001Mhm. >> Mhm. >> [clears throat] [clears throat] >> Uh good evening everybody and welcome to the April 14th Appoquinimink School Board meeting. The board went into executive session at 5:30 on motion of Mr. Abrams, second by Dr. Graham to discuss certain legal and personnel issues. We are obviously now out of executive session. There was a little bit of a technical hold up, but we are all here. Uh joining us uh by Zoom is uh Mr. Higgins. Tim, are you there? I am here. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay, cool. Okay, so with Mr. Higgins participating by Zoom for certain medical reasons, we have a full board tonight and we will start our meeting as we always do with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and
002to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, uh tonight on the agenda we've got um some special recognitions. Uh as far as I know, no one has signed up for public comment. We'll have some reports. We'll have some board comments. There is no old business. There's a bunch of new business. We'll have our personnel report and then we will establish our next meeting dates. Uh And Dr. Burrows, I understand there's one adjustment to the agenda. Yes, item 7A, Superintendent Student Advisory Council Student Report is tabled until next month. All right. So, with that we will go to special recognitions and Mr. Banks. >> [clears throat] >> Good evening. So, tonight I'm here to present the [snorts] Behavioral Health Professional [clears throat] of the Year
003Award. Just a little information background regarding this award that was established in 2021 by the Department of Education um under House Bill 35 of the 151st General Assembly, the Delaware Department of Education drafted regulations 239 to implement the program and establish policies and procedures for the award. This program requires each year every school district recognizes outstanding services by employees who are health care practitioners or human health service providers in their day-to-day work. Such employees include school counselors school social workers licensed clinical social workers school psychologists and school nurses. Through our process and assistance from the Appoquinimink School Community, the District Community we'd like to announce Deborah Taylor school counselor Townsend Elementary School. >> [applause] [applause] >> Ms. Taylor will represent the Appoquinimink School District at the state level. So, next month all of the districts
004will send their district winner to the state. It's a nice little dinner. Um they'll come in and meet with her, interview her, see her in her space. Um she's going to rock it. We're going to come home a winner. I have her principal, Principal Street here to share some words. Thank you so much, and I'm so excited to be here and honored to uh just give a few words and say thank you so much to Mrs. Taylor for everything she does for our students and our staff and our families at Townsend. Um you know, if we keep looking at each other and talking, we'll probably both be up here crying, but um Deb has impacted not just the community, but also my daughter personally as a student. I see we have other family members in
005here who also have probably had the opportunity to have Mrs. Taylor work with their children. So, we are just so thankful for everything you've done. One of the things that I am most proud of is the work that you've done with our fifth-grade students and providing the opportunity for them to become mentors to the younger students in our building. And you really took a leap of faith doing that and gave your time in the morning to do training with them and uh brought along some other staff members, and it's just been such an amazing opportunity for our students to grow as leaders and then want to come back and do that when they're in fifth grade. So, thank you for everything you do. Appreciate you. >> [applause] >> So, tonight we would like to extend
006our sincere thanks to Mr. Forston for his generosity and continued support to our students. Most recently, he donated two tickets to a magic show for each of our elementary schools, providing students with a special opportunity to enjoy a memorable experience at the Everett Theater. Over the years, he has generously provided tickets to other events. We also want to recognize Mr. Forston for his many contributions to our music and arts programs that are often celebrated on evenings like this. His generosity has exceeded $17,000, making a meaningful impact on opportunities for our students. We are truly grateful for your kindness and for your ongoing support of our students and of the arts in our district. Thank you, Mr. Forston. >> [applause] >> Thank you. All right. Well, thank you very much. Ordinarily, special recognitions are my favorite
007part of the evening because I love seeing our amazing students, our amazing teachers, our amazing staff, and our amazing community, and all the the incredible things that they're able to accomplish. Um I have been giving money every year to the arts and the drama department and the music program. And and it adds up over time. I'm not I hope my wife wasn't watching cuz it probably added up to more than either of us realized. But I'm happy to do it and I've always been happy to support the school district. So, I I do thank you for that recognition. Um with that, we are on to reports. 7B, Superintendent's Report. Good evening. I hope everyone had an opportunity to enjoy a spring break where they got a chance to recharge and refresh. Uh it couldn't have
008come at a more perfect time. Uh the only uh downside, I guess, is that we we didn't get to experience the 80° weather that we have this week, but the weather was beautiful and it was very nice time. Um and uh well deserved for our staff. Just a few updates. Uh we currently have 15 full-time teaching openings and four full-time para openings. Um that's pretty low that we've seen over the last 5 years. So, um thank you to our HR department who's filled to date 577 positions. Please remember that's internal transfers and external hires. So, we didn't hire all 577 new people. Um as a comparison, we're about 100 off where we finished last year, which was 677. Um Excuse [clears throat] me. We are currently at 13,169 students. That's 211 over our September 30th
009count. Um so, we do continue to grow. This month is a busy month for recognitions. It is actually Occupational Therapy Month. April 1st was National Paraprofessional Appreciation Day. The 4th was National School Librarian and Library Aids Day. The 6th through the 10th is National Assistant Principal Week. I don't know if that coincides with the week off, if that was coincidence or what. Um The 19th through the 25th is National Library Week. It's also National Volunteer Week. The 26th is Administrator Professionals Day. And the 28th is School Buster Driver Appreciation Day. And that is all I have for tonight. Any questions? Any questions from the board for Dr. Burrows? Hearing none, we move on to the one-to-one device update. Dr. Conley and Dr. Feathers. >> [clears throat] >> All right, good evening. Um I am here
010tonight with Dr. Dr. Feathers, and we are here tonight to provide an update on our one-to-one device plan. So, as many of our families and um our school community are aware, we are um now aware of the ample research and the impact of technology on our youngest learners. So, at in the Appoquinimink School District, one of our core values is doing what's best for every student. And as a district, we are always evaluating our educational practices to ensure that we are aligned with that core value of doing what's best for every student. Taking us back to the pandemic, during the pandemic, it was essential for our entire system that each student had access to individual technology. Now that we are, you know, in the post-pandemic era, looking at evaluating the educational landscape, we have seen
011a major shift regarding technology use, particularly for our youngest learners. So, where are we currently? So, currently in the 25-26 school year, our kindergarten students have access to an assigned iPad in their school in their classroom, and students in grades 1 through 5 are assigned an individual iPad in school that they can also take home as needed. Middle school students are assigned 6 to 8 iPads, which they have access to both in school and at home. And then our high school students in grades 9 through 12 are assigned an individual Chromebook, which they use in school and have access to in at home as well. So, what are the changes that we're going to be making? First, we will be removing one-to-one iPads in grades K through 2. However, because we'll be removing those one-to-one
012devices, we will be adding Chromebook carts in every classroom. Not in every classroom, I'm sorry, in every elementary school, and that will be 60 devices total that will be in each of our schools. Our continuing practices, like Dr. Conley said, we do have students who have the one-to-one iPads, so our grade 3 through 8 students will continue to use those one-to-one iPads. And our grades 9 through 12 students will continue their use with one-to-one Chromebooks. So, what is our reason for doing this? And I think Dr. Conley expressed some of that. The research is saying our youngest learners shouldn't be on technology all of the time, that we should be limiting technology and device use, and that we should be using technology in a purposeful manner. We also want to be able to maintain access
013to devices, and that would be the Chromebooks that would be available. Prior to COVID, that is how we operated in our elementary schools. So, it is certainly a viable way to support technology use, intentional technology use in our elementary schools with our youngest learners. And then of course, we want our students to be active, hands-on learners, communicating with one another, reading and writing, and we have all of those print materials in our classrooms already. So, the resources are already available for our students, and those are the ones that we would like them to be using and interacting with on a daily basis in their classrooms. So, then we just wanted to talk a little bit about our communication plan. So, tonight we're here presenting to the school board about our plan and our changes for
014our 26-27. Staff will be communicated with elementary staff following this board meeting, and that will happen tomorrow. Family communication will go out following the staff communication to all of our families via school messenger. Are there any questions? I have a question. Questions from the board. Thank you. You mentioned the major shift. Was the major shift what you just stated in terms of you wanted to have the intentional purposes instead of plan on? Okay. I thought in terms I thought when you stated it, it was in reference to like you saw percentages go down in terms of learning or anything like that. It's just being intentional about when to use technology in our classrooms, especially with our early learners. >> Okay. Thank you. So, I I want to be clear, too. I mean, obviously, there's been
015a lot of research over the last couple years that too much screen time is bad for anybody, including adults. Um so, we're doing this because I think I heard you say we want to dial back the screen time. But in terms of the educational instruction, I mean, the instruction is still going to be there, and obviously, I think we see this as a benefit to get more live instruction and less screen time. Is that fair? Correct. And like I said, we have all the print materials and manipulatives and all of the things that children should have their hands on and be doing with their teachers and with their peers. Okay. Does anybody else have any other questions at the from the board? No, Matt answered mine. Okay, so there's nothing more for us to do
016at this point, correct? >> No, it was just a presentation. All right. Well, thank you very much for that. >> Thank you. Next on the agenda, we have our construction update, Mr. Hopkins. Okay. Yep, got it. All right, we'll start off at Reading. >> [snorts] >> As you can see over here at Reading, everything in the front is done. We're basically pushing towards the back right now. We have some work to do on the basketball courts. We're going to grind that down a little bit and come back with another smoother base layer, so things work more like an athletic surface than the surface that's there now. We're We're We're doing that remediation work soon. Right now, we're putting topsoil down in this area here to get the grass down. Sod and irrigation is going in
017here. As you'll see in later pictures, this area here is all sodded in now and irrigated up. So, we're just really just pushing out the back to get the job completed. Here's some of the work that that's been done at what [clears throat] showed in the dirt in the previous picture. But all the sod is coming down here in in in front of the outdoor classroom, and we're going to push this way. Same thing here. Just just sod getting completed. Job just kind of wrapping itself up as we're heading out through the good weather into spring. This is the field where they're doing the final grading now out on the out on the athletic surface. Everything's coming to grade and then we'll come down to sod here and a maintenance building at some point. Final
018grading. Just just the same thing. We're just pushing out of the project. Everything's Right now, we got affected by time, and there's some rocks in the soil out there right now, so we're going to fix that situation, have them come out, sift the rocks out of the soil, and then we're going to come back with the sod. Just more of the sod. That's what you're going to see from here on into the end. Moving out the Summit. Now, Summit's starting to kick off pretty good. As you can see at Summit, this is kind of the outline of our property. We kind of run this way. The canal is here. It runs right straight down to the tracks, along the tracks. The Summit Pond development is here, and it comes up, and we get down Beaston
019Road, and that's kind of what the whole property encompasses right now. As you can see, this is our loop road that's coming around. Through the spring break, we got some of the pavement down to this point here. So, as as you'll see in other photos, they boxed it up, but the pavement is here, and they've also got the loop road cut out through here. We're putting in the all catch basins in this area now. The high school and middle school and performing arts will be here. This is the front loop. It'll be a loop road that comes around the front here as well. Uh Steve, step back up one second. As you're going to see in other pictures, you're going to see these baffles right here. And these baffles come in, and they're all out
020of plywood about 4-ft high. And what it does, it comes in and traps the water and helps it kind of holds it up till we can get it out and into this area here. But But these are the baffles I'm going to talk about later. That's Steve. As you can see, the pavement's coming around here now. We're in good shape. This is the actual road. It's just down to the base coat. We'll come back and top coat when the top when the project's done and and clean that all back up. The gate's installed at this point right there. Just more of the road coming around. Trailers are up here. This is existing road we're utilizing right now. This will be the second entrance coming up. That's right. You can stay there. This is kind of
021an area where mining in the back, so we're taking soil up This is a pretty deep hole at this point and using it to fill in on the roads where we need fill [snorts] dirt coming around the project. This is the road that was boxed out prior to us paving it coming around. Same same thing. This is This This is what it looked like before they slapped the pavement down in in over the break. This is just peeling back topsoil off the road, things like that, so they can start setting the road down. They use these pans to take the dirt up. They take the topsoil back, and they store it in the back so we can come back and utilize it later. This is sort of the the the the the stormwater management structures
022that are going in now. This This is coming in and and it's going to stay there to help dissipate the stormwater as the project completes. Just some some concrete for footings for uh for for the utilities. This is all the stormwater management things. You can see them in the huge pipes are getting put in the ground all the way around. All these are starting to go out into the project. Just Just some more work on the stormwater management piping. You can see there's a lot to it. Just [clears throat] protection some diversion protection for protection around the catch basins, just so dirt doesn't flow back down into the basin and and clog it up. These are the baffles I was talking about earlier. 4-ft sheets of plywood. Now, all this goes away. This will end
023up being a tennis court, and on this side will be a baseball field on on this side. This is just for temporary just for to handle the stormwater over the project over the duration of the project. This is the road being cut in. The trailer is here, the pavement's back here. This is the road we're cutting up the rest of the way around now. More of the same. This is just pushing it all the way back back and around. Yep, that's it. Let's get your first flyover. You're coming around. This is down along this to the side of the canal. You're going to hit the train tracks in a second here. That was our loop road here. This is the road we're cutting in. This is where we're mining here and storing topsoil. And the
024property this is our property here runs down alongside the tracks. This is where your fields and your stadium will be in this area here. Again, these baffles and things that we're talking about there. This is all wetlands. We won't be bothering any of that. This will be athletic fields in this area here. And if we can get to somebody's wooded area back at towards the end of the project funds permitting. It it would be nice to utilize that. About 7 or 8 acres in the back. That's our first flyover. About once a quarter we'll fly back again. >> [clears throat] >> Yeah, see. Green Giant. We're starting our design out there. You're going to start seeing stuff come in on that now. So Green Giant's coming along. Got some concepts. You guys are going to
025start to see that stuff and uh you know, we start to make decisions of how we're moving forward there. Right now, this is kind of a concept of how the buildings will sit. This is the sharp bend here. On Green Giant Road, we're going to smooth that curve. That's a sharp curve there. We're going to smooth that curve out to make it a little less of a tight turn coming around. There'll be one entrance in here, one entrance in here. One goes back to the bus lot. One does student drop-off in the front here. This with hopes in time would be an ECC. But this entrance is in here. This will be bus back here with staff parking in the back. And this is the concept we're starting with right now to get get things
026moving, get the ball rolling. Right here, Artesian's coming through already because of the two developments that are out there, Abby Abby Creek and Chapel Creek. Artesian's running the main line down, so we didn't have to do any of that work or pay for that work. All we have to do is tap in. Artesian's running down. It's not costing us anything. Same thing with the sewer. They're running the sewer through. We're not paying for that. We're just tapping in. So we save money there. >> [snorts] >> And that's the state of things right now. Can you go back to the previous slide real quick with um that showed the aerial for Green Giant? Sure. Uh the drawing, the concept plan. Sorry, Steve. I didn't I didn't stop you in time. Yeah. I just wanted to point
027out again, I mean, I know we've said it in the past, but this site on Green Giant Road came to the school district at no cost to the school district. The town of Middletown, which has been a tremendous partner uh with the school district, required that land to be set aside for the school district years and years and years ago, 2004 actually. And um so that land has been sitting there all this time waiting for the day when it might be needed by the school district and obviously now it is. Uh but I just want to again go on record as saying thank you to mayor and council of Middletown for [clears throat] having the foresight and um and making sure that as development occurs in Middletown, they're also putting in or putting aside land
028um for the school district. This actually came from one of the developers. And the other thing obviously that's great about it as you mentioned, Keith, is the fact that ordinarily if we're building a school on a site somewhere and there's no water and there's no utilities, we have to pay to get up there. Yes. But here we don't have to do that. So um >> have to do that at all. Yeah. And really it it what what what was always a big issue before was the DelDOT work because you had to fix the road all the way out. So with this Abby Creek and Chapel Creek, they're fixing the road up. All we have to do now is just to connect to either side. That's a tremendous savings in cost for the district. Right. Right.
029So again, I just wanted to give a shout-out to the town and and thank them for their continued support of the school district. 100% agree. All right. And then you know my final question. Are we on time and on budget? >> We are. Okay. >> [snorts] >> Does anybody else have any from the board have any questions for Mr. Hopkins? Okay, thank you, Keith. Next on the agenda, we have board comments and we will start with Mr. Abrams. Hi, good evening, everybody. Um it's that time of year. I just wanted to talk briefly about the upcoming school board elections. Uh we have five candidates running for two open seats. My usual message to the candidates, it's your campaign, your platform. Run on what your abilities are, things that you would like to do, things you
030would like to change. Campaign on the facts because in 2 months, what you campaign on, you may be sitting here having to deliver on those promises. If you don't know the facts or unsure what the facts are, just ask. We'd be more than happy to explain to you how we got here. And for the community members out there, pay attention. Know the facts. Be an informed voter and vote on the facts. Thank you. All right. Anything else? Thank you, Mr. Abrams. Uh Ms. DeWitt. Um I don't have anything. Okay. Uh Tim, are you still there? I am still here. Can you hear me? Yes. Um it's good to hear you and uh we are on board comments obviously. So if there's anything you want to say, uh this is your opportunity to give Yes, thank
031you, uh Mr. President. And uh thank everybody and congratulations to Mrs. Taylor and uh good luck in the states. I'm sure you're going to rock it. Um Sorry I can't be there. I don't know if anybody has ever been on a plane where there was an emergency landing. Um I was the emergency landing, so I sit here in Alabama uh in a hospital. Doing okay. I'm doing fine. I'm waiting for a procedure tomorrow so I can fly back to Delaware. So I apologize for not being there. Um in saying that, I'm also not going to be able to be at uh Bagels with a board member uh with the board with a board member on uh Wednesday I I Wednesday either. But other than that, I really don't have any comments. Just uh you know,
032uh sorry I can't be there and we'll uh see you really next month. All right. Thank you, Tim. We look forward to seeing you um back in Delaware very soon. Dr. Graham. I don't have anything. Thank you. All right. Well, I will again [clears throat] say, Tim, uh during your comments, there's no need to apologize for you not being here. We're uh we're all just glad to uh hear that you're doing better. And um you know, I understand that you're participating from from a hospital bed. I I did that once years ago for a school board meeting also. So I know what it's like. I also know >> as you mentioned, uh the school board meeting will probably be about 45 minutes shorter than it normally would be without me being there. That's right. And
033every every cloud has a silver lining. >> [laughter] >> Every cloud. Um I do want to say I do want to point out something that uh since that happened since our last meeting and it's gotten media attention, but it surprises me that it hasn't really gotten a lot lot more media attention. I'm talking about Artemis 2. I mean, you know, we sent four astronauts further from the Earth than ever before. They circled the moon. This is the first time we had people circling the moon in 50 years. I mean, just an incredible incredible achievement and an incredible story. Of course, when you think about it, the fact that we landed people on the moon um in 1969 with the technology we had in strikes me as even more amazing. Um but I just hope that
034everybody and we're so blasé in these days about a lot of things and you know, the special effects that we see in movies like you know, Star Wars or um uh so many movies now in some ways are better than than what you see on these uh these shots from Artemis 2, but uh it was an incredible thing that happened and so I I just think that uh we all all take a moment to reflect on that. Um and Mr. Abrams Norm mentioned that we do have a school board election on May 12th and I encourage everybody to get out and vote. Um I may be biased, but I I know one person at least and two I think that I would like you to uh to vote for. Um I will also say that
035I typically don't go to social media. Um life is too short and as we heard earlier, too much screen time can be a bad thing. Um but some of the things I've seen in the last couple days or last couple weeks are just truly amazing because they're just so wrong. Um and they're so untrue. And so as Mr. Abrams said and as we say it every meeting, um any of us up here on the board, I mean, our contact information is on the website and if you have any questions, we're always happy to talk to parents, to teachers, to staff, to community residents, anyway. I mean, anybody. You can call us anytime. At least you can call me. And and if we don't know the answer to your question, we'll get the answer to your
036question. Um because we're going to make sure that folks do get correct information and that they're not just reading things on social media that are flat wrong or aren't true. So I again, I I reach out to us if you have any of us. You know, it doesn't have to be me. Uh but um reach out to to the board uh to get uh accurate information. So with that, I will uh conclude my remarks. Again, Artemis II, just a truly amazing achievement that continues to uh to amaze me and hopefully everybody. Um so next on the agenda, we have no old business. So we move to new business. We have the March 10, 2026 Board of Education meeting minutes in front of us for approval. The chair will entertain a motion. Mr. President, I move
037to approve the minutes for the March 10th uh Board of Education meeting. Second. Motion by Dr. Graham, second by Mr. Abrams to approve the March 10, 2026 Board of Education meeting minutes as presented. Any questions, comments, or discussion on the motion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I. >> I. Thank you, Tim. Uh motion carries. Next on the agenda, we have the March 24, 2026 Board of Education workshop {slash} candidate forum minutes for approval. The chair will entertain a motion. Mr. President, I move to approve the March 24, 2026 uh Board of Education workshop workshop {slash} candidate forum minutes. Second. Motion by Dr. Graham, second by Mr. Abrams to approve the March 24, 2026 Board of Education workshop {slash} candidate forum minutes as presented. Any questions, comments, or discussion on the motion?
038Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I. >> I. I abstain. I wasn't here. Okay. Um motion [clears throat] carries with one abstention. Thank you. Next on the agenda, we have the revised policy 4110 school libraries and media centers. This is the first reading. Uh Ms. Uh Ally Turner and Dr. Feathers. Yes, good evening. Uh Lisa Ally Turner is our coordinator of ELA, MLL, and school libraries, and she's joining us tonight via Zoom. Thank you for joining us. And we're here tonight to present on Board Policy 4110 school libraries and media centers. Uh Board policies, when they are reviewed, there is a review process. Uh the director of curriculum, myself, was involved in the process along with um our district ELA and library coordinator, that's Lisa Ally Turner, a school library media specialist
039representative, and representatives from the teaching and learning department. So the reason for uh the review was because of House Bill um 119, and the House Bill states that each local education agency shall develop and implement policies and procedures to review objections to library material in a school library. The policies and procedures developed under this subsection must do the following. One, establish a uniform process to submit an objection to library material in a school library by a student, parent, or guardian of a student enrolled in a public school or school personnel. Two, require that the library material under review due to an objection remain available for use by students and school personnel until the review process is concluded. And three, establish a reasonable timeline to conduct and conclude uh the review process. So we took a
040look at our current Board policy um and we took a look at the House Bill. And so that what we needed to do was make sure that policy 4110 was updated to reflect the requirements in the new House Bill 119. Uh so we needed to remove the outdated challenge material process that was in our policy prior, and we had to add um the eligibility and submission of objections. At our last meeting uh when I did the report, I presented the revised Board policy, which you can see here. So simply, we reviewed the House Bill. The House Bill gave us uh the direction as to how to revise our Board policy. We removed our old process and replaced it with the process according to the House Bill, which you see in front of you. So no
041changes were made since the report last month. Are there any questions? Does uh any member of the board have any questions for Dr. Feathers or Ms. uh Ally Turner? Am I correct that as I kind of I'll say big picture uh 10,000-foot view, um the major change as I read this is that previously we had objections kind of start at the building level, whereas now they start with the director of curriculum. Is that essentially the big change? Is So if somebody objects material that is found in the school library, they can contact the director of curriculum or they can contact their school principal, one or the other. It will go back to the school where the material is held in their library. Okay. But I mean, substantively you're still getting to the same place at
042the end of the day. >> Yes, correct. Yeah. All right. Does anybody else have any other further questions? This is the first reading, so there will be a second reading at the May meeting, at which point we will vote on the changes. And as I again, as you explained, as I understand it, these changes are essentially are designed to track the law that uh the General Assembly passed. Correct. Yes. Okay. Well, thank you very much. We'll see you next month. Thank you for joining us by Zoom. Next on the agenda, we have the February 2026 revenue expenditure report for approval. Ms. Stewart. All right. Good evening, President Forest and members of the board, superintendent. Tonight, I will be presenting the February 2026 monthly revenue and expenditure report. Um as a update, just as a reminder
043that there is a new financial report that I do um present to FAC. Um and it includes everything, which is the revenues, expenditures, as well as internal accounts. Steve, you can go next slide and then the next slide after that. All right. So we have our discretionary cash flow. As you will see um for the month of February 2026, we have received about uh at well, we have an end-of-month balance of about $35 million compared to the prior year, February 2025. You will see that we have expended about $2.9 million less than um prior year, as well as our end-of-month balance um is actually more than what prior year, and that again attributes to the austerity mode we've been in spending, and also the timing of receiving our major cash receipts. Next slide. We have
044the local salary tracker. Um this is something that keeps us on point with looking at our expenditure rate in our salaries. For February, um when you're putting everything together with local uh salaries, tuition salary, and pre-K tuition, we've spent about $5.4 million of of that. And then when you're looking at comparing 17 pays to the 26 pay of last year, fiscal year 2025, we're about at 102% um which attributes to the increase um in salary. Next slide. And that increase in salaries is because uh you know, teachers get step raises, and also as part of the last referendum, teachers also got a uh an increase in salary, correct? >> Correct. And then we have our February uh two revenues. You will see here for the month of February, we received $1.3 million to have a
045total property tax receipt of $94.2 million. Next slide. Where does that leave us in terms of any more money coming in? Do we have an idea? We are pretty much on target with what we have projected that we're going to receive for fiscal year 26. So maybe just a little bit more, but essentially 94 and change is the number. Um possibly a little bit more, but yes. Okay. >> [clears throat] >> I mean, this year's a little hard to tell because the tax receipts are coming in later, so like usually we kind of tell how much we get each month. This this year's a little unique because we got our receipts later. Well, sure. January is the lion's share because the the whole billing process got delayed. Yeah. So in con- you said it's it's
046hard to tell, so I guess I'm I'm just trying to clarify. Are you anticipating much beyond the 94 that we see here? Not a not a lot, but we will receive more will come in. Usually we see more come in throughout, but no nowhere near the like 63 million that we got in January, yeah. Okay. A few more million, you Yeah, a few more million. Okay, that's context. Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> All right. So, we continue with our revenues. As you will see here, discretionary revenue of about 77. 1 million. We have our non-discretionary that is about 154 million. And then our total other revenues, and you can see what is encompassed there. That's about 45, I think that's 45.6 million. Next slide. Our expenditures as of February 2026, what I did here,
047essentially this is just a portion, this is just pretty much a snapshot that's taken from our internal operating unit and program code report summary report. The white line that you see is the overall. So, that encompasses all our discretionary, non-discretionary, major cap, etc. Um the line that's in the green highlights discretionary. So, I think that that is important because that's something that we want to keep an eye on. And you will see that um what we have budgeted and then what we have encumbered, expended, as well as our remaining balance for that. All right, but so just so we're clear, the white line is tuition, it's capital, it's minor cap, and it's operating. Correct. Right. And then the green line is just the discretionary amounts that we have primarily in operating, right? I mean, tuition's
048[snorts] not really discretionary, capital's not really discretionary. No. Okay. And I believe also um that overall also includes our nutrition services as well. Right. Next slide. So, I added this as a snapshot of what is in the report for internal accounts. So, here you will see the list of all the schools, where what their beginning balance is, um what they received to date as of February, and then what they expended to date, and it gives you an end of month balance. There's also with this spreadsheet, um and I didn't add it here, but there is a year-to-date um piece to it. And that year-to-date balance does match up to the month-to-date balance. Next slide. This right here is um I remember and recall you all as the board wanting to see something where we can
049keep a pulse on our fund balance projections. So, essentially what I did is in the budget book, you will see where they show this slide and this piece of where we're projecting as of year end. So, the concept of what we have taken with this is that when it comes to the revenues, we utilize what we actually received to date for February 26, and then we added the difference of what we are projecting revenues and discretionary revenues, which is about 80.3 million, and backing out what we received to date to get that differential that you will see there where it says projection from March to June. We did the same thing in the same concept with the expenditures. So, this is where you will see the bolded line that has about 4.2 million dollars projecting
050fund balance, but then the red shows what we backed out. So, we have to back out the one month's payroll, which is about 4.214 million dollars. Then the budget amendment that I brought, I believe it was the last board meeting or a couple part of the last board meeting or the one meeting before, um we had to reduce our revenues due to mid-year unit count of that 40K. So, then you can see here that it's about a projection of $38,000 of our fund balance when it comes to our discretionary funding. The same concept was used with our tuition tax. And so, you will see that we are still on projecting only receiving about $7,600 in tuition tax. Right. So, a couple of quick questions. First, on the budget amendment where we took out the mid-year
051unit count, where where we made a reduction, am I right that that's because the General Assembly chose not to fund the mid-year unit count? Not for this year. They funded it this year. There's There was a recommendation in the governor's budget to not fund it this coming year. That was because um our portion of the pie. So, they don't fully fund the units. They just give like a million dollars towards that. And whatever your portion of the pie is, they split that up. Say our portion's supposed to be 4% cuz we have 4% growth. We have 4% of the pie. And so, that was our portion of the pie this year. Okay. And the But the other thing in looking at that top line or the top section there before tuition tax, so the the
052one month payroll, which is two payrolls, is 4.2 million and change. So, that's what we have to carry over. So, when we have right above that the projected discretionary state and local of 4.293, that's about well, 70 or 80 thousand dollars more than what we have to have, then you backed out the fact we're not getting everything we thought on the mid-year unit count. So, we exceed what we're required to have by 38,000 as I read this, right? That is correct. But again, I mean, we're on track to meet our carryover requirements as required by state law. That is correct. And then on the tuition tax, that's this year's number. We're projected to have a positive carryover, barely. There's no state law requirement that we have a carryover there. Um but am I Am I
053also correct that part of the reason that that carryover is so low is because we had to spend extra money this year to make up for some extra charges we weren't anticipating the year before? I believe that's part of the reason. Yeah. Okay. >> [clears throat] >> Those are my questions. Does anybody else from the board have any questions? Let me Let me go into a little more detail on that. Just I don't want there to be any misunderstanding on that. Um So, we with tuition bills to other districts cuz we have students that are placed in the appropriate place in a program in another district. And we have no control over what that cost is. So, what we do year to year is we estimate what that cost is, do our best estimate. Some
054of those bills are coming in more than even what the estimate was. And some of them are coming in late, too, as I recall, right? Correct. So, we're getting bills in this fiscal year that relate to the previous fiscal year, and it's just an ongoing kind of timing issue. Like as as we receive the true amount. Correct. Does anybody else have any other questions from the board? Tim, do you have any questions? I do not have any questions. Thank you. Okay. Well, thank you for helping keep this meeting short. Addition by subtraction. >> [laughter] >> Um you can keep this slide here. I did want just to note um the comments column that's on there. So, the comments from that fund balance also gives you the breakdown where those numbers tie back to if you
055needed a reference. So, just items to note that I always try to communicate with you all as a board, we're still moving forward with being in austerity mode and consistently communicating that throughout the district. And we're still in the process of reconciling 2026, cleaning up the budgets, and processing recodes. So, just please just keep that in mind as we move forward um in our financial plan for 2026. That is all that I have. Thank you. All right. Well, I think we uh have the financial report in front of us. Um has this been also reviewed by the financial advisory committee? Yes, it has, and it has been approved by them as well. >> And so, they recommended its approval. So, the chair will entertain a motion with respect to this report. Mr. President, I move
056to approve the February 2026 revenue and expenditure report. I'll second, Mr. President. Motion by Dr. Graham, second by Mr. Abrams to approve the February 2026 revenue and expenditure report as presented and as recommended by the financial advisory committee. Any questions, comments, or discussion on the motion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Next on the agenda, we have the February 2026 internal accounts report. Ms. Stewart. So, I have showed you a snapshot of what the internal accounts report looks like in the previous report where we have it in all in one. The FAC did not find any concerns, and any concerns that they did have, it was addressed. Um they did proceed with approving the internal accounts report, requesting for approval from the board. Okay. Does anyone
057have any questions for Ms. Stewart regarding the internal accounts report? Um you said that the FAC did approve it, you said? Yes, correct. Uh Mr. President, I move to approve the February 2026 internal accounts report as presented and as recommended by the financial advisory committee. Second. Motion by Dr. Graham, second by Mr. Abrams to approve the February 2026 internal accounts report as presented and as recommended by the financial advisory committee. Any questions, comments, or discussion on the motion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Next on the agenda, we have the facilities assessment assessment report. Dr. Conley. >> [clears throat] >> Good evening. Um, I have Mr. Andy Wallen with me this evening as well. He is our supervisor of facilities and he's here to answer
058any questions that you all have as I present. So I am here this evening to present the Appoquinimink School District repair and maintenance plan for uh board approval. A Senate Bill 270 from the 151st General Assembly does require um each year that school districts complete a yearly facilities inspection report and um submit that inspection report once it is uh approved by the school board by May 1st. So in your documents this evening, you have our current inspection report which follows all uh Department of Education guidelines. So the Appoquinimink School District um prior to the requirement that we submit the yearly inspection um plan and you know, prior to our time in the district, we have always had um an inspection plan and um a district assessment cycle. So this is not new work to us,
059but it is new that we have to submit it to the Department of Education. So when we look at the district's repair and maintenance plan, um we continually update the plan and our assessments based on several available data sets that we have and we look at it through the lens of three areas of priority. So the safety of our facilities, the infrastructure that we are responsible for maintaining, and then the aesthetics of our facilities uh that we are responsible for. Um as part of this assessment, we also have three annual inspections that we complete um with myself, Mr. Wallen, and then Ms. Catina Fields, our senior coordinator for uh within our facilities department. And then annually, our assistant superintendent of secondary schools and district operations, Mr. Pullman, joins us as well and we go through
060an inspection process um where we look at this these three priority lenses within all of our buildings and facilities in the district. We also um look at not just our data sets, but then we evaluate the priority um of repairs, renovations, and replacements. And what's unique to um the way that we have to plan and um assess is that we have to be responsive in our planning, um responsive to the needs um of our facilities. So we have a plan, but then we have to be flexible when things happen with our facilities. We use the SchoolDude um work order system, which is still the work order system that we use, and um all staff members within the Appoquinimink School District have access to that SchoolDude um uh SchoolDude work order system. So we monitor those
061uh tickets that are put in um I say daily, but hourly in Mr. Mr. Wallen's case. And then we also look at the available um budget spreadsheets that we have for funding and we work closely with Ms. Stewart's office um in terms of the funding that we have access to. So for um our work order system, when a maintenance issue is identified in a district facility, a work order is submitted into the system. Um within that system, there's a priority level that's assigned to it by our chief custodian who is the um individual responsible in our facilities for monitoring that system. The issue is evaluated by the facility supervisor and assigned to either district personnel or contractor depending on the size, complexity um of the issue that we're looking at. And then reoccurring issues um
062submitted as work orders on the same system is the red flag for us that indicates um we need to consider larger system renovations or replacements. So the data is reviewed um monthly by the supervisor of facilities, but more realistically um all day and and daily, and then monthly in meetings with our our supervisor of facilities and then myself as well. So we also then use the work order system to evaluate the budgets that we have for available funding um to address the repairs, renovations, and replacements based on the priority lens that we discussed at the beginning of the presentation. So we do um we make sure that we're strategic in available funds that we have access to to maintain our buildings and our facilities. So we have minor capital funding that we utilize. And my
063minor capital funding is our more restrictive funding that we have access to and we use this funding when typically when we bring in outside contractors uh to repair or um improve our buildings, things like our HVAC systems, plumbing and electrical repairs, um exterior ground repairs are all things that we utilize minor capital funding for. And when we do that, we we ensure that we're following Delaware State Code and um State of Delaware Budget and Accounting Manual guidelines. We also have maintenance funds, which are um local discretionary funds that we utilize and we utilize these funds for things like cleaning supplies, building materials, um paint, equipment, and um any of the anything that we cannot use the more restrictive minor capital funding for. Uh maintenance funds can be used to pay for things that would fall
064under minor capital expenses, but minor capital expenses cannot be used for things like cleaning supplies, um certain building materials, and then equipment and machinery. We always ensure that we're working um with our director of finance to ensure that we're um maximizing what we can use our minor capital money for and maintaining and preserving local money whenever possible. Um other factors that we take into consideration when looking at our facilities assessment um reports and plans, they track available space within our schools. So sometimes um while something might be in working order, we may need to do renovations or um make modifications to our facilities where we have program growth or changing um student population. And then we work closely um with Mr. Hopkins in his office around our building utilization committee and that committee meets regularly
065um to look at the uh tenure tenure plan for our district's facilities um looking at our needs, tracking conditions of our building, tracking our population, and projections for any um new facilities or um utilizing our buildings in a different way. So when you look at the um facilities assessment um plan that we are or the report that we're required to submit, you will see items on there uh that we believe need to be replaced or renovated. And when we're looking at some examples of minor capital expenses, you will see things that have been recently completed. So some um a sampling really of recently completed projects, replacing uh carpet and flooring in the Appo High library. Uh this time last year, we were beginning to replace um the bathroom fixtures at Middletown High School because they
066were original to that building. We've completed that work. Um replacing flooring in uh AGW in the learning pods. District um repairs to our retention ponds and um new windows at the Townsend Elementary School uh bathrooms. And currently in the planning stages based on the assessment and the facility assessment and currently funded within our um minor capital expenses, looking at um classroom renovations based on our special programs growth that we've been discussing and tracking. Uh the chiller has been is planning we're planning to replace it at Brick Mill Elementary and uh roof repairs at Brick Mill Elementary. We're also looking at um HVAC upgrades and replacements at Cedar Lane Early Childhood Center and then roof repairs at Townsend Elementary School. And then we are always using um you know, utilizing and maximizing the furniture that we
067have access to. It does need to be replaced at times, so making sure that we're tracking that. Um and then looking at like janitorial supplies, cleaning supplies, um those type of items are what we use our maintenance money for. Uh so this evening, um here to answer questions from the board and then we are seeking your approval um of the facilities assessment uh documents that were submitted and we will then submit them to the Department of Education as we're required to and we will align all the available funding we have to address the current identified needs within our facilities assessment. So I'll start. I mean, I will just say in my experience, you know, our school maintenance and uh just the general condition of our schools is in really pretty good shape. I mean, I
068can only recall maybe one or two instances ever where somebody has called to complain about something. And both of those related to I'll say old Lewis Redding uh when it was really at the end of its useful life and we were having we were struggling to keep it uh repaired. But of course, now that we've got a brand new Lewis Redding, those issues go away. So kudos to everybody involved in that process. My only question in looking at this and looking at the other materials, um are there any issues in terms of financing or otherwise that you want to bring to our attention in particular? Is there something that hasn't been funded that you think we're going to need to I mean, I'm not trying to open Pandora's Box and give me everything, but is
069there any major issues that really needed to be brought to the board's attention? I don't think there's any major issues right now that we need to bring to your attention. This year in FY26, the state has given us an additional enhanced minor capital money, which we're going to have access to, and we we're going to utilize that strategically to really hit some of the long-term projects where things have reached, you know, end of life cycle so that we are not waiting until we have that emergency. Um so that's where you'll see things like the roof repairs at Brick Mill Elementary School we're able to do that. So I think where we need the board's support is if that enhanced minor cap money in future years were to not, you know, if that were to go
070away, I think we would need to continue to advocate for that because that's been a stream that's given us the ability to to really stay up to date on those facilities. What is the cost? For which specific project? >> the entire building the entire Well, we're only we're replacing the parts that need to be repaired. So with the Brick Mill Elementary roof replacement right now, we have budgeted about $400,000 to do it in parts and we're um expecting that if the enhanced minor capital money is there in future fiscal years, we'll be able to complete the project over 2 to 3 years. So one of the things too that we also been doing, the building utilization committee has been meeting the last 2 years cuz our 10-year building plan is running [clears throat] out this
071year. We'll be presenting a new 10-year building plan to the school board. And what will be in that 10-year building plan will not only be for growth, but also major repairs and all like that that we have we see forthcoming through evaluation. So >> questions from the board? Dr. Graham. Um just as a means of kind of personal and general edification, I think that safety and infrastructure are pretty straightforward. Can you give me context around the aesthetics? I feel like that's subjective and so I'm just trying to understand how a conclusion is reached to say yes or no. Like safety and like I said, safety and infrastructure very objective, right? And you can kind of say that's a safety issue. But when it comes to like the aesthetics, I'm not clear on how the a
072decision [clears throat] is reached under that category. Just if you can give me an example. Give an example like Yeah, if you want to give an example then I can follow up with the conversations [clears throat] in our office. >> one, Dr. Graham? Yeah, like for example, um Brick Mill Elementary School is a beautiful building, but it's white on the outside. So it's constantly in an area where dirt is constantly blowing and eventually becomes black or a nice ecru color and so it has to be power washed pretty much yearly. Like that's an aesthetic thing that we have to do as far as with aesthetics. And who and that same process is with the is it the chief custodian and so the issues evaluated by a facilities supervisor and assigned to a district person to
073contact. >> So yeah, so the aesthetic when we look at aesthetics, that's part of those that three every three times a year when we do the building inspections. And it's also taking into account the original design of the building and making sure the decisions that we're making in terms of any type of renovations look at the originally approved design documents so that we don't make any type of design decisions that then would change what the original plans were for a building. So we have to take that into account. We can't have Like a good example would be like having the exact same furniture package in every one of our buildings. We have to be intentional of of how we purchase those types of materials cuz every building was designed differently. So that would be another
074example of aesthetics. >> that's a great example. Thank you cuz I just like when I was reading that, I'm like, what I think is aesthetically pleasing you know, someone [clears throat] else may not, but okay, that's context. Thank you. I appreciate that. >> Absolutely. I have a question. >> Sure. Having become more familiar with asset tags and things like that in terms of old and new inventory, how often or is the three-year period three three three times a year period the same as your asset maintenance plan? Like do you do it where I work, we do it once a year. So I'm wondering like how often you do that when you look at the furniture, is it upholding things like that? So that is not part of our three like three times a year inspection.
075We're really focused on looking at the aesthetics, the safety and the infrastructure. But when we are making decisions around like minor capital expenses, we have to ensure that those types of expenses have a 10-year life expectancy on the work that we're doing. So and then we work with our our financial secretary in our office make sure that Mr. Walton and I are always following the the correct code in terms of Delaware code and and what decisions we have to make financially there. So it's something that we keep in mind when we're looking at the funding sources that we have available. Okay. And some of that comes Well, I'm sorry. Some of that comes about like we have a replacement cycle on our smart boards and on our um devices and things like that. Uh not
076where where we want it to be, but uh we do have a replacement cycle on that. And then on furniture, we do have money set aside for furniture, but again, I think it's like $25,000 and we have 21 school buildings and 23 buildings total. So that doesn't go very far. Um so >> [clears throat] >> we're like just for an example, like when we we put up the new Redding, we had like people came over and got the furniture that was in good condition at Redding to use at their building in particular like Middletown High whose furniture has been there since the building started. So um we do evaluate that and we try to budget as best as possible on that aspect like I have it, but it doesn't meet the needs that we have.
077Are there any other questions? So you need us as a matter of state law to approve this, correct? >> Correct. Yes, I have to We are required to submit our facilities assessment annually by May 1st that the board has approved the assessment that we completed. Mr. President. Yes. I was going to make the motion, but I thought I heard I was about to say the chair will entertain a motion. >> You tempted me. Yes, sir. I thought I heard Mr. Abrams, so I paused. Um Mr. President, the board will move to approve the facilities assessment report as presented. I'll second. Motion by Dr. Graham, second by Mr. Abrams to approve the facilities assessment report as presented. Any questions, comments, or discussion on the motion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I. >>
078I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Uh next on the agenda we have a a minor schedule adjustment for next school year, Dr. Burrows. Yes, in the original approved calendar, the board meeting was on October the 13th of 2026. DOE has disclosed the date for the state teacher of the year banquet, which is also October 13th. Uh that will be the day that the they name the Appoquinimink uh teacher state teacher of the year. So um we need to be there in attendance. And so uh we're recommending that change to October Tuesday, October 20th of 2026. All right, any questions for Dr. Burrows? Hearing none, the chair will entertain a motion. Mr. President, I move to approve the adjusted board meeting date uh what was it again? October 20th, 2026. >> Um um to
079October 20th, 2026. >> [cough] >> Second. Motion made by Dr. Graham, second by Mr. Abrams to approve moving the scheduled uh school board meeting from October 13th, 2026 to October 20th, 2026. Any questions, comments, or discussion on the motion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I. >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Next on the agenda we have overnight field trips for approval. There's just two. I have four. Four. Why is there just two in my printout? Mr. President, I'll make a motion to approve trip ID 11495, June 2026, Odessa High School Travel Club summer trip to Europe. Trip ID 11405, 1140, 11410, and 11434, May 2026, Appoquinimink High School, Middletown High School, and ATWBPA students to National Leadership Conference in Nashville. Trip ID 11504, 11506, May of 2026, AGW and Alfred G.
080Waters Middle School students to Odyssey of the Mind World Finals in Iowa. Trip ID 11495, 11497, 11498, 11503, June 2026, Middletown High School, Odessa High School, and Woodbridge Middle School students to HOSA Leadership Conference in Indiana as presented. Second. Motion by Mr. Abrams, second by Dr. Graham to approve the overnight trips as presented. I'm not going to read all the numbers a second time, but there are 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. I mean, there's 10 numbers now, but four trips or four bullet points. Any questions, comments, or discussion on the motion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any Motion carries. Okay, next on the agenda we have change orders for approval, Mr. Hopkins. I have submitted and reviewed change orders at a for approval. A couple of
081those are we've got some credits here for Summit Trap Pond for 65,000. Uh $29,000 for force main where we changed to a force main, that's a credit to us. We've also done some modifications to the learning stairs out there to make them not so steep. So that comes in for like 41,000 and 24,000 for that. That's over at Reading. Over at uh Summit campus, we have one for 15,000 for unsuitable soils in the loop road. With that uh I'm seeking approval for the change orders as submitted and as approved by me. Any questions for Mr. Abrams? I'll just ask my standard question. We're still on budget with these change orders. We are. Okay. Mr. President, I move to approve the change orders as presented. Second. Motion by Dr. Graham, second by Mr. Abrams to approve
082the change orders as presented and as recommended by Mr. Mr. Hopkins. Any questions, comments, or discussion on the motion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Next on the agenda we have the personnel report, Dr. Small. Good evening. The personnel report for the April board meeting has been presented for your review. We are asking for approval as presented. Mr. President, I move to approve the personnel report as presented. Second. Motion by Dr. Graham, second by Mr. Abrams to approve the personnel report as presented. Any questions, comments, or discussion on the motion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I. >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Okay, next on the agenda we have establishment of meeting dates. Next financial advisory committee will meet at 6:00 p.m.
083on Tuesday, May 5th in this very room. The next regular Board of Education meeting will be here in this room at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 5th, 2026. Don't forget to vote in the school board election. With that, we are adjourned and thank you all for coming or watching. I'm done, buddy. All right.