001Welcome everybody to the Wattsburg Area School District um Monday regular board meeting. We are um student centered futured focus for worldclass education. Would you please stand for the pledge of allegiance? >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. This meeting is now called to order. Can I have a roll call, please? >> Mr. Blazer, >> present. >> Mr. Brumagen. Mrs. Burlingham. Mrs. Heatherington. Mrs. Lee >> here. >> Mr. Morve >> here. >> Dr. Pushchek >> here. >> Dr. Williams >> here. >> Mr. Young. >> Okay. Thank you. Moving on um to approve the agenda as presented or amend or amended. Can I have a motion, please? >> So move
002push check. >> Second, Blazer. >> Any questions? >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> All opposed. >> That is approved. Moving on to approving minutes from the regular board meeting. Can I have a motion, please? Mor. So move second. Williams. >> Any questions? >> All approval say I. >> I. >> All in um all opposed. >> That motion is approved. Next. Let's approve minutes from work session uh dating to October 13, 2025. Can I have a motion, please? >> So move. Push check. Second. Blazer. >> Any questions? All in favor say I. >> I. >> All opposed. The motion passes. All right. Moving on to school reports. Uh we recognize Dr. Ken Berlin. >> Uh thank you. Uh this evening we're going to have a an update from the middle school. Uh Mr.
003Paris and uh Mrs. Pebbles principles will uh join us. and you have a you have a special presentation. >> Okay. >> We're going to do it towards the end if that's all right. >> Do you? Absolutely. Yep. >> Okay. All right. Well, thank you for uh having us here tonight. Uh we want to provide you with a little update on our our latest data that uh that we've received recently. Um I feel like with the last three or four years we've had a pretty good plan at the middle school. Um you know with showing better achievement scores and growth and things like that. Sometimes those plans need a little tweaked as we found out when we got the scores um at towards the end of June here that uh they weren't as good as u
004as normal and it caught us a little bit off by surprise uh us the teachers were a little bit surprised. So but we do have a plan to address that and uh have some you know ideas on u why that could have happened. So, but first just a little agenda. We're going to give you some PSSA facts here and then looking back at time with some achievement data. I'm going to go back a few years because I think it's important to to see how um our data has has trended the last 10 years because of things that have happened during those 10 years. And you'll see that data in a minute here. uh growth update um some data that we've been collecting here recently um our plan moving forward uh to improve these scores and
005uh we'll do a little celebration at the end because you always have to celebrate u some good news okay so PSSA started in 1999 was the first time it was administered this past year 2025 was the first year that the entire middle school tested online. Um up to that point we were doing all paper pencil. Um we decided to do it in 2025 because this year it has to be done uh the state's requiring it to be done across the board um for all test takers. So, we decided to test all kids online last year, which is a little bit of a learning curve for them because um I think some of our kids do better with paper pencil. You know, they, you know, do the rough draft, show their work, and then they have
006to transfer that all into um on onto the uh computer. I think that's a little bit of a challenge. I mean, we're we're preparing for that. Um the CDTs, the classroom diagnostic tools that we use, um helps them prepare for that a little bit. Um we we create the same kind of testing session for those CDTs. Um they have a couple hours in the morning um just to get them accustomed to all the online tools and things like that. So the for the students to all all middle school students for ELA they take three sections of ELA to get their scale score and two sections of math to achieve their scale score. And then last year, fifth grade took a a science field test along with eighth grade to go along with the new adopted
007Pennsylvania steel standards, which means science, technology, engineering, environmental literacy, and sustainability um that they implemented last year. So that was just a field test. So we don't have any results from that. It was just a participation um how many kids took it this year. Um, but next year we'll start getting some achievement data. So, how many sections did our students take? So, our fifth graders, as you can see, the ELA is red, red or math is orange, science is brown, and then the total, so they took five, all the fifth graders took 595 sections of ELA. Same thing for the sixth grade and seventh grade, they don't have science, both took 500 sections. and the eighth grade took 672 sections for a grand total of 2,267 sections in a two-week span. So that's a lot
008of testing that the kids go through um in that time in April. So you know again all online. So we'll start they go right into our ELA data. So I go back 10 years because in 2015 the state changed the format to the test. We went from a reading and a writing PSSA to an ELA um test. As you can see there we went we're the blue line. We dropped considerably during that time but we did recover after that during that time. And then as we know in 20 around this area 2021 we're in COVID recovery. We didn't see such a a drop there because we maintained our our our ELA teachers during time at that time. When we saw that dip in 2023 I believe we've had four new ELA teachers in that amount
009of time. So there's a little bit of a learning curve there as well. And then as you can see, we really dropped off last year when we transitioned to that online testing. That caught us by surprise a little bit. We weren't expecting that because I think we have a good assessment plan and everything with CBTs, LLS, and everything like that. And the kids were showing growth during the year and then when they took got to the the test during those that week with the three sessions, they dropped uh considerably. But the state did too. And I we we feel like across the state, we don't have like school level data from other schools yet. Uh so we can't share that with you tonight, but um I believe it was IU13 out of near Philadelphia set
010out a poll asking districts how they did on the PSSAs. And it seems to be from those results, there weren't a lot of results from that, that ELA had the biggest dip during that time or on on the PSSAs. Um, we'll know a little bit more. I've talked to some other school district, other middle schools, and they said their ELA um fell off quite a bit, too, this past year. Okay. And then we move to math. Same thing. Um, go back. Rob, can you hit the arrow back real quick? So, you can see that I mean with even if COVID, you know, we started to recover even with four or five new ELA teachers. Uh same thing with math the 2015 is format of the test that they just uh was more um multi-step problems
011that the students had to solve and we can see we started climbing out out of that in 2019 and then we had COVID and we took a little bit of of dip there with new teachers teaching math during that time. Um and then we started the recovery again. um until we started when we took a little dip last year, not as much as ELA, but a little bit in uh math for last year when we started online testing. So, you can see that uh you know after each event we have recovered. I anticipate we'll recover again. um just getting those kids online a little bit more, using the tools that are available for them and uh you know getting them accustomed to just not clicking through. It's very easy to click through a a CDT
012or PSSA test and just having them take the time to um you know to work through the problems and things like that. And with some discussions with our ELA teachers um back to the ELA the when they take the te test text dependent analysis questions 16 points on the test. Some of the teachers observe the kids when they're doing their uh active monitoring or whatever they call that and they were writing rough drafts and everything watched them type their answers you know into the computer but some students got a zero on that TDDA TDA. So we're not sure why. So, we have to look into that a little bit. It would be if they were off topic, it would say off topic. Um, but to to get a zero, I mean, they have to leave
013it like blank. So, we're not sure. There's a couple kids I know in fifth grade that were like that. Wrote a rough draft, typed it into the computer, and they got zeros on the TDA. So, I don't know what that means, but we'll try to find out. science. We don't have anything for science because again it was a field test. It will start next year um with achievement scores for next year and that's grades five and eight. They move that science test to fifth grade. So if you remember last year we talked about growth a little bit. I explained growth to you. um that data did come out not to pee so much because uh it's just like a predictive right now that hasn't gone out to the teachers but if you remember last year
014in 2024 in ELA and math all student group that's all the kids um exceeded the the standard for demonstrating growth. They did very well. They show growth in the test. This past year, as you can imagine, the test scores were lower. The students didn't show as much growth. um in all groups in math and ELA, but our students with IEPs for ELA did meet the standards for demonstrating growth. So, that is a positive there. Um you know, some of our kids are in the reading 180 program. Um I think that's helping them when it comes to this e when it comes to the ELA test. Okay. So, Il is a a tool a resource that uh that we use at the middle school and our goal is and this data is just through October just
015through today. So, what happens is they take a benchmark at the beginning of the year. Um every student takes one, they get an initial score and it it's really easy to interpret because if I'm a fifth grader, if I get a score of 500, that means I'm I'm right on track as a score as a fifth grader. So I want towards the end of the year I should be scoring at least 100 points more to be you know closer to the sixth grade content. So what they do is so and we'll talk about the enrichment here in a minute. They go as they practice these skills but once in a while they have to step into the arena it's called when they step into the arena it pinpoints uh a growth score kind of. So
016you can see how they did from the beginning to right now. So about most of the kids have done unless they've been absent or something. So the math so far since um you know the the grading period ends here pretty soon. They've uh grown at least 44 points in math that fifth graders have and 30 points in ELA. Sixth grade is a little bit lower. That tells us that they probably need to spend a little bit more time in the arena to pinpoint those scores a little bit better. ELL recommends weekly that they spend. It takes about 10 to 15 minutes for them to do that. Um, and it can ask them anywhere from, you know, two to 10 questions during that time. But the more practice, the more uh skills they practice outside of
017the arena, when they go into the arena, they won't have to answer so many questions, if that makes sense. So, we're recommend that teach teachers go at least weekly into that arena, take 10 to 15 minutes for ELA and math. Um, and then you can see the rest seventh grade and the eighth grade as well. Um, showing good growth. So, we're well on track to getting to the at least 100 by the end of the school year. So, you figure about 25 points a quarter with the LL. So that's one of the tools that we use to just to monitor how how well the students are doing um during the school year. >> And one of the reasons why the sixth grade might be lagging a little behind is sixth grade is the new during
018their enrichment time we're doing a new health program with them. So every once every fiveday cycle those kids are getting pulled into a health class. So they might not have as much time as the seventh and eighth grade and the fifth grade students do during their enrichment to to have that work time on it. >> And back to the the growth the slide before that we have about 17 teachers that uh have teach a a content related course that they they get scores on. of those 17 about 70 70% of them are reaching the standard. You know the kids are showing or maintaining growth or increasing their growth. Um and that's a mixture of u you know teachers that have been doing it a while and you know a couple new teachers as well. So
019that's good to see as well. So we share these goals at the beginning of the year with our staff. Uh the first one that um you know we always want to tie growth and and achievement together that so we uh that we want to maintain or increase growth and I think we'll do that this year and then hit a reach uh reading proficiency at least to 70 72%. We're we were almost there two years ago but I think we'll get closer to that this year. And that's 72% that comes from the state. Each year they give you a interimm target that you have you're supposed to hit and by the year 2030 or you're supposed to be at like 81% or something like that. And the same thing with math um maintain growth and in
020reaching a proficiency at least to 50%. I think that's achievable as well from for next for this year. And then the plan, we'll continue to use CDTs. We do that three times a year. Um we do it beginning of the year do it around a little after Christmas and then um either before PSSAs or after PSSAs and that data is reviewed you know during planning periods during faculty meetings um to review that data so the teachers um can get see get their eyes on it more often and many of the teachers use that data to use as their own goals. rep have to have a goal for their evaluation that they use and uh so they they keep a a good track of it. They have conferences with kids. Uh they share the information with
021parents at parent teacher conferences. It's a little bit uh is a little bit the reports are a little bit easier to read than cdts but it is a good resource to use um that we will continue to use. again, we'll continue to use the ISL. Um, and then when they step into that arena, it kind of creates a plan for them to for skills to work on. Um, whether to do an enrichment or during class, uh, after they finish their work, they'll get on and and work on their skills during that time. and it assigns what's nice about XL that it will assign what skills they need from from that benchmark and stepping into the arena um weekly and then during enrichment. Uh oh. So enrichment is um it's a time for kids to work
022on this year. Day one we're doing recommended skills for math. Um sometimes the teachers will assign a skill during that time that kids can work on. Uh day two we'll do ELA. Day three um we have typing.com where it gets the kids to learn to type a little bit better. As we know, some of the kids have struggled with typing a little bit and hopefully that will help when it comes to entering that their rough drafts and stuff in um you know in the system when they take the PSSAs. Day fours is always a makeup a day for the students to get caught up on any assignments that they can do. And then day five, um, last year we started service learning projects where the where each grade level picks an organization to kind of
023adopt. Um, and they they either raise funds or make things for this organization and it's it's it's been pretty good and the kids enjoy it. Um, I think for example, I think seventh grade is doing the carrying place this year. So, they'll, you know, have some some activities for the kids to plan. I think the caring place is going to come in and talk to the kids a little bit and tell them what what they're about and uh kind of goes along with the Rachel's challenge that we've been having for the last couple years. So, so before we celebrate some good things, anybody have any questions? Chris, I have one maybe a couple um regarding the growth metric that you had a few slides back. Yeah. >> Um and I think that some of the
024notes that you said they weren't meeting the growth standard, >> right? >> Can you remind me the growth standard is based upon number of kids that come from not proficient to proficient or is it just a number of points that they gain throughout the year? And I think you said the goal kind of was like a hundred. Is it kind of an average? I guess I was trying to remember what that metric was and and how that that is kind of measured. >> It's it's when >> I asking does that you understand my question? >> I I I understand what you're saying. It's when they when they enter a grade level they come in with a score. When they leave obviously they should stay there or grow from that. >> Correct. >> So that's where
025that that's where that comes from. >> Yeah. So that that score that's that those couple of bars you said the one like in math was 44. Mhm. >> So that's from I mean just use a baseline number. If it's a 100 when they start >> that was that was >> okay that's >> that's based on the hundred. So if the student is testing at 5:30 at the beginning of a fifth grade year that means that they have they're already they already have knowledge of the third month of fifth grade. >> So it kind of goes along that cycle. So by the end of the year they should be at 590 or 600 ready to get into sixth grade material. >> Right. >> But then some of the sixth graders I think you showed in that
026chart they move nine you know throughout the whole year. >> No through today. >> Oh just through this first two months of school >> through. Okay I understand. All right. But I guess you didn't have any data from last year then that showed no >> how much they moved within a calendar or a school year. >> No, >> I guess is what I'm saying because it seems like there was other reports last time that maybe showed that >> there were a lot more because it's called PEOS which shows >> Yes, I remember that. No, >> the growth um that hasn't come out yet. >> Oh, okay. >> Because it was out last year because >> We did it in November. So, we had all that data. >> Okay. >> Um >> do you expect that
027that PEOS PEOS? Yeah. >> Um would be similar the trend maybe or you think it >> it's going to be it's going to be it's not going to be as good as last year >> just because you're seeing the data. >> Yeah. >> The trends all are the wrong direction. >> Yeah. >> So that trend probably would be in the wrong direction too. >> Yes. >> Okay. And you said at the beginning of your presentation that you thought that there might be kind of a and you're thinking the main reason that this is because is just because of the online >> I I mean >> scenario or is there anything else? I mean we had turnover teach a lot more teachers turn I mean I'm >> only replaced one teacher well >> last year we
028had >> last year >> we had two new teachers I believe >> this year we've only replaced one >> and for for ELA in particular we looked at at the end of the year HMH always gets to get that's the company that is the parent company of read 180 and they meet with us two three times a year and at the end of the year they show us our year data Um, and one thing that we noticed when they were presenting to us is they said, "Boy, your data looks great. Look at all of the the minutes and the time that the students are spending on it. But what we noticed as we were kind of even questioning them that, okay, yes, it looks like the kids are using the program, which is good. They're
029using the curriculum, but they weren't advancing as much as we had anticipated they would from the middle of the year data review that we did to the end. Um, and so one of the things we looked at is that we were topheavy in sixth and seventh grade read 180. We had a number of kids that were still in the program and it's only meant to really be a year or two just to get them better up to grade level and their comprehension. Um, and we were just noticing that we had a lot of students in there. So even before I think we got the data back, we started looking at the end of May, beginning of June, okay, how can we work with the English teachers in order to have them look at their data
030more specifically and if the kids aren't moving, what they can do, how they can meet with them. And there were a number of different trainings that I pushed out to read 180 teachers over the summer and talk to them at the beginning of the year one-on-one. Um, and that's one thing that that we plan on doing is meeting with the teachers at the end of every quarter because we want kids to move during the year. I I we don't want kids to wait all year long and read 180 and say, "Okay, hey, now you can move in eighth grade. You can get into the the regular ELA or study sync class in that regard." Uh, and so I think kind of pushing them um in order to to gain those better skills uh is is
031one way that we're going to see some growth in ELA. >> Well, and I guess that you kind of answered a question I didn't ask yet, but uh because we have some real time data now or within two months. >> Yeah. How do you use that so that you do move the needle a little bit more um you know in in number as well as in you know u individuals. Mhm. >> Um and so that's what you you indicated the you know the the quarterly meetings which is helpful the pushing them with the data you know to try to get them moving along those those lines. And then I guess my last comment and then I'll I'll defer to anybody else. The question I guess I have is in regarding the goals where you said
03272 I think and 50 in the math. >> Yeah. >> Is is that I'll just be blunt. Is that too low? I mean should we try to strive for 80 and 70? I mean I you I mean I I know what's I guess you're balancing you know you can't make somebody go from zero to 100. I get that. >> Right. >> But you know is is that a you know if we strive for the moon and we fall a little short. Okay. But if we set our expectations at a lower you know you know where I'm headed with that question. >> No I I got you. >> I think we we use 72 and 50 because that's what's given to us by the state. That's our interimm target and that increases every year. I mean,
033we could set it at 90. Um, but I don't, you know, that would be >> I don't I mean, if we're just trying to if we're trying to be aspirational, I mean, I guess in my head, >> you know, do you want to do you want to just be the good enough or do we want to try to, you know, go higher? That's all I'm where I'm asking that question. >> Yeah. >> So, fair enough. Thank you. >> Yep. >> Mr. President, I have Is it Mr. President? I don't know. Like since you moved overseat. Is that right? >> Madame President. Madame acting president. Okay. >> So I got a couple questions. So well actually first of all I'm glad you have a plan in place right where we're taking a look at the dip
034in the data and then realizing that they could be linked back to they're going to online right. >> Um and I do recognize that kids can type with their two thumbs better than they can with all fingers. Right? We know that as well. Um, so in saying that, I'm going to ask you the same question I asked the elementary school, and that is, do you feel like you need any more type of resources, people? And I know Berlin's here and all all that, but just answer honestly. Do you feel like there's something that said, "Boy, if we had this in place or if we had this, our scores would go in a better direction if we, you know, we uh x, y, and z." Is there anything that you can think off hand that you
035say, "Boy, if this resource would really come in place, we this would be helpful for us." We appreciate the resources that that we do have, but we've talked about you've used >> um >> no red ink and then um vocabulary one memb >> one is mem and the other one is called no red ink >> and I I used them whenever I was in the classroom and they are fabulous resources especially to get um grammar and obviously the vocabulary increase for SAT prep and everything else. My only concern and Il was just coming out at the time that I was using those resources. I do likel better because it gives that real-time data. U if we see students are struggling then some teachers I know are already using the free version of no red ink
036and that's one thing that that they've been kind of utilizing to pinpoint some essay writing and some some grammar that might be more direct on that. Um, but honestly, I I feel like we have the tools in place. It's just utilizing the data. Um, and and getting teachers to to look and analyze it along with us. And we are looking at tweaks in the schedule as well for next year. Um because sometimes we feel like what 100 minutes >> because right now we have ELA is like 100 102 minutes for >> and math for >> and math and fifth and sixth isund and some that's a long time for fifth and sixth graders to sit there. I mean they I mean they're not sitting there the entire time obviously but you know getting them engaged
037and I think we we're going to you know look at the schedule and try to come up with some a better um use of that time um that we can provide for the students in that vein then we heard in the last week regarding the elementary school about this the summer slide and I'm sure that it's a real factor in middle school as well when you're looking at schedule is they're looking at anything over the summer that can be helped. You know, uh I don't want to call it summer assignments, but essentially that's what it is. I'm just asking if that's a thought you're looking at. >> Yeah. I mean, we used to do like summer reading or whatever you want to call it, but we didn't always get a lot returned back to us,
038if you know what I mean. I mean, some of the kids that were, you know, the parents would be involved in stuff and, you know, we'd get that work back, but we don't we didn't always get all the work back that we assigned. Uh, we had tutoring a a few a couple times with CO money. Um, and even that, I mean, we sent out invitation after invitation for that and that we just didn't get a lot of responses back for those programs. um you know it would be the same kids every year and you know 10 to 12 kids so um you know we tried those things in the past. >> Mr. Paris you had uh explained if I understood you correctly that this year 26 uh coming up that we will be required to
039do the online you guys chose to do it online. Makes a lot of sense to give us a little bit of head start in that. But we compared ourselves to the state data. So do you know in that state data is that all online or could that be a mix because they had a decrease as well but maybe not as dramatic as ours? >> It was probably a mix. Okay. Because I know some like even the even the elementary I think tested online fourth but I think third was paper >> this past year but moving forward it's it's all going to be online >> and Ils are pretty are all online as well. >> Yep. So I guess you know just knowing my own students and their use of I guess I wonder what is
040the big difference if we attribute our score change in doing the testing online versus likel which is the training we're doing to get them to do better at testing and that's online too. >> It's just a different format of with the with the PSSA and um but they still have the tools of like highlighting and and stuff like that. It's just getting the kids to to get into that routine to build that grit that you know they can use those tools. Uh because even with the CDTs you're highlighting on the computer >> and you know using that method and sometimes it's it's difficult for some students unfortunately. >> Sure. Uh, and if I if I remember last year when you were going into the presentation about growth and these um uh benchmarks that the state
041is setting for us, do I remember correctly that because we've had I want to say a couple years of really good growth. Yeah, >> you said you were surprised, but I guess I'm I'm wondering, didn't I thought I attributed something from last year that we should expect that something like this could happen because it's difficult for any school to continue to do better and better and better because it's a moving, you know, benchmark, a moving finish line. I know their goal is by whatever year you said to get us to that really high mark. I love what Mr. Mr. Morv is saying about a really high mark, although we don't want to feel bad about ourselves if we put a 95% out there and we know 72 is challenging enough, >> right? >> Um I
042guess I guess my question really was are you shocked or is this more like well we had too many good years in a row to not have a little bit of a dip? Um uh see I mean I I feel like every every student can grow you know if we meet the meet them where they're at they can continue to grow you know each year. You know we had you know I was looking at some other data here while Susan was was talking and I always talk about our our our bubble kids that score the 999s. they're they're not considered proficient or and we'll we'll explain this in the next slide because we we do a little incentive program that um we have the kids set a goal of 27 points that's about three questions
043on the PSSA. So if we look at that kind of data in for ELA there was 46 kids that fell in that range just three three more questions um that would have probably put them over the proficient mark. So during the school year we we you know keep an eye on those kids. Math there was 40 kids that were right on on the cusp there too. So um you know a lot of the kids you know for whatever reason did not show that growth last year. I mean there was a number of kids even the kids that have been proficient advanced for years saw a dip as well. So, um, you know, it was discouraging, disappointing a little bit, but, um, I feel like every kid should, we should meet the kid, the student, and
044keep them going, whether it's on paper, pencil, or online. >> Madam Chairwoman, >> yes. >> Just an observation. um in order for us to maintain being above the state average even with our dip that reflects that the whole state went down. >> Yeah. >> So we're still above the state average even with our dip. >> Yeah. >> So that is something um to recognize for as I said for us to do that the whole state had to go down. >> Yeah. >> So we saw this in previous years and we have a plan in place. we'll keep keep moving forward. But uh thank you for your presentation, your attention to detail and I'm encouraged, you know, by your willingness to work with the faculty to continue to analyze data, but the question always comes, what
045are we going to do with it? And you have a plan to do that. So I appreciate your work, not only administration, but faculty as well. So thank you. >> Thank you. >> I'm going to help you transition, Mr. Paris. Uh Melanie, what's your score? or is it a million and a half back there? I know that that's I'm assuming that that's the next transition. Am I correct on that, Mr. Paris? >> It's getting there. So, we had talked about I don't know our incentive program that we do have for the PSSAs and so the students had to set a goal that was I mentioned 27 points higher than the year before. So, we had a number of students do that and if they uh met their goal, I chose their name and they received
046a Samsung tablet um that were uh handed out today. So, um you might recognize some kids up there. Call Langer and Troy Troy Williams and then Noah Olsen, Hudson Cage, JD Kula, and McKenzie Brown all increased their score. In fact, four of those eight kids went from basic to proficient on the PSSAs. Three of them were already there and one of them scored 999. So, but they all participated in it. They were all pretty excited um to receive that today. And as uh Dr. Williams mentioned um for the third year in a row at the middle school we have another perfect score in Melanie Campbell. So if you want to come up Melanie >> we have a certificate for Melanie and a cookie. Melanie is one smart cookie. So congratulations. Great job. And and Melanie
047is just one of the model students that we've had at the middle school that uh really puts for forth the effort and uh and it shows in our hard work on on the PSSAs. So before you leave, we want to get a picture of you. >> Okay. >> Yes. Good job, Melanie. Excellent. Then we do have we want to recognize one more person. Um we've been doing teacher of the month at actually at the middle school for probably five five plus years probably. Um that is the students nominate them. So I'll leave it to Mrs. Pebbles for that. >> Uh each month I send out a link to students in order to nominate their teacher whether it's a current teacher or a past teacher that they had that's made an impact on their life. And
048this month, um, earning, I think, over 35 different nominations is Sherry Hoffman's. [Applause] >> Our students uh are proud to recognize this September teacher of the month. When asked to explain their nominations, their responses were filled with appreciation, excitement, and love for your caring style of teaching. Students describe Miss Hoffman as kind, caring, fun, and understanding. They say she makes class the best part of the day, and that she helps us learn in the most fun way possible. Her lessons often include hands-on projects, outdoor experiments, and activities about nature and animals that keep the students engaged and curious. They also admire how she makes her classroom a welcome welcoming place. As they say, calm, colorful, and full of laughter. And if you if you hear her laughter down the hallway, you would understand. She gives
049students time to connect, explore, and celebrate their successes. One student shared, "She understands me and listens when I'm having a bad day." Another student simply said, "She's the goat." That's all. Outside of the classroom, we as a staff admire the way she supports the Watsburg community as a whole, serving on the SAP team and checking in with students on a regular basis. She devotes many hours after school and into the evenings as game manager for various sporting events. She's just always here and it doesn't go unnoticed. So, thank you for caring about your students beyond the classroom. They clearly feel valued, supported, and inspired by you. So, on behalf of all of us, thank you for all you do. [Applause] >> Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you very much for your presentation.
050Um we always appreciate uh the commentary and seeing both the good and bad and for keeping us updated. Um it's honestly one of our favorite parts of the um the meetings. We are now going to be moving on to Gustin citizen comments. We have one person um that is signed up to uh speak tonight. Uh Robert Null, if you want to go ahead and approach um the podium. Um if you could just please state your name and the township that you live in and you will have um is it three minutes? >> Three minutes. Thank you. >> Robert Noel. I live in Green Township, 3931 Hartman Road. Been here 20 years. I just want to report a scam going on. Neighbors cross street moved in three years ago. They're from Syria. And this past September,
051two boys are getting off the bus, signed up for your school that live in Erie. And the best of my knowledge, they're nephews, not the people that live there. There you I gave Mr. Paris the names and addresses. I couldn't even pronounce their names, but the paperwork they filled out, I believe, the the mother, the wife that lives across the street is using her brother's name that lives in Eerie to get his two boys in your school. I had a little cheat sheet. I lost it somewhere over here. But anyways, I'm not a very good speaker, but I would look at their birth certificates. And the other thing is I I'm retired and I see every day the mother, the father, or the grandfather picking these boys up between 3 and 4:30 usually. And they
052don't even get to go in the house. They have to hang out the barn. They do not live at that address. And that's what I have to say. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you for your comments. >> Thank you, Mr. No. Um, we appreciate the information and um, somebody on the admin team will follow up. >> Um, I gave all the information and Mr. Paris. >> Okay. Perfect. >> Addresses, names. If you have any questions, you can contact me. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. >> All right. Moving on to superintendence report. We now recognize Dr. Ken Berlin. >> Thank you, Madam President. Uh I just wanted to share a few thing just a few highlights. Um this week is National Bus Safety Week and we are participating in Operation Safe Stop.
053We've done that every year for quite a few years. Um I believe this has been going on for over 25 years. It's a pendot event and they um that the goal is to bring awareness to drivers uh that uh you know what the school bus laws are and how important it is to follow them um so that children uh arrive and get home every day uh safe. Um that's of utmost importance. So, we're go we usually team up with like the state police and we'll we'll work with them and identify a few routes that um we have concerns about not from our drivers but uh from some of the traffic around them. Um and so we'll work with them uh to try to be a presence in those areas. And then every school district that
054participates across the state, uh, they'll turn in the number of violations um, they've observed or had the police process. Um, and that gives the whole state an idea. But it's usually it's been running about between 170 to 200 violations uh, on that one day across the state, which is one too many. one is too many, right? Um so anyways, we're going to participate in that and our school security officer will also be out and about. Uh we were talking a little bit about cell phones um last week during board correspondence and then I noticed Senate Bill 10:14 um is uh has been uh put out uh and it's it's gaining uh some attention and that would be uh to um issue uh a requirement that schools prohibit or develop a policy to prohibit cell phones
055um during the day. Um it it's not very detailed. You know, it says at the end of the day the schools have to make up, you know, their own policy. Uh but it would lend some weight to you, I think, what all schools are struggling with. So, we'll keep an eye on that um as as we look at our own policy. And then uh finally, we have a big investment in our athletic facilities. Um and uh turf does have a a lifetime and it is limited. It's an expendable product. Uh so we have a an annual contract with Keystone to come out and clean and repair uh turf uh so that we get the full life out of it. So they just did that recently at the end of September. And one of the things
056they do is they um test the safety of the surface, the plumbing surface. They do what's called a Gmax test. And the GMAX test is designed to give um the users some idea of how hard the surface is and you know what the probability of a severe head injury could be. So, the NFL um and the National Synthetic Turf Conference sets a ceiling of 165. This the scale goes from 0 to 200. 200 is as dangerous as it could be. Um and of course, you can't have a zero on this scale. it's it's impossible even to get a hundred um because of the the type of um test and surface that it is. So, our scores came in fine. Uh the football they're all around 130. Uh the softball fields a little bit higher um
057at 147. So, um that's good news and they report that the turf is uh in very good condition. Uh we do have a plan. Um Mrs. Bendig uh had the foresight to start to put together a plan to replace the turf. So we do have funds for that when we need to. Um but we're in good shape. Most importantly though, it's a safe surface for our athletes. That's the number one thing. And that's all I had to share with the board this evening. >> All right. Do we have any questions for Dr. Berwin? >> Okay. Moving on. We now recognize Mrs. Vendy Vicky Bendig for the business administrator's reports. >> Thank you, Madame President. Uh for this evening, I have the treasures reports as presented at the last um work at the work session last
058week. I also have the additional reports, the year-to-ate budget to actual report. Uh so we are um 25% of the fiscal year completed. Uh nine months remaining and we have used 18.4 46% of our total budgeted expenditures and we have only received 17.58% of our total budgeted revenues. Um that's because we're not getting any money from the state. Um but I will say that our tax revenues um with the uh ending of the discount period, there are a lot of tax um a lot of tax revenues that came in the first week of October um as the tax collectors were closing out the end of the month for September. So 26,453,51110 of the net budget um remaining. And then uh moving on to the cafeteria profit and loss report uh for the month we had
059a profit of $32,668.92 which brings our year-to-ate loss up to a negative $74421. So um whittling that away, but we did have we'll get there by the end of the school year too. So, as long as we don't decide to replace any more equipment, which may happen, we we don't know. Um, moving on to the bill list. Uh, checks written prior to the work session was reported last week. Checks written between the work session and this evening for general fund $13,830.32 and the cafeteria uh $56,983.11. That is the nutrition group bill that we pay early to take advantage of the discount. Um there is a bill the bill lists for your approval this evening general fund checks totaling $664,51842 and then the cafeteria bills totaling $5898. Um and that is all I have for this
060evening. >> Right. Thank you, Mrs. Bendig. Can I have um I'm sorry. Can we uh have a motion to approve business reports, payments, and invoices as presented? >> So move push check. >> More second. >> We have any questions for Mrs. Bendig? >> If so approved, say I. >> I. >> All um opposed. The motion passes. Moving on to legal advisement. We do have one item tonight. Um it is a sale of parcel from a Pository for our unsold properties. Um it includes the recommended um action to approve the sale of property index numbers as listed from the Erie County repository. Can I have a motion to approve? >> Pleasers. So approved. >> More second. >> Do we have any questions? All approved say I. >> I. >> All opposed. The motion passes. Moving along,
061we uh go to finance and recognize Dr. Andy Pushchek. >> Thank you, madame chairperson. Two items under finance tonight. Without objection, I'd like to move both together. One is to approve the monthly budgetary transfer from budget to actual and then the second is the addendum budgetary amendment to approve the 2526 budgetary amendment as outlined without objection. So moved. >> We have a second. Do we have any questions for Dr. Pushchek? >> I I do have some questions if you don't mind. Um, so first of all, if you want to talk to me about charter schools, you'd have to talk to me outside because it'd be inappropriate for what I would say in this mic. However, in saying that, um, I I looked over the numbers and I was just curious on a couple things. Um
062and and if if administration wants to hear these and then take them back later and then answer them, fine. So my question is for the $1.2 million that we have to spend on charter, how many kids would we say that that is a representation of in that 1.2? >> It's 57 students. >> 57. And do we know when those kids are and might need again further data of when they are leaving? Are is this an incident that they're they're leaving before they get to us? It's a transition from elementary to school to middle school or middle school to high school or just here and there everywhere type deal. >> I don't know that I have I don't have the exact trend. It doesn't. It seems like once they go, >> right, >> they're gone. And
063I know that at the time of COVID and we were offering our own um online platform that there was a big push and principles went and visited students and tried to get everyone to come back and we did res we did get some students back but I think um people are finding that the buildings are not you know the traditional setting doesn't work for everyone. So, um, it our numbers hover right around 53 to 62, >> right? >> Every year. >> Yeah. If I could jump in. So, I I've been the superintendent here for 13 years, and I've I've watched this um I've watched the expense line of charters grow, but I haven't watched the number of cyber students out grow. Um, I I I can tell you this. If you look at um the
064census data on the tiger map, I once a year I have to certify um our district borders to to the government and uh it's it's quite a system. You can really drill into this thing and see uh and it it gives you a pretty good estimate of the number of school age children that are in the district. And uh right now it it's somewhere between 1,400 and 1,450. So you figure we have just under 1300 kids. There's 50 some out in charters and the rest are at private school. Just about everybody that lives out here sends their kids here. Um the percentage is I mean if you did those numbers obviously it's going to be it's going to be very high. I have f we've tried various things. We've mailed flyers. We've had pizza parties.
065Um the principles have went doortodoor. And uh it's what I have discovered is there's a certain group of students that are cyber students that if cyber schools didn't exist, they would still be homeschooled and they still would not come here. >> Right. Um, and I I guesstimate that number to be at least a third uh to even 50%. So these these are people that um they really believe in homeschooling and cyber school gives them a way access to a a curriculum that's more rich and vigorous than than they would otherwise be able to present themselves because you only have to have a high school diploma um to homeschool your children. So um it it is I I I mean I can say the students that come here um are successful and stay we occasionally do
066lose students but um Mr. Brumagen had asked this a while back so I had put some data together and there's no trend line. It's a couple in first, it's one and third, it's two in eighth, and then if we really look at those students, I mean, I don't want to say too much, but there's there's usually some other things going on. um some other challenges there uh that so so it's it's not as simple as boy we just really hate that school and the teachers and it has nothing for us or it doesn't do anything for us or they you know it it really doesn't have much to do with that um so it's a small group of people it's an individual choice >> and it cost a lot >> that's what I kind of
067figured you know that it it's sprinkled here and there because again we tried to do it in Eerie couldn't find a time to go get them or etc. But the only other question I would have um is do we have you made mentioned a little bit of a bat and maybe it was a previous program of an online program through like Warren or you know uh that that we could co-op with that could take on uh instead of going into PA Cyber because I I know at least for Harbor Creek the PA cyber bill for us is always four times five times the amount amount than what some of the other pro programs we could offer. And I was just curious if we have anything that >> we do. We h we have a program
068called Ingenuity and we can offer students a full-time uh at home online cyber program and we do have some students that that do that. We have some hybrid students that usually or special needs that might or a special situation where they're trying to catch up or um they have an injury so they can't exactly come to school. So, but we do have that capacity and it's vastly cheaper um than if they go to cyber. You know, you're talking a couple thousand dollars a student versus 28,000. Uh yeah. What are the two? What's the reggg ed cost right now? >> 19 something. >> Special ed is >> 26 something. >> 26. Yeah. So, so those those are big numbers and and we the principles do have those conversations. Um, now, interestingly enough, there's a there's another
069Senate bill around this cyber charter um issue and it doesn't this one doesn't deal with the funding. It deals with in my estimation and opinion the more important part the kids because I have seen students leave that are at risk never to come back especially when I was a high school principal. Um I used to call it the high school step down program. Uh you know the kids go home but hey mom and dad I'm I'm still look I'm still working. I'm connected to the school. uh there's a computer here and all this kind of thing, right? Um and then pretty soon they're not logging in and then the cyber charters don't monitor their attendance and they just uh fall through the cracks and it's very sad. So the Senate bill that's out there uh
070right now is targeting uh an issue and that is attendance and students leaving midstream a school district to transfer into a cyber charter. So they're, you know, they want to put some brakes on that, some parameters around that so that, you know, if a student is not being successful and a school district's working with them to improve their attendance uh and and and really insisting that they come to school and do a good job, they those that's the that's a profile of a student, one profile of many, but that will just leave and say, "Well, I'm not going to deal with you anymore. I'm just gonna deal with this computer voice person. Um, so this this bill is targeted at that. I really hope it goes somewhere. Um, I did notice in looking at the
071latest budget proposal uh that's on the table, uh, there's still there's still like $3 billion apart, but there's some encouraging things. There is some chart cyber charter reform in there and I know that we if if it did go through the way it is on the latest proposal we would stand to gain about $300,000 um off the top of that 1.2 million cyberchart bill. So I've already I I think I've used more than my five minutes. So I'll stop right now. >> I I I like hearing that because again you you are 100% correct. I spend a lot of time in truency court here and there and uh it doesn't matter when I walk into truency court there's always a representative there from PA cyber >> and it doesn't matter if I'm there one month
072and not there two months later there will be someone there because it is an issue so yeah I was just curious that's all but thank you thank you >> right any other questions for finance just as a reminder uh the motion was to pass uh budgetary transfers and uh be the addendum for budgetary amendment all All in favor say I. >> I. >> All opposed. >> The motion passes. >> Moving along to building and grounds. I recognize Dr. I'm sorry, Mr. Jeremy Blazer. >> Thank you, Madam President. You've upgraded me. Uh I have nothing to uh present this evening. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Blazer. Moving on to personnel. Uh Mr. or Dr. Andy Pushchack has agreed to pitch hit for me since I'm doing a lot of talking tonight. So, Dr. Pushchek for
073personnel. >> Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. uh eight items under personnel plus one under the addendum. Without objection, I'd like to move all nine items consisting of appointments, resignations, ESS substitute list additions, leave requests, conference requests, letter of agreement for dental exams, pyramid healthc care, SAP services agreement, life insurance consortium agreement, and the addendum is the compensation plan for the assistant business administrator. All are presented on the agenda. So moved. Second, Blazer. >> We have any questions for personnel? >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> All opposed. >> The motion passes. >> Moving on to policy. I recognize Mr. Steven Morve. >> Madame President, there's currently one item under policy this evening and that is the first reading of the uh various policies uh per the attachments as well as the executive summary. Uh
074and that would be uh so moved this evening. >> Second. Push check. >> We have any questions? >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> All opposed. The motion passes. >> Moving on to curriculum. Um this is also going back to Mr. Steve Morvet. Uh Madam President, there is again one item uh under curriculum tonight and that is to the approve the quote from Savas Learning Company to purchase the experience physics textbooks uh and the digital course licenses per the quote attached. So moved. >> Second, Blazer. >> Do we have any questions for curriculum? >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> All opposed. The motion passes. Moving on to technology. to recognize Dr. Jesse Williams. >> Oh, yeah. Sorry. I was looking at Greg's stuff because I know I'll come up next.
075Okay. Uh, so I have nothing under technology, Madam President, at this time. >> Thank you, Mr. Williams. Moving on to transportation. Um, you're going to be filling in for Mr. Brumin. Thank you. >> Yes. So, I have three things, Madam President. The first one is transportation request, which is the uh ratification of field trips. Um the second one is the Durham bus driver list additions which is the approving uh looks like one more driver and then the Durham renewal proposal uh which is the school service develop proposed by renewing the contract. So moved Williams >> second blazer >> do we have any questions for transportation? >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> All opposed the motion passes. Moving on to athletic and extracurricular, I recognize Mr. Jeremy Blazer. >> Thank you, Madam President.
076Uh, without objection, there are four items I'd like to move with one motion. Uh, the first being A, athletic resignations as listed, uh, B, athletic appointments as listed, C, volunteer list editions as listed, and D, extracurricular resignations as listed. So moved. >> More second. >> Do we have any questions? All in favor say I. >> I. >> All opposed. The motion passes. Moving on to miscellaneous. We do have one tonight under travel services. It's to approve the solicitation and sale of EF educational tours trip to Iceland in the summer of 2027 uh for Air Force Jotc students provided all criteria of policy 19 913. So moved. >> Second. Williams. Do we have any questions? All in favor say I. >> I. >> All opposed. The motion passes. >> I now turn this over to uh
077Mr. Steven Morave for any reports on the Erie County Tech. >> Madame Vice President, this is the uh summary of the joint operating committee of the uh September board meeting for the Erie County Technical School. Uh just a few items of note that uh have passed since our last meeting. uh they had their diggers and dumpers events uh back on the end of uh September which I think that went uh over very well. I'm sure I'll get a fuller report actually this Thursday is our upcoming October meeting. Um in additional uh in addition, excuse me, uh there were some students that were inducted into the National Technical Honor Society, which we have two from Wattsburg Area School District. Uh one is Ryder Percy and the other one is uh Briana, I hope I get this
078right, Nunamak. Uh, n- u n e m a k e. I hope I >> maker. >> Unacer. Excuse me. There's an r at the end. Yes, I should have wrote that down. Um, so those are those are some recognitions for our students being inducted into the national technical honor society. Um, and then we also approved a few things. some subleas leasing of the uh skills center building which is on the campus of the tech school uh to the IU5 for their continuation of their uh I rci program and then as well as for the tri county intermediate unit the use of some of that space as well. Uh similarly to what we've done here as well, we've updated some of our life insurance for staffing. Uh there's new program that whatnot that was involved there.
079Uh as well as updated completely the emergency operations plan which we have approved here at our school. Tech school needs to do that same thing as well. Uh and then there was also discussion regarding a potential new program. I know there was uh we're kind of in a growth mode uh out there and we've already talked about the heavy equipment coming in online next fall. Uh this we had a presentation regarding a maritime maintenance program which would fall under the facility maintenance heading. Um and basically it's um anything that would be done on ships that would need um again if you take it under the umbrella of facility maintenance. So electrical, carpentry, uh welding, um pipe work, HVAC, anything like that. But uh that would all be in a ship or maritime setting. So that
080was a and we had a presentation from one of the gentlemen down at the Maritime Museum or Bayfront Maritime Center. And so there was some discussion about that and the question really was just a um I don't want to say it a a uh kind of a trial balloon for lack of a better word to to understand gauge of interest throughout the district on whether that's something that would be of interest to the districts to start that program. If you recall there were surveys that were done in the past. This never hit anybody's radar, but it was something that was kind of brought up as a uh as a potential need for a for a niche uh um uh industry. Um the question would be, you know, okay, what's the what's the cost? Um obviously
081for any other program, you know, there's always the teacher cost, there's other things, etc. involved with that. This would roughly run the program about 250,000 a year. Uh that includes the teacher, all those things. However, uh a lot of the use of the Bayfront Maritime Center would be required since there'd be a lot of the things that would need to be down there. So, that gets us, you know, within the uh range of any other program. Um if it was fully, um utilized by students. In other words, uh if you had a full staff or a full um component of kids, uh that would then kind of pay for itself. um so that not pay for itself. It would be covered excuse me by payments of the u various districts. So it again it was
082a trial it was a discussion about that and we're just you know we're presenting that to the board on if there is truly an an interest along those lines. Um and then lastly a large discussion um occurred regarding the uh potential solar field. If you recall that there was a proposal that was or an RFQ that was put out for proposals from various contractors and and suppliers for the solar field. Um and uh if you also recall there was a the uh with the grants that uh we had received at the tech school whether it's the federal grant whether it's the state grants and rebates etc. there was roughly a cost of about 1.2 million that we were able to uh put towards this solar field proposal and basically said that's all the tech school
083can spend. Um well there were proposals that were came back and actually one that was kind of a little bit of an interesting um wrinkle for that regard. Um the this company called Mccclure uh has come up with a proposal that yes we can do your original solar field uh which would include about 600 um kilowatt hours um for the 1.2 million which the tech school then would own and maintain and be responsible for maintenance. But then they also threw in and said, "Look, you're going to get the most bang for your buck if we Mccclure would then also prepare a 900 kilowatt additional field that then Mccclure would then maintain, operate, and own. And the tech school would then uh work into an agreement which is called a power purchase agreement which basically would
084take Mccclure would run that field and sell power back to the tech school at a much reduced rate. with therefore the two together would be 1.5 kilo 1.5 megawatt um field which then would without any additional cost over and above that 1.2 million that the tech school was willing to to pay initially. Um and so those were all the discussions that that was uh really quite a bit of the the meeting last time was regarding the discussions of that solar field. Um and there would be also as part of that the need arose or was that where this solar field would connect into the existing infrastructure of the skills building which is where this would be located there needs to be some electrical services upgrades done anyways. Um and this Mccclure proposal would be willing
085to upgrade a lot of those uh infrastructure uh components within the building as part of this proposal again with no additional cost to the district. There would potentially be some cost not to the district to the tech school excuse me um for some switch gear uh upgrades. and switch gear upgrades. Those are familiar. Those are the actual components that actually take the power that comes in and then distributes it within the building. Those components are not included as part of this and there may be some need for some upgrade with those as we're bringing in additional services online, you know, to the tech school. Um and again as a summary both of those fields that 1.5 megawatt uh system would offset 107% of the tech school campuses power usage. Um and uh that would be
086and that's that's on that's as of right now. Now obviously things may grow over the life of this which is again projected out to be 30 years and within the agreement etc. there be some um provisions then for removal, renewals, all that sort of thing as the lifespan of this um you know fades. Um and roughly this would take about 3 acres of the campus uh again on the I guess it' be the northwest corner of the of the campus near the skills building is where this ultimately would be would be uh would be built. So what we have done at the tech school uh last week was to approve approve the proposal but we have not approved yet a contract. The contract negotiations still have to occur. Um and that am I correct? Correct.
087>> Attorney Kenny. Yes. There is a need for the PPA. There is a need for the solar array for us. >> Right. >> And then also a uh lease agreement, right? that we were not to that point, >> right? So, there's there's still multiple steps along the way. Um, but this was kind of an intriguing uh thought process that the tech school and we were we were brought to the uh to our attention at the at the meeting the other day. So, that is my report, Madam Chairperson. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Marvey. Do we have any questions? >> It's always interesting. You always have very interesting updates. Um, the solar field is particularly interesting. Um especially because uh you know I had served on the board previously and it was mentioned even when
088I was there. So it's interesting to see it's like actually taking shape now. >> Madam if I may just want to clarify when I mentioned the cost this 1.2 million um over 900,000 of that is covered by grants. So again that it's not it is one point the system will cost that much but again with the grants and rebates and other things that are would come back to the school. They if you recall they already have the $400,000 grant that's in their hand. The other 500 and some thousand is uh rebates and kick and and other incentives that other entities will give. So those are things that'll that'll turn over. So basically there was about a I'll call it out of pocket cost of about 250 260 but again that was already allocated within the
089budget and within the capital improvement. So that there again there was no additional cost back to any district for this plan at this at this level. >> Okay. So I I have a I have a question um or a statement I guess. So, as of right now, there's no cost or we're not going to be asking um individual districts of the JOC to be approving costs for um any part of this project. However, um when that grant money goes away and you've got 30 years that you have to maintain this equipment that could break, could be obsolete um in a couple years down the road. Um and c there's going to be costs and if it can't if the part that we're building with the grants that provide energy um I know that when I
090looked for looked into solar for my home um the idea was that you built a big enough solar field to be able to provide 100% of your um power. So, you end up swapping your, let's say, $200 a month electric bill for a $200 a month mortgage on solar equipment um that you then have to maintain, repair along the way. So, um I get that it's great that we're, you know, looking forward to other types of electric Um, but the we're still have we're going to have this field, but we're still going to have to buy power back from this PPA agreement. Um, which is not going to lessen the electric bill and the maintenance of the equipment going forward to really make it um net zero. Am I right? >> The data that I
091was presented and I'm just going to go by the data. I I have no no um I'm taking this at face value. Let's just put it at that. The if if Penelc is charging or whatever power source is charging round numbers 10 cents a kilowatt hour, the PPA is providing a guaranteed electrical savings in that they will charge less than that. So the tradeoff is already at a at a net benefit because the power that you're generating that is part of the PPA is coming back to you at a lesser rate than what penalty. In addition, that is going to be fixed at a 2% increase year-over-year overear. Penel or whatever service provider can fluctuate. It can be 8%. It could be 2%. It could be one. It could be 15. It can be all
092over the place. as part of this PPA, it's a guaranteed 2% year-over-year over year over year. So, in addition, so there's they're saying that there's some bakedin savings, net savings just in the power consumption side of things. Um, in regards to the maintenance, the uh larger portion of the field was going to be maintained and um uh taken care of, I'll say, by the mccclure group. the smaller section which is the 500 kilowatt version. Yes, that would still be owned by the tech school and as part of the tech school program in doing this solar field to begin with, they always wanted to try to include their students as part of the maintenance and part of the upkeep and part of the training uh of the field. So their thought was that they would team
093up with non Mccclure, bring a certified technician in and have some students work with them so that those components could be maintained and they would learn a skill as they would go. That was part of the very original goal of why even to try to do this was to try to train students as they as they went along. Um so and again I'm I'm looking at um and yes given that essentially if the out of pocket is 250,000 etc on year one granted year one um and the cumulative savings of the power service over time. Um that's where their presentation says that you ultimately save according to them over the life of this of 20 years you save $3 million less whatever maintenance cost there may be and nobody can really explain what that at
094least I don't have that data to tell me is it cost us 50,000 a year to maintain this or 5,000 a year to maintain this that's nobody can really kind of explain that to and and I don't know if they have really good enough data uh over the history of their previous installations. I think they had one installation that was maybe was it 10 years old 2015 sticks in my head. Um and so they're halfway through their their lifespan. Obviously technology has changed along those lines. Um, but the other part of the intriguing part of this was, you know, again, the the upgrades of the electrical service and some of the other things that are quote not really specific to the tech to the uh solar side of things. Um, but it just it it
095again at face value, that's what they're explaining to us is that there is a net positive um savings over time. >> Okay. Any other questions for Mr. Mor I know that I I had said earlier that had some questions, but you you kind of really hit upon I I have this kind of the same question marks that you do in my head. Um and a lot of it's about the the maintenance and the upkeep. >> Um because that that first piece, the the grant funded piece would be owned by the tech school. M so um anything any cost to maintain it maybe a switch goes down or something that's going to be on the tech school which is ultimately on 11 school districts. Um, >> well, if I may, and that was kind of discussed
096through the course of through the course of the discussion, >> and it was it was deemed to be very similar to any sort of other mechanical electrical system that a building would need, >> whether it's a u an HVAC system or a boiler or anything else along those lines. When you put in a new boiler, you own the maintenance, you own all those things. And so the thought here is is that this is just a different type of infrastructure equipment that yes absolutely we then we now the tech school now owns this piece of equipment and yes that the tech school then is responsible for that maintenance and upkeep. Very similar to if a if a coil goes down in a in a heat exchanger or if a pump goes bad or if the the
097sewer system or our you know wastewater treatment plant goes bad. Guess what? We own it. >> Yeah. >> But that's that's equipment that we already have and those are known >> problems that you could have. This is an additional >> Sure. >> an additional >> risk for additional cost >> and that is that is true. However, you're the the presentation is such that you're trying to offset those costs with the accumulated savings of the power. >> Yeah. >> And does it become out to a net positive? >> Of course, they're salespeople, >> right? >> They're going to want to say it's positive. >> Yeah. >> My gut kind of tells me that I think there is some validity to that. Is it is it fully to the point of where they're saying? Probably not. That
098never is as rosy as any projection that they're always that there is. Um but I think yeah uh I I but it's new. It's a little bit unusual. It's a little bit different. Um but I just it seems to be that there's a that there's something there. So we you had asked at one point during um some meetings where you gave us a report about the tech school you know if we've looked at solar and we have >> uh and we've not went down that road because we it's just the risk and the profit margin so to speak uh for not for lack of a better term it's always just right on the edge at least with the am the space we have here and then we add in >> what what you would have
099to um pay or get authorization from to move wetlands to put solar panel. I don't even want to >> know what that would be. Um so we have pursued PPA agreements just all on their solely PPA so that the company owns the whole unit you know the whole array facility um and >> I understand the grant part of it but we're the tech school would be assuming some risk there. Uh, I think >> I I I don't disagree. I mean, again, it's you're you got the initial upfront cost of roughly the 250 260 or something along those lines >> and then yeah, you own it. I mean, it and it's >> Well, I >> could anything go back? I mean, yes, we we could we could all look at the negatives. We could all look
100at the positives and the truth is somewhere in the middle. >> It always Yeah. And and I I did ask uh Mr. Leverity, the director of the tech school, about maintenance. Is there any cost built into that 1.2 million, the the the grant slash uh rebate portion? You know, that's the for sure thing that can happen. >> And he said, "Yeah, there was um little over $200,000 set aside for maintenance." And I said, "Is that for 20 years?" He said, "Yeah, for 20 years." Um so if the And I was just doing some kitchen table math. It's 1.6 million in savings over 20 years. If everything goes right, that would be about 80ome,000 a year in guaranteed energy savings. We just happen to do a lot of it here. So, like I look at this
101stuff a lot. Um I a couple years ago we replaced all the light bulbs on the campus with LEDs and it was it it paid for itself in one year. we reduced our electricity use by, you know, 60,000. >> That's pretty significant. Um, so that was just I was just trying to put this in perspective with some other students as well as the loss of jobs for all of the employees related to that grant. So that's just a real life example of um what is happening with programs um within the US Department of Education and how they're being closed quickly, abruptly, and return any money back. It hasn't been expended. So now, as you may have seen on the annual budget, um, you know, the IU budget, $70 million and about 22 million comes from
102federal sources. So this would be about, you know, a million from that. Um, apparently, if I recall, there were six uh jobs that were impacted, four um were furoughed, and two were reassigned to other programs. So, just wanted to give that report. Um, and that concludes my remarks from the IU, Madame President. >> Thank you. Any questions for Dr. Pushchek? >> Okay, moving on to board correspondents and dialogue. Um, I will start tonight by noticing uh we have some smoothies tonight from nutrition group. So, thank you very much for those. Um, anything you want to tell us about it? It looks like a apple pie smoothie tonight. smoothie. It is apple juiceinnon and little bit brown sugar. >> It's delicious. Thank you. >> Well, thank you for providing these long meetings. Um, this helps a
103lot with that. So, any other uh comments for board correspondents and dialogue, >> madame president? >> Yes. >> Quick report that the boys soccer team won one to nothing tonight. So, they'll be playing on Thursday. Um, and you may recall the girls soccer team was first seed, so they received a buy tonight. They will also play on Thursday. So, that's exciting news. Um, I would like to congratulate Mrs. Hoffman again. uh she has number six of the six push check children this year. So we're excited about that. Um and all of those nomination comments are certainly welld deserved. So congratulations Mrs. Hoffman. And then just finally compliment Mrs. Lee and thank her for her performance chairing our meeting tonight. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anything else? All right. If I can have a motion to
104adjurnn, please. >> So move. Blazer. >> Second. Williams. >> All approved. Say I. I. >> All oppose. We are adjourned. Thank you everybody. Have a good evening.