001I call the committee of the whole agenda-setting meeting to order today, April 13th, at 4:07 p.m. Mr. Secretary, please do a roll call. Ms. Boyd? Present. >> Ms. Brown? Here. Mr. Mitchell? Here. Mr. Price? Here. Ms. Jackson? Here. Mr. Knapp? Here. Ms. Strong? Mr. Brodsky? Here. Mr. Stefan? Here. Eight present, one absent. At this time, I'd like to note that Solicitor Mada, Superintendent Moles, Director of Education Mr. Horvath, Director of Special Education Dr. Kapusta, Director of Technology Director of Technology and Data of Lino Don Kissel, uh Principal Marabito, and Ed Sutter are also present in the room. There are no public comments, so um we can move on to the agenda. I just want to remind board members, please speak up, speak clearly, so that you can be heard on the recording. Governance Committee. Okay.
002Do you want to talk about the um the policies? Sure. Yes, so we do have our three policies that are up for first read this month. Uh we had them up last month, but we pulled them for solicitor review um more review time. We did make some changes to them, not a lot, just a little bit of tweaky things, so you can review them. They were in your docs folder. Um so this it's policy 218.1, the weapons, which brings us up to um law date with the weapons policy. Uh 222, which is the tobacco nicotine, and 323, which is professional uh the administrative tobacco nicotine. That was just very small usage taking jewels and some terminology out. So those are in the folder for your viewing. Please remember that there will be no vote on
003this. You have um 30-day well, 28 days till next board meeting to review them. They will be up for second read and vote next month, but if you have issues with them and they need to go back to committee, um then we will have a vote and take Well, basically, what is it happen? What would happen would be it would be a down vote, all right? If you don't like it, you down vote it, then it would go back to committee for rework. Um so, that's the way the new process works. Yeah, we want to bring comments at the um the board the general board meeting. General board meeting, yes. If you have comments, we want them at in the public session. >> Yes. Yeah. Okay. I guess I'll go through the finance. Um So,
004the treasurer's report, the general funds bill, cafeterias bills, and capital projects aren't available just yet. Uh same with the budgetary transfers. Eric, I had a question about the extracurricular activity accounts. Yeah. Um they were presented last time. Like, we were able to view them. >> You're going to have them to you before. Yes. Right, but they were um provided prior to this meeting last time. No, they weren't. They weren't? Oh. >> got the one on Friday, actually. We just got the high school on Friday. But, we'll have them We'll have them in your folder. We'll try to get them Like, every quarter, we'll try to get that in there. Okay. Thank you. All right, so then all of those reports aren't available just yet. They'll be this week. Let's see. Um the next one is
005the IU budget, and I understand there may be some questions. So, I'll going to leave it to the board for questions. Do you have? I explained to everybody Yeah, I explained to them why Yeah, I I think with your email, I think you pretty well cleared everything up. >> Our portion this year went from $15,700 down to $12,900, so about $2,600 decrease of our portion to the budget. Okay. Yeah. So, then Cindy, would you mind going over the proposed Give give some comments about why it has increased, I think it's 9%. Um actually, the the all over budget did um, but let me just give you some updates about what this um, new budget includes as far as the expansion to the school. And I'm going to I'm going to proceed this by saying that
006right now 41% of our students go to the CTC. Uh, we will be starting a new program in um, next year called Aspiring Ed. It's going to be a satellite program over at Derry. And when our uh, 11th and 12th graders for next year, when they were uh, when they went through the votech for their ninth grade tours a couple years ago, um, the projection for that course was very high. So, I'm going to project that next year with that Aspiring Ed class, we're going to see over 50% of our students going to the CTC. So, please keep that in mind because this is affecting half of our students, right? At the high school. >> eliminated the eliminated the program, the one program. Yeah, but we didn't have any students in that program. >> Mechatronics,
007so we didn't lose >> Right. >> that that was an add to the budget. >> Yes. Right. So, let me So, let me give you Yeah, so um, the way we were able to pull that off was mechatronics had been under review for almost 2 years. Um, there's a process the CTC goes through. It has to have certain qualifiers. Um, and we decided to um, well, it wasn't just decided to, it just failed to be uh, to be able to compete to be a competitive uh, program. So, then we actually started a year ago looking for um, the next shop that we were going to add into the school uh, based on mostly the kids' interest. And the Aspiring Educator was at the top of the list. Fortunately for us, uh, Mr. Williams, uh, Mr.
008Weimer already has a CTC program that's already laid out. It's tried and true. It's tested. Um, so we will be running that um, over and it's perfect to run at Derry because since Derry is K-12 encapsulated on one campus, um, the students can do all of their student teaching all the sit from K 12 all in one place. So it's so that basically just you know means that we employ the teacher who would be that's a master's degree step seven um educator for that teacher. The cost to the program is I think only like $6,000. We're currently working on the MOUs for transportation. Um Greg Francis said you know Derry brings kids over and they send empty buses back to to Derry. So basically what you know we'll send all of our kids still over
009to the votech. The ones that go on that are going on to aspiring Ed we'll just change buses over at votech and then go to Derry and even with that shortened time you know the extra like I think Todd figured 20 minutes each way it's still going to give them plenty of hours that they need for for that shop. So that so the mechatronics went we add in the aspiring Ed. We also add had to which is a good thing add in a part-time second welding teacher because we added there has now been four complete welding booths added and we are working at adding five more welding booths because the program is just exploding. The reason we had originally looked at a full-time teacher for that but that was whenever our TA who was from
010Ligonier had quit but she recently came back. So they just went to a part-time teacher for that second position. We did go from having two part-time security officers to now having a full-time security officer who gets 50,000 a year plus benefits. He is 235 120 start so we will get him sworn in as an SPO which then this guy his name's Jason. He's amazing. He does it he's he's young. He's beef. He'll be able to get from one end of that school to the other end of that school. And when when we had the discussion about this, my big concern was there are so many tools over there that can actually be weapons. So, of all the four schools, this is where we need, you know, an officer who is physically able to handle the
011job and he's just amazing. They put $5,000 back into the budget so the JOC members can attend conferences because that's part of what we're allowed to do and many of us are looking to go to Penn State for the CTC conference this summer. And then of course you had the normal, you know, salary retirement medical insurance increases plus the the increase in the contracts for the TAs and the substitutes. So, all over it raised our budget a little over $91,000. However, this is the really good thing, our refund from this year is just a few dollars shy of $132,000. So, we are coming so it's going to be like we don't have to worry about it cost wise. I know Eric's not going to have as much play money. He wants money back but, you
012know, we're still looking at $40,000, you know, that's going to be clear, you know, between the crossover of the two. Any questions? Did you say your budget increased by $100,000 or The budget increased by $91,000. Our portion of it. Our portion of it. Our portion Yeah, sorry, our portion of it. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And Which is all over it's a a 7.44% all over budget increase is what it is for this year. So, when you say 50% of students enrollment, do you think it's 26-27 or 27-28? No, it'll be 26-27. >> Oh, okay. Yeah, because that aspiring year is starting they'll when they schedule Yeah, it'll it'll start this fall. Oh, wonderful. Yeah. Okay. So, I think that's ready uh for action both the I'm sorry I didn't say that for the IU and the
013EWCTC. Um the next one is the cat category two equipment. So, the cost after the e-rate reimbursement is what we as a district will be paying. Um it's due to us being able to have the 80% reimbursement. Other than that, I think Eric can talk to that, but um otherwise I I well, why don't you have your little spiel? Yeah, um category two was re-updated for another five years. Our total amount we can do or do get over the five years is three roughly $350,000. So, working with insurance and Janine, the category two items that we came up with and also our e-rate partner, which is um Ap- Ap- Frank, yeah. They they do a lot of work with us on this, but uh they identified 130 They they put a list out and you'll
014see in your agenda what we were our putting out for RFP for the different equipment. And they came back the lowest bidder was Access Eligibility Eligi- Eligi- Access What is the name of the Agility. $137,322. So, uh again, like Sarah said, our cost is only $27,000 for that equipment. So, Yeah. The the second one is the Integra One. That's the license for our firewall. As you know, for 2025-2026, we took back our own internet service. And under that, uh we put that out too as well, and um what it came back was Integra One. They're a resell provider for the Fortinet uh software. Now, the problem with that, there's certain things that aren't qualified under category two. That's why our cost is around $5,600. It's not the true 80% because some of it's not eligible
015under category two, but you're going to see the software as long as you have our firewall each year, we're going to take advantage of what was covered in category two to pay for that. So we still show about two over $200,000 left in category two today. What's the bulk of the equipment for category two equipment? >> all on the equipment. And a lot of it's wireless points. It's under the You'll see under there thing with what's in there. It's under There's wireless points. There's switch gears. And that's the majority of it right there. You'll see throughout the schools. Okay. But that's and we have a rotation that I'm sure we had a plan that we make sure we we're doing the wireless points getting updated on a rotation basis. So there was a little thing
016there wasn't some uncertainty whether category two was going to get approved or not, but it did. And that really has a big impact It It does. Yeah. It Yeah, I've been watching this for 4 years. I'm sure Armas has been watching a long time. Cat You know, doing category two equipment through E-rate we just can't beat it. Now we're all good for our internet. We did a Was it five or three or five year deal? This was our first year for our own internet. It was a three year I think plan. So we're good for about 2028 on that. And then the we did the ones in between the buildings. That's the LAN LAN services. I think that was a three year deal as well, too. But our cost for the internet is like >>
017It's like minimal. So minimal. Yeah. It's It's great cuz of E-rate. We get E-rate so yeah. Yeah. Yeah, the E-rate. Yeah. Okay. That's ready for action. Um the master services agreement between Ligonier Valley School District and the Westmoreland IU. Any comments? Yeah, I have some questions. >> Yeah, there was another one. Yeah, Jennifer, Justin, Matt, and I will all be Well, now this is this is a very this is actually very simple question to the board. All right, so if you go to page 13 of the of the agreement, there are 1 2 3 4 um X's in services that is to be determined. So, we are in in effect if we go with this, we are agreeing on signing off on whatever they decide for those amounts. I have an issue with that. I
018mean I mean I mean I'm sure it's not going to be out of this world or what, but I just have an issue with passing something that's open-ended. >> Here's the good thing about technology services. This is the technical technology and innovation services. This is where one of the things that the ball buying power is a good thing going through that you all the schools do it. So, until we go out there and do we won't know what the cost is. It's like going into the consortium for the the gas and paper, too. I know it's there is some to be determined, but that's what the intent of this behind this is. I mean There's also some things on there, Director Brown, that we signed up for that we're not sure we're even going to
019use. But at least they had a cost to them. They had a cost to them, but we may not use them at all, but if if in fact we needed to, we felt we erred when we collectively got together and said, you know, we ought to put an X there. There may come a time where we need to do that. Um but if we don't uh financially, that'll be a a cost savings absorption. Um but yeah, you're right. But the the the this other stuff, most of it's under the technology uh umbrella, and and we solicited uh uh Janine to to let us know that these are items that we have used in the past, and they don't have their rates out for them yet, but uh we believe this >> Will their Will their
020rates be out in time for us at any time, Janine? What's that? And then Sentinel One is the Zoom manager, is the technology >> It's It's the Duo Security Services, uh Legal Technology Pool, Manny Zoom Application Services, Sentinel One Services. Those are the four. The So, I don't know off the top of my head. Like Sentinel One, I already got the um the PO for it, so I can get you a price on the next >> was like It was only $6,400 or something. >> I want to say it was like maybe a little over $7,000 last year. We had it last year. Yeah. This is just renewing that service. That and that's um just more like cybersecurity measures. Right. Can you let me know what what what what we paid for these services last
021year so we know what Yeah, that'd be a good thing. Yeah, that would That would help. Yeah. Yeah, that yeah. Yeah, I know what Duo is. Yeah. Yeah, I know what Duo is. Yeah. Um the tech tools only like five or six hundred dollars. >> Yeah. Yeah, I I understand they're necessary services and I understand that we're not going to get them any cheaper. 600, I think, last year. The managed Zoom license we get, I think, maybe seven or eight for the administrators. >> Unlimited, yeah. And that was, I want to say, around $57, I think, per license. It wasn't a lot, $57. Okay. So, can we Can you send us a So, I mean, you need to give me those prices Yeah, I mean, I'm okay I just think especially, you know, for the
022new board members and even for me cuz I don't remember that from last year, you know, what those prices Yeah, just so Yeah, so that we know what we're looking at for prices since it's not a per hour cost. It is the flat fee for the year, right? >> going with them. We're about to do the buying consortium with these softwares to get them lower for the Right. It doesn't matter. We'll get those >> gotten anything on Duo, but I think our Duo is a contract. We have to have that, correct? Oh, we have to Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Okay. So, it's ready for action. Next one is uh student success committee and facilities committee. Okay, I'm going to start with educational programs just cuz I know Justin has to leave and I wanted to
023um ask him the question about the HMH how you explained before. Um I know that this year the library and math are on cycle. So, can you explain a little bit more why we're approving it? >> Yeah, so last year um Nicole Ford H came and presented um we adopt we started adopting with a six-year contract with HMH uh for our reading materials and resources for grades K through five. And uh when Nicole presented last year in the spring, it was asked of Nicole and I um why aren't we doing this for grade six through eight? And we said, "Well, we haven't had time to talk with teachers about that yet." And so it was decided last spring um I believe it was the April board or May board meeting it was. Um we decided
024that we would talk with the grade six through eight teachers about doing it and potentially pilot it going into this year. So, the teachers piloted the program uh in grade six through eight. And what's nice is there it makes a night for a nice transition. We use the the same program materials in K through five. We piloted in six through eight. The response from the teachers was overwhelmingly positive. Um I actually haven't had any had any negatives at all. Um principals are satisfied with it, teachers are happy with it. Uh the pilot has really gone well. Um looking at some of the math data scores, our scores are also showing that our kids are making progress. Um so, uh when it was brought up why aren't we doing this with six through eight, you know,
025we wanted to talk with teachers. We talked with teachers, we piloted with teachers. The response was overwhelmingly positive. And um so, we have it up for the for the board for approval. Um your option you you say no that my concern if we would say no to that is um you know, just like when we met with our math teams at the beginning of this year. Uh secondary math, there were I think six teachers there and all six teachers were doing it in a different way and there wasn't a unified standardized approach to it. We're going to correct that with math. You'll see as the math team presents next week. But same thing with ELA. If we don't if we decide not to do this, we're going to stay back in that mass customized learning
026approach which I I think we're all ready to move on from. This five-year puts us on the same page. They'll be all done in K through sixth grade. So when this five-year we we decided a five-year contract because the elementary agreed to a six-year last year. So they'll be off at the same exact time. Yeah. So when that cycle hits, ELA, elementary, middle school will get them on the same cycle for for curriculum cycle. And Eric, what does this do to the >> Well, wait, let Can I Can I input before you just asked that? Um don't forget that there this year was library, but we didn't do any library, right? So the money that we had set back and that's you know, Justin called me about this last week and I mean I don't
027even care about that. To me this is a no-brainer. We would have to wait another five years. We would be five years in the hole with our middle school kids if we don't do this now. But the fact that we didn't we had money in for library and then we didn't use it for library. To me I mean it's you know, $25,000 for this year and then 12,700 for the next two. You know what I'm thinking now that I'm thinking about this more thoroughly through. We're going to amortize this over the life of the contract. We're going to put prepaid expenses out there each year because we were paying over three years, but it's good for six or five. So we're going to have prepaid technology We're going to have the prepaid out there for
028curriculum because we shouldn't absorb the cost all in the first three years. We're going to have six years. So this is going to have an effect It's going to have an effect on this budget we're in right now, but it's also going to have an effect on the 2026-2027 budget, which isn't going to be as high. But, we also have to know that it's going to go into the remaining of that. So, I'm going to try to level it out, which it should because if we're using it over 5 or 6 years, it shouldn't be expensive. Yeah, it is. It's a total accounting thing. Yeah, it is. These two will get it. Yeah. Why we hitting it all up front in 3 years when we're using it for 6? And the the delicate point is,
029you know, it's you know, it is a an additional cost that wasn't budgeted. And and I understand that. At the same time, we are when I came here to this district, you know, with that the mass customized learning approach where everyone was kind of doing their own thing and everything was separate from each other. And then we're looking at data, and data's not really going to tell me a whole whole lot if everyone's doing something different. All that's telling me is how a teacher is doing as opposed to how the curriculum is doing. So, I mean, I think it's a small cost to pay to get everyone all on the same page with what we're teaching. I just wanted to make sure it's not going to affect math. No, and I'm going to do a
030spreadsheet to have what we have in place right now and how we're going to amortize it and all that stuff. So, we'll have a budget line item where we know what we're committed to for the next 5 or 6 years of these things that we have out there. What what types of materials would this provide for the teachers? >> So, that's going to provide textbooks. It's going to provide student workbooks. Pretty much the same thing as the elementary program provided. There's also a all of those same things teacher materials, student materials, all in print, and the teacher is able to see everything virtually. So, if they want to print things off, they can all they also have the ability to do that. Does anyone have any more questions about that? I think that makes the
031most sense. So, that is ready for action. Next up, the special education plan. I know Dr. Caputo So, presented that last month. Does anyone have any questions or concerns? So, is that ready for action? Okay. Um next step, I have the approval given to recognize the R.K. Mellon Parent Teacher Organization and the Laurel Valley Elementary Parent Teacher Organization as uh official Ligonier Valley School District organizations. Does anyone have any questions about that? I do. We we received um their bylaws. Uh we're in possession of their bylaws and their um uh membership status. I turned it over to uh Mr. Kosches. Okay. So, when I was reviewing the bylaws and the officers that were listed, they're not they don't match. Whoever's uh signed the bylaws is not who who signed the bylaws. >> bylaws could have
032been years ago when they were passed. Okay. But the list of officers are current officers. Okay, cuz it was signed in '25. I thought I I didn't study it. >> Double double check it cuz I thought that My only question is, and I remember we discussed this and this was about the carnival. >> Yeah. I saw that there's a bounce house. So, what does that do to our insurance if there is an incident with the bounce house? It's covered under our umbrella. It'll be We can do it under our umbrella. But we're also getting the insurance for the company that provides the bouncy houses. Yeah. I'll ask him again for that. They already sent us the petting zoo They already sent us their their insurance waivers. It's like a million >> And I asked our
033insurance carrier as long as they're a recognized group that they're all right with that. Okay, I just wanted to make sure. >> ask again. Remind me, Justin, to ask about the bylaws. I have to look at that. I didn't get a chance to look at the bylaws or the things. So, we'll take a look at them later. I'm sorry. Okay. Any other questions? Okay, ready for action. And then I just have two field trips. The physical physics and chemistry students will be attending the Penn State nuclear reactor on April 28th. And then um JROTC will be experiencing a trip to Trafford, PA on April 25th. For building and grounds, we just have informational non-agenda items. One of which is Mr. Sutter's going to be providing direction up to myself the list of questions we'd asked
034so we can put to to synthesize the information that we had requested to put together a five-year plan, which we'll hopefully have pushed out to you within a month or so. And then Mr. Kosciusko is going to talk to us about the baseball field drag. Mr. Sutter's, okay. We currently have a We're using a drag that that a screen that we had here prior to the construction of the field. There was a lot of talk and chatter at the board meeting last time about drag things. So, we went out online and talked to some of our vendors, and I have three prices for for roughly the same decent equipment for the for the field drag. And I was I was surprised they're rather pricey. But uh and they're all basically apples to apples. Uh Pioneer
035Athletics, which is a athletics supply company. They sell field paint, they sell backstops, they sell you know, everything soup to nuts for athletics. Uh Their drag price is $7,834.49. I have a price from Beacon Athletics. I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. From who? Beacon. Uh And that price from Beacon is $6,875. And this These are for drags and screens. You know, a drag tears it up and then the screen smooths out. And lastly, I have one from a company that Hammer the current contractor did the turf and all that. They They gave me uh this name. And it is uh A It is ABI Equipment. And it comes with uh actually three interchangeable attachments that go onto this drag. And it is $5,097. This is This is what we do with to smooth out and
036when the field gets hard, you drag it and try to tear it up and get some loose dirt. Loose fill in there. So, um there may be a little difference because of the freight. Um but it it's definitely, you know, necessary. The drag that we used in the in the homemade nail drag that he made, it's doing a good job. But eventually, it's a homemade nail drag, you So, um that's I mean, if you want information, pictures, and you want, you know, the whole the whole shebang, I can certainly provide that with uh I would I would recommend going with the uh one from ABI. Cuz I think you're getting more more value for your dollar. ABI online. And I don't I don't have it in the budget, so Well, this could come out of
037This could come out of the contingency that we have for the the baseball field as well, Yeah. Can we be sent all the information on all three so we can review all of them? >> that's a big that's a big range in prices. And for that lower one to have three interchangeable attachments and be that much cheaper, I would have to question the quality of the equipment. Okay. Okay, we'll send out a proposal. And then after you Okay. Thank you. Okay. Ready? That's it. Okay. Human Resources Committee. Um I see that we're going to be making a reduction uh staff through attrition, suspension, demotion, or reassignment of personnel. Um is that something that Justin's discussed cuz I That's just a general statement. We That's a general statement we pass every year that allows us to
038do it. All right. Okay, so do we have any data that's backing this up that we need to do this? >> That's my question. I think It's done every year just in case you don't know what our enrollment is, so we have that Right, so that we can do it with Yeah. Yeah, so there are laws that uh inhibit the school board just haphazardly um using attrition. Uh you have to cite declining enrollment or elimination of programs. What's the third one, Mr. Maner? Declining enrollment, elimination of programs, or closing of a building. What? >> the three options. So, uh this is just a fail-safe that we have evidence of declining enrollment. That could be just based upon the last 3 years enrollment. 3 years ago there were more students in the district than there are
039now. Um so, we're just citing that as an uh a fail-safe in the event that we would need to eliminate a position or two or 10, whatever the case may be. Okay, KKA just had something on a week or two ago. It's happening through the entire state. >> it's happening Oh, yeah, it's Yeah. Yeah. And and we're going to have a good many retirements coming in this year, so. I think what next two years we're going to see a >> Yeah, yeah. And Martin Hankey is the social studies teacher that Justin spoke of that's retiring. Yes. Um for the grounds and maintenance, uh we had a good field of candidates all over. And uh uh Matt told you what we're planning on doing. Um uh we're going to do the internal move. Uh uh we
040want to I don't know if we want to say that name. >> No, we don't want to say it. No, uh-uh. Um and then for the custodians, uh we made a choice Yeah. uh for the custodian. So, these all all these items are ready to go on the agenda? Mhm. Yes. Uh I would like to thank um the interview committee for all the meeting. Three Friday, and we did eight this morning. Oh, wow. So, it's a That was That was a lot. I think it was worthwhile though. I think we got some good candidates. Eric, are these both um union contracts? For what's that? For the grounds and maintenance person and the Both union, okay. We want to want to change that one. We're going to I'll have to look at those rates. Are those
041maybe the July 1st rates? I want to make sure Just make sure the I have to make sure the contract Is that the July 1st rate? 2750 or is that the current That's what someone's being paid now. >> the current rate? Is that 1675 the current rate being offered? Correct. Okay, I'm sorry, they're good. I'm sorry. I just had a brain No, I'm sorry. I'm blanking. I don't know what I'm talking about. And then we have the rest of these retroactive um employees evidently um Wait, where are you at? Oh, there's one more left in this packet. >> Yeah, I I am I'm at I'm at summer staff. Yeah. Down on page four. The very last one. Oh, the approval of the staff for the Yeah. >> working hours for the summer. Is that ready
042for action? Um I have a couple questions on that. >> Yeah, if we I want to know what exactly they're completing during the summer, um what will the associated costs be, and are these remote or are they in the buildings? Well, they would be in the buildings um as far as I'm aware. I don't know that there's been any arrangement for them to work from home. Um and in the in the past this is uh keeping with similar totals. I guess in the past they were asking for days worked, and somehow this trend sort of changed uh the Don and I discovered that they they're now asking for hours, but traditionally they were asking for two weeks. Um and it's what any guidance counselor would do um and a school. Uh schedule preparation, uh meeting
043with new students to create schedules, uh sending transcripts to new schools, accepting transcripts from other schools to create a schedule for a student who transfers in the summer. This is pretty customary. Many other schools actually have these hours defined in the collective bargaining agreement that you work an additional When I was a guidance counselor, I worked the regular teacher schedule, and then I worked eight additional days at the end of the year, and eight additional days before the school started. Um so there was it was already prescriptive. In this case uh Ligonier Valley chooses to have some uh uh uh wiggle room there with the amount of hours they need. Uh the principals have all uh taken a look at these hour requests, and uh have agreed that these seem uh accurate for their needs.
044Okay. You notice the ones at the elementary a little bit lower because, you know, they significantly lower because they have a little less uh wherewithal in making student schedules. Sending transcripts to colleges and universities, those sorts of things. So, the middle school one needs to be 100 hours? >> Well, they do they do scheduling as well. That's what their request is. That's not saying they're going to use all of that. >> Yeah, that's not saying that. They may not. But, they are in person, not remote, cuz someone was work- working remotely last year. I don't know that. Well, if if the direction is for them to be in person, we can make that. I prefer them to be in person. That way if families need someone to talk to, they're there for them to talk
045to them. You have one more motion you have to add to this is about the We're going to add this up onto this 12, too. The custodial slot onto uh personnel committee that you recommended. Okay. Is that it? I don't know. Wait, no. He's got another page. Yeah, he's got another page five. Okay, then we have uh employee 930 for an intermittent use of FMLA beginning March 6th, 2026. Is that ready for action? Yep. Uh number 997 for intermittent use of FMLA beginning March 9th through uh 2026. Ready for action? Yep. Retroactive uh for employee number 1828 for unpaid leave March 17th through the 20th, 2026. Ready for action? Wait, can I ask a stupid question? >> Which one? How do you make a pay retroactive? Do you dock it from their next paycheck? Well,
046we're going to dock, yes. Okay. So, that Okay. I think it was a little confusion. The person was taken off They were at the request of They didn't The person didn't know it was unpaid. It came to us as unpaid. So, but the board has to approve all of it. Right. Yeah. And that's why we have this on there, but they will be docked from the next one. Okay. I'm not terribly comfortable with this. I just want to let you know that it's on my uh principal's agenda tomorrow to have a discussion with the administrators that the only one that should be approving unpaid leave should be the board of directors, right? Uh one might argue Mr. Madden I have had some experience with job abandonment. Once you've exhausted all of your paid time off,
047you are abandoning your job, right? And we can't do that retroactively. Um the board needs to make a decision um so that that's going to be a a conversation that I have with the super the building principals moving forward that this should not happen again. Should someone exhaust all their time and there be additional need, we want to know the details of that before it happens, not after. Yes. Um so, I'm I'm going to correct that. Okay. This next one you can see it's for future days, but we can go in executive session to talk details on that if we need to, but uh this one was This And this one You can see You see that the the board of directors see the notes on there. That's the way that You see it on
048there. Okay, you That's why. Okay, yeah. Okay, and then we come on to supplemental contracts uh for the '26, '27 school year as presented at the rates defined by the LBEA contract. Um looks like we have five renewals and two new people. Are they ready for action? And what was the extra one you were talking about? We added a custodian on the sub on the first on the personnel committee. We have a sub we have a new person that was going to be serving on the Yeah, we discussed that in executive session. Okay, and it's not on here. No, it's not. All right. Student experience committee. Under transportation, approval for another revised calendar. That's ready to go. That's it. I'm done. Knock on wood. I hope. Only 90 days left. Then the next two are
049retroactive. And again, this is a retroactive approval for the request for school attendance for the 2025-2026 school year in accordance with school policy number 206 for a student to attend R.K. Mellon Elementary School. Wait a minute. I'm really confused about that. >> Yeah, so was I. >> Holy cow. The year is almost over and we're just now getting a retroactive approval. Has this child been at the RKM at RKM's post elementary JUST ENROLLED. OH. OKAY. I WAS GOING TO SAY NEW ENROLLMENT. It's the first day. It's It's a little complicated, but it just happened recently. Okay, wait. So, can we please add in there new enrollment then? Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Cuz I'm sorry to to look at that and say good grief. Here we are at the end of April and we're
050just doing a retroactive approval. >> put in parentheses new enrollment. Yes, put it in somewhere, please. And then the next one is for next year. So, it's ready for action then? And the next one is for the attendance 2026-2027 school year in accordance with the same policy. R.K. Mellon with the two names that were listed. and that is ready for action. Let me have approval be given to submit FID application to PDE for the '26, '27, '27, '28, '28, '29 school years. That happens every 3 years. I can speak to it if you don't mind. Uh >> Is that still unlimited? No, it's five days per year. >> five-day one. >> Yeah, so this is We had a spirited debate about this at the superintendents' meeting. Uh some superintendents in our neighboring districts are refusing
051to submit a FID application saying it just adds confusion, and we just do remote days anyway. I said, "Well, so do we." Uh so what The problem is, you can have an unlimited number of remote days. Not that we want to, but there's no There's no cap on that. These FID days are five per year, and the application process is pretty intense. Uh frankly, uh Justin did a nice job on this, but it took him a while uh to to do so. But it it's not an easy process, and that's why some of the superintendents were were were were not doing it. Um my argument was, and maybe I sold this to Justin, that's why he did it for me, but um it's a fail-safe. So, there are two pieces of legislation. This flexible instruction
052day that exists in the state that allows this This predates any remote learning from public schools that in the event you could do this. What are you going to do on those days? Well, we're going to do this this and this. And Justin did a very nice job on it. Um and then there's the remote instruction, a separate piece of legislation that permits schools to teach remotely. It's kind of hard for them to argue about it. Schools are entirely built on remote learning, right? So, um my argument to the group was that we should do it because if there should be some change to the remote language, I don't think there will be, but if, you know, there are folks who are lobbying against remote learning, right? If If there should be some change to
053the remote learning in the next 3 years, we still have the FID to back to to fall back on uh for some uh remote days uh in due to lack of weather or something like that. I think I think it's until they make a move, I think our best approach is to have both as a fail-safe. Now, at the beginning of the year, I told my parent group I told the group publicly in a public session, we're going to call every day a remote day. We're just internally submitting it as a FID day. And that was one of the arguments for the superintendents who weren't playing along with this. They're like, "It just creates confusion." I said, "I know it does. I just think as long as we know that we're turning in the first
0545 days as FID, we're going to tell the community every day's remote. They're they're interchangeable anyway." So, can I ask and I'm Things might have changed since we started this 3 years ago. Um but my understanding was that the there was a little bit more of a tweak to a FID day than remote. That if we have like say one of our buildings, like say something happens to the high school and we cannot have school in that building that day, but we can do the other three schools. That would fall under FID, right? >> Yeah, but we could also call that a remote day just for the high school. Oh, can you? >> Yeah, yeah. So, so they're very interchangeable right now, but but the reason I said let's just try it because if if
055something should change to either one of them, we have the other to fall back on as as a fail-safe. So, we submitted it or we will submit it at your with your approval and and hopefully it's approved. I I'd imagine it will. But someone does read it. Mr. Perrone from Franklin Regional was saying, "Hey, I messed something up." And someone sent it back said, "This objective isn't complete." So, someone does read it. That's the good news. It's not just a check. So. It's actually an insurance is what you're saying. >> Yeah. Yeah. Until the law changes. Right. Yeah. So, we have we have both to fall back on. Yeah. >> So, ready for action? Anybody opposed to that? Okay, and the next one is Gary. Approval will be given to the MOU with Luc's Arbus
056lines for the '26-'27, '27-'28, '28-'29 school years. I have a question. You already explained the three per number eight, the 3% CPI to me, which I'm still have a little bit of heartburn with, but did Mr. Motto review this this MOU? I do believe. Did you hear that? I I thought that I did when we looked at it before. >> I just want to make sure that >> pretty sure. >> Okay. Is there something specific you need? >> I No, I just wanted to make sure it had your blessing. Yeah, yeah, no, I'm I'm pretty sure I did look at it. reviewed the first one, and then there was a change. Yeah, and I thought that I emailed Yeah, I thought I did. But I'll I'll I'll make sure tomorrow. I'll just see what I
057get in just in case I didn't, but I'm I'm pretty sure I did. So, it sounds like Christie and Gary had a conversation about the CPI, but I I didn't hear it, so I'd be curious to like the previous contract didn't have that stipulation. In the new contract, it requires a 3% regardless of what CPI is. Why is that change in there? So, so the So, we can All contracts were based upon the CPI. Okay. >> So, the raise of increased of rate to the school district was always based on the CPI, okay? Regardless of the extra 10, 12 dollars thing, right? So, historically, it changes over time. Right after COVID, it was in the sixes. There was one year it was in the twos. The last couple of years it's been 3.5, 3.2. Don't
058quote me on those numbers, but it's been above 3. It's close to that, right? Mr. Kalina has asked for the last 2 years, cuz we know what next year's is. The CPI is already out for it. It's like 3.2 something. 3.23% So, we know what the increase for 26 will 20 be 26 27 will be. Mr. Kalina has asked for in in as a a negotiations for the 10 10 10 MOU additional payment, he's asked for a guarantee of a minimum of three in the 27-28, 28-29 years. So if if the CPI should come back lower than that, that we would we know that our minimum increase is three. It could be more than that based upon the CPI. Many years it has been more than that. And tell him we want the same amount
059for the fuel. Oh, the fuel the same amount as the D does. The whatever that CPI the fuel goes up that amount. Every year? >> Every year, absolutely that. That's why we're paying like two cents a gallon, yeah. The CPI is always tied to the fuel increase as well, too, for what he pays. I know. I'm I'm just saying the 10 10 10 I thought was taking care of some things. So now there's this in there also and I'm kind of like going, "Wait a minute." Kind of like we're getting the short end of the stick. >> You know, one of the things I asked him was, "Would you would you like to go with a flat three?" And he said no because he I and Eric believe it's probably going to be over three
060anyway. With the cost of fuel right now and you know the way things are trending, it could change next year, what have you, maybe the last year, but I suspect it's going to be over three regardless. But he wasn't willing to stick at three. Why I'M SORRY. I HAVE A I HAVE issue with this. You know, we This is a 10-year contract that somebody in their insanity signed 10 seven years ago, but that's Mr. Klein's problem if there wasn't CPI put in that contract at then. Why are we when we are already fighting about this 13 and I don't like this per day because that's not what the other other MOU said it was per run. All right, it was the runs rate. >> per run. Yeah, but that's not what it says in that's
061MOU. Cuz he's going to stick you on them, I'm going to tell you that right now. What why are we pedaling with I don't I don't we are changing a base contract way too Well, CPI has always been in it. We're going to keep discussing that. For the not for wages, not for wages, for you. No, that's not the 3% is not on the wages. No, not on the 10% $10 fine. Do we want to go into a negotiation session and just talk about this? Executive session? That was the last thing on there. Right? Or we can do that. We can adjourn we can adjourn and do it. Adjourn meeting and then 4:55.