001Um, I'd like to apologize to all of you for our lateness tonight. Um, we were uh discussing probably what you're here to hear about. Judy, can you take the attendance, please? Mr. William Brun, present. Mr. Donald Carpenter, present. Mr. John Kiy. Mrs. Vivian Demco here. Dr. Dr. Laurel Erikson Parsons here. Mrs. Tracy Magna, Dr. Shine Pax, I'm Mr. J. Santos present. President, Mr. Seedric Demar here. Thank you. Can I get a motion to approve the agenda? Second. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. Opposed. The motion's approved. Uh we've had a number of executive sessions. Uh we had one on May 27th after our previous board meeting. We had one on June 4th and we had one today to discuss personnel. Can I get a motion to approve the minutes from May 27th, 2025?
002So moved. Second. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. I. opposed. Motion's approved. Uh we have no recognition, no presentation and superintendent report. Miss Velocity. Thank you, Mr. Demar. I do not have a superintendent report this evening, but um in place of my superintendent report, I believe Mr. Carpenter would like to make a statement. Thank you. So, I'm going to read a statement here, and I want everyone to understand that uh this statement represents a majority of the board, but not the unanimous approval of the board. Just so everyone understands, there's nine people here. We all have our own separate thoughts and feelings. And so, what I'm going to read represents a majority, but not a unanimous opinion of the board. Having spent many hours of investigation and in executive session debates, the board
003wishes to con communicate its findings to the Silicon Valley community about the planned teacher assignments. Please note, in matters such as this, it's often difficult to achieve a consensus by nine individuals who represent unique views and perspectives. It would also be unprofessional and improper to discuss the specifics of any one move in a general setting as neither the district nor the employee would benefit from that kind of discussion. The administration used several goals and priorities for creating the original plan, many of which were based on board directives. These include ensuring manageable classroom sizes, aligning with the comprehensive plan goals, responding to gifted committee recommendations, increasing rigorous coursework offerings, fulfilling some employee requests, and adhering to the stated desire of a board majority to not increase taxes for next year. While it is true that the
004administration designed and executed the specifics of the plan, most of the constraints and the global direction were all created over the past year by board actions. It is certainly possible to nitpick certain decisions uh or believe um sorry or believe that additional considerations uh should have been used, but the board found no evidence of foul play or retaliatory moves. What was seen was a genuine desire by administration to increase our educational outcomes and cover all of the necessary classes without hiring additional teachers due to the budget. We've heard concerns about reassignments from both representatives of the teachers association as well as parents and the current board majority uh will take steps to ensure that in the future more weight will be placed on ensuring educators stay in positions of strength through administration proposed hirings or
005more targeted realignments. But the makeup and priorities of future board majorities will ultimately have influence over those actions. The board recognizes that better and more consistent communication is needed in this process both between staff and the administration and between the board and the community. While we can't expect union leaders to be involved in the decision-m, the teachers are an important voice in our district and we have to find some mutually agreeable way to hear their opinions and address their concerns. Currently, they've declined to be involved in the process in ways that have been offered, but that leaves us guessing about their positions and without their valuable insight. We will also be we will also look at adjusting policies as needed to facilitate better timelines so that there's time for a board review of the results
006of the plan and any desired adjustments to the goals can be made prior to the plan implementation. This will also allow the board to be properly informed when parents and other stakeholders request reasonable information and insight into the process. To address the changes for this year, the board has given the administration additional goals and priorities that should reduce the number of reassignments. In future years, we are also prepared, if needed, to authorize a small tax increase to cover any increased payroll necessary to achieve a reduction in the number of moves if they're in the best interests of the educational landscape. We believe that continuing costs like payroll should be reasonably covered by our income, while our reserve account should be used to pay for one-off expenditures the same way our taxpayers need to use their
007wages, not their savings accounts, to pay their mortgage and bills. All parties should understand that some moves are inevitable. Education is a living process in a constant state of self-improvement. Classes will change, curriculum will change, and staff will change through many processes like retirements, promotions, and career explorations. And the financial resources to achieve all this are finite. And so our community should expect to support our school district. Our children rely on us to provide top quality education and extracurricular enrichments. And having a strong district provides all residents a vibrant place to live and boosts the real estate values of our homes and our properties. But we can't expect the taxpayers to pay the rates it would take to never move a teacher. And there's so there's a balancing act and there's probably no way to
008get it exactly correct. But we're going to try to improve each year the way that these moves might occur. And we hope that the community, our teachers, and our administrators can move forward and that some trust can be reestablished between all sides. And in the end, we are all invested in the prosperity of this community and the district. And through that, there's always common ground to be found. Thank you. As I said, a majority of the board of directors of Sakum Valley. So, thank you. That statement was from a majority. Um, you know, everyone here is free to to say what they want later in the meeting or comment, but uh but that was one I wanted to read so that hopefully people could have some insight and knowledge about what was going on and
009what what we hope to address. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Carpenter. Um, we're now to courtesy of the floor to visitors for agenda items only. Um, Mr. Carpenter statement isn't considered part of the agenda. So, if you'd like to speak uh about uh uh his comments, uh you can you certainly have the opportunity at the end of the meeting uh and the next uh um courtesy. Would anyone like to speak now about agenda items? [Music] Um, Victoria Opto Cordiero, I just wanted to uh I noticed recently, I think it was late early to sometime today, that the announcement for the appointment of our assistant superintendent is on the agenda and I see that he's here tonight and I did have a chance to say hello to him briefly, but um I just want to thank
010the board for moving forward this position and hiring the person um to fill that role. I'm sure there's lots to be done in the district that he will um take the ball running with, but looking at um his background, I think he's a wonderful asset to our community uh and especially the special education community with his um breath of knowledge and experience that he brings. So, thank you very much and I wanted to just say thank you for that. Thank you, Victoria. Would anyone else like to speak? Okay, moving on. Can I get a motion to approve presentation of the bills? Second. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. Opposed. Motion's approved. Can I get a motion to approve the treasures report? Oh, we don't have it. There's nothing in the treasures report tonight,
011so we'll skip that. On to education. Um, we have uh nothing for discussion. We have two items. Item number one, policies, second and final reading. We have school wellness and educational opportunity for military children. Another two policies. Uh item number two, uh the Silicon Valley Foundation for Educational Innovation 21st Century Grants. Um can I get a motion to approve items one and two? So moved. Any discussion? Does this Sorry, I I I apologize, but this is Does this include the policies? Uh I just had a question about the military family. Yeah, sure. Yeah, this is the time. Um uh is this uh I wanted to ask uh the solicitor, is this is this connected to um a new like a new new a new law? Um, I'm just kind of curious because I noticed that
012um there's been some discussion in Harrisburg about um very similar sounding uh kind of policies and and um or you know kind of I guess try many by you know on a bipartisan basis many legislators have been to improve this kind of thing and I'm right this is not a new law per se. there's a there's an interstate compact amongst states with regard to military families who often travel and are at different bases, locations, and and the like for for their service. So, this was just an update to those regulatory um requirements that that have been brought down through the US Department of Education and and the state. So, that's just updating some of those regulations. Thank you. Y any other questions or comments? All in favor say I. I opposed. Motion's approved. On to
013personnel. We have no items for discussion. Um can I get a motion to approve item one, assistant superintendent? So moved. Second. Any discussion? Uh yeah, I just want to say uh welcome. It's I'm very glad that this is finally on the agenda. Um every week, every time I was here, I was asking about it. So, it's great to see and uh I'm really happy to have you join uh Sak Valley. So, thank you. I'd also like to say that you know what I originally uh requested an assistant superintendent that uh we had the full support of the board in doing so. So, I'm very happy to see that we've finally gotten to the point where you have, you know, Dr. Tener, you're here and I can only expect great things from you go forward. Thank
014you so much. Congratulations and welcome. We're lucky to have you. Um I just wanted to say that also I wanted to um when I started hearing about the you know the issue of um the need for an assistant superintendent. It was it was several years ago actually. Um, and um, I know it was something when I ran for office with some of the people were up here, uh, it was something that we talked to people about. Um and um I'm just really glad that this because I I think that we do need in our district um a kind of um all hands on deck, you know, and um I'm really excited uh about honestly seeing some of the people who are quite obviously uh thrilled to have you that that gives me a lot of
015uh confidence too because some of the some of the people I just respected tremendously and um, you know, I know if they have a lot of enthusiasm for you, I I I'm going to share that for sure. So, I'm really glad that you're here and thank you very much for um, Dr. Tenor, would you like to say a few words? Raise us up. Well, well, first and foremost, I should say I'm humbled and honored uh to be a part of this wonderful school district. This is a prestige uh you know, the school district. Um I'm excited to work with the members of the board. So, I'm excited for that. Also excited to work with some wonderful leaders as well too, some administrators out there to learn and collaborate with and also our stakeholders, our families,
016um our our parents, our teachers, and uh represent from the community. I'm excited to to work with them and collaborate with them. You know, I always say leadership is about servitude and I'm here to serve and my job is to serve the community and also uplift and uphold, you know, our our mission and our vision statement. So, I just want to say again, I'm humbled and honored and thank you everybody. Any other comments? All in favor say I. I I opposed. Motion's approved. Welcome aboard. Okay. Um we have uh seven more items in personnel. Uh would anyone like any of the remaining ones to be considered separately? I'm going to read through these items and then I'll ask for a motion. Item number two, retirement. Item number three, resignation. Item number four, home school visitor.
017Item number five, 2025 2026 athletic coaches. Item number six, summer technology assistance. Item number seven, registered behavior technician. And item number eight, summer IEP writers. Can I get a motion for items one for items two through eight? So moved. Second. Any discussion? I'd just like to say that uh losing Pam is going to be a huge detriment to our our district and I just wish her well in all her future endeavors. I I I'd also also like to uh wish uh Miss Doson uh the best of luck going forward. She's been a great asset. Uh I've been working with her um long before I was a member of the board uh in various committees and and groups that parents were invited to participate in and I appreciate her capabilities and enthusiasm. Um all in favor
018say I. I. Opposed? Motion's approved. On to facilities. We have no items for discussion. Uh we have one item surplus obsolete. Can I get a motion? So moved. Second. Any discussion? I had one question. I noticed there are a lot of items uh this time. Usually it's one or two. This time it's pages upon pages. As we update our curriculum, what are we doing with all of these obsolete items? Are we donating them somewhere? Currently, we have a company coming in to take a look at what they are interested in and then we have to determine what to do with the rest of them. So, um, if we can donate them, I don't know who will take them if we can, but we'll have to research that. Okay. Thank you. Any anything anyone else? All
019in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Motion's approved. On to finance. U, we have no items designated for discussion. Uh, Mr. Bonenburgger, can you just give us a quick update on the status of the budget? Um the budget is still where it was before. Um the state has not approved their budget yet. So no new updates on revenue from the state. Um I don't know if they'll have a budget by June 30th. Um so the budget is still what we presented as preliminary at this point. And uh we will be voting on the final budget two weeks from tonight. Yes, the 24th should be the approval of the final budget. Okay, great. Thank you. Um we have three items under finance. Um, item number one, Cardinal Point. Item number two, senior citizen property tax rebate.
020Item number three, Everdriven Technology pricing amendment. Uh, can I get a motion to approve items one through three? So move. Second. Any discussion? Is the Are we changing security protective service personnel? No, it's the same same personnel. Yeah. It's just a three-year agreement now with them. and slight increases in their fees. Okay. Anyone else? All in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Motion's approved. Okay. On to community updates. Uh uh Mr. Conte isn't here tonight for the Chamber of Commerce. Uh Miss Magna, are you on? I guess she is not also not here tonight. Um we do not have an update on Northampton Community College tonight. Uh Bethlehem area votech. Um we have our meeting actually tomorrow. It it's been postponed this month because of senior recognition last week. Uh so ne at our next
021meeting we'll have an update on uh Babits. If I may sure go ahead Miss Demco. just just addressing the board um if possible for anyone to come. They're worried about having a quorum tomorrow, but I know we have other meetings scheduled as well, so I'm not sure how that could happen. Thank you. Thank Thank you, Mr. Demco. I I I'd also like to second that request if if any of you aren't planning to be at the committee meetings tomorrow evening, if you could uh if you could attend so that we could assure that we have a quorum. There's a lot of important business uh that's going to be taking place at Babitz tomorrow. Um, Colonial Intermediate Unit, Dr. Pakad. No updates. Okay. Uh, PSBA representative, uh, Mr. Carpenter and Mr. I have nothing today, Jacob.
022Yeah, didn't really see anything other than what we've reported in prior meetings. Okay, great. Thank you. Uh, new business. I have a um I just wanted to Yeah, I wanted to say thank you to um um while I didn't I I couldn't sign on to uh the statement that Don read, I appreciate his effort to try to um create a coherence, you know, to a difficult situation. Um I wanted to um thank uh teachers. I've been hearing from many many teachers and um uh many many more parents in the last uh several weeks and um I've had some really I've read some really excellent suggestions. I just want to um say thank to you all for those suggestions. Um they're incredibly high quality. um which is something that's always you know struck me about the
023the teaching um uh you know workforce in sen um you know and and also with many of the parents these are like very wellinformed and um often you know researchbased and you know they're humbling sometimes when you get some suggestion because they're they've done their homework you know um and I just want to um thank them for that um it's my hope in in the fall that um with the new uh policy in place which I think that we will be able to develop um um I think it's 409 if I remember the number right um that we'll see a a better uh process that is more um likely to support student learning um and is also one that I think uh teachers and or the community can as a whole get behind you know
024um uh along with the board Um that's all. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. May I Yeah, go ahead. Uh so Mr. Brun, you uh inspired me last time when you uh talked about uh research about uh churn and uh reassignment. So, I uh had the little time and I I I I looked up uh uh scholarly work in papers and um uh I didn't do a uh full comprehensive literature review, but I found a couple of papers that were uh the ones that were highly cited and uh you know, I uh I I I speak uh with an accent, but I can read pretty well and that's what I do as uh part of my uh my my day job to uh do the research. arch uh that uh is based on
025data and uh evidence and write papers and read papers. So uh there's one paper that I read and I don't know whether it's something that you had uh stumbled upon also or not but this was uh a paper that is as I mentioned highly cited. It is by a group of uh researchers from u uh Colorado, Stanford and University of Virginia. And I don't know whether you had a chance to uh review that, but sounds familiar. So, uh I'm I'm going to do my kind of like my thing if uh you if you give me a little bit of a leeway to uh to explain what I what I found out uh reading that uh paper. So, uh they uh define newness uh uh to to teaching as uh one of three categories of newness.
026They say that uh uh new teacher is either new teacher to the profession uh new teacher to the school district or the new teacher to the grade or subject. So uh someone who has uh just been hired uh from the from the school is category one. someone who has been teaching somewhere else but now is recruited and is uh uh hired at a different district is that category two and the third one is someone who is within the district but their assignment change either they move grade or uh they uh uh move subject they go from math to ELA or vice versa that the conclusion uh like the one sentence conclusion was that uh there is there is there a lot of hesitation in uh you know my line of work to uh uh to
027to say causation right so we talk about correlation uh just not say that you know definitively this is the thing that caused that we say that we see correlation and uh what they say is that uh there is negative correlation between student achievement and newness of teachers right that's the sort of like the bottom line Right. So, u but then the paper which was I think a uh fairly uh substantial study that I I I saw actually multiple things that were uh the result of that had uh two other uh facts that they had uh gone over and u uh they they were interesting and relevant to our conversation. One was that over decades that they had looked at data at uh a uh public school district that's a large public school district. Uh they
028had noted that uh on average every year 40% of the teachers in that uh district were new. Right? So uh that's uh that's a lot of newness and this kind of like you know represents the nature of this uh uh this uh this this industry I would say uh there is there's a lot of that is happening which is um uh across the country and um uh that 40% uh is was pretty pretty substantial from from my perspective. The second is that they had done these uh studies that were u uh conditional studies. So they say that we will fix one of the parameters and see what the effect of other parameters are. So they have looked at the effect of these newnesses each of the three categories of newness that I mentioned on the
029student performance and they had found that the worst newness in terms of the performance student performance is those who are new to the profession right so for them you had a substantial sort of a correlation uh between that unitness and the student performance negative correlation. The second worst but pretty close to that sort of like first one is uh those who are new to the district. So uh when you hire that's the conclusion there is a lot of uh negative correlation between the student performance and that newness of the teacher. the new assignment uh be it a different grade or different subject was the least of bad options and uh they have it in two different categories one was math in math the I'm going to call it and I don't know whether this is
030a word but uh the badness of that is about a quarter of uh the uh problem with the new teacher right so uh if you uh have a class and you have a reassignment within your school, it is a quarter as bad as you say that this is a new class. I'm going to hire someone new, right? In terms of student performance, that's in math in the non-mathematic areas and they uh use ELA as the example. It is actually onetenth of that the badness. So having a new teacher coming in is 10 times worse than using one of the teachers that you have within your school be reassigned to teach that. And the negative impact for the non-math area is so small regardless for uh for for the reassignments that they say that you cannot
031actually statistically discern this from noise. Right? So that number is uh within the margin of error of uh the uh problems that you would have and there's one other sort of like big thing that uh uh needs to be considered there which is that you know when you have a new hire you know and that wasn't part of the research uh uh you have to you have to hire someone right so uh uh each uh new hireer in our district I think Mr. Bonenburgger uh has the number, but it's like roughly $100,000 that is added to uh the to to the budget. So the bottom line of it is that we have to decide what you what you want to do, right? So we go to a uh store, we order stuff, we say we
032want this, we want that, we want that, right? Uh but then uh we are not willing to kind of like uh pay for it, right? And that's just like a uh not not the responsible way to uh to to do stuff, right? So uh you either have to decide that we don't want a rigorous curriculum. We don't want to comply with the things that we have decided that we want to comply, right? This when when the comp plan came out uh we all sat here and we uh talked about it and we praised everyone who was a part of it. Uh Mr. Brun even uh read the names of the people who were part of these committees and uh you know commended them for uh participating and uh we unanimously approve those as the goals
033and then the school sort of like tries to you know make it work and uh the two ways to make it work one would be to do what they did and one would be to say and I think the numbers were like 10 15 new teachers we Now I mentioned a minute ago that that would actually not be good for the students but it also would not be something that you know some of us had uh publicly proclaimed we are not willing to uh go there right so I I was sitting here and you were sitting there Mr. Brun and you said you are not going to approve a budget that is over $60 million. It has to come down. Right. So there was a constraint in terms of the resources that was imposed by
034the sport. There was a con constraint that was imposed by the district about what we want in that store that you are now shopping. Right? And uh but then we say hey you know what I just don't like this solution. Right? So it just can't be that right? We have to be honest about these things like I'm saying when I say we I mean like the whole community right as to what are the priorities and whether these priorities are the things that we are willing to do the things that we need to do to achieve them right so that's uh otherwise and I'm saying this jokingly you know Mr. Brun is uh the big beautiful bill right has kind of like the same problem that the big beautiful bill has also which is that uh
035it asks for a lot but is not willing to pay for it right so I'm just asking you humbly to to consider the fact that uh the mandates were imposed by the board and the solutions are not infinite there are very few solutions that are are there and I'm hoping that we can uh move forward in a way that would be constructive for our district and uh not cause divisions. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Fox. Would anyone else like to uh um discuss any new business? Any old business? Um okay, we're on to citizens inquiries and comments u on any topic. Good evening. My name is Jay Christian Tatoo and I reside on East Thomas Avenue in Howardtown Burough. I rise this evening to address the changes made to board policies 309 and 409 in
036August of 2024 regarding the reassignment of district employees. The policies each enumerate the set of conditions upon which the superintendent is supposed to base reassignment decisions. And previously, those decisions also required board approval when quote, "Such assignments involve a transfer from one building to another or involve a move to a position requiring a certificate or credentials other than those required for the employees present position." unquote. In August of 2024, however, the board voted to strike the language from these policies that required board approval for these reassignments. I think the public outpouring of sentiment at the May 27th board meeting regarding the large number of teacher reassignments announced at the end of this school year strongly suggests that these policy revisions were a mistake. Board policies 309 and 409, as they had previously been written, gave
037the board oversight of important personnel decisions. Oversight, which had been substantially weakened by those revisions. Mr. Carpenter's statement suggested that the board exercised that oversight retroactively uh at their executive sessions and also address the need to restore trust. I believe that restoring policies 309 and 409 would do that. And I therefore ask the board to take the following actions. First, to state or restate for the public record what circumstances led to those policy changes being recommended in the first place and why the board thought it was appropriate andor necessary to give up its oversight of consequential personnel changes. Second, I ask that the appropriate process be initiated to revise those two policies yet again in order to restore the language that was stricken in 2024. With that oversight back in place, the board would be
038able to report to the public that it has reviewed any major reassignments and that a majority of its members agree that the decisions were made for one of those legitimate reasons outlined in board policy. I thank you and I look forward to hearing uh your response and look forward to possibly some action on that. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Tattoo. Mson McCarthy. I reside in Helertown. I would like to ask if possible for a roll call on the approval of the statement read by Mr. Carpenter this evening so it's included in the public record. Thank you. Anyone else? Morgan Flag Deweiler. I live um in Helertown uh technically lower Saken. So I had written after the uh May 27th meeting. I also spoke at the May 27th meeting. I had written an email to all
039of you. I'm a little bit disheartened to say that I only received two responses to that email. I did have many questions. I also honor that you know you all have day jobs. So I understand that. Um but I just so this is public record. I would like to read a couple excerpts of this email and I want to put on record some of the questions that I have that are still left unanswered and especially in light of what Dr. Poxad um just told us about the the data from um the article that he read. So, um, one of one of my blurbs here, and this was a quite a long email, um, when we were speaking on the May 27th meeting, uh, many of the parents and, uh, community members were using an approximate
040number of 40 to 45 moves. Um, and we were told in in the superintendent's um response to that is that it was only 22 teachers being moved. Um, it's my impression from from the research that I've done and the people in the community and some of the teachers that I've spoken with is that it is not only 22 individuals. So my question is when we're using that number of 22 and that might have changed you know I don't know what has happened since then are there 22 teachers in total that may be moved or is that number solely the educators being moved from building to building i.e from high school to elementary school middle school to high school so on and so forth. Um this is an important clarification um for me specifically with my
041background in education and for being a teacher myself for 12 years and now being in higher ed. And I ask this question because moving from one building to another is quite a significant change um especially when you're talking about classroom management and the students that that you're dealing with and and the problem sets that they have or or don't have. Um, but people with limited familiarity with how education works on the inside may not immediately recognize that moving within a building or between departments is also quite a big change and it really shouldn't uh in in my opinion be excluded from the discussion when we're talking about the total number of stu of of um teachers being moved. Um, and I say that because the difference between teaching kindergarten and third grade is pretty substantial.
042Um, the difference between teaching seventh grade and 12th grade is also substantial. My certification was 7 through 12 and I can tell you I taught seventh grade and I taught 12th grade and there is there's quite a large difference and it takes a while to get used to those changes. There is even a difference between teaching history and English or you know ELA and math as Dr. Poxad was saying um those differences for the the people who are living it and and the personnel who are doing that it's vast. It it really is especially if you are a well seasoned teacher and you've been doing this for years. So I would encourage you to think in in your own careers how debilitating that might feel initially if you were told that you were going to
043be doing something completely different at its heart. Um you know if if Dr. Poxad I think you're in engineering in right if someone said instead of researching and teaching engineering you're now going to be um researching and teaching English I had a PhD in English too but I so the things that I'm qualified and I have the Yes absolutely so and I think that sometimes um teachers I myself was certified in in several things I have my certific certification to teach history. I have my certification to teach history and I also had my certification to teach ELLL. I can tell you for the 12 years that I taught, I taught history. Just because I'm certified in something doesn't mean that I'm going to be best suited for that in the moment. I am going to
044need some time to transition and there should be a plan put into place for that. Um so you know my next question with you know are we talking in total is that 22 building to building or is that 22 total within building. This also leads me to um a little bit of what you said Don about um you know some of the the educators were asked to participate but refused. Um I would like to little know a little bit more about that. What what were they asked? How were they asked? You know, and not on a specific level. I understand personnel, like I totally get that, but in what ways were they invited to sit at the table? Were any of these educators asked for their opinion or input as these potential plans were being
045changed? And I know we also mentioned the strategic plan. So, what is it that is specifically in the strategic plan that is, you know, making these moves? We're also talking about budget. If we're talking about things like the big beautiful bill or or you know we don't want our taxes to be raised but we you know don't want to hire new teachers, we're trying to move things around. Does that mean that we're in such financial distress that we are moving 22 people building to building or 40 to 45 people? I mean that's a large number for this district. So, you know, some of my concerns are um a little bit beyond just the the personnel and the way the humanistic holistic feeling that we have right now. Part of our district's mission statement says that
046we want students to promote understanding, human understanding, communicate effectively, nurture mind, body, and moral character to appreciate community and public service. So with that I I do ask why was it done in this particular way where you know some people may have refused to participate in these discussions but why are they refusing to participate? I know myself from being behind the scenes I can I can tell you they're probably scared. Miss Miss Flag that wire we actually have a fivem minute limit. So, if you can kind of wrap up. Thank you. I I mean, I do have a couple other questions though and I would encourage I will continue to show up and I will continue to talk until some of these questions are answered specifically with numbers and specifically with why. So, I'll just
047read I'll go through some of my other questions and then you all have my email. You can you can respond as as you wish. So, were the teachers asked their input? And if they refused, I'd like you to think about why. Why were they treated in such a manner where they had a substitute sent to their room and they were sent to the office, they were told that they were being moved without any chance of rebuttal and then they were sent back to their classrooms. One person in particular got to go on a field trip with a bunch of middle schoolers after that, after there was a parade. If you can wrap up, that'd be I'm wrapping up. Thank you. Are these 22 moves being done so that 22 people don't lose their jobs? Because
048our superintendent basically threatened furlows last time. I quote, "If that furlows is something we want back to the table, I'll be more than happy to bring that back to the table. My administrators will bring that back to the table." That to me sounded like a threat and it it really hurt at my core from being a former educator. My last questions are get ready for it. Why are we doing this? So I know we have a strategic plan. What specifically? How does this align with a strategic plan? I know I would love to see it and I know that everyone else here would. What is the end goal? What data is being used to justify all of these moves? Most importantly, how will these moves affect our kids? Not just test scores or their, you
049know, output, but how is it going to affect them holistically? How is this administration planning on monitoring the success of these changes? How do you plan on assisting teachers to acclimate to these abrupt changes? Will there be mentorship, intentional and targeted professional development, common planning time? Will there be platform training focused on helping our educators use specific instructional assessment and/or communication tools coupled with targeted training on digital tool use, edte platforms, and/or software programs that are new to them to support their teaching and learning? How are you going to measure this long-term impact and outcome of these changes on student achievement and our teacher retention because they're leaving and they're going to leave. Thank you. Thank you. Can I just I just address one thing? Wait, wait, just one second real quick. Um I I
050I just ask that um please try to keep your comments to five minutes. um if if we have people that are going substantially over then we'll be forced to set up a clock and really cut people off. So please uh contain your comments to five minutes. Thank you. Can I just say one thing? Yeah. So let me just address the part about uh I you know the point of the statement was that we haven't found a mutually agreeable way to have input uh from the teachers yet. We now have a year to do it. I sincerely hope that we can do that. I mean that that's kind of the bottom line, right? Um I'm not going to get into the specifics of like what was offered and what was turned down. That's like not really
051appropriate for this meeting. But you know, at least from my again, this is my perspective. This is not the statement now. This, okay, this is just me. Um, you know, I I I hope that we can find a mutually agreeable way to do that so that the next time that we have that that's that's what I want to say. Arthy, president of Silicon Valley Education Association. I was not going to speak on any of this tonight, but I want to echo that I do think it's important that we do have for the public record who has agreed um with the statement that Don wrote. So, I we assume Don has agreed with that. And Bill, thank you. You have said that um you did not sign on to that. But I do think it's important
052for the community and for the teachers to know who did um do that. So, I hope that you will do that tonight, Mr. Deetmore, as um the um head of the board of directors, that you will do that for us as a community. Um the other thing I want to say with regards to what you said with regards to teachers not being involved, Mrs. Velocity has offered the teachers a seat at the table to um be a part of the moves and we have said that it is not appropriate for me or the other executive leaders to sit at a table and say we should be moving Dave Ly to a different position. That's not our role. Um it is the purview of administration to make those changes. So we have um offered to meet
053with Miss Velocity. Um today I offered to meet with her. I have offered and I have met with several of the board uh members who have asked to meet with um executive leadership over the past few weeks to discuss moves and we appreciate that as well. Um, in the future, we did write an email instead of making a statement tonight suggesting that we do start in the fall as a team, as the administrators, as uh, union leaders, as board members to backward map a 53 and a one-year plan to look together with regards to where programs of studies we would like to be as a district, what the vision is, and to backward map um, the schedule and uh, staffing needs that would needed to be projected out. So, we would welcome that and we
054hope that's something that we can do together. But on another note, on a happier note, I am here tonight on behalf of all the teachers. It's my great pleasure to welcome Dr. Tenor as our new assistant superintendent. Dr. Tenor, we are excited to have you join the Sen Valley family. Your leadership, your experience, and your fresh perspective are truly welcomed as we continue to strive to fulfill the vision of SA Valley School District, ensuring that every student receives an exceptional education in a supportive and inspiring environment. We look forward to building a strong collaborative working relationship with with you, one grounded in mutual respect, shared goals, and a commitment to excellence. Together, we're confident that we can foster a productive environment where both staff and students can thrive. And once again, we welcome you to
055Sula Valley School District. Thank you, Miss McCarthy. Would anyone else like to speak? Had a question. If there was You can just let everybody know who's watching or wherever. Megan Lingino. I reside in Helertown, specifically Lower Saken. Um, my question was just about last week's AMP meeting was not held and I think it's in the best interest of anybody who's looking to attend to know when that next meeting is going to be. I looked back in the records and it looks like historically you don't meet in July. But if you are meeting in July, the first Wednesday of the month, I think it would be beneficial for anybody who would want to attend something like that to know ahead of time if that's something that is happening or if it's August if we can look
056forward to AM meeting. Thank you. Thank you, Megan. Hi. Um, Victoria Opto Cordero again. Um, I had the opportunity to listen to this whole debate about uh moving of staff and I I did watch the other meeting that happened on YouTube. Um, and I've now heard it again this evening during the statement that it appears to be that a big factor in moving people was keeping within our budget and assuring that we could keep our goals of academic excellence in line with keeping our taxes in line. And I guess my big question for all of the board, I agree with the request to see what the roll call would be um as it was not a unanimous statement made by the board. Um I think we all deserve to know where that stands. But the
057other thing that comes to play is when all of the board members agreed that they wanted to keep taxes the same, did they understand that that may involve a significant rotation of teachers to fulfill that stated goal of keeping budget? And that is and did the community know that because everybody likes to hear the big beautiful no tax raise. I've been watching the news and seeing a lot of other school districts having significant tax increases. COVID, you know, costs have gone up for everybody. Um, so everybody loves to hear we're not raising taxes, but did they understand that that also meant the correlation of moving staff? And was that communicated to the public at the same time that there were votes made that you weren't going to raise taxes beyond the certain um uh mill
058threshold by state law? And was it also made at the time when you announced you weren't going to raise taxes at all? Because I think the community would want to know the correlation of the cost to move teachers and what that means on our budget if it means meant in fact you would have to hire new people and increase our budget. So that's my comment on that. I think it's imperative because as a committee minute member myself, I don't think I knew what raising taxes or keeping them steady would mean to adjusting our STEM and moving them around and what did that mean. So that's that question. But on a on a positive note, I also came tonight because I wanted to thank um Jillian Broadhead. She's still back there. um and Miss Velocity on
059your efforts to uh move forward inclusion and inclusion practices in Sen Valley. And I say that um because I have a one child who's now in his third year at Sen Valley and he has significant challenges that are different than his typical age peers. and I have worked with Sen Valley's special education team that are are part of his IEP team in ensuring that he has uh the ability to spend time with his typical age peers. And this is his third year now. Um and this year I had the opportunity to witness um the fruits of that effort at field day. And at field day, I got to witness 18 beautiful first graders help my child go through each activity in not only a request like a teacher saying, "Okay, hold Johnny's hand," but in
060a very nurturing and enthusiastic way. So that each child had the ability to help my child through whatever activity. In fact, they were competing with one another to try and help my child through that activity. And it was the most heartwarming experience because not only did I see the love for my child, but I also saw how they were impacted by being able to assist somebody who might have different needs than they do. And I think it's a beautiful experience for both myself and also the other parents. So much so that we had a birthday party um for my son after the end of the school year. And we invited all of his typical age peers and most of them were able to make it. and the ones that didn't sent video messages that um
061were very kind and nurturing and you could just tell that there was love throughout and I hope that that continues and I think that this the process of Big Panther Little Panther and um the the process of making sure that we're giving that opportunity to all students will lead to a a better community in Sen Valley overall. So, I just wanted to thank the staff that wanted to thank the teachers that have been involved in my child's education thus far. Um, and the paras and everybody um who impacted in making sure that everybody had that experience. So, thank you. Thank you, Miss Off Cordero. Would anyone else like to speak? Um, can I address some of the questions that were Oh, no. I'll wait. Yeah, we have one more. Okay. Yeah, Katie Wackler Magnolia. I
062know I email about a lot of things a lot of times. Um I just wanted to reiterate um my concern in the area of world language. Um perhaps we're saving a whole lot of money and yay. Um but we lost two high school world language teachers or secondary world language teachers in two years and we have zero postings for a world language teacher on the district website. So I'm hoping that we're replacing those teachers with, you know, fabulous qualified and experienced ones. But voting. Thank you. Would anyone else like to speak? Okay, seeing no one, um, uh, citizens inquiries and comments is closed. Uh, would anyone on the board like to make a comment? Yes. Actually, one, excuse me. I just want to address the request that uh, we take a vote on uh, the
063statement that Mr. Carpenter read. uh when we put that together, we we've been working fairly quickly trying to get this all done. Um I did not ask the members if they were willing to do that, but every member is free to comment uh now or whenever they please about their position as far as Mr. Carpenter statement is concerned. Go ahead, Mr. Brew. Okay. Yeah. Um well, I I don't if someone wants to comment, I'll No, they people can comment when when they're they choose to speak. Okay. Um u I with um Mr. Tattoo's um comment on um which I I found very thoughtful on um some of the the policies. I I think that uh we messed up with that. Um, I mean, I think I'm not I think that that was a mistake and
064I think I do I don't want to speak for anybody, but I do think that there there there are several people on the board. I would say the majority of the board I'm not I think you know wants to revisit that uh policy and um you know I think part of it was um you know trying to drink water out of a fire hydrant with policy revisions coming at you and I just think that if we could go back we would change it you know um um so I think that that's that's on the agenda for sure you know um and I say that informally as a as an issue. Um um with the with the budget um I wanted to say that um you know there wasn't there was no narrative on the budget.
065I think that's something that we need to do better with. I think there should be a narrative. We we we I asked about one last year and we did get one added. I think we could use one again to help people understand what our priorities are to help us think better about what we're, you know, what we're going to be doing. An executive summary. Um I think that's something that um but we we kind of have to speak up about that. Um um I don't to address one you know uh uh Victoria uh um question about whether whether there was a presentation of the kind of um tradeoffs involved with the budget. Um uh no absolutely not. But I mean one thing I will say that no and no for the two questions that you
066asked and but the thing is you we were operating under this kind of to my mind a broken policy for the first time and I think that that I do think that that helped produce that kind of state of of decision-m that that uh because you know we I think many of us felt we in fact didn't we even vote on the budget before all this kind of kuruffle came up. I mean, I think we supported the budget, the preliminary budget. We voted on it. So, clearly, you know, some of us then we started hearing about the the the the you know, concerns about the the personnel transfers. So, you know, that I think answers a question too, you know. Um um and then the the idea of it being like the, you know, the
067a big beautiful bill. Um, again, a sort of a zero sum game. I I don't really see it that way. Um, I think we have to um I'm big and I'm I'm Bill, but I'm not beautiful. I don't think that uh I I I just don't see any comparison between the two at all. But nice try. No, the the point was the structure of it which is like wanting things but uh on the other side of it you know the paying for it is not count you you are paying your beautiful bill. So that's anyone else. I uh someone correct me if I'm wrong or I'll try to address this very quickly. The original 22 moves followed the now stricken language in policy 409. So the the moves that were the 22 referenced the ones
068that were covered under the previous language that is a uh department moves and building moves I believe. You can correct me if I'm wrong. Yeah. So that so even though the language was stricken that's it it was still being used. I don't know why. Sorry. But that's I believe that that's what that means. Just those those ones. So, so that that was the policy at the time that and this is I'm going to rely on uh uh Miss McCarthy to correct me that at the time that the CBA was uh being uh negotiated that was the definition and then uh there was a I think date May 15th or something around that that time that was supposed to be the date where uh these are communicated those were based on that policy. Now as you
069mentioned last year when the change in policy happened that section kind of like uh was removed and included in that section was those definitions. So uh but the definition uh to to your point is something that was in the policy and was part of uh the basis of uh the collective bargaining agreement. Um so uh and that's that's that has been sort of like the past practice in addition to all of that you know in this district for a for a long time. But I think your points I I'd be we all understood what we're saying. May I Yeah, go ahead, Mr. Santos. I'll be relatively brief. Uh, as you all know, I like to uh speak directly. Um, Mr. Comforter is correct in that we on the board may not all agree with some
070of the statements that were provided during um his presentation. Though I do trust that the board, the administration, other stakeholders in the community are approaching this topic of conversation in regards to, you know, teachers moving from building to building from good faith and that we are all partnering together to make sure that the best outcome for our children and our community is established going forward. I have a child in this community myself and I want to see the best for him not just in this year but in all all years going forward. Uh I would be very happy to revisit the policy that uh Mr. Tattoo has described. Um, I think it would be a good idea to definitely have that conversation and I I would like the community to pro provide us the I
071wouldn't say leniency, but provide us the the breadth to reexamine this situation holistically and their trust that go forward we will certainly be keeping a very close eye on what is best for the community. Not that it hasn't been already. Again, I have full faith and trust in our board and and all stakeholders that we are approaching this from a position that will benefit all of us. So, I appreciate your patience and as always, uh my door is always open. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else like to speak? Yes, please. Oh, go ahead, Miss Demco. Thank you. I just wanted to address the community when they asked for votes. I did vote no on the statement that Mr. Carpenter read. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay. Um, moving on to um announcements. Uh, we have uh
072meetings on June 4th, 2025, 700 p.m. in this room. Another on July 8th, 7 p.m. here in this room. Uh, we've reached the end of our agenda. So our meeting