001Okay. Good morning. Thank you for coming to the policy meeting this morning. Um we have several guests today. Um we have uh Rachel Elliot, John Linda Moulder observing and Dr. dish song if you could intro. >> Yeah, good morning everybody. Great to see everyone. Uh we asked uh Miss Mlan uh to be with us today. Miss Mlan is our school psychologist and uh we asked her to be part of the uh our our the committee meeting this morning uh to speak uh the trauma-informed approach. Uh so and and Mr. Gerber, you guys know Mr. Gerber, excuse me, he's here also to kind of help speak to that a little bit too along with just all of us collectively together. So we appreciate them being there. Welcome Ellia and welcome to Malder. We appreciate you being
002here, sir. You didn't have to come yet, but get ready. You're in. You're You'll get to be here like for the next what is it four years or years? [laughter] >> All right. So, but uh Well, thank you. >> Mrs. Nelson's here, too. >> Oh, Mrs. Nel, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't see Mr. Nelson's. We have Mrs. Nelson joining us, too. We asked and and really Mr. Auburn and I were uh talking and and we'd like to you know um you know I think what's great about it is that uh as we move forward with policy and the different policy meetings to have like our sometimes our boots on the ground folks to be available at our meetings too to to speak to some of them uh and how that impacts things and sometimes
003they're working more closely with and Mrs. Nelson. Obviously, she's our uh coordinator for safety and security. And uh because we're dealing, we have those two coming up here with school [clears throat] security personnel as well as the weapons policy. Mr. Hayes will be here too shortly. We asked him to be here. He had a task that he needed to take care of, but he will also be joining us to help talk and speak to those two policies. So, >> did you say Mr. Hayes? >> Mr. Hayes, officer. Yeah. Brent Hayes. He's our uh security officer. Yes. >> Okay. All right. Well, thank you. Um I guess what we'll start with, we'll go through the policy and see if there are any questions and then I can certainly turn it over to the three [clears throat]
004of you to share whatever you can. Um, I looked over these, um, and I was looking at the traum definitions for trauma informed approach and I thought to myself, uh, it would be very helpful if we had some examples of some of the traumas that you would all be dealing with. You know, whether it's, you know, I can't even think of one. So, can you can you provide some examples of trauma that you are dealing with with our students? Oh, I'm sorry, Mrs. Jal. I forgot to acknowledge that you're on the phone. Good morning. >> Hello. Is there a way to engage the video? >> She needs to engage the video. Was she admitted to the room? >> I can see the upper Adam's logo and that's it. >> Can I just do you see
005me? >> Oh, so much better. Thank you. >> That's all right. >> Okay. Okay. So, back to my question. I'm just curious about uh some of the traumas that could be examples that we're dealing with with our students and a little bit about how how you engage with the student to help them. >> You're looking at me, so I guess I'm here to answer. >> I'm not used to this crowd. >> That's okay. [laughter] It's lovely to meet all of you. Um I've seen you all through um Zoom actually more than in person. So, it's kind of fun to see you all live and in person. Um, there is something that there's a the sort of a title to kind of encompass um when we talk about trauma informed called adverse childhood experiences. Have you
006ever heard of that before? So, you might have had some training on that. So, that's really an umbrella that encompasses many types of stresses that kids and students could experience in life. Let me just ask you, when you hear the word trauma, what kinds of things do you think of? >> Accidents. >> Physical. >> Some kind of a medical condition, a car accident that you've been in, maybe your h maybe you had a fire at your house, um that caused injury or just the trauma of that experience. Um but when we think about adverse childhood experiences, there are other things that we can fit into that. um such as family members who are ill and exper you know if there's a family member who's has a diagnosis of cancer and is going ongoing treatment loss
007of a parent or a loved one um things like uh emotional um you know hardships that somebody in your family might be experiencing. um something like poverty, um low socioeconomic status and and sort of the factors of that. Um you know, it could be anything that a child really is experiencing that is impactful to them at school. The way that I think about it is um you you we all have one brain, right? We don't have a learning brain and a rest of life brain. So when we get to school, we don't turn put the learning brain in and say we're focused and ready to go, right? All of that comes with students to school. So it's our job to be aware of and understand um when things are happening to students, how that might
008be impactful on their learning. Um so that is a kind of a broad answer, but it really could encompass many things, not just specifically something like the child was in a car accident or a parent is ill. It could encompass many different things. Does that help to answer your question? >> Yeah, that's very helpful. And I guess my next question, when when I was teaching, I was on a student assist team >> for many, many years. And so I'm guessing there's a network that you get referrals from for students or how how do you >> learn about people who need your assistance? >> I am going to just um give you a little background on my position in the district, right? Um because you hear school psychologist and I think most of us would probably
009think something like counseling, right? My role is very different in our district because I am one kindergarten through 12th grade. So primarily my role here in in our district is to work with students who are being evaluated for possible special education services. That's not to say I don't um work with teams and talking about students and helping build support supports for them, but I don't have a lot of um experience in my role at our district with direct service like that. That would be coming from somebody more like a school counselor, I would say, and maybe you guys could speak to that. >> Um so I can't say that I'm the first person that would be brought in in a situation. However, for the students that I'm working with, whether they're referred for having um
010some kind of learning difficulty, that is something that comes out through the work that I do with them. And so, I'm seeking information from parents as to what may have gone on in the child's background. Um, also teachers and how they're presenting in the classroom and then working with them one-on-one. And all that helps me to understand the whole picture of the child so that I can make a best decision about what kind of services they might need. Um, having said what I said earlier about adverse childhood experiences, um, I definitely see children who, um, are not learning to their full potential and through that evaluation, we can discover some things that are happening that may have been thought of as a possible learning disability that isn't actually a learning disability. It's other things that
011are impacting their learning. So, that would be how I work, >> my my own experience. I don't know if you guys want to speak to what um what a school counselor position may. Yeah, a lot of times this stuff comes either through parents or the kids themselves and it's because they went and talked to a vice principal or a principal or a counselor and through that then we type we discover what might be going on and based on that then we can look at if a counselor says maybe we should refer them to our SAP program or if a parent wishes we can get them into school-based counseling or if we need to look at you know outside agency support um through the parent, we can help get that facilitated, too. So, we help in
012the school, but we also kind of help branch out beyond the school to give them supports outside of it. So, that way >> we're all kind of working together to give them a more well-rounded support system. And I think that's kind of the goal when it comes to a lot of this is giving those students all the supports we can. Um, not just here at school, but also beyond that. And I think the parents need them too because I don't know if uh when I talked to a lot of the parents, they even know what's out there and know where to go to get stuff. >> And I think we kind of bridge that gap as well to help keep everybody, you know, informed the best we can and with the services they need in
013place for them to succeed. >> And if I can jump, I know I'm not here for this topic, but our district our district social worker also really helps with making that bridge for families. I was just going to suggest that I knowable like we don't necessarily have all the services that we can support that student or that family but she can get them in contact with outside services that can help meet those needs. >> Okay, >> that's very helpful. >> If I could piggy back on too what what you said, Miss McClan, I mean honestly it's really like this here is really a whole child approach. We're not just talking academic. So a kid comes to school and it's like well they're not working. they're they're being dismissive or they're they're smart. They're they're they're
014they're being disrespectful or and it's like, okay, well, what actually is truly going on with this kid? Is there other things going on at home or what other experiences, whether traumatic events, whether it be even as an elementary kid or an adult, your dog, a pet dies or passes away and that impacts you and like why is this why is my why is this kid being so, you know, why are they being so reserved or whatever. So it's not because necessarily there's a learning um disability there if we need to address that trauma that that that situation that circumstance in order and then we address that the kid will be back to normal or baseline again you know so it's it's really looking at the at the whole child >> how like if someone needs
015outside services how is that funded or is that their out-of pocket expense or because I can imagine that that would be difficult Well, the nice thing is is a lot of [snorts] our kiddos come with um insurance or if they are in the poverty level, a lot of times they get insurance um through like u like medical assistance and things like that and they'll pay for the counseling services. >> And so that's been u a pretty good way of getting them in. And a lot of these counseling agencies actually look for that. And that's so they can give them the supports because otherwise, you're right, it would be super expensive. >> Yeah. And then I would imagine if they weren't able to do it, then that would be impactful in the classroom, right? You know,
016so I was just curious how that would, you know, work out. >> Yeah. When it comes to like SAP and things like that, um the district will help get that going. Um, but if we look at outside services like if they're going play therapy or any of that kind of stuff, then that would be funded through insurance. >> Okay. >> And again, our district social work has been very helpful in helping parents get some of those different like medical assistance set up or through CHIP or things so that they because it's a difficult process for some families to figure out how to get the insurance so that they can access the services. >> Yeah. >> But um she understands [music] that process and can help them through that. Yeah, that's pretty possible. It is. I
017can imagine. >> Yeah. >> That you'd be like, uh, cuz you're already dealing with maybe some behavioral issues and then having to try to figure out how to fund >> extra help. >> Yeah. >> Would be overwhelming. >> Yeah. We can walk them through. I've walked many parents through the whole process. So, I think that's the nice thing, too, is like you have people that know the system and have done it. Like for me, I've done it myself for both of my kids. So, I can help, you know, walk a parent through it and how to fill out the applications. >> Yeah, that's extremely help. Mr. Gerber mentioned SAP. So SAP is student assistant program which is more so at the secondary level but really holistically K12 we're looking at MTSS or you it was
018IST right I mean it's still kind of IST structural support team MTSS is multi-ter system of supports and again it's a team of people it's not like one person you know it's it's the it is the teacher it's the uh it's the administrator it's the counselor it could be the school nurse so they're all in giving feedback you know what about their looking at their attendance. You're looking at their academics, you're looking at their social, you know, interactions, you know, friendship, peer things, their emotional state. So again, it's really a look at the whole child. How can we support them to get to work through these things so we can get them on par and back to baseline again? >> That's actually where I was right before I came here was in a SAT meeting
019at the elementary level. So, and it it is a team process. In that team that I just was with, we had the school counselor, um we had the district social worker [music] was there, we had a classroom teacher, the leader of our IST, um the nurse, myself. So there was a concern with the student and so we discussed as a whole team and look at those different areas. >> Mrs. So, >> um I can't say this with 100% assurityity, but um I definitely saw um the rewards of the trauma team in place here. I believe you all know that Bruce passed away three and a half years ago, and I'm actually I actually took Bruce's seat. He was an active acting board member at the time, but the the district came out of the woodwork
020for our family. Um, and I just thought, well, it's because Bruce was a a board member and they knew him and they knew our family. And then for the benefit of Mr. Linda Moulder, when I when I got on the board and did the PSBA training and read about all the trauma training, it's incredible. And as we've said, for many, many, many different forms of trauma, but I had no idea that this network was in place in our district. And truly for months and months and months after Bruce passed away, I we were reached out to, you know, our children were seven to 16 at the time. And you know, we're seeing this in your seven-year-old. Are you aware of this? This is what your six, you know, it I just had no idea it
021even existed. And I I just all praise all kudos to you who handle it. >> Thank you. So, welcome. Um, if I look at the top of the heading here, it this was adopted in 2022. So, we're actually just revisiting this. So, Mr. Albin, I'm assuming for the most part it's because the red has been added, which is has come from PSBA. >> So, we don't really need to go over step by step what all is here. Um, do any of I have some questions myself, but do any of you have anything you'd like to question or have clarified through the rest of the document? doing my weight time. Okay. All right. So, I'll I'll go to the things I had questions about under authority. Courtney. Okay. If you go to number one in the
022red, when I was reading this, I was trying to make sense of some of them. And this one says, "Student attendance policy and practices that focus on reasons for absence and school attendance improvement." And I labored through it and I thought something just needs to be changed. And I suggest student attendance policy and practices that focus on reasons for absence and improvement of school attendance makes more sense. Um, any comments about that or it just when I read it, it was almost like the reasons were for absence or reasons for school improvement. So, I just reversed it. So, it's it's a small change, but >> I think it reads better. >> Okay, Courtney, that's a good one. Uh, number three I took a look at to see if um there were any questions. Curriculum and
023planned instruction that embed social and emotional learning. So, we're okay with that one. We can leave that one there. >> And if I could just go ahead and Mr. Roman and I spoke briefly too and we I talked with like some of these things are like anti-bullying type things. Um what were some of the other things Mr. Roman uh just overall school safety you know the stranger danger things and with the younger kids. Okay. >> Number four I I uh wanted a question. It says student services policies and programs that focus on development and support of students. So again, if I look at this, if I take the second one out, it would say programs that focus on development of students. And I asked Mr. Alden if there could be some clarification of about what
024that meant or if maybe just support of students. >> Yeah. >> Could stand alone. >> But Courtney and I were were talking about I think we're going to we recommend eliminating the development. Yeah. Just keep the supports to make it more clear. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Um, if I go down to delegation of responsibility, I don't get to edit anymore. [laughter] I have I have to edit the books. Okay. So, I I'm I'm dealing with there's a whole list of people there with delegation of responsibility. So, I'm just going to put my word in other. If you'll see where it goes. The board designates director of student services, superintendent, school psychologist, school counselor, and or building principal or other designate, you know, it just >> Yeah, >> you've designated a bunch of people there and
025then just to throw the word design in there just it needed something. So, >> and then further down. >> Yes. Right. It is some somewhere else. Um, right right in the last line, Courtney of that paragraph under delegation of responsibility. Did you see it? >> Yep, I got it. >> Okay. My other question when we talked about um going over to guidelines number one was talking about required training for newly elected and appointed uh or reelected [snorts] and appointed school directors on best practices. So, I saw that. Excuse me. My question was, as Kay alluded to, there's a lot of opportunities out there. How are we paying for this? Can anybody address that? >> So, for the I'll answer for the school board directors, that's usually through PSBA, and that is included in our all-inclusive
026package that we pay that we do bring that board to or that um invoice to the board each year for approval. Okay. >> So, it's about I think for our PSBA package overall it's about 12 to 15,000 off the top of my head. >> So, that's included of the board >> for faculty and staff. We use our vector solutions which houses a lot of our required trainings and mandatory trainings. We do get a discount on that with our affiliation with our overall district uh utica package for insurance. But then there are different items that we still do purchase um spec specifically for special ed that we do pay for which is like an additional I want to say 2500 [music] to 3,000. Okay. >> And I guess there probably are grants available for some of
027the stuff if it's needed. >> Not particularly for these particular items because they are mandatory [music] trainings. >> Okay. >> But like I do mentioned with the our UDICA insurance we do get a discount through our package. >> Okay. Thank you. I think that that covered Oh, my other question. Okay. Uh number five under item number five. Um Dr. Dash suggested that we might consider adding as needed to this one. Where are you s >> number five under guidelines >> under guidance? Okay. Thanks. >> Did you have a place where you wanted to insert? Oh, I mean it could I I the reason I'm suggesting is needed. It could be right at the end, as needed. Um, not that it's like it's going to happen all the time, every year or some set time, but
028you know, sometimes there's situations or circumstances that could come up within a community where we might want to present potentially a form or open things up uh and do that for for for the community. So I mean I know like during co like uh things came up or we did things you know through the um through virtual means uh to do that. So it's not something that we did like every year but sometimes an event could come up or or something you know that we would want to do that as needed. Not that it's a requirement that we do every year. I mean it's available. We'll have conversations certainly we can parents and families can come in and speak to our counselors to our principles what have you. as far as um providing you know
029an official presentation or something to the community like at a designated time every year like I don't know if we've done that in the past or not per se. So I I think that's only why the suggestion was as needed. >> So >> I really appreciate seeing uh the uh third word there in number five volunteers uh with um my uh reports that relate to personnel. I'm always grateful to to see as I see consistently new volunteers who uh have stepped forward to help us in a whole variety of of ways and I really thank them for their willingness to do that and I'm delighted to see that that they are included here in terms of support. I mean, you know, not adding as needed, it just is suggesting there's opportunities for so I mean
030there there definitely opportunities for that. So, >> and I'll go back to what I usually ask for these required professional trainings. Is there act 48 credit for this or is it just part of the >> Yes, there is. >> And it's part of the accepted from PD. So everybody here is clear on act 48. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Okay. All right. So I have one other question. If we go all the way to the back to education um and again there was just a reference trauma informed in the second paragraph trauma informed topics and social emotional learning as part of the curriculum. So uh a lot of that is self-awareness self-management social awareness. So, I just wanted to point those out to see if there were any questions. >> And do any of you have
031anything else to add today? [clears throat] >> But, um, Mrs. Krauss, I have a question. Um, how are the teachers supported in broaching some of these topics? If something traumatic comes up in a book they're reading in literature class or something like this and a, you know, a student reveals trauma or is traumatized, how how [clears throat] are teachers trained to to support that student? >> So, I can share the elementary level. A lot of times it it's guiding them towards our school [music] counselor because that person can meet with the student one-on-one instead of making it a whole class discussion [music] um because it might be something that's very private that they don't want to have a whole class talking about at the time. So at the elementary level a lot of times it'll
032be you know leading them towards the school counselor. Um, and then from there it could go to our IST team like we talked about that it, you know, it could [music] be a team coach that we look at what else we can do to help the student or it could be reaching out to the social worker then for outside services that they may need because maybe what's happening is happening at home and they need, you know, different kind of support. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. If if there are no further comments, we can move this one forward to first read, which would occur in [clears throat] January. Correct, Mr. Alvin? >> Yes. Yeah. >> Because the uh reorganization meeting will not be 30 days from now. >> Okay. Okay. Um I think the next
033one was weapons. Mr. Hayes is here yet or >> we want to bump another one. >> We can bump another one. Um, okay. Let's go to public records. And once again, this one was uh this one was just revised in January of this year. So, there are multiple changes which I'm assuming come from PSDA, Mrs. So, >> Mrs. Krauss, real quick, can we are we in >> Thank you. Thank you so much for coming. [clears throat] >> I would have forgotten to tell you that. Thank you, M. Appreciate that. Thank you, Mr. >> Thank you for what [clears throat] you do for us. We appreciate you. Appreciate it. >> Sorry to be nervous. >> No, no, they were probably waiting like >> Okay, Mrs. Hobs, it's it's your turn. >> Yes. For policy 8001 public
034records, as Mrs. Krauss mentioned, this was just revised at the beginning of the year. However, with PSDA, we were sort of behind with some of those policies. So, this was just some additional uh cleanup language regarding um providing some more explanation about what it or who a requesttor is along with that we may and the board may authorize us to um deny any anonymous requests because there was a time period that districts were receiving a lot of anonymous requests or we couldn't track it down. it was like being generated by AI and putting a lot of work on districts. So, this just um gives the us the right to go ahead and to deny those requests. Um [snorts] I think that was the majority of the cleanup in this policy. Just adding some additional clarification
035from the from the update back in January. >> Okay. Um are there any questions or comments from the group? She answered the one question I had and it was addressing those AI >> and I in the particular one that we received like that several years ago, it was probably like 20 different requests and it wasn't only upper Adams, it was everyone across multiple multiple districts across the state of PA. Okay, if there are no more comments, we'll move this one also to first read for January 2026. Okay. Um, all right. I'm going to save the weapons in the school security. Let's uh take a look at school calendar at this point. Um, and again I'll point out this one was re revised in 2021 and uh I'll turn this over to Dr. Dashang and Mr.
036Alen. >> Yeah, I mean it's it's relatively self-explanatory in the sense that we're we have to put a calendar out, right? And I know typically we put a lot of eyes on the calendar because it impacts and affects uh there's lots of moving parts to it. So uh Mrs. Hobbs, Mr. Alman and I, Miss Mccre, you know, and then we we look at the building principles and how that impacts the biggest thing going on right now and I'm sure a lot of you are aware of it and we want to keep it in both just in case that we need to use it or or have a use for it, but is the days versus the hours. So schools are looking at like okay yes we have typically gone like from this day to this
037day and then within the past threeish years or so I'd say Mrs. that I'm going to guess the hour thing kind of kind of come into play where you have x number of hours. Now, if you go by hours, you don't necessarily need to meet x number of days. So, it gives some flexibility to districts if emergency situations could arise or come up. I know in the past uh when there have been um uh projects, building projects that have occurred that impacts and kids may have had to go an additional half an hour for so many days or this kind of helps in that sometimes where you don't need to tack that additional half an hour on. And other districts right now are actually considering uh and we're having conversations about this like snow days.
038like could we have potentially just two or three true just snow days where you're not necessarily making them up. There's pros and cons to that also. But essentially um the additional things are in red and I don't know Mr. Alvin or Miss Hobs if you anything else to add to that. >> I'll just add as for the child accounting piece and state funding we have to meet either the minimum hours as Dr. Desant mentioned or the days. Traditionally it has been days and as mentioned it has just changed recently through the state budget process. So that's why we are incorporating the hours just as as needed. Um but as mentioned there are some challenges that would need to be addressed before implementation of ours. So, >> so is that an either or or can >>
039it can so so Heather just as example right like um so the other schools I think Fairfield actually just put it on there um they're mauling it over but Kanaga Valley um Gettysburg uh I believe Littletown um they're they're going with up to x number of days uh for like snow days you can actually almost take 12 snowed snow days that are free. Okay. Now, we don't certainly want to do that because we do believe kids in seats matter and counts and I think during co uh we managed it and some schools did okay and teachers got okay with doing the technology piece but everybody was pretty thankful when we were back face to face. And we we believe I think in our philosophy, you know, that you're getting your bigger bang for your buck
040when we have kids and seats in our four walls in this building and we're interacting and collaborating together. Not to say that it can't be done virtually, but we that's, you know, I think we a lot of people realize that. So, um, but it's kind of like it could be. It's it's it's there if needed or it's it's not I don't it's not an either and or okay, >> you can still there's there's wiggle room with it. Okay. >> So, we would be covered either way providing like Miss Hobbs said that we do meet the hour requirement. You have to at least meet that. >> So, in other words, you could go by days, but if we had a lot of snow days and you had enough hours, then you could switch and say, "Well,
041we had our hours to make up our and we'll we're good to go to get off at June 3rd or whatever." >> And Exactly. And some schools and you know, Mr. Alvin and I and again, Mrs. Hobs were kind of like really mauling over this uh quite a bit uh w with pros and cons of it, you know. So like even fid days, fid days are always a a challenge, you know, for families and so forth. Uh and and again, people got used to doing things virtually, but now that we've not doing things virtually and all of a sudden you throw on, hey, we're doing a fit day, you know, it's like trying to and is it do we get our big biggest bang for our buck out of a fit day? Again, it it's
042it can be useful. can be important and valuable but or could it be a snow day and then if we build those other things in or other days or Yeah. [clears throat] So there's there's there just provides some uh flexibility in that. Yeah. >> Because that was the discussion I saw at Fairfield like they were basically getting rid of the good day. >> Yes. So so what they're doing uh Mrs. Plank is and again some of the other schools and again to to Mrs. Hob's point, there's still challenges with that, but essentially like I I don't know if they're doing three. I think Gettysburg and others are doing four or five. I if we get down this route somewhere down the road, I wouldn't really want to do more than two or three, but beyond
043the two or three, what's your backup plan? You know, what's your backup plan? Do we have the Wednesday of Easter break? That is one snow day. That and really that's going to be like your last >> cuz we're not going to probably get snow in in you know late April, May. You could but >> now you just jinx. [laughter] >> Yeah. Right. >> Okay. If we if we if we take two or three okay and and even if we would do that it doesn't mean that we still couldn't have work requirements per se of faculty and staff to do things from home on those snow days. But it would be like a day that kids would but but again and I know Mrs. Hobbs, we we have a list of concerns of like, okay, what
044about this? What about that? What about contractors? So, we're still kind of like working over that collectively together. Uh but but again, for the policy sake, it's just in there as a as a flex kind of, you know, you could go either way with it. So, >> but then we have we don't have to revisit it should that happen. if we have it in there. >> So, you know, I usually have my list. So, [laughter] um and and I agree, you know, it can be in there for either or, but certainly you you're going into a negotiations period in September or January. And you know, the contract says 188 days that the teachers will be paid. So you know if you start going to hours you know and students are not coming in are those
045going to become professional development days you know there's there has to be something in the contract that puts that in perspective um I also wondered if we started counting days and hours what would happen to come on Harry students because you know they're they're dealing with [music] 13 school districts up there and some of them could be doing hours, some could be doing days, but you know, that would certainly have to be addressed. Um, and then I looked at people f, you know, applying for sick leave or personal leave and, you know, is it still going to be x number of hours for sick leave, you know, or how's that calculated? Um, the other thing I wondered if you could address for me with block scheduling, if you go to block scheduling and then start
046playing with the calendar, how does that affect those students? >> That's definitely something we want to take a look at. So, not having gone through block scheduling yet, I mean, that's definitely uh an item that we need to if if we're going to go down the hours route, we'll need to discuss with the high school. When I look at it, it sounds like it's a an easy thing, but there's so many things that have to be addressed in this that it it would be a lengthy project. It wouldn't be something just to >> take a lot of planning and we have a lot of seats at the table. >> Yeah, there's definitely a lot of moving pieces with it. Um and uh again, how are the local other districts managing and handling it? just not
047locally, but also across the Commonwealth. How are other districts doing that? So, it's it's doable, but it's something that we would have to kind of think through. And to your point about Cumberland Perry, too, Mrs. crows. That's an ongoing thing all the time with snow days depending on where you're at and region and schools not making it or making it and keeping the whole you know you know now they close obviously up there you know that but that's just that's kind of an ongoing thing that you're working through. I I do recall some of the discussion about that up there. And part of the problem is just even start dates and end dates >> because with 13 districts, some of them don't start until after Labor Day >> and we're already in school, possibly a
048week to >> eight days before that. So that, you know, there's a lot of juggling that has to happen, too. >> And they managed to work out those hours or the time that's needed for the kids. Any other concerns about that one? Okay, we'll move that one to first read January 2026. Mr. Hayes has joined us. Thank you for coming. >> Yeah, thank you for having me. >> I'll wait for Courtney to tell me she's ready and we'll um Jenny, are you here for both of these? >> Yes. Okay, sure. >> She's [laughter] Let's do Let's do weapons first. It's shorter. That doesn't mean it's less important, but it's fewer pages. Okay. One court. Okay. So, this one, um, I had I had to laugh when this one came up. We just reviewed this one
049in May of 2023, and I said to Mr. Alman, there was a whole discussion about weapons and the length of a blade on a knife and how it affected everything. And it it brought back some memories that I thought I can't believe we're revising this. [laughter] So anyway, I will turn this over to whomever is in charge of speak to. >> Yeah. So so guys, weapons, right? So we don't want kids having weapons in school, right? You know, and there's a list of them here. The PSBA did recommend that, you know, we we take out a number of these things. And I think it's one of these things where more is less. They're trying to cover all these bases where you have your general statement up top and the purpose and what a weapon is
050or what a weapon isn't, right? And then, you know, we get into the whole idea and Mr. Hayes and I, you know, Mr. All like we have there's these look alikes now that I mean that they look very you can print them out with a 3D printer actually. Um, so you you have a fifth grader, you know, goofing around at the bus stop and waving something around and you're driving by and you go, "Holy cow, that kid has a you know, you know, wow." and then to find out that it's a lookalike, but some of the look alikes also just aren't a lookalike, they can actually be used, you know. So, I mean, uh, we just ultimately want everybody to be safe. We want to make it clear and abundantly clear that that weapons, you
051know, aren't tolerated. We don't, you know, that we're not bringing them to school, so on and so forth. There's some examples listed here. And again, a lot of strikeouts with some of this, but, uh, you know, um, we take it very seriously. I know that the the the principles and and our teachers go over those in the beginning of the year. It's in part of our our handbook, student handbooks and so forth. So So Mr. Hayes and Mrs. Nelson, you guys want to, you know, jump on anything? I know Mr. Hayes and I sat down and had some conversations around this. Uh do you have any thoughts from your perspective as a security officer? From my perspective, I think that, you know, saying that weapons aren't tolerated and then having the definition, you know, go
052on to include um any other tool, instrument, or implement capable of inflicting serious bodily injury. I think that's as cut and dry as it can be. Anything that can be used to cause harm is designated as a weapon. So even if a kid comes to school and uses their pen to stab somebody, you know, it's something they're allowed to have, but it's still considered. We can classify it as a weapon when we're doing disciplinary action. I think that's the key uh thing here because everything's [music] covered. Um anything they want to take out, I'm not really concerned about as long as that definition includes anything that could be used. That's the that's the key feature there, I think. So from from my angle, that's the only thing that that is really pertinent. You know, >>
053administratively, you'll see language changes in here with law enforcement department, law, local police department to law enforcement agency just to make it a little bit more uh broader in nature. Again, that came from PSBA. Uh we also have with the local uh police departments. Uh we uh don't have a school in Bendersville area anymore, but we still um do theou with them just in case we would need their services. Uh so we do one with the state police, we do one with Biglerville, we do one with Bendersville. Um it also references a report uh said by July 31st all uh incidents involving possession of a weapon will be uh forwarded to PA Department of Ed. I work with the state police during the summer months and uh depending who the commander is out there, I'll
054work with them. Basically, we have to match our data up with their data. We fill out a report together and we send that up to PTE. So that's what that's referencing. So this would have been included in theus we approved probably in the last two months. >> Yeah. And they're good I think two years. Uh those are good for >> Okay. Any other questions about the policy? >> Okay. We'll move that one also to first read. >> And speaking of theou officer, you're are you're having some walkthroughs with the state police here coming up. >> Yep. On the 10th. um doing the same thing with fire. Probably gonna do it. We weren't able to get all the departments on the same day, so I'll just do what I can. I got a one on December
0551st with Biglerville Fire Department. We're going to go over the uh EOPS and uh their SOPs when they respond. I'm going do some walkthroughs and refamiliarize them with everything. So, yeah, that'll happen on the 10th, 9:00 a.m. >> I actually do have a question. So if um being a farm kid, you know, cutting hay bales with pocket knives and you forget to take it out of your pocket, like how how would that be handled? Is that like >> on a on a case by case thing? I I think that can be handled if it's a first time. >> It's not a competitive thing. >> I think the first time, you know, is this a weapon or is this a tool that just got left in the pocket because it happens, you know? >> Yeah. Um,
056I've done it on gigs where we were not supposed to have pocket knives or anything. It was unarmed security and I walked in with my pocket knife and they're like, you know, >> right? >> I didn't get I didn't use it in a wrong way and I think we can treat the kids the same way. You know, there was no foul intent here, but you know, it needs to go home and it needs to stay there. Now, you know, if it comes back, we're going to consider intentional. >> Okay. >> I think that's that's along the lines of how we would handle that. >> Okay. >> And the way we handle it as from the administrator is a student should let an adult know and hand it in >> to them so they're not carrying
057it for the day. they would discover it, but they're taking out showing other people, >> then that would be a concern. Um, but if they were like, "Oh, no. I had it." We let them know like if you [music] find something that you shouldn't have, you let us know right away. It can stay with us in the office. >> So, is that something that's explained to kids? Uh, and you know, every kid gets that explanation. Okay. >> Yeah. We have to do a talk with students at the beginning of the school year where we go over rules and and weapons as part of it. Fire alarms, fire extinguishers, all those kind of things we go over with [music] students beginning of the year. And that's something we let them know. We display pictures of things
058they shouldn't have at school and they're okay to have >> and let them know if you would come to school and like maybe you were out hunting with your dad in the morning and you realized you had a bullet still in your pocket that your dad was letting you hold >> right >> for him. Um just let us know and we will hold on to it. Probably call a parent to come pick it up cuz we don't want to transport it back on the bus with the kids. >> Um but yeah, we let them know that. Yeah, that's why I was curious about how that would, you know, because, you know, not to say that I have never had an accidental pocket knife and going to the courthouse one time and emptying my pockets was
059quite interesting. [laughter] >> Nails and staples and screws and Oh, yeah. pocket knife. >> Let's jump over to to to Mr. Hayes Officer Hayes uh point you and Mrs. Nelson like you know you have a kindergarten kid even though we go over it's haven't had this before they they bring in like this cowboy type cap gun and they think it's neat and they're showing somebody on the bus. We still take that seriously, but yet um but versus a sophomore, an eighth grader, you know, that has a, you know, a lookalike potentially, you know, see, >> you know, there's a little bit difference from a kindergarten kid, even though we don't certainly want that and we still need to address it and there very well still could be consequences, we're not like saying to this kindergarten
060kid or the parent like, you know, >> we're not throwing the book at the kindergarten kid, per se, you know. So, got it. >> I appreciate the thoroughess of the uh the information that you give to this the students early on in uh each year's uh attendance. That's really valuable. And I also uh really appreciated the um the opportunity for a well-intended student to say, "Here's something that I probably should not have brought. I'm going to go see a teacher or a principal and um follow that route. That's that makes good common sense. I really appreciate that. >> Got to have an amnesty period. >> Okay, so that one moves to first read January 26. >> Okay, you're ready. Okay, the final one today is uh 800 805.2 uh school security personnel. This one also
061was just recently revised in 2023. Um so would this one have been this is hard to go back to any of you. Um, would this have been revised before the state required waiverss if we didn't have a so it's updating to to have that and since we are complying with that [snorts] we don't have to file waivers on but we did have to file one for short >> three month or so time period. Okay. Um, so once again, anything that you see in red would have been added from PSBA. Correct, Mr. Alman? >> Okay. So, are there any questions that you have that Mr. Hayes could answer for you? >> And I can share a little bit with this. this a lot of the changes do relate to school districts needing to have um a
062safety personnel whether it's an SSO or an SRO um within their district for the school year. So um like when you get down to number two, one of the reports that I have to do um I do the the verbal report to the board on our safety things. Um but then I have to submit documentation to the state letting them know that I did do a safety report to our board. But also part of that is I have to put in there like how many um security security officers we had on staff and what buildings they covered and stuff. So that's a new requirement is making that report to them as well, letting them know that we did have someone on staff >> for safety. So that's part of what's added in [music] here as
063well. >> And to Miss Nelson's point, you guys all noticed that in in the back there's a bunch of red and we we were discussing Mrs. McCreary when and this we were all discussing like now obviously Mr. Hayes is considered an SSO which is school security officer and then there's the SPO which is a school police officer and then there is the SRO which is a school resource officer. So while Mr. Hayes has dubbed a SSO, we thought we would just keep in the SPO and the um SRO should something down the pike come along. But it's not it's not like taking away from anything. It's it's there. A lot of schools just include that in there. So, and I think you guys all know the differences. Um you know um and as school police
064officers actually like a hire went through the act is it act 55 or what what's the uh the training for >> act 67? >> Act six I'm sorry I was off. >> Yeah. they actually go through like that and they're like they could be employed anywhere or you know some places hire a retired state police officer to be their school police officer. An SRO um is somebody that's through the actual um bureau or like where we kind of partner with the bureau to provide a a police officer, but you know, we have decided to go with an SSO and we work with GeForce and um I think we've already said we we we were very appreciative of uh uh Officer Hayes and the work he's doing and and the presence that he's out there and
065uh just being out and about and uh taking the job and the work. We just again that visibility piece with him. Uh we we appreciate that. >> How does it determine how many um security personnel are at an event like a night football game? Who determines that? Oh, we've got to have one or three. How's that decided? >> I would say that would probably be up to Mr. Graham. >> And we actually have a separate contract with GeForce for our event staff. >> Okay. coverage versus which is different than the contract that we have. So, we actually have two contracts with GeForce. >> Okay. >> How have you been enjoying your days? >> I love it. Yeah, I love the students and the staff is great. I think the district is great. Um, I've built
066a lot of good connections. I've I like where my office is because it's kind of like in the middle of of the senior lounge there. So when kids need to talk about stuff, there's an open door they can come talk. They don't necessarily kind of get a tense feeling going to the main office to talk to somebody about something kind of tucked out of the way and they tend to step in and let me know if they're having a problem for the most part. >> That's awesome. >> Yeah. So, um it's going really well. >> Yeah. >> I've heard very positive things and I appreciate seeing you out there. >> Absolutely. Thank you very much. >> I agree. Very positive back to the kids. >> Grateful to be here. Any other questions or comments about
067805.2? Okay. So, we'll also move this one to first read for January 2026. And thanks, Mrs. Nelson. Mr. Hayes, thank you for coming. Excused. Thank you. Um, does anyone have anything else to add? >> U, Mrs. Cr? >> Yes, Mrs. Chris, if you permit me, I just have a a small comment to make. Um, I'd like to take a moment to thank Dr. Dasham for organizing the recent meeting with Mrs. Graham, Mr. Brewer, and Mr. Albin to talk about our discipline policy. It was a really positive and productive conversation. I came away with a much clearer understanding of how things are working in each building. I think the full board might really benefit from a similar discussion down the road since it offered such helpful perspective and I do have a few follow-up questions from
068that meeting and I just wanted to check what the best way would be to share those. Should I send them directly to Dr. Dong or >> Yeah. Yeah. M Mr. Jal. Yeah, just please send them to me and I can actually do a recap and I know Mr. Al and I spoke. I I'll try to do a recap of that meeting and then send that I'll send it out in a communication to all all the all the board members. >> Now, was this rel was this related to specific discipline policies or just discipline in general? >> Discipline in general just to get an idea of how it all works. And there was just I just wanted to get an idea of how it all works and uh how it how it is functions and how
069it is communicated how our policies are communicated uh to students, faculty and parents and >> so I would agree probably something that the whole board should be aware of. >> Yes, I wholeheartedly agree. Thank you, Mr. Jal. >> Anything else? Okay. Whoa. >> There you go. Beautiful. Okay. >> Bye. See you soon.