001a roll call when you're ready. >> Here >> he should be on. Uh do we do we have uh Tracy Laurel? >> We have >> I'm here. I I don't see Don though. >> Okay. >> Mr. >> Here [Music] >> Dr. Laurel Parson >> here. Tracy Magnan >> here. >> Dr. Stea, >> Mr. J. Santos >> present. >> Board President, Mr. >> Here. >> Thank Thank you. Um, we had an executive executive session tonight to discuss legal matters and personnel. Can I get a motion to approve the minutes from August 12th, 2025? So moved. Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. The motion's approved. We have no recognition or presentation tonight. Superintendent report. Miss Velocity. >> Thank you, Mr. Denmark. Um, so we have one of our students, Robera
002Silverthornne, who had finished her project to clean out the prop and costume basement, and it looks fantastic. So, we'd like to thank Robera for the completion of what I know has been a passion project of hers over the last couple of months. and I should probably say years and I'm sure that all of the theater students will be very grateful for the wellorganized and clean basement this year. As we all know, uh the teachers came back a week before the school was in session and we held our back to school convocation which was absolutely a true success last week and during that speaker from Rachel's challenge as we know Rachel's challenge is the program that we put into place last year. We had a representative who was here speaking with the teachers and faculty and
003staff and got them excited for the upcoming year ahead with a theme of connection. Uh grades 5 to 12 will be participating in what is the tier 2 uh called chain reaction program. So the students are involved in a dayong session that brings about 50 from each grade level. Um this will happen at the end of September, beginning of October. And each long day session um will focus with teachers, counselors, and mental health workers on um building personal identity and resilience, helping students see that they are not defined by their own circumstances, highlighting their shared experiences to foster empathy and connection, and uh breaking down barriers to create a stronger, more inclusive school culture. Our Sen Valley community should stay tuned because there will be videos and social media and articles on the district website
004highlighting all that we're doing with Rachel's Challenge programming this year in all of our buildings and this will start in the upcoming weeks. I also want to just send a special thank you to Paris Baguette and Brooklyn's catering because they provided the wonderful breakfast and lunch for our staff during that week and we absolutely loved it. Um, our new communication team has been very hard at work on our website and social media and we would love to invite you to check out if you have not done off done so already. There is a great video that's highlighting our students and campus that's taking the place of what used to be the heading. Um, and that will be shared. Um, I it's active now. I shouldn't say it's active. It's actually on and you will see
005it if you log on right now. Um, and you will also see new additions to the site with information front and center with the SAN news and spotlights for SEAN as well as information under about the district section for district enrollment and staffing reports. U, you'll also see in the upcoming weeks and start of September a district calendar that's going to feed all the important dates from each one of our schools. And we invite all of our community to check the calendar out for any important dates that you may need from picture day, prom ticket sales, back to school nights, theater performances, big games, and of course our days off for the school year. Our club advisors and our coaches have now joined parents square. All athletics and club information will be shared with the
006rostered students and their families. So any big events, games, performances, and competitions will still be front-facing to the school community on our district calendar. We have been notified uh last week abruptly that our kindergarten Spanish immersion um teacher has resigned and was unable to begin the first day of school. So, building administration, Mrs. Braxper, Mr. Halisak and I had met to design a plan that would be the least disruptive for our kindergarten students and their families going into what would have been the night of orientation, I think it was. So, we communicated that uh Mrs. Rexire and Mr. Halisak were there and met with the families to explain what the plan would be. You will see Mrs. Kard who is going to be up for approval on tonight's agenda as the long-term long-term substitute who's
007going to be stepping into that classroom. Um, as some of you may know, Mrs. Keller was I shouldn't say was had served as a long-term sub in the fourth grade Spanish immersion classroom at the beginning of last year when we were waiting for Mr. Shley to arrive here on campus. So she does have some experience with those kiddos and that program. So she will be hosting a classroom meet and greet next Thursday, August 28th from 5:00 to 5:30 since she wasn't there for the orientation day. So this is a special day to warmly welcome any of the students and their families. So we welcome them stop by and say hi. And as part of the transition, Mrs. Paz, who is the bilingual par profofessional in the program, will be working closely in the kindergarten classroom
008um during math and IE and reading IE times. And she's going to be focusing on building the foundational Spanish skills. And we are also excited to incorporate Spanish into the morning meeting, science and math, so students continue to have those meaningful opportunities to grow in the immersion experience as we are trying to find the replacement for our teacher. And I would like to just say I especially thank Mrs. Keller for stepping in and Mrs. Paz. Um they have stepped in and definitely stepped up and teach and support our students and families. And as you know, we have had a packed kindergarten Spanish immersion classroom since the announcement. There was a lot of excitement brewing around the program. And we are hopeful that we'll find a new classroom teacher and that we can continue this program
009into kindergarten as we had set out to do. Um, and we have officially received word, um, though it's not on the approval for approval on the board agenda, that there was an official resignation of our fifth grade Spanish immersion teacher as of today. So, um, we will be making a transition for his position as well. So, this is the second position in the program that is going to be opened up and Mr. Shley has ensured us that he will work with building administration, myself, stay committed to the students and families in the program and we'll transition hopefully the new teacher um on board very very soon. And that will be the end of the superintendent report. >> Great. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um next up we have courtesy of Florida visitors agenda items
010only. Would anyone like to speak? Okay, seeing no one. Oh, we do have whom? Sorry, >> Barrett Guyer, Lower Stalken Township. I just had a few quick comments. I'll be brief for your consideration. Um, the first thing I wanted to ask about is with the accounting ledger, uh, the fund balance. There's an item, uh, it's page 104. Uh, BSN Sports LLC. The description says marching band backpack and then description of purchases says volleyball supplies for $8577.80. I was just uh confused on what exactly that was and who it was pertaining to. Um I also wanted to talk briefly about policy 827, the conflict of interest policy. Uh it's clear policies like these that help maintain trust between the district and the community and decision-m needs to be transparent uh and free from influence. So I'd
011just like to say that I'm happy to see that this was reviewed and ultimately updated. Um it's been a number of years. The next comment I wanted to make relates to facilities, school affiliated organizations. Um, I believe I know what your intent is this evening with this vote, but I just wanted to clarify for the record um that I I think it's important for uh well, let me start. Policy 9:15 recognizes groups like the Athletic Boosters, Music Connection, PTO, and the Education Foundation as grandfathered uh under that policy. And so I think first of all an annual um process to formally vote on that each year uh is a great way to reaffirm the district's support for those organizations. These organizations are essential to our students. They provide meaningful ways for our parents and our
012community uh to engage and participate with the district. Uh and I think they're important. So my concern becomes that the way that the the organizations are listed in tonight's agenda does not match the policy um uh policy 915. So I I guess you know my technical question is are these the same organizations that the policy relates to um or are they different organizations? For example um the policy refers to the football booster, the agenda refers to the football booster club. The policy refers to the wrestling booster. The agenda refers to the MS High School wrestling booster and club. Um, another big one was that the policy refers to the Sen Valley PTO, PTA, and PTG. However, on the agenda tonight, it only says ES parent teacher organization. So, I assume these are all the same
013um the same organizations, at least maybe that's correct, maybe it's not. The the agenda is not clear specifically as to what is being voted on. Um, and finally, I just wanted to talk about the the family and consumer sciences renovations. It's great to see this proposal. I think programs like this teach practical skills beyond academics um and and build life skills. So my my comments relate to the bid process and you know just as a member of the public wanting to see some more transparency in who we give our business to. Um for example, we're we're given the service provider in a fee of $32,000. And so my professional career, I'm familiar with engineering service providers and what they do. Um, but many in the public may not be familiar with that and they may
014not know if $32,000 is a reasonable amount or an excessive amount uh for what is being provided. So my ask would be if if you know when there's a competing bid and I believe this was you know required competitive bids due to the amount I would just ask if we could include that in the uh agenda or just provide a little additional information to the public as to who else was considered and maybe why this selection was made um you know with multiple multiple bid uh applicants. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Anyone else? Okay, seeing no one, >> may I make a comment on the gentleman's comments? >> Okay, go ahead. Uh I I would agree that I would like to see uh any other bids that were potentially taken on the agenda
015as well so that the public would have the ability to better understand you know if uh you know there was better option or you know higher services requested for the uh engineering that's to take place in that part of the building. Uh I also do see some discrepancies here between the school affiliated organizations and their definitions uh as stated within the actual policy itself. So that does make sense to me uh especially in terms of the parent teacher organization. So I want to make sure that there are no definitions left out or excluded uh in in those uh you know between the business agenda and the actual policy itself. So I I would have to agree with the the gentleman that has come up and made those comments. >> I would say go ahead. Well,
016I had a sort of um a question also related to this, but um I thought that sounded the idea of providing a little more um explanation for the decision-m process on bidded u items possibly could be really a a nice thing to to have as a available somehow. You know, I don't know. Um I think it'd be something it would be a good thing for us to talk about. I think um um but I I I like that idea. It seems um I I wonder whether it f I don't I'm not on the finance committee. Um uh that's a subcommittee I'm not often able to go to. Um but I wonder if some of that happens there. Um I imagine there would be some but that but those minute those um the subcommittee meetings they
017are not recorded and um there aren't there's not minutes taking or or is there I don't think there's minutes. >> There are minutes but they're often very brief. >> Yeah. And maybe that's an area that could somehow uh be um made more articulate and in a in transparency. I I the the basic idea is great. I mean, yeah, more transparency, great. >> Like just in as a general comment, uh the options and alternatives and prices and bids are often discussed in detail at committee meetings. >> Yeah. And then uh one other um one other thing that's important I for this discussion is that even when we have fairly large dollar amounts if if the v if there's a vendor that's uh uh approved through co-stars which is a state program then they we don't require
018multiple bids we can go with the co-stars vendor without taking multiple bids. So, I don't know. I can't remember. I mean, it was it was presented to us, but I can't remember the the specific on this one. >> And just just add in terms of clarifying the process when when you secure the services of an architect, it it doesn't actually have to go through the through a bidding process. It it typically goes through an RFP process. Uh, and I I presume Dave, and you can fill in the the blanks on this one, there there was they were soliciting input from from vendors and from firms that that do this work. Now, M MKSC architects will assist in then ultimately helping prepare what could be bids for the overall construction project if it if it hits
019minimum thresholds, which it it likely will. So, if there's a further project based on the work that they're going to do, that would either go to a a a public bidding process or as as Cedric noted, you can utilize some of the state contracts that fulfill the the legal requirements. >> Okay. And go ahead. >> Yes. Sorry. Um, just to address the uh SAO policy question. So on uh page two of the policy, you're essentially uh the school affiliated organizations and the SAOs are supposed to be approved every single year by the board in order to use the dis school names, district names or in operating in in unison to any of the programs. So that's why you will see the annual approval of these SAOs come each year around this time. Um the grandfathered
020clause are those clubs that have already been established at the time the policy was in play. So these are the clubs that were already established but if there was one that needed to be established it outlines what has to be presented to the board in order for the approval at the beginning of the year. And each year the SAOs are required to provide certain documentation to the district in order to be approved and to be on this agenda. So you will see that there is an SAO that is missing just because we did not receive that paperwork. That's not to say that they cannot give that to us in a few weeks, but that is essentially from this point and the start of the school year for them to be um working with the district
021names or school names or affiliation with any of the programs. That's why we're approving them here. So, it outlines all of those um requirements that they have to provide to us so we can review them and to ensure that they're in line to what the policy is required. Just for clarification, >> thank you. >> Yep. >> Anyone else? >> Okay. Can I get a motion? Excuse me. Can I get a motion to approve 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? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion's approved. On to education. We have no items for discussion. We have
022two items for approval. Uh item number one, policy 827. Item number two, adjudication. Can I get a motion to approve items one and two? So moved. Any discussion? >> There's a second. Second. >> Okay. Um, all in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. >> Motion's approved. On to personnel. Um, we have, uh, we have two teachers receiving tenure. Um, Miss Velcy, um, would you like to, uh, say anything for these teachers? >> Yeah, I just want to say congratulations to Miss Reyes and Miss Sparling. It's a uh accomplishment when you gain your tenure. It's a big step. So, we just want to say congratulations as a district and myself. I've brought these two teachers on and I'm sure they're very happy that they've also achieved this uh landmark for themselves. So, we just wanted
023to extend our congratulations to them. >> Great. Yeah. Congratulations uh from me and I'm sure other folks are feel the same way. Okay. On to our items for approval. Um we have eight items. Uh, I'm going to read through them. Um, when I'm finished, I'll ask if anyone would like one considered separately and then I'll ask for a motion. Item number one, board secretary. Item number two, kindergarten long-term substitute. Item number three, full-time pair of professionals. Item number four, 2025 2026 day-to-day substitutes. Item number five, 2025 2026 mentors. Item number six, 2025 2026 athletic coaches. Item number seven, 2025 2026 co-curricular positions. Item number eight, paraprofessional resignation. Would anyone like any of those considered separately? Can I get a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Just on on six that um
024I just want to make sure I understand what that means. a rate adjustment. The par parenthetical there >> for the second one. >> Yeah, because I see two assistant um soccer coaches with different amounts near their names. I'm just trying to understand why that is or Dave, do you have any insight on that one? >> I do not. >> Okay. Um Okay. Um I I would guess >> one of our one of our Yes. I I'm assuming that it's because of how they're working, but I don't know if >> so set aside for coaches, whether it be varsity or even the school coach and those stipens are allowed for that position. However, coaches are taking they they split that particular stipen. So between those two, for example, junior high coaches, if there's one spot, the
025two come on split that particular site. I see him. >> So that it's still the same now, but in this case because of multiple people >> I see. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Johnson. >> It could could could it also be that one of them started later because you would expect two assistant coaches with the same title to have the same amount, right? >> The varsity program and the junior high program. So each of them has an assistant coach. >> Okay. Yeah. It doesn't say what what level. be either no tree or high. >> Okay. All right. Thanks. Um I just want to request um when anyone speaks, please go to the microphone because otherwise the people that are dialed in, they cannot hear a single thing when when any of us are not
026on a mic. So uh but thanks for your uh thanks for your input. Okay. Um any other questions or comments? Yeah, I just wanted to thank Judy for being willing. I'm assuming you're willing since you're on the agenda to step in. Do we have a plan for replacement? Not that we can easily replace Judy, but do we have a interim that we'll train or whatever. >> The plan is to advertise for my secretary since she's retiring and then see if we get a successful candidate that would take on the board secretary position. >> Thank you. I I would also like to add my thanks Judy for your service. We greatly appreciate it. Um all in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. The motion's approved. On to facilities. We have a facilities committee meeting summary
027from August 13th. Um we have one item, our school affiliated organizations as discussed earlier. Uh, can I get a motion for item number one? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any more discussion? All in favor say I. >> Opposed. Motion's approved. On to finance. Uh, we have the finance committee meeting summary from August 13th. Um, and then we have three items for approval. Item number one, pediatric therapeutic services agreement addendum. Item number two, first student transportation. Item number three, family and consumer science renovations. Can I get a motion for items one through three? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Uh, any more discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed? The motion's approved. On to community updates. Uh, Mr. Ki, anything for the chamber? >> Uh, yeah, the scholarship program that the chamber
028had in place was ended this year. So, um, there will be no more student scholarships supported by the Chamber of Commerce. Okay, it's too bad. Um, Silen Valley Foundation, uh, Miss Magna, >> nothing to report at this time. >> Okay. Um, we don't have a report this evening for the community college. Um, Bethlehem area votech. Uh, do you have anything new? >> We haven't had a meeting, but I do know the food truck is going to be active soon. So, Tuesdays with the food truck. >> Yes, our next meeting is uh this coming Tuesday, a week from today. Um, Colonial Intermediate Unit. Uh, Dr. Pad isn't here this evening. uh PSBA uh Mrs. Carpenter and Santos uh >> uh just a quick update that we will be voting on PSBA representatives in the very short
029term. >> Okay. Do you have anything uh next meeting? >> Oh, thanks. Okay. Um new business. Do we have any new business? >> Um I had u three things real real quick. Um uh I I was hoping to meet soon with the uh new communications person. Um the superintendent helped coordinate that. Um that meeting um I was not able to do that. I would, you know, I would welcome a chance to meet um with with uh her again or her in the future. I just want to make that clear. Um and I would welcome uh if there are other people who are interested in participating in that um uh particularly you know people who uh this is a bit an issue that matters to them. Um to me like I I was thinking like if
030I was just going to write down like what are what would be the two things I would say in in in that meeting it would be um a crisis communication plan and u faces with names of kids in the newspaper and on TV and that's it. That's if you're working in a community newspaper like that's kind of with schools like I know from being an editor of a community newspaper, several community newspapers that like that like the the number one thing that pe that you know the community likes when it comes to schools is to have kids with their names and their faces in the newspaper. So like that's I just wanted to or on TV or on on social media. Um, obviously they would, you know, they would be cleared to do that, that
031they would sign the the waiverss. Um, and then a crisis communication plan. I think that's something um that this district needs or we maybe need to explore um improving um because I think there's some language that suggests we've got some kind of plan already but I think with a new person it would be good to get them on board um with that and because they're they'll have new ideas you know that will be I'm sure good. Um uh second thing um can we ban cell phones in the district? Um it's something I think that it would be worth talking about. Um I didn't realize that we were allowed to do that in Pennsylvania. And um and I also didn't realize there were grants for um locker bags for cell phones. Um I've read about it
032a bit. um you know it's it's not going to suddenly make everything great but um there definitely some researchers suggest that it can improve things. It helps with bullying often. Um a lot of people from different sort of you know perspectives like it as an idea. You don't have you they're not all like one group of people politically or culturally. Um so I think it would be I don't know where we end up talking about it but um it's something I would like to talk about at some point. Um I don't know how we would end up um you know um em embracing that or embarking on such a discussion but I wanted to bring it up in new business because I think I want to make sure the community hears about this and you
033know it either comes with their pitchforks and torches to the next meeting um or you know says that they're excited about it you know um they think it's a great idea you know so I just wanted to bring that up um and then Um I one last thing um and you can see this is somewhat related to the previous one. Um I we're having some problems uh in our ratings uh in the public and with media organizations and um organizations that rate schools. And I I think that we I would rather not I would rather try not to pretend this isn't happening. If I was running for office, I'd be screaming that at us right now. You know, I'd be like, "Hey, did you see um I'm frankly surprised we haven't heard more." Um but
034we have um you know, I mean, just to give you an example, in 2021, we were rated A minus by niche. we're now to be plus and if you look at niche you'll see some areas that don't look so good you know and um they're not the teaching problems there's not teaching problems you know um Sen Valley High School was ranked in 2023 um 2000 in the in the 2700s okay for our US News and World Report high school ranking. Okay, we've dropped a thou almost a thousand places. Now, you can say, "Oh, US News, they're all, you know, who cares about that?" I mean, parents care, you know, students who are applying for college care, you know, um parents who are thinking of trying to get out of their, you know, school district that's
035not great and come to a better school district, they care, you know. Um, so that's that's precipitous and that worries me. And then um and great schools, another one.g greatschools.org. And these are pretty quality sites. You know, they have given us a what they call a mixed record when it comes to districtwide wide academic progress um because of some of the data that's coming up. Um we have great funding in the schools. I think we have, you know, there are decent salaries here. Our administration is well compensated. Our teachers are well compensated. Um, our parents love the district, you know. It's just inexcusable that we would be, you know, slipping in terms of our reputation, you know, and I think we need to we need to acknowledge it and we need to like focus on
036changing that, you know, together like all hands on deck. I I think um I don't think it's good to pretend it doesn't exist, you know. Um so that's all I wanted to say on that. Thank you. >> Okay. Anyone else? Yeah, I would like to first off emphasize the comments that Bill just made. You're the first person to bring this up, at least to me, right? And and I think that that should be something that we should really focus on as a community that, you know, our rating does matter for the various reasons that you stated for bringing in more students into the district, bringing in more families, having that community engagement. A thousand points is nothing to sneeze at. Going from an A minus to plus places >> fairly. Uh A minus to B+
037is also nothing to sneeze at. I think that's incredibly important to focus on and ask ourselves what are we doing that we uh are not excelling and actually increasing in value and what have we done to improve that standing in you know national or even local terms. So that's one. And secondly, I' I'd also like to ask if and this might be more directed towards Mark and in general. Uh is there an addendum that can be added to the agenda or have you seen addendums that are added to agendas that can better or further inform the board as to some of the decisions that we are making on school agendas? I you know I find that these are sometimes very lean in explaining to us the decisions that we're making. You know uh out of
038the entire agenda about four pages here are items that we vote on. And if you're not in exclusively plugged in to every single committee meeting to every single instance or issue that occurs in the school district. It's sort of difficult sometimes to be able to vote knowledgeably on some of these items. So, I was wondering is there a board directed addendum or uh maybe an executive summary that could be added to these that could help better inform the board as the decisions that are being made. If the question is can or can the board have access to additional information to help inform what the agenda item is, certainly that's something the board can can obtain from the administration. And I I presume that contracts and and other documents are shared. But if there's a if
039there's a methodology upon which the board feels like it needs to get information in preparation for an an agenda, you know, or an action item, certainly that can be that that can be worked out. in terms of what the agenda looks like. Your agenda is not too dissimilar from from many others. Um it it has the the action item in in place that needs to be considered. A lot of districts utilize a platform called Board Docs. Mhm. >> Um, if you've heard about that recently, they've been in the news because of a massive data breach >> in which, interestingly enough, all of the confidential information that the administration was sharing with the board they thought was confidential was then open for anybody to look at. And that included like confidential special ed matters, IEPs, settlement
040agreements, and all that kind of stuff. So, um, I I I think they've kind of cured the bug, but a lot of people had problems with that. But that those are ways to get that information to you too through certain software platforms. So there's different ways to skin the cat. But in terms of the agenda itself, I think your agenda addresses what it has to and that is you know what the action item is and and for the most part um the public I I would think the public is informed enough to know what the action item is that that's being being addressed. >> Yeah. I I I think the impetus of my request here is more so context behind some of these matters. You know, I know that we have executive sessions. I know
041that we have the opportunity to go to the administration, but it is somewhat difficult in some cases to be up to date on every single matter that we are discussing. And so, you know, what I would request is an avenue or a chance to be able to have a blurb, a paragraph, a sentence that further helps explain what these matters are, maybe emailed to the entire board so that we can have some context behind all these agenda matters and be better informed so we can better serve the public. I I don't know of, you know, if any of the districts do that. >> I'm going to open up a Pandora's box here, but what the heck? Um, what some districts do is they only vote once a month. >> Uh, they don't vote twice a
042month. And what they do with the the first meeting of the month, like the committee of the whole, is they essentially have this in front of them and they work their way through it, not to vote on it, but to ask questions about what's about to what's going to be voted on two weeks later. So that's a that's a a roadmap that some districts utilize. Instead of voting twice a month, you vote once a month, but you use the meeting that you had voted for as a meeting to essentially review what is ultimately going to be voted on. >> Yeah. >> And ask the questions at that point. >> I think the cadence of voting is good. What I think I'm more so interested in is like an executive summary for the board. Doesn't the
043committee of the whole replace the smaller committee meetings >> in in in some districts? Yes. Um and and they move away from, you know, an AMP committee, a facilities committee, you know, some people have policy committees or personnel committees and then they kind of do it all they do it all together in as as a as a whole. I mean, the best one I've seen is a a particular district in in Chester County where for the regular voting meetings, the table looks like this. Okay? But for their committee, the whole meeting, they actually fold in the tables and the board is looking at each other. Now, the community certainly can be there. The community can ask questions, but it's really a a meeting to review what will be voted on at the next meeting later
044in the month. Just there. So, there's various ways to approach it. I just ask a followup um about the cell phone thing. So would I I would approach just the usual thing with Cedric and um three board members see if they would put it on the agenda for discussion because I would want to give the public a chance to see it there. And you know >> my recollection is that's how um an agenda item could be brought forward. I mean the ideal way is to is to request the administration to put it on the agenda. >> Okay. Yeah. >> If that doesn't work then you can do it. >> Okay. Great. >> Yeah. I would I would say that because I Bill I saw a lot of this talk too this week and and and
045research coming out about it and the I'd never even seen these bags before until the last week. Um that maybe it might be useful to to to send to take that to a committee where you can have a discussion. Trying to like um adjudicate that at the board without already having formulated like a written policy might be difficult. >> Yeah. Can I ask are we is the intention to restrict cell phone use or the presence of cell phones in general? >> I I think that's all up in the air. Uh from what I've seen, >> you know what? You You know what, guys? I I I think this isn't the right time to dive into that. I think that Bill's request to put it on get it on an agenda at some point in the
046future is the right time to talk about it. Unless Miss Vaccity, you'd like to say >> I just I would just like to respond. Um, so this has been an ongoing discussion amongst a lot of administrations over the last couple of years and I think it's gained more uh momentum with the the book the anxious generation because that had spurred a lot of the conversation that you're hearing now in the media and the popularity of the book and speaking engagements that the author I know has been on. Um there was a uh collaboration amongst administrators through the University of Pennsylvania and the author was there um and I was a part of it and there was a lot of two-hour I think it might have been three-hour conversation in regards to what schools are doing
047and different options that schools can take. It absolutely needs to be part of an agenda and probably something that needs to be discussed over the course of truly this entire academic year. Um the knee-jerk reaction of many is to say ban cell phones. If you truly listen to what the author is saying and you've read the book, it's actually um restricting access to screens in general, which can open Pandora's box twofold. um banning cell phones in schools. The biggest thing that I have heard being in the district that is the feedback from the parents is that in the state of a crisis or an emergency, they want direct access to their child. All of the administration sitting here knows that in the middle of a crisis, the last thing they're going to be able to
048touch is that cell phone. But for the parents well-being and uh I think a little bit of solace and less anxiety is to know that they can directly connect to their kids at any point in time and vice versa with the students because there's many times that things happen within the school. Ambulance shows up at the high school, kids are immediately contacting their parents. They see a police car roll up to the middle school, parents get notified sometimes before even district office gets notified. So there is a there is that part of it from just merely cell phone use and being comfortable within the family and the connection that they have to students that needs to be considered. If you look at it through the lens of the anxious generation and why schools are moving
049to that from the bullying aspect and you know all of the things that are being discussed, the reason they're saying cut down cell phones and screen time is because our kids know how to access each other through their iPads with no social media. The bullying is take taking place. Screens are just not good in general. But all of those other things obviously are to can be considered. We have discussed this amongst a pocket of administration and unleashing it to the extent of possibly no screens also impacts now what the instruction looks like in the classroom that also plays into the decision. So, this that we're about to tackle and I've seen the pockets and you can lock them and put them in as soon as the kids walk in and they get them and you
050know when they walk out the door seems like a fantastic idea and it's the new thing. But this this to tackle it as a school district really should be something that we take the entire academic year to really focus on. And if we're going to do it, do it right and set up those committee meetings, but also possibly even town hall meetings or um whatever you would like to call them at the board meetings to have this really be a thorough conversation that we're looking at all avenues because this is something that really can unleash unleash the beast here. um and everybody will have an opinion and it's really just what they're comfortable with. And as they said in our coalition that we were in in University of Pennsylvania, it's that if the school truly
051wants to make the change, the school is going to have to be the bad guy. That's the reality of it. And you know, that's our role sometimes and we have to be ready that if we want to make that change to do it despite what that comfortableness for parents is going to be and we have to be ready to do it at the end of it. So, there's a lot to tackle with it. It's not just as simple as putting a cell phone in a pocket. And we do a good job right now with trying to limit the amount of time that the kids have access to the phones. But even if you read that book and you're listening to all the conversation that's happening around it, the anxiety and depression actually increases when you
052limit the kid and don't remove it completely. So just access in the cafeteria, not in the classroom, actually will increase the students anxiety and depression merely by just limiting the times of day that they are uh able to utilize it during a school day. So we could be doing more damage with certain policies than good. So all of those things considered, but I think it's a great opportunity to tackle something that, you know, is being tackled by a lot of the other school districts. I just think we have to do it pretty thoroughly and cleanly and take our time in trying to implement what's best for our district and our families and community. >> Absolutely. Just just one quick comment on that and thank you so much Miss Blassley for for those comments there. Um
053you know me personally intuitively I haven't read the book. This is another one that's new to me but intuitively I I think that this is a parent matter. I don't know that adding more uh >> can I just point of order here that that you cannot we should not be discussing the merits of any decision in this section of the of the meeting. This was not on the agenda. >> This is new business. Um well >> I I would concur with Mr. Carpenter and and and Mr. Demar did note it. It was a request that was brought up by um um uh by Mr. Brun and and and and one of the concerns about the point of order is yet you have to notice these kind of substantive discussions on the agenda under the sunshine
054act. So I think we've we've kind of gone into a more of a merit-based discussion on it. I think if it if if the board can figure out when or where to place it on whether it be at a subsequent meeting or an AMP committee meeting that might be a great place to to get into the weeds. >> Yeah. So, so, um, obviously Miss Velcity is is up on this issue and, uh, and I'm sure it will get placed on one of our, uh, committee agendas, uh, in the near future. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um, I I just want to address Mr. Brun's comments from a few minutes ago about uh, our rankings. I I obviously am not happy that um we are not ranked as highly as we have been in the recent
055past. But what I would say though is that we have recognized this. Our board here has worked over the last uh you know over the last year to you know we've heard discussions from the administrators about what the issues are. We've we've talked about them among ourselves in in these meetings. We've uh voted on new uh curricula for both the elementary school and the middle school to try to address some of these problems. So, we have been working to solve our problems. It's not like these have just walted up on us uh you know in the dark and surprised us. We we we we've been watching this and we've been working to try to make things better. So, um, you know, that doesn't mean we don't have a lot of work to do. We sure
056do, but we have been working at it and we have been doing a lot. We just need to keep going. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Uh, anybody uh on Zoom would like to make a comment? >> Okay. Uh, I don't believe we have any old business. Um, citizens inquiries and comments. Would anyone like to say to speak about any topic? Okay, seeing no one, uh, announcements, uh, we have a meeting again, uh, of our of our board on September 9th at 7 p.m. here in this room. We have another business meeting on September 23rd at 7 p.m. here in this room. We've