CBSD School Board Meeting March 2025

001school district general meeting. We're gonna start with the Pledge of Allegiance. And Ms. Radcliffe, roll call please. Mr. Ducker? Present. Mr. Herring? Here. Kimikata? Here. Mr. Spur? Here. Mrs. Reynolds? Mrs. Smith? Here. Mrs. Zdenowitz? She's here, she's still in the... Yeah, she's coming in right now. Mrs. Zdenowitz? I'm here. Gibson? Present. And Ms. Reynolds asked that I read the following. Ms. Reynolds is unfortunately unable to attend tonight's meeting and wanted me to share that she is out of town with her family ahead of a surgery scheduled for her father early tomorrow morning, who is once again battling cancer. She appreciates everyone's understanding of her absence during this difficult time and she's grateful for your support. And then Mr. Diasio, announcement of executive sessions. Yes, thank you. The board has met in executive session. I'm gonna

002read the dates here. February 23rd, 2025, February 26th, 2025, March 1st, 2025, and March 18th, 2025. The topics for those four executive sessions were to meet with counsel to discuss personnel matters related to the allegations of abuse at Jamison Elementary School. The board also met this evening in executive session, March 20th, 2025. The topics discussed were collective bargaining with the transportation staff, collective bargaining, meet and discuss with the Act 93 administrative group, and also to hear the annual school safety and emergency preparedness presentation, which is an annual school code requirement. Thank you. Thank you. And now Dr. Yanni, I'll turn it over to you for the superintendent's report. Thank you, Mrs. Gibson. We're going to start this evening with some recognitions. So first, I would like to call up our lock screen winner, David Martinez-Cortez.

003Is he here? The seat's in the front for him. Okay. Well, we want to congratulate him. I'll tell you a little bit about his artwork. The portrait of a graduate lock screen contestant winner for this month did a piece of artwork based on thoughtful collaborators. We congratulate David and his family. David says his piece shows two bees working together to help flowers grow. The flowers in the field represent teamwork because they're growing together. They make the field bright and full of life. The warm colors in the sky and the bright sunflowers give a positive and happy feeling, reminding us all that working together makes things better. And Mr. Jaffee, if you... It's important to be a collaborator because sometimes when multiple people are having the same problems, sometimes the easiest way to help your problems

004is to help each other and to work together. Sometimes when you don't work together, you just can't complete your goal. You just can't get to that goal. I started drawing bees in class, and I thought they looked really good, and so I knew I wanted my picture to be on the computer's lock screens, so I just started drawing some bees, and then I drew some flowers. And then I didn't really know what to do, so I just drew them holding a flower together, and then that's what I made. Well, they're collaborating by holding a flower, and bees are also known to be collaborators. All of them have a job in the hive. They all go work together. They collect pollen and help build the beehive. Yeah, you can assign different roles to different people. Instead

005of just working on one consistent thing, when everybody is working on something different, it can help a lot more and help a lot faster. We congratulate him. Next, I'd like to introduce Chase Williams. Yeah, come on up. So we share a huge congratulations with Holly Kong 9th grader Chase Williams, who wrestles for CB East. Chase recently became the first ever CB freshman to win the PIAA 3A state championship in wrestling. He's also the first state wrestling champion from CB East since senior Mark Sedano in 1982. Chase, wrestling in at the 107 pound bracket, defeated Braden Weinrich of Northampton in overtime on March 8th to win the title. Braden has been ranked first in the state all season. He finished 40 and 2, avenged both losses during the amazing postseason run. Well done, Chase. We're very

006proud of you. And I know Mr. Jaffe used to wrestle. So after the meeting, if you want to try to take him out, you can. Thank you all for coming and congratulations again. Scarple coaches too. We have some playwright contest winners. We are happy to congratulate three middle school students for being rewarded for their writing talents. Corinne Brintall, 8th grader at Tohegan. Jocelyn Hall, a 9th grader at Unami. And Charlie Marr, a 9th grader at Tamanin. We're all winners in the Phillips Mill Community Association's 30th annual Play With Words. Are they here tonight? Come on up. I know it's a little awkward. So who do we have here? I'm Jocelyn. I'm Corinne. So these two won. The judges evaluated all one-act scripts in a blind submission process and selected six winners. For their achievement, they

007were treated to stage readings of their plays before live audiences and $100 cash prizes. Congratulations. Next up we have a Tamanin achievement. Last but not least, congratulations to the technology and engineering teachers and all involved in the program at Tamanin. The school earned the technology and engineering education middle school program of excellence award for the International Technology and Engineering Educators Association and the Technology and Engineering Education Association of Pennsylvania. It's quite a long title. Do we have Carrie Bomba? Carrie is the lead teacher in the school's technology education department and was honored at the 2024 TEAP conference in October. Congratulations to Tamanin. Teacher Adam Paulus. Come on up. And Tamanin's administration as well who are joining us tonight. So congratulations to all of you. The award is given in recognition of the school's hands-on project

008in design and technology, including catapult building, 2 and 3D design, and coding with crumble electronics. The educational program has excelled in robotics education, built a strong culture of safety and fostered student participation in the What's So Cool About Manufacturing contest. Tamanin students engage in cutting-edge technology, collaborate with industry professionals, and gain invaluable real-world experience. So we congratulate Tamanin on this great honor. I believe we have some student representatives here to share some information about their schools this evening. You can come on up to the, as you start your remarks, if you could just introduce yourself and tell us what school you're from. That'd be great. Good evening, everyone. My name is Max Jin. I am a student, a junior student at CB South. I'm proud to be here on behalf of my school and on

009behalf of our principal, Mr. Booker. Last time I was here, I had the opportunity to discuss some of the community building initiatives and the enduring spirit of our school within the last month. Today, I'll be sharing some new updates, student and extracurricular achievements, and upcoming events from our building. First, I'm very excited to share that four of my fellow Titans have been named finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Competition. I'd like to take a moment to congratulate Apirup Dey, Dhruv Dhananjay, Ayolua Papula, and Shreyas Trivedi for their outstanding achievements. In other news, we have some exciting information from our CB South Writing Center as well. From tomorrow through Saturday, our Writing Center tutors will be presenting at this year's annual Secondary Schools Writing Association National Conference at Brigham Young University. Madeline Engstrom and Kriti Malafker

010will be presenting their presentation, Trekking the Paths Ahead, the Value in Collecting and Implementing Feedback in Tutor Communication. There will also be two virtual presenters, Anushka Saha and Lakshmi Iyengar, who will be presenting their presentation, entitled Bridging the Canyon Between English and STEM, How Literary Skillsets Can Benefit Scientific Disciplines. I'd also like to take a moment to recognize the achievement of our Operation Eternal Gratitude Club, which is led by Mr. Woodring. This week, thanks to the hard work of staff and students involved in OEG, the club had the opportunity to receive a $30,000 grant from the PA House of Representatives through Representative Brian Monroe. Members of our OEG club received recognition on the House floor for their efforts this week. Outside the Writing Center, some of you may have been aware that recently the District

011DECA Clubs had gone to Hershey PA for their state conference and competitions. Well, I'm happy to share that six of our Titans have returned from this competition as qualifiers for the International DECA Competition, which will be taking place in Orlando, Florida, this May. Coming up, we have a few significant events to take note of as well. First, our HOSA Club will be attending their state conference and competition next week in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Hopefully they bring back some awards as well. In addition to that, on April 4th, Friday, during our half-day schedule, CB South will be hosting a Community Career Fair from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and we are excited to share that there will be 25 local businesses, including Chick-fil-A, that will be showing up to help and promote their businesses and we encourage

012many of our community members to attend if they can. Finally, the last time I was here, I did have the opportunity to share a little bit more about our internship program, which is being led by Mr. John Melvin over at CB South. Regarding this internship program, it looks like there will be a community internship lunch on April 24th, that's a Thursday, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and this will be a lunch event to discuss how we can participate in empowering students within the community and how students such as myself will have the opportunity to help out local businesses as interns. Finally, I am the class president at CB South and so within our student council, we have been working to promote some fundraising efforts for our basketball tournaments and students are looking forward to

013our upcoming proms, which will be taking place in the month of May. That's all from CB South. Thank you very much for this opportunity. Good evening. Good evening. My name is Gavin Gross and I am a sophomore from CB West. I've got a couple topics I want to talk about today and I'm going to start with West United. CB West continues to reinforce the West Pledge through specific advisory-based activities facilitated by members of the West United club and reflected upon by all West students. During this time, students collaborated with one of the pillars of West Pledge and located a picture, a quote, or constructed their own authentic examples to further strengthen its purpose. The display has been assembled outside the main office for all students and staff to engage in. Additionally, West United students arranged

014an opportunity to present to fifth grade students at Kutz Elementary earlier this month. The responsive message, words can hurt, but that hurt doesn't have to be permanent, was well received and left a positive impact on these young students and the greater West community. CB West students reflected upon the same theme and collaborated with their advisory classes to improve upon the welcoming West environment. Additionally, activities like these will continue to be planned at West for the school year, though throughout this valuable and important work. CB West seeks to maintain its no place for hate status for the school year and all ahead. Next, I want to celebrate some digital art achievements made by our students. Central Bucks High School West Senior Elder Geliv was recognized for his outstanding achievement in digital art. Elder's animated short film

015created in art, Intro to 3D Modeling and Animation Course, was elected as the winner of a digital category for the 2025 PSEA Touch the Future Art Exhibition. This prestigious competition hosted by the Council for Advance of Public Schools showcases artwork for more than 324 public high school students across Bucks County and Montgomery Counties. Elder's award winning animation was a testament to his creativity, dedication and artistic talent. The exhibition is currently on display at the Fine Arts Center of Montgomery County College. The CB West graphic design club has been buzzing with creativity and inspiration. Over the past couple months, students in the club had the opportunity to Skype with topic professionals, graphic designers who have shared insights to their creative process, career journeys and what a typical day looks like in the history. These guest speaker

016sessions have given our students first hand knowledge of real world design challenges, industrial trends and career opportunities, helping to bridge the gap between classroom learning and professional practices. Some athletic achievements at CB West goes to show another historical year for girls wrestling in Central Bucks. Senior Izzy Perero became the second PIAA qualifier in Central Bucks history and the first ever PIAA medalist with her fourth place finish at this season's state championships event in Hershey, PA. Some highlights of her historic season were that she was the league champion for suburban one, placed second at District 1s and District 12 championships, second place at Southwest Regional and fourth place at the PIAA state championships. Senior Patrick Kelly also had a historic run to the state finals in Hershey. Patrick was District 1 North champion, Southwest Regional champion,

017state finalist this season and state finalist this season. This was Patrick's second medal at states. In addition to all of these accolades, Patrick became the all-time wins leader in CB West history with 137 wins in his high school wrestling career. I would like to congratulate Yuel Nahor and Ruhan Vieda as they were the National Merit Scholars. Congrats to them on this outstanding achievement. That's all from CB West. Thank you. My name is Amanda Garvey. I am from CB East and I am the current president of the CB East Patriot Players. We are best known for our two main stage shows that we put on in the fall and in the spring, but our club is active throughout the year. We would like to share with you some of our other activities and events that take

018place throughout the school year. Every year, the CB East Patriot Players sponsors a Make-A-Wish child through the Rising Stars program. For over 20 years, we have been able to grant a child's wish every year, which means we raise over $8,000 per year for Make-A-Wish. In the past couple of days, we've been able to grant our current Make-A-Wish child, Madeline, her wish to go to Disney. Throughout the year, we have various activities that help make money for this cause, as well as the proceeds from the Thursday night show of Anastasia. As we speak, Senior Bo Bradney, Junior Selena Khan, and Sarah McLean, and our advisor, Mrs. Sasha Eisenberg, are at a special event with the Make-A-Wish of Greater Philadelphia's Rising Star Program. We are among eight other schools participating in the fundraising event. A school with

019the largest earnings can win a scholarship for the leader of the team. And I just got word like 20 minutes ago that we did win. One of our biggest special events is the Children's Workshop that took place a couple of weeks ago. The workshop brought in 130 elementary school kids from across the district, and they spent the day with Pager Players learning a song, dancing, acting, and taking tours of our costume room and crew areas. The Junior Pager Players, as we call them, performed for their families at the end of the afternoon. All proceeds from there also went towards Make-A-Wish. Another event that we held this year was the CB Cabaret. Students from all three high schools came to East, and we had a fun night singing musical theater songs. All of the proceeds from

020this event also went towards Make-A-Wish. And all of these events are led by student leaders. Starting back in August, our advisor meets with the club leaders and teaches a 10-hour leadership mini-course. The skills we learned from the leadership classes, as well as the excellent role models of students from previous years, help new leaders be successful throughout the year. Each event has a student leader or leaders that organize and plan. We also have an assistant student directors during our main stage shows, as well as student directors every year who put on a smaller show. While our student leaders have the support of a team of directors, much of the work and responsibility is on the student leaders. Once our main stage shows move to dress rehearsals and eventually performances, it is mostly student ran. Our tech,

021the soundboard, microphones, lights are all student run by their crew chiefs up on the balcony. Backstage, the crew that built the set is entirely student run, as well as our costume crew helping with quick changes and other costume fixes. And our main productions sell out almost every single show. That's about 3,200 people coming to see us in just one show weekend. For the generous support of our community, we are able to present wonderful productions as well as give back to the community at large. We know that the leadership and team building skills that we practice within Pager Players will help us in college and beyond, no matter our major and career path. While working hard and supporting one another, we also learn important skills such as time management, how to be resourceful, and what it

022means to have grit. Pager Players live by the motto, teamwork makes the dream work. We hope you will stop by East to see Anastasia in two weeks to see our team in action. Thank you. That actually reminds me, the Titan Thespians at CVSouth will also be presenting Sweeney Todd on the weekend of March, I believe, 28th and 29th. Thank you. So David, come on up. David, we already had a chance to watch your video. How do you feel about speaking in public? Are you good at speaking in public? No? Do you want to tell everyone about your great artwork? Or do you want me to tell them about the artwork? Do you want to do it or do you want me to do it? Okay, I think I'll do it. So tell me if I'm

023right here. So you're thoughtful collaborators, right? So you have the bees that are collaborating. What else do you have in there? The plants are growing. They all are growing together. And the bees, all the bees in the beehive have different jobs to do. And they're collaborating by doing those jobs. And what school do you go to? John Barkley Elementary School. That's awesome. And guess what we have here for you? We have a certificate and a gift card. So there's a gift card. And there's a certificate. They'll come and get a picture. Dr. Garvin, if you could go to the next slide. Keep going. Keep going. One more. So on tonight's agenda, there are a couple of things I want to draw your attention to. We all know that Miss Tara Hauser will be leaving us

024at the end of May. She'll begin her time as the chief financial officer in the North Penn School District on June 1st. So there is a interim CFO contract on the agenda for tonight. A gentleman named Steve Scrocki, who is currently or most recently the CFO at North Penn, will serve on an interim basis here in the district. The board will also consider action to approve the CB East realignment renovation contracts tonight. In terms of safety and security, there is there are a couple of motions there. We're going to be up or approving the updated emergency operation plan. I want to thank our district safety team and also all the municipalities and first responders that were part of writing that and also memorandum of understandings with the local police departments. There are textbook approvals and

025first readings of policies to be affirmed on tonight's agenda. There's been a lot of confusion about what the United States Department of Education does and what it doesn't do. So I wanted to take just a few minutes to talk a little bit about the federal funding that we get as a district. And I'll start by saying when we look at the overt funding, the funding that we can point to that comes directly from the federal government, we receive school based access money. And Miss Wright, I'm correct in saying that those funds reimburse us for medical services that we provide for students. We also receive Title one funding. Title one funding is used to provide staff who provide services for students who are struggling with reading. Title two is for staff development. Title three for English

026language learners. I'm sorry to interrupt you. It appears that one of the families that was supposed to be here to be honored got kind of missed and they're going to come back in. So maybe when we're finished with this, we can recognize them. How about we just recognize them right now and stop everything and recognize them right now. They came here. Let's recognize them. Sounds like a plan. One of our writers. No, you're fine. You're fine. So why don't you tell everybody your name? Hi, I'm Charlie Maher. And Charlie was one of the students. Tell them what you want. I won a playwriting competition for the Phillips Mill Play Company. It was like a one act play festival. And we heard that you got to see your play staged and you won a cash prize.

027Is playwriting something you're really interested in? All right. Well, thank you for coming. And someone will be up to take your picture in just a couple minutes. If you could go to the next slide, there are some things that the Federal Department of Education does, but there's also things that the Federal Department of Education doesn't do. So in the last on the last slide, I talked about some of the funding that they administer title one idea, which is special education funding, title two, title three. One of their major functions are higher education funding and a whole slew of additional programs. But some of the things they don't do, they don't establish local curriculum, reading lists or textbook adoptions. All of those things are done right here at the local level. They don't make staffing or

028compensation decisions. They don't fund free and reduced lunch. That comes out of the Department of Agriculture and they don't set district policy in the board briefs that will go out tomorrow. We have this information included so that everyone has clarity around what the department does and what they don't do. Next Tuesday night, March 25th at Lenape, seven o'clock, we're going to be showing a screening of Screenagers Elementary School Edition. We live in a world where smartphones are so pervasive and prevalent and so many of our students are really addicted to their smartphones. This event is going to be a kickoff of a digital wellness series. And so working in collaboration with a group of parents, we've decided to do the screening and have some conversations for the rest of the year around how we can

029move kids away, not necessarily ban smartphones, but structure our classes and structure our schools in ways where they are not a big distraction. I just want to give a shout out to the Wait Till Eight central box group of very devoted parents, moms who have gone to great lengths to kind of lead this grassroots effort so that we can come together as families in this community and really advocate for our kids and the dangers of cell phone use in excess and at too young an age. So they've done a remarkable job and I just want to take a moment to thank those families. And last but not least, we have our final town hall next week where we'll be discussing Doyle, Kutz, and Linden Elementary Schools. It will be held next Thursday at 7 p.m.

030at CB South High School. There's information on our website. You can pre-submit some questions and we'll be answering questions live that night as well. Thank you. And that brings us to our first period of public comment, which is 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 registered 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 our 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 are speaking about. Regarding the minutes that appear on the agenda, I'm sorry, that appear on the agenda, comment

031is 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'll be permitted to speak during the second period of public comment. If a question is posed, the individual may be referred to the superintendent for a 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'll 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 your understanding. And if I could just

032take a moment to speak for myself personally, the last handful of meetings have been tense for the board, for the community. I want to take a minute to acknowledge that. I also want to say, like, I am a person up here trying to do the best I can to run the meeting the best way I possibly can while respecting everyone's opportunity to speak. And while trying to enforce policy, which has to be enforced across meetings, I've been heckled and yelled at. And it's getting to be a lot for me. And I understand why a lot of people are here talking about a very weighty topic. And I don't want to undercut that at all. I'm just asking that we have mutual respect during these periods of public comment and throughout the meeting and that we

033hold ourselves to a high level of decorum and respect, please. I really appreciate it. And I will add that Mrs. Gibson is a wonderful woman, and I cannot think any highly of her. So with that, our first speaker of the night is Ed McHouse. Edward McHouse from Buckingham, former teacher. I taught in the seventies and talking about the first read of the policies designed on discipline and and the control of children and the teachers. I'm I think that not everything can be taught in schools. Like I was emergency certified, which you can't do in Pennsylvania. And physics background and thought and in New Jersey and New York, you can get emergency certified. There's a shortage of special ed teachers and needs. I think it should be considered emergency certification to help out. I had some

034military experience and I think military people would be very good. There's a lot of conflicts in schools like one of the biggest problems as a teacher is surviving your first year. And if you survive your first year, you have some experience controlling even normal students. I had some difficult students. I was in in the seventies. We didn't have autistic students. We had one in a thousand students or ten thousand with autistic. Now we have one in thirty six in America and one in twenty two in California. We're the highest country in the world for autism rate of autism. I think Robert Kennedy Jr. Maybe he'll health and human services, maybe he'll take over some of the functions of the education department so we can educate people better. I think the vaccine should be voluntary. The

035Amish children are not vaccinated. Don't get this autism. There's some chemicals, sons in chemistry and all. Hopefully they'll come up with some drugs that'll make autism better. But in the meantime, it's very difficult for parents and teachers to deal with. When I was a teacher, I collaborated a lot with the parents. And I think we it's important to have feedback and work with these programs with the parents because the parents need help. And so teachers and the parents need to work and cooperate together and positive things is necessary. But we can't excuse negative behavior. And so you can't fool the students. You learn from the students. The students may have problems, but they're not stupid. They're as smart as we are, but they have have different things. We have to admit that we're not perfect

036and everyone's not perfect. And so we can all be great in telling others what to do. But we we need to be better listeners and be kinder and gentler. And everyone here and the school board has something to contribute. And we should all appreciate that because we shouldn't second guess and appreciate what she said. Susan Gibson, because everyone gets threats. Thank you. Shannon Harris, Shannon Harris, parent. So under number 10, I see you have on the agenda policy one one three point one and one one three point two. Discipline of student and disabilities are with the disability. Sorry. And behavioral support. So I am glad that the board is updating the policies this month to address the child abuse scandal at Jamison Elementary regarding Mr. Pepper's son. And it seems like you guys expedited this

037because it really took you only a month to get it to a first read. So that's great. What I have an issue with is why it would take a law firm three months or more to do a presentation and on an investigation over this whole thing. We all know what happened. What I'm requesting tonight is a progress update on this investigation. I would also like an update and an estimate of how many hours are being spent. I know we might not have like a physical invoice because they wait till the end, but it would be nice to know if we have any idea how much is being spent already. And I would like you to go back since you are the client to go push the attorney to present her findings at the next board

038meeting on April 24th. I do not think that this is unreasonable request. We've been waiting long enough for this child abuse to be addressed and the findings to be presented. Two months is more than enough. We already know what all happened in these policies. You basically also admitted that what we have been saying in public comment is true and the specific contents that you are addressing in these are basically what parents have been presenting in public comment. For instance, the section on restraints and aversive techniques specifically talks about no corporal punishment, no locked rooms or spaces, no deprivation of food and water treatment, et cetera. Everything in this section have happened to Mr. Pepper's son. What is outlined here is against the law. You stated in your policy. What I think you also need to

039do is actually state the P.A. code within this section. I know you in the beginning of every policy, you state all the little P.A. codes and everything. Nobody understands that. In this specific area, you need to say that you are breaking the law if you violate these things. I also want to know if the teachers are being given the CBST policies when they are hired and do you make sure they read them? Do they have to sign a document saying that they've read and understand them? I don't know this. It's just a general thought. If not, it needs to start. Where are all the statements? What is missing in these policies is where all the statements about documentation being made sure that it's being done. Where are the statements about parents being immediately notified, being

040shown the documents? I don't see anything about communicating with parents. I see communications with the superintendent and law enforcement. Where are the parents in this policy? And you need to go back and add that in because parents are obviously definitely part of this process. And you guys intentionally kept Mr. Pepper and his family out of it. Thank you. Thank you. Doreen Stratton. Before I start, I may be – I am going to speak about education, but it is going to be a specific concern in regard to the United States Department of Education, which you alluded to previously in the presentation. If, in fact, this is not my time to speak, I will wait until the end of the program and express my concerns at that time. Yes, thank you, Ms. Stratton. I do believe that

041would be more appropriate for the second period of public comment as it doesn't sound like that's an agenda item. I will add your name to that list. Yes. I've been away for a while, and you all did some new stuff here. Okay, thanks. This is a fairly new policy. We'll add your name to the second period. Thank you so much. And that brings us to the approval of the school board minutes. Do I have a motion to approve the minutes from February 20th, 2025? So moved. Second. Moved by Ms. Foley, seconded by Ms. Zdanovitz. Any comments or questions about the minutes? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Motion passes 8-0. That will bring us to our school board reports for education committee. That would be Ms. Foley, yes? Sorry, just for clarification, I

042think it's seven. Oh, that's right. You chaired that meeting. No, I think it's seven. Right, there's seven of us because Heather and Rob are both missing. Oh, Heather and Rob are both gone. You're on. Thank you. Yes, seven. I can't count some days. It's late. Thank you. Yes, seven to zero. Thank you. Education, I think Heather did. I'm going to present the minutes, and then Karen's going to help pipe in. I apologize. I was not able to make the education meeting this month. This month we approved a number of different things. Well, I should say we moved to the board for approval. Pod software, which was presented to the committee regarding accounting pod software. A number of different textbooks. The Reading Horizons Version 9 book presented by our reading supervisors. The Reading Horizons Version 9

043for kindergarten through Grade 2. The adoption of the AP Psychology textbook. It aligns, we have to adopt new textbooks within certain time periods. This particular textbook aligns with the college board's new course and exam description. So we moved that to the board for a vote to ensure we're in compliance. And then the approval of TCI, grades K through five. The TCI program is a standards aligned program that uses civics, economics, geography, and some history to grades K through three to understand social studies. History and geography become the principal ways of learning social studies for grades four and five. So we'll move that to the agenda for tonight for a vote. And the AP United States History textbook as well was moved along for a vote. We also talked a little bit about the district calendar.

044My understanding is it's going to be going back for some edits and coming back to committee next month. Yeah, it was brief. We didn't really get into much. She's going to bring back two versions for the next meeting. Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Foley. That brings us to our policy committee. Thank you. Our policy committee met just last week on the 13th. Our meeting was rescheduled. It was kind of my fault. I had a scheduling mixed up and actually Heather couldn't make it that night. Net either. So we flipped them. We have a number of policies on the agenda tonight. When we met last week, we had a really good discussion. Thank you, Miss Wright, for teaching us a lot. I think out of the policies that are on the agenda for first read

045tonight, we think we're going to be developing some A.R.s, which are administrative regulations. And what they really are is there's a policy. And then the next level down from the policy is how that policy is operationalized. Did I explain that correctly? Dr. So it's really another level of detail that we feel some of the policies really we need to dig into them and we need to provide more detail in writing up front. The other thing that's important about some of the special edged policies is right. Miss Wright also pointed out to us that there's a cyclical monitoring process. So these policies will be coming up again and not too long a term. But we really want to kind of put them out there and get some of those A.R.s in the process. The items on

046the second read for tonight really had no change. But the items for the first read, I don't think there were really any substantive changes in the policy, but we really want to discuss them and figure out, you know, next steps and all that. The second repos is I don't think there were any changes in those second repos. Is that correct? So those items are on our agenda tonight. We will meet again on April 10th at six. Thank you. Thank you. And then for Finance and Operations Committee, Mr. Herring. Thank you. So the Finance and Operations Committee met earlier in March on Thursday, March 6th. We covered off on several operations support services items. Dr. Yanni alluded to and mentioned many of them earlier, but I'll just elaborate on a few there. The Emergency Operations Plan,

047which she mentioned, we had a chance to review that. So that is moved for approval tonight. There's some minor repair projects on some various schools in the district that are moved forward and approved. And then the CB East realignment renovation project is moved forward as well. All items are budgeted for and the realignment estimates came in well within what was budgeted as well. So that was good to see on the finance side of things. There are a couple of tax stipulations for some locations in the district where there were pluses and minuses of givebacks on the on the property tax. And then the interim CFO is up for approval as well, as was mentioned. So next meeting is April 10th at seven o'clock. You're more than welcome to attend. Thank you. An update from the

048Bucks County Intermediate Unit, Ms. Foley. All right. So a wonderful presentation was given to the board this month on the Grow Your Own Teacher Program. The number of certified teachers in Pennsylvania is steadily declining, whereas the number of emergency certified professionals continues to rise. Thank you for your point, Mr. Machouse from earlier. One area of teacher certification that's significantly affected by these trends is special education. And as a leader in providing specialized programs for students with complex needs, the BCIU strives to ensure their staff are all fully certified. And so the Grow Your Own Teacher Partnership, the GYOT, is one program that the IU has implemented their multifaceted teacher education pathway. Thus far, all participants have successfully finished three out of the nine required courses in their special education teacher preparation program. And participants are

049anticipated to complete the program in April of twenty twenty six. It was a pilot program that was started in March of twenty twenty four. And it provides an opportunity for the Bucks IU staff working under an emergency teacher certification to obtain a PDE approved certificate in special education. Professional staff working for the BCIU as long term substitutes and or who were who received their emergency certification were all invited to apply. And the program is intended to assist qualified Bucks County IU staff in obtaining their teacher certification at no cost with an agreement to maintain employment with the IU for a minimum of four years following completion of the program. Also covered this month was some acknowledgement. Our BCIU speech language pathologist, Patricia Mervine, received the she was the recipient of the twenty twenty five Bucks

050County Women's History Month Award. There is a professional development opportunity. The IU this month, I wanted to highlight for any staff that might be interested in attending on April 1st from eight thirty to three thirty p.m. Regarding enhancing retention in the K through twelve mathematics classroom. It's a hands on workshop exploring proven strategies to help students retain key math concepts. It was also National School Social Worker Month. We celebrated all month long at the IU. But I believe the week was last week or the week prior. Recognizing the incredible impact our school social workers have on our students while being success in future. And the there was also a little bit of information presented on more professional development opportunities and efforts for gifted learners in Bucks County. Middlebox Institute Institute of Technology update. Sure. Things

051are going well at Middlebox as normal. We have been in the competition season. We had 74 students participate in the Skills USA competition and 35 students earned medals, 14 bronze, 24 silver and 15 gold medals. The gold medal students do advance to the statewide competition. We just had a career in college fair at Middlebox. There were over 70 different businesses and colleges attending, giving kids the opportunity to learn some more about the future and even do some on the on the spot interviews. The medical and health professions group hosted a blood drive at the school, which gave them some hands on learning experience and also was something good for the community. The work based education program has 75 students working out in the community in different businesses, giving them hands on training. And this month,

052the occupational advisory councils met at MBIT. We have 21 programs at MBIT and each one has this occupational advisory council. These are business folks in each of the disciplines in our community, and they meet at MBIT twice a year to discuss the curriculum and make sure that everything is pertinent to what's currently at work in the field. And then we had two students win at the annual Philly Auto Dealers Top Tech Challenge. They took first place, Matthew Levesque and Matthew Hood. That's it from MBIT. Thank you. And that brings us to our finance section of the meeting, Ms. Hauser. Thank you, Mrs. Gibson. I'm going to go off script for just a quick second because of the Operation Enduring Gratitude $30,000 grant that wasn't available at the time of the Finance Committee meeting. Those girls

053wrote that grant themselves. It was a DCED grant that Mr. Monroe told them about, but they had to write that grant on their own. As a military mom and a military spouse, I was incredibly impressed by their efforts and actually some of the packages that they sent to our troops. So that $30,000 goes to Bootle boxes, which are personal hygiene products, food, all kinds of things that go and they are shipped to troops that are deployed. And some of my daughter's friends actually got some of those deployment boxes. So I just want to call that out again and say thank you very much to Mr. Woodring, who's their advisor and a Navy veteran at CB South and congratulate the girls on their grant. If you have pictures, they love pictures. And they did get to

054go to Harrisburg and they got a great big check. So I will send you a picture of the great big check. Thank you. And with that, that brings us to the Finance Committee section. Administration is seeking approval for items 6A through 6L. Can I get approval or a motion to approve items 6A through 6L? So moved. And a second? Second. I have a first motion by Mr. Herring, second by Ms. Smith. Any comments or questions about any of these items? All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Any abstentions? Motion carries 7-0. And then operations? Thank you, Ms. Gibson. For this evening, I'd like if I can to break out this into two sections. I'd like to seek approval for items 7B through 7J and 7L and 7M. And I'll explain the other one, the other 7K,

055just after this. Okay. Can I get a motion to approve items A, 7A through J and items 7L through M? So moved. Moved by Mr. Herring. Second. Second by Ms. Zdanovitz. Any comments or questions about those items? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Motion passes 7-0. So with item 7K, if I just add some commentary to this, our solicitor, Mr. Diasi, I was currently working with the borough solicitor on just some very specific language relative to this petition to vacate the right of way there. So there may be some, what I would seek to ask is if this could be subject to final approval by the solicitor, just modifying those minor edits, nothing that would material change the whole petition to vacate or that the borough would approve tonight if they approved it.

056So with that, seek approval. Can I get a motion to approve item 7K? So moved. Moved by Ms. Zdanovitz and a second. Second. Second by Mr. Herring. Any comments or questions about this item? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Motion passes 7-0. And Ms. Wright, special education, section eight. This administration is seeking approval of special education items 8B through H. Can I get a motion to approve items 8B through H, please? So moved. And a second? Second. Moved by Ms. Foley, seconded by Ms. Smith. Any comments or questions about any of these items? All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Motion passes 7-0. And education, items A through F. Susan, we can take out E, please. Yeah. And who does education? Is that Dr. Mullen or Dr. Garvin? Administration is seeking

057approval of items 9B through 9F. And then Mr. Pepper asked that we address item 9E separately. So can I get a motion to approve items 9B through D and F? So moved. Moved by Mr. Pepper and seconded by Ms. Smith. Any comments or questions about these items? Oh, it was Ms. Sindel. Sorry. It's all right. Any comments or questions about these items? All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Motion passes 7-0 for items 9B through D and F. And can I get a motion to approve items 9E? So moved. Is that Ms. Smith? Yep. Okay. Can I get a second? Second. Moved by Ms. Smith, seconded by Mr. Herring. Any comments or questions about this item? All right. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Opposed. Any abstentions? Motion passes 6-1. And turning

058to policy, Dr. Yanni? Administration is seeking approval of items 10B and C. Can I get a motion to approve items 10B and C? So moved. And a second? Second. Moved by Ms. Smith, seconded by Ms. Sendanowicz. Any comments or questions on these items? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes 7-0. And field trips, Dr. Malone? Administration is seeking approval for field trip items 11B through 11I. Can I get a motion to approve items 11B through 11I? So moved. And a second? Moved by Mr. Pepper, seconded by Ms. Foley. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Motion passes 7-0. Human resources, Mr. Freiling? Administration seeks approval of human resources items B through H. Can I get a motion to approve items B through H, please? So moved. And a second? Second. Moved by

059Ms. Smith and seconded by Ms. Sendanowicz. All in favor? Wait, do we have retirements? Oh, I don't think so. Do we have any retirements? Yes. Oh, sorry. Thanks, Karen. We have three retirements this evening to announce. James Braun, a mechanic communications in operations, 28 years in Central Bucks. Nadine Garvin, assistant superintendent, elementary education and the administration building, 33 years in Central Bucks. Congratulations, Dr. Garvin. Mark Robinson, social studies teacher at Lenape Middle School, 28 years in Central Bucks for total years of service of 89 years in Central Bucks. Did I get a motion for B through H? Okay. Any comments or questions on any of these items? All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Abstain. Motion passes 6-0 with one abstention. And that brings us to our second period of public comment this

060evening. Persons wishing to make public comment were required to register prior to the start of tonight's meeting. If students registered to speak, they were permitted to do so first. Please note that public comment is not intended to be question and answer session. If a question is posed, the individual may be referred to the superintendent for a 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

061for your understanding. And first is Stephen Albert. Stephen Albert, Doylestown Borough. Please know that I am beyond empathetic to the circumstances of our special needs students. They are sometimes different. They are never less than. We know what tunnel vision is. I'm suggesting for consideration different approaches to what has been said here recently. Wood chips have been used for decades on schoolhouse playgrounds. They are comfortable to walk on barefoot. They are not used for discipline. Temple Grandin has taught us that touch has a positive effect on children with autism. Walking on wood chips can nudge us to realize I need to put my shoes on. Deprived of water, water for water has been consumed and it is time to move on. Temple Grandin tells us that an autistic mind tends to be fixated, perhaps on a

062water fountain. Time to move on. Restraints, what do we mean? Temple Grandin teaches that pressure can be calming for children's nervous systems. I witnessed accounts how frail these accounts are. For example, last month one of the regulars told us that February was the very first time that names had been left off of human resources listings. In fact, names had been left off for months. We see what we are prone to see. By the way, thank you for shielding those names from the tar and feather posse. Is it possible that the heart of the matter is that our special education department is down 85 to 90 staff? We can't expect to have lines of applicants at our doors if we pay Burger King wages. The board leadership letter of February 24th notes that additional staff has

063been put in place for the Jamison classroom. Temple Grandin tells us that autistic children, especially at an early age, need one-to-one teaching. The hostile and dismissive tone in this room over the last months has been stunning. Does board member Pepper's promise made with perfect clarity at board meeting last October that he would dump on quote on the district at least suggest we should weigh further statements with caution? Calling our capable, professional, honorable, ethical staff sitting in the front inside of this room liars, corrupt, the engineer directed and venomous presentations by the no longer in office former board members dream team did zero to did zero to address issues in our special needs classrooms. This from the gals against liberty playbook spoken by another regular last month. You as a board are advocates for us, the

064parents. You are there for us, unquote. No, you. We are here for our students and their teachers. That has been so good to see over the last year. Please persevere. Clumsy theatrics do nothing to resolve horny, messy circumstances. It is wrong to bat around sensitive matters involving children in an open forum. Though much of their lives are in the public arena, children deserve protection for their private lives. Thank you. Marion Davies. I'm Marion Davies, taxpayer, longtime resident of Doylestown Township. Four kids graduated from this district. And I have to say that the school district that my kids went to is vastly different and better than what's happening now. I am just shocked at the comments that this gentleman behind me just said to defend the horrible things that happened to your son and the sons,

065the other children in the classroom are for the course for him. I shock shocking. Where were all of you, the ones that, you know, went out to protest and, you know, all kids matters, getting the photo ops with your posters? Where were you when all this went down with the classroom at Jamison? Because I didn't see any of you protesting out in the street. Which one of the kids matters? Because obviously when when things hit the fan, none of you were there. But you were there, what, two days ago, protesting the cuts that weren't aren't going to happen. Today it was announced. No program in the Department of Education is being cut. Not Title One, not any disabilities. Student loans are still going to happen. They're going to probably be redirected to the Treasury Department.

066And also, Dr. Yanna, on that matter, I would say that it's imperative to make it clear on the Web site what actually happened and actually the statement saying that the programs are not going to be cut. Because there was people protesting yesterday in the schools or outside of the schools, teachers, board members. And it's all for naught because there isn't a single program that is going to be cut from the Department of Education. There's going to be a reduction in force. And most of that is attorneys from the Office of Civil Rights. Karen, you're very familiar with that department. But guess what? The Office of Civil Rights is now going to be under the Department of Justice, the Office of Civil Rights. So let's just stop with the histrionics and the misinformation. And certainly the

067school district needs to put out the truth of what's happening. And again, Dr. Excuse me, Jim. I am so sorry for what has happened to you. I can't express it enough as a mom of four children. I can't even imagine. And not only that, but the hurt continues by the actions and inactions of the people and your colleagues around you. Thank you. Not all of them. Edward Mackhouse. Edward Mackhouse, again, Buckingham, former teacher, educator and scientist, taught 10 years in the 70s. I think that there's no magic cure for everything. I think the Department of Education needs to educate. I think Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Health and Human Services, should take over the amount of education. Parents and teachers need choices. They shouldn't have mandatory vaccines. None of the very few of the Amish children

068who don't get vaccines get autism. It's much easier to contaminate people than to cure them. There is maybe one drug now to help autistic children. But it's clear that autistic children have some physical disabilities that may be addressed by some medical things. So as a scientist, I believe in trial and error. As far as getting teachers to handle autistic, I had some karate training. And when I was teaching, I broke up many fights. And I think it's important to be able to restrain children in a proper way. Like, I broke up many fights. I went to Cheltenham High School where 10 teachers and administrators were put in the hospital trying to break up two fights with four girls who were involved. One fellow grabbed the girl who was the instigator and broke up the fight.

069So it's important to be able to restrain children without hurting them. And not just for immediate danger, but for all danger in the purse. I know the boy in the elementary schools, we can go and visit the classrooms. I did that. I always saw teachers all being good. I recommend visiting during the open school week, visiting the classrooms. It's important at the elementary school level. Once they get to the high school level, they don't want you to see you or an elementary middle school. But in the elementary school level, the kids are more, children are more malleable. We all make mistakes. None of us are purpose or perfect. But we all can be better. I admit to my children that I make mistakes and welcome. I think as a teacher, I learned a lot by

070listening to the children. So no one likes to be told anything. So it's good to listen to the children. Why are you upset? What is your problem? And then that's a lesson for the whole school. And when I observe the students, I don't want to hear the teacher talking. I like to hear the children talking. I want to see from the teachers how the children behave and what they do. Because I know that teachers can read. Only one school district, Louisiana, is the only one that had improvement in reading and stuff. They emphasize the basics. I think even in our school district, some graduate without knowing mathematics basics. Thank you. Parents, parents. So obviously I just spoke in the beginning of the meeting about policy 113.1.2. I didn't have time to go to policy meetings.

071I didn't have enough time to come here. And Mrs. Zdaniewicz, I appreciate you mentioning the comment that you did make about policy this board meeting. You all seem very tight-lipped about everything. And you're flying through this agenda, not commenting on much for, I guess, obvious reasons. But what you just said just kind of shocked me. You just said that there were not many changes to the first read of 113.1 and 113.2. What? So like I came here thinking that you guys were rectifying the situation that happened to Mr. Pepper's son and that you changed policy. So if you didn't do much to change this policy, how in the heck did this even happen to Mr. Pepper's son? Period. You have policy in place. All this stuff that's in the policy happened to Mr. Pepper's son.

072So it sure seems like you guys didn't, none of you followed policy. The employees didn't follow policy. It seems like you all broke the law. Mr. Pepper, I think you have an excellent case. Chris Vecchione. Chris Vecchione, Buckingham Township. First few seconds, I want to come up here for my wife. It's an incredible process. And I want to make sure I have the face that she doesn't like to be publicly. She's always trying to do the right thing. So I want to give her that voice right now. She did a damn good job. Something that hasn't been addressed. I'm going to unfortunately plagiarize a nice student called Mr. Martinez about collaboration. He meant collaboration of everyone from a student perspective. One individual can't do anything about it. Needs a team for a goal. Nonpartisan, Democrat,

073Republican, whatever. But guess what? For last years, collaboration has been hidden and now it's known. Those lawsuits are not false. And now it's about how we get back on track for students. You've seen with the full merit students with CVSouth various backgrounds. From pure merit, not equity. From kids who have meager grants of $30,000. Really, meager, based on the thing. Amazing work. To also kids with disabilities who need more help than anyone of those kids probably on a day-to-day basis. And that's where the letdown happened. So I'm standing up as a voice for my wife who's done a lot of work. For everyone behind that voice. And to all those kids coming down all the way down the line to kids with disabilities who have no voice. Incredible job. I'm like some people on the

074board that is definitely not Mr. Pepper and maybe another. No. You know what you should do. Those people should just resign. Dave Elliott, Doolstown Township. I thank the good Lord every day. My kids aren't in the CB district because I would send them anywhere but under the auspice of your leadership. I'm over here, guys. Hey, hey, somebody's talking to y'all. Y'all covered up. A autistic boy being abused. You proud of yourself? Is that good? You proud of yourself? Ms. Smith, I'm over here. Okay. We're not about furries. We're not about people, little kids wearing animal costumes and peeing in the corner of a classroom anymore. You covered up a kid being abused. Okay. By the way, woke, done. DEI, done. CRT, done. We're getting back to common sense in the classroom. Okay. Y'all ought to

075be ashamed of yourself. Hey, Mr. Herring, how'd that lawsuit work out for you? Trying to screw the district. Not so good, huh? I need to remind you not to address the direct board member, please. Oh, excuse me. The gentleman second from the left, how'd that lawsuit work out for you? Okay. Here's the deal. Our board policy asks you to not. Here's the deal. Excuse me. Someone needs to hear this, okay? Our board policy. We're done. Excuse me, sir. Our board policy is that you do not address directly any board member. Okay. Exactly. Y'all, this is bad. This is bad. Okay. You're covering up an abused autistic child who is a wonderful, wonderful little boy. You're covering it up. And I said this the last time. I'm going to say it again. The cover-up is worse

076than the crime. And it's coming, y'all. It's coming. Daniel Grabianowski. Daniel Grabianowski, Plumstead Township. One thing I just want to address that this is something that's going to keep coming up with the board members. It's not just the actions that occurred at Jamison School. It's about what didn't occur afterwards. I think the public looks up to the board directors here to do the right thing. But what we see is nonaction. We've seen people get fired for much less. I think one of the things, one of the concerns is, I don't know if anybody realized, is today is the four-month anniversary of the submission, submission of Dr. Yanni's submission to the child line report about the Jamison Elementary. I just want to read what's in this report. And maybe we can consider kind of what we

077know about afterwards. The report reads as follows. On the 11-20-24, we received a CY-104 report. This is from the police. Child line report from Dr. Steve Yanni, superintendent of Central Buck School District. He received a complaint regarding an autistic educational assistant at Jamison Elementary School was accused of speaking inappropriately to juvenile JP, as well as pushing and grabbing the student. The allegations were licked into and were unfounded by Jamison Elementary and the Central Buck School District. Think about that. The principal and the superintendent said there was nothing found that was wrong. Let me go on. Dr. Yanni advised that there were no concerns of abuse. The child line was made as of a precautionary measure. On 11-20-24, the officer said, I emailed Dr. Yanni asking for a port of the school district investigation. On 11-25,

078I called Dr. Yanni and left a voice message asking for a copy of the investigation. On 11-20-24, I called and spoke to Mr. Pepper regarding the child line we received regarding his son. He was notified of an instance, but he was not given the details that were provided. This is a father whose son is in the school and he was not informed of what had happened. Let me go ahead and read. I explained to him that the school had done their own investigation and learned the allegations were unfounded. Pepper told me that his son was not shown any concerning behaviors and no signs of physical abuse. On December 11, 2024, about 13-40 hours, I called Dr. Yanni and asked for the statements that were taken by the school district. Yanni reports that they were faxed

079after the first request. I sent him my business card and he will email them to me. On 12-18-24, Dr. Yanni emailed a copy of the Central Buck School District Report, which provided proper documentation of the school district's investigation of this matter. The complaints were outlined and the outcome were provided, and Detective Sergeant Richwin and I believe the investigation was handled internally, appropriate by the school district, and therefore this criminal investigation would be closed. A copy of this report has been attached to this IR. Then the question becomes, in light of everything that we have learned from all the investigation, was there a cover-up of Dr. Yanni? How about the school did their own investigation, learned allegations were unfounded? Again, a cover-up. And I think what's most concerning, disconcerting for me as a parent, was that

080Mr. Pepper was not informed, him or his wife were not informed of this incident. I think it's terrible and I think this is something the school board needs to reflect in how you handle your staffing, because it doesn't look well from us standing in the public. Thank you very much. Christy Callahan. Christy Callahan, Buckingham Township. Exactly three months ago today, Dr. Yanni emailed Mr. Pepper about his concerns about what happened in his son's classroom. Notice what Dr. Yanni does not say. He does not tell Mr. Pepper that his son was restrained, even though the whistleblower complaint detailed the use of restraints. We know that the Pennsylvania Department of Ed found that there was abuse, and Mr. Pepper's son and another child were unlawfully restrained 20 to 40 minutes at a time, multiple times a day,

081which was provided in writing to CBSD on November 18th. The email says, from Mr. Stephen Yanni to Jim Pepper, December 20th, Jim, I'm sorry to hear that Justin has regressed. I say that with great sincerity. As you know, I feel strongly that we have to give kids the instruction and services they need to be successful, their own individual levels of success. Here's the information from the investigation specific to Justin. Two items. Number one, nudity and self-stimulation. Multiple reports indicate that one student was undressed and engaging in self-stimulatory behavior in the classroom and bathroom reportedly as part of a weighted-out strategy. Number two, water restriction. Multiple reports indicate a student was restricted from accessing water reportedly to manage student issues with urination. Specific to the water restriction, it was not that he was given no water.

082It was that he was redirected away from the water fountain when he would stay there for long periods of time. I'm sharing that so you have a complete understanding of the information. As a result of the investigation, it was directed that communication protocols, that is meetings, be put into place to ensure that the teacher was implementing strategies directed by the BCBA and that the teacher service providers and educational assistants are all aligned on the supports and services he must receive. The principal and supervisor of special ed must also be part of this. All students have the right to their dignity. We must always do what we can to protect and preserve students' dignity, even when that means redirecting students when they want to disrobe and or self-stimulate. There was absolutely no report of physicality like

083you mentioned. I will share with the team about the lump behind his ear and the scratches on his face. Nothing like that was reported. I don't say that to question you at all. I'm sharing that to let you know that nothing like that was shared with us. This will be investigated when we return. Alyssa is best positioned to talk with you about why combat is being offered as she knows what instructional was missing. That's why I've asked her to reach out to you regarding the F-E-R-A request. Ed and Alyssa have assured me the request will be fulfilled much sooner than the 45 days. Much sooner. No one thinks that you're trying to find out how many times your name comes up in email. It's being taken seriously. In all sincerity, I know your family has

084been through a lot with the district. I cannot imagine how hard it is to have trust given what you've experienced in the past. I'm a man of my word, Jim, and I will always do what I can to protect kids. I hope you know that. Enjoy the break and the holiday, Stephen. Deborah Cannon. Deborah Cannon, Warrington Township. Leadership takes courage. It requires having the conviction to act even when confronting difficult situations. It requires being a unifier. A term Dr. Yanni was quoted using in an August 1st, 2024 Courier Times article. In the same article, Jim Pepper, who voted for Dr. Yanni's appointment, stated, as I fully expected, Dr. Yanni is doing a fantastic job. Dr. Yanni, what happened between August and November that you would suddenly abandon everything you knew about being a leader even

085with 10 years of superintendent experience and go through the dark depths of deception and lies and not protect the district's students of special needs? What was it? Was it lack of courage? Was it maybe political pressure? Maybe both? It's clear unity is not your specialty or your forte after all. I'm already aware that Dr. Garvin does not have courage of conviction at all, so I'm thankful to see her leave. I'm going to talk about Mrs. Smith at this point, and I really feel she's made a mess of everything from the moment she became board president. She created chaos and she gaslighted people. She made people basically act like she believed she was above the law, but she isn't. When you became board president and then had it vacant, you were removed and in disgrace. You

086had a complete vacant look on your face. And thankfully, to Mrs. Gibson's great credit, she's taken this horrific situation with the utmost seriousness. So to Mrs. Reynolds, Mr. Kamakata, and Mrs. Gibson, Ms. Foley, I thank you for having courage. It takes courage. Mrs. Smith, who knows what you would have done as board president in this situation? Because as a board member, we know you're protecting the very people who covered all this abuse of these children. And who knows what the lies you're telling herself? We don't know. We don't know. Maybe she's saying, I want to see what the investigation finds. Maybe she's saying, I want to see that there's another side of the story. But that doesn't really mean anything. It's just lies. Maybe you're capable of the irony that understanding that you were really,

087you know, Mr. Smith's son was abused. And you think back at how furious he was at you for sitting back and doing nothing while your buddies trafficked strictly confidential information about his sons. And you knew he was angry because he was terrified. Terrified that something would happen to his sons, his non-verbal sons. He was terrified that people would lie to him and his wife about the safety of his sons. And look at that. That's exactly what happened here. Exactly to a T. They lied. A hidden conversation, a hidden concussion, physical abuse, restraints, emotional abuse, mocking, water restriction, all covered up with lies. Like the lies you told about, what you knew about, is strictly confidential information about his children. I will be finished in just a second. The lies you also caused him to call

088you a psychopathic and a liar, a psychopath and a liar, and you are. I think it was Shakespeare that said, what is it? Consistency, thou art a jewel. And if there is anything that Mrs. Karen Smith is, is she's consistent. You consistently place your bizarre politics and your unquenchable need for attention over the well-being of disabled children. You should resign, but you won't because you're not figuratively crazy. Mrs. Cannon, if you can begin to wrap up. Thank you. Donna de Armand. Donna de Armand, Plumstead. Your policy does not supersede the Constitution of the United States. Mrs. Gibson, I will remind you of Marshall v. Amuso in which Pensbury was sued for exactly what you just tried to do to a public commenter here. Please do not infringe on our free speech. Karen Smith and the

089NEA and CBA walk in. Next topic. Karen, you're in your position. In your position, were you voted in to support a political agenda of the union who strong arms the district? Were you elected to represent the taxpayers and parents and do what's best for the kids? Which is it? Because you can't do both. You chose to participate in something that was designed to create political theater. You participated in that. You created drama and misinformation within our district and community. Again, I agree with Mrs. Cannon. It's consistent with your behavior that we've seen over the years. Policies in AR. How are you training teachers and staff and how will you change, how will any changes of policy fix the abuse situation? And the issue of mandated reporters not having training within six months, how is that

090being fixed to be a reasonable timeframe? And then how are you ensuring that staff understands these policies and gets proper training? And Dr. Frayling, according to the CBSD press release on the website, you do not have any prior experience with HR in a school district. Do you have or did you have at the time of these abuse happenings and the reporting of them, did you have all your training completed? You were hired in September, I believe. Do you lack the knowledge of mandated reporter training and perhaps also the legal requirements regarding restraints, which is a state law? Don't you think you should know these laws and have taken proper actions? And I find it completely shocking that anyone can come up here and defend what has happened or attack Mr. Pepper and anyone who has

091come here to support. This should be a thing that brings the community together. We should all be in agreement that what happened was not OK. There shouldn't be a defense here of things that happened that went wrong, that were done wrong. There should be apologies, there should be acknowledgement, there should be accountability and change. That's what should be happening. And I'm disgusted with you, sir. And, oh, Mrs. Smith, please do not send me any solicited emails after I'm speaking. And I hope you won't consider sending anybody else here unsolicited emails because they have called you out. Thank you very much. Lisa Ciccio. Lisa Ciccio, Warrington. Hello, Karen. So everyone knows that you are one of the people covering up for Yanni, Garvin, Freling and Trewinsky. Well, if they didn't know before tonight, they certainly know

092now. Yesterday, we saw you, a school board director, parading around CB West with a sign that read with liberty and justice for all students. But that sign was a bit incomplete, don't you think? Your sign should have read with liberty and justice for all students, except non-verbal children with autism. Because that's what you really think, clearly. Your actions are at least consistent. I'll give you that, Karen. Remember back in February of 2022. Mrs. Ciccio, you need to direct your comments to the board, not to an individual person. Everyone, back in 2022, in February, at our board retreat, Karen admitted to knowing that Diana, her buddy, was trafficking in strictly confidential information about Jim Pepper's disabled son. I remember that. I was there. So were Karen's buddies Tabitha and Mariam. I wonder what they're thinking about

093all of this. They are, like so many of your buddies, Karen, whisper quiet about the abuse at Jemison and the subsequent cover up of that abuse. I wonder why. Do you remember admitting that you did nothing about people trafficking information about Jim's disabled son? I do. I was there. Do you remember protecting the people who trafficked in this information, claiming that you couldn't remember who you spoke to about this? I do. I was there. Do you remember how that information was used? I do. It was used in a campaign mailing. Information about Mr. Pepper's disabled son was used to attack him in a campaign mailer. And you sat back and did nothing for politics and power. It's so completely deranged and disconnected from any concept of humanity, par for the course with you. So why

094do I bring this up tonight? Because now we know and you know that Mr. Pepper's son was abused and that abuse was covered up. You're acting true to form. First, you protected the people who disclosed strictly confidential information about Mr. Pepper's disabled son. Now you're protecting the people who covered up the horrific abuse of his other son. It's unbelievable that someone as hideous as you is in a position to protect children. It's even more incredibly unbelievable that you are something of a star in a third. I can't even say that with a straight face in a third rate documentary about this district. I wonder if your buddies Robert May and Barry Levinson know what you're up to. I wonder if they would care. Probably not. It would cut against their contrived little story that you

095are some type of hero. I mean, it's really laughable when in fact you are the worst of hypocrites. I'd say shame on you, Karen, but I don't think you're capable of feeling anything, let alone shame. Lisa Pepper. Lisa Pepper, Warwick Township. More importantly, I'm JP's mother. I'm here because I love my son more than anything. He loves to laugh and give hugs. He's precious, but he was not treated like he was precious at Jamison. He was treated like an animal. Worse than an animal. These are the facts. My boy and another boy were restrained for 20 to 40 minutes at a time, multiple times a day. He was left to lie naked face down on a dirty bathroom floor for over 30 minutes at a time on a regular basis. He was physically punished and

096emotionally abused on a regular basis. His water was restricted from him daily, which caused many physical ailments. On February 28, 2024, my son bumped heads with an art roommate. The aide missed 10 weeks of work due to a concussion. My husband and I found out about it 10 months later, 10 months. Once I did find out, I reached out to Dave Heineman, the principal, for more information. He concluded my son was never taken to the nurse and the teacher had no records from that day. Lucky for you, Dave Heineman, I kept all my notes that were sent home on a daily basis. I looked back and the only thing that was reported was Justin enjoyed his craft. I also read the notes from the days after, which I read, which I wrote to the teacher,

097showing for some reason his sleep was completely dysregulated and he was crying for no reason. Now we know why. He suffered a head injury that was deliberately concealed from us, and 10 months later I go to my doctor, they can't do a darn thing for it. We don't know the regression that he had suffered. The teacher, educational assistant, and Dave Heineman betrayed my trust. Most importantly, they betrayed my innocent and helpless son's trust. They weren't the only people that betrayed him. Dr. Yanni, you betrayed him. You betrayed him when you found out he was being abused and concealed that abuse from me, my husband, and the other parents with children in that classroom. You sent him back in that classroom knowing he was abused. You curated allegations of the abuse for the police and child

098line. You continue to betray him and the other children by claiming there is some other side to the story. There isn't. You're not fit to look after the best interests of children, let alone special needs children. Do the right thing and resign. Dr. Garvin, you betrayed my son. You went along with Dr. Yanni and said nothing when you knew exactly what was going on. You continue to protect Yanni, Heineman, the teacher, and the educational assistant over protecting the children. And because of that, know your career will end in a complete and utter disgrace. Mr. Freeling and Mr. Trewinski, you betrayed my son by going along with this deceptive scheme to conceal the abuse. Lee Dalton, the PA Department of Education, the Disability Rights Project, has the facts and this board has the facts. As much

099as Yanni likes to protest, there is no other side to this story. I want to thank Mrs. Gibson, Mrs. Reynolds, Mrs. Foley, and Mr. Kamakata. You have taken a stand for sanity, decency, accountability, and have left politics out of this for the good of the children. To the other four board members, you appear to want to wait for Lee Dalton to tell you to do the right thing. Waiting until the investigation is complete is creating chaos. Staff is being harassed, bullied, alienated for doing the right thing. People who cover up child abuse are capable of anything and we're seeing that. I find it hard to believe you don't feel this is an outrage and these children will fail. I want everyone to play the role of my son's abuse to know they will all be

100held accountable. You'll be held accountable for the year and a half of emotional, physical abuse, his emotional, physical trauma, and the regression he suffered under your care. I will get justice for my son. Thank you. Well, moving on to a different silo. Traveling to Kenya in 2013 with the Maasai Culture Exchange Project, we visited a few elementary schools. It was culture shock. In Kenya, paying the price of learning only comes if the parents have the $100 to $150 for each child to attend each year. Schools in Maasai land and across Kenya exist in structures of cinder block, corrugated metal roofs, and windows sometimes without glass panes, other times with none. The floor is earth and soil, hardened from constant foot traffic, or sometimes there is unevenly poured cement. There might be wood desks with benches

101or not enough desks and benches at all causing children to sit on the floor, lesson books in their lap, each clutching a pencil. During our 2015 journey, we toured a newly structured school for first year students living in an isolated village. The floor consisted of rocks which hopefully later would be poured over with cement. In the Central Buck School District, we are billed annually with a tax which pays for the public education of our youngest citizens. My children and grandchildren are long gone from the Doylestown schools from which they had graduated. How blessed they were to learn in buildings nothing like those I walked through in Kenya. I do not mind paying that school tax. I am helping the education of the future leaders of America. The trouble is brewing for America's public school system.

102In a February 8, 2015 NPR article by Jonah Mehta featured an article of the nomination of Linda McMahon to head the U.S. Department of Education. Confirmed in early March, McMahon is best known as head of world wrestling entertainment. The February article reported, McMahon has a limited background in education along with her career as a business executive. The lady of wrestling had served on the Connecticut State Board of Education. And during number 45's first term, almost done, she had led the U.S. Small Business Administration. We've allowed other speakers to finish. Please allow Ms. Stratton to finish. Okay. We are overwhelmed with challenges confronting us here and you all heard it. And here we are in the Central Bucks District and I want to close with this buckle up supporters for public education. We're going to be

103in for a rocky ride. Thank you. That concludes our meeting for this evening. I have a comment, Susan, if I can. Please. I need to address something that was addressed to me. We don't have a motion on the floor. Thank you. So I just need to correct a couple of items that were directed at me. So first, I want to be very clear. I do not have a lawsuit against the district. I want to repeat. I do not have a lawsuit against the district. No, I do not have a lawsuit. You may be confusing the fact that my wife, Rebecca Carti. This is not appropriate. There's no motion on the table on the floor right now for deliberation from any board member or there's no public comment. Can I get a motion to adjourn, please?

104Thank you. Can I get a second? This is ridiculous. Yeah, I adjourn. That's great. I got a second to adjourn, please. Second. Thank you. Thank you. We have a motion.