001Everybody's name. >> Good evening everybody. Please rise for the pledge and remain standing for a moment of silence. Pledge >> 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. Thank you. >> Miss Bears >> here. >> Mr. Rick >> here. >> Mr. Brown. >> Yep. >> Mr. Bryan >> here. >> Mr. Chsy >> here. >> Reverend Custard. Um, excuse >> Kathy Gennis >> here. >> Mr. Demo >> here. >> Mr. Sori >> here. >> Well, good evening everyone. >> Happy New Year. >> I was waiting for a response back. So, um, we're excited. This is um this is one of my favorite nights when we bring in our our student athletes and uh um just
002to recognize the great accomplishments that they've had and we've had I believe all three schools are represented here this evening and um you know we're excited to to honor honor each and every one of these student athletes and you know there's a lot of dedication. We're going to read a bunch of names, but the dedication that those these kids have all year round, most of it's all year now, right? They're training all year. And I see some of the kids are shaking their head. Yes. Right. So, the dedication of our students, of our coaches, and then of our community. Um I it was it was a blessing to go watch our communities rally behind our student athletes. It's a source of uh pride. Um, you know, I bled different colors, but I'm starting to I'm
003starting to like my blue and my black and my golds and my yellows. And so, I'm starting to starting to get that in my blood here a little bit. So, congratulations to all the athletes and and I'll turn it over and we'll start uh, you know, go down through the list and announce them. Um, start with cross country um, state qualifier. Turn this over. to the athletic director. Justin's here. >> Seagertown had three um females running at the state competition. Um first one is senior Cameron Heracle. She actually this was her third time attending the the state competition. Wow. >> Unfortunately, her last she is a senior. >> Um, Reese de Jakamo. This is This was Reese's second time heading to Hershey, so she's hoping for her performance. Congratulations. And Mila Bland. And this was
004Mila's first trip and first trip and she's hoping to attend again in the future as well. So congratulations to all three of you. Uh Cambridge Springs had one male athlete, uh Isaiah Simpson. He's a junior. This is his first time. And I'm sure with the amount that I see him running around the streets of Cambridge Springs, he has every intention of going again next year. We also had two golfers um that qualified and participated in the state golf championship. Um the first one is Tyler Cherek. Tyler finished 29th. Congratulations his first appearance. And Mason Jovik This was Mason's second appearance and he was a medalist this year. He tied for seventh place. Um, a great accomplishment. CONGRATULATIONS. And um, having been able to teach or work with all five of these, they exemplify the term
005student athlete. So, not only do they excel in their athletics, but they also excel in the classroom. CONGRATULATIONS. UM, next we're going to honor the uh Maplewood girls volleyball team. Um, as most people know, uh, they were the state champs uh, for the seventh time. I don't know how many appearances, but I know seven titles. Um, first off, our coaches, Sheila Braftoft, Allison Paulie are here. McKenna Crawford. Um, stand up. STAND UP. UM, SO going on to the athletes, we'll start with our seniors. Uh Samantha Stanford, Miley Crawford, Bri Ney. And now our juniors that are here, Bailey Moyer, Lexi Hatski, and sophomore Reese Stanford. Rest of our girls are at a basketball game tonight in Jamestown, so they couldn't be here, but we'll make sure we get all their stuff. >> You have to
006read their names for us. I think she has the rest. >> Does she have Okay. Yep. So, we have um senior Maggie Means, uh freshman Taylor Jordan, a junior Evan Post, a freshman Bella Jordan. She freshman sophomore >> uh freshman Naa Harless, sophomore Key Dale, freshman Gracie Snider, junior Lily Stevenson, junior Georgia Haleiva, and freshman Lydia Slaggel. SO, UM, as kind of what Chris echoed, um, I've probably either coached or been around these girls for quite some time. Um, so they're not only great great athletes, but also great individuals. So, congrats to them again and, uh, coaches as well. >> Um, Mr. Ford, can I just >> Well, I I wasn't done yet, >> you know. Um, I've talked about the athletes with coach Braftoft. We go back quite a ways. Go back to my
007days at Cochran and uh I I I've learned from her. She doesn't even know it. And I've learned from her by watching her um watch what she does. Sometimes you don't want to take for granted when someone wins seven state championships and coaches that that is a one heck of an accomplishment. And um so Sheila, I know you're going to give all the credit to the girls because that's how you are, but we thank you because you're putting in all those hours and everything too and it's greatly appreciated. Um um we we're blessed to have you in this district both as an educator first and foremost and as a coach. So thank you for all you do. >> All right. I can't get out of here without saying something because yeah uh states seven titles
008actually six as a head coach one as an assistant coach with the boys seven years and the boys have seven titles but in all my years of being there I do have to say um as far as the administrative support that we had this year was amazing u Mr. Ford Mr. Fe Mrs. Phely I'd like to thank you because it did not go um we noticed we noticed you were in the gym you were supporting us traveled to games Mr. support was at the state championship. So I'm going to forget a few people. I had many board members and everybody congratulate. We had the community support was just amazing this year. Um so I just want to read just a little bit just so I don't overlook anything but I just want to say on
009behalf of our team I want to sincerely thank the school board and our administrators for recognizing this group that has continued to support our group our program. Your belief in our student athletes, which they all are great student athletes and coaches, means a great deal and we are truly grateful for this accomplishment. I also like to give special thanks to Mr. Ford and Mrs. Fely for supporting our team throughout the state playoff run. Your presence, encouragement, and commitment did not go unnoticed and it made a difference to our players. When you go back to the gym and you say, "Did you see who was in the gym last night?" That does mean a lot. This championship was built on belief. Belief that we could compete with any team, belief in one another, and belief and
010trust in the coaching staff. They shared confidence, carried us through challenges, and ultimately brought us together as champions. We did finish 20 and two, a record with only losses coming to double AAA powerhouses in non-region play. They completed competed with the best in tournament play and got a little revenge on two teams that beat them earlier in the year at our home tournament. After winning the district 10 championship, we powered through three district seven teams before defeating district 11 champion and number two ranked team in the state. We had amazing support throughout the season and it just kept getting larger and larger and larger. It was easy to support this group of girls because of the energy, determination that they brought to the court. The 20 2025 Maplewood girls volleyball state champions will be remembered
011for their determination, team play, and some gritty defense. At the end, we had no regrets and a lot of happy tears. Thank you again for this recognition. Thank you. >> Any anyone else? Any anybody want to say anything else as we have our athletes and our coaches here? >> Congratulations. >> Thank you. >> That's awesome. >> Thank you. Thanks. >> Okay. >> Thank more students in our meetings. This is good. It keeps keeps the perspective where it needs to be. It does. It's awesome. >> Thank you all. We appreciate you being here tonight. >> Welcome to >> And you're welcome to stay, but you're also welcome to leave if you need to. I wouldn't want to say >> wait. That's my song. >> Small world. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. We
012are we are currently in our committee of the whole meeting. Our next um agenda item on there is the 2024 2025. It's the local audit. We have Steve Faulk here from Felix Lochner and um I believe he is online. >> What's that? >> Change names. They they change names. Okay. What's the new name? >> Steve can introduce that. >> He's partner now. >> Steve, are you there? >> If you are, you're muted. >> Can you hear me now? So the new name is basically same as far. >> Um can you see my screen? >> Yes. Okay, perfect. So, I'm just going to hit the highlight report here. The first part is the independent report here on page five. That's part of the financial statements in the report. That's our responsibility. The rest is responsibility management.
013The first paragraph there's the opinion paragraph states we have audited the financial statements of the governmental activities the business type activities each major fund and the aggregate remaining fund information of the penrest school district it for the year end of June 30 to 2025. The next paragraph states, "In our opinion, the accompanying financial statements of the pancreas school district um uh referred to by trailing all material respects the respective financial position of the pancreas school district as of the interior 2025. So in other words, a clean opinion, which is what we strive for every year, we're going to go a financial statement audit. In the middle there, the basis for our opinion that we conducted our audit in accordance with auditing standards generally accepting United States of America and also with government auditing standards. And
014at the bottom there, the responsibilities of management are for the preparation and the fair presentation of the financial statements. the course of county principles generally accept the United States of America and also for the design, implementation and maintenance of internal control over those financial statements. So on the next page here, the audit's responsibility is to obtain reasonable assurance of how the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement whether due to fraud or error and to issue an honors report that includes our opinions. We'll skip ahead here to go over some of the uh financial statement information. Um this is the balance sheet of the governmental funds and we'll focus on the general fund hall. That's that's a majority of the activity of the district. We had total assets of 30,118,000 liabilities of
01511,860,000 unavailable revenue related to property taxes of 1,421,000. We're supposed to have a total fund balance of 16,835,000. That fund balance is broken out into several categories. Uh we had 247,000 of non-spendable fund balance related to prepaid items. We had committed fund balance. We had future debt service of 1.3 million and f future pieces increases of 1.4 million. We also had a signed fund balance 1.9 million for future pieces contributions, 1 million for facilities acquisition improvement, 2.8 million for future increases in healthcare costs, 800,000 for cyber tuition increases, and 3 million for future budget deficits. So that office was 4.2 million assigning. I'm going to skip ahead to page 22 here. This is a statement of revenues, expenditures, and changes in fund balance for the governmental funds. Once again, we'll focus on the general fund.
016We have total revenues of 61,640,000 expenditures of 59,469,000 other financing uses of 296,000 resulted in a positive change in permanence 1,874,000. And on page 26 here, uh, this says statement of revenues, expenses, and changes in deposition for our proprietary fund, which is our food service fund. It's total operating revenues of 188,000, operating expenses of 1,836,000, resulting in operating loss of 1,647,000. Now based on the nature of the food service fund, a majority of the money comes from federal and state subsidies to fund that that fund um which are based on meals served to the students which is down below in total non operating revenues. So it's about 1.8 million there. So overall we had a positive change in net position of 206,000 for the current year. And then if we scroll ahead here to our
017statement of changes in fiduciary deposition for our student activity funds, we had total additions of 92,000 deductions of 100,000 resulting in a decrease in deposition of 7,400. So not a break even there. Now the remainder of the report um is related to the footnotes and other supplementary information. Um there's no new items to the report. um they have been updated to support the schedules that I just kind of went over um for the 2025 information. However, there's nothing new really to go over. Um we did perform a single audit since the district extended over 750,000 federal funding. uh we had to uh select a test or a program to test based on risk assessment and when it's last been tested and this year it was the child nutrition cluster but we're pleased to say we
018had no findings in that that um program. So it was operating as intended in accordance with the federal compliance supplement. So that's good news. And we also noted no material we consider significant deficiencies as part of our financial statement audit. So some more good news um for the district there. And then I also did want to thank uh Kristen and Cynthia for their help during the audit. They're always very prepared when we come out. We're out there for about a week of field work and then uh we have probably another week or two in our office of finalizing information and uh doing other reviews and internal reviews and stuff, but their their efforts to uh you know assist us while we're out there are definitely appreciated. So just wanted to give them a kudos as
019well. Did anyone have any questions on the information I went over? >> Okay. If something were to come up, if we had questions throughout the year, please feel free to contact me. Um, I know we sent out a board me there. If not, then Chris definitely has my contact information. >> Thank you, Steve. I appreciate you. >> No problem. I'll stop sharing my screen. So hopefully everything stop. Hope everyone has a good night. >> Thank you. You too. >> Our student representatives um tonight uh have Ella. She she is here. Okay. Hi Ella. >> She's from Cambridge Springs. >> You should have seen me speed over. I thought I was going to be late. >> You weren't speeding. a little. >> You're supposed to say no to that. >> You don't have to be honest
020about everything. >> Good evening. I'm Ella Morant, your student representative for Cambridge Springs. Not all of us feed there. Students in grade three through six at Cambridge Springs Elementary participated in a virtual author visit with Peter Brown, the author of many popular children's books, including The Wild Robot series. On January 19th, elementary teachers will use their work time collaborating to review midyear student data to see what's working and where students need more support. This will help teachers adjust pacing, strengthen the whole class's small group instruction, and plan learning for months ahead so that students can succeed. This Thursday, the fifth graders will be traveling to Pittsburgh for JA Biztown, which is a simulation of real world where students will run a business and sell products. National Honors Society students will also be going in order
021to serve as helpers for each business. The prom committee is continuing to raise money. They're thinking of a tattoo a teacher fundraiser where they sell fake tattoos for students to buy and give their teacher a tattoo. Last Friday, we had a we held a blood drive. Thank you for all who donated. For sports news, congratulations to the girls wrestlers on their performances at Mount Leanon tournament this past weekend. The junior high team placed first overall and AM Amber Dingle placed third with five pins. Addie Keem also placed third in her weight bracket with three pins. The senior high team placed eighth out of 30 teams. Good luck to the junior high boys basketball as they host Cockerton today at 400 p.m. in the CES gym. Good luck to the girls basketball team as they host
022Tittidwait Community Charter School tonight at 700 p.m. Congratulations to Hayden Taylor, Bryley Miller, Glenn, and myself who made it to the state PA journalism competition. Sagertown students Lincoln Flowers, Aaliyah Powell, Pitri Valamir, and Quinton Burchil also won. Congratulations. We will be traveling to Penn State Maine in March. The New Year's edition of The Pitchfork is coming out on the 23rd and there will be an article in this edition about block scheduling. But you guys are lucky because I will at the end hand out a special edition of just that article for you guys to read that discusses block scheduling and student opinions as well as facts. Please make sure to read it. It is like a page and a half, but I promise it's worth it. Please remember to follow Camber Springs on all social
023medias to stay informed. Thank you >> from Maplewood. Samantha, welcome. >> Good evening everyone. I'm Samantha Stanford, a senior at Maplewood High School. Um, as some of you may know, I just finished my volleyball career with a state title, and I can proudly say that this volleyball season was the best experience I could have asked for. As we've just got back to school from Christmas break, there's not a lot going on at the school at this time, but we still have our winter sports such as the unified botchi team, girls and boys basketball, and wrestling. The Botchi team is 1-1 on their season. Girls basketball is 4-6 and second in their region. Boys basketball is 2-7, and the wrestling team is 0 and five in league matches. A huge positive in our school recently has
024been the earned incentive of junior senior release. I know that all juniors and seniors really enjoy and appreciate the flexibility with this release option on Thursdays during win time as well as the many different options available for those who stay for that period of time. As far as I'm aware, the only major concern right now around our school is the potential full block schedule planned for next year. Thank you for the opportunity to speak on behalf of Maplewood High School. >> THANK YOU. AND FROM segreg >> and Katie. >> Good evening everyone. It's great to see you all. My name is Cameron Hillel. >> I'm Kate Aster. >> And we're here to give you the Secondtown High School monthly update. So, I'm going to start with club operations. It's a very busy time for the
025clubs. Um, as Christmas just passed, National Honor Society, it's our peak time of operation. We had Santa's workshop at the elementary school where we came down and we helped the elementary schoolers wrap their gifts that they bought for their families. We rung the bell for the Salvation Army at H&H all December. We um signed up and took turns um ranging the bell during school hours and after school hours. That was really successful. Um we provided volunteers to help with junior achievement presentations at the elementary school. So about 25 to 30 of us came down and we helped the junior achievement people. We just assisted them, helped them hand stuff out the kids, help the kids. So, that was really good. Um, and we provided volunteers who we were sending to Biztown this Thursday as well.
026Um, as for Young Conservatives Club, they handed out flags to veterans during the holiday seasons at local nursing homes and they're con um they're just continuing to plan for um similar events like that where they're going to take stuff to veterans and provide them. I think they typically do cards for Valentine's Day. So that's what's next on their list. Um, as for Key Club, they are continuing operations of our caring closet where we provide necessities for students in need. So, um, that's still going on. And they sent care packages to lo local nursing homes for the holidays. Um, and they made post-it notes with positive messages and hung them up around the school to um, keep motivation up for when we were all ready to go on break. So, that was good. Um and a
027schoolwide Christmas incentive is something else that happened. It happened on December the 19th and um students could sign up to participate in a variety of school um Christmas themed activities throughout the school and one of the main um activities was a hallway decorating competition finally came to an end and we declared our winners the juniors who took home the trophy with the candy cane lane themed hallway. So yeah, >> Saggertown has also participated in many musical and theatrical events over the past month, and there's also many more to look forward to. So on January 7th through 9th, the high school co-hosted junior no district chorus along with Connie at AlaGany College. It brought 180 students from numerous counties together to share the love of music with each other. And Seagertown had seven students representing with
028them. And on December 4th at 6 p.m. we had a holiday concert for the band and chorus. And it was really empowering to see how much half all the junior high kids and all of us have improved because most of the junior high kids were just starting on an instrument this year and they overall put out a an amazing show. Students at the end of November also auditioned for district jazz and our very own Brady Williams landed a spot in first band as a top piano audition. You can go see him at the festival in Union City on February 12th and 13th. And for theater, we have an elective. It's called theater arts. About 25 students go down to the elementary school every Friday or Wednesday. And we go talk to the elementary schoolers about
029how to just navigate through life and what skills they'll need when they eventually grow up, like social skills or peacemaking. And we'll be transitioning shortly to building set pieces for productions that they'll put on. That's a battle. >> Yeah. Thank you guys for your time. >> Thank you. >> Next up, we have our PA representative, Deon Miller. Good evening, members of the board, the administration, and members of our community that are left. I stand here tonight on behalf of the Penrest educators. In our last encounter in December, if you remember, I spoke of the gift that Penrest gives to our students, the gifts of learning, support, and a future. And as I continued on towards Christmas and the list of things I didn't have done, I began to realize that so much of that giving
030all rests on the s on the shoulders of our educators. So tonight, I want to speak about something that doesn't always show up in a line item on the budget or standardized test score. The incredible give of our educators. The reality of a classroom in 2026. We often talk about contract hours, but we all know that for a teacher, the clock doesn't begin or stop when the bell rings. This year, we have seen our members go above and beyond in ways that are truly humbling. The emotional labor teachers are advocating for families and students through personal crisis, providing a safe harbor, and we know the world is going crazy around these kids and their families. the financial give. Despite rising costs everywhere for the teacher in their gas tank and like the whole community, our
031teachers continue to reach into their own pockets to ensure no student goes without a notebook, pencil, a snack, a coat, and most recently a gift. And one for their parents and one for their grandparents. And who doesn't have a macaroni glued on white paper or a paper plate sprayed painted with gold portrait of their child? But some teacher bought all that stuff. The time sacrifice as we just heard about Sheila and her era or legacy. I don't know how many years. I was trying to think because we're close in age. She's older. >> 39. >> But who's counting, right? So yeah, we were >> teammates at Edinburgh, but it's a long time. >> And then you heard of the kids talking about all the clubs and things and all the teachers and professionals that are
032advising those and helping them. Maybe they're creating a play or a concert. The teachers are spending weekends grading and lesson planning. And all this unpaid overtime is what makes our schools feel like a community. And what's the impact? This give isn't just a nice gesture. It's the engine of our school district's success. When a student feels seen, when a classroom is vibrant, and when a struggling learner finally gets it, it's because a teacher gave a piece of their time, their energy, and their heart to make it happen. Okay. Before Christmas, I was reminded of this reality. Excuse me. It's been a long week. Okay. When I was called to meet with the teachers at one of our elementary schools, as I listened to them, it became clear that they were depleted, that their give tank
033was empty. And one of the reasons was that their tanks had sprung a leak. And the leak, as I'm calling it, was not caused by a needy child or a situation, but by me. I had failed to communicate their concerns to you, the board, and the administration. I had shared them, but not passionately enough to get action. For the past two plus years, I have talked to you about class size at our elementary schools. But what I should have talked to you about was teacher burnout. Because at the end of the day, that is the result of an overcrowded overcrowded classroom. A teacher who has nothing left in the tank and that one more thing that their administrator tells them they've got to do or whatever, it gets piled on them and that bursts their
034tank. I will stop talking in metaphorical terms. I need to tell you that our elementary teachers are being crushed with the increasing needs in front of them and their tanks are running on empty. After meeting with them, we went to the administration on the weekend. I'm pleased to say that I was able to reach out to Mr. Ford and he does not click on my calls and they were willing to listen. Mr. Ford and Mrs. Phely went into action. They agreed to meet with the staff the very like that was a Friday and the very next week and they began to hear from those elementary teachers perspective. We appreciate that they gave the teachers an opportunity for input and listen to their concerns. This is a first step and one that we need to continue.
035Everyone knows that a teacher or any employee is more effective and productive when they feel supported and empowered to make decisions that correct situations or produce achievement. To further this initiative to obtain more resources for our classrooms, time being the biggest one, PAEA is pushing to partner with our elementary administrators to brainstorm new ideas to help alleviate the burdens and get our professionals, professionals, sorry, more time and more empowerment to make strides in a positive direction. I hope to come back even as early as next month with news of our combined efforts for improvements. In closing, we are proud of our members. They are the backbone of this district and the fuel that keeps the district running. As we look forward into the coming months, we ask the board to remember this dedication. Our teachers
036aren't just employees. We are the primary investors in our students future. Thank you for recognizing their tireless work and the immense give of the educators of Penrest. THANK YOU. I'VE GOT A COUPLE UPDATES. Um the first one is a change to policy um school code policy change 133.2- A. Um this was a we it's a new policy for weapons notification. Um, this section now requires all Pennsylvania school entities, including public, non-public, and private schools to notify parents, guardians, and school employees, when an incident involving the possession of a weapon occurs on school property and during school related activities. Um, so why does this matter? Um, while this new change helps to ensure family and staff are informed properly about a possession of a weapon on school grounds, I also do do not want it to
037incite any unnecessary fear um or anxiety when communicating such information. So, one example I was thinking of would be the notification of a weapon on school grounds of a student who would forget um that they have a small pocket knife in their coat pocket. And as an old principle, that happened periodically. So even if that even if that student brought that pocket knife to me at the beginning of the day, according to this this statute, I would still have to put out a notification. So um we had a situation. We did our first notification last week. I was I was planning on putting this out this week to all of our families. Um and it's by campus. So, like if it happens at Cambridge Springs High School, then then the Cambridge Springs community gets that
038particular message. So, we did put one out um at the end of last week that went out to the community um and the parents um last week. So, we will continue to do that. Um I we're going to try to be brief on these. Um so, I I would prefer brief but to the point I like last week we identified it as a pocket knife. Okay. So, I'm going to try to give enough information so that people aren't, you know, in a panic. So, naturally, if it's a serious situation, there'll be more messages that go out within greater detail. Um, so this is something that we have to do. Um, safety is something that we're continually looking at. Um, we will always be looking at that. Um, please know in advance that these these messages
039will be as brief as possible um and will contain certain limited details. Actually, we can't talk about students. We can't talk about confidentiality. It's simply notifying that that's going out. Um, I think that's I think that's it. I just wanted to make sure the board was aware of that. Also, the community who's here. Then we'll we're also going I'm going to put the same I've had it in a letter format that'll go out here in the next couple days. So, just to let everyone know that the next thing I want to talk about is u something that um um Patty will bring it up on the screen. It's a PowerPoint. So, since I've been at Penrest, I've been doing a lot of um talking with people, um planning, analyzing, um looking at the the future
040to the credit of the previous board. They were very transparent when when I was hired that we needed to look into the future um of the district. So what this is is is basically after my time thus far is a plan of action to move forward um to you know to look at where we're going. So we're we're terming that pen crest rising and it's all about preparing students for their future. You're going to hear a lot more than that but at the end of the day it's our responsibility to prepare students for their future. I always like to add, I didn't put that on there, but not our past, right? It's about students, about their future. The world is changing quickly and things in Penrest have changed over the last 20 years, right? So,
041it's up to us to really take a hard look um at everything. And I'll go through that here in a second, but we do face long term. I've sat here before. I've stated it. uh you know we have we definitely have if you look at the past 10 to 20 years we've definitely declined in enrollment costs are going up um our facilities to the to the credit of the board of the previous board um took that upon themselves we invested over $32 million in the facilities and frankly they're still old facilities there's still a lot there's still a lot infrastructure is is very very big we have from paving to sewage age to water. It's a constant looking at facility. You never quit looking at your facilities. It's it's it's it's kind of like your
042home, right? You're always looking at your home and looking how to how to repair and how to move forward. So, we're going to take a look at at a lot of things and this is what I'm my recommendation. I'll bring that to the board at the end of this PowerPoint. Um but that's what this is. This is a um it's it's a simp it's a simple request tonight um asking us to openly do some work in planning and some audits in a lot of different areas. So with that said let me jump into the framework of what this is going to look like. So what's our challenge? I think there's three questions that I came up with. Are are students across the district receiving a strong and consistent opportunities? Um, I I I this is
043the most important one for me because I want to make sure that our students are getting everything that we can possibly give them that other students get throughout this Commonwealth and throughout the country. Okay? And how do we and we may have to be creative in how we do that, but it's important that we pro that's part of training them for their future. And um and so that's number one. Number two then do our programs and our systems reflect how education and communities are changing because they have changed. Um, society, you know, societyy's changing daily. Um, both for good and for bad, right? Um, we see a lot of discord. Um, but there's a there's a skill there to be taught for students that we may not have had to teach them 25, 20, 10
044years ago. And so that's a skill, you know, I think of a critical skill that students need to be taught is empathy. You know, how to respond to people. You know, I I one of my core values and the team will tell you this. I expect people to be treated right. Now, we don't we're not perfect. We don't get it right all the time, but we sure try. That's what we strive for. And and that's that's a great skill for our students. And so, and then three, can we and then we got to talk the last one. Can we sustain our programs financially over the long term? Because that's our reality. And so, we have to take a look at our reality. So getting into what this looks like, I'm asking the board to do
045a set of modular operational audits. And why they're why they're called modular because there's six different models that I want to take a look at. We will do this through what's called an RFP, um a request for proposal, where we will put this out for bid. Um and we will we want to bring experts in to take a look at what we are doing. um in these different areas. Now, do I believe that all these areas will be bit? I I don't I don't know the answer to that. That's why we're going to go out. It doesn't cost us anything to go out other than our time to put this together. And um and so these are the areas, academic programs, student opportunities. You're going to hear me. That's number one. There's a reason why
046that's number one. And um that'll always be number one as long as I'm um superintendent. Special education. We want to take a good look at special education services. That's a Mrs. Feelely does a tremendous job as our special education director. Um, but she's she is more than welcome to have if somebody else could come in take a look at what we're doing, you know, how we're doing it and um I she's she's on board with that. We've talked about it. So, um, transportation, we have 400 square miles. It's a challenge. transportation is probably one of the greatest challenges we face in the district and um you know and we have two contracts coming up here in the next year and so I not only do I want to look at what we're currently doing but
047I also want to take someone who is more experienced than myself in contracts to look at what's the best way for pencraft. So we want to take a look at that. Um then we want to get into operations. Technology safety. We've talked about some of that. Technology is is critical. Um and it's a challenge. It's a challenge every day to manage the technology. As Penrested before I came, there was quite a breach that happened here. We had another breach with another system, not internally but externally. And so again, it it's critical in operations. We've been looking at our facilities already. So, um, we've done that. We've done some and so we want to continue to look at that. Um, Kristen and I have we've been going doing webinars. We've been talking to people in different
048opportunities for the district. And that's the kind of things we want to do here is what are what's out there? What's out there for our students? What's out there for the district to help out long range? Um, athletics, arts, the performance infrastructure. Look at how about our fields. Looking at our fields, we got we have I think lights at one of fields we've replaced, but we have we've talked about the soccer field. We've added things there. We have how about our performances in the arts and the stages and our the theater. So, all of that we want to take a hard look at. Um, and we're not going to shy away from the numbers. We're going to take a look at what's the participation like in athletics across the district. I I think we have
049to do that. Um and so and and the same with the arts, you know, um and then finally lastly, finance and long-term sustainability. So, um what we're going to do is during this these proposals, um these are this encompass the whole district. And so we we're trying to take a good hard look at things, bring it back, um to our board um and and say, so that's phase one. phase two and I switched to slides so I should have said I should have talked about this one first but that's all right. So the next phase is really getting community input once we're done with the RFP and the and the board decides we decide where to go at that point we're really going to engage our community and we want to do that through surveys
050and then eventually through site through visits and then eventually I I'll go through it. So we want to capture the values, the priorities, the perceptions um from our community, from our students, from our staff and educators and we really want to know what it is. You know, I want to talk to I have been and I want to continue and expand on that is talking to our employers. We you know, if you go back I'm going to give a little history lesson here. You I don't get a chance to talk social studies very often. If you go back and look at why back at the turn of the centuries and what school existed, schools existed to prepare a workforce. Okay? And in the turn of the century, the workforce was in factories. Correct? So education
051was much centered on the factory model so that we prepared workers to be in those factories. Well, in 2025, factories have have really changed. The workforce has changed. So what do we have to do as an educational system to change goes back to help kids prepare for their future. So that's something that that we really want to look at and to do that we've got to we've got to talk to people. We've got to talk to people. Um you know it's it's not always it's not about one group. It's about multiple groups. We want to hear from our board. We want to hear from our staff. We want to hear from our students. We want to hear from our taxpayers. um and we want to hear from our our our our business folks and so
052and we then we compile that information with what the experts have shared and what their ideas. Now we bring that together that goes into phase two. Um that's at that point we'll have a board presentation, community engagement presentations across all three communities and then we'll look at maybe some uh planning teams from there. Um ultimately um phase three then brings it all together um and we develop some board ready recommendations. The one thing we I don't have as I'm not going into this there's no you're not going to hear me offering tonight any solutions. I don't have any solutions I'm bringing to forth to the table. I am bringing saying we need to do this as a district in the best interest of long range planning and strategic planning. And I and if and shame
053on me is that the leader if I don't engage the district and the communities in this process. And so that's what this is about. I I want to provide great information for our board so that they can make good decisions. So um this isn't this isn't something that I have an end in mind and somebody you know naturally I have some things I think may work but I want to hear from all the folks before we get to that point. Um the role of the board, your your role is you have the full governance authority. You've been elected as the representing this community and um you will be part of the planning teams. You'll be part of any implementation and you'll be the final decision maker after we provide you and get you information and
054hear from hear from the community. So that's that'll be your role. Um we want to be transparent. I I don't that's why we're having this here. We're sharing it. We want to be completely transparent. We don't we don't want to hide anything. Um that's how I'm wired and um that's how I that's how I want to, you know, approach things. And so um the bottom line is Penrest Rising ensures decisions are grounded in facts, not assumptions. Community voices inform future direction. Students remain at the center of every conversation. What I'm asking for you tonight is to approve moving forward with Penrest Rising phase one as was presented and it will be under new business when we get to the regular meeting. I'm not asking anything additional other than that approval there. There's no decision making.
055It would simply we would go out and do the RFPs to move forward. Even those though we bring back to you and you would have to approve those. You can say no. If we if we don't like anything we see, we say no and we recalculate and do it again. And so, um, I I want to do this in stages and make sure we're doing it the right way. Um, that's it. Questions from the board. >> Sounds good. >> Yeah, I like it. >> Any questions? I'm sure there'll be lots of questions as we start getting information and everything. So, um, >> well, if you think of any, when we get to new businesses, we'll be able to vote on it. So, we have further discussion about it, then you can ask. >> Well, thank
056you for your time. I appreciate it. Um, and if you think of any after the meeting, I'm just, you know, you know how to get a hold of me. >> Uh, moving on to Mrs. Feelely now and the assistant superintendent education report. >> Sure. I would just like to say that we did attend the um PMEA district chorus concert last Friday night. It was phenomenal. 180 um students from the district did a a fantastic job and we had representation from all three of our high schools on stage. They did an outstanding performance at Alageney College. It was a wonderful evening. Um, I also want to add although we're going through the Penrest Rising process, it would be wonderful if it was able to align with our strategic planning. However, we found out last week, late
057last week, that our strategic plan for Penrest is due March 31st. So, we will be quickly um completing our state required strategic plan here in the next two months. Um, and then the penrest rising piece will be a much more detailed planning process that will feed into that, but the the state process of that will be a much more watered down process that we have to do to meet the timeline for that. So, we will be working on that as well here in the next two months. Um our our on the agenda tonight, you will see student travel for district band for Cambridge High School and Maplewood High School. You'll see Junior Achievement Inspire Virtual CareerHub, which is an excellent resource for students at the high school level. Just gives them opportunity to do some
058career research. Um and it's a free online resource for them. uh renewal of extra math which is a resource that our teachers use in various pockets K through 12. Um it's a very reasonable reasonably priced resource for tier 2 intervention and also a conference the making a difference conference which is the state special education conference. I would like to take six staff members to that conference in February at no cost to the district as paid through access funds. So, um that is on there. And then several books for our elementary schools and some of the high schools. The elementary books were are books that um have been purchased through Michaela's voice, which are books written by students for students. Um all centered around students with disabilities. Um, our friend U Michaela is a book written
059by third graders about um, helping children understand it's okay to be afraid when first meeting someone with a disability. Each book in the series is written about a child with a different disability. One with autism, um, one with Down syndrome, and, um, what the third one is off the top of my head here. But basically, essentially, it's a good way to introduce students to different types of disabilities and our, you know, we have children with these types of disabilities in all of our schools, so it's a nice resource to have in the libraries. Um and then the other books were donated by um Crawford County Drug and Alcohol um as resources for our um classrooms. So they're good quality resources that um a lot of our students will benefit from. >> And that's all I
060have. >> Questions for Mrs. U facility report. Take a look. All right. uh up for discussion uh for approval this this month. You will see um we have two items up. The first is the approval for the purchase of a new zeroturn lawn mower. Um for you guys that will remember we we discussed this and brought this up to you guys back in October. Um at that time we were without a state budget and we we said that we would be bringing this back when we had a state budget. Um here we are. Um, as we start to plan for springtime activities, um, we're looking at, you know, equipment money that we've set aside in the budget for for this year. Uh, one of these items that we've earmarked is for the purchase of this
061new lawn mower. Um, this will replace um a mower that is undersized and more residential grade um in our fleet um with a zeroturn uh commercial diesel 72 in mower that'll be used at Mwood High School where we have a lot of grass. Um there's a tradein of $4,700 on that mower that we'd be trading in for a final purchase of $20,214.32. Um the other item we're looking for approval tonight for is for equipment repairs at Cambridge Elementary for the HVAC system. Um we had talked about this um when we discussed um you know the the proposed building project over there. As we talked about, we have two classrooms that currently have heat heating issues in the elementary where the heaters are. One, the unit is completely non-functional and we're temporarily heating that space. The
062other one, um, the heat works, but the fan does not, so it's not properly conditioning that space. Um, additionally, we have a boiler line that is leaking that needs to be repaired. Um those three items um are at a cost of $11,776 or $77. Um that would get those rooms, those two rooms and that one boiler line repaired and get us, you know, back to a kind of a status quo where where we are. Um it would be able to, you know, bring those back to regular um activities. So, uh, we're looking for approval for those items and I welcome any questions regarding those those action items. Thank you. >> And I think the it's not for approval, just FYI. Um, we have got the permits um for the water system in Seager Town. they
063have um >> yeah it was submitted this evening to the EP and um about a four to six week turnaround for them to review and submit any you know changes questions before we would see approval on that. Um looking probably to go out to bid on that springtime for a summer construction >> questions for Richard. Okay. Go ahead. >> Um, did we uh ask for bids on the floor? >> Yeah, we we got three bids and they're all co-stars approved. >> Okay, good. Thank you. >> Yep. >> Any other questions? Financial report. >> All right. Um items on the agenda for approval was is the audit. Um the draft is on there. You guys um went over Steve's presentation the beginning of this meeting. Um there's also the agreement for the act 80 with Burke
064one the annual contract. So act 80 comparison is uh mandated by PTE. It's a process to help determine data used to calculate the school's market value personal aid income ratio uh which is used in the formula for our subsidy. Um, so we have to compare records to make sure everyone on that list is in our tax base. Um, donation from SCI Cambridge Springs for uh, $310 for the caring closet. Um, we're asking for approval on that. And you have your traditional treasury reports on there, dispersements, um, the budget transfers for um, substitute and um, outside cyber. And then just some information only items. The IRS uh released the allowable mileage rate um that went from 72 uh.7 cents to 72.5 cents effective January 1st. So we will be using that mileage rate going forward. Uh
065Pasers released their rate for next year. Um so that went down by 41 basis points. We're currently at 34% and next year there is going to be 33.59. Um so there'll be a little bit of cost avoidance there. Um PTE released the new 363 form right after uh the first of the year. So that is the outside cyber tuition. Um so I've gone ahead and calculated our rates and with the new uh changes that the state did with the student activities and the facility and maintenance um that the outside cyber doesn't have with um since they don't have brick and mortar buildings um and with the special ed different ulations in there. I'm projecting we're going to have cost avoidance of maybe around 200,000 um this year. So, the state made some really good improvement
066um and the cyber reform and hopefully that momentum will continue into next year's budget um which we address is the first week in February. So, hopefully that'll be good and we'll pass the budget by June 30th and not have what we had last year. Um, other information, we started our 10e wellness challenge. Um, that started last week and that's all I have. Do we have any questions >> before we continue in the committee the whole I'm going to turn this over to Randy for a second to talk about an addition for >> Yeah. we arrive at the the personnel report. Uh when we get to the voting meeting, uh I intend to add a motion to add to the agenda, which would be an addendum to our ESS agreement. Uh this is to address administrative
067vacancies. Uh admin has determined that there's an imminent uh need in personnel that arose after the agenda was produced. And so in between that time, this need has arose. And so I'm going to amend the agenda so that we can get that squeezed in. Um the uh the agreement would be for ESS um payment for admin between probably range of $30 to $50. So when we get to the voting meeting, I'm going to add that motion. If you have questions, with that, if there's no other questions from the committee as a whole, we'll transition to the regular um voting meeting at this time. Um, do we have any citizen comments on agenda items? >> Number four, we have the approval of the minutes. Resolve that the Penrest board of school directors approve the following minutes.
068December 2nd, 2025, the school board reorganization meeting and December 2nd, 2025, the school board meeting. >> So moved. Second >> motion and second. Comments or questions? >> All approved say I. I >> opposed. Under number five, policies we have under for first reading is policy 610. Um, purchases subject to the bid and quote. Um, so you can look that over here this month under the first reading and you can bring back any questions. Please let us know if you have any questions before we bring it back to the second reading. Um, under B, um, I'm going to I'm going to say this. I need to have some discussion. Resolve that the Penrest board of school directors approve the following policies. Policy 626, federal fiscal compliance. Federal 626, attachment A, cost obligations, property. Policy 626, attachment
069B, allow allowability of cost. Policy 626, attachment C, cash management. Policy 626, attachment D, subreient monitoring. Policy 626, attachment E, procurement. Policy 626, attachment F, time and effort. Policy 626.1, travel reimbursement for federal programs. and policy 827 the conflict of interest. Hear a motion. >> So move second. >> Motion a second uh for discussion. >> Yes. Under policy 626 attachment E there has been a change and it actually resulted in the in the in the first reading 610 the the figure has changed. it was 23,800 and the new minimum bid requirement is 24,500. So, um I talked to Jordan about this earlier and we can make that correction to that figure in by 24 hours. So, we'll make that in the next 24 hours to reflect that. Um so, that came out and so we
070need to reflect that change since we're approving that. Jordan, anything to add on that? >> Uh, no. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. So, we have a motion to second and uh discussion. Any questions regarding that? >> Okay. So, this will be reflected in the vote then. Uh, all in favor say I. >> Approve or oppose. >> Thank you. doing. >> Um, number six, the education report >> resolved that the Penrest board of school directors approved the consent agenda education items B through E as presented. >> So move motion and second. Any discussion or questions? Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. Oppose. >> Pass. Number seven, facilities and transportation. Result that the Penrest board of school directors approve the consent agenda, facilities and transportation, items B through D as presented. >> So
071move second. >> Okay, we have a motion and second. Any comments or questions? Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> All oppose. >> Number eight, financial report. Resolve that the Fen Crest board of school directors approve the consent agenda financial items B through G as presented. >> So move second. >> Have a motion and second. Any comments or questions? >> Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppose. That motion passes. So, let's um let's do the um consent agenda, then we'll do this. >> Sure. >> Um number nine, personnel report. Resolve that the Penrest board of school directors approve the consent agenda personnel items B through F as presented. >> So move second. >> Motion and second. Any comments or questions? Okay. Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> Opposed.
072>> Okay. I'd like to make a motion. Uh this would be resolved that the Penrest board of school directors add a new item to the agenda under 9G to enter into the addendum under the current agreement with the Penrest School District and ESS Northeast LLC to add administrator services as needed due to an imminent personnel need that occurred between the time of the agenda was posted and tonight's meeting. So result that the Penrest school board directors enter an addendum to the current agreement between Penrest and ESS Northeast to add administrative services as needed pending solicitor review. I have a motion now. >> So move second. >> I have a motion to second. Any comments or questions? Okay. Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> Opposed. Motion. motion to pass. >> So we now vote
073on the second. >> Okay. >> First motion is to amend the agenda. Second motion is to vote on the amended. >> Motion to vote on the amended item. That's what I thought. >> So move second. >> Motion second. Any comments or questions on this new item? >> Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. opposed. >> New business. Resolve that the Penrest board of school directors approve the Penrest Rising as a district-wide planning initiative and authorize administration to proceed with phase one activities. All findings in any future actions returning to the board for consideration and approval. We need a motion. >> Yeah. So move. >> Second. >> We have a motion and second. Any comments or questions? >> Okay. Hearing none will vote. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any oppose? >>
074Motion passes. >> Your announcements. The board um met for executive session on January 12th, 2026. for personnel matters. Under number 12, uh we believe we have a registered citizens comment. Um Abby Trippus, a Troy Township resident, is here to talk about transportation issues. >> Am I good to go? >> Yeah, you're good to go. >> All right. Good evening. I'm here to talk about an issue that affects families every single day. Student transportation. For many of our children, the school day doesn't begin when they enter the building. It begins when they step onto the bus. And for too many families, that experience has become stressful and unreliable. We are seeing buses that arrive late or sometimes not at all. Students spending excessive time on routes, parents left scrambling in the morning when buses are late,
075and children starting their school day already exhausted and frustrated. Transportation may seem like a logistical issue, but in reality, it is an educational issue. When students arrive late, tired, or anxious, learning suffers. When parents can't rely on transportation, attendance suffers. When routes are inconsistent, trust in the district suffers. I want to be very clear. This is not about blaming drivers. Our bus drivers work hard under difficult conditions and they deserve respect and support. This is about planning, accountability, and prioritizing. We need better routes, realistic scheduling, clear communication with families. Bus schedules need to come out earlier. 3 days before school starts is unrealistic, and I believe the state law requires them to be out 7 days before the start of school. a complete overhaul of the district's transportation department as it is set up for
076failure and we need transparency when problems happen. I have two children at Maplewood. This year has been an absolute disaster with bus transportation. When the bus schedule came out, it did not delineate an area for the driver to turn around. The bus ended up using my parents driveway as a turnaround. My dad puts the kids on the bus. This was not going to work for several reasons that I not have time to get into today. The district was notified twice in August about having a different turnaround. Nothing was done until it did become an issue in November. My dad called in and notified the school that the turnaround was not going to work. Also, at this time, we had multiple days where the bus was 20 minutes to over an hour late because the bus
077is an engine failure. After talking to the garage to get a straight answer, I was told they were limping it along for the remainder of the year. At that time, my dad my dad was told they would figure something out. The solution was to have the kids walk down the road to stand at the bottom of a no winter maintenance hill and have the bus turn around on this hill. This was also not a safe place for the kids to stand and the kids had to walk behind the bus as it backed up in the afternoon. After speaking with the district for two weeks and being told nothing could be done, my dad set up a meeting to discuss the issue. We had already proposed that the bus could go down to the township building
078to loop around as a solution. After the meeting, they agreed to come up with a solution. This took another week and a half. They agreed that turning around the township building was the best option. It took another two weeks, several emails, and multiple phone calls for the district to be able to imple implement this successfully. The bus route was finally fixed just this last week. This was not rocket science. We even came up with a solution for the district. Instead of the week it should have taken, this took half the school year to resolve. I have also counted up the amount of time my children have missed due to the bus being late. They have missed an entire school day of instruction. This is truly unacceptable. Several of these days we never received any notification
079on the bus being late. A higher standard needs to be upheld. Not just a get by attitude. We will deal with this later or the district is too poor. What is this teaching the students? I will tell you what has taught my 8-year-old son. He has learned that being on time doesn't matter. In his own words, why do I have to be at soccer practice on time? I can be late to school all the time. It doesn't matter. Who even cares anyway? Is this what a school district should be instilling in the minds of his students? Obviously not. The pursuit of excellence should be the standard every day and nothing less. This is far from it. How can we expect students to try their best and strive for excellence when they don't see it from
080the adults and systems they believe are in charge? These kids will grow up to be your future doctors, accountants, teachers, administrators, maybe even own a transportation company. Schools need to be where they see excellence in accountability and action. I'm here tonight for one reason. I care about the education of not only my own kids, but every student at this district. They deserve a district that provides the best possible education and holds a high standard. As a teacher, I have learned if I don't set high expectations, my students never reach their full potential. So, I leave here tonight with very high expectations for this district. I was lucky to be a student here when the district was in its prime. I know this district is capable of great things. My dream is that one day my
081kids can have h half the opportunities I did. Right now, they can barely arrive at school without issues. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Things have to change. I know that change takes time and the district is trying to make improvements, but my kids don't have time. They will only be in first and second grade one year. In a few years, they will be out of the elementary school. their school years will go by quickly and they won't get them back for a redo once things are better. Thank you for listening. >> Number number 13. I'll turn it back over to you. >> I was going to say any nonregistered any non-registered. >> Okay. Hearing none. Motion to adjurnn. >> So move. >> Okay.
082>> All in favor say I. >> I. >> Thank you everyone.