001on motion of Mr. Abrams, second by Dr. Graham to discuss certain legal and personnel issues. We are now out of executive session. Uh and uh why don't we start our meeting now as we do every meeting with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [clears throat] >> All right. On the agenda tonight, we've got some special recognitions. Um, has anybody signed up for public comment? No. Okay. Then we've got some reports. Um we'll have some board comments. There is no old business. Um we do have typical new business. Uh and then our personnel report and we'll go over the meeting dates for our next round of meetings.
002Um Dr. Burroughs, are there any changes to the agenda? Yes, there are a few adjustments. Um, under item 5B, that's going to be rescheduled for another month. Item under item nine, there is no old business. And then under 10H, there are not any change orders for approval tonight. >> Okay. So, with those adjustments, we will get started. We start with our special recognition. And the first uh set of special recognitions we're going to do are our community donors. And I will say that one of the things that always impresses me most about our school district and our community is the generosity of our community donors and the way that this community supports the school district. And so uh that's the purpose of these recognitions. There's probably more that we not including tonight, but uh I'll
003let Dr. Burroughs lead the way. >> All right. Thank you everyone. Tonight, we have the privilege of recognizing and appreciating several members of our community who exemplified the spirit of generosity and compassion this holiday season. During the holidays, when many families gather to celebrate, we know that some families in our community face significant challenges. This year, through the dedicated efforts of our district social workers and the generosity of the community partners, we are able to support 43 families and of and 82 of our students with donations, meals, and gifts. You have shown our students that they are valued members of a caring community and that support is available when they need it most. On behalf of the Abuquomics Board of Education, our administration, our staff, and especially the families you've helped, we would like to
004extend our deepest gratitude to the following individuals and organizations who made this possible. We'll start with the individual supporters first, Tony Amidiato. All right, Cheryl Apparicio, Joanne Watson. Joanne's a fellow Cowboy fan like me. She's probably at home celebrating our our Super Bowls from 30 years ago. Um, Michelle M. Williams. Oh, we're not doing too well. also like to recognize and we they were unable to be here is Jeannie Simpkins, Alexander Hackett and Anita Richards. All right, our business and organizations contracting plus represented by Rudy Sutton. [applause] >> [applause] >> Abaccom school district transportation. [applause] >> Transportation. >> Thank you. >> Atlas Volleyball Club Neighborhood House. Mia Rose Bridal Shop. >> Thank [applause] you. >> Middletown High School. [applause] >> All right, we'll go ahead and take a picture with this group and continue. All
005right. Next up is our faith-based organizations. Oh, yeah. Go ahead. Clap. [laughter] St. Joseph's Church. [applause] Thank you. Thank you. >> Real Life Community Church. [applause] >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Oh, nice. Thank you. >> Connections Church. [applause] Thank you. [applause] All right. Our community organizations Five Beta Sigma Fraternity Incorporated. Sigma Gamma Row Sorarity Incorporated. [applause] Zeta 5 Beta Sari Incorporated. Gamma Alpha Row Zeta Chapter. >> [applause] >> You get it right. Thank you. The community organizations that gave donations or unable to be here is the Bayberry Community and Blackbird Community Center. [applause] >> [laughter] [applause] >> Dr. Merles, I would like to um just uh include Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. Um I've seen them at I think Brook Brick Mill um the uh Middletown chapter. So they're not here. I'm here but I'm
006not a part of the chapter but they are part of um the community giving as well. >> Thank you. I think on that note then if I can just include uh Delta Sigma Theta Sority Incorporated that actually um paid um down some of the school lunch debt um today to the uh school district and so it's part of my comments but just to kind of piggyback on my fellow board member Mrs. Dwit I certainly want to recognize the efforts of Delta Sigma Theta Sority Incorporated. Thank you Dr. Rose. Yeah, much appreciated. Thank you. All right, next we have All State Choir Recognition. >> Good evening everyone. I'm Laura Sebastian, the visual and performing arts coordinator for the school district. I have the pleasure of helping to recognize the students in our district that were accepted
007into the Delaware All State Choir. These students completed their auditions in November and have been selected to participate in the Delaware All State Choir Festival, which will occur in March. We had 45 students accepted this year, which is the largest number that I've seen in my 12 years in the school district. >> Yeah. [applause] Yeah. It's pretty amazing. I did um some calculations and that turns out to be more than 13% of the students in all state choir coming from our district. [applause] So much to celebrate and we are going to uh celebrate these students one school at a time beginning with Alfred G. Waters Middle School. Uh these students will be introduced by their choir teacher, Miss Emily Jones. Up first, she is unable to be with us, but we have Gabrielle Divine. Up
008next, we have Brooklyn DL. [applause] unable to be with us. Ipsa the lad Ava McDermott [applause] Shanjali Mishra [applause] unable to be with us tonight. Mia Novalino, Archisha Pandy, [applause] Gia Patel, [applause] unable to be with us tonight. Kylie Pard, unable to be with us tonight. Sienna Powell, Molly Rash, [applause] And lastly, Lexi Snider. [applause] >> One more. >> Come forward. Come forward. Right here. Come forward. Good. Lean down a little bit. Good. Okay. >> [applause] >> And next, K Wellsbridge Middle School, introduced by their choir teacher, Mrs. Nikki Fox. First, we have Rosemary Bem. Arya Bradley. Adelina Daniel is unable to be with us tonight. We have Jordan Fitch, [applause] Leah Killian, Madison Lynch, [applause] Christopher Oaks, [applause] and Dorian Watts Jr. is unable to be with us tonight. Do you want me to
009fix them? >> Okay. [applause] And um as we go into the next group, if I can ask a big big favor, if you're planning on leaving after recognitions, if you can just wait until the last three groups have been um announced, that would be really great for them to not be distracted, but it is okay if you have to go. It's okay. It's okay. Uh on next is Aquinamic High School. These students are introduced by their choir teacher, Mr. Thomas Maloney >> right behind me. >> Good evening everybody. Uh thanks for having us. Uh so I'm just going to pop through these names real quick. Um Kaylin Burke who was not able to make it tonight. Julian Dickinson who was unable to attend this evening. Sana Garson Gintterero uh who wasn't able to make it
010this evening but her her dad is here so we get that over here. Um, Alexandra Jones, uh, Blake Carpinsky, Gabriel Conungle, who is here tonight, [applause] Paul Laapierre, [applause] Samuel Liowitz, [applause] Sedarth Arth Sharma who was unable to attend this evening. Uh Jacob Shakley who was unable to attend this evening. Uh Issha Swami Nathan who is here. [applause] Harper Whiting unable to attend this evening and Annie Ye unable to attend this evening. Yeah. Thank you. [applause] >> [applause] >> Next we have students from Middletown High School introduced by their choir teacher, Mr. Shane Hurley. [applause] Thank you. All right. Thank you. First we have Delaney Fredel [applause] Favor Courier, [applause] Angelica Rodriguez, [applause] Jane Schaefer, Cambria Sturdivan, and Jamie Zello. [applause] Thank you. [applause] >> Sorry, I got to get my next page out. Uh,
011last but not least, we have students from Odessa High School. Uh, their choir teacher was not able to be here this evening, so I will be introducing them. Beginning with Lissa Bonjouro. [applause] Up next, Aubrey Free, Megan Getdings, [applause] and unable to be here are Jordan Hayes, Juliana Shakar, and Shawn Young. [applause] One more round of applause for our All State Choir student. [applause] We always have to console our superintendent because everybody leaves right before his report and I would encourage you all to stay or you can watch it on YouTube when you get home. There's always one in the class. >> Come on, Ed. You never >> always one in the high school. [laughter] >> All right. Well, with that, we will uh turn it over to Dr. Burroughs for a superintendence report. >>
012All right. So, welcome everyone to happy new year to everyone. I was told today though, like there's I guess a Tik Tok that you're not supposed to say that after January 6, but happy new year, our first board meeting of the year. Um, just a report on staffing. Um, currently we have 28 full-time teaching openings and seven full-time pair openings. To date, we've filled 462 positions. Um and we are up 170 students from our September 30th count. So we're at 13,128 students at this point. Um the last two months I have um gone through uh the report that we received from the auditor's office, the recommendations and what we're doing to meet those recommendations and the timeline and also the report from our the independent um subject matter experts that we had come in and
013take a look and the recommendations that they made. >> This is an ongoing process, but tonight will be the last night. These are the last part of the recommendations um that we received and so I have the right reports. I apologize. So we're um we covered the first three observations last month. Uh we're on observation four. The referendum did not result in a surplus after covering the existing deficit. Recommendation one, Acomy School District has already committed $2.5 million in discretionary spending cuts. Ensure these are actualized at least until the reserve is replenished. The director of finance is working with the superintendent cabinet to ensure this is being actualized. We just reviewed those um last week. We're happy to say that we are currently at 2.6 6 million um in our actualized spending cuts. So, this
014[clears throat] is happening and ongoing and we continue to have those um cuts. Recommendation two on this observation, continue to implement the staff unit allocation tracking and reconciliation process to ensure state funds are leveraged to the greatest extent possible. the director of finance and the finance analysts are currently has implemented a process to assist with this. This is happening ongoing. Um we've always had unit count. We actually just had Unicount this afternoon. Uh we're using this system in in Unicount to make sure that our allocated units are in the right position. And so that's happening and ongoing. Recommendation three, train senior Abuquick School District staff on Delaware education funding so they can maximize state and federal funding usage to preserve local funds. The director of finance plans provide this level of training once time is
015permitted for the director of finance review thoroughly the state of Delaware education funding process. This is happening ongoing. We have continual trainings. We'll actually also have a training for the board um that's coming up. I believe it's January 27th, the second part of the training for the board. Recommendation four, work with employee groups to help them understand the current situation. Director of finance has held meetings with district leaders, principles and finance secretaries to communicate this information. This is happening ongoing and we also as the last uh three months have covered this at the board meetings um and it's been well covered on social media and in the newspaper. Observation five budgets budgets were adjusted in FSF and the monthly reports after the final budget without board approval. So recommendation one applicant school district require all
016changes to original board approved budget to be reviewed by the financial advisory committee and approved by the superintendent and the board. Director of finance will work with the superintendent to update the budget policy to address this recommendation. Policies will be presented starting in December. They were and we're going to have our first reading of policies tonight of those policies tonight and the second reading will be next month be approved. Recommendation two, amend board policy 5102 to to more explicitly require board approval on preliminary budget, a final budget and amendment to the budgets as needed. That was just covered. Director of finance is working with the superintendent to do this. That policy is also in its first reading tonight. Observation six. The district's tuition fund balance was in effect negative going into FY2026 due to the
017$ 1.5 million payable to Christina School District for FY25 services. Recommendation one, there should be a carryover build up on the tuition fund sufficient to provide at least seven payrolls and a startup funds for goods and services needed through October. This number is about 4.5 million and should be treated as a reserve for the purpose of covering early year pay obligations replenished and carried forward each year. The director of finance is working with Dr. Chuck Longfell on the best way to implement this recommendation. We are working to accomplish this, but this is not something that will be accomplished in one year. It will take several years to build up. The district tuition fund balance was in effect. I'm sorry. This is recommendation two. Off that observation, tuition expenses should be budgeted deliberately based on program
018programmatic planning and sound forecasting principles. The director of finance will work with Dr. Chuck Longfell alongside with the executive director of student services and special education and the director of special education on the best way to implement this recommendation. This is happening and ongoing. Recommendation three, the district should bill other districts per the Newcastle County PreKU as permissible. Uh the director of finance is working with Dr. Longfellows on best way to implement this recommendation and this is happening now and ongoing. Observation six, excuse me, recommendation four from observation six. The district should report tuition fund balances to the FAC superintendent and the board throughout the year. The state mandated financial position report only covers discretionary operating funds which does not include tuition tax funds. Director of finance plans to implement this once better controls are
019in place for tuition tax funding. This is happening and is part of the financial advisory committee reports. Any questions for Dr. Burroughs from the board hearing? Done. Anything else? >> That's all I have. >> I'll have comments during the uh construction update. >> All right. Uh next on the agenda, we have the 2026 2027 calendar report. Dr. Feathers. Good evening everyone. I'm Rebecca Feathers, the director of curriculum instruction and assessment, and I'm also the chair of the calendar committee for our district. So, I'm here today to uh share out our calendar proposal for school year 2627. I'd like to thank our committee. Um these are the members of our district committee. Thank them for their service. We have met two times and we will meet three more times as we follow uh the planning process.
020Our committee has committed to these guiding values as we do the work of building out the calendar and I'll read them this evening for you. We do what is best for students. We value instructional time for consistency. We value maintaining an equitable distribution of instructional time. We value parent engagement and conferences for progress monitoring. We value time for families. We value lifelong learning for staff. We value the negotiated agreement. And we value every employee category. And just some reminders, there are regulations and procedures that you have to follow when building out a calendar. So our teachers work 188 days and our students go to school by hours. So, our first through 11th graders go for 1,60 hours and our 12th graders for 1,032 hours. Our day uh is a daily minutes of and the process
021that we're following in building out the district calendar is a three-month process and this will walk us through the proposed calendar. So, starting in August of 2026, and just a reminder, when we presented last year's calendar, August of 2026 and September of 2026 were also part of that proposal, and that was approved last March. So, we've noted here our new teacher orientation days starting on August 17th and the 18th. We move into opening day for our staff on August 24th along with a week full of professional learning on the 24th, 25th, 26th, and 27th. We also note some open houses and meet the teachers that occur that week as well to welcome our students and families back. And then we have school opening on Monday, August 31st, and that is for grades 1 through nine
022and our kindergarteners with a last name of A through L. [clears throat] That same week, we have uh the first day of school for our 10th, 11th, and 12th graders, as well as our kindergarten students with the last names of M through Z. We have a preK meet the teacher. And then you'll notice this is a late Labor Day. Uh that's why we are starting um on August 31st because Labor Day fall falls on the 7th. So in September, you'll note that schools and offices will be closed on the 4th and on the 7th for the holiday. And then we'll be bringing and welcoming our prek students in on the 8th. We have some open houses noted uh during the month of September as well as a primary election day and that is a day
023when students cannot be in the building um but the staff can. So that will be a staff professional learning day on the 15th in October. You'll also see some open houses that are noted here and some more professional learning for our staff on Friday the 9th and on Monday the 12th. We've noted the PSAT date which will also be an asynchronous learning day for our 12th graders. Our 9th graders will attend school and our 10th and 11th graders will take the assessment. on Friday, October 30th, our marking period, the first one comes to a close. November, uh because our marking period ends um at the end of October, we have our staff grading day scheduled for Monday the 2nd. So that will be a staff grading day for staff and no school for students. And
024then you'll also note that election day is on the 3 and that is a day when our schools and offices are closed. The following week uh we have Veterans Day, also a recognized federal holiday. Schools and offices are closed. The week of the 23rd is our opportunity for parent teacher conferences. We also noted that it's 12th grade asynchronous day on the 23rd and the 24th. This allows them time to do their workbased learning and to work on their capstone projects as well. And we move into December, we see lots of days for instructional learning in the month before we begin our winter break. Proposal is to begin the winter break on December the 23rd. >> I need that one on the back of it. >> And if you move to January, schools and offices closed
025on Friday the 1st. School will reopen after winter break on January the 4th. >> Real quick, >> sure. >> Um, is there a reason why we wouldn't have school open on Wednesday the 23rd and have three days that week rather than just have people come in on Monday and Tuesday? >> So, as a committee, we did discuss whether we would do the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd. The recommendation is for us to be in school on the 21st and the 22nd. >> Any particular reason? >> It was just the feeling from from the committee of everybody ready to start their winter break. >> I it just seems to me that if you have three days rather than two, people might be a little more focused for the three. Plus, if you go that day, it gives
026you a little bit more flexibility in 2027 if there's inclement weather or maybe you can even end the school year a day earlier. So, I I don't know. I don't like the idea of just coming in two days that week. I know this is just our first discussion of it, but I would be inclined to say let's do three that week. So, >> I can take that back to the committee. >> I'm going to go in the opposite direction and ask why wouldn't we add in Monday and Tuesday? Like I really personally I enjoyed like what we just did last month. Um I thought it was nice. I I think I've heard lots of good feedback and so um why wouldn't we why wouldn't we add in Monday and Tuesday? So I'll go the opposite
027of Mr. Forston. >> So you said add in Monday and Tuesday. >> Yeah. Like the like the two full days. Yeah. >> Thank you. >> So that will add two days at the end of the year in June so we can look at where we fall in June. Yes. And so this year was two weeks, right? So we knew everybody was going to be super excited coming off of that. Last year we had a five-day week, then a three-day week, and we were back on January 2nd and 3rd. If you remember, we came in the Thursday and Friday. So it was eight school days or work days that we had last year. This year it was 10 >> and this proposal is eight again. >> Yeah, that Thursday Friday I've I thought was disruptive. But
028yeah, it's just the way the calendar falls. So, I mean it's just my comment just in terms of >> Yes. Okay. >> We could take that back as a committee and and discuss. >> Sounds good. Thank you. >> Yes. >> All right. So, if we fast forward to January, we talked about school reopening on the 4th. We have a holiday on the 18th. Our second marking period comes to an end on the 22nd. And then that Monday is followed with um the end of the marking period follows with a stu uh staff grading day um and no school for our students. And then January 26, we would start marking period the next marking period, mark period 3. In February, we noted um a professional learning day on Friday the 12th for staff and then the
029holiday on the 15th. In March, this is our second opportunity for parent teacher conferences. So, the students will be in school on the 3. We'll offer conferences in the evening and then on the fourth, no school for preK through 8. Um there will be day and evening conferences. Our high schools will have evening conferences. And on the 5th, um preK through 8, just day conferences, and also a high school professional learning day that day. We also noted SAT date on March the 17th for our 9th, 10th, and 11th grade students, which is also an asynchronous day for our 12th graders once again to work on their workbased learning and their capstone projects. The marking period comes to a close on Thursday the 25th, and then we move into our spring break on Friday the 26th.
030that goes through March into the beginning of April. And then you'll notice because we closed out a marking period, we moved right into spring break. We offer that opportunity for our staff to have uh a grading day. So that would be Monday, April the 5th. So our staff would return on the 5th for the grading day. However, school would reopen for our students on Tuesday the 6th. And in May, um, you'll see that our Labor Day holiday, we have offices opened, but schools closed on Friday the 28th, and then schools and offices closed on Monday the 31st. Moving into June, our 12th graders will finish on Wednesday the 2nd with graduation being on Saturday the 5th. Our marking period will come to a close on Tuesday the 8th. Our last day for prek on the
0319th. We have prek conferences on the 10th and the 11th. The last day for K through 11 on um Friday the 11th. the last day for teachers, Tuesday the 15th. And we did build in two weather contingency days for students and two for staff should we need them. And then we have a holiday on Friday, schools and offices closed. So when we talk about the December, this is where you move everybody to more spaces. >> Yeah. Or you look at other professional development days. I just the importance of you all having opportunity to truly discuss is critical. So, um I know this was the first year, but I I thought it was it felt good at the very least. And like I said, got lots of good feedback, but I think it's more about you
032all just having an opportunity um like I said to decompress and kind of rejuvenate and come back strong. So, >> sure. We'll take that back to the committee. You >> can move to July. Yep. July we notice or we noted um the holiday and so schools and offices well schools aren't open on the 5th but offices will be closed on on the 5th and then just like last year we also present the following August and September also for approval. If you take a look, we have new teacher orientation follows a very similar pattern to this to um 2026. New teacher orientation on the 16th and 17th, opening day on the 23rd, professional development, meet the teachers the week of the 23rd, and school beginning on the 30th. And then on the 31st 10- 12 move
033into September, we've notice or noted um prek meet the teacher. Once again, a later Labor Day. Schools and offices closed on the 3rd of the Friday and the 6th, the Monday. And then our preks join us on the 7th. Any questions from the board? >> So, I know this is just the first reading and you said you're going to be having more meetings of the committee. What is the timeline to finalize this calendar? >> So, tonight was our first presentation. Um, on the next slide, uh, we're open now for comments. So, if you're here or if you're listening, you can scan the QR code and provide us with any comments. And then we'll also be sending out messaging uh, tomorrow with a copy of the proposed calendar and the link uh, to the comments to
034our families so everybody has the opportunity um, to comment. Our next committee meeting is February the 3, so we'll review any comments we receive by then. discuss, make any revisions or changes, bring that to the board. On February the 10th, public comments will close on February the 26th. We will have an additional uh committee meeting to review any additional comments, make any additional revisions on March the 3. And then we'll have our final reading for approval um at the school board meeting on March the 10th. >> Okay. So, you'll be coming back to us twice and there'll be >> Yes. plenty of opportunity for the public to weigh in and and please do if you're watching or listening to this uh meeting or you get the email um from the district, but you know, we
035we really want to hear from parents, kids, too, but kids just vote for no schools. So, I'm not sure that their input is as helpful. Um but yeah, the more people we hear from, the better our calendar uh can serve the public. I just had one question to head off a few questions for the past on the QR code. Is there a hard date that determines whether school begins before after Labor Day? Is there like the fourth would be after the fifth would be before? Is that how you >> So typically that's what we have done in the past. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Hey Tim, historically what we did, we always opened before Labor Day and then we did some polling and got some feedback and um I think to the surprise
036of many the sentiment was let's start after Labor Day and so that makes sense most years but this year I think Labor Day is as late as it can be and so you lose essentially a whole week if you uh wait till the day after Labor Day and that just doesn't make sense. All right. Well, unless anybody has further questions, we'll look forward to hearing from you again next month. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next on the agenda, we have the summer programs update, Miss Taylor. >> So, I'm gonna stay [laughter] >> I'm going to be joined by a couple. My agenda says we're going to be addressed by Miss Taylor. So that's >> Sorry about that. >> But now I see we have got a whole crew.
037>> Yes. Yes. Uh so Dr. Peters, Dr. Gerauo, and Mr. TGO are here um for us to share. And Dr. Peter is going to kick us off. >> Hi. Good evening. >> Evening. Good evening. >> Thanks. [laughter] >> All right. So, we're going to talk about summer academy for the summer of 2026. First, we have some dates to help us get started. Staff orientation will be July 6 with student days running from July 7th through August 6th. We will run summer programs this summer, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. During that time frame, I'm going to share with you some details about a couple of different special education programs within the summer program just to provide a definition before we move into a look at each individual um age level for what will be offered. So within
038special education programming, we have two main um types of programs that there are both federal as well as state eligibility requirements for these two types of programming. The first one is extended school year which is often called ESY. And the criteria for this kind of summer programming um is determined by IEP teams annually with them asking during the summer months is it necessary for us to provide this student with services in order to provide faith which is free and appropriate public education. So, some of the conversation centers around topics including the students regression and recruitment of skills that may occur during that summer break as well as the students degree of impairment and also whether they're um having any breakthrough skills, any new development that if we paused programming during the summer months, we would
039lose some of that progress that we made for ESY. There are no disability classifications where you're automatically in. Um there's no predetermination and it really is um an individual IEP team decision. You can come for individual subject areas and related service areas such as speech or OT and the IEP team makes that determination for each area. So that's ESY for 12 month programming. Again, the team is still talking about is this programming, this full year of programming necessary in order to provide the student with FAPE, which is free appropriate public education. But a difference with 12-month programming is that there are certain disability classifications where you're automatically eligible for that summer programming, such as autism and deaf blind is another classification, orthopedic impairment. some of the more intensive or severe um classifications and needs would
040be automatically invited to receive 12-month programming. And these students receive their full um their full range of services during the summer, which they also receive during the school year. Next slide, please. All right. Thanks, Dr. Peters. So, Dr. Peters explained um the programming that you'll see and on this slide you'll see the elementary programs that we are offering July 7th through August 6th. Once again, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Um so, we have offerings for preK located at BMC. offerings for grades K and one at Spring Meadow Early Childhood Center, grades one through five at Old State Elementary, and then there is still some planning for extended school year with a single focus, and that time and location is still to be determined. And this slide just shares with you the secondary programs. So, our sixth
041through 8th graders will be at Camp Wellsbridge, 9th through 12th at AHS, and then also that extended school year single focus is still to be determined. We have additional programs to the ones that Dr. Peters um explained. So, we have enrichment for 9th through 12th grade. Those are courses that uh our students can sign up to take. There is a payment for those courses. Um, we have everything on our website. It will be updated uh this month. Folks will be able to find information about the offerings, um, how to register and we'll also be sending messaging out to families and that will be aligned uh, to our scheduling for high school for next year. And then we also have our summer camps. Um, and thanks to the teachers who teach enrichment and thanks to the
042teachers who teach summer camp, we have some exciting offerings um, coming. I know uh, Terry Taylor is still working on uh, the offerings. We will have those ready and up on our website um, at the beginning of February. Once again, those are summer camps that uh, parents would pay for. Um, they're weekly and you can see that they happen Monday through Thursday. Um, and depending on the camp, they'll run certain weeks. Um, and there are different time offerings depending on the camp and the week that it's running. Those camps will be held at Bunker Hill Elementary and Apoquamic High School. Any questions from the school board? >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. I should have just >> Thank you. All right, we are happy to be back to follow up on special programs
043growth and expansion plan tonight. I just wanted to start by giving an overview of the special programs that we discussed last month when we were together. So I have the list of the special programs along with some brief definitions. RISE is our autism programming which is offered preK through 12. We have foundations which is functional academic and life skills K to 8. LCCE pathway which is focusing on life skill as as well as work-based learning for our high school students grades 9 through 12. We have our thrive program which is intensive social, emotional and behavioral support. Um and that is K to8. And then our life program which is our programming for students ages 18 to 22 focusing on vocational and community-based programming. Also a reminder about what's driving our growth. So we have two
044primary factors. We have our own population increase across the district and this year um that is also expanded by the return of students from the statewide autism program Brennan um where we have seetting students returning to our district. So, here's a summary of what we went over previously in terms of the expansions we have planned for our programs for the coming school year. With LCCE Pathway, we will be operating at all three high schools with students attending their natural feeder pattern school beginning with 9th grade opening at Odessa High for the coming school year. We will also be expanding to include a second life program site. Again, that's our 18 to 22 year old programming currently at Apple High. We will be expanding to open a new site as well at Odessa High School. We
045will be expanding our early childhood programming to accommodate programming for infants and toddlers. That's part of the return of programming previously run at Brennan. And then we will be extend expand ex I'm sorry expanding our elementary rise programming to include classrooms at OlfB Loss Elementary and kindergarten programs will also be expanding at Cedar Lane andor Brick Mill Elementary. Those will be kindergarten classrooms housed within the elementary schools because of physical space constraints within the actual case centers. All right. And then we just wanted to follow up on some questions that came up last month. So we um some of them are pretty simple quick answers and others you may have some questions about. Um so I did get the actual numbers for LCCE. Um, we were asked how many total we have. So, you can
046see up there we have 16 AHS and 34 students at MHS for a total of exactly 50 currently. And then another question that was asked is if we were to centralize our LCCE pathway instead of expanding to all three high schools, what would that look like if we were to put that all centralized at Middletown High School? So there would be an increase in year one. and it would cost us about an additional 277,000 um in order to do that and then each subsequent year would be about another 22,000. Um the reason for that is when you're pulling from your feeder pattern schools, the transportation is much simpler because we're able to use existing routes in most cases. Um so there's a $14,000 increase there where we'd need three to four more buses. Uh then
047salary cost because of the nature and intensity of the programs. If you were to add that many students to one centralized location, you would require more administrative oversight. The current staffing there would not be able to support um that level of student need. Uh so there's an estimation there on full uh local cost of what that would be. Uh we'd also have to relocate Middletown High School RISE because um you would not be able to fit all of the LCCE students plus the RISE program at that site. Um and there would be a transportation cost with that as well as facility improvements to move our AHS LCC over and the three MHS rise um out. So those are the reasons for the um additional costs that that would take. And then on the next slide,
048there are some unpredictable costs or things we can't necessarily quantify exactly. Um, but from experience, we also know when you add a lot of needs to a building that sometimes requires additional staff outside the building as well, meaning special education department or additional um support outside of the school and then the legal fees associated with it. um whenever we change or move, especially when it comes to a special program, there are always a lot of um concerns and questions that come up with that. And you know, there's due there are due process and state complaints um that may come out of that as well. Uh so again that's hard to predict but whenever you're talking about a student's placement or their least restrictive environment when you're changing that um you know obviously and rightfully so
049parents uh would like justification and involvement in that process and again sometimes that leads to some state complaints and due process filings. Any questions? >> Anybody have any questions? >> Go ahead, >> Mr. Mr. >> So, thank you for do doing this and you guys running the numbers for us. >> They got your question. Turn your mic on. >> I'm on a time constraint, [laughter] >> but um >> we need your mic on. Yeah, I was uh I was able to um visit visit a community school district while uh the LCCE program was going into um getting ready to go to work and going through the hallways and that was I I want to say was was it 16 I don't >> 16 kids uh >> number one the affirmation from staff with these kids
050going into going to work was amazing. I mean, it was it was it was great, but I can imagine at Middletown that being 34 students, that being a little more complicated to get 34 kids out of these classrooms on their buses, juxtapose, that's a 60 number, that would be even more uh challenging. So, um, my question to you is even if we you stay with your plan, is there a number for you where you say that amount of students is a strain on staffing as you said it would be if they're all one school together? Well, what is that number? Because looking forward 3, five, 10 years, that number may you may exceed that number into three or four high schools. Yeah. >> Um, and then what would be a plan there? where we feel
051most comfortable in in our research in being in the classrooms talking with teachers, talking with building administrators and staff, it's right around the three classroom mark. So in the case of LCCE where we max out around 10 um it would be, you know, it's right around that 30 student. Yeah, a little over give or take a student here, a student there isn't the end of the world. But, you know, once you get to that fourth classroom or so, which would be 40 plus students, uh, becomes quite a challenge both from a space perspective and a building management perspective. >> So, that's about 120 130 total with all four schools for for that for specific programs. >> Correct. >> Thank you. >> Welcome. Does anybody else have any other questions? I I I will repeat what
052I said last month. Um I mean these programs are truly truly marvelous things and um you know I'll say we're doing the Lord's work. I know we have separation of church and state, but I mean we're doing really good by these kids. I've toured the programs as well. I'm sure other board members have. And um you know it's really inspirational to see the time and effort that is put in for these kids. You know I I will always say as as I always do that we always need to be conscious of what's the most efficient way to deliver these services. I think for now we're in a good place. That doesn't mean five years from now we're going to need to look at it again and figure something else out or do it a different
053way. But um as I say, I think these programs are are really really really fabulous and uh deliver great service to our uh to our students with these needs and and everybody who's involved um should be commended for what they do. And thank you for all the time and effort and thought you all have put into this. >> Yeah, agreed. Thank you, Mr. Forson. We appreciate you coming out this week. And uh Mr. forced and came out and came to our sites and visited LCCE um our life program and our autism program at the high schools. Um I had a lot of good discussion there. So we appreciate that and all the board members for involving yourself with um all aspects of our schools, but you know we're passionate about um we're here up talking
054about special programs tonight. We're very passionate about the work that we do there. Um, and it's glad to see I'm glad to see that it's recognized. >> We appreciate you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> Next on the agenda, we have the construction update. Mr. Hopkins. [snorts] >> We're on time and on budget, right? [laughter] >> We are on time and on budget with everything we've bid so far. All right. So, for Reading is on budget at this point. We're in good shape. As you can see across the back, we're starting to come across the site and then starting to close it in. This has all been paved at this point. We're going to get the striping done and starting to open up this to this uh for for school
055use after we get some of this in here. So, by February with the weather's been getting us a little bit. So, we're going to have side down here in early February and complete the site as a whole this way. And then that'll put us in good shape for play in the spring. Thanks, Steve. As you can see here, we've got the two crosswalks in over the winter break. They come across and kind of guide everybody right into the building like and as I said before, we're just kind of wrapping up now trying to get the weather to be a little bit cooperative to get completed in the back. This is the new crosswalk that's coming across the front. Comes across here and then into the cafeteria auditorium area. These are pavers much like we have
056at our latest schools. That's Steve. These are existing reading sign that we put up on the outdoor classroom with the existing brick and everything that we could salvage from the building and just pay homage to the old uh reading school. Turned out well. >> Is is that a a new structure and we used existing bricks or is that a remnant of the >> This is a new structure using the existing bricks. >> Okay. And then in in here is the plaque that was out front of the school at one point that you see in the reading picture. And this back here is going to house the plaque that was inside the building near the dedication plaque. It'll be up like this somewhat so you can see it. >> Yes, Steve on the summit. So we've
057broken ground at Summit. We're starting to move here. What you'll see is the access road. It'll it'll end up being the permanent road, but we're putting in the access road and going to use that as our access. We don't have to pay for it twice. We'll use the the existing road that we're going to leave in place at the end of the project. Good, Steve. More of that. We're just coming around right now. We're just in the early stages of putting roads and silk fencing in. All the erosion controls are going in. More of the work. They're just starting now. They're coming around. This is the elementary school here, the middle school here, high school here. And they're just working their way back. Good. Steve starting to put in the site utilities. These are water
058lines. They're going to start coming across and going back to the school structure. This is tying into our existing water that we had run across from Crystal Run. More of the same work working on the water lines moving towards the uh upcoming buildings. This is one of our ponds we're going to have in the back just as a temporary pond. After this is gone, it'll end up being a baseball field. But we have to collect the water, you know, for our stewardship of the water, any runoff water. Catch D. That's that very same pond. This will end up being a baseball field. This will all get closed in. And this will be the senior baseball field here. This is where we're heading with the elementary here, middle, high, and hopefully, if we're fortunate enough at
059some point in the future, the ECC. And that is it for that. We are uh on budget for the bids that we've taken so far, and I think we're going to talk a little more about the budget at this point in time, and I'll hand it to Dr. Burrus. >> Does anybody have any questions for Mr. Hopkins? No. >> No. >> Thank you, Mr. Hopkins. >> Thank you. >> So, I want to talk a little more about the Summit Bridge Middle School and Summit High School projects. In September and December, it was discussed that Summit Bridge Middle School and Summit High School projects were underfunded. At those points, I talked about that wasn't overly concerned with this. This has happened on previous projects. So we continue to work with legislators, office of management, budget, and
060do DOE to help address us in the shortage in funding. It's important to note in Delaware, DOE tells us how many square feet we can build a building and how much we can spend per square foot. For example, when we went for certificate of necessity, we said we needed a high school for 1,600 students. They tell us that we can build a high school just under 220 square 220,000 square feet. They then tell us how much we can spend on each of those square feet. We tell them that we need a middle school for a,000 students. They tell us we can build the middle school can be just under 130,000 square feet. That gives us and then they give us the total cost on what we can spend on that school. Del is a little
061unique to the surrounding communities around us. The process is handled a little differently. So, we're held to that. We do a lot of construction in the Aquamic School District. We've been very fortunate to be supported by our community um to meet the growing needs that we have as a district. We have had an ongoing problem since 2018. The entire state has since the state changed the construction formula. Since that point, they've had to do what is known as market pressure money. The first project that needed market pressure money was our own project, which was Brick Mill early childhood center, which was built in the middle of CO. That has that has continued all the way up until our current project. Other districts have also had trouble with the funding formula. Christina, Indian River, Newcastle County,
062Votech, Sussex Tech have [clears throat] all had problems with the construction formula and have required what is known as market pressure money in order to complete the projects as were approved. When we started this process knowing that we needed a new middle and high school and an elementary school to address our growing needs as a district, we notified DOE that there was a problem with the funding formula that did not meet the needs of the current construction cost back in February of 2022 before we even applied for a certificate of necessity. We continue to have those conversations as we move forward with the certificate of necessity. Excuse [clears throat] me. We had additional conversations after the initial conversation about not meeting need of the construction formula and showed proof that the current construction formula that
063they were asking us to use did not meet the current cost of construction formula because at the time we were building Reading Middle School and so we applied that formula to what our bids were or what the actual costs were at Reading Middle School and it did not meet the needs. We however continue to have conversations with the um Department of Education, Office of Management, Budget, and our legislators in regards to this. We then the referendum was approved. Um DOE said we needed the buildings, approved the buildings, office of management budget said we needed the buildings, approved the the buildings. Our bond the bond bill committee approved us receiving funds for those buildings that we needed the building. And then we went to our community and they approved us of of us getting those buildings.
064That's a process. It's not something that's easily done. You have to show your need and you have to show your need not only to the community, but you have to show your need to legislators and everyone else to show that we have a need for that. The process is easier if the funding formula is correct because then you get the money that you need up front. You go to your community, you tell them exactly how much it's going to cost and you get bonded for those. With the funding formula being short, that puts us in a difficult situation. We are now in a situation next month where it's scheduled for final approval on the drawings of Summit Bridge Middle School and Summit High School. Keith just showed some nice pictures of the buildings. We are
065trying to build two schools there at the square footage allowance that the state has given us telling us how big we need to build the buildings and at the cost that they're saying it should cost per square foot. noting that since February 2022, we are telling them that the construction formula or excuse me, February 2023, that the construction formula would not cover the cost of current construction in February of 2023, let alone and buildings are supposed to be completed in 2029. We're currently $57 million short in being able to build those buildings. We would need in FY2027 $21.8 8 million, FY28, $13 million, and FY29, $8.7 million. The concern is what to do next. So, as I mentioned, in February, we're supposed to approve the final drawings on these buildings and in April go to
066bid to build those buildings. As I see it, there's two options that we have. If we do not receive the needed funding that our community has approved and that the state has approved and our legislators approved, those options are one, put a pause on the project will result in two things. One, we will not be able to open the middle and high school in the fall of 2029 as we committed to. Two, in construction, it's not like you wait and costs go down. The longer you wait, the more costs go up, the cost escalates. So, the cost of the project is only going to go up. It is not going to go down. Two, we proceed with the funding we have and just build a high school because the $57 million represents the middle school
067on the building. Note that the legislators, the office management budget, DOE, and our community all said that we needed a middle school and a high school to meet the growing needs of our community. we would not be able to build the middle school. We're we're not sure where that goes from there. We're something that the community has already approved us to build and that we're unable to build it because of the funding formula. Neither of these options are good for kids. What that means is overcrowded classrooms, delays. Um, as far as that goes, the last two high schools that have been built by other districts required additional money. One being 77 additional dollars. >> Yes. 77 million additional dollars. The other $72 million to complete because the funding formula did not meet the current cost
068of construction. We are asking to be treated like those two districts and other districts and be provided the funds required to complete the projects that DOE OM and our community said we needed for our kids. Thank you. Any questions? >> Any questions from the board? Mr. >> Bur. So my first question would be um you had mentioned a few high schools recently that have been given market pressure funding because the formula was flawed a flawed formula that we've or others have always have in I've read in emails agreed with um the district are are flawed. Has there ever been an example that a school district was denied market pressure funding other than maybe deviating from the plan that was submitted in that you that you know of? >> No, there's only and I mean to
069your point the one district that was denied it was added scope to the work and so they were denied funding and had to go back out the referendum. We have not added I just want to reiterate we have not added to the scope. We're actually under the allowable square footage. That is what they're saying that we need to house that number of students. >> Right. So this would be again to your knowledge the first time that the state would have done this um I say to a school district but done this to a school but done this to a school district. >> To my knowledge, yes. And when we submit the proposals, we we don't re-engineer the buildings till after, right? Like what they we submit we need X and then they come back with
070Y and then we start value engineering every dollar out to extrapolate every penny we can to build everything out. It's not like it's done beforehand. It's done afterhand. We still need to make to make the mark of the money that they give us. But we can cons consolidate a lunchroom, you know, between two buildings and and still use that money in the building, but we're stretching every dollar every way we can. And I sit in those, so I know we do, but somebody always says, "Well, you get a pot of money, you should make it work." Well, it it it can't work if it's the value of four years ago, five years ago pricing for what you're trying to buy today. Just go to the grocery store. that it'll tell you everything you need to
071know. >> Yeah, absolutely. I mean, like someone equated to like in you go and buy a steak 2023 when >> Right. It's not going to be the same cost in 2029. [clears throat] >> And so, yes. >> How long did the other two districts have to fight to get the 70 million to get theirs? How long was their was their fight? Do you know? >> I don't know. I'm not sure on that. >> I mean, it was early enough that they could >> break ground and continue with the projects on schedule. >> Do you think it's just because we continually come back and ask and ask and ask and it's I mean, we have the most pressing problem in the state. Everybody's coming here compared to everybody else. >> Yeah. I'm not I'm not sure
072what the >> What can we do for you? I mean, what else can we do? I mean, I think we need to work with our local legislators with legislators and have them I mean, we need to bring the need down to do um because I mean, the options aren't aren't great. They're not great options. I mean, and we, as I've mentioned, um we have been working with our legislators, we have been working with office management, budget, um with the bond bill committee. Uh it just seems that um we we really need a sense of urgency at this point like we're against against it. >> So you you've done plenty of inquiries, asked a lot of questions, had a lot of conversations. Have you ever gotten from the state a no? >> We haven't gotten a
073no. We've gotten like, you know, value engineer um which we've had to do on previous projects. I mean, value engineer, you know, you might value engineer a million, seven million out of a building. You're not going to value engineer 57 million out of a building. I mean, as we just said, it's really elimination of a building at that point. Um, you know, we've heard value engineer and we have taken it back. Our original ask was was more. We went back and value engineered all we can out of that building. Um, yeah, you can you could take more out of the building, but you're taking a whole building off. Like, that's the reality of the situation. >> And and I know before we've we've worked around with funding where we've kicked in money, bonded money, and
074put up VSA money. And I know the VSSA the amount that we get for the voluntary assessment is nowhere near enough of the impact that those houses cause for what they come here. But we could there's no way we could cover that with what our VSSA balance is. Just >> I don't think we address that, but we should at least put it out there what it is and that we that we can't. >> So we would have to um so the state of that money we need the 57 million which is $43 million from the state we need um on this project. We would have to we cover the other 14 million out of that out of our VSA. >> Right. But I mean, we don't have I guess what I might say. We don't
075have $50 million in our BSA account. That's what's where I was going. People believe that these people believe that as the house has come, correct? >> I mean, we're going to be stretching to cover the 14 million from this. And I didn't even cover tonight that we have another project. We have Green Giant Elementary that's on the same funding formula that we're going to have to request funds for. Keith, what's the or Matt, whichever, what was the original amount that we need that we would get that we need then the additional 57 million? Is it around 240 or something? I think >> it was 240. >> 240 >> was the original amount that they started with and then we instructed them down at DOE at the point when we first started having the conversation that
076240 was not going to cover the cost of the building. You weren't capturing the market. There's several factors why that construction formula is flawed and you know we can get into it at some point like but there's several components of that that construction for it's all that doesn't capture the market >> and that was 240 million in 2022 >> 223 million 240 million in 2023 was still short >> 23 or 22 >> 23 okay well we've had three years of inflation that, you know, for many were higher than they'd ever seen in their lifetime. Um although they had the advantage of not living in the 70s, but um it's still I mean just you can you can you know those three years have been pretty high inflation and and if you're not taking inflation into
077account properly, you know, 5% a year is 15% on $240 million is going to be 37 million right there. >> Because you have to compound You have to hit it with 5% in the beginning. You keep compounding raises. So like you know you'd be at 250 something and then you hit that again by five again. And anything in the bank industry anybody you compound each year >> and then that's how you're catching inflation because you're going to catch inflation from 23 to 24. So you got that. Now you have to capture from 24.5 and keep compounding. >> I think >> and they're not doing that. And and I think if I read it right, there had been state building policies and such that have changed that made you change the plan and also escalated the
078cost of the project. >> So there are there's the as we've been talking about the RISE program, the RISE program is mandated by the state by federal authorities, I guess, but they're not funded. So for every other district in the state, they they fund that, you know, but for us, they don't fund it. And I think that adds about I think 10 million to this project 10 million in unfunded items. And then you also have a entrance a security entrance and that can run you up to a million dollars depending upon the size of the building you know. So you can pay that's you know right there 10 30 and that 10 million check that per building. >> Well that was for this project. Okay. >> For some that's that that was the cost of
079the unfunded items, right? But that's within that 57 that we need. >> Right. >> So from a board perspective, Dr. Burrows, um I know that we all have uh committed to the continued um engagement with um our legislators. What else? I mean, timing is of the essence. You said we were tenatively scheduled to approve this next month. And so um what else I think from a board perspective would you recommend for us to be able to try to have some level of success? >> I mean you know I think yeah contacting your legislators know let them know the need of what we have um and the urgency of the need I think is vitally important at this point. >> Okay. Yeah. So I think we um >> and then and I guess not only contacting
080them but then what action steps are they taking? How are they engaged, >> right? How are they going to help us? What are they going to do? >> Um not I mean listening is great but we're at the point where we need some action. >> Yeah, for sure. >> It seems like there's been a lot of listening but just no action, right? And and also I just want to make one other point and Dr. Burrows did touch on this. If any are thinking, oh, it's a month away here, why is the the the district now only acting? We have had conversations at this meeting several months and if you follow the email trail and communications between the district and anybody else, it has been ongoing and it has been and it has been public in
081this meeting. So, you're bringing it up this meeting only because this is it, right? We got we got 30 days and then then you're gonna have to either two bad options, right? I mean, two horrible options really. I mean, so anybody wants to think that maybe this is only coming up 30 days prior, this has been brought up. >> No, this has been way more than that. I mean, and you can go back to the meetings from way back in 2019 when Richard was talking about it then when this formula became a problem. I said this has been something that's why we were watching it so hard coming into the our first proposal to say we know we've had a historic problem of your construction form being wrong and we see it as being wrong.
082Now, this is the number we see as being right and we put our CN in and asked them what would you like to see for the construction formula or the actual market cost? They said construction formula come back to market that's what we did. >> Yes. So, I think that's a really good point just in the context of everything that's been happening. U Mr. Higgins is ensuring that you know that our community understands that this has been an ongoing topic. I think you just said back to 29 2019, but I think more importantly the efforts that Dr. Bros has let for us over these just past few months and time timing is certainly of the essence and so I just want to reiterate your point that this is not something that we're bringing to the
083public 30 days prior, right? This has been years in the making, right? And so, um, thanks for raising that. I just wanted to kind of underpin it with some reiteration. >> Dr. Bros, anything else? >> No, thank you. I appreciate. >> Well, and Keith, I think I heard you say and it is my understanding that back when we first talked to the OE when you Matt whomever and pointed out that the construction formula wasn't perfect and obviously we have plenty of examples where there's had been a fair amount of market pressure money said give us the funding formula number. That's the number we're going to use for the referendum. That's the number we're going to use initially. And then to the extent there are costs overruns if you will or not overruns but costs are
084greater because of inflation and everything else we'll use the market pressure money route uh which they have done in all but one example where somebody went off book and tried to build something that wasn't approved. So we did what we were supposed to do. We did what they told us to do and now we're getting push back on them giving us uh market pressure money as I understand it. >> Correct. We did [clears throat] everything that they instructed us to do. We followed up all the way through the process and then at the end >> well it ain't over till it's over. Um so I mean you know I'll say stay tuned for future episodes but this is where we are at the moment. Right. And to to Richard's point, it wasn't even that somebody
085said, "No, it's not going to work." Three months ago, four months ago, you were getting, "Yeah, we'll get it to you through this." Or, "Oh, yeah, we hear you. Your district doesn't apply to this." And every time you hear something positive, it ends up not coming to fruition up until this point. Am I am I assessing that correctly? it until it came up until I think June of [clears throat] uh 24 is when we realized that they weren't going to honor their obligation and they started sounding the bells at that point. Right. >> Matt was reaching down at OMA and we were all having meetings and trying to force this thing through. It's kind of labored along. We've been we've stayed on a long time. What we don't have is a no. We don't have
086a commitment. That's that's what we >> Any other questions or comments from the board? All right, hearing none. Next on the agenda, we have board comments. Mr. Abrams. >> Good evening everybody. I just like to welcome everybody back to a new year. I want to thank uh district office, teachers, staff, and students to a successful start of 2026. I also like to take a moment just to thank all the parents and community members who are working behind the scenes on committees and different things to help make our district the best that it can be. how you guys are on the front lines making suggestions, making our district better. So, I just want to take say thank you for the time that you take out of your schedule to help make our district better. I know
087this goes without saying and we really don't get many snow days much anymore, but you know, it is upon us that time of the year. We just want to remind members um you members of the community that the decision to cancel, close, delay, send them home early, that decision doesn't come lightly. Um we take safety in consideration. So just know when it happens we do understand the implications to and the ripple effect through the community. Thank you >> Mr. Whit. >> Good evening everyone. Um happy new year. Uh what I want to mention um to the community is there are I'm getting many questions about the seats the board seats that will be available May 2020 this May. seat in our presidency. Um [clears throat] um today I received a call from county councilman Ko
088and he really was stating, you know, people are confused. I said, what are they confused about? And essentially the terms for the board changed when I became elected in 2022. It used to be five years and now it's four years and that's the [clears throat] reason that we have two open seats which we've never had before because we're no longer doing five years. So I want the community who may be interested in running for the board to know there are two seats. If someone else jumps into the race, then whoever wins, the highest numbers will be the next two board members. So, um, for those people out there, Councilman Ko, hope you're on, too. Um, that is that's what it is. That's it. >> All right. Well, I I'll read it now. I I did
089have a statement that I was going to read during my board comments and we read this uh every January at our board meeting. Um the Aquinamic School District's Board of Education this year will have two seats open. As Miss Dit just said, if you are a resident of the Aquinamic School District and are a qualified voter at the time of the election, you may file as a candidate for the board of uh for the school board. Employees of the district, however, may not serve as members of the school board. The deadline to file is Friday, March 6, 2026. Information on qualifications and filing procedures can be found at elections.delaware.gov. I still type in www, but it's elections.delaware.gov. This year's election will be held on Tuesday, May 12th, 2026. Candidates elected to serve in the open
090seats will begin serving their four-year term uh in July 2026. Okay, with that, Mr. Higgins. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Um just for a clarification, uh Norm, uh point of order. Do do I speak of the the FAC meeting in these at this time or is that going to be later? >> No, you can. I just did it under board comments last time. >> Okay, that's cool. That's cool. So, um I did step into uh the FAC meeting for Norm who was ill. I mean, for Mr. Abrams who was ill ill. Um so, a few notes. The FAC acknowledged and appreciated the district's um handling of the unique challenges that be uh that being in austerity mode brings and the handling of the expenses given the delay of the revenue from the county. The district
091is using the state's open and open appropriations funding to help fund payroll through this uh delay of tax receipts. Um, as in the time of this meeting, the district and the FAC remain concerned about the county's timeline to distribute the school district's portions of tax revenue and a revenue loss from its acrewing interest and wondering whether the county would include the interest when they distribute the the delay of revenue. Um, the FAC was appreciative of the breakdown in expenses between discretionary and non-discretionary funds by the district. The district continues to work on shifting expenses from local to other appropriate appropriate expenses to utilize funding to its fullest. The FAC, the financial advisory committee, noted that the increase in payroll expenses year-toear are in line with state standard. Uh the only discussion uh that I could
092report would be isolated there was talk of isolated in in yeah in incidents where classrooms were not provided with or not or could not obtain basic necessary supplies. It was agreed that these are most likely due to policy verse practice conflicts and that Miss Stewart has added that she has asked staff if these things arise to come to her. there were no unresolved questions for the committee. So, in saying that, um I've been on the uh board for uh six months. It's been a learning curve and um I appreciate every every moment I'm here. Um there are some things that I would like to see um things that uh the board the district has afforded me when I've asked. Um so really other than that I really don't have many comments except for I will
093be at uh bagels for board members tomorrow morning uh like I am every month uh the day the two the Wednesday after a uh a meeting and um that's it. >> All right thank you Dr. Grant. >> Hi good evening everyone. Um I just wanted to actually I think piggyback on uh Dr. Bro's message earlier around um the recognition of the community um and more importantly my message is more from the perspective of just gratitude and appreciation at the top of this new year and so of course just welcoming everybody back um I hope the new year is off to a strong start and that the transition has been smooth. I certainly want to recognize um Dr. Burroughs and his cabinet, the school leadership teams um and everyone that is committed to the obviously the
094change and development of our students. Thank you for continuing to lead boldly. To our educators, thank you for leaning in with courage and commitment each day. And to our custodial kitchen and support staff, thank you for your behind-the-scenes dedication that keeps our schools running and our students cared for. Certainly wishing you all a successful and inspiring year ahead. And as I mentioned earlier, under the topic of kind of community relationships, community uh partnerships, I certainly did want to recognize one of our dynamic community partners, which is Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated uh for their tireless work in supporting our youth um and the broader community. As I mentioned um earlier at the top of the meeting, there was a donation actually today from the organization um around $3,000 or so to help eliminate school lunch
095debt. Um they actually have a kickoff of their youth programs that will be held at Reading uh for the next six weeks kicking off tomorrow. And so just re um recognizing their steadfast commitment to service, scholarship, sisterhood, and social action and extending my warmest and most heartfelt founders day greeting to all of the members of the organization. And so I wish you all the best at the top of this new year. And thank you for all of your hard work. >> Thank you, Dr. Graham. And I I will say again what I said at the start of uh the recognitions earlier and what Dr. J Graham just said. I mean, I want to thank all of our uh community members and community organizations and community volunteers who who go out of their way, I think,
096uh to really support and help this district. And you saw some of those folks tonight. I know there are many more. Uh I don't know that we would ever have enough time to recognize all of them, but we are so lucky to live in a community that has that support. I mean, I went to public school uh up north uh as a kid and and we didn't have anything like this uh when I was in the public schools. Um, now you heard me uh earlier read the notice about the school board election and um it's coming up in May and uh my term ends my 15th year on the board will end uh June 30th. Um I was first elected in 2011, 15 years ago. Um I really didn't have any gray hair then. Um
097and a lot has happened in uh 15 years. We've got a Spanish and Chinese immersion programs that uh are just fabulous and you you know uh I think something that folks should look into if they haven't before. We've got a high school course catalog and pathways now that I think is uh second and none and and certainly the envy of other school districts not only in this state but uh throughout the Mid-Atlantic region and other parts of the country. We get calls and and asked about can you come and tell us about your your course catalog and pathways. Um we had a period of time where we were suffering with bus transportation issues. We worked through it. There used to be a a section of this meeting and uh Mr. Pullman would give us an
098update on the number of buses that were running late every day. It was appalling. Uh we managed to work through it. We had to make some hard choices. Um, but I think you don't hear those complaints anymore the way that uh you used to. We have built any number of new schools. Um, and that's credit to our construction uh team. Um we those new schools included a rebuild of Elizabeth uh I'm sorry Everett Meredith and Lewis Reading uh which is now finally open this year and and is just a fabulous facility that the old Lewis Reading building was was good in its day but it certainly outlived its useful life. Um we had a series of state funding cuts in 2017 that have never really been made up to us. Um but we managed to
099uh get through those. Um we had a study and we looked at adjusting our school start times in a way that I think will have long-term benefits. Um and uh we went through that process. Um you know unfortunately we've had to adopt a parent and visitor code of conduct. Um, we've had this thing called COVID. And I remember COVID started and uh, if you had said to me at the start of COVID, Richard, can you believe you've been on the school board nine years? I would have said, really, is that all? And if you had come back to me a year later, a year into COVID, and said, Richard, can you believe you've been on the school board 10 years? I would have said, is that all? Um, obviously CO was a big challenge for
100everybody in the district. I think we got through it uh with a plum and uh oftent times we were setting examples for the rest of the state to follow in the way that we tackled that and that's a tremendous testament to our administrators and our teachers. Um, we now broadcast our meetings on YouTube, which we had never done prior to CO. And so the only silver lining in my view that came out of COVID was the fact now that we broadcast and record record [clears throat] our meetings. I still remember having a conversation uh with our superintendent at the time um that first week. You know, the governor was closing schools for two weeks. We were going to fight the surge. Nobody really knew what was going on. And I said to Matt, we got
101to have a schoolboard meeting right away and we can do that on less than 7 days notice because it's an emergency and we got to find a way to put it out on on video. And we weren't sure initially how to do it. But I said, "Look, it's technology. We can find a way to do it." We did it. We had 7,000 people watch our very first episode um when we had that very first meeting about COVID and where we are. We've never approached that number again. But that's how ramped up um and that's how uncertain and quite frankly afraid a lot of people were at the time. I think sometimes, you know, that's so far in the rearview mirror now we forget uh what it was uh like back then. Uh but anyway, I
102think we've done a lot of good things in the last 15 years. I like to think I've been a part of that. I certainly I know certainly that my fellow board members here um have done good things and and brought some very good perspectives and ideas uh to the board. Um NICH is an organization. It's an independent organization that ranks school districts and schools. They have a website. You can go to it. If you go to the niche website, they will tell you that Apequin ranks four in the top 4% of school districts nationwide. And they will also tell you that our teachers rank in the top 3% of uh school district teachers nationwide. Again, a tremendous testament to the hard work that our administrators, our teachers, all of our staff um puts in for
103our school district. I know there are still things though that need to be done. Um I don't think we've fully recovered from COVID. Um we need to do better on reading and math in the early uh grades in particular. Um that's something that I think you can't improve enough on and and I know that we've asked our superintendent and his team to report back to us with plans and ideas later this year about that and I'm looking forward to that. Um, I know we're also looking at high school uh and the courses there and how that's structured and and what we can be doing better with our high school students. Um, we continue, as you just heard a few minutes ago, to face challenging financial issues. Folks who follow our meetings know because I say
104it a lot. We have the lowest tax base of all the school districts in Newcastle County. Um we also have the lowest operating tax rate in Newcastle County. So we raise uh I'll say the smallest amount. We spend the least per student and yet per niche uh we are in the top 4% of school districts uh nationwide. So I think we've done a lot of good things in the last 15 years. There's still things that the district needs to do and address. And like any organization, our goal is to constantly and always be taking a critical look at ourselves and figuring out what we can do better and how we will make things better. And our number one goal obviously is to always focus on our students and educate them. I mean we are here
105to educate kids first and foremost and we should never really uh forget that. So, all of that is, I think, a long way of saying that I'm going to go and file to run for reelection again um this week and and I'll be a candidate in May for school board. And I hope that uh folks appreciate all that uh I've been doing and saying on the board all these years and and will see it in their good graces to vote for me again. I' I'd ask for all of your support here, but that's what I'm going to do later this week. So with that, uh those are our board comments for the evening. And uh next on the agenda, we have new business because we have no old business. And so first on the new
106business, we have um our December 16 board minute meeting board meeting minutes for approval. The chair will entertain a motion. >> Mr. President, I move to approve our December 16th uh board of education meeting minutes. >> Second. Motion by Dr. Graham, second by Mr. Abrams to approve the December 16, 2025 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. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Next on the agenda, we have the monthly financial report for November 2025. Miss Stewart. This one. >> Okay. All right. Great. [laughter] Good evening, President Forest, Vice President, Dr. Shashiba, members of the board. Tonight, I will pres be presenting the November 2025 revenue and expenditure report. I'm actually excited because I do believe that um
107this is, you know, since I started back in August, this is something and I've heard you all's comments about having something that is posted or even just noted uploaded while I am reporting. So, I'm not just sitting at my seat and kind of going over the revenue expansion report. So, feel free to ask any questions as we go along um and get into this report. Next slide. All right. So, the purpose of this PowerPoint and this financial presentation is to provide you with an overview of Aquinamus School District's November 2025 revenue and expenditures. Um, so I am currently working on establishing a report that will be a all-in-one report. So, it will include the revenues, expenditures, and internal reports all in one shop that eventually will be posted online for um everyone, community members and
108district members to review and see. That is currently being vetted through the financial advisory committee. Um and the anticipated launch time is for January 2026, revenue and expenditures. Um I had Dr. Chuck look through that and vet that. There were some ideas that he had and some things that I would like to implement. Um, so we'll go to the FAC next month in February as like a full final template and then hopefully I can launch that and present that to the board um and going forward. All right, next slide. Okay, so let me just walk over here to uh the TV here so that I can kind of like walk you through this. So discretionary cash flow as we have discussed there are some forms that we have internal that's not necessarily brought for review
109but it's what we do internally just to make sure that we have our eye on the expenditures that is the discretionary cash flow. So this is a report that is brought to FAC for just review purposes only. But here in the PowerPoint you will see this just summarizes everything for the discretionary cash flow. at the top as of November 2025 um we have an income or revenue received about 41.6 million incumbrances to date if you are not aware incumbrances are essentially purchase orders that are basically set aside um as money that's already allocated but again it does go against our budget and we are looking closely to that to make sure that we kind of clear that when it goes to year end but that's like a year end process but encumbrances to date was
110about $1.4 4 million expenditures to date um $33.1 million which gives us an end of month balance for November 2025 at about $7.1 million. Now we do do a comparison of the prior month well prior year's month which is November 2024 as you will see here the prior year monthly expenditures is about $35.4 million and then the end of month balance was about 32.6 million. When you compare and kind of look, it kind of tells the narrative of what's been going on with ASD. So last year at this around this time, we actually are downspending and this is not including expenditures about $2.3 million. So we're spending that much less than we were this year than we were last year. That's attributed to being to austerity mode and making sure we only get what we
111need. Now the bigger one that you're probably noticing is this end of month balance from prior year. This attributes to our tax receipts. Essentially, as you all know that we've had just a wonky year just with our cash flow and tax receipts. Um, we actually have received about $25.5 million less than what we would have last year. So, our end of month balance is 7 million. Last year, that was about 32, sorry, that was about 32 million. Um, which gives that difference. But >> but the reason for that difference is because of that dreaded rword reassessment and the fact that um in any ordinary tax year tax receipts would have been due September 30th, but this year um and there was a lawsuit that gummed everything up too. Um tax bills weren't due until December
11231st. So, there was a three-month essential lag or three extra months people had to pay. Um, and so, you know, really this isn't going to tell us what we want to know until we get see what December's and really January's receipts because I'm sure there's a significant number that'll be late. That'll be the key finding though, right? >> Correct. >> Okay. >> All right. Has there any has there been any word on receiving uh tax revenue as of late? >> Uh not really. We are waiting to get like our estimated what we're going to receive in January for December. So we're kind of in limbo with that. We normally receive that around the 14th or 15th of the month. >> Right. And for folks I was going to say for folks who don't understand how
113taxes are collected, you get a bill from Newcastle County. You send your payment or your mortgage company sends its pay your payment to a lock box for Newcastle County. Newcastle County collects all the revenue and then they transfer it to us I think early in January for December revenues early in February for for January revenues. But that's why, you know, we're when um when you know Miss Stewart says she's waiting to hear from Newcastle County, it's because the money's not coming to us. We have to wait and see what they tell us. girls, did you want to add something? >> All right. >> We actually uh got we got some preliminary projections today on collected taxes, >> right? >> It's a lot better. It's been the last. [laughter] It's promising, but it's it comes in
114one lump sum. So, I don't we we can't see I don't know how it's going to be divided among the taxes. So, >> Oh, okay. Gotcha. It's a large show. >> Okay, great. >> All right, Steve, next slide. >> Sorry. >> Oh, no, you're fine. Uh, and also before I just want to give a shout out to my superintendent, Dr. Barrows, because I did run this PowerPoint by him um and for allowing me to be able to even present this in this format to you all. So, thanks Dr. Barrows. All right, local salary tracker. This is another report that is um for review that we send to and we provide to the financial advisory committee to look this pretty much looks at our uh local salaries. So as you will see at the top we
115have local salaries in appropriation 00001 that's our local salaries tuition 91050 that's special education and prek tuition which is appropriation 91068. So here in November, we had two payroll roles in November and you will see November 14th and the 26th to bring us to about 5.1 5.6 million for local 843,000 for tuition sped and then 104,000 for prek tuition giving us a total of about $6.5 million. Um now with this being said what was noted in the first pay in November was fall athletic eer first half of ac the academic eer and then the first half of the signin bonuses that's for through negotiated agreements. Um that is to be paid out in November 14th. And then if there was anyone that missed that time frame or didn't know how to submit that to get
116their EER, um, whatever wasn't submitted for November 14th was submitted in the November 26 pay. And so for those following at home, when we say eer, I think that stands for extra pay for extra responsibility, but really that's the money that we pay out to teachers and and others for coaching athletic teams and and other pos uh pay for um I'll say extracurricular activity and work. And we don't pay that on a regular two-month basis. We just pay it what once in the fall, once in the spring. Is that >> I think it's two times. Yes, >> two times. Okay. So, that's why those numbers are different. >> Thanks, Carson. For now, this latter part, I do want to give a shout out to the financial advisory committee. They actually um Mike Jackson, he actually
117had requested something like this so they can look at payroll because essentially local tracker is comparing pay periods and pay dates from the current pay um date to the prior year of that pay date. This may be a little wonky just to note because last year um November had three payrolls when this year October has three payrolls but just look at in the scheme of things. So as it compares we didn't as of November 2025 we had a total of 11 payrolls. Okay. So the total of 26 payrolls the cost of that from fiscal year 2025 was about 57.4 $4 million and the cost of 11 pays for fiscal year 25 was 24 about $24 million. Now, if you compare the $24 million to the $25.3 million that we've had spent so far in fiscal
118year 2611 pays, we're about $ 105% up. So, essentially about 5% more um in paying out payroll. So that attributes to the increases um and salary increases of that effect. But when you compare 11 pays this year to the 11 pays last year, we're about 44%. So we're kind of um kind of lining up in a sense, but I say that that's wonky because of the whole three pay differential. So I look for that to kind of pan out as we go along. Next slide. All right. So we're going to get into our revenues. As you will see here, our property tax revenues for November 2024 was about $1,851,000. The what you see on the left is all the appropriations that this will be appropriated to from our 98,000 which is our local funds to
11991050 which is sped. You can see the applicable amounts there. Next slide. >> Do we do you know ballpark what our total property tax receipts are expected to be? Am I right? It's around maybe $55 to $60 million somewhere in that ballpark or maybe that's just the operating fund. >> I don't know that off the top of my head. I told that to you. >> That's just the operating. Okay. So, the point is we're still we're still do a lot of money and again it was all this delay because of reassessment that's kind of had us waiting for this money to come in. >> Correct. Right. So, revenues are uh continued. You will see in total we have discretionary, non-discretionary and other revenues which consist of federal tuition um debt service, minor cap, major cap.
120In this column to um the left here, my right, your left, um you will see this notes the reports that we use. The DGL060, what we've been talking about, that's the daily validity. The GGL114 um is pretty much the revenue receipts. So the actual receipts that we have as income that ties back to this spreadsheet, but this is just all in one. Next slide. So items to note that I just want to make the board aware. Um in November, we did pay 35% of the charter payment that was used with the division one funding aka the state loan. Um the state had uh created two new appropriations 99599 and 996600. Um along with that 98,000 can be used to go negative. So we used 99599 um and we paid the charter payment the 35% and
121that was about $1,659,000. Originally, it was $1,660,000, but it deemed at the end of the final bill that the Academy of Dover did not have any of ASD students. So, that was the reduction there. Also, just to you all to note that we did borrow a million dollars from the reserve balance uh for to fund our tuition to get through with any expenditures that's in our 91050 appropriation. The plan is that when we get the January tax receipts for December, we will reimburse the reserve balance to put it back to the $2 million original amount. >> So, go ahead. >> Real quick, um for full understanding through all the what you're saying, um the local funding has slowed down or stopped temporarily. The state said, "Hey, we get it. You have bills. we are going
122to appropriate or allow you to use state funding >> to pay local payroll and you will replace that money as soon as you get your tax record. Right. >> So, a lot of what you're saying and doing is kind of like juggling buckets around taking money from state funding appropriately um and then uh reallocating them to where they needed or they're needed now and we'll replace them once we get the funding back. Right. It's in essence what you were saying in the first part. Yep. >> Okay. Um, the last thing that was on me, um, so when I reported October 25, uh, federal funds, I noted an amount in the homeless funding appropriation, $40570. Uh, when I went back to review November, there actually wasn't an amount. The amount that I noted previously was $26,945.
123That was my error. And so I have corrected that for November 2025. We have not received any funding for homeless funding to date with our federal funds. So, just wanted to make everyone aware of that. Next slide. This is our Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry. >> So, just just for clarity, that was just like a data entry mistake. >> Yes. >> All right. >> Yes, ma'am. All right. So, November expenditures as you would see this essentially is our operating unit and program expenditure summary report. What you would note here as you know we in November we did not get an approval for our budgets. So you will see amounts that are expended. Again, just to reinforce, um directing the district to only expend what is needed, but you will see here what has been encumbered, what
124has been expended, and then the total amount of expended includes incumbrances plus what has been expended. Steve, next slide. Again, just a continuation. Steve, next slide. And this slide gives you a total. also a total amount of 115 million dollars that has been expended um November 2025 and that includes everything all funding sources. [clears throat] Next slide Steve. All right. So items to note just as I have been reerate reiterating and will continue to do that. Um we are continuing to operating in austerity mode to ensure that we have a sufficient and sustainable fiscal year 2026 carryover balance. Just so that everyone is clear, we are projecting a $4.8 million carryover, but again, projection is not actual. We have to make sure that we actually realize um what we are projecting. And so that's why
125we're trying to do our best to stay in austerity mode. What I have showed you on the PowerPoint does include the total, but please know that things are separated out. If it's federal, it's separated out as federal, non-discretionary, discretionary, etc. So, I don't want anybody to think that I, you know, just lumped everything together. This is just to give a highle like snapshot overview of where that we're at. And just to let you know that I am continuing to communicate districtwide for only purchases of what is needed. And just so that everyone is aware, if there are issues or problems that should arise, please feel free to reach out to me directly. My information is on our website under finance. You can send me an email um and I will get back to you as
126soon as I can. So that concludes the report. I am requesting for board approval of the monthly um revenue and expenditure report and if you have any questions I am willing to entertain that. >> So go ahead >> Miss Stewart I don't have any questions. That was dynamic. Um you continue to impress me with your knowledge and your knowledge along with um our other counterparts that counterpart partners that are helping you really have made me and I'm sure the community really you know trust that we are really trying to do the right thing by one bring bringing you on and two you all have identified that there is a lack of knowledge [clears throat] in and transparency in our reports. So, this was phenomenal. If I could stand up, I don't know if that's in
127order or not, and clap, I would do that, but um I mean that was phenomenal. So, thank you. Um thank you. Thank you. Thank you. >> So, can you just ref you just circle back around to the the transfer out of the reserve account? The reason you you said you transferred a million dollars. >> Yes. >> Out of a $2 million budget. >> $2 million reserve. So that was the original balance for the reserve balance. >> And where's the $2 million reserve balance? >> That I do not know off top of my head the appropriation where that is set aside, but I can bring that to you or give that to Dr. Burrow so he can share the information with you. But there's a specific appropriation >> the the 350 and then the 1 million.
128Just we'll talk later. I I just want to make sure I heard you right. We you said it was $2 million reserve >> in the reserve balance. Yes. The reserve appropriation. >> I just I'll just catch up with you later. >> Okay. >> Thank you. I just want to make sure I heard you right. Thank you. >> Oh, no problem. Feel free to reach out to Dr. Burrows and then Okay. >> I mean, so Norm, we ended last fiscal year with $2 million in reserve. I just just was trying [clears throat] to make sure I heard her right here in this corner. >> And then going into the summer, we needed to dip into that $2 million reserve balance in order to fund tuition, >> right? I I just I just want to make sure
129I heard it right. That's [clears throat] >> So is is this going to be essentially the form that you're going to give this to us in future months? >> No, this wouldn't be the form. This may be the format and how I present but the form itself was will be like um it's pretty much an Excel file that will have the multiple ties where everything is together. Right now um there's a lot of documents that I have to send. So kind of have everything in one place. So essentially what we upload instead of uploading those documents I would upload the all-in-one so it's just a snapshot there. So it's not you're not pulling at a reconciliation then a spreadsheet for revenue then you got the operating like it's all going to be in one document.
130>> No. So I agree with Miss Dwit that I thought this was very nicely done. The only I'll say note that I'll give you >> is that you know I think the we have to always be focused on what our carryover is going to be. And so I'd either make that a separate slide or just actually put that figure somewhere both what it's currently projected to be and then kind of what it has to be. >> Okay. um so that we can continue to remain focused on that because that's where we really ran into trouble uh at the end of uh the last fiscal year. You know, we thought it was going to be one thing and then it turned out the rug was pulled out from under us. >> So, yeah, if you can
131just make sure because that's the question I'm always going to ask. What's the carryover? >> Gotcha. >> Yeah. And if I could just just reiterate that, I was actually going to suggest that that we kind of break that out because that is one of our primary focuses. I agree with um with our president and Miss Dit in terms of the presentation, but I did just want to go back to the federal funds and I want to I just want to be explicitly clear as to what happened when we say data entry, right? Just in the context of everything that we have been going through. So you we've noted here 26,945 and when you say that it was reported um incorrectly can you just expound and tell us like exactly what happened because data entry can
132mean a lot of things. So was it a number that was copy pasted from the year prior? Was it just entered on the wrong line on the wrong account? Can you just tell us exactly what happened? >> Yes ma'am. So, I'm gonna be front with you. Like, honestly, I must have looked at the wrong appropriation and put the number there. Uh, what I go through each time when I have to do this presentation is that I take the information from the DGL060, which has multiple lines, and I'm manually putting that in. So, there's no copy and paste. So, I manually put that in. So, the only thing that I can assume is that I looked at the line, assumed that that was the homeless appropriation, and put that number in. And when I went back
133to review, I'm like, "Oh man, that wasn't there. I don't know where I got that number from. I could have duplicated it from another line, but that's honestly >> okay." >> What I believe most was likely happened. >> Yeah. No, I certainly appreciate the transparency. I think in the context of what we've experienced over the past few months, I just wanted correct >> to give you an opportunity to explain to us exactly uh what data entry meant. So, I appreciate that explanation. Um, if there aren't any further Oh, go ahead. >> Yeah, I just wanted to piggy back on what Dr. Grahamman said. Um, >> it shows true character for you to put that in there. You could have just done that and just done that and then fixed it and didn't bring that up.
134So, I think that does show a lot of character that you did that. Um, will you the new program that you're working on, will that eliminate that data entry that manual data entry? So those human mistakes are going will be limited maybe not they won't be um eliminated but will they be min minimized >> I don't know 100% that it will eliminate but I am have been assured by all of you that it will minimize that data entry so hopefully there's will be a report that will be pulled now I can't guarantee that that whole report I still won't have to maybe add some information um or tweak some things but for the most part it should be able to be lined up the way that it was be set up is our own implementation.
135So we should be able to pull the reports directly from that system to be able to show um publicly. >> Right. And then last point um so local local funding is the target we target is 4.8. >> What is the minimum target since payroll you know did go up. Uh what is that minimum target? Do you have that on on in your >> It's the 4.6 million as far as the 42 pays. Yes. Okay, got it. >> So, we're at 4.8%. >> And again, just reflecting on what everybody else said. Fantastic job. Uh, a lot of confidence what you're doing. Uh, shout outs to the FAC who just harmonized with you greatly. Um, and and just bring up great points and and your ability to absorb and and and grow from their their uh their
136their requests and uh suggestions. >> Thank you. >> So, if there are no further question Oh, >> one one last comment. I'm just really impressed that you own that in public, which was again phenomenal. Most people would try to cow cower out and say, "Oh, I don't know what it was." But owning that, I'm just really excited about where we're going to go. So, thank you for for that. So, if there's no further questions, I'll bring forward a motion to approve the monthly financial report for November 2025 as presented. >> Second. >> Motion by Dr. Graham, second by Mr. Higgins to approve the monthly financial report for November 2025 as presented. Any questions, comments, or discussion on the motion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion
137carries. Thank you. Next on the agenda, we have the internal and council report for November 2025 for approval. Miss Stewart. >> So for this, I do not have nothing to come on the screen. Essentially, what we have going on now with our internal councils report is that we just put together the reconciliation um to note that I do have my uh finance specialist Cheryl um Kotti who does our monthly reconciliations for school funds. She audits that every single month. Essentially all the schools do a monthly reconciliation where they make sure that what's been expended in the system uh reconciles to their bank statements and that is the report that gets posted. Again the new report that I have there is a report that can be drawn from that can be pulled down from school funds
138online that gives an overview of what's been expended what's been received uh for the specified month. So that's going to be something that will be implemented in the report and then the reconciliations will essentially become backup documentation. Uh but I am asking for nothing was noted for November 2025 even with FAC. Uh sometimes we do get things noted. I will say that there may have been like a couple of departments that were late. Um not anything serious but we were we had to just pull that at the end as you will note that gathering that information to be timely. uh given the break that was there, but um again, nothing was noted for the internal accounts and um asking for board approval for that. >> Mr. President, um I motion to approve the internal accounts
139report for November 2025 as read. >> Second. >> Motion by Mr. Higgins, second by Miss Wit to approve the internal accounts report for November 2025 as presented. 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 revised policy 5102, budgeting and expenditures. This is the first reading, Miss Stewart. >> All right. So, the first reading of this policy. Uh we're going to go through it and I believe there were updates to this policy um for budgeting and expenditures. So, Steve, next slide. Essentially, this information uh has been the same. Uh what is in red? The superintendent will work alongside with the director of finance to develop a yearly budget. The budget process shall include but
140not limited to meetings with all district leaders and principles to discuss all requests. The timeline for budget approval shall be presented a shall be to present a preliminary budget in July and a final budget in January. Should issues arise with this, the superintendent will notify the board of education. Next slide. Uh so this what is in red is new information that will be we are asking to be added to this policy. Uh essentially this is the same budget amendments that are within departmentschool categories must be approved by the director of finance and the superintendent. Once approvals are received the budget amendment can be processed. The board of education will be notified on the budget amendments within part um department school categories. Just to explain this again, I think that it's still important. So for example,
141if special education within their budget uh they wanted they had remaining funds in their supplies and materials and wanted to move that in contractual because additional five students had came on board and they needed additional speech therapy contracted services. That's something I do believe that the board should be aware about, but because it's within the category, as long as that's approved by myself and the superintendent, that should be fine. Um, this next paragraph is when it's going across departments. So, if we're doing from special education to HR, as an example, budget amendments across department, school categories must be approved by the director of finance, the superintendent, and the board of education. Once all approvals are received, the budget amendment can be processed. Um I did take your feedback from that uh president for that last
142sentence. For the overall district, no net increase in the budget shall be made except with the prior approval of the board. so that um if there's any need for example in HR and there's funding available in sped we will then move that along bring that to the board for final approval after it's been approved by myself the superintendent and then just so to make sure that everyone is aware when adjustments are made in the budget so that you're not thinking that me as a director of finance I'm just moving money without you all knowing I don't want that [snorts] personally me I just don't want that but >> can can I just make one suggestion question on that though. Um I appreciate that sentence, but should that sentence be its own paragraph so that it
143applies >> to both of the preceding paragraphs? >> I can definitely do that. >> You know, um the first paragraph deals with amendments, I'll say in the same department or category. The second paragraph is when you're shifting. But either way, I mean, I think we should uh we should approve any any increase. But I having said that too, I know on the next page it we we give authority to the superintendent. I'll say in the case of emergency up to a million dollars. So we may also want to say subject to the superintendence emergency authority or something like that. >> Okay. >> Just because I don't want I don't want the superintendent if there's a true emergency to say, "Well, wait a minute. I need board approval before I can do something in the case
144of an emergency." >> Correct. I will definitely add that and make that a separate paragraph. I can do that and reference the superintendent having that wiggle room to make those. >> Are we to assume that an an inherent part of this process specifically the second paragraph around um the cross department school category. So the um respective leaders that are responsible for that have the kind of like initial approval if you will >> then it comes it's escalated to you to Dr. Bros to us. >> Yes, you can assume that in some situations and other situations it may be just me as I'm evaluating the budgets monthtomonth. Um, why I use special education is because, and I probably should have flipped it, HR to SPED, because sped is something where, um, if you have an influx
145of students, you can have an influx of students. You're going to have more needs when it comes to that. But let's look at it from the lens of we may have students that will be placed from a legal perspective. We're not really going to know that offhand. Um, and if that comes about, then I may need to if I can see as we're going along and I'll may, for example, work with Dr. Small who's head over HR and say, "Hey, we need $100,000 to cover for this bed need. Are you good to kind of for us to proceed with like reducing your budget to assist with sped?" He can say yes or no just so that I'm not cutting into any specific HR related needs that are there. Um, so that is to assume that
146there are going to be conversations that I'm definitely going to be had before I go to the superintendent to make the case and then proceed with coming to the board for that approval. >> So, let's stick with your example and the need is there and it um there is an agreement there isn't an agreement to move the monies then what >> if there isn't an agreement uh >> what if Dr. small doesn't agree that you cut his budget by $100,000 a month. >> Essentially, in good faith, I can look elsewhere, but ultimately that's going to be the authority of the superintendent that at the end of the day, if the superintendent says so, that's it. I'm just willing to make sure that I'm collaborative. So, no one feels like I'm just shooting the budget down
147because of what has happened. Um ultimately the superintendent will have that final say but again >> well or or the board or the board. Yeah. In the sense if if there's disagreement then that's what we're here for right to resolve these conflicts. >> Yeah. And I think my point was more so just wanting to understand the accountability like so we get it from you Dr. rose to us, but just wanting to make sure that I understood the process at the kind of local level of leadership, whether it's the cabinet or the school leadership or anything of that sort. Just really wanting to understand the process. That's all. Oh, yeah. >> I appreciate that. >> And this will just as an FYI, I'm also speaking just as a director of finance with experience. Um, just in
148my experience and how I operate, I do like to communicate, but I do know there's going to be some situations where we may have to do what we have to do given what's going on through um with our budget. But again, this will also this I may bring this back to be updated [laughter] um as we go along and we move forward. Uh so just want you all to note that as well. So speaking of of of the board, um I am new here and I haven't gone through this process. Is there workshops or conversation with the board when putting a budget together um to go over, you know, did programs work last year? Um um ROIO on on investment on students are, you know, um threeyear plans, fiveyear plans. Do we have back and
149forth with the district as the public to craft a budget or is it something where we're going to just kind of pick at the corners once the budget is done? >> That's a great question. Um >> I have a lot of questions so some of them end up >> You're fine. You're fine. That is a great question. I would leave that up to the superintendent uh when it comes to communicating any of the budget information to you all. What I will say what we're planning with the zerobased budget model for 27 and what I have been communicating is that I'm currently having meetings with district leaders and principles to go over their budgets. Um there is a template that I have provided to them. The plan is for me to come back and have like
150a one-on-one with just myself and the superintendent to kind of discuss with him what my thoughts are and how best practices are there. um financial culture that may need to be changed, what we should be doing going forward as entering into this after that and working with him, sitting down with cabinet so they can review all the requests. Um my thought process will then be that I do want to be able to work with the superintendent to bring about three different budget scenarios. So essentially the first budget scenario will be all in needs and wants. Second budget scenario will be needs some wants. Third will be bare bones. So essentially you all as a board is not just I don't want to present to you just a one all be all that's it. Want to
151present you with three different scenarios. If the superintendent agrees with that um that's kind of been my mindset as we're moving uh forward. So my assumption would be that if you all have any questions, the superintendent will work with you. But when we come to present the preliminary budget, you will have scenarios of where that needs to go and we'll work together with that. >> My point being, I personally may understand and actually even have private conversation or emails with Dr. burrows or or the finance uh committee or whomever on the finance committee, but um the district CFO, >> but our job as as representing the public is to have the public hear and be heard. And I just wanted to see if there was a process in the budget, the creating of the budget
152where that happens. Um and I am only here for 6 months. I haven't been here to see if that process happens, but I was just curious. and you and you've been here a little less than I have, so maybe maybe you haven't. >> I don't know if uh Mr. Forson can flesh that out or what the process looks like for us as a board to reflect. And >> in my experience, the budget is brought to us and then we ask questions about it. You can query. I mean, I I don't think that um if you wanted to get involved earlier in the process, I mean, I think you could, but by and large, in my experience, the budget gets brought to us, we ask questions. Why is this number changing? Why is that number changing?
153What's this about? Sort of thing. But we're not there in the budget meetings. I mean, and I don't know that we should be in those initial I mean, and work from the ground up. I mean, >> what's the time frame between the first time the board sees a budget till the budget is due >> in a normal year? Obviously, this not being a normal year. I believe July is when the preliminary um that's the there's a preliminary approval um just from what I'm learning and then a final approval. But with this 27 budget, I will defer G. >> Well, yeah. And again, this is a weird year, so I'm not >> I'm just saying is there time for the board to voice opinion and make changes if the board decides to do so? >> Absolutely.
154So, I mean, we start off with our board workshop in June. We're kind of weird. It's kind of weird because we we have to wait till the end of legislation to see what epilogue and things like that are put in and so we hold that June meeting to best like give you what our tax is are going to be and what we need our tax revenue to be and then that's kind of like finalized once the budgets approved the state budgets approved in July one and then at the July board meeting we usually present our preliminary budget. Now, it's a preliminary budget, so you're more than able to give feedback and input into it at that time. And as you saw this year, we had a preliminary amended budget, um, which was kind of unique
155this year, but any kind of amendment or anything that has to be made would come in front of, >> right? Again, I this year is kind of the table. I just [clears throat] didn't know the time frame between the original presentation of the budget to the the hard deadline of when the budget needs to be submitted. And is that enough time more than a month uh more than one reading for the board to uh request changes or can have or voice concerns? That's all that's my >> right. You can request changes and voice concerns in July or you can actually do it anytime you'd like to do it, but there's that that period there. Well, the and the other thing to keep in mind again just because of the way tax collection works and timing
156and we're on a fiscal year from July 1 to June 30th and the county is also and state is also um but because the county collects the taxes for us, we have to give them and confirm to them what the tax rates are. So, we vote on that at our July meeting what those tax rates are going to be and they're actually due later in that week. the tax bills then get finalized and in a normal year it gets sent out in the end of July. Um, initially when I first got on the board, yeah, we had a meeting in July, we were told, here's what we think the tax rate should be and you know, somebody who could be a wise guy like me didn't like the fact that we were being pressured to
157make a decision at one meeting after after seeing the information at that meeting. So, we now have a workshop in June where Matt gives us kind of what he thinks his recommendations are going to be. here's how it's looking so that when we come to the July meeting then we can make a more informed decision. But we only adopt a preliminary budget at that time in part because again in a normal year tax revenues are all tax bills are due by September 30. And so our preliminary budget is based on what we think we're going to get based on the assessment base and the tax rate. But then we adjust the budget after essentially all the tax revenue comes in. And so we typically do that in October or November depending on the year. That's
158when I think we vote on the final budget if I'm remembering correctly. But we don't have a final budget until you have final numbers. >> Correct. >> That was one of the suggestions in the um the order's report for us to have present the final budget sooner. um which is a little challenging to the point because by the time we get our final taxes in and things like that, it pushes the timeline. But but I mean, in my experience, we've always hued essentially to the preliminary budget. I mean, there's there's never been a year where we passed a preliminary budget and then something dramatic happened that caused a major change for the final budget. I mean, it's it's always tracked. And if anything, most years the final budget, we actually get more tax revenue than
159we have project. That didn't happen in last fiscal year, but um but ordinarily we end up with more tax revenue than we project. [snorts] >> Thanks. I think that was good dialogue. I do you have another slide? >> Yes, I think there next. Can we do the next slide? Um well, no changes to this slide. [laughter] >> Sounds good. So this is the first reading. So you'll come back again next month and then we'll vote on this next month. Correct. >> Correct. >> Okay. Does anybody else have any further questions? M. >> No. >> Okay. Looked like maybe you did. >> Okay. So thank you for that. Next on the agenda we have revised policy 5108 financial advisory committee first reading. Miss Stewart. >> So this is the first reading of this policy. The financial
160advisory committee. essentially we are uh for the most part operating in this manner with FAC not too many change and because of that there's not too many changes that um I'm essentially suggesting to change with this policy but I did take uh your advice from last time next slide Steve so instead of just crossing that out I think this was the only change we're just going to leave this in where it says that all FAC members must take well No, let me rewind. Uh, it says here, "All FAC members must take the financial responsibility training required each year by the state of Delaware." I did confirm with the state this is um something that does have to be taken yearly when I reached out. Uh, and I believe the new testing cycle starts 91 of
161each year. Well, the training cycle 91 of each year. Next slide. Nothing changed here. This is essentially how we currently operate with FAC. Next slide. And here initially I crossed that out with quorum. Um but essentially we do want to keep that because we do have voting members of FAC. So if there quorum for FAC will be defined as 50% of the currently serving members. >> Look quick there's seven right now. >> So what's 50% of seven? >> More than half. Four out of three. So you want to reward that to >> more than 50%. >> I mean if it's just a matter of >> this isn't the final is this the final approval. >> No no this first read [clears throat] >> I'm just saying that there is no >> I mean we could
162say why don't we just say we could say will be defined as a majority of >> so of majority of the members >> majority of the members four out three is a majority >> currently seven. Okay. >> If we have if we have an even number, let's say for some reason we have eight members, we never should. We should always have an odd number, >> but um then it you would need five out of eight because four out of eight would not be a majority. >> so you'd always have a quorum would always be more than 50% that way. But but you're right, rather than ask 50%, we can say a majority. >> Gotcha. We'll update that. >> Um Mr. But for your next reading, if just for my own edification, if you can bring
163a copy or have Dr. Burrows send us a copy of the application form that the members complete, I would just just for general learning, I just like to see what's on it. >> Okay, no problem. >> We actually use this the template that the state >> provides for the application. >> Yeah, if you can send it, that'll be great. Thank you. >> Definitely can do that. And then on this slide, just to update going from acceptance to approval because the FAC does approve the internal accounts report and the monthly revenue expenditure report. >> Anybody have questions for Miss Stewart? Yes, Mr. >> Can I just go back? Um I didn't see it. So, I I think it was more opinion than it is um policy that the vice chair of the FAC uh should be
164the the appointed board member from the board. >> Okay. >> Um that's not in here. Uh I don't know if that would need to be board vote. I guess this is all going to be voted on by the board, but um wording it maybe even that if that board member isn't there, then whomever that board member is replaced by is it's facto or whatever the word is. Um the vice the vice chair of the FAC and I'm not speaking for the FAC, but I thought that was kind of their thought process. I thought that was their thought process. >> Okay. Is there any is there any particular reason why you'd want to have the board's uh member who's only FAC as the vice chair? I mean, does that come with any special responsibility or extra
165responsibility? >> Well, no. I I my personally um the reason it was brought up was just to get that connection between the FAC and the and the board and have that dialogue and that transition from reporting from the meeting to here like Norm has done a great job doing and which I did for him. Um and it's easier on the FAC if you word it. So if the appointed board member can't be there, whatever board member is there is automatically going to be the chair, the vice chair of or you will call it what you want um of of the committee. >> It's fine with me. What about the rest of the board? >> Yeah, I mean I have no objections to it. I think that I think it's a different approach to just trying
166to drive accountability, right? Just in learning from what we've been through over the past few months, right? So, um I have no objections to it, but I'm also not the board member that sits on that committee. So, um yeah, I mean it's a different level of responsibility. >> I'm okay with it. um based on a person that is there now, but as we continue to grow or change over board [clears throat] members, will we still have that in place? If we're not as if the person that's coming on is not as competent as the person who has been in that position, >> then we replace them. >> I was going to say the person who represents the board on the FAC is chosen by us. >> By us. [snorts] Yeah. So if there's somebody new
167to the board and we don't think they're seasoned enough, >> we wouldn't choose them as the board person. Got it. Okay. >> As our designate. Mr. Abrams, since you currently sit in that spot, anything from you? >> No, I reread it three times. You know, Mr. Higgins asked me earlier my thought and I don't see an issue with it. >> Okay. >> I think it's it's it just spells it out. That's it's it would read fine. And and when you do the 50% rule, remember the my role there would just to be cast a tie as it would be um the other the other individual. Um just running through my head. >> Thank you. Mr. Jackson would also cast a tie. Um so I'm not sure how you're going to phrase the the the term
168the for the quorum of the number, but yeah, you can make the change. Let's see it in writing. see what it looks like. But there should be no issue. >> We'll do >> any other questions for >> hearing none. Thank you very much. We look forward to seeing the next one. >> Thank you. [laughter] >> All right. Next on the agenda, we have one overnight field trip for approval. General entertain a motion. >> Mr. President, I move to approve trip ID 11210 and trip ID 10605. >> A second motion, >> Mr. Higgins. >> Okay. Motion by Dr. Graham, second by Mr. to approve trip IDs 11210 which is Middletown High School to attend track and field competition at the University of Florida and trip ID which is primary approval for inland trip to Italy. Any
169questions, comments or discussion on the motion? Hearing none all in favor signify by saying I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Next on the agenda, we have construction contracts for approval. Mr. Hopkins. >> Yes. I have two uh contracts on that I'm recommending for approval. The first contract is 01E geotechnical inspection and testing. The second contract would be uh 32A for athletic track fields and courts. Taking bids on these. They both came in uh under or at our budget. And with that, we're seeking approval for these contracts from the board as presented. >> Mr. President. Oh, go ahead, Mr. Higgins. >> Mr. President, I uh move to uh accept a contract a construction contract as read for approval. >> Second. >> Uh motion by Mr. Higgins, second by Miss Dit to approve the two construction contracts
170for approval as presented and as recommended by Mr. Hopkins. Any questions, comments, or discussion on the motion? My only question, did these come in uh in line with our projections? >> Yes, they did. >> Okay. Any other questions, comments, or discussion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Next on the agenda, we have the personnel report for approval. Dr. Small. >> Good evening, members of the board. Um, members of the board moments ago shared that they were appreciative of some transparency that was shared by Miss Stewart. Pardon me. Um, so I have to um speak to that same transparency in that there was an omission on the personnel report and you can now see it in board docs. My apologies for that the omission. With
171that being stated, the personnel report has been amended and presented for your approval. We are asking for approval as now presented. >> Mr. President, I move to approve. I'm sorry, before I bring forward the motion, has all board members had an opportunity to see the update? >> So, I was I was going to say my understanding of the update, just so we can confirm it and those watching on TV is that uh Dr. Peters, Christy Peters, who has been listed or identified as our acting director of special education, but we are now making taking away the word acting. >> That is correct. So that is the addition that is being added to the personnel report. Well deserved >> pardon. >> Well I mean that's the change that's on the personnel report that's been made to
172the >> person that we're going to look at and get ready to vote on before we send it to the public as we do the personality. But thank you Mr. President. [laughter] >> I thought we just said it been posted on board docs. >> Mr. Mr. Absolutely. >> Are we all on the changes? I mean, are we all aware that alignment look for alignment? >> I think everybody's aware of the change that comes. >> That's right. If you've been paying attention, you're aware of the change. >> So, now that we all are aware of the changes, Dr. Small, um I will bring forward a motion to approve the personnel report as [clears throat] presented with the most recent amendments um that have just been brought forth. >> A second. >> [snorts] >> Motion made by
173uh Dr. Graham, second by Mr. Higgins to approve the personnel report as presented with the one addition, which I probably shouldn't have said out loud, but >> you told me it was on board, Doc. So, I'm excited. >> Uh, any further questions, comments, or discussion on the motion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. [laughter] >> Thank you, Dr. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Thank you for your grace. >> All right. A couple of items to note for our next meeting dates. We are going to have a board workshop on uh financial finance training and uh recommendations. That'll be Tuesday, January 27th at 6 p.m. here in this boardroom. The financial advisory committee will meet at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, February 3rd here in
174this boardroom. And the next regular board of education meeting is Tuesday, February 10th at 7 p.m. in this boardroom or for those of you watching at home on YouTube. Any other questions or comments? Hearing none, we are ajourned.