I would
like to call the December six, 2021 meeting of the Derry Township School
District Board of Directors to order and announce that this meeting
is being livestreamed.
An audio recorded.
This meeting conducted both in-person and virtually,
and I'd like to request four board members to please state your name and speaking.
Everyone is on Zoom on mute.
The purpose of tonight's meeting
is for reorganization, and under the school code of 1949,
all votes are recorded as roll call votes unless otherwise stated.
Well, now, move on to the certificate of election results.
The Dauphin County Board of Elections.
Certificate of Election November 2021.
We, the undersigned members of the County Board of Elections of said County,
hereby certify that after tabulating the votes cast at the municipal election
held on the second day of November 2021, in said county,
it appears that Robert Bennett, Michael Rizzo, Erika Schmidt and Lewis.
Were duly the.
Offices school director
for the School District of Derry Township, in the county aforesaid
by the County Board of Elections Commissioner,
Chairman, Commissioner, Chad Seller, Vice
Chairman, Commissioner George P Hartwick, the Third Secretary,
and attested by Gerald de Feser, Junior Director of Elections.
I would now like to welcome President Judge John F Cherry for the swearing
in and administration of oath of newly elected and reelected board members.
Judge Cherry,
thank you.
Robert Bennett.
Please raise your right hand to be sworn.
I state your name by Robert Bennett.
Do solemnly swear.
You solemnly swear that I will support a benefit
and support provided to the Constitution of the United States of America.
The Constitution
of the United States of America and the Constitution of this Commonwealth
and the Constitution of this Commonwealth.
And that I will discharge my duties of my office.
I will discharge the duties of my office with.
5.12.51. Congratulations,
Michael Rizzo.
I do solemnly swear.
Do solemnly swear that I will support of and defense.
I will support of
and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.
The Constitution
of the United States of America and the Constitution of this Commonwealth
and the Constitution of this Commonwealth.
And that I will discharge my duties of my office and discharge
my duties of my office with fidelity.
Congratulations. You,
Erica Smith.
I do solemnly swear.
Do you solemnly swear.
That I will support and defend and. Support.
The Constitution of the United States of America?
The Constitution of the United States of America.
And the Constitution of this Commonwealth and.
The Constitution of this. Country.
And that I will discharge the duties of my office.
And discharge the duties of my office.
With fidelity, with congratulations.
And finally, Louis Shore,
I shall the third.
Do solemnly swear.
Do solemnly swear that I will support Obama and defend support for
and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.
The Constitution of the United States of America
and the Constitution of this Commonwealth and the Constitution of this country.
And that I will discharge the duties of my office.
To discharge the duties of my office with vitality.
With vitality.
Congratulations.
May I say it's a privilege
to have been asked to swear in the new members
and also to say how proud I am that I'm a resident of this township
and that my son Vincent attended
Derry Township schools, and many of the people
that I have repeated in the past have had such an influence on his life
and that I'm
really many times humbled
by the great care and love that those teachers and administrators
gave to him and all the other students and I thank you again for asking me.
Thank you, Judge Cherry.
Our new board members are welcome to take a space
at one of the open desks so that you may participate in the rest of the meeting.
Please.
Mrs. AG, Roll call, please.
Mr. Bennett.
Dr. Cronan.
One second.
There's an attendee. That's Donna Cronan.
So I don't know if we should make that promote that.
We can, Nancy.
Sure. Yeah.
She can't.
Be heard.
Thank you.
Here.
Thank you, sir, for the interruption.
Mr.. Here.
This is many here,
Mr. Rizzo.
Here. Mrs. Schmitt.
Dr. Shaw. Here.
Mrs. Sacker. Here.
Mr. Singer. Here.
Nine present to your virtual.
Thank you.
Please rise if you are able, and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance.
I personally. Do.
One nation, under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice
for all.
I would like to announce that the board will meet in post executive session.
After this meeting to discuss matters of personnel and safety information.
Approval of the Board of Directors agenda.
May I please have a motion to approve the December six, 2021
Board of Directors meeting agenda?
So moved Kathy sicker.
Second Mike Rizzo.
Is there any discussion?
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please say I. I.
The oppose. They know
the agenda is approved.
Moving on to election of officers.
The next is the election of temporary president.
Are there any nominations for temporary president?
I nominate Lindsey drew
as temporary president.
So I need a.
Second.
Don't believe.
It or. Does it. Yes.
Mr. Singer.
No. Second.
Are there any other nominations
hearing that nominations are closed?
Is there any discussion?
Mrs. A.G., roll call.
Vote for temporary president, please.
Mr. Bennett?
Yes. Dr. Cronan?
Yes, Miss True. Yes.
Mrs. Many.
Yes, Mr.
Rizzo. Yes.
Mr. Schmitt.
Yes. Dr. Shaw. Yes.
Mrs. Sikka.
Yes. Mr. Singer. Yes.
Nine. Yes.
Thank you.
I will now accept nominations for President for the ensuing years.
Here's me a point of I'm not sure what it is.
Maybe our solicitor can help us.
Would it be a point. Of.
Personal order or a point of preference?
I'm not sure what it's called.
There something along those lines that allows a board member
just to be granted time to say something.
Point of personal privilege.
Maybe.
I just can't remember.
It's not appropriate at this time.
Oh, okay.
Okay,
then.
Never mind.
Are you are you speaking on the on the third pass motion?
I apologize for my voice. Oh, that's okay.
I was speaking on the the election this evening.
Then, if appropriate, Mr.
Speaker, once we get to the discussion following nominations,
you would be able to have discussion at that time. Okay.
Thank you.
I will now accept nominations for president for the ensuing year.
Please.
This is kept.
Shall I nominate Donna Cronan?
I second that.
Eric Schmidt. Thank you.
This is kathy. Speaker.
I nominate Lindsey drew.
This is terri.
Second round nominate mistruths.
Nomination.
I mean, I'll second her nomination.
Thank you. Are there any other nominations
to. Is there any Just the.
I'm sorry, Mr. Speaker, you have another nomination.
Well, you can't nominate more than one person, right.
Craig? This has. No.
Been hearing no other nominations.
Nominations are now closed.
Is there any discussion on this item, Mr.
Singer?
Yeah, I just wanted to make an observation
which may be accurate or inaccurate
so it could be taken by by board members as they see fit.
But I have heard second and third hand
that there have been private off line discussions
among several setting and new board members regarding the elections tonight
and who it is that people will vote for.
I recall during the run up to the election
there was discussion about transparency, I think was one of the terms that I heard.
Part of the idea of having the school board
election publicly and transparently and so people can hear
who is nominated and hear why people vote for whom
they vote for and have discussions along those lines.
So I don't know if these meetings took place or not,
but if they did, they were not in the spirit of transparency.
And if they did, I would hope that whatever was spoken during that meeting,
during those meetings to decide secretly tonight
who would be elected president,
that some of those feelings would be shared tonight publicly
so that we can have transparency right off the bat
from day one with this new board.
Thank you.
Is there any other discussion?
Yes. This is Eric Schmidt.
Yeah, we can do that.
So you're saying that moving forward,
we are not allowed to discuss anything
about how we feel
about something outside of this room?
Is that. Just.
To take that as.
That set?
Of course, you
what?
Well, I don't I don't think I'm in a position to answer that.
I think our solicitor would be best suited to answer a question like that.
So the question.
I'm sorry about that.
I'm not in a position to give a legal opinion right now on that.
But you're free to discuss if you would like.
This isn't the time.
If you would like to add this note here, a legal question.
So this is is captured just as a point of historical information.
When I was originally elected in 2017,
shortly after I was elected, I was contacted by multiple board members
who were attempting to
solicit my vote for president and vice president
before I ever had a chance to really become acquainted, even with
how the reorganization meeting went.
So just as a point of information,
that sort of things gone on for a long time.
This is Cathy Decker.
I think that
the clarity here is that board
members can talk individually, but when five board members meet.
It's a quorum.
So now that you're sworn in, if five board members would be to meet,
it would be a violation of the Sunshine Act.
But certainly I believe it's part of our responsibility
to discuss amongst ourselves one on one individually.
You can certainly do that.
But it's when there's a group of five or more violation of Sunshine Act,
you know? Hmm.
In response to your comment cap, I don't know.
With those who had been running for office prior
to those phone calls to you were saying about their candidacy
and what they stood for and what they were going to bring to the district.
But one of the things that was clearly stated during
the campaign was that there would be transparency.
So it just seemed ironic to me that in the first order
of business, relative to setting up a new board,
that there would be a number of conversations if they occurred
off line that were not transparent,
that bear on who will be elected president tonight.
So I would just find it incredibly ironic if that were the case.
And just I'm suggesting that if those conversations occurred,
if they did that, whatever
information was shared and discussed there
regarding the selection of the officers tonight
might be shared publicly for purposes of transparency.
That's all.
Yeah.
So I hear what Mrs.
Dicker saying.
So if you have four people talking about something
or three people or two people, that is not a quorum.
And as a new member, if I were to ask somebody
what their opinion was of the people
that I should vote for instead of just coming in cold.
Wouldn't that be a good idea?
And I don't think that's not being transparent.
If I were to come here and
say what you know,
I've heard, I don't think that that's appropriate.
So that is
our position or my my.
Well, Mr.
Singer, I tell you one thing.
I was solicited by one person
for their vote for presidency from the two people that are nominated.
And that is Ms.. Drew. That's the only person that's listening for their vote.
So you want transparency?
That's who did it. One person.
Thank you.
Is there any other discussion?
Oh, I have a question for those two who are
being nominated tonight.
If you could speak to
what do you see as the greatest role of the president of the board?
If you choose to answer that? Great.
If not, that's fine.
Sure. I'll jump in.
Cathy, this is Donna Cronan.
I think at this point, an important role of the president of the board
is to really bring the community and the board and the district together
as as tight as possible in the fact, in the face of unpleasant
precedent issues and controversy with COVID and how to deal with
issues
that people don't agree on and are definitely emotional.
And I certainly want to, you know, would would
would certainly be very happy to take on that role as as president
to make sure that we are moving together as a community and a board
and not the unknown opposing forces.
Thank you for asking.
Thank you.
This is Lindsey. True?
I believe the role of the president is, as Dr.
Cronin said to
facilitate dialog, to make sure that all voices have an opportunity to be heard.
It's primarily a organizational and communication in position
to make sure that board governance and policy is adhered
to and that
meetings are well prepared and the superintendent and administration
work through the board, president and board to do that.
I do have remarks planned
that address that a bit
in further detail, but
those are my initial comments. All right.
Thank you.
And I just there's one more thing I'd like to say publicly.
I hope that our future president of the board
just realizes that, you know, we all have equal votes here.
We're all nine equal members.
And as a past president for three years, I always felt like
my job was to keep the board informed.
And I think one thing with the board president is
the superintendent calls the board president all the time.
So you have to be available a lot
because your the touchstone to the board.
So you might then discuss.
Okay, we have a session coming up on Monday.
We can discuss this there or if it's an emergency situation,
might need to call individual board members to keep them apprized.
But I think one thing I learned very quickly is that the board
president cannot make any decisions individually on behalf of the board
without consulting the board because everything we do is done
as a board of nine with a majority of five vote and a consensus.
So the board president,
if the superintendent or the attorney call the board president and say,
we have this legal thing pending a lawsuit, what should I do?
The president always has to say, I'll have to consult the board.
You really can't give an answer right away.
So for me, I hope that is taken to heart and followed,
because the one thing that will cause us
all to not have trust in our leader is if we find out that that doesn't happen.
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
Is there any other discussion?
I just.
This is Mike Rizzo.
I just wanted to say that when I look at the board president, I
look at that person that is the go between superintendent and the administration
and to the nine board members with
the information has to flow back and forth smoothly.
But I also agree with Ms..
Dicker that it is a board of nine.
We've all been elected
and we all have an equal voice in the in the voting for this this district.
So that's what I look for in a President.
And again, being present and being involved
is I think is paramount to that position.
So that's my that's how I feel.
There's just a couple of other
issues regarding transparency.
I just wanted to lay out for the public
and please solicitor to stop me.
If I'm
going too far, just give me a hand signal.
We are engaged in some litigation
that's been going on for a couple of years now, it seems.
I think some board members may be
have a longer road to walk
with respect to to the
the legal case.
And there's no telling how it may
unfold with respect to
liability for the individual or for the district.
Not everyone in this room is involved with that,
but we have at least one member
running for officer who is
and I guess actually two who are.
And just as a matter for the public
as this unfolds, it's
no telling what it may bring to bear in terms
of additional things that we will have to consider as a district
and as a board.
And secondly, just for the record, again,
I can't remember the timing,
but I there's at least one individual
or possibly two tonight
who will be voting if they voted in accord with
what has been reported for an individual.
They asked to resign from our board of directors not too long ago.
I'm all for redemption,
but in this case, I don't believe there is.
There has been a path
that could be described as having achieved redemption.
Redemption.
So, again, just for just for the public record and for those lows, you're right.
And they're obviously doing it for their own reasons.
But we may have one, if not two,
sitting board members who not too long ago
asked one of the candidates for president
to resign from the board of directors.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr.
Singer.
I've thought a lot lately about what it means to be a good board president.
And I did speak to the newly
elected board members who were are brand new to the board
following our training to
to let them know that I did plan
to hopefully be nominated for board president, but respected
however they voted and look forward to working with them either way.
One thing I've thought about as as
as I've been thinking about the role of board president and found is that board
president role is often a very misunderstood one.
It tends to be viewed as a position of power in many organizations,
But in school board service,
it is a position centered around communication organization, knowledge
of procedure and adherence to policy and communication with the community
as a board.
The way that we conduct district governance sets the tone and example
for the district to follow.
Over the past six months, while it was not necessarily
something I had previously anticipated doing this year
as a time in my life or in my board service,
being president has been an honor and a privilege to serve in this capacity
in many ways.
The time has flown by and six months has felt like a full year,
perhaps because so much has taken place
from navigating the many challenges placed upon us as a result of the pandemic
to transitioning to a new superintendent and conducting special meetings
that had perhaps the largest volume of public participation ever received,
at least in my time here on the board, and ensuring that everyone received
an opportunity to be heard at that time while still maintaining order.
Throughout it all,
I feel I've been committed to ensuring that all board members
have access to the same information and opportunities.
I greatly
appreciate change and the need for it,
even if I don't necessarily always feel
aligned with it at the same time,
but AM and have been willing to continue as president
because I believe that right now continuity in the board organization
and for the functioning of the board at its highest level of governance
is something that is important given the many things facing the district
over the past four years.
I have been proud of my involvement, my attendance record
and my work on this board.
I believe that my commitment to the role earned me the opportunity six months ago
to serve as president. Right now.
I've learned prior to this evening that the majority of the new board
has decided to go in a different direction.
This is separate from Mr.
Singer's comments, and that's okay.
It was suggested in a
friendly manner to me that I considered declining the nomination tonight
and going unanimously for this vote and I did consider that.
But in thinking about it, I do feel that the community
has been asking for transparency and to not have dialog in this way
for me felt that it would have been disingenuous
to saying that we as existing board members operate transparently.
So while I will not be voting with the majority tonight
and recognize that I my name will not be in the majority,
that in no way should be considered indicative
of my continued commitment to this district and board service.
And I welcome our new board members and look forward to working with them.
I believe in the principles of good governance and leadership.
I respect one of those being that we respect the majority.
And so when the majority is decided this evening,
I will respect that and move forward.
I look forward to continuing to collaborate and work together with this
newly formed and reorganized board to support the administration and staff
and most importantly, do what is right to benefit the students in this district.
I have a tremendous amount of respect for anyone who's willing to sit
in one of these seats and believe that you genuinely do not know
what it takes to to serve in this role and figure that out until you're here.
And so I thank each one of you for being here.
It's been a pleasure to serve as president.
But as that time
comes to an end, I look forward to continuing as a fellow board colleague.
Thank you.
Is there any other discussion
hearing?
None.
I will ask Mrs.
AJI to please do a roll call vote.
And with this, each state
the name of the person that they are voting for.
Yes, please.
Dr. Cronin.
Donna Cronin.
Mr. Lindsey.
Drew, this is Mary.
Donna Cronin.
Mr. Rizzo.
Donna Cronin.
Mrs. Schmidt.
Donna Cronin.
After Shore.
Donna Cronin.
Mrs. Lindsey. Dru.
Mr. Singer. Lindsey. Dru.
Mr. Bennett.
Donna Cronin.
Thank you, Mrs. A-J.
And congratulations, Dr. Cronin.
Thank you.
Dr. Cronin, given your virtual status this evening for both you and Mrs.
Mamie as Vice President
for board operating guidelines for Presiding Officer.
Are you comfortable with there being a President pro tempore to continue
running the meeting just for the the function of the rest of this meeting?
Certainly. Thank you.
Thank you.
Could I please have a nomination for president pro tempore to preside
over the rest of this meeting?
This is kathy seger.
I nominate Lindsey drew.
This is Mike Rizzo, second in motion.
Thank you.
Is there any discussion?
This is a roll call.
Please. Mr..
I say my name or.
Yes, yes, yes.
This is Mimi.
Yes, Mr. Rizzo.
Yes, Mr.
Schmitt.
Yes, Dr. Shaw. Yes.
Mrs. Dicker. Yes.
Mr. Singer. Yes.
Mr. Bennett.
Yes. Dr.
Cronan. Yes.
Regulations.
Thank you.
Moving on to the election of Vice President.
I will now accept nominations for Vice President for the ensuing year.
Are there any nominations?
This is Mike Rizzo, a nominee.
Maria, maybe.
I'll second that.
Are there any other nominations
hearing?
The nominations are closed.
Is there any discussion?
This is a roll call.
Vote for vice president, please.
Mrs. Mamie?
Yes, Maria.
Mommy.
Mr. Rizzo?
Yes. Maria. Mimi.
Mr. Schmitt.
Maria. Mimi.
Dr. Shaw.
Maria. Mimi.
Mrs. Sicker. Maria. Me.
Mr. Singer? Yes.
Mr. Bennett. Maria. Mimi.
Dr. Cronan. Maria. Mimi.
Miss True.
Yes. To Maria. Mimi.
Congratulations, Maria.
Congratulations, Mrs. Mary.
Thank you.
Moving on
to authorization of signature change for the newly elected president.
May I please have a motion that the Derry Township School District
Board of School Directors approved the revision
of signature authorization on file with designated depositories
to include the signature of newly elected president Dr.
Donna Crone and.
So moved Maria me.
Second, Donna Cronan.
Is there any discussion?
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please say.
I opposed.
A motion is passed.
The appointment of delegates and committee members
will be announced at one of the January 2022 meetings,
and the delegate appointment for the Capitol Area Intermediate unit
will be on the agenda for the December 13th meeting as that one needs to
occur.
Prior to the CAA meeting.
Is there any other business at this time?
Dr. Cronin
I would invite you if you would like to provide any board president remarks.
Sure.
I just want to not only thank the the board, but to also remind the board
that as several of you have spoken, that the board is nine individual people.
I believe that serving as president is all of our, you know, eventual,
you know, not necessarily responsibility, but I think it's something
that anybody could and should be able to do during their term here.
And I certainly would be open to speaking with any of the new board members
regarding that.
I look forward to having my turn, so to speak, and feel that it did.
I just want to do my best to continue on the
the the line of having nine people
having input and that, you know, serving as the board president
truly is a servant leadership position because it's just keeping folks organized.
But really important for all of us to continue our commitment
to serving the district, the staff and the students.
So thank you all for entrusting me for this go around.
Thank you.
Thank you, Dr.
Brennan.
Moving on to the recognition of citizens and public comment,
this is an opportunity for residents and taxpayers to address the board on
matters related to the agenda or matters of district governance, not on the agenda.
Those who speak, if present, are asked to come to the microphone
and state your name and address for the record.
Those who are attending virtually are asked to please raise your virtual hand.
In order to be recognized.
You must have registered individually with your first and last name.
Once recognized and unmuted, please state your name and address for the record
to provide other residents with an opportunity to speak.
Each speaker during the public
comment portion is limited to 5 minutes of speaking time once recognized
and limited
to one opportunity to address the board during the public comment period.
I will ask Board Treasurer, Mrs.
Decker to please keep time.
If necessary, the board may set a maximum time for public comment
of any meeting and concludes public comment portion at its discretion.
This portion of the board
meeting is for comments to the board and is not a question and answer period.
Those wishing to present private concerns or questions needing follow up
outside of the board meeting
may go to the district website and submit a community correspondence.
Are there any residents or taxpayers who would like to comment at this time?
Seeing
one in the audience who will begin there and then virtual participants.
Please raise your virtual hand for once we move to those ones.
Mr. Miller.
By John Miller 329 Cocoa Avenue.
I did want to just
say a bunch of positive stuff, but Mr.
Singer, what were you doing?
You tried to build a hockey rink on campus.
Behind the back of everybody.
And you're the one that's going to come out here and try to say
that they had some kind of meeting to somehow take over the presence.
That takes a lot of nerve.
Are you allowed to sell something when you don't actually have
the rights to that thing?
Mr. MILLER Just a reminder that we do assets.
If we want transparency, then let's get transparency.
You have to wear a mask in the building, too.
So all that aside,
I hope everybody had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
I want to congratulate everybody.
This was supposed to be a turning point, a point in time where we look ahead.
We have so many challenges outside.
So much that's changing outside of this room
that if we don't change the way we think,
we're never going to be able to keep up with the change that occurs
outside of these doors. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miller.
Is there anyone else here in person who would like to speak
at this time?
Seeing them?
I will invite anyone who is attending virtually.
If you would like to participate in public comment, please raise your virtual hand
at this time
through.
We do have one virtual hand up.
Thank you.
Mrs. DAVIES, you're being unmuted. Please.
One's unmuted.
State your name and address for the record before beginning.
Can you hear me okay?
Yes. Thank you.
Michelle DAVIES.
1524 30.
Congratulations to the new board
members and Donna Furman as president and also
as Vice President.
I don't know.
I assume you guys know about a video
that has come to light and I'm sorry, I'm
probably going to cry about this because it was very disturbing.
And see teenage boy
being beaten up in the bathrooms and
there I have heard from several different
parents, from several different outlets
that this is a problem
in Derry Township,
that kids are not safe
in the bathrooms.
And this is a almost a daily occurrence
of kids getting beaten up.
And there have been other comments
about that,
parents that have never been involved before,
which yes, I've never been involved with the board before.
But that's because my kids weren't in school and we didn't even live here.
So I wouldn't have been involved with this board.
But this is a problem that needs to be
addressed.
If this is an ongoing thing,
I would assume that most of you should know.
If you don't know, you need to look into it.
It's a problem
and that's all I'm going to say about that.
I hope that you guys are aware, and if you're not, get aware.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs.
DAVIES.
Is there any other public comment
at this time?
Seeing none.
Is there anything else for the good at the order?
I would just like to say congratulations
once again to our new board members and to Dr.
Cronin and Mrs. Mamie.
The next public of directors meeting will be held on Monday, December 13th,
2021, starting at 7:00 pm.
Please refer to the district website to register as the meeting draws closer.
The board will
now adjourn to post executive session.
May I please have a motion to adjourn the meeting?
So moved remaining second.
Donna Cronan.
All in favor, please say I.
I any opposed
meeting is adjourned.
6:43 p.m.. Thank you.