001Stay here. >> I stay here. Yeah. >> [laughter] >> Check two. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [clears throat] Before tonight's public meeting, the board met in executive session to review with council information or strategy in connection with pending litigation matters and to review agency business that if conducted in public would lead to the disclosure of information or confidentiality protected by law. [snorts] Mrs. Anusk, will you please call the role? >> Mrs. Cooper, >> here. >> Miss Dad, >> here. >> Miss Finley, >> here. Mr. Frank >> here. >> Mr. Good >> here. >> Mr. Hamilton >> here. >> Dr. Hasselhorn >> here.
002>> Mrs. Lynch >> here. >> Miss Sitch >> here. >> Nine members present. >> Thank you. Uh Dr. Rel, do we have any guests this evening? >> We do not have any guests this evening. >> Okay. And I don't see anyone from the leadership council. So, we'll move on to the superintendent report. >> Wonderful. Thank you. Well, good evening everyone. Uh before we get into the superintendent's report about the comprehensive plan, I just want to give a thank you to everybody who worked so collaboratively during last week's historic storm. Um it I know it was a challenging storm for our school district and also for our region and our school communities. And when there are disruptions to the planned school schedule, I know it is also difficult for our families and for our students and
003for our educators and our staff and all of those that work with our school. Um, but I also know that often whenever we have those unpredictable situations, it also brings out the best in our community. And I do want to just say a few thank yous. Our district facilities team did an amazing job, not only in keeping ahead of the storm and plowing six campuses and parking lots and sidewalks throughout our district, but they also um dealt with the ensuing facility issues when the weather is as cold as it is. And I know the board members, I tried to keep you updated each week and you heard about many of those. We had some frozen pipes and some uh heating systems that didn't work. And our facilities team was extremely dedicated and wonderful. Uh it
004was lovely today. Uh we actually received some kind words from some of our educators and some of our staff members about how impressed they were with the uh state of the campus. And so I appreciate all that they did. Our educators pivoted to virtual instruction which is not our favorite mode. We prefer our children in person. That's why we have an in-person school, but um providing that synchronous instruction and creative solutions to help students help keep our educational program going. And although I know that uh has its its ups and downs, it is very critical for our high school students who are on a very defined timeline to be able to continue through with their courses and their AP courses and and um some of those college uh deadlines that they have. So, I want
005to thank our educators, our district support staff provided assistance to our students, to families, staff in need, um whether it was the technology help desk that was staffed by everybody, the returning phone calls, assisting in classrooms, uh even though they were online, helping students in need, organizing schedules, making communications. The support staff was amazing and um we really appreciate their contribution to our ability to navigate that week. Our administrative team is often quiet during a virtual week. They might not be the ones on those virtual classrooms, but they were uh invaluable and constantly solving problems and creating resources, assisting educators, checking on families, um providing leadership, and collaborating across the district. So, um their efforts were non-stop. Uh I think I worked more hours last week than I have in years in a a virtual
006week. Um it was back to to sort of the the there was just constant problem solving at all hours of the day and night and that's what we do and but it matters significantly and helps children. Uh our district students and families I also want to thank I know that they engaged in instruction and support and sometimes that was joyful and it was easy and other times it was not. And I know there were some parents that uh probably had their had their children have a meltdown or maybe they had their own meltdown or um uh because it it's it can be hard at times. Um but I want to acknowledge how uh grateful we are and also remind parents that at times you know you have to pick your battles as to especially with
007our little ones sometimes you have to choose which is going to be where you you make a stand and which isn't. Um so thank you to all of those who helped and thank you also to our families uh and our students who sent some kind messages and also sent feedback and uh it will help us to enhance our efforts in the future. Uh ABC Transit who's our district transportation provider not only has been had been driving the district all week long but really looking at the areas of our district that are hard to navigate school buses. It is um although the roads cleared and people could navigate by car, many of the bus routes were one lane and you could not have two buses pass or even a bus and a car pass and that
008exists even to this day and it just took our communities a lot of time to be able to address all of those uh roads with the volume of snow. So um we are pleased uh that of their support but also we want to thank Aspenwall and Blanox and Fox Chapel Indiana O'Hare and Sharpsburg. Uh the communities were prioritizing bus routes and bus stops. It just took many days because there's not a great amount of equipment. I know in the district we had a lot of equipment fail during the week because of the heaviness of the snow. I know our communities did too. and their collaboration and cooperation really helped to to open up bus routes and help students get to bus stops. Um, we also want to thank the Sharpsburg Community Library, the Cooper Seagull
009Community Library, and the Indianola Post Office who housed um bags of food from Backpacks for Hunger so our students could pick them up. uh our our uh some of our support staff and our counselors wanted to make sure that we could uh offer the food that students would be expecting and perhaps needed and we appreciate that collaboration and those who delivered those food bags to those stops. I also want to thank the board of directors um for your support, for your um questions, for helping us to navigate those changing conditions, for ideas. Um your engagement with the community and your kindness was really appreciated. And I think also, you know, in just to take a moment to to stop and this was the largest snowfall we've had in 16 years. >> Most of our children
010weren't alive the last time we had this much snow. And those that were were probably uh toddlers. And uh so there was a reason that we had a snow day on Monday. We knew that everyone needed to dig out, but also that the children could be outside perhaps and enjoy that snow day. And um it was difficult because the snow didn't melt uh and it still will not melt and it will not melt for weeks, I think. But um that creates a little bit of of difficulty. But I do think it was wonderful to see some of the faces of our children. And uh I know in my own neighborhood, everywhere I went, there were igloos and snow forts built. I think that everyone had additional rooms, so to speak, added on into their backyard,
011uh, with the work of of our children. >> And so, uh, I want to thank everybody. Although virtual instruction is not our primary and desired mode, and it's challenging, um, really the efforts of the entire school community mattered and they mattered for our children. And so I want to thank all of uh those who contributed and um just recognize that it was a team effort and um hopefully we don't have that kind of snow again for a little maybe another 15 or 16 years but u we'll see what brings what what what the next weather storm and front brings. So thank you. Uh now I'd like to actually move into the district's required comprehensive plan unless any board members have any questions about that. Okay. So, I um wanted to just do a very brief
012presentation about the district's comprehensive plan. Uh this is what is required for the Pennsylvania Department of Education. So, the comprehensive plan is required in all public school districts and entities every three years. It uses a consistent planning framework for all entities. So what you see in the document that is provided with uh the board information and that is on our website includes some sections that are required and it also does not allow a lot of flexibility. So I say that only because we uh did our best to translate the document into more readable format and add text when it made sense to try and help um the community to understand it the best way possible. The sections are are on the the slideshow that you see there. the profile the core foundations asurances and needs
013assessment action planning and plan submission. So if we look at how we have navigated this and we the timeline for the comprehensive plan document that you have here is on the screen in front of you. We started in October to identify uh volunteers for the steering committee. I know our board of directors appointed a number of people to the steering committee, our educators appointed people, our administrators, our support staff. The steering committee is a group of people from across the district. They met in December and again in January. And then in January and February, we are completing some focus meetings and uh focus groups with some other people. Uh and then we also developed the comprehensive plan document that's required for the Pennsylvania Department of Education. This is step one of our overarching district comprehensive
014plan process, but it has a deadline that's set by the state. The plan is now available for public view on our website and we'll be um we'll be announcing that throughout the week and upcoming weeks. We welcome feedback from the community. There is a an email address on the website. It is also included in this presentation that will be attached to the board meeting uh for people to provide uh feedback. You can email us, but if you'd rather talk to someone, any district administrator can take that feedback and make sure it gets to the right spot. And in March, the comprehensive plan will be available on the board of directors agenda for your review again and vote. There could be changes between February and March based on feedback that we receive. We'll highlight any of
015those for anyone and uh it is due to the Pennsylvania Department of Education at the end of March. So, our comprehensive plan, we decided um when we were attack kind of uh deciding uh and how to attack this project that's required for the Pennsylvania Department of Education, we decided to root our work in the Fox Chapel Area School District strategic v vision pillars. That strategic vision was approved by our board of directors a little over three years, a little less than three years ago. And so, we really rooted everything in purpose, passion, care, and community. Those are the four pillars that have guided our work for the last almost three years. And so if we move forward to the next slide, the steering committee included all of these categories of people. And these are the
016roles that are required under the Pennsylvania Department of Education, administrators, teachers and staff members, parents and guardians, community representatives, and local business representatives. We were pleased at the number of people that volunteered for our steering committee and uh those that were chosen for the steering committee by the people that needed to nominate them. We thank them for their work. But every volunteer has been invited to join us in this next phase uh in whatever capacity uh they wish in the steering committee work. We asked some critical questions under purpose, passion, care, and community and gathered feedback from our steering committee. These are the questions that are listed on the website here. Uh I'm sorry on the the slideshow here. They are also on the slideshows that are part of our website on the comprehensive plan.
017So we asked questions like what is the purpose of school? What key skills do students need to learn while they are in school? If you could implement one innovative idea or change to elevate the district's success, what would it be? How can we be the number one choice for education? What do you believe are the most effective ways of supporting the overall wellness of our school community? What school practices make students feel genuinely cared for? What partnerships or collaborations outside of traditional education could we explore to enhance student opportunities? and how can we strengthen partnerships with families and with the communities. So these questions were the basis of our starting point to gather information. And if you go to the next slide, we have a lot of themes. I'm not going to read these themes
018for everyone, but they um these themes came out of the data that we collected through the steering committee's answers. And these are emerging themes because we are still collecting some of that data on those exact eight questions. And we will continue to um have these themes evolve as we find out new information or gather more voices. On the next slide, you actually see a word cloud. And I think this is easier to see. Uh in a word cloud, the larger the word, the more frequently it came up in people's responses or in the themes that were delivered. And so this is just an easy way to see some of the things that came up. And you can see learning was the the largest word which doesn't surprise me necessarily. Academ academic readiness relationships belonging skills
019and core and literacy feeling. So this is just some emerging themes. We will continue to hone these as we move forward. So the next steps for the comprehensive plan draft is that the draft of what is required for the Pennsylvania Department of Education is available. As I mentioned, it will be on the district's website in the district's office and it is also going to be available at the public libraries. That's required [clears throat] by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Uh community members may provide feedback and they are welcome to use the email address that you see on here. It's comp planfd.es.edu, but they also could speak with the district administrator and we will take that feedback. And then the final draft of the comprehensive plan document will appear on the Fox Chapel area schoolboard's March
020agenda. We will announce that to the community as well and uh we will be seeking your approval. It is required to turn into the department of education by March 31st and the comprehensive plan document um begins July 1st. So between March and July, we will get feedback from the Department of Education if it meets the requirements, if there's anything that needs to be changed. Once they approve it, then it becomes our comprehensive plan document for the next three years. In January and February, as I mentioned, this is part one of a bigger process. As a school district, the Pennsylvania Department of Education's comprehensive plan is rather narrowly focused to meet the requirements under the law. And we I look at it and I think our board looks at it as an opportunity to more broaden
021that input and gather a bigger um swath of our communities input not only about what's required for the department of education but what could we do that we that may not be required by that but is still important for us to understand and know. So the document draft is is sort of this first step. In January and February, we are also completing building focus groups with departments and grade level chairs, with our community members, PTO meetings, uh during sitebased teams. These are some of the places that we're completing them. Student groups, committees. So, every administrator is completing one or two of these focus group meetings and asking the same eight questions that we asked of the steering committee. We're gathering all of that data. Anybody that's participating in a focus group needs to know. We
022don't attach your name or any identifiable information to that because we want you to speak freely. We want to hear things you're thinking whether they are um uh things that you've brought up before, whether they're new ideas, and we want to engage in in that dialogue in in smaller groups. Uh Dr. Dr. Mccommens and I last week were able to host our high school um stu superintendent student cabinet to do a focus group virtually. Uh kudos to our high school students who were able to adjust and join us virtually. The week before we had hosted the middle school student cabinet uh to in person and and completed that focus group information and that's happening all over the district. What will then also happen in the month of February are community focus groups. There were some
023announcements that were sent out and there is information on our website, but we have four community focus groups scheduled right now in the month of February. Uh the first one will be this Wednesday from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. That's virtual. We have one on Friday morning from 9 to 10:30 a.m. That's in person. And then we have two more virtual ones. February 18th from 2 to 3:30 and February 19th from 5:00 pm to 6:30 p.m. Uh for those who are interested, we appreciate all of those who have signed up. We have a lot of people. I think we have almost 40 people signed up for the two focus groups that are happening this week. For anybody that is interested, uh you may either click on the link that was sent out to our families or
024if you're in the community, you may call Mrs. Nusk uh our uh executive assistant to the superintendent and board secretary and she will uh get you signed up for a focus group. We did close the registration for February 4th so that we can organize the information and send out the links for people. If somebody needs to adjust and they registered for a date and they need a different date, just give us a call um call the superintendent's office and we will do our best to move you around. Um we are excited to host these focus groups for our community and what we will be asking the community focus groups were questions that were actually determined by the steering committee. So based on the themes that you saw um they identified we have identified five or
025six questions for each um pillar. Uh the steering committee narrowed it down to two for each pillar. So it's going a little more in depth based on uh the wishes of the steering committee. So, our next steps after we finish all of these focus groups and what you can expect is an updated strategic vision. So, once the district completes all of those building and community focus groups, we'll analyze that feedback. We'll adjust the themes. We'll draft an updated strategic vision document. I know that our board had a workshop in the past to look at that. We can offer that as well. Um, then we will submit that to the board of directors for your feedback and approval sometime in the future. We'd like to have that approved later in the spring. And the comprehensive plan,
026which is the document you have now for the Department of Education, it combined with the strategic vision helps us to chart future areas for work and enhancement. It will help us to create leading and lagging indicators. It will help us to create um sprint goals and things that we need to do in the future that are as representative as possible of the requirements we have through the Department of Education, but also of the desires and wishes for our school community. So, for more information, you may find um information on our district's website. I I added the link to this slideshow, but it's under the main district site. There is a comprehensive plan page, and all of the slideshows that were used with our steering committee are available there. Um the current comprehensive plan for the
027state of Pennsylvania is available there. The current strategic vision is there. And we will continue to upload information including this presentation to that website so it's in a one-stop shop for people. Uh and um if there are questions that anybody has, I w I you know we we welcome you to reach out to us. You're always welcome to reach out to my office. Dr. Edwards, our uh director of student achievement instructional verification is managing the back end of this process along with many of our district administrators. And so any of them could assist you and get either you to the right person or get the information that you wish to share to the right person to make sure it's counted and included in the overarching picture. So any questions for the board from the board?
028>> I'm interested in um since we're three years on from the last one which I remember fairly well. I'm wondering if for folks in the community who are sort of wondering how this all comes to fruition in the day-to-day. I would could you give an example of how maybe a theme or an input that you received during the last cycle may have affected the lives of students or families as a result? >> Sure. That's a wonderful question. So, in the Pennsylvania Department of Education comprehensive plan in the last um uh that's current that's current until June 30th, it included as required information about literacy instruction and structured literacy because there were requirements from the state. So, what that looked like in our district were educators having professional development on that. And then it changed some
029practices in our in our um classrooms. We also added some interventions and some uh opportunities to help students that you'll hear more about actually next week during the superintendent's lens on learning. And so that was our um that was a a an output that happened through our that affected mostly our educators but had input and that affected our students. Another thing that came out of our last uh comprehensive plan of strategic vision was the desire to infuse what were called different things by different people but life skills, experiences in job uh opportunities, career pathways, those kinds of things. And so as a result of hearing that we looked to embed those experiences into our curricula in different places which led to JA Biztown which is something that our fourth grade students attend which is a
030career exploration through junior achievement that they do and essentially our fourth graders run a mock town. It in it uh was also evident in our social studies at the elementary level. When we looked at the social studies curricula, we looked at some of those opportunities for students to act like an historian or in our new science curricula, act like a scientist. Uh it it will changed some of the things we did in middle school and we now have AWBY students that come to the middle school and it they'd always come to our school, but we changed how they were talking to students and what they were talking about. So students from AWBY present to middle school students about those opportunities sometimes even at elementary and in the high school. It really had us looking at
031some of the career series that we do and some of the coursework that we have. So we are working on um enhancing our personal finance opportunities here at the high school. Uh changing some opportunities for AP classes in college and high school and looking at ways that we might be able to enhance internships and apprenticeships. So that's that's a very real life way that came out of people asking for life skills, life ready, career skills, um those kinds of things that we looked at what makes sense to be able to enhance what we were doing and in some places add things that we weren't doing like at the elementary level with JA Biztown. And so we're hopeful that this time through we hear things that will spark that kind of um uh deliberation from our
032community and then can help us to make sure that our educational program reflects what our values as a community are and our wishes for our children. >> Outstanding. Thank you. >> Sure. So the opportunity to gather feedback from the [clears throat] community and focus groups is so valuable >> and I'm curious um to what degree that will be captured and shared to us. I mean I I can probably attend one of those but I'm sure that the feedback will be different from all of them and especially from some of those staff and student groups as well. >> Sure. So the I will tell you the focus groups that we did with this the steering committee, those emerging themes are actually on the website that um uh was just up on our district website and um
033the themes are there that we came from the steering committee. As we finish that first round of other focus groups, we will enhance that. We'll send that out to the board members and to our community be and then we will do that again after the community focus groups. And um some of those we will know which groups did that like students or staff or parents or community members and um we'll try and if if it makes sense. We're really going to look at those overarching themes according to all groups. But there could be things that are teased out in some groups in a different way than in other groups. And we'll try do our best to disagregate it when it when we can. Um and then to also look at it as a as a
034comprehensive picture. >> Great. I look [snorts] forward to that. >> Sure. >> Any other questions? >> So, uh, the website is available for everybody. This is what it looks like in case you are looking. And, um, the there's a little overview and the structure of the plan. There's the current comprehensive plan, the timeline that I just explained to you, and then the other key documents include the presentations that we have, including this presentation, and the current comprehensive plan draft. I think this presentation will be uploaded after this meeting, but um we'll continue that will be your one-stop shop to find anything and we'll continue to put things in there and from time to time we'll send out blasts through the community newsletters to give people a heads up that something new is there and um
035links to that because we want people this is this is an iterative process or it's a continually you know diving deeper process so that we can um really hear from as many people. Just to be clear, at the end of the comprehensive plan process this year and the new strategic vision, that is not the last time that we will ask for feedback on things. Um, we're doing that all the time in other ways. And the last comprehensive plan affected even how we're doing curricula review now, what kind of feedback we're asking people for and how we're approaching that. And so, um, this isn't like the only time in the next three years we're going to be asking people for feedback. This is just a very structured time that allows us as a school community to
036take a pause and talk through it. >> Thank you. That concludes the superintendent's report. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you very much. Uh Mr. Jafrey, do you have a solicitor's report? >> No report this evening. >> Thank you. Uh, next week we will be approving the minutes of the combined agenda study session and regular business meeting dated January 12th, 2026. Do we have any comments, corrections, questions about the minutes? Okay, first public comment [clears throat] period. I assume we don't have anyone. No, we do not. Okay, let's go on to old business. We will get our committee reports starting with Mrs. Cooper and the academic committee. >> Yes. [clears throat] Uh the board academic committee met on January 13th. Uh the committee received an overview of student services and engaged in discussion regarding the
037perceptual data collection currently occurring in the district. The board academic committee previously expressed a desire to adopt survey tools for the district. During the January meeting, the committee explored the Pennsylvania Youth Survey, which is one of the tools that may be an option for the board to consider in the future. >> Thank you. Any questions for the academic committee? >> Okay, Mr. Frank, could you please share the governance committee report? >> Yes, thank you. Uh the board governance committee will meet on February 3rd, 2026, which is tomorrow, at 6 pm in the lower level of the district administrative offices. The agenda will include some policy updates, a discussion of club sport funding, and a dialogue about items to be included in a board handbook draft. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any questions about the governance
038committee? >> All right. And our last report, Miss Zitch, projects and planning. >> The board projects and planning committee met on January 20th, 2026. The committee received updates on the current facility projects, including Fairview windows, Hartwood HVAC electrical punch list, and the FCHS stadium lighting project. Also at the meeting, HF Lens Engineering provided an overview of potential renovations at the high school. >> Thank you. Any questions or comments about the projects and planning committee? You will be eventually hearing more about that that's going on in that committee and the authority board. There was a lot to discuss and look at in our upcoming uh capital improvements. >> Yeah, [laughter] I had asked previously about when we would get an update like on where we are in capital spending versus the project plans and the phasing.
039So >> that's coming this spring sometime. We were hoping for February or March at the latest. >> So, we um because we've had a change and we have a new director of finance, um we had um uh Miss Polish before she left for her new position did reorganize our planning for capital projects and um Mr. Bright Crates uh our director of ancillary services also reorganized the multi-year capital projects plan. Uh the projected project at the high school came in significantly more expensively than we expected it to um as our engineering firm looked a little deeper into things. And so we're trying to get a better picture of the whole of the district so that we can revise that accordingly and then get that to you. And the transition of our um finance people is is
040also, you know, we need to get them back up to speed. Uh let Mr. manser have a little bit of opportunity to get in there. So, >> and I I think it's important to emphasize that even as we look at the high school project, there are already sort of tiered options that have graduated levels of financial commitment that will be required on the part of the district and have inherent trade-offs and how we progress even in future projects after that. So, it's I think there's a lot of nuance to the discussion both in terms of how much we're budgeting now, but also in terms of what our what our financial and sustainability strategies are going to be moving forward. It's going to take a definitely a long a long range goal focus. We're going to
041have to really think about this in a in a forever kind of way. I mean, we have six buildings. They're all in various levels of recent and not recent states. And so, um, I think we need to think about how to embed this in to the way that we're thinking for a long time. And I will say just for context for those of you that weren't at those other meetings, um the district started with the cyclone report, the cyclone energy report that the board asked for as a starting point. And the cyclone energy report provided wonderful information about the mechanics of the district. But a lot of times when you're looking at the mechanics of the district, you also have to consider other things that may be affected by that, including plumbing and piping and
042electrical, which was not always included for every building in the cyclone energy report. That was outside of the scope of it. And so that's why when we looked at the high school project, the mechanical part was about the amount that was listed in the cyclone energy report, but it did not include all of the other things that need to happen. in order to make the the building work appropriately. And so what we're trying to do is get a bigger picture of all of those other things so that our numbers are as accurate as we can make them for this moment in time to give the board uh a better picture so that then as you said, Mrs. Lynch, then we can figure out what the long-term strategy is to be able to not only do
043the building improvements but afford the building improvements with the other um uh things that we need to do in the district. So it was uh in about six weeks the project almost tripled in size and financial size and and so that gave us pause and yes it is tiered because we expect that the board will have to make decisions as to what parts of projects or what things you need to do and we'll do our best to organize those and give you the pros and cons of that. But before we had done a lot of work and before we go forward and and push that out, we just want to verify that we have the right uh scope in our mind that is needed to complete some of the things that we know are important
044for warm sleep and dry. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? Okay, let's move on to new business. Uh Mrs. Lynch, will you pre please read the facilities and transportation item? >> Next week, I will be moving on the following item. Change orders for Hartwood Elementary School's HVAC project. Approve change orders HC00006 at a cost of $24,288. EC00001 at a cost of $3,276.75. EC00002 at a cost of $95923. EC00003 at a cost of $5,641.36 and EC00004 at a cost of $24,382 as attached for the Hartwood Elementary School Hback Project. These were reviewed and recommended by the Fox Chapel School Authority. >> Thank you. Any questions or comments? So, we keep seeing changes with the Hback. Could we get more information as to how come things keep going up up? But we don't have
045any >> final. >> These should be the last of the change orders, which is really important to specify. Sorry. >> Yeah, I was just going to say the same thing. >> Yeah, this should be the last of the change orders on this project that increase our liability to the project. Doesn't like the increase how much money we've spent on it. Any subsequent change order should be refunded. refunds like money back and those would be minuscule compared to what we're what we're looking at here. Most of these relate to differences in the condition of the building at the time that they arrived. So moving having to move a whole like hallways worth of conduit to accommodate a new HVAC system or an RTU and then in addition um the large one that 24,000 was a ceiling
046removal and replacement that wasn't expected. So it was a full ceiling replacement. >> So at this point what is the final cost? like we keep seeing the addendums, but what is the final cost here that we're looking at >> that are not available to close >> there? It's the project is not fully closed out and as soon as it is, then we will give you the final cost. These, as as Misitch said, are the last um change orders that we expect uh that cost us. There are some credit potentials for change orders that we're still working through. And so once we know what that might be, then we can do the final analysis and certainly share that with you as well as the public. >> Okay. >> In an order of magnitude, this was about
047an $8 million project overall. >> Yes, it was between 8 and9 million um which is pretty impressive for a 45day or 47 day um major construction period. Um and the I will say that the change orders are well within the tolerances that were accounted for. Okay. Um, and they are based on conditions that we just didn't know until we got >> into the building and needed to to do some adjustments. So, >> some of the details are in the packet. If you uh go into the details, they're actually they explain the the reason for the change. I did start to look at them. I had the same feeling you did and I was like, "Yeah, this this kind of makes sense. You kind of have to do that." >> Yep. >> Yeah. Agree. >> Some
048some were inspection driven as well, I think. Yes. Yes, you're right. Some of them were found during an inspection, too, that required a change order. >> Yep. >> Okay. Any other questions? >> All right. Mr. Hamilton, could you please read the finance items? >> Yes, we'll have six items. Uh I'll be moving on six items next week. Uh item one is dispersements from fund 10 for January 2026 in the amount of uh $9.7 million. Item two is fund dispersements from fund 31 for January 2026 the amount of $130,000. Item three will be the approval of the December 2025 finance report. Item four, the student activity financial reports for 20 for the second quarter 2025 2026 uh middle school and high school student activities reports will be filed for audit as attached. Um item five is
049the uh permission to advertise athletic supplies uh advertisement of bids for 2025 for 2026 27 school year for athletic supplies fall and winter and athletic supplies spring. And the last item, item six will be the exoneration of tax collectors uh to approve exonerating the tax collectors for Indiana Township, O'Hara Township, Asal Burrow, Blanok Burough, Fox Chapel Burough, Sharksburg Burough from further tax collection on the 2025 school district real estate tax duplicates and turn them over to PAL tax for collection uh of the 2025 real estate tax listing certified as delinquent by the local Thank you. Any questions on these items? >> I was I was a little bit curious about what the athletic supplies were this cycle, if there are any big ones or if they're kind of the usuals [clears throat] or >> I'm
050sorry I couldn't hear your question. >> What What are the athletic supplies that we're bidding out this >> uh it's the normal things that we purchase every year. Uh the supplies that you need to run the sports teams and and um you know and it's done through a bidding process. >> Okay, great. Thank you. >> So it's the lowest lowest responsible bid or the the things that we need. There was a correction for last for the November finance report. Is that going to be run through for approval or is that just going to be reflected in the December report? >> The I think that the board already approved it and it was uh updated. I can ask how that might come about. >> So I I don't have the answer for that. I can ask
051Mr. Manson. Any other questions? Okay. Mrs. Cooper, could you please read the instruction item? >> Yes. Next week, I'll be moving on just one item to approve the 2627 school district calendar as attached. >> Thank you. Any questions or comments on the calendar? >> This is so timely. >> It sure is. Um, and I I feel like the community definitely does expect some discussion on this just because this impacted families at a very serious level for the second time in the past year. I mean, this is the second time we've had a significant weather episode that is thrown the calendar completely out of whack. Um, so I'm just curious, I guess, to to start it off, what why or why shouldn't we be considering another version of this calendar that would >> allow for oldfashioned
052snow? >> So, I will tell you where what where what the the tolerances are and what the things that the board and the district have to consider. Um, many of the the dates on the calendar are some of the dates on the calendar are holidays that we have to make sure we work around. That's I don't think in question. Um, I had a question from somebody as to how many years ago was it that we had snow days into the calendar. Um, we can't remember. It's it's decade. It's over a decade. Um, and so that we don't have built-in snow days. we'll find the exact answer, but it it's not as if it were like two years ago or three years ago. >> The benefit of having snow days would be that people don't have
053to engage in virtual instruction. The downside of having snow days is you have to make them up and we also if because we run a block schedule at our high school. We know that the AP tests, we have no control over what that date is. So, we would have to be we could as a community choose to make those up over spring break. we would have [clears throat] essentially eliminated our spring break this year. That's something that we can do. Um and then the rest would be tacked on at the end of the year. When you do virtual instruction, you can continue the instructional things that you need for students, but you can also include the um continue the the work that students need for those dates to meet the graduation. And so because we
054are in a block schedule, we start a new, you know, set of classes in the spring and the fall. I recognize in elementary school and even in middle school, it's not as easy in the middle school, but in elementary school when you're in the same class all year long, it's just putting things off a week. [clears throat] In the high school or the middle school, it does matter. And in the high school, it matters for some things that are outside of our control. And so that's just something that we would have to consider as a district. Uh there are some districts that will have snow days that once you have one you just start taking away the other holidays. We just have to do that and ensure too that we have good attendance. Uh another
055option would be that after you graduate you bring K to 11 students back preK to 111 students for additional days after you graduate. You just have to verify that you have enough hours for the seniors and we may or may not have them if we have significant weather um to be able to do that. uh we will not change the date of the AP tests or the date of the keystones. We have no control over those. So um those are the there are real ramifications for high school um even if there are some you know perceived benefits in elementary school. And so when you're making decisions for K to 12, that's a hard thing. There are lots of options that we can do. The other thing you can do is build in snow days um
056to the calendar. But one thing I know that was a concern that the board expressed as well as we expressed is the number of 4-day weeks we have in the fall because of just how holidays fall and other requirements that we have. Doing that in the spring it would would enhance those number of four day weeks in the course of a year which can pro difficult for families as well. Um the other option that some districts will use is they will forego a professional development day and make that an instructional day. The benefit of that is is certainly you continue instruction, but the detriment is you cannot then count on using a professional development day. And considering the complexity of our professional development, the number of outside uh things that we have going on on
057those days, um I would not recommend that because if you have executed a contract for that day, you will still be paying for the contract for whomever does not present or work with your teachers that day. So um there certainly are lots of options. They all come with tradeoffs and there's no perfect way. Um, we certainly don't like to use virtual instruction days if we don't have to. I also recognize that were many people that said, you know, my street was clear. Why didn't you bring the students back? And that is absolutely the case for some of the streets. Some of them were fine, but as a whole in the district, there are still streets that are being plowed out today. And there were many places that it was unsafe to drive an 84 passenger
058bus and pass another bus. And so we were really waiting for enough of the roads to be cleared to do that. And so I know that's a difficulty that doesn't always people don't always realize, you know, the week before we had a two-hour delay because five of the six communities were fine and one community was full of ice and um it happens to be a community that three of our schools are in. We cannot, you know, ask students to come. Um, and so we did a delay to try to keep the school year, the school day going knowing that we had a storm approaching. But it's never perfect in that respect. And it's no matter what any changes are. >> The virtual days um on this kind of long extended severe weather I think most
059people can probably wrap their head around at some point. I guess for me the question that I think about and uh would love to hear answers about was first this year we were we were able to have a snow day for the first day and so can you explain the function of how that happened and sort of how we might consider having one snow day and then virtual or >> so there's some sort of uh middle ground that we could find where we admit that five days later we we could not we couldn't absorb absorb that many days without major upheaval to everyone's schedules and lives. >> Sure, I can certainly explain that. And and we actually in this district, so we have to report the the days and the hours of instruction in this
060district and we have to do that by building and we have three different calendars right now going because of the emergencies we've had happen at different times across the district. So, if you recall, we lost three days of instruction for Hartwood Elementary at the beginning of the year due to a delayed start. So, we are already down three days for Hartwood. Um, Fair View lost a day of instruction due to a water mane break and unsafe um we they couldn't verify the water was safe to be in the building and so we um lost another day for Fairview and then everybody else had one day we closed for cold and the reason we closed for cold is it was forecasted to be below 10 degrees uh below zero and that's usually um there were lots
061of warnings about that. It ended up warming up eventually, but realize that it has to warm up by 9:00 am uh for it to change. Otherwise, the conditions are no different at early in the morning. We could choose not to delay for cold ever and just and go forward with that unless there's some emergency health thing. Um the the two-hour delay we did um because we were I was worried about the storm and the impact that it could have. Um doing a snow day on Monday was a little bit risky for us because we we essentially used a day that we could have had instruction. Um and the reason for that was that we recognized that we had a lot of students who um may and families who may need to be digging out and
062who uh it was very unpredictable. We knew that most of um the schools were closed. In fact, I think I don't know that there was a school open uh on Monday. Many were open for virtual instruction and we were hopeful we'd have students back by Wednesday. And so I thought if we had one day and a virtual day, maybe two virtual days, it would be okay. We did not expect it to take so long um for for all of the roads to be safe. And so can we do something like that? We can. We have 182 instructional days, but realize that our educators ha will also have contractual days that we have to to meet and our educators will make up that time that we had for um some of the days that we have
063and we'll have to do that in other ways. So, there are tradeoffs for that. Can we do that? We certainly could consider that if that's something that the board wishes to do. The downside is um at least I heard from one AP student, they were really frustrated. they needed they they felt like they were they were anxious because they were behind. So the downside is no matter when we close or go to a virtual day, it's never a positive. Um we went we decided to do that because of the unpredictability of um what what needed to happen at homes and also for our school. We also were having a [clears throat] few electrical issues um that we weren't sure were going to get worse. And so it was a value judgment. Um I don't know
064who was the right one. Uh they are all made in in you know, as much information as we get. But, uh, contrary to popular belief, when you become a superintendent, they don't impart any special weather knowledge. I read the same reports everyone else does and look at the National Weather Service just like everybody else does. Um, we do get briefings and I had something like 14 briefings on the storm and its impact in from Friday through Monday. Um, and so we we pay attention to those briefings from Pittsburgh Center. So, is that something that the board wishes to do? We certainly could consider it. The ramification is we lose one day of instruction for sure every year for every building if we choose to do one snow day and would have it. The problem could
065be that might be no problem whatsoever, but it's January uh and just turned February. We still have a lot of winter, six more weeks if you listen to Phil. And you know, unfortunately, we sometimes have to close for things that aren't weather related like water mane breaks or trees that take power lines down or um you know, we had we had crews at buildings, rainstorms. We had crews at a building this morning at 6:30 because we had a frozen line. So there it's just it's absolutely possible. We just have to be okay with what could happen as a result if we have so many days that we have to tack days on or take away vacation days um previously scheduled vacation days and all of those are options for the community. It's it's just a
066a value judgment of how we wish to proceed. >> So in essence we have a 182 day schedule and 180day minimum requirement for the state. Right. So we essentially do have two days of flexibility. After that, we have to be either be doing virtual or make up those days. >> Correct. We do have two days of flexibility if you're going to look at the minimum day requirements from the state. The state allows days and hours. Um, but we also had 182 as a as a a lot of school [clears throat] districts do because we valued a little extra time. It it gave us some flexibility to do some of the things we do and not feel as worried about them like wellness days or some of the fun days that we have done that have
067serve a different purpose. nonacademic purpose, but they certainly do limit some academic time. Yes, we can we can do up to two and still meet those requirements considering nothing else happens. This year we already have one building that has lost four instructional days. Um and >> and last year we ran into some complications with our number of hours slash days because of the spring storm. Correct. >> Correct. we we had to really look at that and we were on a very very thin margin to be able to meet the requirements um without having to add days to the end of the year and um that's I mean you could have years where you don't have that at all and then you have other years where it is difficult and there's you know I I'm usually
068of the mindset that we will do virtual school in case we can't because we've had power issues and so many other weird things that have just made us not be able to even run virtual school. Um it was a value judgment on Monday because of the amount of snow we got and um knowing that it did not look like we were going to when when your facilities team says it could be two days before we can get the campuses safe, you know that you're in for a little bit longer. We did expect to be back before the end of the week. Um but I do know that uh in some of the neighborhoods um in some of our neighboring communities, they tried running buses and had to back buses out of neighborhoods. we found places
069we couldn't turn around the the SUVs we were in, let alone a bus. Um that and so it was just it just took a while. >> I noticed that there's a there it seems like there's a pretty strong dichotomy like a real big difference between uh older families, families with high school students and younger families that like far and away the families I spoke with with kids in elementary school said just tack them in at the end of the year. I would rather lose a week of camp. >> So awful. >> Yeah. I'd rather lose a week of camp that I've already paid for than deal with this than like try to like have a job and have two kids under under 10. >> Well, I think this is one of the first years where
070we've hit that our [clears throat] virtual or the fact that we're allowed to have virtual is is now with kids who have never done this during a pandemic. >> Yeah. And it's a lot harder. >> It's like one of the first times that we've looped back through where we've had consistent four days in a row for kid little kids that hadn't just been doing it. >> Sure. And I will I want to give huge credit to the the at least the elementary teachers that I interacted with. My kids slipped right in there and they figured it out and like it was it was you know it went as smooth as it could go. Um I guess what I'm fishing for is whether there's a solution where we do something different for high school knowing that
071those kids are under a ton of pressure. They have different deadlines. They have hard deadlines and they're externally imposed and we also have younger families that are trying to make ends meet. I think like is it is it so bad to have elementary linger and have high school stick the course and do virtual um and then I don't know where middle school follows. >> So in in elementary school just to be clear because we did recognize I think two years ago that these the elementary students hadn't gone through co we adjusted the requirements in elementary school. So we changed the how frequently they get on. We gave more breaks during the day. We changed the expectations and we continued to modify those and change those as we need so that they were more accomplishable for
072students that didn't have that background. >> I appreciate that. Yes. And so that had and that was through feedback with our educators in conjunction with our principles and our um and Dr. Constantine. So we continue to we're going to have a you know an afteraction after this to hear what went well, what didn't go well um and what are modifications that may be appropriate based on what we've learned right now. Um the other option is to do no asynchron no no synchronous instruction. Um we did that at Fairview this year because we didn't we hadn't put devices into kids hands and we had a water main break that we had to close school. We send packets home to people. The benefit of that is you can complete it as you want. The downside of that
073is any kid that needs any help with their packet still needs help with their packet. Um and and that I don't know that that changes the burden for families perhaps. It's I don't know that it eliminates the burden. >> I want to add to that because it's certainly like a hardship for families and monitoring but also >> it's a hardship for some of our learners and the quality of education that they're getting >> is already going to be not you know just due to learning needs their environment whatever that's already time that's going to be need to be made up again in the classroom anyways with the teacher. So I mean I don't like yes that is a complication for sure especially when students need to use different links throughout the day and they're younger
074students who can't tell time um or you know aren't responsible enough to tell keep on their own schedule but also like what I'm hearing uh from younger families is like like it was a lot of logging in to just be like oh so did you guys play in the snow how was it was just a lot of check-ins and then there wasn't too much uh teaching learning happening necessarily. So to me something like a packet if that would count towards I don't know if we have a limit on those kind of flexible instruction days or something. Yeah. Which >> you may want to explain for the crowd. Um and [clears throat] um but it's it's the quality of what's happening too for our younger learners and it is a much different experience for for like
075our high schoolers for example. Well, let me let me give a a little bit of context, too. Because we have students that didn't grow up through COVID in elementary school, we also changed the expectations for elementary school to be a little more skill driven instead of new material driven, especially in those younger grades. So, some of that was by design because we know that there are difficulties there. Um at the same time, um we do one of the things we do pride oursel on is that we have all of our educators who still meet with their case loads and their families in some point in time and some of our um students do count on that and seeing their teacher and seeing their friends. Um can we do a different kind of instruction? We certainly
076can. It has its own tradeoffs um and it has its its own positives. And so can we do that? Yes. Can we uh continue on with virtual for secondary and packets in elementary school? We can. Um uh we but that but that is an uneven thing um that we have to think through. And one of the desires we heard when we did a lot of feedback during COVID and even after that was the value of that synchronous time that some kids were needed that and some families needed it. So, I don't know. We can certainly ask more questions about that to other people, but um I will say that uh it is different in middle school and high school as to trying to make sure that we don't um that we lose uh too much
077time, especially knowing we're on a block schedule. That is just something we all have to keep in mind. Um we have adjusted the requirements for elementary. We have tried to make easier sign on for kids. Um maybe we'll teach them all how to set timers as well. Uh we do work on elapse time that is just hard because um students don't necessarily tell time all the time on their own and um but we will we can we we can continue to have those conversations. It's what we wish to do as a as a district. There is an application that we have for flexible instruction days to the state. We have to live to that application if we're going to use any of these as flexible instruction days. And so that can't be changed until the
078next application if the state reopens it. the state did change to 180 days or 900 hours or 990 depending on the grade level. We have that flexibility, but that requires us to do different things in the reporting that we aren't set up for for this year. So that would be for future years um because we have to declare some of those things in advance and prepare in advance to be able to meet those. We also have to consider the implications to our bargaining groups and um what that does uh for people who are logging on and teaching all day long in the same bargaining group with people that did the prep work and then afterwards and and what kind I would I would not want to make that decision without including our educators and other
079groups in that conversation because um we all hear feedback but so do uh our educators and and they are the ones developing the the work that's being done and putting a lot of heart and soul into that. >> Yeah, we should definitely be working with our teachers on all of these questions. I think probably though at the elementary level, even if they sent a pack at home, there'd be a lot of work they'd have to do to make up with students, whereas at the high school level, a synchronous learning, there wouldn't be that sort of afterwork. So, I think it might it might equal out a little bit more than than we're thinking. And just so anybody who doesn't have high school students understands, it's not just that the AP tests are a certain day,
080it's that the AP tests are at the start of May. It is a truncated semester. So it is not that uh what makes it feel so timesensitive is the shortness of the amount of time you have to get the same amount of information that you got in the fall in a longer time and a shorter time. And so I think understanding that's sort of like a start of May conversation like four weeks of not learning that material for that test. Um and so that I think is a little bit of just understanding that sort of high school conversation a little better. >> Yeah, I appreciate that context. I think it's um What I I guess the other my other thought is um this is a really quick intake tech like question to add to the
081registration process at the start of the year or as a as a deployed survey. It's the kind of question that parents want to be asked is like what is your preference and we have the ability to break it down by building or by grade. Um and if we've got large cohorts of people who have different preferences that organize by building, I think it makes some sense to be responsive to that difference. So like I would I would nudge us in the direction. I know that we've been talking a lot about data and surveys um in the academic committee maybe feeling out if there's room for that kind of request for information from our community even infrequently just to you know it doesn't have to be an annual request but I think it I think there's
082room to ask. >> So there's always there's always opportunity to gather that feedback. I would not do it by building. I would do it by elementary, middle, and high school because we need to have uh an equitable solution across all four. And I'm sorry, I want to I I I said by building because I'm I'm really focused on on high school and everybody else, but yeah, absolutely. And I >> but we also need to we can certainly ask families, but I one thing I I will say is we have to also make sure that that we we as a board understand the implications for that. If we have another snowstorm or another big week, we are going to likely need to tack days on to the end of the year anyway. And so, um, right
083now if we were using our spring break, we would not have one. We would still be adding days at the end of the year. And so, if we did all closure days and we would be behind for our AP students. If we choose to do virtual with one group and packets with another group, we have I I wouldn't want to do that without talking with our educators because I I recognize the difficulty it is for families. It is for our educators, too. But at the same time, I think I got wonderful feedback from many buildings and many educators and many families about what they were experiencing. So I don't know that it's as evenly distributed as people think. Um I had many people that we heard good things that their kids had great experiences in
084that. And so can we ask for that feedback? We certainly can. But just realize that if the feedback is we only want snow days, the implications may not be as clear in that. and and I have tried to figure out how to explain that and we're explaining it again to a board who has paid attention to that and so it's not as simplistic as as one thinks. [clears throat] I will explain it to anyone that wishes to hear though. >> I think there's a large portion of folks who think that we actually have snow days built in and we're just choosing not to do them like out of spite or something. So I think that's an important distinction to make sure people are >> so it's been years since this district has had snow days.
085Um and it's we're not unusual. Most districts don't any longer or have one or two. They don't help when you have the biggest snow in 16 years, right? And they don't help when you have a windstorm last year that knocked out power for 15 days to parts of the community. There are emergencies um and people in other communities and other states deal with different emergencies, fires and floods and hurricanes and all of that. So, there's no perfect solution. We can always change our approach. We just have to understand that for every change there's a trade-off and we have to be okay with those tradeoffs. Um we have already changed our approach to elementary. We've changed what we're doing with elementary students in that feedback. We have ach we have changed what we've done with middle
086school and high school students as well for some of that feedback. Um and we can change the school calendar. Um the other question I have is if we tack days on to the end of the year. Um, one risk is frequently that they're lost instruction days because many people may already have plans. Um, some of our high school students need to get to their first session of college if they're graduates. Um, and so that is a problem. Um, and uh, I've been in places where we've tacked on days and when you get past one or two, um, the attendance rate is very has been very low at times. That may or may not be the the the opportunity here, but are you losing days twice in the same year because you're closing and then you're
087also losing instruction? I don't know the answer to that. But if you've lost the day because you've closed for um snow and then you only have 40% of your students or 60% of your students attend when you have makeup days, um you know, you kind of lost twice. >> That was a point I was going to make. I've seen many different school calendars here. some of them. If we have snow days, we will we will have school on Martin Luther King Day. If we have to call it snow day, we will take one of the spring break days. We will have at uh this the calendar we're going to look at for next year ends on June 4th. Last student day, I'm sorry, is June 4th. So, if we're going to tack on two days
088at the end, it's going to be into the next week, which would be the 7th and the 8th. And what do you think attendance will be like on those days? Will those families stay with it or will they they already had a vacation planned now we extended a school or they gone? Um and that's in addition to the AP kind of test. Um and I heard over the last week why synchronous and not asynchronous which some other districts do. So that that's that's another comment. But but um over time this has been the calendar that that suited most people um most situations not most people and none of them were perfect but but uh after um all of a sudden we had school on Martin Luther King Day flares were sent up. We're going to
089go we're going to make up two of the days during spring break. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. That's sacred. >> I already plan to go away. Well, you know what? We have instruction. And so the attendance was weighed on and the reports to the state were weighed on. So anyway, >> how was attendance for elementary during the week? >> Was the elementary principles reported it was high. I don't have a percentage right now. I can get that percentage. Um the elementary principles uh reported that they were in and out of classrooms that we had high attendance and high engagement with students. Um we heard some good feedback from our our educators as well. And so we'll get more granular data on that as we move forward. Um, we were more focused on just getting kids
090to school today. Um, and so we'll pull some reports. >> When you guys talk about potentially taking away all of spring break, I'm just going to ask, are we able to do that with the teachers contracts? >> Well, all of those things we would need to work on. Yes, you can as long as you have that calendar. Um, but there are implications to that as well for anybody that is planning their own personal vacation. No, but I was just wondering if we were actually able to >> able to do that or we had we could only take so many days because they were contractually [clears throat] supposed to have a certain amount of days off during that time. >> No, it's not listed as that specific time. The school board will set the calendar. >>
091They're contracted for a certain number of days and a certain number of in uh professional development days, etc. >> And it does come at the time of year when they when they need a moment. So [laughter] >> yes, >> the parents. So everyone needs a moment right in a short call sacred. >> Yes. >> And we could ask a very simple question like perhaps start with that question is do you still prefer spring break or would you prefer to use spring break to make up for snow days and and that because there for the number of days that we've had it has to be spring break. I just need to be clear because otherwise we would have we will be on the third week of June right now if not just this year and it's
092only February and so you know you have to plan that accordingly. You can go to school all the way to June 30th um before you need special dispensation to go Saturdays. Um, so, >> um, I don't think we get into that situation, but it it is it is in my professional history that there are schools in the state that had to do those kinds of things because of floods that knocked out towns and things. So, um, we can ask that question, but we would it it it doesn't it may not be spring break, but that in in the the case of what we've had this year and last year, which were both unusual storms, it's going to have to be spring break. So, maybe that's how we start the question as opposed to the mode.
093are you willing to, you know, have spring break as makeup snow days and would you attend? Um, >> and the 85% that don't answer that survey. >> Well, we'll say I would never have voted for that, but but you had the opportunity, but that's the problem with surveys. That's the problem with I I agree, but that's the problem with surveys. You don't get a high term. >> And I I do think spring break, we hadn't invoked spring break until late in this conversation. And I think that's like a very different question than the end of the year, right? Because we our our current last day of the school year is is June 5th, which is the first week for students, right? So if we had added five days, it would be the second week, not
094the third week of June. >> Yes. But we've added six days for Fairview and we've added, >> right, >> multiple days for Hartwood and and if we have another storm, it we're still looking right now at at that we may have to, >> right? And I think I think that's part of the challenge of communicating risk is that it's always going to be biodal. There's the risk they don't really mind. That's probably the most probable. And there's the risk that tosses the whole tray of cookies into the air. That's extremely unlikely. Um we happen to be in the second category this year. But I think but but I think when when making policy for these really biodal outcomes is difficult. Um and it's why I would love to have a menu of everyone's preferences with
095full resolution going into it. Teachers, yes. Parents, yes, absolutely. High school students, etc. So, like I think that's where I'm not sure we can create a calendar for rare extreme events like massive floods or these rare spring storms. I think we can create a calendar with the knowledge that makes it that makes it possible to make decisions um in real time if those events do occur. Does that make sense? >> I don't want to throw a monkey wrench into the conversation, but I will remind everyone that climate change is a real thing. >> Yeah. and it's going to be more >> and severe storms are becoming more and more frequent and severe. So, >> while it may feel like the last two years have been an odd thing, I think we're going to see that
096more frequently. So, I I hear you. I think I think virtual instruction has been actually really a powerful thing for allowing us a lot more flexibility than we ever had. I think it's fine to be having this conversation about where is it best used and how is it best used and where does it make the most sense. I think the idea of one snow day a year and taking that risk feels like a smaller risk than risking five days of my spring break, right? Or five days at the end of the school year. But last year, all of the days were after spring break. >> That storm was after spring break. So that would have been all days tagged on to the end of the school year. So I just think uh I think maybe
097they're not as in going to be as infrequent as they have been in the past and that's something to sort of think about as well. >> Yeah, thank you for that realist reminder. That's an excellent point. It doesn't mean that we don't need to know what everyone wants to do in those situations. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> Well, I also I do want to just just bring up some historical things. Last year there we were we we had interrupted instruction 10 days. >> That's two full weeks of a school year >> between virtual days. If I call interrupted meaning we weren't in school. Virtual days closure because we had no no electricity. You know that was I I am very concerned about the amount of time that we lost last year. That was another impetus
098for doing virtual days this year because there is a cumulative effect on students learning and although we are talking about how do we schedule it and what's the best thing at its heart we have to think of what do we need to keep students learning because that's our core mission and um we have students in the last the year before I can't remember the exact days but it was at least four or five interrupted days. Um, what we can do is choose to never go virtual unless we can't run buses, meaning we'll go if it's negative 25, we'll go if it's, you know, we were switching to virtual because we had that option. We could actually get more instruction in than a two-hour delay. So, when we delay for two hours, we shortened everybody's schedule
099across the district, including those middle school and high school students. When we went straight virtual, we started on time and we could get a full day of instruction in, especially for our middle school and high school. We can go back to just going to two-hour delays, which is possible. We can go to two-hour delays only when we can't run transportation safely, not when it's cold, not when it's all those other things. Those are all options that we can do. But every one of those days I call an interrupted learning day because it's just different. And so, but I also always look at how can we keep the ball moving down the field for learning for children because we had 10 days last year. >> We have at least for our students at Hartwood Elementary already
100another eight ten days this year. >> You know, it's those are those matter in the cumulative effects of children and they matter most in elementary school. They matter for all children, but they matter most in elementary school. >> I would be in support of getting kids in person as long as transportation can run safely. I also would be in support of that. >> Yeah. Is it I will say we had some some concerns that it was one degree today um from >> Sure. We did it. Let's keep doing it because we're going to keep having cold winters and if we can >> figure out ways to try to make all these accommodations and helps otherwise, we can certainly find ways to get students warm weather gear that need it. We already have some of that
101in place or or things. I mean, I think it's it's doable. If parents are jumping through hoops to get online education, they could stay in a warm car in a bus stop until the bus comes. I mean, there there's things that people can do that result in kids getting more instruction, >> and we certainly can do that and bring kids in if we can bring them safely or do a two-hour delay. Just realize on a two-hour delay, everyone in the district loses two hours of instruction. There's no, you know, >> and sometimes it's not any warmer. >> It's more than it often isn't is way more than that. >> Unless it's warming up like by 10 degrees or something in those two hours, then I >> And I think that's why we do trust the
102judgment call, right? Like the reason why we don't necessarily want a hard fast policy is because like a negative five day is really different with 20 mph winds than it is without. Um and it's, you know, and I think we know that like road conditions are really variable depending on the storm. It really like they're not all created equal. And so, >> you know, I think what we're talking about is is dialing >> and our community is unique. I mean, we're not just a kind of uniform suburban community where everybody's road's going to look the same in the morning. I wouldn't be too blasze about warm weather gear. I while I appreciate that, I think we we should consider dressing our kids in layers. As someone who at times in our children's time at school
103uh accessed the free and reduced lunch program, I can tell you there were times that warm weather gear was not the top of the list because you wear those heavy duty gloves three times and it just fell on the side of things that just weren't going to happen. So, I hear what we're saying on the warm weather conver or the cold weather conversation, but I would just be a little bit mindful of um of that impact for for families as far as >> is the risk higher for those families of missing actual instruction though in the long run versus figuring out how to dress warmer. I would argue if that's like a real need for families, then getting them in school, getting fidelity of the educational programs that we have is really the best way
104that a school district serves those kids. >> Yeah. And I would argue that a loss stays income is greater than the value of mittens in most cases. And so like and I think that's >> and I'm saying we have Fox Family Cares in place. A lot of schools have um like resource closets for those things. I mean, we're putting a lot of time and effort into driving around and digging out bus stops and things like that. like that similar effort could go into identifying uh children with those kind of specific needs and it would get kids in school um which is the goal of school. >> So I I will say um for the cold weather day that we called not this past week but the week before just to be clear the reason that
105we called that is the National Weather Service said 15 minutes and and you could have frostbite and so there was a it was it was >> and they're telling people not to go outside. >> Correct. And it was and so whenever that happens, just so that you have insight and the community has insight, we get information from the um the county, I sat on emergency briefings with the county because they wanted to notify schools that, you know, people should not be outside. And so there are times that the cold weather does make me nervous to put students outside no matter what age they are because it it is so cold. And on those days that we have cold weather and snow, buses don't run on time all the time. And so, you know, what we
106can count on being a 10-minute um uh time at the bus stop could be 20 or 30. And so, there are times that we do have to look at that cold weather, especially when they say it's a dangerous uh cold. Um but at the same time, sometimes, you know, I will say that the day that we got all those briefings, I think by afternoon it wasn't nearly as cold. Uh but you know we made the decision in the the night before based on what we were told at that time and sometimes that happens with weather. That is one of the reasons I know people like it as the calls as early as possible and I try and make them as early as possible. But there have been a few times in my career that we
107make them based on every weather station saying we're going to get snow or rain or sleep and the next day it's just fine and then you've already made a call and then you can try and reverse that. But there are some families that they're they're already they've already taken care of their child care and they can't reverse it. So that's why we try and make decisions as early as we can but not so early that we um put at risk. There were a few days last year that we went to school and others did not because we waited and the weather never came through. Um >> there was a district last Friday who had school scheduled and at the last minute um um canceled and yeah >> can we is it an option to start
108school in August maybe a few days earlier as another way of adding in days that could then be used as snow days. And >> so you could start school earlier in August and that may help students in K25, but it doesn't change the trajectory for high school students who have a first semester class and a second semester class if you don't use any of those days until January or December, you know. Um, so can it can you you can certainly add it. You can't have more days though than we have contractual days. So, we can't build in extra days that we don't have a day that we're marking as it will be the snow day if we don't use it. Um, but can we We can look at all kinds of options. They just all
109have trade-offs. >> Quick question. Do we have any kids who actually walk to school in this district? >> Oh, yeah. >> So, we have students that walk to school and that's a misnomer. Uh, we do have students that walk to school and we have students that walk quite a ways to get to a bus stop and that's not because we aren't willing to pick them up. There are roads we can't get buses down and students have to access them at a at an artery. We also have roads that are dirt in this district and we have roads that are gravel and um it is frequently that we will not run buses down those roads and and [clears throat] we'll call those families and they have to bring the students to a main artery to do
110that. So it's not as as clean as as one thinks when you look at the 36 square miles of the district. So going back to the actual calendar and >> you know approving it next meeting, >> does it allow the flexibility that you feel you need now having gone through two of these crazy weather weeks >> to do what is going to be best for faculty and kids? I think I I don't think that that this calendar precludes some of the things that we talked about as to what mode of instruction what does that look like. that doesn't preclude that that would not be affected by this calendar. I believe that this calendar gives us as much flexibility as we could have and still respecting the holidays that we have decided to have as holidays
111for a board. The spring break that at least from what I understand was it was desired by many in our community. I think we can continue to collect feedback from our community in a lot of different ways so we can continue to enhance our output. But I do believe this has flexibility and it doesn't change that we could none of none of what is on this calendar changes whether we use packets or we use virtual days or we change what we do in virtual days. That all happens through a different process um that we can we have plenty of time. We just have to declare it in advance. >> Okay, that's help to the state not necessarily to us because it's all always constantly changing. any other comments or questions? And I will say just
112to be clear on this calendar, if you notice, um it does say June 4th is the last day for students unless makeup days are needed. And it does say June 9th is the last day for professional staff unless makeup days are required. So we have that flexibility if we would need to um change it >> during the year if we would need to change the calendar um depending there some of those things you know I can make those decisions based on weather calls if we would change and eliminate you know parts of spring break or something like that that we didn't declare ahead of time we could come back to the board for a vote I know we dislike changing the calendar after we've published it because families count on it and plan on it
113but there's always that option as well just to make sure you have all the >> opportunityities I also, you know, it was not last on me the irony that we were having a calendar vote that we had we've had um published for two months and I had zero feedback on the day after an extraordinary winter weather week. And so I I always say that these are the best times to have the conversations because it's fresh in our mind, but they may not be the best times to take action until we really get the full picture because I think we're all we're all coming back from that. So, um, [laughter] >> can I ask one more just quick clarification because I was thinking of what Mary Beth said about starting the school year a little earlier?
114Wouldn't then that start the second semester a little earlier, therefore giving more time before like the hard May. >> So, the the there are Keystone exams that are given in January that are pres-scheduled from the state for the students that take Keystone classes in the fall. >> And can we adjust the it slightly? We might be able to, but there's not as much wiggle room as you would think. is going to ask that >> too. >> How will that impact Keystones? Because the kids would be done earlier with the class and then take the Keystones in January. >> Well, we can't switch semesters until they're done with the Keystones um without Oh, I see. >> without having them miss whatever their new classes are. Okay. >> So, >> there's a little wiggle room, but it's
115not it's not grand. [clears throat] >> Yeah. I just wasn't sure what I wasn't quite catching because that seemed math. And we did adjust our calendar um in January a little bit based on feedback we received from students over their Keystone and final exam schedules. And so um we did change a few things a few years ago directly based on student and educator feedback from our high school um in January. So I would want to just verify that if we had a great idea that that they saw it the same way because there are some intricacies that you only know when you're living the schedule. Are for the keystones are we given a window? You must give it this week or is it a very specific day? >> Sure. No, the keystones are always a
116window and we usually make that window wherever it makes sense for them. But we also give final exams. Now, in some Keystone courses, that is the final, so to speak. They don't necessarily take another one, but our students have other classes because we're essentially closing up a school year and starting a new one in January. How big is that window? Like a week or two weeks or >> Yes, it's it's it's something like that. >> Okay, that's fine. Yeah, that's >> okay. >> Yeah, I I can look it up, but it is it's it's a well, it's actually on here for next year. Um >> I think it's two weeks. >> Two weeks. Yeah. >> So, uh and and so we do have some flexibility, but we do have to give them and then give
117makeups and things like that. So, We also, one thing I will say though that I don't know how it will impact is this year the state has moved completely to online testing for Keystones and PSSAs which um we're hoping it goes well. We gave online Keystones in January, but it's a very small group of students. We don't know how that may impact how quickly those can be given. You know, there is some time when you have to pass out booklets and and things like that. um whether you're a fan or not of online testing, that is the the the mode from the state now. So, uh that may have an impact in how we view this whole calendar in the future, but I'm hesitant to say what that is until we get a chance to
118live at once. Okay. All right. Any other questions or comments? Thank you for the good discussion. Okay. Legislation and policy. M. >> At this time, no action is requested. >> All right. Miss Zitch, could you please read the personnel items? >> Sure. Under resignations, a professional, the resignation of Tara Letter, French teacher, Dorseyville Middle School due to retirement, supplemental contracts athletic, the resignation of John Alleric, Inter Scholastic Strength Conditioning First Assistant, Mary Leler, Intramurals Middle School back on track sponsor two. [clears throat] The resignation of Mary Lifeler's middle school back on contract sponsor six and Mora Pascal um softball high school JV head due to personal reasons for supplemental contracts non-athletic Mary Leler gifted middle school department head due to personal reasons. Item two appointment educational support Christine M. She is approved as a personal
119care assistant at Fairview Elementary School. Supplemental contracts athletic. Shawn Minnie for cross country high school assistant. Shauna McKver intercolastic strength and conditioning first assistant. And Keith Persing baseball middle school assistant for supplemental contracts non-athletic C. Um Natalie J. Gorley, mentor teacher at O'Hara Elementary School, and Jessica L. Latner, mentor teacher at Dorsyville Middle School. Item three, professional leave. Um Kelsey L. Cavalier Elementary teacher at O'Hara Elementary School for Child wearing and adoption leave. For leave replacement, a professional, Katherine R. Drombosski is ratified as a leave replacement science teacher at Dorsyville Middle School due to medical leave. Extra innings substitute teacher at Kerr Elementary, Aaron Wharton. And instructional assistance um for extra innings at Fairville Elementary School, Amy Roy and Taylor Tras um and Hartwood Elementary School, Clara Barnes. First item six, steam program, steam camp,
120Melissa E. Wis is approved as the steam camp program facilitator for a two-year commitment. Those will be the six items we discuss at length now or next week. >> Thank you. Any questions or comments? Okay. Um, operations and cooperative services, Mr. Good. >> Yes. Next week will um vote to ratify [clears throat] the online ticket agreement as attached between the district and Kennywood for the Wednesday, May 27th school picnic with no cost to the district. >> Thank you. Any questions or comments about those items? Okay, it is time for our second public comment period. Do we have anyone signed up? No. Okay. All right. Fox Chapel Educators Association representative. No comment tonight. Thank you. Uh board comments. I would like to um thank everyone who helped out last week to uh clear our facilities, take
121care of our facilities. Like Dr. Railjack said, "I'd also like to thank um I saw on social media we had some community volunteers who went to Sharpsburg and I think Aspen Wall also to shovel out some bus stops to help us be ready for today. So I we really appreciate uh those efforts and um hopefully it's smooth sailing from here on." And Mr. Good, do you have any comments? No comments. Thanks. >> Okay, Miss Zitch, >> just a huge thanks to ABC Transit. Um I know that even though we weren't transiting much last week, um that they were a big part of our solution and um continue to be a part of our reliable transportation. Thanks. >> Thank you, Mrs. Comfort. Okay, Mr. Hamilton, >> no comment. >> Uh Dr. Hasselor, >> thank you to
122all of the teachers that fought the good fight last week, the elementary [laughter] kids in particular. I think every parent was in awe of the patience and commitment. So, thank you so much, >> Mrs. Lynch. >> Yeah, I echo those sentiments. Our teachers are what make our kids and our district such an amazing place to learn. So, very thankful for their hard work this past week. >> Yes, thank you, Miss Finley. >> Thank you for everyone who did everything to help us get back on track for the storm. I also want to say we have started Black History Month. So for all our students of African-American descent, this month is and every month, but we recognize you this month. Um and in addition, just want to say remember even though we're done with this, everyone's
123still recovering. So Carles, please remember to use that. It is a possibility. It's always there. And if you need to talk to someone, >> we can help. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Frank, >> uh, my comments are kind of echoing what what everybody else said. Safety is the first priority here. U and, and we have to keep that in mind, but families, staff, uh, Dan Breakworth and his group that that pitched in and plowed when when it was that cold and everybody was should not go outside or fixing broken pipes. Uh, those kind of things. Uh, those those efforts of pulling together, whether it's families or staff and everything is what makes this school system so great. >> Thank you. Thank you. And could I have a motion to adjurnn? >> Yes. >> I
124second. >> All in favor? Meeting ajourned. >> Thank you.