001Right. Call to order the Crestwood School Board special meeting. Please stand for the pledge of >> allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Mr. Namy, >> Madame President, thank you for your time. uh to our esteemed board members and to our administration and uh uh gentlemen that are here this evening. Uh Miss Romanion could not be here this uh evening. Uh she deeply regrets uh her absence. However, there is a family emergency that is uh extremely critical at this time and uh she wishes to pass her apologies and uh I stress to her that we would obviously keep her and her family in her thoughts and prayers. >> Thank you. Thank you.
002We certainly will. Uh, roll call. Mrs. Otter, >> Mrs. Bibla, >> here. >> Mrs. Chaitito Zagoric >> here. >> Mr. Gallagher >> here. >> Mrs. McGovern Copcho >> here. >> Mrs. Romanition. >> Mr. Namy >> here. >> Mr. Seitzi >> here. >> Mr. Patty, >> Dr. Patty >> here. >> Mrs. McCertie >> here. >> Eight members present. >> Thank you. Executive session was held on May 27th, June 8th regarding contracts, personnel, actions, and pending litigations. Move into the superintendent report. Mr. Ser, >> I do not have a report this afternoon. However, as federal programs coordinator, I will be presenting following our presentation from Baragy. Well, thank you very much for the opportunity uh to be here tonight. >> Is that better? Yep. Um yeah, so thank you very much for the opportunity. Obviously, um really
003appreciate it. Uh Mike Hess, obviously I've met you before. Adam Grub and Brian Gford, two of the engineers uh on our team. So, the [clears throat] goal really is to is to make this more of a Q&A. We've done a deep dive into both the sewer line as well as the uh gym situation. So, we'll talk about both those and um I think we have a total of five or six slides. So, um please interrupt us and you know try to make this as interactive as possible. So uh so the first scope is the sewer line replacement. So you know the way we set this up is hey here's really the issues obviously as you're aware of and then our recommendation as far as um you know going about remedying the situation. Uh so in
004this case the existing clay sanitary piping is actively failing and causing sewer backups. Um, I think the one time when we were out here, you guys were actually experiencing one of those. Uh, so unsanitary conditions, property damage, emergency failure, uh, all all of those things can be expensive as well as disruptive. Um, you know, so a planned replacement really allows us to cons control the schedule, the cost, access, the safety, and the restoration. So we we try to look at both of these scopes through the lens of um you know really the student learning environment, student staff and the community. Um so any any questions on that? Anything you guys want to add? No, the only thing is you know piping clay piping is about a 50 year lipan that the ground moving that's what
005causes a lot of these that's the reason >> um I asked the board I didn't get a response back the trees are they all going to get removed in that >> because [clears throat] aren't they like the roots digging into the piping >> okay grind them out. >> What could you do in that area when it's finished? >> Well, actually think you can repurpose it. There's grants out there that allow space like that to be repurposed. We can work with you on those like it is now it >> how about even uh solar panels maybe? I don't know if it gets enough sun in that area. Okay. >> They have those big ones now. Yeah. >> Yeah. So to add on to that, the building is going to shape part of those panels if you
006put them low. There is opportunity to put them high, but that obviously creates you need a structure above that to them. So definitely an opportunity, >> something we can investigate for you though because there's still the opportunity to take advantage of the uh inflation reduction act. So, uh, depending on location, uh, you know, likely you get 40% back in a direct check cut to the district, but there's a good chance you might get 50. Something we'd have to investigate for you, though. >> PA has a lot of advantages for solar, though. So, >> that said, the IRA tax credit does expire at the end of 2027. >> Yes. >> And it has to be energized by then. that's something you're actively thinking about it needs to move relatively quickly. So as [clears throat] far as
007the recommendation for the sewer line uh complete design build replacement of the existing uh piping uh we lined existing sanitary piping underneath the building as well. Uh so we were out here last week was it last week? Um so we had a few subs with us to really take a look at that in a in a more meticulous manner. Um testing, flushing, inspection, commissioning of new sanitary piping. And then we would also include a sewer study for future district needs. Uh which I think would be very helpful uh especially given the drawings. >> So the lining it is not going to reduce the diameter to the point where it's going to >> we still got plenty of diameter in there. And it's only going to be over the corridor underneath the building about six feet
008outside. >> So the we're looking at a cost on that of just under 415,000. >> So it'll be PVC pipe in the courtyard underground and then you're just going to reline when you go under main hall. That's the idea, right? >> Correct. The PVC will be parallel to the clay piping. >> Okay. >> Just so there's no more breaks, you know, get that out of the way. Those will be capped and new will extend all the way building >> confidence on the reining solution under this >> 100%. Any final questions or thoughts on the sewer? Can answer for you. Um, [clears throat] so then moving on to the high school gym units. Um, so you know, we we've spent a fair amount of time out here. I will say from a personal standpoint, you know,
009we work in in a fair amount of school districts. Um, the gym is definitely extremely loud. Um, the current units are at the end of their useful life at 23 years old. So, kind of like a car engine. It's it's got 350,000 miles on it. You're kind of kicking the can down the road. Um, again, extremely loud. So, that's something we really want to address. Uh, the other part of this is the controls. So, the controls really from, you know, more or less run wild. Um, so they really need to be replaced with variable speeds, which I don't know if you guys want to add anything on that. >> Yeah. So, uh, the new units will have what they call ECM fans, very similar to BFD. BFD, uh, they're able to be one for whatever
010reason, uh, you can still run one. So, you have that redundancy. And is that just controlled through the the regular HVAC software that we're using? >> Yeah. So right now you have Seammens and you have a little bit of tridium Niagara. It was requested to put that in the Niagara system. So that's what we were looking at. If there's >> So in other words, it's not variable necessarily just on an automatic basis, but if for some reason they were having something that required lower noise in there, a speaker, somebody talking, they you could control it. >> Correct. Correct. Yeah. You could set them at 50% or 30%, whatever, whatever you wanted to. That said, these fans in this unit is much quieter than what's there now. Approximately 50% which to the ear is significant. We
011did look at replacing parts, but those fans to fit in there are still almost as noisy as what's there. Not quite. They're a little bit better, but they're still pretty noisy. And that unit's just radiating These new units will encompass that sound. So it's not getting out and fans again are fans so they're very quiet. You're still going to hear some noise in the gym but it's not going to be like it's going through both your ears. >> Yeah. Oh yeah. No. So these fans are just supply fans. They will if it's cool outside, they can draw 100% outside air. So you could use that. The problem with that is in the summer it gets pretty humid. So then you're in. You have two vents on either side of the gym and that's where the
012heat escapes. So if those aren't working properly, it's going to be warmer, but it's built on pressure. So the fans push air into the space and then the pressure relieves through those. So the units are hanging in the gym. So basically you drop those units back. >> So if the board approves this tonight, do you have an update on the expectations on the timeline and when the equipment could be on site? >> Yeah. Um I would say the rough schedule right now is to have it under contract being complet another month of working out and those type of things like documentation construction. So just from the time in which uh material arrives till completion I I hear you say you could be completed just we have a number of potential you would have to be
013on site for four weeks. >> Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> One of the things that we're going to do is we're going to put these work out to local contractors and work. That's important for us for transparency, right? You know, and the other part is we're going to manage that. when we bring the compile, right? So, I might have a friend or somebody that works for a plumber or an HBAC contractor. We're gonna we're gonna work with you guys in collaboration on those bits and we're going to show that to you because we feel it's important to provide that to >> So when the work is being done on the sewer lines will the schools we don't have full staff but we do have staff um will is going to have to be closed
014off or >> Okay, >> what we'll do is we'll put together our construction schedule here's the area we're working upbody I don't see any kind of >> furniture. >> No, I was just more or less using facilities. >> So, yeah, there'll be a couple down days for tie in that line. They'll dig the new trench, put that piping in. Again, this pretty quick. The challenge here is getting there, right? >> Because there's not good access, right? That's that's a bulk of the work is just getting into the courtyard. >> So the only labs that need to be shut down are the ones near the lower courtyard like up here and that all still work. Yeah. >> Mention anything else on this. transfer off. [snorts] >> Great question. I grew up in the trades. We feel
015pretty confident four weeks. >> [clears throat] >> However, those questions believe We're hoping that question [clears throat] is >> [snorts] [snorts] >> stops with us. >> And just to be clear, this is a not to exceed, right? So if you have four biders and some of them come in better than others, >> you know, the better for us. >> Yep. 100% of June early >> [clears throat] >> can always do that. However, there is always a risk in construction. We've been on sites where you know things may not Sure. >> And to to that end, sorry, we we we we had a lengthy discussion today with Mr. Nsteel whose first day was today just to make sure he understood our summer projects and we we went through the chronology of all this being very mindful
016of what has to happen first, next, and then after that. And we feel like we're in a a very good place. um just have to be strategic, you know, and be ready to adjust. But we we we made a lotments for a lot of whatifs today. So, we feel comfortable for the most part with with our order of operations and we're ready to adjust. We have three and four plans depending on how things flow. >> So, what is supposed to happen first? The gym floor first and then this or this then the gym floor. So, in order to accomplish what we're trying to accomplish with the scoreboards, yes, >> there is electrical work that needs to be done. And that's that's the first order of business. >> Uh once that work is done, we can
017do work with the floor essentially go halfway with the floor, allow them to come in and do what they need to do, finish the floor. >> All scoreboard work can be done if it has to be done when students are in session. That's not a big deal if students are in session. So, that's the one that has to get pivoted. Obviously, it'll happen within September, but we we might come out of the summer. The ones that have to happen in the summer or this this job has to happen, the electrical work has to happen, the floor has to happen. Uh, but as as long as we uh to their point stay in good communication, we felt pretty confident that we could be successful. And the the the secondary campus administration has has told us they
018feel comfortable if they need to be creative for the first week or two of school. Typically weather's favorable, you know, to lose your gymnasium access for those two weeks. That's about the best time to lose it. >> Have you guys um confirmed or reconfirmed the equipment availability from the manufacturer? It is available currently. Any other questions on that? Um [clears throat] yeah, so on the screen again is the recommendation. Um we we would be replacing two existing uh heating and ventilation uh pieces for you. Um, also moving to ECM fans. Did we talk about that? Okay. Anything else you want to add to that? So, a lot much greater efficiency and uh larger filters as well. >> You want to add? >> One thing I I just want to reiterate because it helped me to
019reiterate it a bunch of times. It's heating ventilation. A lot of times we always just say HVAC. It's it's not HVAC. >> [clears throat] >> heating ventilation >> and because I'm also a pretty simplistic guy, a whole house fan, you know that when >> would this be similar in concept in terms of what you just what you talked about when you tried to make that explanation as to how that works as far as [snorts] >> it it would feel more comfortable in there. >> Yeah. So, you'll be able to bury the fan. So, you know, it's a function of outside air and returning from outside the gym. Yes. Instead of these fans just running 100% right now that you're not going to pull 100% outside all the time. You're going to be monitoring air temperature.
020So you're going to cool off at the night generally speaking. So then warm up all day. Obviously it's a function of outside air temperature. But that is that is how heating and ventilating. And that cost is a little over uh 420,000. Any final questions on this? You want to say anything about that? >> Yeah. On the screen here, the old unit very similar to the new unit except for it's a lot quieter. Still has the same connection dampers. [snorts] I think one of the most important things with these new units greatly enhance the students fac It's twice as >> much as where it should be. >> Anything else? >> Appreciate it. >> Thank you very much. Thank you, gentlemen. >> So, just for our >> later audience, I have to make a quick introduction. Hi,
021I'm Kevin S. I'm your federal programs coordinator. This is your parent and family engagement along with your title one, title two, and title four stakeholder engagement for consideration for transfer of funds. All right. Good evening, Crestwood School Board. This is me accomplishing a lot of purposes in one five minute effective session. Uh, and it's similar to how we utilize our federal dollars. this presentation can be very efficient and effective without uh overextending because the context of Crestwood School District is that our federal dollars represent a a chunk of money that you know I find significant a little over $500,000 but in the scope of our budget and in the in the scope of what other school districts receive in terms of federal money we are on the lower end. So, there are many different mandates
022when you get federal money that I, as the federal programs coordinator, must demonstrate that Crestwood is satisfactorily uh taken care of. So, the different mandates I'm hitting tonight is I'm making sure our public is aware of how we spend our federal dollars, specifically title one, and what our program looks like. Number two, you are another group of people that I have to present the idea uh of our intent to transfer our funds from title two to title four. So, what I'm going to try to do is simplify all this because most people don't walk around speaking in terms of federal programs and title one and title two and title four. They use basic language. So, one of the mandates we receive federal dollars. As a school that receives federal dollars, we have to have what's
023called an equity plan. Why would they do that? Because some schools get federal dollars and they send all their hardest situations to deal with to the teachers that are the least experience or they are overloading their classes with students that uh statistically are more difficult to remediate and get through to. So part of the mandate the federal government has is you have to demonstrate an equity plan. Crestwood School District, our context, we have equity. We don't uh we have a very low instance of of new teachers. These numbers have not been updated, but for the update this year, the number of new teachers we have is one and one. Fairview has one and Rice has one. What's a new teacher? It's the amount of uh experience you have in terms of years. Then we have
024to look at our minority populations within our home rooms, our percentage of socioeconomically disadvantaged students within home rooms to demonstrate that we do this the right way. And Crestwood has no problem whatsoever. But again, it's a mandate that I publicly speak to the equity that we have and and make this demonstration. How do we spend our dollars here at Crestwood? We spend it on human resources. Again, that's not necessarily typical because most school districts have more money where they don't just spend it on their human resource. Our human resources are the two faculty members at Rice, the two faculty members at Fairview. Both are considered reading specialists. They are C certificated reading specialists. In addition, we have two title one pair professionals at Rice, two title one pair professionals at Fairview. There is a distinction
025there. They do not they are the only pair of professionals that we employ within Crestwood School District who are not associated with special education services. Okay. So they are paid through federal dollars. Our program is reading K to3. We could be a reading K to6 program. We could be a reading K to five program. We could be a reading and math K to6 program. our human resource as as the person who's led federal programs dictates that if we try to exceed this we will lose effectiveness. It would just be too much ground to cover with the amount of human resource we have to do it. That's why we've remained a reading K to3 program. We're what's called a targeted service school. You have two choices. You're either whole school or targeted service. whole school typically
026is based on qualification based on your socioeconomic status being above 40% districtwide. Uh there's only one building uh Fairview Elementary would would qualify on its own, but then you get into some complexities there and you would get into some discrepancies in the way you could service Fairview and Rice. So again, as far as our context is concerned, a targeted program is best. You have to use scientific researchbased tools. We do that do that. Dibbles 8th is how we universally screen all of our kindergarten through third grade students. Universal screen means you walk into school on your first day as a kindergartener and we need to know your academic abilities. We need to utilize a nationally recognized normed test. We utilize scientific researchbased resource in wonders through McGra Hill and we have a process that we
027follow called the wonderhe. And even though it looks like it's just a childish ' 80s movie, it actually serves both of my purposes because it actually has meaning. It is a process that everyone knows. We are mandated to have parent engagement through title one. Uh especially because once we transfer our title two and title four funds, we have in excess of $500,000. What that means is now we have to set aside 1% of our money for parent family engagement. [snorts] We have committed the last two years to building a leveled library for our families to utilize. So, one of the feedbacks we've often received is we want to read with our children, but we're not sure what we should read with our children. Well, research demonstrates that you should have a child be reading at
028his or her level so they're not constantly needing correction and that it's best that if they can read something on their level out loud to the adult who's assisting them. So that's where our library comes in. You as a parent can come in and get a book for your child that's commensurate with their skill level. We have homeless mandates that we need to review. So I have to send uh right to know letters out um each well homeless mandates are are under this next subject parent right to know. As a school district that receives federal dollars, we have to tell you if we have teachers who are working outside of their certificated area and that you have a right to know their credentials. That may sound like common sense, but there are school districts, there
029are school districts that border us that have teachers working out of their certification area that they have to tell the parent, "Your child is being taught by a teacher outside of his or her certification." All of our teachers have uh the certifications that they need to be doing what they're doing. So again you might say well why does it do that it not in our context but in others we have to have different parent and family engagement policies as a school board you set the policy and this is semantically where I get annoyed because you're the only one who sets policy but they tell us no you still have to call it a policy that you have for the district and then your respective schools also have to create a policy. These are all available
030for you to see uh on our crest website under the the uh title one tab. Again, these are mandates uh for us to meet our obligation for these federal funds. Title two, we propose as your leadership to transfer 100% to title one to fund professional and paraprofessional costs of our targeted assistance program. So, you would be asking, well, what else could you be spending this title two money on? You could spend it on professional development. You could spend it on class size reduction. Professional development has about 11 different iterations that you could utilize it for. Within our context, we find it better suits our needs to transfer it to title one because this allows us to pay the full cost of all paras and professionals associated with our program. Without transferring, we wouldn't come close
031to paying 100% of those costs. Title three is through a consortium through the LIU. That's for your English language learners. Creswood does not manage their own title three program. So title four, this is the one that comes with the strongest mandate to engage stakeholders and that is the exact wording. We have to involve a stakeholder group in decisions of how to prioritize title four implementation programs prior to submitting an application for funds to PD and during the life of the grant. So come July 1st when I submit uh our federal programs, I have to have proof that I met in many different contexts to say this is our intent to transfer these title four funds as well. I've always called title four the duct tape of titles because you can use it for a myriad
032of different purposes. However, with federal monies, they may sound flexible, but then they're not flexible because then they put together a lot of rules. Uh so again, it takes more time for us to follow the rules in our context given the amount of money we've given than it would to just transfer 100% of that title one money to title four again to afford what we've already been offering which is an excellent title program because this is an open discussion that my hope is and I do make reference to that any parent uh within the title one program who would like to understand federal programs on the district-wide level can access this recording through to our board meeting to please do so and if anyone has any suggestions that they can email me. Does any member
033of the board have questions about title one, title two, title four or the transferring of funds. >> So you said we we don't rate very highly on what we get. >> That's correct. So I can see every year and so can any member of the public ex the exact amount uh that school districts receive in all these different funding iterations title one two and four >> is there any vehicle we can address that is that would that just be through >> it's a it's a >> it's like a formula >> correct and we we will get these funding amounts uh soon because I have to write the application between now and July 1st but I don't have the amounts for next year yet. I had that approximation that I showed you early on. It [snorts]
034stays right there. Well, thank you everybody. The board should you should have seen a signin sheet. Does that go around? Thank you. Now for public comment on agenda items. Later we'll be offering time for non-aggenda items, but at this time agenda items only. I have a brief statement to read. We truly value the input of our community and appreciate you joining us this evening. In accordance with board policy 903, the board of directors recognizes the value of public comments on educational issues and the importance of involving members of the public in board meetings. An opportunity shall be provided for district residents, taxpayers, employees, and students to comment on matters of concern, official actions, or deliberations that are or may come before the board. Public comments should occur at this time designated by the board on
035the board meeting agenda. All comments must be made in compliance with applicable law, board policy, and district procedures. To ensure everyone has a chance to be heard, public comment is limited to three minutes per speaker. When you come to the microphone, please begin by stating your name and the spelling of your last name, your municipality, if applicable, for the official record. If you're speaking on behalf of an organization, please let us know. The board is here to listen and carefully consider your feedback. While we welcome your questions, please understand that policy 9003 defines this period as a time for public comment rather than question and answer session. Immediate answers are often not possible during the meeting as many topics require research or administrative review to provide you with the most accurate information. If follow-up is
036needed, the board may direct the superintendent or staff to reach out to you after the meeting has been concluded. Questions may be submitted to CSD public comments at csdcomments.org by 4 pm on the day of the meeting and the special board meeting is scheduled to begin at 6:30. Are there any questions on agenda items? Seeing none, we will move into committee reports. financial planning. Mr. Gallagher, >> good evening. Uh Dr. Patty is on remote. Mrs. Ransion cannot be here tonight. Uh I make a [snorts] motion and seek a second for the approval of items 1 through five. I so move. >> I'll second it. >> Yes. Yes, >> Mrs. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes, >> Mr. >> Yes, >> Mr. Patty. >> Dr. said yes. >> Mrs. Mccern, >> yes. >> Thank you. Transportation
037Committee, Mr. Sitzki >> Transportation Committee. Um, I make a motion to seek a second to approve item 1 A and B. There's a slight change there that the month is wrong. It's not May. It should be June. Could I have a second? >> Second. >> Yes. Mrs. >> Yes. >> Mrs. McGovern Copo. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gallagher. >> Yes. >> Mr. Namy. >> Yes. >> Mr. Seitzki. >> Yes. >> Mr. Patty. >> Yes. >> Mrs. McCertie. >> Yes. >> Motion carried. >> Thank you. Human resources. Mrs. McGovern. Copcho. I make a motion and seek a second to approve items one through three. I so move. >> Second. >> Mrs. Bibla. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Chaitito Agoric. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gallagher. >> Yes. >> Mrs. McGovern Copo. >> Yes. >> Mr. Namy. >> Yes. >>
038Mr. Sezki. >> Yes. >> Mr. Patty. >> Yes. >> And Mrs. McCertie? Yes. >> Motion carried. >> Thank you. Physical plant and construction committee, Mr. Gallagher. >> Yeah. First of all, I'd like to uh thank Mr. Nance Taylor, our new building and grounds person who's not here at the moment, but you know, he came in before he even started working here to kind of meet with the Bear people and get a feel for what we're going on. So that was pretty commendable for him and to our custodial staff who's working on the tree removal ahead of the sewer project to keep that on track. And you know, if you've ever removed trees, it's not the best day of your life. So, thank you to them. I make a motion and seek a second for the
039approval of items one through three. >> I so move. >> I'll second. >> Mrs. Bea, >> yes. >> Mrs. Chaitri Zagoric. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gallagher. >> Yes. >> Mrs. McGovern Copcho. >> Yes. >> Mr. Namy. >> Yes. >> Mr. Seitzki. >> Yes. >> Mr. Patty. >> Yes. >> Mrs. McCertie. >> Yes. >> Motion carried. >> Thank you. We will now give time for public testimony on non-aggenda items. >> Madam President, can I bring something up? Mr. bins in the newspaper Times Leader May 22nd said Crestwood School Board approves a budget with no tax increase and it was also in the Mountain Peaks. I think it was like the follow-up article. Could you address that? >> Yeah, that was the proposed final budget. The actual budget that'll get adopted is on June 25th of >>
040because Yeah, a lot of people in the public think we're not raising taxes. So >> yeah, that um that's how we've done it for many years in a row here. Okay. >> I recognize that causes confusion at times. >> The the the discussions I've been in on it. The the the risk of proposing a tax increase early um is if by the time you get to the end of June, if it changes, whether it goes up or down, whatever they heard first in May tends to be what they agree or what they remember. But if it goes from zero to something else, they'll tend to remember the real number. >> Yeah. Yeah, because you know people in the community, you know, they read that and they're taking it to the bank, but that's might not
041be the case. Correct. >> Correct. >> All right. >> Seeing no other comments, um, make a motion to adjurnn. >> Sorry. Is there a motion to adjurnn? >> Motion. >> Thank you. >> Second. >> Yeah. Okay. Uh, next committee meeting is scheduled for June 18th, 2026, which will be held on the secondary campus at 5:30 and our regular board meeting will be held on June 25th, 2026 at 6:30. Thank you. Meeting adjourned.