. I mean, it seems like you have to pay this. >> Tuition to the cyers are calculated by a state formula. This year, as Mark explained in his memo, the formula was incorrect as determined by a court and it is what it is. districts that owe $99, some owe

041$20,000 or all over the place. So, it's all dictated by state uh formula. Any other questions before we turn it over to uh Mr. Rank? >> Chris, >> Mr. Zap, so we have a a memo in front of you for um recycling some equipment. This was um combination of equipment we collected from um over the summer as we replaced um some newer equipment in some of our buildings and in addition to that give us our our um our friends in maintenance some additional space in our technology center as they continue to get shuffled around a bit. So, we will um upon your approval, we will um solicit bids for the highest um company to dispose of that those items. All right. Uh thank you, Mark and Chris. Uh management committee policy reports. Uh Rodney, >>

042I understand. Turn over to Mr. Is that >> Wait a minute. >> I think it's I think it's Dr. Guadino. >> Sorry. Well, you're down here a little lower. >> Comprehensive review. >> Okay. >> You have board members, you have two policies um before you tonight. The first is 317. It's a revision to the dis uh employee conduct and discipline uh policy. The changes are highlighted in green. Uh we work with uh hope on updating this policy and making some relatively minor tweaks to the employee discipline policy. There's also a summary um chart explaining in more detail the reason uh for those revisions. The second policy is 320 which deals with uh freedom of speech for employees. This would be support staff, teachers, administrators, all employee uh classifications. Again, changes or additions are highlighted in

043green. Uh there were some uh additions there in the middle part of the policy explaining in what um limited circumstances that uh speech may not be protected. You see the list one through uh 8. Um so happy to answer any questions. Uh those are the two uh policies with proposed revisions here on our Okay, Steve. Uh, thank you. Um, we have prepared um, as we promised you we would, uh, we prepared a memo uh, summarizing the key changes um, from school code. Um, as you may remember when they pass finally got around to passing the budget. Um, embedded in that uh, was a bunch of changes. Um, and at the time we weren't sure of a lot of things. Um and so we want to kind of summarize them for you for you. Uh organized

044it into things that we need to start doing immediately. Um is the first uh group of things there. Um and we've mentioned some of these before. Uh the first one involves uh requiring us to take cash payments for for events. um which we always do, but some some like PIAAA and things would would do stuff where you had to buy things online and that's not it doesn't work that way anymore. Um we talked about certification. They changed uh the certifications u moving forward um changing it to uh prek to six and seven to 12 um and some uh minor tweaks with some current teachers. Um it's giving the um the current teachers that it might apply to uh applies right away. Um but it gives the universities some time to get their stuff together and

045um we'll start seeing teachers coming out with um these newer certifications in a couple of years. U Mark already talked about the cyber charter reform. Those were the numbers we weren't sure about. Um so he gave you those already. Um there's some changes with um truency and and what uh parents and students can do. The biggest one that we see is um prohibits um cyber charter schools uh to accept students who are habitually truent with us. So what would happen in the past is we would start putting pressure on stu students and parents if they were um not coming to school and then they would go enroll into cyber school to get away from that. now that the cyber charter schools are not allowed to accept them without a judge's order if they're already habitually

046true with us. So, that's a that's a a win for us. Um, there was some safety uh school safety coordinator requirements with training and some um meetings that we have to have. They're explained there. Um, you may have heard of the um weapon incident notifications. We've sent some uh information out to parents uh starting on January 6th. Uh and moving forward, we must notify all parents, guardians, and employees uh within 24 hours of any weapon incidents that occur on school property or on the bus or any school activity. So, that's new. Um we've always had policies, we always do the discipline, but now we're required to notify a bunch of people. So, um we we sent that notification out to let parents know that we'll be starting that. Um and then there's some new cyber

047charter residency um verifications requiring parents to prove or at least provide documentation to the uh cyber charter schools um where they actually are living uh twice a year and that's on the parents and the cyber schools to to take care of that. So those are the ones that apply to us like right away. Um there's some upcoming uh requirements. You can see um by March 31st, we're going to need to report to uh PTE um on our current reading instruction curricula. Um we haven't gotten any information about that yet. They're they told us they'll let us know later what we're going to need to tell them. So we still don't even know what we need to tell them. We just know we're going to have to tell them something in March. Um and in a

048starting August 1st um there's going to be some enhanced uh reporting on student attendance um and and our truency. Um again, we don't have information on that. I'm assuming we'll get that over the summer um when they figure it out. And then some things that were um longer range school year 26 uh 27 and beyond. Um you can see there's going to be a FAFSA requirement u for the class of 2027 and um a science of reading implementation for the 2728 school year and some professional development for the 2829 school year and I can assure you we have gotten no information on that yet. So um that's a summary of all the things that we know about so far, the timelines and what we know about it so far. If you have any questions I

049can try to answer them. Then we have the Springrove area education fund uh annual report for information. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. Um confidential board member memo. Sorry Nicole. Anything to add on that? >> No, nothing for me. Thank you. >> All right, moving into pro program committees uh curriculum and that'll be Eric. >> Uh looks like a whole bunch of stuff for Dr. Wino. Thank you. Uh the first one is a rather lengthy uh memo. I apologize. 20 pages. Um and it's replacing a bunch of uh slideshows and presentations that we would typically do. Um, I tried to summarize things as best I could, put everything together all in one spa in one place for you. Um, the first page is kind of like a table of contents for you. So, it's listing all

050the different things that are going to be um listed or explained later on in the um in the in the memo. Starting with the assessment data, the beginning um stuff is what you've normally we normally talked about. uh PSSA results um keys keystone exams. Um we added I have added this year some information about Aadians benchmarks in grades K to 4 and some benchmarks um K to six. Um you'll see that we're going to be talking or looking at some PAS which talks about growth. We have as we normally do um information about our future ready PA index, our building scores which we get each year and then um the end of the memo which we'll spend most of our time looking at here is um I tried to highlight some of the uh some

051of the key things here um and then look identify some of the areas of concerns and then listing out for you some of the uh next steps and there are areas of focus that we've already identified and have begun working on. So, as I said, I'm not going to you have the data in front of you. Um, so you can look at it. Um, and I would like to start um on page 17. Um, you can look at uh the key highlights. um try to look at all of that data again looking at achievement growth um all the different sources that we have and just try to point out pull out some of the key highlights. Um our elementary mathematics performance um it stands out uh above state averages um in third and fourth grade

052um especially New Salem. You can see those numbers. Um that is definitely a highlight. Um we have maintained our competitive position um in York County um consistently in both third and fourth grade ELA and math over the uh period of 22 to 24 which is where we can look back and compare um where we are how we've done um with our neighbors. Um so we've we continue to do very well and you can see that chart um in those early elementary grades. Um especially would like to highlight um Springrove Elementary. Um they're they showed a a very nice improvement in their building score. Um last year their building score was 74.8 um and they showed an increase to 79 or 79.7 this year which is um a very nice increase. Um you may remember from

053my previous years uh we get a building score um from the state for each building. Uh the building scores are based on achievement, growth, attendance. Um they also take into account um graduation rate and career readiness and things um all kinds of numbers that may or may not apply. Um but that is a that is a nice growth and increase um at SGE last year. Um looking at some data that we have not looked at specifically um in this forum lately um that's acadian. We looked at some Aadian reading reading benchmarks. Um across all three elementary schools, kindergarten is really really strong. Um you can see those percentages and we're seeing um consistently over the last couple years. Our kindergarten scores are are are very high and they're beginning to um show some momentum building

054up into first and second grade. Um growth. Um is another um metric that we have not talked about much uh but we use uh K to6 um and the benchmarks um we can see that in uh at the intermediate uh fifth grade reading showed a very nice improvement and math uh improvement last year um showing that it's another way to demonstrate growth. Um our literature keystone performance um remains above the state average which is nice and um continuing to highlight New Salem Elementary uh their math scores um showing not only PSSA success but they are strong in Acadians um and you can see those numbers there. Um so those are some of the highlights. Obviously there's a lot of data there but tried to pull out some of the things that jumped out to me.

055Any questions about highlights before we jump to concerns? Good. Um areas of concern. Obviously, we need things that we're trying to um work on. Um overall, just declining district-wide performance trends across multiple grade levels. Um that is a concern. Um that's the cohort data that you could see in that one chart that has the colors on it. Um the trends are concerning and we're we continue to to pay attention to that. I can tell you the state cohorts data matches ours. So it's not we're not alone in that, but that doesn't mean we want to be okay with it. Um but it does um also match what we see uh district or statewide across across the different cohorts in all the different grade levels. um algebra keystone result al algebra in general and our keystone

056results um contend continue to be a struggle. Um we're below state averages which is not good. Um and we're um looking at our that's probably our most significant weakness at the moment um that we need to look at and see how we're going to address which feeds directly into the middle school math um where we have cons consistently low um PSSA scores in seventh and eighth grade um building scores as we talked a few minutes ago about um SGE or yeah SGE's increase um mult multiple buildings dropped um where we saw the increase in um from SGE. Um looking at the building scores and how they're calculated, I can tell you that my my calculation or my estimation is our gross scores are what affected that the most. When I compared other districts with similar

057scores and their building scores, um where I see us lacking right now is our growth. So the state calculates our growth um using PSS uh PAS um and if our PAS scores are not were higher, we would be significantly higher in our building scores um which which is what we want. Um but that's where we're where we're hurting at the moment is our PAS scores in general. So that's kind of uh how we ended up in that boat. Um and then the f the fifth thing was um upper elementary reading uh remains a concern. Um looking at essentially fourth to fifth grade um in the in a drop there. Um it's a critical point where students are struggling to move from learning how to read to then reading to learn. Um and that's an area

058where we've struggled over time but we need to you know still focus on that. So then we have those are the key concerns questions there. >> Yes. Okay. >> Um I have a few. Um one [clears throat] I I I am disappointed when we uh compare Spring Grove to the state average. Like I I that grates me a little bit. The state I believe that Springrove is a lot better than the state average. I mean there are a lot of schools in Pennsylvania. And so whenever we are below the state average, that to me is like a my hair is on fire. We've been we've been here before. I've shared my concerns before. Um and I just would love to know what it is that prevents us from just compete like competing in the county.

059Like we do an excellent job at elementary when it comes to all the things you highlighted. That's amazing and awesome. And when we are first, second, and third in the county, I think everyone on the board expects that. I mean, it's Springrove. I feel like we should be there. And so when I see the seventh, 8th, 9th, 10th, and lower positions, I'm very concerned. And so I just want to know how how can we support the administrators, the teachers, the curriculum to get there? Um, and I see all of your action plans and I think they're great, but they're like the ex I I've heard all of those things many times. And so I'm curious with five years of decline, what is different about these meetings than were about last year's or two years or

060three years ago? Because it's it feels a little bit like we're just we're stuck and I'm not sure what we're stuck with. And it's it's it's a worse kind of stuck because we're slow declining kind of stuck. And so I am open to and I know I'm one but I'm open to like let's big picture this thing because this that precipitous drop off at the intermediate school. I'm certain that the administrators there and the teachers there are very concerned about that. But like are we looking at how much time kids have in the classroom? Is this scheduled the issue? is uh are the class sizes contribute to this? Are we ineffectively grouping kids? Like at this point I feel like it's put it all on the table. Let's see what we can do because five

061straight declining years is really really concerning to me again especially since we're comparing ourselves to the state average. I mean again I think that we're a lot better than that. So all of these questions are I would love and maybe in the curriculum meetings that we have or like what is preventing us from being one and two in every category because we're you're counting I mean all of us are largely in we largely have the same group of kids. We're largely dealing with the same financial constraints. So what is it that is holding us back? >> I I wish I could answer that question in in in a very short amount of time. Um, I would like to say I totally agree with you. The state average thing has always bothered me. Um, I do

062put more more emphasis and more weight into how we are doing with compared to our neighbors, which is why I put that chart in every year because I agree with you. We should be in areas that we are in some of them and some of them we should be better. Um, where I may might disagree with you a bit and and you and I have had this conversation over and over again, um, is how much weight do we want to put into the PSSA versus some of the other metrics that we've tried to include in here so that you could see how we're doing. Um there are a lot of things wrong in my opinion with the assessment system and how we measure kids on the PSSA or Keystone. Um not saying we shouldn't improve.

063We absolutely need to improve and all of the buildings agree with that. It's the question is are we ready to blow it all up because of that or are we looking at all of the pieces which I think is where we kind of let it where we kind of got to in the last year or so and and you've kind of led that is can we look at some other stuff. I think we need to look at all of that before we totally, you know, dismantle anything or before we blow anything up because there's a lots of things that I would say are doing better and maybe there are better, you know, reflection of how we are actually doing than those actual scores. I I agree with you in a lot of a lot of

064it, but I'm also not I don't think it's to the point where we need to blow it all up. um what has changed and what we're doing differently is we're trying to look at different parts of this than maybe we've looked at differently. Um, moving on to the the the last page there which is the action steps you to your point we have made a it a point for more than the last five years more probably the last 12 years every year when the data comes out when we get the data we as administrators meet with the administrators in all the buildings and try to examine their data have them present it have us look at it and look at what can we get from it what usable information can we get from it? We

065we continue to do that. That's, you know, we're not going to stop doing that. We're going to continue to do that. This year when we did that though, we saw some specific areas that we want to to try to focus on which are what we listed here. Um and we're going to try to do something as opposed to just nothing. So, um those are the things we're going to try to focus on. Um math obviously is is a focus. I know we we spent a lot of of time talking about elementary math previously, but they're doing still doing pretty well. We really need to focus on uh middle level math and and and where we're where we're missing the boat there because I agree we can do much better than we are regardless of of

066you know what metric we're using. We can do much better there. Um there are some things that are in transition that I'm also like to for us to pause on and not overreact to. One is the state switch to online testing. We don't have a choice anymore. We have to take PSSAs online. We have to take Keystones online. That is um a new thing. We started last year. We did it a year early because they told us this year was going to be the year we had to do it. We did it a year early to give us a head start and that I'm I'm convinced that is a thing. Um and it we need to get better at it and our students need more practice on it and they need to learn those that

067those test taking skills because they're different um different it's different taking a test on paper and pencil than it is online. Um that's a thing. Um, we have a high school that is in year one of a new schedule that I'm very confident will will help with all of this, but it's going to take us a couple years to get work through the bugs and get all that stuff taken care of. Um, we have a science test that's completely new. We didn't even get scores for it. It was so new. Um, that's going to affect uh fifth grade, eighth grade, uh, key biologically keystone. We have a lot of things in flux. Uh we have some new um some new benchmarking. You know, we're keep focusing on the Acadians and EXL. The state came out

068with something called Firefly, which is supposed to be more helpful than the CDTs we've been using in some levels for a while. So, there's a lot of things in in kind of flux that I'd like to continue to work. I think we do need to continue to talk. I think curriculum meetings were a great time to do that. Um I I agree with you on a lot of them. >> I I did appreciate having the Aadian and LL scores. I I'm still cont when I saw those they also gave me concerns because you know some of those are 50% of our students are at or above grade level. Um that's very concerning to me. Um but I appreciate involving those because I continue to ask for it. As I said many times, the if all

069that we have is our PSSA and Keystone data, that's all I can talk to. So, I did appreciate that additional information. And it would be lovely if when looking at that, we could get some comparative numbers on that as well. I know a lot of people use. I don't know how many districts in York County use it and I don't know how much conversation happens between schools but I right now I'm only comparing us to us to one year and yeah correct and we're going to have to continue to collect that on our own. I don't know if we have access to it across the districts like we would with some other things but continuing this process I think will help us gather them more information yeartoear. I agree. >> Appreciate it. Thank you. I

070this is the this is the reason why we are here and we do a lot of we do our dozens of hours of conversations around budget but we only do that to support this and so it's again a continued I wish we talked about this more often because this is why we exist. Sorry. Thank you, Steve. >> Just Steve, may I add something? To [clears throat] Steve's credit, under his leadership, um he led Michelle and I both to meet with each building to go over the data. And I'm looking at two building principles and those aren't comfortable meetings because again, we asked some really tough questions. So, I think there's an accountability piece that is always there and probably always needs to be there. And I go back to there. This is all public data,

071which means that we can see where the pockets of success or more success exist in the county. We don't have to drive very far to go over to school B, A, G, whatever, and say, "Okay, our numbers aren't anywhere close to yours. Help us. What is it?" And Steve brings up an excellent point with this high school schedule. It could we well be that? We don't know that yet, but let's go to a school that that has gone through that transition. and are they seeing an uptick of those scores? There are schools in the county that we can go and sort of and and we talked about that. Can we go and visit and the networks the networks that exist between building administrators and those things are huge. They can pick up the phone and

072say, "Hey, look at these numbers and I looked at yours and yours are different colors than mine and they are again this year and they are again the last year." So those are tough questions to ask and to again to give credit where credit is due. These folks are trying to figure it out again where are the success pockets and let's go and talk to them. I mean send a team you know let's let's go out and find out why X school has blues to use that expression again. We can talk forever about blues and reds and yellows and things but there are pockets that we can drive not very far to find some some okay talk to us things. And I'm and I love that. And that's what I I I am all on

073board. Again, I'm one of nine, but I'm all on board with us doing whatever we can. Like, if I'm totally fine with covering a number of teachers to go to another district to talk about that, like if let's not let a couple of hundred dollars of covering those classes hold us back from a global change. So, I thank you so much for all of the administrators who are working on that. I'm sure you're working on hard. We even talked about that in the curriculum meeting with the elementary program because we are instituting a new new program. How there were two districts and one in particular was very willing to work with us and I I know a couple of us said that is a great idea. Why why try and figure this out on our

074own? And I think not only talking with other districts and and sending some teachers out and for like Eric said a couple might be more a couple hundred but you know but it's not going to be mega bucks. I think that's important. I think the other thing is we got to get collaboration among our own teachers as well and which is sometimes difficult to do it because it's it's a matter sometimes that some people don't collaborate as well as others. Sometimes there's just no time for it. So I think both the collaboration among ourselves and with other districts would be something we should >> Yeah, I agree. I agree. I really like all this new information stuff. I don't understand it at all. I'm going to tell you up front. I don't know what Arcadia

075is. I don't know what the LL is. I don't know if they're all based off the same scores, but it's just it's because it's very confusing to me when you look at state things and you look at their results and then you get over here and we're at 90 some percent and and and so but then you go back and you read, you know, 3/4 of middle school students are not proficient in math. I mean, that that right there just scares the hell out of me. That that thinking that's telling I don't care what these numbers say. If if this is your end result, we got to fix that. And we've been talking about this now for since I've been on the board for four years. And we got to figure it out. Whatever it

076takes. Like Eric says, if it takes spending more money or whatever to figure that out, we've got to figure that out. We don't have a choice in this. You know, I I don't care if a building halfway falls over before we fix this. This has got to be fixed. So, I I applaud you guys for digging into this thing. I hope now we're into it and I hope we get it figured out very soon and and figure out what the reason is. If if it's, you know, if they're saying now everybody got to do this thing digitalized for PSSA and and the Keystones, well, maybe it's something wrong with technology, you know, you know, we keep we keep going downhill, but yet we keep in introducing more and more technology. So, somebody ought to say,

077"No, wait a minute. Is technology helping our kids learn? Is this doing anything for us?" >> Well, and I agree with it's a catch 22. We could there are lots of I think people that would argue we could get some more things done if we did it the old fashioned with paper pencil. But now we ha we have no choice. The kids have to take the test that way. Um so >> everybody does it that way. >> We have Yeah. >> That's where we got to get solicitors and stuff involved in this and tell the state, you know, shape up because we ain't going to put up with this anymore. We're going to do what's right for our kids. That's what we got to do. And I do that. Yeah, Rodney, I completely agree and

078I um just because everybody else is doing it doesn't mean that's the way we need to do it. Um just because they have just because they're taking this these state assessments um on these on on whatever medium that they're doing, it does not mean that we need to adopt that same for how we instruct our students on a daily basis. So, um I just I'm very I guess I I applaud this whole conversation um because I agree with Rodney. We need to do something and we need to do it now because since I've been on the board and I'm going on five um you know, we've seen a continuation of the decline. So, we used to be one of the schools that other schools visited, right? So, um, I really want us to I I

079want that to return and I want that to return as quickly as possible. So, let's get whatever engagement we need, uh, to get this thing turned around as soon as possible. Like I said, I I see what the issues are. I just I we need help in terms of how do we turn this around and turn it around again. I I know this is just one facet as well, right, in terms of the scores. Uh, >> um, but I I just I know we can do this. We have we have uh wonderful teachers, wonderful administration. So, I know I know we can get this turned around. >> Yeah. Everything I said there had had I I applaud our all of our teachers and all our administrators and all them leaders and things like that. They're

080doing a good job. All I'm saying, if their hands are tied because of something the state is making us do that's stupid, we got to untie them hands and go up against the state. We We can't allow the state to tie our hands on fixing our kids. We these people know what it takes to fix it. And if they know that and it has something to do that state code says we're not allowed to deal, we need to fight that. >> I'm Yes. And I agree with everyone's questions. Uh great discussion. My question is, you know, it starts with accountability first, you know, from the leadership to the principles to the teachers. So what I want to know has anyone done any back research what happened five years you know we we can't say the

081high school because yes that changed to blocking but it's been you know four or five years so it's not like you know it was four years great and one year bad so that's been a decline you know middle school intermediate elementary seems to be moving up. But has anyone going back and say, "What are we doing? Are we not doing the same teaching each grade? Are we not being consistent? What moved that needle where we were good to bad?" Has anyone gone back to do any homework to say, "Wait a minute, we have an issue here. Let's let's work on this or let's find the source and work on that to build where we're at now." So your points are great. U and again we get this every year but I think we're at the

082point where we need to say hey out of these points we need to see three or four things in you know a couple months and where we stand at each one and what is happening. Uh you know again next year we'll be in the same situation but we're we don't get continue updates on everything. So my first question is what happened from now to back. So basically we need to rewind and see how our teaching was you know was it our leadership changed was it the you know principles changed was our teachers changing what happened to our education of teaching. I understand we have to teach to teach to do for the exams but everyone has their own teaching style. Those are the questions I think we need to ask first. What happened? Where do

083we start? And that's where we're looking for answers from you, Steve. >> Steve, these um the action plans, it says the buildings are developing them. So, will we get the specific action plans? >> What I I mean I what I think I heard um Mr. White asking for was an update. So, that's what we'll work together to to have once I get going with things to give you guys an update. >> And you know, Eric, you doing curriculum uh you know, maybe that's a discussion if we're all in agreeance to you know, find out from teachers if what had changed as well. you know, just so we have a better understanding. Okay, do we have any other questions? Uh, again, great discussion by everyone by all means. >> Thank you for the extra information. Yes,

084much appreciated. >> And and the administration to all the teachers as well. >> All right, the next one is a quick one. We have a proposed dual enrollment agreement with Messiah University. Um as you can see in the memo uh we contained uh we provided a complete list of all the um agreements and affiliation agreements and all the dual enroll agreements and stuff that we have. Um this is just another one. Messiah gives our students an opportunity to take um courses in dual enroll um at Messiah to earn credits um if they're interested in doing that. Um so it's just for your information if you have any questions. Well, you can continue on if you like. Next, um you have a memo prepared by me uh for a overnight request for four members of the

085business uh department to attend the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials. Our annual conference, this is a a professional development opportunity for um for the business staff. Uh typically the um PasBo conference is held in Hershey every three years. Uh Pasbo what they do is they pick a side of the state to kind of uh make it for for everybody in the state. Uh this year uh they've chosen uh Pittsburgh as you can see there uh listed in the memo. Um we uh put details outline uh the total um which is budgeted in uh in the business office budget. Um total um accommodations. One of the rooms is being funded. U Mr. Styles is president of the safety and security managers um uh uh uh group. Um they're providing um the reimbursement for one of

086the hotel uh uh for the conference. And then also uh we will be using a district vehicle. So no mileage reimbursement. That's all that I have. >> Okay. The next memo um is from Mark and I regarding um proposed field trips and uh costs and documentation. Um as you may recall over the last couple of uh months, year or so, uh we've talked quite a bit about um field trips. Um the first thing um on the list is we have um some proposed changes to the major trip form um to try to address some of the questions and concerns that we've heard uh in the in the past. Um all centered around documentation of who what funds who's paying for it having an opportunity to verify this money is in this account, this money is

087in that account. Um so we have a check off uh sign off kind of uh procedure. So um you can see in the on the attached what we would like to add um to allow that to happen um more efficiently. Um if you are all good with that uh we're ready to start using that from this point on uh for the remainder of the school year if unless somebody has a problem with it. >> Well, there's also an it's not that's not the only change. There's also the or you you're still going. Well, that's that's the first part, right? >> The first part was with the with the with changes in red that we can start right away if everybody's good with it. Just allowing us to answer the questions that have been asked uh

088repeatedly and make sure that they're verified so we don't have to keep going back and forth. Um the second half um refers to substitutes. Uh we've had multiple conversations over uh multiple meetings about um requiring clubs andor school groups to cover the cost of substitutes if they are needed for a particular um trip. On the on the form already there's a spot that says are substitutes needed? Yes or no? How many? That that's not what we're talking about. But over the course of of of time, we've had um some talk about making a change and requiring the groups to cover the costs of those substitutes if they're needed. Um we need to open it up for you guys to have a discussion about that if you are interested in that or not. If you are,

089um we would like to propose putting it on an agenda in the future so that you guys can vote on it because so we have some direction. Obviously, that's something we need to do. If we were going to do it, we would want to start it for next school year because clubs and they're not ready to do that. They're not budgeted. They're not prepared. Uh we need to give them direction. But we need to have that. You guys need to have that conversation now before we can kind of do that. And if you're interested in doing that, >> does that include the cost of substitute nurses? Also, >> nurses are a little tricky because we're required to do that. So, I would I would not go down the road of nurses right now. If a

090student needs a nurse, we have to we have to supply regardless. So, I would I would recommend leaving that part out just to talk about the substitute. Do you I guess Mark I keep asking why we're doing this. How how much money does it cost? Because I it looks like it needs to be approved by the building administrator. So they are writing down as to how this is tied to curriculum or how this is going to benefit the whole child and that needs to be approved by the administrator. And so these trips are kind of sanctioned by the school to allow them to do this and it seems like a worthy endeavor. Um and so for something that we think is beneficial to the kids, we're now requiring them to pay for the sub. How

091much money will that save? like it seems like it's a money savings is what we're really shooting for here. How much money would that save as to how many subs we're talking about? >> So, I don't have that exact number right now. Um, but I we'll have it for the for in two weeks. If if if the board wants to vote on this in two weeks or if you want to continue to have discussions, but I can bring you more information. Um, I propose that we can talk about this at our budget and finance committee meeting and I can give you some It it's a tricky question too because first off we try to encourage teachers and groups to plan activities that don't require substitutes just because we don't have substitutes and there shortages. So

092the first level is we try to avoid it all the time. And to your point, we're talking about major trips here because the major trips are what you what come to be approved. But the building levels approve the the not major trips all the time. But still the same thing would apply is the principles are to your point approving them um because they feel like they're worthy or whatever reason you were trying to say. So it's there's lots of layers to this. Does the for sports do the sports boosters pay to cover subs when coaches are gone for the district relays or wrestling tournaments that are occurring? >> No, we do not get reimbured from >> and that's one of the things that bothers me is like all of these things are really beneficial and

093I don't want to cut any of that stuff. I think giving those kids that opportunity and if it ends up being $170 the reason why this trip this can't do something that a district administrator would approve I I just I'm under I'm I'm misunderstanding why we're doing this if it's for so I I guess I'm I'm for just quashing it. I don't know why we need it. That's where I stand. >> I may Yeah. Why don't we why don't we do this? Because there's there's apples and oranges to some of this. And Steve, you alluded to some of this because some are major trips and some are like just random field trips or activities that pull teachers out for whatever sport. Pick it. Pick one. Let's charge the administration with coming back into February DSF.

094Let's sort of move this forward if we can and sort of get this one approved this month. And then at the DSF, let's focus on the second part of this and that's the payment of the field trips. And then the board can actually make a decision and send forth whether it's this year or next year on just the field trip reimbursement. Um Steve, you're looking at me funny. >> I'm not I've seen that look before. >> So what we'll do is what we'll do is I think what I'm hearing is that we're going to move forward with the field trip with this form here. >> It's just the form. If everybody's good with that, I think >> and then and then for the February DSF, what we'll do is from the business office is we

095will pull all of the all of the um uh time off requests that were due to field trips or or or um major trips and and and get numbers to the board so that we we're >> looking at real information because I don't know I don't know what that number is. I don't know if it's I don't know if it's 90 trips or if it's 300 trips. So, I can't give you that accurate number right now. >> Eric, I don't I don't at least from my perspective, I don't think it's about telling people yes or no as much as it is in a transparency of what does it actually cost? Because there's a spot where they can pick yes or no to the other. Like if they're asking for it to all be paid or

096not all to be paid. So, I I agree with you. I'm not trying to have everything have to cover, but what do things actually cost when they come in front of us to vote yes or no to? We want the transparency of the numbers. And there's also um consistency from program to program on who uses and doesn't use some of these things. So if it's a benchmark for transparency of numbers and to try and make it so it's equitable and the same for everybody. Um that is what I'm looking to get out of it. Not for it to be preferential. >> Oh, so I guess that maybe I was misunderstood or maybe I was not clear. The first part with the boxes, I don't care. That's fine by me. That's just showing whether or not

097they have the funds for the overall group. I mean that's going to it's basically going as it always is. only now it's transparency across the board. That's fine. >> Substitute information on there of the added they have to cover a substitute because from a a recent buildings and I think it was a buildings and grounds meeting I had asked has any club or group had to pay for their own substitute and at that point I was told no you haven't. And so this though is added a second piece. They're looking to add every trip that's a school group or club will now need to pay for the substitute. That's the area where I have an issue. >> I thought you had a choice that you could say we're asking for you to pay for it

098or we're not. Um I just want the transparency of what is it financially going to cost to do this? And it's not a hey this is going to cost 300 bucks. Well, it's 300 bucks plus the transportation plus sub. Like I just want to see the total cost when we're doing this stuff. >> I Yeah, the total cost if we make the changes to the form that we we're looking at, you should have the total cost. The question is after that's done, if there's the appetite to change the procedure and who's paying for the substitutes, that's the correct remains. >> Just make sure I didn't hear you wrong. Is um we're we're also talking about a couple different things here. you you were referring to like major trips that the board approves. Okay. Um, one

099of the things I think that Mr. Baringer was also asking for was if I have a club, I'm a teacher, I have a club and I'm just taking a trip tomorrow to whatever and I require a substitute. The board does not see that. And that is what that's the number that Mr. Baringer is requesting is how many how many are we how many trips are we talking here that my club would have to cover in my >> uh so kind of I'm just curious and this is just for information sake this is for this discussion if we're going to add on we're not talking about the checking boxes and how much things are going to cost but if we're now going to start requiring each of these teachers and clubs to cover the substitute cost

100before we add that on. I am curious as to how many trips we're currently doing and this is only for information sake so that if it comes to for us to vote on it that we have all that information. I'd also like to know for sports like how many substitutes we're currently paying like we've never asked sports to cover this either. I I'm I don't feel like we have. Again, I keep repeating myself. I I think this is a little ridiculous that we're asking clubs to also cover that. So we'll get the number of of trips as well for both academics as well as athletics so that we can have that and have a a better conversation of what we're >> Yes, >> I agree. Transparency is fine just to show it. Uh I guess

101when you say the clubs have to cover it, does that mean they have to raise the funds or does that mean they have to take it out of their budget? And if we take it out of their budget, that's fine. But essentially what we've done is we've just cut every club's budget because now they got to figure that in as well. Am I correct about that? >> If I may, let me make sure I understand because there's we're not making a decision tonight or this month to charge anyone for a substitute cost. Right now it's just on this form that the administration, Steve specifically, is asking that you sort of give the blessing to use this new form. Mr. Baringer is then asking for additional information from the business world. Tell us what numbers we're

102talking about and then the board can look at that number and say, "Okay, is this something we want to do for athletics? Is it just for the trips from clubs? Is it just whatever?" And that's a decision that can be made after the information flows out of the business world so that you can see what that number is. And that can be a February DSF discussion item to move forward or not to move forward. But right now, we don't have a key piece of that discussion. I think here no one I think and correct me if I'm wrong, no one's recommending that anyone pays for the substitute rate at this time. We're just simp or the substitute cost. We're just simply trying to get that number so that the board can make a further decision

103or another decision or no decision as to what they want to do with that information. Is there anyone what I'm just trying to sort of bring this to a to where we are that we know what we're doing >> and and how this you know came at breast was the uh every time we get a uh uh proposal for a major trip it would be in there that you know for example transportation lodging mealing uh total expense to be covered by a budget. Okay well what is in that budget? So, you know, I would ask for every year or then you will see uh students will fund raise. Okay, that that's great, too. And again, we're not here to decline anyone not taking a, you know, field trip because some students it might be their

104only field trip they get to take. But what we're getting to say is how much of that money is be funded by the school. So, hey, we have we have uh uh $4,000, but the total trip is $5,892. Okay, great. When are you going? Uh, next week. Well, how are you going to raise the difference that quick? So, what's happening? You're taking out of the budget. So then it comes down to again who's paying for the substitute and learning. You know, there's a lot of day trips that we as a board don't know anything about or we don't want to approve them. But it's the same thing. Hey, I'm taking some kids to get some ice cream. I'm going to use a district vehicle. Okay. Well, that's great. Now, well, who's paying the mileage on

105that? Who's paying the gas? Who's paying the sub? So, those are the questions. Basically, I think what we're all asking for is what is our expense of where our trips are going, our day trips, our overnight trips, et be funded, are they funded 100%, you know, by the club. Maybe we're good with just we want the documentation. Maybe you don't have to go the route of even looking to have the clubs pay for it because I'm not so sure anybody's even asking for that. I think they're asking just to see the total cost including a substitute. Is that right or wrong? Am I wrong? >> I don't think we're asking necessarily for them to pay for it as much as we're asking can they put it in their budget. That way we have a more

106accurate budget. So, if somebody says they're going to want to do this and they're going to want three days of substitutes, it should just be in their budget. It's not saying that they have to necessarily pay for it, but it is more an accurate budget from club to club, program to program. >> And let me be clear that if um making sure that we're all clear is that if there is a day trip by a club, the club's budget may not come out of the general fund. I think what Mr. White is asking for is that if a club takes a trip and the club goes on this trip, the substitute is coming out of the general fund. The club's expenses are coming out of the club's expenses. So, we're going to um have that

107information at the February DSF to make sure that we're all clear on on all these subjects because we're talking about a couple different things here. >> So, Doug, why I'm good with the form? That's what tonight >> that's what we were talking about tonight. >> That would just be a shift as to where the money comes from which fine. >> If you could be it's not a shift, >> right? I'm just going to be presenting the information. >> It's not a cut of all the budgets of all the clubs then. >> All due respect to everyone. No one's deciding that tonight. That's a DSF item for >> February. You've given us the direction that we need to move forward. So I think for the form I Doug, you're in charge. I think we're good to

108go. >> Can we actually just for clarity sake because we can maybe avoid Mark doing a lot of work. So what Ben just described if what because that I that's not the form that I saw what how Ben described it. But if that's the form that we're all good with and we want to cuz if we're not looking at charging clubs to cover the sub costs, then that form looks different and we just want to add that into what Doug's asking for. We don't need all that information. If like Bark doesn't have to get gather any information. If we want clubs to pay for the substitute, then we need what Mark is looking for. So, which I'm on the board I'm on the group. I'm on the side of I don't want to charge the

109clubs that substitute fee. I'm okay with it adding in to the general number just to show what it's going to cost us from our general fund. That's fine and we could do that tomorrow. But if if we're going to ask them to cover those costs, then I want it. But if not, Mark doesn't need to do any work. >> Well, I think we ought to look at option A and option B, whether we cover it or not cover it, and still get an idea what we are spending for substitutes. I mean, the bottom line is there is a shortage of substitutes that we can't obtain to fill all these requests. So, >> well, that might be a totally different discussion. I mean, that that's that's not what this isn't necessarily going >> that's not what

110this information. The bottom line is if we're going to charge the clubs for a substitute >> any other time we ask for options and pros and cons. If there's two scenarios, let's look at the two scenarios, >> right? >> And is is so Doug has expressed an interest in that. Has anyone else expressed an interest in that for the clubs to cover the substitute fee? >> I'm a Doug. >> Okay. >> I I want to have an understanding of where it's going because there's uh there's an understanding that it's not equitable across everybody and I would like to see the data and the information to either prove that right or wrong. >> Okay, we're good. Moving on. >> All right, that's um let's talk about some trips. Um you you have listed for uh for

111you five um trips. Uh four of them are um rocket launches and practice launches. Um we've seen these uh these are typical. Um the fifth one is an Odyssey the mind um state finals trip. Um again this is in place um for any students who happen to qualify. They have to go to the regional competition and then qualify to get to the state competition. Um, all of those trips have been checked for the budget stuff that we've talked about. They have the money in their accounts. It's been verified by the uh business office. Um, none of them require substitutes. So, they don't even fit into the all of them are on the weekend. Uh, they don't require substitutes at all. Um, there is a sixth trip that you have at your seat um that didn't

112make it to the agenda. Um that is a um 2026 PMEA Central Region Festival um for um orchestra. Um you have the uh you have that information. That one um is again one that we've done we do every year with our with our orchestra students um if they qualify. Um this one um you can see the costs. It is actually covered by the district. The budget code is there because that's uh one of our classes. Um there is actually one um substitute uh one day of substitutes that is required. It's on the form already. Um but it's also a trip that we do every year. So you actually have six uh trips and then if you have any questions I will answer them. >> One thing that I noticed that I've never seen before is

113car pooling with another district. Great idea. >> Yeah. Music >> especially when there's just one teacher one student. The music department does a good job with small groups and all that kind of stuff. Absolutely. >> Uh I have a quick question just so on that form it did say there would be one teacher, one student for one of those trips, but do we have a policy that requires at least two adults to one child where they're not just oneonone? >> Don't know that we have a policy. It's best practice we try to try to do that. Yes. But to to Karen's point, we're look they're looking to carpool as well. This and this and this is a this particular trip is and some of the other um festivals are a little different in that and

114this is going to sound weird but you have to hear the whole story. We take the students up there and then we leave them there. So they go we drive them up theu teachers stay with them the first day but then the students stay over. They're hosted by the district. They the students stay the teachers leave. they stay up there with their staff. They perform the next day and the parents come up and watch it and then they drive the their students home. So, it's a very not typical trip and that we're not taking our kids there and back and counting their heads and everything. We're actually taking them up, leaving them there and coming home without >> with appropriate supervision. >> Correct. >> Yes. >> I guess my my concern would be the one-on-one

115like in the car what that opens us up to. >> Agreed. Yes. Yes. Typically, it's multiple kids when the studio or where you get another shop runs in as well. That's all I have. Thank you, Steve. Moving on, we have our last of athletics and music and Karen. >> Okay. Um we have the overnight conference for um the athletic coordinator and we'll let Dave >> Yeah, you Thank you, Karen. Um you've seen this annually. It is the same kind of thing. We have um so that you know cap the amount of lodging per night at $120, which is about the average in that area, not the Hershey Lodge. Um this, as you also know, is part of the Act 93 professional development. he is a member of act 93 and is entitled to x number

116of professional development dollars per year and this meets that need as well in addition to the fact that he's networking and doing those other things so I I recommend this >> okay and moving on uh is there any plan planning items uh consider for future agendas anyone bring up want to discuss >> hey do you anything more to say about that whole milk or just I don't know where that's should be talked about but >> sure Mike I'll look to you should you want me to speak >> this should only take about 20 minutes and the game has already started but let me get going here um now um we've had the opportunity we uh USDA as you know or maybe you don't know but they've made some changes where that schools now will be

117permitted to serve whole milk and some other products I I focus on the whole whole milk because it's the easiest one to sort of grab a hold of and as you know we always seek as a district um opportunities to have some good PR. So, we got contacted, Steph Kennedy is in charge of this whole thing event right now, but we got contacted I think Thursday or Friday. Are you interested in showcasing um the USDA Secretary Rollins and some of his folks to come here to our district and sort of um say, you know what, this is a change and you can put kids in the picture and it's a warm feeling kind of thing um that we have. And I do understand there that they are inviting three um local dairy farmers. I think

118they're local, don't quote me, dairy farmers to come as well. So at 11:00, and please don't show up at the school yet because the details are still being worked out, but 11:00 this Thursday, there could well be um many news reporters out at Paradise Elementary School. Mrs. Janice has graciously agreed. The students will be involved in as much as they'll be eating lunch and going through and having that. we don't know any other um guests who may be coming. Um and quite frankly with things like this that usually changes the closer it gets and suddenly sometimes they even call that morning and say, "Oh no, never mind. We're good. We're not making it today because of X, Y, or Z." So I I I will put out to the board and email as the week

119progresses with more details of that. So you certainly are welcome to come. And like I said, Steph Kennedy, to her credit, and Julie Janice are sort of coordinating how that's going to look over at Paradise. It's a it's an opportunity for Spring Grove to be in the news in a very positive way and we always usually say I shouldn't say we always we usually say absolutely if it doesn't tax our staff too much because as you know all of these things do take coordination that answer Mike any question did do we start serving it yet or when is that happening >> know that >> we have not so I don't know when is there a date for that because this is all happening very I don't mean to put you on the spot Mark >>

120no I don't know if we have an official date there's a lot of logistics especially with the milk companies on on getting it to the you know for a number of years there haven't been whole milk so just getting the cartons and all that you know developed so y >> and one thing I did fail to say this is in conjunction with ruters and there will be a rudders truck parked out in front of the school to be the background for some of the pictures it's a photo op I don't mean to diminish it to that it but it that's in essence what it is and and you know good for them trying to makes make um public understand what's happening with that. >> All right. Well, it's 8:49. Do do we have a motion

121for adjournment? So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> And before everyone departs, uh, I'd like to thank the community, students, teachers, staff, and administration for coming out this evening. Thank you all for your time. Thank you.