001Okay hello okay we're just waiting for one of the board directors thank you for your patience good evening everybody oh I guess there we go good evening everybody I'd like to welcome you to the March 26 2026 central bucks school board meeting if everyone would please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you Mrs. Radcliffe please roll call. Mr. Pomali? Present. Billy O'Trow? Present. Mrs. Gibson? Present. Mr. Herring? Here. Mrs. O'Connor? Present. Mrs. Smith? I can't hear Mrs. Radcliffe. Oh do you want to hear what we'll share the mic. Mrs. Smith? Here. Yes I'm here. President Reynolds? Here. Thank you. I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Amuso for executive session announcement please. Thank you Madam President since the board's last board meeting they've had
002several executive sessions on March 4th the board met to conduct the final interview for the superintendent's search on March 10th the board had an executive session to discuss the superintendent's contract on March 19th the board held an executive session to get information on the special education audit on March 24th we had an executive session to discuss labor negotiation matters and before tonight's meeting the board met in the executive session to discuss litigation and personnel matters. Thank you Mr. Amuso. Before I turn it over to Dr. Malone I want to briefly address some big news that we first shared with our community only a few days ago as you know Dr. Joanna Wexler has been selected by the board as the finalist candidate for our next superintendent following a comprehensive national search we are excited to
003have reached this point and look forward to formally introducing Dr. Wexler at a public forum on April 8th. I invite everyone to attend if you'd like to submit questions in advance you can do so through a form available on the district's website the board is scheduled to vote on Dr. Wexler's official appointment at a special meeting on April 14th. I would also be remiss to not take a moment to thank Dr. Malone. Chuck you have brought steadfast leadership and diligent service as interim superintendent while continuing your hard work as assistant superintendent at the secondary level. Your commitment to our students staff and community has provided important stability and continuity during a time of great transition in our district. We are truly grateful for your dedication to CV. We are also pleased to have approved your
004five year contract as assistant superintendent at our January meeting because we know your support will be invaluable to Dr. Wexler and the district as we move into this next chapter. Please join me in a round of applause for Dr. Malone. Now I'd like to turn it over to Dr. Malone. Well that's hard to follow. Thank you so much Mrs. Reynolds. Before we start we usually do a see the good be the good. So here we go. Mr. Chaffee how about our lock screen winner. Thank you Dr. Malone. Good evening everyone. Tonight this month's theme for our lock screen is see the good be the good leadership. Our winner tonight is Ehab a ninth grader at Holly Kong. Ehab's artwork is being featured on the screens of all of our devices which is about 20,000 devices
005across the district. Ehab had this to say about his work. The lighthouse represents how a leader can give direction and hope even when things are hard to see. If you look closely at the ship you can see two people on it. One person is steering the ship and helping his friend get the safety. This shows how a leader can see the good by trusting the lighthouse and also be good by helping someone else at the same time. Ehab please come forward so we can recognize you with Dr. Malone and also we're going to give you Mr. Chaffee to Outback Steakhouse, your favorite restaurant. Trusting the screen is changing. We're also proud to recognize the CB East cheerleading team for winning the 2026 Universal Cheerleaders Association National Championship in the Division I Small Varsity Non-Tumbling Game
006Day category. Before we call up the students and coaches to receive certificates and take a photo, I'll share a little more about their accomplishments. The team traveled to Disney at the beginning of February to compete at the National Championships. In the category they won, their performance topped 41 other teams from 19 different states including powerhouses Texas, California, and Florida. To earn such an accomplishment takes extraordinary teamwork, precision, commitment, and composure under pressure. It is a tremendous achievement for these student athletes, their coaches, and the entire CB East school community. Now I'd like to acknowledge the coaches and each of the cheerleaders listed on the screen. I hope it's there. When I call your name, please come up to the stage. When I call your name, please come up to the stage and stand in front
007of the banner we have over here. Hold your applause until, I know it's going to be hard, until everyone is called. Senior, Charlotte Opie, juniors, Alyssa Hathaway, Bella Saylor, Lily Biafor, Kaylee Gray, Ella Ritchie, sophomores, Casey Corrigan, Izzy DiMatteo, Lily Fisher, Allison Gray, Juliana Reinhart, Mallory Sexton, Avery Widener, and freshmen, Charlotte Campagna, Vivian Campagna, Julia Nicotra, Carissa Schleicher, and now their coaches, Kate Baldwin, Lexi Karp, and Erin O'Rourke. Please join me in congratulating our national team. Congratulations. Good job. Nice job. Congratulations. Well done. Congratulations. Congrats, everybody. Congratulations. Nice job. Well done, well done, well done. Congratulations. Good job. Thank you. Great job. Great job. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Thank you. Thanks for all your hard work. Thank you, girls. Okay, next, we are also proud to recognize a remarkable group of students from
008our high schools who have been named National Merit Scholarship Finalists. I will call them up in a moment to receive certificates and a photo. Earning a finalist distinction begins with the PSAT taken in junior year where students are selected as semifinalists based on top scores in their state. From there, they must complete a rigorous application that includes a strong academic record, school recommendation, and confirmation of their performance on the SAT or ACT. Fewer than 1% of students nationwide ultimately earn finalist standings. When I call your name, please join us on stage in front of the banner. From CB East, Susanna Day, Hanwin Hu, Madeleine Madrid, and Harper Grace Poland. From CB South, Alana Ahuja, David Doherty, Julian Grofsik, Deborah Gim, Lucas Moore. And from CB West, Noah Garstein, Sanat Nayak. It's a long walk up
009here. Please join me in congratulating our finalists and their families on this outstanding achievement and wish them continued success. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Good job. Thanks, Mike. Moving on. I'd now like to provide the community a brief update on the ongoing CARE-I evaluation of our pupil services department. To remind everyone, this is an independent system-level review focused on how our programs and services are structured and functioning. It is not focused on individual personnel. The work is examining areas like student outcomes, equity, compliance, staffing, and overall system effectiveness. CARE-I, out of the University of Minnesota, has gathered input through a range of surveys and focus groups involving staff, families, and specialized teams across the district. That broad participation is crucial to ensuring we have a clear and accurate picture of where we are. The goal of
010this process is to identify strengths, uncover opportunities for improvement, and use that information to guide future planning and better align services to student needs. We expect preliminary findings to be shared with the board in early April, followed by a final report and recommendations later in that month. Now onto some highlights from the agenda. First, the board will consider approval of our 2026 to 2029 comprehensive plan, happily named Vision 2030. This plan reflects months of work, stakeholder engagement, and thoughtful discussion about the direction of our district and the priorities that will guide us in the years ahead. The plan has been posted on our website for public review since the end of February. Second, the board will consider approval of agreement with the law firm of Sweet, Stevens, Katz, and Williams to continue providing legal services
011to the district. This ensures continuity in legal counsel and ongoing support across a range of areas including student services, personnel matters, and general district operations. Finally, the board will consider several policies on second read, including updated updates related to class sizes, relations with law enforcement, and school security personnel. These policies have gone through committee review in a first reading and are now being brought forward for final consideration and potential adoption. Thank you to everyone who helped move these and all the agenda items forward for board consideration tonight. Back to you, Mrs. Reynolds. Okay. Thank you, Dr. Malone. Moving ahead, looking for approval on item 4A, the approval of the minutes from the meeting we had February 26th. Oh, no. Sorry. Excuse me. I got ahead of myself. Thanks, Seth. Public comment. Sorry. Okay. Before I
012get into public comment, item 3A is public comment agenda items only. Persons wishing to make public comment were required to register prior to the start of tonight's meeting. If current CB students register to speak, they will be permitted to do so first. Please note that the first period of public comment is for agenda items only, except for students who may speak about any topic. Public comment is not intended to be a question and answer session. When you begin your comment, please indicate which items you're speaking about regarding the minutes that may appear on the agenda. Comment is limited to approval of the minutes, not their content. If your comments are not about agenda items, you'll be asked to stop speaking, and you will be permitted to speak during the second period of public comment. If
013a question is posed, the individual may be referred to the superintendent for follow-up. When your name is called, please approach the podium and begin by stating your name and municipality. Each speaker is allotted three minutes. You will be asked to cease your comments at three minutes. We kindly ask that all comments be directed to the board as a whole rather than to individual members. We appreciate your cooperation in maintaining a respectful environment. Please be considerate of all speakers and their opinions, including those that differ from your own. Thank you for understanding. And with that, I do know we have a student on the agenda, Josie Beyer. So Josie can speak first. Is that... Oh, okay. Okay. Congratulations to everybody. I know you all are leaving. The cheerleaders and the national merit winners and the slot
014screen winner. Congratulations. Thank you. Oh, that's fair enough. You said we have a student. Yeah, we have a student. She's making her way and we'll just, yeah. To the board members, let me introduce myself. My name is Josie Beyer. You may know me as Jaws. You may know me as Jaws and Tops. And this is my mom, Courtney Beyer, or maybe you know her as Methodica from her emails or a tech talk. The Shaddocks problem. Your lawyer put an imaginary gag order on her because they're scared of her. So since she's respecting this pretend cease and desist, she's felt there was some information you may not be aware of. You should probably talk to your lawyers about the legal April 1st deadline for my requests and everything she emailed them. We don't want anyone to
015make any assumptions about her intentions again. Anyway, have that in reserve. Oh, P.S. Ms. Engeler, whoever you are. Yes, she's enjoying this. Thank you. Next up, Deneen Dry. Good evening. Deneen Dry, President, CVE SPA, support professionals, speaking to agenda item 6C, approval of accounts payable check disbursements. As I reviewed the accounts payable check disbursement report on tonight's agenda, I want to be clear. I am not here to question every expense. Some may be necessary, some may not be. But what is clear is that funding continues to be found. And what makes it difficult is to understand how support professionals will fit into the district's priorities. We continue to hear the district is operating in a deficit. Yet month after month, substantial payables are approved and funded, including over $2 million in payments this month alone.
016This shows when something is deemed necessary, funding is found. So the question becomes simple. Where do support professionals fall into these funding priorities? Supporting students takes a team. Support professionals are a critical part of that team. We are in every building every day, keeping schools operating and supporting students. This is about pay. It's also about retaining staff and attracting new employees. And in order to do that, we must be competitive. When compensation does not reflect the work, it becomes harder to keep experienced staff and harder to bring in new people to these roles. Over time, that impacts the consistency and support our students rely on. In the second half of tonight's meeting, you will hear directly from support professionals about the work they do every day and the dedication they bring to their roles. I
017ask you to listen to their stories, the work they describe, and the level of commitment in their words, and ask yourselves if this work is being valued appropriately. If wages do not improve, institutional knowledge and dedicated employees will continue to lead this district. Over time, this will lead to a workforce that is harder to retain and harder to rebuild. We know that what we are asking is not simple, but it is necessary. Wages that reflect work, respect the role, and the ability to feel valued in positions focused in supporting our students to succeed. There are 96 days until our contract expires. This timeline is real. We are aware of it, and we know you are as well. When the association meets with the district on Tuesday, March 31st, we believe that conversation will finally answer
018our question. Will this district's funding priorities finalize reflect the value of support professionals? Thank you. Thank you. Next, Ed Mackhouse, Buckingham Township. Ed Mackhouse, Buckingham Township, former teacher, math teacher, former teacher in the 70s. I taught some special guidance students and classes, and I have some idea of how difficult it is to teach. My agenda item is 800 law enforcement agencies, positive behavior support, and students with special needs. I think that Central Pops has been a great district. It's been the greatest in the state, but it's deteriorated. I looked at the website of great bankers who are running for Senate against Steve Sanisario, you mentioned before. On his website, he quotes that last year, Central Pops reported 6,000 incidents of restraint, and Philadelphia only reported 1,000. So why would Central Pops be six times worse
019than Philly? People moved into Central Pops for education and things. One of the reasons is, like the police don't want to arrest everybody, the rules benefit from conflict like Steve Sanisario. The great bankers is a data analyst. What's the data? Why is there six times more restraints in Central Pops? One of the reasons is, what is restraint? As a teacher, for 10 years I broke up many fights, was never injured. You should improve your training of teachers and staff so that they can survive and properly restrain children. That's a responsibility. So Central Pops should be better than Philly. Positive behavior support. Does that interpret that if hundreds of teachers and staff are injured, does that mean that they weren't groveling enough to some students? I think the interpretation of this law, the law should be
020better for students, teachers, and parents. Parents cannot stand in special guidance class and manage the class. Teachers who can do it should be respected, and you shouldn't have any little person who doesn't understand the situation and the students know what is necessary and sufficient to restrain the students so you don't have hundreds of staff and students injured in the school. So respect these people and give them some of the money they deserve. I know you can't give everything, but they need a significant raise. Thank you very much. Thank you. Agenda item 4A. Looking for approval for agenda item 4A. Second. Can we get a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Oh, sorry. So, nope, nope. It was, yep, motion made by Mrs. Gibson, seconded by Mrs. Foley. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Any abstentions?
021The motion passes 9-0. Oh, no, sorry, 8-0. Karen, I'm assuming you said yes. I'm sorry. Are you still there? Okay, yes. Okay, okay. Yeah, there is a delay. Okay, moving on to school board reports. Education committee. Mrs. O'Connor. Thank you, Mrs. Reynolds. So the education committee met on March 3rd, 2026 to discuss a few items. First up on the agenda was a discussion of grade level realignment. We were given an update on the process of realignment by Angela Henderson as well as Lindsey Smith who presented grade level and they've been the head people on this large undertaking that the district is doing, but we're moving well to be ready for when the doors open in September. So at this point, course selection has been completed and we are working on staffing processes, projections are being
022completed for each level, and the next steps are staffing finalization, communications about those placements, professional development and plans for moving classroom materials to different classrooms and to different buildings. I also want to take this moment to acknowledge Lindsey Smith who worked diligently on our realignment and this was her last education meeting updating us before she moved on to a new position at a different school district. So we just want to take a second to thank her for all of her work for this realignment. The next thing Dr. Zaleski came and she gave us a more detailed explanation are actually the full plan for the comprehensive plan that Dr. Malone discussed earlier tonight. Our comprehensive plan had four priorities in it, one of them academic excellence, then health and wellness, community engagement and technology and innovation.
023This plan will be presented to the Pennsylvania Department of Education. I also want to take a moment to thank all of the parents, community members that attended the three working sessions that we had to develop this plan as well as the community members and family members who have since reached out since the plan was posted on our website and have reached out to Dr. Zaleski with questions, comments about that because it really helps with the development of that plan and our plan will be submitted to PDE. And the last thing which is coming to the board for approval tonight was textbooks in our accounting one and accounting two textbooks. Those have not been updated since the year 2000 so we will be updating or they're seeking approval tonight to update our accounting textbooks for accounting
024one and accounting two. And next also with realignment we needed to do some changes with our mathematics courses so academic math six and academic math eight textbooks were seeking approval for textbooks for both of those courses tonight. I welcome everyone to please come out to attend our next education committee hearing or education committee meeting which will be on April 16th 2026 at 16 Weldon Drive. Thank you. Thank you Mrs. O'Connor. That was great. Policy committee I'm going to turn it over to Mrs. Smith for that. Yes. Policy committee met on March 12th and tonight we're moving three policies forward. Policy 126 on class size which is these changes are necessary for the realignment policies 805.1 and 805.2. These policies reflect our current practice and they are necessary for grant approvals. And our next meeting will
025be on April 9th. Thank you Mr. Smith. Moving on to Finance and Operations Committee Mr. Kimikata. Thank you. The Finance and Operations Committee met on March 12th to review the district's financial picture and move a number of spending and operational items forward to the full board. The committee received an update look at the 26-27 preliminary budget. The committee learned that the state granted the district an exemption to the Act 1 index on the grounds of special education expenses. The exemption allows the district to raise taxes for next year up to 5.7% without the need for a referendum. The percentage is 2.2% above the Act 1 index which is 3.5% for next year. Administration presented a preliminary budget that includes this tax increase. This increase results in total estimated revenues for next year of about 440.6
026million against estimated expenses of 462.9 million leaving a projected deficit of approximately 22.3 million. Compared to this year expenses are projected to increase over $31 million next year. Key cost drivers include new staff for realignment and full-day kindergarten contractual increases in payroll and benefits, transportation costs and insurance. Administration has applied for grants to offset the cost of planned capital projects and has moved some projects to the following financial year. These grants and deferments could potentially offset $9.8 million. Additionally, operations is planned to hold on to a significant amount of buses beyond their typical life cycle to reduce the need and expenses of new buses for the next year. That's an additional savings of $2.2 million. For anyone who is interested in additional details regarding the budget, the March presentation is on board docs on the
027district's website as well as a video of the committee meeting. Proposed final budget is expected to come before the committee in April. The committee approved moving forward several routine but notable items including tax assessment settlement, a service agreement for the district special education law firm as Dr. Malone had mentioned, Title IX legal retainer and a renewal of the Naviance platform that's used by guidance counselors and students. Several maintenance projects and contracts were also moved for full board approval including a paving project at Mill Creek, work to permanently fill in and floor over the orchestra pit here at CB South, classroom renovation, mechanical unit replacement at Taman End, fire alarm suppression system upgrades at multiple schools and a lawn mowing service contract covering 11 schools. The committee also recommended approval of a transportation fleet renewal including
02826 new buses and vans along with an upgrade to the bus radio systems and approval of new first student drivers. The maintenance projects that were listed, the bus purchases and the new radio systems were all budgeted expenses for this year. Our next committee meeting is scheduled for April 9th at 7 p.m. Thank you, Mr. Kimikata. Looking at the Bucks County Intermediate Unit, Mrs. Foley. Thank you, Mrs. Reynolds. The Bucks IU leadership has formed an advocacy committee made up of their leadership as well as several board members, myself included, to advocate on behalf of the IU with our state legislators for appropriate and promised funding as well as future funding for programs like Head Start, Early Head Start and such. They recently attended this committee, I was not able to go, but this committee recently attended
029the Day on the Hill up in Harrisburg to meet with state legislators and talk about what funding is going to look like in areas where funding is in need of some improvement. That happened on Tuesday, March 24th, and was very productive. The IU also has received state recognition for their apprenticeship program with one of their special ed teachers teaching at the Pearl S. Buck Institute. Her name is Christina Mulhern. She received the Outstanding Registered Apprentice Award, so congratulations to Christina. March is Brain Injury Awareness Month, which is honored and celebrated both at the IU and across the state and across the country. It's also National Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, so I just wanted to be sure to share these highlights and raise awareness for these important causes. Lastly, one of our CB students, Elena Schack,
030was selected, her artwork was selected to be featured tonight at the IU in the 2025-2026 Student Art Gallery Reception. So just wanted to take a moment to congratulate Elena. Our next meeting is being held on April 21st, 2026. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Foley. Looking at MBIT, back to Mrs. Smith for that. Sure. This month, MBIT celebrated Women in Construction Week, the first week of March, from March 1st through 7th, and then some of our students attended the National Association of Home Builders Student Competition for the first time, and they won the Rookie of the Year Award in Secondary Construction Management. I have a little bit here about, let me get my, get this to come up here. So they were under the leadership of electrical technology teacher Mr. Randy McDowell, and the student team
031spent several months preparing for this industry-aligned challenge. The NAHB student competition presents participants with a real-world residential construction scenario requiring the development of a comprehensive professional proposal. In the construction management track, teams complete detailed cost estimating for materials and labor, develop project schedules and sequencing plans, create architectural drawings and produce market analysis with cash flow projections. After they submit their written proposal, teams presented and defended their solutions live before a panel of construction executives. The judges evaluated the proposals on their application of real-world construction management principles, the professionalism of their proposal, and the clarity and confidence of their presentation. So we're very proud of the students for their excellence at this national competition. And that's it from MBIT this month. Thank you, Mrs. Smith. Looking ahead to finance, turning it over to Mr. Mattis. Yes,
032we're requesting approval of finance items 6B through 6G. Looking for approval for items 6B through 6G? So moved. Can I get a motion? Okay. Mr. Cunicata? Second. Second by Mrs. O'Connor. Any questions or comments on these items or any item in the group? Okay. Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Motion passes 8-0. Looking at other board action items, would that be Dr. Zaleski or Dr. Malone? Me. Okay, Dr. Malone. No problem. Administration is seeking approval for other board action items 7B, C, and D. May I have a motion to approve items 7B, C, and D? So moved. Second. Okay, so moved by Mrs. Gibson, seconded by Mr. Kamali, I think. Any questions or comments on these items? Okay. I do second what Mrs. O'Connor said about the participation in the
033comprehensive plan and the community and the parents. It's really great to have that input and really important, so we welcome that and thank you for that. Any other questions or comments? Okay, hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Motion passes 8-0. Looking ahead at operations, that would be Mr. Spencer. Turning it over. Thank you, Mr. Reynolds. Administration is seeking approval of operations items 8B through 8L. 8L, okay. Approval for items 8B through 8L. Can I have a motion to approve? So moved. Mr. Kimikata? Second. Seconded by Mrs. Gibson. Any questions or comments on any of these items? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Motion passes 8-0. Are you able to get the first and the second? Okay, just making sure. Okay. Excuse me. Special education
034item 9. Is that you, Dr. Malone? It is. Okay. Administration is seeking approval for special education items 9B, C, and D. Looking for approval for items 9B, C, and D. Can I get a motion to approve? Motion. Motion made by Mrs. Gibson, seconded by Mrs. O'Connor. Any questions or comments on any of these items? Okay, hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Motion passes 8-0. Student services. Take it again. Okay. Administration is seeking approval for student services items 10B through E. Approval for items 10B through E. May I have a motion to approve? So moved. Mrs. Foley. Motion by Mrs. Foley, seconded by? So moved. Mrs. Filiatro. I did it. Any questions or comments on that, on items 10B through E? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Aye.
035Any opposed? Any abstentions? Item passes 8-0. Item 11, education, that would be you, Dr. Zaleski, right? Yes. Administration is seeking approval for items 11B and 11C. May I have a motion to approve of items 11B and 11C? So moved. Seconded. Moved by Mrs. O'Connor, seconded by Mr. Kimikata. Any questions or comments on these items? Okay, hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Item passes 8-0. Thank you. Thank you. And now on to policy, back to Dr. Malone. Administration is seeking approval for policy items 12B and C. Looking for a motion on item 12B and C, please? So moved. Second. Seconded. Moved by Mrs. O'Connor, seconded by Mrs. Kimikata. Any questions or comments on any of these? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Item passes 8-0.
036Field trips, Dr. Malone? Administration is seeking approval for field trip items B, C, and D. Motion to approve items 13B, C, and D. Moved by Mrs. Foley. Second. Seconded by Mrs. O'Connor. Any questions or comments on any of these trips? Okay, hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Item passes 8-0. Moving on to human resources, Mrs. Rossi? Yes, thank you. Administration is seeking approval of human resources items 14B, C, D, E, and F. Looking for a motion to approve items 14B, C, D, E, and F. So moved. Moved by Mr. Kimikata. Second. Seconded by Mrs. Gibson. Before I do that, before we approve, I'm going to read the retirements. We have Karen Bartnett, school nurse from CBE, 22 years of service. Sharon Cassiol, I probably said that wrong, I'm sorry. Math
037teacher, 24 years of service. Jennifer Drolette, teacher, fourth grade, Jamison, 33 years of service. Carl Hilbert, special education teacher, Holly Kong, 30 years of service. Beth Howard, family consumer science teacher, CB South, 21 years of service. Mary Patmar, Spanish teacher, Taminin, 20 years of service. Mary McDonald, FCS teacher, also CB West, 18 years of service. Margaret McNichols, special education teaching assistant at Cold Spring, 25 years of service. Paul Tostey, Mechanics C warehouse, operations, 10 years of service. For a total of 203 years of service to our district. Thank you so very much for your years of service. Round of applause for that type of longevity. You just don't really see that anymore. So that's really impressive. I forget who made the motion and who seconded it. So we had a motion from Mr. Kimikata, seconded
038by Mrs. Gibson. Items 14B through F. Anyone else want to make comment or question on these items? Okay, hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Motion passes 8-0. And then item 15, is that just information? Yep, okay. So we're going to move on to the second public comment period. I'll read what will become a brief statement. We're going to edit this down. Persons wishing to make public comment were required to register prior to the start of tonight's meeting. If students register to speak, they'll be permitted to do so first. Please note that public comment is not intended to be a question and answer session. If a question is posed, the individual may be referred to the superintendent for follow-up. When your name is called, please approach the podium and begin by stating
039your name and municipality. Each speaker is allotted three minutes. You will be asked to cease your comments at three minutes. We kindly ask that all comments be directed to the board as a whole rather than to individual members. We appreciate your cooperation in maintaining a respectful environment. Please be considerate of all speakers and their opinions, including those that differ from your own. Thank you for understanding. And with that, Kimberly Devlin, CB support staff at Linden. Good evening. I am here to respectfully address the board regarding the current compensation for our school district's support staff. I recognize that this topic has been brought before the board before. However, it deserves renewed attention during the due to the increasing demands and risks placed on these essential employees you see standing behind me. Support staff work directly with
040students who need the highest levels of assistance, including those with learning differences, behavioral challenges, medical needs and social emotional needs. In many classrooms, they provide the one to one or small group support that allows students to succeed academically, remain regulated and feel safe. Without this support, teachers would be unable to move or to meet the diverse needs of their classrooms and students would lose the individualized care that they deserve. It is also important to acknowledge the physical and emotional challenges inherent in these roles. Challenges that often extend well beyond typical classroom expectations and the scope of what some support staff members were originally hired for. Many have been bitten, scratched and otherwise physically injured while assisting students who are dysregulated or in crisis. Others have had urine or fecal matter thrown at them while managing
041challenging behaviors or providing necessary care. Meeting these challenges requires professionalism, specialized training, de-escalation skills, resilience and compensation and compassion in extremely difficult circumstances. Despite these responsibilities and risks, support staff wages do not reflect the level of skill, training or personal sacrifice required. Many staff members hold certifications and receive specialized training and are trusted to respond to behavioral crisis. The disconnect between duties and compensation contributes to burnout, high turnover and staffing shortages. We are severely understaffed, which ultimately disrupts students' learning and places additional strain on the teachers and teachers themselves. Low wages have also made it increasingly difficult to recruit and retain qualified, dedicated individuals. Vacancies increase the workload for support staff who are already stretched thin and reduce the consistency of support students receive. Competitive and fair compensation would help retain experienced staff, improve morale
042and ensure continuity of care for our students. Most importantly, it would demonstrate that the district truly values the individuals who show up every day, often putting themselves in harm's way to support the children. Investing in support staff is an investment in students' success. When support staff feel respected, fairly compensated and able to focus on their work, schools are safer, classrooms function more effectively and students are better positioned to thrive. Thank you for your time and consideration. I urge the board to recognize the vital role that these support staff members play by prioritizing fair and sustainable pay. I appreciate your continued commitment to our students and schools. Thank you so much. Thank you. Lee Eisenman, Warwick Township. Hello, my name is Lee Eisenman and I am a Warwick Township taxpayer, CB parent and personal care assistant
043in the CB Elementary School. Can we all just take a deep breath and think, how much would I have to make an hour to get for the chance to be physically assaulted at work? I've been punched in the back, kicked and had various objects including chairs, books, tissue boxes, pencils, pens thrown at me this school year. As a PCA, you don't even get the training for protecting yourself against the documented violent students before working with them. I had to request the training before it was offered to me. On your first day being a PCA, you are introduced to your child and you are given very little information about who that student really is. Some information about the student is shared, but most of the details they let you figure out for yourself. We are asked
044to work with students who may have a history of violence with very little information provided to us on how to handle these daily academic and emotional struggles. We are tasked with just figuring it out. I've taught in public and alternative schools for over 15 years and the key to staff and student safety is training. CB trainers are good, but they are not putting the support staff in real life situations during training sessions. Most of the support staff left the training with more questions than answers. In this district, I've had conversations with teachers and support staff that refuse to use training even when they are put in the situation that required it. The training my tax dollars are paying for isn't even benefiting the people taking it. There needs to be a restraint training review session,
045or at least a question and answer session with trainers regularly. But that's only the beginning because we haven't talked about our students' academics yet. For those parents who have students who struggle to remain in the general education classroom, who do you think is instructing your child? Many of these students I work with cannot remain engaged in their grade level classroom. If your student's special education teacher is out sick, do you really think a random substitute teacher is teaching the lessons? With an increasing number of failure to fill positions happening daily, it is the support staff that are stepping up. It's just another job that's added to our plate with no thought of financial compensation for the extra work that we do. So why do we show up every day? Because we love the kids. Every
046single support staff enjoys working with children and wants to give everything they have to your children. But we need love too. Watching CB handout interim and back-end inflated contracts is not what's going to help this district. We need to be more fiscally responsible and pay the people that work with the children. There is a reason why we have so many support staff positions unfilled, and it is because people are starting to understand how difficult and exhausting a support staff position is, and they don't think it's worth $19.53 an hour with health insurance. I hope after hearing me speak today you realize that the support staff deserve our health insurance, because most of us are physically assaulted regularly, just like we deserve to be fairly compensated for the jobs we are actually doing, and the physical
047abuse and mental stress we are exposed to every day at the hands of our students. Thank you for your time. Diana Thomas, New Britain Township. Good evening. My name is Diana Thomas, and I'm a staff nurse in the Centrebox School District. When people think about school nurses, they picture ice packs, band-aids, and cough drops. However, the reality is very different. Across our 23 schools, we have had 121,314 health office visits so far this school year and counting. This is not occasional care. This is constant clinical demand. Over the past several years, our roles have changed significantly. The severity and complexity of student health needs have increased, and we manage that every day. We are caring for students with chronic conditions such as severe asthma. Diabetes require continuous monitoring, life-threatening allergies, seizure disorders, and complex medical
048plans that require skilled nursing judgment throughout the day. In addition, we are responsible for medication administration, emergency responses, health screenings, coordination of care with physicians and families, mental health support, and maintaining detailed medical documentation to meet state and federal requirements. We function as a primary health care provider for hundreds of students and staff within our schools. This is not entry-level work. This is skilled clinical care delivered in a school setting. We are seeing increasing difficulty filling nursing positions, especially those supporting students with more intensive medical needs. And when these positions go unfilled, the need does not go away. It shifts and that risk is felt in our buildings every day. These roles require a high level of skill, yet compensation does not align with the demands making it difficult to attract and retain qualified nurses.
049While we take pride in the care we provide, our clinical expertise is not fully recognized. In some buildings, there is a lack of understanding and respect for the role of the health office and at higher levels, there appears to be a disconnect between our responsibilities and the value of our work. We are fortunate to have a nursing leadership that advocates for us every day. However, broader recognition and support are still needed. As negotiations move forward, I respectfully ask the board to recognize the complexity and importance of our role by ensuring fair and competitive compensation, because fair pay helps retain experienced nurses. And when we cannot retain nurses, we cannot safely serve our students. And that is a risk this district should not be willing to take. Thank you. Thank you. Joanne Schaefer, Warrington Township. Good
050evening. My name is Joanne Schaefer and I am an office clerk for Central Bucks. I am part-time. I do not receive health benefits. I currently make $17.53 an hour and have been with the district for eight years. After eight years, my experience is not reflected in my paycheck. The office is a busy place. The way I explain the front office is every person and situation that comes through the doors, whether from inside or outside of the building, requires our time and attention. Along with answering the door, which can seem nonstop most days, I'm checking IDs, printing badges, and checking clearances, trying to keep our buildings safe. I've had to be on alert for certain situations that may come to the front door. I'm the one sitting at the front, in front of a big piece
051of glass, responsible for what comes through that door. At the same time, I'm answering phones, helping staff, solving problems, and sometimes taking the brunt of frustrations from parents. I work on attendance daily, tracking absences, following up with families, coordinating with guidance, trying to keep it all up to date and accurate. Then there are duties. I supervise a lunch and I manage dismissal for walkers, car riders, and buses. If a bus is late, I stay. If a parent doesn't pick a child up, I stay. I have broken up flights, I have helped students in medical situations, and I have sat with students to help them calm their anxiety. Now I ask you to think about something. Imagine a month, a week, or even just one day with no support staff in our schools. No one to
052answer the door or the phones. No one to provide extra academic, emotional, or behavioral support. No one to watch the students at recess and lunch. No one to help fix your computer or printer. No one to clean up vomit in the hallway or fix a leaky toilet. No one to support a sick child or administer important medication. This is just a small list of things that support staff helps with every day. Even just one day without support staff wouldn't work. We are essential. While we appreciate the occasional thank you, respect is really what we are looking for. Respect is fair pay. Respect is recognizing experience. Respect is making sure that after eight years, someone isn't still trying to catch up. We have different roles, but we are all essential. Thank you for your time and
053attention. Maribel Alicia, do I still have time to answer? I'm sorry if I did not do right by your name. It's okay. Hello. Firstly, I want to thank you for your time and for the opportunity for us not to just be heard, but to be listened to. My name is Maribel Alicia, and I'm here today as an employee who is deeply disheartened by what I've witnessed and experienced so far in my two and a half years as a Central Bucks employee. My title is PCA, but in my situation, I'm not personally caring for one student but for six, along with two other PCAs. Just this school year, we've had three staff members quit in our classroom because the pay does not reflect what we do. There have been days where we have endured a two
054staff to six student ratio. In my experience, this has led to more times where we are faced with unsafe circumstances, including staff injuries and students hurting each other. This is only a portion of what we experience due to the severe staffing issue we are currently facing. According to PhillyBurbs.com, which is credited by USA Today, CBSD is considered among the lowest paying districts of Bucks County with pay rates $4 to $5 per hour lower than the neighboring districts. It goes along to say that many support workers, including classroom neighboring districts below the living wage, contributing to severe staff shortages and higher turnover. According to the records, the union itself reported 111 support staff resignations and retirement since August 2025, leaving roughly over 100 positions unfilled. I put together a survey with five questions and sent it
055to 15 current employees through Central Bucks asking about their work experience. The staff members who answered include special education teachers, building subs, duty assistants and other PCAs. Here are the results. Rating from one to ten, one being high, one being low and ten being the highest. I asked how likely they were to refer someone to work for Central Bucks and 86% gave a score of five or below. I asked how easy it is for them to fix problems by talking to administration and 80% gave a score of five or below. I asked how valued they feel as Central Bucks employees and 80% gave a score of five or below. I asked how pleased they are with the current wages and 99% gave a score of four or below. Finally, I asked how much support they
056believe students are getting in Central Bucks school districts and over 86% gave a score of five or below. In conclusion, your employees and students are not receiving the help and support they need and deserve. More pay equals more staff, less turnover rates and success for the students. I just want to say I love what I do, but I cannot financially and emotionally survive under these conditions. Please do everything in your power to help us, listen to us and show us that we matter. Thank you. Elizabeth Tolis, Board of Township. Good evening. Before I begin, I want to address the ongoing absence of the interim Director of Pupil Services in public meetings. This publicly leaves out our most complex students without administrative representation necessary to understand the barriers that they face as well as some of
057the support staff that are here. My name is Elizabeth Tolis. My son Emmett is a 16 year old non-speaking student with an intellectual disability and autism who attends East. Tonight, I am here to discuss the systemic barriers currently affecting him. On March 11th, Emmett suffered a traumatic response in class for over 30 minutes. During that time, he was restrained for a total of eight minutes and 11 seconds. While I am so grateful to the staff who cared for him, the official report left our family with a variety of questions. The real systemic barrier appeared in the aftermath. I agreed to a meeting date that would take place eight days after the incident. Six days prior to the meeting, I sent Emmett's team and included interim Special Ed Director and Principal Chad Waters specific questions regarding
058universal design, dignity of risk, and trauma. No one responded via email. At the meeting, I received some information from the members in attendance, but the rest remained unanswered and no acknowledgement. I responded with a request to include these unaddressed items in the parent section of the IEP. After that request to include the apparent input, only then was I provided with some of the answers. Today, 15 days after the incident, we came together as a team. When I finally spoke with Dr. Waters, who signed off on the incident report, I addressed the lack of acknowledgement or response to my concerns. When openly sharing the reoccurring trauma experienced and how it affects Emmett in our home and community and my disappointment with the lack of response, Dr. Waters interjected, suggesting that a change in the tone of
059my voice was me yelling at him. I spoke with conviction. The minimizing nature of his comment was deflective and unwarranted. There was some discussion. Dr. Waters suggested at one point, I was looking for things to be wrong. I am not looking for things to be wrong. I am a parent who has a student that has no expressive language. I waited eight days to discuss an incident involving the use of physical restraint for eight minutes and 11 seconds on my son. I respectfully waited another seven days when I was met with no response. I am beginning to identify patterns that focus on my son's reaction as the sole problem while being labeled, while labeling these incidents as merely unfortunate. The trauma is affecting his life, and I think it's safe to say it's affecting the people
060that are supporting him inside the building. I'm not looking for, excuse me, if this were your child, restrained for eight minutes and 11 seconds and then met with two weeks of silence, you too might be frustrated. You might be angry. You might speak with conviction in your voice. In a district as in life, no response is a clear response. That silence is a systemic barrier. The accusatory nature of telling a parent they are looking for something to be wrong or that the tone of despair is comparable to yelling is abusive in nature. It reveals the kind of clarity that inspires a parent of a 16 year old with complex needs to block out the third Thursday of every month and speak at this microphone. Thank you. Joe Daigler, employee. My name is Joe Daigler. I
061work in the grounds department. I know you have heard about the lack of pay in the support staff. Not that compensation isn't important, but I'd like you to hear a little of my personal experiences with Central Box. When I was a very young boy just starting school myself, I remember going to Butler Elementary with my grandmother to help her set up her first grade classroom. She was excited to get her classroom set up and welcome her new class of students. As I grew older, I saw how happy she was to go to work for Central Box. She was proud to say where she worked and knew that every other district in the area wanted to be just like CB. Fast forward to these times. I had the opportunity to come to CB from another district
062thinking that I would have the opportunity to work for a great district just as I remember through my grandmother's eyes. I have had the privilege to work at Central Box for about four and a half years now. I was given the opportunity to speak with some of our staff and also witness some interesting things myself. I hear the struggles that staff have within their positions. The district is very broken. People often ask themselves why they come to work day after day. The only thing that keeps them coming back is their desire to make things better for our students. The district will not fail. It should because its employees have too much. It should not. The district will not fail the way it should because its employees have too much pride for what they do. And
063it all comes down to what the students need. However, people are not proud to say that they work at Central Box anymore like they used to be. We used to be leading the way at the top, but now we are very top heavy in administration and very light on the people that actually do the work. This is directly affecting our kids. When we see administration creating new positions, getting big raises and stipends for extra work, it is disheartening to the staff that gets more work all of the time for the same pay and is consistently understaffed. Now to you as the school board, Central Box needs you to find a way to help correct some of these issues and hopefully get Central Box back to that elite status at the top. Our employees, parents, community,
064and most of all our kids deserve to have the best experiences that they can have. Thank you. Thank you. Megan Maris, Warrington Township. My name is Megan Maris and I am a fairly new employee in Central Box School District, but I'm not new to Central Box. I grew up here. I attended these schools. I graduated from this high school and I was proud to be a CB graduate. I am also a mother of four. I took the position as an education assistant as a paraprofessional. I am currently failing in the role as a personal care assistant because of staff shortages. I took this job because I wanted to be on the same schedule as my children and to be present for them in a way my previous job did not allow. Today I am working
065three jobs within the district and another outside job just to make ends meet. I love what I do. I love the students I work with, but the reality is that working here is not allowing me to provide for my children the way that they deserve. I work in a high demand, hands-on environment. Every day I go to work concerned about my safety and the safety of the people I work with. We are often understaffed in high pressure situations doing the best we can with the support we have. In less than a year, I have already been injured three times, including taking a water bottle to the face. I understand that higher pay will not eliminate every risk, but fair compensation would help attract and retain staff. The more staff we have means the safer environments
066we will have not just for ourselves, but for our students. I want to feel the same pride in working for Central Books that I felt when I graduated from it. Support staff, keep your district running. We support these students every single day. We deserve to be supported, too. Thank you. Thank you. Before I say, Ed, you're up next. I just want to say thank you to everyone for coming out, for continually coming out, for sharing your stories. We are listening, and we appreciate you taking the time to come after the work day to be here to share those stories. So thank you very much. Ed Mackhouse, Buckingham. Yeah, Ed Mackhouse, Buckingham. Speaking on CBS, the safety, security, and more pay for support staff. We hear from their support staff that things are unacceptable. This is
067not an acceptable place to work. This is a disgrace. This should never happen. I taught for 10 years, and I built up many fights every year, did a lot. But there was much more support for the teachers and staff than I see here. There are 6,000 reports, Greg Banko's reports for Senate on his web page, 6,000 reports of restraints in Bucks County, only 1,000 reports in Philly. It's the job of responsible officials, staff, to make it safe for themselves and for others. The professional staff that survived the first year of teaching is the hardest. If you can survive the year of teaching, most parents, most lawyers have no conception of what's involved. The laws are made by lawyers. The lawyers have interfered. It used to be much safer, and teachers and staff had much more
068support. The situation today is intolerable. I would not like to teach today. As someone who is unqualified, who has no idea what's involved in controlling a classroom, should not be able to file a report of an incident when a teacher who knows what is necessary to restrain the children to make it safe for others. I never got any serious injuries. I broke up many fights. One children I visited at school, 10 administrators were sent to the hospital trying to break up fights. One individual support staffer was able to break up the fight with four girls. You identify who is the problem. That stops the fight. That stops the problem. The idea that you didn't give them enough support, the children are not stupid. They see what they can get away with. And we shouldn't put
069the children in charge. Professionals who know how to safely control the children should be in charge. And people who don't know how to do it, can't take care of their own children, should not criticize teachers and staff who have to handle very difficult children. Robert Kennedy Jr., President Trump, are trying to make America safe again. And Democrats should support. It should not be like AOC and Bernie Sanders who promised to give us nothing. Thank you. Item 17 is, and thank you again for everyone for coming out and speaking and sharing your stories. Again, we do appreciate you all very much. Board comment is next on the agenda. Does anybody have a comment to make? Thank you all for coming tonight. I think I thanked you the last time as well. I just want to reiterate,
070I appreciate the time you're taking to come out here. I know for me personally, our staff in general, whether you're in the support roles or in the educator role or the administration role, has been critically important to my family this year. And I greatly appreciate the work that all of you do. I've seen it day to day, every day. And I just want to take this moment to thank you all. Thank you for taking your time to come out here. And we just appreciate everything that you do. Anyone else? I do want to make sure I announce that April 8th is our community forum with Dr. Joanna Wexler. We invite everybody to come out. It is at CB West. So it's at West. And then on April 14th, we're having a special meeting to approve
071that contract. And that is the only thing on that agenda. That will be at 16 Weldon. So that will be at 16. And then our general regular board meeting will be on April 23rd at West. That's the big general meeting. So again, the 14th is just for the contract for Dr. Wexler. And then the 23rd is our general meeting. And I wanted to make sure everybody knew that. Any other questions or comments? Okay, thank you again for coming. With that, motion to adjourn? So moved. So moved by Mrs. Gibson. Seconded by? Second. Mrs. O'Connor. Meeting adjourned.