I'd like to call the December
seven, 2020 reorganization meeting of the Derry Township School District
Board of Directors to order and announce that this meeting is being recorded.
This Zoom webinar meeting is being held
due to the COVID 19 global pandemic.
I'd like to request that board members please state your name when speaking.
The purpose of tonight's meeting
is for reorganization under the school code of 1949.
All votes are recorded as roll call votes unless otherwise stated.
Mrs. AG Roll. Call, Mr.
Abel.
Here.
Dr. Cronan. Here.
Ms.. Drew Here.
Mrs. Haverstock here.
Mrs. Nanny, Your aftershock here.
Mrs. Secker.
Here, Mr. Singer.
Here.
Mrs. Flanner Here.
Nine present, zero Absent any.
Thank you.
Please rise available and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the flag.
United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands.
One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty
and justice for all.
May I have a motion to approve
the December 7th Board of Directors agenda?
If does.
Not get Maria Mamie.
Kay, is there any discussion?
This is standard voice vote.
All those in favor say I.
I always opposed. Say no.
The agenda is approved.
Election of a temporary president.
This is just someone to run the meeting until the new president is elected.
Are there any nominations for a temporary president?
I nominate Kathy Sikka.
You need a second?
Yes. Second.
Okay.
Are there any other nominations,
Mary? None.
The nominations are. Closed.
Is there any discussion?
Right, Mrs.
A.G., roll call vote.
And this isn't a yes or a no.
Mr. Abel. Yes.
Dr. Cronan.
Dr. Cronan Yes.
Mr. Group. Yes.
Mrs. Harris. Deck. Yes.
Mrs. Manning. Yes.
Aftershock. Yes.
Mrs. Secor Yes.
Mr. Singer? Yes.
Mrs. Steiner. Yes.
Nine zero.
Okay. Thank you.
I will be the temporary President to
for us to nominate and elect a President and Vice President.
I will now accept nominations for President
for the ensuing year.
I'll open up the floor for any nominations now.
MAN President, I'd like to nominate
John Abel.
Is there a second, a second thought Martian
who was at Lindsay Drew?
All right, thank you.
Are there any nominee, other nominations
hearing?
None. The nominations are closed.
Is there any discussion?
Okay, Mrs.
A.G., this is a roll call vote.
You just say yes or no for John Abel, for president for the next school year.
Patrick Cronan. Yes,
Miss Drew. Yes.
Mrs. Harris. Deck. Yes.
Mrs. Manning? Yes.
Dr. Laura.
Yes. Mrs.
Sikka. Yes.
Mr. Singer? Yes.
Mrs. Steiner? Yes.
Mr. Abel?
Yes. Unanimously.
Nine zero.
Congratulations, Mr.
Abel.
You can take over after
or I'll do one more thing.
I would like to accept nominations for Vice President
for the ensuing year, and I'll open it up for nominations. Now,
I'd like to nominate Maria memory for Vice President Lindsay.
Drew speaking.
I'll second Cathy sicker.
Are there any other nominations
for Vice President?
Okay.
Harry, No other nominations.
This is a roll call.
Vote for Maria.
Miami Vice president.
You just say yes or no.
Mrs. Agee.
Miss Drew? Yes.
Mrs. Ristic?
Yes, Mrs. Mimi?
Yes, Dr.
Shore? Yes.
Mrs. Sacher?
Yes, Mr. Sanger.
Yes, Mrs.
Steiner? Yes.
Mr. Abel?
Yes. Dr.
Cronan? Yes. Nine zero.
Thank you.
Congratulations, Mrs. Mamie.
And that new President can take over from here.
Thank you, Miss Sicker.
And I'm going to just continue on with the agenda,
which we're up to the item
of the authorization of a signature change for the newly elected president.
Item D
May I have a motion that the Derry Township School District
Board of School Directors approved the provision
of signature authorization on file with designated depositories
to include the signature of its newly elected president.
So good.
So move.
That was Mr. Singer.
The emotion and Doctor, shall you second a second, second.
Kip Scholl, thank you so much.
Is there any discussion?
Okay, this is a standard voice vote.
All in favor.
Please say I. I.
And are there any opposed?
Okay.
The motion carries.
The next item on the agenda is the appointment of delegates and committee members.
The appointment
of those delegates and committee members will be announced
at one of the January 2021 meetings.
We're up to item number four other business.
Is there any other business at this time
from any of the school board members?
Yes, Mr.
President, this is Tricia Steiner.
I would like to say a few words to recognize Mrs.
Decker's presidency. If I may.
Please do.
Mrs. Decker, you have led our board in this district
for the past three years with wisdom and diligence,
working to unify a nearly brand new board
through the highs and lows of district governance,
including the horrific tragedy of the Parkland shooting
and all the subsequent discussions on regarding safety and mental health
to the unforeseeable effects of a global pandemic and a transformed
educational model and the many, many things in between.
Throughout it all, you have been our steadfast leader
representing not only our Board of school directors,
but Derry Township School District, with the utmost integrity,
patience, diplomacy, professionalism and dedication.
On behalf of the Board and as Vice President,
it is my honor to present to you this plaque
that reads with our deep appreciation and thanks to Kathy Elsesser
for your leadership as steward, champion and guide.
Thank you, Madam President,
and thank.
Thank you, Natalie.
Hi, Natalie.
And thank you, Mr.
Singer, for coordinating this.
And I want to invite other board members, if they have any other remarks about Mrs.
Vickers.
Amazing leadership.
I'll go.
I wasn't planning on saying anything.
I thought you should have covered it.
But I think Kathy knows how I feel about her and how much respect
I have for her having been on the board for so long together
and all of the ups and downs.
And I feel that too,
for somebody to walk away and say that Kathy was a true leader.
I feel that I've grown under you a lot.
I learned a lot by watching the way that you conduct yourself and the way
that you handle things and the direction that you've taken the board in
the transparency, your honesty,
you know, sometimes brutal, but still very much appreciated.
I think, you know, the good, the bad and the ugly, it has definitely been
the best three years that I have served on the board.
And I totally respect and admire you.
And I just want to thank you from the bottom,
my heart, for all that you've done.
Thank you.
Kathy.
I just want to say thank you.
Coming in on to the board as a new board
member under your leadership and the start of that,
I feel that we could not have been in better hands as a district
and as a board and for me personally, as a board member.
I feel like I have grown as a person and am a better board member
because of your leadership.
It is truly an honor to serve with you.
I look forward to the rest of our term together,
but just want to thank you so deeply and sincerely
for the very genuine and authentic way that you have led this board
and have allowed all of us to grow and be our on board individual
board members while maintaining a really strong unification as a team
of ten to be able to lead this district through a lot of really challenging times.
And I know that as we move forward and and more things pop up,
that you'll continue to be there and certainly help that transition to Mr.
Able as as he now gets to be our fearless leader.
So thank you so much for everything you've done.
Thank you.
I have to say that I'm really appreciative.
It's it's a thankless job.
I'm glad we're actually taking the time to thank you retrospectively.
But it's oftentimes very hard to get someone to step forward.
And the fact that you were willing to do it a second and third time
just shows your love of the district and you're willing to serve.
And I appreciate that.
And and like I said, I'm glad they were able to acknowledge it
and apologize for whatever it was a thankless job.
Because whether we ever said it before, we were always thinking it.
So glad to have you have had you as our leader.
And I'm glad you're still on the board.
Thank you.
Kathy.
Kathy, thank you very much for all your time and effort
on behalf of the board in your strong work on behalf of the district.
Well done. Thank you.
Thank you.
Kathy.
I'll I'll say that the last three years have gone quickly,
and it has been a true pleasure to work with you and lead with you.
You're a selfless leader.
I can't thank you enough for
the teamwork that we had working through many, many, many difficult situations.
And I'll be honest, while I'm really happy to have John as president,
I did try to talk Kathy into a fourth term.
Yes, you did.
Up until.
Yeah, tried to, Joe.
And it didn't work either.
But I want to thank you for all that you did for the last few years.
You were an amazing president,
even when, you know, we didn't see eye to eye on things.
I always respected your opinion.
I really appreciated your communication with the board.
You were just great about communicating everything
with us and very transparent, and that was greatly appreciated.
So, John, you got big shoes to fill there.
And I'm. Confident you can. Do it.
Yeah.
Anyone else?
Yeah.
Kathy, I just wanted to say that
you're the real deal.
You know, you put in the work,
no posturing, no acting, nothing phony about anything.
You've done it.
He's done it the hard way, which is in the real way.
Which is to prepare, to learn,
to organize and to be ready for each.
Each situation that you encountered.
And I think it's been a big benefit to
to our students, our families, and certainly our board.
And there's leadership calling of the future.
If you ever find yourself with the time and the interest,
you'll be a valued leader
wherever you decide to take your your skills next.
So thank you very much.
Thank you.
I just I really appreciate
everything.
I know some you know, my family's gone through a really hard time right now
with my mother in law being very, very, very ill.
So the tears flow very easily right now,
given the situation that we're in.
But I really, really appreciate
the team that we all are together.
I've said this many times that
I could have never done these three years without each of you.
I mean, every single person.
This board is an important part of making it
the work that we do for the district.
So many hours outside of meetings
and the work we put into reading and researching and talking
and figuring things out.
So certainly couldn't have done it without you and the fabulous
administrative team at the district as well.
I really appreciate this.
So thank. You.
Well, Miss and I certainly want to add
and add my voice as we move on to item number five.
You know, I, I think you've
been, as they say, a servant leader.
It's been exemplary in so many ways.
You've always kept our focus.
You've led,
you know, always with the with the goal
of serving our students and the school district.
It's been a a challenging time.
I know, but you've always rose to the challenge.
And it's been it's been an honor and a privilege to have you
as our as our school board president.
And again, thank you.
Thank you all so much for everything that you've done behind the scenes.
As Mr.
Singer said, you've got the work ethic and you've got the heart,
and that's really what makes for an effective leader.
So thank you on behalf of all of us.
Thank you and good luck. John and Maria.
Anything you need.
I'm still here for three more years.
I want two terms. So.
Well, we we do. We do.
We do plan on calling upon.
Calling upon you. And that's that's.
You know, I think we're fortunate that we had your expertise as we move forward.
There's just a few items left on the agenda,
and I'm going to keep my remarks brief.
You know, I'm humbled.
I'm humbled by this election.
It's an honor and a privilege to serve a school district of this stature.
This is sort of
the time of the year when we look back
and then we also take some time to look forward.
And as I think we all are well aware, you know, when we look at this school
district, there are so many things that we have to be thankful
for and we're fortunate in so many ways.
And I just wanted to publicly call out again
and thank everyone that makes this school
district work in the in a way that it does.
The community, the taxpayers, the students,
the families of the students, the parents,
and of course, our administration,
everyone involved in the administration, all the faculty, the students,
all of our support staff, everyone that that works day in and day out
to serve our
students and anyone who touches the lives of our students.
I think it's really important that we thank everyone, acknowledged them.
I don't think I missed any one, but I really wanted to give a shout out
to them, to all those folks that work for
for the benefit of our school district.
You know, as we look forward
to the year ahead, I mean, we all know it's going to be a challenging year.
I am very hopeful.
I am very optimistic that we will continue to meet those challenges
as we have in the past.
And we do that by all looking out for each other.
We do that by using the team of ten approach.
I know that this has left
very big shoes and quite the bar, but I am very
much of the belief that we will continue to meet
those challenge as, as and work together.
I'm very proud of this board.
I'm very proud of all my fellow board members.
As as Miss Drew said, you know, we all vote our own conscience,
but we ultimately realize that it is it is it is a team effort.
And as Ms..
Or I hope to be able to continue to foster
a collaboration and cooperation
and a collegiality among this board
in a way that's open and that always keeps the students interest at heart.
So that's all that I have
for sort of my remarks as the as the new president.
Again, thank you all.
And that takes us to item number six,
which is recognitions of citizens.
This is an opportunity for residents and taxpayers to address the board on
matters related to the agenda or matters of district governance, not on the agenda.
Those who
speak are asked to raise your virtual hand in order to be recognized,
you must have your first and last name typed
into the livestream registration.
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 an opportunity to address the board during each of the public comment periods.
If necessary, the board may set a maximum time
for the public comment portion of any meeting.
This portion of the board meeting is for comments to the board
and is not a question and answer period.
Those wishing to present private concerns or questions during follow up
outside of the board meeting may go to the district website
and submit a community correspondence.
Are there any residents and or taxpayers that would like to comment at this time?
And I'll ask Ms..
Zucker if she could check to see if there's anyone virtually that has
a raised hand or if anyone has note of a of a potential participant.
And we see I.
Don't see any there's four attendees and I don't see any hands.
Okay.
All right.
So that'll take us up to an adjournment.
The next public board of directors
meeting will be held on December 14th, 2020 at 7 p.m.
in a Zoom webinar.
And with that, may I have a motion to adjourn this meeting?
So move plenty. Through.
Second, Maria Mumy.
And all in favor say I. II.
Any opposed?
That's right.
Okay.
So the meeting is concluded
at 621, according to my time.
Thank you all.
Everyone, have a pleasant evening.
Thank you, John.
Thank you.
Thanks, everybody.
Thank you all. Soon.
Thank you. This is so nice.
The golden gavel.
I got it.
May help you stay safe.