001canar us okay uh yes now I can thank you thank you I'd like to call this meeting to order with everyone please rise for a moment of silence yeah now I can thank you of Allegiance i unit stes stand like to thank everyone for coming this evening uh there's a log in the front G done so please sign in uh if you have anything in particular that you would like to bring to the board's attention please also write that down on a log if it 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 um this meeting is being recorded there was an executive session conducted
002prior to the meeting to discuss Personnel matters with that Mr es we have a f Aaron angle here Michael here Rea hofford here Cecilia hle here Jason C here Jeremiah light here Dennis udicious here Daniel gismer here Laurel Ziggler here thank Mr H uh we can move on to item three approval of minutes I'd be looking for a motion to approve the August 5th 2024 uh school board meeting minutes second [Music] angle thank you does anybody have questions or comments on the meeting minutes all right hearing none roll call please Ain angle yes Michael Hess yes Rea Hoffman yes Cecilia H yes Jeremiah light yes Dennis yes Daniel whis yes Laurel Ziggler yes yes motion carries uh we can move on to the treasures report we have items a through H listed there I'd be
003looking for a motion to approve the treasur don't that thank you um anybody have any questions on the treasury report during none then uh Mr please do we have a roll call Michael Hess yes Rea Hoffman yes Cecilia H yes Jeremiah Life yes Dennis udicious yes Daniel whisper yes Laurel Ziggler yes Aaron angle yes Jason C yes machine carries five is approval of bills for payments um we have the general fund ratification of $869,900 approval for $579,500 seconds thank you for both uh do we have any questions or comments on B all right hearing none we call please Rea Hoffman yes Cecilia Hulk yes Jeremiah light yes denisy dishes yes Daniel whisner yes Laurel Ziggler yes Aaron angle yes Michael Hess yes Jason cup yes motion cares Communications and reports is next uh Mr T
004you first thank you Mr C all right Dr Myers thank you um there is no more exciting Time of the Year this we are in the final week before students come back to campus tomorrow is the first day formal day back for all of our staff and we're very excited to welcome back teachers uh support staff Administration all together tomorrow morning at 8: am. in the comments as I said a Tuesday August 27th is the first day back for students so that is Tuesday next week we do return next Tuesday for school on Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday before the holiday weekend and just excited to have our students back if you pulled on to campus today before it got dark you certainly would have seen plenty of cars for our student athletes um just exciting
005again exciting time for them as well with all of the Fall Athletics and the two week ramp up to their formal schedules just a little sampling here we have images of our co-ed cross country team the partnership field hockey team bless you with Randy W Heights and the csen area high school golf team the golf team already had a h match I think already this week um it's part of their schedule but most of our teams will start this weekend after their scrimmages so good luck to all of our student athletes just it's a crit to them that they put the hard work in and yet those weeks and up leading up into the school year they work as hard as they do all year twice a day on campus continuously um getting ready to
006compete for themselves their families in our school and finally just thank you again um if you had the opportunity to join us for our facilities meeting you saw a comprehensive list last week of all the work that's been done across the campus so I'd like to thank Mr linsin and the facilities team Mr hoffen and the technology team all of our office staff our teachers who've been working throughout the summer and our Administration our facilities are almost ready for students to return they will be on Tuesday um there's still some final pieces of the puzzle being put together as you'll see in the hallways and just two examples up there one being uh the beautiful Pavilion that was reconstructed and kown Elementary School um Courtyard mostly by Mr Conrad and one of our student workers
007and then also just without putting all the pictures our new location as we indicated earlier well at the end of the last week pardon me we are officially moved the District administration office is within put Center and Middle School the move is complete and all members of our Administration team Administration office have moved over to the middle school that was a massive undertaking but did clear the way for the sales agreement that we have in place now uh for the Maxon building Max 20on building so the just excited about the new opportunity and excited about the operational efficiencies that it brings to us for having to one much building that's our good news very good thank you board committee reports we can move to extracurricular and Facilities thank you um we went over uh corporate
008Community sponsorship program that we're looking to bring to the board at the next meeting I believe that's right yeah we will have a recommend recommended um sponsorship program as discussed at the s that heend uh we went over the social media updates we have a new Facebook page and we're also on X and Instagram now too yeah if you took notice all of the pictures work from Instagram thank you Mr T we're using this evening's um superintendent report and then um Mr lobenstein went over as uh Christian pointed out the Pavilion uh all the summer projects that were done throughout the entire District um and that pretty much was it all right thank you Mr policy and curriculum uh yes we met and uh we had a couple policies that we have for first reading
009here tonight and then uh we also had a presentation on uh Common Core and um kind of fill in more the blinds if there is but I know it's just kind of like a look at the next step as how we can integrate this and make it more authentic for students in the classroom yeah look Mrs Devin looks like she wants to thought that was a wonderful summary than you so much thinking classrooms steals all of the things that help us go from when common cor first came to us when we made sense of it to now we're making much more sense of it and can put better things in place to get kids really engaged with being agents of their own Le PD I'm out of words sorry that's good thank you uh Burks
010TCC BS care and Technology Center back to you no that's Miss S noic no it'ss County intermed uh there were a couple things that I sent out to the board earlier um the ones that I just wanted to mention um specifically revolved around I know um I think we're already in the process of this and aware but um the website redesign for ADA compliance uh the IU uh their digital marketing specialist finished their their kind of revamp of their web page um so she put that out for for help um their offering their help for school district um in kind of moving through that process uh and then there was a just a nice summary of The Commonwealth budget that puts everything nice little categories um that I emailed and then also there's always a
011list of of key acts and federal news that they put together in a nice little pack and one thing that just garnered some discussion at the last meeting was solar uh kind of had mixed reviews as far as opportunities for some schools that um utilized it well and other ones that maybe not so much but just because it parted some discussion and our possible move in the future of you know facilities work that was just something I mentioned because there is now some uh funds available for that thank you and uh Miss Holt PA School boards Association thanks um so two things one is an opportunity for board members um their psda is doing a four uh unit webinar series through October November and December um talking about data and just um analyzing the data
012all of the data that we get um to make our decisions as board members so just a learning opportunity there um and then um there's the Pennsylvania education Innovation awards that um Can honor um Public School leaders um that nominations are accepted through September 1st and it's my understanding that anyone can nominate in the three categories um Innovative School leader Innovative teacher and Innovative board I have thanks um okay then we can move into uh public comment on agenda items uh the board requires that public participants be residents or taxpayers of this District or anyone having registered a legitimate interest in a contemplated action of the board participants must be recognized by the presiding officer and must preface their comments by announcement of their name municipality and group affiliation if applicable each statement made by
013participant shall be limited to three minutes duration on a single agenda or non-agenda item if a participant wishes to speak on more than one agenda item and time remains after all other participants have made their statements they may may then speak on additional agenda or non-agenda items all statements shall be directed to the presiding officer with the understanding that individual board members are not required to respond to the participants comments or questions presiding officer May interrupt or terminate a participate statement when the statement is too lengthly personally directed Abus of obscene or irrelevant request an official an individual to leave the meeting when that person does not observe reable quum or call a recess to adjourn to another time and the lack of public the quum interferes with the orderly conduct of the meeting and
014first on the list is uh Jerry sers hi I just want to say to the to the six school board members that um thank you for um doing what you said you were going to do and uh uh what the constituents wanted you to do we have the majority we allowed to vote in or vote out uh any vendors um any organizations that we think that are not in the best interest of the school and um I don't really like the fact that one of our sitting school board members has been lying about you um and I suggest that maybe you censure her um with the Article 15 from the Roberts rule Rules of Order um it the world is not going to end we've already have something on the table that we can do
015we have we have another social we have a social worker that we're going to bring in for all the schools um Hamburg has a social worker I think they only have one if if I'm correct they only have one social worker I believe they have two they have two okay well they have a bigger school they have 2,000 people um and I know topah hawen has a has no social worker and they're probably about the same amount of students that we have um and they have the Karen Foundation contract with them uh and their guidance counselor so that's all that they'd use so there's so many options and um like I said the world's not going to end um the sky is not falling and we can work together and um make it work for
016the school year and I'm sure it's going to be something better thank you thank you uh Steve Wilson Steve Wilson from U Maxon I uh I wanted to support Jerry's comments and in in all things public discourse requires truth and I think everybody's learned a lesson in the last couple weeks that when elected officials go on social media they've got to speak the truth and I have confidence that that'll happen but I wanted to reiterate to you that it's an important issue that many people are talking about with me and I think it does need to be addressed and corrected uh very simply I didn't want to get into the details about the CIS issue because that's what you folks are elected to do but I wanted to endorse the way you proceeded so far
017and I have every confidence as I wrote you I have every confidence that the board is assembled is perfectly capable of handling this in a Humane and fiscally responsible way and I encourage you to continue down the road you're going it looks like we're going to end up with something better than we had the beginning and I think that's a wonderful thing so thanks for all of that thank you Robin Underwood Robin Underwood from Kutztown burrow but I was asked by Eric Johnson to read his statement he's from Maxon Township I'd like to begin with some essential facts on the matter of the social worker position at KD the measurable and positive impact that our CIS social worker had on our district and a student can be shown with data there have been zero reports
018of problems with how the U CIS social worker did their work in our district there have been many testimonies about how helpful these Services have been for families in need of assistance outside the school setting you have heard testimonies about how Miss hottenstein in particular established positive mentoring relationships that were helping some of our struggling students find their confidence and and improve their academic performance there has been no evidence presented that can show any influence or impact that the de Dei statement on the CI CIS website had on the work the social worker was doing in our schools the services the social worker provided were optional and every family was able to refuse or discontinue them for any reason including their opposition to a Dei statement No one who was opposing the relationship between CIS
019and KD was using these services or has any personal stake in them no one who is opposing these Services can demonstrate any harm the social work or CIS has done to the district or to the students and there is no evidence that the concepts of Dei cause any harm to K to2 students all of the evidence that does not exist indicates that the principles of Dei are beneficial to students these facts have been presented to the board in public meetings and in emails and no one on the board has made ever any effort to dispute them no one on the board has provided any justification for the termination of these Services beyond their personal discomfort with the principles of diversity and inclusion board policy 11 gives board members a responsibility to base their decisions on
020data and what is in the best interest of students the decision to terminate the social worker decision is contrary to policy 11 the termination of the social worker will have a tangible harmful impact on our students with zero benefit benefit to the district this issue is not a matter of opinion where we can respectfully agree or disagree on one hand there is measurable empirical data and the on the other there is personal discomfort with Concepts like diversity and inclusion unlike previous efforts we've seen to restrict access to books this decision will have real tangible and harmful consequences for some of our most vulnerable students in our families some of you may be inclined to dismiss Eric's comments as political this is an objectively poor decision that was made for political reasons I oppose the unnecessary
021harm it will cause to our students the politics behind it are a secondary matter as a professional historian who has studied and taught the subject for more than three decades I can say that no good ever follows when those in power allow themselves to be guided by their personal ideologies and prejudices instead of the realities around them and that is Eric's statement thank you tennis R good evening I want to take a moment to um just ask Mr Tim chattan a question how many um social work people did we have on site last year two one at the middle school and high school one at the middle school and high school so and then I want to go on to say thank you for what you did at your um August 5th meeting bringing back
022someone I want to thank the administration for the work you did to make that a possibility um but that begs the question we still only have one individual this year roughly the same number of students perhaps a few more I'm not sure what the total is but we could add if you take action tonight on the CSI piece which is been being asked was asked to be brought back we would be back to two full-time individuals to work in all of our schools which would make it a much better situation for our students um by chance last week I had an opportunity to be a part of a re-entry uh simulation and uh exercise uh that was conducted by CIS um up at kown University for its workers who are going to be going back
023into districts our size rural City small town um around our area um they brought in and cooperated with an organization called connections works so again this is a group that has connections and can um bring in a variety of avenues for our families our students um that can be helpful to them in situations where they may be coming back returning say from dealing with opioid situations in their family um incarceration and a variety of other issues that could arise so I would encourage us to continue to try to keep the same amount and the benefit is for all of you this is not going to cost the district anything this year Pittstown strong has now stepped forward to provide the full balance of the uh funds that are needed to provide this entity um and
024so to not have two I just don't quite understand why one would vote no um I can also tell you that diversity equity and inclusion never came up last week it wasn't an issue that the workers were concerned about or were talking about or that was being put out there by the organization CIS so um I hope that we don't get so caught up in our ideologies that we fail to do what um is good for the whole of our student body in making one extra person available to our community and I heard the comment earlier some school districts don't have any and some school districts are getting by with one and are even larger than us that's fine they do what they do if we can do better why don't we okay it's the
025best interest of our students thank you for your time thank you Kathy Lynch good evening as you've heard my name is Kathy Lynch my story is a little bit different than other people's stories in that I was a parent when quit down strong was coming into being I am a parent parent now and my child was involved with Mrs hottenstein in the Middle School this year in a very necessary point in order for him to continue to enjoy coming to school and being a part of the school community and being willing to learn um so that's just a little bit of background I am from quit toown I live a few blocks from here and I've had three generations that have come through the quit quit toown school district some were involved in it was
026one generation called a botch next it was BCTC so I had two children that were involved in that one step one granddaughter but I was her caregiver um I have one child now who is my child but I adopted him after 10 years um in the school district with my husband so it's a little bit different I also have another role that I played at different times and that was with Kutztown strong and if you recall the history of Kutztown strong was when there were issues within the community and our students were literally getting sick making bad choices all sorts of things excuse me I'm a little nervous and I I thought it was important to get involved because our kids are our most important community members there are there are future there are youth
027I know I only have three minutes so I'll hurry up but anyhow Kutztown strong was brought together by people who are interested in making Kutztown stronger all generations all parts of it and has had called upon people from all the different facets of the community businesses um all members of the community services parents even had student components neighbors that everybody was involved including the school district itself teachers themselves Etc volunteer opportunities and they came up with this idea of having people in the schools and community in the schools here they also said we believe in this enough that we will pay for the opportunity when we can you know they researched all different options and I don't believe there is a perfect ever a fully perfect option that's going to make everybody happy but this
028was a pretty darn good one that really helped fill in some gaps that we had as a district as a community Etc even the title community and schools I understand we have different feelings about some terminology we have different feelings about some of the intentions but my child and what I heard Eric say in the meeting when I watched it online say was that his child too in the in time needed it in time of need needed to have someone to talk to and in this case Mrs hunstein was the one and she was there to talk to and it really made a difference in my child's life and from listening to Eric's testimony in the other meeting sounds like it did in his um I also think I was in a meeting when this
029first started being talking about a year or so ago or whatever that was close to a year ago and I listened to all the other people talking about their concerns and their concerns were about the the confidentiality of information whether or not families would know about it and get to select in or select out and it seemed to me that the school board and that the administration were able to say gotcha we'll take care of that we'll make sure that your any students that are invited into this it will be with parental consent or the parents would have an opportunity to decline and from what I and how the information was going to be used Etc was all talked about and considered and it seemed to me this was a pretty reasonable thing to see
030happen I know a lot of us have had um children or know of children I'll put it that way that have run into issues um in their time in school and needed to have that one other person I had a colleague years ago who would call them widgets uh and just like when we heard from Mr Hoffman at the votch sometimes Widgets or sometimes he didn't use the term widgets sometimes pieces need to be retooled a little bit and it's a time it's a matter of timing too that comes along with it Although our children are not widgets they are people sometimes they need a little extra coaching they need a little little redirection that might not necessarily come from a teacher who who has 20 or more other people to deal about in that
031moment in time uh but having a social worker within the school to be able to offer those services in the moment I think is a wonderful thing and I really appreciate the time that you took and even the time that the community talked about raising your questions and bringing your concerns so that we could all talk about it together um I did hear at one of the meetings after five minutes okay no problem I was just going to say that I really appreciate the opportunity to continue this program if we can I think there are children whose Futures might be depending on this that we don't know thank you take notice that since I took the sheet at least three people I think Chris Judy and Ain all walked in I didn't know if any
032of them had intended to speak okay okay and with that um we will move into new business uh personnel it's the recommendation of the administration of the board of school directors approve the following items we have items one through nine listed there I believe that we can take all of them together so I'd be looking for a motion to approve Personnel so move udicious second hman thank you does anybody have any questions or comments on Personnel matters all right hearing none we please have Rance Cecilia hul yes Jeremiah light yes Dennis udish yes Daniel whisner yes Laurel Ziggler yes Aaron Angel yes Michael H yes Rea Hof yes Jason C yes motion carries uh Personnel is approved pending your seat of all mandated credentials Item B is policy maintenance it is the recommendation of the
033policy and curriculum committee that the board of school directors approve the following policies for first reading we have under Section a um policies one through three those are policies with only the district office address changing and then we have Item B policies with Provisions which is one through four there are no objections or concerns with any of these policies um I'd like to take them together B be looking for a motion then uh to approve the first reading of policies 1 through three under a and policies 1 through four under B light second Motion in a second does anybody have any questions or comments on any of the individual polies hearing none uh roll call please hear my light yes Dennis udicious yes Daniel whis yes Marl Ziggler yes Arin yes Michael hes yes Rea
034Hof yes Cecilia hle yes Jason C yes motion carries C is the echelman bus uh van drivers it is the recommendation of the administration that the board of school directors approve the list of ech bus company bus van drivers uh for kson area school district for 24 25 school year for the attached we have a motion so move T second hofman thank you does anybody have any questions on the bus and B drivers just a comment thank you to all the bus drivers they are Saints not do it I would agree and say thank you our drivers were in this morning for their annual meeting in advance of first day of school and they are for many our students they're the first person and the last person they see as connected to the district before
035going home they just we have many many long tenur dedicated drivers who are truly just magnificent members in the scho community school thank you any other comments U Mr H please Dennis udicious yes Daniel Wismer yes Laurel ziggle yes Aon angle yes Michael hes yes Rea Hoffman yes Cecilia H yes Jeremiah light yes Jason cup yes motion carries D is the bus and Van routes it is the recommendation of the administration that the board of school directors approve the bus and Van routes for the 2425 school year and to allow the transportation coordinator and/or designate to make any necessary changes to the existing routes as deemed appropriate throughout the 2024 2025 school year with the exception of changes that involve sign ific additional cost for the deletion of ARS we have a motion mov ious
036motion any second does anybody have any questions or comments like to thank U Mrs warning and uh Mr echelman and team at echelman for their hard work hard work in preparing bus routes for this year and constantly adjusting throughout the year necessary thank you uh we have a loc F Daniel whis yes Laurel Ziggler yes Aaron angle yes Michael Hess yes Reva Hof yes Cecilia H yes Jeremiah light yes Dennis udicious yes Jason C yes carries e is the Conrad seagull agreement it is the recommendation of the administration that the board of school directors approve the agreement with Conrad seagull to provide assistance with reporting related to the Affordable Care Act for the 2024 25 schol year for the attached for motion so move test second I motion any second any questions or comments on
037the Conrad Seagal agreement can this be explained I was little sure um so the Affordable Care Act uh do back to more than a few years um there is a lot of reporting that goes into creating those 10 1096 is it right here um that you get2 um that that that form that shows whether or not you had health insurance um there's an exorb amount cre that and um their service is Hest say God's that raise the prices in a couple years it could C quite a bit more just just the software Al bethan you were so close it was to 1095 it's late sorry all right any other questions then I'd be well we already have a motion so roll call please Laurel Ziggler yes Aaron a yes Michael H yes Rea Hoffman yes
038Cecilia H yes Jeremiah light yes Dennis udicious yes Daniel whisper yes Jason cup yes motion carries item f is donations um we do have one through four listed there I'm going to read through them a donation from bre's Italian ice of free kids ice coupons and two $25 gift cards to kown area high school for attendance Awareness Month there's a donation from Weiss markets of one $25 gift card to cown area high school for attendance Awareness Month a donation from The Bagel Bar Cafe of 10 $5 gift cards the cown area high school for attendance awareness Mon and then also it is um the recommendation of the administration that the board of school directors accept with gratitude a donation from the ksan area high school hall of fame in the amount of $1,730 to the
039high school varsity athletic programs for athletic uh supplies um I'd be looking for a donation to accept those donations uh 134 second L any uh comments I mean first of all thank you to all of our local businesses uh Rita's Vice markets and The Bagel Bar Cafe for the donations for attendance awareness months and then also to the high school hall fame um the funds uh contributed to the athletic programs in addition while it's not here under the donations I'd also like to thank Weiss markets for providing breakfast for our teachers on M we would be catering concern someone so thank you excellent any other any other comments on the donations this go for like Raffles or what what's what all do they do at attendance awaren Dr flicker Brown is is piling the year
040to increase assistant principles and to increase attendance and students come to school on time work she G use these as opport okay um believe we're ready for a roll call Aaron angle yes Michael Hess yes Reba Hoffman yes cilia H yes Jeremiah light yes Dennis udicious atain Daniel Wismer yes Laurel Ziggler yes Jason C yes motion carries item G is communities and schools it is the recommendation that the board of school directors approve the contract with the community and school of eastern Pennsylvania for the integrated Support Services model at kamam for the 2024 25 school year per the attached after Grant secured by communities of schools in a dedicated donation of 12,500 from kown strong there is no 2425 cost to the district I be looking for a motion mve a second seconded Sigler Motion
041in a second uh questions or comments hi um would just like to make a comment um thank you to good Stan strong for increasing Their donation to fully cover this position um I also want to thank CIS um for coming to our last full board meeting um and talking about their position in this and then um also their willingness and then their approval of redoing their um yeah they yeah their commitment statement thank you um for redoing their commitment statement hearing different schools um ours included objections to some of the things in their previous statement I'm hoping that those uh would be enough to Warrant consideration um from board members to hopefully see this through um since it will have no cost to the district um I think it's a wise um motion to help
042with the lack of social work help that'll be in the middle school now that we have one position that'll try to cover the entire school so just a thank you to them for for doing that and it could sound strong for helping fully fund this thank you Mr H I would like to add my support for this no cost to the district person um I want to remember that um students seeking Services especially for mental health outside of schools there is typically really long weights there's not enough service for them so students who won't have that sort of opportunity through this position don't necessarily have the opportunity to get it somewhere else which makes it all the more important for us to make the choice to provide for that Mr Tim chaten would you be
043willing to share um an update on the hiring status for the position that was approved last uh board meeting do we expect to have someone on their first day of school I do not anticipate having one on the first day of school um we do we we typically leave postings open for a minimum of two weeks so the posting it's actually a little bit shy of two weeks because it with our partner ESS it took an extra day or so to get up but we did have the posting set to closed for tomorrow and we do have uh multiple candidates with positions so we would be reaching out to them this week to set up interviews and not knowing any of their individual situations whether they would be available it's highly unlikely that you know
044they would be ready for the first day of school but I'm very optimistic that within the first few weeks we would have someone in s okay and what is the administration's recommendation or your personal recommendation uh as our superintendent for this motion you know I'm excited about the K12 position uh that was approved you know but just as we did on July 15 so on July 15th this was brought as a recommendation as the administration when we have Community organizations coming together to provide for the funding and you know we personally I personally have had a positive experience with communities and schools over the last four years and that's why I brought it as the administration's recommendation back on July 15 um you know excited about the K12 position very much so um but nothing
045that led to us bringing it to the board has really changed since then so to be very explicit then you still do recommend that this position should move forward uh and that we should accept the free donations I mean at no cost of the district any service that we've had had good experience with I would absolutely bring and recommend back report to yes okay so I would like to share um a few comments um you know I I love our Kutztown community and I ran for the school board to help as many students as I can help them get the best possible start in life but um unfortunately you know the reality is that not all of our students are afforded the same benefit of coming to school each day with food to eat a
046safe and stable home environment and love and care to help them Thrive academically some students need more help and that's exactly what these two social workers did each day um we've heard from many students and parents um that these roles were ad absolutely critical for the overall well-being of their children we've heard from community members who've worked so hard decade after decade to provide for these social supports for our neighbors who are in need um and we've had the opportunity to review the annual reports from the social workers we've tracked the outcomes and the results and we've seen the reductions in truancy and behavior problems and the improvements in academics um you know gratefully there were no complaints or concerns raised on the care that was provided by these social workers over the last several
047years uh and in fact we've heard the opposite we've heard that these interventions have truly made the difference uh in so many of our students lives um I'm very grateful that we were able to fill one of those positions that we had in place last year through the the school safety grant money um that you were able to identify Mr Tim chaden so thank you for that um but we do have this opportunity to let Leverage The United Way great grant money C Sound strong donation um and you know we have students walking through the door next week to start a new school year and 59 of those students receive direct personal support from this social worker last year uh we've heard that the guidance counselors already have a a full responsibility and plate um
048and we logically know that one social worker will never be able to take on the load that two social workers um were covering between the two of them last year um certainly with our school district's budget landscape it's fiscally responsible for us to pursue the social worker position through these grant opportunities without any additional fiscal impact whatsoever to our district um I have heard the concern that has been raised about the CIS values not aligning with some values uh of members of our board and you know I'm grateful that CIS heard those concerns and they made updates to their Dei statement and I just wanted to to read for the community to help everyone understand what that new commitment statement says it says at communities and schools of eastern Pennsylvania our work is grounded in
049caring relationships that unlock every student's unmatched potential to succeed in life we commit to creating an inclusive and welcoming Community where students and families feel valued and belong Along by one leveraging the power of collaborative relationships with schools and partners to empower every student to create a future full of Hope two removing systemic barriers and fostering equity and Justice and three advocating for all students to receive necessary resources that will help them thrive in schools and Beyonds um and Beyond you know that that statement for me it it personally does align with my values um but that's not really relevant or the PO point because none of us are here to vote and act on our own ideologies or beliefs but rather we're here to vote based on on data um and in fact when
050we were all sworn in on our roles in policy 11 and our principles for governance and Leadership we all swore to uphold quote uh that we pledge that we will make data informed decisions and quote focus on student growth and achievement the data is is simply clear that these two roles are making a positive impact uh on student outcomes um but the other good news here is that we we don't need to worry about the values and whether or not we agree with the values that CIS puts forward again I've never had any Care on which particular agency it is that supports it could be CIS or anyone but in this situation we've actually placed that responsibility and that judgment and decision back in the parents hands so this is a program that um has
051explicit parent approval required so all 59 students last year their parents were able to look at the CIS website review the contract and make their own decision right so for some parents the that statement May align with her personal values and some some it may not and the good news is that for those for whom this does not align with their values there's a really simple way they simply don't need to sign up right they don't need to sign that permission slip there is no curriculum and no teaching opportunity for anything um in this role this is one-on-one contact with students so you know from my perspective there's great benefit to continuing this role in fact it it's really our legal ethical and moral responsibility to offer the opportunity for our parents to choose this
052free service for their children there is no downside whatsoever every parent has the option to to not enroll their child if they do not choose to each parent can make that choice for themselves we're not imposing beliefs on anyone and really you know in fact for me a vote Yes for this motion is really us all looking out for the least of these are brothers and sisters so I certainly will be voting yes myself and I encourage um others to do the same to be looking out for those who are most in need in our community thank you thank you I'd like to maybe um make a counter argument um please do I mean so last meeting and this meeting I think there were basically three arguments in favor of keeping CIF um I'd like
053to take each one of those separately the first one was that our kids need the service um I think the majority agrees that it would be difficult to remove these Services completely um I commend Mr temp chaten on very quickly creating an improved opportunity for our school district to have a staff member dedicated to to this that is employed by the district and serves all grades as opposed to one that serves only the middle school I do have some data points that I have concerns about um in the data that was provided C uh CIS reported 59 students that were case managed last year the three previous years it was 25 or less so my questions are first would be do we have signed authorization from the parents of every one of those 59 students
054yes that's good the second question is does this demonstrate that more kids have developed mental health needs since CIS started or does it show that they're using our schools to farm for kids to pad their numbers to prove their necessity to be here that's not a good reflection in my personal opinion um the second data the other data points that I pulled from their report was that there were two students that received help regarding attendance there were six students that received help or six families that received food as a part of their uh experience and there were six uh students that were referred out I certainly think that our full-time person will be able to manage two students that have attendance issues six students that need food and six students that need to be referred
055out I would suggest that the administration house this new staff member in the building that has the most anticipated need I don't know that we have discussed that but I think it seems evident to most people that that's the Middle School the second um thing that I've heard repetitively was that we shouldn't decide based on politics or ideology I quite frankly reject this view I think it's an attempt to dismiss the convictions of the board members and the voters that he or she represents it's a view that's used by individuals or groups when their position is in the minority it's the politicization of previous boards by initiating ideologies into the school that our Board needs to defend against I'm sorry but you don't get to inject your own political and ideolog ideological agenda onto the
056kids and then cry foul when that's defended against the previous acts of overreach into the political and ideological areas of critical race Theory White Privilege de and gender issues by some kasd employees and the previous School Board is what led to the changes over two elections that have brought this current board makeup we are called to represent the voters who rejected these ideologies and we're called to protect children from ideologies that divide them up by race and gender and create a v victimhood mentality also the CIS company Bears the burden of creating their own core values not based on what's most important helping all students but instead clouding it with the EI core values Define the central operating principles that guide your decision-making and methods so this wasn't just a statement on a website it
057is their core belief additionally at our last meeting the CIS president acknowledged that their Dei core values have become a problem for them as other school districts have not renewed their contracts it is only now after we have done the same that they've decided to moderate their language not to change their values but to attempt to appease the public it was his decision to make his company political and ideological it was not a good decision and it's now damaged the reputation and Legacy of that organization the responsibility is with him that this contract has not been reviewed the third uh argument that I've heard consistently was that there has been no evidence of Tei core values being implemented I find it interesting that there has been no one defending the company's Dei position only that
058it can't be proven that they've been acting in accordance with their very publicly stated core values Mr cck am I still okay with that yes first how would we even know that many of these interactions which was just shared are private conversations second when the company espouses Dei as a core value I have to believe they would expect for their values to be implemented otherwise they're not core values so by this argument we're to wait until something under the Dei value is done then prove it before we can act against it which I think is just ludicrous it's like saying you should put the fox in the hen house as long as he promises not to eat the chickens I believe them when they proudly tell us what they're about and waiting until they harm
059children with Dei initiatives for conversations doesn't make logical sense companies and colleges and universities across the country are are now backtracking on their stances for Dei and have been removing their Dei policies and positions this is because they recognize that they are at minimum counterproductive to their missions with all of that said I will continue to protect children from the intrusion of dangerous Dei policies and vote no on the proposal to renew the contract sorry have I have a comment um and not in regard to Dei everyone knows where I stand on that topic that's not a secret um the American School counsel Association recommends 250 to1 ratio uh thank you for pointing that out Dr R um the national average actually exceeds 400 to one Mr dsh how many coun guance counselors do we
060have in our district we have five how many school psychologists do we have district one so that's six so six divided by 1350 divided by 6 is roughly 225 below what's recommended by the American school counselor Association well below the national average when this new person is brought on our ratio is going to drop to 190 to one which is wellable of the recommendation less than half the national average with those types of numbers I just don't think there's a need for CIS a robust program uh needs to be developed with our own Personnel that we're hiring the councellors the psychologists the newly hired mental health coordinator and the administration need to work together to to identify the needs and gaps um that our students have and build a long-term plan that can be flexible
061as those needs will be forever changing board has shown that it will support our students uh the 190 to1 ratio approve you know approves that we could have stopped for 25 the one and said we're already doing better than what the American uh school counselor Association recommends I am thankful for the unanimous vote uh two weeks ago um and I believe that the right person in that role will greatly benefit our students the last issue I have is this is my opinion the third parties of the district should not be dictating where donation will go the school has an Administration and nine elected representatives it is disappointing to me that C Sound strong with tie funds to just one particular outcome an outcome that the majority of elected officials believe is not the best way
062forward for our district I believe that K does want to support the community and I'd say it' be graciely greatly appreciated uh by all of us if Kutztown strong would support the school district with a donation to our mental health program as any additional funds that can be put toward developing the program would be well spent I make a comment sure um I just have a question first so I know kown strong has a lot of great stuff that they've done um I know they I looking at their website they there were the top three requests from their survey a means to learn or improve their financial management skill so this is what that what came back from the survey that they put out to the community um and the top were a means to
063learn or improve their financial management skills fund non-competitive after school programs for their children more Behavioral Health Services in the local community that are commun located and easily accessible um I know like um my boy was was doing the after school think he likes going over there um I know that uh all of these the the the initiatives that I'm aware of are hugely positive um so I guess my question is um because some of these other things that are that are initiatives from Kutztown strong that are happening in other locations like everything could stound strong is not happening in the school is there a reason or any roadblock that you're aware of Mr Tim chaten that would stop kzt toown strong from utilizing CIS in their own means capacity that's separate from the district
064I think some of St and schools own internal processes I their model is the site coordinator model model for a school district I I'm not say they wouldn't do something like that but I don't think it would meet their model which again is tied into the funding that they secure from their own National Organization gotcha so um that's one thing that that I again it's just a point to be made we're looking at a boxed program and usually these box programs these third parties are are generally pretty gracious within limits but usually they have these like hard lines that such we we see here um I think that's a really great thing almost from many perspectives to have a school district be able to not have to be riing upon you know those dictations of
065a box program so we get to be able to look at the the needs that are um authentic from within the school district um this person would be able to move across all the different schools talk to all the people specifically with stakeholders and like create something from the ground up um so I just think there's a lot to be said there um the other thing that I just wanted to I agree with a lot of not all of the the statements that um were just previously said with Jason and Dennis um and uh the what I'd like to throw in here is uh I data should be very important but I think where I have to push back and at least what should be an important talking point here is if we decide to
066look at at data um and nothing else and then if we make the accusations on top of that that if we're we're we're looking at something like shared value um I would just offer out there for us to think about a perspective this is just for us to think about so I mean we could think about Philadelphia School District when you think about cstown school district and I'm going to make some assumptions here and anybody on the board can you know shoot back at me if I'm you know overstepping but I would think that everybody would go well yeah Philadelphia School District is a lot different than Kutztown School District um the curriculum if you look at uh you know Kutztown we have drive your tractor to school day we have you know uh thriving
067FFA we've got you know a rifle team you know and then you you look at things like that and then you compare it to Philadelphia School drift and you well they're not the same so what what I want to make part of a conversation is you can't force what might be something that works for Philadelphia School District or a different School District you can't you can't force that upon and by using language that's uh you know things like there's no downside it's the legal moral ethical we can't understand why um there's earlier multiple times it was this is not a matter of of agree to disagree like there's not even there's there the the counterargument has presented that there's not a counterargument you must be in favor of community in schools so I just pushed
068back from that from you know the ground level and and um Arch to to kind of take this a step further if we're looking at shared Community value was that means okay and we're looking at shared Community value I think that's really where this all comes back because so many things that we've been talking about are we all agree upon but I think I can understand it I don't agree with it but if you have um an organization which has I mean you can look at their statements but you can also look at what they have put out after um George Floyd event after January 6 event these are like some of the most touchy uh flasho subjects that we have and they chose to put out these very pointed statements about these things um
069and that's the other thing you know so when when we're when the finger is pointed that you know it's it's an ideological decision like Dennis was saying it's not it's not it's it's saying hey let's remove it but that's what we're saying that's what I'm saying I'm saying let's remove it let's remove the ideology um and I I think that's hopefully something at least that should be a rallying point um and then the last thing I just wanted to throw out because I was thinking about this was uh when we I think again I believe everybody wants to build a positive Community experience here and so I was thinking about what what what is that what's a positive Community experience and have that you need to have a sense of purpose and a shared value
070in order to have that the the the foundation first for to build a community um and in doing that to focus on the positive and have you know gratitude and there are all kinds of different again like when you look at models that schools can follow to to build community and things like that and again there's there's so many out there just like there are so many different box programs to follow you know not just CIS in the case of a social worker but so one thing that my school district uses um has some things that again are I would argue I think are shared values being a champion for all students expect Excellence from everyone in the school carry the banner of school positivity be a merchant of hope so these are things that
071are we can rally around absent of the ideological statements and values such as CIS has so that's what I'm kind of stepping forward and saying this I'm hoping we can move towards the shared value and not demonize another somebody for having a different perspective because 99% of it is is what I I agree with with the exception of we get through all these positive things by a specific ideology that again I won't repeat the whole entire thing because I think Dennis summarized it um very well but anything that's going to teach that there's an immutable characteristic such as skin color that you can't change and that's one of the most defining aspects of a child and then based on that thing you can't change you belong to a group so we're dividing kids into groups
072and then according to those groups that you fall in by this immutable characteristic you are X Y and Z and that's where words and my understanding is it's not there anymore but white supremacy was a word and so now just because your skin color is white now you're a white supremacist and I just feel like these things are that's not my shared value and so that's where I'd like to say I hope we can as was stated early people can at least understand why that's not a shared value and then we can agree to disagree in this and then move forward that way think I some it so there's a lot of stuff here to unack but let me start with one thing I think that we're saying that it seems like a no-brainer to
073support these services at DOA to the children in the school district it's not the same thing as saying we should support CIS it happens to be that CIS is what's funded and available and could start with our kids right away I think the defensiveness about some of the terminology just because somebody calls out white supremacy as being a bad thing doesn't mean that they're calling every white person a white suprem like let's go to something a little less sensitive maybe right so we had the campaign for saving the whales people remember that as like the 80s or something save the whales right did that mean that everything else in the sea was bad and we should get rid of it did it mean that if you supported saving the whales then that like changed your
074character or something like that no you could be for saving the whales and still think other things should live on the earth so it just was that they needed more help at that time so when people talk about those issues and skew it to negative perceptions of things like diversity it's it's hard for me to see that's a bad thing diversity of culture has made the world such an interesting place diversity of thought has solved so many problems and caus so many inventions and things like that inclusion like people used to fight about keeping special needs kids out of school they certainly used to talk about keeping children of certain races out of school there was a time when women in this country couldn't get a higher education because of choices that people were making
075against inclusion and you know people don't like the word Equity because for some reason it's unfair if somebody who needs more help gets more help so fact that we have this opportunity which may not be available next year we'll have to cross that bridge when it comes to it we can certainly be looking for other Solutions Dennis talked about harm that might happen because of some of these words we know Harm's going to happen when these students can't be served and I am grateful that we found this other position that will do some of these things we're lucky we're lucky that money came along not not taking the opportunity is just except for Timmy thank you okay uh Mr s w please Michael Hess yes Rea Hoffman no Cecilia H yes Jeremiah L uh hold
076on a minute I just heard a derogatory comment from somebody in the audience Mr President right behind me they just asked how much weed cilia H let no maybe let's keep the comments in the audience and you guys do your vote let's let's back it off no sorry that was your boat no sorry FY dishes no Daniel whisper no Laurel Ziggler yes Jason or sorry Aon a no Jason no motion does not carry uh we'll move into introduction of new business by board members uh does anyone have any uh new business to introduce all right very none then we'll move into public comment on non-agenda items uh Jerry SE thank you um informational items the condensed board summary report is attached upcoming public meetings and informative dates September 3rd it's a Tuesday um is the
077next school board meeting it's a after Labor Day 7:30 uh PM in the high school libraryi and by Zoom September 9th we will have the policy and curriculum committee meeting and the facili curricular committee meetings at 6 and 7 o'clock respectively in the high school library and by zoom and September 16th we will have uh another school board meeting at 7:30 in the high school library and by Zoom uh with that a be looking for a motion to adjourn don't mooved L second hofman