001Uh, meeting is hereby open. Uh, first and foremost, I'd like to start with the Pledge of Allegiance. Please stand and stay uh stay standing, please, upon the completion. Next on our agenda, I would like to welcome the Baker Elementary School students. Come on up. And tonight, uh they will be singing the Star-Spangled Banner as well as a piece from their musical, John. From their play? Yeah. So, go ahead, kiddos, when you're ready. >> And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh,
002say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave o'er the land of >> This is it, our happy ending. When the inn stays open. This is it, no more pretending. And we're really hoping. >> So, what do you say? >> I say the dancing dragon IS BACK. NO, WE HAVE SO MUCH to do. Cooks, put on the stew. Guards, clean up these tables. >> Get your songs ready, bards. We're back in business. >> dragon, what epic tales will we sing about? >> Are you telling me what happened this week wasn't epic? >> There was a time only days ago some men and keepers made a show of an invented dragon sighting. Royalty came there to make their name and heroes to keep their fame. And suddenly rivals were uniting. Only truth could win. >> The quest to
003save the year. We don't need to imagine a dragon to make the people cheer when we can make a difference doing some good right here. We don't need to imagine a dragon to prove that we are brave. The quest is right beside us. This is our day to save. So, it's time to tell a new kind of story that doesn't feature dragons and queens. >> That was a uh uh Don't go anywhere. Could you guys please introduce yourselves and tell us who's here with you as well as what grade you're in? >> Hi, this is the Baker fourth-grade musical group. >> Hi, I'm Amira Cheryvany and I'm in fourth grade. >> Hi, I'm Emily Lindquist and I'm in fourth grade. >> Hi, I'm Gabriel Giuffre and I'm in fourth grade. >> I'm Nora Palermo and
004also in fourth fourth grade. >> I'm Audrey Bear and I'm in fourth grade, too. >> I'm Lily Wong and I'm also in fourth grade. >> Well, great job, kiddos. You done You've done a great job. You guys have a lot of personality in your singing. So, keep it up and stay with it and keep doing what you love. Thank you very much. Solicitor Kramer. >> Thank you, President Mascaro. Um roll call, Mrs. Bolitho. >> Present. >> Mrs. Hannah. >> Present. >> Mr. Kyle. >> Present. >> Mr. Lamb. >> Present. >> Mr. Mascaro. >> Present. >> Mrs. Peterson. >> Present. >> Mrs. Schnorr. >> Present. >> Mrs. Snyder. >> Present. >> And Dr. Wetzel. Eight members present. >> Thank you. Mrs. Bolitho, could you kindly read the meeting excuse me, the mission, please? >> Certainly. Developing
005lifelong learners and responsible citizens for a global society is a mission of the Upper St. Clair School District served by a responsive and innovative staff who in partnership with the community provides learning experiences that nurture the uniqueness of each child and promotes happiness and success. >> Well, thank you very much. Ah, direct to our student representatives, Mr. Razzo and Mrs. Donnelly, could you please provide your student report, please? >> Of course, President Mascaro. Good evening. We are glad to be here tonight to provide you with our final report of the school year. I'll begin with our monthly update for athletics. Our baseball team is seven and seven and playing tonight in their final section series of the season against Chartiers Valley. Girls softball holds a record of eight and eight. They played this afternoon at
006Mount Lebanon. The boys volleyball team stands at nine wins and five losses. Their next match will be tomorrow evening at Canon-McMillan. Boys tennis has a team record of six and one and finished the regular season as section champs. The team is currently competing in the WPIAL semifinals against Mount Lebanon. Our girls flag football team is undefeated with a record of 13 and 0 and also finished the season as section champs. They are playing tomorrow or tomorrow night in the playoffs against Thomas Jefferson. Girls lacrosse has 10 wins and two losses. They are in action tonight at Shady Side Academy. The boys lacrosse team holds a record of six and six. They are currently playing right now against The Hill Academy. Boys and girls track and field have their next meet on Thursday at West Mifflin.
007Now for academics. Upper St. Clair School District will host an evening of hands-on learning experiences as part of the Remake Learning Days Festival from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Wednesday, May 6th at the Upper St. Clair High School. The event will feature a variety of interactive sessions and activities for families and community members. Many centered on STEAM, which is science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. The annual International Baccalaureate MYP certificate ceremony will take place this Wednesday in the high school theater. The event recognizes students for completion of the MYP, which begins in grade five and concludes in grade 10. Now on to Bella for her final report as student board rep. >> Hi, good evening. Um I hope this is okay. I just wanted to briefly mention that it really has been my pleasure um to
008serve as the board rep for my grade. And I'm just really grateful that you've all trusted me with this um very important job for the past 2 years, as well as like just um how lucky I've had been to had an, um, an inside glance into how hard you guys all work for our, um, community and school district. And I just couldn't be more proud to graduate from a school district that is kept together by such amazing people and kind people. So, thank you. But, for my actual report, um, for activities, I want to start by reporting on our school's Youth On that took place last month. Our student council is really proud to report, um, that with the help of the entire community, we were able to raise $32,031.06 that benefited, um, UPMC specifically
009for their efforts to combat pediatric cancer. Um, as a reminder, our community day will be on, um, the 16th of May and our students and staff are working very diligently to bring this event to life. This next month will be very busy for our seniors who have many things to look forward to. Um, this past Friday, on May 1st, seniors celebrated commitment day by sharing their plans after high school with their peers. And students will once again have the opportunity to visit their old teachers and schools in, um, wearing their caps and gowns on May 12th for, um, our elementary school parade. Prom will be on June 2nd with the annual red carpet being between 4:15 and 4:45 p.m. And then the class of 2026 will celebrate their graduation on June 4th at 5:30 for
010the baccalaureate in the theater and the commencement at 7:00 p.m., um, in Panther Stadium. And then this past week, on April 12th, uh, the Upper St. Clair High School welcomed six schools to our annual students reaching and achieving suc- success together STARS soccer event, um, in which students rotated through various soccer activities while making new friends and building new skills. And, um, this was facilitated by our student volunteers from our um, our high school. And then for arts, the Upper St. Clair, um, school district has been named a 2026 Best Communities for Music Education recipient for the 11th consecutive year. Um, recognition to the district's sustained commitment to providing high-quality music education for all students. Upper St. Clair is one of 16 districts in Allegheny County, um, 141 in Pennsylvania, and 1,008 nationwide to receive
011this distinction this year. And at this time, if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. >> Well, that was a very nice sending off for yourself. Uh, we appreciate you, Isabella. Thank you for volunteering your time to participate in the excitement that is the Upper St. Clair School District board meetings. Um, we wish you nothing but the best and good luck in the fall in Virginia. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you, um, thank you both for for your reports throughout the year. Um, and as we do at our May meeting, uh, each year, as we we say goodbye to our board rep, and uh, this is, as mentioned, Bella's last night with us as a board rep. Um, she's done a great job, and uh, she's she's a great kid, um,
012and appreciate all the kind words she shared about all of us, but you know, just as a little bit of background, um, you know, she's not just the board rep. Um, Bella's very involved in high school. She's vice president of our student council. Uh, she's a member of National Honor Society. She is a member of our volleyball team. She is an IB Diploma candidate, uh, this year, which, you know, is a very rigorous load. Um, and not to embarrass her, but she also is one of our valedictorians this year. So, um, just a terrific student, great kid all the way around. We're very proud of her, and um, as we do annually, as a token of our appreciation to our exiting board senior board members, our board reps, excuse me, um, on behalf of the
013board and the district, we always provide a gift a shirt sweatshirt related to the college or university they're going. And so as Mr. Muscarella already mentioned, you take out the bag, but Bella is attending the University of Virginia this fall. So We wish you the very best. I know we'll see her before then, but last official board meeting tonight and So hopefully when you wear that, you think of all your your nights as a board rep and all of us. But congratulations and thank you. >> Thank you all very much. >> Okay, Cavaliers, let's roll. All right. Uh Any residents comments? Anyone present to provide any comments? Okay, we'll move along to the approval of the minutes. Mr. Schnorr. >> I move that the board approve the meeting minutes of the April 13th, 2026 board
014meeting as attached. >> And I second. >> All in favor? >> Aye. Motion Motion moved past. Dr. Razzo. >> You're up. >> Okay, great. Just a couple items to update on some good news to share the um uh a shout-out to our Parkway Career Tech Center students. Um They recently had taken the NOCTI exams, which stands for National Occupational Competency Testing Institute. Um and our students at Upper St. Clair had 100% pass rate. So a great accomplishment for them. We currently have 38 students enrolled in Parkway in grades 9 through 12, but very proud of them. And so wanted to wanted to share some some positive news. Um we have coming up here on the schedule. We start our spring open houses. This Thursday is star night. So that's our elementary Eisenhower, Baker, and Streams.
015Um and then on the 14th is the four couch star night and then on the 28th will be uh the boys open house celebration learning. That one is a little bit later because of all the Deer Valley trips that occur. So, that will conclude the year. So, those are always great nights for families to visit the school. Students come with with their parents and get to see a progress of the work that they've made and the things that they've accomplished throughout the year. So, certainly a great night on the calendar for all of us. Uh last last Thursday, uh a group of us uh partnered with the parent-teacher council and had an informational session on artificial intelligence and shared with the families that were in attendance. It was open to all district families. Uh we
016shared um gave them an overview of what AI is, particularly generative AI, which is what we're seeing in large part that's having such a significant change not just in schools, but but in the world. Uh we we shared and reviewed with them district policies and procedures um that help govern how we implement AI. And then we got into the specific teacher training uh that we provided to our staff as well as student training. And so, uh a lot of good feedback. Uh it was it was a great night and we appreciate the partnership with the parent-teacher council. Um in addition to that, I want to share just as an update uh as part of our district goals, mission, vision, values are something we have been looking at and we did survey provide a survey to
017all the board members, curriculum leaders, and administrators. And so, we appreciate everyone uh who responded to that as we evaluate the current mission, vision, values and our work to make sure that um it is meeting the needs of the district. And so, we are analyzing that data and look forward to sharing uh that work. That'll be part of our summer uh retreat work as a leadership team. And we look forward to sharing that with the board and the and the and the community uh as well as potentially uh any recommended changes. Um but at this point, we're still analyzing the data. So again, thank you to everyone who participated in that. And last thing I just want to end on just a quick update from today. Certainly did not plan on having this in my
018report, but we we did start the day with an unfortunate situation where we had a a threat that was made to our school district that was and this has obviously been on the news and we've already pushed out communication all of our families, but very first thing this morning as students were arriving, we did receive a call that there was a threat to our school district and did not have a specific building, but there was a threat made and we immediately put our our safety and security plan to place. I want to commend Chief Sean Bryson and his team. They were excellent as always. We did have a secure in place status for the district and what that means is all of our buildings our student are operating as normal except that students are not
019leaving the buildings. The only individuals who permitted the building would be and people with appointments only. But what we were able to do quickly and certainly is we engaged our local township police who were terrific partners and were very helpful and responding to this event. And then we were fortunate that we have some great partnerships with some of our federal agencies who also immediately jumped into action. And so within less than 90 minutes, we did have the situation fully resolved and communication sent to families. And thankfully, it was a hoax and it is part of a national hoax that's going around and this particular threat is attached to several other threats that have occurred in in other states. It's unfortunate. This is the the times we live in and I think we all watch the
020news and know that these hoaxes have been made are not new and they seem to be happening more regularly. But every time if there is something like this that happens, we certainly treat it with in serious in nature and we never deem anything to be a hoax until we have it cleared by the appropriate law enforcement agency. So again, appreciate a response from our community and and as I put in the communication that we shared today, what's what's is very helpful with any type of these events is obviously any intel or any information. Maybe not this one particularly, we know what happened here and we know that it's a national threat, but a lot of times we have or able to prevent things like this from happening that that individuals don't even know about because
021of the intel that's provided to us and that often comes from our students, from our families, from our community. So we did share in the communication that went out today all the reporting channels and ways that people can share information if if they come across something that they think is a threat to our district and our students. And so again, a broad thank you to everyone that was involved today. Our community responded very well and thankfully we were able to get to the bottom of it very quickly and I Chief Bryson's back in the room right now and as I said when he left, um very very strong performance by Chief Bryson and his team today in managing a crisis. And so thank you to everyone and and hopefully we don't have to to deal
022with with anything like this anytime sooner again, but the reality as we all know is it certainly is possible and we we will be prepared. And that's all I have for my update. Thank you. >> Okay, modifying school schedule. >> Yes, and so the approval to modify the calendar. This is the 25-26 calendar. As we do in the spring almost annually is if we have to make any adjustments to the school calendar, it does require board approval. And so we have 193 student days in the calendar. We had on December 2nd, school was closed due to weather and we did not call a remote learning day because of the timing of that. Students were out for a longer weekend um and as you remember, um we wanted to give them an old-fashioned snow day. So,
023that's what we did. That was December 2nd, which was very well received. Uh and then on February 24th, there was a special election that was called and um that was we were notified of that right before the New Year, which is obviously after the school calendar is set. So, our recommendation is to modify the calendar and to forgive those two dates, December 2nd and February 24th, and that still um leaves us with 191 student days. I'm sorry, 181 student days, not 191. I was seeing if the board reps would catch that. They didn't. Maybe they're not as sharp as we thought. >> I think Ms. Donley's gone already, Dr. Razo. >> I think Anthony better get with the program over there. >> Uh Mr. Kyle, would you kind of like to make a motion? >>
024Sure. I move that the board modify the 2025-2026 school calendar as attached. >> I second. >> All in favor? >> Aye. >> Any nays? >> Aye. >> Motion passes. Dr. Razo? >> Okay, uh item C here, uh this is just requesting approval for the board president to appoint two voting delegates um for the PSBA assembly, um which is in November. It does require in-person presence uh in order to be a voting delegate. And so, if anyone on the board is interested in representing the district and being a voting delegate, please let um um Mr. Mascara and myself know, and um this motion would give him the ability to appoint those individuals uh once interest is expressed. >> Mr. Lambert, would you like to make a motion? >> Sure. I move that the board authorize the
025board president to appoint two voting delegates to the PSBA Delegate Assembly on November 7th, 2026. >> I second. >> All in favor? >> Aye. >> Any nays? >> Aye. >> Motion passes. >> Okay. >> Uh item D is a request for approval of an uh MOU with uh, law enforcement agencies. Um, this is specific to compliance with schools code uh, section 139-B. And as referenced before, um, evidence of these partnerships uh, spoke loud and clear to us today. So, we're asking for uh, your approval to enter into those uh, partnerships. >> Ms. Peterson. >> I move to authorize entering into MOUs with law enforcement agencies in compliance with school code section 1319-B with final terms and conditions approved by the superintendent and solicitor. >> I second. >> Okay. All in favor? >> Aye. >> Any
026nays? Motion passes. Mr. Burchell. >> Okay, good evening. Uh, the next item is an approval for a resolution authorizing the occurrence of non-electoral debt. Uh, Lisa Chiesa from Clark Hill law firm is here to uh, present the uh, details of the uh, resolution. Uh, Lisa's been For those of you don't know Lisa, she's been our bond counsel for longer than I've been here. >> Long time. >> A long time. >> Long time. >> Yeah, more than 10. I've been here 10. Almost. Anyway. >> And a graduate, a proud graduate of Upper St. Clair High School, too. Um, so before you, I think in your packages, you have the uh, debt resolution. And it's a rather long document, and the reason it's long is because it satisfies actually three requirements. One is uh, the requirements that
027are in the local government unit debt act, which governs how and how much school districts and other municipalities can borrow money. Two, it's a contract with the eventual holders of your bonds. And three, it allows us to comply with certain federal tax uh covenants that are required to ensure that the bonds are tax exempt. So, that's all in this document. Um what the project is defined as is the current refunding of the district's 2019 B bonds. And rather than taking the money and lowering your debt service coverage, uh it has been determined by the administration that it would be best to take the cash up front and use it to perform certain projects that are required to be done shortly by the uh district. And those include the replacement of the Eisenhower roof, boiler replacement
028at Baker, stucco repairs here at the high school, and various other capital improvements that can be voted on in the future by the school board. So, depending on how you prioritize the projects. And it also depends on how much savings we're allowed to eke out or you know, the the market will allow us to eke out. Um we're aiming for uh 1 and 1/2 million at least. >> Yeah, minimum's 2%, but obviously we're going to try to shoot for three. But the market, this gives us the ability to move into the market and execute one in the the time is right, so. >> Right. So, if approved this evening, what will happen is it will authorize the president, vice president, and the secretary, president or vice president, and secretary to execute a bond purchase agreement
029with Stifel, who is your underwriter for the district. Uh once those saving thresholds of a minimum of 2% of the bonds being refinanced are met. And we won't be doing anything at this point. We're going to be watching the market for now, but this just sort of gets gets things on the books so that we can move forward once we can hit the market properly. Are there any questions about this? So, a lot of you have done this before. So, there's some new faces on the board, I know. So, let's try to explain it a little bit to you cuz it's it it's it's up to 60 million. I will tell you it's not going to be 60 million dollars. It's going to be some lesser number, but because it's a parameters resolution and there's
030certain requirements in the debt act that we need to follow, we sort of have to um up-size the bond issue each year each year's maturity, too. If we issued 60 million, you wouldn't be having any savings. >> Yeah, there is an ability and I talked a little bit about it with the superintendent and I think Ms. Mascaro. Uh there is an ability to potentially borrow additional monies if there are projects that the board wants to engage in. So, instead of going back out and potentially borrowing again in 2 years or 3 years and who knows what the market is um and then also incurring the expenses related to issuing new debt. Uh so, in June we'll be here to present some of those projects for your review and then potentially they may be incorporated into
031additional borrowing related to this transaction. So, we'll have more information for you in June, but this gives us a little bit of a wiggle room cuz we have some projects that are really needing to be done in the near future and we don't really I don't we talk about it all the time. We have um construction money that's going to basically carry us through to the end of this summer, maybe a little left over. So, uh there are some projects and Mr. Snyder will attest to that we need to um engage in in the next 2 or 3 years. So, this will give us the ability to potentially do those if the board would so like and would like to do so. So, that's it. >> Okay. >> Any questions? Okay, Mrs. Boles, would you
032like to make a motion? >> Sure. I move that the board approve resolution 2026-05-04A, authorizing the incurring of non-electoral debt by the issuance of general obligation bonds in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed $60 million and $0, $60 million and $0, covenanting to play pay and pledging all available taxing power for the payment of the bonds, establishing a sinking fund and appointing a sinking fund depository, fishing the form, maximum maximum interest rates, maturity dates, redemption, and other provisions for the payment thereof, covenanting to accept a proposal for the purpose of purchase of the bonds, authorizing a filing of required documents with the Department of Community and Economic Development, ratifying and directing certain actions of officers, and making certain other covenants and provisions in respect of the bonds. >> Thank you, Mrs. Boles. Mrs. Peterson.
033>> I apologize. I second the motion. >> No problem. Uh comments? Questions? All in favor? >> We need a We need a voice vote for this one. >> they wanted a roll call vote. >> Roll call. I mean, not a voice vote. Roll call, yeah. >> Okay. Mrs. Mrs. Cramer, do you want to lead a roll call? >> Sure. Um Mrs. Boles. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Hannah. >> Yes. >> Mr. Kyle. >> Yes. >> Mr. Lambert. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mascaro. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Peterson. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Schnorr. >> Yes. >> And Mrs. Snyder. >> Yes. >> Eight votes in favor, one absence. >> Okay. Thank you, everybody, and we will be back in touch. >> Uh Mr. Burchell, you're still up. Okay, I'm just bringing up the presentation um on the screen,
034hopefully. Is it Am I not touch the right meeting? Yeah, that's the only one that I had. Where is it? Not here, of course. Let's see. Few seconds. Marie, I just shared it with you. I don't know if you can Okay. Okay, there we go. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Burchell. Um tonight we are presenting a proposed final budget um for the '26-'27 school year. This is a very brief presentation. Um we we have uh about 10 slides in here to go through. Some of the information is reiterating what we previously presented, um and this will be uh our proposed final recommendation, and then we'll talk through the timeline up until adoption, which would not occur until until June 8th. As we previously shared, I know our priorities for the budget, again these are what
035we have driven our work to this point in time and as a team we we do very much keep this as a focus as we navigate this process, which is we previously mentioned does does begin in January and goes through really the second semester of the school year. So a lot of a lot of work has happened to get to this this point in time, but the priorities um we certainly use as as guidance as we make decisions and ultimately recommendations. >> Okay, so we talked about this at quite length last meeting. I'm not going to get in on all the details again, but as you can see, you know, 2013 is our base year and some issues with the way the county was uh calculating the CLR and and admitting they were admitting certain
036types of properties along with the market that kind of boomed after COVID. The two of those uh led to us being at a you know, almost 50% at this point in 2026. So with your minor commercial property is grouped together with residential property. So what does that mean? Well, we have a lot of commercial properties that are appealing their assessments and we really don't have any way to fight most of those um based upon the CLR and the way that the uh system currently works. Um so you know, we're estimating anywhere from 850,000 to million dollars in refunds. Um some of them have settled, some of them haven't. They will continue. Appeals will continue, so um, till this is fixed and they have a reassessment, we will continue to have to talk about it. And
037you can see here just some of the calculations. We're at estimating about 800,000, but of course, you know, in the current year we've already refunded over 117,000. Sorry. Uh, with additional refunds as they settle, so like I said, between 850 and 100 and a million dollars annually, unfortunately, uh, we will be refunding to taxpayers. So. And of course, um, the majority of our revenue comes from our local residents, so um, you know, we have to build that into the budget. Any questions or comments related to the CLR? So, the major increases budgeted due to the external factors, we have the CLR refunds. We have healthcare rates, uh, almost a million dollars, and then we have the increase in electricity costs. Um, so right around $2,155,000 with a total budget impact. And if we went to
038the max for real estate tax, you're at about the same amount. 3.5% increase would um, bring in about an additional two 2,500,000, so um, you can see that a lot of these outs, the three of these external factors are basically taking up the majority of our tax increase. >> Okay, so so to reiterate some of this too as a reminder, and again, this was in our more detailed presentation from last month. The internal factors and just reminders is salaries and benefits, um, are 72% of of our budget, which is very common in what you see in most school districts. Uh, debt service is 10%, so that's 82 total percent of the budget, uh, just for those two items. In terms of this year's budget, we are not increasing, um, staff. Um, we have no additional
039professional staffing positions in this budget. We are actually reducing some staff positions through attrition, which we will get to in an upcoming slide. Um, and there there's always savings when you do have new hires, uh, bringing in a lower step of the pay scale, so that is accounted for, uh, in this in this budget. Um, separate from the professional staff, we also continue to evaluate classified staff positions. The classified staff positions, unlike professional staff, um, are not, um, the professional staff, uh, per their contract, provide notification by February 1st. Classified staffs can, uh, retirements can occur at any time, and so we're continuing to have those. Each time we get one of those positions, we certainly do evaluate the need of it, um, before we would make any recommendation to fill or to not fill
040the position. Uh, the majority of them, you know, do need to be filled, but we certainly, um, we do look at those positions carefully anytime we have an opening. Uh, fund balance, again, what we have on the screen here, um, is is not new, but, uh, this is something, you know, that, uh, Mr. Burchell, I'll give credit for, is is very healthy. You can see the history of our fund balance. We have an assigned fund balance, um, which cannot exceed 8%. So, we have, um, a little over $7 million in the assigned fund balance. The assigned fund balances were were almost at $6 million, and that money is assigned primarily for post-retirement benefits, uh, as well as for safety and security. So, the recommendation, uh, that, uh, Mr. Burchell and I and the team have,
041uh for this budget would be a uh 3% tax increase. Uh again, our maximum is 3.5%. That would be the highest we can go. We're not recommending that. We're recommending a 3% increase with using fund balance um for appropriate one-time expenditures, particularly the expiring leases that we have previously talked about in budget presentations. Uh some of the key takeaways with this 3% um tax increase um there are uh additional um there are attritional, excuse me, reductions being made. We will be eliminating two classified and one professional staff position. And because of uh still finalizing staffing uh and planning for next year, we will share those positions in June. Um but there are three positions currently that are not in this um that are removed from this budget. The reductions will not impact programming. We're not
042eliminating any programming for our students. Um we're not furloughing any staff. So, that is not um but it's not what we are recommending here. Again, as I mentioned, appropriate use of the fund balance for one-time costs. That is uh certainly been a strength of our finance department here is to appropriately use our fund balance. As Mr. Birchall mentioned, I I I do want to uh make this point cuz it's it's was really stood out to us in our in our planning meetings and again in our meeting just as recent as today. A 3% increase yields $2.162 million in revenue. The budget impact of the common level ratio um and the all the assessment appeals, which by the way is a large part commercial real estate, not residential. Electrical cost increases for electricity and health care
043increases is 2.155. If we did not have those, and we do have them, if we did not have those three items, we would be recommending a tax freeze to you tonight. And that is almost unheard of in today's day and age considering we're not cutting programming, we're not cutting staff, we're not limiting anything that our kids have access to. In fact, we're growing it. We're adding a robotics center here next year. So, we don't take this lightly. Um we don't want to increase taxes. The system is flawed. It needs repaired. And if we didn't have, as I mentioned, these three items, you can look at the numbers there. We would be coming in with a tax freeze tonight. And so, we're going to continue to do work um with this budget and continue and and
044we have next steps coming up on the next slide. But, as a reminder, we're we're we're 80% local um and it's primarily residential. It's not a competition with school districts, but if you see in the news, this is when school districts are beginning to pass their proposed final budgets. I'm see we're seeing a lot of recommendations coming in north of 4%. Uh some of them as high as almost 5% because their Act 1 index is higher than ours. So, two days in the row in the row last week, schools two different districts in the news cutting staff, furloughing staff, cutting programs. These are challenges are real for everyone. So, we're by no means happy that we have to increase taxes. Please know that or that we're recommending that. But, I do think it's important to
045have context in terms of what's happening broader than just Upper St. Clair and the fact that I want to commend um our our business office in particular. We all work very closely on this. Uh Mr. Burchell is an excellent director of business and finance. And um I know he very much as I would love to have come in here and say we're recommending a tax freeze. Um and unfortunately, we can't do that without compromising uh the programs and the opportunities we provide for our students. And we we can't do that. Um but, I I do think it's again, those those items there and it really is those three, the impact they have on a school district budget uh is massive as you can see. Uh so, in terms of next step, just to conclude here,
046we'll continue to review expenditures and staffing levels. Um we would not adopt a final budget until June 8th. If approved tonight, um it is available for comment um and inspection by the public. Um changes can be made. Um I don't foresee certainly a change where we would come in and have a higher recommendation. Is it possible that it could be lower? Sure, but usually we come in with our proposed final budget, um our team does a pre- a pretty good job of of being uh confident in those recommendations. However, changes can be made between tonight and the final adoption, which would be presenting it on June 8th. And that concludes uh the presentation and um we appreciate your attention. Certainly, uh Mr. Burchell and I would be glad to answer questions if there are any.
047>> Well, thank you both. I also thank Mr. Burchell and his team. I know this is a stressful time every year trying to evaluate what we're going to do and what we're going to propose for our budgets, and I know everything uh gets evaluated. Uh nothing gets doesn't not get looked over, so I appreciate all the time and effort that you guys do put into this cuz I know this is very >> No, I appreciate that. I you know, we would love nothing more than come in here and recommend a tax freeze. I live here, everyone lives here. Um unfortunately, with the way that our revenue is made up and how how the money comes into the district, um we just have to minimize the damage, do the best job to manage our interior, you
048know, our our resources in the district. As we have people uh retire or leave, review if we can do things internally and use our resources in a better way, so we don't have to fill all the positions. So, those are all things that we're looking at. Um and I will say that it does start early, like right around Christmas time, when people get after people get back from the holiday break. All levels of the school district, all the teachers, you know, curriculum leaders, everybody's involved. So, there are a lot of people that go into putting this together. So, I want to thank everyone. >> Thank you. Mrs. Schnorr. >> Yes. I move that the board approve the following resolution. Resolved that the that the proposed final budget for the 2026-2027 school year in the amount
049of $111,566,288.00 with a real estate tax rate of 32.4605 mills be and is hereby approved as the proposed budget for the school district as attached to the permanent record of the minutes of this meeting. Resolved that the secretary of the board be and is here- hereby directed to make copies of such proposed budget available for public inspection in accordance with the requirements of the school code at least 20 days prior to the adoption of the budget. And the secretary be and is hereby further directed to give not less than 10 days notice to the public of the meeting at which the final budget shall be adopted. Further resolved that the board set the date of Wednesday, June 8th, 2026 at 7:00 p.m. in the district administration building board room for the adoption of the 2026-2027
050school district budget. >> And I second the motion. >> Okay. Any further questions or comments? All in favor? >> Aye. >> Any nays? Motion passes. Thank you. Uh Mrs. Mack. >> Good evening. The attached personnel listing reflects selections and reappointments for our fall 2026 athletics, high school activities, and summer substitute roles. Um additionally, there are um a few employee retirements um that are noted as well. >> And thank you, Ms. Maga. I could just add, I will draw attention to uh we do have a retirement notice in there um tonight for our longest-tenured principal in the district, um Mark Miller at Eisenhower Elementary, who's also our supervisor of elementary education, will be retiring this summer. So, like the other retirees, we'll we will bring them in in June and and appropriately recognize them, but I
051did want to draw attention to that because that um that was in tonight's personnel listing. So, um we'll talk about him more and his contributions when he's here. Certainly a big loss for the district, but uh longest-tenured principal in the district. He's been at Eisenhower for 23 years. So, um we wish him well, and he'll be around, but uh his retirement will be official tonight. >> Thank you. Uh Mr. Kyle, would you like to make a motion, please? >> Certainly. Uh I move that the board approve the personnel listing as presented, subject to all required pre-employment history reviews and clearance requirements. >> I second. >> Uh all in favor? >> Aye. >> Any nays? Okay, motion passes. Dr. Media. >> Good evening. Uh tonight I'm requesting approval of several renewals of existing um agreements or
052or contracts. The first being uh Carasollis, which is one of our um uh service coordination um services. We have the Allegheny Intermediate uh Unit Overall Membership Services Agreement, um and two addendums, the special education addendum as well as the Waterfront Learning Addendum, um and then our um annual agreements with UPMC, one being the um state-mandated SAP um letter of agreement, and then our enhanced um agreement with them for social emotional wellness consultant. Um I just want to add that they also do provide quite a bit of professional development for us um and have been a great partner for us. >> Well, thank you, Dr. Media. Uh Mr. Lambert. >> I move that the board approve the above-listed agreements, item 1 through 5, subject to final terms and conditions acceptable to the superintendent and solicitor. >>
053I second. >> Okay. All in favor? >> I. >> Any nays? Okay. Motion passes. Mr. Snyder, you're on deck. No, you're on you're on now. >> Okay, sounds good. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. This evening, I would like to recommend the proposed agreement with Gateway Engineering for their professional engineering design services. Um these services would support the district bollard project, which is um hopefully planned uh to occur this summer. Um these bollards would be placed in at the main entrances of Baker Elementary, Eisenhower Elementary, uh Four Couch, and uh Stream Elementary. So, basically, that would just finish off the other buildings that don't already currently have bollards at the main entrances. The buildings that have two entrances would have these bollards at both entrances. Um the bollard project itself would be funded through the recent
054PCCD grant that uh I believe that the district received. Um and uh the services from Gateway would be approved through the general fund in the amount of uh not to exceed in the amount of $25,000. >> Thank you, Mr. Snyder. Mrs. Peterson, would you like to make a motion? >> Yes, I would. I move that the board approve the agreement with Gateway Engineers for professional engineering and design services at a total cost not to exceed $25,000 subject to final terms and conditions acceptable to the superintendent and solicitor. >> I second. >> Okay, all in favor? >> I. >> Any nays? Motion passes. Thank you. Dr. Wagner. >> Good evening. It's nice to see everyone. Um in anticipation of an upcoming professional development day, uh May 19th, our annual wellness day for staff, um Dr. O'Rourke
055and I are seeking approval of an agreement with um Grizz Athletic Performance and Recovery LLC uh for a keynote speaker for the event uh for all staff across the district, teachers, classified staff. Um in addition, the folks from that organization will stick around to provide some of the breakout sessions for that professional development day. Um we're grateful to Mrs. Holly Fischer, our nursing curriculum leader, uh who's spearheaded all of these efforts. Um and tonight we seek approval for uh this agreement. >> Thank you, Dr. Wagner. Mrs. Bowes? >> Sure. I move that the board approve the agreement with Grizz Athletic Performance and Recovery LLC for a keynote address and breakout session for the staff on wellness day, May 19th, 2026 for a total amount not to exceed $1,000 subject to final terms and conditions acceptable
056to the superintendent and solicitor. >> I would second that motion. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Any nays? Motion passes. Mr. Berkshire, would you like to bring us on home? >> Okay. Well, I have quite a few motions here, so bear with me. Um first one is the uh financial summary for the period ending in 31st, 2026 for the general fund, cafeteria fund, capital reserve, and construction. Uh as far as the general fund, uh continued trends were were lagging behind in state revenue, which is been started with the budget not being approved in November. We did lose quite a a bit of investment income uh related to that. I know some schools uh that get a lot more funding lost a lot more investment income than we did. Um and then also the investment
057income rate with the federal funds and just in general interest rates dropping as far as returns are we're lagging behind in investment income this year. Uh food service, uh we're approximately 11% higher in meal sales this year, so um we're doing a good job uh of uh you know, uh presenting meals that the the students uh tend to like, and um our our participation has increased. Um capital reserve, really no money left in there. We spent it all already this year. Construction fund, we have um you know, 2.972 to carry us through basically through this construction period through the end of the the summer. And we will talk about at the next meeting some of the projects that were proposing potentially funding with the uh the uh the bond issuance. Budget transfers in the amount
058of $129,160.56 are presented for your year-end review and approval, and the bill list is included with the supplemental financial report for your review and approval. Any questions? >> Okay. Uh Mr. Kyle. >> I'm I move that the board approve the treasurer's report including approval of uh total bill list and check file listing as attached and as follows. Uh fund 10, general fund uh 3,000,000 $8,524.34. Fund 32, capital reserve, $845.12. Fund 39, uh construction fund, $177,000. Uh $35.03. Fund 51, food service fund, $164,808.87. >> Thank you, Mrs. Lloyd. Would you like to second that? >> Yes, I second. >> Thank you very much for being on top of that. Uh all in favor? >> Aye. >> Motion passes. >> Okay, the next motion is the approval of cafeteria meal rates for the 2026-2027 school year. The
059reason that is we are proposing this now is it's part of the budget that was proposed to PDE next year in order to balance our budget. So, the elementary will be increasing 20 cents from $3.30 to $3.50, middle school a quarter from $3.75 to $4.00, and high school from $4.00 to $4.25. And this would be for the reimbursable It would be for the regular reimbursable meals. Any Any questions? With the cost of food and the cost of um labor and benefits, uh there are some folks in that bargaining unit that receive um health care. So, with all those things tied together, we we have to um propose an increase. >> Okay. Mr. Lambert. >> I move that the board approve the 2026-2027 cafeteria meal rates adjustment as presented. >> And I second. >> All in
060favor? >> Aye. >> Any nays? Motion passes. Okay, the next motion is the renewal of the agreement with with Aramark Food Service for the 26-27 school year. Attached is the agreement. It's been reviewed and approved by PDE. So, the next step is the board approve the agreement, then it'll be executed, and then we will have our contract for next school year. Any questions about the agreement? >> Mrs. Peterson, would you like to make a motion? >> Yes, I move that the board approve the renewal agreement as presented with Aramark for food services for the 2026-27 school year, which has been reviewed and approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. >> I second. >> All in favor? >> Aye. >> Any nays? Motion passes. Okay, so the next motion is to approve an agreement, obviously acceptable
061conditions acceptable to the superintendent solicitor, for Empowered Buildings. Currently, we have refrigeration monitoring equipment, but it's somewhat limited. Um We rely on a a mobile connection. >> Mr. Birchall, sorry to interrupt. >> I skipped Thank you Yeah, you skipped over the That's okay. You were excited about the >> to the I apologize. That's okay. Hold on. Too many motions here. So, we are requesting a proposals for an architect of record. What that will do is uh put an architect uh at the uh uh disposal of the district to help with some of these future projects. Right, when the last architect of record record that we had was Dave McClain from McClain Architects. Uh we're proposing that we put together an RFP and solicit those RFPs and come back to the board with a recommendation. Uh
062that probably won't be until the August meeting, but uh I'm currently putting together the RFP and uh you know, we need to have an architect of record with some of these projects that were potentially going to be entered into in the future. We've for the last several years we've used um you know, gateway engineering companies to do that, but at this point we need to get an architect of record on the books for the district. So, any questions related to that? >> Mr. Bolus. >> Sure. I move that the board approve the approve the solicitation of proposals for an architect of record. >> I will second that. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Any nays? Motion passes. >> Okay, now Empower. So, already did my spiel. We have current uh equipment in place. It's
063not meeting our needs. Um I don't know if Mr. Brott wants to comment on on any of the technology part of it, but what we'll be doing is uh basically putting in equipment that will be on the backup generator through power over Ethernet and we will have uh the equipment operation and functioning 24/7 regardless if you remember about a year ago we had 3 days where we didn't have power. We ended up I you know, I had to come in on a Sunday. We had to move all kinds of food around to some of the uh refrigeration units that were actually on backup power. Some of our schools are, some aren't. So, this is going to put us in a better position to um manage our equipment our our food and and obviously get the
064information that we need in real time. So, there is a initial setup fee of $17,940. Um and then it's $45 per site per month. So, I don't know if you want to add anything to that, Mr. Brott. >> I have no comment at this time. >> Okay. So, uh this will be paid for by the food service department and the project will occur over the summer. >> Thank you. Mr. Bertsch and Mr. Barratt, thank you for that. Uh Mrs. Schnorr, would you like to make a motion, please? >> I would. I move that the board approve the agreement with Empowered Buildings to provide hardware, installation, and monitoring services for the district's refrigeration equipment at a total cost not to exceed $17,940 for the initial setup and a monthly cost of $45 per site for a
065term of 3 years subject to final terms and conditions acceptable to the superintendent and solicitor. >> I second the motion. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Any nays? Okay, motion passes. >> Uh next motion is the approval of the South Central Area School Committee budget. Uh the budget for 2026-2027 is totaling $461,000. The majority of the increase between years is for equipment replacement, which Mr. Snyder, is that boilers over there over at is Pathfinder? >> Yes. >> I think you had com- conversations with them. So, they're replacing their boilers, so the majority of that increase is related to boiler boiler replacement. Um we do this annually, we approve their budget. Any questions? >> Mr. Kyle. >> I move that the board approve the adoption of the procedure set forth in section 1704 of the
066school code permitting a mail-in ballot and adoption of the operating budget for the South Central Area Special Schools Committee for the 2026-2027 school year as set forth in the proposed budget totaling $461,000. >> I second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Any nays? Thank you. Motion passes. All right, two more, Mr. Burchell. >> Okay. Uh approval of re-election of treasurer and then we annually we need to uh approve the uh treasurer, uh Katrina Cromwell, has served in that role. I think this will be the third year. She helps me manage and uh the investments of the district and serves as the treasurer. >> Mr. Lambert. >> I move that the board re-elect Ms. Katrina Cromwell as treasurer of the school district effective July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2027 at a rate of $3,500
067annually, provided that before entering upon the duties of such office for said term, she shall furnish, at the expense of the school district, a bond in favor of the school district in the amount of $100,000, conditioned upon the faithful performance of her duties of school treasurer in substantially the same form that was furnished to the school district previously. >> I second. >> Thank you both. Uh All in favor? >> I. >> Any nays? Okay, motion passes. Thank you very much, Mr. Burchell. The last one. >> Okay, final motion. We uh recommend the approval of the insurance renewals and student accident insurance as proposed. Uh just a couple comments. Um the majority of the increase is the commercial package. Um we did shop it around and some companies can, you know, there's only a handful in
068the market in the education uh sector. Um so a lot of these other potential underwriters don't want schools with their own bus fleet. So, while we were going to maybe reduce our commercial package, our business auto went through the roof. So, um I personally know some schools. I know one school, they had their deductible raised to 75,000. I won't say who it is, but they had their deductible raised to $75,000. So, in general, the schools in Pennsylvania are aging. Uh when the state stopped um supporting some of the construction projects, they they used to be able to get a percentage of money from the state to help you with renovations and new construction, that's no longer part of the state program. So, across the state in general, schools are aging. Insurance claims are going up.
069Um and this is just it's it's the reality of it. Um we're recommending to stay with CM Regent. They've been They've been a good carrier and have responded to our claims, um you know, over the years, and uh you know, it's it's a it's an increase, but some schools are are a lot worse than we are, so. Any questions or comments? >> No, thank you, Mr. Burchell. I know that was a marathon list, so thank you. Mrs. Peterson. >> I move that the board approve the renewal of the insurance policies listed in the grid by type of coverage, carrier, the annual premium that's expiring and the premium for 2026-27, policies effective July 1st, 2026. >> Thank you. >> Second. >> Okay, all in favor. >> Aye. >> Any nays? Okay, motion passes. That is the
070conclusion of our voting options. Uh committee reports, we'll start with Mrs. Bolus and go counterclockwise. >> Sure. I could be here all evening on the next topic. >> Yes. >> I No, I'm serious. Um I just You know, every once in a while you get this You just know you have to do something and I did attend the parent-teacher council um presentation and for AI. And I wrote Dr. Rosso afterwards and I'm going to read what I wrote him. It Everyone's passion for their work, depth and breadth of research and presentation and the professionalism was very obvious. Everyone should be very proud of the work. It was I was a witness to what makes Upper St. Clair the best of the best. And you Of all the presentations I've attended through the years, the AI
071AI was one of the most powerful to the future of our district. Our motto is he who does not progress fails. Implementation is going to be its own challenge, have its own challenges, but there's going to be so many opportunities. It's going to present AI is going to give us the opportunity to be very nimble, very rapid rapid in our transformation of how teaching and learning goes about. It's going to help improve our critical thinking, deep thinking, and assessment and monitoring and adjusting for our students. It's going to be more collaborative. It's going to have more opportunities for collaboration of teaching and learning and working together. It's going to have a component of ethics, talking about ethics. You There's so many times we read in the paper about ethics and things going wrong and this
072process of AI is going to give us a chance for the student and the teacher to talk about ethics, what it means, what how in producing their work, what it is what does it mean? Are you doing your own work? Is it AI's work? How is that separated? How is it combined? It's going to create a more student self-awareness of learning. And I I was talking to Dr. Razo afterwards, and I don't know why, but when I was um why they insisted that as an elementary teacher when I was doing my studies, studies, they insisted on teaching us Programming. I'm thinking, how am I ever going to use programming? What I didn't understand at the time was how it was going to change the process of learning. And how that programming could be used even
073in a first grade classroom. I am excited about this. It's It's kind of scary because it's changing so rapidly. But what it's what it's going to do for our district and I when I think about he who does not progress fails, the university I attended was close to RIT. There was also a business called Kodak. And Kodak was a picture-perfect moment. Kodak, even though they were there near the university, near RIT, always thought film. The hard film was going to be the best way. They never thought digital was going to be a part of the future. Do some research I did on what happened to Kodak. It was very impactful to the area. So, earlier when we were talking about future doctors, future lawyers, future business people, future consumers, we are at a tipping point
074and how we take this, how we use this. But back to the point of the from the curriculum development process, twice a year we we look at our curriculum develop process. When I was traveling across the country, most school districts reviewed one subject every five years. We're very nimble. We're very quick. But what we can do for the future, it's our choice. It's a collective investment. And yes, I've and I heard Dr. Mr. Burtch's pain about the budget. I mean, anybody opens up their electric bill, telephone bill, everything is going up. But when, for example, we attend community day and parents come up whose children have been out of the school for 5 to 10 years and talk about the gratitude that they have for the opportunity that Upper St. Clair has given their children.
075And they many of them are coming back. They're coming back and living here and being our doctors, our lawyers, our finance people. So, I could talk so I mean, I took six pages of notes. I was so excited, but anyhow. Um I'm going to talk to Dr. Rosso about another another way to use that AI presentation. So, on the on the flip side, um PA is a PSBA liaison. Um they have come out with a new a revised book on essentials of school board leadership. It's available to all of us on the myPSBA. If they have a library of um what we can study and it talks about the foundational principles and guidance of how to be a better school leader. Um the uh there's going to be opportunities to become an officer in PSBA.
076That would be for 2027 and the nominations are open until June 1st, 5:00 p.m. They're very specific about that. And there's more about that on my myPSBA. Um Mr. Dave Mr. Kyle new director meeting, they've already probably been in touch with you. This year the exciting topic next month is the PA budget timeline and its impact on districts. So, we all know what that where that can lead us. Um upcoming events May 15th is the deadline to submit PSBA bylaw proposals. June 26th is the deadline to submit delegate assembly delegates. Um let's see and um July 31st is going to be the deadline to submit nominations for the innovation award. And that's it. But if you want to go back and talk about AI again, I can go on and on about that. No, it
077was it was just to see our staff and how they presented and the research that they had done on it. It it was just incredible and it builds on what our curriculum leaders do. It builds on what the students tell the teachers they need. It builds on what we are going to be doing in partnership hopefully more and more with Carnegie Mellon. We are very fortunate to have that. I mean, we have some people that really really care about Upper St. Clair and want to continue to be the best of the best. So, thank you. >> That's great. That is really good stuff. Uh anybody in cyber world have a committee report? >> Not me. Just real quickly, the PTSO will have its last meeting this Wednesday, May 6th at 9:30 a.m. I'm traveling uh
078for work and won't be able to attend, but if you're interested, I'm sure Dr. Wagner could send you the Google Meet to join. It's the last one for the year. So, big thanks to all of our PTSO partners for everything that they they do to make our schools awesome. Thank you. >> Thank you. Mrs. Peterson? >> You already heard how great our students are doing at Parkway and the NAAPID your Thank you for mentioning that. And I think I mentioned but graduation for the kids is the 13th of May. >> Thank you. Uh matters of information Dr. Raza. >> Um no, the only thing I would add just sorry I took your thunder there Mrs. Peterson. I wanted to give our a shout out and just with regards to the AI obviously there's a lot
079more work to do in that space. It's a strategic initiative for the district. But you know, you talk about the power and connections in this community after we gave the presentation with several people several residents families come up and talk to us and and one of the individuals who we got her contact information and offered to help was one of the lead AI researchers from Microsoft. Happens to be a resident here and she did a brief overview with us of some of the work that she's doing and has done. Incredibly impressive just a tremendous resource that will certainly tap into. So again, we're very fortunate and at that presentation even build us one more connection that the time was well worth it. And so we'll look forward to share more of that with the board
080in the coming months. But thank you for your kind words Mrs. Bolson. It was it was a good night. >> Yes, it was. Yes, it was. I'm glad I just knew I had to go but I'm glad I did. It was great. Thank you. >> Okay, uh an executive session was held this evening at 6:00 for personnel reasons. Want to make sure that that's on the record as well as and I am uh like to make a motion to adjourn this evening for our school board meeting. >> So moved.