001e good evening to everyone and welcome to this um October 23rd regular board meeting of the tradan East Town School Board we'll begin as always with a salute to the flag okay thank you again to everyone for coming um whoops sorry about that we uh just wanted to have a few notes first regular Schoolboard meetings or business meetings that are open to the public during which we provide several opportunities for public comment on items before the board so I'll just go over those for anyone who hasn't been here before 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 each item listed under other actions under consideration there is no priority discussion this evening and then there's a final comment
002near the end of the meeting that's re reserved for all other matters of concern official action or deliberation which may are or may be before the tees board of directors and which are not covered by the first two 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 teneg the board will accept comments from the union presidents all comments should be directed to the board as a whole or the presiding officer myself all comments are three minutes that's our policy um and so we'll get to a little more explanation of that when it's time for comments um no comments should be directed to individual board members and all Public public comments and
003responses should be in the spirit of Civic 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 the community and in person and we appreciate your cooperation in advance so we can get started with our agenda and the first item uh is our student reports we'll hear from our student Representatives Lex Shaw and Ian Kumar hello everybody welcome to this uh month's school board meeting uh I want to get started talking about schoolwide events at Koga uh this past month and uh going into the future um this Wednesday we have our second Wellness Wednesday of the year uh for this Wellness Wednesday we're going to have an extended home room and
004there will be a walking trail available in the building uh during third and fourth period um this will be a great activity to get everybody feeling more calm in the building and I personally am enjoying these wildness Wednesday so far as we have no tests or quizzes on the days uh moving on to next week we have our NHS induction ceremony next Wednesday November 1st uh Juniors and seniors that qualified and we're selected will'll be inducted into the program and uh student council wise we have two things going on this next two weeks we have our canned food drive uh last year we donated 6,000 cans that is our goal this year to surpass it and uh we also have our blood drive next Wednesday as well um where students throughout the building can donate
005blood we had a lot of success with that last year and we hope to replicate that this year uh moving on to sports uh we are getting started with playoffs girls tennis playoffs already started uh they have States this Tuesday and they came runner up in the district this past week um for field hockey boy soccer and girl soccer after embarrassing rner uh to end the regular season last week uh they move on the state play they move on the playoffs this week they all have buys and will start playing at kogo later this week uh volleyball has their first playoff game at ler Marian on Tuesday uh football ends their regular season this week uh they may make the playoffs it depends really on this game and uh anything else related fall Sports will
006happen later with the state playoffs and things like that uh going on to winter sports they're coming up very fast all PIAA work throughout the district is due November 17th for winter sports and when it comes to freshman boys and girls basketball they will start after Thanksgiving break and I would like to mind remind everyone as well that for playoff games there are no cash sales it is all online for state and District playoff games um that is all I have to say I'll move it on to my friend iron Kumar uh good good evening everyone so now we're on the humanity side at Koga this uh upcoming November 16th to 18th we have our annual stoga fall drama it's called the play that goes wrong and hopefully it doesn't go too wrong uh you
007can buy your tickets on Stog theater.com uh next we have the cavalcade which was this past week uh it's the annual culmination of the school B of school bands it's one of the biggest shows and it's the third largest event in Chester County County it was very successful and there were many school bands that came out to Koga and participated and they did many halftime shows and field shows and awards were given too uh next was the African-American Student Union Fall Festival which is this Thursday night at Koga at 6 p.m. all K through 12 families are invited and are welcomed to come this will be definitely be a great Community event and on that note another great Community event was the Hispanic Latino Heritage night which was this past October 12th and was very
008successful it was the first time happening but there was it was ended well with a lot of food dancing and activities for the people thank you all right thank you both very much it's always great to hear about the exciting things that are happening at the high school and we're all proud and and um just happy that you're got so many activities going on so thank you um move on to our student and staff highlights and our presenters for this evening um we have Michelle berer and Todd koric who are going to join M Valley Forge Middle School principal Matt Gibson Eng greeting students and staff during the highlights and while uh we're Gathering here I'll just talk about the student artwork behind us we always feature the art in the back um eth grade
009students at Valley Forge Middle School learned about the American Artist Peter Max and created postered by posters inspired by his pop art style seventh graders learned about Pennsylvania Dutch HEC signs and created their own radial designs using the letters of their name as the base and sixth grade students learned about ancient Chinese dragons before creating their own interpretations in oil pastel so you can enjoy those with some context while we're having the highlights so all right and Mr maraldi will be uh our presenter okay good evening everybody if you're getting recognized if you could walk up on the side over where Dr simader is raising your hand you're going to come up and walk up and you're going to shake hands and then you're going to pick up your certificate at the table from Dr
010grathy each month the the board of School director directors invites te students and staff members who have demonstrated outstanding achievement to attend the regular school board 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 this evening will receive their certificates at their schools Valley Forge Middle School student council members support School Community Valley Forge Middle School would like to recognize its student council leaders for supporting a great start to the school year the eighth grade leadership of President Tim Chen vice president Lida mlay Treasurer Reagan harell secretary will Kissinger Outreach chairs Theo Turner and Emmy Estes and Communications chair Cole cinnamon have all done an excellent job in their new roles the seventh
011grade officers include vice president Awan Aban Outreach chair Victor Wang and Communications chair Leah uker and they have been instrumental in helping seventh grade students become aware of the new opportunities that are available at their grade level the student council is overseen by staff members Mony kapadia and Briana Dayton [Applause] Valley Forge Middle School students promote positivity Abby Hess makes Valley Forge Middle School a better place every day her outgoing and genuine personality is a welcoming and comforting presence for new students and to those who may need a friend Valley Forge students and staff are grateful to have ad AB at their school nabba yetu moyo has had an excellent start to his eighth grade school year NABA to his friends has been very helpful and provides excellent leadership to the new Valley Forge Middle
012School running club NABA is always willing to help others have a positive outlook on any situation [Applause] conastoga high school students recognized by the advanced placement program for perfect AP scores congratulations to the following conastoga high school students who received perfect scores of five on the AP exams and were among the elite group of students to earn every Point possible on an AP exam receiving the maximum score Kieran chetti was one of 357 students worldwide to receive the maximum score in research stas Lyn was one of 459 students worldwide to receive the maximum score in computer science principles Henry pay Henry pay was also one of 459 students worldwide to receive a maximum score in computer science principles and Richard Guang was one of 48 students worldwide to receive a maximum score in US government
013and politics congratulations to all of you for your outstanding efforts and achievements we commend you for your accomplishments thank you all right thank you everyone thank you Mr cataldi thank we are so proud of all of our students for their accomplishments in many different areas and also to the staff members that support them um it's a great night and usually this is the time that we take if you were here just for the students and staff highlights which tends to be a a popular part of the of the meeting then you can be free to leave now if you have homework or other things to get to and we take a brief pause uh and we'll resume the rest of the business meeting in a few minutes one all right we're going to resume the
014agenda of the business meeting um item four would be announcement of additional agenda items uh we don't have anything new to add to the agenda so the next would be public participation from District residents and taxpayers regarding any announced um additional agenda items there are none and items on the consent agenda uh the consent agenda is um in the packet and starts uh where is that on about page seven if anybody has comments on the consent agenda we'd ask you to come up and and the procedure will be the same for all the comment periods um we have uh we ask that you come and state your name and Township of residents and then everyone has three minutes to make their comment um and so we do time it so we ask that you make
015your complete comment um and ask all your questions and then we'll determine a response um and also if you have additional information that you'd like to pass on to the board you can always email us if uh three three minutes isn't sufficient so are there any comments on the consent agenda all right seeing none then we can move on to um voting on The consent agenda uh let's see so although board is action is board action is required it's generally unnecessary to hold discussion on these items with the consent 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
016with respect to consent agenda item without the need for removing the item from the consent agenda so the current 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 I have a motion so moved and do I have a second second second okay all in F favor signified by saying I I I any oppose signify by saying nay all right the motion passes 90 um and we don't have any ex gifts to acknowledge this evening um there's also no uh priority discussion this evening right so we move on to um just our committee and Ambassador reports it's a fast meeting the um first person on the list here then for the committee reports will be policy Mrs Stacy
017St the committee policy committee met on October 3rd 2023 the following policies and regulations were discussed and are on tonight's consent agenda for approval policy in regulation 4010 physical examinations revisions include the title medical examinations as well as specifying a phys certified nurse practitioner or physician's assistant May conduct the exam the regulation will go into effect upon adoption of the policy policy 4110 Workers Compensation Program the district provides Workers Compensation Insurance for all eligible employees of the district as required by the Pennsylvania workers compensation act policy 4812 non-instructional employees application and Records the policy was revised to emphasize the requirement that records be maintained to ensure an employees qualifications for the job held compliance with federal and state requirements and local benefit programs conformance with board policies administrative regulations rules and procedures and evidence of
018completed evaluations the following regulations were discussed and went into effect immediately regulation 1131 partner organizations the group te Jewish connection connections completed the process as a partner organization and was added to the list regulation 5311 eligibility for partic ipation in school related activities additional details about home educated students eligibility were added including home educated students are permitted to participate in District academic courses for up to two hours of a day the following policies and regulations were discussed and further details will be provided later in the meeting as the policies are listed on tonight's agenda for approval on a first reading basis policy and regulation 4305 drug and alcohol testing of bus drivers policy and regulation 4310 Al alcohol possession and use to different Easttown School District employees policy 4325 weapons possession and use to different
019Eastown School District employees policy and regulation 50001 enrollment and registration requirements and verification of student residency and policy and regulation 6146 student Athletics the next meeting of the policy committee is scheduled for November 8th at 7:00 p.m. at the Trad different East Town Administration offices and all are welcome to attend that concludes my report all right thank you Mrs Stone next is uh diversity Dr Robert Singh thank you the district diversity committee met on Wednesday October 18th at the te Administrative Office Building at the beginning of the meeting Koga senior Tanisha agrawal presented her research for the national National History Day project when Tanisha was evaluating Focus areas for the project her mentors encouraged her to consider local history as a topic Tanisha began her research by attending local events where she learned details about
020the decision to segregate te elementary schools in 1932 through her journey she met members of the community who supported her research including Miss Bera jman Miss Penny Washington Mr Kevin strowman and members of the te Historical Society miss jman the historian of the Mount Zion am Church of Devon took Tanisha under her Wing as she developed her research project Tanisha provided an introduction to her project and then shared her documentary with the committee after viewing the impress video members of the committee congratulated Tanisha for her efforts and asked questions about the Project's impact on her the committee then discussed various aspects of the impact of the school fight on our current students and Community the discussion led to further deepening the dialogue to include below the line information this is information that goes deeper than
021surface level conversations stories we we may not be aware of regarding the lasting impact this decision had on members of the community Miss jman who was in attendance provided additional details from the research she gathered during the application process for officially recognizing the historical significance of Mount Z am church the church was a location of many meetings during the school fight period and it is recognized in its official historical site with a marker from the PA historical and historical and Museum commission Dr Matthew stenc social studies curriculum supervisor also shared with the committee the work teachers are doing to develop lessons regarding the school fight to be included at each of the levels in third grade the lesson will be included in the local history theme of the social studies curriculum in e8th grade it
022will be included in the English curriculum and in the 10th grade the social studies curriculum this supports the commitment the district made to the community that students will learn about their local history at all levels of our students academic experience our our next meeting meeting will be held on Wednesday November 15th all are welcome to attend and will be posted on the district website that concludes my notes thank you thank you Dr sing and next we have Finance vice president Kent torsi yes thank you the finance committee last met on Monday October 9th we started out as we always do with our year-to-date Financial reports from Mr liver good uh this time we had a double shot of both August and September um we'll just talk about really September here when comparing the real estate
023tax revenues as of September 30th of both this fiscal year and last the district has received 90.3% of budget this year as compared to 9.4% uh of last year so pretty close if you're talking about numbers this year the district Revenue to date at least as of September 30th was9 million 52 and 119 m52 and um and our budget for this year we're expecting in terms of real estate revenues 132 m327 and 132 M 32761 uh talking about overall expenditures overall expenditures and encumberance encumbrances were at 77.3% uh last year and this year they're at 69.5% of budget um as of September 20th September 30th 2023 uh the committee also in terms of revenues has been discussing using Keystone uh for collecting our real estate taxes next year we decided that this item should be
024added to a future finance committee agenda perhaps as early as next meeting we also had our monthly student services update Dr grappy stated that he anticipates student services and Health Services to be in line with budgeted items and Miss Roy gave an update on the status of the 2324 special education budget saying that they have not received extended school year and first marking period bills to date so uh stay tuned for updates on that we then shifted to talk to an update on the Act One index and Mr McDonald reported that pde had established the Act One index for the 2425 budget Year and that index is at 5.3% we then segued to a discussion about the budget development calendar where Mr McDonald presented the 24-25 calendar but perhaps uh folks have read in the
025news about the legislation to change the primary date for Pennsylvania and many of the budget deadlines are keyed off of that primary date and so uh we're going to have an updated calendar at our next finance committee meeting uh long story short it's probably going to change some of the deadlines by three weeks but not hopefully not materially change what we need to do at each meeting in terms of the 2425 budget we then had a discussion about Capital sources and uses uh where Mr McDonald presented the capital sources and uses report that was uh current as of October 2023 focusing primarily on a potential transfer from the general fund to the capital expenditure Fund in the amount of $6.5 million the committee discussed how transferring the funds can decrease borrowing needs and therefore interest
026expense and on the flip side how fund balance can impact the district's Bond rating the administration noted that the $6.5 million potential transfer amount was chosen to balance these two factors and also that this amount is consistent with budget proection projections that the committee had discussed back in June following this discussion the finance committee recommended that the amount of 6 $5 million be transferred from the general fund to the capital expenditure fund our next finance committee meeting will be on November 13th 2023 at 7.m at the district offices uh at that meeting as we are most annually in November we'll be presented with the findings of our annual independent Financial audit and all are welcome to attend and that concludes my report all right thank you next we have the facility committee report from Mrs
027Berger thank you president hinski the facilities committee met on Tuesday October 17th at 700 p.m. at the teao the committee reviewed and updated its goals for this school year they also discussed um the Valley Forge playground um uh project that is scheduled for this summer they we discussed the three options that we had um HSA our Architects develop um in addition to creating a kindergarten specific play area the three options were as follows the first option was to move the PTO donated Gaga pit to a rubberized surface and to keep the same amount of black top play area the second option was to lengthen the black top and place the Gaga pit on the black top instead of on a rubberized surface this option is approximately $220,000 less than the first option of placing it
028on rubberized surface the third option that was um reviewed was to widen and lengthen the black top and to place the Gaga pit on the black top um this option was estimated to cost um approximately $88,000 more than option number two the committee recommended that option two the lengthening of the black top um be considered and the committee reviewed the fee letter associated with this option and it is found on pages 131 through 133 of tonight's consent agenda the committee reviewed the change orders associated with the projects that took place in 2022 2023 and those can be found on page 141 of tonight's consent agenda next the committee reviewed two of the four bid packages that Encompass the work that will take place this summer the bid packages also can be found on pages 134
029through 140 of tonight's consent agenda um next the committee was informed that the athletic fields project was going to be discussed at the trm Planning Commission on Thursday October the 19th this past Thursday and I am happy to report that preliminary approval for the um project is going forward so that means that we can start to develop the project as it was designed um and we've been waiting for that approval um for quite a while now so we've worked with the township effectively so that the project can move forward um then that was pretty much what we discussed we spent a lot of time on the playground I will say and I'm happy that we were able to move that forward our next meeting is on Tuesday November the 14th again at 7:00 at the
030teao all are encouraged to attend and again if you'd like to watch any of the meetings we do um record them I can't say tape them that's outdated um but we do record the meetings and they are posted on the district website and that concludes my report all right thank you uh our next one next report is education committee Mrs suti thank you the education committee met on October 5th at that meeting the committee reviewed the draft calendar for the 2425 school year for the second time no changes were considered and the committee recommended that this calendar be sent to the full board for approval at this evening's meeting and that calendar does appear on the uh in your packet on page 174 and I believe is the next item under other actions uh for
031consideration after we finish our committee reports this evening there was also a discussion of the fact that the current Year's calendar would require adjustment once the state of Pennsylvania finalized a date for the presidential primary in 2024 and that did happen after our meeting and the new calendar is on page 130 of your agenda this evening and that date uh the primary date has been moved from May into April and that has been communicated uh for uh families who might have already uh noted that they had a day off in May uh from this what they started out to have as a day off in May is now moved into uh April uh next Mr cataldi and Dr gatley and Dr Maul presented the results of the 23 pssa assessment these tests were administrated administered
032to our students in the spring of 2023 and are based on criteria established by the state the data from English language arts mathematics and science were all summarized and the Keystone exam results from algebra biology and literature were also presented Dr gatley and Dr Maul shared some of the program additions and adjustments that will be made this year in order to further support our students all of the slides of the grade level results are available in the agenda materials for the October education committee on the district website and a video of the meeting is also posted there so that if community members would like to get a full understanding of all the many different scores they can do so by hearing the discussion as always parents who have questions about their individual child's performance are
033encouraged to contact their students teacher Dr Maul then updated the committee on some of the changes being considered in our current math program benchmark assessments in mathematics will be piloted in our elementary schools the addition of par profession par professionals to support students in math is also being considered in order to offer additional Pathways for onlevel middle school students to advance in mathematics the district will develop a compressed math curriculum that will allow students to take three years of math in two years of middle school this will allow students to advance in named math courses during their High School career Dr Maul noted that Math course enrollment Koga is very strong with many students taking Advanced calculus as well as statistics and computer science the committee offered strong support for continuing the work that would
034lead to these changes in the math program the education committee goals for the 2324 school year were accepted prior to the meeting's close the next meeting of the education committee will be held on November 2nd and all are welcome and encourag to attend thank you all right uh our next uh reporter is uh Mrs Susan audrain for the ad hoc legislative committee thank you president hinski uh the ad hoc legislative committee has not met um the budget has the state budget has passed but not all of the school code spending bills have been approved and so that may affect some of the um monies available uh including for mental health services for the um different school districts so um stay tuned thank you all right thank you um and Dr Yolanda Allen has the ad
035hoc public information report absolutely thank you um the ad hoc public information committee has not met this year um if a meeting is called we will um make sure that proper notice is given thank you thank you and finally we have the Intermediate Unit technical school report from Mrs Pon the Chester County Intermediate Unit uh board of directors held its monthly meeting on Wednesday October the 18th Dr Joe filleron director of Career Technical and customized education introduced M Aon Peters principal at tchs Pickering who gave an overview of the Welding and Fabrication program students are prepared for metal working occupations in which they gain hands-on experience with welding and metal shaping equipment using state-of-the-art equipment in a brand new lab Miss Pon pet forgive me also mentioned that tchs Pickering has applied to become a
036welder training and testing Institute remote test facility through this the school would not only be able to provide the instruction but also be able to provide the assessment piece through AWS a nationally recognized welding certification provider Ms Mary Jean Curley director of communications and learning Solutions along with Dr John deilan director of Information Technology spoke about the collaboration between their two divisions regarding live instruction through Brandy Wine Virtual Academy bva created a pilot program for a live instruction program for the elementary students K through five it was so successful that this year the program was expanded to the uh sixth grade students and eventually cciu hopes to offer the program to all secondary students Beyond sixth grade Mr chip Harper supervisor of online learning Elementary instruction spoke about some of the strategies implemented to assist
037in meeting one of the Strategic goals in improving the educational outcom of all Learners the live instruction program has flourished over the past past two years and has been able to provide more direct instruction and a much more student engagement in the learning process cciu invites all future Educators and there's considering a career in education to the job fair for educators exclamation point at Kutztown University on November the 16th go to the cciu Facebook page or hash place for you that's the uh uh you know the letter U in edu so that's haspl for you in edu that concludes my report all right thank you and that concludes the committee and Ambassador report so we'll move on to item 10 which is other actions under consideration and we will start with uh the 2024 2025
038instructional calendar and resolution so the action under consideration is that the board of school directors adopts the resolution on page 171 of the agenda which sets the instructional calendar for the 2425 school year and designates section 15502 A and Act 80 days as part of the approved calendar do I have a motion so moved and a second second all right Dr Patrick gatley will present background information for the discussion Dr gatley thank you as Mrs TTI mentioned the board education committee met to discuss the 24 425 instructional calendar twice once in October and once in November for the 2425 instructional calendar the first day of school is Monday August 26 2024 and the last half day of school is Wednesday June 11th 2025 all of the days off from school on the 2425 instructional calendar
039follow the conventions in our current calendar plus no school on devali Friday November 1st 2024 the first day off from school for a weather related or other emergency is a traditional day off days 2 through 6 are flexible instructional days as permitted by law and then any necessary additional days off from school would be traditional days off further details about the 2425 instructional calendar are contained in the resolution which is being displayed and is on page 171 of the packet all right are there any questions or comments about the calendar from the board this time no uh we did have a discussion yes we said twice in the education committee meeting so uh it's been over gone over do we have any comments from the public on the 2425 instructional calendar forward say your name
040and Township of res hi good evening uh J Joyce from Trin um just a quick question um I know DW has been added as a holiday and we have many other um groups of people who perhaps have their holidays as well so uh how do we go about choosing which holidays are holidays and you know we could be you know have a lot of people coming in saying I want this day I want that day and before you know we have no school so I'm just wondering what the process is for picking a holiday the calendar is approved through our education committee and so we have discussions in September generally every year when um people with concerns about the calendar of any sort can come and contribute to the discussion and then we have a
041discussion there so it's just a discussion amongst you there's no guidelines or you know determination as to what a holiday would be I can refer it to Dr gusk it's it's really um the board is able to make that determination on an individual basis in any given year so it's Case by case yes thank you yes exactly yes so there are there are legal requirements but yes I could elaborate there are several legal requirements right that particular days where you can't have school and a certain number of days you need to have and our collective bargaining agreement but within the law then the board would have discretion as to what they' want to approve I'd also like to clarify um that uh there's two calendars right on the on the agenda tonight just it could
042be confusing the one that the board's about to vote on is the 2425 calendar and then that 2324 calendar about the primary date um we we're waiting until that was officially approved and the communications for that will begin tomorrow and people will all receive them real soon any other questions about the calendar all right see seeing none um any further comments from the board if not uh we can have a vote all in favor signify by saying I I any oppose signify by saying nay all right the eyes have it postes so uh next on our agenda is um that the board of school directors approves the following policies on a first reading basis as ready for adoption at the next regular meeting um let's see policy 4305 drug and alcohol testing for bus drivers
043policy 4310 alcohol possession and use uh Port policy 4325 weapons possession and use policy 5,1 enrollment and registration and enrollment registra and registration and verification of student residency and policy 6146 student Athletics um we'll have a little more context on this uh in a moment do I have a motion to put the action under consideration so moved and a second second all right Mrs Stone can you provide some context please sure policy and regulation 4305 drug and alcohol testing of bus drivers revisions include a title change to drug and alcohol testing of drivers in addition it's being moved from the Personnel series to the operations series and giving it the new uh number 8102 as transportation drivers are through contracted services not District employees other changes reflect changing instances of employee or contractor to driver
044and removing other unnecessary language the regulation will go into effect upon adoption of the policy policy and regulation 4310 alcohol possession and use to different East Town School District employees minor revisions were made to the policy for clarifications no revisions were made to the regulation policy 4325 weapons possessions and use uh to different East Town School District employees possession of weapons by an employee in the school setting is prohibited by law revisions were made to the definitions of District property and weapon for clarification policy and regulation 50001 enrollment and registration requirements and verification of student residency the definition of school age was moved from the policy to the regulation in addition the definition was updated for students who qualify as exceptional under the individuals with disabilities Education Act school age is defined as the period
045from the earliest admission age for the district's kindergarten program until graduation from high school or until a student's 22nd birthday whichever occurs first the regulation will go into effect upon adoption of the policy policy and regulation 6146 student Athletics guidelines for name image and likeness nil which are aligned with PIAA rules were added the regulation will go into effect upon adoption of the policy all right so now we'll have a vote on uh approving them on a first reading basis so do uh so all in what oh sorry yes sorry I'm speeding along too far are there any comments from the board all right comments from the public on any of these policies J joyer different um just a skimming this I'm seeing something here about uh gender eligibility any issues with respect to eligibility
046for specific team will be determined by The District in manag does not limit can you elaborate on that a little bit because there's a lot in the news today about uh men who are becoming women and participating on women's teams like Leah Thomas at the University of Pennsylvania was Will Thomas now he's Leah Thomas now he's setting all kinds of World Records for women swimming and there's um the best actress was a man who became a woman and so on and so forth there's a lot of that going on in fact there's a whole video about men beating women at being women so this is a big deal we see a lot in the news I'm just wondering what this is all about it seems kind of general and vague I'm not sure so what
047does that mean are we are we talking about men who think they're women and they go into girls bathrooms are we going down that road are we talking about um you know boys who become girls and want to be on the girls tennis team are we are we talking about all that is that where this is going um I'm going to refer your comment to our solicitor our solicitor takes part in policy um so Mr allias um I believe the the intent of the policies is to follow the guidance from the the PIAA what's the PIAA the the Pennsylvania inter Collegiate Athletic Association the we just follow whatever they do well I don't think follow whatever they do is the right way to put it but in this instance as far as this policy goes
048for n for what you're talking about is we're following have the ability to over ride them does who have the ability to override us this board is it a mandate that they if the state says you have to let boys who are being girls go into the girls bathroom we override that that's not what the the policy says you know I don't I don't know what the policy is because it's very vague okay okay the policies are available on the website and we've had a response and it's to do with eligibility under Pia a got it thank you all right uh any other questions from the B hello hi Amanda wallak Easttown Township what um constitute the reason to change the definition of weapons in the policy uh in this area in particular we have
049an uptick in carjackings so I mean I know I personally carry something on me at all times I'm not an employee obviously but how do our employees who are in this area maybe live in this area driving through this area protect themselves if they're not allowed to have any type of weapon of any kind if I'm reading the uh definition literally anything I keep a hammering my car that could be considered a weapon so how do our teachers protect themselves in in this area when we know there's an uptick um even our local police are worrying us of you know carjackings we have a lot of female teachers so my concern is for them I believe this was a language change to make it consistent with a new law I'm not sure Mr Elias since
050you weren't at this particular yeah I don't have yes it was it was to make strictly a language to make update it with I believe but in your language change it it it appears if I'm reading this right that you're taking out wielded with intent to threaten or harm meaning that I could bring my knife and leave it in my car if I was an employee unless I was wielding it around but now that you have removed that language it sounds to me that anything that any employee brings onto property could be considered a disciplinary legal action against them so I guess that's my question unless I'm reading it wrong which could be um I'm not sure this is going on to a second reading at policy um so you're welcome to come to the
051policy committee where may be discussed further my understanding was was to make it consistent with the law and so um but it can be discussed further at policy okay and policy meeting is when again I'm sorry you've read a lot of d I was trying to WR November 8th November 8th thank you so much you're welcome this wouldn't this wouldn't change wouldn't make anything criminal this is pure school policy just school policy but I just I'm just reading what I'm seeing and I'm just yeah when I'm just recently hearing just today actually so that's what kind of prompted my question y thank you thank you okay any other comments on policies all right if not I think now we're ready for a vote all in favor of moving these on say I I I and
052any opposed say nay all right the eyes have it passes 90 alrighty so um now that we're passed the policy section um we're on to public item 11 public participation from District residents and taxpayers regarding non-agenda items if you have a com comments on something that hasn't been covered in the agenda you're welcome to come forward and state your name in Township residents again we're going to have 3 minutes for comment and it is timed so um we've allowed a little bit of back and forth but we should have it's best if you say your question and then all your questions and then we'll time it and then uh so make sure you have your full three minutes thank you hi uh Lynn McCullen Berwin Easttown Township um I just wanted to read a statement
053it's important that parents speak up when concerned about the educational environment of their children's School schools especially if they're concerned about their children's safety as such we support the rights of the parents who attended the September 26th board meeting to express their concerns and voice their requests however as parents of an lgbtq child it's important for us to speak up and voice our concerns as well we also worried about our our child safety during her years in our school system while te has many great strengths embracing and supporting children who take The Road Less Traveled by is not one of them our daughter excelled academically however she did not have an easy time assimilating to the societal Norms in our district especially while at Conestoga books like this book is gay help children find their
054voice increase their confidence and become more comfortable with themselves and speaking up for themselves it teaches lgbtq children how to be okay with being different and to imagine Life as a well-adjusted adult this book is gay helps even just by being on the library shelves representation matters as stated by our daughter in her first published mag magazine article the importance of self-reflection in pop culture and strike magazine it allows people to feel seen and heard Additionally the book's presence also helps straight children the friends and siblings of lgbtq Youth to provide support and become allies seeing books that represent the interests and concerns of straight and queer youth coexist calmly on a shelf also helps normalize the coexistence of straight and queer interests in our broader World it serves as a visual example of how
055we can all successfully coexist in classrooms on sports teams and in adult life to note we also respectfully disagree with any request to ban books from our school's libraries while we do not agree with all material in every Library we believe in learning and open discussion even if it's between opposing opinions and beliefs there will always be someone with an opposing view we need to create a world for our children where we can express opposing views and still all get along thank you thank you and our goal is always to support all students I guess I am up good a good evening happy Halloween my name is Gina Arlin and I'm a tradan resident I'm also the proud mom of a son on the autistic Spectrum who is now a budding opera singer at Westchester
056University thanks in large part to this great School District on top of that I'm a volunteer with the nonpartisan National Organization defense of democracy defense ofd democracy. org we advocate for legislators Educators and administrators who will work to maintain communities as well as a public education system that supports and enhances our shared experiences regardless of religious beliefs cultural background gender identity or sexual orientation I'm here tonight to express my gratitude to our Township ship school librarians although no system is perfect I respect their often thankless work as well as their expertise When selecting books that fuel empathy creativity critical thinking and Imagination my personal belief is that books by authors and with characters who embody lived experiences from various backgrounds have tremendous value for everybody some might say but aren't certain books uncomfortable don't they
057promote themes and subject we prefer our children not think about to that I say yep they do and that means those books are doing their jobs books even those with controversial themes and passages prepare students for the world outside their home and the realities they face there others might say oh so you wouldn't even try to get a hateful book like Hitler's mind calm removed from the school library as a person of the Jewish faith I would say a book like that belongs in the school library for two reasons one only by looking hate Square in the eyes can we hope to defeat it two my religion is strong enough to survive mere words on a page we've been doing it for more than 5,000 years after all I understand that there are folks who
058do not want their student exposed to some ideas and Concepts and I am confident that te libraries will be proactive in ensuring that individual parental rights and religious Liberties remain intact as author Juno Dawkin says I have faith that the vast vast majority of religious people use whichever God's teaching to find tolerance and Love For All Mankind and also womankind I believe this as well and I thank you right thank you do we have any other speakers on non-agenda items at this time oops okay well at the last meeting we had uh an issue raised about a book in library which we've already talked about so I decided to look at the issue for myself so I came across the school district uh te District school library collection selection guidelines and I find there are
059five recommended School library reviewing sources none of which is US among the guidelines are are representing different viewpoints on controversial issues resist any efforts to censor Library materials by endorsing policies that serve to safeguard principles of intellectual Freedom be appropriate and of course there are others so the book in question seems to be the popular book of the day uh has a couple problems with it uh this made it this is in our library so chapter six is argu hate speech against religion and chapter 9 has sexually explicit material which would violate the principle of being age appropriate we also have uh how to be an anti-racist by Abra M Kandi and his idea is that the way you fight racism with is more racism and the way you are a racist you can be
060a racist at the drop by a hat simply by being for tax cuts so that's in the library we've got white fragility Robin D'Angelo what does she say you can be a racist same thing at the drop of a hat if you fold your arms while she's talking that's racism if you um say hey Robin let me just play Devil's Advocate oh that's racism let me show you what didn't make it all right so I submitted a bunch of Books five books they were held for 5 months and all rejected unread with no explanation here's a controversial one up from Washington by Booker T Washington we have WB DUIs but that's his rival but we don't have him which is the other point of view which should be inconsistent with our our standard 12 rules
061for life by Jordan Peterson let's see what do the table of content say about this oh you should stand up straight with your shoulders back you should look for people who do uh treat yourself like someone else that you're responsible for helping I would think with all the mental health issues going on today this would be a book that would be appropriate for us and of course Thomas Soul black black rednecks and liberals what's he talk about he discusses that how students at the dunar school for 80 years educated poor blacks and other minority students and can they consistently had better test scores than the three white schools in Washington DC and those graduates went on to the profession and all during Jim Crow so this is an example how black people close the achievement
062Gap he also tells us that slavery was not a racist issue certainly not unique to the United States but was a worldwide Institution that went on for centuries long before Europeans arrived in Africa people enslaved those who were nearby weak and very often they Enslaved the same people who look like them it was the British and their Navy not Africans Asians Arabs or whoever all right so you can say you like to hear from the to but this didn't make the cut so you want to hear from the public here I am I would suggest that you follow your standards and and have these books join the library thank you thank you do we any other further comments on non agenda items zachar I'm a tradition resident and a parent of a current kindergarten at
063Valley Forge Elementary School I attended the meeting that Dr GK actually held back in March to kind of alert everyone to our current numbers being very high um especially at Valley Forge Elementary School where I believe we're over 100 over what is the 487 number that is supposed to to start degrading their um education we've taken a science lab away from them I've heard as well so I have a three and a halfy old and a daughter turning a year in a few weeks so this the projections over the next 10 years looked incredibly High um and only to get worse so I'm just wondering if there's been any movement forward since the last board meeting where you guys um talked quite a lot about it and addressed it and where we're moving and also
064for full day kindergarten because that is something that all the districts around us have and that we really want it to because it's really important uh for our kids to stay with the national standards which are going towards this way so anyway just curious if there's any movement uh there are no new developments since the last meeting we do have an education meeting coming up where we're going to have the demographers report we have the October 2nd numbers and so we're going to look at the latest projection moving forward um and just so you know I know you are aware but we do have a child's place as an option for that second half half of the day with um with kindergarten but yes we are continuing to evaluate full day kindergarten We are continuing
065to evaluate new schools Dr it's November 2nd and the uh materials including the draft of the demographers report would be available on the web for you to read if you're not able to attend or you could watch that meeting as well great thank you just keeping it on the radar appr so so again no decision has been made we could continue to evaluate thank you and stay tuned and particularly to the Education meeting are there any other comments on non-agenda items Dr Del Al Sharif tryr I want to first thank the parents from the lgbtq community that came out to speak today I think it's very important that we as a community support everyone in the school and everyone is to feel loved and supported and so I want to thank them for coming out
066to speak and I hope that they would um reciprocate and hope that we would feel loved and respected in the school environment as well it has been almost 2 months since members of the Muslim Community have filed a complaint about the religious hate bias and discrimination in one of the books in the school library the school board along with with Dr gusk the superintendent and Ken Rose the school solicitor have deemed this religious hate material instructional material calling religious hate material instructional materal material and treating it as such infringes on so many of our civil and constitutional rights the fact that Ken Rose in his capacity as a school solicitor has confirmed that 1122 is the correct policy to drive the response to this complaint and the fact that the superintendent and each and every
067school board member has agreed that policy 11:22 is the correct policy to follow means that all of you collectively and individually are infringing on our civil and constitutional rights with complete disregard to the law ignorance of the law does not excuse you from allow from following it as school solicitor superintendent and the school board members you may not later claim that you are unaware of a law in an effort to escape liability for violating that law especially because I here to tell you that you are violating several laws and I'm giving you the chance to correct yourselves providing instructional material that sets out to purposefully denigrate and Shred the Muslim faith instruct people to argue with Muslims and call Muslims haters and crazy is damaging on many different levels I can't cover all of them
068in the remaining time today but here are a few examples as a parent of Muslim kids in the district you are taking away my right to teach my kids my faith in an accurate manner as a parent of Muslim kids I have distress over material that my kids will read and be negatively influenced with regards to the faith as a Muslim member of the community I'm distress over the hate you are creating for for anyone reading this material Muslim or non-muslim that completely trashes our faith and calls us haters and crazy the distress fear and intimidation from these religious hate materials and this entire process is uncalled for You' have kicked off an unfair process of 11:22 in the pretense that you are doing something to give us our rights in retaliation various media platforms
069are being used to silence us and a hit list with our names on it has been developed and is in circulation the damages and retaliation has to stop I do not wish to argue with anyone let alone my neighbors this is why I'm here again today to give each and every one of you a chance to speak up and denounce this material as instructional and condone the religious hate messages within it anyone who does not denounce this material as instructional or condone the hate messages in it is complicit in the intentional infringement on our civil constitutional rights thank you so first of all I would like to say categorically that as a board member I am not aware of any campaign for media retaliation through the media or otherwise um I'll ask our solicitor Mr
070Elias to comment on on some of the legal matters I will say we did re the board responded immediately when we received a direct complaint from Dr Sharie um in mid-september and I have been in constant correspondence and contact with our solicitor to make sure that our board response is in alignment with in alignment with both of our policy and with the law to make sure that it's treated on an equal footing as same as any other similar type of complaint so Mr Elias thank you um because the Administration has determined that the complaint is properly addressed through policy and regulation 1122 does not in any way mean that the school district isn't taking the complaint seriously does not in any way mean that the complaint hasn't been heard we understand the complaint the school
071district and the board understands the complaint uh and they are addressing it um the way they're addressing it should not be viewed in any way as condoning any discrimination um the process is underway and the process will have a result and it will be explained to the the community thank you thank you are there any other comments on on agenda thank you so uh good evening uh zaheen manik Shaw treer Township uh so I guess just as a follow-up to that we have the entire panel here um just wanted to get each one of you guys to find out if uh you guys uh condone the religious hate in the book that's not appropriate right now you can make your comments and and we can respond afterwards well that's what I'm asking so I'm going
072to assume that by you not responding you should assume that well I'm going to and I can and I do have a right to do that you do but you shouldn't but you do that you do have that right yes right I do have that right and there's no need to argue with me for having that right so I'm assuming yes you do no resp wrong that corre that' be in correct assumption no response you do no response you do are addressing no response you do no response you do excuse me no response you do no response you do no response you do unanimously thank you very much I understand that that policies and processes don't always feel responsive but we are we have heard your complaints as Mr Elias has said and we are
073addressing them with policy 1122 which is called complaints regarding the district it's not strictly about Library materials it's about complaints so we are going through this process it is not for the board to interfere in the process because any decision that is ultimately made would be weakened if we interfered this is the way that the policy is outlined um not even by this board but by previous boards and we want to follow the policy and the law so I hope everybody will be patient and partip I'm glad people have come to participate and be a part of the process and it will take some patience and as Mr Elias says it will work through the process and then the results will be explained thank you there any further comments on non-agenda items all right seeing
074none uh the public com oh sorry bdan Rosa uh three different is there an ETA on when we will get an answer not at this time will there be an ETA next next month I don't know we have to go through the process I'm not sure what might present itself so I don't want to make a promise for a particular date and have that be incorrect okay thank you all right are there any other public comments on non-agenda items at this time all right so seeing none now I will close the public comment section of the meeting uh this is the point in the meeting when we make any announcements required by the Pennsylvania Sunshine act our solicitor this evening is Brian Elias and he'll make any required announcements uh good evening uh the board
075of school directors met an executive session on October 17th 2023 at 6 pm to discuss student matters Personnel matters and financial matters and the school board the board of school directors met uh this evening October 23rd uh at 6 pm. to discuss student matters and uh real estate thank you all right thank you Mr Elias future meetings of the board are Monday November 20th a regular board meeting here 7:30 p.m. at Conestoga high school Monday December 4th will be a reorganization meeting here at the Koga High School um if you want more information on student participation in fall activities or the 2022 2023 English development program those are in the included in the agenda uh next would be item 13 General announcements do we have a General announcement Mrs Pion yes I will need to
076uh cancel my uh November 16th uh visiting hour at the Easttown library due to an employment commitment that evening thank you all right uh any other announcements okay seeing none uh that's it for our board meeting this evening could I have a motion to adjourn so moved and I have a second second all in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed signified by saying nay all right the motion passes 90 we are adjourned thank you and please join us again next month