Call the October 8th, 2018 meeting of the Derry Township School District
Board of Directors to order and announce that this meeting is being audio recorded.
Mr. Friends, Roll Call.
Mr. Abel Hare, Dr.
Cronin Hare.
Ms.. Drew.
Hear, hear. Must have a stick.
Hear, hear.
Thank you,
Mr. Mimi.
Here.
What is she doing?
I don't know. Can we get someone to go?
Thank you, Ms..
Cronin. We got you
taking the rest of the roll call.
Mimi here, Dr.
Shah here.
Mishka here.
Mr. Singer.
Here, Mr. Stoner.
Here. Nine present, zero. Absent, please.
Rise of Abel and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.
With allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
and to the Republic for which is stands one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
May I have a motion to
approve the October eight, 2018 Board of Directors agenda?
So move Second, ask Kip and Lindsey.
Is there any discussion?
It is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor say aye. Aye.
All those opposed say no. Okay.
The motion carries students of the month recognition.
And Miss Wade.
Good evening.
It's my pleasure to introduce Hershey High School.
September students of the month will begin with cocoa.
So as we each month as we choose our candidates, it.
It is always fun to hear the staff describe these students.
And and the staff is was eager to choose Cady she's described
as really intellectually talented that you do really well in your courses.
You have a great personality and the teachers enjoy having you in class.
And we know that your have really great talent on the athletic field.
And so it was without hesitation that we selected you
to be our final scene of the month.
Thank you.
It was it's kind of weird growing up in the same place
since you're like one, but I'm so grateful
to have grown up in Hershey, not only because my last name is Cocoa,
so I am just so grateful for all that you guys do and all my teachers do.
It's really it's made all the difference.
And I wouldn't be where I am today and had have the opportunities that I have today
without my all my teachers and also my peers.
So thank you.
Administration, of course, included.
I am the captain of co-captain of the soccer team.
I'm coach president of the student Council
and a class officer with Mark of the class.
So thank you guys for all that you do.
And I will.
I'm looking forward to college where I can take
all my knowledge that I've obtained in high school into a different setting.
So thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
We'd also like to
acknowledge Mark Simmons here as our male student of the month.
Mark, again, has a really academically rigorous schedule
and he participates in athletics.
But Mark is one of the kindest students that that I've ever come across.
You're taking out of the mentorship club this year has has been really impressive.
And so it is without hesitation, we selected you for our September
male student of the month.
I just wanted to say thank you
to the administrators for selecting me.
As for things that I'm involved in, I do track and field.
I'm I was also involved with the HHS Hope
campaign, and probably what I'm most proud of is, as Ms.
we mentioned, is the the mentor program.
And I just want to say thank you.
There are a few teachers in particular that have really made
my experience at Hershey enjoyable.
For one, Mr.
Yingst, in seventh grade here, he always taught me that
there's two kinds of people in the world.
There's doers, and there's those who are not doers and additionally, Mr.
Weil's in ninth grade, 11th grade, He taught me to reach out to those closest
to me and try to impact them in the most positive way possible.
And now this year, it's really just our administrators, Ms..
Waiting, Mr.
Smith and Mr.
McFarland, who are really high.
You know, they are 1200 students that they have to take care of whatsoever,
but they're also willing to meet with students.
And I think
if we didn't have these administrators, Hershey would be a different place.
It is really a special place.
And like I said, I'm really thankful to have grown up here
and continue to grow here.
So thank you.
Can I just.
Oh, yeah.
I was just going to say, it's a pleasure having you here.
And Katie, I know it's odd that you've grown up in one place,
but it's equally odd for all of us up here who've watched you grow up
from when you were a little boy,
you know, running behind your brother and Mark on the baseball team.
So congratulations.
And I'm sort of
sad because I haven't had the opportunity to meet either of you,
but I've heard your names across the various things in the community.
And I notice that neither one of you took self recognition for that.
And I think that that speaks a lot to who you are
and your community service involvement,
because most of that has been most of the things I've ever heard positively.
If you were for, you know,
activities that don't fall underneath hurting high school things,
but other things that benefit other students as well as the community,
so to say thank you for doing that because you're setting a huge example
to people that are younger as well as older.
And also thank you to your parents who I'm sure support you in that.
And I bet they're very, very proud of you.
Okay.
Well, thank you for coming.
We have a presentation.
Oh, you don't have to stay.
I know. It's really so.
You're welcome this day, but.
Yes, looking like it's a good night.
We have a presentation tonight by Mrs.
Miller on safe and supportive schools.
Good evening.
Hey, have Dan get me hooked up here.
It's always good to have plan B.
All right, so I wanted to just take a few moments.
I was talking with Mr.
McFarland, and our hope was to provide
an overview of kind of where things are at the start of the school year.
So for the fall of 2018,
give you an idea of some of the
things that are in process at this point
are looking at the bullying prevention.
I want to talk a little bit about school climate and then also the Act 44 of 2018.
Oh, okay.
And go ahead, Dan.
So I wanted to start off because
we've been talking about this
for some time, actually for a number of years, possibly
since 2007, when we first implemented
the obvious bullying prevention program.
Looking at that
definition of what is bullying,
it actually is something that a term
that often times is overused
can be extended to any type of behavior
that folks feel
is unkind,
unwanted, if you will.
So it's important for us to look at what is bullying and what isn't bullying
and what can we do to deal with any of those behaviors
that are causing anyone to feel uncomfortable or unsafe?
Okay.
So looking at bullying as it chairs there, it is something that is repeated
over time, negative actions on the part of one or more persons
and he or she has difficulty defending himself or herself.
When we look at that, it really includes those three important components.
So again, that aggressive behavior, it's unwanted, it's negative.
Okay.
The fact that there is a pattern of behavior over time.
So not a one time incident, but that occurs.
And it really
does show that imbalance of power or strength.
Okay.
So it's
the individual who is experiencing that
that behavior is is feeling that they don't have a way
to defend themselves at times, that they're feeling uncomfortable and unsafe.
All right.
Bullying itself can be physical.
And oftentimes they have some of the graphics there
that, you know, it used to be those things that folks would joke about,
but honestly has occurred over time and over years.
You know, they're shoving into the lockers and, you know, stealing of lunch money
and that sort of thing that that we hear about.
But there's also that emotional piece,
which is the teasing
feeling left out or being left out
in certain situations, not being chosen,
you know, to participate.
And it could also go as far as that relational aggression side.
So it's the friends pitting each other,
you know, against one or more individuals.
It also can be cyber and that we are finding has
grown astronomically over the years
truly is something that
we're having a lot of difficulty
reigning in from the school's perspective.
But I know that from talking with parents and community members
that this is something that's going on, you know, 24 seven
So it's not just within the school walls and during school hours.
It's going on at all times of the day.
And night.
And again, as I had alluded to earlier,
that bullying is not an unkind word or an unkind action.
I always say that, you know, we're all human.
We all can have bad days.
There are opportunities that, you know, we may say something that we didn't mean.
We may not be feeling well, something's going on
and you may have, you know, bumped
somebody, push whatever it is that
that action
comes across as being negative and and may make
that person feel uncomfortable or as I've been sharing unsafe,
not necessarily bullying
unless it's something that continues
to occur over time and with intent to harm.
So important for us to really take a look at what is bullying
and what isn't bullying at this point.
Go ahead, Dan. You can
you can change that the way
we try to do our best to share as much information as possible
with the students policy to four nine, which is bullying.
Cyberbullying is in place.
It was most recently reviewed
in June of 18, so every three years
and that is legislation that occurred must be reviewed.
Important
for us to keep that at eye level.
And we do we copy the policy as part of that legislation.
It has to be posted in every classroom so students can see
that it's posted, you know, in a prominent place.
Teachers need to review that at the beginning of the school year.
It's in offices, other areas.
It's obviously posted on our website.
But more
important than just that document is the language that's in it.
It does define bullying, but it says clearly that that is not okay.
It's not something that
that we allow to occur.
And once made aware, we do address immediately.
And as I shared earlier,
in 2007, 2008 school year, we did
implement the obvious bullying prevention
program of is a program that was developed by Dr.
Daniel Vass from Bergen, Norway.
And just truly a lot of research
that has gone into this program and
and all the work that has been done
across our
across the United States and in other countries.
Clemson University took a lead with that, and they really continue. Dr.
Sue, Limber is one of the
the leaders with Dr.
Obvious to continue this effort.
She came identified a number of folks
within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
and there were a number of trainings that occurred.
So these as they referred
to them, these kinds of trainers kind of went through the program
and tried to get as much information
out into the schools as possible.
I was
privileged to be one of those trainers,
one of the national trainers that went through the second group
within the Commonwealth, and I continue to attend the meetings,
the updates in, you know, and different information
that has come forth since then and numerous other companies
that that support those efforts of bullying prevention.
So we continue to provide that information.
We trained our staff and and shared
that philosophy, also tying that in with our Coco principles.
So something that
that we always try to do is look at
how can we bring it back to the same principles, the same philosophy.
So we're not adding one additional thing, but but sharing the information
that's most pertinent and important in 2000.
So take it a few years prior to that is when we implemented second step
and that started off as a violence prevention program
over the years that changed as well.
Committee for Children out of Seattle, Washington truly has.
They've done their homework and stayed up with the times it now
has morphed into, and this is actually our third set of curricula
that we've provided kindergarten through fifth grade.
All three sets were provided via
funding from grants that were written.
So we tried to continue to upgrade the materials, went
from the VHS to the DVD, and now we've moved forward
this year with the most recent information,
which really takes the entire program, providing
a social emotional learning approach as well as an additional
an addition to it that deals with bullying prevention.
So those lessons are taught right in the classrooms
and reinforced on a regular basis, kindergarten through fifth grade.
As we move
on, it's important to share that it doesn't stop there.
We feel it's important that in the early years they're learning
about all of those components of empathy.
What is it to put yourself in someone else's shoes?
What do I feel like?
What could someone else feel like?
Also, looking at when they're really young feelings
in general, What our feelings and all feelings are?
Okay.
It's just what is it that you're doing with those feelings?
So if I'm angry, how do I deal with my anger?
What does that feel like?
How is that different from happy?
Okay, so one of the reasons that we did
implement second step was because of that empathy component.
So looking at how we can continue
that focus, we do
that through the advisory lessons at the middle school.
And also and I should I apologize, step back that
the counselors in the elementary also go into the classrooms,
continue to reinforce this, as do some of the when needed.
The special education case manager.
So when there are certain
whatever the situation
would be that it would warrant a review
of those materials, they have all of that at their disposal as well.
So we can continue to reinforce in different settings
so that it's not just about, you know, when we're talking about it
in the classroom
as part of this particular lesson, what's it like on the playground
versus, you know, the hallway on the bus and when I'm at home?
Okay.
So again, the advisory lessons address this at the
middle school level.
And then as we move into the high school,
I was recently talking actually with Melinda.
So I apologize. You're hearing this all over again.
But the
it looks different at the high school because of the fact that,
you know, they're changing classes short amount of time.
It really doesn't look the same.
But we continue to share the information.
You know, right at the beginning of the year,
whenever there are those and I refer to them as teachable moments,
those opportunities where something is occurring,
making sure that we're sharing with students, it's important
for you to report when there is a concern, tell an adult
and we start from very young, telling them, tell an adult at home
and at school, you know when it's happening at school, tell both
so we can all be working from the same page.
So important that we continue to share that information as we go.
You know, through
the the levels K to 12 important,
though, to know that
when they're reporting
sometimes it has been going on for some time.
So if you're looking at I'm going to try to pull in a little bit
with the the state reports and that sort of thing.
But, you know, looking at our state reports, the numbers
for bullying are low.
I don't know that it is abnormally low
because when you look at the numbers that are in there for harassment,
intimidation, threats,
you know, possibly assault, other things,
it just depends on where it falls
and if there is something that occurs,
if it may have looked like bullying, but then it becomes harassment,
then what gets reported to the state is is the most egregious
incident.
So as as we're looking at this, numbers are low,
but we also are looking at ways in which to
intervene early on.
So when students do report something, it may not get to the bullying
point of things.
So I do think that
important for us that if we have one student
that is bullied, it, it's too many.
We need to make sure that we are providing
the education, the information, everything that we can to adults
as well as to the students to make sure that they know
that it is okay to ask for help, to report when things are going on, and that we do
want to address this and make sure that everyone does feel safe.
So part of what I shared
earlier was that it's not all about bullying.
Sometimes it is about those unkind words,
or it could be other things that are going on in in a child's life.
So important for us that what we've done for a number of years
is we've implemented the pain survey every other year.
Pennsylvania Youth Survey
asked a lot of questions years ago.
It started out as just a survey
that was trying to
just get a good bird's eye
view at what is going on with substance
use with our youth in grades six, eight, ten and 12
as the years have gone on,
the survey itself has changed significantly.
So it truly is looking at all aspects.
It looks at depression, suicide, homelessness.
What resources are in place?
Do you feel comfortable?
Do you know what those resources are?
Do you feel comfortable reaching out to folks?
Do you have folks that you know support you?
Everything in there in addition to the drug and alcohol piece of it?
But it's a wealth of information
and something that is done, as I said, in grade six, eight, ten and 12.
So the cohort stay together as as we are provided with the information.
So we really can look at how things have changed
every other
year with those reports as they come in.
This being an off year, our hope is to
now look at a climate survey,
something that's really going to be focusing in.
And Dan, if you can go to the next
slide there, the really looking at the difference
between and a lot of folks in actually as an administrative team,
we were talking about this the a lot of folks kind of combine climate
and culture together really is different
some similar components and similar words.
But but it is different.
So really looking at that climate piece as what we are
striving for, those experiences of the individuals in the school.
So really more than just their experience,
but the overarching experience or feel of the school in general.
So, you know, how is it that you feel
when you are in Derry Township School District?
The difference is with culture looking at the
you know, those are the, as it says, the norms, traditions,
something that's more ingrained in the school.
So we really want to get to that climate piece.
Go ahead.
Dan. The
so looking at measuring climate.
So it's important that the first up in improving it is
you know is to measure need to look at
and understand the perceptions
through the eyes of the students.
You know the staff parents find out what is it
that everybody is seeing and what their perception is.
For any individual, your perception is your reality.
So it's important for us to know what that reality is
looking at
through that climate survey.
It's important that we take a look at the four issues that are
that are stated there.
So most certainly safety.
We need to look at that physical and emotional
as well as the social relationships, making
sure that there's a conducive environment for working and learning,
looking at the interpersonal relationships and experiences
in that classroom, in the hallways, the cafeteria, on the bus,
you know, wherever it is to and from, you know, is it's important
to make sure that at any time what are those experiences?
And also the institutional environment looking at that connectedness,
the engagement and also the physical surroundings.
Okay.
So while we're looking at this important
for us to compare with the pace
which was done in 2017, we receive
late in the school year the
so we can take a look at the two.
So this being our complement on those off years,
if you will, to see what more we can glean from, from all the stakeholders.
But then also looking at go ahead. In
looking at the Act 44
of 2018, making sure that
we take a look
at all all aspects of this new act.
This is a lot of work
that went into this act in a short a mere short amount of time.
And I know a number of individuals that were involved and I was involved
as a consultant for a number of the pieces of it.
It really is providing
that opportunity for schools
to take a hard look at what is it that we have
in place and what else can we do to improve,
because there's always room for improvement.
So we're looking at, you know, that physical assessment, policy training,
you know, looking at the drills that we provide
as well as there is a huge component
for the student assistance and the behavioral health assessment
portion of it.
I was
very appreciative of the opportunity to attend a training that Milton Hershey
offered two weeks ago with one of the forerunners
with behavioral threat assessments and really
looking at that training of trainers so I can bring that information
back as a piece of what it is that we're we're doing here.
Student Assistance is our HIT program.
So Hershey Intervention and Prevention Program is our student assistance program.
It is active at all three levels and continues
to identify and refer students that are experiencing barriers
to learning and school success that being a huge umbrella.
So as we continue important
to really look at the information,
the board approved us having
Brian Crouse and of Vulnerability Solutions Group
do the Safety and Security assessments for us.
The and I've shared with Mr.
McFarland that it's been delayed as far as the receipt of those reports.
But because of Act 44,
Mr. Crouse was sitting in on
the committee that was developing
what that risk assessment should look like.
And also a piece of this is that all schools will have to go through
those risk and vulnerability assessments.
So his goal was to assure that everything that we went through
will speak to those needs in the reports that he's providing.
So he is furiously finishing all of that up.
Just last week was the final draft, I guess, or the final format of that form.
So he is putting all of our information into that.
And although I saw a draft of one of the forums, he's telling me that
it's in the the new format will add an additional 10 to 12 pages.
So this is a lengthy report for each building.
It's going to be a wealth of information.
So with that being said, our job is to go through all of that,
pull together a great executive summary
so that we can get that to you as soon as possible.
Did you say when we would have that?
I'm sorry I missed it.
I he is currently last week was when the final came through.
So he's putting all of the information for each of the buildings into that format.
I'm hoping within days, the next week.
Thank you. Yes.
So that's it in a nutshell.
I don't know if you have questions or at present.
We're also writing the grant that goes along with with Act 44.
So hopefully there will be some funding coming our way with that.
This is just to clarify for Mrs.
Mammy's question, that'll be the the reports want to provide
the executive summary, then we will take a little bit longer than a few days.
We need to walk ourselves through it. Yes.
When will we see that at the board, Do you.
I don't mean to put you on the spot, but
I would venture to guess that
as soon as we have it in our hands,
it will be a driven effort
to sit down, get through that and get it to you as soon as possible.
I hesitate to give you a time frame because I don't have it in my hand.
Huge sense of urgency.
So I feel like every day
that goes by without it, I feel like my own maybe paranoia.
I feel like we're at risk without it.
But I understand
there's still a sense of urgency.
There is, Yeah.
And a sense of urgency that I'm feeling as well. Yes.
Yeah, absolutely.
I have a couple of questions
about second step that
you talked about the the monthly or the guidance lessons reinforcing.
But the second step
curriculum is taught through monthly guidance lessons.
Yeah, it is taught by the teachers in the classroom
part of the curriculum that they provide
and then the middle school advisory lessons.
How often are those
I would have to get back to you on that.
I'll need to talk with Mr.
Valentin on that. But I know that they're in
in our conversations in past there throughout the year
at least quarterly. So
and does the curriculum
for second step or the overall
is prevention program and mythology
how does that keep up with cyberbullying and what you're looking at because I would
you from wrong I assume that cyberbullying is probably more focused
on the middle school and high school level students versus the K through five.
Not always.
There are we a good number of
elementary age students that have phones and access to technology
and it starts earlier than you would believe.
But there the preponderance of it does occur at the secondary level.
And there we continue
to provide information with regards to, you know, safety, security, sharing.
We've done
assemblies, other information
and sharing opportunities to provide how to be safe,
you know, online, and also addressing the fact that it really is bullying.
It can be considered harassment by communication, which
can can provide a citation from Derry Township police.
So important for everyone, you know, to be aware of that.
It's very difficult
to get ahead of because
often times it's a word.
It's you know what I mean?
You really have to start pulling back all of those layers
to find out if it is repeated over time, if it does fall under bullying,
or if it's just, you know, harassment, not just but Right.
Because I guess and this is where I'm not the professional you are.
So I'm asking these questions
in, you know, a limited scope of knowledge.
But where I struggle sometimes is that
we have a curriculum that's teaching these things, but
I feel like we get caught up so often on what is bullying and what is that.
And even just hearing the bullying is not an unkind word or action
unless it's repeated or done.
But that could be the starting point.
It could, and so looking at that, like to me
it just seems more of a systemic problem because we're not we're looking at
what are the numbers that we report to PD and how many instances of bullying
are there versus, you know, threats versus violence, all of these different things.
But at the end of the day, doesn't it
all focus on if a child
if one of our students is adversely affected
in their mental, emotional, social, physical
well-being,
doesn't that get addressed the same way
as if it fits the definition of bullying?
Yes and no.
It needs to be addressed.
So if in fact something is occurring that is beyond so, so let me
go a little bit further with that,
beyond something that
children, adolescents could be working
on, just as regular relationship kinds of things.
Okay.
So learning how to
interact with one another, disagree,
have some conflict, you know, all of that
which is good and okay
when we've stepped over that line,
whether it's bullying or not, absolutely needs to be addressed
and it needs to be addressed wherever it's occurring.
Well, so how do we talk then about the reporting component of it?
Because to me,
if I walk through the elementary school, which is where
the majority of the curriculum is being taught, there's a huge emphasis
on what is tattling and what is not tattling.
And I can't help but from the outside look at if that's where it's
creating the culture of not reporting because
we're hitting
these, you know, the definition as it repeated.
Is it is it an unkind word or action for times that doesn't
have a continued behavioral pattern repeated, you know, for the long term.
So it no longer does.
Do we do the students really know
when to report, how to report and what that looks and feels like?
And I hear so often from parents that the kids
come home off the bus and they're upset about something and,
you know, trying to fit a child's emotional
disturbance based on one thing into this box of
what is bullying is where even as a parent, I struggle.
And then from the school perspective, look at it like, so
how are we supposed to label all of these things
and then be able to do something about it?
And that's for sometimes for me, I get
concerned because we have this curriculum in program here and
and I don't doubt the efforts and the, you know, level of severity
that all of our administration, faculty, everyone that's working with students
every day takes.
But I just wonder how easy it is for things to fall through the cracks
and you know, go beyond because it may not fit one of these, you know, definitions.
And then you start hearing stories about
it becoming violent situation, students fighting.
And, you know, that's happening in the middle school or the high school.
And we've given X number of years of a curriculum
and reinforce it with the guidance, like where does it all come together and
how do we go above and beyond
a piece of curriculum or a lesson, you know, in a classroom?
I just wanted to for clarity,
I don't people should still report anything that makes them uncomfortable.
But I think you were explaining how we then categorize it, like if one incident
happened on an elementary school bus that was traumatic to that child,
the parent shouldn't wait till it meets our definition of bullying.
And I do believe that parents and children are reporting everything.
You're just saying that because I've been involved with a couple of things
at the high school and last few years where they were reported
and it wasn't called bullying, it was called harassment.
And there was a group that was actually
suspended because of it and the police were involved.
And so I do know that things are taken care of now.
No one waited and read the handbook to decide what it was.
They decided what it was after the investigation took place.
Is that so?
Everything should be reported, whether it's one little thing
making your seven year old uncomfortable on the bus or not,
does that does that make sense? Thank you.
I what I would say is that I would caution on the labeling piece
because when when we're talking about bullying and and that.
Thank you, Jessica.
That is my point that we're we're trying
to call a lot of different things bullying
when it isn't necessarily bullying
important that we address whatever it is
that's making someone feel uncomfortable or unsafe
and and important that if
it does happen, as you shared
student gets off the bus,
goes in the house and is upset
because of what took place, don't wait.
Share that information then, because oftentimes, you know,
I'm hearing that, you know, the parents share
that it's been happening for X amount of time.
But this was the first time that they came forward
to share, you know, and finally got to that point.
Don't wait that if was that upsetting important
to at least get the principal on the same page.
You know, we can involve the counselors, we can address it.
It is a relationship thing.
Maybe we were just having a bad day.
Whatever it is, it could be bullying, it could be harassment,
it could be something else.
But again, and I would I would caution on on labeling it.
And I do think that was, you know, the kind of the crux of my point that it
it isn't all bullying, which is why we want to look at things in general.
So where do we capture?
And then the parent piece of it and I know
it's not the school district's obligation to
educate, you know, to educate adults,
but as parents, it's a partnership.
And the reporting can be encouraged on the
on the end of the parents, because ultimately that's going to,
you know, be maybe who helps especially younger students report or help them
that this is something that is not okay absolutely
and going where does that piece of it come in?
Because I do just from
from where I look out from in my own life.
See that happening, that parents are like, well,
I don't know if that's something we should.
They don't know where to go.
What I would say is that
so Mrs.
Castleman and I had a conversation that when we were
implementing the new curricula
for second step in the bullying prevention piece we had talked about,
it would be important for us to offer something
so that we could share that with parents, but also what it is
that we're doing at the secondary level.
So making it something a little bit more broad
in doing that.
Our hope was to do it earlier in the school year.
However,
when we're doing the climate survey,
it's important for us to see what are those needs.
It is to me a need survey as well.
So what do the students need?
What do the parents need? What do the staff need?
So as we're working through all of this, that that could be one evening,
but is there something more that we need with that?
So in just kind of hanging on
before
implementing that, important for us to see what comes back
from those surveys and I agree with you are always open
and how hearing how I know that that survey is being
launched here in the next month or so and who is
who is collecting the data and reporting
for it?
Is it all being done?
It's being done in-house. Okay. Yes.
So when should we expect to see
an overall report
and feedback on it to be able to, you know, put things in?
Because I'm sure there are some things that feel like time is of the essence
that separate from the school again.
So I hate to give things now and I'm not asking for data.
I'm saying, are we looking at this for February or are we looking at for June?
No, we're looking after the first of the year because once
the information comes back, compile that, compare it as I shared with, you know,
with what we already have with pace data and you know, it
come together with a plan of action and maybe this will help.
We're also looking at that, too, all of this data
to help us determine action plans for possible
upgrades,
enhancements, which also fits into a budget timeline calendar.
So all of these are falling into that timeline, too.
You know, so we're knowing as we're timing all this, that we've got that
timeline we have to work with to.
Oh, I'd like to
I'd like to speak to something.
It's not really a question,
but my daughter just transferred to went to Hershey for two years.
She left, went to a private school and she just came back.
Now she's she's in sixth grade.
She's very integrated in the community.
She has a lot of friends. She plays soccer.
She's incredibly outgoing. She knows a lot of people.
So I'm thinking, okay, this is this is going to be
a smooth transition.
So she
she goes it's a big concern of mine.
Was the lunchroom just in general And
a couple of my friends who have older kids have kind of warned me about it.
So it was on my radar.
So the first couple of weeks, like everything's fine, she's
sitting with her friends and
they just start ignoring her.
So I'm like, okay, find another lunch table.
So she goes to another lunch table and a couple of days in a row she said
every, Time I come back to the table, everybody's turned away and ignoring me.
So I reached out to another mom and she's like, Well, I'll talk to my daughter.
And her explanation was they all thought it would be funny.
And the mom actually defended the behavior, which I was just like,
Oh my God, okay.
So I was like, Then find another table.
And I'm going through in my mind like, what are kids?
Just being kids are what is bullying?
And I'm I'm sharing this story because it's almost like
I'm vice president of the school board and I'm completely frozen.
I haven't talked to anybody.
Joe doesn't even know this.
So she comes home,
is after all of this, you know, find another table.
I'm trying to deal with her.
She comes home one day, I find her in a room
crying completely, Not normal behavior for her.
And I'm like, what's wrong?
And she's telling me this.
She's trying to sit with one of her friends,
but there's little girl at the table that's just flat out like,
you can't sit here.
And my daughter said, Why?
And she said, I hate you.
So I told her, Next time she says that, ask her why.
So she goes back.
So I'm at home and we're talking about a kid that has full parental support,
encouragement, you know, trying to talk her through this.
She goes back and she says, Why do you hate me?
And the little girls like they're just too many reasons.
So and I don't I've told my daughter she's like, but
I like the other little girl.
I'm like, You cannot subject yourself to this.
You just can't.
You're going to have to find another place to sit.
So for whatever reason, she goes back over her and the little girl,
except her, she's like, Seriously, you're not sitting here.
I'm completely mind blown
that this I don't know why.
It's I'm shocked, but I'm not sure.
I don't absolutely don't know what to do.
She's mortified. So.
And I hear what you're saying
and I don't I don't mean this to come like a,
you know, a sucker punch to you, but this all sounds good.
In theory.
She's not she's not going to go to anybody, you know.
So I feel like as administrators, as school board members,
you know, your position,
I just don't know, like what
what the answers are.
You know, you have a child coming home to me.
I have all the resources.
I don't even know what to do to help her. She's mortified.
She doesn't want me calling any parents.
She'd die if she knew I called the school.
It's been a very difficult situation.
I'm so sorry.
And I don't.
I go through my mind.
Is this girls being girls?
Are these kids being kids?
What constant.
You know what you're saying. It's like
not including people.
And it's a pattern. Like this is a pattern.
This has been going on since there's now she's
kind of settled down within the last week and a half, two weeks.
She's she's settled down into a group of girls that have let her sit at the table.
But for somebody to say to you, you can't sit here
like I was thinking, I thought you only saw that in the movies.
Like Maybe a somebody doesn't like you.
But to say it I think is is shocking.
And and I have to tell you, I mean, it's difficult
every situation is difficult because
just because of the response
that she received, there are just too many reasons
they the it
yeah we need to address it and we do address it
but that doesn't mean that it's not going to happen again,
that someone else isn't going to miss the point.
But I don't know that she would,
she just would never come forward. Ah,
and I've struggled.
Do I make the phone call for her?
Do I call the guidance like I don't even
even if it wasn't about her
even to share that this is occurring so it can be addressed.
So without even sharing her name, it's not okay.
That is not okay. That's horrific.
So it gives the teachers new maybe they could watch more or help out
like they like their need immediate adult supervision in this situation.
So it sounds like it's at a point where you should reach you know,
this is where I mean, this happens all the time.
It's it's but this is where our kids need teachable moments.
That that was not nice.
We include everybody.
This everyone can sit everywhere.
I mean, perhaps a teachable moment for the child is said that could have
could change everything. Yes.
If they could learn a new way of doing it right and change their behavior.
So then I think in this scenario, the reality is she would know exactly
where it came from.
And that's what I you know, my daughter now just she's new.
You know, it's just so complicated.
It is. It's just very, very complicated.
And I situation with it myself. Mhm.
So how does that tie in on the reporting
reporting and then the action of how that would be addressed and corrected
and then the teachable component because like what I'm hearing ratio's, there's,
it's not being reported
so the school can't help do anything to stop it if it's not being reported.
And to them we're missing the teachable opportunity.
But you're
it's like this cycle.
It is.
So what would that look like if that scenario came
to an administrator or to you or to Anonymous alert,
you know, system, What's the parameters for doing for addressing this?
Once we're made aware, we need to investigate
what's going on and take an appropriate action.
And that appropriate action could be as was suggested, you know what I mean?
Increasing adult supervision in that area.
If if a student were comfortable
to come forward and say this, this is happening.
Part of what the school counselor can do is to,
you know, and we have the new entrance assistance team at the high school.
You know, they're looking to do the same thing
at the middle school, but they have different different ways
that they will pull together some students, you know, and try to
link up and build those friendships so that they have folks
that they're sitting with at lunch or, you know, wherever it is that, you know,
if they're doing group work in class or whatever it might be without knowing
it, honestly, it doesn't get reported.
It doesn't get addressed.
We continue to share the information and educate.
But if we have folks that are not receiving of that information
and choosing not to follow,
you know, those guidelines
then and are doing it under the radar, it it most likely will continue
as it would anywhere until it comes to someone's attention.
And that's why I continue to say tell someone, let someone know,
even if you don't share your daughter's name, ID,
you know, to say this is occurring in this area,
you know, of the cafeteria at this lunch time so that folks can open
their eyes and and be aware of what's happening.
Yes, I just a few things.
I just wanted to clarify that the policy to 49
you mentioned it was
reviewed in June 2018 and it was just reviewed
in the aspect that there was a sentence added for for code.
But the Policy committee actually is going to review it, review it
for other
to see if there's any other modifications that can be made to to improve the
the policy itself that's actually going to occur on our October 15th meeting.
But and one of the things that I notice most
about our policy definition and the definition that you've provided
and that I've read in other places is that our policy does not
contain any information about the imbalance of power or strength.
And so I wonder if if we were to expand our definition.
So it was a little bit more easily interpretable
by students and teachers since it is posted in every classroom.
Right. And so that would be something that would be
helpful,
certainly.
And I can work with Mr.
Snyder to,
you know, to share that information.
I think oftentimes as as you know, the SBA provides
boilerplate. Yes.
And so the definition
that was part of that was not as expansive
or as specific to what most schools utilize.
And also just like when we're talking about it.
Right. Right.
Because it also excludes the word aggressive and uses the words
severe, which, you know,
severe is sounds a lot more harsher than aggressive.
Aggressive could be a number of things, but severe.
You know, how do you interpret that?
Right.
So that's that's just one point that I wanted to make.
And then
to, you know,
to Maria's point and to so many so many instances
where, you know, students are being harassed or bullied,
especially, you know, students that have special needs
that maybe aren't even aware that they're being bullied.
But other kids are you know, other kids that were at Maria's table
that probably were really uncomfortable with what was happening. Yes.
You know, how do we empower our other kids
to stand up against some some people?
How do we give that,
you know, do we have any is there any sort of bystander
training that's offered in our curriculum?
And that actually is part of that curriculum?
And it is something that we continue to share,
like through those advisory lessons, because that is a key piece.
It is so hard
for that individual
that is feeling the weight of what's going on.
So, you know, if they are feeling
that they are being bullied in that situation or harassed, whatever,
it might be very difficult because of that imbalance of power
to be able to say something really counting on
on all of those other folks to be able to step up,
get a hold of an adult, you know, or be able to say something themselves.
Oftentimes that's difficult for fear that might be turned on them.
But, you know, important for us to look at different ways
and sharing that information, which is what we do. Yes.
I mean, yeah, like it is a lot to ask a kid to stand up
to the actual person that is the so-called bully or harasser.
But, you know, do all of our kids know where to go, like, you know, an adult?
But is there
I don't know if we have like one person that they feel
is more trustworthy or one person that, you know, is the you know, person
that you report to like, is there actually or is there a way to share it?
We share that they're, you know, sharing who those folks are
across the building, any adult.
But any time we're talking to students,
whether it be something like
this, if they're having you know, they're really feeling down.
They've had thoughts of suicide in the past.
If they've had, you know, whatever it is that's going on, make that connection
with that adult that you feel most comfortable with.
It doesn't matter who it is.
You know, go to that adult.
That adult is going to know what to do with that information.
You know, who who to connect with.
So, you know, and oftentimes it's a team effort.
So they're going to reach out.
But yeah, whoever the student feels most comfortable with, that should be
the person they're reaching out to service the nurse, the teacher, a coach,
you know, the principal or whoever, or even with the with the hip.
Can't they make anonymous? Yes, submissions to that.
And so also kids are the kids reminded about that?
I think we do provide that information as well at the beginning of the year.
The and you can
and you brought up the anonymous alerts as well if you know something
and you're not comfortable, you know, that is one additional means.
Our our hope is always if
if you can share it in person because then we can ask questions.
You know, it's like, is your friend okay, where is your friend?
You know, like where was where did this occur?
Know any of those
types of questions to gather more information?
And oftentimes you don't have that ability when it comes in through,
you know, anonymously, but it still is an option.
We'll take the information anyway that anybody wants to get it to us.
So would you foresee maybe after we do receive feedback from
from the piece data and comparing it with the climate survey, would you foresee
maybe, you know, taking all of that in and in implementing,
you know, something that's substantial and meaningful to the students
and like the form of an assembly or form of,
you know, maybe having like a peer to peer mentoring program or,
you know, something that is of, of
not that, not that what you're doing is not substantial.
No, I don't mean to belittle any of those efforts, but just to have something that
I don't know, it's just more present.
Maybe I'm more aware because I know that, like all the stuff
does look great and I'm really proud of the of the
the second Step program.
And I think that that's to me, that's wonderful.
But I just feel like on a day to day basis, a lot of kids,
I don't know, you know, and don't
and don't feel empowered or don't
you know just they see stuff in the they're not speaking up and for really
counting on people to speak up then how do we, you know, get that empowerment.
So how do we you know, how do we implement that by, you know,
reminding them having a quarterly program
or making, you know, having having a different, you know,
affirmation on the morning announcements every day.
But, you know, something?
So maybe something one of the one of the student clubs can take up.
Absolutely.
Just throwing out ideas open to any and all. Yes.
And I think that once we have that opportunity to look at what
what those needs are, then to look at different ways
and include the students most certainly in that,
especially in the high school,
want to make sure students are involved with that.
Other students don't want to hear from us.
We want to hear from you.
So, you know, making sure that, you know, we're getting as much information
out there, but in a in a way in which it's being received.
Yeah.
My biggest concern overall is just and again,
kind of to echo Trisha, I don't mean to belittle anything
that's already happening because I think that it is substantial.
And, you know, there's so many things going on that
it's not
the responsibility of the the teachers
to hold responsibility for everything.
Right.
You know, to to be able to identify each one of those things.
There has to be reinforcements from all other areas and the partnership.
And I guess that's where I just keep going back to, you know,
as the climate survey results come back, as we look at all of the different things,
you know, if some of these
I'm sure some of this curriculum can become outdated in a sense
as soon as it's issued, because the world is changing,
you know, cyberbullying takes on one look or another.
Snapchat wasn't Snapchat probably when things were written
five, six, seven years ago versus, you know, today.
For me, looking at it, it's just
seeing all hands on deck and
making sure that as the world around us changes in the way things are respond.
I can't help but be, you know, sensitive to the whole sort of
just in the news and things that our students, especially in the middle
school, high school level, are exposed to right now that that students
could wonder if I see something, am I going to be believed in
and whether it's a kid won't sit with me at lunch
or if a student was assaulted sexually or physically or emotionally,
it can be anything.
But again, you know, as you said, if one student,
you know, falls through the cracks somehow, and that's where I would love
to see our district be a leader.
You know, and an example for other districts in expanding
what we're already doing, you know, not not expanding it because it's not enough,
but because we say it can never really be enough.
It's not just teaching to be kind to one another
and to not, you know, to say everyone gets to sit at the lunch table.
It goes so much further beyond that.
And the lasting implications
are as important as learning the principles of math and and science.
Absolutely.
But thank you for what you do, Harry, and for hearing us.
Sure. Thank you.
Yeah.
Hayley, So you mentioned in your presentation and has come up several times
through this discussion of the importance of connection with adults.
We know that children need to learn to do we
we need to try to help the children deal with these issues and concerns.
But what do we do with all of the adults that come into contact with the kids?
Teachers, coaches, lunch,
cafeteria aides, custodians?
What do we do with them consistently to reinforce the role
that they can play with checking on the well-being of kids?
I'm I meet with them for sure
every year and a number of times throughout the year.
So each department and the buildings as a whole.
So sharing
important updates, the information that we need
to bring to forefront of the mind, especially at
the beginning of the school year, but also looking at what are some of those
key things, You know, the the most important thing that we can do to
to increase resilience
with any child or adolescents
is that connection with a significant adult.
And what we do is purposefully
look at how we can increase the number of adults,
you know, that we're providing, you know, that connection for each student.
So we've done it in different ways across the, you know, the different levels.
But even, for example, when we have
a referral to help
to student assistance, I'll use that as an example.
So we have the school counselors are part of that team,
the school counselors is oftentimes I never say never, but,
you know, oftentimes we suggest that they don't
take the student that is there under their caseload.
So to say, because that's one person that already can connect,
we try to look at another individual and then we also have
an additional person, because we have
we often kind of tag team referrals
so that,
you know, there's more than one adult if the schedule meets with the student
this, you know, today, whereas you know, different on a different day.
So we
continue to
try and increase the number of individuals.
But yeah, we provide as far as the overview of information ways
in which we can look at making those connections, signs and symptoms,
what you know, what it is that we need to do from reports of suspected abuse.
What does that sound like?
Look like, you know, to, you know, sites of, you know,
feeling down, thoughts of suicide, whatever it might be,
to bullying
and anything in between.
So, yes, those conversations
do occur and yeah, this just Terry,
saying that sparks something for me about how
in all organizations, not just stars, but any organization where you have
your human resources are your biggest asset.
And when you talk about it on a school district level,
all of the adults in their
Tricia said school bus drivers, recess age,
lunch aides, teachers, principals, all of them,
yes, are role models that
Joe and I were just talking about that
to teach adults modeling.
And I think that there's a lot more pressure
on those
people who are really the frontline for our children.
So it's just a reminder to ourselves of how important those roles are
and how important it is to put the right people
into positions where they're going to be
working directly with our children and their behavior.
And what they're modeling is really having an impact and an influence on them.
Absolutely. Yes.
Thank you. Have another question?
Yeah, just one other question.
In terms of I guess it was Lindsay, you mentioned something earlier
about, you know, you talk to younger kids about not tattling.
I mean, how often do you feel there's mixed messages
and different things that get related
to our students over the course of their
involvement, you know, with our with our school district?
I mean, do you feel that do you feel any tension
or conflict between
things that we teach in one place or encourage in one place
that might make it more maybe
make it more difficult for
the kids to speak up when they need to speak up
or the parents to speak up when they need to speak up.
I hope not.
Okay. I,
I hope that the if you feel it, if you don't, I'm just asking your feeling.
I yeah,
I will say that at times I hear that.
But Then I'm also asking more questions,
you know, who who were you talking with?
What made you feel that way?
To try and get a sense.
I'm not
feeling that there's anything that's pervasive.
If there was, we would address that.
But I do think you know that there are times that, again,
what I shared earlier is that anyone's perception is their reality.
What they heard may not have been what was meant,
but that is what they heard and what they perceived.
And so, yeah, absolutely that can happen.
But we also need to look at
every example of that.
How can we improve upon that communication?
And so that doesn't happen again.
I wanted to pick up on something that Terry said, and this is
so I have an observation and a request.
I think I think that's a really good point, Terry, in that
if you have a student that may not feel that they can approach
their homeroom teacher, but it might be it might be a recess
or it might be a coach or it might be someone else,
that they have a closer
personal relationship, one that I think that's really important to
to make that to heighten that that accessibility to all students.
And I think my request is, you know, when we do the climate survey,
we've heard a lot about, you know, falling through the cracks.
And I would I would I would ask that the survey drill down deep enough
to get a sense from all our students and that it not be sugarcoated.
And we want to hear the good, bad and the ugly about what is the true climate
in our school district.
And in particularly, I'm not interested in mentors
and seeing average in mediums, but I want to
I want to get a full scope of what all students think about the climate.
There might be a big bunch of verses.
The climate's wonderful,
but there may be some other small minority says The climate ain't that great.
And and that's that's the people that I want to hear from.
Well, we hear from others, too.
But I think I think we got to keep kind of a holistic viewpoint
when we're to gauge the climate within within our school district.
Agreed. Agreed.
Okay.
Thank you.
I did want to kind of is that does that are any more questions comments?
I did want to kind of summarize this up with
this is I'm going on the the last of my third year
in the school board and we do Mr.
McFarland's superintendent out every spring and since February
14th, 2018, when Parkland High School had the horrific mass shooting happened,
that was really the first time as a school board member
that we really brought the idea of safe and supportive schools
up to the school board level and started talking about it, asking questions.
Prior to that, it had not been on my radar or the radar of the school board,
and I had been on for a little over two years at that time.
So since spring we did Mr.
McFarland Superintendent evaluation.
We did add a goal for him,
which is there's three board goals and it's in collaboration with him.
So we, we all did it together and with him
and it is around, it is around safe and supportive schools.
So I wanted to let the public know that this is not the first time
we've talked about it.
This won't be the last time we're talking about it.
It's on our minds.
What we're doing this year is getting the results
back from the vulnerability and risk assessment.
We want to see the climate survey and compare it with the the PACE survey.
We're looking at the hardening of the school.
And you know what we could do.
But we're also looking at the soft aspects.
What Do we need to do for the mental health and the reporting
and do we have enough supportive services for students?
Are we tackling bullying, cyber bullying,
anything like that, harassment What do we need to look at?
Any extra measures for the SRO, This the resource officer
and those are all things that implement our budget and our budget is tight.
So what we want to do is take a thorough look.
I think back in February we wanted to take a knee jerk reaction to say,
just do this, this and this right now, add an officer do this.
But I think we took a step back
and realized that this could cost some money for us.
So we need to prioritize it and get in, get our
our numbers and statistics together and take a good look.
And I feel comfortable with what Mr.
McFarland's doing with you and the goal, the way it's laid out
so that we can get updates and that we can take a good look at our budget and then,
you know, Mr. Friends is involved.
So we're working through the numbers to see where's our priority
and what what can we, what do we do?
What can we do better?
So thank you very much for coming.
Appreciate your time.
Thank you.
Okay.
I would like to announce the board met an executive session prior to this meeting
to discuss matters of personnel agency business, which, if conducted in public,
would violate a lawful privilege or lead to disclosure of confidential information.
Announcements.
Recognition of citizens.
This is an opportunity for residents and taxpayers to address
the board on matters related to the agenda.
Those who speak are asked to come to the microphone
to 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.
If necessary, the board may set a maximum time
for the public comment portion of any meeting.
Speakers are asked to review the protocol for addressing the board was
which can be found at the sign in table prior to speaking.
Those wishing to present private concerns or questions
need to follow up outside of the board meeting
are asked to fill out a comment card which can be found at the podium.
Completed cards may be turned into members an administrative administration
to facilitate a reply.
Are there any citizens or taxpayers who would like to come forward at this time?
Seeing None.
Standing Committee Meeting Report.
The Communication and Community Engagement Standing Committee met earlier today.
Ms.. Drew, do you have a report?
I do. Thank you.
The Communications Community Engagement Committee met today and
discussed the 20 2019 goals,
as well as the Citizen Advisor program.
We're going to be working on
reviewing all of the various materials that are out there and available
for the Citizen Advisor program to make sure that it's consistent
and that all citizen advisors have the same experience and understanding
of what their role and responsibility is and then committee goals as a whole.
One of the things we're going to be focusing on as a
community engagement event where
hopefully the entire school board will have the opportunity
outside of the district office to interact
in a non-confrontational, more like get to know, you know,
setting with parents and taxpayers so that we can also not just
see the parent, not have the opportunity to interact with parents, but also the
the percentage of residents who don't have children in the district.
And then we also welcomed some unofficial new citizen advisors.
So that's okay.
Great. Thank you. Anyone have any questions?
Okay.
Student Representatives Report. Mr.
Courvoisier.
Mr. Mangia.
Good evening, Madam President.
Derry Township Board members and public.
As Elise progressed, many scene changes will be coming to the high school.
There will be more orange and blue Spirit posters
hung around the high school for our school colors and pride.
Currently we have a couple down one hallway that have go
Trojans and on later on, and we're looking to increase that.
Also, two new water bottle refill stations will be placed around the school.
These have been highly requested and also some microwaves
will be placed in the cafeteria, hopefully before Christmas time.
And also the ever popular HK Way Club, which is the Hershey Community Youth
Alliance, also known as the Exchange program
between our high school and Milton Hershey High School
has officially been brought back this year.
It was a little unsure if I was going to come back
yet, so we also had some good sports teams doing really well.
Our cross-country teams, both the girls and the guys were undefeated
and they are Keystone Division champs.
Our girls golf golf team are Mid-penn champs
and we had two pretty good showings in personal rankings.
RB Abby Hahn was the first place in the midpoint and Amanda Garrett
was fourth place and our girls tennis team
also won their Keystone Division championship too.
Yeah, and also the four captains this year.
God, that happens year.
But the past week we got an opportunity to go
to the luncheon for the Hall of Fame and I got to go.
And it was a really cool experience because I got to meet a lot of sports
legends and meanwhile cool people and make some connections even.
And I think it was a great opportunity for all the students.
Also, two weeks ago, we had our homecoming weekend,
which we had the big parade football game and dance.
We're so happy that the football team won this week 2413 Redlands,
and it was actually a really big turnout
for the game this year, which is really awesome.
Also, many students attended the dance the following evening, but the main event
was the screening
of the Penn State versus Ohio State football game going on in the LG.
I Yeah, yeah.
I'm sorry to say a word.
And I'd also like to congratulate our homecoming
king, Queen Anton on our Queen and Taylor Yard respectively.
So as the school year has been progressing, we've had a lot of
more activity in our classes, specifically our blended learning classes.
So the students are being able to meet with the teachers every other day.
So they're going to the study halls on their blended days
and the blended learning option that we offer is it's actually pretty cool
because the students are able to go to different areas in the school
and that allows for like more independence responsibility on the students.
So we offer through our flex time manager app,
we offer students to go to our blended learning lounge at the library,
or they can even meet with their teacher if they need to
catch up on some more work,
which has been really good for independence of students.
And Patrick and I are both taking blended lit with Mrs.
Ives and she's been very cooperative with us and meeting
with us on Days Off Days and so we can work on the writing.
Also over at the elementary school
on September 27th, they held their bigs blue kick offs.
This is a program are nine elementary school kids are able
to meet with a big brothers, big sister from the Derry Township Police departments
and is in conjunction with the representatives
from Big Brothers, Big Sisters of the Capital Area Region.
The Big Blue's program will spend time with their little partner
each week to support these students,
and the students have been very excited in meeting with their new friends
and I even got a chance to email Officer Keppel
and she seemed very excited about meeting with her partner every week
and looked forward to building a relationship with them.
And of course, thank you so much for your time.
Anyone has any questions, feel free to ask.
I have a question.
Maybe not to be answered right now, but to Mr.
Abel's point,
is there any activity underway among the students
on their own to gauge?
Um, I don't.
Not that I know of. Okay.
I don't know if there's a way, Mr.
MacFarland, that they can be engaged
with. Miss Miller.
Well, they have those those lunches, right?
This is a nice way to like, a sort of a panel.
Students? Yeah, we talked to turn the other.
Oh, we talked to Mr.
Smith about bringing that back, and he said they were working on it.
Okay.
I didn't realize it went away, but it's still early in the year.
Oh, okay.
I see.
There was also a movement last year to they had a on canvas,
which is this website we use.
We had a section where you could request stuff for school.
I know.
That's how
I think that's how the water bottle refill stations went up and also
how they showed time up the microwave and that also went away.
And we're also trying to bring that back sometimes. And
I do want to say that I think at the September meeting,
you reported that you were having trouble finding adult chaperons for homecoming.
I went to a board meeting the next night, exact same report from the high school
representatives there.
So we should probably contact the Big Ten and say you can't schedule
the zero, right?
I just wanna say congrats to the cross-country team.
All right.
Thank you for your report, Mr. Trojan.
Do you have a community correspondent's report?
I do.
During the month of September 2018, we received
six submissions via the constituent contact form.
They included
we had comments on a facility's request.
We had an inquiry about access to the canvass system.
We had input on the Citizen Advisor application process.
We had an employment inquiry.
We had a request for assistance from a nonprofit organization and.
Finally, we received a commentary on the school day schedule.
Okay, thank you.
The listed items are on the proposed October
22nd, 2018 Board of Directors Meeting Agenda.
Okay.
The Consent Agenda items.
This is adoption of items of routine nature and those that normally
do not require public deliberations on the part of the governing board.
A board member may pull items which will then be discussed and voted on separately.
May I have a motion to approve the consent agenda items as listed?
So moved.
Maria second.
Terry second.
Is there any discussion?
Okay.
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor say aye. Aye.
All those opposed say no.
Okay. The motion carries.
Hey, new business.
The board recommends the approval
of the resolution to support Senate Bill 1098.
Placement of cameras of school busses.
I have a motion to approve the resolution to support
Senate Bill 1098, Placement of cameras of school busses.
So move second.
Lindsay Emery, is there any discussion?
I just want to thank Lindsay for putting this together.
Thank you.
Kate is the standard voice vote.
All those in favor say I, I.
All those opposed say no.
The motion carries approval of the shared parking agreement.
Mr. McFarland.
Thank you.
The administration recommends the board approve the shared
parking agreement with the township of Derry.
May I have a motion to approve the shared parking agreement?
So moved.
Second, Lindsay. And is there any discussion.
Okay.
All those in favor? This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor say I, I and all those opposed say no.
Okay. The motion carries.
Approval of Joint Transportation Facility Personnel agreement.
Mr. McFarland.
The administration recommends the board
approve the second extension to the joint transportation facility.
And Personnel Agreement with the township of Derry for the period
of September 30th, 2018, through September 29th, 2028.
May I have a motion to approve the second extension
to the Joint Transportation Facility and Personnel Agreement?
So moved Maria Second seconded by Kemp.
Is there any discussion?
Okay. This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor say I, i, i others opposed say no.
The motion carries approval of a special education settlement.
Mr. McFarland.
Thank you.
The administration recommends
the district accept and execute an agreement to amicably resolve
a special education matter in accordance with a confidential agreement between.
The district and the minor child parents.
May I have a motion to approve the Special Education Settlement agreement?
Some of Perry
second seconded by Kemp.
Is there any discussion?
I would just like to ask in the future for any of these types
of agreements that the board be provided with the actual
agreement document prior to the Thursday before.
We're voting on that and would ask that it not be executed
by the party before we're able to read the full text of the document.
Okay.
Is there any further discussion?
Okay.
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor say aye. Aye.
All those opposed say no.
The motion carries the approval of the memorandum of understanding, Mr.
McFarland.
The administration recommends the approval of an FTA Memorandum of Understanding
for Trade days, effective the 2019 2020 school year.
May I have a motion to approve the Memorandum of understanding?
So move.
Second, Lindsay and Murray, is there any discussion?
All this is standard voice vote.
All those in favor say I, I.
All those opposed say no.
The motion carries.
The board recommends a citizen advisers as listed.
May I have a motion to approve the listed citizen advisors?
So moved Second, Lindsay Emery, Is there any assistant?
Is there any discussion?
Can I say something? Sure.
For all of the citizens advisors
who did not get a position, it was so incredibly hard.
Every single person that applied was overqualified and eager
and this was a very, very difficult.
They were just tough.
And I wish that we could find places for everybody.
And just the fact that that many people want to volunteer their time,
we just it was impressive.
And it just makes me proud of our community.
So I want to thank everybody, even those that didn't get it.
It was for none other reason than it just everybody was a superstar
that came forward. So we all you.
I just want to echo that as well and say that
being on the H.R.
committee and going through all the applications
and having to try to find a spot, it was not easy to
to have to turn anyone away because there were so many qualified individuals.
And I also just want to make sure that
those who were not selected for this year understand that every single year
there are vacancy that are created in one of those spots,
I would encourage people to keep coming back and also look at other committees,
you know, in different areas.
But yeah, thank you for your comment.
I agree as well because I was on our committee and it was
I mean, the quality of applicants was overwhelming.
It was just fantastic.
And unfortunately we had too many applicants and not enough spots.
So that was a tough, tough thing to go.
But we hope they come back again for another round next year.
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor say I, I all those opposed say no.
Motion carries approval of Hammer Associates, Architect Mr.
McFarland.
The administration recommends the approval
of Hamlisch Associates Architects to develop schematic design plans
for renovations and additions of the 322 turf field concession
at a cost of $8,713.
May I have a motion to approve
Hammel Associates Architect for the schematic design plans of the turf
field Concession stand so moved Maria
second and Lindsay. Is there any discussion?
Yeah, I have a question right now. Oh, no,
I just.
I'm still having a hard time with this concession stand.
I understand the need for it, but this approval of the 8000
is just part of 30,000 that's needed to even proceed with the project.
That's not even the cost of building the concession stand yet.
So 32,000, just to look at,
you know, the plans, everything that's involved
with getting ready to build it and then not even knowing how much it's
going to cost to find a builder and build it.
I just feel like we're getting up into a lot of money
more than I'm comfortable spending at this time.
So I'm just going to be voting no for this motion.
Oh, you think it disconnected?
Yeah.
Well, why or not?
My question was,
and I know there's this has there been any discussion about mean this is the
the figure of develop the design but within the committee itself
has there been some discussion about
what would be the overall budget for the for the concession stand.
I think that we've been struggling with that for quite some time
and we really were kind of moving without a road map.
And this is really us.
All of the information and the pieces that we need
to be able to go forward and start getting our bids.
We went about it kind of in a
backdoor way before with Crabtree
War Bonnet came back, I think it was $250,000.
So that's we hit pause totally rewire
wound started back from the beginning.
We got Scott Govern and
Mark Anderson the whole general services.
We all went out on site.
We looked at it, we tried to grasp what we were dealing with.
We really defaulted to two markets and Scott for some feedback
and felt that we were at a good point to move forward in getting some real
tangible plans that we need to get so it can be built.
But until we have every but every contractor needs a set of plans,
so they're all bidding on the same thing.
So we're comparing apples to apples, not just replacing a shared
that somebody was generous enough to make with basically like
a full service restaurant that Crabtree Wambaugh was proposing.
So that's where we came here.
And this is the price to move forward to get
the drawings made so we can get to the next phase.
Thank. Thank you. That's very helpful.
And just just to kind of give a history of that, this has been going on
for a year now that the original estimate that came back from Crabtree Architects
was for a 600 square foot building, this new building.
And we've gone around and around at different ideas
and we've now come to the conclusion that we do not need to
demolish the existing restrooms and storage area.
We just need to add on to that building.
And they did a preliminary sketch, which is 252 square feet,
which is about 90 square feet, bigger than the current shed
that we have there, and that everyone at the district
and everyone worked in that concession stand, including Scott.
Governor, our agreement that it has to change.
There's no hot water, no running water is deteriorating
and we host events there if it's unsafe.
So we do know that the that and I don't know
if it was even attached to the agenda that the plan that is now
is in addition to the building of 252 square feet.
So we have that pretty much set in stone.
So we need this drawn up.
And these these drawings will be the detailed drawings.
Where does the electrical run, where does the plumbing run,
How do we get the hot water into it?
How do you attach it to the building?
The other the, the part that you're referring to, the 32,000.
Now, Mike, correct me if I'm wrong, but we are not 100%
if we're pursuing Hamlet to move forward with this.
The rest of the biddable documents, we can
we can get the drawings done that
Well, that would be my question.
I mean, to me, this just 8000 in a whole 32,000
that we're going to sink into this before we even start building.
And that's why we did not approve the 32,000.
So this would be the getting the schematics.
And like we've had the the other we had a Crabtree grow bar
and then a private company command and provide about
$130,000 estimate for
the architect.
Hamel Once they go through and develop these drawings, we'll be able to
once again give us a ballpark figure based on what they see in construction.
Once they have what will go into the building,
they will also provide it once again,
the high level, but an estimate of what that building will cost.
And then the school board can make the determination
if they want to continue along with that process,
which would incur additional costs to go through the bid.
And you are right that you know that
if the board decided to go out to bid, we would pay that money,
that $32,000 essentially to be able to get to that process.
That would also construction management.
So once you've essentially set it out to bid, you're noting
unless those bids come back ridiculously out of whack with the estimates
that you're probably going to follow along and get the project accomplished.
We've
had some discussions and disagreements about what they think will provide,
and I think this is just another avenue that we'll get back another estimate
and determine the board can determine how and if they want to move forward.
But you're only approving this point.
The $8,713 for that schematic drawing.
Is that from a civil engineer?
That's from the architect
and how it would actually tie in to the existing building as well,
because you have to figure the roof line and everything.
It's not just adding a rectangle onto a square, right?
There's a much more involved in that my only question is does the compared
to last time when we had received a bid or an estimate
that was $250,000,
the proceed to number that we tabled and then came back
and decided to send back to committee was around 80 $500
in January and February when we had done this.
I just and that came with an estimate
that was obviously far outside of what we were willing to spend.
I was curious compared to that
where the committee feels we are,
you know, is it based off of the mark And Scott
looking at it and just seeing this initial drawing versus
what they gave us before, and that we were authorizing
80 $500 to proceed on, which we didn't authorize,
I think we were now.
Versus that.
Well, if it's like two and if it was 80 $500 on a $250,000 project,
what we thought could be right now, we don't know.
It was I don't think it was 8500.
It was 32
as I pulled it out.
But it was just it was a civil engineer, 84, 85,
which is what prompted us to table.
Well, if it was 32, that's even lower on a more expensive
building, 32,000 was to get a 32,000 forward
with everything that was that was civil engineer sewer.
It was it was geothermal investigation.
All the site surveys, all the coding review and and allowances.
So that was 32,000 for a $250,000,
600 square foot building which they were replicating from the track,
which was like a restaurant style concession stand that we don't want,
we don't need.
So we did not approve that this is a different avenue and a different drawing.
And this drawing is is exactly what we need.
But are you saying after we get this
$8,000 rate, the cost that I also saw,
the 32,000, that's something that could be lower as well?
I would say no, That's the proposal from that architect.
If we go with this,
I would assume that we would continue to use that same architect
throughout the entire process if we move forward.
If I could just interject, I think all those prices we got before
we didn't pay a dime for
and we didn't like the outcome of that process.
So the converse is, are we willing to pay to
to get that next step to understand what that's going to cost
and then make the decision from there
how and if the board would like to proceed.
But I think that's a little bit of the difference that's going on right now.
All the numbers that we had shared with you before,
we had gotten through various means of discussions
and, you know, with Crabtree Roybal, that was our contract at the time
and how they would provide costs before we proceeded with project
and the alternative that we went through with the Keystone Purchasing network,
which we got about $130,000 price tag
when we went through that process, once again, that didn't cost us anything.
This is a plan.
Now that
that that's what we're seeking.
Can can can we pay this money so that we can get once again
get that ballpark figure of what that may be?
It may be maybe don't hold me to this.
It may be $200,000, it may be $75,000.
But you're saying after this $8,000 that we spend,
we will have a good idea of how much the whole project would cost from?
I would say yes, you'll have a number that will be within 20%
of of the final total, and we'll be able to vote on that before
we would proceed any further. Absolutely.
And to even to do this project, we have to go through a process
to get a schematic design and biddable documents, correct,
lead to bid the project, which we can't get it to bid to find out
a price who can actually do it, come back
with like three different bids from multiple people.
So this is a step in the process that we have to take to even move
this forward, correct? Correct.
It's we're going to send it out to bid and not use
like the Keystone purchasing network we've already gone through.
That's not weren't satisfied with the numbers came through there.
So this is the only other step we have that we have not taken
is to start down the process to bid it out.
The 80
$700 that you will be approving here, all that you have to approve
and then you'll be able to make you have another decision making point.
When this information comes back.
He'll have a range of what he believes that's going to cost.
We won't know what it actually costs until we put it out to bid.
But if the board is satisfied or feel satisfied with that number,
they would have to approve an additional.
I don't have the exact figures in front of you, but
the 24,000, because it's 32 total, that includes the 83.
So it's another 24 to move to biddable documents, construction documents
and all the stuff that goes along with site approval and correct.
Correct.
So you will have another opportunity to make you're not committing to anything
by approving this other than continuing to gather information.
Okay.
That helps to clarify. Thank you. Tip.
Yeah.
So just I think I think we we all understand that
there has to be a new concession stand and.
I think we all understand that
there needs to be a schematic before we can have biddable documents.
I think the concern is
we don't know exactly how much
we're willing to spend on that concession stand despite the fact that we need one.
We know it's not going to be 250,000.
But if you say that, well, we're only going to spend $75,000 on that.
But yet all the documents are 31,000, that that is that's that's too high.
So think that
there are other architect options.
You know, I had a chance to discuss,
you know, and
I mean, I get that we need this, but I think
we should be pretty clear
that that it's very likely that we approved this 8700
and we're going to approve the the rest of that to get to get to 32,000.
And then if it goes out to bid
and we're only going to spend 75,000 total, it's going to look, you know,
like we spent a whole lot of money for
as a as a portion of the total project.
So I maybe maybe to get the schematic, but we should look for other architecture
other architects options before sinking the rest of the money in
and and less. We get a
some sense of how much total money we're going to spend on this project.
I would agree with that and I'm prepared to vote against it.
I'm concerned about what looks like budget creep.
I mean, we're going to get into this and then we don't know the outcome.
And I appreciate the need for the stand and I understand the need for the for the
from the work up.
But the numbers are seem just to be a little more high.
So in my opinion,
what's the alternative?
I mean, if we don't get the design and
get what we need in order to know
what we need, what we would even be going to bid
for the Army on an impasse then?
Hmm. Mm.
I was at the General Services Committee meeting.
I'm not on that committee, but I attended the meeting and I heard Mr.
Gordon speak and I heard Mr.
Anderson speak.
And I feel comfortable
getting giving the go ahead
to make process move forward.
I feel like Kathy
and I'm sorry if it sounds a little bit defensive because we have been fighting
for this and trying for this so long and we've gotten some just ridiculous
things that we've been like, no, we're not doing that.
We have just put so much time and effort, energy.
And I do think it really is unfortunate
when you do have new board members come on and then you try to bring people
the whole way up to speed from like,
you know, conversations that were going on so long ago.
We're at such a good place with this.
And I feel this gives us a roadmap.
And before we were kind of shooting in the dark and
unfortunately, you know, we
should have done this back then, we wouldn't be at this.
And I feel very comfortable that this board made this
this General Services committee that we currently have made the decision
to pull in. Mr. Anderson and Scott Govern.
You know, and really,
Kathy, who's been a voice for I don't work in the concession stand.
I have no idea.
You know, I've tried to educate myself.
I feel good about the number.
I feel like we need to you know, to Lindsay's point,
we need to start somewhere.
And we put a lot of work and effort in getting to the point that we are
right now.
I also just want to clarify the numbers I made
before were misleading in the way that I was reading them
because I was looking back at the last one and thought maybe
maybe just cost $30,000 to get to where have to be regardless of the size.
So just for clarification purposes,
when I look at the difference
previously we were being charged as a percentage fee to go out to bid
of what the estimated project cost was.
And in this one we're not.
So from that perspective it's significantly less
for that for that process.
So I didn't want to be misleading
in what I was questioning before.
PERRY Yeah, I just had a couple questions.
I am fully supportive of of renovating it
and bringing it up to sort of sanity
saving, sanitary and safety and and so forth that I also feel
we need to do it in the most economically efficient way.
So I just have a couple of questions.
This company, this architect, is this through
our new architect of record that we got, how did we secure this company?
Mr.. Mr..
Andersen contacted them,
So no bid? No.
Correct. Okay. So to Mr.
Shaw's point, Dr.
Shaw's point,
it sounds like we can just talk to architect,
if we'd like to, and get a bid for similar services pretty quickly.
So Mr.
Andersen did when we were onsite and having these conversations,
he said that he he basically is bringing his years of experience
and it was a recommend decision that we trusted him to make.
So he said, I worked with these people.
They're good people.
He had a previous relationship with them.
He felt that they were very fair.
So we're really, you know, trusting and putting some weight
into what he was bringing to us as his recommendation.
Okay. So that was my what just one question.
He was
just we're able to just reach out from a procurement point of view
and talk to an architect and say, would you mind giving us a bid to do these
services?
That's correct.
Any service we have that, yeah.
Okay.
The second thing is
the schematic that we currently have
my understanding of what we're what we're talking about
now, evaluating and approving is
the schematic design,
which does not include the,
the technical specifications that you need
to put up a building.
It's not the bid documents, it's just a schematic and the cost estimate
or two or three examples of a schematic and a cost estimate
is what we currently have would if we were to show that to our
this architect, would they say that was a schematic?
What kept just held up?
No, it is not okay.
What we're what you're paying for will be more detailed will have
so it will be not it will not be the document that can construct from.
Right.
But it has a lot of good information that that's the starting point.
So what the architect will do is look back in his records to see
what was the cost per square foot for electricity for something like this.
What was this cost per foot that I've noticed for,
you know, plumbing for any of the other things.
And then that's
after he does the schematic, that's where he's going to develop that estimate
based on those generalities.
It will be in a in a very general sense, we're not getting something specific. And
so just just going along.
So and just to note, Terry, to to kind of go further,
we went through Crabtree Road Ball.
They provided about a 250,000 that we through the other system,
through Keystone purchasing network and got 130,000.
So let me just ask the question.
So to to Judy's point and Kim's point,
if we're going to get any cost estimate with the schematics,
we know it won't be 100%, but it may be 80%, 80%
accurate.
So at that point,
we could say to this architect, if we decide to hire them tonight,
that, look, we're not going to pay 13,000 for construction documents,
we're not going to pay $8,000 for contract management for $75, 75,000.
Our project was not going to do that.
So we can either negotiate those dollar amounts down with them
or we could go to another architect
turn right?
Sure. Okay.
So we still have a lot of
leeway here.
I mean, flexibility, we're not we're not committing
to overpaying on subsequent services for this
for this architect.
And we're maintaining the flexibility, even though it wouldn't be the best
course of business probably to retain a new one
if they can't meet prices to move forward with construction,
if we decide to move forward with construction.
All right.
Thanks, Mike.
And Mike,
you know, I won't hold you to this, but you feel reasonably confident that that
this schematic that Hamlet would produce would be we'd be able to get within
about 20% of the total project cost of the schematic?
I do, yes.
So this is really an investment into getting closer to a number
based on what we've decided on,
because I don't think that we can look at the fact that of it was built before.
I mean,
and the other right now, it needs we need we need it.
We need a blueprint to take to get bids
where everybody's doing the same thing because.
Somebody was like, Oh, we can do it for 60.
And then they came back and it was 120 and,
and we like, that's why this is to me, like, here it is.
This is the plumbing, this is the electricity
this is what we need.
This three people tell us how much.
That's why this is important to
having something very solid and tangible to hand.
So there's no real room for interpretation, which is why
we were all over the board the old way we were going about it.
Okay.
And I just wanted then would be able to look at these costs again
because it looks like we're even double paying, like the
schematic design drawings.
I mean, there's 6 hours in there, but then it's totaled at the bottom
and you're paying someone else for those 16 hours as well.
So it's like a lot of, you know, if they're doing the schematic drawings
for 8000, I don't see why we pay 16 hours again
of that time for $105 per hour.
So it seems like there's a lot of extra costs and maybe
that could be looked at, you know, after we do the schematic design,
because that's very confusing that you would pay again in 16 hours
for something that you're paying $8,000 for and then have to go and pay
those amount of hours at, you know, eight of them at $105 per hour.
But you already have the drawings.
So it just seems it's you know, there's some duplication there of pricing
that I would hope that we could look at
if we were going to move forward with that after we pay this 8000 and not
pay more for drawings that you already got.
And I'm referring to the document
I know the public can't see this document is something
was reviewed in general services, but just seems like
maybe there's some costs there that shouldn't be there.
Okay.
Any other discussion?
Let's do a roll call process.
Yeah,
it's if we if we wanted
if this motion is defeated,
if we wanted to gain authorization
to look at other architect bids
to do the same type of work,
what's the time?
What's the time frame within which it would take for that to occur?
Do you think,
to solicit other.
Yeah. Architects. Do I,
I don't know.
The RFP would have to be developed.
Well, no, because I mean, if we just marked as called those people so
so we could ask them to call a couple of other people.
Sure. Okay.
And so how long would it take to get a bid back after that if we did that?
I don't know.
Okay.
But probably would happen
pretty quickly, I would imagine, if they were interested in the work,
we could provide a I mean, we could call people and say,
you have to get back to us by the end of the week.
If that was our time period, we can set that.
But responses would be, you know what?
They would be. All right. Thank you.
Do any other discussion,
Mr. Friend,
can you do can I just to seduce witness
the schematic design under any proposal by phase,
do you have anything from going through it in more detail?
Number four underestimated.
Ours is the schematic design drawings.
Right.
And that's where 16 hours is. Right.
But that's the schematic design drawings.
That's not the same thing
as schematic design
in the fifth in the phase.
Are you asking me a question?
Yeah, I'm asking in the If you look down here at the key.
Right.
The first one's done by the
I don't know if it's like the overall architect, the way
I'm reading it and then the graduate architect puts in another 8 hours.
So I don't know what they're doing.
And apparently drawings isn't the same as schematic design phase.
Look, it's not your patient, right?
Is that like their review of the overall is that their review
of taking it to a drawing level after the schematic design is done
just to address Judi's point of their
not being duplication or not?
I mean, that doesn't equal the same number anyway.
If you look at 8 hours at 100, it's confusing.
Why you would need both is I guess, part of my point.
I don't
I think they're itemizing it out by hours.
But the bottom is just the phase which could encompass one four, eight
portion of each.
And I don't know, I mean, I, I'd have to have them
we'd have to have them come and present, I suppose, to explain this.
Okay. But Mark was comfortable.
I mean, Mark Lane, Mark's experience in receiving these proposals
and all of that, he was comfortable that there wasn't duplication of features
in the way it was broken out.
Defining to
him as the professional that has experience.
I am not an architect
and I don't do construction law much enough to be dangerous.
But if you look through the sheet, you have the schematic design drawings,
you have design review meetings, you have review or drawing revisions.
I think so much of that 8000 is incorporated into that scale.
But I see what you're saying,
but it's still included in the other hours is what concern was right?
You had that 8 hours for the graduate and 8 hours for the primary architect,
which is part of it, 12,004 thousand.
But then you're also paying another 8000 for.
So it's kind of seems to me like it's you're counting the hours twice.
But I see what you're saying.
Think any further discussion, Mr.
Friend's roll call vote?
Mr. Abel No.
Dr. Cronan,
We lost or Ms..
Drew?
Yes, Miss Tavistock? No.
Ms.. Memory?
Yes, Dr.
Shah? Yes.
Mishka? Yes.
Mr. Singer? Yes.
Ms.. Stoner?
Yes. And just one more.
Dr. Cronan.
We don't have
no more seven years to know
or I'm sorry, suggests to now.
Okay, So the carries
we approved him on to do the design.
Next, we are casting votes for the Pennsylvania School
Board Association officers for 2019.
Mr. Friends,
do you want to walk us through this?
Mr. Thicker I would recommend because the President
elect, Vice President and the PSB trustees,
there's only one
nominee for president, only one nominee for vice president,
and we are to select up to three trustees and there are only three trustees listed.
I would recommend the board take that action in a standard voice vote.
Okay,
So may I have a motion to approve the School Board Association officers
for 2019 of President elect Vice President
and the PSB Insurance
of the three trustees listed there.
So moved second name Maria and Lindsay.
Is there any discussion
and all those in favor
say I, I and all those opposed say no.
Okay. The motion carries for those officers.
So for the next the forum steering committee
that it's at the bottom, there are three individuals listed.
Last names are la para bard and casement
and the board is to elect up to two of those individuals.
So this we will go through a roll call vote.
When I call your name, you'll provide the vote for the two people
that you would like to select.
The information is on the screen
for those that you'll be electing.
So we're on the forum steering committee.
We can only elect up to two and there's three names listed
as everybody caught up to that screen.
And then we'll just you'll say your two names correct.
Give everybody a second here to look through some of the information for you.
And I have not had a chance
just yet.
All right.
I will start the process.
Mr. Abel. Yes.
My approach will go to Para and board.
Ms.. Drew,
I'm sorry.
My computer's, like, on the verge of dying.
And, you know, I see it now.
I mean, I was looking.
Yes, Got it.
Thank you.
Okay.
My vote would also be for
Lapera and Bart
subsisting for a Lapera and Bart
Mimi and Bard,
Dr. Shah, Lapera and Bart.
Ms.. Sicker.
I'm voting for Lapera and Tessman.
Mr. Singer.
LeBaron. Kinsman,
Miss Stoner, Lapera and Kinsman.
So we have six votes or eight votes, I'm sorry, four Lapera
One, two, three, four, five for board and three for Casement.
So that would mean that our
we have approved Lapera and Bart.
Okay. See the majority of the vote.
Thank you.
Approval of transit, Van.
Mr. McFarland
Thank you.
The administration recommends the board approve the purchase of a 2015
Ford Transit van from ANA auto sales
and service in the amount of $17,700 from the Capital Reserve Fund.
May I have a motion to approve the purchase of a 2015 transit van?
So moved
Maria
second and Lindsey,
is there any discussion?
Kay This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor say I always opposed.
Say no to the motion carries.
May I have a motion to approve the listed resignations.
Some of
Lindsay
second.
And Judy, is there any discussion?
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor say I others oppose.
Say no K A motion carries
personnel. General Mr. McFarland.
The administration recommends the approval of the listed personnel.
May I have a motion to approve personnel, General?
So moved Maria
second and Judy, is there any discussion?
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor say I was opposed.
Say no.
Okay.
The motion carries delegate report.
Mrs. Mimi, do you have a CAIR report?
Nothing more than what was attached.
Thank you.
Okay. And, Mr.
Abel, do you have a downtown Hershey Association report?
Yes. There's a there's a written report forthcoming.
It'll supplement the record, but quickly, the board met on October 1st.
They reviewed a number of the achievements throughout the year, including the,
well, one of the upcoming events they want to talk to people about is October 27.
October Fast, they review the the summer market
and they also talk about some
street streetscape improvements that are coming
and some of the new business coming in downtown.
But that's that was the the some of the report.
All right.
Thank you very much.
Board member reports.
Are there any board members who would like to give a report?
I would.
I wanted to report on the Better Together Hershey
Collaborative Group that met.
I filled in for Judy, and I was very happy
because now I'm totally sucked into this group.
It's it's a great group.
It's a new group.
But I think this was only the second meeting.
Is that right?
And it's a collaborative group among different community members,
primarily instigated by Penn State Pro wellness,
but also partnering with director of Parks and Recreation, Penn State House,
The Joy of Sports Foundation and Our School Board.
And the the purpose of the group
is to create sort of these action teams to
work together with other groups that are already
in existence in the community so that everybody can sort of connect.
There's a lot of really great groups already doing great things, but they might
necessarily know about the other groups that are also doing great things.
So the purpose of the group is to sort of get everybody connected to sort of spread
their goodness throughout the community.
And the four action teams
that they're focusing on are a diversity wellness,
physical wellness, nutritional
wellness and mental health wellness.
So again, this is still in the very initial stages
and currently the group is working
to look for people to head up these action teams.
So if you know of anybody that might be interested in any of these topics,
myself or Judy now I have now
joined the team, so I'll be seeing more of you
because I and also interested in the Diversity Wellness Action team.
So if you don't mind, you know, I actually think
it would be very beneficial to have two board members on that.
And I was going to talk to you about that. Cathy Okay.
And I do think Tricia would be a great fit to be on the committee.
So I don't know if that's something that has to be voted on, but I think
it's just more beneficial two of us there than just one.
Yeah, it was.
I mean, it's a great team.
There are researchers and I used to work in research,
so we all kind of geeked out and like a research health kind of way.
And it was really fun.
So yeah, so it's a it's a great, it's a great team,
but there's and there's lots of other areas for everybody to get involved.
So more to come.
Okay, great. Thank you.
Any other board member reports?
Okay. Mr.
Macfarlane, do you have a superintendents report?
I do a brief one. First.
I just want to say that we had a wonderful, incredible conference today.
It's not just for our professional staff, it is all of our staff.
So it's all of our support staff,
part time, full time, and all our professional staff and administrators
and just want to say a huge thank you to the professional learning community
and to Dr. Winslow for organizing the day.
Some of the things we talked about today in safe schools and how do we
help all of our staff understand what trauma informed schools look like
and how do we provide for the emotional and social needs of kids.
They were sessions provided and what is really about that
is we have some outside speakers
that we have a lot of our own staff that are presenting,
and we even had some of our support staff
presenting today on wellness and things like that.
So fantastic day today.
And then just for the community
this Wednesday will be walk to School Day.
It's a true community partnership of pulling together the school district.
Community members and neighbors
are entities, police department, everybody
to really promote the idea of of healthy living and walking to school.
And there's even the idea that if you live too far out to walk safely
is to have a parent or somebody drive you in close and then walk to school.
So hopefully the weather will cooperate and we'll have a great day.
It's a two hour delay to one or two, right?
It is.
It yes, it is a healthy re understands as two hour delay tomorrow.
So you can sleep in tomorrow morning for a little bit
because what we'll be doing is is professional development.
It actually gives us a time now to go into our buildings
and our departments and sort of debrief the conference and
set some action plans in place.
Joe, I just had one question about that.
I like.
I'm happy to hear that
there is an alternative for those that live further away. Yes.
Is that going to be made known to to the students that that's an option?
I know the original
note that I saw
that went out, I didn't see that part in it.
That was from a community member pushed out.
I'm not sure how that was shared from the community side.
Okay. So that's not on the district side.
Okay. No, but I'm sharing it now. Okay.
Thank you.
Board President Report.
Next week we have the pandemic, a school board association
conference at the Hershey Lodge, and we approved that tonight.
Six board members are going.
So thank you for your time.
And Linsey Judy, Maria and Tricia.
You're going for all three days, and John and I are going to do the one day
that fits into our schedule.
I am what he said I am.
You are signed up to go.
Okay. I know what's. Going.
Oh, okay.
And we are still working to plan the full board retreat.
I believe we are leaning toward the Tuesday, November 13th date.
Does that look like that's going to be the day?
Yes. I'm just waiting for one board member to confirm, but the rest of that week.
So it's likely Tuesday, November 13th.
And we are going to instead of come here for professional learning,
we will will be going out for a team building and bonding experience.
So I'll be pretty excited.
Something to look forward to for for all your hard work.
We're going to have some fun
Tuesday, November 13th.
Usually, you know, 530 to 830.
So mark your calendars.
I want to go a recognition 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.
Yeah, those don't.
Okay, nobody's here.
Monica.
She's not coming to the microphone tonight.
Okay.
The next public board of directors meeting will be held October
22nd, starting at 7:00 in the district office of Directors Room.
May I have a motion to adjourn this meeting?
So moved.
Second, Maria and Judy, all those in favor say I always opposed.
Say no.
Okay. We are adjourned at 914.