Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. 26Get a roll call, please. >> Mr. Baronowski,>> present. >> Mrs. Carlson,>> present. >> Mrs. Depalo,>> here. >> Mr. Godson,>> present. >> Mr. Hartline,>> present. >> Mrs. Kger,>> here. >> Dr. Maguire>> here. Mr. Martin >> here.>> Mr. Saddowski >> here.>> Nine members present. Can we all stand for the pledge of allegiance? To the flag of the United States ofAmerica and to the republic for it stands, one nation under God,indivisible, liberty and justice for all.>> Thank you. Any announcements? I have none. Anyboard members have announcements? All right.presentations. Mr. Greenwood, you are up. >> Uh, first of all, thank you all forcoming in tonight. I appreciate it. It's the extra board meeting. I feel like uhwe were just talking like we've been we've been together for a a long timeright now. Uh, but thank you. Um, I have a quickpresentation. Uh, it's sort of a review of what we looked at uh last Tuesday.looking at the preliminary uh budget projections and what a preliminarybudget is. And I think the last bullet point that the budget is referred to aspreliminary because it's not final. It's not the final budget. It's an interimlegally required step to comply with act one. Uh and that's what we're here to uhto do tonight. Uh we talked about this what thepreliminary budget is not. It's not the final budget obviously. Uh it's not acommitment one way or the other. Uh and it's not any approval one way or theother. We had shared this uh earlier uh back inthe beginning of January um looking at where we would be withzero increase where we'd be with 3.5 which is the act one and where we wouldbe uh relative uh uh where we'd be with an act one plus uh additional umnumbers. Right. The preliminary budget is 154,118,000with expenses of 61,181,000 for a deficit of just over $7 million. We're here tonight uh to meet thedeadline to uh adopt a preliminary budget. Once that's done, I will uh runhome and we will file the preliminary budget uh and get that on uh online forPTE and just the remaining stops. And that's all I have for you tonight.>> Thank you, Mr. >> Any questions?>> Well done. >> Thank you. Very well done.>> Well done. >> All right.That was one of your shortest ones I understand. No,>> nobody has any questions. Anybody? >> All right. Community comments.>> I don't blame you. >> You sure?>> It's all you. >> Three minutes is yours.>> All right. Mr. Saddowski. >> All right.>> On to approval of the agenda. Be it resolved that the Centennial SchoolDistrict Board of School Directors 3.1 approves the February 17th, 2026 boardagenda as per the attached. Are there any corrections that need to be madethat are allowed by PA law? >> Second.>> Any discussion? All in favor?>> I. >> All opposed? Any abstensions? Passes 90.On to new business. It resolved that the Centennial School District Board ofSchool Directors 4.1 adopts the 2026 2027 proposedpreliminary general fund budget in the amount of $161,181,895 in expenditures and $154,118,49 in revenue based on a tax increase of3.5%. Second.>> Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor? I.>> All opposed? Any abstensions?This is 90. >> Just to clarify for anybody watching athome, I know this is popular. Um, that 3.5% tax increase, that does not meanyou are getting a 3.5% tax increase. Take a deep breath in and out. That doesnot mean you are getting that. All right. Um board discussion.>> Just one quick item. I hate to do this. I want to ask the superintendent. Umwhere do we stand? I you sent a memo out end of last week uh regarding potentialstudent protests who haven't worked that out well atPensbury, Upper Perky Omen, and other places. Where do we stand with thatplease? >> Sure. So what I can share is that thatum William Tennet High School administration has been actively workingwith student leadership and um is going to be issuing a communication out. Um weare going to allow and um give students a forum to express their first amendmentrights which they have a right to do and we're going to do that in a controlledenvironment. It's voluntary and it does allow uh for students to um expressthemselves uh within a set of parameters and we believe that we can do that in avery calm civic-minded way. Um obviously if students leave class they'reresponsible for what they miss they're going to have to miss. Um, and I knowthat there's variance of thought around that, but um, I believe and we believethat it's wise to to work with students to give them a forum to expressthemselves, to not squash their first amendment rights, and to do so in aproductive way and then talk about other ways that they can engage their civicvoice as well. If I might, students have first amendment rights. Obviously, theyhave the right to express them. They don't necessarily, in my opinion, havethe right to do that on school property owned by taxpayers of these threecommunities. This is a controversial issue. It's an area which I believethey're going to look at of law enforcement.What is the parameters if then other students who wish to protest in favor oflaw enforcement or other issues regarding the Middle East, LBGT, voterrights, all these other voter ID, all these other issues that we have outthere, whether differences of opinion on both sides of that particular issue.by allowing one side to proceed and endorse it doesn't seem to me that thatwould be the sentiment of the vast majority of the people who taxpayers whoactually own the school and I don't know whywe are permitting this if they want to go protest that's their absolute rightto do it's first amendment I actually think that's a good idea there'sprotests at Doylestown every week go to Doylestown and protest If you want toprotest on Street Road, by all means, go protest on Street Road. I don't know whywe're giving class time with no consequenceto promote this what I view as a somewhat politicalissue and anti-law enforcement as ICE, which I guess is what they're talkingabout, is a law enforcement agency. I just don't think that's and I don't knowwhy we're doing that. It's a slippery slope. and the next group that wants tohave a protest. I don't know how you're going to possibly turn it down if youpermit this to occur. I just don't think it's a particularly good idea to haveendorsed this. That's my own opinion. Probably no I don't know anybody elseagrees or don't agree. I just don't think that's appropriate thing to dowith taxpayer buildings who own it. If if I own my business and somebody wantmy employees want to come protest to me, they have a right to protest. They couldgo protest. That's their first amendment right. Not on a building that someoneelse owns. That's not something that's guaranteed. I justdon't think that's appropriate for a school issue on either side. Idon't Garrett's pro ICE or anti- ice. This happens to be anti- ice. I think ithasn't worked out well in the other school districts. I've been readingabout what happened at Pensbury. They had to have the building shut downbecause there was other people who objected to it. hasn't worked out wellin Upper Perky Omen. Hasn't worked out well in Quaker Town. I don't know howit's going to work out well here. And I don't think we should. No is a greatword. I think no is something we ought to say. Go protest by all means. You'reright. Do it. Don't do it on school prop.No. And and I I appreciate your opinion and I respect your your thoughts and andand what you shared. It's it's definitely an issue that takestremendous judgment and thought. Um however I am very confident in ourstudents and the ma the way in which administration has worked with them.It's delicate and I I I truly respect what you shared. I understand what yousaid and understand you know that there are a lot of issues that we need tothink about and and take into consideration. I do um it's it'ssomething that I'm very proud of the way building administration has handled itand the manner in which they've interacted with students.uh and I have complete faith in our student body that um we'll be able tomanage this in a very productive way. Are we addressing other issues that mayarise of which there are several unfortunatelyin our country these days that are very controversial people on both sidesvirtually half on one half on the other. What's your policy regarding approval ofprotests? If somebody says I want to have a student come out they they lovesomething else. How's that going to work? Who makes that decision? It's thisis a good one. That's a bad one. Well, I think you handle those, Mr. Martin, on acase-by case basis. Um, I have in my career, um, experienced a number ofthese. Um, and there are always ways to to manage and mitigate those situations.But I think, um, you know, we handle things on a case- by case basis andreally look at the totality of it. Um, this is definitely an issue that touchessome of our families and our students and our community and I want to besympathetic, but I understand your point and I think it it's something that ifwhat you are describing would begin to emerge with a frequency that isobviously beyond what would be typical, then that's a different conversation andwe start to think about that and what that looks like from a disruptionstandpoint. But there is case law. There is um precedent out there. Um and I feelconfident in our plan and our ability. But I I understand what you're sayingand I truly respect what you're saying. And these families and folks are in thiscountry legally, they should have absolutely nothing to be concerned aboutor worry about. And if they're not here legally, then that's actuallytechnically that's a violation of law. But I'm not getting into that debate ona schoolboard meeting. But that's that's there's other other contentious issues.>> Quickest school board meeting ever. Charlie,>> it comes with an ICE t-shirt on. It says I support ICE. They going to be allowedto wear that. >> There there is um freedom of speech lawand material disruption in the environment in a lot of Supreme Courtcases. And as long it does not create a material disruption to the environment,yes, they are. Um, and again, I'm not going to get into anythingpolitical. I'm going to base our decisions on supporting kids.>> Mr. Hartley, >> any kids who want to protest just cometo you. They'll get a protest. Okay. >> That's Mr. Martin. That's not what Isaid. >> No, he's just honoring um our studentsfirst amendment right. Mrs. Depalo. >> Um, thanks Mr. Martin. Thank you forbringing this up because I on my end I heard about it also um in my house. Um,and I would say I don't think administration is endorsing it. I urgemy daughter who told me she was going to be doing this to talk immediately to theprincipal the principles um, specifically Dr. Caracappa. I thinkadministration is just providing a a safe structured outlet for the kids likeyou're saying to express their first amendment rights. I think the kids aregoing to do it either way and I think what the school's response is thatthey're trying to make sure it's done safely. I don't know if anyone remembersback at during CO um the kids protested something like masks or not wearingmasks and Dr. Heinrich's response was she escorted the kids walked with themfor their protest and went back into the building. I think the whole thing took15 minutes so there was very little disruption I think to the school day umand it was handled and it was finished all before I think probably anybodyrealized what was happening. So I'm confident that this will be handled inthe same manner. better than Pensbury then better heard better.>> I will tell you because I also look north Penn um maybe two weeks ago hadthe same thing and uh I work uh in the North Penn school district theadministrators also walked with the children not as protesting but to makesure that they were um safe and then Abington school district I think did itas well last week and it was okay. Um but I'm sure you said you have someexamples where it didn't go so well. Um, but I'm confident in our school districtthat they will I'm sure our administrators will make sure it goessmoothly. So, I think >> and I think one of the one of theindicators as well um to to to build on what you just shared, Mrs. Depalo, isthat the kids came to administration and and what I've learned about our districtis we have exceptional students. Um, I will tell you the Centennial kids areincredibly thoughtful. Um, and nobody wants to bring our district into anegative light. And I'm very proud of how they have approached it and howadministration has managed that conversation. And again, it's voluntaryand I firmly believe that it will be handled with respect and it will be anon-issue. It's a heartline.>> Let's get back to legality and what our currentschool policy and procedures allow for this type of event. Do we have somethingunder our policies and procedures regarding students walking out orstudents doing a protest during school hours? Do we have a policy in place onhow that is to be handled? And if we do, has that policy been vetted through PSBAand the attorneys to make sure that we are in fact in compliance with federallaw? Because if we're doing an exception topolicy, that's something the board needs to be able to do. That's not necessarilya unilateral decision. >> I think it's a constitutional right. Ithink it >> Oh, so you know, like Mr. Martin said,you know, if they wear an anti- ice shirt, there's certain speech that isconsidered protected and not. You go back to the 1967case of the the gentleman wearing the profanity on his jacket versus beingable to yell fire in a crowded theater. Some is protected, some is notprotected, and it depends on the inflammatory nature of it. But if we asa district have a policy in place for the safety and security of the studentssaying that they are not allowed to walk out of class for their own safetybecause it creates an environment in which we cannot control or guarantee thesafety of the students then that is a paramountum overriding factor. It is not this whether or not they can or cannotprotest. They have the right to protest certainly, but they also have to conformto certain requirements and that's where if we have an existing policy in placethat addresses this already that and my guess is if we do have one in place thatit has been vetted by PSBA and that we have had some pretty, you know, prettyhigh paid attorneys that have looked at this already. um you know and if it is apolicy then there wouldn't have to be an exception to policy and that would besomething that okay they can put it off a week go out the following Friday andbecause we have a school board meeting >> on Tuesday hopefully if the weatherprevails >> so there are my questions surroundingthat >> Dr. Magguire. Um I think that you had umidentified what I was thinking uh because I'm looking at the policy uhopen for adoption uh that was on our agenda from last week upon adoption upolicy 122.1 and it talks about but this I believe as you're talking um studentinitiated groups of secondary students to meet without discrimination or schoolon school district premises dur during non-instructional time for the person ofconducting a meeting I guess or um a protest regardless of the religiouspolitical philosophical etc. So it talks about non um curriculum meetings ofnon-curriculum student groups must be voluntary of course we know that andit's to be on non-instructional time. So if this is part of pol our policy oneand we're just adopting or re reviewing it under so policy 122.1indicates to me what I'm seeing that it needs to be whatever is going to happenyou know freedom of speech etc needs to be done on non-instructional time althen my second question is was this student initiated or a faculty or otherstaff member initiated >> it's students initiated that answersOkay, thank you. So, where are we? So, with blank, we do have I think this isjust um you know rewritten this policy. So, we're actually not following policyfor this um protest during school time when it>> so that would be non-school time. >> Correct.>> Now, whether or not lunch period would be considered instructional time or not,you know, that that would be up to administration to decide. that's not umso I don't know that this falls I think that policy is more designedaround groups at which to form and then to be able to participate or to be ableto have um meetings on school property. Oh, example, Future Business Leaders ofAmerica, or if you have a group that is a dog lovers versus cat lovers orsomething, you know, where they could form and meet on school property afternon-instructional time. I think that policy is geared more towards that.That's my opinion. I don't, you know, we might need a legal legal bound on thatone, but that's the way I would lean towards that.>> Okay. Any other board members would like discussion?>> Can I just say one more thing? >> Absolutely, Mrs. Dep.>> I just want to say overall I'm just impressed that our kids are thinkingabout these types of things and that they feel like they need to take action.So I do give them credit as young people for>> but you half of the students don't know what ICE stands for. ICE couldn't tellyou what it I can tell you my daughter and her group of friends, my daughterand her group of friends, I will tell you they do talk about it a lot to beeducated. >> I do want to end on a happy note wheneverybody's done. I >> I mean I ultimately I think the becauseit is student organized, I'm glad that we're at least taking it seriously andfinding ways to make, you know, make sure it happens in an orderly way tomake sure the kids are safe. >> Yes,>> the point of peaceful protest is disruption.It is causing trouble, good trouble, as John Lewis would say, to call attentionto something you don't like. >> Keeping in mind that your actions haveconsequences. >> Absolutely. If there will beconsequences, those should be clearly understood by the students as well. Yep.>> Right. It's civil disobedience. There's going to be discomfort in this andthat's kind of the point as well. So, I think it's it's going to happen. I'mglad that we're having the discussion because it's an important one to have.>> Will there be two groups, one pro, one anti? I heard from students not havingtalked to any kids other than Mike to >> um they there are kids who plan to>> join the protest quote in favor of ICE. I don't know if that there is anyorganization there. I don't know anything beyond what I've heard. But youknow >> it doesn't stop they all have the firstamendment right. So regardless of which side they're on they they all have thatright. >> As Mr.There are issues that I think we >> there there are opposing viewpoints onso many things that we talk about all the time.>> I don't think we get to the point of walkouts and protests until somethingrises to the level of an existential threat or something that students feelthe need to get to this level of organization about. And there are enoughstudents in the district who believe that ISIS's potential presence in ourdistrict and the threat that may pose to some families of our students is isworth calling attention to. I mean it's and going back to co I think if we lookback to you know the past six years now that's the other big gigantic you knowexistential thing in their lives that they would have felt that strongly aboutthat would have impacted so much of their daily lives their family membershow they go to school if they're in the building if they're not. So I think thatit it's higher level than the argument that comes up sometimes over the day ofsilence. You know what I mean? It's just a It's just a different tier of protest.>> Okay. Mr. Heartline, >> Mrs. Cracker had something. >> We We welcome it.>> Microphone. So, um I found the executive council umextremely enlightening and it made me realize what a heterogeneous environmentCentennial School District is. With that said, and where we're trying to get toin terms of balancing the budget, can we by any chance get some metrics around umstudent count and what the co average cost is for special ed? um English as asecond language and economically disadvantaged students because we'relooking at a number of $22,000 on average for Centennial. But I wouldsay that the numbers for these three groups are substantially higher. And Ithink that transparency is important if we're going to approve a uh taxincrease, which hopefully we're not going to have to, but if we're going tohave to, we're going to have need to understand that these are outliers inthat $22,000 per student. And it would be very helpful to understandhow great that differential is. >> Yes, we can provide all thatinformation. I >> see Mr. Greenwood writing.I don't know whether there I don't know whether there are other groups and otherprograms but to me these three stood out. These three stood out and I thinkwe should understand that what it really comes down to is the average for theaverage student is probably a lot lower than $22,000because it's being outweighed by these three groups and I think we should getto understand what that is. >> Thank you Mrs. Kger Mr. Hartley.>> All right on some good news. Congratulations to our Panther girlsbasketball team on their victory over Council Rock.They are moving on and uh I think their next game is Friday.>> Tomorrow night. >> Tomorrow night. Tomorrow night.>> Tomorrow night. Uh at um Garnet Valley. >> There we go. And this is the first timethat they beat Council Rock in >> a long time. Seven years. So>> time to break that snap. >> They haveations. They are moving on.They had a great Valentine's Day it looks like or day before andcongratulations to them. >> Perfect. All right. Any othercommunications? Uh, black and white night starts next week. Black and white.>> Yeah. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. >> Academic night, pool night, and gymnight. >> Black.>> Yes. Go black. >> Yes. I wanted to find out where we canbuy shirts. Can someone email us or tell us?>> Yes. >> Somebody who has children in the highschool. >> Let me get you some shirts. We'll getyou some shirts. All right. Any other communications? All right. Can I get amotion to adjurnn? >> So moved.>> All right. Have a good evening.