I'd like to call the
October 25th 2021 meeting of the Derry Township School
District Board of Directors to order and announce
that this meeting is being both live streamed and audio recorded.
This meeting is being conducted both in-person and virtually, and
I would like to request four board members to please state your name when speaking.
Mrs. AG Roll call, please.
Mr. Abel.
Here. Is Dr. Cronan. Here is Drew.
Here. Mrs.
Haverstock here, Mrs.
Manny Here, Mr. Rizzo. Here.
Here.
Mrs. Sticker. Here, Mr. Singer. Here.
Nine present. Zero. Absent.
Thank you.
Please rise if you are able, and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance.
To the United States of America.
To the great privilege of stands
One nation under God, indivisible,
from.
May I please have a motion
to approve the October 25th, 2021 Board of Directors meeting agenda.
So Kathy Seger stick out.
Maria Mimi, Is there any discussion?
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please say I any opposed.
We will begin this evening.
Is Dr. Smith
okay with our first student of the month recognition.
Dr. Winslow.
Very excited to have our students of the month.
And I. I'm sorry.
And was very happy to see both of them in their Rotary videos this afternoon.
So that was very exciting.
Our first student of the month
is also one of our student board reps and that is movie
eligible to get it right. Great.
Thank you.
So welcome.
We're so excited to have you here.
And here is her video.
Hi, my name is Ms.. Yolanda Bowen.
I love the Hershey High School Oct Students of the Month.
I just want to start off by thanking my mom and my dad for having me
and for raising me, for putting up with all my antics
and reading me all the unconditional love I could ever ask for.
Thank you so much to the Hershey Rotary Club and to the State
Women's Club for this profound recognition.
Thank you so.
Much to all the amazing teachers at Hershey High School.
And what a lovely administration for this extraordinary opportunity.
For the past four years, this school has had such an incredible impact on me
and I've grown so much and I want to spread my.
Wings and I can only thank all the amazing people.
Hershey High schools that.
I currently service in your class.
President as well, the State Council President.
I get to create some fun events for our school.
I recall leader branding us of Tennis Club and I just love being able to do
little things. Around the school this. Week.
A little bit of kindness, our school in our community.
This year I am an
on committee director for PR Morale.
I just love being able.
To promote our events.
And when on the event.
Itself we have a fall fest coming up.
On October 29th from 5 to 7 at Hershey High School.
So I hope to see you all there
along with those I comments or as well as a star mentor.
Excuse me, the opportunity to do as much as I can for the younger
eighth graders and ninth graders transitioning into high school.
I just love.
Answering any questions they may have and giving as much advice as I can on.
So here I say a service activity that I have done would be working
with the Joyce Sports Foundation this past July to teach younger kids volleyball.
I've been playing volleyball
for the past six or seven years and I absolutely love it.
I don't play on the team anymore.
I'm so fortunate enough to go. To their.
Practices and help out in. Games as much as I can.
I work at Old Navy as a.
Lead associate and I.
Just love being able to interact with all the different types of people there.
I get to learn so many different things.
I mean new things and learn how business works, which is amazing because I want to.
Go to.
Business Administration University next year.
Thank you so.
Much for the spectacular attendance and I hope you all.
Have a great evening.
Thank you so much, Sophie.
And our second
steward of the month is Nicholas Martin, and I believe he is here in person. Yes.
Yes. So
did you want to say anything in person or do you want us to just show your video?
I think you're going to show my video.
All right. Thank you so much for coming, though,
everyone.
I'm Nick Martin.
And I'm very.
Honored to be recognized as a Hershey High School student of the month.
I would like to thank my parents, Dave and Terry Martin,
as well as all my teachers at the high school.
For all of the support and all the opportunities
that have been provided to me throughout my school.
I would also like to thank the Rotary Club and the high school
administration for selecting me for this honor
at Hershey.
I'm a four year member of the Hershey marching bands and I'm currently
one of the drum majors where I conduct and I play the Melissa.
I also play the French horn in the Wayne
Symphony as an orchestra, and I sing in the choir.
I've also been a part of the PTA, district, region and state ensembles,
and I'm the membership chair of the Tri Music Honor Society.
Additionally, I'm the co-president of High Cross,
which is an annual hackathon out of the school and I'm part
of the senior leadership for Hershey Science Olympiad Team.
I have also swam since I was seven years old
and I'm a member of the Hershey High School swim team,
so my academic achievements in high school include
being a National Merit semifinalist and an AP scholar with distinction.
I've also been awarded academic achievement awards in AP Computer Science,
Advanced Computer Science, AP Physics, AP Music Theory and Spanish three.
I'm also a member of the National Honor Society.
My hobbies include video production, computer programing and music.
My favorite service activity is volunteering to teach Visual Basic
at the middle school.
This is a high school
course that eighth graders can take as part of the enrichment program.
I meet with the students to review their programs, provide feedback
and answer any questions they have about the course.
And I really enjoy helping to spread this passion to younger students
and facilitating a program that I once benefited from.
As for my future
plans, I'm currently in the college application process and plan
to attend the four year university where I will pursue my academic interests.
Thank you.
Thank you both very much.
It's an honor to have you here and congratulations. On.
Hearing all of your activities.
Makes me tired.
I would like to announce that the board met
in executive session prior to this meeting to discuss matters of personnel,
labor relations and arbitration in
consultation with an attorney or other professional advisors.
Agency business which is conducted in public, would violate
a lawful privilege or lead to disclosure of confidential information
and announcements and information.
Moving onto recognition of citizens for agenda items.
This is an opportunity for residents and taxpayers
to address the board on matters related to the agenda.
Those who speak, if present, are asked to please 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 each of the public comment periods.
I will ask our board treasurer, Mrs.
Seger, to please keep time if necessary.
The board may set a maximum time for public comment portion of any meeting
and conclude the 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 and must be related to agenda items.
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?
Let's start with our audience because it's rather small.
We do not have any in person
comments today, so I would offer anyone who is participating virtually
to please go ahead and raise your virtual hands. Now.
Okay.
Seeing none, we will move on to standing committee meeting reports.
Both the Finance and General Services Standing committees met today.
Mrs. Secretary of of Finance report, please. I do.
Thank you.
We welcomed three new citizen advisors to our Finance Committee meeting.
We were able to review our annual goals with them
and give them an update on what the committee does under new business.
We had our quarterly update on the Milton Hershey
Trust Fund by the Fulton Financial Advisors.
The current market value for the fund is 53,761,492.
Its year to date performance is 8.7%.
If you remember, we did a one time increased distribution
this last year of 7%.
That was made easy with the good return of the fund.
But we will plan to go back to our normal 4% distribution next budget cycle.
We had our quarterly update on the food service fund.
There is some good news there that is currently in the black
and that is due to the universal free lunch program
from the federal government that continues through the end of the school year.
We are seeing a increase in food price.
So we are watching and monitoring that.
You might have read that in the media and seen it on the news
and also seen that on your credit card bills when you go to the grocery store.
But we are
seeing a nice amount of students take advantage of the the daily lunch,
the free lunch program, which is nice to see at all levels of the district.
We had our monthly review of the general fund revenue
and expenses.
Everything looks to be on par
with previous years of revenues and expenses.
Nothing glaring or outstanding.
That's unusual.
We reviewed some budget considerations and talked about planning
for the future, ran through four different budget projections.
Basically, right now, the Finance Committee is tasked for
tasked with the the concern of whether to stay within
the within the index of 3.4%,
which we will make a recommendation to the board by the end of this year.
And it's looking likely that we will absolutely recommend the stay
below at or below the index of 3.4 and not seek a resolution to go over it.
And that concludes my report for the Finance Committee.
Thank you, Mrs. Ricker.
The Mr..
Say or do you have a General Services report?
Yes, I do.
We to welcome to New Citizen Advisors
Julie Goolsbee and Paul Latham.
And we also talked briefly about the role of the General Services Committee.
There's four items that we talked about.
First was Memorial Park.
Second, an update on the roller rink.
Third was
a report on the ad hoc facility planning Committee.
And the fourth was a repair to the 322 turf field.
On Memorial Park, Dr.
Winslow indicated there had been a recent inspection of the park.
For those of you who may be unfamiliar, it's
adjacent to the high school baseball field on
one side and the track.
What is the name of that
track down.
On cinder track?
What is it?
The center track? Yes, it's an address.
And the inspection
identified a couple of issues.
One is lighting.
There is a PPA light on the property
that needs to be repaired and
they're in the process of taking care of that and that will be out their cost.
And there are four so there was four swing sets there.
They were
not being kept up in terms of the maintenance
and they were rather old, so they had been taken down.
The swing sets themselves, the concrete has been removed
and we will receive an estimate in the future
regarding the cost of replacing some of those swing sets
on the roller rink.
There have been continued
discussion internally
with the administration on
different options for that, and there is now
a curricular interest in integrating
the rink and the
role hockey that could be played there into the curriculum
for gym.
And so they're now
looking at other sites other than the one previously considered,
which was determined to be unsuitable for a variety of reasons.
They're looking at an alternative site.
Mr. Anderson shared this with us
over by Pebble Beach
that given that it would be integrated into the curriculum
for gym,
there wouldn't be any large scale
sponsor's sponsorship depictions
and maybe a plaque of some sort,
which needs to be further discussed.
You're talking about
a size of about 55 by 130 feet
with a four foot apron
and probably concrete, rather than the I'm
talking about possibly taking up the macadam at the previously considered
site and regressing that
to to gain some more impervious offset.
And we will
we can expect some financial projections
for the cost of
putting up you know putting in the macadam.
They would put up the boards themselves.
And beyond the gifting of the boards
and the funds that have been raised,
once the George Sports
Foundation is able to talk with the with the donors,
there wouldn't be an email
you required because the district would just assume the operation
of that facility and site as they do many of their other facilities.
And it would be used for district activity
during the school day and would be available for public use
just like many of you and many of the other district facilities
when it wasn't being used.
The third item we talked about, the ad hoc Facilities
Planning Committee, which was established by President
Lindsay Drew
after discussing it and a previous General Services Committee meeting.
The purpose of that ad
hoc committee will be to
do some comprehends of planning for
the future buildings and and real estate
of our of our district.
There's four specific items
that were talked about initially.
One is the fieldhouse
alongside 322 there that we've been talking about
about for a few years and is already in the capital budget.
The second item will be the elementary
facility planning, including the security project.
Third is the Granada Building and the fourth was the rink.
Those were the four items that were discussed
at the first meeting on October 18th.
There are two additional meetings scheduled for October 27th
and November 10th, at which time
some of these other issues will be discussed.
The Fieldhouse will be the first item of discussion at the next meeting.
And as I said, that's in the budget.
So it's going to be a matter of deciding
what to do and coming
back to the to the board with that.
The fourth item, Mr.
Anderson, noted that our new athletic director brought to his attention
that we have some damaged padding alongside
at the one end of the 322 turf field
that boarders up against 322
that needs to be replaced.
There's some particleboard that is affixed to
and that's deteriorated and
the pads need to be replaced
for safety reasons.
The committee recommended
that the board consider replacing the pads,
even though it was not in the capital budget
per say.
But Mr.
French indicated
that he believes there is sufficient flexibility in the athletic budget
or the capital budget in general to absorb the 22 to $25000 costs
that it may be for the pads.
I think that report out was probably a little bit longer than the meeting
with.
With that said, if any other member
of the committee wanted to add anything, please do with that report.
Thank you.
Can I add two things I missed from Finance Committee as well?
Under the general fund revenues and expenses, I did want to highlight
the fact that the amusement tax revenues are trending high, higher than normal.
So that's a good, good thing.
Even though we budgeted half this year,
our normal is 747,000.
So it's trending to come out higher than that at the end of the year.
And I did want to talk we we keep a fun balance
which is 8% of our expenditures which is kind of like our saving account.
We did transfer $1.2 million out of that fund balance
at the end of last year to balance the budget.
And we should consider a plan at some point to replenish that.
But we don't have the plan right now because hopefully we can replenish it
over time, naturally, But we want to keep it on our radar
that we have to put that money back at some point.
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker and Mr. Singer.
Moving on.
I'm so excited to have the student representative report
added back into our agenda
as we would like to welcome our new student representatives
to the board from the high school for this year tonight.
Ms.. Oladipo misspoke and our alternate.
Mr. Pawlikowski welcome to the board and we look forward to having you join us.
It's great to have our student reps back in person with us at the meetings.
So I would like to
offer the floor to you now if
you'd like to have a report to share, please.
Mr. Smith said that we were supposed
to do our introductions and then go into our report.
Is that That would be wonderful. Thank you.
If it's okay, we're just going to go down the list.
Sure.
I would just encourage to move the microphone closest to each one of you
as you go through so that folks who are on Zoom will be able to hear well.
Okay. Thank you.
Hello, everyone.
My name is Elizabeth Garrett, and I'm a senior at Hershey.
I am so very honored
to be appointed as one of the student representatives to the school board.
And I'm really looking forward to enacting positive change
in all the schools under this jurisdiction.
Just a little bit about myself.
I'm currently president and model U.N.
as well as part of a National Honor Society Special Society,
HHS, theater softball team, and serve as my core leader.
In addition to the in-school activities which I'm involved in, I'm also a delegate
for all American model U.N., which is an international travel team from the U.N.
And I spread some of my free time tutoring, tutoring
students in that NHS, as well as coaching for UN.
I've also spent the majority of the election season
both in 2020 and this year
supporting political campaigns for local and national candidates.
And furthermore, over the past summer semester, I was accepted into Harvard
University summer program and earned eight college credits in comparative politics
and psychology.
I've been recognized as an AP scholar with honors Best all get in three
different international committees as part of the All American team
and received an HHS Achievement Award in AP and European history last year.
I hope to attend Columbia University next fall for the political.
Science government Major and then both you can do your introduction.
I I'm healthy
I was well I senior at Hershey High School.
I went here in the eighth grade and I've been here ever since.
As you inferred from my video,
I have been involved in council for the past four years.
This year I am senior class president as well as student council president.
That gives me kind of a feel for everyone in the school, which is really awesome.
I get to get involved with so many different clubs.
I'm also a co-leader for Random Acts of Kindness Club,
as well as a community director.
For many thought I became a doctor
for two years and this year I am the Kimmie Dr..
Keep your morale.
So I post all the social media stuff on Instagram.
There's a little bit on Facebook, Tik
talk, all that stuff, so feel free to follow us.
Adjustment Ethan as well.
Along with that, I am a link for your mentor as well as a star mentor,
so I am able to help the eighth and ninth grade students transition
into high school and answer their questions and do all that fun stuff.
I help out with volleyball when I can.
After school I go to games to support and I am also going
looking to go to a four year university to study business administration.
Right now I am looking at like Berklee.
That's like my favorite, my top, my dream school.
So we're off high and I'm just trying to see where we go with that.
Thank you. Thank you.
Hello, I am Jordan Pawlikowski.
I'm also a senior here at Hershey High School.
I'm very excited and honored to be in this position and along with embarking
on this new duty, I am also a student council representative.
I am involved in Link Crew and I'm a gold mentor with Melfi, and that's
where we help eighth graders transition from middle school to high school.
I am and I just member a National Honor Society.
I'm involved indoor and outdoor track and field program.
I am a cross-country team manager and I also intern with Mr.
Gaston Chino, who runs the school store at the high school.
I am planning to study Marketing
and business administration at Penn State University.
Hopefully I've grown up in Hershey my whole life.
Both my siblings
have gone through this school district and I think this is a great opportunity
to be a bigger part of my community and I'm very excited for this journey.
That's.
And then we can start our report for you guys after.
This. Thank you for the introductions. Yeah.
So over the past
week, HHS ran on a community period schedule, which means that classes
were shortened by 3 minutes to create a 27 minute block of time in the morning
for student ACL, which was a social emotional learning experiences.
These were led by Mrs.
Jimmy Bean with topics related to community relationships and respect.
The feedback from staff and students was both positive
and there was many great conversations and connections made.
HHS will be planning more school experiences for students
and staff later in November.
So this week at Hershey High School is Halloween Spirit Week.
The Council has planned five fun days for the school.
Monday will be pajama day, which was today.
Tuesday's teacher student swap
where teachers dress like students and students dress like teachers.
Wednesday will be Jersey day.
Thursday will be country, western or country club
and Friday will be Halloween wear or a costume contest.
Members are seen.
Council went around in the morning to collect coins for the homeroom with them.
Most people dressed up in the most food bought in
that will win a prize photo
be brought in as a food drive for cocoa parks, which we are doing all
throughout the week.
So we collect individual food items and donating
to them at the end of the week.
We also last week, on Wednesday, October 20th,
we held the inaugural Trojan Track and Field Day and this event
was held in place of the Special Olympics and it was a very successful event.
We only had we had over 50 Derry Township student participants grades K through 12,
and we had over 130 Hershey High School student volunteers,
which was a great turnout.
We had
cheerleaders in the drumline perform in the opening ceremony,
and it was just in general a very good community
event that involved all members of our community.
And I think that it went very well. So
and then that should be all we have for you today.
Great.
Well, thank you for the report and your introductions and welcome.
We look forward to getting to know you better over the course of the school year.
The listed items are on the anticipated November
eight, 2021, Board of Directors meeting agenda,
and we'll now move into unfinished business For unfinished business.
This evening we will be receiving an update from Dr.
Winslow on pandemic related items.
Dr. Winsor Thank you very much. Mr..
I had three areas that I just wanted to touch on.
One is the COVID numbers.
Since we
have made some of the changes with lunch, because in particular
we see a dramatic difference in the number of students
who are out sick as well as those in quarantine.
Just to give you a comparison, our Friday numbers, on October 1st,
we had 96 students positive and 532 in quarantine
or with symptoms on Friday, October 22nd.
We have 28 positive and 170 in quarantine or with symptoms.
So we've gone from over 500 students
out of school to less than 200 students out of school.
It is making a dramatic difference and hopefully we'll continue
to see that downward trend as we move forward.
So very, very pleased with that.
A big part of that is, is the change in lunches.
So just wanted to give a quick update.
It's going very well at both buildings and the middle school.
We are in the
process of adding two cafeteria monitors.
We have five or six teachers, but one pulling them for coverage
or other reasons.
It can be an issue as far as student
safety and monitoring is concerned because of the configuration of the desks,
which I know those of you who are middle school adopter board
members saw how that all goes through those those hallways.
The kids are doing great with it.
They are socializing with their iPads and they're they're
acting like it's all fine.
So they're doing really good
at the elementary contacts are way down and we're not able
to trace any more spread to the cafeteria, which is wonderful.
The kids are doing a really great job and after they're done eating,
they just put on their masks and socialize from their seats.
So they're still finding they're still able to talk to each other,
even though they're six feet apart.
And we are looking to fill one position due to a resignation.
I think as you'll remember, as a board,
we filled all those positions and I said, don't worry, in two weeks
we'll see your resignation and we'll be working to fill another one.
It's just a high turnover position.
So for anybody listening who would like to be a cafeteria recess aide, we need you.
And we are
continuing to interview looking to have substitutes and
as well as staff on deck, should we continue to have resignations?
I want to pull people in for for those positions.
The final piece is an update on potential COVID
testing on process or on premises.
The state has partnered
with Concentric by Ginkgo
to provide an optional and free diagnostic stick
testing program as IT administration and a board.
We were in agreement.
There were some aspects of that we were interested in
and some aspects of that we were not interested in.
The piece that we were interested in was the ability to provide onsite
testing for symptomatic or asymptomatic students
who were close contacts as a convenience to families.
So we are looking to proceed with that, hoping to have some family
communication ready to go around November 1st to send out.
That's not quite ready to go yet.
We're still working through
a couple of different pieces to make sure that we're all set.
And just to be very, very clear, it is an optional, convenient service
and there is no testing that would be done without a parent signing
consent form first and the parent most likely
would be present for that, especially at the elementary level
because they be coming in to pick up their child anyhow.
So we're going to look to move forward with that and we'll continue
to keep the board of
informed is the word I was looking for.
And this will this communication will go out to families
as soon as are ready to move forward with it
so that if there are any questions, people will have an opportunity to ask.
And that is what I have with the pandemic update right now.
Unless there are any questions,
any board members have any questions, I just won't make a comment,
as is one of the members of the pandemic team.
I just think this is amazing that the school district effort
they made to get this grant and these availability,
because if anyone has been, you know, recently a close contact or needing for
whatever reason to be tested, it's become a lot more difficult to get testing.
And the fact that the schools
offering this as an optional convenience, I really commend the efforts to do so.
Thank you.
Thank.
Okay.
Thank you. Thank you. Dr. Winslow.
Moving on to the content agenda, the content agenda contains routinely
adopted items and items
that normally do not require public deliberation on the part of the board.
A board member may pull items which will then be discussed and voted on separately,
may I please have a motion to approve the consent agenda items as listed
so moved on acronyms Second Maria me there any discussion?
I just want to note that
the Canberra trip is on the is inside the can gender consent agenda tonight.
And it is so great to see these things coming back and for our kids
to get to have these experiences, get them
okay, this is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please say I opposed the consent agenda
as passed.
Moving on to new business, first item is the approval
of the Special Olympics Member Memorandum of Understanding.
Dr. Winslow.
The administration recommends the approval of the Special Olympics
Memorandum of Understanding,
which will allow the district
to continue to pursue the addition of the club and sport.
Thank you.
May I please have a motion
to approve the Special Olympics Memorandum of Understanding?
So moved. Maria May.
Second.
Cathy Zika. Is there any discussion?
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please say I I any opposed.
Next item is the approval of a bus purchase.
Dr. Winslow, The administration recommends the board
approve the purchase of the listed busses utilizing the source.
Well, formerly and JPA Cooperative purchasing contract
in lieu of the bidding process for school busses.
The delivery date would be no later than June 30th, 2022.
Thank you.
May I please have a motion to approve the bus purchases?
So moved.
Maria Mimi Segment Cathy Sticker.
Is there any discussion?
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please say I, I any oppose
motion passes.
Next item is to rescind school start times previously approved
on the change to school start times previously approved on May 26, 2020.
Dr. Winslow The administration recommends rescinding the change of the school
Start Times approved on May 26, 2020,
a recommendation for an updated start time model will be forthcoming.
Thank you.
May I please have a motion to rescind the change to school start time approval
that was approved on May 26, 2020.
So moved Maria May 2nd.
Donna Cronan. Is there any discussion?
Yeah. This is Kip Shore.
Stacie, do you anticipate with.
The rescinding of the start time that there will be the two school
start time ad hoc group will will convene again to discuss
the factors involved in the the change.
That was not something that I had anticipated, although from
the survey that we anticipate putting out, I would anticipate potentially
pulling together a focus group depending on how those results from that survey
come back and thinking about the timeline that we're looking at
and trying to have a recommendation for the board by the end of December
to consider for January.
I don't know that we have time to pull that whole team back together.
And the purpose of that team was to decide whether or not we wanted to move forward
with any kind of a recommendation
and we'd still be working off of the three options that were presented
by that team, just looking at one of the different options instead.
Thank you.
Absolutely.
I also just want to note for our community members
who are interested in asking questions or learning more about Dr.
Winslow's first forum will be on November 1st at 9 a.m.
via Zoom.
That link is on the website.
If you go to the main home page of the website,
there is a special section dedicated for that that you can pre-register
and that would be a great opportunity
for folks to ask questions or have dialog.
There, correct? Absolutely.
Okay.
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please say I, i any opposed
motion is passed.
Personnel resignations. Dr. Winslow.
The administration recommends the approval of the personnel resignations.
May I please have a motion to approve personal resignations?
So move to Brahimi.
Second Cathy Sicker.
Is there any discussion?
Yes. This is Terri Singer.
I would just like to thank Mr.
Friends for his service to the district and wish him the very
best in his new position.
This is Cathy Seger.
I would also like to thank Mr.
Friends two with for two as for his service to the district
and to see you're still here till January 3rd.
And I wish you well in any future endeavors
on this. Judy, have a stick.
I'd also like to echo those comments and thank you for your
what you've done for the district.
You always have.
Great record keeping and wonderful advice,
and I wish you the best in your next endeavors.
This is. Kip Short. Thanks, Mike.
This is Donna Cronan. Thanks, Mike.
You always had our back and always had answers to our limitless questions.
And thanks.
Thank you, Mr. French.
I will echo everyone else and say thank you as well.
Mr. Friends.
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please say I
opposed. This.
Motion. Parsons
Personnel General.
Dr. Windsor.
The administration recommends
the approval of the list of personnel and recognition of any list of transfers.
May I please have a motion
to approve the listed personnel in recognition of any list of transfers?
So moved to Miami second.
Donna Cronan,
is there any discussion?
This is a standard voice.
All those in favor, please say I and the oppose
personnel General is approved. Yes,
we on to delegate reports.
The PSB report is attached. Dr.
Cronan, do you have anything you would like to add?
Now, I'd just like to say that the report usually comes out on board days,
so it's usually too late to get on the current time slot.
So if you ever see a delay, that's the reason
like today's came out this afternoon.
I'm like, Yeah, well, this was already submitted last week, so whatever.
Just so you know, timing messes up
board member reports.
Are there any board members who would like to give a report?
This is Cathy Seger.
I'd like to give a report.
Maria Mimi capshaw and i were able to tour the elementary school in the s.e.c.
On October 21st as our new adoptive board member.
Adopt a board, adopt a building for board members.
We were able to see kindergarten math.
The math win for kindergarten k and first grade
in kindergarten to first grade lunch second through fifth grade lunch,
third grade house kindergarten steam, which is a new class.
We watch the coding on the iPad, an elementary school, steam,
seven things at all, and it was a great tour.
I know we all enjoyed it
and got to see a lot of things.
We look forward to seeing some some of the newer things that are coming
to the kindergarten through fifth grade.
Great. Thank you. Any other board members?
Yes. Donna Cronan,
John Abell and myself were able to meet with Eric Valentine
on October 14th to tour the middle school, which is our adopted building.
And he was able to show us the the basically
the the new entryway, which is not new anymore.
Talked a little bit about the security down there
and the spacing of students as they come in
and how as they at the high school as the administrative offices
are down on the first floor, that they're able to greet the students.
He then showed us the the library and discussed how
that was being used and potential plans for updating it to reflect more modern
learning styles and learning centers rather than the traditional space
that that they currently have.
We toured around the building.
He showed us the the first rendition of the
the new seating and how all of the acquired free
desks were spaced along the cafeteria, as well as some of the hallways.
And at the students were really relegated to their areas.
The sixth grade downstairs hallway, the seventh grade back hallway,
the eighth grade front hallway, and how that was also helping to mitigate
COVID issues.
So really had a great time seeing the way they have been able to
handle the spacing needs.
The spacing apart from each other,
as well as what they're doing to, you know, keep students together
in terms of all of the different meeting areas that they have,
I forget what they call them,
little social area pods that are within each of the different core class setups.
So it was it was a great, great opportunity to see what's going on.
And we look forward to meeting with them regularly.
Thank you.
Thank you,
everyone.
Dr. Winslow I do have a superintendents report.
Andrew Thank you.
The first part of my report was to thank the board members who have been such
enthusiastic participants in your adopted building opportunities.
The administration has very much enjoyed taking you on tours of the buildings
and is very appreciative of the insightful questions and
this enthusiasm that you're showing in that opportunity
and look forward to continuing that and helping
to open the doors a little bit more with what's happening in the district.
I do want to point out the playoffs begin this week.
It's very exciting.
We have several teams going on to playoffs,
so please check out the district calendar for that.
And I also wanted to take the opportunity to thank two of our employees
who are leaving, in particular, Mr. Friends,
I very much enjoyed working with you.
It's going to be
very difficult without you.
I'm so appreciative of
you getting us through this this last year and a half or so in particular.
We are a very unique district in the types of revenues that we have.
And you know, the fact that we have a trust fund,
it's just very different here than it is in some places.
And I appreciate your skill and your talents and what you've helped us
navigate and helping me to navigate into this role as well.
I'd also like to thank Mr.
Shriner, our S.E.C.
counselor, who who is leaving
to to work closer to home.
He's been a fantastic school counselor.
He's been wonderful with our littlest students, build
wonderful relationships with both students and families and teachers.
And he will be sorely missed as part of our counseling team.
Both both folks are going to be very hard to replace.
So I thank you both for your service.
That's all I have. Thank you.
Thank you, Dr. Renzo, for board President's report.
I just want to touch
on a few of the things that some have already been mentioned, but
first, I'd like to start by thanking Mr.
Rizzo for holding the Citizen Advisor orientation last Thursday
to welcome our new citizen advisors and make sure that they are ready
for participation in board meetings
that stemmed from the Communications and Community Engagement Committee
I, the PSP Delegate Assembly was held this past weekend
to vote on the legislative platform for PSP for this next year
and I had the opportunity to participate virtually for that.
It's always really interesting to me to be able to hear the perspectives
and feedback and thoughts of school directors from across the state.
You know, there are urban districts and rural districts and folks
that just are in very different circumstances and places than we are.
So I always like, you know, getting to hear that that dialog
and seeing the direction that PSP will go in, advocating
on behalf of public education.
And then just thank you for the Trojan Track and field Day.
I unfortunately was not able to attend, but thank you, Dr.
Smith, for inviting those of us who are high school adopted building
reps for that.
But thank you to the staff and the students who put that on
and created that opportunity so that some of our students
would be able to have a qualifying event for the Special Olympics.
I think that's just a really awesome opportunity
and it is great to see the community rally around that.
And then also the music department across the district.
Last week I watched the live stream of the high school
band and orchestra fall concert and it was so phenomenal.
I mean, the music department here just really blows me away all the time
with with the talent of our students.
But getting to see all the kids on stage again
and that production and having the live stream,
you know, for folks to be able to watch at home, it was just really awesome to
to see that happen again and to hear that music.
So congratulations to them.
And then Friday night at the football game, there was a lot going on with Senior
Night for cheerleading and band and football, but then the elementary
and middle school students, band students got to join and play on field
with during halftime with the high school marching band.
And I can say as a parent of a sixth grader
who got to that, that was like the biggest highlight of
their
lives at that moment, you know, in this post-COVID world.
It was so cool to see several hundred of our students together
from grades four all the way through 12 on the field together.
And just that feeling and presence of community.
It was one of the first times that I really felt like
we are are back as a community and together again
and getting to, you know, participate in those events.
It was just a really great night.
And our football team did a great job despite the outcome
not being what we wanted to.
But they were playing really well and it was just
really fun to have a Hershey, you know, Friday night again.
So thank you to the staff that make that happen.
I know that those are really long days and thank you to all of the students
for for being so engaged in the community and in your activities.
So that concludes my report.
We'll move
on to our final recognition of citizens, period.
This is an opportunity for residents
and taxpayers to address the board on matters related to the agenda
or matters of district governance that were not on the agenda.
Those who speak are asked to follow the same guidelines
outlined at the initial public comment portion of our meeting.
As a reminder, if necessary, the board may set a maximum time
for the public comment portion of any meeting or conclude
public comment portion of its discretion.
This portion of the board
meeting is for comments to the board and is not a question and answer period.
Are there any residents or taxpayers who would like to comment at this time,
either in-person or virtually, by raising your virtual hand?
We have none here in person
and it looks like
we have one so far on virtual.
Mr. Elliott, please go ahead.
All right, Brian, you have been given permission to speak.
Please state your name and address for the record.
Yes. Brian Nutt, 502 Sophia Circle.
Thank you.
You may begin.
Thank you for the opportunity to
the board administration
and to allow my comments to be on the record.
This is addressed to the administration,
which earlier this year said that the New Year would happen,
that they'd have plans to keep to make this school year as normal as possible.
I'm speaking tonight because I'm disappointed in the continued
lack of planning and communication from the school administration Sunday evening.
As maybe some of you are aware,
the national honor Society held its induction of new members on Zoom.
The class of 2022 was scheduled to be inducted in March of 2020.
Obviously, that could not have occurred.
The class of
2022 has waited 19 months to be inducted into the National Honor Society.
Both the Class of 2022 and the class of 2023 have been working
throughout their high school careers to achieve this accomplishment.
And by the way, obviously by now, in very trying times,
I would think that the administration would want to highlight the achievements
of all of our students
who excel in the classroom, in leadership roles and in the community.
Unfortunately, that is not what happened this weekend.
Parents were notified via email that the induction ceremony
would be resumed on Sunday night at 730.
This email occurred at 1230 on Saturday
afternoon, basically giving families the 31 hours notice.
And for those who are Penn State fans, this was homecoming weekend.
So maybe some people didn't even look at their emails until Sunday morning.
I happened to go on to the district website.
Notice that a cornhole tournament, the Hershey High School
Athletic Hall of Fame and an upcoming Zoom community with Superintendent Winslow
were all listed, but never a mention of the National Answers Honor Society.
When the initial invitation went out in 2020.
Obviously, pre-COVID to the inductees, it was a formal invitation
sent out weeks in advance to an in-person event.
I personally feel that an event like this should have been held in-person and that
we should have tried everything possible, whether that be smaller groups outside
social distance policies, the whole thing.
But not surprising that wasn't the case.
The bottom line, though, is whether it was in-person or online,
30 on hours notice is unacceptable.
And it would it would seem to ignore the own our district's own coco principles
of community opportunities, citizenship, citizenship, ownership and academics.
Hopefully in the future
you will adhere to these principles when making these decisions,
involve the community and foster a sense of community by inclusion
and citizenship, by including the children, parents and taxpayers.
In your decisions to give the kids the opportunity to have a normal school year
as an administrator,
as an administration, start owning up to your mistakes
and let's put a little more effort into recognizing academic achievements
of our students.
Thank you.
Thank you. Mr..
And we have one more.
John Miller, you have been given permission to speak.
Please state your name and address for the record.
Hello?
It's John Miller from 329 Cocoa Avenue.
Thank you, everybody for taking my comments this evening.
And I appreciate it. Appreciate your time here.
So I'll make it quick.
I'm a little concerned with the email we got on Friday, October 22nd.
In fact, there's two emails that came in.
One had to do with a a COVID
vaccine center for young children.
To be honest with you, I you know, that's that's certainly a parent's decision.
I'm not here to
pass judgment or to say what somebody should do with their child.
I will say, though,
I think there's enough evidence out there to suggest that this is a
potentially
harmful
situation here.
Gene therapy for a child to receive
and to have that be conducted.
Experimental medicine on a child five years old,
I mean, five year old kids, a baby, to have that happen on school
district property, it honestly made me feel kind of sick in my stomach,
particularly in context to the
and I mean no disrespect to her, but we have the upcoming Alice drill.
That email comes in shortly thereafter and that's you know,
it's developed for how the district develops
a comprehensive response to, you know, various potential threats,
you know, we're looking at intruders, natural disasters, manmade emergencies,
manmade emergency.
You know, I'm not sure if anybody has looked at theirs lately,
but you're not going to in the door 2 million
reported vaccine adverse events.
That's significant.
I mean, we lost, you know, I think about 911.
How tragic and horrible that was.
That was that was significantly less than that.
That that left a memory in our in our minds that we
we recognize that life is fragile.
There's information out there
to suggest that these shots are potentially harmful to children.
And I would just urge the district and the administration to reconsider
having a clinic for young children on our campus.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miller.
Is there anyone else who would like to make public comment at this time?
Okay.
Seeing none. Is there anything else for the good of the order?
Our next public Board of Directors meeting will be held on November.
Monday, November 8th, 2021, beginning at seven a.