I'd like to
call the August 23rd, 2021 meeting of the Derry Township School
District Board of Directors to order
and announce that this meeting is being live streamed and audio recorded.
This meeting is being conducted both in-person and virtually,
and I'd like to request four board members to please state your name when speaking.
Mrs. AG Rollcall, please.
Mr. Abel. Here.
Dr. Cronan Here.
Ms.. Drew.
Here. Mrs. Have Ristic,
Mrs. Many here, Mr.
Rizzo. Here. Dr. Shore.
Here.
Mrs. Secker Here, Mr.
Singer. Here.
Eight present, one absent.
Thank you.
Please rise if you are able, and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance.
To. United States of America and the Republic.
For reasons One.
Nation. Is all love.
Liberty and justice for all.
May I please have a motion
to approve the August 23rd, 2021 Board of Directors agenda?
So move to Maria Mimi Second Cathy sticker.
There any discussion?
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please say I i any impost
the agenda is approved.
We will now begin tonight with information and proposals.
Welcome Derry Township Police Chief Garth Warner
for a presentation on Department Body Security Campus.
Chief Werner.
Thank you.
Everybody hear me okay, Well, well, muffled, but.
And I don't wear my glasses with this show because they fog up,
so I'm going to try to read what I have here.
So I'd like to give you an overview of our body
worn cameras to our BWC program.
Just a little bit of information
on the cameras themselves
and how we obtain these cameras.
The the manufacturer for these is called G TAC.
And this was the same company that manufactures
the in-car cameras that we currently use or the MDR vehicle recorders.
So by going with G TAC for our body worn cameras,
it allows us to have more integration with those mobile vehicle recorders.
Some of the triggers will not only trigger the car camera,
but it also trigger our body.
Cameras are operating out of the patrol vehicles.
It also gives us a common platform
to store all of our data.
We figure that we're probably going to be
storing terabytes upon terabytes of video information
in order to your information, how these recordings that we're doing.
So it gives us a common platform to work off of.
It also has a an evidence piece to it
where our evidence techs can
put these videos together as a package
if there's multiple videos from one incident.
Also that allows us to redact information on faces, objects,
sound, those type of things, backgrounds.
And then it also allows us to
monitor the chain of evidence for those videos
so we can send it via email
to the district attorney's office and we can set parameters.
They're allowed to watch it three times and then the video is no longer any good.
They can.
They can't send it anywhere else.
Once it goes to that person, we can make it
so they can't send it to multiple people.
It just stays with that with that one person.
So there's a lot of different things we can do technology wise with this.
This program.
Our body cameras
were procured through a matching grant from
Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency in the fall 2020.
The cameras and software received in late spring of 2021,
and the program was implemented department wide at the end of 2021.
Every sworn member of the department is issued a body worn camera,
including myself.
So all the sworn
officers and detectives all have body cameras assigned to them,
and that would be including the the SRO schools.
So there were some reluctance to go to body cameras initially
just because of the way Pennsylvania's laws were written.
The wiretap law and specific
had certain parameters that would not allow us to use.
The. Body cameras out of a power plans of a public space.
So if we had an incident
and it went into somebody's private residence
or it went on to one on the private property,
we would not be able to record those encounters.
In 2017,
the legislator legislature changed those laws
through Act 22
and specifically address the wiretapping.
While law to
exclude those communications that are caught by police cameras,
whether they be in court cameras or the body cameras.
We were then allowed to capture audio and video
wherever we were taking out sexual police action.
So if we were
in pursuit of somebody when inside of a house
or we had a domestic dispute that we were handling
and it was inside of a residence where those changes in the law,
our officers were not allowed to capture that on video and audio.
So with those changes and then also
there were some changes to Title 42,
the judicial procedure law
that took the
the videos that police record and gather
took them out of the right to no law and put them under Title 42,
which gave us a little bit more latitude
as far as being able to disseminate those videos.
What is what is excluded, what is exempt
from these requests that we get
mostly having to deal with criminal investigations or sensitive information.
We can
we have to go back to Title 42 instead of the right to know law.
So it's a little bit more restrictive in how you obtain those videos.
So a little bit more protection for that.
Under Act 22
on the wiretapping law, there have to be certain criteria
that for an officer to use their body worn camera,
the communication is made in the presence of a law enforcement officer
who is on official duty, who is in uniform or otherwise.
Clearly identifiable as a law enforcement officer,
and who is using an approved recording device to intercept
the communication in the course of law enforcement investigation.
So there's a little bit of parameter that we have to deal with.
If a detective is out and about and they encounter somebody
and they decide to start recording,
they're
probably not and identify identifiable clothing that would mark them
as a police officer if they show their badge,
that might
let them record situations.
But you have to be identifiable as law enforcement officer.
And so during this process with PCD,
they had oversight of our policy.
So the policy that we drafted, it's about eight
and a half pages long for body worn cameras.
They actually had oversight of what we put in and what we keep out.
So they kind of helped us draft this policy.
So there in policy, there are eight criteria
that recording is permitted and 14 it is prohibited.
There's always going to be some situations that might evolve,
it might start out as something and then evolve into something else
where the officer will start recording or stop recording.
Just to give you some examples, recording is permitted during a response
to crimes or allegations or crimes in progress or criminal investigations.
Otherwise,
while executing an arrest or detention
during all vehicle pedestrian
stops to include DUI investigations.
Any situation whereby an officer feels as though
they're encounter may become confrontational, hostile
or where use of force at any level may be required or is imminent.
And then another one would be while investigating criminal incidents
that have already occurred and their use of the body worn camera
can be utilized for the purpose of preserving or documenting evidence,
capturing victim or witness statements, or obtaining scene imagery.
So we can take not only can we take video with ease,
we can also take still pictures with the body cams.
Often you will see video
footage of an officer and they'll have somebody whose driver's license.
They'll just hold it up, press the button,
it'll take a picture of the license and preserve that.
We can also turn the video feature off and take audio statements.
So if we're taking a statement from a victim,
we don't
necessarily need to record that visually,
but we can record the audio and have it transcribed.
That's another feature of the back end of this software is
we can transcribe the audio into text
and so it will allow us to to do the
the statements via audio only.
So those are some of the things where they can
operate the cameras,
some of the things where they cannot or they're prohibited from doing
so is during any criminal or civil court proceeding
places where a higher
expectation of privacy is warranted
to include dressing or locker rooms, restrooms, medical treatment rooms
and showers or places of religious worship.
And there's a caveat with that.
So if we're
if we're called in to investigate an assault
and that assault occurs in a
medical exam room or occurs in a locker room,
the officer will record that we have
ways of redacting change to to keep things out from going out
side of our our purview at the station.
But if they're actively involved in that type of investigation,
they will report it and then we'll be working later out.
There's people that are partially clothed or anything like that.
We'll be able to redact that information before we go out anywhere.
But normally, if they're in a restroom exam room
or anything like that, they would not be recording anything.
Conversation between peers, supervisor
or subordinates that are not related to our current investigation.
General routine conversations with members of the public
that are not related to official police, investigative matters, meal breaks, phone
conversations, or routine medical calls that are related to criminal activity,
speeches or community events.
So there's there's a lot of categories where we do not use the cameras
just because the main purpose is to document
the investigation is that the officers do
so if they're not doing those investigations
and they're not acting in an official capacity, we don't want them
recording those type of interactions.
So our goals of having
body worn cameras for the department personnel is to enhance
officer safety and contribute to department training objectives.
Sometimes we will pull these videos off
and make it a training subject for the other officers.
We see something that happens, good or bad,
with how the officers is conducting business.
We might use that as a training opportunity for other officers.
You know, there was a safety issue that wasn't addressed by the officer.
Look out for this, those type of things
to accurately, accurately document events, actions,
conditions and statements made during incidents and events
to enhance an officer's ability to prepare
reports and present court testimony
to assist with investigations of alleged misconduct
to protect this agency and its members from wrongful allegations of misconduct
and to provide transparency to our community.
A couple of those last things.
As far as misconduct, it's been widely
proven and seen among departments
that are going to be body worn cameras that
once somebody knows that they're being recorded
outside of the the in-car cameras, you know, there might be an incident
that happens in our house and they're being recorded.
They're less likely to file allegations
against the officers, which usually end up being false.
So I think I just saw an article from
I think it was Jackson, Tennessee,
where they would have people come
in the next day after an incident file, an allegation against the officer.
They would have to do an internal investigation, which usually
internal investigations can last anywhere from two weeks to 2 to 3 months,
eats up a lot of
investigative powers that the the administration has.
They saw a drop of 92% in the people that were coming in
to make complaints about the officers once they started the body cam program.
So it really does cut down on those.
There's allegations once people know they're being recorded,
it also actually tempers the the actions out of the scene.
So they're less likely to exacerbate the situation
and really get into the officers face if they're.
No, no, they are being recorded
while the cameras are another method of recording what officers are doing.
They are not meant to be the end all, be all.
And what happens during encounters with the public.
It does, however, provide another tool to show what our officers are doing
and saying during their encounters with others,
which overwhelmingly have been the right things. So
that's that's my presentation.
If you have any questions, please ask them.
Our Sara will be wearing her body cam.
As I stated in the presentation,
there are limited situations where she will be using that,
but it is there and it's available
and it will document what actually happened as best as it can.
Obviously, there are always other things going on.
Perceptions, things like that
that come into play, but it does document those encounters
that that officer has and will usually be fairly accurate.
So just any questions, I'll I'll be happy to answer.
This is Cathy Zwicker.
Do we have a lot of incidents with our SRO
that there would be even a need to have a recording?
So so I would say
compared to the officers that are on the street. No,
but here's here's where
it comes into play with anything that we have
as a tool for us or a procedure
or anything like that is
take, for example, pepper spray.
Very few officers use pepper spray.
It's messy, it's bad.
It's I'd rather get bit by a dog than be pepper sprayed
because it's just that they kept decontamination, period.
But if we don't have that,
when something happens
and all the officers
are wearing body cams and the SRO is not wearing one
and something happens inside the school, now, somebody is going to come in and say,
is there a body cam issue to this person?
What why didn't that person have that on?
And I'm sure we're going to get that if an officer forgets
to turn on the body cam and so forth.
But if she is not even one yet to be able to use it in certain situations,
the question is going to come back to us.
She had one available to us.
Why isn't she using it?
Why didn't we get an accurate depiction of what happened?
This person saying this, this person saying this use of force was used
inside the school by the officer to fix somebody in the custody?
Why wasn't that. Recorded?
No, I'm not questioning.
I understand that she's going to wear one and it it could record.
I'm just saying like
not COVID, but maybe pre-COVID.
D Do you recall if we had two incidents that or five or ten, like
I'm just being a board member, I'm not sure I've heard of many
that our SRO would be involved in where a recording would happen.
I mean, it happens.
It happens occasionally where whether it could be
an incident of vaping or it could be an incident of theft
where the officer starts an investigation.
And that point, that's a criminal investigation.
If the officer goes through the steps
to talk with the student, you know, you have that
parental involvement,
giving them quiet time or things like that to discuss the incident
before the officer can even talk with that student.
Once those parameters are met and the officer sits down
with the student and is in that active investigation,
then she
would be using the the body worn camera for that.
I yes, I was picturing it in different situations.
So like, what if, like if the officer were searching a locker
in she's doing an investigation, she might turn it on. Yes.
Okay. Yes.
We want if she's doing a search because that way, too, it's
it's protecting the officer.
It's protecting the school and it's protecting the student.
You're documenting that search.
So later on
and I know it won't happen with Officer Kesler,
but if if it would be somewhere else and that school resource officer
would plant something. In there.
And the student would say, Well, that's not mine.
I don't know.
Now we have documentation
of that piece of evidence being planted or or being taken. Out.
And say there's money inside the locker.
And, you know, the money was taken out by somebody there in that search.
We would have the video on hand.
Thank you.
Yeah.
So anyone else have any other questions?
Those Mike Rizzo,
thank you for coming and explaining.
By the way, I do believe in the cameras.
I think they're a good thing.
A couple questions I have for you.
So during an investigation outside of an immediate,
intense situation, would the officer be acknowledging
that the camera is on to the people that are around them?
Excellent. Thank you.
Yeah, that is actually in the policy.
As soon as practicable,
those officers should advise
the person that the encounter is being audio and video recorded.
We do that with the in-car cameras.
We go up, talk to the operator, let them know.
By the way, this has all been audio and video recorded for your safety and mine.
So that's that's how they approach things.
So once the camera's on, sometimes things might happen initially
where they're doing something, they might be detaining
somebody, putting some handcuffs on somebody or something like that.
That's not the time to say, hey, by the way.
But once once the situation has kind
of calmed down a little bit and the officer can get to it,
they will advise that person that they're being audio or video recorded.
Okay. Yeah.
Thank you.
And then the second question I have is
you mentioned about using film for training. Yes.
If it is being used for training from the school, would the administration
have an opportunity to look at that film before you use it for training?
Yeah, Yeah.
That is absolutely is probably something we would want you to see,
just like all of our other entity partners,
you know, Penn State, Hershey Medical Center,
the Hershey Company and so forth, things happen on their properties as well.
We would want them to see that footage as well
to kind of let them know, okay, this this is what happened.
That's good. This is what happened, that's bad.
And and maybe it's something with their staff
interacting with our officers, handling the situation,
that something could be done a little bit better.
So. Okay.
Thank you.
I appreciate that. Thank you for your service,
Chief John Abell.
Yeah, thank you for that helpful explanation.
Is that the device right there? Yeah, this is the device.
It's the it's their second version.
It's called ABC two.
So this is the camera itself.
It's it's easy for officers to operate.
So there's there's a button on the front.
They press that, they get an audio that it's recording.
So it's recording the red lights flashing.
So, you know, it's recording to stop.
Stop recording.
So now I have to categorize it.
Traffic stop. Patrol response.
Patrol response. Arrest, test, test.
So then I categorize it so they know what type of encounter that is.
And then there's different amounts that we have.
This is a magnetic mount for the shirt.
There's a magnet underneath my shirt and one on the front of the plate.
And I think it shows in there.
So I'm curious.
So the view is, is it a panoramic view or.
Yeah, it's it's not a it's not a 180. Okay.
It's close to it.
So it does have a little bit of a a side and top and bottom angle to it.
Yeah.
And then what's the picture quality like when, when you're.
You had to ask me that.
I'm just curious is it.
It's probably not.
It's just Well it's above a 1080, but I care.
Okay. I want to say it's like a 14.
So it's it.
I'll tell you what.
Out of some of the body camera footage that I've seen around this area
and even on the news and things like that,
these body cameras have exceptionally good video quality.
Exceptional. Thank you. Yep.
Any other board members have any questions?
But Chief, I just want to say thank you.
I know today I believe it's Officer.
Yeah, it's her first day.
Yeah.
So Officer Keyser's first official day as our SRO is today. And.
And obviously the officer couple retire.
But just wanted to say thank you for the partnership and support
that you and your entire department have provided to the school district
and the administration over the years.
It's something that we really value and we're fortunate to have in this community.
And so thank you.
Thanks for taking your time to to share this.
I think it's something important for folks to understand
and hope that it'll be a great tool.
Yeah, it's it's definitely it's going to benefit everybody
just to have this these type of encounters documented
so everybody can realize that,
you know, things are either right or wrong, that type of thing.
But we we definitely appreciate our our partnership with the school
through our SRO program, through Biggs and Wu,
and we're hoping that
we can get more officers
interacting with the different schools and just, you know, possibly doing
just stopping and saying hi and and letting the staff know who they are
because we have a lot of younger faces on now.
So and it just keeps going in that direction.
We have people every time we get new people.
So we're looking forward to continue that relationship.
Well, thank you. We appreciate. You. Yeah, thank you.
Okay.
Moving on to President Communications, I would just like
to announce that the board did meet in an executive session prior
to this meeting to discuss matters of safety and information.
We will now move on to our first 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 come to the microphone
and state your name and address.
For the record, those who are attending virtually are asked
to raise your virtual hand.
In order to be recognized.
You must have registered individually with your first and last name.
And also, please make sure that your first and last name are properly entered
into the zoom for our minutes and records
to 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.
Secker, to please keep time if necessary.
The board may set a maximum time for the public comment
portion of any meeting or conclude the public comment portion at its discretion.
Those wishing to add this portion of the board meeting.
As for comments to the board and is not in the 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.
I also just wanted to address.
I know that there have been some questions when we have meetings that have
a significant number of attendance, such
as our special meeting just a week and a half ago.
There are times where the board will exercise its right
to be able to reduce the time in order to allow
for all residents and taxpayers
who want to address the board to be able to do so.
Typically, this board will not go below 3 minutes.
We did that for the last one, but chose to not cap the time
because we wanted to make sure everyone had the opportunity to speak.
And fortunately everyone did have the opportunity that evening.
But we will return to the 5 minutes of speaking time for tonight
and going forward.
Unless the meeting attendance would warrant reducing it again,
there are
any residents or taxpayers who would like to comment at this time.
We have just a couple of members in the audience attending in person
and then folks on virtual can go ahead and raise their virtual hands.
While we do that, I'll just offer to the
attendees in the audience
if there's any public comment on the agenda items,
no, then we will go to virtual.
Madam President, I see at this time one hand raised.
Okay, we can go ahead and start doing that.
Please just remember that it must be related
to an item on the agenda for this period.
The final one will be for any other concerns.
We will have Michelle DAVIES.
Speak. First.
Mrs. DAVIES, please go ahead with your name and address for the record.
Hello,
Michelle DAVIES, 1524 Church Road, Hershey.
Thank you for the opportunity to address you again.
I will be speaking to the approval
and of the presenter contract with Moritz Consulting.
I'm telling the board
to vote no on the contract. Why?
Because what our teachers are taught is what our students are taught.
And the board's job is doing what's best for the students.
As a board, you stand on a precipice as a very slippery slope, if you will.
And while these first two courses
sound great in their descriptions,
this company has the stance that it takes time to make changes.
It starts with a course on cultural awareness,
and there's one on equitable academics.
Then unearned advantage advantages, implicit bias.
Then one about how to dismantle
the systems in place such as privilege and leads to the indoctrination
of a whole generation with a marxist view that seeks to overthrow
the founding principles of our country and our Constitution.
I don't know if you have noticed,
but every citizen of this country is privileged
to have the freedoms and rights
that we do because of our founding principles.
I do not believe that the changes that this company stands for
is 100% for the betterment of our children's education.
Now, I am not saying
do not teach cultural awareness.
That's not what I'm saying.
Cultural, cultural awareness is good
and brings understanding of different cultures than our own.
And culture makes us all beautifully unique individuals.
I am saying find a company that supports our teachers
and how to teach and connect effectively with their students.
And a company that does not have critical race euphemisms
throughout multiple professional development courses offered
this precipice that the board is on
can be a slow fade and sometimes imperceptible.
But every small or big step
takes this district toward something.
Have you chosen that this should be the end goal?
Some members of this board, I believe,
do want to go down this divisive path.
But you work for the parents and the taxpayers of this district
and we are paying attention to what each board member does.
And we are saying, no, thank you.
Thank you. Mrs.
Davis, Is there anyone else who would like to
participate in public comment at this time?
I see no other hands raised at this time.
We actually have a hand raised now.
Okay.
Melissa Kaminski.
Ms.. Kaminski, you may go ahead and unmute
and state your name and address for the record, please, before beginning.
Thank you very much.
And excuse me, Melissa Kaminski
1518 Brookline Drive, Hummelstown.
Thank you.
May I speak? Yes, thank you.
Please go ahead. Thank you very, very much. Thank you.
Okay. I just want to say thank you to Chief Warner.
I think this is a wonderful I know this is another.
Did I just want to put that out there?
Thank you so much to Chief Warner and all of your department.
We appreciate everything you do.
Thank you for that.
And I also just wanted to say that I would appreciate
everyone on the board reading the emails that I sent out today
and really look into them
while it all on the surface looks well and good to me
and you don't know my story.
So that would take us much longer. We don't want to do that.
So with my story, I can tell you that these things are very scary to me.
The way I was brought up,
my personal history and the lens at which I look at things.
Some of these things that I was seeing on this website are incredibly disturbing,
to say the least.
But I hope everybody has a chance to really look into those.
And if I would like to be able to put some things together
and maybe put them past you as well.
It's just it doesn't.
Something stinks about it to me, honestly.
And that's really all I can say about it. But.
But thank you again for allowing me the opportunity to speak.
And again, thank you all for your service.
We know this is difficult.
We thank you so much.
So I would just ask you respectfully and humbly ask
you all to please do not support this contract
or at least abstain until we can look into it just a little bit further.
Please.
I know you all your hearts are all in the right place.
I think we all want inclusivity and we all want to be of one.
People.
But I think we need to to broaden our focus a little bit.
So thank you so much.
I hope you all have a great evening.
Appreciate it.
Thank you.
Is there anyone else would like to participate
in public comment at this time?
I see no other hands raised.
Okay. Thank you.
Then the public comment period for the first part is now closed.
We'll move on to standing committee meeting reports.
The general Services and the Finance Committee reports met today.
Mr. Singer, do you have a General Services report, please?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
The first thing that we did, we had three items with.
The first thing we did was we seated Mike Rizzo
as a member
for Judy Halberstadt, who was absent.
So Mike was seated as a fourth member of the committee today.
The first item we talked about is something that we've talked about
previously, both at the committee, this committee level and the board level,
and that is the safety and security plan for the elementary school.
That project has been on hold
for a couple of years and
Mr. Franz can elaborate if needed, but we
informed us that we would
need to take a look at the specs again before issuing
a request for the services to install the safety
and security plan, because there may have been
some modifications to the building related, I think to
age FAC and things like that.
So anyway, he asked the committee
for its support to proceed with sort of refreshing the specs
for the safety and security plan for the elementary school, which we
gave him.
There was a54 unanimous vote
to to move that proposal to the board.
It should be in the board brief for the detail on the board, brief
for the next meeting and then the final meeting in September.
It would be on the agenda for for about
related to
that sort of it was this whole idea of facility planning.
We've been in kind of a holding pattern on facility
planning for the last couple of years for a variety of reasons.
We have the Granada building
that, you know, needs some additional thought and attention.
We have a tenant whose lease may
or may not be extended beyond this year.
We've talked previously about the elementary school and
and modifications, renovations or even a new building.
So we talked about
suggesting that an ad hoc committee
be created with a very specific purpose,
generally limited, I guess, timeframe
to take on the whole issue of facility planning with the leadership
from the administration and board members appointed by the president
to make sure we stay ahead in terms of the thought process
of regarding facility planning
so that we're we're not caught off guard all of a sudden at some point
needing to do something for which we need a nine or 12 or 15 month runway.
So the the committee was
in full support of of moving forward with that.
If the if the board president decides that that she would like to do that.
The third item we discussed was the
the roller street
hockey rink, pickleball court, the memorandum of understanding
that was prepared with the support of the
the committee, General Services Committee back in June
supported the committee moving ahead with development of the draft memo,
you defining the terms of the partnership
and collaboration between the Junior Sports Foundation
and the school district, wherein A
and abandoned basketball court would be repurposed
and used as a
as a street roller hockey rink.
And the committee was in support
of moving that draft memorandum understanding
to the full board for further consideration.
Again, this would have to be in the board brief for the next meeting and then
the earliest to appear on the full agenda would be at the end of September.
But I will note, though, there was unanimous support
to move this memorandum forward.
And one of the one of the committee members,
and she could speak for herself, noted that she still has some concerns
about how sponsorships will be depicted and and
I guess depicted as the best word I can say
within the confines of the of the rink supports the project.
And so sure, she's comfortable with
the sponsorships and how they would be depicted.
And I noted that
any final renderings
of decals and sponsorship types of things that would be on the boards
or the surface
or the benches for that matter, would have to come back
through the committee for review and approval
before it would come to the board again anyway.
And Mr.
Walker and Superintendent Winslow helped with the draft of this.
So if either of them has anything additional to offer
or if any committee member has any strong additional to offer,
please just elaborate now.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Singer.
This is.
Do you have a finance committee?
I do. Thank you.
Today in the with the Finance Committee, we've reviewed many items.
The first item was we reviewed the revenues and expenses
for the last budget year, which is currently unaudited,
but it ended June 30th, 2021.
We did come in right around where we had budgeted,
but that it was a very difficult year and difficult for Mr.
Friends to even predict the budget.
As you all may already know, we did not get the $500,000
from the giant center pilot payment because the giant center was shut down
and we had a very low amusement tax rate,
which was hard on the budget.
And I just want to qualify this.
I'm giving some very vague updates.
So if you want any details, there are attachments to this Finance
Committee agenda.
And there I would you can listen to the audio as well.
We did pay $1.7 million out to cyber
charter schools was higher than what we had budgeted.
But one of the reasons why we did come in around budget
is because we did transfer money from our but our fund balance.
And we did get $900,000 in stimulus payments from the government
to help us not raise taxes.
Last year we did have to lay off some of the cafeteria staff,
but we did not have to layoff any of the other staff, nor did
we cut any programs while coming in right around budget.
We also reviewed the cafeteria fund with revenues and expenses.
The cafeteria plan did come in with a loss last year
and we are continuing to monitor that quarterly with the finance
that was to be expected because the cafeteria
did not sell as much food last year
and it relies heavily on sales of items to make money back
to purchase the foods and pay for their payroll.
We got very
good news about the Milton Hershey Trust Fund last year.
On June 30th, 2020, the fund was valued at 43,000,700.
This June 30th, 2021, it was valued at 54 million.
And a little bit of change
that is with us taking out our $1.7 million
that we take off naturally every year.
And it's good timing because we did increase the distribution
for this coming year from 4% to 7% with a one time
increase in the distribution to help with the budget
is not something we normally do.
And if you want details on that,
the Finance Committee did discuss that at length last year
to increase that 7% distribution, but comes at a perfect time when the fund
balance has increased that much, but the trust fund has increased.
We reviewed
the possible upcoming vendor fair
that the the district has been wanting to do.
We would like to increase, get more local vendors
and allow people to see how they can
come to the district and offer items for us to purchase from them.
Maybe local business owners.
So we are planning to have a local based vendor fair and
for transparency sake, publish an Excel spreadsheet of all the things
that we do purchase at the district,
including some of the items that are non educational
that you might not think we purchase to give different local businesses
an opportunity to bid for those and and work with the district on that.
We would expect that I believe maybe over the winter time, I believe
at some point there is a board policy that addresses
trying to engage businesses with purchasing.
So we'll be continuing to review that.
We went over our 2020
to 2023 proposed budget timeline
on at the October 25th, 2021 Finance Committee meeting.
We will once again review expenses from the past year
because I believe we will be more through the audit at that point
and look at our five year projection to determine the budget
for the 2223 school year.
Our final deadline to get information to the board is January,
and that's whether we would need
if there would need to be a tax increase, whether we would stay within the
index or not.
So we do have time in October and November at the Finance Committee
to figure all that out and look at our five year projections
and what's coming down the road.
I believe I went through everything.
That concludes my report.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Moving on to the consent agenda.
The consent agenda contains routinely adopted items and items
that normally do not require public deliberations on the part of the board,
a board member, maple items which will then be discussed and voted on separately.
Oh, I'm sorry, I actually forgot to do the list.
Listed items are on the anticipated September 13,
2021 Board of Directors meeting agenda.
Now we'll go to consent Agenda.
I got ahead of myself.
The consent agenda once again contains routinely adopted
items, items that normally do not require public deliberation.
I'm part of the board.
A board me 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.
Maria me second Cathy sticker.
Thank you. Is there any discussion?
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor.
Please say I I any opposed
the consent agenda is approved.
Moving on to new business.
First name is approval of listed Presenter Contract Agreement. Dr.
Winslow Administration recommends the board approve the presenter contract
with Maude's Consulting for the 2021 2022 Fall Teaching and Learning Conference.
Thank you.
May I please have a motion to approve the listed presenter contract?
So move to marry me. Second Cathy sticker.
There any discussion?
Yes. I would like.
To comment because I know I've had folks.
Reach out to me.
Directly about this and I just wanted to share that.
I did go through the entire Maude's website to assess,
ascertain the types of topics they discuss
a wide range of topics, everything from bullying to suicide prevention
to awareness, leadership, competency, a lot of things that I personally
have learned through similar workplace types of
presentations.
There are only two specific topics that we are contracting from them.
Specific to advancing as culturally responsive educators,
which basically says that they want to recognize the importance of a student's
cultural identity in all aspects of learning,
thereby reducing the classroom experience for everybody.
And the second topic that we are contracting for them
with them is kids these days using pop culture to maximizing judgment,
which is a way to make sure that our
our faculty or our staff
are able to understand kids in terms of speaking their language,
their music, their videos, their social media outlets,
just so that it's better, it's
easier for them to engage even the hardest to reach students.
So those are two very specific.
Topics that we are engaged in, are the only aspects of this contract,
and I do support both of those topics
specifically with that are being addressed in this vote.
Thank you. Dr. Brennan. Is there any other comment?
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please say I oppose no.
Next item is the assessment appeal.
Proposed stipulation agreement.
Dr. Winslow,
The administration recommends the board approve the attached
stipulation agreement as it relates to the assessed value for property.
Parcel number 20 4-004, DASH 035.
Thank you.
May I please have a motion to approve the assessment appeal?
Proposed stipulation agreement.
So move to Miami
Second. Donna Cronan.
Is there any discussion? Yeah, I just had a quick question.
If it's possible to give a 15, 20, 32nd summary
of what what this accomplishes.
For Mr. Friends, would you make.
Sure this was an assessment appeal by a hotel owner?
And as was noted, there was a significant
drop in hotel business over the last couple of years.
So this agreement,
not the last couple of years, the last 12 months, this agreement
recognizes that and the assessed value is reduced for the current.
But then the agreement also brings that assessed value back up
with the thought process of the experts that those those values
and process will return to all those hotels in the next two years.
Have we gotten any other requests similar to this from other hotel?
We have? We have.
There's
one that will be on the next board agenda for approval.
And I noticed that this week there is another hotel
that has an assessment appeal on par with with the county.
So that's where the process starts.
Yeah, we think once this gets out, they'd all be on line through
for that period of time. But at any rate,
I did notice
that it escalates back up over to a three year period.
The assessment currently we don't have any other economic dislocation.
That's correct. All right. Thank you.
Mr. French's cabin sticker it according to the attachment,
this went through the court process, So
I mean, and Dauphin County
approved it.
What know what they.
So this the the appeal has made it to the court process which is necessitated
the groups coming together to to have a solution.
So what they're recommending is this stipulation
if the count will not it but the county, the school district
and the township, all three taxing bodies have to agree to that.
That'll then be recorded with the court and close the case essentially.
Do we if the other entities have agreed to it?
I have not communicated with them.
I do not know.
I would imagine because of the recommendation
made by the county solicitor who is
who handles these things for us.
I would assume all three parties are in agreement.
But I have not talked to the township about that.
Did you want to say something about that, Mr.
Walker? Yes, thank you, Mrs. Seger.
It's our understanding on for the record, our office
was not involved in the negotiation of this particular settlement settlement.
But typically in Dauphin County, the county solicitor does take the lead.
And once these settlement stipulations have reached this point,
the county solicitor does make a representation that all
the other taxing bodies are in agreement with this.
And if everyone actually votes on it and approves it,
it gets filed with the court so that the tax records
can be corrected for the new assessment amounts going forward.
So the solicitor who reviewed this is working on our behalf.
Yes, it's the county solicitor.
He is not engaged in representation of the district,
but he does represent one of the other taxing authorities in this.
And Mr.
Franks can clarify exactly how that relationship works.
But as a matter of cost savings for the district, since the parties
interests are aligned, the county solicitor takes the lead.
Okay.
Thank you.
Does anyone have any other questions?
Yes. What is the.
And I just lost my the sheet that I was looking at my computer just
whatever lost it.
We know what the.
Can you remind me what the what the value to our
the monetary value of what this will mean for the district,
what the loss is.
But I can Dr.
Curran and I have to find similarly just to make sure
I know the about value, but.
Lost where.
I was reading. It
for $3 million reduction, I think.
What does that equate to in terms of.
What is our loss?
I guess that was my only concern, My main.
Concern.
Sure. So
just make sure. Yes.
So the reduction for 2020
would be a loss of $27,500.
When you go through that, that would be the real estate taxes
that that would be decreased from the year before.
But that does, based on the stipulation agreement,
essentially get back up to that number by 2024.
I believe you. Said 27,000.
And that reduces every year
because that for this agreement it says value increases every year.
So that $27,000 is the floor
for 20, 20, 2021.
Not sure that I calculated here, but it would be because the assessed value
increased would be something a little less than the $27,000 in assessed value.
And that's just this one hotel.
Correct?
Mr. Friends, just to confirm to you, there's also an item in this agreement
that the stipulation is subject to a reopening during the annual appeal period.
So from June 1st, 20, 22 to August
1st, 2022, without prejudice to either party,
one of the requirements is that they must provide profit and loss statements
that would be used to align the fair
market value and an assessment level.
That is something just to make sure I'm understanding
that any of the parties could request to make sure that the
value is in
line with the tiered schedule proposed by that assessment.
Correct?
Yes. Any party can bring that that question to light.
Yes. Yeah,
I. A challenge. Yes.
So I guess I would just ask that we do our due diligence and and follow up on it
and not, you know, have it kind of fall to the wayside. But,
you know, make sure
that we're staying on top of this because it has a rather significant drop.
And without being provided with the assessment or the financials to,
you know, be able to really see the merit behind it,
we're kind of going on
the advice of this counsel
that prepared this.
And just add one more question.
Maybe Mr.
Walker. Restaurants,
I'm not sure.
I mean, property assessments, I assume, are primarily based on the value
of the property and improvements, not the, quote, value of the business.
Right.
So I guess.
What it does have to do with the assessed value because it's
a hotel rental property and so the
the appraisal would determine the
the profit and loss of the business in determining the overall
appraised value.
I didn't think the quote.
Go ahead, if I may. Mr.. SANGER.
So generally speaking,
with with assessments of real property, you would value the property
with one of three methods, usually an appraisal report.
You'll see all three methods, and you have to determine
which approach is the most appropriate.
Those three methods are the income approach, the cost approach,
and I believe the the sales approach for certain types of properties.
The appraisal community
generally agrees that certain appraisal methods are more appropriate.
Okay, So for property, you can't evaluate
business based on the income derived from the business.
So if it is an auto dealership, you can't say based on the number of cars
you sell, your property is worth X, but if the income is derived
from the real estate, you can use the income approach.
So for hotels, rental properties
and other things like that, where the income is derived, that usually is
deemed to be the most appropriate way of appraising a property.
Okay.
So in that case,
the business climate matters, not just the value of the property
and the improvement,
because pretty much every appraiser out there will look at a hotel property
and I found a number of these deals myself and and say, you know,
what has the income band?
And then you apply the capitalization rate
to that income to determine what the fair market value would be.
And then you would
apply the comment level ratio to term to determine the assessed value.
So would it be correct to assume that we're seeing some of these appeals
because the profitability of these properties in 2020
would decline in tourism and rental?
You know, profitability would give numbers
that substantiate and warrant a reduction in assessment value?
Yeah, we have seen an uptick of this.
And I think know the attorney who worked on this is very fair job
of trying to replace that as presumably the economy goes, it goes forward.
So I would agree with Mr.
Francis assessment that I think this is a fair resolution.
But I will just note for the board's
edification that I believe the appeal date in Dauphin County, Mr.
Francis. August 1st, I believe so.
If there's only one other one of these in the pipeline,
you have to meet that appeal date
to change your assessment for the following tax year.
So there's no worry about some of these
coming in after the fact and there being retroactive, retroactive
application to 2020 because have a pat, we've passed the appeal deadline.
Okay. So this might be the last one.
The only one.
I don't know what's in the box.
I think he said there is one more, but it would just depend on
when it went through the process, but it would have had to have been filed
during that annual window where you can appeal the assessed value.
Announced. For any. Property heap.
Note on these and then ask the solicitor
to revisit them like that's part of the contract.
Like even if the Finance Committee
has to keep note on it, this is worthy of tracking.
Yeah. And
thank you, Mrs.
Sager. That kind of goes to my point, Mr.
Friends, of just making sure that something stays on our radar so that
each year of the tiered schedule, we have the opportunity
inside of that window to be able to challenge the appeal if it appears that
it's accelerating faster.
So I have a question.
If we would vote no, like everyone's.
Been hit hard by COVID, we're a school district.
We've we've had lots of expenses.
Decrease in income.
I don't want to open the floodgates for this.
I am not going to support this, but we can be overruled by it if I you know,
even if we voted no, could they could the courts overrule this or is this our.
Decision at the local level?
Did the school district as a taxing entity would need to consent to this otherwise
litigation would continue and presumably it would go to a bench trial
before a judge in Dauphin County on the assessed value. So we could.
Stop it here by saying, no, no, no, no.
If if we were to say no right now, then
this stipulation agreement goes off the table.
What's happening here is they're saying
we have an appraised value and we think it's this much.
And so it would reduce the taxable here.
This agreement is saying,
okay, we'll kind of meet you in the middle and we're going to each year
increase that assessed value to bring the taxable amount back up.
Without that agreement, you have to just have the assessment value.
So they're making it more palatable to us.
But John, I'm just like.
Well, no, and I'll defer to counsel here.
But but I would tell you not to give a legal opinion, but
the way I say this, we're we're buying our piece now.
We're kind of where things litigation on these terms
versus to continue to litigate.
We go back you know,
if this thing doesn't get signed, that might my understanding, my subject,
it goes to the court and parties figure it out
and ultimately the judge around the side.
So I think this is a way of sort of resolving this on terms
that are that are coming to us.
They're coming to us from the
from the from the lawyer for the
for the county.
So it's coming from the county lawyer.
It seems like if we said no to this, we could wrap up more than $25,000
in legal fees fighting. It on the other end.
Well.
Yeah. I mean.
Right now we haven't paid a solicitor to review this because we did.
I think we got the Dauphin County Solicitor to review it.
If you say no to it, then it comes back on us to fight it.
For Dauphin County.
Okay, So does it come back to us if we if we were to say no as one of the three
taxing entities, does it come back to us or is is it
still in the county's bailiwick still there?
It would come back on the district, yes.
Just one item to note to make sure that's clear for everybody.
The county is the one that's in charge of
or sets the assessed value for properties.
So that is why we
we were okay with their solicitor ruling
going through this because they have the best expertise
at assessed value, at assessments and working through this process because
that's part of what they do all the time and that's their responsibility. So
as noted here, we're agreeing to something that that's at the court level,
but ultimately it's the county that that sets the assessed value
we're just agreeing to to the change that everyone agrees to.
Or as noted, it just goes back through through the court.
And ultimately the court makes the decision.
And then we live with with whatever that agreement is.
Yeah, as a board member, I'm inclined to vote for this.
And I say that as a board member not to give legal advice.
But does
anyone have any other comments or questions?
This is if you had asked for a roll call vote, please.
Mr. Able. Yes.
Dr. Cronan. Yes.
Ms.. Drew. Yes.
Mrs. Strick Sorry, this is me. Yes.
Mr. Rizzo. Yes.
Dr. Shaw. Yes.
This is Sikka. Yes.
Mr. Singer?
Yes. A Yes.
Thank you.
Moving on to personnel resignations, Dr.
Winslow,
the administration recommends the approval of the personnel resignations.
Thank you.
May I please have a motion to approve the personnel resignations?
So moves Miami second. Cathy Shaker.
Is there any discussion?
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please say I am opposed to
personnel.
General is approved.
I'm sorry.
Personal resignation.
Right underneath it is personal.
General.
Dr. Winslow administration recommends
the approval of the list of personnel and recognition of any listed transfers.
Thank you.
May I please have a motion to approve
the listed personnel and recognition of any list of transfers?
So moved. Maria Mimi Second.
Cathy Shaker. Is there any discussion
I would just like to acknowledge on personnel?
General, this evening is the item for our assistant
to the Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction
and say that I am excited
to support and vote in favor of this to welcome Dr.
Aaron Schumann into that position as he's moving from middle school
assistant principal role into this new curriculum role.
I've had the opportunity to to learn a lot from Dr.
Schumann throughout this process and believe
that he has a really great outlook and perspective, the district.
And I think that he'll be a great addition to the administrative team
at the district level.
So welcome to this new position.
Dr. Schumann
There's no other discussion.
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please say I any imposed
personnel, General, is to delegate reports.
The PSB report is attached.
Dr. Cronan, do you have anything you would like to add?
Nothing to add. Thank you.
Thank you.
Moving on to board member reports, are there any board members
who would like to give a report real quickly?
Madam President, this is probably more delegate report.
But on behalf of DHS, I just want to let folks know that
we've been having our Saturday morning market up here at Chocolate Town Square.
Folks want to get more information.
They can go to the DHS website to find out more about the Saturday markets.
Thank you. Thanks.
And just for clarification purposes, that's Downtown Hershey Association,
which that's downtown Hershey Association doesn't get.
So it doesn't know. They're all around those acronyms. Yes. Thank you.
Any other board member reports,
Dr. Windsor, do you have a superintendent report?
I do. Thank you.
Today was the first day of school for our teachers and staff.
We brought everybody back today to get ready to start the school year next year.
It's very exciting to have everyone back in the buildings where they belong.
It's great.
The the Hershey High School marching band played out front of the high school
burning to welcome everybody inside, and they sounded fantastic.
So I think their field show is going to be wonderful.
Lots of thanks to Mrs.
Blacky and Mr.
Butterball for for having them out there and for all the work
that they've done this summer to get them ready.
It was a great day and we're very excited to welcome the kids back next week.
Just can't wait to have them back in the hallways, in the classrooms again.
Thank you Dr.
Windsor, for Board presence report.
I also just want to echo that I was fortunate enough
to be able to attend the welcome back for staff today.
And it was such a nice surprise
walking across the parking lot to have the marching band out there.
I forgot just how fantastic
it is to see our students performing and to hear that live,
not through a virtual zoom screen or, you know, from afar.
So it was a really just kind of uplifting way to start the day.
But it was also really great just to see all of the teachers
and staff across the district come back.
We have a lot of new faces
and I'm really excited about this upcoming school year.
So a from today will be day one.
So in advance of that, since will be a couple of weeks
into school by our next meeting.
Welcome back to all of the teachers and staff
and especially to our students who return next week.
I think that we are poised for a really great school year.
I know that it is going to continue to not look the way that that we thought.
But as Dr.
Winslow challenged everyone today, you know,
let's not go back to the old normal, you know, but but move forward
and do it together with our kids at the at the center of focus.
So thank you, Dr.
Winslow, for your leadership
and looking forward to a great school year for all of our kids, because Bridge Day
is on Wednesday for the rising sixth graders and ninth graders.
I know, I have a very excited rising sixth grader at home who's ready for that.
And this time next week, we'll get the year started.
So With that, that will conclude my report.
I also do just want to add before we go into recognitions of citizens
that with the health and safety plan that does apply district
wide to all buildings and all individuals.
So whether it be the district office or any of our academic buildings,
any of the items that are required in there
which currently is universal masking will apply to
to the district office and board meetings as well, and kindly ask
that folks be respectful of that and adhere to it.
We'll now move on to recognition of citizens.
This will be 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 were outlined
at the initial public comment portion of our meeting.
Are there any residents or taxpayers who would like to comment at this time,
either virtually or in person?
Madam President,
I see one hand raised and we have Michelle DAVIES.
Okay.
Mrs. DAVIES, you can go ahead and unmute.
Do you hear me?
Yes. Thank you.
Do I need to say my name and address again?
Yes. Yes. One more time, please.
Michelle DAVIES, 1524 Road.
I just wanted to thank Capshaw and Mike Rizzo
for their votes against the contract
for Mort's Moritz Consulting.
I greatly appreciate it.
I'm glad that you're looking at it
clearly and not through rose colored equity glasses.
Thank you.
Okay.
Thank you.
Just for the point of the record, it was a 7 to 1 vote.
I believe Mike Rizzo voted yes.
Was I.
Not. On mute?
Yeah. Mrs. 80, do you have that recorded?
It's not my fault. I should have spoken up.
Mrs. DAVIES, thank you for your comment, because our records
would have not reflected that as we did not get that through the
microphone problem.
Is there anyone else who would like to participate in public comment
at this time?
Madam President,
I see no hands raised at this time.
That will conclude our public comment
portion for the second part of the meeting.
Is there anything for the good of the order?
Okay.
The next public Board of Directors meeting will be held on
September 13th, 2021, starting at 7:00 PM.
Please refer to the district website to register for the meeting
as it draws closer and remember that you must register individually
and not share the link that is provided.
Post Registration.
May I please have a motion to adjourn this meeting?
So moved. Maria May 2nd. Donna Cronan
is a standard voice vote
all always in favor say I II
any opposed.
This meeting is adjourned at 8:15 p.m..
Thank you and have a great night.