001Laurel Eric, >> Dr. Laurel Ericson Parsons >> here. >> Mrs. Tracy Magnata >> here. >> Dr. Shim Hacks. >> I'm present. >> Mr. J. Santos. >> He's also on. Okay. I'm present. Board President, Mr. Cedric Detmark >> here. >> All present. >> Thank you. >> Can I get a motion to approve the agenda? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. >> Opposed. The motion's approved. >> Um uh we uh discussed the superintendent evaluation at executive session this evening. Can I get a motion to approve the minutes from September 9th, 2025? So move. >> Any discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. The motion's approved. We have no recognition or presentation tonight. Um I believe we have our high a new high school representative uh Marin
002Bowers to give a report. >> Welcome. >> Mr. Lucier. >> Oh okay. >> Friend. Okay. Um clubs and activities have started with many groups already meeting after school. The website is now updated so the clubs and activities also include locations and times and when they meet. Advisers of the clubs and activities have access to parent square now so they will be in communication with their students and parents about important dates and activities. We held the JV tennis tournament hosting multiple Colonial League schools. Congratulations to Pippa Meal and Sta Lacy Shopman, gold medalist at the number one doubles in our JB tournament. The Sen Valley community is breaming with Panther pride as junior quarterback Braden Ran has been named the National Football Foundation player of the week for week one of the 2025 high school football
003season. As a player of the week honore, Ran will be a guest at the 666th annual scholar athlete banquet on March 1st, 2026. We were honored to welcome Ttha Diggs, Sen Valley graduate as our guest speaker at our school assembly. Tita is an accomplished American sprinter and an NCAA champion known for her incredible performances in the 400 meter in the 4x4 relay. A University of Florida standout and a US national champion, Titha carries the legacy of athlete excellence while also serving as an inspiring voice for balance, perseverance, and resilience. This assembly focused on the importance and role of mental health in the lives of student athletes and how caring for the mind is just as essential as training the body. Tiththa shared her own insights and experiences encouraging our athletes to approach mental wellness as
004a key part of both performance and personal growth. Elliot Polycare, senior soccer player and Lehi Commit was named morning call athlete of the week for soccer and the league championships for golf were held at the Bethlehem Municipal Courts and Anthony Albaniano ended as the Colonial League champions. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any questions from the board? >> Great. >> Um, our superintendent is not present tonight. She is still recuperating from her illness. Um, courtesy of the floor to visitors, agenda items only. Would anyone like to speak? >> Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity for me to speak with you tonight. My name is Jennifer Mson McCarthy, and I come before you both as a parent and a taxpayer who cares deeply about accountability and transparency in this district. I'm here to address the proposed
005$20,000 stipen for Dr. Katsky. While I respect his work and commitment, I have serious concerns about this expenditure. This board assured the community that the assistant superintendent's role was created to oversee curriculum. If that is true, why are we now being asked to pay additional funds for the same type of work? We now have a full complement of district office administrators. So when will we let the principles concentrate on leading their schools instead of piling on extra responsibilities that should fall to leadership district leaders district leadership. I also want to point out an issue of equity. Last year Dr. Nick Loff was paid $20,000 to oversee curriculum for all K through 12. Now we are being asked to pay the same amount to Dr. Katsky but only for grades 9 through 12. Meanwhile, when the
006elementary principal led the roll out of multiple new math, science, and ELA programs in her building, she received no additional compensation. Where is the consistency and fairness in how this board addresses these responsibilities? It is also time for this board to be clear about the role of the assistant superintendent. If curriculum oversight is a core part of that position, then this stipen is unnecessary. And if it isn't, then the community deserves a transparent explanation of why. $20,000 is not a small sum. These are taxpayer dollars, and this looks like duplication, paying twice for the same work. This is not questioning Dr. Katsky's ability. It is about ensuring that every dollar strengthens teaching and learning in classrooms, not administrative redundancy. Because in the end, this isn't just about one stipend. It's about whether this board is
007fully committed to accountability, fairness, and honoring its promises it has made to this community with regard to the assistant superintendent and his role. I urge the board to pause, reconsider this proposal, and provide the transparency this community deserves. Unfortunately, I'm not able to stay for the discussion this evening as I have to pick my daughter up. But thank you for your time. >> Thank you. Would anyone else like to speak? Okay, seeing no one. Um, can I get in a motion for the presentation of the bills? >> Moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. >> Motion's approved. Can I get a motion for the to approve the treasurer's report? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. opposed. Motion's approved. Uh on
008to education. Uh we have no items for discussion. Um we have um the first reading of policies 625 and 625 AR0 on procurement cards. We have item two, field trip to New York City. We have item three, a conference travel request for Beast of the East wrestling tournament. Um, would anyone like any of these items considered separately? >> Can I get a motion for items one through three? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Uh, all in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. >> Motion's approved. On to personnel. We have uh no items for discussion. We have um 10 items to approve. Um I will read through these and uh afterward I'll ask if there are any of these you'd like to consider separately and then I'll ask for a motion. Uh item number
009one, elementary school Spanish immersion teacher. Item number two, middle school Spanish immersion teacher. Item number three, unpaid medical leave. Item number four, 2025 2026 day-to-day substitutes. Item number five, curriculum and induction stipend. Item number six, bus driver transfer. Item number seven, retirement. Item number eight, afterchool programming. Item number nine, grades 6 through eight, assistant musical director. And item number 10, part-time paraprofessional. Would anyone like any of these items considered separately? >> Yes. Um, item number six or five. >> Item number five. Okay. Can I get a motion to approve items one through 10 accept item number five? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor say I. >> Oh, sure. Go ahead, Mr. Broom. >> Oh. Oh, I'm sorry. It was all but five. Five. Yeah. All but five. Excuse me. Um,
010all in favor say I. I. >> I. Opposed. Motion's approved. Can I get a motion to approve item number five, uh, curriculum and induction stipen? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Uh, discussion. Uh, yeah. I I I share the concerns that uh Miss McCarthy or uh shared in her um or um sorry um my um I guess the thing I'm worried about is um whether the way that we talk about the assistant superintendent's role um is um first of all, I don't think that the assistant superintendent is strictly, you know, somebody who is supposed to be worrying about curriculum. I I I don't think we ever really said, but we did say that that should be a primary, you know, a primary um uh kind of responsibility. Um um you know as was shared um
011by the the you know the public I I feel concerned about um a kind of redundancy of or duplication of of um of funds directed towards uh it you development of curriculum and um you know um when we we have our hands full at the high school in terms of the need to um improve the school. Um from what I can see and I know that I I do talk about this a lot but um the high schools um you know this year it it went down almost a thousand places in US News and World Reports annual rankings. um it's gone below you know considerably below where it was nationally and in the state um and I don't exact I mean it's how their methodology is is sort of opaque but um but to me
012that's a that's an alarm you know that's a red flag and um I I don't know if um I mean from what I know about Mr. Casky, he's a fantastic, you know, educator and and leader. Um, and I'd like to see all that energy directed towards improving academics at the high school, you know. Um, um, curriculum design. I mean, I I don't know, you know, from from what I know about Dr. Casky, that's not I said Mr. I apologize, Dr. you know, um that's not an area where um you know, I know a whole lot about his background. Um but, um I do know that he's uh a good motivator and I feel like, you know, again, like I'm there's so much going on at the high school that needs attention from a principal. Um
013um I mean, the fact is when um when uh Dr. uh Nicolov was focusing also on curriculum that was already somebody who was spread too thin then you know and we heard about an equity issue but I mean to me that's that's an issue of course that's a huge thing but um you know I mean the reason the reason she was doing that was because we didn't have an assistant superintendent who was able to do that you know and she happened to have a lot of expertise in that area she had notable expertise in in curriculum design. So, um so yeah, I'm inclined to um uh to say no to this. Um and also I just I would like definitely a roll call vote on that. That's all. >> Okay. Would anyone else like to
014comment? >> Yes. I >> go ahead. >> No, that that's okay. I'm sorry. It's hard to not interrupt here. So >> No, no, go ahead. >> Okay. All right. I I tend to agree with Mr. McCarthy and Bill. We do have an assistant superintendent and I think we should put him to work on this. Again, him and Mr. Kesky can work on this together, but I don't see the need for the additional um funding of this. Thank you. >> Would anyone else online like to say anything? >> Okay. Uh Mr. Carpenter. Uh yeah, you know, Mrs. McCarthy's comments here about accountability and transparency. Um I hear them. I understand. Uh I also have to balance that with the people that the community members and taxpayers and parents who stood up here a few short months
015ago and demanded accountability on our administrative turnovers. And this board made uh a decision as a board to analyze what we were compensating packages, how we were how we were compensating, how we were retaining our administrators. And you know, since then, I think almost every salary that we've approved has been challenged, right? Um because they're higher than probably most people in the town, even though those are the market rates for doing these jobs. Um, and so we're a small district. People are going to wear many hats. I don't agree that uh the assistant superintendent's only hat is curriculum. He's going to wear many hats. Everyone's going to wear many hats. And I think that we've established that our goal is to ensure we're retaining our administrators. And part of that includes uh compensation for doing
016work above and beyond. And so, you know, I I understand the accountability. I also think that we do have some accountability to manage our administrators. And um I'm not sure we were doing a great job as a district uh given what happened in the past. So, um I'm supportive of the motion to to do so and to continue the plan that this board has done despite the fact that it does cost some amount of money. All of the changes that we have done to work on administrative retention and compensation are a very very small percentage of the budget of this district. Very small. And so I understand the numbers look big because people have jobs and the pro the salaries here are probably most than more than most people's but it is a very very
017small portion of the budget and the um you know we all heard in the past six months about what it meant to have an administration team that was turning over. So that's all I have to say about the matter. >> Thank you. Would anyone else like to say anything? >> Well the other thing is I I I have a I have a question if I may ask. >> Uh, Bill, would you mind? Let's let Dr. Poxad go next. >> Go ahead, Dr. Poxad. >> I I I just wanted to ask if um the um the the stipend is uh prorated prorated uh for the for the year. What is the uh this may be something that Mr. Bonburgger can uh can can answer. Uh so uh this is I I assumed in the past what
018we had done was that uh it would be something that would be based on the number of u u full months during the academic year or or something like that. U Mr. Bonaker can you comment on that to see what uh how that works out? >> Um my understanding it wasn't pro it was based on the work and responsibilities that he was be doing. Is is that um is that paid out in a lump sum or is it >> No, it would be paid out through the year. We would divide it out over the pays >> over each pay period. Okay, great. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you. >> Um it's remarkable to me also that this did not get presented to the academic and personnel committee. Um I don't understand why that wouldn't happen.
019I Isn't this a really Isn't this sort of core academic stuff? um why wouldn't it have been put on that agenda? Um and and and secondly, I've heard no advocacy of this at all. Not one person anywhere has said this is why um we should do this. And for that reason, I mean, part of the reason, you know, this is usually something the superintendent would be advocating for right now. Um we would get to hear it. Um uh she's not available right now. Um, you know, for that reason, I I would suggest that we table this until we can hear a full case for it. Um, since there are questions about it, um, I don't know why there's a frantic rush to to kind of get this passed right now. There's not there's no justification
020for that. Um, we should talk about it in in in the academic personnel committee so that we can hash out some of these concerns. If that had been done in the first place, I would think that this probably wouldn't have come up as a kind of brush fire. >> Um I I I'll address address your two concerns. Uh one, um the reason the reason that we didn't raise it in the academic and personnel committee is because we're trying to move to a routine where we present somewhat controversial or issues that we expect there to be some contention over. here at the business meeting so that uh um all of our uh all of our board members and the public can view and hear the discussion. Um and then as far as no one advocating for
021this. >> Yeah. Not any advocacy. >> Um well I mean our superintendent placed this on the agenda. That's her advocacy. She has made a judgment that this is what she would like to do. We hold her to a high standard especially on academic uh progress and you were just moments ago criticizing the criticizing our standing uh our district standing in the rankings. This is her judgment that the of what she needs to do to help us improve to help us improve our high school and to uh uh educate our our children more effectively uh in the coming years as the curriculum is developed. Um, I mean to me that's pretty strong advocacy. She just she says this is what we need to do and for us to second guess that um I mean it doesn't
022seem reasonable to me but you know everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Anyone else? Yes, I understand it doesn't seem reasonable to you, but um I would, you know, I would like to hear um Jamie's response to this um because we seem to be spending 20,000 20 when is that going to stop? We got the assistant superintendent. I mean, I remember last year, I believe Pam got some money for curriculum. We had Lindsay uh you know um when when do we put the stop on this and and what is it and who is developing curriculum? Um it was my understanding that curriculum hadn't been revised for a really long time and I understand the positivity. Sorry there's a jet flying over. Um, I understand the positivity of doing the curriculum, um, and getting it
023finished, but um, again, they put it on hold last year willingly is my understanding. We didn't deny anything. Um, so I'm not sure um, what the rush is here. I I would agree with tableabling it. U, >> okay, I've heard a couple of requests. Would anyone like to make a motion to table this? >> I'll make a motion. >> Second. >> Okay. >> The debate has to only be the the debate has to be only about the table, not the underlying issues. >> Yeah. Okay. Uh uh Mr. Fitzgerald, can you advise us on our procedure? >> Well, typically at this point, I I might deviate a little bit from what you suggest on I that you do go to a vote on this procedural motion. So there's a there was a motion there would immediate
024vote on on >> Okay. Um Judy, can you call the role? >> Excuse me. What are we voting on? >> Whether or not to table this. >> Yeah. And and just for everyone's benefit, tableabling would mean that we would stop uh stop proceedings on this item today and that we would return to it at some future time. >> Go ahead, Mr. >> Yes. This is Vivian Demco. >> Yes to tableabling. Dr. Laurel Erikson Parsons. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Tracy Magna. >> No. >> Mr. J. Santos. >> Yes. >> Mr. William Brun. >> Yes. >> Mr. Donald Carpenter. >> No. >> Dr. Shine Pax. >> No. >> Or President Mr. Cedric Demar. >> No. >> Or no. Five. Yes. >> Okay. Motion is tabled. Okay. Uh moving on to facilities. Uh we have no items. Uh
025finance. Um we have uh um we have the uh finance committee meeting summary from September 10th. And we have three items for approval. Uh we have the Babit's uh memorandum of understanding. We have the 2025 2026 grades 6 through 8 theater production and item number three new story school contract. Uh can I get a motion for items one through three? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor say I. >> I opposed. Motion's approved. >> On to community updates. Uh Mr. Kiy, anything for the Chamber of Commerce? nothing to report. >> Uh the Saken Valley Foundation um I believe this is transitioned to uh Dr. Erikson Parsons. >> Yes. So the small grant application process will be opening soon for the teachers to apply to. So I encourage all the teachers to
026apply to that if they have an idea where they would like to use the grant. >> Thank you. Uh uh we have no uh no new update uh uh no new meetings of the NC of NCC since our last update. Uh the Bethlehem area BCH uh Miss Demco, do you have anything for us? >> I do not. >> Okay. Yeah, there haven't been any meetings since the uh since our last update. Uh the Colonial Intermediate Unit, Dr. Poxad, >> no updates. >> Okay. The U PSBA uh Dr. Um, Mrs. Carpenter and Santos, do you have anything? >> Nothing for me, >> Mr. >> Nothing for me as well. >> Okay. Uh, new business. Uh, is there any new business? Uh, yeah. I'd like to propose uh adding a um recognition day on the calendar for
027Charlie Kirk based on especially what's happened in the recent past and uh his impact on American political discourse. I think it'd be a good reminder for the students of what he meant to uh to the country and to our political uh system. >> Okay. Um Mr. Fitzgerald, can you give us some guidance on what sort of discussion we can have in new business on an item like this? >> We generally take the uh approach that you know like you're making a recommendation that this be a consideration. I I don't like to go too deep then into a debate on the consideration as it's a discussion item that isn't on on on the agenda, but certainly Mr. Ki is free to bring up as a new business suggestion and then maybe um at a subsequent um
028uh meeting there would be an agenda item specific to that. >> Could you um could you give us uh any uh legal guidance on uh on doing what uh Mr. Ki proposed? Would that be appropriate? I need to know a little bit more. Um, you know, if it's a it's of a recognition of a public figure, I I think that might be something that is is allowable. I I I think if we go any deeper in terms of requirements of staff or students uh to participate in any sort of day, I think it will get a little bit more complicated as to what that would look like. >> Okay. So, we'll have to wait to um hear about that. >> I wanted to add my voice to John's on on this. I I strongly support
029this. I wanted to just add one bit of information. Um just that um the the by the Senate this US Senate and US House uh resolutions to create this day of remembrance. Um they they passed with really wide bipartisan support. There's not wasn't complete, but it was it was very very uh wide. And I think that that that you know clearly there's a strong desire in our community for this a day like this. And um you know I don't myself I don't um I I wouldn't have agreed with uh Charlie Kirk on almost anything but I've certainly respected his contribution to um uh discourse that between different you know different perspectives in in a free and and nonviolent way you know um it's enriches our society. So, I think that's okay. Great. Does anyone else
030have anything to say? >> Uh, yeah, I have um something. We've been talking a bit about committee structures and what that looks like. >> Um, I'm not I did not send any texts, so there was no debate. >> Just on on the Charlie Kirk thing, is this is this >> Oh, sorry. No, this is another new business. >> We'll come to that. Um I just want to make sure that the Charlie Kirk issue. Um so um back on that um I have seen emails from the public as well as from our the our two board members that spoke and I've been thinking about this and um I mean Charlie Kirk was certainly a person that a lot of people agreed with but also a lot of people disagreed with. But I I think we can
031all agree that the idea of of killing someone for peacefully recognizing his free speech rights is something that we um that we need to express our aborants to the greatest degree we can. Um I would like to propose that we create a working group to pursue this. This will be informal as we uh uh you know we can't we can't do any business on this today because it wasn't on an official agenda item. But I'd like to propose that um we create a working group made up of uh two board members, two people from the community and two people representing our teachers. And uh for our board members, I'd like to propose Mr. Ki and Mr. Brun. Um, and for our community, uh, uh, Miss Reed, who, uh, who requested this item via email. And
032then, uh, if you're willing, Miss Lomanino, I'd like to offer you the chance to participate. Uh, my goal is to have a balanced a balanced group that isn't leaning too much one way or the other, that can focus on the teaching moment that we can derive from this terrible tragedy. Um, uh, for the teachers, uh, I'd like to ask Miss McCarthy and then you feel free to choose someone else to represent the teachers. Uh, since if we do develop any materials that the students would participate in, you've you all of you will be delivering that and so you we need to have your 100% buy in. Um, Mr. Brun, I if you're willing, I'd like to ask you to uh be the uh leader of this working group um and to um you know, contact
033the folks that I mentioned and to set up a meeting where you can uh discuss what it is that you, you know, is that everyone agrees would be the best leverage for this and then do a quick presentation at our next meeting on what you come up with if you're willing. >> Sure. Yeah. >> Okay. Okay. >> Um, does that sound okay to other board members? We can't really take a vote, but I just would like to get a sense if uh anyone objects to that. >> Okay. Um, >> me personally, >> go ahead. >> Me personally, I don't know that we should get involved in any of the rhetoric surrounding Charlie Kirk. And I don't want to go any further because I don't want to deliberate on the m matter, but I I don't
034personally I don't know about this one. That That's all I'll say. >> Well, okay. I was going to say, don't we need some input from legal in terms of how big this is? >> Well, I think that uh it's Oh, go ahead, Mr. Gerald. >> This is going to be a wildly informal group. Uh they're not going to be a committee. Um they are not going to be it's it has two board representatives, but to the extent this group exists, it's it's going to have members of the community and and potentially teachers. So it's not going to be required to to work under the opaces of a a committee under our policy. So that that would be my input to whatever occur and then whatever occurs that working group would come back. It's not binding
035on anybody or anything. It would just be a effectively potentially a recommendation of this working group back to the board. >> Okay. I appreciate your comments, Mr. Santos. Um um we will have the opportunity to uh vote on this at some point uh in the near future and uh I encourage you to express your uh um your sense at that point. Um okay, thank you all. U Miss Lmanino, are you on board with uh with your participation? >> Hold on. >> But also I thought you had something done. >> I had new business done. Oh yeah. Um um no wait until uh closing comments. Go ahead, Mr. Carpenter. >> Yeah, so I have I have some new business. Um we've been talking sort of informally here at the board meeting about committees and committee of
036the holes. It's been brought up at the business meeting. Um I have um some proposals that I'm going to make to change some of the schoolboard policies surrounding meetings and committees and organization and uh that so we didn't debate them tonight. I didn't send them to everybody, but I'm going to send them to the whole board and I'll ask for enough people to put them on the agenda so that we can debate them next time. So, just let you know that I'm going to send you my proposed changes to the policies and then I can go into why we're doing them at the next board meeting when there's an actual debate on the issue. So, I'll just ask for someone to support that so we can put it on the agenda for next time. >>
037I would support that for sure. >> You could see them first. I mean, I support the idea of of thinking about it and >> Yeah. >> Okay. All right. Any other new business? Okay. Um, any I don't believe we have any old business. Uh, citizens inquiries and comments. I might ask Miss Lomino to uh to approach the podium and give us her uh her sense of uh of what what I proposed. >> Megan Lumenino, Rose Lane, Helertown. Um, thank you for thinking of me and offering that. My one concern is that if it doesn't appear the way the general public assumes it should appear, how that could play into my personal campaign. So, for school board, so I'm a little like hesitant. Can I have like some time to think about it and get back
038to you or like attend a meeting and see where we're going with this and how things are going before I like commit to that? Like I just don't want people to expect it to look a certain way >> on either side. Like does that make sense? I don't know if I know >> what we're all working towards and I don't want anything to reflect poorly on >> that. If that sounds selfish, I'm sorry. >> We'll respond uh once all the community is >> um can I comment on the other thing that I was just going to Okay. Uh so I see tonight that Dr. Tiner is here, but just going along with consistency. I didn't know if he started, when he started, all of those things. And I think that would be really great if
039we could introduce him to the public via parent square, just like when uh Mr. Johnson was able to share that he had started. I think that's just a great way for the community to get to know them a little better. Um, and I am very hopeful to hear more about his role, his background, and what he hopes to do here as just a resident in the community. Thank you. >> Thanks. Anyone else in the community would like to speak? Okay. Um, what uh, Loman, you know, what I would recommend is uh, Mr. Brun will uh will touch base with you and uh and and you know it's a lot of it's going to be you know on him to kind of think about how this would work and what influence certainly even if you participated
040I I was looking for your participation to help keep balance in the in this working group uh since uh um you know since you've made your views in general known so I have a sense for that you would help to do that um if you certainly if if it's not going the way you want it to, you can report on that uh and handle it however you see fit. Um so, um given um given Miss Lomanino's request, um Dr. Tenor, would you be interested in coming to the microphone and uh and saying hello to our community uh again? I know you did once before uh but now you're on board and we'd it would be great to hear from you. >> Either one. >> Hello. How you doing? Thank you. Um uh excited to be
041here. I appreciate it. So um you know started last week and it's been an amazing opportunity to work with this wonderful community. Had an opportunity to um make my way around these wonderful administrators, work with them, popping around the classrooms, seeing some of our wonderful staff and our students and our whole community. So, it's been an awesome opportunity just to um you know be in this school district. So, I'm here. Yeah. Part of the job is going to be working with the um curriculum instruction. That's the piece that you know we're going to emphasize, but also as uh to Mr. Carpenter's request uh his uh indication in regards to other duties as well too for the assistant superintendent job. And again, I'm just excited to work and collaborate with everyone here. I'm just excited. So,
042thank you. Yep. >> Thank thanks a lot and uh welcome from uh from all of us on the board. Okay. Um, on to announcements. Uh, we have a meeting on October 4th, uh, at 700 p.m. here in this room and another on October 28th, uh, here in this room. Um,