SV Board Meeting 10-28-25

001One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Mr. William Broom >> here. >> Mr. Donald Carpenter >> here. >> Mr. John Kiy >> here. >> Mrs. Vivian Demco >> here. >> Dr. Laurel Ericson Parsons >> here. >> Mrs. Tracy Magnado >> here. >> Dr. Pax present. Mr. J. Santos absent. >> Uh, board president, Mr. Cedric Demar, >> present, one. >> Thank you. Can I get a motion to approve the agenda? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed? Motion's approved. Uh, we had an executive session this evening. We discussed the administrative assistant compensation and benefits plan safety and SVEA contract matter. Uh can I get a motion to approve the minutes from October 14th, 2025? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any

002discussion? All in favor say I. I. >> Opposed. Motion's approved. We have no recognition or presentation tonight. Uh high school representative report. Hello. Lady Panthers continue deep into the playoffs. Sock Valley soccer continued on with their playoff run as they took on Northwestern at Palmerton tonight, October 28th at 5:00 p.m. Cross country. Congratulations, Theo. Theo Wetler finished fifth and qualified for the state championships next week in Hershey. seen to go with Bridget Stidle finished 13th, also qualifying for the state championships next week in Hershey. Virginia Krauss wins again. The girls team finished in fourth with Virginia Krauss being the individual champion. This is Virginia's fourth consecutive district title as she heads to states in Hershey. Congratulations to the football for qualifying for the 2025 PIAA District 11 football playoffs. Saka Valley Panther football will host

003a district 11 playoff game as we host Tam Tamqua on Thursday night. Kickoff at 7:00 p.m. Cheer. Sen Valley cheer team will participate in the Colonial League Championship at Wilson on Wednesday, October 29th, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Get your tickets now for the Harlem Wizard Cheers. Biggest fundraising event is the Harlem Wizards basketball game on Thursday, November 13th. If you haven't heard of them, they are like the Harlem Globe Trotters, but travel the country and world, helping schools raise funds through a fun-filled basketball game with faculty, staff, coaches, and administrators. The Harlem Wizards are renowned for their electrifying performances, mixing top-notch basketball with dazzling entertainment. This event isn't just a game. It's a chance to rally school spirit, engage our students and athletes, see our Sen Valley staff and coaches play, and help raise funds

004for the Sen Valley cheerleaders. Finding Nemo Jr. coming this weekend. Come see our Sen Valley stars as they perform two shows this weekend at the high school auditorium. Saturday's show starts and Sunday's show is for I don't know the times for those, but it's Saturday and Sunday. And then good news, you will be able to buy a ticket at the door with cash. Tickets are $5 for general admission seating. Update for the audition info for the Drowsy Chaperon. For all marching band students, dance auditions have been rescheduled to Wednesday, October 29th from 6:30 to 7:45 in the auditorium. And then there will be a scene read through for everyone in the auditorium 7:45 to 8:30. Today, the debate team hosted the first LVIDA first tournament at Sen Valley during the school day. It was a

005very successful event planned by Mrs. Friday and the team. We started our record off strong as of 7 to one today. Thank you. Are there any questions? Any updates on band? >> Um, band. I don't have it with me, but I heard they won um a competition, a few competitions this month. >> They win competitions all the time. >> Yeah, all the time. They're really good >> after weekend. This is the championship week, so uh they've been doing great. >> Any other questions? >> Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Okay, a superintendent's report. Mr. Velocity. >> Thank you, Mr. Demar. So, good evening. I'm proud to begin the report by sharing that our district has once been once more been recognized for academic excellence. So today the US News and World Report uh named Sen Valley

006Elementary the one of the best elementary schools in Sen Valley Middle School one of the best middle schools which complements the designation that our high school had achieved earlier this year. Sen Valley Middle School is ranked 88th the best middle schools in the state and the elementary school is ranked 597 out of nearly 1600 schools. So these accomplishments reflect the hard work of our students, the dedication and skills of our staff, and strong partnership with our families and our community. Speaking of the elementary school, we want to continue building our Panther pride and recognizing student achievements. So we are launching a new initiative to recognize students who consistently model what it means to be respectful, responsible, safe, and a kind Panther. So each grade level will have an opportunity throughout the year to nominate students

007who demonstrate these core values. The selected students will be invited at the beginning of each of the schoolboard meetings to lead the pledge of allegiance and share why they were chosen to be a positive Panther. They will also be featured in the newsletter at the elementary school giving the entire community a chance to celebrate all of their achievements. And the first positive Panthers will be highlighted at our next school board meeting and we can't wait to see them here. um continuing with ways that we're supporting our students and staff. We recently sent out a survey to the teachers and pair professionals and support staff regarding a cell phone policy that was raised at one of our board meetings and then subsequently discussed at one of our AMP meetings. So, their feedback is critical to evaluating

008how our current policy is working in practice and if any adjustments need to be made. So, we'll be sharing these results at our November meeting if anyone is interested in attending and it will be shared on our website as well. And as we move into the season of the changing weather, we want to just inform our families that we have the information to that they have the information to plan ahead of schedule. Our school website's been updated to include the direct links for all of the complete bell schedules outlining regular school days with all of the delays that we or early dismissal schedules that we may encounter. So this ensures that all of the families can quickly see how schedule changes impact their children throughout the day. And in addition, every school has a dedicated

009icon on the main page to access new their school's weekly newsletter, just in case you've missed it. And the district newsletter, which also comes out monthly during the third week of the month, is also has its own icon on the district page that you can access for more information as you're navigating the website. And that's it for this evening, Mr. Demar. >> Great. Thank you. Um, I had a question. Um, well, and a comment. I wanted to say thanks for the report on the the the rankings news and um you know congratulations to uh our teachers and administrators for you know keeping keeping that pressure on the rankings going up. Um I had a question uh connected to rankings because um it's one of the things that is um fundamental to some of the ranking

010systems are the um you know the PSSA um source. I when I I had written to uh the state in August about when the new uh data would be released the because they they'd only had the projections from the previous year. Um and I heard back from um Mr. Brian Campbell. He's the director of uh curriculum assessment instruction at Department of Education in in Harrisburg. Um and he said it would they would come out uh mid Octo mid to late October and um I did follow up with him to ask him when we would get the new information. I'm anxious to to have that information um and I'm wondering if if if you have heard anything. >> Yes. So we preliminary have the data. Dr. Tor is actually working with our administrative staff and we're

011sitting down to analyze it. We are waiting for our future ready index information that was part of the data presentation. >> Future ready, you said? >> Yeah. Okay. So, we're waiting for that information. That came out delayed last year. We're expecting it to be right the beginning of November. That was part of the data presentation that we included last year. So, we're going to bring that forward um hopefully in the the month of November. Um so, we have the comprehensive assessment information with the future Eddie index information as well. Um and then we are also planning on doing the presentation for the rankings to see um what that looks like uh comprehensively of how we can adjust our rankings and what we can do moving forward. >> How do you feel about what you've seen

012so far in the new >> preliminarily? I think that we're happy with the results, but we still have work to do. there's still areas that I think that we need to to pinpoint and that's what we're trying to sit down with the administrative staff to see at this point uh how we can best uh convey what needs to be done moving forward with our with our plans. So, we look at the three-year data um see what growth we've made, where we need to adjust, and then hopefully have a plan laid out during that data presentation of what that looks like for the next few years coming out of it. Yeah, >> thank you. Yeah, absolutely. >> Great. >> I have a I have a follow-up question. Uh, so when you said preliminary the was good,

013was it across the three buildings or two? I mean, I guess this if it was PSSA's two buildings, right? >> Yes. So, we preliminarily feel like it's positive and that we're showing growth in areas, but like I said, we still, I think, need to target certain grade levels in certain areas that we need to develop a more comprehensive plan moving forward. We have things in place. We have new curriculum which obviously plays into a lot of the things that we need to plan for moving forward. >> And Keystones also are released at the same time as the PSSAs or are they on a different timeline? they are released. Yes, I'll say the future ready index is the information that we're waiting on that has to do with our college and career indicators um our AP

014involvement or rigorous coursework. So that was part of the data presentation that we're kind of waiting for because that does play into our two or threeyear plans moving forward and what needs to be taking place in terms of curriculum K to2 added courses and any adjustments that we need to make. >> Okay, thank you. >> Yep. Any other questions? Okay, moving on. Courtesy of the Florida visitors agenda items only. Would anyone like to speak? Seeing no one, uh, can I get a motion for the presentation of the bills? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed? Motion's approved. >> Can I get a motion to approve the treasures report? >> So moved. >> Second. Any discussion? >> Just a question for Mr. Bonenburgger if uh can

015tell us what the budget transfers are. Um a bunch of the budget transfers are they were either budgeted in the wrong categories. Um so they're being transferred into from other areas that they should have been budgeted into and uh some of them are supplies were more expensive. So their budget transfers are covering those shortfalls um to cover those additional supplies. Are you giving me the definition of budget trans? >> I'm giving you what the I'm giving you what these $26,000 are. >> I'm giving you just a summary. If you want to go to each one, I can. Some of them are very small, but I can go to each one. Um, >> what's the biggest item on the transfer? >> The biggest item on the transfer is um probably $6,466 was money was allocated in

016the incorrect account for supplies. It was put in equipment replacement. Uh, and the amount should have just been in supplies because it didn't meet the threshold of $5,000. So, thank you. Any other questions or comments? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed? >> Motion's approved. Um, on to education. Uh, we have no items for discussion. Uh, there are two items. Item number one, second and final reading policies. Item number two, conference. Can I get a motion to approve items one and two? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. >> Motion's approved. >> On to personnel. Um we do have uh Mr. Sailor receiving tenure uh as of October 25th. Congratulations, Mr. Sailor. Um, we have uh four items. Uh, I'll read through these.

017If anyone would like any of them considered separately, please let me know after I read through them and then I'll ask for a motion. Item number one, market rate adjustment. Item number two, retirement. Item number three, 2025 2026 IT team assistant advisor. Item number four, resignation. Would anyone like any of those considered separately? Any Can I get a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. I. >> Opposed. >> Motion's approved. The >> only thing I will say is Gina Denita was the assistant business manager in the district for 20 years. So she will be uh leaving as in April and it'll be a tough position to replace. >> Thank you for your service. Uh Mr. May I also I I just wanted to also uh thank

018uh Gina for uh many many years of uh dedicated service. Uh uh early on during uh my my time here on on the school board he actually stopped for uh Mr. Bonenburgger a few times and uh we did not uh feel any difference but Gina was was great. So just uh please tell her that I I I really appreciate personally uh the work that she's done here for many years. Okay. Um we have no items for facilities uh finance. We have no items for discussion. We have one item um a donation. Can I get a motion for item number one donation? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Uh just that's a very kind donation from the family. Um and it's really much appreciated. It's really thoughtful. >> So you know what it is.

019>> You you know what it is and I think a lot of people don't. So I I just wanted to ask if uh if anyone either uh Miss Brothead or Miss Velocity would like to just explain what uh this u walk is. Um, so every year the family participates in the Down Syndrome buddy walk. Um, and their uh team grows every year and the amount of money that they raise continues to grow. Um, and they were one of the high uh raising teams. So they were able to give the donation of $100 to the district for the money that they raised for the Buddy Walk. So we're very grateful for it. >> That's wonderful. >> And um, what will the money be used for? Um so we are the family was going between two different

020um activities that we do uh within the district either big panthers little panthers or um some of the community based instruction that the students go on. So we're still working with them of their decision of which it will be but it will be one of the two. >> Great. That's both uh great causes. Thank you. >> Any other um comments, questions? All in favor say I. I >> opposed. Motion's approved. >> Okay. On to community updates. Um the Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Ki. >> Nothing to report. >> Okay. Uh the uh Saken Valley Foundation, Dr. Erikson Parsons. >> Uh nothing to report. >> Okay. Um the Northampton Community College. Um Miss Baxter. Oh, I thought she was going to be able to make it. I guess she she got um uh Bethlehem area B tech

021school you have >> we didn't meet >> yeah we haven't met since the beginning of the month so uh colonial intermediate unit uh Dr. Pakistan. >> Wow. It's I think the first time that it's got to me without uh anybody else uh a report and this this is a this is a big one. Uh so uh uh as uh uh I think everyone knows there is a uh budget impass at the at the state and as a result of that uh uh the money either the state money or the pass through money that was coming from the federal government has not been released to many districts and uh uh some of the districts as we discussed last time are uh in in trouble but uh this has hit uh in particular the IUs the hardest

022uh about 40% of their operational budget comes from uh from the state and they don't have this mechanism that we have which is that we get our uh real estate taxes sort of like in in in September uh which is good for like for for the year so um uh the uh IU board authorized the executive director and assistant executive the director to uh secure a they call it a revolving line of credit up to $20 million at a uh interest rate not to exceed 4% uh to u basically provide them uh fiscal uh flexibility to be able to make payroll. So uh their expectation is that uh uh without this they would uh run out of their fund balance uh at the end of the this this calendar year and uh in order to

023basically meet the payroll obligations they need uh that's uh line of credit uh to to carry them uh all the way to March and not even beyond that. So um uh I I'm I'm mentioning that both as a uh uh news to community um and the fact that IU is dedicated to uh continue to provide services to the districts and to the children who are uh receiving those services and the families at the same time a blessing that uh you know we are not finding ourselves in that situation. Um it's a it's a tough one. >> Thank you Dr. Pox. Um, I'm gonna go back to the uh Northampton Community College as I see Miss Baxter is here. >> Perfect. You guys, your speed is phenomenal. I was turned it on. I was like, "Oh

024my gosh, I got to get down here right away." Um, there's really nothing new that's happened. NCC, um, you can continue to see the growth of about 5% year-over-year. Uh, let me see. The NCC was selected to join the national complete college America initiative funded by Bill and Melinda Gates. I guess we're one of 80 institutions nationwide to participate in that program. Uh winter term res uh registration is now open and that's for a um a rigorous session in the month of December. So people can can start to sign up for that now. It's all online. uh fall open house in Bethlehem just happened two days ago and that's they're about to start an initiative but the details haven't come out yet. We're going to raise about $10 million but that's going to start next

025year. Does anybody have any questions? >> All right. Okay. >> Thank you. >> Um PSBA uh Mrs. Carpenter and Santos. >> Yeah, I have a bit of an update. So there's um there's multiple free sort of online webinar or or virtual events coming up that might be of interest to anyone here the board uh members you can log into your PSBA and register for these things. There's a budget impass update on uh I think this this Friday the date is October 31st. There is a social media guidance um day on November the 21st. So it will talk about both district social media and also the sort of like the rules about your own social media usage. So you could register for that. There is uh an AI virtual symposium on December 11th. They're having a

026ton of speakers uh speak uh on AI um which I know that we have a committee so that's of interest to some people here as well. So all those you can register on your PSBA. I also wanted to note that um because we've been talking about it there the Pennsylvania state legislature in the Senate, there's been introduced bipartisan legislation. So both a Democratic and Republican member of the Senate have have uh endorsed this bill. Uh I don't I don't know the number of the bill, but it basically it is a ban on cell phones in put into the PA school code. So this is bipartisan legislation. It is been introduced. It has complimentary legislation has been introduced into the PA House. It is in committee right now, but they've already had community um like community

027um comment on it as well. So I just wanted to let everyone know that like um you know, we're kind of discussing this locally, but it is very possible that we are told what to do from a state level. Um, I know that the I looked at I went on and looked at the actual text of the current bill, which of course is not law. It could be changed by the Senate, but the current text of the law requires a ban in place before the start of the 2627 school year. And that ban includes a specific requirement that the local policy includes, this is a direct quote, the manner in which a student's possession of a mobile device is to be restricted during the school day. So that is the language of the law right

028now that is currently being debated. So we we we may have that is probably stricter than anyone here was thinking of. So just just to let everyone know that that there that is on the table. Um, of note, uh, PSBA is not in opposition to this and the P the president of the Pennsylvania Teachers Union, I don't know the association, the PSEA, the president of the state PSEA is in support of the legislation and is on the record in support of it. So, just just to set all that up so that everyone anyone sort of knows the lay of the land, >> who who is who is who's opposing it in the sort of like in the universe? >> It's easy for them. they don't have to deal with it, right? I don't know. I

029I don't I don't know. I didn't dig deeper into it, but I'm just saying it has a lot of support. >> I mean, a few 14 year olds, I'm sure they are. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Well, there was definitely some students that went to public comment in the legislature and said that they didn't think that it should be this harsh. Um, so >> is it harsher velocity than our policy? >> What what he said sounded like what we have >> the restrictions. Yes. Yes. >> Restricting possession is definitely harsher than what we have. >> Possession restricting possession. >> What he's saying is is >> the text of the law is definitely harsher than what >> position as in position while on school grounds or position period. >> Restricting restricting possession. Yeah. Is is part of

030the law right now. Right now. But um and the I also note that because we brought this up, we talked about it about the grant for the the lockable bags. Um the leg that was a that was a that was passed last year by the PA legislature. They they passed a $100 million total grant package for districts to apply for those bags and only 18 school districts statewide applied for them. Just to let you all know. So there's no way they spent that $und00 million. So um just just important information. This is all out of our hands, right? This is state legislature, but just important for all. >> It depends. you know, I'm I'm sure there are some of these school districts who uh take that money and then use the budget transfers. >> Um

031when I when I thank you for that uh report um when I brought up the issue of the you or the the idea of talking about cell phone, you know, kind of um additional kind of uh controls on it. Um it was what I the reason I brought up because it was it was already rumbling around the state. I I didn't it wasn't just a coincidence, you know, I had seen it in the news quite a bit. So, it's we're not it's not that we're disconnected. It's just that um they kind of um you know, they they've continued to sort of move in that direction, you know. Okay, great. Thank you. Does anyone else have a comment? Okay. Um Mr. Santos, do you have anything? >> He's got it all. Okay, great. All right, we're

032on to new business. We have a couple of items. First, we have uh policy 005. Um from Mr. Carpenter, would you like to give us a summary and lead the discussion? >> Sure. Um so I was uh I was under the weather this weekend and so I I the intent was for this to be a first reading of policy five and six, but it didn't make it on the agenda that way. And so as such this is not the first reading of the policy of two policies but you have all the text of them we can work that in the future. Um, I thought maybe I could run through these and we can have a discussion about um, you know, this is probably nuanced board organization stuff, but uh, have a discussion amongst ourselves uh,

033about how we want to move forward especially given that we are going to have a re reorganization meeting coming up. Um, so maybe I'll start with policy six actually because it's I think simpler to go through. Um the first part of the policy and and uh administration's free to comment about how much they dislike any section of this as well. Um the first part of the policy is um policy six meetings. There is um a current language in there that that says that we should be getting the agenda and I'm modifying the policies such that we receive the presentations or slides that are going to be shown to us. Sometimes it's okay to show up here and be shown something and be able to make a decision about it. Sometimes it is really difficult to

034digest um the information that's being presented in a way that encourages reasonable debate before a decision is made. So I just think that it's it would be helpful if that was given to us. Um I know that it probably puts some kind of onus on uh on the administration but but it it really is helpful to have that information in advance before we have to make decisions about it. So >> you know you know if I if I had closed my eyes I would think that Colonel Walsh is still sitting there and saying the same thing the point that um four years. So this is just a policy making that. So, um, it all and then I added in a clause that to be nice and understanding that reality exists and sometimes that can't happen,

035but uh, you know, if it has to be changed or or additions have to be made for the meeting that we're just informed about it prior to the meeting. So, that's that's that first part. Um the second part is uh um sort of clarifying how the agenda is made and it's to put the full board leadership into the agenda meeting which is actually the current practice. Um and this the next part which is D is the biggest change. Um currently we we have it so that if you want to add something to the agenda you need and the administration is not in support of it or does not feel like dealing with it. um you need three board members to to to be in favor of adding it to the agenda, but there's not really

036a strict process. There's no deadlines, there's no nothing. It's just very like nonchalant, like three people have to agree. And so this is just adding some more structure to that process, which is basically saying there's a deadline to get the request in. There's a deadline for the the people who are in favor of doing it to get their requests in. and just a little more structure to that process so that no one feels slighted that they you know they they tried to do something and it didn't happen and now there's a very clear like you didn't get in by this time this is the timeline you know etc. So, it's just adding some structure to that, which I think is probably I think there was a a practice where like some people get emailed, other

037people don't, not everyone knows what's going on. So, this is just adding some some structure to that process. Uh the next change is to the the business agenda, the the standard agenda. Um, so I actually made a slight update to this, but um, but it didn't it's not reflected here. But basically, um, the the way that the agenda is, well, I say supposed to work in Robert's rules is that new business is the heart of your meeting, right? New business is all the things that you're doing and you're acting on. But for us, we put those all in separate sess sections. And then we have this sort of like floating new business, which encourages people to maybe do things that are new business that can't be new business because they weren't on the agenda. Um,

038and so the the one change is to call it unfinished business instead of old business to make it clear what that is. Uh, and then to make everything new business and the administration can put the subcategories in if they want to do education, that can all still be there. It just happens in the new business section. And then the change that isn't reflected here is that there's an and I added board comments, which is much more like what we're treating new business like, which is that the board and members of the board are making comments. They can't be actioned. They can't be debated. They're comments. And I added that in. So we separate that out from new business so everyone sort of has a very clear understanding. It's not on this printout. It is in

039the update, the one that was emailed to the board though. >> Which which position did you choose? It's number like >> it's after >> number would it be a new number 19? >> It's like a new number 16 I think. >> New number 16 >> and everything else gets pushed down. Um the the other thing is is that uh at the top you'll notice I have committee reports. I added committee reports. We're having like an ongoing discussion about our committees and how we operate them. And uh one of the things that we were talking about is like people were talking about committees of the whole and I think that the reason for that and I feel the same way is that if you don't attend the committee meeting you don't really get any sense of

040what happened at all and uh so people at the committee meeting they have three hours of discussion and there's a committee minutes that's like talked about a plan you know and then it's like okay vote on it and so I think that we should I mean I there are I don't think that a committee of the whole really accomplishes much. We could just have another board meeting, right? But if we are going to have subcommittees and we're going to maintain them, then I think the committee chairs should take it upon themselves to deliver committee reports. This is standard practice in most organizations that operate under Robert's rules and have committees so that the committee chairs come to this meeting and report out about what happened at the committee with the intent of informing the board

041some representative discussion about like here's what we talked about. These are the decisions we made. We kind of saw this data. The data told us this one paragraph. doesn't have to be we're not talking about 10-minute report, but just to help everyone understand what happened to the at the committee so everyone feels like they have the information. So that's what the committee report section is. Um we didn't have a committee meeting order of business in the agenda. So I added that and then there's just a sort of a clarifying comment at the bottom about who makes the agenda for the committees. So this is all sort of like what's happening now. We're just like making sure it's clear and transparent to everybody so everyone knows what's happening. We put it in the policy and and

042it's there. So, does anyone have any questions about policy six before I go to policy 5? >> Yeah. Yeah. So, uh questions and comments. >> Well, this is new business and he said that you don't do Oh, maybe actually this is discussion so we can >> it's a discussion. Yeah. We can discuss. So, so the for the committee report are you uh o open to uh uh make that uh the committee decision as to how to uh how how how they would report or do you want to uh uh is there a reason to say that the committee chair is the person who does the report. The reason I'm saying it is that I can envision that there is a committee where they say that uh you know we would rotate right uh who gives

043a report if they so choose to right or uh there might be some uh topic where someone is uh more uh uh and that could also kind of like reduce the uh load and expectation uh from the committee chair so that we wouldn't uh find ourselves in a situation where nobody wants to be the committee chairs. Notwithstanding the level of effort that I think it takes to give a report uh we could add committee chair or designate which would be fine you know >> but here you are saying just uh uh report so report doesn't say who is going to be doing it which is fine >> it says it in another place I believe but I'm fine with saying that committee chair or designate that's fine um anything else bill >> um yeah I

044I think that Um, in general, I I hope that we can wait until um the the new board is seated before really taking any kind of action on any of these particular policies because, you know, honestly, when we when we arrived in the last after the last election, um, and I don't think I I don't think it was intentional, but there were a lot of policy changes like right before we got there. And um to me it seemed it seemed not super helpful. You know I I think that uh to me it seemed you know I would have liked to have had a say in those. It was done right before we were seated. You know there were a raft of change. I think it was partly because they were on a deadline for a

045um you know policy revision cycle. you know. Um but um so this these are pretty big proposals and I I I think I really feel like we should have the new board here to to talk about them and to look at them uh in any kind of serious way. um with with policy six um in general to me it seems well-intentioned but um overly baroque and uh almost like a a solution looking for a problem. It's too much, you know. Um I think the idea of um you I've looked at other policies for this category at other school districts and this is a lot. I mean, it's way more than I've saw I've seen at any other school district. Um um again, I really appreciate the effort. Um uh Don had talked about adding structure.

046Um but to me that to my ears it seems sort of euphemistic and um it it seems like kind of an unnecessary sort of gatekeeping that just isn't I don't really think it's necessary. I think things work pretty well as they are in terms of the um especially like for me with with policy six. Um like the idea of like turning in powerpoints like a week in advance. I mean I just don't think that we should be have that put that kind of onus on on board members. We're volunteers. You know, no one's going to die if a slide comes up at a at a, you know, a board presentation that someone hasn't seen before. I mean, I it just it doesn't seem necessary. People should be able to be as flexible as possible and

047we should try to peel back layers of gatekeeping and control, you know, and try to keep it simple and and and and efficient. So that's but still even you know more important than that for me is the idea of waiting. I think that we we should wait until there's the new board here. Um I I do think that the suggestion about the subcommittee reports is a is a is a really good idea. Um we kind of do that already in a way. Um but it wouldn't I think it would be nice to have that formalized. I do agree with that one. Um that's all. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So, um before you go on to the next one, I I do have a comment on part D. >> Yeah. >> Um >> I just

048um think that it might be it can be a big ask of the superintendent to make a decision. It's like in one day about whether the superintendent agrees with something. So, it's like if your boss comes in at 8 8 in the morning and says, "Hey, I need you to get this done by 4 in the afternoon and you already had your whole day planned out, then you know, you have to kind of drop everything and figure this thing out that your boss dropped on your desk." If I mean, so what you just described is the status quo. >> Well, right because anyone can email Jamie right now at any point. No, no. The the current policy is that it has to be seven days before the meeting. So that means >> this is seven

049this is seven days, >> right? But but there's no the the superintendent still has a few days until the agenda has to be set on Friday to figure >> but this is I I think if I may uh jump in, Mr. Dmar, may I? >> So this is I I I think I think in the current uh uh language that we have and I slightly disagree with Mr. Carpenter about that not being clear. I think it's pretty clear that uh three board members have to contact the superintendent 7 days in advance and that's what it is. I mean it's simple, right? Uh but uh but uh the the assumption is that if something is not on the agenda uh uh then uh the administration either disagrees with that item being on the agenda or they

050kind of like I'm just going to say they don't care about it enough to want to put it on the agenda. Right? So the the the assumption is that it's a no, right? And I think here Mr. Carpenter wants to give them a chance to say yes, maybe if they do, right? And if that's the case, then it negates the need for the for the signatures and so forth. Right now, the better way of doing it, and I'm just saying that as a as a way of sort of like reconciling what you both are saying, is that that uh deadline for the superintendent could be pushed back a little bit, right? And say that uh you know, you send the thing to the superintendent 10 days before the uh before the meeting and the superintendent

051has until the Wednesday or whatever to uh to to to let you know that uh they're they're not in favor of it. And at that point, you know, if you have three other people or two other people who are uh supportive, they can uh email and get it on the agenda. I think that uh addresses your uh sense, Mr. Dmar, that uh it uh wouldn't be sort of like a last minute thing. That would be a very very kind of like superficial uh review by the superintendent at the same time that it just allows for the board members to have that uh meaningful conversation with the superintendent uh for M. >> Yeah. Yeah. I mean the the status quo is that someone can email Jamie like an hour before the agenda meeting. It's 7 days

052before the meeting, right? I mean it's the day does >> Tuesday evening, right? >> Almost. Yeah. So, okay. Yeah. So, >> right. No, but but but the way it's written right now is is >> what is the deadline right now? >> It's it says it says seven days before the meeting. >> When when is seven days before the meeting? >> Well, the meeting starts at seven o'clock, right? >> On Tuesday. So, but the but right now right now the superintendent right now the superintendent doesn't need to have re have a statement about whether they support it or not until a week later. The superintendent has a week to research it and figure out whether they can say they support it or not. In the scenario you just described um that no one's asking anyone else

053to sign on. Yeah. Obviously, the best practice if you think that the administration is actually going to agree with your thing, obviously the best practice is to not wait until 7 days before. I don't care what the policy says, right? Like the best practice would be to go and work it with them and do it. Uh but but so so that that option is always available to you now and everything. But like the policy re I mean the policy is kind of governing >> the no. It's governing the no, right? And I know that Bill says that he thinks it's great and the way it is, except I've heard him literally complain about the process. Um, so I mean >> I didn't say it was great. I I mean I think it's something that >>

054Right. So because >> I think it's worth talking about, but I think that this is not the time to do it really. >> So So this is merely a a way to put deadlines in. And and if the deadlines aren't the right deadlines, if we want to adjust the deadlines when we do the the intent is to make it clear when the deadlines are to do it and to provide every board member the opportunity to say yes or no, which currently doesn't happen there. Like people email subgroups of people to try to get yeses right now, right? And so things can be a total surprise when they appear on the agenda not recommended by the superintendent because the person making the claim didn't email the entire board, which totally can happen. this requires you that

055that happens, right? It's it's providing transparency and structure to everyone. So, >> so, but I I think I'm just gonna go back that this is I if if you if you're okay with pushing that a little uh back that's addresses uh Mr. Demma. >> Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a solution to move forward. >> I think I think largely here what I'm speaking is what I'm trying to accomplish and the words were my attempt at doing it. I'm very open to changes in all of the words to accomplish the things that I think we should we should do which is to just put some structure on this process so that the superintendent isn't yielding emails at weird times and has no idea if it has support or doesn't have support right like this is very

056clear what hap what's what happens so >> I think any presentations or slides should be removed and partly I think first of all that's like that's not the agenda the slides are not the agenda. You know, they might be something that is brought up and talking about, you know, and and arguing something on the agenda, but you're you're you're in a sense it's it's practically asking somebody to say everything that they might say. Slide is a support for what is someone for what someone's saying. It's a prop. That's all it is. It's just a prop. It's not the agenda item. It's a prop. And I don't think people should be restricted with that onus to have to get it ready that far in advance especially with electronic stuff. You might might want to make some

057adjustments people and I I it's just it's it's unnecessary. >> There are there are two aspects to it. I understand your point about uh the the slide uh being what you are going to say. A lot of people actually read their slides. Not the best presentations but nonetheless it happens a lot. But then uh there is also information in those and uh the information needs to be digested. So uh I think uh I think the spirit of this the way I understood that is that you know you have an opportunity to uh uh you know sit down and look at uh the data and the information part of it uh and uh form an opinion because otherwise you know a lot of times you know you're sitting here and something is shown there and it's

058actually too far and you can't even see what it is and uh you know uh some people are uh like >> it's rhetoric also it's not just information it's rhetoric. Yeah, the rhetoric part of it is more I understand. My point is that this is the rhetoric part of it. I'm okay with uh not being uh prescribed to be shared. But then the information part of it I think it's fair to say that that uh you know people need to sort of like have some time or alternatively we can say that no action would be taken on something that hasn't been uh uh shared before. In other words uh we come sit here there is a presentation we know nothing about it. we hear all of the stuff and then we go home and in

059two weeks we come back and ask questions or uh you you know there is an action item related to that because otherwise I feel that way not just here but at my uh day job also where I go there and I just sort of like by the time I understand what the issue is it's like the end of the meeting and end of that discussion about that that item. I I appreciate the >> I I think too it's this is I just just to clarify this language is kind of like a value signal in the sense that if you read it um if material must be modified or added then just let us know right like I mean that's that's the if you didn't do it then you just have to tell us hey we're

060adding this in that's it right like so it's not a it's not a prohibition on doing it it's just a value saying that we would like to get these things as part of the agenda if we can't do it. You can't do it. But it would >> I'm going to I'm going to say if I may something also sort of like supportive of uh Bill's position which is that all of the stuff that we put in here that are about us poof, right? I mean they are uh you know the board uh has a policy. The board can violate its own policy. >> That is correct. Yeah. Yeah. The board can violate its own policy. >> But the stuff that you put in here that are for others are not like that. Right. put in

061here that there should be all any presentation slot and so forth and then a principal needs to come here and has a presentation that they didn't put together a week in advance and it's not a week by the way it's only the Friday before the meeting so I mean just to be clear >> in that case then they are violating a board policy that they should not be doing it so >> no they they only will violate the policy if they don't tell us >> yeah yeah >> that they are adding it um so I mean that's just I mean like you know we all just, you know, not to like judge anything out of executive, but like we all just went through having to make a decision about something where we didn't have the

062information in advance and everyone felt like I think there was a variety of opinions about how useful it was to try to have to make that decision. So, I mean, I think that I it seems to me that this is pretty widespread. So this is just an attempt like I said the specific language I'm open to it but I think that the intent of like receiving it's hard to legislate uh I need specific information before the decision and other information I don't care about. Right? Because I mean you it's hard to make a policy based on that. Right? >> But the agenda item is where the information is presented. You can't like an agenda item is not information. It's just an agenda item. the the the information that goes along with that agenda item, it's

063presented at the meeting. You know, that's that's what it's for. You know, you can't present all the information about an agenda item before the act the meeting itself that you know, meetings change the way that the information is. >> No, but if you're using a supporting piece of information, all I'm asking for is you include that with that's it. >> I mean, >> I'm not asking you if they're writing an argument. I'm making a statement. So, do I have to present my tie in advance? Seven days in advance of a meeting, >> not seven days in advance. >> Be wearing a tie that night and that tie will be >> that is totally irrelevant to what I'm I'm discussing. >> Presentations and slides, they're props, you know, they there's no >> Okay, we can we

064can adjust the language, >> but that's fine. Oh, >> I was just wondering and I heard you say it is if it's a presentation on something we have to make a decision on as opposed to >> Yeah. I mean, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> And perhaps this is a a reference to a committee meeting where the committee of the whole so we all hear the presentation and there's no vote taken on it until the next board meeting. >> Yeah. >> The whole would work like that. And again I think >> or or a committee report that includes the data right if it was presented at the committee part of the committee report could be including the data is giving >> right >> that's also an option >> I just um and looking like Bill said about

065the PSSA data yeah I'd like that um presentation >> yeah I want to just see that on a computer like >> but quite frankly you know having done those already I know oh man I found a calculatorul population error and this has changed but reporting on yeah this had to be changed for accuracy but without a negative you know implication. >> Yeah I mean you know there are some things that obviously you're going to want in advance or at least the supporting data before you have to make a decision. So anyway I don't want to deliver it so we're not this isn't actually the first reading. >> Uh may I make two comments? >> Yeah I have one other comment that I'd like to make. First of all, I I do want to say I

066I I definitely agree that it's uh you know, when we have to make a decision, it's super helpful to have the information in advance so that you can think about it and and develop uh you know, your thoughts. Um on the order of the um agenda items, I did see that uh at least one other district I looked at did have a I'm not sure what you called it, uh but like a roundt session where where >> board comments board comments. >> Yeah. Yeah. I added that in, but it's not on this print. But what um what maybe we could consider is putting it after citizens inquiries and comments because we often do make comments at that time anyway. So that might be a good time to >> Oh yeah, we sure we could do

067that. >> Yeah. So I think that's a really good idea. >> Okay. Okay. >> The next one. >> Uh Jay had something. >> Yeah. Just uh very briefly. Um, there are two things that I'd like to address. One, I really like the It's pretty loud. I really like the requirement where all board members have to be copied on any board item regardless of, you know, whether we have three or more people approving the board item. Because I don't know about you, but I'm not getting these requests to approve board items before they get on the agenda. And it sort of seems like maybe the same three people are the people who are approving all board items that get onto the agenda because I I noticed that there are more items every two weeks. So, somebody's

068approving it. I don't know who. It's definitely not me and I'm not seeing these board items. So, so that be that that I do like. And also, I think this speaks to or, you know, something that we talked about earlier is needing to know more about the board items themselves before they actually do get on to the agenda. Maybe like like I'd mentioned before, an executive summary of the agenda could help us in just knowing what some of these items are before we actually have to come here and make a decision on some of these items because they're important. They're important to the public and sometimes I don't feel like I have all of the information before I'm making these decisions. >> If I may, just one more comment. I'm just wondering about like when

069that IU comes and presents, don't they present and we vote on their budget right away or not? I I I can't recall. No, >> we usually do. >> Yeah, we usually do. >> Okay. Okay. >> We usually do. >> I have a question related to what Jay was bringing up. Um I I understood that the reason why we generally don't have all the board members get together and uh decide what an agenda item will be is because it'd be breaking the law if we did that privately. Um that was my understanding of it that um it is correct. And then one more thing on top of that and just this may also address uh Jay's comment is that Mr. Sant's comment is that uh agenda belongs to the administration uh the board has a uh

070sort of like advisory role in setting that up. So uh to to to your point uh and and that is done the board does that through the uh executive or whatever you want to call it right and this is during my time it's been uh 99.99% of the items that are on the agenda that you see are coming through the school. So uh principles and teachers and directors and uh others uh go to the administration they have a meeting uh in which they uh discuss what's going to be on the agenda based on the needs of the school. they come up with a draft of this which is uh this really right I mean rarely rarely I can't even remember the last time that that was the case where uh uh that change that changes

071right uh now there are some additions to uh to to the agenda this is the thing that we were talking about and I think Mr. Santos uh was referring to. For example, on this agenda that you have before you, there are two items that are added to the agenda. You look at the past agendas that we've had, rarely there are any items under new uh new business. This time, for the first time in a very very long time, I think maybe like for the whole uh time that I've been on this board, there are two items under the new uh new business. And the way that they came about were the ones that uh Mr. Carpenter was uh was describing in in his case. He wanted to have that discussion on the agenda and I

072think he sent his email to everybody. >> I did. >> You you got that email also. Three people responded and that uh in the case of the second item that you see which is the item that I uh requested be added to the agenda. It was an emergency item. I called people until I got three uh three people responding. And uh trust me, if the third person hadn't picked up the phone, you were the next one that I was going to call. So uh it was it was it was too late for me to uh uh send an email and then wait. So I just basically picked up the phone and called uh one after the other to uh to get to the tree. And that uh uh the the spirit of this uh uh

073policy uh as it existed was that if there are uh and I'm saying that this is sort of like in a sort of much more general uh sense uh and this by the way this came about uh during co time where um one of our colleagues was interested in adding something to the agenda but that colleague was the only one who was interested in that item right about mask and so forth. uh and uh and and this item was was added this sort of like provision was added to the policy so that uh uh so that if there are uh uh a couple of board members in this case three board members who are strongly feeling that something needs to be added to the agenda but that item does not have the administrative support and

074that item does not have the uh support of the majority of the board they can still sort of like put it on the agenda so that it can be discussed. So, so, so to to to summarize what I said is that that provision in a normal business should be sort of like so rarely invoked. So, don't think of that as sort of like the uh the the normal way that the agenda is being set up. >> I still think it's a really good idea in terms of transparency that we all get the request. And I mean kind of seems to me like three people is a quorum anyway, right? >> It's not. Five is a quorum. >> Five is a quorum. >> Yeah, five is a quorum. >> So three people having conversation together about

075four people can have conversation uh with each other. Four people can have a conversation and then three of them go have conversation with another person and then three of them can go have another conversation with someone else. So you can always have a group that doesn't uh include more than four people have conver. So, as long as we don't reply all, it should be fine to receive that email. >> Yeah. I'm I'm I'm not saying that that is not a good way to do this, but but I'm saying that that doesn't I don't think it's necessary to uh have a policy that says that anybody who wants to communicate with another board member has to communicate with all eight. >> Oh, no, no, no. That's that's the whole point of it. >> For the addition

076of agenda items onto the agenda, there should be transparency amongst the whole board for those items. That's my point. I don't think that the same three people should be continuously asked to add board items to the agenda and I'm not getting these requests is my point. So clearly there's the same three people getting the same. >> Probably not. But that's not >> I mean here let me let me without uh I'm almost loathed to even bring it up. But um you know this this happened and this happened this the policy here is also helping Jamie right in the sense helping the superintendent in the sense that it gives her the structure to say no and it gives her the requirement to say no because you didn't follow this right whereas before like one board member

077can put pressure on her and try to put try try to ask for other board members policies and she doesn't really know how much of the board is in support all she knows This is like three people like maybe agreed or not. I'm reasonably confident that there was uh an ask for an agenda item to be put on the board for two meetings ago or three meetings ago and I definitely didn't get that and I wouldn't have been in support of it. And uh and I think that we all suffered the consequences of that because instead of there being clarity that that wasn't going to be on the agenda, uh it instead got brought up live in new business and then we couldn't do anything about it. Okay. And so uh you know I think

078that this is a reason that I this is an attempt to put some structure on there where to to avoid that. So >> I I suffered nothing by the way. So speak for Yeah, I'd like to speak for myself. I didn't suffer a thing related to that. Um I I do think that on >> so far on the board we have been able to profer uh agenda items with quite a bit of um you know openness and and fluency. I don't feel like there's been push back from the items I've suggested even when they're people that you know when when I've asked other board members who I don't necessarily see eye to eye with often. So I hope that we can maintain that culture of just being supportive and and respectful of people having ideas

079that aren't necessarily I don't think that's the place to contest the ideas. I think the place to contest the ideas is in front of the public. >> I no I agree with that. the the the the disagreement here seems to be that should you have to tell everyone that you're you're trying to add it to the agenda? >> No. Uh I I don't think you're allowed to do that. >> You don't think you don't Well, you are allowed. Um >> well, you can tell them, but you can't deliberate about it. And I >> Right. But this this policy requires the entire board to know about the process happening, not just a subset of the board. That that's >> that's the only change. Yeah. To be made aware the polic Yeah. Okay. you board. >> Wait,

080wait, did you want to speak? >> So, operationally, if you took the back and forth between the superintendent and board and just said as a board, you should operate under the assumption that I'm not putting it on the agenda unless there's support, it takes out the operational part of it and leaves everything transparently to everyone. Which means if I make because the the timeline of this is my agenda is already made by this point, right? Yeah. Yeah. >> So, if you want something added, you should probably already have two people waiting in the wings to come and talk to me. >> Yeah. >> And I'm only saying this because of what I'm now just hearing and selfishly operationally, right? That >> I think that there is an underlying concern that if there's certain people that

081come to me, I'm more apt to put it on an agenda. No, no, no, not you. But I'm saying like there's this if you just operate that I'm creating the business of the board on this agenda from what I need to do and the and the agenda is already made by the time you're emailing at 8:00. You should probably already have two people there because it's really just positionally where it's on the agenda. If you have two people already supporting it, I'm going to make the decision of whether I have a if I'm supporting it, it goes under a different part of the agenda. That's the only thing that really differs. >> Okay. So basically I'm going and like getting an email then I have to email and it's a back and forth. You should

082just take out the back and for a deadline basically just put a deadline. Yeah, >> the deadline exists. Just modify it as as need >> you have two people and >> make it make it more specific. Okay. All right. Yeah, we can do that. So, so the other part of it is I mean like so going back to the the earlier point if somebody has an item that uh let's say the administration has neglected to think about it and they just bring it up and the administration says it's a great idea so they will add it to the agenda there's no need for for anything and that could be done sort of like in due time right I mean I think that that was totally gist of what you were saying and if that is

083not the case if something was not planned to be on the agenda the way that the administration put together the agenda. Then uh you send it on Tuesday with the two names uh with the two emails from uh from from two other people and u they will put it on the agenda either on the new business part of the agenda which now is something else or uh under one of the agenda items that have the admin support. >> Okay, I can clear this up. would you be okay with operationally if someone does so like let's say someone emails you they CC two other board members they say I would like to add this to the agenda I'm only CCing the two people that I know are going to say yes both of those people respond

084yes so now you have three are you okay that you operationally then inform the board that you have been instructed to add an agenda item would you would you could you are you okay with that >> could I report >> yeah would you would you be okay with that >> I mean for >> Okay. All right. >> By a certain date by >> Yeah. Yeah. By a certain >> day and time and >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> So, >> okay. >> Are we adding a restriction where Jamie has to approve all board items that >> No, no, no, no. That's not what we're talking about. >> That's what I see. >> No, no, no. The the administration owns the agenda except and currently before these changes the new business. So uh everything

085else on the agenda if you read it it says that it has the administrative support right on the agenda that you have. So all of the items there is a uh there is a recommendation and and just look look at your recommendation to approve all motions recommendation is uh listed in the treasures report and so forth. So all of those are the things that they want us to pass, right? The stuff that they don't want you necessarily >> or or it's just not in their purview anything. >> Yeah. >> They come under new business right now which does not say that statement that uh the administration is uh uh asking you to approve. >> So for items that go into new business, we would need the approval of the superintendent. >> No. No. just need

086three people to say I want this. >> Okay. >> That's not the current and that's not what this is proposing either. >> These are these are just clarifying questions. >> Yeah. Yeah. No, I'm just I'm giving Yeah. >> Just making sure that we all understand them. And and so one last thing, we're also agreeing that for any agenda item that is added by the request of the board member, that's going to be communicated to the entire board. >> Well, that's the discussion that we're having. Yeah. Okay. >> That's the discussion that we're having. By the way, none of these to uh to Mr. Brun's point uh because of the timing, none of these would be uh approved before there is a new board. >> No. Yeah. >> Let's say that's that's the timing. This if

087this is not the first reading, the first reading happens. >> First reading has to happen next time and second reading. Um you you'll note you'll note of note though, Bill, is that while the current things that we're discussing don't really matter. The the next part was intended to be done prior to the reorganization meeting. >> It will not be now, but but the my intent was to try to do that. So >> and on item D here, uh the proposals must come in wiring. So >> yeah, we can >> it's supposed to be writing. Yeah, >> writing writing. Sorry, autocorrect. You know, it it's uh it's >> we meant by a telegram. >> Yeah. Yeah. The point is is that you don't The point is is that there should the the point of that was

088to just make it very clear that you can't just casually like spout off that you want to do this that you have to have some you have to follow some kind of process. Right. >> Okay. >> I thought you were electronic engineering or something. >> I know. All right. So, moving on to policy five, which was the other part of this. This is sort of like I put them both in here because it's sort of like one big change to sort of you know it was my having been here now two years this is the sort of the things that I feel like we need to clean up. That's really what it came down to right to be transparent to each other and to the public and things like that. That's that's why these are

089part of one proposal. So policy five um the first section is officers. Uh this is just a cleanup because we didn't do this right, which is that we had someone filling two officer positions for some amount of time until we reelected the other one. So this is just really it's just putting in writing to remind ourselves to that someone has to resign because you can't hold two. That's like part of the law. So it's just really reminding ourselves that we didn't do it right. And so it's just putting in policy so that everyone is clear that we should that someone you can't hold two positions. Um the next one is term limits. So this is an ongoing discussion I know that people have had. There is both in our policy and in PSBA a sort

090of best practice that um you know that it should be encouraged that all members of the board are encouraged to seek leadership positions on the board. And uh I this is my own personal opinion and so I'm sure that there are people here that disagree with me but um our current policy includes language where um it pro provides some amount of this right I forget what it is you can't serve consecutively for in the same position for some number of years right and uh I understand that maybe this wasn't the past practice but from my experience and and what I saw is that um it was not ever triggered because everyone just kind of like changed what position they were year to year. It was like someone would be the vice president and someone would

091be the president and things like this. And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it. There's a majority of the board in support of it obviously, right? Those people had a majority support of the board. They were representative of the board. I just think that we could be better. And so, uh, I listened to a lot of people and I had something in here at first actually. Yeah. Uh, yeah. And, uh, I do think that being for the president probably should always be able to be a majority opinion of the board. Um, it is true that the board can just violate these policies by a majority vote anyway. So, it's really just these are sort of value projections. But what I basically changed this to is that the same three people can't serve in any

092combination for more than two consecutive years. Right? So, so the idea is to encourage more people to be involved in board leadership. Of course, you can violate this. We could just violate it by a majority vote by electing the person and it doesn't matter. This is just trying to say like we want more people to be involved in leadership. If they don't want to and that's the what happens, then a majority is just going to put the people that want to do it. But this is sort of an attempt to value project a value that we want to encourage some um represent all representation in board leadership. So >> I think it's a good idea. >> Um the next is the committees. So one of the bill and this is why I was talking about

093reorganization. One of the things that happened is >> can we hold some discussion on that before you move on or you want to wait until the end? Do you want can I just could I just go through and then we can discuss it all? >> Yes. >> Okay. So the next part is the committee. So one of the things that we do as standard practice I'm not saying it's it is what it is is that no one is removed from a committee and that's just the way the board worked. And so whenever the reorganization meeting happens unless someone is like lost their seat or resigns from a committee the committee is already like set up and then there was just like one person being added to a committee. there's no real discussion amongst the board

094and so it's actually it's unclear if the will of the majority of the board is actually even being enacted in that case right and so this is to this part of this is that we reorganize the committees every year so we reorganize the committees every year they they during the reorganization meeting the other thing is is that the our current policy says when specifically charged to do so by the board as uh as what the committees are supposed to be doing except and I don't remember the last time this board specifically charged the committee to do anything. Um and so what I added in here is that when we organize the committee we should also provide a mission statement to the committee to give them a window of what they should be doing right so

095if we have an academic and personnel committee we should be having a statement that that committee is working on you know academic data curriculum and etc. And it's just a very clear statement that that we have directed them as a majority of the board. If we have a policy committee, we have a statement that says the committee will review policies as requested by the administration and by, you know, brought up by a majority of the committee or something like that, right? And so we just have a clear explanation of what the committees are doing, what they're assigned to do. So, and we reorganize them each year. So, that that's the first page there. Going to the second page, um, it talks about the committee chairperson. I believe that currently the board president picks the committee

096chairperson and this is a bit of a nuance. I haven't changed it to that the board president nominates the committee chairperson which means that only the board president can nominate but the entire but they have to receive a majority vote. It's like uh getting approved by the confirmed by the Senate, right? Um so the board president rather than being able to just select they have to pick someone that can get a majority approval to be the committee chairperson. So that's that change. Um it also it also says that the committee chairperson should report during board meetings. This is where I believe there was a request to add or designate report during uh board meetings and then additional committee members can be nominated by any board. Um there's a part here that says all committees may

097be changed assigned a fixed termination date by a majority of the board. uh a committee's fixed termination date may be extended an additional fixed length by the president and this extension shall be announced at the next business meeting of the board. This is just a cleanup language of what we had. Um I forget the exact change the I made this because it was very unclear about why the committees were being made if they had a length or whatever. Um and so this just made this just like cleaned that language up. Um, and this the next part just says that members of the committee still serve for a year or until the committee is discharged, which again reorganizes the committees every year. Yeah. Okay. >> That's the the rationale for those changes, proposed changes. >> Thank

098you. Um, do you remember what your uh because I don't your first proposal on how they could serve? Uh my original proposal had like me trying to create a twothirds vote, which I don't think was going to fly because a majority could violate the two-thirds vote. So that's why >> So your current proposal, let's just use the three of us here because it's easy. We're all serving in various positions, >> correct? >> Well, John and I decide we're going to serve in positions two, we're going to elect another your positions treasurer. So or we're going to just elect Well, we can continue to serve because we're not the same three. >> That's correct. And the next year we decide to do another treasurer and we can still serve. >> When you say we, it's important

099that we say it's a majority of the board doing it though. >> It's a majority of the board doing that. >> But that's that's a potential for that to happen. >> Yeah. >> Or forever. >> It's possible. Yeah. But what it does is so I mean here's the question is what is the intent and what are we trying what am I trying to do? And I think it is >> it's leadership, right? >> It's leadership. But the question is, is it position specific? And I thought a lot about this and I think the answer is like no, it doesn't have to be position specific because um as long as there is are new people that want to that are experiencing like the agenda meeting or board leadership conversations, as long as there is new people

100doing that, I think that that is that solves the the desire to have shared leadership. Does it matter if like one specific person is the president or not the president? I don't I don't think it does >> and I don't know if it does or not cuz I've never been had the opportunity cuz when they were holding the when you were holding the discussion on meeting with the super only the three of you were able to comment right I don't think anyone else >> sitting on the board when you were holding the discussion on what goes on the agenda how it goes and how that all works there only the three of you were holding a discussion because no one else has any experience sitting here. You mean what Bill was talking about? >> She

101I think she mean you mean the agenda setting meeting? >> Yes. Yes. Because the three of you are the only people with experience. >> Oh, okay. Yeah. Sorry. So any of the three or members get to be at that any of the three leadership positions in my proposal get to be there, right? So that's part of the sharing of leadership, right? And >> again, I still don't know whether president and vice president hold more weight. You I just don't know because I've never experienced it. I just don't know. I mean the president runs the meetings, right? So that's >> Yes. That's obvious. >> Yeah. Right. Yeah. But I mean and and and and I think as the sort of the face of the board, it would be I I feel like a majority of the

102board should be able to pick the person that's running their meetings or is the face of the board or whatever. Right. Again, there's no restriction that you can put in here that a majority of the board can't violate anybody, right? And so >> so then why are we holding that discussion? >> Well, right. So the point is but the point is to try to hold ourselves to be better, right? I mean that that's the point. Could we make it two? >> Thank you. >> Instead of three, could we make it two? Like does the number of individuals in the policy change how the policy or the spirit of the policy is read? >> Sorry. I'm sorry. >> So currently it reads three people holding office. Right. can't hold the same office consecutive number of years

103etc. What if it's two people holding office can't go back and forth sharing the same title in leadership? Does that change the effect of the spirit of the letter? >> I don't I think I think changing it to I don't think that would have the effect. I don't then you could have who would the third there would be no restriction on the third person then. So you there would be that would be less restrictive. So why don't we just say leadership positions in general instead of having a number there? What are we talking about? The amount of people that are in and I don't have it directly in front of me, but it says three or more people can't hold the same executive office >> because there's three because there's three leadership positions. >> Yeah.

104So why don't we just call it all leadership positions instead? >> Yeah. I mean we could change the language. Yeah. If you wanted to. Yeah. >> In the future. What if we had like a secretary? >> There is a secretary. It's just not a board member. >> Just not a Well, a secretary board member is what I'm saying. Do you know what I'm saying? Like no offense, Judy. Clearly, you're here. >> I I I I have been in the meetings and um uh there is a I I'm I'm hearing from what uh Miss Demco mentioned and also uh some of u comments by Mr. Santos that there's a like sort of like oral mystery about these rights and it's really not and I think uh uh one of the things that uh the board should

105do is uh open the agenda meeting to uh board uh visitors participate right so every meeting there could be a fourth person who goes there and just basically sits and uh does what everybody else does which just basically listens to what are the items on the agenda, what's the rationale for them and uh if there is any uh questions you know the question is asked and answered right that's uh that that's what happens there and uh uh I my my my suggestion and I I think I mentioned that to you uh before is that uh that I think that is a much more uh conducive uh and productive uh way of uh doing this so So that it wouldn't even be uh you know just one person now for the next two years you know

106has but then like I mean six other people now are going to sort of like be feeling that uh they are left out you know in a in a certain way right so you know meeting after meeting after meeting you know you're going to go and you're going to see that you know nothing is going really right so that's uh that's my that's my suggestion with with regards to uh to to that uh the other thing that I wanted to say is that and you you mentioned that Mr. Carpenter that uh there is a value judgment here or value projection here right which is uh something that obviously uh we we all uh share that um it's better that uh more people are involved right in in in in things. the >> the the the

107reality is that this is a uh political body, right? And uh it's a political body that works under democratic rules, right? Uh and uh Robert's rules are uh sort of like one way of sort of like doing that. But the bottom line of it is that uh there are decisions that are made and the decisions uh are coming sort of like based on a certain sort of like philosophy and set of priorities and so forth and uh I just want to say that uh as important as the idea of shared government is and I am supportive of that those other things are also important potentially sort of like are the mission of the institution as opposed to one of the sort of like good things that It's good if you can have it, right? So,

108uh uh that is the part that I sort of like want to make sure that we don't get uh get that kind of like lost in the uh in in the in the makeup, right? So, uh that uh you know the core mission should be preserved right now. If the core mission is preserved which is that uh there is a uh harmony and uh sort of like cooperative relationship between the board and the and and administration once that is established then you can say okay so what are the other things that we can do to sort of like make it better and that is I think what you were saying and I'm I'm completely in agreement with that which by the way I I I say that and you you have said it in the

109in the text that you app which that it is preserved because uh regardless of what this says you know five people can do you know the thing that they feel is uh the more important thing so I'm >> that's correct yeah >> I'm I'm I'm completely sort of like in agreement with sort of like the fact that what you said is both projection of some values and also uh acknowledgement of the nature of the uh this this board >> and and on that if I could make comment Um we have an opportunity to to also we outside of this this I I appreciate Don's effort this outside of this effort um we have an opportunity also to have a willingness to develop a willingness for change on the way that the board is governed. Uh

110maybe some people who have been in positions of power can step back a little bit and let some fresh people in, you know. Um like I I what you said, Shim. Yes. It's it there's political realities and factions perhaps is what you're you're you're thinking of in in terms of the val the core values that different different people on the board kind of represent. Um but there also has to be a collective you know desire to to to be open to change you know and not I mean we can we can change things you know if we if if we are willing to do it and that's for me what I want to see like I want to see like great new new you know new board policies they could be used well or they

111could be used badly and will we actually after you know after the election, particularly when there's new people here, uh, and there will be new people. Are we going to open up to them? Are we going to be willing to say, "Hey, we're willing to have somebody lead who maybe hasn't done it before." Uh, the idea of having to train somebody to be a schoolboard president uh or vice president. Um, I I personally, with all due respect, I think that's kind of been kind of a a fiction, you know, agree with you. convenient fiction, a self-s serving. It's neither convenient nor self- serving. It's a it's a it's a uh it's a uh realization of uh priorities, right? So, I'll give you an example. You go to your class, right? And you're the teacher, right?

112And you have a uh you you have a uh a mission, right? Uh you have a scope, you have a uh you have a goal that you are trying to achieve. as long as that goal is achieved the best most beautiful way that's perfectly fine. I don't think anyone has any problem with that, right? But uh if you uh if you adopt practices that would uh uh hurt the goal that you had for that day in class then I think that is not good right even if it looks pretty right even if you say that you know we are going to do certain things that would sort of like sound you know uh nice and dandy right the point here is that this body is here in order to reach decisions right and those decisions

113should be representative of the majority of nine people who are sitting here. Everybody knows this right. So this is that is the core mission right now. Uh if you could preserve that core mission and then have some other sort of like advantages and benefits that are coming along the way. I'm completely in agreement with that. Right. But uh I'm not going to sacrifice the core mission of the body because we are sort of like trying to sort of like uh come up with some other uh interesting things. different interpretation of that core mission. I understand. I understand. But that's what I'm saying is that the core mission is determined by the majority of the board, right? So that's the that's the whole point of it. And again, I mean, this is like anytime that anyone

114sort of like said, "Okay, hey, you know what? we actually uh decide that you know five people here are deciding that we don't want to have necessarily you know X Y and Z as our mission and we want to have uh everybody you know taking a gabble and but so okay that by the way this part of it the the the most sort of like amusing part of this conversation for me is that as someone who's done it and been here and seen it it's like it's like so much nothing right it's so much of nothing right as like you talked you said, you used a word that was so amazing, power. There is no power. Okay, Bill, I have news for you. There is absolutely no power, right? The board president, the board vice

115president, the board treasurer is exactly the same as everybody else on this board. That's the reality of it. Now, I understand that's I No, no, no. But that's a you can't say that I'm I'm making a statement. I'm not sort of like right. That is the reality of it right now. Uh >> well other people want to have no power. >> Yeah. Yeah. I understand. They want to see what that's like. I understand that. I understand that. I understand that. Yeah. >> The thing is that there are sometimes where uh uh the some some perceptions right could be abused right or could be misused, right? That's the thing is that and someone says, "Hey, you know what? I actually don't want anyone to be in that position who would abuse that uh position, right? I

116don't see the possibility of an abuse of power heading our way anytime soon. >> No, no, I think you're wrong. I think you're wrong. I think you're wrong. >> I mean, I think that >> I have examples to tell you, but and I will leave that for another time. >> I I think to address what you what you said, Shamim, the the the board exists only as a majority, right? The individual members have no have no power, right? Like only a majority vote of the board can do anything. Period. Um but and I accept what you said that that that the goal of this board is to support this district and the majority of the school to make decisions right we are we we're making decisions we are legislating we so long as we do

117not deviate from that goal there is a value in us as a structured entity in in like providing opportunities for people to be involved and doing things like that. I know that you said you don't agree with it, Bill. Like mentoring it is like it is important when new people are here. It's going to be important to mentor them to to tell them the things that we've learned in the past two years, right? And and you know, that's kind of part of this living with the realization that there is no one stopping a majority of the board from electing whoever they want to be the president. Period. Right. And by the way, this is exactly how it is in a labor union. Okay? It is against it is illegal to put requirements in a labor

118union that you have to serve as like vice president before you can be president. So like the membership as a whole can decide to pick any random person that they want to be the president of a union. But it is much much better for the for union as an organization and I speak from this because I was a union president. Sorry I'm not commenting on the union here. I'm just giving a personal account. It is much much better for the organization that there is some harmony and shared leadership and and people have a a chance to to be included in leadership even if they're not the president. Uh and it sort of works better. And so I think that we should endeavor to do that. There's clearly disagreement on this board about this. And so

119I think we should endeavor to understand that and work towards uh an inclusivity without disrupting the mission. >> I have a question. Um, is it factual? Someone had told me they're I'm sorry. I forget her name. I don't Sorry. Yeah. Is it factual that um a board can hold as many reorganization meetings in a year as they want? They're not just limited to one. Is that accurate? >> I actually don't know that answer. I've never had a situation where any board has held more than one reorganization meeting the first week in December. That's what the school code mandates. I'm happy to look at it and get back to you, but that's never a situation that I've come across before. >> Obviously, there are situations where particular uh positions do not want to hold that position

120anymore and step down for personal reasons or otherwise, but >> um in terms of a limit or having multiple reorgs, I've never had that situation come up before. >> Do you would you need I mean, you wouldn't need a reorg, right? Like let's say I mean let's say three people on the board were like I want a motion to remove the president of the board and uh they want to put it on the agenda. Three people can email Jamie. It'll go on the agenda. It'll be debated here on the floor and it can be motioned and >> I think it's I think it's a little more complicated than that. The reason I say it is because this recently happened at one of our neighboring districts and I think the process required a uh written notice

121for a hearing and things like that. So uh the person who holds the uh I think this president's position is >> entitled to a hearing. >> Okay. >> But so it can't be done you know in the middle of the meeting but it can be done definitely sort of like with due uh notice. >> Yeah. I think that like the capital R reorganization meeting in the school code. It's defined to meet that very specific first week in December um situation where you're appointing officers. But that doesn't changes. You could do something else though. You could do a different one. Correct. Have to do one then. >> Correct. And it would be subject to certain procedural mechanisms, but it wouldn't be considered a reorganization meeting. If that makes sense. >> If we could get the answer

122to that, I'd appreciate it. >> Just whether it's illegal to do an entire reorganization meeting. >> Sure. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So, to just put a bow on this. >> Oh, go ahead. >> Oh, do you have something? I was just going to say I this is a a it's a very open kind of discussion but uh I think it's really good to be having talks. I I I I'm going to hear I'm going to get emails, you know, for the next two weeks. I'm going to get people saying that they need to talk to me. Uh all this stuff's going to happen from from having a a wide openen discussion. Thank God. You know, I'm glad that we're talking about it. I'm glad we're talking about, you know, things like, you know, are

123we willing to change, you know, and and I'm glad we're talking about the policy, the the way that the organization is set up. I don't I don't necessarily agree with it all, but I'm I I do think it's important to talk about um so I just want to say I'm I I appreciate that, you know. >> Okay. I'm going to say I appreciate all of the efforts that you had uh put into this both five and six. >> Thank you. So to put a bow on this and just uh uh we can have this as a first reading next time during that reading anyone can motion to change the language of specific parts right so if you're like I don't like this thing you can motion to change the language then that motion will go

124up for a vote and then we can adjust it and it's it's cumbersome to do it I mean that's just how Robert's rules works right but uh but so that's That's sort of what it is. So, everyone has the text, which is very helpful because you can come with the knowledge in advance of what you want your proposed change to be, right? So, um yeah, >> one last comment. Um I'm actually surprised that it wasn't already in the policy uh that we would have a reorg meeting every year. >> It's it's by law. No, no, it's by that's law. >> It's it's by law. Okay. Vivian was asking if you can have more than one reorg, which is >> Yeah. Yeah. >> I'm not even sure what the reorg means. I mean, >> there are

125limitations what you can do at the reorg, right? You're not allowed to do normal business. >> Not in terms of legal. >> It's a completely separate meeting for the reorganization and it specifically has to occur in the first week in December. Uh there's some quibbling sometimes about whether that has to be by December 2nd or 7th or whether it can be into it. But yeah, it's a very um kind of formatted process of how how the board organizes. I I meant in terms of the uh committees themselves. >> Oh, >> not in terms of our leadership. In terms of the committees having people be on, you know, >> reorganizing the committees every year. >> Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a great idea. >> Thank you. Yeah. No, I I think that it makes clear that

126the majority of the board has decided a decision on the committees, right? Rather than just sort of status quoing them over and over again. >> Yeah. I mean, what if I don't want you on the finance committee, right? I there's nothing I can do. I have no recourse. I have to wait until the next reop. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> Okay. Um, thank you, Mr. Carpenter, for all the energy that you put into us. I certainly appreciate it. >> Yeah. I appreciate that. >> Okay. Uh, we we're on to item two. Um, discussion of possible action regarding continuation of the free and reduced lunch program. Uh, I believe uh your item. >> Yeah. I so should I first uh >> well we we what why don't >> oh okay yeah we can have a motion

127and then have discussion since this is an action item right wasn't sure whether uh we should do the discussion first and then >> well if we're going to if we're going to uh if we're going to have a motion we should do the discussion after we have a mo I mean yeah after we have a motion um can I get a motion for item number two >> so move >> second >> okay discussion so uh this is uh something that I uh uh asked to be placed on the on the agenda. Uh it's very hard for uh anyone to not know what's going on in both Harrisburg and Washington DC. Both are deadlocked over budget for uh for next year. And uh there are some very important programs important to um a lot of families

128including families who live in our district uh that are uh at jeopardy. Uh one of them is uh SNAP uh uh which is a federal program and is providing uh food and nutrition for uh uh many low-income families. And uh the other one is the free and reduced lunch program. That is a uh program done through the state but uh it's a it's a federal um program through department of agriculture and uh the uh money for that second program uh goes through the state and then passes through the state and goes to the to the school. So u uh what I heard over the weekend and um on on Monday was uh a set of uh uh topics. One was that uh the shutdown is uh not expected to end anytime soon and uh the

129issue at Harrisburg also is not uh resolving. So uh there was no uh uh progress in in either of those uh budgets and on either front and uh there is an expectation that potentially some of these programs would start in terms of the funding. And the second was that there is a lot of angst in uh certain portion of our uh population that they think that uh once those programs stopped potentially then uh uh these uh programs at our school would also stop. Now as a uh matter of uh just sort of like informing everyone there are a lot of school districts and I mentioned that earlier when I was uh giving my report about the IU that are uh in really difficult financial position and they are u uh creating lists of people to

130lay off as early as this December and uh they are stopping programs uh at the IU. One thing that I didn't mention is that they have cut almost uh everything that was discretionary. There's no uh travel that is happening. There are no uh uh field trips that are happening. There are no uh purchases of uh u supplies and materials. And there's a lot of tightening of the belt to sort of like deal with u the financial realities. Now uh in uh our district fortunately we are not in that situation. the last board meeting. We discussed this a little a little bit uh uh at the end of the meeting uh and we we we reaffirmed that we are going to uh be okay because the way that the cash flow works in our district it's

131uh uh it's it's better than uh than a lot of other places. So uh there were two things that I wanted to uh bring up to the uh to the board uh today. One is that uh there is a resolution that I prepared uh with the help of the attorney uh to uh uh put before our board and uh pass. This uh resolution uh reaffirms our commitment to uh continuation of the national school lunch program during the ongoing federal government's shutdown and Pennsylvania budget impass. And the second is just basically communication to the families. so that they uh know that uh uh they should not worry about uh this at uh at this difficult time for them. So that is the background of what I wanted to say. I have this uh text since this

132was not u included in the agenda package. uh uh if uh we are making a motion I uh I think I think somebody should should read that so that uh it's in the record as to what is it that we are uh uh uh potentially going to be voting on but um uh that is sort of like the uh introduction to uh to the topic that I wanted to uh to mention Mr. Mr. Jet. >> Okay great thank you um does anyone else want to make a comment or ask a question? Yeah, quick question. First off, I think this is an absolutely great idea. Kids shouldn't go hungry. That's number one. Um, and should go for the entire country. Uh, I just wanted to know, is there any budgetary impact to this? I I don't

133really care about the budget. I would vote yes on this regardless of the cost. Again, kids shouldn't go hungry, but what would be the effect on the budget if there is any? I I can I can sort of like speculate about that and um say that uh the long-term effect on the budget is none. >> Uh there is a uh potential risk that uh uh that that the program would uh get stuck somewhere and would be eliminated and if that uh happens then we will not receive the reimbursement that we would otherwise receive. Right. But uh what you said earlier uh you said you don't care about the budget. I say I care about the budget. But this is one of those things which I think you you meant it that way also which is

134uh something very worthy that uh we should not sort of like uh go uh in the direction of uh cutting this without knowing the consequences of it. And I I personally would be in favor of continuing it even the um uh the programs at the uh at at the state and the federal government uh cease to exist. >> Yeah. And to be clear, it's not that I don't care about the budget. I wouldn't have asked about the budget if I didn't care about the budget, but in in just uh wanted to know what what sort of impact this would have if we're not reimbursed, you know, whatever. Again, I think kids going hungry is a really bad idea. >> Yeah. Yeah. And this is, by the way, one of the uh one of the items

135on the on the resolution if you uh if you look at this item number four. And Mr. Dmar, do you mind if I read this so that you know? >> Go ahead. Yeah. I just wanted to to say to Mr. Santos, um I I don't know the exact numbers, but um I do know that um our percentage of students that are on free and reduced lunch is about a third. >> Okay. And uh lunch costs, and someone can correct me on this, about $4 a person. So, you know, and we have about um you know, 1,900 2,000 students. So, you know, the math isn't too complicated, but I'm not going to try to do it in my head. >> A day. >> Okay. >> Would you would you like to me to tell you in

136September what we got reimbursed from feds and state instead of you're guessing? Um so in total for breakfast uh and for lunch and this is free reduced and for paid because we do get money for paid but um and at this point um we've been told that there's enough funding for September and October um that they're trying to figure out within the coffers of the state what's already been given out if there's still money to give November, but they're not sure that's going to happen. So for September it was around $67,000 that we get from from federal state money >> compared to like southern southern Lehigh school district we we have a higher percentage of you know >> pretty I look they were about 14 15%. >> Yeah. Yeah. I saw I think today I

137saw it was like 30%. Um so it's you know obviously third but it's not too bad. I think it's a a good thing to spend our money on. >> Well, right now we are not spending the money on. We're just basically doing it with uh the strong possibility that we're going to get back. >> We're promising that if we're not reimbursed, it's okay. >> Yeah. >> Yes. Go ahead. Uh Dr. Poxad. So whereas the Son Valley School District participates in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program to provide nutritious meals to all students in accordance with the regulations of the United States Department of Agriculture. And whereas access to healthy meals is essential to students well-being and academic su success across the district. And whereas the interruptions in federal and or state funding,

138such as those caused by the prolonged federal government shutdown and even longer Pennsylvania state budget impass, could delay or temporarily restrict reimbursement for meals meal services under the NSLP and SBC. And whereas the Sen Valley school board of board of school directors recognizes its responsibility to ensure continuity of essential student services including school meal program programs regardless of external fiscal disruptions. Now therefore be it resolved that the Sen Valley Board of School Directors hereby reaffirms its commitment to the National School Lunch and Breakfast Program and directs the administration to one continue the operation of school meal programs during any period of the federal government shutdown and continued Pennsylvania's state budget impass to the fullest extent practicable in ensuring no interruption in meal access for students. to utilize available local funds as may be necessary as

139a temporary measure to maintain food service operations until reimbursements or appropriations are restored. Three, communicates regularly with the Pennsylvania Department of Education's Division of Food and Nutrition and the United States Department of Agriculture for updates, guidance, and reimbursement procedures during this such period. and four reports to the board on the fiscal impact and continuity of services should such events occur. Be it further resolved that this resolution shall take effect immediately upon its adoption and remain in effect unless amended or rescended by subsequent action of the board. >> May I ask a question, please? I'm sorry. I I should know this information. Do all students receive free breakfast? And then the students that would receive lunch through us are the ones on free and reduced. I just don't know how that we currently function for. >>

140Breakfast is free um based on um what the state approved that it's free to to all. Um lunch is obviously you have free reduced and and paid people. >> Okay. And that's what we tend to continue, >> right? >> Okay. >> So, um I I I have a question. I mean, I'm obviously in support of the motion. Um I just have just had a question. Just >> There is no motion yet. >> Yeah, we Yes, there is. It's already been seconded. >> Um I'm obviously in support of the motion. The question I have is I mean it's sort of just um e educational is that should we not pass this? Would the district be able to not pay for kids lunches? That seems seems wild to me that I mean is there a law that

141governs this? I actually don't know. Just just the question. >> The there would be a chance that the district wouldn't receive reimbursement. It's not been it's never come up to my um understanding. I can't imagine a situation. >> Would there be a statutory requirement that the district still pays it? >> That's a great question. I mean, I don't know who would pay it, right? The the free and reduced um lunch program is statutory. The breakfast in the classroom is mandated to be free for all students. I don't believe I think this is kind of a novel area where you're dealing with a potential that a combined federal and state shutdown could result in an actual loss of reimbursement funding >> because again currently free and reduced free breakfast are statutoily mandated. So I think you'd

142be kind of in a position where you're either going to not pay for it um not have the funding for it or not do something you're statutoily obligated for. What would that mean realistically? I I don't know. uh can can a state mandate you uh you pay for something that's and provide services that they're not going to be paying for despite the fact >> you do it already the show right >> yeah I guess so so okay so the answer is is yes their legislator still be paid this is just us projecting that that we're or don't worry about it >> it's kind of like it's kind of like requiring that all school districts pass a fully balanced budget by J June 30th even though by June 30th if the schools have no concept of

143what money they're actually going to be getting from the state because the state hasn't yet passed the budget. >> Right. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, sorry. Educational I >> the state is statutoily bound to approve their budget by June 30th. >> Yes, that's right. Yeah. No, it's it's >> and and and and one other thing that I uh I I I heard from uh from from from the folks that I spoke with and uh I I'm I'm sharing that here because uh it's an anxiety that I didn't have and they did and uh that is why what they said sort of like matters uh in this context is that uh uh they had no idea about uh any of this and they were sort of like looking for some communication from the school that would

144uh kind of like tell them that uh this is not sort of like something that the lunch lady tomorrow, you know, will tell their kids, you know, like sorry, no food for you today. And um uh I I I I prepared a uh a communication that I I I wanted to uh share here and ask that the administration shares with uh with the eligible uh community members. So uh I I'll read that. Dear Sakati community, we want to reassure families that the free and reduced lunch program will continue without interruption in our schools. Even though state and federal budgets are currently delayed in Harrisburg and Washington, our district is fully committed to ensuring that every student has access to nutritious meals each school day. Children's well-being in is our priority and no student will be

145denied a meal due to circumstances outside of their control. We also we are also pleased to share that Sen Valley School District is in a strong and stable financial position. This allows us to temporarily absorb the costs of the program while we wait for the state and federal reimbursement that normally supports it. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and communicate updates as they become available. In the meantime, families can be confident that meal services will continue as usual and we remain committed to supporting the health and success of all students. So, uh my motion is to uh pass the resolution and communicate with the eligible members of the community that uh their services will uh certainly be continued. Could we also include that, you know, because I know some people are not being

146paid right now, that they can also still apply if if their circumstances have changed. That's actually a great idea that uh if if someone circumstances and change and they think that they are now uh eligible they can yeah I'm I'm I'm just going to sort of like uh uh if if the board so desires I will uh add that to this uh and share it with the administration. In the interest of uh doing this correctly, since there's already a motion on the floor, would you like to amend your emotion that you direct the administration to provide a statement to families without giving the exact text of the statement? >> Well, I yeah, I mean I I I thought the text of the statement is good so that we can read it. It's >> just not

147required. >> Yeah. The thing is that people who are uh watching and it's a record of the meeting so they everybody knows what uh communication from the board went to the uh went to the families. I think that's important uh and uh what uh Miss Demco mentioned we can definitely add that uh uh uh to to the to the letter and everybody knows uh in the YouTube verse that uh that uh that sentence will be added. So you >> So I don't think we need an amendment because the motion says that we would communicate communication with uh eligible families and that's what this letter is. >> He was he was saying I think that >> Oh changing the letter >> changes would be done by >> Oh you said you wanted a motion. I said

148if you're going to motion you have to amend. Yeah. >> So that's that's I also have so I don't need to amend this right. So it is as amended or as discussed here. Yeah. >> Say yes. you ask me. I think the language as written includes both a caveat of a resolution and a communication to the parents. And if that's what the motion in the second was, which is what I understood to be, I think we're good. >> Okay. And so this is uh under under the umbrella of this u item. I have also one other thing that I wanted to discuss. There is no action to that. This is part of the discussion which is that should the snap stop? Uh we had we had this experience during COVID where uh during the uh

149weekends and holidays there were box lunches that were uh available for uh for those who couldn't afford that. So, uh I don't think we are there yet, but uh I I just want to uh bring that up that uh there are I think some school districts that are uh uh partnering with uh food banks and also setting up um uh sort of like a donation system for the community members to donate to a uh to to to a fund so that uh they can use that fund to provide uh meals for the for the students during the weekends. So, uh uh I I just wanted to sort of like as part of in this discussion to ask the administration to look into this potentially for the next meeting if that was required we can act

150uh if uh an action of the board is necessary but uh as I said that is just a discussion item and not an action item. uh discussion. Um if if there are members of the fourth estate watching this meeting right now, I hope that they they they bring attention to this. If they're out there uh watching right now, if they're going to watch the video later, please bring attention to this. This is small town America calling. I mean, this is not good. We shouldn't be having to do this, you know. Um why did this happen? you know, here's a small school district in in Pennsylvania having to fill in a gap that, you know, our tax dollars are already supposed to be covering, you know, so >> I I hope the fourth estate is paying

151attention. >> Fourth estates is gone. So, uh I'll I'll say this that, you know, the other way of looking at this is is that the community is coming together to make sure that the members of the community are uh taken care of. So that's uh that's not that's not too uh sort of like foreign of an idea, you know, here in this uh in these United States. So >> okay. Um just for clarity. So what we're voting on is to uh approve the resolution that Dr. Poxad read and to communicate with the eligible families with a letter that uh with this letter with the modifications to address um anyone who may have whose situation may have changed and they're now eligible for free or reduced lunch. Uh all in favor say I. >> I oppose.

152>> I >> the motion is approved. Thank you. Okay. Um, old business. I don't think we have any old business. Um, citizens inquiries and comments. Would anyone like to speak? Seeing no one. Um, announcements. Uh, we have future meetings on November 11th uh, at 7 p.m. here in this room and then again on November 25th at 7 p.m. here in >> May, May I make a comment before you return? >> Sure. I just wanted to let the community know we also have a Facebook group um Helertown Lower Sen Neighbors Helping Neighbors. I encourage anyone to join who wants to support our community members in um offering food, offering gift cards, etc. And anyone who needs help, please join so that our community can back them publicly as well as what this school is doing. Thank

153you. >> Great. That sounds like a great uh a great cause. Um any any other uh roundt comments?