[6:53] Good afternoon, evening. I'd like to open up the

[6:57] Haverhill School Board first legislative meeting

[7:00] for the 26-27 school year. Welcome.

[7:04] Thank you for attending. As a reminder to our audience this evening,

[7:07] that this meeting is being live-streamed.

[7:09] As such, students, parents, guardians, employees, and members of the

[7:13] public should

[7:15] not have any expectation of privacy while attending a public event, as

[7:19] they may be captured and broadcast on a live screen, just as they could at any

[7:23] other public or community event or facility open to the public.

[7:30] Can we have a roll call, please?

[7:34] Mr. Eagle?

[7:35] Here.

[7:36] Ms. Leonard?

[7:37] Here.

[7:37] Dr. Linn?

[7:38] Here.

[7:39] Dr. Tantamont- Moran?

[7:41] Here.

[7:41] Mr. Ward?

[7:42] Here.

[7:43] Ms. King? Mr. Taylor?

[7:46] Here.

[7:47] Ms. Wolfe?

[7:48] Here.

[7:48] Mr. Wood? Here.

[7:50] Eight members of the school board are present tonight. Mission statement.

[7:54] The purpose of the Haverhill School District is to foster a learning environment

[7:58] for all students to be exceptionally well-prepared to succeed and

[8:01] lead full and meaningful lives. Vision statement.

[8:05] All Haverhill students

[8:09] are well-prepared to create their own future.

[8:12] I'd like to invite the precinct to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

[8:15] I pledge

[8:18] allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the

[8:22] Republic for which it stands, one nation under

[8:26] God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for

[8:30] all.

[8:31] Thank you. We can now turn it over

[8:35] to Dr. Michaud for board presentations.

[8:37] Thank you, Dr. Linn. Typically, our presentations come from students at our

[8:41] schools or organizations that we partner with throughout the community.

[8:45] Two weeks ago, we welcomed over 20 new educators to the school district.

[8:49] Last week, we had a very enthusiastic convocation along with in-service

[8:53] days with our entire professional staff, and of course, as many of you as

[8:57] students, parents, and community members know, we started school this week.

[9:00] So we thought the best thing for us to do would be to show you a video featuring

[9:04] highlights from the opening week of school.

[9:06] And that will start back right now.

[10:29] It's just as good the second time.

[10:32] So obviously, not only do we have super enthusiastic students coming

[10:36] off our buses for the last several days, all our facilities were ready,

[10:40] our staff is ready to go, and I think it's going to be a great year of learning,

[10:44] leading, and succeeding throughout the entire school district.

[10:46] So we're very excited for what's to come for the remainder of the school year.

[10:52] The board committees is our next agenda item, and we have not met

[10:56] as a committee, as committee one, committee two, or the

[11:00] personnel or committee as a whole yet.

[11:03] We start our committee meetings in two weeks.

[11:07] But I do think just having a brief report from Mrs.

[11:11] Wolfe is...

[11:13] In fact, they have met, so we'll have a report from her.

[11:17] Thank you, Dr. Linn. I'll make this short

[11:18] because there's not a whole lot to report other than we

[11:23] passed all the necessary items to start the school year.

[11:27] We had a presentation, the

[11:32] ideas that we're going to bring to the IU and the students for this

[11:36] school year. We had a little bit of an introduction to BBA, and

[11:40] we learned that they are serving 3,400 students.

[11:44] And the big news is the Great Valley

[11:48] CBC is opening up in October.

[11:52] That is similar to what Anglin is. It's got programs for kids

[11:56] with multiple disabilities and some behavioral, emotional issues.

[12:01] And it will help with the kids who

[12:04] travel from the Great Valley to T.E.

[12:07] area, so they don't have to drive quite so far.

[12:09] Normally, they would go into Coatesville, which is, I'm not sure how long it is,

[12:13] but it's a very long drive. Probably could be an hour So now they will have

[12:17] an opportunity to attend school a little bit closer.

[12:19] And that also takes a lot of students off the waitlist, so more

[12:23] students can be served, and that's a really great thing.

[12:26] And just wanted to say that our next meeting will be at the

[12:30] Fruitville Downtown location on September 16th at 7:30.

[12:34] And that is the end of my report.

[12:38] Thank you. Mr. Winton, unless you have anything new to report?

[12:42] I do. Thank you, Dr. Lanham. We actually were scheduled to meet last night, but we

[12:46] did not due to some issues with Chris Boggo at the IU.

[12:49] However, I would like to give a report on what was the largest

[12:53] piece of the agenda, which is our last budget pass

[12:57] and school code, which occurred a little bit late this year, but

[13:01] not too bad.

[13:03] So as many people already know, it was a very good budget for public

[13:07] education in general, as well as Adams Grove in particular.

[13:10] We got our third installment of the adequacy funding,

[13:14] which was in response to a Commonwealth Court ruling that

[13:18] funding of public education is not fair and needs to be fixed.

[13:21] So we got just under $2 million additional.

[13:24] A million of that was already in our budget, as everyone at the table knows.

[13:27] The extra million is going to go towards filling a budget gap or budget deficit.

[13:31] Also very important in that budget for our teacher

[13:34] pipeline, which we've talked about teacher shortages, is another $10

[13:38] million to go to teacher stipends for student teachers.

[13:42] There's a stipend, $10,000 I believe it is.

[13:44] I may have those a little quoted on that. I'm sorry.

[13:48] But for teachers who are student teaching.

[13:51] And the pot of money was definitely used up, so there's additional money for

[13:55] this coming school year for our student teachers.

[13:58] So that was very important. A few other important things that have

[14:02] gone on here. Slight increases in both basic education

[14:05] funding and special education funding.

[14:09] Some cyber charter reform. There's not

[14:13] any additional reforms, but it builds on some policy reforms in the last two

[14:16] budgets, most specifically regarding truancy.

[14:20] Any student who's been habitually truant may not enroll in a cyber

[14:24] charter school.

[14:25] They can appeal that decision to a court or to the Commonwealth Office they

[14:29] go to, and there's some additional guidance as to what the

[14:34] parents of the student need to be able to prove in order to go to a cyber

[14:38] charter if they've been truant. There's also some psychological wellness checks

[14:42] to make sure that students who are in any cyber charters are well.

[14:46] Those will be applying to school districts who have

[14:49] online students, because some school districts have

[14:53] their own virtual programs. So those are being expanded to

[14:57] apply to all public schools as well, the wellness

[15:00] checks. Let's see, scrolling down here.

[15:04] Additional mental health and safety security grants were slightly

[15:07] increased. The wealth index in school facilities increased, including

[15:11] $25 million additional for a solar for schools grant program.

[15:16] It will now cover up to 75% of the cost of that installation

[15:20] for the grant. Something several districts in Chester County will be looking to, to

[15:24] provide some energy costs. Could be a real saver for the

[15:28] district's energy budgets.

[15:30] A few other important items. Some changes on the

[15:34] policy on bullying. Must require that all incidents of alleged

[15:38] bullying and cyberbullying be investigated promptly with

[15:42] a procedure for investigation. If it's determined that an incident did

[15:46] occur, the school must immediately notify, as soon as practical, the parents

[15:50] or guardian of the students involved in the incident.

[15:54] So that is some important information there, as well as tightening things up

[15:58] on that. There's a standardized testing study going on,

[16:02] looking at online testing versus the traditional

[16:06] pen, paper, and pencil, as well as just more generally

[16:10] how a standardized test is administered, time, et cetera.

[16:13] This is just right now a study that's going on that's

[16:17] reported due next June. So we'll see if that leads to some standardized

[16:20] testing changes. Also, classroom monitors.

[16:24] These are emergency certificates that would allow individuals to oversee

[16:28] classrooms. There is a substitute teacher shortage just as there is a classroom

[16:32] teacher shortage. So this would allow monitors who are,

[16:36] again, emergency certified.

[16:38] They must have assignments that were originally developed by professional

[16:42] employees, and they're prohibited from serving more than 20 cumulative school

[16:46] days in a single assignment.

[16:49] I don't know if we'll have any thought about making use of those at this

[16:52] point.

[16:54] So, some other important things. The district and State Board of

[16:57] Education

[16:59] is being directed to devise academic standards related to

[17:02] social media literacy.

[17:05] So that could be something that's coming along.

[17:08] Just as importantly, what was not included.

[17:12] There were no additional increases to our educational improvement tax

[17:16] credit opportunity scholarship, which essentially is a backdoor voucher

[17:20] that sends money to scholarships for students who attend private schools.

[17:24] Also, there were no vouchers, which the people at the Senate have been pushing as a

[17:28] top priority. That was not talked about in the budget.

[17:31] And Governor Wolf has not-- Excuse me.

[17:34] Governor Shapiro

[17:36] has not joined the federal

[17:39] created voucher program either.

[17:41] Also very big item, misspoken last spring.

[17:46] I mentioned that both the House and Senate had passed a bell to bell

[17:49] cell phone ban ensured if something extraordinary happened and the governor didn't

[17:53] sign it, well, something extraordinary happened.

[17:56] And the bell to bell cell phone ban did not make it through the

[17:59] final

[18:01] finish line there. I understand that what happened was the House and the

[18:05] Senate the big thing they couldn't reconcile was whether this would apply to

[18:09] private schools as well as public schools.

[18:11] So count on that coming back again in the upcoming session.

[18:15] But for now, our policies on our cell phones is still local

[18:19] control.

[18:21] So

[18:27] So now on to student reports. Our most favorite

[18:31] report. We have somebody who's a new pupil,

[18:35] so Chase, would you like to do the introduction?

[18:38] This is Jason. He's going to be the new student board

[18:42] representative. He's a junior, and I'll let him introduce himself.

[18:47] Yes. I'd just like to briefly introduce myself.

[18:49] So I was chosen to be the newest student school board rep this past spring.

[18:54] I am involved in many activities. I'm involved in cross-country right

[18:58] now. I run year-round, so that's cross-country in the fall, and then track in the

[19:01] winter and spring. And I'm also involved in the Boy Scouts.

[19:04] So that's how I spent most of my summer, was running in the mornings, and then I

[19:07] spent my afternoons working on my Eagle Scout project, which I just finished,

[19:11] before school started. I constructed a bridge over a small

[19:15] stream in the Big Elk Creek State Park, which was recently founded a couple years

[19:18] ago. And I'm an active member of the Abbey Road School.

[19:22] So I'm involved in many clubs, including the Math Club, the Future Business Leaders

[19:25] of America, and the Tenor Bass Choir.

[19:28] I'm also applying to NHS coming up soon, and I was a previous member of

[19:32] the Student Voice Committee, which is the committee that Chase and Erin founded

[19:36] with the help of Dr. Mushong to try and get the student voices heard

[19:40] in the local government. So

[19:43] I'm excited to start working with you all and become involved in the community.

[19:46] Well, welcome. We're happy to have you.

[19:48] Thank you.

[19:49] Let's start an official report.

[19:52] Yes. So I'll move into the reports.

[19:54] We had some very successful student orientations in late summer, from late

[19:58] July into mid-August, with many student volunteers at both the high school

[20:01] level and the middle school level, giving tours of the building, providing

[20:05] information about the new students' classes, expectations that the

[20:08] schools have, and helping those incoming students prepare for the first day of

[20:12] school coming up, and it sounds like they were well-prepared, as they had a great

[20:15] first week.

[20:17] So the first day of school was this Monday, August twenty-fourth.

[20:20] It was filled with lots of smiles. Kindergarteners celebrated their first day of

[20:24] school, while seniors, me, sounds like, celebrated their

[20:28] last first day. The high school parking lot was full of seniors taking photos with

[20:32] their throwback backpacks representative of their favorite childhood characters and

[20:35] elementary school memories. Fall sports are also kicking off with the first

[20:39] football game this Friday, August twenty-eighth.

[20:41] We're hoping to see a huge community turnout.

[20:44] It's going to be a big event, and we have four home games this season.

[20:48] Other sports such as boys and girls soccer, field hockey, girls tennis, girls

[20:52] volleyball, cross country, and golf will have games by the time you're coming

[20:56] up as well. Be sure to show up and

[20:58] support our student athletes.

[21:01] Yes, and we are also now in the season of back-to-school nights and meet the

[21:04] teacher nights. So we had some successful meet the teacher nights.

[21:08] PLE had their back to school night on August nineteenth and meet the teacher night

[21:12] August twentieth. These are great opportunities for parents to meet the teachers

[21:15] and find out what their students will be learning.

[21:17] It's a great school spirit event. And AGI had their

[21:21] meet the teacher night on August twentieth, and then back to school nights were

[21:24] yesterday for second and third grade, and then September first coming up for

[21:28] fourth and fifth grade.

[21:29] The middle school will have their back to school night coming quickly on September

[21:33] second, and the high school had their back to school night last Tuesday, August

[21:37] twenty-sixth. I heard it went well for my teachers.

[21:41] And then we also have coming up, we have the Homecoming weekend, which is on

[21:45] September twenty-sixth. We do have a board meeting before that weekend, but we just

[21:49] wanted to make sure everyone's marking their calendars.

[21:51] It's going to be a great experience.

[21:52] Hi.

[21:52] Yes. So the weekend will kick off with the Homecoming football game on Friday,

[21:56] which will be very exciting, and Saturday festivities are kicked off with the Red

[22:00] Devil 5K, the parade, and the Homecoming booths, which are always a

[22:04] great community draw. And then the Homecoming dance for high schoolers is that

[22:07] night on the twenty-sixth.

[22:09] Yeah. So we're so excited and back for a new school year.

[22:13] We want to give a special thanks to all the administrators, teachers, faculty, and

[22:16] of course, the school board for all the work they put in to make it possible for

[22:20] all of us to have a great school year. So thank you, guys.

[22:23] Thank you.

[22:23] That concludes our report.

[22:25] Thank you. That was very informative.

[22:28] Our next agenda item is public comment. Do we have any public comment?

[22:33] Public comment is welcome and will be conducted in accordance with Board Policy

[22:37] 930 and the guidelines listed on the Public Comment sign in form.

[22:42] The comment opportunity is for topics listed for action on tonight's

[22:45] agenda. Thirty minutes have been set aside, and individuals have three minutes

[22:49] for comment. All statements shall be directed to the presiding officer

[22:53] rather than to individuals. The presiding officer,

[22:57] superintendent, and/or district solicitor may

[22:59] respond at their

[23:03] discretion, and provided, contact information is encouraged

[23:08] for follow-up. So I'd like to ask,

[23:11] Cindy Martino, please. Thank you.

[23:15] Good

[23:16] evening.

[23:20] Hi.

[23:21] Hi.

[23:22] My name is Cindy Martino. I live in New Market Township, and

[23:26] I was looking at the agenda, and there

[23:30] was...

[23:31] It hasn't been discussed yet tonight, but it's five dot

[23:35] one four about just the engineering and assessment.

[23:39] And I was just curious to know,

[23:43] there has to be a reason behind getting

[23:47] this done, and I would like to know what that was and what

[23:50] your intentions are and what part of the property

[23:54] is being affected or whatnot.

[23:56] Sure. I won't have a complete answer to all of your questions.

[24:01] Okay.

[24:01] But I do believe I'll be able to give just a general sense of it.

[24:05] So,

[24:07] we

[24:09] have over 100 acres of that property.

[24:12] Right now, we lease thirty-five acres of that property

[24:15] for farming. That's what we know about our asset.

[24:19] So we felt like we have over 100 acres of land.

[24:23] We owe it to our taxpayers to understand Really what we own

[24:27] and whether this asset could be doing more for the district and for

[24:31] the community. So the study will give us kind of a foundation.

[24:35] It'll give us information, and then with the information we gather, the board will

[24:39] be able to determine any possible next steps.

[24:42] Okay.

[24:43] So there's no specific purpose.

[24:46] Right. At this time, we haven't considered a purpose for it because we

[24:50] really don't know what the asset or that property can do

[24:54] for us. So the study will look at things like the condition of the land, potential

[24:58] uses, and any potential revenue possibilities.

[25:01] And once the board has that information, they'll be in a much better position

[25:04] to have a, really, I guess, a more responsible conversation

[25:08] about what any next steps would be.

[25:10] When you do find out, will this be publicly-

[25:14] Yes

[25:14] ... reported and given an opportunity

[25:18] for the community to

[25:21] be able to be a part of that?

[25:24] Participate and ask questions? Absolutely.

[25:26] Yeah. Do you have any intentions of selling the land if it's

[25:30] possible?

[25:31] Again, the board hasn't talked about anything yet.

[25:35] Okay. But the discussion with the board will be in a public meeting? Okay.

[25:39] Yes.

[25:40] So it will be public. Can I ask one more question?

[25:43] Sure.

[25:44] Could it ever be possible that it could be a data center to be

[25:48] put on this land?

[25:51] I wouldn't go that far. I wouldn't say that, but I wouldn't go out saying that

[25:55] assumption.

[25:56] Okay.

[25:56] Yeah. I understand the question.

[25:59] Okay. Thank you.

[26:03] Our next agenda item is

[26:07] the business office. And I believe Dr.

[26:09] Erhart will handle this as well.

[26:11] Thank you, Dr. Linn. At this time, I'll ask if anyone has

[26:15] any items for the business office agenda, including addendum item eight

[26:19] point zero one. And if anyone needs to pull that on your own

[26:22] separate.

[26:26] Okay. Hearing none, can I please have a motion to approve items five point zero

[26:29] two, bill list from May twenty-first, twenty

[26:31] twenty-six to June third, twenty twenty-six; five point zero

[26:35] three, bill list from June fourth, twenty twenty-six to June seventeenth, twenty

[26:39] twenty-six; five point zero four, bill list from June

[26:42] eighteenth, twenty twenty-six to June thirtieth, twenty twenty-six; five point zero

[26:46] five, bill list for July first, twenty twenty-six to

[26:50] July nineteenth, twenty twenty-six; five point zero six, treasury report through

[26:54] May twenty twenty-six; five point zero seven, budget transfer summary through May

[26:57] twenty twenty-six; five point zero eight, additions to twenty

[27:01] twenty-six twenty-seven approved fundraisers list; five point zero nine,

[27:05] Early Driven Technologies MSC contract amendment; five ten,

[27:09] Osbourn Capital Play Agreement; five eleven, Live Unlimited

[27:13] agreement; five twelve, Silver Line Container contract; five

[27:17] thirteen, CA Moving Company general agreement; five fourteen,

[27:21] TerraForm Visionary land assessment;

[27:24] fifteen, Fast Transportation contract amendment; five sixteen,

[27:28] memorandum of understanding with Luther Corporation; five

[27:31] seventeen, Nancy Ignatius; and addendum item eight point zero

[27:35] one, additions to the twenty twenty-six twenty-seven approved fundraisers

[27:39] list. So moved.

[27:40] Second.

[27:45] Okay. Let me just double check for seconds.

[27:46] Are there any questions or comments from the board regarding the

[27:50] business?

[27:51] Yes. Never passing up an opportunity to thank the wonderful Averill

[27:55] Education Foundation, recognizing there is a grant on

[27:59] this

[28:00] proposal, on this agenda item right now.

[28:03] As you're right, the board is aware, but since we have many members of the public,

[28:06] the Averill Education Foundation does raise money

[28:10] from anybody who is willing to step up and donate for the benefit of our

[28:14] students.

[28:16] And then they hold competitive grants where

[28:19] teachers or other people who work for the district can submit their grant

[28:23] proposal. That board is independent from the district, reviews those

[28:27] grant proposals, and gives all kinds of wonderful grants.

[28:30] This one particularly going for daily living skills materials, but

[28:34] we have technology grants that have been put into play, other curriculum material.

[28:38] It's just an amazing organization that supports our students.

[28:40] So I want to thank them for those.

[28:44] Great.

[28:45] AEF, excuse me, averillfoundation.org.

[28:48] Thank you. Any other comments or questions?

[28:51] Seeing none, we have a roll call,

[28:54] please. Mr. Ingle?

[28:55] Yes.

[28:56] Ms. Wolf?

[28:56] Yes.

[28:57] Mr. Wood?

[28:58] Yes.

[28:59] Mr. Ward?

[29:00] Yes.

[29:01] Mr. Taylor?

[29:02] Yes.

[29:02] Ms. Leonard?

[29:03] Yes.

[29:03] Ms. Hinn? Dr. Tregoning?

[29:04] Yes.

[29:04] Dr. Linn?

[29:07] Yes.

[29:08] Motion

[29:09] passes eight-zero.

[29:13] The next agenda item is consent agenda. I'm going to hand it over to Dr.

[29:17] Bashant.

[29:18] Hey, Dr. Linn. Are there any items to be removed from the consent agenda and those

[29:22] want separation? Seeing none, may

[29:26] I have a motion to approve the following items on the consent agenda?

[29:30] Six point zero two, resignations, retirements, and leaves of absence;

[29:34] six point zero three, appointments; six point zero four,

[29:38] 江南 appointments; six point zero five, student

[29:41] teachers; six point zero six, volunteers;

[29:45] six point zero seven, CRES Service Agreement;

[29:48] six point zero eight, Creatively Focused Software Services Agreement;

[29:53] six point zero nine, LCH Health Screening Agreement;

[29:57] six point one zero, memorandum of understanding between the Averill School

[30:01] District and the Averill Education Support Professional Association.

[30:06] Item six point one one, Philadelphia Union Soccer License Agreement.

[30:10] Item six point one two, Vanguard Enrollment Agreement.

[30:14] Item six point one three, settlement agreement.

[30:17] Item six point one four, settlement agreement.

[30:20] Item six point one five, conference requests.

[30:23] Item six point one six, overnight trip requests Item

[30:27] 6.17, approval of school board minutes from June 4th of

[30:31] 2026, and item 6.18, approval of

[30:35] special school board minutes from June 30th of

[30:38] 2026.

[30:40] So moved. Second.

[30:45] Are there any questions or comments? I have a comment.

[30:49] Sure. I just want to

[30:53] make the public aware that LCH does provide free

[30:57] P I H O A health screenings

[31:00] for student athletes who are in need.

[31:04] I think that's very important for our public to know, so that we

[31:08] do have

[31:09] vehicles so that every student who wants to participate

[31:13] in an extracurricular activity can do so.

[31:17] And in order to do so, you have to have a physical.

[31:21] A lot of times that physical can be very costly, and we have this

[31:24] wonderful organization in our backyard that's offering free

[31:28] screenings for any student who is in need.

[31:32] Thank you, Dr. O'Connor. Any other comments?

[31:37] Seeing none, can we have a roll call, please?

[31:39] Mm-hmm.

[31:40] Mr. Ward?

[31:41] Yes.

[31:42] Dr. Acton-Maran? Yes. Ms. Wolf?

[31:45] Yes.

[31:46] Mr. Keller?

[31:47] Yes.

[31:47] Mr. Wood?

[31:48] Yeah.

[31:49] Mr. Engel?

[31:50] Yes.

[31:51] Ms. Landers? Yes. Dr. Laine?

[31:53] Yes.

[31:55] Motion passes eight,

[31:58] zero. Down to, there is no old

[32:02] business, but there is new business, and I'm going to

[32:06] hand it over to Mrs. Wolf to

[32:10] talk about the CTI school development

[32:13] position. Yes, I asked for this to be put on the agenda

[32:17] because I'm interested in giving this off to another board member.

[32:21] There's some things coming up at the IU that are going to take up a lot of time,

[32:25] and I would like to make sure that this is put into good hands.

[32:29] Also, at one of our previous meetings, there was a lot of interest in

[32:33] some of the board members in doing some outside of the board meeting,

[32:37] meetings and committees. So I thought I'd open this one up in case anybody was

[32:40] interested. And the description for what is

[32:44] expected, or the actual authority

[32:47] description is in the exact content.

[32:52] So I was just planning to talk a bit about who might be interested

[32:56] in

[32:57] taking on this school board committee a few times a year, and possibly

[33:01] appoint them tonight so they can attend the meeting in September.

[33:08] I would be interested in that.

[33:11] Does anybody have any questions about the position?

[33:14] I know it's an executive comment, but if there's any questions about

[33:18] it. Can I ask what the meetings are during the work

[33:22] day or in the evening? They are usually between

[33:25] 5:00 and 6:00 on the third Wednesday, three times a year.

[33:29] So that would be September, January, and in May.

[33:35] And they're usually at IU for the annual, depending on where the court is

[33:39] meeting.

[33:42] Anybody else other than interested?

[33:46] So Herman, you said

[33:50] you're interested?

[33:50] Yes.

[33:50] Okay. So I don't think we need to vote on this.

[33:52] I think it's more of a discussion and a comment and approval by acclamation.

[33:55] That's good.

[33:58] So, Mrs. Wolf, you'll let the

[34:00] CTI know that there's going to be a

[34:03] changeover? I will absolutely let them know.

[34:07] Thank you, everyone.

[34:09] Yes.

[34:09] And as Mr. Engel's the only candidate, quote unquote, I think the

[34:13] minutes could show that that's an action by the board by consensus,

[34:17] unless there's objection.

[34:20] Seeing no objections, I think we're

[34:24] good. Thank you, Mr. Engel, for

[34:26] volunteering. Superintendent's

[34:30] report, Dr. Deshong.

[34:32] Great. I have a police report, tonight's back to school edition.

[34:38] My microphone must be mouths at this point. Are we good now?

[34:42] So obviously, as everyone has talked about this evening, on August 24th, we

[34:46] are excited to welcome back students for the first day of school.

[34:49] Following three days of in-service the previous week, the school district staff

[34:52] rolled out the red carpet, welcoming the class of

[34:55] 2039 to the first, first day of school, and Chase, along with

[34:59] all her friends in the class of 2027 on their last

[35:04] first day of school in Abbey Grove.

[35:06] As I mentioned, we welcome the class of 2039 at Penn Lawn Elementary School.

[35:10] We're excited to share that our current kindergarten enrollment exists at

[35:14] 288 students. They brought, as you saw in the video, wonderful

[35:17] energy and enthusiasm with them to school.

[35:20] They were excited to learn about their classmates, eating in the cafeteria, and of

[35:24] course, playing on the playground.

[35:26] One Hive, One Vibe is the theme for Meadow Grove Intermediate School

[35:30] this year. On the first day of school, staff of this building welcomed

[35:34] almost 1,300 students with new enrollments happening each

[35:38] day. This week, the focus has been on getting the students acclimated

[35:42] to new routines, meeting their teachers, and connecting with peers and

[35:46] staff. It is a building priority to create a safe and inclusive learning

[35:49] environment while fostering a sense of belonging for all students.

[35:53] Everyone agrees that together is better at Meadow Grove Intermediate School, and

[35:57] the year is off to a spectacular start.

[36:00] Abbey Grove Middle School welcomed 395 sixth graders to the building,

[36:04] with over 300 of them having attended the transition camp,

[36:08] which contributed to the smooth start of the school year.

[36:11] Middle school student athletics have started, and the school is very excited to

[36:15] launch some new clubs and expand extracurricular offerings for

[36:19] all students.

[36:20] The high school welcomed 1,647 students for the new school

[36:24] year. Over the summer, administrators held two orientation sessions

[36:28] designed to ensure a smooth transition.

[36:31] Those were for incoming ninth graders or any students new to the school

[36:34] district These sessions help students become familiar with the building, meet

[36:38] staff, and connect with their peers.

[36:42] We're also proud to share that Haverhill High School was ranked 57 out of

[36:45] 771 high schools in Pennsylvania and in the top

[36:49] 10% nationally by US News and World Report, featuring

[36:53] a 97% graduation rate.

[36:57] Not yet done, over the summer, our district administrators participated in

[37:01] several opportunities focused on reflection, professional growth,

[37:05] collaboration, and preparation for the upcoming school year.

[37:09] The end-of-year administrative retreat held in June provided an opportunity

[37:13] for us to reflect on the current year, celebrate progress, and

[37:17] identify opportunities for continued growth.

[37:19] The retreat also included opportunities for administrators to volunteer with

[37:23] several of our community partners, strengthening the

[37:26] connections beyond our schools.

[37:29] The cabinet held a professional development workshop, which created space for the

[37:33] senior leadership team to build leadership capacity, strengthen collaboration,

[37:37] and align on priorities across the district.

[37:39] And we recently held a beginning-of-the-year retreat, providing an opportunity to

[37:43] establish priorities, strengthen leadership alignment, and prepare

[37:47] for a successful start to the new school year.

[37:49] The retreat also included the reveal of this year's leadership theme, which

[37:53] is learn, lead, and succeed.

[37:57] So together, these opportunities help ensure our leadership team begins the school

[38:01] year aligned, prepared, and focused on creating a future-ready

[38:05] Haverhill.

[38:06] I also have some additional recognitions this evening.

[38:11] The Pennsylvania School Board Association's Honor Roll of School Board Service

[38:15] Program recognizes school directors who have reached significant service

[38:18] milestones, beginning at five years of service and continuing at five-year

[38:22] intervals throughout their board tenure.

[38:25] For over 40 years, the program has celebrated the dedication, leadership,

[38:29] and commitment of school directors across Pennsylvania.

[38:32] So this evening, I'm proud to be able to recognize two of our board members who

[38:35] have achieved such milestones. First is Ruchira Singh,

[38:39] noting her five years of service to the Haverhill community. While Ms.

[38:42] Singh was unable to be here this evening, please join me in thanking her with a

[38:46] round of applause.

[38:52] And second, I have a certificate of appreciation for Mr.

[38:55] Bill Wood, recognizing his 10 years of service to the Haverhill community.

[39:00] Congratulations, Mr. Wood.

[39:21] Tonight, I'm also pleased to recognize Amy Antonio as she

[39:24] retires with more than 17 years of

[39:28] dedicated service to the Haverhill School District.

[39:30] Since joining the district in January of 2009, she has served in a

[39:34] variety of important roles.

[39:37] In addition to roles supporting the building, she also served as the district tax

[39:41] collector before returning back to the good guys' side, supporting

[39:45] educational functions of the district with her work in the Department of

[39:48] Teaching and Learning and with her support of our assistant

[39:52] superintendents.

[39:55] Throughout those years, she's been a steady, dependable, and valued member of our

[39:59] team. I frequently refer to Haverhill as a team of teams,

[40:03] and Amy is the ultimate team player.

[40:05] She's always willing to roll up her sleeves, lend a hand, are

[40:09] willing to serve in a variety of roles reflects not only her

[40:13] versatility, but also her commitment to the students, staff, and

[40:17] families of Haverhill. While we are certainly going to miss having her here, I

[40:20] understand that she's not retiring to a life of leisure.

[40:23] In fact, she's leaving us to be busier in her new role as a grandmother to her

[40:27] two grandsons. So she's going to be playing full-time zone

[40:31] defense at this point in time. She's beyond man-to-man now.

[40:33] She's on the zone defense. Joining her this evening is her husband, Joe, and we're

[40:37] sure he's looking forward to having a little more of her time as well.

[40:40] So on behalf of the board of school directors, our staff, and the entire Haverhill

[40:44] community, thank you, Amy, for your 17-plus years of service and dedication.

[40:48] We wish you a wonderful retirement filled with family, grandchildren, and

[40:52] many happy moments. Congratulations.

[41:14] So

[41:18] for

[41:25] my

[41:26] last announcement, we're also joined this evening by Mrs.

[41:29] Katherine Novacheck, the new administrative assistant for teaching and learning and

[41:33] the assistant superintendents. Katherine, I think only half the board can see you.

[41:36] I'll have to have you stand. Sorry about that. All right.

[41:43] Katherine previously served in an administrative

[41:47] support role in this building at Haverhill Intermediate School.

[41:50] We're thrilled that she wanted to stay part of our team and join us in the district

[41:53] office. So congratulations to Katherine.

[41:57] As frequently as we saw Amy Antonio, you will now see Katherine

[42:00] just as frequently. So congratulations. And that concludes my report.

[42:04] Thank you. We will move to item 12,

[42:08] approval of the agenda. Our next agenda item is

[42:12] executive session announcement.

[42:14] We will have an executive session following this evening tonight

[42:17] in regards to personnel.

[42:21] Closing upcoming meetings and events.

[42:26] September 8th will be our first joint committee one and two meetings.

[42:30] It will be here in GL Audion. It's at 5:00.

[42:33] On September 15th will be the

[42:46] School Board legislative committee here at AGWS

[42:50] Building at six o'clock.

[42:52] Is there any additional information that needs to be shared?

[42:58] Seeing none. Public comment. Do we have any

[43:00] public comment? Public comment is welcome

[43:04] and will be conducted in accordance with board policy 903 and the

[43:07] guidelines listed on the public comment sign-in form.

[43:10] The comment opportunity is for any school or district-related

[43:14] topics. Thirty minutes have been set aside and then individuals have three minutes

[43:18] per comment. All statements shall be directed to the presiding

[43:22] officer rather than to individuals.

[43:24] The presiding officer, superintendent, and/or district solicitor may

[43:28] respond at their discretion and providing contact information

[43:32] is encouraged for any follow-up.

[43:35] Mr. Scott Duncan.

[43:41] Well, good evening all. Thank you again for the opportunity to be here.

[43:44] I'm a lifelong resident of this district and went all through my

[43:48] schooling in this district, class of graduated 2001.

[43:52] So now I'm continuing on this journey because I'm so thankful to be in this

[43:56] district. As Dr. Swan went over, you guys have such

[44:00] high marks that all my children are going now.

[44:02] I have a middle schooler,

[44:04] went to this school, AGI, and then also apparently a class of

[44:07] 2039 attendee at kindergarten who just started here.

[44:10] So we're very thankful to be in this district and appreciate all the service you

[44:14] all do for us here. So I'm here on behalf of the Benefit of School Ministries

[44:18] Chester County. It's a local organization that is literally just

[44:22] starting. We just got set up as a 501 [c] [3] ,

[44:26] and it's really helped to

[44:30] promote released-time Bible education, which has been around since

[44:33] 1914. And I hope you all were given this little

[44:37] sheet that I have here, but I'll just try to hit some highlights of it

[44:41] because I can't cover the whole thing in these few minutes.

[44:43] But yeah, back in 1914, a superintendent was requested by certain

[44:47] parents to offer Bible education during school hours,

[44:51] that they would take the students out of school and teach them the Bible.

[44:54] So

[44:56] the organization that just got started is affiliated with a larger organization

[44:59] called School Ministries. They're a national organization.

[45:02] They help local ministries like this one get started.

[45:05] So what they do is based off a Supreme Court case

[45:09] back in 1952, Zorach v. Clauson, where they can legally take

[45:14] students off of school grounds during school hours.

[45:18] So the three things are listed here, the instruction has to be

[45:22] off school grounds, the student's attendance is voluntary, with

[45:26] written parental guardian permission.

[45:28] And thirdly, no state or federal resources taxpayer funds are

[45:31] used. So it's privately funded by churches, community organizations, and

[45:35] individuals. So I included the state laws from Pennsylvania that are

[45:39] on here as well.

[45:41] Also,

[45:42] I was seeing in the school board policy

[45:47] on the pupil section under temporary absences, there's already one set up for

[45:50] Averill school district. I'm not sure how long it's been in existence, but it's

[45:53] already part of the policies here.

[45:55] So we're just trying to take advantage of that policy under temporary

[45:59] releases under religious education.

[46:01] Apparently, you can take up to 36 hours per year for this, and we're

[46:05] scheduled to do it once a labor week on Mondays for an hour each,

[46:09] which would take to-- Because Monday is between Labor Day and Memorial Day, which

[46:12] is probably 28 hours, so we should be in that timeframe.

[46:17] But

[46:18] it's been documented multiple benefits.

[46:20] Some of the benefits are better academic performance by students that attend a

[46:24] session like this.

[46:26] They usually try harder for their grades because they

[46:29] are taught accountability is on them, and they typically have fewer

[46:32] behavioral problems. They also have more self-confidence

[46:36] and, again, just more value of

[46:39] themselves. And there's resources here listed on the sheet as well,

[46:43] where their studies come from. And also, typically, retention

[46:47] is given to the students that have higher graduation

[46:50] rates and more success for college.

[46:54] So again, this is a community organization coming together with multiple

[46:57] churches, to help promote this organization for

[47:01] allowance. Also, again, it's obviously given by

[47:05] parents and guardian permission, as already stated.

[47:09] The organization has its own liability.

[47:11] So

[47:13] it has a general liability, along with directors and officers, insurance

[47:17] coverage, along with workers' compensation and student accidental coverage.

[47:20] So everything's covered. I also have already spoke with Mr.

[47:23] D'Emilio at the middle school, as we want to start a pilot program with seventh

[47:27] grade students. So obviously, my daughter's in seventh grade, so that's where the

[47:30] seventh grade idea came from. But we have permission from the Averill

[47:34] Nazareth Church across the road from the middle school,

[47:37] to take students there by bus, which we will pay for the busing

[47:42] to bus the students from there to the school.

[47:45] It'll be during non-core hours during elective course, which for seventh graders is

[47:48] in the early afternoon, probably 1:15 to 2:15.

[47:51] We'll be busing the students there, back by 2:15 and teaching

[47:55] the curriculum. I have a copy of the curriculum here that's written by a teacher,

[47:59] approved by multiple teachers, used throughout the country.

[48:03] And again, I'm here for any questions or any ideas either publicly or

[48:07] later. If anybody's interested, I'd love to share more.

[48:09] I'm already over time, so I guess I didn't pull that a little more.

[48:11] I'm trying to cram it in here. But anyways, but yeah, that's the basics of it.

[48:15] We're not officially advertised yet because we just got set up as a 501 [c]

[48:19] [3] . We're about to get our insurance in place.

[48:21] Once the insurance is in place, we're planning on starting to promote it,

[48:26] and see who's interested and get the parents to sign off.

[48:28] That will all be given to the attendance office and middle school to make sure

[48:31] we're all on board. And yeah. Again, we're here for just one of the

[48:35] purposes of the board is to learn from the beginning and that the students will

[48:38] have successful, meaningful lives.

[48:40] So God has shaped my life, and we want to share that blessing with as many

[48:44] students that are interested or parents

[48:57] If there are questions or comments that come up, I'm sure we will be contacted.

[49:01] Sure, yeah. Would love to.

[49:03] We welcome that.

[49:04] Yes. Then fine. Because currently right now, this is all of my personal stuff on

[49:07] the end. The specifics that I will have

[49:09] set up under the organization itself, but that should be within the next month or

[49:14] so. But thank you very much.

[49:15] Thank you.

[49:15] Thank you all.

[49:16] Thank you for coming.

[49:17] Mm-hmm.

[49:17] And I will just note it for the board.

[49:19] It was briefly noted, but

[49:22] what Arrowood does under its policy is not

[49:26] really a personal or individual

[49:29] choice by this district. It's part of Pennsylvania school code

[49:33] under Section 1546, and that

[49:36] provides for individually or collectively,

[49:40] parents request that instructional time.

[49:43] It's up to 36 hours a year.

[49:46] The district has to get those requests in.

[49:49] The student is responsible for any work

[49:52] missed, and as mentioned, the transportation

[49:56] is not a district responsibility.

[49:59] It's not a district program, but it is clearly part

[50:03] of state law. And your Policy 204, which has been in

[50:06] place for a number of years, is modeled after the State

[50:10] School Boards Association policy, which basically puts

[50:14] some procedural meat on the bone for that statute.

[50:21] Thank you. And that brings us to our last agenda item, which is

[50:25] adjournment. And I'd like to thank everybody for coming tonight and welcome you to

[50:29] the school year. I hope to see you again. Thank you.

[50:33] Good night.

[50:41] Thank you very much.

AGSD BOARD 8-27-2026

Transcript