School Board Meeting - 05/19/2026

001Mhm. >> At 7:00 we're going to call the board meeting to order. I just want to remind the board members to please make sure you speak into the microphone so that it can be picked up on the video. Rise for the pledge of allegiance, please, and moment of silence. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. You can be seated. May we have a roll call, please? Mr. Lauren Lustick? Here. Ms. Anders? Here. Ms. DeJall? Here. Ms. Palumbo? Here. Mr. Matthew Lustick? Here. Mr. Linden Mower? Here. Ms. Hunt Youngkoever? Here. Mr. Weigel? Here. And Mrs. Plank? Here. We did have an executive session this evening for legal matters. Could I

002get a motion to approve tonight's agenda, please? I second. Any questions? Yes, I have a question, Madam Chair. Um this will really be a question for Mr. Pajalka. Uh sir, um I believe that one thing on our agenda uh, specifically specifically under item 21 may not be according to state law and/or our policy manual. Uh, so what I would like to ask you, Mr. Palca, is is is that to be brought up right now under the agenda or is that to be brought up as a point of order when it occurs? What is the right procedure? Mr. Lustig, you're again referring to item 21? Yes, sir. >> I'm not sure. Can you elaborate on the nature of your concern, please, on item 21? Sure. And if uh if it needs to be brought up later,

003you know, then that's fine. Uh, Mr. Palca, I have a number of questions that will basically be to you and they all have to do with whether or not we have followed proper legal and policy procedures in canceling a June meeting. Uh, would you like me to discuss those now or how do we proceed? And Madam Chair, that would be partly a question for you. I believe that's noted under item 16 that would be voted on. Yeah, and and then under 21 there are informational items only after item 16 which calls for a motion to approve to approve canceling the meeting if I understand correctly. Very good. I'm glad that I'm glad that the agenda has been um adjusted in that way. Thank you. Any other questions? All right. All those in favor, say I.

004I. Any All right, the eyes have it. All right, could I get a motion to approve the minutes? Um the attached documents note the board meeting from 4/21/2026, the curriculum and extracurricular committee meeting from 5/5/26, business and operations committee meeting 5/5/2026, and the policy committee meeting from 5/5/2026. So moved. Second. Any questions? Uh yes, I have uh three proposed changes to uh the policy committee minutes. And I'll give everyone a moment to pull those up. Okay. Um I believe that there need to be two changes to follow our policy uh manual. Our policy manual, specifically policy 006, specifically says that when there is a public comment that we will make note of what was what was discussed. Now, I believe we would probably be well [snorts] served not to make commentary on that, but we

005are required um by our own policy to note what the topic was of each public comment. By the way, that is uh under our policy 006, that is item seven, which says that we must note the subject of the testimony. So, on on the policy committee meeting minutes, under item two, we had two public comments, one by Mr. John Regaton, and one by Mrs. Rachel Elliott, and I would like to propose changing the wording to as follows, "Mr. John Regaton shared public comment regarding draft policy 146.1." I believe that's an accurate and objective summary of his comments. And Ms. Rachel Elliott shared public comment regarding the board meeting on four I don't have the date in front of me, so four, whatever it was, 26 was the date of our last full board meeting. 4/21

006Okay, very good. So, 4/21/26. I also would like to strike, not would like, believe we should strike item eight. Our minutes are to be an accurate summary of our actions as outlined in policy 006. Item eight says "Next meeting." And I'll just read this. "The policy meeting for June is canceled. The next meeting will be August 4th, 2026 at 5:00 p.m." We did not um We did not discuss that at the policy committee meeting, so that is an inaccurate summary of our um of our actions during the policy committee meeting. Uh also, Mr. Polka, I would just like to um confirm something with you, sir. I believe the board uh adopted the board calendar in December of 2025. That was a board action. Um by at least majority vote. I I believe it may be

007a unanimous vote. Mr. Polka, could you could you clarify uh our policies do allow a chair or the president, depending on whether it's a full board meeting or a committee meeting, to schedule a meeting. However, I believe to cancel a meeting requires a vote of the full board and cannot be unilaterally done by any board member, nor the superintendent. Is that accurate? I would agree if the um particular meeting was included on the prior board-approved calendar. It would take a board action to remove it from the calendar if, again, it was already pre-approved earlier in the year. Right. Right. So, a board action would be required to reverse a board action. Is that correct? >> I would I would agree. Again, assuming it was a prior-approved uh calendar item. Very good. Okay. Thank you. On

008the uh proposed uh clarifications on the minutes, is the motion and second been made? Are they comfortable with those clarifications? If not, we'll call for a motion. Uh Mr. Lustig can make the motion to uh edit the minutes as proposed. I don't recall who made the motion and second on the minutes. >> the motion. Um So, that would be to It would be >> his suggestions. It would be to correct add the subject of testimony for Mr. Reganton and Ms. Elliott and also to strike through as I understand it the reference to the cancellation of the June policy meeting. Is that correct? I'm comfortable with that, yeah. Did I accurately capture >> Yes, and I I assume this goes without saying, but we would then if we struck eight, we would move nine to be

009eight and 10 to be nine. Yeah. >> Right. Right. So, the motion is supportive is the second also supportive? >> That was Mr. Jalal. Mr. Jalal, are you supportive of those corrections? Yes, I am. Okay. Does anybody else have anything [music] to add? All right. All those in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? All right. The eyes have it. Uh we do not have a student representative report this evening. So, we're moving on to public comment. The Board of School Directors encourages comments from community members during the citizen comment section of the agenda. Upon being recognized by the Board President, an individual should state his or her name, confirm that they are either a parent, guardian, resident, taxpayer, district employee, district student, or anyone representing a group or firm in the community, and may

010speak to the Board for a period no longer than 5 minutes. No participant may speak more than once on the same topic unless all others who wish to speak on that topic have been heard. Questions posed during the citizen comment will not be addressed during the meeting. If a question requires follow-up, the Board President or Superintendent will follow up individually. The Board requests that neither complaints concerning job performance nor allegations of misconduct relating to specific employees or students be raised at a public meeting. Such concerns should be referred directly to the superintendent. The board will conduct its meeting civilly and respectfully. All citizen comments deserve that same respect from both the board and other meeting attendees. At the discretion of the board president, verbal disruptions, commotion, or other disrespectful comments behaviors may result in a

011verbal warning, termination of the comment, board recess, or termination of all citizen comments. All right, Mr. Lane. Mr. William Lane is our first speaker at CP. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. Um I'm here partly because my wife Anne would have liked [clears throat] to have been here, Anne Lane, but she's serving uh as an election inspector for for Butler today. It's election day. So, she she couldn't be here. I think we're both concerned about morale among teachers and staff at Big Walnut High School. We're both long-term residents of the uh school district. Anne has been here a really long time. She was born and raised here and has lived here most of her life. I arrived here in '92, I believe. Uh we have three children who are all BHS graduates. Um so,

012we are hopeful that the recent uh resignation of Ryan Gerber doesn't signal uh a problem of morale. So, this is a letter that Anne asked me to share on her behalf. Dear President Plank and members of the Upper Adams School Board direct of directors, I write to you today to express my profound disappointment on hearing of Ryan Gerber's resignation. I'm deeply saddened by this news and I wonder why someone who was so invested in the district has left. Has anyone spoken to him about his reasons for leaving? I know he has beloved and respected by our teachers and also by our our most vulnerable populations including families and students in our Latino Hispanic community and families of children with special needs. Who will be responsible for serving these families and students? Now, has the board

013of directors discussed this concern? I know of Mr. Gerber's ESL community height a hallmark of Oak Harbor Adams and great importance to our community. Who will now lead this effort in the future? If people such as Mr. Gerber are resigning, is this a canary in the proverbial coal mine? I am concerned about the morale of our teachers and administrators and I hope and pray that the members of of the board take this concern seriously. I doubt that Mr. Gerber's departure was a matter of salary, but I sincerely hope that if necessary, the board will raise our taxes, my taxes, rather than cut programs or salaries. Thank you for listening to my concerns. I look forward to your reply and hope that you will work with teachers, administrators, and community members to address the concerns raised

014by Mr. Gerber's resignation. Sincerely and respectfully, Ann Booker Lane. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you, Mr. Lane. >> [applause] >> All right, Jody Hardy. >> Good evening. My name is Jody Hardy. I am standing here in front of in front of you today not just as a resident but as a deeply grateful parent and community member to express my strong support for the dedicated educators of our district. Our community is incredibly fortunate to have an excellent team of teachers and administrators. My own four children have benefited immensely from their guidance. They have successfully established themselves on their career paths because our teachers did not instruct them, they invested in them. I wish I could say their success is entirely because my husband and I really nailed the married parenting thing, but that

015simply is not the case. Credit must be given where credit is due, and my children's success today is the result of the village that helped raise them, and many of those people are the teacher staff and administrators sitting here today. They built meaningful relationships with my children, and my children built relationships with them. That connection building is not only a crucial life skill, it also made my children feel supported, respected, and seen. As a parent whose children also required student services, I also know firsthand the profound importance of the specialized roles within our district. Excuse me. Student services ensure that all children in our district, whether exceptional, physically handicapped, gifted, special needs, non-English speaking, learning learning disabled, or neurodivergent actually receive what they need from their education. The guidance and support from those in these

016roles provide irreplaceable peace of mind and often serve as a lifeline for families navigating those complex systems. But a lifeline is only as strong as the people holding other end. And when the district's foundation begins to fracture, it is these critical, life-changing services and the vulnerable students who rely on them that are jeopardized first. This is why I am writing with a profound sense of urgency and concern regarding the current trajectory of our district and the retention of our most dedicated staff. We are witnessing a worrying trend where good people, the deeply committed individuals who form the backbone of our educational community, are choosing to leave. These educators are exceptionally well-respected and trusted by students, parents, and fellow staff alike. And when leaders of high caliber and deep commitment to our community are allowed to

017slip away, it leaves a void that cannot easily be filled. These teachers and staff members model the very behavior we hope to instill in our children. Respect, collaboration, empathy, accountability, and connection. They deserve No, they have earned the opportunity to receive that same behavior from the leadership of this district. It starts here at the top. There was a time when that kind of leadership and professionalism defined our school board. Unfortunately, in recent years, many in this community have instead witnessed self-righteous behavior, ignorance, and opaque decision-making becoming far too prevalent. Those are painful words to use when speaking about a school board because that's not how leadership should look, and it's certainly not how progress is made. The worst part is that our district's children are watching, and they are learning from the example being set

018before them. As you are aware, the current teachers' contract is set to expire this June. Yet, instead of being proactive and demonstrating value and support of our faculty and staff, we have seen dragging of feet and allowed personal agendas to interfere with what should be the central priority, the well-being and success of our students and our schools. It's heartbreaking and honestly infuriating to see behavior that suggests that we can somehow afford to lose these people. We cannot. Let's be perfectly clear here that the attitude that I'm seeing does not have the best interest of our students at heart. Please leave your egos and agendas at the door when you come to represent our community. Our faculty, staff, and administration are not line items on a spreadsheet to be negotiated down. They are the people who

019protect, support, educate, and care for our children every single day. And they are the part of the fabric of this community, and they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. With our current teachers and administration working in tandem, Upper Adams has historically punched well above its weight for a small district. We can only maintain that momentum if our staff feels supported, respected, and secure. Investing in our educators is essential not only for retaining the outstanding faculty we already have, but also for attracting highly qualified new talent to our district. I urge you to please stop dragging this process out, put your personal agendas aside, and make a fair deal now. It's time to show our educators and administrators the same fierce commitment they show our children every single day. Thank you for your time,

020your service to our district, and your consideration of this urgent matter. >> [applause] >> Thank you, Ms. Hardy. Correspondents, uh Melissa Anders. Yes. I wanted to take a moment and thank the ESL team for an amazing family night. Um a couple of board members and I, along with Dr. DeShawn and some of the administration, had the pleasure of joining. And if that was my first experience ever being there, you guys did a phenomenal job. Um I've been a bus driver for many years in the district, and I've seen first hand some of the students that come on not knowing English, and it's it is difficult but you you see it over months time of what job you do and they do come out of their shells and you don't get enough appreciation for what you

021do. But that that event is absolutely beautiful and if you don't get the opportunity or if you didn't get the opportunity to attend, I plea like please do so next year because the food was phenomenal. >> [laughter] >> I could eat that all day. But talking with the families and the the students and some of them was their first year there and they were so impressed [snorts] with what was going on. And then ones that have been there for years and same experience. They just they love you guys. And they couldn't do it without you truly. So I I I would it was heartwarming to see it all and then to get these little letters. >> [laughter] >> It actually brought tears to my eyes. I'm a little bit of a softy. But it was

022absolutely amazing and I can't thank you guys enough for inviting us and I was so happy to attend. Thank you. >> [applause] >> LIU board report Dr. Deshone. Yeah, I just wanted to share for those of you who don't know by Don July light is essentially a summary of the IU's board meeting and you'll find those attached. One thing to note that they're working on their comprehensive plan coming up for 2027 2030. I believe we will start ours believe in next year. But that's one of the big items and then they do the same kind of things there. Do board policies forward personnel business actions and so forth. So you'll see that attached as well as a link to the full board meeting agenda and minutes. Thank you Mrs. Klein. Thank you. Federal programs Dr.

023Shelley. Yes, Mr. Alvin is currently attending the federal programs conference in Erie, so he has been texting me some a few updates hot off the press. So we did get some title funding numbers regarding title one and title two for fiscal year 27 and we'll talk about that a little bit later in my budget presentation. It's not going to be reflected in that tonight. And um federal programs will now be moving underneath Department of Labor as Department of Education is being switched up. And the concern is coming for what this federal programs look like for 27-28 that could cause some um challenges moving forward. That's all I have. Thank you, Mrs. Blank. Thank you. Cumberland Perry, Mr. Lustig. Do you have a report, please? Yes, I do. Thank you, Madam Chair. It is my great

024joy to be the representative from Upper Adams School District to Cumberland Perry. I've been working with the executive secretary who helped me prepare the information for the report that I'm about to provide. Uh and it relates to what what is made available to Upper Adams School District. We can send 33 students up to Cumberland Perry. Uh and there are 22 fields of study that these students can enter, which is you know, really excellent. Uh there is a construction project some renovation and some new construction at Cumberland Perry. It's on uh on schedule and we anticipated that will be that work will be completed in late autumn. And there may be either expansion of existing programs for that new space or the development of new programs. Looking forward to to finding out how that will play

025out. Uh then I was provided with with information about our students who are attending this semester. And the of the 22 programs, about 55% of our students are in four programs. So, here they are. Uh culinary arts, diesel technology, health care pathways, and welding. So, that's that's sort of need to know you know, that kind of information about about our our students themselves. And so, I I thought I should present that to the board and to the people here with us this evening. Thank you. And Mr. Lustig, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this evening there's actually a ceremony at at that facility tonight acknowledging the students. Yes, that is correct. >> Yeah. Yes, that is so. >> couldn't be there, obviously, but we do have representation there from apparatus. Yes, thank you.

026Thank you, Mr. Lustig. Uh Mrs. Halabal, do you have a report for the Cantor Foundation? I do. Get this all. Um the distribution committee from the Cantor Foundation has met recently. We have budgeted $19,500 for Cantor grants. This is a 22% increase from prior years. After receiving some valuable input from our retired and current teachers on the board, it was agreed to have two tranches of applications. The first to be awarded this spring, and the second in late fall. The committee currently reviewing the first set of applications, which total request of nearly $36,700. Several of the applications involve transportation and or entrance fees for various field trips. The foundation is happy to support in this way, but the hope is that one day the district will pick up these areas as they did prior to

027COVID. Um we have applied for participation in the 2026 Giving Spree. Only 100 applicants are chosen, so it's not a shoe-in. We have participated in Giving Spree since the first one in 2014. It is my hope, and I'll sing this song again. It is my hope and my plea that members of this board would contribute contribute to the Ed Dow Fund at the Giving Spree in November. Finally, we will be serving donuts and cider to the graduating class on Thursday, May 21st. We do this annually as a congratulatory event to let the students know that we are proud of them, we support them, and yes, we hope that one day they may support the Cader Foundation as well. That's my report, Mrs. Klein. Thank you, Miss Soluble. Moving on to administrative reports. Does anyone have

028any questions for any of our administrators? I would actually just like to piggyback on what Melissa was saying about the ESL family night, and I just wanted to thank I got a nice little surprise here for me, and that was really awesome. Some thank you notes for attending, and like Melissa said, the food is unbelievable, and it was just a really really fun experience to see the excitement of the kids and watching them get their face painted, and that lady was really good, by the way. And the dancing demonstration, it was just a really really really enjoyable day. And like Melissa said, if anyone would get a chance to go, I would highly recommend it. Um as well as the spring concert and the chorus concert, that That really enjoyable as well. I brought my

029daughter with me and she really had fun with that. So, that was a good night. And those kids are very talented. So, there's lots of talent there. And I was looking at the pictures with the community days and everything. You guys have been busy in the last couple weeks. So, and now the wind down for graduation. I know Mrs. Baron's not here, but I can imagine that like so much fun. >> [laughter] >> But, I just want to thank everybody for, you know, all your hard work that you've done this year. So, thank you very much. Oh, and the cooler leak thing, I would have loved that. I would have been totally soaked. So, chasing frogs and such, you know. So, yeah, that was fun to read those reports. So, anyway, I just wanted to

030put my two cents in and thank everybody for all that hard work you guys put out. So, thank you. Um I just like to piggyback on both of the ladies. Um it's obviously you've been very, very busy, but I found it especially interesting. We've been doing a lot of talk about the stage and the, you know, the lights and all that. And it was interesting to me the volume of classes and children who use this stage. It's not just a spring band concert. It's the second graders. It's the jazz band. It's the choral. Um it the stage is used heavily and I do believe we need to um seriously consider what we're going to do to make that stage just as user-friendly as is possible. It's used a lot. Thank you, teachers, for all you're

031doing. Anybody else? Dr. DeChant, superintendent report. Yo, what was that white milk kind of holiday drink? Like horchata? Horchata? Horchata. Horchata. Horchata. Okay, yeah. Yeah, that was good. It was It was a good night. So, we appreciate all the hard work, um Mr. Gerwin and the whole ESL team, uh supporting those kiddos and families. So, that was that was really awesome. Uh we also uh piggybacking off actually our last policy meeting with threat assessment uh policy that we're looking at moving forward. Uh uh kudos to Mr. Gerber and threat assessment team for uh doing a training on C-STAG, which is comprehensive school threat assessment guidelines. So, that's the training that uh they all received and performing and doing uh threat assessments and understanding that process. I had the opportunity to attend the PARSS conference, which

032is a Pennsylvania rural and small schools uh conference. So, it was around uh a lot of other districts similar to us and that kind of like work through uh and talk through different uh scenarios and situations smaller [clears throat] schools face across Pennsylvania. Uh I just want to I give a shout-out to our um our BHS prom team for a wonderful prom and the chance I did not dance, but I was able to be a part of the prom. You don't want to see me do that, but >> [laughter] >> it was it was a a very look like the kids had a great time and it was a great setting and a beautiful evening for that. Uh Mr. Mr. Mummer, I think you did a little dancing, I believe. Just a little, okay. Uh

033again, I want to I shout-out kudos to uh uh the intermediate school for Keller Day. It was a good time as as well as uh Camp Nawakwa, all of our fifth grade teachers and just the the planning and the preparation. I know our administrative team had the opportunity to go out at 6:00 a.m. on uh Thursday and Friday morning to help with breakfast, so that was a lot of fun uh being out there with everybody, but uh what a wonderful time. I know the students and the teachers all did the energy and effort they put into that. I had the opportunity to sit down with Mr. Proffen from Aramark and do the CVR, which is client business review. This thing is like really thick. You guys can see this. This is This is the client

034business review, but this is all the things that Aramark does uh throughout, you know, the the season. Uh we do them like three times a year. So, this is the last third uh and just all the different things from fixing things from the shelving to fill, the plowing and everything. So, we appreciate them. Um shout out to all our teachers, of course. For teacher appreciation week, I know that you guys can all um it's not a good time to go on a diet for sure. It's a It's a week of celebrating with lots and lots of food. So, but we do appreciate you and all that you do. You're at the ground level there taking care of the kids. So, thank you guys. And again, also just the musical concerts people have in this hall

035ball. The intermediate school, it was like a packed house. I don't think you could sit down in here at the intermediate school and there was even an opportunity for folks to come up on the stage to sing and do a little bit dancing to this little light of mine. And then also our high school and middle school, too. So, just a shout out to our music programs. And uh as I think someone said end of the year, Mrs. Clorier, Mrs. Clorier. A lot of that going on. Mr. Mummer just finished up with keystones here. Are we done officially, Mr. All the Okay, officially done. All right. Okay, all right. So, we have that going on. The field trips, all the preparation, the culminating activity obviously next um uh Wednesday evening for our high school graduation.

036So, and our athletics, too. Softball actually went to playoffs. They were in Kutztown, I believe. It was Kutztown. Um they they did did they we we just want to give a shout out to them. So, thank you, Mrs. Klein. That's right. Let's hope for good weather next week. All right. Uh treasurer's report, Mr. Weigel. Sure. Good evening. Um all of the reports are attached in the agenda manager, but I would like to recommend approval for uh 12.1 financial report ending in 4/30/2026 and the condensed summary report. Uh the 12.2 food food service fund statement of operations ending 4/30/2026 and 12.3 student activity fund ending in 4/30/2026. So moved. All right, we have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? No. Can we have a roll call, please? Ms. Anders? Yes. Ms. Jalal? Yes.

037Ms. Holubal? Yes. Mr. Linden Mulder? Yes. Mr. Lauren Lustick? Yes. Mr. Matthew Lustick? Yes. Mr. [clears throat] Weigel? Yes. Ms. Yankover? Yes. Ms. Plank? Yes. Thank you. Consent agenda. I'd sorry. Are you finished? That is all. That concludes my report. Thanks, Mr. Weigel. Consent agenda. Is there anything to be pulled from the consent agenda? Yes, Madam President. I would like to pull item 16. Okay. Anyone else? Can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda without item 16, please? So moved. Second. Any discussion? All right. Could I have a roll call, please? Ms. Jalal? Yes. Ms. Holubal? Yes. Ms. Yankover? Yes. Ms. Anders? Yes. Mr. Linden Mulder? Yes. Mr. Matthew Lustick? Yes. Mr. Lauren Lustick? Yes. Mr. Weigel? Yes. Ms. Plank? Yes. Thank you. Do I need a motion related to do you want

038to make a motion to make a motion to approve item 16 the appointment of Mr. Neil Weigel as board treasurer? Second motion in a second. Is there any discussion? Yes, really the reason I wanted to separate this out is is just to make this clear to everyone. We are required by state law to have a treasure and we are allowed to either appoint one from the board or Mr. Paul please tell me if I'm incorrect. I believe we're also able to contract with a firm. Am I correct about that Mr. Paul? Mr. Paul, do you work with any school districts who do contract with the firm? Off the top of my head. No, I I I can't think of any but there's I'm familiar with appoint a board member as we do okay to serve

039in that role. Well, what I wanted to draw attention to is the reality that we're required to do this and that Mr. Weigel gives a great service to the community by functioning in that role. That is a role. We could theoretically contract with a service and I'm sure if we did it would be at a at a fairly large extent expense to taxpayers. We all on the board are volunteers elected to represent the citizens the district and it takes a considerable amount of time for any of us to serve but Mr. Weigel is good enough to go above and beyond and serve in that role and and as opposed to paying a service to do that. He's he's I believe saving the taxpayers money and I really appreciate it. Any other discussion? May I have

040a roll call, please? >> [clears throat] >> Sorry. Mr. Law? Yes. Mrs. Hollobaugh? Yes. Mr. Lindenmuth? Yes. Mr. Lestik? Lauren Lestik, I'm sorry. Yes. Mr. Matthew Lestik? >> Yes. Mr. Weigel? Yes. Miss Jankover? Yes. Miss Anders? Yes. [clears throat] Mrs. Plank? Yes. Thank you. All right, moving on to committee reports, uh finance, Mr. Weigel. Uh thank you. So, we are going to turn attention to number 13 first. Uh this is informational only. Um it's only changing the date for the Johnson Controls. Um So, it's just uh uh they to be aware of uh number 13 is informational only. Um Also, number uh 11, uh we are going to have the staff talk about this with the quick on the current lunch debt. Thank you, Mr. Weigel. So, at the last meeting, it was um questioned

041when I was talking about the CEP program about how many students participate in our free breakfast and what is our current lunch debt. So, I did attach a memo to the uh board agenda. And I'm just pulling it up for my reference. Um so, currently we have about 1/3 of our students that attend the Upper Adams School District [music] that they do receive the free breakfast. So, they come in and take advantage of that, or about 490 students across all of our buildings. Of those that qualify for free or reduced lunches, about 75 students of those do participate in free in the free lunches or reduced. And then the lunch debt as of May 6th is $43,267.39. And that's approximately increase about 3,400 since September when I was last reported. Also, I just added for

042the board's information, um back in February of 2025, the board did approve JP Harris as a debt collector, and we had been sending some of those accounts over. We have turned over just shy of $28,000. And $13,727 has been collected. But, only 4,000 of that has come through JP Harris. The rest of that has been paid right to the district. So, I just wanted to update the board for that request. Thank you. All right. Thank you, uh Ms. Hobbs. So, uh moving on, we're going to recommend approval um for uh number one, uh making as agreement as per the attached document. Um two, SolarWinds. Uh this is a license for IT helpdesk renewal. It's a 3-year contract. Uh billed annually. And it is an increase of $1,245.50. Uh number three, turnover delinquent uh 2526 taxes

043to the Adams County uh tax bureau for real estate. Um also for number four, uh delinquent taxes for uh per capita taxes to York Adams tax bureau. Um number seven, uh this is 2026-27 extracurricular on Adams Security Services Agreement with G4S. Um and number eight, Transfinder contract as per the attached document with the removal of UFinder. Uh this is an updated cost of $5,300 for 2026-27. Uh number nine, uh appoint AC&B and PSECU as the district's depository bank. And the last one that we were going to combine together is uh number 12 uh which is a 2026 27 breakfast and lunch prices. And as noted, there's no crease uh in price to the students. I'll second. All right, we have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? No. Is this uh Madam Madam

044Commissioner, is this on items 1 through 14, all of them? Is that correct? No, this is 1 2 3 4 um 7 8 9 through 12. We're going to pull out 5 and 6 separately and we're going to pull out um uh the number 10 separately. Thank you, Mr. Weigel. Are you good? Remember, roll call, please. Ms. Jean Kover? Yes. Ms. Anders? Yes. Mr. Matthew Lustick? Yes. Ms. Jamal? Yes. Mr. Weigel? Yes. Mrs. Holliman? Yes. Mr. Lyndon Mulder? Yes. Mr. Matthew Lauren Lustick? Yes. Mrs. Plank? Yes. Thank you. Okay, we're going to move to uh number 10. Uh this is additional services for the attached uh from Turf Track and Court. Um and I think Ms. Alston will be able to speak about this a little bit. This will come out of the uh 125,000

045that was already approved previously by previous board presidents. I believe it has to do with uh the removal of soil, I believe. That's correct, Mr. Weigel. So, this request came from Turf Track and Court. We received this yesterday. And the additional request is because we need to update our documents. When the documents were first prepared and submitted to the state for permitting, it included removing soil from the secondary campus down to Biglerville Elementary. And with that, there is actually an additional cost and testing that if it's moved from one site to the another site, it has to go through this [music] testing, and it needs additional permits and certificates. So, with the if that would still continue and we would stay on that trajectory, we could be over $100,000 additional. So, with the this request

046is to update our documents to show that the soil is going to stay one site and be used probably in the back field areas um to level out some areas. So, to update that, it's the additional cost of a big believe the attachment is like about 8,800. So, I know the question's going to come up about how much have have we spent so far? Um so, year-to-date between turf track and court and our permits, and this is not including the expense that is on tonight, we have spent about $113,483, and $125,000 was budgeted through the capital reserve for this um commitment. So, we have a approximately 11,500 still remaining. That does not include this invoice. So, once that invoice comes out, we only have about 3,000 of the 125 that was already approved through the

047capital for this process. Okay. Thank you, Ms. Hobbs. Uh so, we recommend approval for this. Uh this uh is a part of the approval process that is already uh ongoing for this project. Do we have a second? Second. Any other discussion? No, I'm good. Oh, okay. Very good. Uh yes, uh Mrs. Hobbs or Mr. Weigel, I have uh maybe a couple of questions. Uh I read over this contract with Turf Trax and Court and um how far in advance if the board chooses to move forward with the um with the turf project, which I'll just remind we do not have nearly the amount uh yet dedicated in in uh donations to cover, but how far in advance would we need to contract with this company? So, we would need this process now to continue our

048permitting process. Once our permits are approved, they are good for 5 years. And so, we'd need this to continue the permitting process. Let's just hypothetically say that the board approved the turf project, just hypothetically. If we were to approve that for summer of 2027, let's just say that we did. How far in advance of that would we need the services that are rendered in this contract? The additional services I believe would be part of the RFP process for the soil to be moved from one one location to another. That would be a separate process. And it's probably that would be in the construction cost of that whole project. This 8,000 is to update all the documents for the permitting. Yes, and what I'm asking is is that important to do now even if we don't

049do the project for potentially a year, or years? is it important to do that permitting right now, and could you explain why? I would recommend yes, Mr. Graham isn't here, but I'm going to in my knowledge and speaking with him, we need these plans to continue that process for right now, DEP will not approve the permits until they have the updated documents showing that the soil is going to stay on site. And if >> Yeah, that is correct. We are in the middle of the permitting process. So, this would continue that process. Um and like Ms. Hobson, they are good for 5 years. And if we if we didn't approve this, would we lose the permits that we the progress that we have already made, or would we simply be pausing the progress and could

050pick back up at a later date? I don't have the affirmative yes, concrete answer, but I would think that with DEP, they would kick the whole thing out, and we would have to start over again. Would we lose anything if the board were since we're not sure of that answer, would we lose anything if the board delayed that matter, found out for sure, it sounds like Mr. Graham might be the person to ask, found out for sure, and voted on this at the next board meeting? Would we lose anything? We will lose timeline within that process, and we are in a specific timeline in when the permits need to be approved. From my understanding, the bureau will not continue with our permitting process until they also have this information from DEP. So, it's it would

051be holding up the chain moving forward. And every timeline every timeline is based upon the upon a hoped uh ending point. This is a timeline based upon what hoped ending point? To my >> I think this this permitting process has been ongoing now for about 4 or 5 months. So, this is not uh a quick and easy process. Um to delay it or have to uh start over would would not be uh you know, it's it would we'd have to start over again and go back another 5 or 6 months. Okay, but I I don't believe that was an answer to the question that I posed, though. If we were to delay this until we know a firm answer from Mr. Graham until the June June uh board meeting. Or sorry, no. What what is

052the proposed uh what is the hoped-for ending point? And again, every every timeline is based upon some hoped-for ending point. When are we trying to get all of this done by? Well, I think a lot of this is based on the permits. You know, once we get the permits completed, then that would also uh help with the timeline as well. So, my Am I understanding [snorts] that basically we don't know the end timeline until the all the permitting process is completed in order to move on move on, so to speak. Is that what you're saying? In other words, if we don't do this, we're kind of stuck in the mud. That would Yeah, that would be correct. And this is also money that was also approved under the um under the 125. Right. So, it

053was all >> So, this is not This is not the additional fund This is not any additional funding that what has not already been approved by the board. Correct. So, is this like the last stages then? That would be my question. That was what my question was going to be, or like, are we going to stay within our 125,000, do you think? Or is there any projected cost that might kick us out over that? At this time, this is what I'm aware of. Okay. So, this is kind of like the last leg of the journey? Correct. >> Okay. My understanding. Any other questions? Are you ready for roll Okay. Now I All right. Can we do roll call, please? Ms. Anders? Yes. Ms. Jalal? Yes. Mrs. Halabal? Yes. Mr. Lindenmuth? Yes. Mr. Lauren Lustig? Yes.

054Mr. Matthew Lustig? No. Mr. Weigel? Yes. Ms. Young-Courver? Yes. Mrs. Plank? Yes. All right. So, we're going to turn our attention to uh everybody's favorite, uh number five, the presentation of the '26-'27 budget, Ms. Halabal. Okay. While I'm loading, I'm going to connect. Perfect. And for board members, uh this is not in your agenda yet. Um so, you will have to turn just because I was I was making some final numbers changes. >> for? Yeah. Um so, tonight we're going to review some budget information. We're going to talk about budget projections, like where are we going to end 6/30 of this year. some 27 updates, direction moving forward, and just a reminder that the budget does need to be approved by the district in June. So, that would be the June 16th board meeting. To

055go back in history a little bit, when the 26 budget was developed, we started the process in October of 2024. The board approved the budget June 17th, with a 0% tax increase with a variance of almost 1.9. And at that time, we were going to use 125,000 from the medical assigned fund, 795,763 from the technology [music] assigned fund, 500 from the debt assigned fund fund, and about 448,000 from the unassigned fund. So, that's what the board approved back in June of 2025 for this year's budget. The state budget was not approved until November of 2025, which should have been done June 30th of 2025. So, once again, I just did a simple spreadsheet just showing our local, state, and federal revenue, our expenditures that showed that 1.8 million that I just referenced. And this does

056not include the additional state funding. So, when the state budget was approved in November, UASE was receiving additional state funding on the state revenue line. And I have those outlined here. We are receiving additional $104,000 in basic education funding, 16,000 in special ed, in the PCCD grant for fiscal year 26, about 47,000, and then and then the rest will go for the fiscal year 27, and the ready to learn $841,000. So, this was on top of what we were already budgeted. So, this was coming off of our variance dollars. As a note, the ready to learn funds have to be used in specific ways, and Mr. Alban shared that information with you earlier this calendar year of the items that you approved for those. So, that money has been spent, and we cannot carry that

057forward as well. So, once we factor in the state money that I just referenced, I updated this, and you can see on the right-hand side made our state revenue our actual be over $19 million, and it also decreased our variance to about $860,000. So, once again, the board approved a variance of 1.86 back in June of last year when we knew we were getting the additional state funding, it lowered our variance to about $186 $860,000. So, where do we go from there? This is when I really wish I had a crystal ball, and I could predict I could predict what was going to happen for the next couple weeks as revenue expenses are winding up and coming in for the ending of 6:30, but since I don't have that crystal ball, I just try to

058estimate where I think we may have. And for those that have been on the board for several years or the anyone in the audience or anyone listening, this is something I try to do each year is by this point estimate out where the board may end up with our budget. Cuz this is important information as we are looking at the next year's budget as well. So, you can see in the far right-hand column in the yellow some updated numbers for revenues and expenditures. So, expenditures, you can see we approved a little bit over 38 million, and right now I'm estimating about 37 million 500. That's my crystal ball at this time. I hope they hold true, but once again, you know, we don't have that. If that holds true and our revenues come in where

059I'm predicting, the variance is 346,000. So, once again, going through back through the journey, the board approved the variance of 1.8. We received the additional state money, it came down to 860, but with the new projections, we're looking at a variance of 346,000. Suggestions to cover that variance would be you to use our assigned funds, the 125 from medical, and then about 221,000 from our unassigned. That way, we're leaving the money in for technology, our debt that could be used for other purposes as needed. Any questions on fiscal year 26 where I think we may end up? Hearing none. So, that takes us to updating our fund balances. So, once again, this is important to know where we may end for fiscal year 26, ending 6/30/2026, and what funds may be available, if need be,

060for the fiscal 27 budget. And I just have highlighted with the red arrow, you can see our unassigned would be estimated coming in at about 2.5 million in our unassigned. And according to our board policy, we need to be less than 8%. This equals out to be about 6.8% of our expenditures. And I just highlighted capital cuz as we were speaking 2 weeks ago, there were some questions about what was still outstanding in capital and what true funds do we have available in capital. So, once we factor out those expenses that haven't been paid yet in our capital, we're just shy of the 2 million. Now, that does not account for any projects that may be slated for 26/27 cuz the board has not officially approved any projects for 26/27 out of capital. So, once

061again, health-wise, you know, financially, we are sitting very good where we have here. So, as we move into the fiscal 27, as the preliminary budget, as we've been talking over the last several months, and even for the preliminary budget that is being shared tonight that would need to be approved, it does still include the summary impact items that we continue to speak about. [music] The executive director um for Canter Foundation, the printer, the stipend, the renewal of some fishing training, and the overlap of cabinet staff. And then we do have the e-rate funding that is would be factored in. So, overall, the net increase would be 61,500 of new expenses that would not that were not originally in the budget. Once again, these are all factored into the preliminary budget as I have been presenting.

062So, during our May 5th meeting, we were talking about the updates that I made between the state and the local revenue, where I moved that homestead farmstead money from local and put it into state. And we also reduced our expenditures between the April to May meeting of 109,000. So, this is the information I shared um back May 5th that our variance for looking at the new fiscal year, so fiscal year 27, is the eight 1.8 million dollars. So, that's what we were talking about um at the last meeting. From the last meeting, I'm going to come back to that slide. We were talked about it was mentioned to include in the preliminary budget adding the 4.9% tax increase, and what does that increase to? So, that increased our local revenue $666,802. And if we keep

063with that, it keeps our variance to 1.27 as our bottom line. So, if the board decides not to do anything else, um and not factor in any additional state funding, the variance right now with the tax increase to the max would be 1.2. But, I know as board members you have other questions and what does that look like? So, in taking a step further, I added another column. What about if the board would direct me to add in all the state revenue that is proposed? That would be the 1.3 million. And I have it listed there what's um on the proposed budget that was presented back in February. If we do the tax increase and we add all the state revenue, we would actually have a surplus and we cannot do that. So, I do

064have some concerns and I think I shared a little bit um at the last meeting adding in all of the state funding cuz once again, state talks have been really quiet. I haven't heard anything happening regarding state funding. I mentioned, you know, previously with some boards they had me add in half of the basic education increase. So, in this case it would be like an additional 200,000. You know, that's once again, what risk does the board want to take? However, knowing that the primaries were today and we have elections coming up in November, we don't know what the governor may do. You know, we it may stick, we may have a new governor, we that's an unknown that none of us can predict. So, once again, the the board needs to decide how much risk

065they would like to take in additional state funding. And that's a direction um we can talk about. So, then I just proposed another, uh, scenario. What if the board says, "Okay, we don't want to increase the taxes to the 4.9, but factor in all that state funding that I just mentioned." Then the new variance is about $526,000. Once again, I'm just sharing some scenarios with you, and there's all these different scenarios that we can run through, but I just wanted to give a broad perspective of what could happen. Um, as I did mention during Mr. Albin's report about federal revenue, and you can see it in the budget that I I have proposed for fiscal year 27, it has in about $314,000 for federal. The numbers that Mr. Albin shared for Title I funding for

066next year is a little bit over $308,000, and Title II is about $41,000. So, the 313 is a good number. Um, that comes right it's, you know, if you add that we're about 350, so we have a little bit that we can add to federal at this point. Once again, we don't know anything about Titles III and IV for next year at this time. So, I feel comfortable where we are with federal. I just wanted to share with the summer the numbers were for next year. Um, but once again, it comes to the board to decide, you know, as we move into our next meeting, June 2nd, how to prepare how to prepare that final budget. You know, does the board want to include a tax increase? Does it want me to include any of

067the state revenue? Those are the conversations that we really need to dial in on in 2 weeks, so I know how to prepare to, uh, prepare the final budget for your final approval on the 16th of June. Um, so once again, I did cover, you know, does the board want me to include all the state funding, some of the state funding, use fund balance to cover the variance, use fund balance and a tax increase. And I know the question came up the last time about, you know, expenditures to cut. And that would be a conversation at the board level as well. And what you'll see here at the end is just if the board does decide to do a tax increase, the slides that I showed 2 weeks ago, what that impact would be to

068the homeowners. So, once I upload this to the website and the agenda, everyone will be able to see this. Um but then I end this evening with, does anyone have any questions? I know that's a lot of information. But what you have for the preliminary budget tonight to be approved, which does need to be approved so it can be posted, um does include that 4.9% increase and does not include any additional state funding. >> [snorts] >> That's all I have. So, uh all right, thank you, Ms. Hobbs. May Yes. remind everyone and maybe correct me if I'm wrong, Ms. Hobbs, but whatever is voted on tonight, we cannot go above it. We can always come in below it. That is correct, Mr. Wygal. >> if we vote for a 2% increase, we can't come back

069and a month and try to go to 3 or 4. We have to stay under that 2%. So, just a reminder to everybody that tonight is a pre- preliminary and we can always come in below but can't go above what it is approved tonight. Did we have a motion to approve this? No. I guess does anyone have any questions before Mr. Wygal would go on to the approval of the preliminary budget? Ms. Hobbs, I believe you said in your presentation that we are not allowed to have a surplus. Could you elaborate on what you mean by that? So, districts can actually be through an audit process be fined and it would be a finding having a surplus so that you raised taxes even though you knew you were going to have a surplus. So you're

070speaking about a surplus in the preliminary budget. Certainly many districts might not fully spend in a fiscal year all their money and might have some carryover to the next year. >> Yes, that is a lot. >> a surplus that you're speaking [clears throat] of. Okay, I just wanted to clarify. Thank you. You're welcome. This is Hobbs. Would you just speak to especially for new board members um how this budget looks different from when we had SR funding. Will you speak to that? Sure. So SR funding we had different buckets of SR funding and we had to use it in very specific ways. So SR 1 started with a broad way of uses that we could use educationally. Then SR 2 came out and they narrowed the scope of the funds that we could use and

071then along with SR 3. So I remember at one board meeting years ago I had a funnel, you know, that showed that decrease and how everything when a new grant, in this case they were SR grants, came out the restrictions became smaller and smaller what we could use it on. And the district and the board made the decision at that time they were always the SR funding and along with the ready to learn funds that Mr. Albin presented a few months ago have always been for things that the district already uses. So we're looking at things that can be renewed and we weren't bringing in new staff to be paid by these items or brand new programs that would be regarding sustainability in the future. So we were looking at things that we were already

072doing to offset that cost. Does that answer your question? >> Yeah, thank you. Yes. Okay, any other questions for Ms. Hobbs before we go to a motion? I'd like to make a request that I made at the at the last business operations committee meeting and that would be for our administrative personnel to bring forward perhaps at the next administra- perhaps at the next business operations committee meeting areas of proposed budget savings. Okay, thank you Mr. Lastik. We can work with the administration on after the next business meeting. Any other questions for Ms. Hobbs? I just like to say Ms. Hobbs, I really appreciate your grasp of the budget and numbers. You did an excellent job keeping us informed. Thank you. All right, so moving on to then number six, we're going to recommend approval for

073the preliminary budget as per the attached document. I need second. Second. Any other questions or discussion? Can I have a roll call, please? Ms. Shankover? Yes. Mr. Weibel? Yes. Mr. Matthew Lustick? Yes. Mr. Lauren Lustick? Yes. Mr. Lyndon Walter? Yes. Mrs. Hallabol? Yes. Ms. Jalal? Yes. Ms. Anders? Yes. Mrs. Plank? Yes. Thank you. All right. The last item is number 14, negotiations update, and this is informational only. On May 6th, 2026, the Teacher Association submitted a comprehensive counter proposal. The district countered with our own proposal on May 11th, 2026, which was rejected by the Teacher Association. This evening, we had productive conversation, and additional conversations are scheduled in the coming weeks. Uh thank you. That is the end of my report. Thank you, Mr. Weibel. Uh Mr. Lauren Lustick, personnel. Yes, thank you, Madam Chair.

074Appreciate the opportunity to speak about personnel. As you can see, it's uh on our computers. 14.2 is personnel. So, moving down through the information, 14.2. Uh 0.1 A, uh the resignation of Ryan Gerber, uh director of student services. I and I'd like to, on behalf of the board, thank uh Mr. Gerber for his excellent service to uh the students and to our dis- our district. Uh one one one B would be to post and advertise for a director of student services. Moving into professional, which is uh uh two on your computers. Two A, uh notice uh new hire of a vocal music teacher at Biglerville Elementary School. Two B, new hire of a third-grade teacher at Biglerville Elementary School. Two C, a transfer uh a teacher from second grade to first grade at Biglerville Elementary

075School. Two D, resignation of Tiffany Fry, social studies teacher at Biglerville High School. Two E is anticipated posting and advertise for a social studies teacher at Biglerville High School. Two F, resignation of Sierra Franks, English language arts teacher at our um middle school. And two G, post and advertise for an anticipated English language arts teacher at Upper Adams Middle School. Three relates to support. Uh three A, retirement of Melissa Widener, secretary at Biglerville High School with uh 23 years of service. Thank the board certainly thanks her for her dedicated service. Uh four relates to the cabinet. Four A, retirement of Lois Swope, administrative assistant for business affairs. Uh she has 30 years of service and we certainly honor that those years of service and thank her likewise. Five is supplemental contracts, 5A. Uh, relates to

076Kelly services. Um, Amanda Chinnick, substitute instructional assistant. And you can see the uh, the rate of pay on your computer. >> [cough] >> 5B, remove Jenna Landis ESY contract. And then as as it relates to supplemental contracts, uh, you notice uh, a variety of ones there are listed. I'm not going to go through all of those. Uh, 5C, uh, Jamie ESY coordinator. 5D, Michelle Miller, homebound uh, instruction for a particular student. And 5E, uh, relates to our 2026 summer enrichment program. >> [clears throat] >> Uh, you can find out more information in the uh, attached document. That'll be from July 20th to the 30th and I notice it will be uh, involving 12 instructors as you see in the attachment. 5F is the retirement of Tracy Troutman, instructional assistant for alternative education, Biglerville High School,

077uh, with 26 years of service to district and thanks likewise to uh, Tracy Troutman for his uh, efforts on our behalf. Uh, then as we turn our attention to six, other contracted and volunteer services. 6C1, uh, relates to uh, an earmark employee Wesley Benz. 6E1 post and advertise for building substitutes for 2026-2027 school year. 6E2 relates to the superintendent to be granted permission to post advertise and hire as well as accept resignations and retirements for support, professional, administrative staff during the months of June, July, and August. And that indeed concludes my report. Thank you. Recommend approval. I'll get a second. Second. Any discussion? Clap roll call, please. Mrs. Halder? Yes. Mr. Landon Mowder? >> Yes. Mrs. Youngclaus? Yes. Mr. Jalal? Yes. Mrs. Anders? [music] Yes. Mr. Matthew Lustick? Yes. Mr. Weigel? Yes. Mr. Lauren Lustick?

078Yes. Mrs. Plank? Yes. Thank you. Property, Mrs. Youngclaus. Yes, recommend approval to surplus the following items pedometers all from the Biglerville High School. 20 count Sportline Walker walk tracker 7 count FlagHouse pedometer 3 count GoForFit Step 2, 13 count DG Walker, and none of these are none of these items are currently working. I'll get a second. Second. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. I. I. Any opposed? Committee reports, curriculum, Mrs. Hallabol. Um, we have an MOU with Pass Stone for the 26-27 school year as per the attached document. That's standard. Um, we have the graduating list for the class of 2026. Um, the number three is the memorandum of understanding with the police departments. Um, this is due to an act 47 update. Um, Mr. Alban isn't here, but Courtney McCrary uh,

079kind of walked me through this. This is due to and Dr. DeShawn, help me if I'm saying this incorrectly. The Pennsylvania State Police uh, changed the terminology that they wanted to use, so the paperwork that we had filed was incorrect. So, we had to retract it, fill it out again, and submit it again. Uh, is that correct? Yes, and also it it didn't intend to do it say the same as Mrs. Hallabol and then the communication between the district as well as them getting back to us, too. Okay, thank you. Um, there's a foreign exchange student for the 26-27 school year, Pedro Gutierrez, 10th grade from Spain and the host family is Jared Mumert. So, thank you Jared again for taking on another exchange student. Um, I just had a a a an informational um,

080report that I wanted to give on the the pre-K and the Head Start. Um, this program began in 2018 and 2019 was a partnership with Upper Adams School District and Adams County's Children's Educational and Special Services Access which runs Head Start and Pre-K Counts programs. Jen Showers is the executive director. Started as an initiative between Dr. Doll, Joe Alban, and Jen in 2018. Joe applied for and received the grant in 2018 and did so again in 2023. It's a 5-year program and Joe said it may or may not become available again, but if it becomes available, he will apply for it. ACCESS is a 501c3 and is funded primarily through federal and straight state grants. Classrooms are staffed by PDE certified educator and early childhood education with an aid. The qualifications to be in the

081class of 17 um are not necessarily married to these needs, but financial risk, ELL children, homelessness, foster children, etc. Seventeen children may attend the class and there's often a wait list. There's a 5 and 1/2 hour day with breakfast and lunch included. So, why am I bringing this up now? This is a presentation that Jen Showers and Jen Hades have given to us each time the grant is renewed and Jen has asked me repeatedly to stop and visit and I ran into her just recently and I took her up on it and I truly it's for three and four-year-olds and I really don't know what I was expecting. I was expecting glorified day camp scenario. I didn't know. When I visited, I found anything um well-disciplined children, three and four, eating their breakfast quietly and

082respectfully. After break and this blew me away. After breakfast, they all washed their hands and brushed their teeth, all lined up quietly. Half of the class was doing that while the other half is learning three and four-year-old learning I don't syllables. I just what? Anyway, it was it was fantastic. Um around the room there were posters. One said, "I will be responsible. I will be respectful. I will be safe." This was anything This was not a glorified play day. As a board, we talked so much about testing and achievement and scores and keystones and no disrespect to all you out there who are doing all those things, but it just was very enlightening to me to see that our youngest learners were talking about syllables and respect and responsibility. Um I'm I'm also was told

083that kindergarten teachers can always tell when a child has come through these one of these classes. So, finally, and this is my favorite part, was a post on the wall. Apparently, there had been a survey given 13 children voted that they did like guacamole. Three didn't. It was fantastic. It was great. That's that's my report on that. Um Um okay, and cyber charter enrollment presentation. Dr. De Shong, is that you? Yes, Mrs. Adams. So, I I I was asked to just break down kind of the numbers and what are we doing to address this? So, obviously, we want Upper Adams School District to be first choice for every single family and student who is you know, age to be at our district kindergarten through 12th grade. Uh the next slide is just a historical cost.

084This is how I've shared this with me. This is in some of her presentations of the overall cost to the district as a result of that. Uh the next few slides are simply a a breakdown [clears throat] of where we're at. We have 72 students at cyber schools with a couple of the bigger ones listed there Commonwealth Connections and so forth. And we have 79 students at charter schools. Um The 79 students at charter school which most of our charter school students compose Vida and Montessori. Um this number is significantly drops after 6th grade. We we pretty much know why they go to Vida. They go to Vida for Spanish and we pretty much pick those kids back up in general when they get up to junior high. So, that number drastically shrinks. The the

085charter school or the cyber schools, uh they could go there for any number of reasons. Uh we found in the past a lot of times that is due to attendance. Um the state with uh they have tried to help with that uh with uh habitually habitually truant children or students, uh they can't in the middle of the year year which an habitually truant is six or more um absences. So, they can't just pick up and leave. That has to go to a process. Uh now in summer time they can go if they are, but they can't during the year. So, the state has helped with that. We have 53 students at private and non-public schools. Uh Adams County Christian, Indian Acres, St. Francis is are the three big ones for us there. And as you'll

086note, uh most of those are uh faith-based. So, we might ask well why do they go there? Why I would you know, we didn't do a survey, but I'm going to say that's faith-based. Indian Acres uh Kerm Road, that's Amish uh this is that's an Amish uh school. We have 34 students at LIU and consortium out of district classes. Uh this is some of the the the ones listed there are some of those placements. These are other ones that we uh these are additional services that are needed by students. Many of them uh because of uh special education or IEPs, others social emotional uh issues that might be going on that we can't necessarily service in there that they need these other places. Sometimes these are short-term up to 45 days, and others could be

087longer-term. But again, these are some of some situations that are out of the district's control. We have 83 students are homeschooled. >> [clears throat] >> Um why 83 students have chosen or select that or families, that's personal choice and they're able to do so. Sometimes it could be for medical purposes or reasons. I know that Mrs. Hobbs and I spoke, um, I believe it was forget what year it was. Do you remember what year it was when Bendersville shut down? Bendersville then was purchased by, I believe, was it a Mennonite school? So, I know we have a large population of Mennonite families out there. So, that could be part of that process there. Then we have 32 uh Upper Adams uh students who are in and are in-house Kennard Cyber Connection. Uh this uh cyber

088the Kennard Cyber Connection can be an inclusive online curriculum uh where someone could go there and receive their full they could take the classes through Edgenuity, which is the program we use to service that. Uh but oftentimes it's through credit recovery. Some students may not have done well in a class. They might need to pick up and same with picking up a course or two. So, we have a lot of students in that situation. We don't all 32 are not inclusive. Now, we'd rather prefer we prefer for our students to be in our in-house cyber connection. So, what are we doing about it? I talked a little bit about Act 47 with uh that's that's helpful with the habitually uh truant students. They cannot just pick up and leave throughout the year and there has

089to be a court hearing and uh there has to be judicial uh proceedings and a judge would have to determine whether or not it's in the best interest of the of the child. Uh right now we're currently I'm working with Miss Henry. Miss Henry's working with Mr. Dwyer creating uh a brochure uh that we're going to send out to families to invite with a letter to welcome them back. Uh also we have a uh um QR code hooking up to the videos that Mr. Chandler Row we did for us out to those families. Uh we're going to make personal contact with the cyber families and contact them over the summer at the appropriate levels. Uh building tours and open house. Just last week we had uh our sixth grade come over and do a tour,

090but we also had VIDA students as well as some others come uh from outside to take building tours, which Ms. Henry helped lead. And I I think really for the most part, and that's due in part to everybody sitting in here and that's not here, and our classrooms and our hallways, our administrators, it really is about the day-to-day interactions to be proactive uh and the interactions and the relationships we establish with our students. It's about climate, culture, and community. Wanting our students to be here, wanting students and families to stay here. Uh and again, that comes back down to the day-to-day interactions that we have with families. It's about conversations, family connections, and planning for success. For the students who are struggling or having a tough time, it's about sitting down with them and working

091with the families to see how we can accommodate or provide adaptations. I know with certainty that Ms. Henry was involved with five students that were considering leaving and was able to help them stay, which is a savings of $75,000 to the district. So, these are the things that we're doing to help prevent this and to lower those numbers and and those costs. Uh and again, that's a that's a team effort. Again, it's about the two middle ones that I have bold faced. Those are the biggest things I believe are the most important things. It's about um showing kids and families how much we care about them and why we want them there and to be a part of uh Canter Nation. So, does anybody have any questions? I guess just a comment. I think you

092mentioned that this is kind of a summer goal to reach out to some of these folks and see why they're not attending public school, but we ask for a report back in the fall to see if you made any headway. Uh well, as far as headway goes, we can certainly reach out. The plan is to reach out to everyone. >> Mhm. Uh, we're going to send again letters and uh the brochures uh that are being finalized. Mrs. Henry's working on that now. And we're going to make contact. Um, we can try to do And >> We we can try to do the figure the data to see who comes back or doesn't come back. We'll we'll we'll Yeah, we can certainly do that. I can tell you I know that I think I believe it

093has been done before in our district. I know in other districts I I was in we did the same thing. Um, and in some of those cases we found out uh that uh people weren't even living in the district anymore. So, that's a helpful thing, too. And I know Mrs. Hobbs and uh and Jack have worked on sending letters out to for address and you know, where people are living at, too. So, that's part of the process, too. So. Okay. Thank you. And that's our response. Right. That's not the charter school or the cyber school, that's not their responsibility to know where they're living. Right? >> No. In fact, no. >> our part. >> No, but uh with Act 47 now though, too, there is some more accountability with cyber uh cyber schools to actually

094see kids, um not just having them log on or so there's some more accountability that's being put on them. But it is our it is our role to reach out uh to our to those families that are in cyber to check on um residency. Dr. De Jong, I have uh two questions that I believe I know the answer to already, but I'd like to ask them for the benefit of the group. Uh, could you tell us our current uh and maybe the closest hundred um our current population of students in our brick-and-mortar schools? You mean here in the district? >> Overall K-12? Yes. Who are not attending cyber or 10,000 >> plus. I don't know the exact, but it's 15,000. Or 1,500, I'm sorry, 15,000. Yeah, okay. >> [laughter] >> No, I was just I

095was just checking to see if you were paying attention. That's that's good. Okay. >> And you were, so good. Very good, very good. I I thought that was about correct. And uh I was looking earlier today uh at publicly available information about what the population has done over the last 10 years. Uh I didn't look back say 20 years. Uh could you tell us is it accurate to say that the population of students in our brick-and-mortar schools has remained relatively stable but decreased slightly in say the last 10 or 20 years? Is that an accurate sum- summary? Yes, that would be accurate. My understanding is, you know, 1,700, close to 1,700 students, and we're at about 1,500 now. Um So, it's been relatively stable over the past couple of decades? Yeah, I I mean I

096haven't gone back to look at the decades, but I can tell you within the past several years, at least 5 to 10, I I believe it was 17 and it's about 1,500, but that's uh it's not just that's not a challenge specific to Upper Adams. That's uh many districts are facing those similar types of things. Others are growing, uh but again, I was sharing earlier with you about with everyone about PARS, which is Pennsylvania rural small small schools across the the you know, the the commonwealth. And that that is a trend I know in uh smaller rural schools. Very good. Thank you. There are no questions. I recommend approval of the items that I listed. Second. All right, motion and second. [music] Any other discussion? I'll have a roll call, please. Mr. Landen Moulder? Yes.

097Ms. Anders? Yes. Ms. Shawn Culver? Yes. Ms. Jalal? Yes. Mr. Matthew Lustick? Yes. Mr. Weigel? Yes. Ms. Hallabol? Yes. >> [clears throat] >> Mr. Lauren Lustick? Yes. Ms. Plank? Yes. Thank you. Hey, Ms. If I could just add to what I chime in, Ms. Hallabol, about this, too. This is also about every single one of us sitting at the table. It's about all of us. It's about everybody in the community. It's about when we go visit Gettysburg and when we go to uh wherever. When we go shopping, it's about us having a story about our community. It's about us having a story about Upper Adams and what makes us so great. It's about telling our story cuz if we don't tell our story, if we don't tell people what makes this place so awesome, being

098the folks who are sitting in the seats right here and those not here and our teachers, what makes this place special, what makes it unique, that's on all of us to do that work, to get out there and tell people why we're proud and why we would want to move and why we would want our students to be here. That's home school, cyber, charter, uh everybody and anyone. You know, we we welcome and we want everybody to be here in Upper Adams. We certainly want to be the first choice for all students. Again, I understand there's unique situations and families and so forth uh choose uh to go elsewhere for other reasons and that's I I respect Doesn't mean any less we want you to be here. We want everyone to come here for everything

099we have to offer, all those students from the teaching, from the academics, from our athletics, from how teachers make students feel about them. That's why we want our students [clears throat] and all students and families in Upper Adams to make this school district first choice. Thank you. Uh I do have a I do have a question and I wholeheartedly agree with you, Dr. DeChambeau. But, I just was curious about home school students who might come on the campus to take a special class or a special activity. Um is that How does that look financially when that occurs? I don't have the the statistics, Mrs. Jalal, for as how many we do have coming on uh to participate in that um Mrs. Jalal, I don't know if there's a you know anything financially about that from

100from your perspective right now at the top of your head. Um I don't think we have a large amount that do that, Mrs. Jalal. Again, I don't have the statistics or the the data readily available right now. So, my understanding, Mrs. Jalal, is if we have a home school student that is participating in any of our courses or extracurricular, they may do so under [music] school law. And if they're registered within say they're taking a special, >> [music] >> I'll say an English class, hypothetically, then they would be enrolled just so we could claim that ADM for that class and that time period. Um but, other than that, there really isn't a whole lot of additional monetary um coming from that. Thank you. >> Does that answer your question? >> Yes, it does. Thank you.

101All right, we're going to move on to policy committee, Mr. Matt Leftwich. Yes, thank you, Madam President. We have uh no second read policies today, but we do have three first read policies. I'm going to put those forward one at a time. Uh and I'm going to start with uh the newest, which is our artificial intelligence or our proposed uh artificial artificial intelligence policy, policy 815.1. I'll let everybody pull that up. >> So, I recommend approval of policy 815.1. Second. Motion and a second. Any discussion? I just like to point out that I know this policy was a result of Dr. DeChong's leadership and also teachers chiming in with input. I really appreciate everyone who was involved in sort of getting a draft to the to the policy committee for our consideration and I appreciate

102that. Any minutes? All right. All in favor, say I. I. I. Any opposed? Okay, I meant to say this at the start of my report, but I want to make um two comments sort of about parliamentary procedure and I believe one of these may be relevant in a moment. First of all, when someone puts forward a motion or makes a second, under Robert's Rules of Order, that does not necessarily speak to their support or opposition of a policy. Someone could make a second simply because they believed it was worth worth discussing, for instance. So, someone could second a policy and end up eventually voting against it, for example. Simply means that the individual making the second believes it's worthy of discussion. I also want to mention and I really appreciate when there's public comment, for

103example. Um We value that. I want to mention that under board procedures in first read, anyone may bring up anyone may make a counter motion for a proposed amendment to a policy. Um now our policy manual would actually say that we could do that in second read. Uh I I plan to I don't believe that making an amendment in second read uh is transparent enough with the public. So I would suggest that we never do that. Uh and some surrounding districts say that if if someone wants to make an amendment in second read, they need to bump it back to first read. Uh I hope to at some point in the near future uh remedy that in our policy manual because I don't think that would be transparent enough. So I suggest as sort of

104a de facto that we never make amendments that are substantive amendments in second read because I don't believe that would be essentially transparent with the public. On the other hand, anyone could in first read. So I just want to point that out uh as a as a procedural matter. Okay, I'm going to recommend approval of policy 146.1, which is our proposed trauma-informed approach. Second. Any discussion? Uh yes. Yes, there was a reason that I just mentioned the ability to make a motion. And uh this is my duty as the chairperson of the policy committee. And I hope it's been very clear that I take that seriously. And uh whether I happen to agree with a proposed change or not, I try to protect the voice of the committee as a whole. Uh I'd like us

105to turn our attention to that policy, but I'd like us to move down to the guidelines section. >> Okay, now I am required to stick with the with the posted agenda and we are not able to change the agenda later than 24 hours after it's been after sorry before the board meeting. So we have to stick with what's been posted 24 hours in advance. I noted however in my review if we look under guidelines number six and number seven. Mrs. Jalal had put forward in a policy committee meeting number six which is included and number seven which on the draft that was posted on our agenda. Is um Is present in full. But in point of fact in point of fact some on the policy committee had been against the last sentence. Okay, now I'd

106like to point out I was actually in favor of the last sentence. However, it is my duty to be fair to everyone. So I would like to point out that the last sentence was accidentally included. Um Now I have to make a motion as I just did. On the I have to make a motion on the posted policy. And evidently that slipped through the through the cracks. You know, none of us is perfect. Someone somehow that got posted to our agenda. I don't know how that happened, but somehow that got posted to the agenda. But I'd like to point out that that someone could make a competing motion to remove that sentence. Mr. Director, are you saying number 11? Seven. Number seven. Under guidelines. >> I'll make that motion Matt. We did agree to We

107did. Yeah, again I'm I was personally in favor of that but I want to bring that forward in transparency and also fairness to my board colleagues. So if someone would like to make that motion, we can't change things without a motion. I will make that motion to delete that last sentence that starts with training under this policy. Second. All right, we have a motion and a second. Is there [music] any other discussion related to that? So Madam Chair, I believe that at this point we are voting not on the policy but on the motion to amend the wording. Correct. Right. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? No. In other words, yes I'm opposed. Could we take a uh never mind, I'll address that when when it comes time. Uh so then I believe

108that that motion having passed, we would now be voting on draft policy 146.1 as as in the agenda but without the last sentence in um in number seven. And I would like to request a roll call vote if that is proper procedure. We already did vote on policy 181. Correct. Artificial intelligence. Yes, so we already did vote on those two. We did for 815.1. We also do 236.1. No, we've only voted on one policy so far. And I thought we just did the all in favor of the 146.1 [music] with the No, Mrs. Hobbs, that was that was simply to delete the sentence under number seven, which I believe was accidentally included. Okay. So we did do 815.1. I I don't have any issue with a roll call vote then on 146.1 as amended. Did

109we have a second to Second. Yeah, I had Heather as the second. Okay. Thank you. Is there any other discussion before we vote? Will we do a roll call, please? Ms. Anders? Yes. Mr. Law? Yes. Mrs. Hollabaugh? Yes. Mr. Lindenmuth? >> Yes. Mr. Lauren Lustick? Yes. Mr. Matthew Lustick? No. Mr. Weigel? Yes. Ms. Shankweiler? Yes. Mrs. Plank? Yes. Thank you. Yes, and then turning our attention to policy or draft policy 236.1, which is our threat assessment. I'd like to remind my board colleagues that this was an existing policy with fairly minor changes. So I recommend approval of policy 236.1. Second. I'm sorry, who is second? Thank you. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. rounding out my uh committee report, I have a question for you, Mrs. Hobbs. Uh

110the note under uh under item 16, the potential approval to cancel June 2nd, 2026 Policy Committee meeting, there's no secret that I am primarily a paper person. Um when was that added to the electronic [snorts] agenda? That was added yesterday prior to the 24 [music] hours. That's why it's noted with the two red stars. Very good. Okay, then uh having said that, I recommend approval to cancel the June 2nd, 2026 Policy Committee meeting. Uh I'd like to point out that we are uh we are essentially double-booked for that time slot. I will second. >> [music] >> Second. Any discussion? All those in favor, say I. I. I. I. >> [clears throat] >> Any opposed? Right. Miscellaneous agenda items. 2026 PSBA delegates. This event is an annual association-wide business meeting, which will take place on Saturday,

111November 7th, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. Upper Adams School District can appoint two delegates. Do you want to elaborate? Yes, according to our classification with PSBA, the board may elect two delegates to attend this meeting on November 7th uh 2026 at 9:00 a.m. In the past, I'm not sure that we have sent or the board has sent any delegates. Once again, we're just putting [music] that out if the board would like to, we can uh sign you up. If not, then I just need to report that we are not going to send any delegates. Is there anyone who's interested in Is this something you can Do you have a deadline you need to know by? Uh yes, I do need to know. I just don't know what that deadline is. Where is it? >> Do you

112know what the location Location? I think it's at Cumberland Valley um High School Auditorium. I think I saw it in an email. Cumberland Valley School District is the location and we would need to complete the form no later than June 26th. Do we have time? Yes. Okay. Would you like us to add it to the next agenda for [music] uh June 16th? Yes. All right, could we get a motion to pay the bills as per the attached documents? So moved. Seconded. Motion and a second. Is there any discussion? All right. Can I have a roll call, please? Mr. Matthew [music] Lustik? Yes. Ms. Anders? Yes. Ms. Jalal? Yes. Ms. Shankover? Yes. Mr. Weigel? Yes. Mr. Amaren Lustik? Yes. Mr. Linden Walter? >> Yes. Mrs. Halliburton? Yes. Mrs. Plank? Yes. Thank you. All right, we're going

113to throw you into old business or new business, whichever you prefer. Um so um I just want to take a moment to circle back to the question that Mr. Matthew Lustik had about the turf and track um agenda item. Um, Mr. Graham did send me information. Let me just find it regarding if we do not move forward, um, it was approved to move forward, but I just want to close that loop. That um, the information we need to respond back within 30 days from the date of the letter or before June 15th or DEP may deny or withdraw the NOI, which I'm going to believe is the application. Okay, very good. Thank you. Thank you. It allows me to close that. Thanks. All right, items of general information. The next curriculum and extracurricular committee meeting

114will be on June 2nd at 6:30. The business and operations committee will also be on June 2nd upon completion of the curriculum and extracurricular committee meeting. >> [clears throat] >> As noted this evening, [music] we there is no policy committee meeting in June. We have a regular board meeting scheduled for June 16th at 7:00 p.m. Could I get a motion to adjourn? So moved. Second. We're adjourned.