WEBVTT

METADATA
Video-Count: 1
Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=gUzJASIsuzI

NOTE
MEETING SECTIONS:

Part 1 (Video ID: gUzJASIsuzI):
- 00:00:01: Meeting Opening, Calendar Review, and Agenda Overview
- 00:01:03: Board Secretary's Report: Budget, Finances, and Tax Schedule
- 00:02:09: NJ School Boards Association Resolution on Healthcare Costs
- 00:03:04: Transportation Jointure, Special Ed Services, and Placements
- 00:04:09: Consultant Agreement, Instructional Assistants, Trash Removal
- 00:05:31: RFP Evaluations for Special Services and Referendum Discussion
- 00:06:34: Discussion on the Breakthrough Coach Management System
- 00:10:34: Update on Meeting with State Representatives on Budget Issues
- 00:15:15: Drivers of Healthcare Costs: GLP-1s and State Plan
- 00:17:17: Discussion Continues, Thank You for Attending Meeting
- 00:17:36: Discussion of South Jersey School Funding Cuts
- 00:19:52: Operating Referendum Discussion: Goals, Timeline, Scenarios
- 00:23:28: Referendum Language Specificity and Attorney Consultation
- 00:26:29: Money Projections, Labor Costs, and Anticipated State Intervention
- 00:28:12: Update on Lunch Payments and Food Service Finances
- 00:29:54: Curriculum Updates: Field Trips, Recognition, Garfield Matters
- 00:34:22: Review of Inclusion Task Force Report and Future Discussion
- 00:36:28: Personnel Items: Substitutes, FMLA, Retirement, and LDTC
- 00:37:02: Wellness Center Continuation and Personnel Listings Approval
- 00:41:07: Review Organizational Chart and Staff Member Dollar Amounts
- 00:47:18: Discussion on Mental Health Support Services for School Districts
- 00:49:17: Concerns About Staff Raises and Motion to Table
- 00:54:16: Debate Over Executive Session and Respect for Board Process
- 01:01:12: Policy Updates: AI Use, Violence Reporting, and Harassment
- 01:06:28: AI Policy Flexibility and Unified Campus Job Descriptions
- 01:07:07: Question on Special Education Tuition at District and Bus
- 01:09:18: Gratitude for Wellness Center and Support for Garfield Kids
- 01:14:53: Public Comment: Cara Boiler, 90 Summerfield Avenue
- 01:16:32: Public Comment: Robin Hogan, CA president
- 01:21:42: Motion to Adjourn Meeting and Move to Executive Session


Part: 1

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Fair point. That's fair. Yep. >> Should we add the orientation to the list as well? >> Yeah. This is a big calendar for May and June. So, everybody take a look at that over the next couple of days if you don't

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mind. And let us know if we need to add So, uh, routine business, we're going to pass that next week. Move on to, uh, student reports, which is not happening tonight either. We're going to do that next time. Um, and then the superintendent's report is also going to be next week. So, we are going to move

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on to public comment, which is also going to be next week. Although, we will have another public comment section at the end of tonight's meeting for anybody wants to come up and talk. And now we'll go on to Miss Coleman's board secretary report.

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I apologize. Ever since I got back, my allergies are like crazy, so I'm like drinking a gallon of water. So I keep clearing my throat. I apologize. Um item 10.01 um is your April um monthly budget transfer report. Um 10.02 are your

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financial statements uh cash flow analyses uh and treasures reports for the month of April. We are in a good cash position right now. So, that's good. Um, and 10.03 is your student activity cash report. And then items 10.04 and 10.06 will be loaded um by the

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time by the board meeting. We're still working on those. Um, and then 11.01 through 11.08 are all those items. First item for approval 11.09 is the tax remittance schedule um that goes to the bur. So, it's basically we just take the

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tax limit that's in the budget. I do a payment schedule and both the bureau and I sign off on it. Um, So that is for approval to send over to the bureau. The next item, and thank you Matt for pointing it out, I will fix it. Um 10 11.10

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um New Jersey School Boards Association sent a resolution out to all the school districts in the state of New Jersey urging us to pass a resolution urging the state to do something about the rising cost of healthcare. Um I went on May 1st um and spoke to representatives from Luke Greenwald's

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office about this issue. Um, but at least school boards in their totality, they're doing something. I know my state association is doing something. So, we're all screaming that something needs to be done. Um, so I think there's a typo in there. I think because this went out statewide, so I think they are wrong

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county in here. So, I will fix it. >> I think also just the state senator and assembly representatives keep the speaker and president. Yep. All right. We'll edit that tomorrow. Okay. The next item 11.11 is a

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transportation jointure with the Rancokus Valley Regional High School. Um it's a we have a couple homeless kids. Um we recently approved not in the last few months we approved tuition at Rancokus and then all of a sudden I got a bill from them for transportation. I'm like hello what? You never sent me a

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contract. So um this is squaring away. We're going to pay Rancokus. Um, you're the representative. So, listen. Okay. Um, 11.12 is just approving Candy County Ed services um

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commission to provide um the following um special ed uh services for us. So, they do our transportation, our vocational transportation, and they help with CST evaluations on an as needed basis. And the price list is attached.

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um 11.13. And I apologize, we didn't put the special ed out of district placements on the agenda this time last year, so I apologize. It was overlooked. Um so this is actually the kids that are placed out of district right now and then by the end of the school year, you'll get one for 2627 of anticipated

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placements out of district. The next item is uh approving an agreement with um Malachide Incorporated. um the breakthrough coach. They're going to provide consultant services um to the district's administrative team um on

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June 29th and June 30th. Basically, it's a professional development for all the admins and the administrative assistants. Um and this is being paid out of um in the PSA contract. They have each administrator has like an aotment for PD. They pulled all their PD money

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um to bring this coach in for two full days of professional development. Um item 15 is an amendment with ESS for our out of district or for our um outsource instructional assistance um

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and with the increased uh prices attached the addendums and I believe I have to go for an RFP next year for these services. So this probably the last year that we can do an addendum with them. Um 11.16 is an annual appro um agreement with the bureau of Oakland because they do our trash removal in the district.

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Um, and the amount of that is $40,000. Um, item 17 is um approving V virtual health to be the provider of our physical therapy services for next school year at the rate of $85 an hour.

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Attached to the agenda item is RFP evaluations. Um, my office, we've been going through hundreds of RFPs, so we may be adding more RFPs be before Monday. If I do, I'll let you know. I'll let you know. If not, the rest of them

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will be on um uh next month. Um but we actually go out this time of year for all of our special services, OT, PT, any related services that we don't provide um in-house um specialized nursing onetoone, that kind of thing. So, we're be we've been reviewing them fast and

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furious uh myself with the child study team. And as they as the um reviews come back, I've been putting them on the agenda. And then under my discussion item, I guess we go I don't know if you want to wait till the end, Kelly, but I have

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the recurring item of the talking about an operational referendum. So I we can pause here and discuss or I can continue to go into personnel and we can come back later whatever you guys want to do. >> Yeah, I think we can do it now. >> Okay. >> Yeah. But can I also ask you um tell

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tell us more about the breakthrough approach just out of curiosity. What kind of topics are you guys going to be talking about? >> So yeah, I'll I'll group coach. It's um the easiest way to describe it, it is a

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management system for instructional leaders. And so uh one of the things that our leaders have been asking for us to do is to help them uh be able to more effectively carve out time so that they can dedicate a larger percentage of their time focused on being in classrooms, coaching teachers,

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supporting instruction while instruction is taking place. And so the breakthrough coach it is um it's a uh a national model. There are only two uh companies uh nationally that actually do this work. Uh one is called uh school administration manager or SAMs. The

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other is Breakthrough Coach. Um and so what they do is it's a two-day intensive uh training. It's about seven to eight hours each day. The first uh is specifically for what is called the school executive. And so uh principles,

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supervisors, assistant soups, you know, uh the superintendent, all all of us learning together. Um the second day is u implementation with your assistant. And so it takes a team in order to implement, takes a year to learn, it

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takes three years to master. Um and so we started doing an introduction uh with a small group of our uh principles and administrators at the secondary campus this year. We kind of gave them a preview or a snippet. Um they asked for us to um do the due diligence in order

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to uh bring in more formal training because they wanted uh better tools especially given u with the reductions. Uh the need for priority management is more important than ever before. Um, and so, uh, we will be hosting the breakthrough coach coming in. It'll be,

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um, all of our administrators and their assistants, uh, and and Oakland. Um, and, uh, we are, uh, potentially looking at um, hosting uh, up to uh, 10

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additional teams, which they would pay an honorarium to the district uh, to be able to come in because they believe that the group setting is is is most effective. So, we're investing in our um our administrators. >> Sounds excellent. Um does just out of curiosity, does Oakland help pay for it?

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>> Yes. >> Okay. I mean to to that to that piece. Uh this is I want to shout that I think this is a example of a really um great kind of like result of negotiations because

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specifically during our last negotiations last year with the uh principles and supervisors association. One of the things that that we discussed with them was putting a clause within the contract saying, "Hey, you can pull to pull together your um PD funds in

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order to bring someone in um uh rather than having to send people out." And so we can get more bang for a buck. And so in the contract, uh each uh administrator that's part of the administrator's union is uh um allowed $2,500 per year for PD. So this is a

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basically uh you know, I guess at least 10 people pulled or nine people pulled their their money together. Um, which allows us and it seems like it's also be paying for like the secretaries too. Um, and then if if the organization brings in other teams they pay on your

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area that's that's also even more amazing. >> Breakdown ends up being about 1,100 per team >> um which still leaves all of our administrators they still have um roughly half of their contractual PD for something else but they surveyed their

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members and they felt that this was going to be meaningful and helpful for them to be able to do their jobs. >> Yeah, it's really exciting. I I think that's like a great success in terms of of um our negotiations process and and seeing this happen is pretty awesome.

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>> I agree. Thank you. Um do you want to just talk a little bit about I know I did send everybody the update that um Kelly Hle sent us regarding the meeting that you guys had with um Greenwall's office, but would you like to share anything so that the public is aware?

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We also updated the presentation for Monday. So there'll be two slides for the public on Monday. But on Friday, May 1st, um there were six of us. It was the um superintendent from Washington Township Public Schools, the board president from Cherry Hill, myself, the

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board president from Haden Township, the superintendent from Eastern Regional, and Pitman. Um met with representatives from Lou Greenwald's office. he couldn't be there, but it was his chief of staff and three of his staffers. Um, and the

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point of the meeting was just to go over um local school districts uh issues with their budgets. And they asked for specifically things that the state could do today that could help us, things that

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maybe 12 months to a year and then long term, two to three years that would help us. So, we went in with a a three-page document that I believe I sent to you guys um of things that we came up with, but some of the notable items were um healthcare.

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Uh we threw health care on on the table. Um just enormous costs. I don't think they fully understood just just how high the premiums were. And I said, "You do understand in the next 12 months, full family coverage is going to be $50,000

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um for full family." and um the cost sharing is just not enough at at that price point. Um so that major changes need to be made on how we fund healthcare. Um we also talked about unfunded mandates that they push down

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onto the school districts that we're forced to pay for. A lot of long a lot of it's on the issues of like extraordinary aid. We are allowed to apply for special ed costs once they exceed a certain dollar amount. But what the governor does, they put a line item in the budget for that and then

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depending whoever applies, they prorrate it. So it's not like we're getting every additional dollar we have to spend, it's prorated. You're, you know, you're sharing it amongst everybody else in the state. Um the issue of pilot funding came up. That's a hot hot hot topic.

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um the topic of regionalization came up and I mentioned to them once again you know if they wanted to come and study Collingswood Oakland I said because I just I don't think the savings are there I said you need to prove it to me and they we also discussed the they

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need to have um the way it's written right now the grant districts come together and hire a consultant right but the reports are all different so to me it makes more sense to have the state maybe hire the consultants so you get consistent data and the reports are

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consistent. So across the board they kind of read the same and there's it it just they're they're kind of all over the place. So we asked for a consistent model um on that and then of course overall we talked about just uh how they have to um uh redo the school funding

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formula. Um we brought to their attention that um South Jersey in particularly in this last round um of budgets and school school cuts, school funding cuts, South Jersey was hit inordinate in

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inordinately harder than everybody else in the state. Um 52% of the districts that got cut are from South Jersey. Um so we screamed a little bit about that. um that there's there's really not parity on how they're doing that. So, those were some of the topics we hit on.

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We were there um till about 5 five 5:15 that night. So, it was almost a two two and a half hour meeting. They took a lot of notes. We gave them information and now we're gearing up for a fall campaign um to kind of uh they did they did seem

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to hint that the governor although she probably won't want to tackle it in her first year, but after she gets her first year under the belt, they're probably going to want to start tackling the school funding formula. So they're talking about doing a fall campaign, like working all summer and then gearing up in the fall to have everybody kind of

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do a hardcore press on um Trenton so that starting December they start working on it. >> Given like that meeting um the the uh the resolution that that we're putting up for consideration and I just uh conversations with members of the the

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joint investment fund. What are some of the that are driving the healthare costs up so that they're just so astronomical right now. >> Um GLP ones if you ask anybody. Um the costs and I I I sit as as your as your I

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sit as your representative on the shift, the board of the shift. So we see the claims that come in and every month we get like the top the top three highest line items like they always show you and it's always the GLP ones. Um I'm sorry. The main issue for that is

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and unfortunately, you know, they come out with a new drug, you got to suck up the cost for I don't know how many years, then the patent runs out and then everybody gets a generic. But the way it's been explained to me is, and it upsets me every time I see a commercial and they say, "Oh, take Monero. It'll

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now help your mental health or it'll now help, you know, your long-term, you know, chance of Alzheimer's." Every time they add a new um use for it, it extends the life of the patent. So right now we're all looking at these ginormous

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health care increases and I'm thinking there's going to be a light at the end of the tunnel. But every time you see that commercial and there's like oh studies have now found these weight loss drugs now help keep you from going blind. Let's say they're going to add another seven years of the patent on. So this is going to be like god knows how

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long. Um so um so yeah and of course the state health benefits plan is not helping the situation. um the state is not in the business of running healthcare. They should have never done that. But what happens with that is

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they make that their their Cadillac plan is like the marker. So every district you're you're measuring yourself against the Cadillac plan. So the Cadillac plan in my opinion has has to change because everybody wants the Cadillac, right? You don't want a Toyota when you get a

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Cadillac. Why would you? So their model is based on this Cadillac plan. And then if you're a district that can afford to go somewhere else, meaning you have good experience rating and you can afford to go somewhere else and play pay lesser rates, you leave the

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state plan and you go somewhere else, which is why we're not the state plan. who's left in the state plan are those plans that the plans are not run efficiently or they have bad experience or they're just very expensive groups to manage and that's driving driving up the

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cost. Those are the two things that I see when I look at the reports. >> We um talked at the last meeting that I had with them. I'm glad to see that they've kind of rallied around the fall campaign because that wasn't really a topic that they seemed interested in

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at the time. So, um I want to say that and I also again I know I did this in person, but I want to say thank you publicly for attending. We really appreciate you being there and you're a great voice to be there to advocate for all of us. So, thank you for going and thank you for sharing all that information.

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>> All right, operating referendum unless anybody has any further comments about that. >> I have one question for Beth. when they when you said they talked about South Jersey um was the lowest funding or they got the most cuts, was it? >> Yeah. >> Do they have stats on that? Like did

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they say was it broken down? >> Um I think I have an email. They they I had a list of the districts who got cut and most of them were from South Jersey. So like Collingswood, um Pitman, Cherry Hill, Washington Town, like Yeah. most

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again if you look at the number of school districts, it's like 52 to 53% of the cuts are below trend. >> Yeah. On the on the DOE website, they have by the school districts see the change from last year >> and the argument they make like, oh,

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cost of living is cheaper in South Jersey. That's why you get the cost index, you know, like we don't we don't even get a dollar's worth of state aid because that they put that geographic cost adjustment. So like if they're funding you for a dollar because you're in South Jersey, we only get 93 cents on

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the dollar because they say our property values aren't what they are in North Jersey. That that just doesn't fly anymore because our property values are going through the roof down here. So just that's all part of what has to be discussed when we look at the funding formula. It just doesn't hold water anymore, you know, doesn't make sense anymore.

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Well, hopefully they um very seriously take a look at that and start the process of uh revising that so it makes more sense and we're not having these conversations all the time. >> Do you want to talk a little bit about the operating referendum?

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>> No, you're fine. I'm fine. Um all right. So, we've kicked off um the ad hoc group to really start to think about how to frame um what will be kind of gathering people's feedback, balancing getting feedback from the community while also bringing them closer to what would be

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the ideal amount we're hoping they would um uh vote for. Um so, we like to anchor to and have pre- discussed this with Dr. McDow and um Miss Coleman around kind of what are the ranges. So, we're looking

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roughly uh I need to look at my own summary um five six seven and then a stretch one would be super Cadillac but unlikely that will present with the aim to 4.567

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I rounded everything up >> um because we rounded up to keep it easy um yeah sorry yeah so we meant to do halves and so when we met as a group we said let's go for five, six, seven. And part of that is to allow enough cushion for maintaining our current um staff and

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then really quantifying the programs and how much if you're we're really prioritizing wellness well plus this plus that so we can say this is what would get us to these different buckets. So we're hoping to use actually the next round table to say we've heard that

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these are the areas of interest. This is please give us your top three to help us inform what comes in that for lack of a better word to use what would be captured in that scenario. Um we're gauging the ranges that we also use the like per household rate we will need to

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anchor to assuming that it probably most things increase but would hope study that last year when we went for our tax levy incentive six million was about 100 per household. So that's roughly where we landed is that we're probably the sweet spot. We hopefully be able to get everything most things and people around

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the six six million mark. Um so we want to use the round table to gather feedback on what are our priorities that we want to invest in from a um staffing and programming wise and then have talked about roughly how much is athletics, how much is a wellness

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center, how much would support staff be so people can really understand if you want support when you say that that is 100 thou 100 110k. Um so if you want 10 of them that's this much. So if we're only going to give six you're going to get this many. So we so people can really understand the

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trade-offs. Um so we want to start to understand what people are prioritizing to then help us over the summer start to have really solidified scenarios for these different ranges and start to again when we get back to school get back on the road and start to energize families around. We want to we're going

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for our operator operating referendum and it's going to be for this this this this um and using just like we have the ability to go to every PTA meeting. We want to do the back to school nights and PTA meetings to get feedback and also partner with the bureau to get communitywide feedback since we know a significant portion of our community

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doesn't come through our school channels. So trying to figure out how we're going to package and communicate. Well, I would love to go before November. We probably need the time to bring everybody along and reduce our expenses, but the aim is to get this on the referendum. the referendum for November.

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Um, so I the goal from my perspective is that by the summer everybody here sees here's what each one would look like and what the middle would cover these so that we're really specific. I think we're really getting asked to be specific. If I add this, what would the what outcome is going to change? What

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would get better with additional investment as well? um so that we can really get ourselves pitched together around support for this referendum >> for the November um election. The I guess what's what's our sequence of votes? We have to vote in se

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uh early September. So basically by the August board meeting to to get the to get the language. Is that correct? >> It's 60 to 90 days. So November >> August meeting for the That's why we need everything. So by August we have

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what we're gonna the wording and then we're going to get on the street to campaign for that wording. >> That is the sorry I should have been more specific about that. Yeah and Bethan's given us all of the sorry um there's roughly three

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regulations I'm trying to read through to make sure we're meeting all the marks of what how wording what we have to include. How do we say it? >> Yeah. What I sent you was the the first one I sent it was the the code and then the other one was the law that was passed by Murphy. >> So just making sure we're meeting all of those stipulations. But by August we

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will be voting on the language that we will be putting out for November and camp and kind of pushing that messaging and communication and campaigning from that point on. >> Right. And then and as that means then before a little while before that we have to get our ask to the bond attorney

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so that they can draft the the language for us to vote on in August. >> I'm going to check because we're not issuing bonds. I don't think we need the bond attorney to write it. I just need an attorney to write it. And to be honest, I've got a copy of Robinsvilles. How hard is it? But no, you know,

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>> I would I would I would say that we >> but I'll probably have the attorney look at I don't know that we need our specialized bond attorneys about issuing bonds. It's just the form of the question, >> right? I I I will I will say that we should definitely have uh the correct attorney look at it because looking at

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the Montlair uh the there have been lawsuits by people attempting to stop referendum. >> It needs to be very specific. >> Yeah. Yeah. Because of the wording. >> Yeah. >> So, I think part of our goal is to get as specific as possible. So, this the wording is really tight to prevent that

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and then make sure it gets through. Are we all on the same page around what? and then also meeting the hearing from the public what their perspective is, balancing that with where we want to go and then making the words get as close to that as possible. Um, but specificity is the frame here to keep it tight and

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keep it precise for those who want that level of precision in terms of what is just going to be right. So trying to meet those needs. So gathering feedback is why the round table will be bumped up. It actually coincides with lots of people coming in this building. So hopefully it'll be well attended and a lot of feed, you know, so that will

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help. Um, and then you know we were talking about going to the farmers market like we need to get out there um and planning to get to every meeting we can. So trying to quickly get words in front of everybody to start to pressure test and meet up. For sure. I think something that's maybe also

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important when we think about the amount of money too is um if we can do projections about like let's say we do I think the options were four and a.5 million 6 million 7 million is that okay >> well like we're trying to figure out if it's going to be 567 or four and a half so you know I don't know what people feel

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>> something right but like let's say you know let's say uh let's say options are 567 5 million six million or 7 million is is um like what what we plan to be able to bring uh in with that money. And

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then uh with kind of anticipated uh year-to-year increases in labor costs and in inflation, how uh paired with our um 2% cap, how long that will last until

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we can expect to potentially have to either uh like lose stuff again. Um hopefully it can be planned in such a way that it would be far far enough out in the future for some serious state intervention to to have happened. Um,

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which in my opinion probably would be like five years at least. >> Yeah, I think we definitely have heard that we need to be clear how long will this be so we're not in the sky is falling again, right? That that is an immediate expected outcome in addition

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to then how does this support the qualities and academic experience. 100% the data we need to start crunching to tell this story and its impact. >> Do you want me you want to go now? I'm sorry. Merit up.

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>> Can I ask one just sorry Beth as you're choking on something before we leave this section. um uh you at the the last meeting you had sent an email out about this about the lunch um about lunch payments and one thing was if you could just speak to where we are with um our

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lunch the lunch balance and everything I just want to make sure we touch base >> yeah I wanted to I wasn't at the last board meeting so I wanted to clarify so I I tried to not not be too accountant in my email um a few things we're in a positive cash position in the food

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service that's one we're not running a deficit. That's that's what I reported to you guys. We're not running a deficit. So you look the first foods or financial statement. It's not in a deficit. This time last year it was. However, we still have a lot of uncollected charges. So when you what

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happens is so if somebody comes in and charges just like you do on your credit card, I'm booking that as a potential revenue, right? Doesn't mean I got the cash. So, our financial statements are in the positive because I have a a lot of uncollected revenue, right? But cash,

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it's okay, but it's not great. The cash should be about a 100 grand higher than what it is because I'm sitting on a lot of money that people aren't paying. So, I've booked the revenue, but I haven't gotten the cash is the easiest way for me to say it. So, what I reported was true and what Steve reported was true. But he looks at it, he's the one that

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actually looks at the cash every month and he does the cash reconciliation for me. So he's more worried about cash on a daily basis where I'm looking at the overall program. That's basically the difference. All right. Uh curriculum. Yes. Hi, good evening everyone. Um I'll

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run through the uh agenda items and then I have a few other updates as well. Um so items 12.02, 03, and 04 are field trips um coming up for the end of the year. Um, again, if you link look back at the uh future

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dates and miscellaneous items, you'll you'll be able to see that there are many fun happenings um in the last weeks of the school year. Um, although 12.03 says none at this time for the middle school. Um just a a point just a point of clarity that um probably from about

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January onward each spring we see a ton of field trips getting put in on every month kind of proactively scheduling ahead for all of the end of year uh festivities. So I don't want it to read as if there's not any field trips happening at the middle school. It likely means that they were approved last month or the month before or the

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month before that. Um item 12.05 um is one student's medical uh uh home uh home instruction approval and then um just some updates and other

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uh other information from me. Um so at our board meeting on the 18th, we will um formally recognize and celebrate this year's teacher and staff members of the year. Um, honestly, one of the real highlights of my of my role is getting

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to read the beautiful nominations that um that people submit for their colleagues um and sharing that with others to uh to make our make our selections and um so I look forward to um joining you all uh for that on

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Monday. A great a great tradition, a great opportunity to recognize our wonderful staff. Um, two, um, since we were together last month, uh, this is an update on, um, Garfield, um, Garfield Matters, um, since we were together

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last, um, all current Garfield families in grades kindergarten through fourth grade have now received their, um, school reassignment communication um, as of last Thursday evening. Um, I want to

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particularly thank our Garfield um, elementary working group um that's been coming together now for a few weeks. Um and in particular just want to publicly acknowledge and thank that team for pushing uh me and the district to get

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the get the communication out as quickly and as soon as possible. Um and we were able to bump up our timeline by by a little bit to give families and kids um the information in a a more uh in as thoughtful a manner as possible. So, I wanted to just publicly acknowledge um

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the working group for for that, especially among among a lot of other things that we're working on together. But um we were then able to use last Friday um at Garfield as a chance to make sure that kids and families were doing as well as possible during what we know is a really uh a really tricky time

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for um everybody involved in the Garfield community. Um uh let's see. Um, last but not least, uh, I just wanted to give a friendly reminder and plug for our weekly S'more communication that our school leaders

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and school teams spend a lot of thoughtful time um, putting together that communication tool to ensure that families and our school communities have a kind of a one-stop shop resource that brings um, brings all of the happenings

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um, to one place at the end of at the end of the week. Um, uh, when when our s'mores go out, we can see the hundreds of people who receive and read them. Um, and I just want to use this as a as an as an elementary mom myself, I know this is a really busy time of year with a

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million different things happening. Um, and so a friendly reminder that that's more as a great thing to take a quick look at at the end of the week. Um, to make sure that you're aware of all of the great things happening in your in your children's schools. Um, and it goes up to our middle school and our high

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school as well. Um so um continue to look at that communication tool. We spend a lot of time on it and on our side and so we help hope it's a useful tool for families as well. Questions comments for me thank you for all that. Uh I don't have

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anything any questions. I just want to say whoever does the um calendar updates that's a lot. So kudos to them. Thank you for job of trying to organize all that. >> Um before we shift away from curriculum uh for board members review um under

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discussion items uh for me I've added uh for you to be able to take a look at um uh the inclusion task force report. And so um it's it's been synthesized. It's a six-page report broken down by purpose

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and process, benefits for students, um the current state of inclusive practices within our district, uh related activities and partnerships, district strengths, um identified barriers, and then a summary of overall recommendations with a suggested um uh

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uh and potentially evolving fourphase plan, which uh leaders anticipate will take uh several years uh to fully implement uh for you to be able to peruse and then begin generating um questions, but I wanted to put it in

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your hands um because that's the work that we did um this year. And so just special thanks to uh CPAC, special thanks to our special education department um for leading this really important conversation. Our commitment to inclusion has not wavered. Um there

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are multiple ways in order to be a more inclusive school district and so this factors in some of those things that we can do uh over the next several years. So please take a look at that. Um definitely uh will be uh much needed

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discussion in the weeks months to come. >> Thank you. >> I just took a big gulp of water. so they don't choke. All right, moving on to personnel. Uh item 13.02 is your travel expense form. 13.03

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um is a long-term substitute replacement teacher for the middle school. A 1304 is revised FMLA. 1305 is an FMLA. Retirement of Bginina Tatum is a 1306. uh child safety team is very excited

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about this and so am I. But um 1307 we're finally um we are approving an LDTC. Um we've been on the search for one for quite a while and we found one and we're very happy to be onboarding uh this teacher 13.08 um issuing a contract to Isaac

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Mendelson. >> Okay, pause. >> So we'll pause really quickly. Um what 13.08 08 uh means u is that we will be uh continuing to operate the wellness center. And so we were able um to

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continue working with our counseling department um and made some strategic decisions based on feedback from students, based on feedback from staff, uh based on feedback from the board. Um and as I look at the sign, we will be able to continue with crisis management

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and intensive therapeutic services. um even even in the midst of the unified campus. And so we're really excited um to to put that back on the agenda. >> Okay. 1309 is a revised contract. 13.10

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is a um say I say there's no name, but Go ahead. >> Yeah. By the time the agenda goes live on uh on Sunday evening will have a name attached to um 13.10

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and 13.12 but um processes and interviews and final logistics are still happening with 13.10 and 13.12. >> All right. Thank you. 13.11 is a listing of your uh preschool to grade 5 instructional assistance in the district. 13.13

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is a listing of your grade 6 through eight instructional assistance in the district. 13.14 is your grade 9 through 12 instructional assistance in the district part-time. 13.15 is your elementary lunch aids. We still have at least one opening out

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there. 13.16 is your elementary lunch supervisor for newbie. Um 13.17 is a listing of your preschool through grade 5 permanent substitutes um at all of our elementary buildings.

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13.18 is your grades 6 through eight permanent subs and 13.1 is our high school permanent subs 13.20 is um approving our school security staff for next school year. They are all hourly staff and um no

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benefits. 13.21 is a listing of the unaligned staff in the district. These are all people that are not um included in a collective bargaining agreement. 13.22 22 is a listing of all the building service employees. 13.23 um is the submission of mine in

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Meredith's contracts that have to go to the county office for review and approval before um the board can approve them. 13.24 is a listing of those staff that will participate in the annual AED trainings um in July and August. 13.25

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25 is a listing of all the staff uh reassignments and transfers. Is that sneeze? I was going to say God bless. There it is. If you're suffer suffering like I am, it's one or the other. Excuse me. 13.26 is your spring or

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summer preschool hours. 13.27 is the listing of summer ESY staff. 13.28 28 is your CST summer IEP meetings. Uh 13.29 is your summer CST staffed and shared service staff with Oakland.

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13.30 is your summer related services staff. They also come in in the summer. Um 13.31 is your 2026 two excuse me, your summer psychology intern assessments. Uh 1332 is your summer CST assessments.

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people who will be doing assessments. 13.33 is a listing of those staff that we will be acknowledging at the board meeting um who will be retiring or who have already retired from the district. And then if you want to do your

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discussion item do Dr. McDow item 35 >> also for uh your review is um under discussion items is uh the uh proposed uh 2627 organizational chart um where you will see um some of the breakdown of

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roles and responsibilities. Uh one of the major um new u changes is it reflects uh the Garfield closure and it also reflects the uh unified uh campus structure uh which we will also be

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presenting on uh next week uh public publicly um for you to be able to peruse as well. >> Um tell me if this is an inappropriate question to ask but I uh some dollar amounts attached to

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various staff members across the across this um whole thing. Is that for different different things? Um is that how do you come to those dollar amounts? Is that like set in the contract? Is that negotiated ahead of time? How do you get to these dollar amounts?

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>> Which item are you referring to? >> Well, there are dollar amounts for I see dollar amounts under section 13.21. And then I see dollar amounts under section

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13.26 and 13.27 and 13.29 13 and then 13.32. if you could shed any light on how that

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you know how those numbers come about what that what that process is. So uh okay so 21 start there it's unaligned staff

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um unaligned staff um those are salaries based on um general uh rollover rollover costs for many of the positions. We also look at regional uh competitiveness specifically as it

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relates to unique um um operational roles and we make strategic adjustments based on what the county um is also paying some of our other folks. It also includes a redistribution due to the

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collapse or the abolishment of one of the uh business office positions. the collapse um of uh the roles or the redistribution of some of the roles and responsibilities within the context of folks jobs. Um so for 21 um you also

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said uh CST IE CST so that is contractual so there are contractual rates for summer work specifically for CST um and then those those breakdowns are on a case by case basis based on the number of cases that they support seeing

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as how they they they're 10-month employees and so they work um some of them are working per DM. So for example, our counselors are working per DM a certain number of days. Uh CST works based on cases and then

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evaluations are also based on the specific evaluation. Uh backing backing up to the social worker piece, uh was was that basically a situation where there was I guess another trade-off made in order to be able to to keep um the our social

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worker? >> Yes, we looked at um students served um total number of students served in the intensity of what was being requested. Um, we also we also talked with students and so um a lot of the advocacy came from students that were actually the

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recipients of direct uh therapeutic services. Um I sat down and I spoke with um the leaders of the wellness center. I spoke with the leaders of the counseling center and the leaders of the uh high school and the middle school. Um and we

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and we we we made a trade-off. Um because what we believe is that based on the intensity of services that are being provided, specifically crisis management of intensive in nature average between five and six cases, but a running case

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load of 120 to 150 uh ongoing um therapeutic uh students receiving services. Uh we believe that that was the the right tradeoff. Um given without having those

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services uh it also did not allow us to be able to bring in interns which increases our overall capacity and so the expectation uh for this particular the restoration of this position is that they would be an integral part of the MTSS team. Um we have unfortunately

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relegated MTSS to behavior and attendance at the secondary campus. that's not the intended purpose of MTSS. And so when we talk about academics, we talk about social emotional and behavioral, it all has to be factored in. And so when we met um with um the

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staff member and their supervisor, uh we talked about the future of MTSS given that we now have tools, we now have a structure. Um and they were happy happy to do so. Uh and so we're also looking at potential uh partnership um with uh

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one of the local universities uh specifically focused on anxiety because that seems to be one of the reoccurring um levels of need. Um and so looking at adding in um uh interns to be able to extend the

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reach specifically related to uh small group work. uh we will still be able uh through that particular location, we'll still be able to provide the more uh real-time and intensive uh uh services and support uh and we'll be integrating more effectively the mental health

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component into the MTSS to remove that as a barrier to why students are struggling academically while looking at those tier 2 and tier three interventions. And so um really excited really excited about it. >> Have we had any any luck um with because

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I know are a few organizations out there that are trying to offer kind of like support mental health support services for school districts um on a supposedly no cost basis to district. I don't know

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like I think was it virtual I think maybe had one or temple maybe also had another one I don't know >> temple um so we're exploring um based on our our partners thank you Chris based on our partners um in Hadenfield uh through the Temple University um anxiety

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clinic uh for an a nominal fee um you can get two to three days per week of uh student uh counseling and student services specifically looking through the lens of of anxiety. Um

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with a uh a doctoral fellow under the supervision of uh either a school psychologist or a licensed clinical social worker uh which helps just extend the reach and then it also opens up our access to be able to use the resources from a major research one university. Uh

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and so we're we're currently exploring that that relationship. >> I have comments about 13.21. Um, these are significant increases for some of these positions. And I think

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it's extremely tonedeaf to get rid of so many different positions and while also giving 10, 16, 17, 19% increases. >> Maggie, before you continue, I appreciate that. I know that some people have some concerns. I would like to make a motion to table this line item and go

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into executive session after the meeting so we're careful not to talk about specific >> sure >> positions second >> I asked for that earlier but I requested to talk about >> so I mean so the motion there was a

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second right um >> so and One thing I I'll mention about this motion is that if we're talking about um uh salaries in general, those are discussions that I believe have to happen in public. If we're not talking about a specific staff member or so forth, those are discussions that

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>> I'm not asking a question about anybody's specific person. It is salaries attached to job descriptions and jobs. >> I I would I'm going to just interject. I know others want to chime in. Um we that they're very basic questions about salary. How do we get here? But we want

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to be really intentional that they're also still listed on the agenda. So it's almost like we implicitly by asking the question the assumption is you're asking about a person versus the role. So I think we just want to be intentional about allowing for free discussion in an

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executive session. I agree we should be able to at this table to say for level at one it is this and this is how we get to that. But I don't think um because the individuals are listed next to it then it becomes deeply personnel specific based on our discussion. So

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that is the intention of being mindful. >> The the logic there doesn't quite make sense because if that's the case then we would have would we have had to rice the employees because we are claiming that we're speaking about them specifically. >> The board members are not saying they are talking about we are trying to be

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measured. >> So if we're not speaking about them specifically then we have to talk about it in public. >> I'm going to respectfully interject. And so we're talking about deliberative processes that directly affect personnel and the evaluation of staff. And so um

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we can have those deliberative conversations in executive session. Um we're not talking about specifically about terms and conditions of employment um which avoids the the rice, but the deliberative process um is a is a

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protected process. Um, and so if we're going to have that discussion, which I believe that it's appropriate to do so, it does need to be in close session. >> I guess I'll I'll push back and say that it seems like the the overall question that's trying to be discussed here is

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that uh there are uh uh staff who are not in uh any of the unions who have uh increases to their salaries uh and that uh some board members disagree with increases to their salaries. uh and and

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that that is the the overall discussion. Right. Right. So um that to me is not a discussion that that right there. I mean that's something that we can discuss right here that we would actually have to discuss in public. Um

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>> have we have we consult >> I would also argue >> to council and >> their recommendation was to go into executive session but be careful not to mention specific people. Is this something that we vote on >> to go into close session? >> We've done the motion to go into close

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session. Uh, brother, I I think we are trying to balance um the ability to have a conversation and I agree we need to figure out how to have it in the in committee of the whole, right? I I don't and so we asked for guidance got the

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guidance to do executive session and I still would agree that we need should be able to have it about roles and compensation as part of our committee the whole process. So we need to just keep working on that. >> So I guess is there a vote now on that motion?

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>> So the motion is to t table the item >> the motion is to >> Well yeah we're not voting on anything tonight but we're just going to the motion is to go into close session. move the discussion to executive session, but we'll do that. >> Can we do that at the end of this meeting? >> Yes, we'll do that after the meeting.

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So, we'll just move on to section 14 and go on from there and then when the meeting ends in the journ, we'll go into executive session and have a discussion. >> Is there I guess a vote now >> I believe. >> Yeah, just do an all in favor. I got a a first and a second.

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>> Okay. Uh so I am uh there is a motion to table section 13 item 13.2. 21. Um, and I'm sorry, >> no, we're not voting on it. Just >> motion is to go into close session. >> Yes. Go into close session regarding

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section 13. Section 13 or 13.21. >> In favor? >> Nay. So, I I want to mention something because I think I think the discussion that we're probably about to have in in executive

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session and the discussion that has been had multiple times on this board, including last week when it came to uh a $5,000 program um uh that our that our staff needed to to use to uh assign

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students to their schools. is this sense that there are certain folks within our district who are open and okay to attack. Uh and that our job as a board is to go in and and micromanage the

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specifics of of what our uh staff have been hired to do, which is to run our district. If we are worried about the cuts that are happening next year, I ask what did we do this year? Because last

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year, I just want to be very clear. Last year, I had the chance the privilege of being board president in January. By February, we had a resolution out asking the the the bureau for more money. By uh uh March, within two months, we had an agreement with the bureau to prevent

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cuts to our school district. By April, we had to start introducing a tax le program. By May, we had passed a historic tax raise to pay for our staff, to pay for our our schools, to be able to pay for a 3.9%

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uh raise for our staff this year. Biggest ever. But all I've I feel like I've heard this year has been through months through this budge pro has been $5,000. What's going on here? >> $10,000. What's going on here? With all due respect, Roger,

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>> what are we doing if not bring in more revenue? >> I think it's I think it's it's fair to have to for people to have questions and to uh their judiciary responsibility in order to be able to vote how they feel like it. And I think that it's fair to go into exe executive session to have these conversations. I appreciate all

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that you brought up just now, but I also would like to remind everyone that 90% of the time everyone is voting yes. And on the few occasions that we are voting that people are voting or are questioning things or asking questions that should not be seen as an attack and it should just be seen as let's have a

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conversation so we can all come on the same page. That's all we're trying to do. >> So I'm going to just ask I um I will also offer that as a someone in my own professional experience cuts happen everywhere. It's your supplies, it's

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your bonuses, it's your PPL pay. there. Everyone has to tighten their belt and frankly we're going to go bring people on board to increase their taxes again. So I would offer we are not sitting around idally and hoping the state gets it together. But I also very

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respectfully expect that everyone from the top to the bottom every role is doing as much as humanly possible to do more with less because that is the expectation today. And so I will say I have professionally had to make sacrifices myself to keep my staff and I

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will ask the question what are we doing to do that and I think we should be able to because in se October July August September we are going to say pay give us more so we can keep things going and we need to make sure we can say that at every level

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we've done all the things possible to say pennywise pound foolish and I'm asking that we are allowed to have a conversation Is there other opportunity because a lot of and anywhere you look everyone takes a hit and so the optics are also part of this does it feel like

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we have done enough at all the levels I'm not suggesting anybody saying no it's allowed to ask a question because not every role is in a contract and outlined not every role has a schema so if we ask a question and it can't be answered that like I don't know what the harm is in a question just like you are

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able to ask a question make statements clarif assume that people have mal intent when they're asking a question. So, I'm going to ask that we respect the fact that people can ask questions for clarity and not and and and leave it at that. >> Were these questions asked and answered?

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>> We asked them and did not get answers. So, so there were so no answers were provided when they were you were as asked >> because I I'll say this because >> well I'm going to talk about the general thing here because the questions were

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answered what seems to be a the issue here is that we're we're spending money on staff. What I see here by just doing my own calculations is that we have cut a secretary, dispersed their their uh uh

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their roles across multiple other staff, >> right? At >> I'm sorry to a cost that is much less. >> Do you agree to have an executive session about this topic? Are we going to continue to talk about it? >> Yes. Thank you, Megan. Um yes, I would like to go into executive session about this uh discussion. Um,

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>> again, this is this is not something that this is something that that we can talk about in public, right? What I'm saying right now is there's nothing about there's nothing at all about this that is that is uh uh that is individual

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specific personnel. I'm talking about the concept right here overall about the fact that our central office has cut a position and then used part of that that savings to be able to get that work done by

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giving stipens across apparently across other positions because they're asking other people to to do that same work at a much so overall >> these are not stipens these are raises so it's not a stipen so it's but it's not a one-time thing this is a raise for

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these people. >> Again, we're advised by council to carry this out in executive session by council. Right. >> Time out. Time out. We approve moving to executive session and we are going to do that. Let's respect the process. Unless there is a motion to move this back to

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the agenda so that it is not in executive session, we need to move on. >> I'm just discussing personnel section items. >> Okay. So, so everyone else's comments, we will stop making them until we move to executive session, right? Unless there's questions for the team to

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answer. So, please go ahead. >> All right. So, uh we're going to move on to section 14. Uh first read in this section. Uh >> yeah. Um so in 14 um

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we'll be we'll be moving them for first read, but we wanted the board to actually have an opportunity to look at them first before we move them to first read. And so there are three uh well there are two policies and one one uh uh regulation u uh one is new which is the

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uh acceptable use for uh AI. Um and so that is attached. Uh we had an AI task force u led by some of our uh staff. And so the first uh part to developing a comprehensive plan is uh a

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board policy. And so the goal is for uh the policy to really set the conditions for what the plan will have. Um, and then it gives uh the task force the opportunity to work on the plan throughout the summer and present a more comprehensive plan to the board in

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August uh in time for uh for us to start that work in September. Um there are revisions being recommended um uh policy 8461 reporting of violence and vandalism. And so what we're seeking is just to align the policy with the

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procedure of of reporting u to make sure that we are honoring all of our contractual obligations. Uh and so for example uh monthly hibs and then u by uh uh and then twice a year are our SSDs

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reports. And so there's one slight u uh word change um in the in the recommendations u for the board. Um and so uh 2365 is a new policy which would require a first and

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second read. Uh and then 8461 uh and uh and in regulation for 8461 would be a revision. >> Thank you. Um for 8461 with that revision I just want to um clarify that that any change that we would make would still follow administrative code.

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>> Yes. >> Yes. Yes. Yes. And so the uh the recommended revisions are uh highlighted uh in in the document for you to be able to review. Um 14.02

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is a second read on policies uh 4352, 3362 and 2530 uh sexual uh harassment of both support staff and and certified staff which are being abolished and absorbed by other uh policies. And then

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uh 2530 which is revision for uh resource materials um 14.03 there are no regulations um at this time uh questions I'm sorry that's yours

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does anybody else have anything to add on the policy stand these added really late in the day because I did not see these this afternoon yeah so the first >> first reading. Yeah, they weren't there.

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>> Well, they >> I think policy 8461 was there. I don't remember seeing the other ones. >> So, they've been in administrative content for a couple of days. Um we just knew we knew we put them in there on on Monday. We knew we were going to have this meeting. Um but yeah, they've been there since Monday. So are there

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selections for for uh 2365 that that we need to do or is was there recommendations from the the group um the AI group for the suggestions for the like sections?

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>> Sorry. in essence um uh all of the the recommendations um are being recommended to be able to move forward and so we would select all of them. We added uh the one that's highlighted in yellow. That's the only

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thing that is new other than the um uh template that we was was sent to us from Strauss SMA. And so with inst um 12 and so oh I'm sorry we added two um

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uh so number nine and number 13 are new everything else was already included in the strame um and so with nine it was making sure that um the board had reserves the right uh to determine what is or is not

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appropriate in terms of AI platforms that are that are used. We talked with our uh tech leaders to make sure that we were meeting all of the uh legal uh obligations as it related with any acquisition of of new technology. Um and

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then 13 was just making sure that there is a plan for annual staff training. Um technology is changing so rapidly. We want to make sure that staff in our policy are required to participate in in in uh in ongoing professional development. It's not, but we're schools and with

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everything else that we're asking our educators to do, annual is about as good as we're going to get right now. >> I'm like quickly reading through the AI policy and does this allow like um a teacher the flexibility to say you cannot use it in my classroom? Okay. All

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right. If I was a teacher, I'd be out of here. Okay, thank you. Moving on to section 15. I presume we'll have those reports next week. Yes. Okay. >> Um 15.02 are just uh revisions to uh uh

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existing job descriptions specifically related to the unified campus um for for your uh perusal. Uh general note, uh we uh collaborated with PSA leadership uh to get their feedback before uh presenting this draft to the board for

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approval. question. >> Can I ask a question about another section? Can we read? Sorry. Um because it just came. So 11.13 is special education tuition um at a

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district and it looks like maybe busing is there for CCTS. I'm guessing that's Camd County Tech School. Um can you just let me know the justification of why that's under special ed because I don't think

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that qualifies as special ed but curious of why it's there. Uh 11.13 uh special education placements says uh CCTS various students 38 and then >> this is just a tracking sheet we keep in

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my office of every child that we place out every child I have a contract with. So we have a contract with CCTS. >> I want to be I I want to be clear though. I think that 11 I think you're talking about 11.12 because >> No, it is on the spreadsheet that's attached to the item that you said. I keep a tracking of every child that we place out of district to make sure I

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have a contract on file. >> So that does include the 38 kids at Candy County Tech. >> They are placed there. So because they're placed there, they are they can get transportation. >> I can probably just change it from special ed to out of district if that's

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suitable because county tech is out of district. >> Um line item. So >> it's several line items. So I can just change the description. It's out of district. But it's everybody who's placed out >> or who is out who we're fiscally

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responsible for. That makes more sense. >> Can I can I go back to 13.08, the one for the wellness center, um, which I thought never should have been chopping block or to go anywhere. I hear a lot from my children about this one and I'm very grateful that that it's

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staying. Um, but I was just also thinking, is there anything in place for like the Garfield kids that you know transition is really hard for for children and and can be very traumatic. So even though they're placed in all these other schools and we're keeping them on the center here, what about

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those kids? >> Uh yeah, I agree completely, Danielle. Um I mean I'll I'll start from sort of the like the right now uh in terms of how we're supporting the transition with the students and then I think your question was more so forward forward looking as well but um actually I'll

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take it in reverse order. um uh maintaining elementary wellness team staffing was a budget and staffing priority um this spring and so um we will we were able to to maintain the three staff included in the elementary

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wellness team. Um uh that that would have been a priority regardless and we felt like it was even more heightened this year with the trans transition coming up for uh all 113 Garfield students. Um, we've leaned on that team heavily already in the last several

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weeks as students have first learned the news of Garfield's closure. Um, process those feelings and emotions at at school with their wonderful dedicated teachers in the classroom, but also the elementary wellness team. Um, and we leaned on them he heavily again um last week after the reassignment letters were

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were shared out. Um, additionally to that, um, as part of our, um, you know, sixmonl long transition planning and continuity of care plan for students and families, um, all Garfield students now that the reassignment communications

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have been shared, will participate in a walking field trip to their newly assigned school on the 27th. Um, that's for the students specifically. They'll go during the school day and get to visit their their new school during school hours. Um and then in June, um

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all newly assigned Garfield families were will be invited to participate in a family and student social event at their newly assigned school um before we part for the summer. And then on and then additionally, we know that um

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some students may need a um a higher level of care and support through this time. And so we're connecting individual students by by family request with um uh new buddies, for lack of a better word, for new buddies in their in their newly assigned school so that kids and

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families can have formed an a connection and beun begun to build a relationship um uh over the summer uh and heading into the school year. Um and so I'm probably missing I'm probably missing some other things that we have

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incorporated, but those are kind of the the headlines um that are already underway. >> That sounds All beautiful. Thank you very much. Um I know my daughter and granddaughter who were at the high school love Mr. Medson and they were very concerned. They were going to come

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here and they were like, "Mom, I know you're on the board, but I'm coming up to voice my opinion last month." And um so we're very grateful because it does mean a lot, especially what's been going on in the past few years in Collinswood and kids and stress and trauma and everything. Um I think it's most

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important that they that we have that also. Um I I can't remember We had like um a presentation but it was something about and I know Roger asked about it for and you mentioned Temple and um partnership. I remember I thought before we talked about something with Center for Family Services. Do you remember

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that there was something? >> Yeah, we we we have partnerships with them. Um much of that was was grant funded. So there's some of that that we're going to be able to continue and salvage. Um but it'll be scaled back just a bit. So we're still working through all those details. We leveraged

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um the work that we had to do. And so I think that, you know, we always say the budget's not the budget until until it's the budget. And so we were able um earlier uh through um some strategic uh decision

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making to be able to salvage the elementary wellness team um based on their reach um before the last board meeting. That didn't mean that we stopped or deemphasized or didn't value at the secondary level. we just needed

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more time and so we communicated that with um the leadership of the counseling and the wellness team that we were still working. Um and then once we had secured um permanent funding for the role then we met we talked about what the role

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needed to to evolve into they came we all came to agreement on the pathway forward and then we were able to put it back on on the agenda and so we just simply needed more time. The compact nature of the budget process is very problematic when we are um trying to be

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mindful of all of the needs that our community has. And so I just want to make sure that it's abundantly clear. There was never a second in our minds that it wasn't of value. We just have to figure out how to get it done and and we've been able to do that now.

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>> Thank you. Okay. Um so we are going to move on to section 16 which is public participation for this particular meeting. Uh please if you're going to come up and participate please stand, state your name and address and keep your comments to three minutes or less. The public is

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reminded that attempts to all attempts to resolve all concerns and please should first go through the appropriate staff members and administrators. Coleman, are you able to time for us, please. >> Thank you. >> Hello everybody. Uh Cara Boiler, 90

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Summerfield Avenue. Uh I'm speaking on behalf of the high school and middle school PCA. Um we were um curious about the timeline um for the unified campus, specifically um a potential name or what what the school is going to be called.

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Um we're down to I think if my brain is right less than 30 days till the uh calendar school days until the end of the school year. So um based on our timeline by the middle of June, sorry, um we're going to have to have um a

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treasurer reconciliation for all of our PTAs. By the end of June, um we're going to have to start dissolving a PTA and and merging. um by the beginning of July um we're going to have to have our own executive meetings to formally transfer

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everything. So that's the timeline we're looking at and we're hoping to have some information by then. Thank you. >> Okay. Robin Hogan, CA president. I am here just to make a comment about um the uh positions the the 13.21 which I know

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you are about to go into a discussion about um but I felt like there were just a couple things I wanted to reinforce. I do want to um say thank you for the statement being made finally that we are being asked to do more with less. Every

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single staff member teachers administrative assistants you name it everybody is going to be doing they're gonna have more students to hand more students to help. Okay. So, everybody's facing rollover costs, regionalization, you know, the regional competitiveness. This is for everybody and redistribution

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due to collapse. Everybody lost 29 positions. Everybody's doing more. So, I'm just asking you to seriously this everybody deserves a pay raise. I Okay, honestly, everybody deserves a pay raise. I'm just trying to figure out how

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you going to face staff members and the taxpayers for some of these pay raise percentages that I'm seeing here. When I did the numbers, I'm sure everybody else has done the numbers, too. I'm seeing, you know, I'm seeing 17% and 10.7%. I I just don't understand how you can

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how you're going to justify this because everybody is being asked to do more for less. Well, some of us. Thank you. Oh, I just want to say also just one clarification about the position that was left. One position

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that was shrunk over the board office one. It was the it was a Ca position that was shrunk. Now, we didn't have a retirement. Okay. It it was a it was a um confidential administrative assistant

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position that was that retired. And somehow in all the the workings that went on and the changes that went on, it became a CA position that got lost. And now the unaligned positions are getting a nice are getting some of these pay raises that we're seeing here to absorb

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the pay and to absorb the duties. So th those are our questions that we have and I'm sure there are going to be community members that are going to ask the same questions because I'm not the only one who's been running numbers. I can't tell you how many texts I got today. Thank you.

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>> I don't see a question. >> We I don't want to talk during that section. Can >> well, we're still in committee the whole because we haven't exited out of it. So I have a question which is in response to >> which is that that you know we we we cut a position in central office essentially

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uh with the redistribution of of of tasks we have saved what like $40,000 overall. I just want to I just want to be clear that that money was saved overall. Okay. So so this was not additional

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money on top money was saved. >> Okay. Yeah. So, um Cara, uh thank you for for your comment. And so there are a multitude of questions specifically relating to um

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accountability and long-term funding. And so, for example, um the high school is a title one school, the middle school is not. And so until we have gotten um explicit feedback from the state that we

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will not see um dips in title one funding with the merger and the consolidation of school codes uh for this upcoming year. We'll still be operating with two school codes. And so we will not be asking um uh we will not

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be asking for folks to be able to collapse. And so the PTAs should still be able to operate business as usual for at least another year until we work through all of these pieces from the state all the way down. Um which just gives us more time. And so I I hope that

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gives uh a a respit and some pause that we're not going to be asking for folks to collapse or consolidate or merge. Uh we'll still be able but we will ask for folks just to be um just a a tad more coordinated. >> Okay. Thank you for that clarification.

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Uh seeing as there is no one else coming up for public comment, I am going to uh make have see if I can have a motion to adjourn the meeting and move to execution. >> I'm sorry, exit committee of the whole. Can I make have a motion to exit committee the whole? >> So moved. >> And a second.

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>> All in favor? >> I. >> And can I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? >> So moved. >> And move it to executive session. Okay. So motion to motion to executive session and then we'll come back and close the meeting. Okay. So, can I have a motion to go into executive session? >> We do that.

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>> Okay. All right. So, just all in favor? Sorry. >> Sounds good. All right. Thank you. All right. Sorry. >> So, we're done. So, if the public could disperse, can you turn off the cameras? Thanks. Thank you. Sorry.

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So, um, we're asking everybody to leave the area so that we can go into executive session. Thank you. >> Good night, everyone.

