001to order. Roll call, please. >> Miss Bears >> here. >> Mr. Bennett. >> Mr. Brown >> here. >> Mr. Chsy >> here. >> Miss Carl >> here. >> Reverend Kuster >> here. >> Mr. Johnston >> here. >> Mr. Mr. Borski >> here. >> Mr. Veski >> here [Music] 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. >> Please remain standing for a moment of silence, please. Thank you. [Music] >> Good evening everyone. We're going to begin the committee of the whole work session at this time. We're going to start with our student representatives. First, Cambridge Springs Junior Senior High School. Ella, welcome back. >> The 2025 to 2026 school year had a rocky start. Upper
002classmen tried getting their schedules before school started, yet were denied. This caused extra confusion and havoc on the first day, in addition to lost seventh graders and teachers who had boxes that were still MIA after the renovations. Luckily though, Cambridge Springs is resilient and pushed through the challenges without delaying learning or other beginning of the year needs. Good evening. I'm Ellen Morant, your student representative for Cambridge Springs. The progress Cambridge Springs made despite these challenges included a fall sports assembly to introduce the current students athletes. Clubs also met on Wednesday and Thursday block days. The leadership committee had 11th graders vote for homecoming candidates, which will be announced next Thursday. National Honor Society has been getting people signed up for the blood drive this Friday. They also have been buying busy selling both pins and
003cookies for ch for children with childhood cancer. Sadly, I do not come with cookies, but if you would like to buy a pin, please see me at the end of the meeting. They're $1. Academically on Thursday, students in seventh through 10th grade all took the CDTs. Another thing that was successful despite challenges was senior sunrise. On the first day of school, the seniors rose early to meet at the football field to watch the sunrise together to mark the beginning of their last year here at Cambridge Springs. A student who attends Votech for Culinary, Aaliyah Clark, cooked them all a delicious breakfast. Now for sports news. Friday night, Cambridge Springs suffered a devastating loss against Greenville. We won't mention the score because it was actually that bad, but the Devils are ready to pick themselves back
004up and beat Seagertown this Saturday. Please wish luck to the junior high's basketball team who are hosting Warren tonight. And good luck to the combined Penrest boys soccer team who host Eisenhower tonight. In the elementary school, the PTO has planned many family engagement nights for the school year that they're looking forward to. One being their PTO family tailgate on October 3rd before the homecoming game. The sixth grade is working on their Bucktails Day coming up on September 16th. And the fifth grade is looking forward to their countywide field trip to participate in agriculture lab day at the fairgrounds on October 7th. The pitchfork this school year will be the first pitchfork for this school year will be printed in two weeks and posted on our Cambridge Springs social media where you can find all our
005updates. So, please keep an eye out. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> And I believe we have two representatives from Ser Town Junior Senior High School. We have Jace Deckamount and Marley Bidwell. So, welcome. >> Thank you. Uh yeah, I am Jayce Djakamo. I am the senior class vice president. >> And I'm Marley Bidwell. I'm the junior class president. >> Um schedules for the 2025 2026 school year had now been finalized, giving students and staff a solid foundation for the year ahead. The first day of school was marked by the traditional senior sunrise where the senior class came together to celebrate the start of their final year, highlighting the sense of unity and excitement among our graduating class. Fall sports are back in full swing. The football team opened their season with a hard-fought 26
006to22 victory over Lake View last week. The girls volleyball team also earned a win defeating Senica 3 to1 while the cross country team competed in their first meet of the season bringing home multiple medals across different events. These early results showcase the dedication of our student athletes and their coaches. Beyond athletics, extracurricular life has also been picking up momentum. Many of our clubs held their first meetings this Wednesday, this past Wednesday and Thursday during block schedule with students stepping into leadership roles as new officers are selected. This marks the beginning of a year full of opportunities for student involvement and leadership development. Homecoming festivities have officially begun. The court has been announced and anticipation is building for the homecoming game on October 3rd. Students are also looking forward to the Star Wars theme dance on
007Saturday, October 4th, which promises to be a fun and creative celebration of school spirit. >> That concludes this month's update. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> I don't see anyone from me. >> No. >> At this time, I will have our PA rep, um, Debbie Miller. Well, good evening everyone. I want to start by welcoming all of our teachers, staff, parents, and community members. It's an honor to stand here tonight as we kick off another school year. The start of the year is always a time of immense possibility. And it's also a great opportunity for us to reflect on what we've accomplished while looking a looking forward to the work ahead. Our union's mission is simple. to advocate for the best possible learning and working conditions in our schools. This means ensuring that
008our teachers have the resources, support, and the professional respect they deserve. It also means making sure every student has access to a safe, engaging, and enriching education. This year, let's focus on three key ideas. First, fostering a positive, and safe school climate. Let's work together to create schools where every student feels safe, respected, and ready to learn. This involves collaboration between teachers and administration and parents to address challenges and find solutions. We have already made great progress with our new cell phone policy. It's amazing how much that has improved the climate in our school in just a few short days. Maybe it is my limited exposure at the junior high level, but even students are not complaining and they are talking with friends in the hall. It's nice to see. Second, let's work on building
009strong community partnerships. Our schools are an integral part of each community of Penrest. We must continue strengthening the ties between our schools and our families, local businesses, and community organizations. A strong community makes for strong schools. We need to remember that small is mighty and desirable. Real estate professionals report a 5 to 10% increase in sales prices in Cambridge Springs and Sagertown, and I would suspect Townville and Guys Mills are similar. Third, supporting our educators. Our teachers are the heart of our schools. We need to continue investing in their professional development, enhanced classrooms, and manageable class sizes. When we support our educators, we are directly supporting our students. On opening day, Penrest brought back a discarded tradition of recognition. They presented frame certificates to the staff who had reached career milestones. I wish the board
010and the public could have seen the lineup. The majority of, if I might add, were teachers with 15, 20, 25, and even over 30 years of experience in Penrest. I'm a Steelers fan. Sorry if you were a Jets fan or whatever happened yesterday, but sorry about that. But anyway, I noticed yesterday when they were talking about things with our team this year that the Steelers have the most Pro Bowl players of any team in the NFL. and probably they said almost like a record for years past. Well, it's safe to say that Penrest also has a ton of educational pro bowlers and how awesome it was to have a surprise thank you from the district. Like those teachers, I also thank you for your commitment to our students and our schools. I'm optimistic about what
011we can achieve together this year. Let's make it a great one. Thank you. Linder, I have a couple updates and I wanted to start with um uh um thanking Cambridge Springs because it was a it was a tough opening after a building project and we were right up against it. Um I got a lot I got a lot of positive reports of the cooperation that took place there and I know I know that was a you know we're right up against that. So I appreciate all the hard work both from the core company, all of our staff, um the teaching staff, our support staff, administration, and of course the students um as you learned about real life and being flexible. So that's a good thing. So um but thank you. I want to start with
012the cell phone update. I know I told you I would give you the the bigger update next month after we had it for a while, but the initial reports are positive. um our our principles have given me most of that. Um and we're hearing positive from our teachers also. I have talked I was around um last week to all the schools on numerous occasions talking. Um I won't say all the students are as thrilled as the educators are at this point. But I don't but I I didn't hear big- time complaining from the student body either when I was talking to them. And so um so our initial I'll have a a bigger update next next month as I put out to our community but overall um very positive start with the cell phones and
013um I appreciate the cooperation um from everybody involved with at the building level. So thank you. Um probably one of our our most difficult to the start of the year has been our transportation busing. Um, and so I I I'm not going to go into all the details of those, but we are in great need. If you know somebody who would like to be a a a driver or has any interest in that, maybe a retiree, um, we are definitely both companies are actively um looking, they are advertising and u, you know, it's it's it's made it a difficult. We've had to already um do some double runs. What that means is we've come in, we've had to send buses back out to get students on a route. We've had to have different buses go
014to pick up one route where we've been short of a driver. And some of these, you know, some of them had health issues, personal things that happens. There's just not a lot of subs right now. And so we're doing in the bus companies, I applaud them. They are working very very diligently to make it happen every day. And every day is a challenge. And so, um, so I'm very appreciative of GGNC and Price Transportation for their hard work here. Um, they really are working hard to provide transportation. Probably one of the most difficult areas right now is the after school um, athletics, those 4:00, 4:30 start times because our routes, we have such a large area, but the drivers aren't getting back in time to take the students out. So, um, we've had to do
015various accommodations. We've had to take vans out, do different things. So, um, it's I'm bringing it up for a reason. Um, because I'm appealing for any anybody that wants to drive. Um, I'm also just sharing with the public to remain patient with us as we continue to work through that. And I do appreciate our parents. Um, I haven't been getting calls. Um, people understand, they understand, and we're working. So, I just want to be perfectly honest and forthright about what's going on in transportation. So, um we will continue to look at ways to um help out. I've met with both um Tony and I both have Christ and GGC. So, just to let the board know that and the public know that. Lastly, um in October, I will be bringing I will be bringing a
016proposal to the board and um we are going to we are going to move away from having students be able to carry book bags throughout the building. Um we're going to ask that when they get there, they go in the locker and they're locked up. Um again, we're going to layer we're going to layer our our safety and security. We cell phones we started with. We've done this. We've got some other plans. I'm not going to share all the plans we have, but we're going to keep building on safety and security throughout the year in different ways. Some of that I will share publicly. Some of that is I won't share because of safety concerns. So, we're doing a lot of different things. Our our our director uh Mr. Johnson and I have been working
017through we've been attending seminars. We'll continue to attend um and look for ways to always enhance that. But um the next one so I wanted to give a month. Um we will I will put in the proposal to allow the clear book bags. If if they want to carry clear book bags, they would be able to do that because we can see in those then. So um but that'll be going to the board um next month for approval. Okay. So wanted to announce those three things. Then lastly, I already said thank you. I can't express enough um our support staff, Richard, and your team. You were up against it this summer with the building project. I appreciate u all all of our team there and our support staff. I appreciate the cooperation of our teachers.
018U everybody everybody worked hard. It was in my opinion it was a really good opening. Ella, I know you had some challenges but I've been doing this a while and I thought we had an outstanding opening this year at all of our buildings and we're going to hopefully continue to build upon that um each and every month. So, thank you for everybody. I I greatly appreciate um the help and the leadership. And then lastly, um I'm excited to have the students. I've been out to a couple games already. You're gonna see some more and uh it's it's a great time in public education. So, thank you. At this point, I'm going to turn it over. Any questions? Any questions from board to me? I'm going to turn it over now to Mrs. Feelely, and we'll
019do the education report. >> Um I would echo that we're off to a nice uh smooth start. We've had a lot of um moveins um a lot of movein students and families into our district and I think that our staff, faculty and community have embraced them and are welcoming them into our buildings. So um it's wonderful to see that happening across all of our attendance areas. We um you'll see on the agenda tonight a lot of agreements and affiliation agreements and guest speakers coming in from Profit County Drug and Alcohol, the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, and K12 Career Alliance coming in to work with our students and do presentations for them. Um we'll also see um an agreement for some interpretation services. the um intermediate unit closed. The deaf and hearty hearing classroom at Cambridge
020Springs High School for 7 through 12. However, some of those students chose to stay and in the process of doing that, we needed to find some interpretation services for them. So, you'll see an agreement for that on the agenda. Uh our title one school plans are ready for review and approval tonight. All three of our elementary schools have a comprehensive school plan in the um that they have to submit to PTE. and you'll see some data in there as well as some goals that they'll be working on this year. Uh we have anou with Nicole fees. I'm excited that she is able to expand her ability to provide outpatient counseling. She's been doing it at Cambridge Springs Elementary. She's now able or Cambridge Springs attendance area, sorry. She's now expanding that to Maplewood and Sagertown.
021So, it's just another opportunity for our community to um be able to access for services or additional services should they choose. We also are um excited to have another university um an affiliation agreement with them for pre-ervice teachers. Teal College has reached out and we will be taking student teachers from them as well. So hopefully we can start seeing more and more um educators entering enter entering the field and helping give back to our profession. You'll also see on the agenda uh uh we want to pilot the University of Florida Literacy Institute foundations toolbox which is a phonics program. We would like to pilot that in grades K1 2 and three. one teacher from each grade level in each building pilot that toolkit to take a compare that with what we're currently using for our
022phonics program to see if it's a more comprehensive program, if it's been missing some pieces. So, moving forward into looking at that, we'd look at it all year and then make a decision next year if we need to take take a look at moving towards that either in addition to or instead of what we're currently using. It is at a low cost for the district. That's all I ask. >> Any questions? Mrs. Field. At this time, I'll turn it over to our facilities um director, Rich, and turn it over to you. I'm actually going to turn it over to we have some representatives uh Ryan, Steve, and Amber with uh REC um that are going to do a presentation uh regarding the solar discussion. So, thanks. Welcome. Thank you. >> Thank you all for having
023us tonight. Uh always glad to have the opportunity to come and talk with Penrest. Uh I'm a Maplewood graduate myself, so live in the area still. So, >> Cambridge graduate. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, we're home. Uh so I was contacted with a proposal for a solar uh setup. It was pretty large solar setup. Um Stephen here uh our engineering supervisor can certainly go over some of the details associated with that size setup. But um I know uh one of the big questions was you know kind of a a a red or green light you know should we go or should we not? that's kind of not in our perview, but um looking through I just brought up some some points that I had questions from it that maybe are worth some more investigation and just
024some overall view of the bill for uh the Penfest School District. Uh so looking over the last 20 years, big thing that I notice uh amongst the three uh properties that are serviced by Northwestern, um overall costs are down uh over 30%. Uh, so we're talking actual dollar amounts, not adjusted for inflation. If we adjust for inflation, we're way down. But just by actual dollar amounts, over 30%. So we're averaging over 1 and a.5% savings per year. What is behind those savings? We discussed in the office, you know, various reasons. I know declining uh enrollment is probably part of it, but there's also, I'm sure, lots of efficiency improvements been made over the years. uh but that has been very consistent and I imagine that we will continue to see uh drops in in costs
025along with that. Uh so when we're looking at their proposal and I like visual aids I would have pointed to here. >> Oh hey yeah how do we like that? So I kind of went across right across the top with some of the questions that I had on it. Um uh and and you know capital expenditures being I assume our price out. Um, skipping right past that, I went to the ITC and depreciation numbers. Not my area of expertise. My first question and and as I mentioned to Steve, it's kind of more of a as a taxpayer rather than a representative of the co-op was the the actual effect of depreciation for the for the uh school district. Um, so just some questions on that, not my area of expertise. Uh, next column over the
026rec. Um, I'm worked that backwards. I think they're using a very um a very generous number of about $35 per credit. Um, I'm going to assume we're at about 2550. Uh, it's going to Yeah, about 30% off of that total column the whole way down. Uh, next column, the avoided costs. And this is where it's really tough and I'm I'll give uh a lot of leeway to the the salesperson or the engineers that that helped to create this report, but the avoided costs are tough u to to model out. Uh we are a nonprofit. Uh so the way that we uh pay for solar is through what's called an avoided cost model. So what that means is Penrest becoming a generator would be exposed to market volatility. uh I can tell you what the price
027is this year. I can't tell you what the price is last or next year, you know, uh sort of thing. So that avoided cost number uh he mentions over on the side that he's using an escalating model where this is the price today and we're just going to assume it's going to continue to increase over the time period. Looking at the actual rate that the the uh schools are paying, the rate has gone down over the last 20 years. Whether or not that'll happen in the future 20 years, yeah. Uh but that's what we've seen in the history. Uh operations and maintenance expenses. I as a general comment to the the project is is uh spread out to 35 years, which is a bit unusual when I'm looking at solar presentations. We're usually in the
02815 to 25 year range. And that's because 15 years is kind of the magic number where inverters start to fail. Most of them are not warrantied past that point. And in this column, we'll see every 15 years there's a very large uh price um influx there. And I'm assuming that's for some inverter replacements. Uh net annual benefit because of the previous comments, that's going to greatly change. And of course cumulative benefit as well. um our annual production numbers. That's really the one number that when I look at this, I have to assume that they've done their due diligence and I have to use those numbers. So, we're going to assume they're perfect as they are. And the utility rate, um today's rate, we have it down at I believe it's uh 4.8 cents. Um we
029saw as high as 5.2 cents over the last uh 20 years, but it's it's stayed very low. The main driver of the bill for especially for the larger buildings here is what we call the demand fee. So that is not the total amount of power that you purchase but how much power do we need at any given moment. So if we use the analogy of like a pipe for water you know you need a very large hose to feed the amount of water you need here whether or not you are actually trying to fill a a great big giant swimming pool. Okay. So it's that capacities charge that uh I'm mainly concerned will not be affected by the solar. Uh of course during the summer we're not using a whole lot of power and that's
030when the sun is shining. During the winter when our demand is highest for the school buildings because of utilization the sun is not shining. Um so that's where these things are not going to directly align. And again to give some leeway to the person that had developed it that's maybe not um a typical setup. So that's something we would need to work with them to to get some more accurate numbers. Uh so um the best I could come up with, you know, for the red or green light was, um it's really close. Um Steve, >> yeah. So I'm just going to go over some more, excuse me, factual information in terms of how this process begins and how it normally ends. So, um, from the beginning, Northwestern has an interconnection policy and in that interconnection
031policy, it states that anything 25KW or GR, excuse me, 25KW or less is residential. And that's that's where you're directly working with Northwestern REC on the purchasing. So, you you generate a KW H and then in return, you know, that's taken off your bill. Well, anything larger than 25KW, you get into a wholesale power agreement with RG&T, which stands for generation and transmission. We have a generation transmission cooperative in the state called Alagany. So, as Ryan said, market volatility, the thing you got to consider here, we're not going to be the ones that you're receiving the the checks from, it's going to be Alageney Electric Cooperative, which is a completely different entity than Northwestern RDC. Um, if we wanted to get more into the conversation of what that would actually look like, having a conversation
032with Northwestern and Alagany would be the way to go to to uh further push that. Um, to kind of piggyback what else Ryan stated here in terms of Northwestern saying yes or no to go with this, it really isn't in our our place, but it seems like there is a lot of holes in this summary that they presented to you. Um, you got to kind of think of it as a sales pitch, too. I mean, they want this system to go in as much as you guys would like to. So, you got to be careful reading through this and making sure it makes sense for the for the district as a whole. So, is there any questions from anybody? >> I should mention to their credit, the last proposal we saw had no numbers, so
033I couldn't really pick on them too much. So, they gave me something to work with here. >> Yeah. >> Yep. Other things to consider too which I don't know if the developer got in to you guys talking about with the board but is uh the maintenance of these and the thing to consider here is annual production. So that number is average at best and it can't be predicted. So as you know we live in northwestern Pennsylvania. The winters can vary greatly. So, as as you all know, the last winter was a pretty pretty bad winter in terms of cloud cover and snowfall, and those are all things that affect the production of a solar array. Um, the four years before that, we had a really mild winter. So, it would have been probably beneficial to
034have that array out there, but those are things you can never predict and things you also have to take into consideration. Um, who's going to get out there and sweep the panels off when there's four, you know, five, six inches of snow on there. So, um, that will affect the generation as well. >> Questions? >> Yeah. Not to put like words in your mouth, but it's kind of a gamble in a sense, right? >> Exactly. It's a fair way. Okay. >> Characterize it. Yeah. >> Got a fan of gamles, but >> and I'd be happy to sharpen my pencil on any of the numbers. Uh, if there's any back and forth conversation that needs to happen, we could certainly um reevaluate. >> Northwestern is here to be a partner. So, if there's any questions, uh,
035anything that needs to be discussed, uh, to not necessarily sway a, uh, decision, but to provide the factual information, we're here for you. So, >> what would the worst case scenario be? If it's a gamble, what would a a loss of the purchasing the product and the install? If I understand the total capital expenditure, you know, worst case scenario is we don't get the incentives that they say we're going to get. So, we're going to we're going to write a check for over $800,000 and then we're assuming everything completely goes wrong. That's worst case scenario. Then we're out that 800,000 relying on power sales to recoup that. I don't see that being recouped. >> Yeah. The other thing to consider is like I said the production as well. So, you know, those numbers look nice
036now and you know, there's a chance they might be better, but there's a chance they could be worse. So, that payback period instead of saying it's x amount of years, maybe it's pushed back five additional years because of the production. So, those are all things to consider as well. >> Questions? >> Good questions. >> Any other questions? >> Thanks. Go ahead. They want to consider it. >> Sure. Sure. Yeah. It's a very large investment. You know, obviously the dollars matter here, >> right? >> We really appreciate you guys taking a look at this for us and coming and sharing. So, thank you very very much. >> Absolutely. >> We appreciate it. >> Welcome, Richard. So, do you have anything else, Richard? I don't have anything. The >> board have anything for Richard? >> Yeah. Do
037you have an honest opinion on that? >> I mean, I think they hit on it. I think that I mean, there's certainly financial gains to be, right? Um, you know, there's the volatility of the market. I mean, like they said, our costs are down. We've done projects to be more energy efficient. At the same time, rates are not getting any cheaper, you know, electric rates. So, it would be a benefit that we'd kind of be able to greatly reduce our energy bills, budget for that, save that money, put that money somewhere else. Um, now's the time if we want to take advantage of those grants. They're we you've heard the guys last month say they're going away, >> right? Um, >> in addition, I mean, above and beyond that, there's we would kind of be
038a leader in the area, you know, as far as energy forward. Other schools would see that we'd be a focal point. It'd be good good to have. I think there's some educational opportunities there, too. I think the guys last month talked about that. On the negative side, there's a lot of question marks, right? you know, when they did this presentation, like these guys just told you, I think they gave you a best case scenario. >> I think their maintenance costs could be could be that they could be a lot more. >> You know, we could run into zoning issues where Hayfield holds this thing up or or has questions about it. I'm not saying that they would be difficult, but we have we have to hit the zoning ordinances. We have to have a fence
039around the perimeter with um screen to obscure it. Um if any little thing would delay this and we don't get shovels in the ground, like they said, that money's gone, you know. Um I think it's tight box and I think there's a lot of question marks. Um >> some of the other things I wrote down was uh the maintenance upkeep, um aesthetics. I mean, we're going to have a not not that a solar array looks bad, but then we're going to put a big fence around it. Um, is the maintenance going to be taken care of? Are we going to have to have am I going to have to have my guys up there clearing snow? You know, I know they say that's all covered. Are they going to be out here when there's 3
040ft of snow? um [Music] zoning. Like I said, the one concern I have, which I haven't got an answer for, is that's located in close proximity to our drinking water for the school. Um if we were to have a major issue and we have to dig up that whole line, what are we going to do? You know, I I tried to I left a message with D. I don't I don't think there's any concerns with doing it, but as far as if it becomes a maintenance issue and we have to dig up that whole hillside to get to our our water um lines, are we going to have to move those panel? Like we're going to incur that cost, I'm sure. You know, so um there's certainly reward, but is you, you know, it's for
041you guys to decide whether the risk is worth that reward. So, um I think that, you know, if it's something we want to explore, now is the time. But is the risk worth the reward? And I don't think anybody can give give a clear answer on that. Well, I spoke with Hayfield uh and they've already approved three other solar projects in the area. >> Yeah. >> And basically, they said as long as we have the plan and follow the plan, they're going to approve it. >> Yeah. I don't think they would resist that. They're going to they'll do they'll work with >> with us or whomever wants to do. >> We and we have their ordinance and we've read through it. We you know we we will follow that if that's the as long as
042that's done there's not going to be any issues with the zoning. >> Okay. So that I felt better about that. >> Good. >> But the questions that you brought up and uh >> and like you said, I know those numbers aren't they're inflated. Mhm. >> The fiveyear payback looks good, but is it closer to an eight-year payback? >> Yeah. And it could be it could be a 5year payback if all things go right, you know, >> it could be, >> but >> I think I think they're giving you best case scenario. That's and like and they're taking a gamble, too, on that, you know, >> but that you know, the the the numbers they brought us from uh the that place in Colorado that does the works, but >> Mhm. I'm sure there those numbers
043are accurate, but they didn't take in account what happened last week. They're not up that today. We had a bad spring. We had a very cloudy spring. We had a very wet spring. Well, rain didn't matter, but very cloudy. >> Yeah, >> we've had a great summer, >> right? But and it looks good till long range. It looks good till uh Thanksgiving, but then after that, you all know what's going to happen, right? So >> Tim, the interesting thing, when we need it the most, we don't get the sunshine. When we need it the least, >> it's abundant. >> Yeah. And that's a point. I mean, I don't know how that was factored in, but like they said here tonight, our our highest usage is when the sun is producing leaves, >> right? >> You
044know, it' be >> it'd be easier if we had summer school all summer and, you know, we >> you know, and usage would be >> even out. So >> can you remind me of the timeline again? I know this before the grant ran out. >> Do you remember Kristen? We had to have shovels in the ground before July, right? July. >> July one. End of June end. >> But that's Yeah. So the decision needed to be made this fall. >> Yeah. They really wanted wanted us to make a decision before the end of September. >> That's that's good. The one thing that keeps popping through my head like constantly the last like month and Brian and Bob and Sean probably have had the same thought we all cuz we're all in the Motech is the
045biomass plant when they went in it was it factored out you know to be beneficial and I'm not saying and I think it was beneficial for a season right >> but you just can't see the long-term future somewhat there was good intentions But it came back to bite in the butt a bit hard. And so that's that kind of keeps me a little bit gunshy on this. Not it could pay off. >> Yeah. >> But I'm I'm scared of the risk of that. Just the way that we had this turn out with the biomass. It It's kind of scared me away from that a little bit. But >> how much would the grant cover for all the capital cost that would require install? >> Um the grant's 337,000. Your total projects 800. >> So they
046were said 800. >> Yeah. So we're >> so that and maintenance which is hard until we don't know maintenance cost that that's also another gamble, right? >> They're projecting that that the maintenance cost you see on that form is what they're projecting and they handle >> but that's saying that's another variable factor. It's all variable. Yeah. >> Well just like at 29,000 I'm assuming that's in the 14th or 15th year there. That's going to be the uh >> Yeah. And then at the 30th, >> but that price 15 years from now, there's no way that you're that's going to be right. >> You look at that. That's probably going to you're going to it's going to go up at least 10%. >> Yeah. They're they're they're guessing with or not. I mean, they're factoring with
047minimal increase. >> They are, but right, >> who knows what cost will be. >> They're not having that problem. Probably not. >> Do we know details on that biomass plant? Was that purchased with grant money? What was the total loss? Was there a loss even the fact when they uh >> was purchased with grant money still a loss? >> It was a loss. >> Yeah. I'm not even sure when the payoff is the plant's done. They're tearing things apart, >> right? But that bond issue still there and I can't remember the >> I can't remember the date. We got a little bit. >> I'm just trying in my mind trying to get a window of worse and best, >> right? And then you you go from that's how you made cost benefit is >> right.
048>> Somebody said something Tim said something about the demolition. There was a high dollar amount if I remember correctly like $25,000 >> to to gut this building. >> Yeah. At least. Right. >> I can't remember. >> I just don't like I'm just scared of gambling at this point. I just am. Well, if it had a higher payback. >> Yeah. >> Mhm. >> You know, if we was talking 60 $70,000 benefit annually, I think I'd be more apt to say I'd be for it. But best case, you're looking at 39 at the very beginning. And I appreciate their report saying that they don't usually see 35 year Yeah. contracts. They see 15. because we know survive. >> Yeah, that's your life expectancy, >> right? >> Which that that did raise a red flag with me after
049researching that 30 years was like everybody just >> you can't pull out of the contract, right? >> No, it's probably the vote tech once you enter into it. I mean, we look at the language and do the best we could. >> We're paying for a biom plant we don't have. Yeah. Right. >> It's scary stuff. >> Mhm. >> With reading on the biomass. I probably took my chance with this, >> right? But >> somebody was meant well. I It was >> well, right. I'm not bashing anybody. >> No. Right. >> You read on a biomass, I'm like, >> but it it was not a Yeah, >> biomass. price of gas is continually come down. >> So, you know, they're looking at, you know, we're spending this much, but we'd only have to spend that much.
050So, >> right. No, I get it. >> It wasn't a hard decision to say cut our losses and run. >> Okay. Well, next steps. They might get >> I'm not interested. That's my >> Do we have more information on uh energy costs going forward than what they provided us? >> No, I mean we I mean we just we just renewed our energy agreement. And how much did it go up, Chris? >> It went up 3 cents. So we're locked in um at 8.2 cents, I believe, now. So it went up and it fluctuated the whole time anywhere from I mean nine to to 10 cents. So it just depends on the time of year >> and that's with penalt I don't think had an increase. >> These guys said that we were sitting around >>
051we were advised not >> if you remember we were advised not to lock in any more than 12 months because they just don't know where the markets. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, just as a reminder, we we tabled a vote on this. So, I'd have to bring it back next month um to to bring that tabled item back for an actual vote um in October. And so, um and I think I think we need to have a decision made by October if we want to even consider it moving forward. So, one way or the other, I think we need to have number one, we have to bring it table back >> so then we can make a final decision >> and that's fine. I think that my decision is also made but yeah we can
052do that for next month. I I just I don't see the the benefit of the cost benefit of doing this a huge risk to the benefit of the city >> that I mean that's our concern too we haven't sp we haven't spoken very much it's board's decision but our concern is what they that piece that he said there if that goes how about if that goes away >> well and here's now and even then that could go away too. Now our return on investment just went way up. >> Yeah. >> And so >> I there's just a lot of unknowns, >> right? >> Um and the thing I'm comfortable with, they both they both are taxpayers. >> That's my Yeah. >> And I've known Stephen since he was that. So >> appreciate Mike uh reaching
053out. Yeah. Um Mike for bringing them tonight. So, thank you for that. Thank you. >> Okay. Uh Kristen financial. >> All right. Um the treasury reports are on there and the dispersements each month. Um just a reoccurring item. Uh the audit is happening this week. Um so shortly you'll be seeing the annual pre- audit paperwork going out to the board. Um so that'll be coming. Um, as you know, we don't have a state budget yet financially. Uh, we're we're okay right now. Um, hopefully we'll make some progress by next month. Um, but we'll see. Hopefully, we'll we'll push forward and and by October's meeting, we'll have a state budget. Um, but we're okay right now for the next couple months. Um but if we get into like November, December, it could get a little um
054scary, but I think we'll be okay by then. Hopefully they'll there's talks that it'll be passed here hopefully in October. So, we're just going to continue to be patient. Um we will be making the last payment on the Cambridge project here. Um you'll see that in the dispersements for next month. So that'll complete that project and we will be receiving the additional grant funds from the state that we applied for that grant. Um they are going to be released to us in September to help offset the the remaining cost on that. So that is also closed out. Any questions? Questions? Thank you. Thank you. At this point, we're going to if there's no other questions in the committee meeting, we'll move into the actual uh voting meeting at this time. Um and we'll begin with
055um any citizens comments on the agenda items. >> I have no registered >> no registered comments. Okay. Approval of the minutes. Number four, um resolve that the Penrest board of school directors approve the following minutes. August 11th, 2025 school board meeting. >> Second. >> Motion in a second. Any comments or questions? >> Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. Post. Same. Motion carried. >> Under policies, we have a first reading tonight of policy 718, which is service animals in school. Um, this policy's been revised. um um by PSBA. They sent this out and then also I had um our our special education attorney through the firm look at this also um to make sure. So the updated policy is clarifying that only dogs and miniature horses under very specific restrictions um qualify as
056service animals under the federal law. the pets and therapy animals um are explicit are explicitly excluded now and no longer permitted in schools. Um the policy specifically addresses the accommodations for students with disabilities, provides clear guidelines on what questions staff may and may not ask regarding the service animals and the revision ensures the district compliance with the federal ADA requirements while providing staff with the concrete guidance for implementation. um this policy has been like I said it's been thoroughly vetted and reviewed by two different legal um bases now and so um take a look at that here over the next month if you read it any questions um we can we can talk about that next month if you have have those questions just uh email me and I can make sure I include those
057in our discussion next month okay um under policy approvals resolve that the penrest board of school directors approve the following policies. Policies 918 that was the title one parent and family engagement. >> So move second >> motion in a second. Any comments or questions? >> Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppos same. Motion carried. Under our education report, um resolve that the penrest board of school directors approve the consent agenda for education items B through I as presented. So move >> second motion in a second. Any comments or questions? Hearing not all in favor say I. I >> oppose safe. >> Motion carried. >> Under facilities and transportation result that the Penrest board of school directors approve the listed contracted student transportation drivers at the contracted rate. >> Second motion in
058the second. Any comments or questions? >> Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. Same. Motion carried >> under the financial report. >> Hold on. >> Yep. >> We had one other item that was added Friday. Contracted parent contracted driving. >> Patty had me add it last last minute. I apologize. I >> was number C >> under transportation. >> You read it correctly. >> I read it correctly. >> Yes. Yeah. You read the first one correctly. All right. So, let me get to there. My fault. So, we are under >> It's under finding um facilities number seven. >> Number seven. >> It's >> number C. Letter C. >> Letter C. >> Yeah. >> Parent provided transportation. >> He did the contracted drivers, >> right? >> I thought he did B. Oh, I thought he
059just read. Sorry. >> So, I did read it, right? >> Yeah. >> I thought you just did the Sorry. >> Yeah, I'm pretty sure you >> No. No, I didn't. >> I didn't. I read contract. So, we'll need to break that down. >> I thought I did not. I only did the I only did the um I did the first with contracted dryer. So, I'll need to I'll need to add the C again. >> Go ahead. >> Okay. Um So, resolve that the Penrest board of school directors um approve the >> How do you want me to word that? >> We'll just do this one separate. Just do C because we just did B. Just do C separate. >> Okay. Resolve the Press School Board of Directors approve U letter C under facilities and transportation
060report. Second. >> There's a motion and a second. Any comments or questions? Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. All the same. >> Motion carried. >> Thank you, Cynthia, for that. I appreciate it. >> Um, under financial report, resolve that the Penrest board of school directors approve the consent agenda items B and C as presented. >> Second. >> A motion and a second. Any comments or questions? Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppos same. Motion carried. >> Under nine, the personnel report that the Penrest board of school directors approved the consent agenda personnel items B through K as presented. >> Second. There's a motion and a second. Any comments or questions? >> Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. Same. >> Mrs. period. >> Like to recognize
061Mrs. Lawson Bake. She is in the audience. If you want to stand and be recognized, >> I know you've done some work for us before. We thank you and welcome. >> Absolutely. >> Appreciate it. Um, anything under new business to 11 under announcements. The board met for executive session on September 8th, 2025 for new hire recommendations um in the discussion on additional special education programming um that took place in the district. And so just to be aware um we had we had to open some additional um um opportunities for students who moved into the district recently and and so that was discussed in the executive session and so um and now I'm sharing that with uh with you now at this time. Also, we did talk about um the actual accommodations and supports of those
062particular students um that moved into our district. Um the other thing that we talked about that we will be bringing up talking about next month, we we talked about a a contract with the Mccclure Company. Um what that would look like moving forward into um a next phase. And so we're we're board will be doing research and we'll bring that back to the board for public discussion um in October. Okay. So that's what was discussed in our um executive session this evening. Number 12 is the citizen comments on the non-aggenda items. Is there any comments hearing? None. I'll turn it back to President Johnson for agenda. Have a motion to adjourn. So move. >> Second. All >> in favor say I. [Music]