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Board Meeting 8-4-2025

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Board Meeting 8-4-2025

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the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands 1 nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Jeffy Dr Horning excused so that's what happened um in for sports our football team has its first game in August 22nd here at home a great way to end the first week of school um our boys soccer team has its first game on September at Brookville our girls soccer team has its first game on August 27th at Canyon our golf team first match is this Thursday and our volleyball team has its first game on September 2nd at ECC good luck to all our teams and we best of luck to you great season lastly Brandy rising uh high school student orientation will take place this Thursday at both at 10:00 a.m. session and a 6 p.m. session um and that's all I have I look forward to the start of the school year and it will be my last first day so I hope everyone enjoys the remaining Days of Summer and enjoyment thank you thank you Mrs khar Dr Ramsey is going to be speaking a little bit more about our summer Institute and in preparation for that I do want to send out a special shout out of thanks to Kate Brock and Tiffany boshart uh together in their with their team of volunteers they provided our faculty uh with uh 2 amazing poverty stimulations as part of our summer Institute the simulation allowed our teachers features to have a better understanding of the home and family struggles that our community members may experience and for those of our faculty members who were unable to make it to our Institute we are super excited and very pleased to share that Kate and Tiffany and their team of volunteers will be back to bring that experience back to our teachers on their 20 day so I'm excited about that and thank you Julie and Jeff for joining us with the new start of the school year we are excited as a district to bring on board are substitutes uh as District hires you'll see more on the agenda this evening we are still looking for more we're always looking to recruit more substitutes as for those community members who may be interested we simply ask that you send a letter of interest to listen to me to employment at smasd.org and we will reach out to see um what might be needed to meet with you and get an idea of how you might be able to help our students we're looking for substitutes of all positions for our uh classroom thumbs up support staff Paris cafeteria monitors secretaries You Name It We love to have you so uh send you send your name out to us if you'd like to uh get into our school system um I do wish to share with the board a little bit about our upcoming enrollment numbers for the start of the school year um we are certainly encouraging any families who are new to our area or thinking about registering it is certainly not too late with 2 weeks of school left we'd love for you uh to get online and start that enrollment process process if you're considering our district if you do have questions we encourage you to reach out to our school offices meet with our principals and discuss your child's needs as far as our starting numbers are total enrollment projected for this upcoming school year is 1,824 students this is down about 40 students from last year overall um at Fox we have 224 students at this time this was registered completed registrations as of this morning our student is to teacher to student ratio at Fox is looking at about 1:18 1 teacher to 18 in a home room um 19 for some grades fifth grade is 1 to 17 so those are very nice size small classes a fox at South St Mary's we're looking at 578 students at this time um it is interesting that we right now have about 10 to 15 pending enrollments across uh the district as well with many of them um looking at South for enrollment are classrooms there are about 1 teacher to between 20 and upwards of 26 our fourth grade has 26 per classroom first grade is increased saying rapidly it's right now at 1 to 24 with still some outstanding enrollments there so those classrooms at South are a little bit higher than our ratios at Fox our middle school right now is sitting at 431 students building wide our high school is at 589 uh which is the high school is very condensed to what it was last year as is the middle school so um at this point that's the moment numbers again we encourage any family who's out there still thinking if you haven't yet done it we encourage you to to contact your um the buildings of which your child might be enrolled or visit us on our website www.smasd.org click on quick links and there's a new student enrollment form process you can complete online thank you it should be with the numbers itself first grade uh 1 teacher for 24 and we have 4 first grade if we pull 4 or 5 students from each of those classrooms to have a ratio of 19 or 20 I think that would be uh you know something that we should consider to just to make sure because I I'm not that's not coming through real well I just want to make sure that everybody at home heard that is is the question is is there a possibility of siphoning off maybe 4 or so students per classroom in South to to bring that ratio down which would ultimately would end up hiring an additional teacher um so I I I can respond to that first by saying we we're you're going to approve a resignation tonight and I believe Mr Beck has a way to um handle those that that particular person's resignation would out adding a teacher so we could do that and we would have an additional teacher available to us um in terms of salary and the budget uh that is that is possible if we can find the right person and the space itself which I I don't know that answer yet with thoughts any other discussion on that I just wanted to say that in my experience in the different literature that I've reviewed we get more bang for our efforts when the children are in uh younger grade so if we can give more support to those kiddos that are in you know Pre-K kindergarten first grade um we're going to get more benefit we're going to see better results so I'm in support of that I agree I agree so if you look at the building and there is room but you could start the process by putting in a potential yeah so that way too far in the weeds and I know this isn't space anymore Ashley but off the top of your head on a scale from 1 to the 1 to 10 1 of the possibilities of adding another classroom is how do you think and students that access those and look at trying other space to accommodate them to to reach a classroom that was big enough size to for the whole like a staff room or so it so is it fair to say that if we can find the space and we can find a person and it doesn't upset the apple cart in the process that you'd be okay with me doing an emergency how are being a school starts in 2 weeks and trying to get that accomplished yes yes I'll make that motion I will say it's not on the agenda so I I would just say as long as as long as we have a general field that's where you're ready to go there is a policy in that allows me to do an emergency higher um under these types of circumstances so as long as you're okay with that and it seems like there's the the general feel is that that would be a way to go if we can make it happen I'll see what we can do thank you so a couple things uh from also that we really haven't discussed is I was contacted by a representative from a recruiter that supports kind of Highlands um who is bringing over nursing staff from South Korea and it it appears they're asking for what's the enrollment process and so on because we they're going to have some some traveling nurses who will be located here supporting the pain system this Academic Year I don't know what that looks like but that is something that we really haven't talked much about either this is all just kind of surface over the summer um so that that will likely happen thank you to the Daily Press and Becky glassy we're covering our summer Institute um we're we're very lucky to have a suppressed that that takes what we do seriously and and helps us spread the good news we just finished up 3 days of professional learning with our fourth annual summer Institute uh Chrissy said that we started out with the poverty simulation in Day 2 we had 3 different teacher-led Summits uh 1 was in data informed instruction 1 was on how people learn in the third goes on inclusion and go teach uh there was plenty of time built in for reflection and interaction with Java Lake groups and then we went into um day 3 spent the morning in community site based business that included Meco AES free form Victorian Hardwoods the Conservation District uh calini hardwood utilization group did it took a group out to St Mary's Lumber and I feel like I'm and I feel like I'm missing 1 uh craft when I was so I want to thank all of those employers for giving 3 3 and a half hours of their time on that day plus all the planning to provide our teachers with an authentic experience of the understand what's in their backyard and how helps our young people tomorrow as they articulate through the system pull it right to you get it right in your face maybe that'll help teacher asked me so all the services that we saw offered and all the obstacles that that a lot of members needed to face what can lead you as Educators or from naked and educated to move to the next step thank you Mrs fish for sharing that idea we were actually um brainstorming something very very similar last year in January uh Dr drains myself and our social worker Mrs tennis attended a um event that Kate Brock from the CEC also put together and it was it was a simulation driven project in which the persons who were in The scenarios found local um businesses and support systems so we actually in our discussion and our follow up with um Kate and Tiffany as we were debriefing um the event and reflecting on it wondering if they could potentially do that for us and they were very interested in partnering something like that with us too so we believe that we can have another step to this and and really do this those opportunities yeah and I'll add to that by saying that we sustain what we have so Nicole pisner is a school police officer but if you remember a couple of years ago we expanded her contract and added intensive case management responsibilities she essentially serves as the hub for the servant those types of services in our district so sustaining those types of services where if you as a teacher or an administrator see a need you can reach out to her and she will connect the those families with the resources that they need and we also have of course a list of tetis our our School social worker um it's amazing how busy those folks are um because there's the needs are so great and we and of course our Partnerships with Dickinson and clear our our super valuable as well so I I would say it's additional um professional learning for a teacher so they understand the system veterans also sustaining what we already have because we do we have carefully built a web of supports for our people we just need to leverage them to the full success great question and thank you for that um comment so construction update so as you know you've approved about a 520,000 um project which was just about complete I I took a picture of this because this is now covered and I wanted to make sure you understood what we were talking about um because you wouldn't be able to see it firsthand this is on the third level down um just uh 2 levels up on small field what happened was uh and this is going to be the change everything else has gone exceptionally smoothly existed too actually it was just you know when you see a problem you have to fix a problem if you take a look at this here where my cursor is and there's another cat catch Basin up here um up on this other level up above and those catch basins um well let me back up a little bit what happened was is this payment was damaged so when started to dig up this paved area and filled with water and that was about 2 weeks ago when it had rained in a month but where is all this water coming from we were quite confident that it wasn't a water but where is the water coming from then so we actually had them run their cameras down through the the pipes in uh the all the storm water drains and that gave us a video and a map of our storm water drains which was really cool so 1 we know that they are in good shape so we didn't have to replace dig up and replace anything we didn't need to um and we also know where they go which is really important what we found was and this is my my home a little dry here uh this red box with the with the black circle what we found was is in the collection Basin that's uphill from here what happened is the PE the folks I don't whoever it long before me um when they installed that they put a round pipe in a square hole so when that fills up with water all this red area just the water goes right out and it and it creates a sinkhole it just washes it all away so I have other pictures on my phone I didn't want to bother you with a ton of pictures I certainly could show you but you can see that the payment was actually collapsing between the curb the uh and the the catch Basin so what we did in order to do this right we were required to put in most of you would you know what a French drain is extension essentially it's a ditch that's filled with gravel and perforated pipe so essentially we put in a French drain all through this area which and then re and connected it to uh across here and this is a new catch Basin because that believe it or not was actually homemade so there were like chunks of concrete put in there and a piece of pipe was just shoved into a homemade um catch Basin so it wasn't even a pre-manufactured 1 that failed it just was fully so um that that will get has is getting all the water out of here so that way when we pave over it it will no longer be a problem so I I I have to say this publicly that I really appreciate having listens to the information provided and makes decisions to do things right because deferred maintenance doesn't pay and it's a very very expensive if we wouldn't have caught this and fixed it that water would have remained under underground under the new pavement and it would all that brand new pavement which would have been probably twenty thousand dollars worth of payment would have just become uh it would have been a mud pit and it would have so that change order is is up for um retro approval that the construction update on the ACT shop that's actually coming along nicely with 1 exceptionalists was for those of you who've been around a while you may remember there was an iu9 trailer at the the back side of the high school they must have had classes there at 1 time so when we were looking at at doing this project when this building was built by Arrow Mark they uh proactively put in a toilet flange which allowed us theoretically to put a bathroom out in the action which is really great that allows us to to not have the kids not to have to go back and forth just use the restroom and then with inside this piece of conduit here it's hard to see but there's a there's a um 3/4 inch piece of copper uh 2 big here so I would have given us water so what we found was 3 things 1 know where this copper line goes so we're not sure where it goes nobody knows where to turn it on and we we called everybody and their brother and their 7 cousin seventh cousin twice removed and still couldn't figure it out um we scoped the sewer line found out that the sewer line go 1 direction is crashing in really bad shape and it wasn't deep enough so we had to go back toward the school which is fine that was okay um and we also found that the toilet flange although proactively put in the concrete actually comes out in the sewer line Underground so without being crude waste doesn't blow uphill so um we unfortunately have to cut this out because this concrete out we have to Jackhammer it uh put a new 1 in at the appropriate elevation so that way the waste will flow where it belongs and we need to put in a new water line um from essentially it's pretty darn close to the tennis works is where we would the nearest place we can tap in to a quality shut off which requires us to cut a little bit of pavement um put in a new valve run a a line and a proper ditch uh so we have water not only for they have the the good news is and we've said this before but I just want to reinforce this is that due to the generosity of multiple foundations um we had we have room to play with this project was being fully funded with philanthropic donations um not taxpayer dollars so the pillars Monument if you notice that on the way in uh I think St Mary's money was the project it's not of course it's not done but the pillars are in so we just need now to put uh manufacturer in place the uh artifacts on top of each of the pillars and have the signage placed uh but it's it it looks I'm getting a lot of positive comments on that as well the playground itself came out very well you can see that we actually put a concrete curbing in around the playground by changing the shape how did we actually reduce the amount of this rubberized fill um and and was maintained the required distance away away from each of the call Will playground equipment and then we have this nice um sloped walkway that goes up with a we still need to our department needs to finish off the fencing um but we there's drainage up here that drainage is also so if any of the water that goes through the ground will go will Shadow Lane uh in through a a perforated pipe which is actually you can barely see it right up here they cut across and tied it into the storm drain so we did it again did it right the 1 proposed I think Stacey McKee may remember this the gentleman had proposed just daylighting the pipe right here and out of the bank which would have just taken all of the drainage water and just gone all over the parking lot which would have been real the awesome in winter time um but but we we actually tied into the the storm drain so this came out really well so the the now that this is done the next step Mr bulmer told me that the the fox PTO is in providing some dollars only house of safety updates that have to happen there um so we'll be looking at Fox now that we have this um where it needs to be the Fieldhouse roof was done I believe that was dagger construction did the Fieldhouse room um known as his good news I heard nothing about it and I only saw a good thing so um that's done and we're in good shape there so that should give us uh that's actually I believe a 50-year roof so um none of you I don't I don't think any here when we replace that group again um the update on the middle school schedule so we've been working with with the Middle School administration we received our pssa scores from the spring uh particularly in math they were concerning so we looked at how do we make some structural changes so to to Mr Beck's credit what we did is we sat down we looked at the comprehensive plan program we tried to make sense of where we're trying to go as a district we looked at the blueprint 2030 which is our essentially our our guide our Bible if you will for um our blueprint our map for where we're headed in the future which we created with all of you around this table as a board as we did some of our your own Reflections and what we came up with is that we we can do double math periods um and this was a strategy that we had garnered from talking to some we're seeing some success they either have 1 and a half or 2 um double double length math periods that requires us to move Club periods to a special schedule every other week um that allow required done first sure which is now a Home Room period because we had some serious issues with conflicts with band and choir and band and choir was always being it was always uh competing with other clubs so we we saw we we of our loan overall we're a competition for a band inquired time health and PE will still be offered to every grade every year our tech ed and music will be covered in a 3 year span but not every every grade every year um before it becomes a home room which allows us to catch the kiddos when they're fresh get them prepared really build that executive functioning skill those executive functioning skills um for all the kids who are not abandoned choir and uh we'll be moving to trimester reporting why trimester reporting is when we really looked at why Nots there really wasn't a good argument as to why not and why it allows us to to break our current numbers um uh into a manageable number for the staff we have so essentially what we're doing is we're we're we in order to run the specials with reasonable numbers we had to do it and and divide it by 3 in order to get instead of 2 to get the the uh the um so what's the rationale we're underperforming in math um I'm a perennial basis this has been ongoing this is not a 1-year blip so this is not a New York reaction lack of consistency in student PS pssa results meeting that we're not always seriously underperforming in every grade and every subject but it it looks like a sine wave we're up we were down we're up and we're down and we really need to try to level off uh by bringing some some more stability to obstruction and it it this isn't just a shot in the dark we're not throwing something against the wall just to see if it sticks so we looked at comprehensive planning priorities which included improved math performance removing barriers to the music and the Arts and improving least restrictive environment through co- teaching and this does all of those things so what are the pros well we double math instructional time we've been able to maintain double periods of elah so it wasn't a zero sum game we didn't take away from else uh designated band inquire time with no Club competition time at the beginning of the day to prepare uh for the day last hallway transitions that are any that aren't any that are on not structure meaning there will be transition will be able to give kids breaks and so on during those double periods but they will be uh monitored it's not going to be Mass transitions as you typically would see um with the Bell Rings appropriate emphasis on core math and Ela content which I I know will some will not be happy with but I think it's really critical that we get our core correct um co- teaching has been built in we have an opportunity we're not doing away with clubs we're right sizing Club offerings every other week on that will allow us to serve actual need and interest um for where where students really want to be and I I we put a goal as different perspective drives different results and I I am exceptionally it takes a lot to impress me for whatever reason but I am really pleased and impressed with the with a number of the professionals at the middle school who are being asked to teach something that they haven't taught in years they're registration saying whatever you need we're going to get it done so we have some folks who are really stepping up to the plate we're learning a new math curriculum so they're going to be learning it right along with everybody else and these are strong uh strong teachers haven't thought that content but now we'll be able to step up and do it we're very pleased and I'm very uh thankful that they're they're supporting this this move so what are some of the cons elective classes are not offered every year um that's not ideal but so that's that's totally normal and a lot of in a lot of middle schools in particular that you would offer certain electives and certain grade levels but not all every year um trimester rotation is fine but it will be new and on selling for some because they're just quarters and changes tough right so that doesn't really change anything with anything it's of how we print report cards and what times and so on and so forth this shouldn't change our communication with families and how often they can see grades they can actually log in and see their um it's just going to change our formal reporting of upgrades any questions comments I I have a quick question um Mr Beth can you comment on maybe the the staff's acceptance in Dr Ramsey talked about some of the folks that haven't taught classes in years so what's your experience my experience with the uh Middle School staff in this regard has been uh fantastic I have uh real pros who uh sort of recognize some of the changes that uh you guys in the community uh you know through the uh through the comprehensive plan and through uh you know our 5-year plan in here they kind of recognize that there's a series of value in that and you know these people who say hey whatever you need you know you know some of these people frankly have over 2 decades in and they're on board you know it's it's really nice and so I I have nothing but great things to say uh about the staff and in that regard it's it's yeah very close we all know there won't be a 100% Buy in um we all know there won't be a 100% Buy in but I can say that there's we're getting ready to and for good and for good reason we have a lot of work did you send over regards please absolutely thank you can I can we take another summer recommend the approval of the agenda so I would like to remove 14 change so can I have a motion to include the amendments did she make a motion in the second okay all in favor motion carries then I'm going to recommend the approval of the uh method agenda uh for being held on August 4th 2025 do I have a motion Mr suspicious assessment Mr Fry all in favor post motion carries recommend the approval of the minutes from the regular meeting held on June 9th 2025 opposed motion carries with the launch business procedures and and 9A recommend to approve payment of bills general fund July June and July 2025 July capital reserve fund June and July 2025 June and July August 2025 in bond series 2024 moving on to item number 10 more procedures recommend the approval of the following revised policies team acceptance acceptable use of Internet computers and Network keeper apologize artificial intelligence needs to be talked about just a little educ so we haven't got into the depth of this language with every single teacher so we would wait typically wait for approval and then roll out okay so so we we have talked about artificial intelligence um quite a bit over the last few years and our instructional coaches have done some special sessions with teachers on it as well but you know taking this policy and rolled it out in detail for the staff I I I think it's important that we take our time rolling this out and making sure that we get good buy in um the what AI can do and it can do assignments for kiddos very easily if you understand the prompts um you artificial intelligence can basically make sure that to look for and having those open and honest conversations with their students so that they know you know sometimes it's not a bad thing to include it in the lesson you know it's it's it's a good thing to but um and orders box has already been opened I mean artificial intelligence is here uh if if if given your kale a cell phone and it is more than just a computer in their pocket intelligence that it's in machine learning that can do so many things it's just very important that um is probably a spring like fifth or sixth grade uh if you have a Savvy enough student and I think a lot of our students in the St Mary's School District are very savvy you pretty much all of their homework so we just need to be very careful and understand um just enough so that we can put up to make it so that the um that the homework isn't done by our you don't fashion uh you know goes a long way in in preventing AI from doing the school he wanted to put that before our responders for Murray can I ask a so does this give you pause to advance this policy or you are just this is basically a challenge not a challenge and a negative way but for administration to roll this out the proper way so so so my response is thank you and secondly is with the type of instruction that we are trying to promote AI is not that great of a concern if you send the is 1 1 of the many reasons I personally am not a huge fan of homework because I like what happens with guided practice in the classroom right so AI that is a relevant at that point because you're doing professional in the classroom um that's that's a much deeper discussion but we're on it I hear you and uh we'll make sure we get it right has an AI program that does not provide answers it provides crops that's something I cam Academy has been for years like a resource so I wasn't aware that that's that was their approach that was interesting all right all in favor opposed motion carries we do have the first reading so this is information only and its first reading of the ga statement 34 moving on to business affairs recommend the approval of the agreement between the Board of Commissioners and the Elk County Pennsylvania in St Mary's Area School District to provide third-party real estate tax assessment Billings and collect this is fish 7 all in favor opposed motion carries recommend the approval of the agreement between the St Mary's Area School I yeah Home Health Care Incorporated to provide nursing services the 2025 2026 people in a second in favor opposed motion carries recommend the approval of the contract between the safe areas Area School District and L came and nursing home by the nurse's aide program during the in favor opposed he carries from the district preserve account and there's no state budget approved for the 2025 2026 school year money borrowed will be returned to the reserve I can just comment on that pause so so there's I'm following this closely there's we're hopeful that there may be a budget within the next uh 4 to 6 weeks but we have no guarantee so with no state budget we we're going to run out of dollars at so what we're asking for is to be able to borrow from our reserves which we've been very tactful and responsible in building those up for contingencies unfortunately it's the failure of the state to approve the state budget that should um but nonetheless that's that's what you're improving so that way we can continue business and I think um I think we're probably looking at 3 months or so um deeper doing okay for right now suspicious second Mrs Keeler all in favor opposed motion carries next will be the change Paving recommend the approval of a change order with longer painting Incorporated in the proposed amount of 209,322.71 to prepare the existing drainage nasal not to exceed $50,000 in additional repairs or discovered change order will be funded with capital user second Mr estimation Services recommend the approval of our chating to provide excavation services for the greenhouse Edition in the amount of 14,700 also installation of new water 5 dollars $1,000 Mr 1 of the second fiber all in favor opposed motion carries wheelchair lift recommend the approval proposals on the Total Mobility Services for replacement lift at the St Mary's Area Middle School Department of Education school code 24 PS 7-7 so if I could pause you there as well so and I had emailed um about this but just so you understand our our lifts are absolutely obsolete at the middle school so we we have a an urgent can provide um at least 1 student access between 2 different floors so normally we would have to say you understand how the system works that's that's what I want to get across here is that we normally something that's this cost we would have to do a complete uh RFP process so you have to do a an advertised request for proposal and uh put it up a bit to a public bid opening Etc in this case we were able to project under form 7751 looks then they based on the circumstances and the timeline they say it's okay as long as you've tried to get quotes you're okay which we did but interestingly no services so we only have 1 company that will actually provide a quote and provide service so and that and we feel feel that they are able to get this done in an appropriate timeline um and it and I I just want to say in publicly and about in a couple times you've already approved an agreement with kth to start the design of an elevator which we think is not only beneficial at the middle school for our students with permanent mobility issues but we also oftentimes have kiddos school is closest some significant concerns for the layout of the middle school so that'll be something that I'm really hoping that we can get across the Finish Line in summer of 2026 so we'll be watching the budget carefully to see if we can uh pull that up forward thank you do you have a motion this is Special Second commissioner gazi all in favor opposed motion carries on to General School 26 approval of the title 1 School White plans for South St Mary Street Elementary School in box Township Elementary School 25 Mr Fry all in favor opposed motion carries cafeteria prices for the 2025 2026 school year recommended service crisis clear do I have a motion Mrs Keeler all in favor opposed motion carries confidential agreement recommend the approval of the confidential agreement and general release regarding student 202500001 set agreement attached here to an incorporated into the resident superintendent is authorized authorizing to execute agreement on behalf motion carries out of District students non-resident employee children recommend the approval to re-enroll non-residential employed children for the 2025 2026 school year as per the St Mary's Area Mrs Keeler all in favor opposed motion carries no residents many approve 23 it should be noted this is for the ACT thank you for the motion second this is keer all in favor opposed recommend the approval of to the Blended learning Services agreements between dln and the St Louis second Miss keeper all in favor motion carries information only um the phone support of conversations have submitted necessary information from the 2025 2026 as part of the policy 915 zip code responsible to switch the process we'll move on to item 13 transport transport vehicle driver recommend the approval of Google drivers for the 2025 2026 as for the attachment which we refer to as a second Mrs Keeler all in favor opposed motion carries 14th Personnel will take 14 a 14 B 14 e 14 f 14 G h recommend the approval of the Personnel actions as listed all 3 days pending 3 employment conditions are met and received 151 plan documentation deployment terms presented for part-time employees are considered variable to schedule provided hours work Mr wonderly all in favor opposed just a reminder that we had and executive session prior to discuss um personnel and legal matters all in favor opposed

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