001Good evening and welcome to the September 29, 2025 regular meeting of the Traiffan Easttown School Board. We'll begin as always with a salute to the flag. Regular school board meetings are business meetings that are open to the public during which we provide several opportunities for public comment on items before the board. The first comment period is reserved for announced additional agenda items and items on the consent agenda only. Additional public comment will be heard for the actions listed under other actions under consideration. The final comment period near the end of the meeting is reserved for all other matters of concern, official action or deliberation which are or may be before before the TESD board of directors and which are not covered by the other comment periods. Each public comment period is reserved for residents and
002taxpayers. 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 president. 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. Also, please be aware that intentionally disrupting a lawful meeting or the administration of a government function is a criminal offense in Pennsylvania. The school board values the opportunity to hear from a community in person and appreciates your cooperation in advance. Next on the agenda are student reports. We'll hear from our student representatives. Welcome back Maggie Yuri and welcome for the first time Lucy Salada.
003>> Thank you, Mr. Cantok. Good evening, everyone. I am so excited to be back with her for another year of school board meetings. And I can't lie, I've been looking forward to this all day. And judging by the size of the audience, I'm sure all of you have been as well. Also, by the size of this audience means that we have so many awesome achievements to celebrate and highlight tonight, which is just wonderful. and we'll get to that very shortly. Before we get to that, I have a couple of student um a student report to give. Um some recent events at STOA. Um first, the club fair two weeks ago was held here in the atrium where students walked around, discovered the variety of clubs that SOA offers um and the different stands and got
004to sign up for clubs that um piqu their interest. Next, we had the homecoming dance. And for student council, this was a huge success. Over a 1,00 students um attended, which is over triple in past years. So, not only was that great for the revenue, it was just great for the school camaraderie. And I think I'm speaking for a lot of people when I said it was a great time. So, hope that tradition of everyone going to homecoming continues in the future. Um, in the coming weeks, we have off this Thursday, October 2nd. And the PSAT for grades 9 to 11 are next week on Wednesday, October 8th. Seniors graciously have off that day, and that day is for them to be spent working on college apps and college visits. And also a reminder that
005the PSAT is an electronic te, so make sure that you come to school with your computers charged. Speaking of the PSAT, the juniors who took the last year's PSAT who scored high who or earned an index score of 221 or higher, there are 40 of those students here today and they are going to be recognized shortly. 40 is the most in the state of Pennsylvania. So that is a huge accomplishment to all of those students that attain that score and for Konosoga as a whole. So congratulations to them. Further for sports, per usual, SOA athletics is off to a fantastic start. And something notable we have this year is that we just opened in a ribbon cutting ceremony the new turf field. It is the first of a very fun renovation to our athletics department
006out by the track. Both soccer teams are off to a great start as well as the cross country teams who just this past weekend competed in Rochester, New York and performed incredibly well. Girls tennis is currently preparing for district doubles. And today, golf played in the Central League qualifiers. Next meeting, we'll have more information on playoff standings and how those teams performed. There's still so much time left in the sports season, and I'm excited to share with you next meeting how continues to go. With that, I am so excited to pass along the mic to Lucy Salada, my good friend and new board member. >> Hi, everyone. I'm really excited to be here. Um I'm taking over for I'm Lucy Slada. I'm excited to be taking over for Ayan Kumar who's now busy at Harvard.
007Um some things that I'm involved in at Konesoga is I'm the junior class president. Um I'm part of the state championship field hockey team and was lucky enough to be the first team to practice on the new turf which is amazing. Um I'm a member of GMS and I help put together Good Morning SOA every morning. Um, looking at the band, so the football team has not been very lucky this season, but the band has been doing great. The football team or the band has been doing an Oz theme performance, which is mixed with music from Whiz, Wizard of Oz, and Wicked. And coming up on October 18th, they're having the Cavalcade of Bands, which is where 12 school bands come to all perform their halftime shows. and that starts at 5:00 p.m. The drama
008club has started their rehearsals for Clue which will be on nove which will be on November 20th to 22nd when they'll be performing that. And finally, we had our first wellness Wednesday this past week and it was a lot of fun. The dogs came to the atrium again which is always fun and it's just a day where we focus on overall wellness and that's all from the student report. [Applause] Thank you. Thank you, Maggie and Lucy. Before we begin the highlights, I'd like to draw attention to the student artwork which was supplied by New Eagle Elementary School for this evening's meeting that's behind me here. First grade students created beautiful cherry blossoms in the moonlight. The project was inspired by the thousands of cherry blossom trees in Washington DC which were a gift of friendship
009from Japan in 1912. Fourth graders created land round landscapes of peace of a peaceful setting inspired by Bucks County artist Edward Hicks. He painted the famous peaceable kingdom to encourage all to live in harmony. Colorful macaw were painted by third grade students after learning about Mexican artist Freda Kao. Freda made many self-portraits during her lifetime filled with birds, animals, and nature from her home in Mexico. Fourth grade artists learned about the interesting life of Spanish artist Salvador Dolly as they created dreamy landscapes in art. Students enjoyed exploring surrealism and generating new ideas for the iconic painting, The Persistence of Memory, created in 1931. Now, please join board members Kenneth Hong and Yolanda Allen and New Eagle Elementary School principal Andy Phillips in greeting students and staff during the highlights of tonight's se during the highlight
010session of tonight's board meeting. Director of Educational Program Dr. Mike Simandera will be our reader for this evening. Each month, the board of school directors invites TE students and staff members who have demonstrated outstanding achievement to attend the regular schoolboard meeting to be recognized for their efforts. The board invites parents and teachers to accompany their students this evening as the board recognizes them. Those who are unable to be here tonight will receive their certificates at their schools. Students, when your name is called, please come up along the side by Mr. Katy. Walk across to the greeters and stop at the table with Miss Roy to receive your certificate. New Eagle Elementary School student ambassadors orient new families to the community. Fourth grade students were selected by their third grade teachers to represent New Eagle and
011serve as Goodwill Ambassadors and tour guides for the school's new family welcome and orientation program in August. Their kindness and enthusiasm helped new students feel comfortable and excited to join the New Eagle community. Fourth grade tour guides include Magdalena Barrett, Zachary Cannon, Vivian Carlson, L. Carol, Bridget Kate, Morgan Daly, Ryan Forsine, Lola Gerioa, Carara Havick, Mason Kim, Isaac Lee, John Lucas, Vivian Mroy, Taran Schmidt, Andrew Sun, Andrew Fever, Vel, Brooke Toto, James Tish, Amelia Traonus, and Viola Zang. The New Eagle New Family Welcome and orientation program is coordinated by the New Eagle Counselor, Robin Michael. [Applause] New Eagle Elementary School students demonstrate outstanding character at New Eagle. Soar stands for safe choices, own your actions, act with empathy, and respect and reflect. The New Eagle staff would like to recognize the following students for their
012outstanding character and for helping the New Eagle community to soar into the 202526 school year. Fourth graders L. Carol, Colin Develin, Ella Hegopian, Lulu Walton, and Emma Woo. Third graders, Dominic Kulo, Christopher Connor, Jordy Makavoy, and Lola Feffer. Second graders, Raphael Fence, Celeste Frasier, Henry Hunter, Landon Long, Elona Picashi, and first graders Maggie Landers, Brendan Kish, Hugh Dempsey, Guim, and Haley Galamuski. The soore character building program is facilitated by the new eagle staff. [Applause] New Eagle Elementary School second grade student raises funds for charity. New Eagle second grader Preston Lesnack completed an exceptional Big Give classroom project last spring where each student was given $20 to grow and use to bring joy to others. Preston visited local businesses to collect over 35 donated items, sold 364 raffle tickets, and raised $2,030. Preston donated the proceeds
013to Philadelphia VIP, a nonprofit that provides free legal services to low-income residents and small businesses, demonstrating remarkable leadership and initiative. The Big Give Project is supported by New Eagle teacher Beth Adams. [Applause] New Eagle student serves as mentor in kindergarten classroom. New Eagle fourth grader JP Harbison serves as a peer mentor in Allison Troy's kindergarten class, supporting students with basic math and reading skills through games like bingo and highfrequency word practice. He provides encouraging feedback and builds positive relationships with the students. The kindergarteners love spending time with him and think it's cool to learn and play together. [Applause] TESD student musicians excel at music in the parks. Last May, District Middle School music students received recognition for their outstanding performances at the Music in the Parks event with multiple first place and superior group ratings.
014Special individual awards went to Avery Neeb, Khloe Shion, Ardum Yermoleno, and Jason Yu. The students were supported by teachers Joanna Daniel, Christine Giza, Becky Reid, William Seaton, and Michael Stefano. Knesogga High School boys tennis team wins state championship. Congratulations to the Knesogga boys tennis team for winning the Central League, District, and state championships with an undefeated season record of 22-0. In addition, Ethan's son was the Central League singles champion as well as the district singles champion. He placed third in the state singles championships. Rohan Row and Rafi Lubenki were Central League doubles champions as well as district doubles champions. The winning team included Ethan Davidson, Sha Fan, Michael Gao, Ayan Kumar, Gian Lee, Rafie Lubenki, Tristan Lubenki, Lucas Montel, Rohan Ralph, Jamie Schmidz, Ethan Sun, and Jake Sang. The team was led by coaches Brittany
015Amone, and Marsha Fos. Kanesogga High School students recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Congratulations to the 40 Knesogga pioneers recognized as National Merit Semi-finalists by the National Merit Corporation based on their performance on the preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Pranit Aurora, Mia Cao, Jaden Chen, Vanessa Chen, Wayhan Chen, Anwen Deng, Ai Duza, Venu Donabal, Audrey Dogam, Andrew Gao, Saktishri Garashankar, Christopher Han, Evan Jung, Shria Kadaka, Hassan Coup, Amy Lee, Alan Leang, Lexi Lynn, Daniel Loza, Zion Malik, Danny Molstrom, Nami Merglath, Henry Pay, Ehan Singh, Christopher Song, Niharika Su, Vuda Tanden, Ruf Tang, Alexia Tubs, Trinas Vagvala, Jeffrey Wang, Melody Wang, Mary Walters, Clayton Wright, Justin Woo, Kyle Woo, Shie Yan, Faith Zantua, Anthony Zang, and Ethan Zang. Congratulations to all of you for your outstanding efforts and achievements and we
016commend you for your accomplishments. [Applause] Okay. So, this is the part of the meeting where we pause and we let folks who, let's just say, may not be as interested in the second part of our meeting as they were in the first part of our meeting. It gives you an opportunity to go home, get some homework done, maybe maybe go to Handles, I don't know, for a celebration. Uh, but uh thank you. It's the best part of the meeting. Uh, and we'll resume in a couple minutes. Okay, we'll go ahead and resume our meeting. Uh, next item on the agenda is announcement of additional agenda items. There are none. The next item on the agenda is public participation from district residents and district taxpayers regarding any items on the consent agenda only. If you would
017like to make a comment on the consent agenda, please line up. When you come to the microphone, state your name and township of residence. We will end comment with the last person in line. All public comments this evening will be limited to three minutes. Again, this comment period is limited to the consent agenda only. To help with the timing, please make your entire comment and then the board will determine an appropriate response. We have any comments on the consent agenda. Seeing none, go on to the next item, board action regarding amendment of agenda to include additional agenda items. We had none of those. So now we can move on to our next item which is the consent agenda. Although board action is required, it is generally unnecessary to hold discussion on these items. With the
018consent of all members, they are therefore grouped and approval is given in one motion. In the event a board member wants to discuss any item, the board president will move it to an appropriate place on the agenda. A board member may vote nay or abstain with respect to a consent agenda item without the need for removing the item from the consent agenda. The action under consideration is that the board of school directors approves the following recommendations on the consent agenda as printed on page seven of the agenda. Do we have a motion? >> So moved. >> Have a first. >> Second. >> Have a first and a second. So now we will call for a vote. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed. Eyes have it. 90. Now we
019have that passed. I will turn to Vice President Titi who will uh acknowledge gifts received by the D the district. >> Thank you. Uh this month again we are the happy recipients of some gifts from our community and this time um we have received a donation of nine trees uh donated by an Aita to the Triiffan Easttown School District the value of which is $8,000. Uh we'd like to thank an for this very generous donation and she worked together with the environmental advisory council to um make sure that the trees would be uh placed in the right spots. They'll be I as I remember on uh the Valley Forge Middle School property and will be a great enhancement to that and we thank the EIC for their work with our um maintenance department to uh
020make Ann's gift uh reality. >> Thank you, Miss Titi. And again, yes, thank you for that gift. It's a it's a great uh gift for the the district and a great example of the the township and the district working together to get something positive for this community. So, thank you again. The next item, oh, I should say we have next item on the agenda is priority discussion, but we have none this evening. So, we will move right into committee and ambassador reports. And for first, I will turn to policy the policy committee. The report from the chair, Susan Audrain. Thank you, President Kantosk. The policy committee met on September the 2nd of 2025. The following policies and regulations were discussed. Policy and regulation 2200, administrative organization. The policy had no revisions and will be marked
021as reviewed. The regulation was revised to include updated administrative job titles. Regulation 2131, supervisor of community and student services duties. The regulation is new to specify the job duties of this restructured administrative position. The following policies and regulations had nonsubstantive revisions regarding updated administrative job titles and realigned job duties, including the Title 9 coordinator. They will be marked as revised and posted. Policy 1300, volunteers. Regulation 2121, Director of Curriculum, Instruction, Staff Development, and Planning Duties. Regulation 2127, Curriculum Supervisors Duties. Regulation 2128, Director of Equity and Public Programs duties. Regulation 2129, Director of Safety and Student Services duties. See attached revised document regulation 2210 building principles. Regulation 401 equal opportunity and non-discrimination and employment practices. Regulation 4330 discriminatory harassment by and of district employees. Policy 455, summer workshops. Regulation 5228, awarding of diploma to eligible veterans.
022Regulation 5401, student discipline. Regulation 5461, maintaining appropriate boundaries with students. Policy and regulation 6130, curriculum, curricular materials and resource materials. Regulation 6141, equal opportunity and non-discrimination of students in school and classroom practices. Regulation 6155 other student travel parenthesis school sponsored close parenthesis policy and regulation 501 enrollment and registration requirements and verification of student regist residency. The policy had no revisions and will be marked as reviewed. A revision was made to the regulation under the section students living with resident adult other than parent to emphasize that this option is not intended for students who are visiting policy and regulation 8080 acceptable use of technology. The policy had no revisions and will be marked as reviewed. The regulation was revised to include the use of screening software and the procedures for review and search if warranted. Policy
0239331 review of schoolboard policies. The policy had no revisions and will be marked as reviewed. The 202526 policy committee goals were affirmed and extended to the 2025 2026 school year. Further details will be provided later in the meeting regarding policy 5411 tobacco products possession and use by students which is listed on tonight's agenda for approval on a first reading basis. In addition, further information will be provided regarding approval of regulation 9331, review of schoolboard policies. The next policy committee meeting is scheduled for October the 7th at 7 p.m. at the district office. That concludes my report. >> Thank you, Miss Odraine. Next, we'll go to diversity and board leaison, Dr. Robert Zing. >> Thank you, Mr. President. The committee will be meeting for the first time this academic year on October 15th at 7 p.m.
024in the TEAO. The U agenda will be updated on the website prior to this meeting. >> Thank you, Dr. Singh. Now, we'll get a report from the finance committee from its chair, Dr. Robera Atinski. Thank you. Um, so we had a fairly short meeting on Monday, September 8th. Uh, we discussed as usual our monthly and year-to- date uh, uh, financial reports. Um, Mr. Livergood, our assistant business manager, uh, reviewed the August financials. Uh, overall local revenues are higher this year than last year by $6.1 million. Uh the total revenue is about is $ 109.9 million so far with the differences from this year to last year being in real estate tax and real estate transfer tax. Expenditures and incumbrances uh show uh the percent spent this uh so far are slightly lower this year um
025than than last year and are at 77.9% of budget. Expenses and incumbrances are 71.7% of budget overall this year. Last year they were 71.3%. though uh roughly uh on on similar as of August 8.75% of the budget has been expended year to date general fund expenses and incumbrances at the end of August are $140,782,49382. The we recommended that the reports be placed on the board next board meeting. Um so they are located within in the agenda if you'd like to review them. Uh, next we had a back to school transportation update. Candy Klesa, transportation supervisor, reviewed the opening week of school. Um, and when we met it was right after um the first week when all all the students were in in class since the kindergarteners uh don't come the first week. Uh so uh
026at the time we were still resolving some issues. The driver shortage is still an ongoing issue. This year we've gained one 30 passenger vehicle, two 18 passenger vehicles, and one nine passenger van relative to last year. Both contractors have communicated that their efforts to recruit additional drivers are ongoing. And if anyone knows anyone who is interested in driving, um that would be fantastic. Uh uh so uh the transportation department is continuing to optimize the routes to reduce time on time on buses for students. As of today or as of the meeting, our longer street was a middle school route of 45 minutes. Miss Kalissa also showed a slide uh with some statistics for the year, which I will just read um because I think it's it's fairly astounding. Um we have this year 108 vehicles,
027which is an incre increase of 14 vehicles from last year, but still significantly down from preandemic um levels. We have 439 roots, which is an incre increase of 30 roots from last year. There are 7,142 students transported every day, which is an increase of 40 students from last year. 8,950 miles traveled daily, and 85 schools served, which is a decrease of two schools from last year. So, our transportation department does an incredible job with the resources that they have to deliver everybody to school safely. and um it's continuing as we get into into the year to smooth um smooth and make those transitions even even faster. So uh then after the transportation update, we moved on to property tax appeals. Uh Mr. Livergood revealed the status of taxpayer and district initiated property tax appeals. According
028to a county report sent in August, there were uh 120 residential taxpayer appeal appeals filed. 48 of them had been settled and combined those appeals have the potential to reduce district revenues by about $428,000. There were 22 commercial appeals that have been filed. None had been settled. Combined, those appeals could potentially lower district property tax revenues by uh almost a million. And then there were 11 district initiated appeals filed. None has been settled. If successful, those appeals could re result in a gain of revenue of about $281,000. So the combined um impact of all those appeals together is a potential reduction in revenue by about $1.1 million. Uh then we move to the act one index. Mr. McDonald reported that the state had released the act in act one index for the 2627 budget year
029and it will be 3.5%. Uh that led into our 2627 budget development and calendar. Mr. McDonald stated that the first calendar um the first look at the calendar we had some prelim we've had some preliminary work done on the audit and we'll continue to work on that and that's usually um we anticipate it to be presented in November and those are the final numbers then for the previous school year and the first look at the uh 25 uh I guess it will be the 26 27 budget will be presented in December and then we'll discuss a preliminary budget in January and then we go through a whole process all the way till the end of June to develop the budget and there will be um about seven finance meetings and two budget workshops for which
030will have opportunities for the public to learn about uh our finances and also comment. So we look forward to those and invite everyone to participate. Um you are all welcome to attend. Uh let's see the meeting was adjourned at 7:23. We were pretty quick for the first meeting. Um our next meeting is Monday, October 6th, 2025. It's always at 7:00 p.m. in the or at least in the fall at 7 p.m. at T in the TE administrative offices. And again, you're welcome to attend. >> Thank you, Dr. Hinsky. Next, we'll get a report from the facilities committee and its chair, Dr. Robert Singh. >> Thank you. The facilities committee met on September 9th. Uh we had a long meeting. There were several items on the agenda to discuss. Uh first, as was mentioned during our
031um gift segment, uh Anne Murphy, a representative from the Environmental Advisory Council, provided a gift uh on behalf of uh resident Anakita. This is the tree canopy replacement along Valley Forge Road. Indeed, a generous gift uh totaling $8,000. We then talked about uh the busy summer 2025 construction infrastructure projects which included HVAC renovations and upgrades uh at Bowmont, New Eagle, TE Middle, and Knosoga. With these projects, there was a change order for an additional concrete de demolition that was necessary totaling $3,553. The total change order for this represented only.5% of our project total. Our interior and exterior renovations and upgrades for Bowmont, Devon, Hillside, New Eagle, TE Middle, and Knosoga uh have also been on track. There were several change orders needed for general trades, electrical, and plumbing that were necessary at Hillside Elementary School
032totaling approximately $254,000. This represented about a 6.4% of the original project cost. Next, we talked about an update to Athletic Fields Project. As mentioned, this meeting was September 9th. Today is September 29th. Probably a lot of things that I'm about to read have been either uh moved along pretty uh rapidly. Um and you know, I'll update that again next month. Um Turfield 2 has been completed as was as was mentioned and is being used. A ribbon cutting ceremony was uh uh performed on September 24th. Turf field one stone base is being completed or probably has been completed with a retaining wall and bleacher foundations also being installed. The tennis court subbase has been installed and surfacing will begin soon. Track subbase has been completed. Surfacing is starting. Internal roadways have been installed up to the
033base layer. Internal sidewalks have been installed in most locations. Um HOP work has started along Old State Road, Irish Road and Cassat Road. Fieldhouse block work is well underway. Grounds and fields building block work has begun and site utilities have been installed. As you can imagine, for a project this scope um and undertaken, there were several change orders that require that were required for conditions that were uh discovered when you start digging earth. These included a sanitary sewer discovery that needed to be addressed along with relocating primary electrical service required by Pico. Track repair was also necessary to provide for the track integrity and safety of uh its users. As a reminder, everything I just mentioned here, you can see at the teesd.net website. Quick links uh on the left. Athletic field project updates and
034video are available to the public and I encourage you to take a look at the flyover and see the uh updates um probably on a weekly basis at this point. Our third uh point of discussion was Bear Hill Elementary School. Um there was a notice to proceed uh issued to all primes primes in the middle of August. Site pre-construction meeting was held in also in August. The overall construction schedule for project was established with the primes the sub subcontractors and design team. Site logistics plan was was developed by the GC with input from the primes and design team. There's review of construction submitts ongoing submetal sk submittal schedules provided by all primes. Existing concrete slab um scanned by our our GC to identify utility locations and depth for future work. Primes are beginning to mobilize
035on site. Construction per permits have been obtained. Existing duct work is being demolished of the existing building and uh you can see the construction fencing and trailers uh already there. Again, these things are happening quickly. So a lot of things that I just mentioned are probably well underway and again I will be providing you uh update to see the uh expeditious um results next month. Again even with this project teesd.net the elementary school on the left and videos and timeline is available on this site. Uh the committee continues its ongoing work at looking at infrastructure projects which again at this point includes nine buildings and a district-wide project uh for 2026. This has been a process that uh occurs every year for the future summer and will be continue at will be continuing at future
036facilities meeting. Committee goals are also being updated and I hope to um have those uh uh completed by next month. Our next meeting will be October 14th at 7 p.m. at the TEAO and all are welcome to attend. That concludes my report. >> Thank you, Dr. Singh. Next, we'll have a report from our education committee and its chair, Miss Suti. >> Thank you. The education committee met on September 11th, 2025, and the meeting began with a report from Dr. John Maul, the supervisor of mathematics. Dr. Dr. Maul reviewed the results of the new math benchmark assessments which were administered last year in grades 1 through five. These assessments which are based on state standards help teachers to design instruction that best needs meets the needs of their students. During this school year, math benchmark testing
037will be piloted in grades 6 to 8 and kindergarten will be piloted in 26 27. Dr. Dr. Maul reported that in the high school we are have very high interest in math with 2,259 KNIOSA students filling 2,879 seats in maths every day. This is 127% enrollment at the high school level due to the fact that some students are taking more than one math course at a time. Dr. Maul also noted that we've been using math in focus since 2012 to uh and it is now time to make a decision about math materials which will support our district curriculum. He outlined the process for that adoption. And finally, he expressed appreciation for the math pair professionals added last year to the elementary maths program and the advisory math support that is now available in grades 5
038to 8 with the realignment of the middle school schedule. Dr. Wendy Tol then reported on the programs which took place in our schools during the summer of 2025. She noted that attendance in the summer programs has never been higher. The student the summer reading camp which is an elementary program began over 35 years ago in the district. It supported 319 students this summer. She outlined the English language enrichment camp which was attended by 88 students and is funded by a title three grant. The middle school bridge program was introduced in 2022 to help prepare eth and nth graders for high school. And yes, this year there were 20 students who took part in that program. And the Aspire math tutoring program for students in grades 2 through 7 supported 146 students virtually. And finally, the
039elementary STEM camp, which is partially supported by a grant from flight, was an afternoon program in July attended by 45 students. The meeting's final agenda item was the district calendar for the 202627 school year. Dr. Tol presented a draft which schedules instruction days, conferences, holidays, teachers inservice time over the course of the year. The elementary principles had reviewed the the proposed calendar and suggested moving the spring conference dates by a week in order to better divide the year at the elementary level. The committee asked that the second draft which will be uh reviewed in October contain that change. Dr. Tol planned to make that draft available to the parentled interchool council for feedback before our next meeting. The committee will review the revised draft at its October 9th meeting before making a recommendation to the
040full board so that the calendar for the following year can be uh approved ahead of time. That included our meeting for uh for the month and we look forward to October 9th. We'll be meeting at the teao at 7 pm and all are invited to attend. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Titi. Next, we'll get a report from our ad hoc legislative committee, Miss Maryanne Pition. >> Thank you. U for your information, the Chester County School Board Legislative Council met virtually on August the 26th. Highlights included bills passed out of the House, House Bill 1407, updating teacher certification levels, House Bill 1505 protecting access to preK counts. This ensures intermediate unit operated preK counts programs remain accessible regardless of the federal Head Start changes. uh items passed out of the Senate Education Committee. Senate Bill
041927, wellness checks for cyber students, requires cyber charter schools to conduct real time visible wellness checks by teachers or administrators. Senate Bill 934, student residency verification, requires cyber charter students to verify residency twice per academic year. prevents financial uh prevents financial responsibility for districts when students move across districts or outside Pennsylvania. Other legislative updates, House Bill 17, cursive handwriting, which requires instruction of cursive handwriting at an appropriate grade level. A second item, um the um I attended the Chester County School Funding Roundt held on September 3rd at Rainbow Elementary School in Coatsville. The highlights included uh we were grouped in uh two uh groupings of uh school board members. Uh we were given questions by the uh state legislators in attendance and tradition easttown was grouped with Phoenixville, Great Valley and Westchester stakeholders. Uh the
042questions that we were asked was uh can you share more about the burden of local property taxes in your district? I uh contributed the uh fact that uh there was uh some gratitude from our residents about uh Governor Shapiro and the uh state uh House of Representatives increasing the um uh property tax rent rebate uh levels to $700. and um and of course added that a further increase would be helpful and also an expansion of the um requirements to um to meet that level of income. The second question was what would it mean to your school district if cyber charter tuition were reformed and accountab account accountability measures were put in place? And I mentioned the cost to trade different easttown for uh cyber charter schools. Uh the third item and last item, Representative uh
043Melissa Schustman introduced a long-term funding solution proposal. It is posted on her website and the representative also issued a press release on August the 15th. Uh I will read from her um statement on uh in bills that I've introduced which you can find on her website. It's titled indexing of state tax collections. Uh why not uh the item mentions that I am working to create legislation that would establish index categories of counties for state tax collection and funding. Each of the three economic categories of the Commonwealth would keep its share of all collected taxes to fund its schools, medical facilities and services, law enforcement, parks and recreation areas, transportation, infrastructures, including roads and bridges, and other essential line items that are currently appropriated through the state budget. Uh this will um and as noted in
044her press release uh stating that uh it would be a different approach to addressing the constant funding disparities in our communities and help residents see the direct impacts of their hard-earned tax dollars. Please go to our website for a further explanation. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Pition. Next, we'll go to ad hoc public information and Dr. Yolanda Allen. >> Yes, thank you. The um ad hoc public information committee has not met. Should a meeting be called, um proper notice will be provided. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Allen. We'll go back to Miss Pition for a report on the intermediate technical school. >> Thank you. Um the school uh the Chester County School Authority Board met on September 17th. As a reminder, intermediate units uh must uh maintain a school authority in order to
045uh purchase property and to maintain their facilities and property. So at that meeting uh the um and it was held at the Angle Education Center in West Grove, Pennsylvania on September 17th at 5:00. Uh there wereformational reports on the Angle Education Center project update uh and the Great Valley campus, the CCIU Learning Center, um and other uh facilities such as HBAC, etc. As for the um uh board meeting which was held at 7:30, uh there was a ribbon cutting before that before the at 4:00 for the Engle uh education center. Uh this is a uh retooling of an Aven uh school facility and uh so there was dignitaries and uh congratulations uh remarks on that. um for the uh board meeting itself. Uh give me one moment. Where did that little guy go? H [Laughter]
046wouldn't you know? Well, I don't seem to have it here. That is disappointing. Oh, here it is. Thank you. Um the Chester County Intermediate Unit board of directors held its monthly meeting on Wednesday, September 17th at the uh Engle Education Center, West Grove, PA. Uh I mentioned the ribbon cutting center ceremony. At the board meeting, uh Dr. Shannon Brown, principal of CCDC Engle, along with Miss R. Randa Reneer, assistant director of preschool education services was introduced. Uh Dr. Brown reported that they currently serve 70 students from 10 different school districts, offering specialized programs in K through 12 autistic support, life skills support, multiple disability support, and K through six emotional support. The center operates 10 classrooms evenly divided between elementary and secondary levels and provides enrichment activities such as art and physical education twice weekly
047along with sensory fun Fridays. Miss Renier uh reported that the center also supports early childhood education through preschool special education, Head Start, and Early Head Start services. The preschool program serves 86 learners in classrooms tailored to autism spectrum disorder. Uh the uh multi- multiple disabilities support development developmental delays, speech groups, and itinerate services. The next meeting of the CCIU board of directors will be held on Wednesday, October 15th at the CCIU Learning Center in uh Coatsville. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Pition. And finally, our newest ad hoc committee, the ad hoc redistricting committee, and Dr. Robera Hatinsky. >> Thank you. uh we uh if you'll remember we uh let we had the first meeting of the redistricting committee back in late May and at that point we established a timeline for the the process
048of redistricting which much like the budget is not going to be a one meeting kind of kind of process. Um so we at that meeting we said the next steps would be uh in the fall and the spring to establish condition parameters for redistricting considering legal requirements, best practices, costs and other factors and also to determine how the work should be performed, how the proposals will be developed and the composition of the district steering committee. um with the ultimate goal of establishing a committee uh steering committee to do the work in um late spring of next year and then ultimately um have those boundaries um established by late 2026 uh or early 2027. So, um, we're at the beginning of the process and we will have our next meeting, our our second meeting October 28th,
049which is the day after our regular meeting, I believe, at 7 p.m., I believe, at the TE administrative offices. Um, and the per So, at that meeting, we will review the legal issues and best practices u surrounding redistricting to reorient everybody who wasn't here the first time or or who was and needs a refresher. and we'll also begin discussion of parameters um for redistricting. But we have a lot of information cons to consider con including uh the demographers report which comes out into November of every year. So we'll need to take that in information into account as we're looking at the distribution of students in the district. So um we will continue discussions as I said uh into the into the spring but everyone is invited to um attend that meeting and uh we hope
050to see you there. Thank you, Dr. Adinski, and thank you to all our committee chairs for all the the work that you do uh and and the reports. It's where a lot of the work for this board gets done. So, thanks for your service. All right, we'll move on the agenda to other actions under consideration where we have a couple of items. This action under consideration is that the board of school directors approves the following policy on a first reading basis as ready for adoption at the next regular meeting. Policy 5411 tobacco products possession and use students. Do I have a motion? >> So move. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> I turn to Mrs. Aldrain for additional background. um policy 5411 uh were just some very minor um changes um but
051the new title is proposed to include uh nicotine in the title. Um in addition uh application of the code of conduct specifically for distribution was added to the regulation. I have no other comment. >> Thank you Mrs. Audraine. I'll turn to the board see if any questions or comments from the board. Seeing none, we'll turn to the public. Anybody have any folks who have uh comment, please step up to the microphone. Okay, seeing none, we'll go back to the board. Any additional comment from the board. Okay, let's take a vote. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed signify by saying nay. Right, eyes have it. 90. The next action under consideration is that the board of school directors approves the the following revised regulation. Regulation 9331, review of school
052board policies. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Okay, we have a proper first and a second. Turn to Mrs. Odin again for additional context. >> Thank you, President Kentosk. Uh the uh changes are just a proposed uh schedule of review by the policy committee in the year 1 7125 to 63026. The committee will be reviewing uh 3000 series for finance 7,000 for property and 8,000 for operations. Although Dr. Stevenson is much dis muchly disappointed that we're not still talking about HR policies, we must move on. So, those are our new uh priorities for this year. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. O'Drain. All right, I'll turn to the board and see if we have any comments from the board. Okay, any comments from the
053public. Seeing none, back to the board. Okay, looks like we're ready to vote. All those in favor, signify by saying I. I. I. >> Any opposed, signify by saying nay. Right. Eyes have it. 90. Next item on the agenda is public participation from district residents and district taxpayers regarding non-aggenda matters of concern, official action or deliberation which are or may be before the board. Residents and taxpayers may address the board on now on matters not included the agenda. If you have a comment, please step up to the microphone. >> Good evening. Cindy Burgaldi, Tiffan Township. Got it. Uh, first of all, I'd like to say summer project new seats in TE Middle Auditorium. It's I heard they're really nice and I want to thank you on behalf of two very happy grandmothers that will sit
054there through the concerts and we're going to enjoy it. And the second statement, the homecoming pep rally. I want to thank everyone who planned it. I know it takes almost all year and I appreciate that the speakers at teamer were controlled. So I hope you all enjoyed it. And then there's my request for two crossing guards at Howville in Old Lancaster. I know there's a shortage just like the bus drivers of crossing guards. So currently there's one guard that's working both streets uh two different locations at two different times. So, I appreciate that the district's aware of the issue and you know, ideally all the students came through the back door at on Old Lancaster, they would go to the c to the crosswalk and there's the guard would work out really well. So, I
055don't know how that would take place. So, I want to thank you for trying to deal with this and it's it's this is my fourth year standing there waiting for my grandparent and it's it's an event. That's all I can say in the afternoon. So, I hope things improve and if you want to be a crossing guard, please sign up. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Golding. Any other public comments? Okay, the public comment periods for this evening are now closed. This is the point in our meeting when we make any announcements required by the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act. Our solicitor this evening is Ken Roose and he will make any required announcements. >> Board met the board met in executive session earlier tonight regarding uh confidential personnel matters. >> Thank you, Mr. Roose. Future meetings
056of the school board. Monday, October 27th, 2025, regular board meeting, 7:30 p.m. here at Konosoga High School. Meeting after that, Monday November 24th, 2025, regular board meeting, 7:30 p.m. once again here at Knesoga High School. Now, turn to the board and see if we have any general announcements. Seeing none, uh, correspondence received by the board can be found on page 218 of your agenda. And now I will call for a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> We have some first. >> Second. >> We have a second. >> Second. >> We have a proper first and a second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. >> All those opposed, you can stay here. Eyes have it. Thanks very much. We'll see you next month. >> I just wait for that.