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1 TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

2 - - -

3 PITTSBURGH BOARD OF PUBLIC EDUCATION LEGISLATIVE MEETING

4 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 20187:05 P.M.

5 ADMINISTRATION BUILDING - BOARD ROOM

6 - - -

7 BEFORE:

8 DR. REGINA B. HOLLEY, BOARD PRESIDENTLYNDA WRENN, FIRST VICE PRESIDENT

9 SALA UDIN, SECOND VICE PRESIDENT KEVIN L. CARTER

10 VERONICA EDWARDSCYNTHIA FALLS

11 MOIRA B. KALEIDATERRY KENNEDY

12 SYLVIA WILSON

13 MEMBERS ABSENT:

14 - - -

15 ALSO PRESENT:

16 DR. ANTHONY HAMLET MR. IRA WEISSMR. RONALD JOSEPH MS. CAROL BARONE-MARTIN

17 MR. DAVID MAY-STEIN MS. LINDA BAEHR MS. ERRIKA FEARBRY JONES MR. SCOTT GUTOWSKY

18 MS. PAM CAPRETTA MS. ANGELA ALLIEMS. ANGELA MIKE MS. ALLISON HUGULEY

19 MR. ANTHONY ANDERSON MR. THEODORE DWYER

20 - - - REPORTED BY: JESSICA FISHER

21 PROFESSIONAL COURT REPORTER- - -

22COMPUTER-AIDED TRANSCRIPTION BY

23 MORSE, GANTVERG & HODGE, INC.PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA

24 412-281-0189

25 - - -

1

1 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S

2 DR. HOLLEY: Good evening, ladies and

3 gentlemen, and welcome to the January 24th, 2018

4 Pittsburgh Board of Public Education Legislative

5 Meeting.

6 Before we begin this evening, I'd like to

7 ask everyone to please turn off all cell phones or put

8 them on vibrate.

9 Would everyone please rise so we can salute

10 the flag?

11 (Flag saluted.)

12 DR. HOLLEY: As is our tradition and

13 procedure before the Legislative Meeting, we'd like to

14 recognize students and employees of the Pittsburgh

15 Public School District. I will now turn this portion

16 of the meeting over to Mercedes Howze.

17 (Awards presented.)

18 DR. HOLLEY: Okay. Thank you, Miss Howze.

19 Mr. Weiss, may we please have a roll call?

20 MR. WEISS: Mr. Carter?

21 MR. CARTER: Here.

22 MR. WEISS: Miss Edwards?

23 MS. EDWARDS: Here.

24 MR. WEISS: Miss Falls?

25 MS. FALLS: Present.

2

1 MR. WEISS: Mrs. Kaleida?

2 MS. KALEIDA: Here.

3 MR. WEISS: Mrs. Kennedy?

4 MS. KENNEDY: Present.

5 MR. WEISS: Mr. Udin?

6 MR. UDIN: Here.

7 MR. WEISS: Miss Wilson?

8 MS. WILSON: Here.

9 MR. WEISS: Miss Wrenn?

10 MS. WRENN: Here.

11 MR. WEISS: Dr. Holley?

12 DR. HOLLEY: Here.

13 MR. WEISS: All members present.

14 DR. HOLLEY: Thank you, Mr. Weiss.

15 At this time, I'd like to ask Mrs. Wilson

16 to share our core beliefs and commitments.

17 MS. WILSON: Thank you.

18 We will educate all children to their

19 highest level of academic achievement. We will

20 provide a safe and orderly environment for all

21 students and employees. We will provide efficient and

22 effective support for all students, families, teachers

23 and administrators. We will distribute resources in

24 an efficient and equitable manner to address the needs

25 of all students to the maximum extent feasible. We

3

1 will improve public confidence and encourage strong

2 parent, community engagement in the district.

3 Back to you, Dr. Holley.

4 DR. HOLLEY: Thank you, Miss Wilson.

5 Will board members please turn to the

6 minutes? Tonight, we will be approving the minutes

7 for December 4th, 2017 Board Organization Meeting, the

8 December 20th, 2017 Legislative Session, and

9 January 8th, 2018 Special Legislative Session. Are

10 there any corrections, additions or deletions?

11 I'd like to have a motion and a second to

12 approve the minutes of the December 4th, 2017 Board

13 Organization Meeting, the December 20th, 2017

14 Legislative Session and the January 8th, 2018 Special

15 Legislative Session.

16 MS. WRENN: So moved.

17 MS. KENNEDY: Second.

18 DR. HOLLEY: All those in favor, please

19 signify by saying aye.

20 (Thereupon, there was a chorus of ayes.)

21 DR. HOLLEY: Opposed, same sign?

22 (No response.)

23 DR. HOLLEY: The minutes stand approved.

24 At this time, I'd like to read the

25 executive session statement.

4

1 In addition to executive sessions announced

2 at the Legislative Meeting of December 20th, 2017, the

3 board met in executive sessions on January 8th, 2018,

4 January 17th, 2018, and immediately before this

5 Legislative Meeting to discuss various personnel

6 matters that may include, but are not limited to,

7 administrative vacancies and positions opened and

8 closed.

9 Finally, at the executive session

10 immediately before this Legislative Meeting, the board

11 discussed student discipline cases that involved

12 violations of various portions of the Code of Student

13 Conduct. The board does not vote at executive

14 sessions.

15 We will begin first this evening with the

16 Committee Report on Education that is before you,

17 submitted by Miss Sylvia Wilson, chairperson, and her

18 committee. The report includes agenda items 5.01

19 through 8.18.

20 If you would please turn to the agenda item

21 8.18, I would like to give you the student suspension,

22 transfer and expulsion numbers for this month.

23 41 students suspended for four to ten days.

24 26 students expelled out of school for 11 days or

25 more.

5

1 There were no items pulled for further

2 discussion at Agenda Review. Are there any questions

3 or comments on the Committee Report on Education at

4 this time that were not answered at Agenda Review?

5 Mr. David May-Stein?

6 MR. MAY-STEIN: Thank you, Dr. Holley. We

7 will be pulling item No. 8.16.

8 DR. HOLLEY: Thank you, Mr. David

9 May-Stein.

10 Mrs. Kennedy?

11 MS. KENNEDY: Thank you, Dr. Holley.

12 Prior to last week's meeting, I requested

13 an update to the MOU for 6.05 because it -- it

14 actually says about the fee, will it be invoiced in

15 October 2017 for the full amount, and it also is

16 showing one teaching artist, da da da, through

17 2017/2018 school year, which is good, through

18 26 weeks. But since this contract isn't starting

19 until January 25th, and we were supposed to get an

20 updated MOU with an invoice date that was more

21 accurate.

22 MR. MAY-STEIN: Mrs. Kennedy, can you

23 repeat your question, please?

24 MS. KENNEDY: Okay. The invoice -- or,

25 excuse me, the MOU that's attached to this one shows

6

1 an invoice date of 2017 -- of October 2017 for the

2 full amount, and -- which considering the contract

3 approval isn't even starting until this meeting, that

4 was supposed to be changed that the invoice would

5 happen based on -- for us to approve.

6 MR. CARTER: Mrs. Kennedy, can you state

7 which agenda item you're talking about?

8 MS. KENNEDY: Oh. Okay. It was 6.05, I

9 thought I said that. I'm sorry, Mr. Carter. 6.05,

10 the Steeltown Entertainment. All right? so the

11 operating period is January 25th, 2918 through

12 June 29th, 2018. And it was agreed when I made the

13 request that the MOU had to be updated because the

14 invoice date was not appropriate.

15 MR. MAY-STEIN: Mrs. Kennedy, I will have

16 to look into that. That was supposed to be corrected.

17 I apologize for that not being corrected. I will

18 follow up with that.

19 MS. KENNEDY: Thank you.

20 Question. Mr. Weiss, if we're voting on --

21 how can we vote on this if the contract -- if the MOU

22 is wrong? I'm a little -- I'm uncomfortable.

23 MR. WEISS: I mean, Mr. May-Stein has

24 stated that it would be corrected. I think the action

25 of the board reflects that correction. And the

7

1 document will be not be executed until it's corrected.

2 MS. KENNEDY: Thank you. So for the

3 purpose of the vote, then I'll accept that. Thank

4 you. Thank you.

5 Thank you, Mr. May-Stein.

6 Thank you, Mr. Weiss.

7 Thank you, Dr. Holley.

8 DR. HOLLEY: Are there any other questions

9 on the Education portion of our Legislative Meeting

10 for the Pittsburgh Public Schools?

11 If there are no further questions, do we

12 have a motion and a second for a roll call vote on the

13 Committee Report on Education?

14 MS. WILSON: So moved.

15 MS. WRENN: Second.

16 DR. HOLLEY: Mr. Weiss, may we have a roll

17 call vote on the Committee Report on Education?


19 MR. CARTER: Yes.


21 MS. EDWARDS: Yes.


23 MS. FALLS: Yes.


25 MS. KALEIDA: Yes.

8


2 MS. KENNEDY: Yes on the report as a whole.

3 I need to abstain on 8.01 because my employer is part

4 of the original list that's being amended.

5 And my "yes" for 6.05 is based on the

6 explanation that Mr. Weiss just gave us, that it will

7 not -- the MOU will not be contracted until it's

8 revised with correct dates.

9 Thank you.


11 MR. UDIN: Yes.


13 MS. WILSON: Yes.

14 MR. WEISS: Mrs. Wrenn?

15 MS. WRENN: Yes.


17 DR. HOLLEY: Yes.

18 MR. WEISS: The report is approved.


20 We will now move to the Committee Report on

21 Business/Finance that is before you, submitted by

22 Mr. Kevin Carter, chairperson, and his committee.

23 This report includes agenda items 9.01 through 12.08.

24 MR. JOSEPH: I just want to inform the

25 board that item 10.19 is being pulled. Item 10.19 is

9

1 being pulled.


3 DR. HOLLEY: Thank you, Mr. Joseph.

4 Are there any questions or concerns on the

5 Business items?

6 If there are no questions, do we have a

7 motion and a second for a roll call vote on the

8 Committee Report on Business/Finance?

9 MS. KENNEDY: So moved.

10 MS. FALLS: Second.

11 DR. HOLLEY: Mr. Weiss, may we please have

12 a roll call?


14 MR. CARTER: Yes.




18 MS. FALLS: Yes.




22 MS. KENNEDY: Yes.


24 MR. UDIN: Yes.


10

1 MS. WILSON: Yes.

2 MR. WEISS: Miss Wrenn?

3 MS. WRENN: Yes.


5 DR. HOLLEY: Yes.

6 MR. WEISS: The item is approved

7 unanimously.


9 We will now move to the Human Resources

10 Report, item 13.01 that includes addendums A, B, C and

11 D, submitted by Veronica Edwards, chairperson, and her

12 committee. Are there any questions or comments on the

13 report?

14 If there are no questions or comments, may

15 we are have a motion and a second for a roll call vote

16 on Human Resources Report that includes addendums A, B

17 and C?

18 MS. EDWARDS: So moved.

19 MS. WILSON: Second.

20 DR. HOLLEY: Mr. Weiss, may we please have

21 a roll call vote?


23 MR. CARTER: Yes.



11


2 MS. FALLS: Yes.


4 MS. KALEIDA: Yes.


6 MS. KENNEDY: Yes.


8 MR. UDIN: Yes.


10 MS. WILSON: Yes.


12 MS. WRENN: Yes.


14 DR. HOLLEY: Yes.

15 MR. WEISS: The report is approved

16 unanimously.


18 I'd like to call the board's attention to

19 the Financial Statements and Controller's Reports,

20 items No. 16.01 and item 16.02 for the month ending

21 December 31st, 2017. Are there any questions or

22 comments on the reports?

23 Mr. Joseph?

24 MR. JOSEPH: I just want to call everyone's

25 attention to the Financial Statements. Due to our

12

1 year-end closing activities, there will not be any

2 Financial Statements until March. So that means for

3 the next two months, including December, we won't have

4 any Financial Statements for December, January or

5 February until the March board meeting due to our

6 year-end closing activities.

7 Thank you.

8 DR. HOLLEY: Thank you, Mr. Joseph.

9 Item 17. -- I'm sorry.

10 MS. FALLS: Does the same apply for the

11 Controller's Report?

12 MR. JOSEPH: Yes, the same applies for the

13 Controller's Report.

14 MS. FALLS: Okay. Thank you, Mr. Joseph.


16 DR. HOLLEY: You're welcome.

17 Item 17.01 is a New Business item, 6 to 8

18 mathematics and secondary advanced level mathematics

19 textbook adoption. Are there any questions or

20 comments on this item?

21 I want to take this opportunity to thank

22 the supervisor for mathematics for coming in and

23 giving us -- giving some of our board members some

24 more information on the mathematics curriculum and

25 providing mathematics books for us to look at before

13

1 this -- for our review. Even though some of that

2 material I didn't understand, but we still want to

3 thank you for that opportunity.

4 If there are no -- are there any questions

5 or -- any further questions or comments?

6 If there are no further questions or

7 comments, may we have a motion and a second for a roll

8 call vote on the New Business item, 17.01?

9 MS. KENNEDY: So moved.

10 MS. WRENN: Second.

11 DR. HOLLEY: Mr. Weiss, may we have a roll

12 call vote?


14 MR. CARTER: Yes.




18 MS. FALLS: Yes.




22 MS. KENNEDY: Yes.


24 MR. UDIN: Yes.


14

1 MS. WILSON: Yes.


3 MS. WRENN: Yes.


5 DR. HOLLEY: Yes.

6 MR. WEISS: The item is approved.


8 Are there any announcements to be brought

9 before us this evening that do not require a

10 legislative vote?

11 Miss Falls?

12 MS. FALLS: Thank you, Dr. Holley.

13 I've been a little amiss from not being

14 able to attend my schools in the past couple months

15 due to some health issues. But I do want to say that

16 I've been in touch, and they're doing a lot of great

17 things.

18 But as usual, I do want to give our thanks

19 to our military, past, present and future, and I think

20 we need to keep them in our thoughts and prayers.


22 DR. HOLLEY: Are there any other

23 announcements?

24 Mrs. Kennedy?

25 MS. KENNEDY: Thank you, Dr. Holley.

15

1 First, I'd like to thank everybody in the

2 district who was responsible -- who was involved in

3 these nice gifts that we received. And I'm thrilled

4 to have a new tote bag that was decorated by pre-K

5 students. I -- it's gorgeous, and I love it already.

6 So I'd like to thank everybody.

7 Next, I have -- I want to address some

8 stuff based on some rumors and untruths that are

9 flying around.

10 So last month, I included a suggestion in

11 my remarks to cut travel. I suggested sending one

12 person instead of multiple people to meetings and

13 conferences, unless there was a requirement to send

14 multiple people. Just because someone in the media

15 decides to follow up on my suggestion by investigating

16 district travel does not mean I alerted the media. I

17 received a call from the media. I even declined to

18 talk on camera when initially contacted.

19 The travel reports are public. Anyone can

20 review them online in BoardDocs. They are posted in

21 the Agenda Review meeting material every -- every

22 month. All right? A member of the media or anybody

23 else, for that matter, may choose to review public

24 information posted in BoardDocs at any time.

25 All board policies are also posted in

16

1 BoardDocs. Part of Policy 005 covers travel by school

2 board directors. It states: School directors, a non

3 member secretary of the board, and board solicitors

4 shall be reimbursed for necessary expenses actually

5 incurred as delegates to any state convention or

6 association of school directors held within the

7 Commonwealth, or for necessary expenses actually

8 incurred in attendance authorized by the board at any

9 other meeting held within the Commonwealth or at an

10 educational convention out of state. All such

11 expenses should be itemized and made available for

12 public inspection at the next succeeding meeting of

13 the board. No member should be reimbursed for more

14 than two such out-of-state meetings in one school

15 year. Such expenses shall be reimbursed only upon

16 presentation of an itemized verified statement except

17 that advanced payments may be made upon presentation

18 of estimated expenses to be incurred.

19 This policy does not make any exceptions

20 for board officers or official representatives to

21 various groups. It also does not make any exceptions

22 for trips paid for by a grant or another outside

23 source. My guess is this policy is one reason why

24 past board presidents did not have any one board

25 member representing the board on more than one

17

1 organization or committee that required out-of-state

2 travel.

3 Since the KDKA reports aired, I have

4 received a lot of positive feedback from parents,

5 teachers and members of the community who would prefer

6 to see the money reallocated to the classroom. The

7 feedback is being sent to me both directly and

8 indirectly, and for people I've never heard of. All

9 right?

10 Meetings can be held via teleconference or

11 video conference instead of sending people in person.

12 News flash: This district was using video conference

13 as a tool long before Skype and Facetime made the

14 capability even easier. We do not need to send

15 multiple people to a meeting or a conference in most

16 cases. Many conferences will sell videos and

17 materials of the sessions.

18 Just last fall, Miss Falls returned from

19 the annual Pennsylvania School Board's Association

20 Conference and shared the URLs with the rest of the

21 board so we could view the sessions.

22 I have asked many times in the past how

23 information will be shared after district staff

24 members return from professional development and/or

25 conferences. Usually, I hear the information will be

18

1 shared with other staff members in their school

2 building, but I rarely hear the information is being

3 shared with colleagues district-wide. Why not share

4 all the relevant information with people across the

5 district? If a meeting is important enough to attend,

6 it is surely important enough to share the information

7 with people across the district.

8 I am calling for the board and the district

9 to immediately start decreasing travel by using

10 technology to participate in meetings remotely when

11 possible, and to only send one or two people on any

12 one trip that must be attended in person.

13 Explanations justifying additional expense of sending

14 more staff to a meeting or conference should be

15 required before travel is approved by the board.

16 Thank you.

17 DR. HOLLEY: Mrs. Wilson?

18 MS. WILSON: Hi. I wanted to -- thank you,

19 Dr. Holley.

20 I wanted to recognize that Montessori is

21 having a month of power. They've been inviting people

22 to speak every morning over announcements and sharing

23 their stories of maybe how they came in their careers

24 or just something personal about themselves. The

25 students are listening, and then they write a little

19

1 synopsis, a little bit of the students, and they post

2 something on their doors every day. I thought that

3 was a wonderful use of -- integration of what the

4 children are listening to and how they -- adapting

5 that to what they're learning in their classroom and

6 also into their writing.

7 I also want to recognize the Westinghouse

8 alumni, who always are coming out to help Westinghouse

9 whenever possible. Westinghouse is currently

10 rebuilding their band, their marching band, due to a

11 fact that they lost a teacher, and they're rebuilding,

12 and the Westinghouse alumni group have come out and

13 performed when a band was necessary. And I just want

14 to tell everyone how much I appreciate their support

15 for their school. And they are definitely Bulldogs

16 forever.

17 Thank you.

18 DR. HOLLEY: Dr. Hamlet?

19 DR. HAMLET: Yeah, I just want to make sure

20 that we set the record straight to understand the

21 facts around travel.

22 So when we count travel -- and I spoke to

23 the particular reporter about this -- we're not just

24 talking about sitting on the beach having Mai Tais.

25 This is work. Understand where we're coming from.

20

1 We're not going to stay and learn and grow sitting

2 here in the vacuum in Pittsburgh. There are external

3 and internal opportunities for professional

4 development that's a healthy mix based on adult

5 learning processes and theory. That's understood.

6 You can't learn something if you don't go somewhere

7 and learn and grow and collaborate with others, as

8 well.

9 But I will say this: Our budget currently

10 right now, our travel budget which is PD, conferences,

11 required re-certification and professional development

12 is .06 percent of a $640 million budget. Of that,

13 .04 percent is out of the general fund. Our

14 benchmarking -- external benchmarking, which the

15 investigative reporter didn't bother to do -- if

16 you're going to do an investigation, investigate. If

17 you are asked a question of my benchmarking other

18 school districts, 1 percent of their budget is

19 dedicated to travel and professional development. So

20 we're well below where we need to be, because I think

21 we're very strategic in our approach to how we want to

22 shape and grow our people in the Pittsburgh Public

23 Schools.

24 Also, we have a strategic plan.

25 Restorative practices, positive behavior supports and

21

1 intervention, learning new curriculum, understanding

2 the appropriate pedagogy, instructional strategies.

3 We need to understand from ourselves in the district

4 and learn something new and grow from others outside

5 of the district, as well.

6 So I think we're very strategic in our

7 approach, and also pulling back and scrutinizing where

8 our travel is. But also understanding that the notion

9 of school improvement is remiss without professional

10 development and growing your people. And I will

11 always invest in people in our programs on a regular

12 basis.


14 DR. HOLLEY: Thank you, Dr. Hamlet.

15 Mrs. Wilson?

16 MS. WILSON: So sorry, I forgot something.

17 We were -- we're being recognized as board members,

18 and we appreciate that, and we appreciate that the

19 Early Childhood Centers decorated bags. And that

20 reminded me. I'm sorry, I forgot. I meant to say

21 this.

22 We recognize and thank all the people who

23 retire throughout the year. However, a special

24 recognition to Mr. James Saunders, who has been with

25 Early Childhood for -- I don't know -- umpteen years,

22

1 and just the fact that they helped us out and that the

2 Early Childhood was highlighted today, I wanted to

3 give a special shout out to Mr. Saunders for all his

4 many, many, many years of dedication in the Early

5 Childhood Programs in the district. So thank you,

6 Mr. Saunders.

7 DR. HOLLEY: We also want to make a -- I

8 would like to make a -- not a recommendation, but a

9 shout out to the superintendent for representing us,

10 the district, very well at the -- last week at our --

11 at a conference held by Representative Ed Gainey at

12 the Hosanna House, a wonderful facility in

13 Wilkinsburg. He made presentation to several of the

14 state representatives on the issues of supporting

15 public school education. We were the highlight of the

16 conference. So I want to thank Dr. Hamlet for that

17 outstanding presentation.

18 DR. HAMLET: Thank you, Dr. Holley.

19 DR. HOLLEY: Are there any other

20 announcements?

21 If there are no more announcements, may I

22 have a motion and a second to adjourn?

23 MR. CARTER: So moved.

24 MS. KENNEDY: Second.

25 DR. HOLLEY: All those in favor, please

23

1 signify by saying aye.

2 (Thereupon, there was a chorus of ayes.)

3 DR. HOLLEY: Opposed?

4 (No response.)

5 DR. HOLLEY: This meeting is adjourned.

6 - - -

7 (Thereupon, at 7:35 o'clock p.m., the

8 Legislative Meeting was adjourned.)

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1 C-E-R-T-I-F-I-C-A-T-E

2 I, Jessica Fisher, the undersigned, do hereby

3 certify that the foregoing twenty four (24) pages are

4 a true and correct transcript of my stenotypy notes

5 taken of the Legislative Meeting held in the

6 Pittsburgh Board of Public Education Administration

7 Building, Board Room, on Wednesday, January 24, 2018.

8

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12 __________________________________ Jessica Fisher, Court Reporter

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Documents

BoardDocs - School Board Management Software Solution · 75$16&5,37 2) 352&((',1*6 3,776%85*+ %2$5' 2) 38%/,& ('8&$7,21 /(*,6/$7,9( 0((7,1* :('1(6'$< -$18$5< 3 0 $'0,1,675$7,21 %8,/',1*

BoardDocs - School Board Management Software Solution · 75$16&5,37 2) 352&((',16 3,776%85+ %2$5' 2) 38%/,& ('8&$7,21 /(,6/$7,9( 0((7,1 :('1(6'$< -$18$5< 3 0 $'0,1,675$7,21 %8,/',1*