001Call this meeting to order. Would everyone please rise for a moment of silence. Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I'd like to thank everyone for coming this evening. There's a log in the front. If you haven't done so, please sign in. Uh if you have anything in particular you'd like to bring to the board's attention, please also write that down. If at any time during the meeting you would like to mention something on an agenda item, please raise your hand to be recognized. After the normal business, there's also time for public comment where you can bring up additional issues. This meeting is being recorded. I'll also announce
002there was an executive session conducted prior uh to the meeting to discuss personnel matters. And with that, we have roll call of members. Matthew Bieniek? Here. Aaron Angle? >> Here. Rita Hoffman? Here. Cecilia Holt? Here. Jason Kunkel? Here. Jeremiah Light? Michael Salisbury? Here. Daniel Wistner? Here. Laura Ziegler? Here. Olivia Voss? Here. Lindsay Schmeck? Here. Thank you. First item on the agenda then is the approval of minutes. Uh we have both A and B there, February 23rd, 2026 school board meeting, and the March 2nd, 2026 budget and finance committee meeting. Do we have a motion to approve both of those meeting minutes? I move, Holt. I second, Hoffman. Any questions or comments? Roll call of members. Matthew Bieniek? Yes. Aaron Angle? Yes. Rita Hoffman? Yes. Cecilia Holt? Yes. Michael Salisbury? Yes. Daniel Wistner? >> Yes. Laura
003Ziegler? Yes. Jason Kunkel? Yes. Motion carries. I want to say something at the top of the meeting and the bottom of the meeting, but um you know, since we had the March 2nd budget and finance committee meeting on there, um just consider the discussion between administration and the board, we're going to be canceling next week's budget and finance committee meeting because just wasn't enough time between one and the next for a few items that we're waiting on to really come through. So, uh we'll our next budget and finance committee meeting will be April 27th instead, and we'll have our finalized health care numbers and and some other some other factors that uh Okay. Roll call of members. Uh four is the treasurer's report, A through I are listed out there. Five is the approval of
004bills for payment, A through G. I'd like a motion to approve both the treasurer's report and the approval of bills for payments. I move, Hoffman. I second, Salisbury. Thank you. Any questions or comments? Uh roll call of members. Aaron Angle? Yes. Rita Hoffman? Yes. Cecilia Holt? Yes. Michael Salisbury? Yes. Daniel Wistner? Yes. Laura Ziegler? Yes. Matthew Bieniek? Yes. Jason Kunkel? Yes. Motion carries. Six is communications and reports. And uh Mr. Kunkel, the superintendent's report. Most of the superintendent's report this evening is here in person, but first uh we want to uh highlight the incredible achievement this past weekend of Haven Fenley. Um Haven competed at the PIAA state swimming championships um from and all of her achievements can be seen uh on the slide of for the in Berks County, she was third in the
005100 yd breaststroke uh and 10th in the 50 yd freestyle. In District 3 AA championships, uh she placed second in the 100 yd breaststroke and was the District 3 champion in the 200 yd individual medley. And then this weekend at states in PIAA uh AA championships, she placed sixth uh in the 200 yd individual medley with a personal record of 2 minutes 12 seconds, uh 2 minutes 12.6, and then placed 12th in the 100 yd breaststroke with an also a personal record. Uh so, just an incredible career, but to, you know, to PR in both of your events at the state championships is really special. You know, that's that is the goal, right? To keep continually continuously get better right up until the championships. So, congratulations to Haven on an incredible season and an incredible
006career. Um next up, uh some of our guests here this evening. We do have, not listed on the agenda, but we have the academic challenge team or some uh representatives of the academic challenge team here to talk to us. Uh Mr. Hamm? And Mr. Chamberlin. Hey, Mr. Chamberlin. Sorry, didn't see you back there. It's all right. So, originally we had two students slated to come here and join us, but with the threat of the weather and all that, we encouraged them to stay home. And now clearly it's doing nothing more than just sprinkling out there. Um but um academic challenge is a competitive quiz bowl style um group. We have a a full season, four competitions starting in October. Um there we are. Actually got a graphic, nice. Um the the let's see. I lost
007track. Sorry there for a second. Okay, so we've been running um this for I think about 40 years is what we believe. I couldn't tell you about who was running it back in the any of these So, we inherited it from uh Sally Sandler and Bill Rydell. And I think Bill may have inherited that from Bill Shaw. Going way back. Not that anyone in the room can help. Most of the meetings the voting these are. If you want to go back into the I was going to say, if you have a vote roll you can see if you can find that I would appreciate that. Yeah, yeah. Um and so we had we had a really great season actually so far. It's not quite over yet, but we went six and one. Um and for
008for the most part the the matches weren't even really all that close. They they're really quick, they're they're sharp. We practice every other Friday for about an hour and a half. Lots of fun, few snacks. get them in there in the first place. They are teenagers after all. And um just really cool your kids. We brought in, if if you're willing, a little bit of a a dry run for you all. Please show your you guys want to play? Yes, we have some questions. We don't have our buzzy things set I'll I'll watch. He'll read. So, typically there's two types of questions when we play these rounds. There's toss-up questions and then there's a fanfare. Uh toss-ups are I think are a little bit more engaging because that's where everyone is trying to not only
009have the correct answer, but be the first to ring in, buzz in, or in this case, slap the table. Um and you got to be very careful with these questions because they're tiered. Uh we'll start it with like kind of the harder end of the question, and then we'll add more clues. And one thing that typically happens when we play this game is everyone goes, "Oh, I know it! Bang! The Beatles!" No, I'm sorry, that's not correct. That's not correct. You got to wait for like the second or the third clue to get it in. So, if you guys want to give it a go. I think you're going to watch to see if you can slap I'll I'll only do my best. It's all good. You're good. We we try to keep these local,
010some local questions. Uh so, tonight we're going to give you three questions. One from the category of history, one from the literature category, and one from just potpourri. So, we're going to start with history. All right. So, we're watching Haven. I'll Let's do it, man. All right. Established in the 1870s, this Pennsylvania town grew as a railroad stop for the Schuylkill and Lehigh Railroad. One of the earliest structures in this quiet hamlet was a grain warehouse located on property formerly owned by local merchant and landowner William G. Kempton. Name this Albany Township village which hosts an annual fair. Director Holt. Kempton. >> [laughter] >> Kempton is correct. That's right. Yeah, now we'll we'll tell you the rest. We'll tell you the rest. Um it would be uh it exposed an annual fair, uh historical society,
011a railroad, and some of the best fire company spaghetti dinners in the free world. All right. We're moving on to literature. All right. And again, as soon as you think you got it, slap that table. All right. Published between 2004 and 2006, this most agreeable three-volume series of photographs and history chronicles different neighborhoods in Kutztown. Name the author. So, you got some good you're waiting for the clue. Name the author of these highly regarded must-haves for your bookshelf. Director Ziegler. >> I'm going to guess Brendan Strasser. And for the students that are in the room, you're going to check these books out. I'm plugging for West-K here. They're right over there on the shelf. You can check them out right there today. And we're going to wrap it up tonight with potpourri. This this you
012guys all have to get this one. Founded in 1946, this food company produces a variety of products with a distinctive yellow label. Best sellers include apple butter, chow chow, and bacon dressing. Director Holt. Got it. Boyer. We'll figure it out. Just say Arabic name is alliterative. Pennsylvania Dutch brand whose tasty goods are probably in your refrigerator or pantry right now. I know they are. And they're happy. We want to play on Tuesday. Uh 26th. Yeah, the playoff. Okay. So, the the playoffs are actually on the the 26th. Um so, you know, if you you see one of our our athletes um we didn't have the We didn't have names up there. So, you can look up there if you recognize someone when you see them in the hallway, tell them great job on a great
013season, wishing them good luck on Thursday, the 26th, and thank you for your support. Yeah. Yeah, thank you. It's really a worthwhile team. The kids have a great time. >> They It's It's fun. Thank you. Yeah, who do you play? Who Who's it against Thursday? So, we're up against Uh let's see. Boone. Okay. Round two, we're up against We go to the IU building. Okay. And uh so, that's very cool. Sounds like fun. Yeah, it was fun. Thank you. Nice. Thank you very much. Uh next up, again uh in person partially, we have a report on the spelling bee. Carl Lampart, fresh off of a excellent basketball season on the undefeated uh middle school uh varsity basketball team, was our spelling bee representative. Mr. Ashman, do you have any other details to share? Um [clears
014throat] just that in talking with Carl, it was definitely a a stressful situation [laughter] to walk into there that you can kind of see up on stage behind him there. I believe there was over 70 scholars. And so, he was number 45. And so, you know, he was sitting there for 40 minutes before he got to spell his first word. And just those nerves building. Um but he nailed the first one. And then after the first round, they took a break. And then when they came out came back with harder words, people started falling out pretty quickly and he was part of that that group that didn't make it to the very end, but he did a great rep- did a good job well represented himself and yeah, did a great job there. Thank Congratulations
015to Carl and thank you for supporting him. I think you were also Were you there You were not there at the beginning, were you? I was, yeah. You were there, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for supporting him also in middle school. Congratulations. Next up, we have National History Day, and I think Caleb, are you you are here to share your National History Day experience with us. Yeah. Um so, I don't know. You can jump in when you want, but I can kind of get them started. So, Caleb was our sole middle school History Day participant this year. Um and so, he did a documentary single-handedly on the Doan Gang. Um do you want to talk a little bit about Uh the Doan Gang was a loyalist uh gang during the Revolutionary War who was like
016kind of a small group of farmers who rose throughout all of southeastern Pennsylvania. And so, yeah, through his research kind of found that that historical I don't know, slant of we were all united in our efforts to break away from England and you know, it was this great swell of people taking over and taking control wasn't quite true that there was people who very much wanted to stay with England and thought this idea of let's just make our own government wasn't a great one. And so, this was the group that that they robbed from the the treasuries and the different buildings and the different governments that were trying to break away, and they helped um British soldiers escape through kind of like an underground railroad kind of thing and get back to the British forces
017and um they're an interesting story of in fact the interview the main curator of the Doan Gang exhibit in the Mercer Museum. Yeah. There's a Discovery Channel special that I never remember the name of. Expedition Unknown. Um that was about Flint Flack and his research that he's done on the Doan Gang. Uh Caleb, how did you connect with Mr. Flack? Uh well, I like a lot about history and like focus on main points and as like the person in charge of these rotating uh exhibits, he had like the exact same thing. Like he was on the Doan Gang for I think a year, right? He >> was. Yeah. For like really good. Yeah, that exhibit for a year. Yeah. And like he researched a bunch about that and I had the experience to interview him.
018I really liked it. Yeah. And so, we yeah, we found out about the the display in Doylestown. We went and checked it out and kind of just contacted him and he said, "Come on down and I'll give you the same tour that I give the the people that help run the display." And then he got to sit down with him in the the library and set up the cameras and interview him for his documentary. It was a great experience. Excellent. Congratulations. Um It's a lot of work, a lot of time and effort. I know Caleb most days and everyone else will go home at Um and if you want to share that video link with me, I can share it back or in case anybody wants Okay. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. Congratulations, Caleb. Next up
019is Future City. I see we have I know we have some Future City uh representatives here. Um Mr. Ashman. Uh we have a a few representatives of the team that um until today's weather, we had more, but I don't know. Do you guys want to talk at all or do you want me to >> [clears throat] >> Okay. All right. Okay. So, their Future City project this year, um every year there's a focus of not just building a city in the future, but addressing some of the particular focus. And so, this year's focus was a sustainable um well, farm-to-table city. Right, that it was all farm-to-table principles. And so, they looked at that and a really early conversation they had was trying to rationalize why a city would grow their own food and not just
020import it like we do now. Um and they wanted like a believable scenario for why their city would do this. So, they decided that their city was going to be in space um because, you know, the competition guidelines are never enough for these guys. They always need to add extra challenges. So, their city was a multi-generational spacecraft flying to another system. Um the people who got on the ship, their grandchildren were now the people running the ship and their grandchildren might get to the final destination um for their ship. So, um there's all kinds of logistics and challenges to figure out there and growing their food on the ship that's then going to feed the people um right there with it. Um they got to talk to Jason Hutt is a NASA scientist that's working
021on the Orion the Artemis project and he did a video chat with them and answered their questions and a few of the questions that he wished he had his team there that they were tough stuff that tough questions they were asking him and um I don't know. What can you guys add? How about the competition? You have to think of the competition. Competition was um and we got to look I personally didn't get to look cuz there were a few malfunctions with our spaceship. I can speak words. With our city, um but a bunch of our team got to go look around at the other spaceships from other schools, and it was really interesting to see the different ways that everyone We were the only people who chose spaceship, but it was it was nice
022to see all the different ways that people interpreted it. Um their model was apparently the first one ever to take the dimensions and turn them vertically in the orientation for their spaceship. And so, the director came running right over to these guys, congratulated them on their creativity there and finding a new approach to how to use those guidelines and come up with their idea. Um they won an award for geo- architecture and geospatial engineering. Yeah. It was a really long time. Congratulations. I mean, it's uh to you know, choose a higher degree of difficulty, I would say, in terms of making it a space exploration um as far as creating your city. Uh takes a lot of creativity, of course. Is there any when you were coming up with that idea? Like is is there
023a story or anything that you can tell an anecdote about the collaboration that takes place in in developing your city and how the idea comes together to one solid plan? Anybody like to share? >> Really the way it originated was Liam, who isn't here today for some reason. Um could not possibly be the tornado. Uh I think it originated by by Liam saying, "Wow, a spaceship would be cool." And then he sort of latched onto to idea and worked really hard to justify it within the terms of farm to table. But then you also broke into a bunch of different teams, right? And researched the different components. And then had to compare notes. And see how this idea works with this idea and this isn't really going to fit in because of this. So yeah,
024there's a lot of different committees that had to come together then and build it into the used division for the project. Yeah. Excellent. Thank you. Congratulations again on your award and more so probably on the accomplishment of creating this together in a very unique Yeah. and challenging way. Yeah. And I think Mr. Ashman's last group of the evening is What's So Cool About Manufacturing. Yes. So the What's So Cool About Manufacturing team, um >> [clears throat] >> we get paired with a manufacturer each year. And so we take our team down to visit and learn about what they do. And then we go back with video and interview equipment. And they film the facility in action. They interview a bunch of the workers and people at the facility. And then they have to take these
025hours and hours of footage that they return with and come up with a 2 and 1/2 minute video that answers What's So Cool About Manufacturing with Bywinca. So there's many, many man hours of listening to these interviews and finding the 3 seconds from this person that goes with the 5 seconds from this person to make a good point to put into the video. Um we can't show you the video today because the voting's coming up. But you guys wanted to you wanted to talk about what you wanted to ask the community to help you guys out. Uh vote for us, please. >> [laughter] >> The way that the Future This is not Future City. This is a different thing. The way that What's So Cool About Manufacturing works is that every year they put all
026of our videos for a bunch of schools. I don't know how many. How many? 38. 38 videos for the different schools onto their website. Um and you have to just vote for us many times as possible. Like vote, refresh the page, vote again. The game is basically how fast can you vote? We have it down to like two, three seconds? Maybe. Yeah. Um as part of the competition in addition to creating the video and those things, they want them to learn about marketing and outreach. So they had to come up with an outreach plan of how they're going to get people to vote for their city for their video. Um and so the 25th through the 27th is when people are allowed to vote. Um they went around Friday afternoon to local businesses and asked
027them to hang up posters promoting that. Um the plan is to go back with QR QR codes to add to those posters once the voting page opens up. Um and so they wanted to come here tonight to ask the community if they could try to take some time. Um we're going to send the the link to Mrs. Holt once it's live. So people can Yeah, I think I can also put it in a text message out to about 3,000 phone numbers in the community. Okay. You got about 3,000. Would that be helpful? Yeah, yeah. Be clear that they have to refresh the page. Like 3,000 people just like vote as much as they possibly can. Right. To be fair, like a lot of these competitions, our community is a little bit smaller than some of
028those competing against. You know, so we do need everyone to commit to 15 to 30 times per day. >> [laughter] >> Right. Like every second kind of you know, eating or doing things, you're going to be on the on your computer voting. All right. Thank you guys for taking the time to listen to what these upper level school kids are working on. Excellent. Thank you so much for joining us this evening despite some threats of weather and sharing sharing all these awesome things that our students are out there in the world. I see Dr. Johnson, I think he wants to comment on this. >> I'm just going to go quick. Obviously, our attention was rightly focused on these awesome accomplishments from the students. This was always one of my favorite things to do back when
029I was on the other side of the table, but I think we should take a moment to recognize Mr. Ashman too because I I've been I'm an advisor for one club right now. So I can only imagine what you put yourself through to be the adult advisor and leader for all of these activities and providing these opportunities for our students. So thank you. Thank you. Um and the last thing I said I'd give these guys all the excuse that if they need to head out take care of homework and other student responsibilities that um I didn't want them to be tied down here for the rest of the evening. So if you guys need to go, thank you for coming in. You're welcome to stay, but it's never rude to leave. >> [laughter] >> All
030right. We can keep it to our board and committee reports from there. The first on the list is BCTC. Mrs. Holt. Uh thank you. Like it's always Yeah, I I guess I end up being the first one always. I do just go down the list. Thanks. >> [laughter] >> You be ready. Uh yeah, no. At the meeting we just talked about the the health trust thing going up, um which that also affects us here. Um talked about the acceptance parties that people that other schools have, which I think is really cool thing. And I don't know if we'd ever uh thought about having one. It sounds like the kids get really excited when they get accepted and they put them all together in a room and let them know that they got accepted. Another thing
031that they do that I think is really cool, they host board meetings at the school. And they will feed us and they will give us a tour of the school. I feel like that's something we should do at least maybe one of these one year. I don't know if we Have you ever We've never done it. There was a discussion some years ago and just the the only downside to it is and it takes our meeting out of our community and it doesn't make us less accessible like our meeting less accessible, you know, to those who, you know, to come. That's that's the only downside to it, but it's it's a great opportunity to go get to learn more about what the programs they offer and get a good meal. Yeah, they did used to
032go once a year back in the day. Um I mean, it was the students would always be there to talk to us about the different programs that they were working in there and do demonstrations and things. And it was very uh great to see. We would love to host a meeting and we can get on the schedule. I would love to. I I go once a month and it's fun getting fed and all that stuff. But for the rest of you guys, see what they do there. I wouldn't mind a chance. I bet you enjoyed it, right? It was great. All right. We can talk about it you know, outside the meeting and look at Nick and reach out and see if And that's the rest of it in the The official stuff is in
033the briefs. Thank you. Um student services BCIU. Yeah, no meeting Thursday so Uh Burks Tax Collection Committee. Silent. The next meeting is Thursday. What's next is the extracurricular and facilities committee uh committee. And Mr. Do you want to share the love? Um so I couldn't be with us this evening. Um so at the ECC, we talked Mr. Yabsuga shared winter sports wrap up. Uh some of the successes of all of our teams throughout winter sports. We discussed our administration support for PA House Bill 41, uh which is a law that is co-sponsored by Jamie Barton looking to separate boundary and non-boundary sports in PIAA. So um we we signed on to support and wanted to make sure the committee board aware of that. Um looking to create a new fair system in athletic competition in
034Pennsylvania. And from the facility side, both uh items that we discussed are on the agenda tonight. A track clean and repaint 10 years old. Tracks 10 years old. Uh maintenance of the track requires Mr. Burks to bring somebody in to clean it and restripe it. And then also just the maintenance van was on there as well. Um we try to replace one the district vehicle per year, uh whether it's a um student transportation vehicle or a maintenance vehicle. And this this maintenance van was in the budget for the 25-26 year and it's ready for pickup I think as soon as as soon as they pick. Um assuming it's approved. Okay. Thank you. Uh PSBA Mrs. Holt. I do not have anything to report. And then policy curriculum committee. Mr. Uh we had some updates on
035special education plan and MTSS at the middle school. The special education plan, I think you all got that email. That's just kind of the the action plan, um services, and then with the MTSS I have a lot of specific notes here, but one I think there was a lot of tweaks to it as it was being developed and I think they're overall very happy with where we've ended up. One of the things that I noted of they added kind of like a almost I think it's an informal tier 1.5. But I think it's going to be formalized. Yeah, it's I mean it's it's 1.5 cuz it's maximizing the use of that time during advisory. So yeah, it's it's um it's a support that's in place, but it's not really in that traditional MTSS pyramid. Yeah,
036so they're finding areas to kind of be creative and work within the schedule in order to kind of meet those needs. So I think they're they're pretty happy with it. We've got some numbers and some things like that. That's good then. Thank you. Follow up on two of those. Special education plan is available for review on the special education website. It'll be the link to that will be in the newsletter this week. There's an opportunity to comment for 28 days and then it will be plan will be on the board agenda for April for formal approval before being submitted to the state. And MTSS, you know, Mrs. Herring was here to to help share some of the good news, but also I know Mr. and Mrs. Ashman are both here this evening and last week
037a lot of thanks out to the math teachers at the middle school and how they have been very flexible with time to help some poor kids where they need. So I know thank you those teachers today who are here, but well as you were not here, now you're here. Just thank you in person. So thank you for making making the program work for what's best for kids. All right, thank you. Uh student representative report. Um not much has happened in the last couple weeks. Spring sports have started, so track, softball, volleyball, baseball. So I I know everyone in the high school has been busy with that. Um and there's some buzz about prom. Tickets going on sale the 24th. And that's about it. Thank you. Anything to add? Um I'd like to recognize the debate
038team in the state league as we're second in the league. We ended second in the league this we had a winning season. Congratulations. Xavier's really excited about the season. Good job you guys did. A lot of uh scheduling challenges that you faced in the last couple weeks. I know that. So congratulations on a great season. Okay, next is public comment on agenda items. Do we have any? So we can move on to the new business. E is personnel. It is the recommendation of the administration that the board of school directors approve the following personnel items. One through seven are listed there. Do we have a motion? So moved. Second Wismer. Any questions or comments? Uh roll call please. Reba Hoffman. Yes. Cecilia Holt. Yes. Michael Salisbury. Yes. Daniel Wismer. Yes. Laura Ziegler. Yes. Matthew Vinyard.
039Yes. Aaron Engle. Yes. Jason Pratt. Yes. Motion carries. All personnel are approved pending receipt of all mandated credentials. E is donations. There's three of them listed. It is the recommendation of the administration that the board of school directors accept with gratitude the following generous generous donations. One through three are listed there. The first is a donation of school library books by Dr. Eric Gotham Johnson. The second is a donation from Mr. and Mrs. Todd Heller in the amount of $5,000 to the Goodson All School Musical Activity Account. And the third is a donation from Mr. William Warning of the Dungeons and Dragons Player's Handbook as a resource book for the Goodson Area High School Library. Do we have a motion to accept those donations? I'll move Hoffman. Second Salisbury. Any questions or comments? First thank
040you Dr. Johnson. You're here. Appreciate the donation every year. And thank you to the generous donation from Mr. and Mrs. Todd Heller and also the donation from Mr. William Warning. Anybody else have any comments? Just want to thank you know we have parents connected to the all school musical activity. They're really working hard to secure some of that funding through donations. Um specifically here thanks to Katie Newberry along with some others who are out recruiting donations so that the musical can be even better than it has been in the past, which is fantastic. Um appreciate all the hard work and especially the donation. Okay, there's a roll call please. Cecilia Holt. Yes. Michael Salisbury. Yes. Daniel Wismer. Yes. Laura Ziegler. Yes. Matthew Vinyard. Yes. Aaron Engle. Yes. Reba Hoffman. Yes. Jason Pratt. Yes. Motion carries.
041C is the 2026-2027 school calendar. Um I will open up just asking if there is a motion for draft A because it's A and then the conversation can lead from there. So it is the recommendation that the board of school directors approve the 2026-2027 school calendar option A uh for the attached. Do we have a motion? Wismer moves. Second Hoffman. Floor is open for questions or for comments, discussion on the calendar options. Do we have any? I believe A is A A is pretty you know kind of a traditional calendar that we've had. It has because it does not have the full week breaks around Christmas and spring break just because they Christmas mostly because it just falls you know not in a super convenient time. So we have to extend days all the way
042back to uh December 19th. You know, if we were to have the the two week break. Each has 100 has 180 days, 187 staff days. One thing we look at you know with the number of instructional hours cuz that's what the state looks at now is in terms of instructional days for students. That has 1,081.8 instructional hours at the secondary pardon me at the high school. 1,090 middle school or elementary has 954. The way those instructional hours have been calculated Draft B is equal in terms of number of days and then hours. Draft C actually has a few less student days um because we had taken several half days and turned them into a full day and then a no school day for students. Specifically looking around those conferences instead of having in November three
043and March two half days, we made it a full day and a half and then no school per se. So just a few different philosophies there. It some of the prevailing ideas is you know are how do you feel about the long breaks? Are long breaks good for families and kids or bad for families and kids? And I think you know there's there's reasonable opinions on both sides of that. Um you know, the half days I know were an inconvenience sometimes and most often they serve inconvenience for families. Most often they serve something that we need to do in a school setting. Um you know, so this was an alternate way to look at that where we can do conferences in an evening and then a morning instead you know having those um you know,
044and uh it's something that I know is very important to many people is just looking at when the school year ends. Um you know, so we have the there is a priority it seems you know within our community often of trying to have the school year end during the first first students at least during the first week of June, which then kicks the teachers last day into the you know, the following week. Um you know, versus getting into that second week of June that can cause some challenges for students, specifically seniors or even some other students as they're looking to start summer jobs. They're just some of the comments that we hear. Um I don't know. I see our student reps have >> [laughter] >> doesn't impact both of you, but it impacts one and
045they You have a look on your face like you have an opinion. I'd like to graduate as as soon as possible. Your thoughts? Yeah. Um What on A? Just a what? March 31st, why is that shown as a half a day? It's a Wednesday in March. March 31st. That might have been Yeah, but they're come back from break and then it's a half day. Yeah, so there's a full day and then a half a day. I don't know why. Yeah, that feel like it's colored incorrectly. That is colored incorrectly. That is that's correct. That is incorrect. Okay. Could you tell me the hours for draft C? Yep. Draft C hours are Yep. Good coffee. Thank you. Draft C has 1,063 and 3/4 hours for the high school. Middle school is 1,072 and elementary is 938.
046Instructional hours. You know, and so and just for your reference then what we've done in recent years is if we have up to two snow days and if the calendar's kind of built this way. Teachers notice this because we have that flex and service day as like the day after students get out, but then up to two snow days for students are not made up and they turn into in service days. And that you know, with an average we've averaged anywhere well, the average kind of has changed with COVID but with the post COVID world of kind of fit days, we try to not have more than two to three days because that's kind of a good fit for us in in-service at the end of the year, and that's where we use our fit
047as well. But those it's a little more than 6 hours per day that you would take off of that total anytime we have a snow day. It varies by level in the fractions of an hour. So it gives us a little bit of a buffer there. Um, you know, we could still have two plus days off and we're fine with instructional hours. Are you talking about draft C still too as well? >> Yeah, that was talking about draft C, yep. Yeah, we still as long as, you know, we you're as long as we can take that plan would still work as long as we could take say 13 hours off, which we're more in the we're in the clear on all levels there. So, um Yeah, I I always say that I don't think there's
048a perfect school calendar. We try a variety of different things. I know that this year this past year and this year we don't have Monday off after Easter try to have the full week. I know that some staff don't want that. I do think it's a lot to have the full Saturday to Tuesday off though, you know, I think that's where you'll see on draft B it is where we're off on the Monday after Easter, but it's not the full week of a holiday. So, you know, and and a lot of my beliefs around this just come from you know, whether it's being a parent or watching students that long stretches of time without school for many kids I don't some kids they're they're constantly engaged, families have the opportunity because of work flexibility to
049go on vacations, etc. But a lot of students that's not the case, you know, and and those many days at home, you know, anymore become days of continuous um screen time, right? I mean that's what I I I think happens for a lot of them maybe even the average student today. So, So my only other question I guess on the A then I'm sorry, I'm bouncing around here. I'm bouncing on A. But that that's yeah, doesn't matter. Um was how much value do if we're at 177 days and we're okay with that on draft C, how much value do the two half days have after Memorial Day? The So the half days you mean instead of just making them ending them prior to the board. I mean we could there is there is that side
050kind of component of that we do have 187 staff days. So if those became their own in-service days and we had snow days and didn't make them up, we could end up having four plus in-service days in a row at the end of the year if that I I think there's pros and cons to that but probably more cons than pros. I'm looking Yeah, we have teachers in the room and on the board. I think you know, four plus in-service days at the end of the year would be a lot. Um, you know, but there's a balance, right? Cuz I every time whether it's calling a 2-hour delay, a snow day, a fit day, or developing a calendar that doesn't have 180 days, there's a part of me that always feels like we owe X
051number of days and hours to our community, whatever that is, you know, and it's always been 180 cuz the state told us what it was, so it was easy. And now that they've given us this flexibility, it's a wonderful thing, but with flexibility, you know, comes questioning of of all those those situations. So, the half days, well the spends the half days, the time at the end of the year that is created by the half days, well a full day would be more time, I get that. But the time that's created by the half days is very valuable for end of the year processes for for staff meetings. Because that that was another question we asked if there were only three half days at the end of the year. Where there's lots of traditional events
052that are great in the first half of those days that have become a part of those school communities. But to have one half day and two full days would kind of leave us short with some things that have been done outside of the in-service hours. Thanks. Thank you for the explanation. Yes, here. Somebody asked me, so I wanted to get that question. Yeah. Other, you know, other notable changes that are just simple we've we've established graduation dates instead of waiting, you know, so we can just people can plan that way. And also just simply again, part of it is a function of the the change in the times looking to, you know, mark that some of those in-service days are perhaps so >> [clears throat] >> Okay, so any other questions on A is on
053the table now. So we will either we'll take a vote on A and see if it passes or we'll be looking for a motion um to amend the motion. Does anybody have anything else before we take a roll call on that? Okay. I'm on roll call. We are going to vote on the 2026-2027 calendar draft A. And I will say just because, you know, couldn't be here tonight, so it doesn't get to vote, but Mr. Light did say he prefers A in conversation. Okay, thank you. Um, roll call please. Michael Salesbury? Yes. Daniel Wismer? >> Yes. Laurel Zigler? No. Matthew Binyat? Yes. Aaron Engel? No. Reba Hoffman? No. Cecilia Holt? No. Daniel Wismer, did I already get you? I'm sorry. Yes, I did. Um, Jason Cook? Um No. Okay, then um we'll move to B.
054Uh entertain a motion uh for calendar draft B. I move Hoffman. Second Engel. Okay, um any questions or comments on B or or we want to go to I think she goes to C. I don't know. We just go to C then? All right, could you want to amend it for me, please? Yes, uh I I make a motion that we move forward with uh C. To vote on C. Wait a second. Second. All right, we can take a roll call on option C then. That was first by Hoffman and still Uh Miss Zigler was the amended motion and Mrs. Hoffman seconded. Voting on C. Daniel Wismer? Yes. Laurel Zigler? Yes. Matthew Binyat? No. Aaron Engel? Yes. Reba Hoffman? Yes. Cecilia Holt? Yes. Michael Salesbury? Yes. Daniel Cook uh Jason Cook? Uh yes. Motion carries.
0552026-2027 calendar will be uh draft C. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you for participating in exercising in you know, we we put a bunch of options out there and try to bend bend to where we're meeting students and families' needs best. We'll we'll start advertising draft C. All right, thank you. D is the BCIU bus uh van driver. It is the recommendation of the administration that the Board of School Directors approve the following as Berks County Intermediate Unit bus van driver for Kutztown Area School District for the 2025-2026 school year. Uh do we have Vote, thank you. Do we have a second? Second Hoffman. Questions or comments there? Roll call please. Laurel Zigler? Yes. Matthew Binyat? Yes. Aaron Engel? Yes. Reba Hoffman? Yes. Cecilia Holt? Yes. Michael Salesbury? Yes. Daniel Wismer? Yes. Jason
056Cook? Yes. Motion carries. E is the CSIU computer services. It is the recommendation of the administration that the Board of School Directors approve the following as Berks County Intermediate Unit computer service rates for the 2026-2027 school year at a 2% increase over the previous year. Do we have a motion? So moved Holt. Second Hoffman. Any questions or comments on the CSIU computer services? CSIU is the platform we use for our employee portal, our FIS, our financial information system. It's human resources, the back end of human resources. Any other financial products I think that's it. Yeah, financial information system and human resources. Okay. Thank you. Hearing no questions then, roll call please. Matthew Binyat? Yes. Aaron Engel? Yes. Reba Hoffman? Yes. Cecilia Holt? Yes. Michael Salesbury? Yes. Daniel Wismer? Yes. Laurel Zigler? Yes. Jason Cook? Yes.
057Motion carries. F is the Century Playground Grant. It is the recommendation of the administration that the Board of School Directors approve a $3,000 grant from the Hamburg Foundation for a Century Playground at Kutztown Elementary School for the past. Do we have a motion? So moved Engel. Second Holt. Questions or comments? I'd like to thank the Kutztown Elementary School team, Mrs. Barnes and Mrs. Moser for applying for this grant to continue supporting this initiative that is largely being led by the Education Foundation. They continue to seek funding for the Century Playground to serve needs of students at Kutztown Elementary Elementary School. They applied in the name of the school district, so we need to receive this part of the grant set this money aside for the Century director. All right, excellent. All your questions and comments.
058Roll call, please. Aaron Angle. Yes. Reba Hoffman. Yes. Cecilia Holt. Yes. >> Michael Salisbury. Yes. Daniel Wessner. Yes. Laura Ziegler. Yes. Matthew Benyak. Yes. Jason Koch. Yes. Motion carries. G is the public school facilities resolution. It is the recommendation of the administration that the Board of School Directors approve the public school facility improvement grant program resolution granting the administration authority to apply for the attached. Do we have a motion? I move. Second, Hoffman. Questions or comments there? It's a grant program semi-annually through the state. Last time there was a round we did secure $450,000. That was dedicated towards the HVAC upgrade project that occurred at the middle school over the summer. This is a This application would be for about 3 and 1/2 million dollars to continue upgrading HVAC throughout the district, specifically Kutztown Elementary
059School this application. Okay, thank you. Questions or comments? Roll call, please. Reba Hoffman. Yes. Cecilia Holt. Yes. Michael Salisbury. Yes. Daniel Wessner. Yes. Laura Ziegler. Yes. Matthew Benyak. Yes. Aaron Angle. Yes. Jason Koch. Yes. Motion carries. H is the maintenance vehicle purchase. It is the recommendation of the Facilities Committee that the Board of School Directors approve the purchase of a 2026 Transit 250 cargo van from New Holland Auto at a cost of $52,107 per the attached. Do we have a motion? I move, Hoffman. Second, Benyak. Thank you. Any questions or comments on this? I mentioned that I discussed it briefly in the uh facilities report. Roll call, please. Cecilia Holt. Yes. >> Michael Salisbury. Yes. Daniel Wessner. Yes. Laura Ziegler. Yes. Matthew Benyak. Yes. Aaron Angle. Yes. Reba Hoffman. Yes. Jason Koch. Yes. Motion carries.
060I R is employee settlement agreements. A and B are listed there. It is the recommendation of the administration that the Board of School Directors approve the following employee settlement agreements A and B. Do we have a motion? I move, Ziegler. Second. Second, Ziegler. Thank you. Any questions or comments? Roll call, please. Michael Salisbury. Yes. Daniel Wessner. Yes. Laura Ziegler. Yes. Matthew Benyak. Yes. Aaron Angle. Yes. Reba Hoffman. Yes. Cecilia Holt. Yes. Jason Koch. Yes. Motion carries. J is the stadium track maintenance and repaint. It is the recommendation of the Facilities Committee that the Board of School Directors approve the American Athletic Courts to clean and restripe the high school stadium track at a cost of $46,000 per the attached. Do we have a motion? I move. I move. Second, Wessner. Thank you. Any questions or
061comments? Roll call, please. Daniel Wessner. Yes. Laura Ziegler. Yes. Matthew Benyak. Yes. Aaron Angle. Yes. Reba Hoffman. Yes. >> Cecilia Holt. >> Yes. Laura Ziegler, I'm sorry. I said Jason Koch. Yes. Motion carries. K is the Penn State University dual credit affiliation agreement. It is the recommendation of the administration that the Board of School Directors approve the dual credit affiliation agreement with Penn State University per the attached. Do we have a motion? Hoffman. Second, Holt. Any questions or comments? We do not currently have a dual enrollment agreement with Penn State Berks. They're really mostly getting into that space with school districts now. This would make courses available to our students at 50% of cost at Penn State Berks during their potential junior or senior years per the agreement. Currently, the only Kutztown students that have
062a dual could participate in a dual enrollment agreement are the students that attend both BCTC in the health professions. They have a partnership with Penn State Berks. In addition, as a part of this, Penn State Berks is developing a dual enrollment specific program for accounting, finance, and business pathways. Their Their program goal would be for students that have access to 12 credits during their high school career, 12 Penn State credits in accounting, finance, and business. Okay, thank you. Unless there are any other questions, we can have a roll call, please. Laura Ziegler. Yes. Matthew Benyak. Yes. Aaron Angle. Yes. Reba Hoffman. Yes. Cecilia Holt. Yes. Michael Salisbury. Yes. Daniel Wessner. Yes. Jason Koch. Yes. Motion carries. L is Berks County Technology Center budget for 2026-2027. It is the recommendation of the administration that the Board
063of School Directors authorize the expenditures of the Berks Career Technology Center's general program for the period July 1st, 2026 to June to June 30th of 2027 per the attached. Do we have a motion? I move, Holt. Second. Second, Hoffman. Thank you. Any questions or comments on the on BCPC's budget? This budget represents a 3.4 um proportionate share from the district is 3.4%. Um the way that is determined is that there's a 3-year rolling average of enrollment for all participating districts, which is the 16 school districts across Berks County that participate in BCTC. And then whatever your percentage is over that 3-year rolling average, that's the proportional share that you will pay in the upcoming years as well. So, um we don't because you can't plan that way, we don't pay exactly what our students are
064participating in the following year, but it's based off of 3-year average. So, over time it works out that way. Okay. Yep. Any other questions? Comments? Roll call, please. Matthew Benyak. Yes. Aaron Angle. Yes. Reba Hoffman. Yes. Cecilia Holt. Yes. Michael Salisbury. Yes. Daniel Wessner. Yes. Laura Ziegler. Yes. Jason Koch. Yes. Motion carries. M is introduction of new business by board members. Is there any new business this evening? I don't want to point her out, but Mrs. Patton, I see you there. Um were you going to present on the thing at some point? >> No, Mr. Chapman said that I didn't need to present tonight. All right. We already had We already put a few students presenting here this evening, but I just wanted to thank you Yeah. uh publicly for For those of you that
065don't know, Mrs. Patton took the seventh graders to Philadelphia. They started this last year where they go to a real courthouse with real judges and they present a case. And I think it is the most amazing experience. My daughter got to be in it and I just I wanted to thank you. And uh I didn't know if you in the future were going to do it, but if you're not, that's okay. >> Yeah, the judges were so impressed. They said that Judge Carson, who your daughter was with, said that the the judges uh the she They said that the kids did better than some of the lawyers that are coming through the state. >> [laughter] >> So, yeah. I just think the opportunity is amazing and I'm looking forward to the, you know, years and
066years of doing this then. Uh Owen kids Owen also did a phenomenal job. Let's give him a round of applause. Well, thank you. >> Enjoyed it immensely. In addition to the day when you get to go visit the federal courthouse in Philadelphia, but the days leading up to it I think are really special experience and it's because you are able to secure kind of local volunteers from within the legal community to come in and prepare the students. And alumni. And alumni and I mean over I don't know if it's some four or five days of preparation before I mean I know there's more, but specifically with volunteers. >> month and a half. Yeah. With And how many days did the volunteers come in? They kind of help us keep track of like what we're supposed
067to do. It would be great if the kids would if you you know, want to hear from the kids presenting. Cuz I know that some of them are looking forward to I think that's great. Bring them in Bring them in April, that'd be great. Absolutely. Thank thank you. Okay. And then nine is uh public comment on non-agenda items. Sorry. Uh so, I have 3 minutes officially, right? I think I timed it. It takes a little bit longer than 3 minutes to say my stuff, but you can finish. Am I the only one on here that can vote? Thank you. Indeed. All right. So, um good evening, directors, and thank you for your time. I prepared a statement that I'll be reading to you to make sure I address all my points and stick to them.
068I'm speaking on my own behalf as a district employee and parent of KASD students and not on behalf of KEA. For those who don't know me, my name is Rick Hadley. I'm the German teacher for the district. Since January of 2020, I've been the only German teacher running the German program, which is a program set up for two teachers to run. Each day I teach seventh through 12th grade students from our introductory exploratory level up to AP level five. I also reinvigorated and now run the only exchange program that our district offers, which involves up to 15 Germans from an upper level high school in Kassel visiting us every spring as well as leading up to a trip of up to 14, at least so far, of our K KAS students over to Germany every
069other year. I'm also the father of two KASD students. My son is in eighth grade and my daughter in third at Kutztown Elementary. I spoke at a board budget meeting two years ago on May 13th to implore the board to to doing the difficult, uncomfortable things necessary to raise district income and stop our district from being stripped bare. I'm sharing my statement this evening to promote understanding of what's happening right now in the trenches at the middle and high schools in general and for my students in the in particular. Each day I teach a minimum of six different lessons or perhaps and up to eight depending on circumstances like the exploratory schedule. During first period at the high school, I teach levels four and five at the same time, which is every bit as impractical
070as one teacher trying to teach algebra three and calculus in the same period. Students are simply not at the same spot in their language acquisition experience and have different needs and I'm wholly unable to give our most motivated students the attention and quality of instruction that they should be receiving. Without the 15 college credits awarded for achieving a five on an AP language exam, the path that's four or five should be as smooth as possible. Many days after teaching four high school periods, I rush to lunch and then prepare to teach a class of 33 excitable eighth graders, then teach two seventh grade classes who are never on the same lesson. When I don't have two seventh grade classes, I often head back down to the high school to assist students during their connections period.
071This schedule, which I incur with which I'm currently tasked, comes at a cost to our students with no time for me to improve or add to lessons, little to no time to assist students outside of class, little to no flexibility in the scheduling of classes each year, and grading for 167 students this semester. Scheduling in the future with larger rising eighth grade classes for the next seven years under certainty promises to be even more remarkable than it was this year. If nothing changes and the other German teacher's position remains vacant, next year's schedule will look something a lot like this. Teach five levels in four periods at the high school, hurry up the hill, use my lunch period to prepare to teach two large classes of level one eighth graders, each likely to have up
072to 30 or even more students followed by at least one seventh grade class and on many days connections back at the high school. That would again mean a minimum of six preps with a maximum of nine preps each day, more than 30 students in up to three classes and no planning period or time to prepare for lessons, modify lessons, grade or simply to take a breath and recenter myself to be able to concisely and effectively meet students' needs. I'm already forced to cut corners and unable to give my students my best, which I'm sure you would all agree is the standard that they should receive from the teachers. The future looks even more trying as the current smaller eighth grade student graduating class moves through the German program. Moreover, as we have continued to cut
073teaching positions and leave teaching positions unfilled whenever vacated, more and more teachers' schedules are looking more and more like mine every year with more and more overburdened teachers unable to provide our students with the same high level of education that KASD has proudly provided for generations. The standard that drew me to KASD in the first place and I had hoped that my own children would enjoy. As the board well knows, we now only have three English teachers and three history teachers at the high school putting those teachers in a bind similar to the one I find myself in. Frustration amongst my colleagues is higher than I've ever seen in my 13-year tenure at KASD as they are increasingly unable to provide students with high the high standard of education that they could provide before, the
074standard that they strive to provide. Before I close, I want to share some data that were brought to my attention, namely that our benchmark scores on the PSAT, which our sophomores take every year, have dramatically declined since 2023 when they went from 43% meets or exceeds expected growth to 40% in 2024 and now at an all-time low of 27% in 2025. The 2025 performance included the lowest average PSAT score including reading and writing and math on record with an average below 1900. I understand that there is no cure-all at the board's disposal and that the long-term health of the district hinges on far more than adding a secondary teacher or a fourth or fourth and sorry, fourth English and history teachers back. All the same, I ask that the board seriously consider rehiring our second
075German teacher each year until the position has been filled again as well as the fourth high school English and history teachers and to keep at the forefront of the budget discussion the trajectory that we're on and the price that students and teachers have already been paying throughout this long period of budget correction. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Mr. Evan. >> [clears throat] >> And as informational items, eight through 10 are listed out there. 11 is upcoming public hearings and informative dates. Um And March 23rd, budget finance committee meeting will not happen until April the 25th. Yes. 27th. >> 27th. Okay. April 30th meeting, there will be the policy curriculum committee meeting at 6:00 here in the high school library followed by the facilities and extracurricular committee meeting at 7:00. April 20th is our
076next monthly school board meeting at 7:00 here in the library. With that, I'd be looking for a motion to adjourn. I'd actually like to ask Mr. Timjanis, obviously we all have his resignation of high school principal given to us this evening. Could you share with the public just some comments as far as the process that you're going to be employing? Um over the course of the next two weeks, yeah, we'll establish a timeline, gather some information, put a survey out to staff just to get some new information about qualities, factors to look for when we get to the process. Um we will then after being posted for three to four weeks, then we'll do any administration will do some screening interviews and then engage larger groups of staff to be a part of the interview
077process with the hopes of having a name for the May 11th board agenda. It's not it's unlikely we would have a new person in place until summer just because that timeline in addition um principals much like teachers can be held for up to 60 days, probably wouldn't happen during the summer. You know, so I would expect the new person to be in their seat sometime during the summer. Likely July. Thank you. Um any thoughts? Right. Do I have a motion to adjourn? Oh. I didn't I didn't have a chance to be able to sign up for the public comments, but I did want to kind of follow up on my letter that was just read. Um Uh I remember when the pandemic started, uh I think it's just cuz it became like that. And I
078remember it gave me a lot of hope um because I remember at that time, um you know, the teachers, you know, finally our education professionals are going to people are going to notice what they're actually doing. Um you know, very short time to completely redesign the entire school year, which they had already put a whole lot of time into designing in the very first place. And then I was also teaching online, not nearly the load um that our teachers are working on, but it was very, very extraordinary. Um it wasn't pretty. Um it wasn't as good as the teachers would have preferred it. It was miserable at home, uh but that had nothing to do with the teachers. Um Uh I think, you know, there's there a limited range of options as it as already
079been pointed out. Um one of the things, you know, we've already been kind of like squeaking by with the budget every year and now we've got that new $2 million hole in the budget. We can't do anything about that, but um I really do hope that as we do try to deal with these problems in the future, uh that we do recognize what our education professionals are are doing for us. Um how important the work is, how qualified they are, how much school and in-service and certifications and recertifications and getting additional degrees and just how much they do outside the classroom to make this all work here. And um there's been some community grumblings about the whole problem is because these career teachers are being paid too much and you know, I hope we can
080tone that down a little bit and you know, just work with the fact that these people earn their salaries. Um these salaries are well, with the education level of some of our teachers, these salaries are still quite low given, you know, what certain levels of education can get you in other sectors. Um and you know, I just hope that we've got some hard times ahead, but I hope we can remain grateful for our teachers and for their dedication, some of the results of which we saw tonight at the beginning of the meeting. And I think my three minutes is up. Thank you. Anybody else? All right. We'll look for a motion to adjourn. I move to adjourn. Okay.