001Hey. >> Good evening. I'd like to call the Wednesday, February 25th, Spring-Ford Area School District Board Meeting to order. Please rise for the pledge. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. The Spring-Ford Board of School Directors believes the community has the right to bring before the board issues and concerns they may have about items on the agenda or about items in general which affect the district or their children. Because of this belief and philosophy, the board will schedule a time at the beginning and conclusion of every meeting to have an opportunity for community members to share their concerns with the board. At the start
002of the meeting, members from the public may comment on agenda items only. The school board will move through the meeting agenda then at the end, when prompted, there will be a time for public comment. This meeting is being filmed to be broadcast on community cable channels and online. Individuals intending to make public comments should be aware that they are being filmed. Speakers will be asked to state their name and the area in which you reside before your comment. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for being with us today. Mrs. Schmidt, could I please have a roll call? Tonight in attendance, we have Mr. Lackey, Mrs. Hermans, Mrs. Geerdoff, Mrs. Goldsmith, Mrs. Yut, Mrs. Westwood, Mrs. Winegarden, and Dr. Sharma. Not present is Dr. Wright. Thank you. I do have one announcement tonight. I just wanted to
003announce that the board held an executive session on Monday, February 23rd at 6:00 p.m. to discuss a legal matter and a personnel matter. Dr. Scanlon, do you have any announcements? I have no announcements tonight. Thank you. Next up, we have public to be heard. Uh this is on agenda items only. If there's anyone in the audience that would like to speak about an agenda item, please approach the podium. Okay, seeing none, we're going to move on to presentations and this I have to say I know is one of my and I think most of the board's favorite board meetings. Uh tonight we have a presentation uh from our Spring-Ford Spring Musical Team, Mr. Siffelli. Oh, there you are. >> [laughter] >> Would you like to come up? It's our favorite board meeting, too. My name
004is Alexander Siffelli. I'm the uh I have the pleasure of being the musical director here at Spring-Ford High School. Uh my team and I would like to present a preview of this year's spring musical, Titanic. What's really cool about Titanic, this 1997 musical that won the Tony Award for best musical, is how every student gets to play a real person. What has been, I think, the most fruitful and cool thing about interacting with acting mechanics and putting on a show this year has been how our students have used their identity and their positionality to create intersections with these historical figures. They have gone all in and they sing the snot out of this score. So, uh we'd like to do a little bit of the end. Uh this is called In Every Age, which is
005a song that the architect of the Titanic sings talking about the design and the ambition of such a project. And we're going to go right into uh a song called Sail On Titanic, which the company sings at the launching of the ship. So, we hope you enjoy it and I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Perry, our pianist, and our cast. On Friday, Saturday, and Saturday evening, we'll have three shows. We're actually almost sold out of Friday, so please get your tickets soon uh and see these guys and support them. They are kicking butt and I couldn't be prouder. So, without further ado, Mr. Perry and the cast, if you will. >> [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing and music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music]
006[singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [applause] >> Geez, you might mean and that's after practicing from 11:00 a.m. to now, right? They're exhausted and they're still giving that. So, they deserve three full houses um and the community we love uh putting on a show. So, uh we appreciate the support and and the love. We feel it all the time from the board and from the faculty and from the um community at large. We always get big crowds. Um so, we encourage everybody to come out and support these kids and this staff who have worked so hard since December. This is going to be a wonderful show. Thank you for the invitation, board. Wait, Mr. Siffelli. Um I see you have some other staff members with you. Would you like to take a moment to recognize them?
007Absolutely. We have our choreographer, okay, Caitlin Colgan. All right. >> [cheering] >> Mhm. Costumer, Hannah Burke. >> [cheering] >> We have our tech director, Joshua Denning. >> [cheering] >> We have our music director, Joseph Perry. Our assistant director, Yvonne O'Day. >> [cheering] >> We actually have an intern from the University of Delaware, an alumnus, Cara Carroll, as well. >> [cheering] >> Yeah. It It takes a village and I appreciate you giving me the space to acknowledge everybody. Absolutely. [snorts] Thank you all so much. It's incredible. So proud. Spring-Ford proud, right? See you guys this weekend. Thank you. Well, I don't know if anything we talk about tonight will uh even touch that, but we'll try. Um so, Dr. Sharma, no pressure. We're going to move on to uh board and committee reports. Sec- So, uh
008Dr. Sharma, if you'd like to get us started with extracurricular. Sure. Uh I got a recommendation from Jason that I should dance, but I don't think that's going to happen tonight. Um but thanks, Jason. >> [laughter] >> Uh the uh thank you for the op- taking the opportunity to present this uh from last week. The extracurricular committee was called to order at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 3rd. Um, I have quite an agenda to share. Uh, there are some some dates which are already passed, so I'll highlight those dates as well. We had uh, two student group presentations. Uh, one was the first one was Spring-Ford Academic Deca- Decathlon uh, team. The advisors are Susan Mis- Miskavitch and Aaron McKennal. Uh, two stu- students came forward and presented the group uh, details, what they have
009been doing and how they um, operate this group. So, this is a varsity and junior varsity team group. Uh, they run from Thanksgiving through February. Around 15 students attend practices to host uh, quizzes and there is a travel squad of 12 students which they go around 12 diff- uh, sorry, four different schools in the area uh, to uh, host these competitions. Uh, the highlight of this presentation was they have won a Quizbowl uh, Bowl championship in 2024-2025 school year. And there is a upcoming county competition at MCIU uh, this uh, sometime soon. So, we wish them good luck. Uh, the extracurricular committee was given a surprise pop quiz by this group uh, to better understand the variety of topics and rhythm of this Q&A. Obviously, I couldn't get anything because I didn't have my ChatGPT
010up. Um, so it was it was a good experience to to see these students and their advisors came as well, so it was good to interact with them. Our next second presentation was Spring-Ford Student Council group. Uh, they came forward and their advisors are Mrs. Fran and Mrs. Bogus. Three students did the presentation and obviously one of the student was Ms. Gupta who's not here tonight. Uh, she's always in most of these groups, so kudos to her. This is one of the largest club in in our school, approximately 50 members across grade 9 through 12. And their main major responsibilities are fall homecoming, community drives, Spring- uh, Spring blood drive for American Red Cross, and assisting with the selection of student representative to the school board. In the next section, uh, Mr. Seth Jones gave
011his updates. Uh, he provided a presentation on all activity on all active clubs and activities occurring in the district. Here are some upcoming events. Uh, Vex- Vex Robotics was one of the event which passed and I had the opportunity to attend this event with my son as well, so he's looking forward to be part of this group when he he when he starts the school. Uh, Spring Musical, uh, Titanic, which we just saw that phenomenal presentation, is scheduled for this weekend, February 26th to 28th. Indoor Guard and Winter Percussion Night is scheduled for March 9th at 7:00 p.m. District String Jamboree is scheduled for March 26th. High School Band Concert is scheduled for March 31st. And prom, class of 2027 junior prom is scheduled for March 28th. Class of 2026 senior prom is scheduled for
012April 25th. There's also uh, Mid-Atlantic Percussion Society Championship will take place April 11th. Approximately 50 teams will participate in this group. Additionally, uh, selected clubs and initiatives, uh, PMEA honors multiple students in band, choir, orchestra were selected for District 11. Three orchestra students advanced to regional level with potential all-state opportunities. Future Teachers of Spring-Ford, a college visit to observe classes and meet education faculty uh, with the goal of inspiring students to enter teaching, ideally returning to Spring-Ford. So, this will be a great opportunity for us to build that pipeline. Interact Club partnered with Spring-Ford Rotary on Adopt-A-Family Holiday Program, providing over 1,000 gifts to local families. And there is a proposal for a new club, uh, badminton club. Uh, it's proposed with high interest and it's being monitored for longevity and membership mix. Mr. Jones
013reported there are approximately 279 participants in clubs and activities. Obviously, there is multiple students take parts in multiple groups, so uh, that's a big number. Uh, we'll dive dive deeper into understanding these clubs and their activities in the next following upcoming meetings. The last presentation and the discussion we had was with uh, uh, sports updates. Mr. Miskavitch gave us a brief update. Uh, boy swimming and diving, uh, there is achievement. The boys team earned PAC Championship Tri-Champ status after a final meet at Norristown. This is sharing with two other schools. And then the coaching update, there is a new head coach and and a staff staff are in place for this season. Individual highlight, there is there is a diver in our swimming swim team, uh, Deckel and B. He is 0.7 points away from
014school diving record. He practices at Perkiomen Valley and has built a really great uh, diving record. Sportsmanship recognition, uh, Spring-Ford received the Norristown Chapter Basketball Official Silver Whistle Award for [snorts] sportsmanship and game management, reflecting how officials are treated as well as the quality, facility, security, and the team conduct. The award banquet was scheduled for February 12th. >> [snorts] >> The Leadership Development Karen Foundation PAC Leadership Academy was scheduled for February 19th. Four student athlete leaders attended the leadership program at Montgomery County Community College. The next candidate selection is in progress in consultation with coaches and the 11th grade house office. Additionally, extracurricular contracts were proposed for upcoming 2026-2027 school year. This is for flag football assistant coach, girls wrestling head and assistant coach, unified track assistant coach, and unified bocce head and assistant coach.
015The next meeting will be held on April 7th at 6:00 p.m. in the district office. This concludes my report. Thank you, Dr. Sharma. Are there any questions or about extracurricular? Okay. Thank you. Moving on to personnel with Mrs. Hermans. Thank you. So, uh, for the community, typically you don't see personnel being a standing item on the agenda, but I felt it was important to bring to light that there's a lot of good work being done by Mrs. Lease, her employees, uh, Mr. Fink, and the personnel committee. And um, it should just be known. So, uh, typically the personnel committee, although a lot of what we talk about is covered under executive session privilege, which means it's non-public information. Um, I think what we can share with you is that every 2 years we do meet
016with various support groups. This year we met with tech support, custodians, Act 93 secretarial, and food service. And uh, the purpose of these meetings is to understand what's going well in the job, what could enhance the job. Do they have the resources that they feel they need to be able to do their job effectively? And out of these conversations often times come some asks. So, the board will be meeting in executive session in March to um, kind of come to some agreement in terms of like what uh, our next steps are with these various groups. And as we routinely do in April, you'll see voting action items on the agenda for the various benefit summaries. So, that's it. Any questions? Thank you. Would you like to take it away with the Western Center update next?
017>> Yes, let me take it away with the Western Center and I'm having some connectivity issues, so I'm going to do this on my phone. So, uh, the Western Montgomery JOC met on February 2nd and we had two presentations. Uh, the first was a uh, student representative to the JOC. This is the first time that the Western Center is implementing something similar in structure to what we have here at Spring-Ford with Mr. Drover and Ms. Gupta. Patty Grimm, long-term board member at Pottsgrove, and I had the opportunity to interview students and we chose four students uh, to serve in this position. So, congratulations to Abigail Gray from Archi- Upper Perkiomen District in the Health Sciences program, Ruby Howard, Upper Perkiomen in the Carpentry program, Jacob Lucci, Pottsgrove in the Carpentry program, and Sammy Moyano, our
018very own Spring-Ford in the Cosmetology program. Um, what was really nice is that we had Magistrate Judge Scott Paladino of Pottstown administer the oath of office to each student individually and present them with a certificate of appointment. The second presentation that we had was uh, to discuss the application for admittance to the Western Montgomery Center. So, knowing that we had some newer JOC members on the board, we wanted to review the inputs that go into um, deciding whether one is accepted into the respective programs. And in this case, we viewed the application process from the lens of our sending districts' guidance office. Uh, making sure that the pathway to the application on the website was also seamless, user-friendly, and uh, was ultimately what the board, you know, it kind of expects to see. We had
019a productive discussion uh, following that demo regarding the ways to ensure that guidance counselors have an opportunity to share relevant mitigating circumstances that may be important to understanding a child's situation or a student's application, but may not be fully reflected or captured through the application itself. So, as an application uh, updates, this is open season. Um, if you are interested in applying for the fall to any of the Western Montgomery programs, the deadline to apply is March 15th. And as of the February 2nd meeting, there were 270 applications received. 107 of them from Spring-Ford, um, 93 from Pottsgrove, and 45 from the Upper Perkiomen School District. So, demand uh, there is no lack of demand. As far as administrative reports, a lot of this had to do with the budget. So, as we all know
020at our last meeting, the work session, we had Mr. Livingood come and pre- present the budget to the nine board members of Spring Ford, but he has likewise done that to the board members at the Pottsgrove School District and the Upper Perkiomen School District. And as you all likely know, it is routine in March we approve the WMCTC budget, which of course will be factored into our pending budget approval in May. The second thing that we discussed was the public school facility improvement grant grant and capital planning. So, I believe we've talked a little bit about this in our own finance committee, but Mr. Livingood shared information regarding this grant for which he wanted to apply. The submission of the grant requires a 25% matching contribution from participating school districts. Under the current articles of
021agreement, Spring Ford would be required to contribute the largest percentage of the match based on market value. And this all, as a result, kind of ensued a bigger discussion. And the big picture here is that the Western Montgomery CTC was unable to apply for this grant because they do not carry a capital reserve or carry excess funds. Overall, this begs a discussion on what is the path forward to help ensure that CTCs are not excluded from applying for grants like these in the future. Um, a you know, we started to spitball some ideas in terms of it could be that the articles of agreement need revision. There are questions about if the current funding formula needs to be revisited. If the WMCTC, you know, should be holding excess funds. But of [clears throat] course, there
022is a downside to the sending districts in terms of losing potential earned interest. So, all of this to say that as a result, we're going to have a bigger discussion. I think Mr. Livingood has already talked with administration of the sending districts to have a meeting of the whole where all 27 board members will convene to discuss to discuss exactly this this issue and develop a plan to address it moving forward. And I believe, don't hold me to this, that it's tentatively slated for our JOC meeting in May, but more to come. And lastly, a couple of feel-good stories. So, of course, this is CTE appreciation month and all WMCTC JOC members, as well as staff members, were given a nice duffel bag as a Thank you. Um, CTE month recognizes students and staff at
023CTEs who provide hands-on learning, real-world skills, pathways to in-demand, high-wage careers. So, I say this all to say, come out and see it firsthand tomorrow. Tomorrow, February 26th, the Western Montgomery County Career and Technology Center will be holding an open house. It's routinely called their Skills Over Stereotypes Open House, where you can register in advance on their website to select two programs that your student may be interested in and really get that hands-on experience and and see what it is to be like in those respective classrooms with teachers and also some of the current students. So, if you're interested or you have an eighth grader who is is looking, tomorrow's a great opportunity to take advantage of that. Lastly, as we all know here at the table, the White House student state dinner project took
024place last Thursday. For the community, if you didn't see any information on the Western Montgomery social media site, this was an opportunity for all 27 board members, along with state legislators and leaders, to come together and participate in a culinary experience unlike any other. And I say that because it was guided by former White House social secretary Deesha Dyer, who served under the Obama administration. And Ms. Dyer shared and has worked continually with the students behind the scenes to give them the insights, the tips into the artistry and the purpose behind historic state dinners. And the evening was an unforgettable one, I'm sure. Someone's going to say something about this now because I think we were all just blown away. So, thank you again to Chef Arnt, Chef McGinnis, Ms. Dyer, the administrators, and of
025course, the talented students of the culinary program there. Our next meeting happens to be Monday, this coming Monday, March 2nd at 7:00 p.m. in the WMCTC board room. Questions? Thank you so much, Mrs. Hermans. I will echo your sentiments about the state dinner last week. It was truly so touching and impactful to be in that room and seeing the combination of so many different facets of the Western Center and, you know, people in the culinary field itself, as well as admin- just everybody rallying behind this project. It was truly beautiful to see. And it's something that I will remember for the rest of my life. And I know those students will, as well. And I mean, everybody in that room will will carry it with them forever. It was amazing doesn't even cut it. Something
026that really touched me, too, was seeing um and I apologize for not knowing everybody's names cuz there were so many people involved, but seeing our Western Center culinary teacher and the Aramark chef, who was a really big part of the project together and just you know, and are having Aramark and the Western Center is newer and just seeing, I mean, tears of joy and pride in them working together on these projects because of their passion for for education and and for the culinary world. So, that was that was, I mean, one of the many moments that was so touching to me and I'm so thankful for that collaboration that we were able to see. And I never was treated in such a fancy manner. I never had formal plating done in my whole, you know,
02746 years of my life. So, it was it was truly special. Um, does anybody have any other comments? I have a little one. I think when Ms. Dyer spoke about starting her internship at the White House when she was 31 and continuing that passion and how she ex- decided to do this. It was an idea that she had, hey, I want to teach kids that there is more to what they're doing. There's so many opportunities to do what they love. And sharing her experience as a social secretary and all the places it took her was really remarkable and I felt really grateful that she brought it to our students and it was really very beautiful, very special, but also incredibly impactful. Very grateful to be there. Thank you. Yeah, I thought I thought it was
028really well done. I mean, it was excellent to see the students. I had a chance to speak with Chef Arnt about the rehearsal time for the serving that they did when they all came out. It's almost choreographed, almost much like Titanic tonight. Uh, choreographed in terms of of serving. And we did have one speaker there who's the president of the state host organization, Maddie Johnson. Maddie's a senior at Spring Ford High School, so she was very impressive. Had a chance to speak with her about some of her college options that that that she's facing and she's having a tough time making decisions. So, it it was an impressive evening all around. Many of our Spring Ford students were part of that, along with the Upper Perk and and Pottsgrove students, as well. So, so very
029impressive evening. And I I did just want to add, Mr. Fink, I don't know if you have any connection to the food service staff at Western and you could pass along to Mr. Scott, but I believe his name is Mike who Mrs. Deardorff was referencing and I can just tell you as a parent there, I know that the students love having them him check them out in the lunch line every day. So, and you know, and that's one very small part of what he does. So, please pass it along to Scott. If I can just cuz everything you have said is absolutely correct, I just want to add two little comments. One is that one of the messages that I walked away from, which I thought was really important for our young students who are
030not only in the program, but just in general, was and the whole reason for it was that politics doesn't just have to be for lawyers or government workers. It politics is is in food service. Politics is kind of everywhere. So, you can engage in the political process, maybe not through traditional channels, but through some unusual channels. The second thing that I did want to share with everybody is I did send a thank you and one of the chefs was kind enough to on one of the dishes, I wrote about many, but did send me the recipe for the miso roasted cabbage recipe. So, I am happy to share that recipe if anybody else enjoyed it as much as I did. I was hoping you were going to say the was it the soufflé pie? >>
031[laughter] >> I mentioned that one, too. I did not get that recipe, but I did get the cabbage recipe. Awesome. Thank you guys so much. Next, we will move on to legislative with Mrs. Yut. Thank you, Madam President. The school board legislative committee met Wednesday night, February 4th, 2026. We had all Montgomery County um area school districts representing school board districts representing and Representative Joe Webster joined the group for majority of the meeting. We addressed federal government and those bullet point points included the state is not going to be able to backfill all of the federal funds that have been eliminated. Governor governor's budget proposal includes the creation of an emergency fund to help with immediate needs when a program is eliminated, but is not long-term fix. State budget includes continued need to advance tax
032equity and tax adequacy funding. There have been shifts in the funding burden from the state to local governments as well as we need to shift this back to create balance. The education funding court case outcome if funded will make a big step in this direction. We need to increase revenues for oil and gas. Pennsylvania does not have a severance tax as Texas, Wyoming, and West Virginia do. Pennsylvania does have an impact tax. Over the past 20 years, Pennsylvania has received approximately 3 billion dollars in impact tax revenue. However, in 1 year Texas received approximately 2.5 billion dollars in severance tax revenue. The existing legislation on impact fees in Pennsylvania is expiring. So, this is going to get a lot of attention in the coming months. Other options including cannabis, skill games, etc. are also that
033in increasing revenues. Need to review the line items in the budget for other resources of revenue. For example, the state spends $200 $200 million, sorry about that, on thoroughbred horse racing. Perhaps we can recognize these and re-prioritize these funds. Cyber charter schools. Confrontation is still coming and more reform is needed. Concern around revenue being put into facilities by cyber charters. Also concerns about nonprofit schools being managed for for-profit management companies with real estate holdings in Florida. Big concern about tax dollars paid to cyber cyber charter schools becoming contributions to political campaigns. This is happening on both sides of the aisle. Healthcare. The representative had introduced two bills related to this topic, price transparency, private equity firms, and the private equity equality deal. Is also related to the housing market concerns. Requirement to print notices in
034newspapers. There is pending legislation to modernize these requirements. And what would be helpful for board members to do and to support the work of a representative is to invite the legislators into schools. For for example, select sorry, celebrating the arts or sports championships, visiting Harrisburg. So, having school board members visit Harrisburg, having administrators go to Harrisburg, but including parents and students is also very helpful. We also discussed student cell phone usage. Board members asked that any legislation consider the cost that may be incurred with the passage of this legislation. How it is done should be up to the locally controlled school board. Please don't make another unfunded mandate. Current board is bell to bell with no exceptions and the governor supports this. During open discussion after representative left or senator left, make sure that you're
035looking at the proposed details for the basic education funding. The 50 million proposed increase is only at a 0.61% increase. Legislative breakfast will be held on March 27th at 2026 with a focus on school facilities. Business and facility managers are currently supporting the collection of countywide data to support the discussion. BSP A day on the hill is May 4th, 2026. Be sure to sign up on the BSBA website. There was a welcoming of new committee members and our next meeting is scheduled for March 4th, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. That is all for my report. Thank you very much. Are there any questions for Mrs. yet? I just wanted to say thank you to you and your cohorts on that group for advocating for no unfunded mandates. It's something that, you know, we continue to scream,
036but hopefully someday it will be heard. And then I wanted to share too, kind of along the lines of inviting the legislators in to see it. Something that, you know, I feel passionately about is about the people making decisions for us. Our students, our schools really should have some sort of knowledge of what that day-to-day experience is like. And I was able to talk to Senator Pennycook at the Western Center dinner and and she had just been at Brooke Elementary looking to see some literacy in action. So, it's always great when when we know that those people that are making those decisions are kind of invested in in coming in and seeing truly what the experience is here. So, it's thankful to have that conversation with her. I also wanted to add that Senator Joe
037and State Rep Joe were also at the state dinner. Webster. Oh, yeah. Sorry. Okay, great. Moving on to PSBA with Mrs. Goldsmith. Sure, just a couple updates. One, this past week you've all should have received an email about a survey PSBA is doing. I encourage you all to fill it out, not only because it's helpful to give PSBA feedback, but in addition to it, you may possibly win two free tickets to the October PSBA PSSA or PASA conference. Secondly, it is that time of year again that we all enjoy and love, required school district training. So, make sure you're signing up through PSBA for your trainings. There is virtual and in-person, many different sites throughout the month of March. And lastly, although it was mentioned, I will just again highlight it, May 4th. May the
0384th be with you is our advocacy day for PSBA. So, those who want to attend, I encourage you to start looking to sign up now. That is it. Thank you. Thank you so much. Are there any questions for Mrs. Goldsmith? Okay, moving to Spring City American Legion with Mr. Lackey. Thank you. Spring City American Legion baseball met on Thursday, January 29th. I was not in attendance as it fell during our board meeting. So, I've got no updates to bring back to the board at this time. Our next meeting is tomorrow, so I should have some more updates on the following board meeting. That's my update. Great. Thank you so much, Mr. Lackey. And next we'll have our superintendent's report, Dr. Scanlon. >> Sure, thank you. First of all, Spring City Borough Council will be presenting
039a proclamation and accommodation to some of the officers who were involved in assisting with an assault that took place in December. And one of our own officers, Bob Greenwood, was in that area at the time and he actually helped de-escalate a potential problem in Spring City. So, Officer Greenwood's invited to the Spring City Borough Council meeting that is this Monday, March 2nd to be recognized for his assistance with with de-escalating that problem in in the borough. I believe Chief Boyer and members of the Spring Ford police team are also going to be in attendance to support Bob as their team members. We are very fortunate to have such a dedicated group of police officers working in our district to keep students, staff, and our school community as safe as possible. So, thank you to Bob
040and Chief, thank you so much for all that you're doing with for you and your team. February is Black History Month, also known as Black Heritage Month. This is a time to honor, celebrate, and learn about achievements, history, and lasting contributions of Black Americans have helped shape our communities and our nation. Does anybody know what the significance of this year's Black History Month is? It originated in 1926. This is the 100th year of celebrating that. And it was a historian, Carter G. Woodson, an African-American historian in the late 1800s and early 1900s who launched what was called Negro History Week. Woodson chose the second week of February to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, two very prominent figures. Frederick Douglass from Pennsylvania. In in the Black American experience. The celebration eventually
041expanded to a month-long observance first proposed by Black educators and students at the Kent State University in 1970. In 1976, President Gerald Ford officially recognized Black History Month during the United States Bicentennial urging the nation to honor the too often neglected accomplishments and often misrepresented history of Black Americans. Give you a little history lesson on some of this. Our students are learning about this, by the way. Our schools have been studying Black Heritage all month. Let me just highlight a few examples just in the interest of time of what's been taking place in our schools this past month. At Brooke Elementary, students have been learning about influential Americans for Black History Month each morning on their morning announcements. They are getting a little bit about a Black American, famous Black American each day. At the
0427th Grade Center, students engaged in an exploration of an influential African-American trailblazers who made significant contributions to the United States in fields such as the military, government, science, um and cultural arts. They were provided with a selection of 20 biographical videos aligned with the social studies curriculum. And from this collection, each student would then select four individuals to study in greater depth. This process has encouraged critical thinking. It strengthened note-taking and writing skills and it deepened students' understanding of the diverse contributions that African-Americans have made to the nation's development. Our high school black student union made a visit to Spring City. This was in January as part of Martin Luther King Day of Service. They were there to work with our younger students on some service projects. I actually had the opportunity to visit Spring
043City that day and I spoke with the students about their work. The day was not just a day to promote service, but a day for younger students to learn from our high school students about the impact Dr. Martin Luther King had on American history. He's a very prominent figure during Black History Month and many students are learning more about Dr. King. Kudos to Principal Dr. Kelly Edwards and Principal Sue Troy for their coordination of this day to have older kids working with younger kids. And as a special thanks goes out to Anaya Stanton, our Black Student Union advisor at the high school for the time that she spends with students organizing events and learning about Black History not only during Black History Month, but throughout the year. Uh so there's a lot going on and
044I I thought it was appropriate to just mention and and give everybody a little bit of history about Black History at at tonight's meeting. Uh finally, uh just another shout-out to our our our musical uh our students. They're they're phenomenal. I know they were calling me during all the snow storms that we've had if they could come in and rehearse and we had to work around some of the snow storms to get some extra rehearsal time, but I think they found a way to do it. Uh again, Alex Zafelli, Joe Perry, and Giovanna Day coming out tonight and the rest of the rest of the the staff for for working with students. So, it looks to be a great show. It begins Friday, February 27th at uh 7:00. I do believe there is a uh
045performance for our um our gold card hold members, I believe, on Thursday at 4:00 p.m. And then uh Sunday at 1:00 and I believe 4:00 on Sunday. So, um if you haven't gotten tickets, get tickets. It looks like it's going to be a great show. Thank you so much. Next, we will have our solicitor's report with Mr. Fitzgerald. Uh good evening, everybody. Um I I was hoping to get a little bit of direction this evening from the board and and it's with regard to a an issue that I think has come up a good bit in the community and that is the pending development of a fairly significant potential AI data center in Limerick Township. Um on the continuum of the application process, we are um getting closer to what is known as a conditional
046use hearing, which is going to occur um in the middle part of March, at least the first session of the hearing. Uh this is an opportunity for the the uh developer applicant to present plans for the site and it's it's significant. It's 100 190 plus acres. Um um and and I bring this up this evening because the site is approximately located to two of our schools and one in particular, Limerick Elementary School. Um these hearings do allow for the participation of interested parties. Um I would anticipate that the the school district and its relationship to another municipality like Limerick would be viewed as an interested party um and and we could participate in part to really ask questions of the developer and applicant um surrounding the proposals and its impact to Spring Ford. Um and
047in particular, you've certainly you've you've seen it in whether it it in other meetings or or in in in in media, whether it be traffic related, um energy related, potentially noise related, um and in particular to an elementary population that could be close by. So, I I I'm seeking just kind of direction from the board that they would uh want um presence at that hearing. Um it would likely be uh a representation from from my office who would be there to ask questions of the applicant more as a fact-finding approach uh and then certainly could be shared with the board at at subsequent meeting. So, to give you that direction, is it just kind of like will of the board? Do we >> Yeah, it's it's it's it's the will of the board. We don't
048need a a formal action on it, just an indication that that would be something that that would be supported. I'm interested. Yes, I'm interested in just a to go a little bit further on that. I do, you know, I know that a lot of us here have attended township meetings and this isn't just impacting Limerick Township. It's impacting townships all in our surrounding school district. Um I know that Mrs. Deerdorff and I, we did attend a Limerick Township meeting and it's very obvious to us that um this is an issue that is top of mind. I don't care, you know, what your socioeconomic background is. I don't care what your political affiliation is. It is top of mind for everybody and I I believe the consensus is that this is a this is a concern
049that warrants an entity like Spring Ford to be able to take a stand. Personally, speaking only for myself, I think it is incumbent on these for-profit companies to show that you are not going to compromise the health and wellness of our students less than 2 miles away. And um yeah, I have a lot of concerns about that. So, I am for it. Same here. So, it looks like we have the majority. So, thank you. Very good. And and it will likely be my partner, Lauren Chesney, who does um both real estate and and land use work that would likely be uh present and we'll we'll connect with the administration and board representatives beforehand just to prepare accordingly. Thanks. Thank you, Mr. Fitzgerald. What's the date of that again? Then it is March 17th and I
050believe it will actually be held um here at Spring Ford because of the the need for extra space from the township. At the high school. Yeah. We can get everybody the the time and specific date. Make sure it's in the board memo, too. Okay, moving on to the voting portion of our meeting. Uh we will start with section six, minutes A and B. Do I have a motion? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Questions and discussion? All those in favor, say I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes 8-0. Next, we have section seven, personnel items A through E. Do I have a motion? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Questions and discussion? I have a couple of comments. Okay. >> Yeah, I'd just like to uh bring everybody's attention to our retirements
051this month. We have three retirements on here. Susan Borings, an instructional assistant here at the high school uh with 26 years of service. Uh Tara Lawson, also an instructional assistant over at the ninth grade center with nine years. And uh Christine Sisson, a guidance secretary, uh 32 years of service. So, 63 years of service with those those three people going out the door. Uh we wish them well. We thank them for all the service that they've given to our students and staff over the years. Thank you. Are there any other questions or discussion? Okay, all those in favor, say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries 8-0. Uh next, we have section eight, finance, sections A through P. Do I have a motion? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Questions and discussion? All those
052in favor, say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries 8-0. Section nine, programming and curriculum, sections A through J. Do I have a motion? So moved. A second? Second. Questions and discussion? All those in favor, say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries 8-0. Section 10, conferences and workshops, sections A through C. Do I have a motion? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Questions and discussion? All those in favor, say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries 8-0. Section 11, property, sections A through F. Do I have a motion? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Questions and discussion? I just have a question. Um are we still using the auction for some of the property like the vehicles that we that have reached end of life? Well well, any that we have a whole
053process to dispose of them and first you try to sell them, and then you try to donate them, and then we would just junk them, yes. Any other questions? Okay, all those in favor, say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries 8-0. Moving to section 12, other business, B through D. Do I have a motion? Can we separate D, please? Yes. Sure. Um So, other business, B through C. Do I have a motion? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Questions and discussion? All those in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? So, section 12 other business items B and C carry 8 to 0. And A is for first read. So, item D, the calendar, do I have a motion? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Questions and discussion. I was trying
054to polite be polite and let Heidi go first, but she told me to go first. Um it's more of a comment and just acknowledgement. So, I just want to say I know we've had a a lot of discussion for those of you that might have tuned in um around the calendar in a variety of meetings. Also appreciate the input from our administration, our teachers, and also the community because we've gotten several emails. And I'm only speaking as one board member, but I'd say like I think I'm very impressed with the thoughtfulness and the thoroughness of this approach this year. I realize that whatever decision we make is not going to meet everyone's needs, but I again speaking as one person, I think we have done our best to really try to be as holistic and
055inclusive as possible. So, just a thank you to everyone that was involved in giving feedback and coming up with the calendar and getting us to this point. I appreciate it. Well said, Mrs. Westwood. Agreed. She she took the words right out of my mouth. You can't really top that, so Okay. Thank you all very much. So, um do I have a motion for other business item Oh, no, questions and discussion. So, all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? No. 6 2. Thank you. That motion carries or 6 2. Next section 13 is informational items. We have a informational item about tenure, uh which brings us to section 14, board comment. Do we have any board comment tonight? Um just a small one. I see that uh Spring City Elementary is getting going to
056be hatching some chickens and ducks. I would like an update on that process. [laughter] Any other board comment? Um next is public to be heard. Is there anybody in the audience that would like to speak to anything related to school board business? Seeing none, do I have a motion to adjourn? So moved. So moved.