9-9-2025 Appoquinimink School Board Meeting

001Uh, good evening and welcome to the Tuesday, September 9, 2025 epic school board meeting. >> Yeah, we're having a sound issue. All right. Okay. No. >> Okay. Take three. >> All right. There's only one out. >> All right. Um, board went into executives. Now we're getting more echoes. Come on. All right. All right. There we go. Uh, the board went in executive session at 5:30 on motion of Dr. Graham, second uh by Miss Dit for uh certain legal and personnel issues. We are now out of executive session and this is our public meeting. Um, and we will start this meeting as we do all our meetings 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,

002indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. On the agenda tonight, we've got two special recognitions. We have uh one uh person signed up for public comment. We'll have uh some reports. We'll have some board comments. There is no old business. Uh there is some new business. Uh although item E on new business, there are no overnight field trips for approval this month. Uh then we'll have the personnel report and establishment of our next meeting dates. Uh Dr. Bros, are there any other changes to the agenda? No, there are not. You hit the only one item 10. >> Okay. So, with that, we will move to our special uh recognitions. The educational support professional of the year, Mr. Banks. Good evening. >> So, I'm here this evening to present our educational support professional of

003the year award. Um, this award goes out to educational professionals who fall in the following categories. PAR professionals. Um, make sure I'm missing one. custodial staff, secretaries, nutrition staff, bus drivers, bus aids, and IT support staff. This year's winner is Melanie UNra from Bunker Hill Elementary School. We have a nice certificate here along with a plaque that says 2026 educational support professional of the year. Melanie will compete at the state level and bring home the state award. Before I go, I want to read um a message from Melany's principal, Amy Jones. a part of the process. Um they're nominated by their peers, by the community, and they have to submit some information. And in addition to that, the building principal also has to submit a letter. So, I'm going to read this letter um if

004you don't mind. to whom you may concern which would be the committee. I am proud to write this letter in support of Melany's nomination for the aquacornic school district educational support professional of the year. Melanie is an exceptional par profofessional and the rise program at Boner Hill Elementary School who consistently goes ab above and beyond in her dedication to students, staff and families. Her unwavering commitment to inclusive education and student success makes her a true asset to our school community. Melanie has demonstrated a remarkable ability to step into instructional leadership when needed. Seamlessly taken on responsibilities of a classroom teacher to ensure continuity and quality of learning. She brings a calm, confident presence to the classroom and tailors her approach to meet the unique needs of each and every student, often collaborating with other professionals

005to develop effective strategies for academic social growth. Melany's most defining qualities is her advocacy for inclusive practices. She actively works to create an environment where all students, regardless of ability, feel welcome, supported, and capable of achieving their fullest potential. Her work helps build culture of acceptance and understanding among students and staff alike. The 2026 educational support professional of the year, non. Congratulations. >> Thank you. Speech. All right. Our next recognition is world language micro credentials. Miss Campbell. >> Good evening. Uh micro credentials are short competencybased recognitions. They articulate a specific skill to support professional practice and the specific evidence an individual must submit to demonstrate their competence in that skill. The department of education recently started issuing micro credentials in world languages where which were created through a diverse group of classroom educators, administrative staff

006and researchers to ensure that each micro credential is researchbacked, rigorous, competencybased and aligned with the Delaware world readiness standards for learning languages and the Delaware core practices for proficiency research. The micro credential pathway which consists of 28 micro credentials is organized into five stacks. So upon the completion of all of the micro credentials, the educators will have demonstrated mastery of the competencies necessary to support all students in learning a world language in a proficiency oriented learning environment. So we would like to recognize the first APquin school district teacher to earn a department of education world language micro credential. Anuka Lee, a Japanese teacher at Aquinamic and Middletown High School, has demonstrated competence in understanding the diversity of world language learners. Congratulations. [Applause] All right. Uh, next on the agenda, we have public comment. We have

007one person who has signed up for public comment tonight, uh, Miss Corey Underwood. And um we have a a regular statement we read before any public comment. The board encourages speakers to be constructive in the spirit of identifying issues and solutions that will better serve students. In an effort to afford an opportunity to hear from all members of the community who wish to address the board, comments shall be limited to three minutes or less per speaker. The time cannot be given to another. Repetition of matters previously presented in public comment is discouraged. We only have one tonight. Public comment is an opportunity to address the board. The board will not participate in discussions or respond to public comments here. This is not a a dialogue. Uh members of the public are urged to address concerns

008at the local school level and with district office staff prior to addressing the board. No person shall initiate charges or complaints against individual district employees at a board meeting. Such charges or complaints shall be presented to the superintendent or the board in writing signed by the complainant. Any defamatory or abusive remarks shall be called out of order and speaker's privilege of addressing the board may be terminated. We have never had to do that. I'm happy to say um in order to further student business and our mission, we will limit or reject attendees virtual or in person and disrupt the meeting or engage in vulgar or obscene expression. Again, we have never had to do that and and so I I don't expect we ever will have to. I sure would. Um again, you're limited to

009three minutes and there's a timer over here. If you get to three minutes and you're mids sentence, I'm not going to bang the gavl and make you stop. But I would ask you to whatever sentence you're in the middle of, just finish that sentence and and then we'll uh we'll be done. So, with that, Miss Underwood, the floor is yours. >> Good evening, members of the board. My name is Corey Underwood and I'm here today to address the serious findings in the Apoquin School District special inquiry. The report uncovered a $4.9 million undisclosed budget for shortfall, widespread failures in oversight, and potential violations of both state and federal law. There are not just accounting errors. They represent a breach of public trust, violations of federal reporting laws, and most importantly, a violation of your sworn

010oath of office. When each of you assumed office, you swore to faithfully perform your duties to uphold the Delaware and US Constitutions and to protect the rights and interests of the people you serve. By concealing financial mismanagement and deceiving taxpayers, you broke that oath. A broken oath is not only a moral fail failure, it is grounds for removal. The legal ramifications are serious. False claims act, every student succeeds act, breach of fidiciary duty to taxpayers, constitutional violations of due process and equal protection. The people of this district deserve deserve leaders who honor their promises, not hide the truth. Tonight, I demand immediate resignations, but that alone is not enough. We further demand an independent legal and financial review of the district, disclosure of all relevant financial and federal reporting documents to the public, a detailed

011corrective plan, including robust internal controls, financial governance policies, documentation requirements, and mandatory training for all finance staff and board members. permanent reforms to ensure transparency, accountability, and compliance moving forward. And because voters were deceived the last two referendums must be repealed so the public can make informed decisions based on full and honest disclosure. Transparency and accountability are not optional. They are your duty. And when you break your oath, you forfeit the privilege to govern. The people are watching. The law is clear. And we will not stop until trust is restored. Thank you. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] All right. Next on the agenda, we have reports. We start with the superintendent report. Dr. Burroughs. >> Thank you, Steve, if you could. >> All right. Thank for everyone coming tonight. Uh my superintendent update tonight will be a

012little different than it has been previously, but I will get into that um a little later. But first, I want to address the auditor's report. Um next slide. The daughter's report that was released on Wednesday, September 3rd. Um in the findings, it echoed what we've been sharing throughout the summer that happened in our path forward to ensure it doesn't happen again. We also want to emphasize some clarifications to the information that was presented. I want to start off by saying that we take this matter seriously and we do not um take it lightly and taking steps forward to correct actions that happen. So the report findings the honors report mirrors the same findings we've been sharing with our families and community throughout the summer. Expenses were understated in the financial reports, including employee cost, payrolls,

013and summer school. Expenses that were reported did not match the state financial reporting system. The financial position report had errors in it, and the financial advisory committee meetings need more detailed information and documentation. Throughout the summer, we've been highly focused on the path forward to ensure this does not happen again. Those steps include welcoming our new finance director who joined the district in August, working with outside financial experts to thoroughly review our documents and processes to date to provide detailed reports and guidance for the future. Not only for our financial advisory committee, not only for the school board, not only for myself, but also for the community. increased financial training for various groups including our school board, our financial advisory committee, um, superintendent teams as well as team members who oversee finances. Adding additional financial

014advisory committee members who specialize in school finance backgrounds. Also creating a centralized location for all financial advisory committee documents for the public to be able to see. While the state auditors report indicated the district was aware of financial shortcomings for the district's leadership and school board became aware of budget concerns. In late May, concerns about forecasted or projected expenditures were first shared with district leadership. In June, the district brought in subject matter experts. Those experts made the district aware of the full impact of the budgeting errors, including underestimating employees cost. At the June 25th, 2025 schoolboard workshop, it was confirmed by outside experts expert analysis that the district's carryover would be $3.1 million, which was less than the anticipated carryover and less than the state required 4.2 million for two payroll cycle. As a district,

015there are a few points we want to ensure are corrected. The district only knew about the current budget situation beginning in late May of 2025, while the report indicates the district has known for longer. That is not accurate. The district went to referendum in December 2023 and in April 2024 as part of the referendum cycle for new buildings and operational growth chart. The chart on the next page kind of explains. I'll go into that. When you when a district goes to referendum, they have a surplus or they had build up their savings account or their carryover which has been mentioned. Over time, since we grow as a district, our employee costs continue to ra rise, things continue to rise and you start to spend into that surplus. When you start to spend into that surplus

016and that surplus starts to go down or the carryover starts to go down, that triggers a referendum. That's why in 2023 we went to a referendum twofold. We were in we were spending into our surplus and we also wanted to become more competitive for our teachers and for our staff in the market. We were the lowest paid um paying staff or had the lowest paid staff in Newcastle County. So in 2023, unfortunately that referendum did not pass. When the referendum did not pass, we went back. We made since we knew that we were going into our surplus. We went back and cut 400,000 immediately out of our budget at that time. We reworked the referendum and at reworking the referendum, we went out for less than we asked for the first time, but while keeping

017the important part of that referendum, the employee raises in there. With that, um, with that, we also showed that if the referendum did not pass, we were going to have to make $5 million in cuts and outline some big chunk items, what those $5 million would be in cuts. So, that's where we disagree with what the auditor is saying that we didn't notify the community what the financial situation was at that time. Um, but we were pretty clear that we're in deficit spending. if we continued on the if we continued without a past referendum that we would have to make $5 million in cuts. As a district, there's a few points that we want to ensure are also corrected. The financial advisory committee meets monthly. While documentation from meetings has and will continue to improve,

018this group has been meeting regularly. Meetings are typically held the Tuesday prior to the board meeting unless otherwise noted. More information is available on our district website and on board docs where board means information is stored in regards to those meetings. So, in July, the school board voted on the tax rate, also called the tax warrant, for the upcoming school year, utilizing the one-time 10% operational tax increase that was allowable by state law the year of reassessment. the one in addition to that before doing that the district identified and utilized um in conjunction with this $2.5 million in spend reductions for this coming fiscal year. Those fiscal those cuts came from department budgets, school building budgets, staff reassignment, and program initiative and position reductions. On August 21st, the school board voted on a revised tax

019warrant based on the new state legislation passed on August 12th that allows school districts to split rate tax rates between residential and non-residential. The new tax rate is up there. Um being informed by the county that bills will be coming out, the new tax bills will be coming out later this um week or the beginning of next week. our board made the decision to provide the maximum tax relief for district residents. It eliminated at that point um for residents the 10% increase that occurred for residents with the split tax rate. On August 14th, we held a community information night to share details about the budget situation, including timeline, the path forward, and our commitments. You can also go back and rewatch that if you have questions or or would like to see what was covered.

020It's on our YouTube channel. As a district, we continue to work with the state auditors office to ensure all recommendations are implemented. We actually are meeting with them as well. Our team is meeting with them to make sure that we're enacting all the recommendations. The internal report uh created by outside finance experts is expected to be completed and published in the coming weeks. Our financial, as I mentioned, our financial advisory committee is adding new members, continuing financial training, and updating board docs with regular meetings and information. We want to be as transparent as possible with the information we have while also looking to rebuild the trust with you, the community. Is there any questions from the board? >> Dr. G. Yes, Norm. >> Dr. Burr, I just would like to be clear. I know on

021the day that I was notified that we were notified in late May, there was an issue. We had our uh board meeting the next month and then we held uh monthly meeting with the community within about three weeks. Is that correct? >> Correct. >> Thank you, >> Dr. Bur. under the um topic of staff reassignments, can you just clarify exactly what that meant specifically as it relates to reduction in staff, did that or did did that occur or did it not? >> So staff reassignments um we've with this and with the cuts, we look to have the least impact to the the school buildings and to the classrooms. Um when you look at that 875 or percent of our local discretionary funds goes to our employee cost. So there's very little we can cut before

022you get into uh employee cost or into employees um and staff. So we immediately looked at district office staffing um reassign them to roles in the build open positions within the buildings um that were there. We didn't fill some of the positions that were open positions as well um to help reduce our staffing. >> So, you did not have to riff or reduce any of the the staff. >> We only had one position that we riffed and that was a uh constable position. >> Thank you for the clarity >> or reduced. So, Dr. Burroughs, just so I'm clear, I mean, I think that perhaps the most overlooked sentence in the auditor's report, first off, the auditor's report, as I understand it, is consistent with our own internal reviews. And we're going to be getting our

023own internal report sometime in the next few weeks before our October meeting. Is that right? >> That's correct. >> And so at our October meeting, then you and those who prepared our internal report will present on that. >> We can. Yes. >> Okay. The auditor's report says, and I don't think people realize this, the auditor of accounts conducts the Delaware annual comprehensive financial report uh every year. So, in other words, they look at school district finances at the end of every year. And it goes on to say there were no findings relating to the district in the reports for the last three fiscal years. So am I correct then based on what the auditor is telling us here that these errors that occurred all occurred within the last fiscal year >> to my knowledge. Yes.

024>> Well that's what the auditor just told us. Right. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> No it doesn't make it okay. Let me finish. >> All right. This is our meeting. Um so Maybe >> um >> now I've lost my train of thought. Um and I'm correct, am I not? That at our May meeting, the reports that we received from our CFO showed a projected carryover of 7.9 million. Correct. >> That's correct. >> Okay. And it was only after that meeting that we discovered and I don't know if it was the CFO or who discovered it that'll be part of the report we get in the coming weeks that we discovered that there had been accounting errors. >> Correct. >> Okay. So, I think just a point of clarity, um, for those of you that are

025obviously on Zoom and those of you that are in the room with us, um, just wanted to kind of just follow up. Um, and I think I said this last board meeting, but I feel compelled to say it again that by no means are we taking this lightly. Um, we recognize um, the significance of this. I think our goal continues to be to get in front of you all and to continue to try to be as transparent as possible. Like, you know, we signed up for this role. Obviously, you all have elected us and in this situation, we're in an we're not in an ideal situation, right? And so, going forward, we all remain committed to being in front of you. You guys email us, you call us, that's what we want to hear from

026you. Um, and we just ask that as we try to move forward through this process that we maintain a level of mutual respect, right? We want to continue to be transparent. We want to continue to work collaboratively with all of you. We want to continue to answer your questions. Hell, we want answers to our own questions, right? Before we can come before all of you. So, we just ask that as a community, we are members of the community, right? We all live here as well. So we are, you know, your fellow community members in addition to being your board um for APO, right? So we just ask that as you guys continue to engage us that you allow for us to come forward and give you the answers that we have and then if we

027don't have them for any of you that have spoken to me, I will tell you I don't really know, but let me follow up. I will follow up with you and get you that answer. So we appreciate all of you being here and we're here after the meeting. If you all want to engage with us, you all have our contact information. Continue to email us, continue to call us, and just reach out. We are trying to work through this just as well as you are. We're trying to get answers. Hell, our bills are going up just as well as you all. So, we're in this together. And so, we just want to remain committed to the position. And yes, some of us are up for reelection and all of us will be in that position,

028but for the time being, what's important to us is to get the answers that you all deserve and that the state auditor's report has brought forward. And I do want to just reiterate that the auditor's report supports what we've been saying to you all. There's nothing nefarious that we have done. We It truly is mismanagement of funds. I know you all don't want to hear that. Some of you don't want to hear that. Um, and it comes down to accounting. But I think what's also equally important is that we're committed to making it right. We're adding to our financial advisory committee. We are going through additional training. Dr. Bros is going through additional training as well as his cabinet. So, we're committed to it. We just ask that you guys continue to work with us

029and try to provide you answers along the way. So, um I just wanted to make that comment. We we don't take this lightly. Um, I think as I said last month, I can't share with you all what we said in executive session, but it was a pretty spirited conversation um once we were made aware of this. So, we thank you all for being here and we continue um we look forward to continuing to work for you all through this um difficult transition. >> Thank you. >> Any additional questions from the board? >> Dr. Burroughs, I I do have one additional question. >> Yes. All the reports that we see as board members for the last year about our district finances they are on our website. So if anybody has to question anything what we see

030what we get each one it's there. I ask and challenge everybody go look at our May reports look at the reports given to us and start from there and you can work through the problem as we've had to work through what happened on May 2nd or May board meeting. We thought we were fine. Two weeks later, we were not. So, please, I I get everybody's frustration. We're all part of the same community, but go back to look what our May reports had and start from there because that's what we were given. Thank you. >> Any additional questions? >> Thank you, Dr. >> All right. I just now want to get into the the kids part of this. Um, so we're currently what's known as we're heading towards September 30th count where we receive all of

031our funding is based on our September 30th count. Uh, we're currently at 12,961 students. Uh, 64 students up for where we were last uh, September 30th. Um, as I've made aware, we have a new um, system uh, that everyone is getting used to and uh, there's been a little hiccups in it that the state has brought about. We're on a state system. Um, but the team and the teachers, the staff, the the the admin, the bus uh transportation department, everyone has jumped in to try to make this. Cafeteria has nutrition workers have a new system as well. Lot there's a lot of new systems out there, but everyone's jumped in to try to make this as smooth as possible. We appreciate the grace that's been shown as uh we've tried to figure out the system

032and I just appreciate the team effort that's gone into that. We had a great first week of school, a fabulous opening. I went had an opportunity to get to all 21 of our buildings. Everyone was in all 21 of our buildings. Every one of our um staffs were excited. Um the kids were excited. Well, most of the kids were excited um to be back at school. um a lot of positive energy. I even had an opportunity to ride uh on the Old State Elementary bus the first day of school with kids. They were super excited uh to be going back to school. Um also had an opportunity uh we opened a new reading. Um a lot of great energy there. Community members came out to welcome students back into the building. Um had an opportunity

033to see them come back. Um, I will say middle schoolers aren't quite as excited as the elementary kids are to be coming back, but uh, they were still excited in their own way. Um, so looking forward to continue building off the first uh, great week that we had um, and continue just to offer great opportunities for our kids. Thank you. >> Any other questions from the board for Dr. Burroughs? Hearing none. Next on the agenda is revised policy 3108, holiday leaves and absences. Dr. Small >> good evening. Thank you. Go to the next slide, Steve. So policy revision for policy 3108 for holidays, leaves, and absences. Tonight's schedule is the report where we will be going through for the first duration of the process. We will then go to October 7th for the first reading

034and November 18th for the second reading. So this first slide speaks to the idea that we need to add governance a reference to governance to make the list of governing references comprehensive. Next slide. The second slide makes sure we create clarity about who earns acred leave. So it speaks to some um additional items that we wanted to add to the policy including the idea that a day of leave is is the standard number of hours in the workday for that particular position that the employee holds. Next slide. Um well not the next slide um but the next slide speaks to the idea of um making sure that the policy had subheadings that will lead an individual to the information in that particular area. So we added sick leave as a subheading and we also made

035it made a change with regard to um current practice based on the fact that um the human resource will require a doctor's note or any absences of four or more consecutive days and then five days can be used for personal days that are part of an individual sick leave. This slide makes our provision for 12 month employees comprehensive. Um, it was missing the zero to one year. So, a person that was in their first year of time as a 12-month employee would receive 12 vacation days as approved by the pro the uh policy. Next slide. This is the final slide. This talks about the language consistency in the sense that the component of this piece of the policy spoke to vacations in the first section first area of the section and then it spoke to

036annual leave as a part of the second uh or the last sentence in the section. So, we just uh changed the word annual to vacation and then we added fiscal leave as opposed to or I'm sorry fiscal year as opposed to the new year so that we were clear that we were speaking of uh July 1 through January third or I'm sorry through June 30th >> questions. >> Does anybody on the board have any questions for Dr. Small? >> What date would this be effective? would just take it back. >> So if we go back to the uh first slide, November 18th, 2025 is the second reading. So if it is approved by the board, then uh it will be effective based on >> I apologize. >> No problem. >> And then who would this

037affect? >> So it applies to all employees in the district. >> All right. So, we will revisit this and have a a first reading at our October 7 meeting and then a second reading and presumably a final vote at our November meeting. >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. Does anybody else have any other questions or anything? >> Norm, >> thank you. >> All right. Thank you. Next on the agenda, we have the construction update. Mr. Hopkins. Okay, the new reading logo, the eagles are there. And our first one is of the ribbon cutting. And that said, we've opened up and we had the ribbon cutting. And there's a shot of the kids t taking a first crack at it. That's that's the front of the new building. New letters in the top have been installed. So

038that's that's the grand look of the front. This is kind of a look down the side looking back towards Dent down New Street. Bikes in the bike racks. Everybody's back in the building. We're up and running. This is some of the demolition and the site work that's going on now. The the parking lot was completed on the far side. Site work now is coming across this way. We're putting in storm tech here for our storm management system. And we're moving across with the building demolition and site work pushing across towards Lake Street. You can see here some of the old buildings coming down. It's a little bit further than that now. You'll see that in a further slide, but they're just breaking this down and coming this way. A little more of the demolition on

039this side is where the new parking lot will come out from the gym. It'll come out this way and the playing field will be back in the back. This is what it looked like today about noon. This is about all that's left of the old building. The double wings here and this section here. And then that's it for the building. just more of a cleanup after that and recycling of metals, things of that nature. River view of the site kind of moving like you see that it's sectioned off through here now. This will be the new parking lot that comes in from the gym on this side. There'll be an athletic field here, basketball courts here, and we have just an area outside here and a maintenance area coming. That's it for the slides. Any

040questions? We are on budget and it it's open so we're on time. Yeah, it is a uh it's a fabulous facility. >> Just as a note, we've taken bids on the 17th for the site work for Summit Campus. So, that's the next up and coming. You're going to start seeing hearing about that, >> right? And then the demolition of the old school behind this is on ongoing now. Is that right? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> There's very little left. By the end of September, the building's gone and we're just doing slight work. >> Does anybody on the board have any questions for Mr. Hopkins? All right, hearing none. Thank you very much. Board comments. Why don't we start with Mr. Abrams who could not be here tonight because of a family uh medical issue. Mr.

041Abrams, >> thank you. I just want to thank everybody from the public who has reached out to us uh since financial position has become public to the problems or errors or that has happened. I know I've talked to many people, many people have emailed. I encourage everyone to continue reaching out to the board as we move forward. Um, it's not an ideal situation. I will agree with Mrs. uh M. Graham on the uh executive session when we first found out. We are community members. We pay taxes here. It impacted us. Also, where we go from here, we have to rebuild trust obviously. Um, I say to everybody, you can see all the reports that we see, errors were made. We just have to pick up the pieces and move forward. And that's not what anybody

042wants to hear, but that's what we have to do as a district. So, I just thank everybody for coming out, expressing their concerns, ideas, pass forward. I appreciate all of them. To all the people who are working behind the scenes to make this district what it is, I thank you. That's all I have, Mr. President. >> All right. Thank you. Uh, Miss Dit, >> good evening everyone. Um, I would like to say um my apologies for not being here last uh month. Um, I have a second job so I work a lot so you may not see me at a lot of events going forward. Um secondly, I do want to thank everyone who has reached out to me via text, phone call, and person regarding as um president has stated um the announcement of

043our shortfalls. Um we are working very hard behind the scenes. Believe me, I'm with you. I hear you. I am you. and we're going to make this fright um to rebuild your your trust. Um I do want to thank Miss Underwood for coming out and speaking with us. Um every voice matters. Um, and our goal is to be transparent and be accountable um, moving forward. Uh, and lastly, I want to thank Miss Merrick at Kwell Middle School. I have emailed her a thousand times about my password for the infinite campus. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for always responding quickly so that I can get in to see the new system. And last but not least, I am glad to be a parent again in the Apocalyptic School District. Yes, some of our students

044don't go here for many reasons. Um my son went to all boy school, Catholic, and then I always wanted him to stay here. That's that's another story. But he's back. So I'm excited. excited to be another um epochimic family and um again thank you um community for just sticking with us. Um it is not the best scenario but like this um like anything my grandmother always says sis shall pass and um that's that's the goal. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you Mr. Higgins. Thank you. Um, as a newly elected uh, board member, I have a fresh perspective of anything that's going on through this whole crisis we find ourselves in. Freshly uh, skeptical of the school board that you don't see all the things that are going on uh, behind the scenes um, as

045the general public. So, I just wrote down a brief statement because I'm not great with words. I just want to get through and read it. So I have read the audit report and honestly I can say in my opinion it is a constructive criticism from an outside source on our school district, the school board and the financial advisory committee and what they can do to better and what we must do to better ourselves. Before I was sworn in, I attended a financial advisory committee meeting and I was privy to the conversation and reviewing reports given to the financial advisory committee. It is my honest opinion that we are in a completely different place now than we were two months ago. I am sure the financial committee members would agree with me. And as Chuck has

046reflected in his minutes and his comments, there is still more to do. I appreciate all the work by the Financial Advisors Committee. Chuck, Scott, both Chuck and Scott have done to help with the district's past financial crisis. And I know they've heard my suggestions and the rest of the board's suggestions and I appreciate them implementing some of financial reports that that that I that I find helpful. Um, and by the way, when we request things as a board, we do it privately, but I will say as as as a board member, if I don't get what I would like to see privately, I will request it publicly. Um, I've had a few things here that I was going to request and happily to say I went to the financial advisors and committee and the things

047that we had talked about and wanted were on the on that report this month. So, they are doing the job the the public wants. I'm not minimizing the past discretions of the damage or the damage done in the trust of the community by by saying this, but from what I see, the district continues to learn from the failures. Those involved are contrite and have sincerely been apologetic. But most importantly, they have actively been trying to change not only by the request from the outside entities, but more effectively by experts brought in by Dr. Burrows. Speaking as a board member, we have been part of this process as chain as well as of change as well. With continuous dialogue with the district and these outside exp outside experts, our concerns and our suggestions have been and

048will be continue to be heard. I know we we as a community have learned from this chapter and it has hardened some of us and I think that's a good thing. Complete trust in your public entity is never a good thing. So now I hope we can move forward with our eyes wide open calling out what we don't seem to feel is right and to build a stronger school district all because of it. Thank you. >> Sorry I one more thing. Uh in the spirit of that again tomorrow morning at 8:30 um I will be at Manhattan Bagels to answer any questions uh the public might want to have. Come on by. I'm not buying you a bagel because I'm there on my own time but I certainly will listen. Thank you. All right. Thank

049you, Dr. Graham. >> Yes. Good evening again. So, um you all have heard my comments as it relates to uh the budget. So, I won't um restate that, but I would like to just kind of shift my focus to the students. Right. So, we're back to school. So, welcome back. Um as Dr. Burrow said, super excited. I had an opportunity to briefly visit Kwell. Um like Mrs. do it. Obviously, I have a student in the district, a middle schooler, um, who I've heard quite a bit of feedback around the Yonder pouches. Um, and so, for those of you that don't know, you know the middle schoolers, they're putting their cell phones in the pouch, um, and they're, um, keeping them on their person. And so, uh, quite a quite a bit of feedback from him

050and his cohort as they're at the house playing basketball. And, um, you know, I think it I think it's kind of split. Some are like, "Oh, it's not a big deal." some are like I don't need my phone, you know, that type of thing. But, um, I obviously we think that it's it's for the best. And so, we're excited to kick off this school year, not just for my own kid, but for all students in the district. And as normal, as I've done the past two years on the board, um, Dr. Burroughs and I will also kick off our school visits. So, we look forward to seeing um, many of you as we start to make our uh, trips throughout the district. And it's just really I'm just showing up to say hello, to really

051just see kind of your day in action. No real agenda, anything that you want to discuss. Those of you that have um that I have visited in the past, um it's really no pressure. I just really just show up uh with Dr. Burrows. Sometimes he leaves me alone and he allows for me to go by myself, which is fine as well. Um but I'm very much looking forward to the kickoff of seeing all of you um as we start our road trip, if you will. And I think most importantly, again, just welcome back. We're super excited for this school year. Obviously, we're hyperfocused on another um opportunity for improvement, but most importantly, it's the students and all of you that support their ongoing development. So, we thank you in advance and um yeah, let's get

052started. >> All right, >> Mr. President. >> Thank you, Dr. Graham. Um so, it is the start of the school year. I think always an exciting time. uh renewal and obviously we're all here because we care about public education. We believe in the importance of uh education. I you know sometimes uh the conventional wisdom that you hear out in the world is oh public education isn't working it's broken this you know the state of Delaware isn't doing well etc etc. Um, there is an independent rating service out there called NICH, NIC HE, that rates school districts and evaluates school districts nationwide. They've evaluated approximately 11,000 school districts. Appein, which is the school district that obviously we all care about most and is near and dear to our hearts. Appein ranks in the top 4% of

053all school districts nationwide according to niche. and our teachers uh rank in the top 3% nationally according to niche and it's all there on their website. You can uh you can go look at it. So sometimes I think we lose sight of some of these things. I mean I I do think that uh our education is working here in Aquinamic and we should be proud of that fact and there's a reason why when people are looking to buy a house uh many people want to buy in Aquinamic because we rank in the top 4% nationwide uh when it comes to school districts as to uh the budget shortfall that was dis that we discovered uh a couple months ago. Now, um, we were all blind blindsided by this. I mean, nobody should think otherwise. All

054of us. Um, here on the board, we relied on our CFO. He'd been with us a number of years. The auditor's report discloses that, you know, there weren't any issues in prior years. We relied on our financial advisory committee, which, you know, vets the work that that he does. And so, by the time it comes to us, you know, we've had our professionals looking at it. And at our May meeting, we were told, and we asked about it, I know I did, that we're going to have more than a sufficient carryover of $7.9 million. And then the wheels came off. And it turns out that there were some very serious errors that were made. And for reasons which we're still figuring out, those errors weren't caught. And so part of this process is to make

055sure that nothing like that never happens again, not only here, but in any other district uh in the state of Delaware. I do think the auditor's report is a good first step. Uh but it's only a first step. We're getting our own report, which I think will be more detailed and more comprehensive later this month. We'll talk about that at our next board meeting. We're going to be changing up our financial reporting and adding, I think, additional financial reports. Um, I know that we want to sit down with the auditor now that we've got a report and we've had a chance to read it and go over it with with the with her and her staff and and um get more detail. Um, her report is fairly general, but I I think you know when

056we sit down with her um again, we'll come up with uh with better reports. And I know that um the outside experts that we've retained also um have indicated they've got some strong ideas about how to make sure that uh our reporting is more robust. So that's what we're going to be doing. We'll have a workshop at some point, probably later in October, once we've figured out how we're going to be making these improvements so we can go over all of them. And that workshop will focus just on this. Um but Dr. Graham is right. Um, you know, and we do take this seriously and if anybody thinks that we don't take it seriously, then I don't know, maybe we've just been too flip in some of our comments. But, uh, but we do. And,

057you know, I I I was sick to my stomach the night that we had to vote in July because I never wanted to do that. Uh but as I've said in at other town halls and meetings, I mean we had a lot of bad choices and we had to pick the least uh worst choice and and so I think that's what we did all things uh being considered. Um so with that I will end the comments. I am excited about the school year. It's going to be a school good school year. We still have a great district and we're going to achieve great things uh this year. Uh, next on the agenda, we have old business. We don't have any, so we go to new business. And we start with the August 12, 2025 board

058of education meeting minutes for approval. The chair will entertain a motion. >> Mr. President, I move to approve the August 12th, 2025 board of education meeting minutes as presented. >> I'll second motion by Dr. Graham, second by Mr. Higgins to approve the August 12, 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. >> Anybody else? >> I Oh, I abstain as I was not at the meeting last month. >> All right. So, with Miss Dit's abstension, uh, the motion passes. Next on the agenda, we have the August 21st, 2025 Special Board of Education meeting minutes for approval. The chair will entertain a motion. >> Mr. President, I move to approve the August 21st, 2025 Special Board of Education

059meeting minutes as presented. >> Second. >> Motion by Dr. Graham, second by Miss Dit to approve the August 21st, 2025 special board of education meeting minutes as presented. Any questions, comments, or discussion on the motion? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Next, we have the monthly financial report for July 2025. >> Hi, Chuck Longfellow here. Can you hear me? >> Hello. Can you hear me? You got me audio. Okay, good. I got a thumbnail. Um we have the July 2025 um monthly financial report for you. Um the reason that we are it seems like we're two months behind all the time is because well it takes a little bit for the u month to close out. So um by the time we have the

060August data, you know, our August financial advisory meeting and our um our um board meeting are already kind of in in progress. So just um making sure you all knew that um we do get numbers you know probably about five six days after the close of each month that are that are finalized. So um so what we have today let me see see if I can share screen if it'll let me do that. Okay this is our monthly um financial report the um revenue side. So um for now we have a um monthly report that is based on the the draft amended preliminary budget um that is still in progress of being built. We do we did have a um preliminary budget approved for the expenditure side of um of the books. Um that was

061just to make sure that we could still operate in the district with some board authorized um with a board authorized budget. We are in the process right now of building um an amended preliminary budget that is going to be um a lot better and um it's going to have some some improvements over the um the budgets that were presented in the um last couple years. It takes months to build a budget. We are um we are going to have the um revenue the revised um revenue budget to the financial advisory committee and the board in October and the expenditure budget to the financial advisory committee and the board in November. Um so let's see the next page is the tax receipts. So, um, in our monthly report, we do, um, we put our tax receipts

062as they go. This is a July report, but when we did construct it, we had the August number, so we put them in here for you. Um, as of the end of August, tax receipts were 3.2 million out of the um, annual projection of 96.4 million. Um, as you can see, um, cash flow is really critical to the district and, um, October is generally when we receive the bulk of our tax revenue. Um, it remains to be seen what happens this year with the, um, the, um, creation of the split rates and the ability for people to pay um, later. We don't have numbers from the county on what the um, impact of that's going to be. um it may move some um revenue from October to November, but as long as we get a

063significant amount in October, we um we'll be good to go operating. >> So, Chuck, just to follow up on that point though that and Dr. Bros touched on this earlier. My understanding is that the new tax bills are going to be mailed out by the county if not by the end of this week, sometime early to mid of next week. And that uh as part of the legislation that the general assembly passed at its uh special session in August, the deadline for tax payments has been extended from September 30 to November 30. so that obviously folks have time to get their new bills and um and get the payments in. So I I think we are going to see receipts lag. Um but my understanding is that the general assembly was putting in place um

064to the extent any school district needed it. Um I'll say a bridge loan, but we're we typically get the bulk of our state money early in in the in the tax year, don't we? So um what happens what happens for Apoquinnam is even though um a lot of people think that Apoquinn is a richer district um because we have relatively little commercial property it's um in the eyes of the state when they equalize tax revenue um it is not one of the wealthier districts. So, Aquinamic does receive um a a good amount of state money for division 3 equalization. That carries us through the first few months of the um of the year with our local salary spend equalization. I'll show you on the next screen where that is and kind of how it plays

065out for APquent Inc. Um, so even even though some of the tax revenue may be delayed, as long as we get enough to cover our costs in the next couple months, we won't have to do the the bridge loan thing. So, it just remains to be seen what we get. Um, also in October, you'll see down toward the bottom, we usually get our first transfer of um the senior um what happens with the senior and veteran um tax relief is that um they're not charged that money by the by the county on our behalf. The state makes up the difference with a state payment. So, typically in October, we'll receive a a state payment as well. So, that'll help this 1 million if we, you know, if that's what it is. um the September if

066it's if it's four million that's great. Um if it's a lot less then that's not great. But you can see here too um in August compared to last year. Last year we received total about $900,000 in August. This year we received 3.1 million in August. So something different is happening. We just have to um watch it and see what it is and and make sure that we can um pay our payroll. That's the name of the game here. But the equalization money is what has carried us through uh July, August, and um potentially part of September. And I'll do that math um when we get to the next sheet. So the next sheet is the um state and local revenue summary. So, as of when we did this report, we um hadn't done the rest

067of the the revenue parts. We're done with that in the um amended preliminary budget, the draft. But we do have state and local here. So, we did take the amended preliminary budget numbers that we are working on for the um for the new budget um and we put them in here as our um budgeted amount. um understanding that they are not board approved yet. Um but that's what we project to um to present to you when the time comes. Financial advisory committee looked at this they had a wonderful suggestion to separate this out between what's discretionary and non-discretionary. So next month when you see this report and when you see the um amended preliminary budget you're going to see two pages of this. The first the first page is going to be discretionary state and

068local and then there'll be a totally separate page with the non-discretionary state and local. Then you'll see federal and then um debt, bonds, tuition, um all the other components there. Um but this this report here, your monthly report, it's the first um first report of the month. So, um, pretty much on the state side, what you're going to see is a lot of the preloads we get, we'll get generally around 75% of prior year money preloaded, sometimes 90%. >> This one here, division three equalization. This is this is what Mr. >> you're muted. >> I think that was Norm trying to talk. Norm, were you just trying to ask a question? Yeah. Okay. Let me see. All right. >> So, you want equalization is the um is the money we get >> um to help

069equalize the fact that we are not as property rich per unit as other districts in the state. And so that's 16.9 million preload that we get at the beginning of the year um or that we that we this I'm sorry 16.9 is our projection for the year we received 15 million and so each payroll is in the neighborhood of 2.1 million. Our first one was 2.8 million um because we had EER payments extra pay for extra responsibility. So, um, you know, 2 4 6 8 you know uh 10 12 it should get us through um 3 months. And so um we're we're glad to have this here. And then when when our local revenue comes in our 98,000 current expense tax money, then it it takes the baton from division 3 equalization and um and

070that's what we pay our local sheriff salary with um from there on out. So, um, as of now with >> this. Yeah. So, Chuck, this is the money that's come in so far this year. We also have >> correct >> the $3.1 million carryover in addition to this. Correct. >> Correct. Correct. But we needed that to um we needed that to help cover um goods and services to start up the year as well. >> I don't know. I I understand that. I mean, I just want to I just want to point out that so these are the monies we received. We also have yesterday last year's carryover. And of course, we always have to maintain a two payroll carryover anyway. >> Right. Right. And that is that is one of the um I' I'd say

071the shortcomings of um the monthly reports of the past and even this one is that it didn't it didn't show the carryover. So, as we do the budget and as we um improve this monthly report, that is something that we will show in there. Um, I know that yes, some of the past ones did show a carryover and did project a an endofear um balance, but with with all with the discretionary and non-discretionary combined, it's really hard to see. Um, and and as you'll see when we do our report, that's going to be one of the the things we point out is that we really do need to separate what's discretionary from non-discretionary in order to get a clear picture. We didn't have a clear picture. So, these are our um receipts to date. State,

072local is down toward the bottom. You can see not a lot of big numbers yet because um your taxes haven't really started to come in um and in anticipation of people paying their annual bill. A lot of these are delinquencies or um you know, late payments or um well, I'm not sure if they're interim payments or not. You know, we had the the issue of that. I know last year where um that that wasn't being built out. This is our this is our revenue um report monthly report. Um we have a separate report which is the um expenditure report. It looks a lot different than what you received um previously um in the last fiscal year. This right here is operating units and program codes, which is how um how school districts in Delaware budget

073using operating units and program codes. We have a discrete set of those things that we can choose from. We can't really make up our own. Um so some of them don't some of them tend to not fit. Um but um what you'll see is you'll see budget amounts of zero. Even though um the board did approve a preliminary expenditure budget at 75% of last year's numbers, we still keep zero in here because we are operating on I'd say in austerity mode. Um once the preliminary expenditure, amended preliminary expenditure budget is approved by the board, then we will put numbers in here and schools and um departments will will know exactly where they stand. But right now, I think the schools and departments are doing a great job of holding back. We've asked them to keep

074this thing down to what was what's absolutely necessary to open school doors and um you know, just just keep the lights on for this point until we know um until we establish that budget and know exactly what we're going to um allocate. So, um this is a this is our expenditure report. reports a lot more detailed than I think you'd had um in in the past for a monthly report, but um it's just so you can see what's going out. And um part of the part of the training we've been doing with the financial advisory committee and the superintendent is um on what to look for. And so um since we have lots of people out there, I'm sure, who are interested in what to look for, the biggest look for in these reports are

075going to be where it comes from. As Dr. I said almost 90% of this discretionary money goes toward um salary. So here you're going to look at um division three local salaries. Once there's a budget amount in here um this should keep pace especially once you get past the first month or two because we have summer school. So sometimes the spend will outpace the budget, but once you get past that, then your your um spend should not outpace the budget. If it does, then you do need to do a workflow >> analysis and find out what's going on. And the other the other one is the um tuition tax account, too. 9 uh 999702. This is the other one to watch. And once you get a budget amount in here, the same thing holds. You

076want to make sure that um your spend is not outpacing. And when I say that, do it by um make sure you're doing it by payroll, not by month. Each month is 112th, but we have 26 paydays in a year. And so three some years there are 27, but three of those months um or I'm sorry, two of those months are three pay months. Um so just make sure that you uh check those. So, um I'm stopping the share, making sure I got everything here. Um also just wanted to mention um some of the some of the additional reports that we started providing to the financial advisory and the board. A, um salary tracker. So, after every payroll, we update something we call a salary tracker that tracks the discretionary state and local and the

077tuition um taxbased salary spend. And um we want that to be a product that goes um every at least every month to the to the board and the financial advisory committee. We're also doing a um discretionary funds um cash flow report too. And so the the committee has said that those have been helpful so far. So, um the uh financial advisory committee and pro provide their feedback on September 2nd and um we are um requesting that the board approve the month the July 2025 monthly uh revenue and expenditure reports. >> Chuck, I I just had one other question I wanted to ask. On the property tax receipts report for July, you've got an amount for current, which is our operating expense money, and that's $45,640.56. And then there's a column for debt service, tuition, and

078the match taxes. Um, and it adds up to a total. But then on the um July 2025 monthly report when I look at that in local revenue the only thing I think I see there is the current expense number which has been rounded up to an even dollar $45,641. I don't see the tuition tax revenue on that state and local revenue summary. or am I just not seeing it because I'm not looking at the right line item? >> No, you're right. You're right. So, as we as we build out the prelim the amended preliminary budget, we um since since we had the meeting with the financial advisory and created this report, we've done there's additional sheets for tuition and debt service and some of the other areas. So, >> and so by doing, so by

079doing this, if I mean, I think what we're going to be driving towards is the tuition tax money can only be used for special education expenses. The match tax can only be used for match tax things and the general operating revenue, of course, we can use for our operational expenses, teacher salaries and things like that. So we we're not cominging or showing funds on this uh state and local revenue summary if they're not relate. This is really just the general operating expenses if I'm correctly. Is that right? >> This is this is and um remember in our draft if we have match some of the other matches like techmax match and um extra time we might be treating them as local non-discretionary. So you might see them on that second page. >> But your point

080about >> your point about segregating these out so there's not overlap or or uh confusion is that funds which can only be used for certain expenses are only going to now be tracked against the expenses that they can be used against. >> That's right. We're going to and we're going to map those um revenue sources um to specific operating unit and program codes that will be in the budget. So that um and we'll provide that map. We'll call it well we're going to call it our chart of accounts. Um it's you know that's a tool that you can use to know like which appropriations are going to flow into which um operating units and program codes. That should be an improvement that you'll see um that I don't think you have at this point. >>

081All right. Does anybody else have any other questions for Dr. Longfellow? Mr. Higgins. >> Yeah. Hey Chuck. Uh, first, thank you again for all the help you've you've been catching me up to speed on financing. It's pretty complicated, but um, looking at the, uh, the available discretionary cash balance, it seemed this July uh, the district spent 10% less last year as they did this year in July. Um, I know it's just a snapshot of one month and actually in in a school district I imagine July is not really, you know, a month to look at, but how many months uh would you give or weeks so we can look at last year's expenses really and get a and get a firm idea on where we are as per last year? >> Um, I'm not sure

082exactly what you're asking for, but whatever it is, we'll get it to you. Um, we did uh >> No, I'd ask I'd ask what what sample size would you say would be a fair sample size to compare year to year? >> This is a month of July. I don't think that's probably a fair assessment. Although it's 10% less better than 10% more, but um where would you think we would start grabbing real numbers where we could say, "Hey, the this this is the track we're on." usually by usually by um October or so. September, the second payroll in September is when usually for the um 10-month employees, that's most of your teachers, paras um that's when their raises kick in. So, it takes a little while to stabilize that. Um we did um you know

083um Miss Stewart and and I and um one of the staff members um the other Miss Stewart who works in finance we work today on that that report that you're talking from and we did the August numbers too. So >> Oh great. >> You know she can provide that to Dr. Burroughs and he can fan that out to you so you can see what August looks like compared to last year. We did notice I think did did you notice um was it that July for this year was more than July for last year? The >> I notic it was less. It was 10% less. >> I'd have to look at it again. >> Right. >> So I don't have that right in front of me, but Right. >> Yeah. Any questions you have on that,

084we'll we'll we'll be glad to dig into it. But the August one we just did today along with the updated um salary tracker. >> Any spoiler alerts? Um well the salary tracker looks good. I can I can already tell that some of the cuts that um that they were talking about um looks like they've had impact when you take so when you take $2.5 million divided by 26 payrolls that's about 100,000 and so um the last couple payrolls have been around you know 1.9 something 2 million if I remember correctly. So rather than 2.1. So some of that's taking root already. Um but then the summer the sum summer summer pay is kind of wonky because you got you know time sheets for this or that. So again I don't want to I don't want

085to promise that that's exactly what it is. We could we we could dig in for you. You know if you've got the specific questions >> and I know you will. Thank you. >> Y >> Dr. Graham. >> No. >> Oh you look like you >> No, I don't have any questions. >> Any other questions? Mr. Y >> okay um so we have the monthly financial report in front of us as presented by Dr. Longfellow with the recommendation of the financial advisory committee that we approve it the chair will entertain a motion >> I motion to approve the monthly financial report as read in July 2025 >> second >> motion by Mr. Higgins second by Miss Dit to approve the monthly financial report for July 2025 as presented by Dr. Longfellow and as recommended by the

086financial advisory committee. Any questions, comments, or discussion on the motion? Mr. >> No, go ahead. Not on the not on the motion. >> Okay. Hearing uh none, all in favor signify by saying I I >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Did you want to say? >> I'll come in after D. >> Okay. Uh next on the agenda, we have the internal accounts report for July 2025. Mr. Longfellow. Dr. Longfellow. >> Thank you. Also on September 2nd, the financial advisory committee reviewed the internal accounts review report for July 2025. Um, this report had been expanded since um since previous ones u based on the request of the financial advisory committee to begin including elementary school internal accounts as well. And so, um, they did have a couple questions and I know that the staff is

087researching those questions, um, for the financial advisory committee, but the committee does, um, recommend that the board approve that report as well. >> Any questions for Mr. Longfellow? Dr. Longfellow. >> All right. Well, we have in front of us the internal accounts report for July 2025. Uh, it's been presented by Dr. Longfellow recommended for approval by the financial advisory committee. Any uh the chair will entertain a motion. >> I motion to approve the uh internal accounts report as presented by Dr. Logo. >> Second. >> Motion by Mr. Higgins, second by Dr. Graham to approve the internal accounts report for July 2025 as presented and as recommended by the financial advisory committee. Any questions, comments, or discussion on the motion? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion

088carries. >> Mr. President, just a point of privilege. I just wanted to um remind the the public that these reports will be um made accessible for all of you on our website. And so just to kind of give you the pathway, if you're on our school website, you know, you click the sandwich um and then you drop down to departments and then under departments, you click on finance and then you will see the finance page and you will see the section around financial advisory committee and all these other financial documents that we're talking about. So again, of course, trying to continue to be transparent, equip you with the information that you're looking for. So, we now that we've voted to approve it, you will now have access to it. Obviously, you can play back uh

089Dr. Longfellow's um explanation, but I just wanted to remind you all that this information will be made accessible to you now that as a board we have approved it uh for the general public. Thank you, Mr. President. >> Okay. Uh next on the agenda, but we as we've already said, uh it's being deleted because there are none. So, there are no overnight field trips for approval. That brings us to the Summit Campus Middle and High School design development bid documents. Mr. Hopkins, I have submitted design documents for approval. And prior to that, we have a presentation to show you what we're looking at at this point. With that, we have Scott Lester from ABHA and Moren Rosanski from Bucks Associates. Start that off. >> Uh, good evening. Uh this is the design development uh presentation

090for the summit campus middle school and high school. Um going back we had this in April we had schematic design that was approved. Uh since that time we've kind of evolved and developed systems uh detailing um some you know additional information about layouts and further progress the design. So what you're seeing here is a progression of that design. Um and then again we'll be coming back for um uh contract documents later um probably in January. Um what you're seeing on the screen now is a site plan. It's um you probably seen this before with the layout of the campus. It's a campus master plan. Um showing the general relationship of the buildings and the fields. Um coming in off of 896, you come to the uh the primary entry loop. Oops. Oops. And you can

091see the um uh the gray area is the existing uh elementary school and in the back is the maintenance building. And then the progression of the buildings is the yellow is the um middle school, the lighter blue is the high school and the darker blue is the shared performing arts center. And then the fields are um around there. The one in the back is the um uh main stadium with a fieldhouse which we'll look at some more detail. Um currently as uh Keith Hopkins mentioned has the uh site plane is out for bid. Uh site work is currently out to bid. Um on the next slide we show the relationship of the overall first floor plan. So to orient to the left is the middle school um with its entrance facing the the center green

092space and the parent drop off and visitor parking. Um to the right is a high school entrance and in between is a um smaller performing arts center entrance with a main performing arts center entrance facing the rear of the site and the the majority of the parking. Um, also on the left side in the rear is the entry coming in for the middle school gymnasium and the middle school cafeteria for the for the bus parking for the students to come in. And on the high school side, similar thing with the gymnasium entrance and it's bus parking is out there as well. And it's very short distance from the high school gym to the fieldhouse which we'll see also some views. Um generally on the first floor is um academic spaces. Um in the front and

093the back are the larger spaces. Kind of the shared spaces which is kind of the economy of this combined middle school high school is the kitchen um which serves both middle and high school cafeterias. The shared performing arts center with the with the auditorium and blackbox and music spaces. Um, and then you can also see the uh high school gymnasium on the back there. >> It's got the shared spaces help reduce cost of the building overall. Just >> Yes. Yes. Like you're not building two kitchens. You're only building one auditorium and uh keeping keeping the square footage tight. On the second floor, um you can see it's um second floor is for the academic spaces of the middle school and the high school. um the connection the shared space here is the media center. So

094it's shared similar to um Fair View campus where that's the connection point on the second floor um for the middle school and high school. There's also upper levels for the um gymnasium for the high school and also for the performing arts center. And then next slide is the um third floor plan. Um due to the site being more compact than at the Odessa campus um Fair View campus um we chose to go up to three stories for the high school both for the monumentality of the building but also to you know conserve sight space and make the building more compact and efficient. So this is primarily um academic space. >> So we know these are hard to look at on a large scale. So we're going to break it down a little bit for you

095here. So, looking at the first floor of the high school, uh you see that main entry there coming off of that uh inner loop to the bottom middle of the page to the left is the main uh administration. Uh further along in that wing in the blue are all the student services, support uh areas, guidance, etc. And across the hall are a lot of the special programs. Um as you enter the building and go to the right in the purple is the nurse, so it's front um or close up to the front entry. And then as you continue down that wing, what you see primarily in yellow are all of the general education classrooms. Um, sprinkled in there are a lot of the technical education uh areas uh that extend, you know, into the high

096school level. Uh, as you start to move your way through the building, you'll see another kind of there's a men uh central spine. Uh, and that top portion of the slide is the main entrance, rear entrance for athletics um, and other school functions. So to the right in the green is all of the high school athletics and main gymnasium. And to the left again are some more of those technical education spaces. You'll start to see uh those areas in kind of that light pink. Those are a lot of the shared um or the combined performing arts uh spaces as well. So moving up to the second floor of the high school, again kind of orienting yourself to the center uh and to the left. All those areas in that kind of darker gray are a

097lot of the sciences. Um there are also some allied health labs and they're located there because of the synergy with a lot of the associated um science you know biology and anatomy labs. So there's um allows some flexibility in that as well. And then to the right you again see a lot of the uh yellow which is the general education classroom. So those begin to stack. You also see a connection to the upper level of the gymnasium uh and the wrestling room area. So, um, again, that allows that circulation, um, and access to the upper level. And then moving to the third floor, you'll see a lot of yellow, a lot more of the, uh, general education classrooms. Those again for efficiency are, um, all stacked with central circulation moving throughout. Um, again, you have,

098um, some more of your support um, programs. the art uh the graphic arts and um 2D and 3D art are located in that central uh spine for easy access. And then shifting over to the middle school again kind of orienting you to the central bottom of the slide is the main entrance of the middle school. Uh it's a little reversed here. So on the left you have the nurse in purple and then continuing down um that wing is the sixth grade pod. So just like a lot of the other middle schools uh the building is oriented into pods. So you've got sixth, seventh, and eighth grades and your related arts as well. So as you move to the right of that entrance in red is the main administration um and other supporting um administrative functions

099and then into um that right pod is all of your related arts, your A, your business um health sciences, etc. As you move through from the entry um back or kind of up towards the the page there, you have a lot of special programs in the middle in um in the orange color and then continuing on through again you see the middle school gymnasium top left in the green and then the right portion of that circulation is the middle school cafeteria. So it's kind of an open um space overflow to the to the gymnasium. What you see to the right of that teal color is the kitchen. As we had mentioned, this is a great opportunity to maximize the efficiency of the building um and uh have a shared space which allows for shared uh

100loading docks, you know, refrigeration, etc. between the middle school and the high school. Uh on the second floor of the middle school, again, we're going into the seventh and eighth grade pods. Um they are pretty much a mirror of one another. You've got general education classrooms and each of the wings including the sixth grade have uh three of the science labs and that's to help support um the Spanish immersion uh and the need for um for those additional program spaces. And then again in the center you've got administrative um spaces as well as your art and then shifting over to the performing arts center. So we're kind of going back to the first floor there, but this is that area as we were saying is kind of con joins the middle school and high school.

101So you can see at the bottom middle that's an entry from that inner loop we talked about that um related arts middle school pod to the left uh and the administrative and special programs uh high school to the to the right. As you continue your way through you see um you start to see other program components for the high school. In orange is the uh culinary arts uh program and that's located there. So it can really have that overflow to the cafeteria and help support uh after uh school events with the auditorium. You see that teal of the high school cafeteria again has that shared kitchen uh to the left of that and that becomes a real uh overflow space um for any events with the auditorium. uh all the areas to the right there

102in that light purple that's the um auditorium 800 seat auditorium just to the north of that in kind of a middle medium purple is the black box um that seats 100 um uh seating and then the the purple and the and the pink are all of the supporting spaces for the performing arts. So your band orchestra uh chorus etc. And then going up to the second floor of the performing arts, again you see the uh how it connects um the middle school to the high school wings with that kind of light green is the media center. So again, this was a shared program component that allows for a lot of efficiency by having those two components and and provides that connection between uh the eighth grade and then and the and the high school. And

103then you see the upper level uh of the auditorium and of the black box as well. Uh and then shifting out of the main building, um as you'll see in some of the renderings, we have the fieldhouse um component for the main athletic stadium. The little um box in the top is actually a a separate building. We've extracted some of the components from the main fieldhouse uh such as a concessions and visitor toilet rooms. This was uh in order to be able to give flexibility in the future. So, when you have a small event, you could really just operate out of the smaller uh building. When you have a larger event, this allows you the opportunity to separate your uh visitors and your home spectators for security and for um circulation of of the crowds.

104But the fieldhouse um the main fieldhouse still has all of your main locker rooms for JV, varsity, etc. Majority of the toilet rooms to support as well as all the other uh you know, athletic functions with athletic trainer. got officials uh locker rooms and changing rooms in there as well. So you'll see how these kind of connect in the overall site with some renderings that we want to share with you. >> Uh so so to start off with the renderings, this is actually the constructed um elementary school and it was kind of the uh the precedent set for the language of the campus. um in terms of materials kind of fenestration um a lot of brick colors and castone and other masonry colors were kind of rooted in this. So as we develop we move

105on to the next one which is the middle school um elevation. You can kind of see it's a similar um language of materials especially facing the front. Um however it's been up developed into a larger scale. So, a larger scale entrance, still two stories, but using the same language of the original um um elementary school. And then going on to the high school, um because it's three stories, it does have this um stronger presence at the um the end of this, you can kind of see that it's the end point of the focal, you know, the access here um leading in from 896 and on the other side of it, it leads out to the fieldhouse. Uh but the um the scale of this in terms of the entry elements and the the three-story presence

106is larger, more monumental just uh due to it being the high school on the site. And then some additional views. This is the high school again looking at more from an angled view showing the relationship with the parking elements. Um the next one is showing the middle school um with again with a park parking and the drop off areas. As we kind of move around to the back of the building, you can see the the similar mainstream materials were starting to also introduce um some other materials, the larger scale spaces. um some more economical materials but also larger materials such as metal panels um groundace masonry and um fiber cement raincreen systems. This view here is of the um middle school uh gym entrance or bus entrance for the students. Uh to the right is

107the gymnasium. To the left is the cafeteria with kind of a higher monitor to let let light in. Um over here this is the performing arts center entrance and it's again facing the majority of the parking for the events. Um there's a perforated metal on the angular um entry element here. uh tall two-story um entry lobby coming in and then in the back you can see the metal clad um auditorium house uh showing that to the left of that is the black box but no windows in that but it's all just a a plain you know uh opaque um ground face panels. Um here this is showing the gymnasium entrance. Uh to the left is the gym and then then again coming into a grand um uh entrance for the gym. To the right there

108is the separate entrance for the daycare entry uh to separate that from the typical school traffic. Um this view here is kind of showing the relationship of the gym entrance to the fieldhouse. So this view is from the top of the gym entrance looking out towards the fieldhouse. Um the actual fieldhouse is tucked under the grandstand bleachers for the stadium. Um and then the we use using a perfect I'm sorry fabric panels to with graphic it's really hard to see from this distance but graphic panels to show um screen the superructure of the um bleacher structure. And then to the left of that is the um if you go back to the left of that little concession building that's Marine was talking about. And then finally we have some aerial views. This is a view

109from the front kind of showing that main circulation element with kind of that norless themed um growth element in the center and the buildings kind of radiating around. Um, we didn't talk about this on the site plane, but that big green area in the front is, you know, empty space is where the future early childhood center would be located. And then moving on, uh, view from the back. This is the stadium complex looking back towards the gym, uh, showing the different, uh, parking lots and bus parking areas. And then another view here. This shows the agriculture building in the foreground with the bus parking and gym entrance for the uh middle school. Um are there any questions? >> Questions from the board? >> Nope. >> Yeah. So just catching up to speed here. the space

110needed, the size, the amount of classrooms, the extra extracurricular space, and all the amenity and the amenities that make up this project were all approved approved last year, right? And a referendum was put out last year. So, this is just us approving what was already this is a culmination of what was approved last year, correct? >> Yeah. And it's all part of the E edspec, too, you know, because the EDS spec, you know, kind of dictates how you design the building, right? That's part of how we built that. >> Thank you. >> So Keith, when you say edspec, I mean this is all being built pursuant to the formula from the Department of Education. Is that what you mean? >> Yes. >> Yeah. I was just going to say I think if you could grab

111the mic and kind of just restate that because I think part of the feedback that we hear as board members is like we're we spend too much on the schools and things of that sort. So if you can just restate kind of the guidance that you are >> the guidance is the ed education specification. So you present that down there for approval and then we start designing the building around that. We hold meetings with the staff and everybody to get that specification you know through programming and it it takes months to pull that together. Then we bring the education specification to you guys for approval and then we send that down to DOE and they approve it and we start designing based off of that. Yeah. You know with all the criteria that we need.

112>> Yes. going on the budget that was given from the >> correct >> okay now knowing a little bit about construction conversations we've had um with every month expenses go up right and then I'd imagine with every curveball thrown by whatever entity expenses go up um so my my question would be um we if there's a gap um in that is there any plan B if we say hey funding is not there or is that just something we all have to figure out on our own? >> No, that's >> not on our own. That's not a great question. I mean, figure out as a community. >> No, that that's something we're, you know, we'd have to take down to OMB and, you know, have those conversations with them. >> Thanks for clarifying. >> Oh, go

113ahead. >> I mean, to your point like uh the state gives us a square footage formula and gives us what can be in that square footage formula and you have to build within that square footage formula. Um and so to your point like costs continue to go up anytime there's any inkling of something's going to change in the economy costs go up um you know we did construction and co and as we all know all the costs went up at those period of times um from what the money that we received. So, it's a it's a continual like back and forth with the Department of Education, the Office of Management, Budget, um as costs continue to rise. >> My point being this is just such a amazing complex, right? Um but to my point and

114to your answer, all of this was approved by formulas are done by what we should give our kids, what what what we where we what space we're providing for them for future growth. and um w without it we don't have classrooms for future growth. So that's why we're doing it. I was just trying to get clarification on the connection between the the budget that we have the referendum was passed for that and then this process. So that's kind of why I was kind of asking. >> Yes. >> We aren't arbitrary making the decision. Arbitrarily making the decisions I think is the point. >> Yeah. I will also issue my standard objection to all the new schools that we build. I don't understand why we don't put at least a few showers in the locker rooms.

115I mean, I'm if I'm looking at these plans correctly, there are no showers in any of the locker rooms. Am I correct about that? >> There are not. All right. >> Does anybody else have any other question? So, what are you looking for now? You've made this presentation to us. Describe the next steps in the process here. >> Thank you. That's what >> Yeah. So, so the next step is this. We're looking for approval of the DD documents and then with that approval, we go down to DFM for their approval of the documents. This is about a 67% set of documents. Then we continue on to construction documents. We'll come back to you with the construction documents. They're at about 95 97 at that point. Then then we're looking to go out to bid at

116that point. So we'll go back down to DFM after the approval of those documents. Then we'll go out to bid in the spring. So that's that's kind of the process. >> You say DFM. What's DFM? That's department of facilities management. >> Okay. So that's a state entity that has to approve our designs. >> Yep. Yep. They they approve all designs, all budgets, everything goes through them. >> So we approve these floor plans essentially or blueprint if you will. Then we go down to the state agency. They look it over. Then they also have to approve it. Presumably they could request changes or or not approve it. Then once they approve it, you go to the next step which is to start construction drawings. >> Yeah. Well, construction drawings, we're moving towards that now. You know,

117this thing has to keep moving to stay on schedule. But but for our next step and for this part of the process and the next step would be construction documents to you. So, so yes, it's it's it's continuing. So, construction documents aren't waiting for DFM approval. We're moving now and then we'll take those down once we receive them. But ultimately DFM has to approve not only >> this conceptual or these blueprints if you will uh but then they also have to approve our construction drawings. >> Correct. And there'll be a meeting down there with them and and we'll sit and go back and forth with them and they'll have recommendations and we'll make changes based on that and >> All right. And then once once DFM, which is this, I guess Department of Facility Management,

118um, approves all the construction drawings, then that's when we go out to bid and and start to get numbers. >> Correct. >> And what's the estimated timeline between our voting on this tonight and getting to a bid process? >> Our bid process is spring, so you probably see construction documents. What did we say? We were thinking January. >> Yeah. Yeah. January. >> January. >> Right. To the board >> in February, March somewhere in that timeline for out for going. >> Are you bringing 97 documents in January? 97. You said >> 90% 97% >> 97%. >> Oh. Oh. 97. >> I say 97% because there's always going to be questions and things will change right there through the bid process. >> Just clarifying. Okay. >> Besides uh mother nature, what do you do you expect or

119foresee any delays or anticipate any delays? Um, >> well, there's there's always going to be weather, right? You're always going to be I mean, yeah, regardless of weather, >> but you try to build that into your schedule, you know, as you're building your schedule, you're giving yourself weather delays, things like that, right? And then for for materials, you know, you're kind of tracking that. So, you know, see have your board out there saying, "Okay, my lead times." And then you really start tracking your materials, you know, just so you don't hit that pitfall, >> right? And you've somewhat I mean, you can't foresee the future, but you we've somewhat budgeted all that in there, right? Um, I know sometimes there's there is ask for additional funding. I get that. But >> well, you try to

120avoid that as as >> as much as you can through your schedule. You try to stay in front of that one. >> Does anybody have any other questions for Mr. Hopkins or the team? an estimated budget for this project. >> It was in the Well, typically we don't take questions from the audience. I apologize, but the the answer is in the referendum we estimated this at uh I'm not sure what the number was. >> Yeah, that was the point that I I and I I got that the money that was allocated for this project was allocated in the referendum. this project is a reflection of the money that was allocated for this project. >> Right >> now, there's always going to be extended costs and there's going to be things that you can't control or

121we can't control. >> Um, and there might be a gap there. >> Well, there it was it was for 239 million that was approved through the referendum >> and and that was based on the construction formula that we were we had to go to that criteria, right? And as we go forward, if we see issues, then we're gonna go down, have a talk with Dover and say, you know, this is a problem or not. >> Right. Right. So that goes back to my original question was this is all based on the referendum that was passed last year >> and based on construction formula. >> Right. And then on a formula that isn't your formula. It's a formula for and and a formula had had problems in the past. >> Right. Right. Right. Right. And it's

122not that's not on you. That's a >> that's what we're restricting >> have to go on. Yes. >> Right. So >> yes, I think just the reiteration of the funding formula you just said, I'm not sure if everybody heard that has had problems in the past. >> Oh yes, they the construction formula was changed and then it uh it showed not to hold true. So then you know there was market pressure money that was applied to various projects, you know, going forward. But to answer the question just so we're clear and I don't want to 239 million was the amount that was in the referendum that was approved last spring. So that's what's budgeted. This is two schools essentially uh a middle school and a high school. And then also in that referendum in addition

123to the 239 million was I forget the number money for an elementary school on Green Giant Road >> roughly 50 million. >> Right. Yeah, that was part of it. >> Yeah, but that's that's an addition. The 230 that's an addition. >> That's that that's that's a separate >> and the state pays% of that cost approximately. 77 >> the state pays 77% of that cost. >> Yeah, 77 23%. So, it's I I think I guess I'm just wanting to ensure that some of these kind of like sidebar comments like we're actually like the public is actually hearing um so we can all kind of move forward in an informed fashion. Right. So I think a lot of what you all presented tonight has been very helpful in understanding the funding formula, the implications that we've had

124in the past, which you can probably anticipate will happen again and that more importantly that this isn't the board arbitrarily making a decision like it's the state dictating to us how we operate, right? So I think we've heard that along the lines of you're spending too much and things of that sort. So we're all learning um and so we continue to just highlight that. So I thank you all for this presentation. It's been helpful. >> Right. But on our end, not letting you more move forward gets expensive and all we're doing is letting you move forward on a project that was planned and funded last year. Correct. >> Yeah. >> Right. In closing. >> Yeah. In closing. Yes. >> I I've got nothing else. Mr. President, >> I have one other question. So, in full

125transparency, considering the um economy and and tariffs and just everything going up, since the formula was already created and we had an amount, how does the increases that we're now experiencing >> affect or impact the formula to a building that now may cost more as a result of the material? materials >> that we have to buy in the future. >> So, can I take that? Yeah. >> So, that I mean that's one of the things that we're encountering. Um, as was mentioned, the formula uh hasn't met the needs for construction uh in the past and we've had to go down to the state. Matter of fact, every project since um 2020, they've had to go down to the state and ask for adjustments in the formula. So anticipating that this is probably going to need

126to go down to the state. >> How many of those projects that have to go down the state are approved to receive additional funding? And do you I mean you may not know the answer to that question, but do you have an idea on percentage- wise? >> Uh so far every project has been approved for additional funding except one because um it was determined that they added additional square footage outside of their >> what the project. >> Right. Right. And we're not obviously not doing that. So there's no reason for us to expect the state not to approve since they've approved every other project. >> I mean in my opinion, I'm not sure that's your opinion. >> That's a very optimistic view. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> So before tariffs and all that, it's

127always been an issue with the formula being a low amount and schools always had to go out for additional funding. >> Correct. >> Okay. from from in 2016, we had this very same amount of schools go out and there was no additional fund needed and that was based on the old construction formula and everything there forward that came after the change in the construction formula would created problems and most jobs around the state not just our jobs everybody had to come back in for additional funds because the formula is incorrect. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And just to clarify the one project Dr. Bros that did not get approved was not within our district. Correct. >> That's correct. it was in another district where it was determined they added square footage >> from their initial

128um submission. >> Okay. Thank you for the clarity. >> And I just want to follow answer the question, but the referendum you guys asked for 66 million. I've not seen 239 million anywhere. I'll speak um so um yeah I'm >> so as we mentioned we don't take questions from the floor but we'll be more than happy to speak to you as after the meeting >> thank you >> but we can explain it go ahead Matt if you do you want to explain the answer because >> it sets a different >> well let's just get the >> no you're I believe you're >> there's a total cost and it is you have to hear the meeting anyway so and you're right Dr. you you don't want to >> even though the answer could be the question

129could be answered it would set present for more questions to be asked during board meeting. >> Thank you Mr. Higgins. >> So let's all right we have before us the Summit Campus um middle and high school design development bid documents for approval. Any further questions hearing? None. The chair will entertain a motion. I motion to approve the submit submitted uh Middletown and High School design development bid documents >> as presented. >> Summit summit. >> Summit. I'm sorry. >> As as submitted. Presented. >> Was there one more time? Would you like that again? >> Yeah. >> Let's get better. >> My motion >> that we approve the Summit Campus Middle and High School design development bid as presented. >> Second. >> Motion by Mr. Higgins. Second by Miss Dwit to approve the Summit Campus, Middle and

130High School design development bid documents as presented. Any questions, comments, or discussion on the motion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Next up, we have change orders for approval. Mr. Hopkins. >> Okay. I've submitted change orders for approval or that I'm recommending for approval. Uh couple of them to note. You'll see a project requirement transfer of like 27,000. Part of that's like a ledger move where we we pay back the wedding and Turner for things that they've paid for for us at no cost. And it' be like safety fencing and dumpsters and you know porter pots, things like that. Now that that one then for this month is at 27,000. We also have some additional asbestous abatement out

131there for 37,000 and uh it was oh some additional blocking out there for 12,000 and that's just things as they start to come through as the jobs closing out. We're going to pick up these things and just close out change orders that are out there. With that, I'm seeking approval of the change orders as submitted. >> All right, we have the change orders for approval as presented by Mr. Hopkins and as before us. Any any questions for Mr. Hopkins? Hearing none, the chair will entertain a motion. >> Mr. President, I move to approve the change orders as presented. >> Second. >> Motion by Dr. Graham, second by Miss Dit to approve the change orders as presented and as recommended by Mr. Hopkins. Any questions, comments, or discussion on the motion? Mr. Hopkins, notwithstanding these change

132orders, we still are uh on budget. Correct? >> We are. >> Correct. And that's because we had contingencies in the budget. Correct. >> Yes. Okay. Any further questions, comments? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Next, we have the personnel report for approval. Dr. Small. >> Good evening. Again, the personnel report for the month of September has been submitted for your approval. We're asking for approval of that report along with the names from executive session. >> Mr. Mr. President, I motion that we approve the personnel report as submitted. >> Second. >> Um, just a friendly amendment. The personnel report as presented with the addition of the name from executive session, correct? >> Yeah. Y >> and Dr. Graham, you agree with that? >> Yes. >> Okay. Any

133questions, comments, or discussion on the motion hearing? None. All in favor of approving the personnel report as presented with the addition of the name from executive session say I. I. >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. >> With that, we are at the end of our agenda. The financial advisory committee will be meeting at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, September 30th in the boardroom at the Marriott Mary and Profit uh training center. So that's here. And the next regular board of education meeting is Tuesday, October 7th at 7 p.m. in this same room. And if you can't make it here in person, you of course can watch on YouTube. Uh thank you everybody for attending. We are adjourned.