001This is the December 5 reorganization meeting of the TE school board. I call this meeting a little bit delayed, but I call this meeting to order. We will begin with the pledge of allegiance to the United States flag. This evening I convene this meeting representing the senior holdover members of the board as temporary president. At this time I will administer the oath of office to our newly elected board members. Will Maryanne Pition, Dr. Robert Singh, Nicole Sheerer, and Dr. Julie K. Miseros. Please join me at the front of the board table. Raise your right hand and repeat after me. >> Immare or affirm or >> I will support, obey, and defend >> the Constitution of the United States. >> Constitution of the United States >> and the Constitution of this Congress >> and the Constitution
002of this >> and that I will discharge the duties of my office today. Congratulations. [applause] Two of our board members are new to the office. Would either of the newly elected board members like to make a comment at this time? >> Go ahead. >> Yes. Thank you. Um, I just want to say thank you to uh all of the people and constituents in Traffin Region One. Um, and I want to say thank you to my family for uh supporting me through the campaign and election process. I'm very excited um to direct my efforts in working for the school district uh as a school board member after so many years of having kids in the district and volunteering here. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Sher. Dr. Beros. >> Yes. Thank you. I'm going to
003be a little more formal, but to be sure, I'm just uh staying on point here. I'm truly so grateful for this opportunity to serve the community of Tiffan and Easttown. Sworn to serve as a steward of public trust. I pledge to be a steadfast advocate for the interests of all students. I wish to thank my parents who are here today. They have always believed in the value of education and in my potential without which I would have not come this far. Much of my career has entailed working with ch children, teaching or advocating for their interests. As a teacher of English as a second language, the multicultural classroom was my home. As such, I really appreciate TE's diversity, and I'm eager to become part of that. During my campaign, quite a few community members remarked
004how glad they are or were that their children have gotten to know students from around the world in our schools. One person called it a United Nations. I spent six years studying and working in Asia, so I know what it feels like to be an immigrant and a second language speaker. And I understand the value of competence in working with people who are different from us. Realizing that my perspective is but one of many, many perspectives out there. I look forward to building positive working relationships with the f with fellow board members, including Dr. Gusk, our 10th non- voting member and other administrators and the faculty and staff who work with students every day. Thank you again sincerely. Thank you and welcome to our new folks and welcome back to our older folks. [applause] I
005will now take public comment limited only to the election of officers. One additional public comment period will be provided this evening for all other matters of concern, official action or deliberation which are or may be before the TEESD board of directors and which are not covered by the other comment periods. Each public comment period is reserved for residents and taxpayers. Additionally, the board will accept comments from sitting public officials for non- campaigning purposes and by agreement with the tea and tennig. The board will accept comments from the union presidents. All comments should be directed to the board as a whole or to the presiding officer. No comments or questions should be directed to individual board members. All public comments and responses should be in the spirit of civil public discourse. All public comments this evening
006will be limited to three minutes. Please make your entire comment and then the board will determine an appropriate response. The school board values the opportunity to hear from the community in person and appreciates your cooperation in advance. At this time, comment is limited to just the election of officers. Is there any public comment as to the election of officers? Hi, good evening. Uh, my name is Hans Vanal from Paley, Pennsylvania. Uh, I have the distinguished honor to serve as chairman of the Tradition Township Democratic Committee. I want to say congratulations to the new board members. Um, I know that you will serve with honor and integrity in leading this district um through the next four years. And to the serving board members, I know that you continue to serve. So um I know this is
007about election of board officers. I will reserve a time just to say thank you to Mr. Ken Tours and Miss Titi for your service as board president and vice president and however the board may choose to elect its new officers. Um, I know that you will all serve with honor and look forward to continuing to see this district advance um the students of this region with all the opportunities that we know they deserve. As a Stoga myself, I know that you will all continue to do great work and I look forward to what the next four years may come or excuse me, the next two years may come. Thank you. >> Thank you. Very much appreciated. Do we have any other comments from the public? Okay, seeing none, nominations are now in order for the
008office of board president. Are there any nominations from the board? Yes, Dr. Hadinsky. >> I nominate Sue Titi for board president. >> Okay, I see we have a nomination for Miss Suti. Miss Titi, do you accept? >> Yes, I do. >> Okay. Do we have any additional nominations for board president? Okay, seeing none, is there a motion to close nominations? >> So moved. >> Hey, is there a second? >> Second. >> Okay, I think we have a first and a second there. All those in favor of closing nominations signify by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Eyes have it. 90. Nominations are closed. Policy 9131 states, "If there is only one nominee, the vote may be conducted by oral roll call vote. No vote to suspend this policy is necessary." Mr. McDonald will now
009conduct a roll call vote. Mr. McDonald. >> Thank you. I'm going to start with uh Mr. Hong. >> Yes. >> Dr. Hatinski. >> Yes. >> Dr. Meros. Yes, >> Miss Pion. >> Yes, >> Miss Shure. >> Yes, >> Dr. Singh. >> Yes, >> Miss TD. >> Yes, >> Miss While. >> Oh, yes. [laughter] >> Mr. Ken Tours. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. Nine to zero. [applause] Well, I'm going to move over, but I get to say first. >> Would the uh Where am I? Uh okay, I will now turn. Yes. Would the newly elected board president like to make a comment? >> Yes, I would. Thank you. [gasps] I know that uh this is the meeting where we're organizing for the future, but if you would just bear with me for a moment, I would
010like to look back and uh I would like to thank Todd Contosk for his leadership for the last two years. [applause] You know, Todd has just completed 10 years on this board and two of the last were the years as president. Lucky for us, he has two more years to go. Uh, and he has a long list of accomplishments. Uh, I I don't want to go into every one, but I just thought I would highlight one thing because it was so unusual. I I think that Todd's study and uh wonderful leadership helped us through the decision-making process to purchase a property and a building that's going to be repurposed as an elementary school. And we hadn't done that since the 1960s in this district. So, it was a pretty novel experience for our board and
011our community. And his leadership took us through that working with the administration and so many people. And as you know, that building is now underway. So I I just want to give a special thank you to Todd for all he has done [applause] and and looking to the future. Uh I am extremely humbled and honored to have this new role. I know I have uh very big shoes to fill following a person like Todd and Robera before him and I I look forward to that. I look forward to all the decision decisions we'll make together and I also look forward especially to uh making Bear Hill Elementary a reality for our community. Thank you. I now turn over the meeting to the newly elected board president, Miss Sue Titi. There we go. Thank you very
012much. Let's uh continue on with our meeting. The next item on our agenda is the election of the vice president of our board. Are there any nominations from the board? No second is required. >> I nominate Kenneth Hong. >> Thank you. Ken Hong, do you accept uh this nomination? >> I accept. >> Are there any more nominations for vice president? >> Uh seeing none, uh is there a motion to close nominations? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you. So then we have a a first and a second and we have uh one candidate for vice president. Uh all those in favor of closing those nominations though, please say I. >> I. >> Whoa. Guess you have to do that harder. Policy 9131 states that if there is only one nominee, the vote may be
013conducted by oral roll call vote. No vote to suspend the policy is necessary. Mr. McDonald, would you now collect uh conduct that vote? Thank you. >> Thank you. I'm going to start with Mr. Hong again. >> Yes. >> Dr. Hatinsky, >> yes. >> Dr. Miseros, >> yes. >> Miss Pichion, >> yes. >> Miss Shear, >> yes. >> Dr. Singh. >> Yes. >> Mr. Canoursk. >> Yes. >> Miss Wild. >> Yes. >> President TD. >> Yes. >> All right. Motion passes nine to zero. [applause] >> Would our uh newly elected vice president like to make a comment? >> Yes, I would. Um, I'm so honored and humbled to be chosen by my fellow school board members uh to serve as vice president and to work uh beside President Titi uh the rest of the board and
014the administration of this incredible school district. I know that we are all committed to providing, strengthening, and investing in the highquality public education that the TE community expects from our for every one of our students. And I've seen an equal commitment to encouraging difficult conversations, diverse opinions, and open dialogue in our schoolboard meetings and in our classrooms. Uh, interestingly, uh, last month, TE had 53% voter turnout, uh, as far as I know, record turnout, uh, for an odd year election, nearly 25% more than in 2023. and I'm really inspired by the level of community engagement and the overwhelming support that the community showed for our newly elected and returning schoolboard members. On a personal note, almost 140 years ago, my family immigrated to the United States, and we've built a very long uh tradition of
015service to our communities and to our country. And we have a documented over 2,500year history um family heritage that's rooted in education and public service. And I'm the grateful product of that legacy. And with great thanks to my family for their support, uh I look forward to honoring that legacy and tackling uh the challenges known and unknown to come on this school board. So let's get to work. [applause] You gonna switch? No, they're not. Are you going to switch spots? >> Oh, he's switching. [laughter] >> All set. We will now begin the December 5th, 2025 regular meeting of the Tradition Easttown School Board. Since tonight's meeting is primarily for board reorganization, we have no announcement of additional items, no consent agenda, no priority discussion, no committee and ambassador reports, and no other actions to be
016considered. We will now move uh directly then to item 12. Item 12 is public participation from district residents and district taxpayers regarding any non-aggenda items of concern, official action or deliberation which are or may be before the board. The residents and taxpayers may address the board on matters not included in the agenda. And the public comment per Whoops, I'm sorry. Residents and taxpayers may address the board on matters not included in the agenda. Are there any comments from our community members tonight? If so, would you please step forward to the mic and uh give us your name and your township of residents? >> Thank you. Cindy Burgaldi Tiffan Township. I want to thank the retiring board members for their service and welcome the new members and everybody else that's been here. So soon you're going
017to be working on the budget next year and it determines our school taxes. Last year I made a comment about changing the three payment system to a four. It's used by several school districts in Chester County. This is a decision that's made by the school board. So, I would appreciate some discussion this year on this matter because school taxes increase every year and it's a large expense for seniors and those lowincome households that happen to own a house. So, please consider a four payment option. And Monday night, two grateful grandmothers will be happily enjoying a music concert at TE Middle School. and they'll be sitting on new seats. So, I am very appreciative because that's about two hours long. But it's great. [laughter] But it's great and I'll be glad to be sitting on those
018seats. Thank you, Mrs. Regildy. We'll we'll take a look at that uh payment schedule. And uh also, I'm glad you're enjoying the new seats. That was quite a debate at one point. I remember. [gasps] Are there any other public comments this evening? Seeing none, uh the public comment period for this evening is now closed. At this point in the meeting when we make announcements required by the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act, our solicitor this evening is Mr. Ken Roose and he will make any required announcements for us at this time. >> Um there were no there's no announcement to make. There was no executive session prior to this meeting. >> Thank you. Uh we do have an announcement of our future meetings though. Uh on Monday, January 5th, 2025, we'll have another regular schoolboard meeting right here
019at Knesco Stoga High School in this room. And on Monday the 26th, we'll have a second January regular board meeting, 7:30 p.m. at Knesoga High School. Monday, February 23rd, another regular board meeting at 7:30 right here in the atrium at Konesoga. Are there any general announcements from board members? Okay. Uh those of you who are interested in seeing our list of correspondents, they are on page four of your very brief agenda this evening. Uh I think we have no other announcements for board members and so uh I just think I need a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> And do we need a second? >> Second. [laughter] >> May we have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. Uh all those in favor of adjourning the meeting please uh say I >> I >>
020the meeting is adjourned. Thank you very much.