001So, thank you. Good evening everybody and welcome to Southeast Elco School Board of Directors Committee of the Whole Meeting for Thursday, May 21st, 2026. Um to start off tonight, we are going to have a presentation from Allison Klinger and Kevin Goodall from GKO. They're going to be doing the leading the discussion tonight on capital projects um going back to a middle school model. Thank you. All right. That Okay, that's fine. All right, that Thank you everyone. We're very pleased to be here. Um I'm going to go off script a little bit from this slide and just talk about this process um as three parts. And and really what we're doing is we're reviewing some planning that we did in 2022. And the three pieces of that, one was infrastructure. That's just keeping track of your
002mechanical, electrical, plumbing systems, your windows, your roofs, making a 10-year plan for how to keep students in a safe um and and and and comfortable learning environment. Not the most exciting part of the presentation, but obviously very important. Uh the second part was sort of a subset of that, looking at Sharon Hill specifically and asking if we wanted to look at a uh more involved project there, an improvement to Sharon Hill, acknowledging that it's the student uh it's the building with probably the greatest need. Uh and the third part of it uh was um asking if, while we're doing those first two parts, we wanted to look at a different educational model. And specifically that was looking at the possibility of a middle school, either a 7-8 middle school or 6-8 middle school. And considering
003the possibility of whether kindergarten wanted to be in the elementary schools or if it wanted to remain as a separate kindergarten structure, uh a separate kindergarten building. So, we looked at a number of scenarios of moving those pieces around and tried to predict what the the outcome would be and what the the financial impact would be. You can also see on the slide across the bottom that since 2022, the district has implemented several of those infrastructure and early educational improvement projects. Just a sampling of those across the bottom of things that have been happening again to keep up with that um with those infrastructure needs. So, there are just to keep in mind, there are a few other infrastructure items that are still from that 2022 list that need to be done. Again, not very
004exciting, but a few roofs. I think one school needs some HVAC renovations, some window replacements, some toilet room renovations. Just things to keep an eye on in in the grand scheme of things, you know, once you talk about planning. Uh and so, there was included in the planning a vision for what Sharon Hill could be. And there is just a little snapshot of it. Obviously, there was a lot more documentation to it. But, the concept would be that the addition built in the early 2000s would remain. That's the area you see in gray. And the 1950s portion, which has had several additions put on it since the 1950s, would be removed and a new addition would be constructed. In this scenario, the capacity of the building would be consistent with what it is today. Uh
005but, it's a two-story building. It doesn't sprawl nearly as much as the building that's out there. So, hopefully, there's a little bit more space on the site. And obviously, we're talking about a much more modern uh state-of-the-art facility. And then, there was a conversation about the possibility of a middle school. And I am not an educator, but we obviously do a lot of school work. Um And I've I've met with your educators, and we've talked a little bit about what a middle school model is. So, I may not be able to deliver it as passionately, but I'll try to as I go through sort of articulate what the advantages of a middle school would be. Uh and the first one is obviously easier coordination for upper grade curriculum. Right now, you do have a middle
006school curriculum, but besides the fact that you know, you're stressed a little bit with your facilities offerings, um even from a planning standpoint, you're trying to implement that curriculum across multiple buildings instead of having it in the same building. Um a big issue is what we can offer to students. What curriculum uh offerings there could be. Foreign language, music, tech ed, family consumer science, art programs, gifted, they probably all exist right now in your 1 through 8 facility, but if they were brought together in a middle school environment, they could be um implemented in a much more significant way. Uh additional resources, um more sophisticated facilities, more program offerings to your students. Stronger athletic and extracurricular programs. Uh I think a big part of this would be less money and less uh time spent bussing
007your students, your your 6 through 8 students between your facilities to where you're housing those programs now. But even beyond that, in a middle school model, if you're involved in a club, a drama club, or you're very interested in music, you get a lot of students that over lunch will go and engage in some of those activities. That can't happen right now because if that activity isn't in the building you're in, then you can't really engage in that at a more social level. You you have to wait till the end of the day um when you would be sent over there. Uh the next two are better participation for high school, uh better pre- preparation for high school. And I we listed here bell schedules, locker usage, and earlier social interaction. And I I think
008there's sort of a a broader thing here and a specific thing. Um that right now there's a series of transitions that your students go through. Um when they go currently from eighth grade to ninth grade, not only are they for the first time seeing all those students that they haven't seen since kindergarten and dealing with the socialization aspects of that, they're in a much bigger building than they've been in before. They're obviously going from a place where they ruled the roost to the place where they're the youngest students in the building. And And on top of that, they've never used a locker. They've never followed a bell schedule. And in the words of your educators, I would rather deal with that issue as sixth graders than as ninth graders. You know, deal with those issues
009early, get them accustomed to being in that larger environment, getting accustomed to operating on a bell schedule, get them accustomed to switching between classrooms and navigating their way through the school. Do that at the sixth grade so that when they get to ninth grade, they're more prepared for for that. Um much less transition. And better collaboration for between your middle school teachers. Again, following the curriculum idea that you're trying to implement the curriculum and four schools, but also your teachers have a harder time working together and keeping that curriculum uh in focus and also harder time sort of identifying students that might need a little bit of extra help and and sort of managing that. Uh for your first through fifth grade students, the one and I apologize, it's it's not on here, but um
010it's probably the most important thing. There's a huge difference between a first grader and an eighth grader, you know, in in terms of um their level of aggressiveness, of what is an appropriate conversation or an inappropriate conversation. And right now that's happening in your elementary schools as opposed to having first through fifth or first through sixth in an elementary school and and having the middle schools in the middle schoolers in a separate facility. Um again, the the the the the multiple bell schedule that's happening in the elementary schools, you have uh students on a middle school curriculum moving between classes, you have students in an elementary school uh curriculum moving between classes or trying to use the same cafeteria, the same art rooms, the same music rooms, and you're on two different schedules. So, trying
011to coordinate that is is difficult. Um, of course, removing some of the middle school students from the elementary school would in uh, uh, give some extra opportunities uh, within those elementary schools and it would give the opportunity to bring kindergarten back. So, I hope I did that justice uh, going through it. I know I don't have quite as the same passion, but um, uh, there's many advantages to going to that middle school model. And the disadvantages, construction cost. So, essentially what we're talking about here is this slide, the list of possible advantages as compared to what the, you know, the the financial impact would be um, going forward and what what that would mean to the district. Uh, and secondly, I I would also acknowledge that um, if you're keeping everybody where they are and
012in their current grade configuration, uh, then you don't have to move populations around much, but obviously if you eliminate the kindergarten center or talk about a middle school model, there's some level of redistricting that would have to happen between those elementary schools. So, we have put together a few scenarios um, about introducing a middle school uh, option and I'll just say off the bat all well, four options, they will all look at converting Darby Township into a middle school. It was originally built as a middle school, so it would be the easiest of your buildings to convert. Um, and they all look at, you know, the updates for to Sharon Hill that we noted before. So, the first option, D1, would implement a three-grade middle school at Darby Township. There would be a medium-sized addition,
013the one that we showed previously at Sharon Hill. Your elementary's would become one through five. The K center stays a K center. And you'd have about a 70% utilization rate across your elementary schools. And and maybe just to comment on that the utilization rate in the elementary schools. The trick here is if you're at 70%, those are elementary schools that are that that that are underutilized. You really want to be in the 80-85 range. So, our option two is a two-grade middle school at Darby Township, the same medium-sized addition at Sharon Hill. Your elementary become K through six, and that would include converting the K center into another elementary school. A third option is again that three-grade middle school. This ace we would go we could do a smaller addition at Sharon Hill. And then
014your elementary schools would become K through five. And again, the K center would be converted into an elementary school. And the final option is again a three-grade middle school. Again, the medium addition at Sharon Hill. All elementary schools become K5, and then the K center could be repurposed for another use that the district might have for it. So, we did do some very preliminary cost estimates for all these. Again, kind of looking at it from that three-point that we started to discuss. Just the infrastructure improvements. So, these are the items that we previously mentioned, roofs, windows, things that do need to be done would come around 23.4 million. The Sharon Hill improvements, the two-story addition that we showed before and the tearing down of the the oldest portion of the building would be about a
01547.5 million. And then because there's a range of options for your middle school, the middle school construction costs really range. They can be anywhere from like 28 million to around 45 million, depending on if it's two two three grades, what you know, middle school amenities you want in it. It's it's a broader option. And do do we also want to point out um we did update those numbers from our 2022 numbers. Uh we updated for inflation and each one of those options has how many years inflation on it? I believe two. So, we we projected them forward a little bit. Uh and all those numbers include soft costs Yes. >> which are the things not in the contractor's bid. So, it's financing, it's furniture and equipment, it's professional fees, it's building permits, it's you know,
016it's it's it's that type of thing. And uh was it one of the Yes, and we have a 10% contingency as well. Right. That's that's basically money 10% that we have no idea what it's for. We just know everything looks simpler when it's a bubble diagram than than when you actually develop it. So, you need to have a little extra money in there for what you don't know today. And I I That's basically a summary of of of planning that we did in 2022 updated with today's numbers. Um if there's any questions, we'd be happy to respond to them. Madam President, can I I want to thank you for the presentation. Um I'm not sure how we're with so many changes, I'm not sure how we going to move forward, but I would like to
017if we're looking at this for us to go a little bit bolder with this. This was a 2022 plan. We're in 2026-27. Um the option to I'll call it put lipstick on a pig somewhat of Sharon Hill without redoing after having a couple tours of the facility and looking at this, is there a way to explore a option to look at making where the high school is if we're going to rebuild, rebuild and put the middle school there as a second option. Make that a full campus, two separate. Then, that is going We're already talking about redistricting and having to reconfigure do reconfigurations. You have Darby Township, um Harris, and Delcroft being able to do capital improvement projects on them to accommodate it in the beginning interim time. Darby Township could be utilized as the
018{quote} {unquote} middle school while Sharon Hill is being completely torn down and renovated and moved. It's a lot of logistical parts, but I would be curious to find out the cost for a plan like that. I was looking at A, B, C, and D, and I'm just thinking to myself, "Well, where is E?" E would be a option. If we're looking at this, where we get a chance to take one big shot, why not take it? If we're going to give our students state-of-the-art facilities, why not look at that? Look at the cost. Look at this, how it's going to be financed, how it's going to be done, and create a campus environment at one location, spread out, and then that still could leave the district with the option of repurposing the case center for
019additional activities and programs that we'd like to bring in house. So, I'm not sure how everybody else feels, but I would be interested in seeing something along those lines. So, let me respond to that actually. Um it's it's it's a great point, and we actually did look at that. So, uh she described I also described D1 through D4. The reason we named it D is there's also a series of S's for doing the exact same thing at Sharon Hill. We actually took it out, my fault, probably shouldn't have. >> [laughter] >> Um there are some disadvantages to that that we that we realized when we started looking at how that would develop. And the first one is a Sharon Hill is a smaller elementary school. Darby Township is larger, and at one time it was
020the middle school. So, it has some infrastructure in it that made the conversion a little bit easier. The construction at Sharon Hill was larger and more involved, so it was more expensive. And then there was the concern that Sharon Hill sitting next to the high school, the competition for athletic fields cuz right now all your athletic programs are over at Darby Township. To put those middle school sports teams on the high school site would be a challenge or you could still bus them over to Darby Township. But then you've got buses and parents and traffic and just a whole lot of stuff coming to Sharon. So we we can absolutely produce that. We already have it. We could we could package that together. It's just that's why it didn't make the presentation tonight. One of
021the concerns that you brought up with athletics is something that I've had conversation with athletics. It actually would make it easier for them. They would have more logistic control to be able to in a capital project where we're also looking at fields and different things along those lines. Best case use, it allows the athletic director instead of having to manage multiple locations, it's one location. Everything can be figured out scheduling time and different things. So it's one of those let's try to work a little smarter, not harder. Take advantage of an opportunity, one of these once in a generation opportunities to kind of change some things around and take advantage of it, but also be cognizant and aware of cost. So. The uh the other thing that I I I didn't mention, we pursued it
022originally because we thought, "Wow, wouldn't it be great not to do two major projects and just do one?" You know, if you're going to rebuild Sharon Hill, rebuild it as the middle school and then you can just do smaller infrastructure in other areas. You don't have to do anything all that significant in the other schools. Um but there's another aspect to that that I talked about the utilization factor at the elementary level. 70% utilization would be fantastic. You'd have all kinds of extra space, but then you're building more square footage than you really need. Somewhere in the district, at the middle school level or somewhere else, you're building more square footage than you need and overall you're spending more money doing it. When you work at Darby Township and you also do a Sharon Hill
023Elementary, Sharon Hill becomes your valve at the elementary level. If I have too much elementary space, I just build Sharon Hill a little smaller and I get it to balance, you know, at 85% or 82% or wherever I want it to balance. You kind of lose that when you're working one school cuz now it's you put everything into a middle school and the real estate you have left is the real estate you have for the remaining students. There is that balance of do we build it too big or too small and have to come back and expand. So, all those things are in consideration. I would like I said, I would just be very interested in seeing the other options and some other configurations for for us to be able to have a more nuanced
024decision-making conversation. Yep, we can do that. >> Thank you. Yeah, I hear what Kenji is uh proposing and I have a different take on it. As it is, I was a student who was bust out of my town to another school that was not in my neighborhood and it causes a sense of I don't fit in in my own neighborhood because half the street was going to one school, another half was going to another school. You can't have parent participation because if the parents don't drive, they're not able to get to their school to be there for their kids. Therefore, I would be more in favor of building up Darby Township as the new uh middle school and keeping Sharon Hill as the Sharon Hill school. As it is, we already have students that are
025going to be bust from Darby Township all the way past two schools over to uh Darby Township Elementary. I still have a huge problem with that. Personally, I don't understand why you would bus children past two schools in their area to take them to a school that is further out. I think that is absolutely uncalled for, but that's just me. But I The question that I had was I was looking and it said that redistricting would need to be done. And then at the at the end of the presentation, there was a redistricting map and I noticed that it looks like we're running into the problem that we kind of ran into when we redistricted over 20 years ago where certain streets are cut where one part of the street goes to one school and
026then your neighbor two doors down is going to a whole different school. And I don't understand why redistricting would work that way. And my question is why I saw that that was a part of it saying that redistricting was necessary or would be necessary. Could you elaborate as to why redistricting would be necessary if we're making these improvements? So, in the Darby Township proposals, if Darby Township's converted to a middle school, then all the students in Darby Township, some of them if if you were a little eliminate the kindergarten center, some would go to the kindergarten center as a K-through-5 or K-through-6 school, but the capacity of that building is much less than Darby Township. So, those students would have to go to neighboring schools and you'd have to balance that out. In the Sharon
027Hill scenarios, same thing. If Sharon Hill isn't an elementary school anymore, you would have to redistribute those students amongst the other facilities. So, and and to your point, you know, you wouldn't bus past one school to get to another. So, it's kind of a shifting. Maybe I don't understand. Is this map what we are currently at? There we go. That's where my question was cuz I'm like literally the map is doing that same thing. We we only [laughter] put it in there for reference because we thought it could be helpful just to see the layout of things. When you do talk about having to do some of that we just thought it was helpful to That makes way more sense. Okay. Okay. I was going to say you're you're cutting in half and I see
028DTS going or Darby Township going up to DTS. So what what's the difference? Got it. Got it. We're good. Thank you. The only question I have and it's just following up on Ms. McGowan is we're this is going to cause us to have to no matter what, however we figure this out, some of this is going to be uncomfortable for somebody. So we want to figure out the least amount of pain. Again, we're looking at everybody's going to add from let's say 5 through 8 have to get bused to Darby Township for middle school if we put it there. So we're already going to say it's when do we start the bussing, when do we start this? So we'll have that nuance conversation and try to figure out the best way. That's why the that
029was the reason for my ask like if we could have everything laid out and we can try to figure out how to piece this puzzle together to figure this out because we're all in agreement we want a middle school. It's just kind of figuring out the best way and to do it. Yeah, we need every scenario so that we can kick the cans down the property. Chair, she can kind of say okay, here's everything laid out, what can we do and then we figure this out but every option on the table. Understood. Does anybody have any more questions? Well, we want to thank you so much for coming out tonight. Um it's a really great and informative presentation. Thank you so much. It's our pleasure. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Okay. We are going to
030move right into our committee reports this evening. So, we are going to start as always with our education items and the curriculum committee and that would be Mrs. Michelle McGowan. Thank you very much, Madam President. So, at this particular meeting I was unable to attend due to health reasons. However, Madam President was uh kind enough to attend in my on my behalf and so I am reporting off of what occurred at that meeting. So, the administration provided information on the agenda items such as a ratification contract of a contract between Southeast Delco and HMS School for the 26 extended school year for one student and approval of a contract between Southeast Delco and Cades School for the 2026 extended school year with intensive supports for the 2026 school extended school year for six students and
031approval of a contract between Southeast Delco and Melmark School for the 2026 extended school year. I'm just going to say ESY because that's what extended school year means and I'm going to get tongue tied if I keep saying it. So, uh for the 2026 ESY for three students and approval of a contract between Southeast Delco and Greentree School for the 2026 ESY for one student and approval of a contract between Southeast Delco and Keystone Freedom Academy for the 2026 25-26 school year for one student and the approval of a contract between the Briarcliff Swim Club and Southeast Delco for the use of the pool for the district's 2026 ESY program for the morning mornings of July 2nd, July 9th, July 16th, July 23rd, and July 30th at a cost not to exceed $1,000 to be
032paid from the special education fund. Approve the addendum to the staffing agreement fee schedule for GHR education, which provides for nurses, paraprofessionals, social workers, counselors, and more. Approve the expulsion of two students. Approve a three-year agreement with Barksdale Group for school photography, which will replace our agreement with the life with Lifetouch for the school photos. And I if you've not had an opportunity to look into the uh education folder, uh fellow members, the contract is in there, and it actually goes over all packages, including um senior portraits. It gives you prices so that we're able to see what kind of prices we would be look our families would be facing for school portraits, and they actually are very reasonable. So, taking that burden off of our parents to receive quality portraits is wonderful. Uh Approve
033a one-year agreement with Arbiter to provide subscription training and services for sports management in the amount of $6,701. Approve a one-year agreement with BallFrog to provide subscription training and services for a sports website and communication in the amount of $5,250, which I am excited to see what our sports website would look like. Uh Approve an MOU with Delaware County Community College to provide dual enrollment courses for the 2026-2027 school year. Approve the Academy Park High School girls track team to compete in the Adidas Nationals at Greensboro, North Carolina from June 18th to June uh 22nd. Approve an agreement with Read Alliance to provide a near peer tutoring model that will partner Academy Park students who will be paid for their services with element early elementary students who are in need of literary support to provide
034critically needed phonics instruction at a cost not to exceed 5 that 52,940 from the general fund. Approve the acceptance of a renewal of the Elevate Science K to 8 with Is it Savvas? Savvas. Savvas Savvas Learning Company for a period of 3 years at the cost of 364,483.75 from the general fund. Approve the renewal of the Amira Suite contract with HMH for a period of 1 year at the cost of 13,300 to be paid from the general fund. Approve the renewal of Apex Learning tutorials with I'm going to mess this up. I say it wrong each time. Edmentum? Edmentum. Ed Edmentum? There's an R in it though. Oh, I thought so. >> [laughter] >> Edmentum for 300 licenses for a period of 1 year at a cost of 10,920 to be paid from the general
035fund. Approve the renewal of My World Interactive with with Savvas Learning Company for a period of 2 years at the cost of 177,784.20 to be paid from the general fund. There were no additional uh findings that needed to be there. And this will all have a fiscal impact because the items presented were not originally factored into the budget. However, and will need to come from the general fund and from the special education fund. And the recommendation at this time is that the board approve the items as presented and the rationale for it is the contracts with the various school for the ESY for students is required by law. The fee schedule ensures that we are adequately staffed at all times. The curriculum renewals are based off of careful research and proven success. The girls track
036team has worked hard all year and has earned the the honor of attending the Adidas Nationals and representing our district. Our next meeting will be Thursday, June 4th at 2:30 p.m. And that concludes my report. Thank you, Mrs. McGowan. Does anybody have any questions or comments for the education report tonight? Okay, we'll move right along. Um next we will move to the finance committee. You you would have to put a card in for a question. So next we're going to move to the finance committee. Um Mr. Ridley is our chair. He will be reporting out tonight. Um and right after Mr. Butler um is going to go through his um discussion on the budget process. Good evening, everyone. Um we met on May 12th, 6:00 p.m. Our agenda items were the 2026-27 budget, reallocation of
037funds for some capital improvement projects, review of the bid for the contracted cleaning services, and monthly expenditures. The purpose were to discuss to determine fiscal impact of upcoming potential tax increases on the 2026-27 operating budget, and if there were any funds available to address various items that have been in need of repair or renovation for several years. We discussed three different tax increase proposals um for the fiscal year and the potential impact on the budget from these discussions. Recommendations for tax increases, the committee will recommend to the entire board that we consider either a 1.5 or 2% increase, no more. The committee also discussed reallocating unused funds from the budget year 25-26 to pay for the renovation of the Academy Park High School weight room and the Academy Park High School tennis court, the repair
038of it. The committee discussed what potential impact also the timing of the new contract for cleaning services to be awarded awarded will have on the 26-27 budget. Our key findings when reviewing the fiscal impact of the 1.5 versus 2% increase, we noticed and while it still felt the differences were negligible. While both items recommended for renovation repair are pressing, the weight room renovation is the most time sensitive. A potential solution to addressing both items would be to fund the renovation with 25-26 unspent funds and move the tennis court to a 26-27 capital improvement item. This does have a fiscal impact. The fiscal impact of the potential tax increase is imperative to the continued functional operation of the district. The committee as a whole with the committee as with the whole board is very sensitive to
039tax increase especially in this current fiscal climate our community faces. While it would be both politically expedient and financially comfortable to not raise any taxes, it would in fact be financially irresponsible knowing that various budget line budget line items costs go up regardless and there's no guarantee of any additional funding coming from Harrisburg. Is there any policy impact? No. Committee consensus the committee reached a consensus to bring information to the committee of the whole for the board to make an informed decision regarding these items. And I recommend that the items are just approved as presented. There's no vote or anything else that have to happen. Yep. Oh. The finances. Yep, your turn. I stay out of that part. Uh good evening everyone. Uh so on finance agenda, there are five items and one uh discussion
040item. Uh so the first is the uh ratification of administration to proceed with the preparation and distribution of the request for proposal documents for contracted after-school and summer custodial uh services district-wide. Uh this will be charged to the fund uh to the general fund. Uh in addition to that, there is those packets have uh going out to uh some uh vendors and then there were folks who responded to the ad in the paper. So the ad in the paper is being advertised for 3 weeks. Uh started on May 11th. Yeah, May 11th. And uh and then it'll go to the 18th and then the last one is going to be the 20 25th. Right. I think it's the 25th. So uh this Friday tomorrow, we have a mandatory walk-through meeting where uh potential vendors or
041interested vendors uh will have the opportunity to walk through all the buildings. That will be spearheaded by Mr. Taylor. He's our director of facilities. And I will be accompanying him in those tours. Um So that's tomorrow at 2:00. That will start that. Uh item two is a an agreement approval of the agreement for Frontline Professional Development Management System. Um and the total cost for that uh in total, the grand total is $43,556.77. Uh you will see that there's an implementation implementation fee at the beginning uh for 3,120 and then it is broken down with them annual payments will be um uh for the 26-27 through the 28-29 fiscal year. Item three. Uh this is uh PSBA Pennsylvania School Board Association. Uh this is their fee for us to have access to the administrative regulation uh
042regulations manual, which is a traditional approval each year. Uh item four, uh this is Donovan Group who uh provides our communication services. Uh and this is uh approving them for the 26-27 uh school year. Uh last item uh is the approval of portable radios. This is the replacement of antiquated uh portable radios that we have in the district uh through RF Design and Integration. Again, that will be charged to general fund. Are there any questions on those agenda items? Okay. Um so, with the walk-through that you're having tomorrow, if there are other people who put in a request or put in a bid for the job, will you have another mandatory walk-through of the buildings or will they get a chance to to see them? Uh well, the way that it was advertised is that
043uh tomorrow is the day and it is mandatory. So, no one If you don't If you're not present at the walk-through, then you can't submit. Okay. So, uh if there are folks that uh are coming in after the fact, well well, Mr. Taylor and I will determine uh and I I don't see us having a problem doing that, but it's easier if everyone's going through together because each of the vendors can hear each other's questions about certain things. So, that that's the purpose of the mandatory. Uh and we want them to see the um uh how large the buildings are and all that has to be accomplished before they submit. Uh if you look at the uh RFP document, you will find that it is extremely comprehensive uh in nature. It has all the buildings,
044what's next what the expectations are. Uh there are other documents in there such as a non-collusion affidavit, which prevents folks from sharing information. Uh which keeps and and the most important thing is that these quotes will be opened all at the same time on the following Monday at 2:00 in this room. And all the vendors are invited to attend that that gathering. Okay, the uh next item uh I want to cover. Mr. Ridley had talked about the discussion uh concerning the budget. So, uh the budget is on the district's website. Uh you will find that it has what's been presented. Uh the total is 123,610,735. Um that called that document calls for a 3% tax increase. Um so, after our discussion, uh my question was is that what does the board the board will have
045to determine what they feel comfortable with with tax increases. Um although Mr. Ridley did mention that it's uh for us not to have a tax increase is not physically fiscally responsible. Uh so, there does need to be one. Um but as I've said a number of times, we have to take into consideration everybody uh in this district. There are folks that don't have kids in the district. There's a a program that we have to that has to be uh rigorous for the education of students. So, all those things tie in together and we have to keep all that in that same conversation so that it all makes sense for everyone who's living in the communities. Uh, so, Mr. Ridley had talked about I said that there's a 3% but in the handout and I think
046does everybody have the handout? I think I'm sorry. Shoot. Is that what I did in the last old? Wait, hold on. Are there any No, they're old. They're old. Hold on a second. This will also be on the Can there are a few more copies here? Mr. Taylor, would you um I thought I had some on the table. Uh, this will also be posted on the district's website tomorrow. But what I have in this document are Okay. So, what you have in this packet what's being presented tonight are options. So, as I had mentioned to you stated earlier that the budget that's on the district website and that's current uh, calls for a 3% tax increase. And typically each year I'll do this this analysis where you will be able to see based on the
047assessed value of your property what the tax impact would be. So, for example on page three with the 3% uh it shows that a 3% increase will provide $1,520,122 uh towards the general fund uh expenditures for 26-27. So, for example, uh at the top I have uh uh different scenarios for if your property is assessed at 70,000, 100,000, 170,000, 240,000. Uh the next category below gets a little more detailed where it's I have it going like every $10,000. So, 70, 80, 90, up to the 240. Uh so, if you know the assessed value of your property, you will see. So, for example, 70 if your house is um if your property is assessed at $70,000 for this year, your tax increase for the for the year is $68. Uh if you look at the column
048to the right, the uh full tax bill on that property is $2,346. Again, moving down, I'll jump to um if your property is assessed at $170,000, your tax increase this year will be $166. Uh the uh property uh assessed at that value, the taxes are $5,697 for the year. And then you can see the breakdown, the detail uh where you can sort of put your property in between some of the categories uh further down. Uh going to page uh four, uh Mr. Ridley had mentioned uh that we talked about what's below the the 3%. So, we did mention um 2.5%. Uh if we did 2.5%, uh the tax increase overall would be $1,266,797. Uh Uh, compared to the 3% we would have to if we went with 2 and 1/2% we would have to look
049for reducing the expenditures by $253 $253,000 $325. And again, the the scenario is the same. If your property is assessed at $70,000, your tax increase at 2 and 1/2% will be $57. Uh, and the total tax on that would be $2,334. Um, there's like a typo on all three pages. Uh-oh. For the uh, highest bracket, the $240,000 it's the same Uh-oh. for each one. For a page three, four, and five. >> I neglected to copy down the formula. Okay. Um, again, this will be I will update this for the district website tomorrow. My apologies on that. I didn't I, yeah. So, the first one is is correct. Okay. Uh, moving to page five, uh, the uh, increase at 2% would be 1,013,468. Uh, going from uh, that to going from 3% down to 2% percent,
050um, we'd I would have to um, uh, reduce the expenditures by 506,656 654. Uh, going down to the next category, the 70,000 is correct, but the rest of the numbers have to be modified. So, again, I apologize for that. And on page Oh, that's why I went down to uh the 2%. Uh and then if the board decides to go down to 1 and 1/2% uh the cut would be I'm sorry, the tax increase would be uh 790,000 $78. And then the cut the reduction in expenditures would be 730,000 $47 based on uh comparing that to the 3%. >> [clears throat] >> So, something for the board to think about. Uh again, I will put this on the website and I'll send this out to the board uh via email tomorrow with the with the
051corrections. Thank you so much, uh Mr. Butler. Does anybody have any questions, uh for Mr. Butler, regarding the presentation? Actually, I do have one question. So, do we next week vote on what the percentage is or going to be or So, the the board that the um the adoption of the budget is scheduled for uh June 25th. So, that's when that will occur. We're not going to change that date. But, this will give this information will give me uh good information so that all the documents are prepared and ready to go on June 25th or June 26th. So, are you going to be preparing a budget with each of the different ones or are The reason why I'm asking is in order for you to have it for that June meeting don't we have to
052tell you what tax Yes, so that's what you have to think about and then you can let me know and then I'll adjust it >> So yeah, that's what I'm saying. Yes, I'm sorry. Yes, so then I'll adjust it and then present the new document. Okay, so we give you that information when? That'll be your decision as long as it gives me time to do to do the calculation, but all I'm saying is that we're not going to vote on it at the May meeting. Okay, yeah, I just didn't know how we got the info to you on like here's what we want. So the board can have a discussion and then it can be forwarded to Dr. Sanchez and then forwarded to me. Okay, thanks. Okay. Okay, up next is personnel and HR. Our
053chair for that is Mr. Patrick McGowan. Thank you Madam President. >> [clears throat] >> The HR committee met on May 7th and we discussed the items for approval for the May HR agenda. Um the administration provided information on attaining our two HR goals. Goal one which is reporting monthly exit numbers, setting up the report to capture exit numbers and trends to be shared monthly to the school board. Last month we made a presentation. This month we had no changes from last month. However, we did work with Miss Boley to encompass a little bit more detail. For example, when exit interviews are offered and kind of collecting the data so it would be able to be shared out with us. So the board can start seeing some trends that we could address. Um so hopefully next
054month will also have another report with that, but as of this month no changes really were made from the previous month so there was no report to share with the board. Um bear with me here. Goal number two, providing a brief write-up on HR approval amounts for new hires. As a May's report, we have included professional uh positions moving forward on the agenda where you will see the candidates years of experience listed in the approval. This will allow the board to have a deeper understanding of the candidate's background as it relates to their salary. So, I will call your attention to our agenda. You look under HR items where it says um to approve professional positions, you'll see underneath of it there is a little list of um the candidates years of experience. So, that
055will help us really determine, you know, if you look at the salary that's being offered, you know, how are we justifying that salary? So, that is a win um and I thank the HR department for setting that up for us. Some HR initiatives, um open enrollment is happening May 11th through May 22nd. This will allow employees to enroll into benefits and set up their deductions. Informational sessions were held on May 7th and May 12th with a recording available to employ employees who could not attend sessions. These sessions were held to go over benefits available to employees and to enroll in changes with our current benefits. Six prizes were awarded to participants who attended these uh informational sessions. Aflac was at Southeast Talco on May 5th, 2026 to get sign-ups and sign-ups into the supplemental insurance
056program. This is a win. Um it allows our our employees here at Southeast Talco to really take advantage of what Aflac has to offer. They have such a variety of different programs and it is a really big win to be able to offer an additional benefit to our employees. Wear Purple Day happened on May 8th to bring awareness to lupus autoimmune disease. Memo was sent to staff reminding them about buyback days that are available. >> [clears throat] >> We are looking for aids for the 21st century programs along with lunch aid with the Academy Park ESY program. Looking for freshman assistant football coach and freshman volleyball coach. If you are interested or know anyone that is interested, please visit our careers section on our district website. And now we're going to go over the agenda
057items for um I know I have a typo. Should be agenda items for May, not April. My apologies. For May for approval for HR. Sadly, we have to acknowledge the in-service death of one classified employee. We have six approvals for retirement for professional employees. 10 approvals for retirement for classified employees. Three ratification for resignations of classified employees. One resignation for employment of a professional employee. One ratification for employment of a security employee. Three ratifications for employment for classified employees. Two ratifications for leave of absence for professional employees. One ratification for employment for an employee for the Read Alliance summer program. Three approvals for resignation of professional employees. One approval for employment of a management employee. Six approvals for employment of professional employees. Five approvals for employment for classified employees. Two approvals for leave of absence
058for professional employees. Seven approvals for change of assignments of management employees. Three approvals for management three approvals for change of assignment for professional employees. One approval for change of assignment of a classified employee. Approval for appointment of Dr. Jeffrey Ryan as district superintendent to serve a term commencing June 13th, 2026. Approval of James Donovan as business manager to serve a term commencing July 1st, 2026. Approval for two employees for Read Alliance Summer Program. Approval of four employees for the 21st CCLC Summer Program. Approval of one contracted employee for ESY Dolcroft Summer Program. Approval of nine employees for ESY Dolcroft Summer Program. Approval of one employee for ESY Academy Park Summer Program. Approval of 16 employees for credit recovery program. And a partridge in a pear tree. Sorry. >> [snorts] >> It's a lot. We had
059a lot this month. Areas of agreement included agreed on on HR items for May 2026 board business meeting. There were no concerns noted at this time. There were no key findings that we needed to bring to the board's attention. The committee consensus, we did come to a consensus with these items. The recommendation from the chair is that we approve the items as presented to the school board. Our next committee meeting will be held on June 4th, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. With that, that concludes my report, Madam President. Thank you, Mr. McGowan. Does anybody have any questions or comments for the personnel committee tonight for Mr. McGowan? Okay, we're going to move right along. Um we are moving into policy um and Mr. McGowan, is it you reporting out again? Unless Mr. Ridley wants to. >>
060Nope. All right. It's your month. It's my month. All right. >> [laughter] >> Um the policy committee met on May 5th, 2026. Um the items discussed were agenda items for first readings for suggested policies. The committee met to review and discuss upcoming policy motions as it relates to board governance. The goal of the committee is to provide policy guidance to district personnel to guide the decision-making for the best interest of the students and staff in accordance with legal legal standing in the purview of the school district. The committee reviewed the policies on conference attendance and reimbursement for board members, transportation to charter schools, and Title 1 parent and family engagement. Administration kept one potential policy under items for discussion, safe spaces and educational equality. Equity, sorry. Uh there are a There was a lengthy discussion
061about the best way to fund board member conferences. The committee is awaiting counsel from our solicitor before providing a motion for a first reading. Areas of agreement included three policies, policy number 140, 810, 918 should move forward upon recommendation of the committee. There were no areas of disagreement, but there was significant discussion on the potential cell phone policy revision and the current house bill is um if the current house bill is signed into law. Key findings information for the board. The charter school and transportation policies are first readings that all that go hand in hand. The Title 1 policy is required when the district receives Title 1 funding. The charter school policy requires the district to transport its charter school students, but does not require the transportation to be exactly to um does not require
062the transportation to be exactly what in-district students get. The transportation policy is being updated with the same language as the charter school policy. The Title 1 policy has expanded to meet Title 1 requirements for parents and family engagement, which are revised from time to time. Fiscal impact, none. Policy impact, yes. Um policy that is being impacted is policy um 004 potentially, but I believe that is for the um that's on hold right now. That's about the reimbursement. Policy numbers 140, 810, and 918 will be impacted. Committee consensus. The committee has reached a consensus and um the chair, we are recommending to the board uh for approval um with the items that are presented. We are tabling the item for further review, which is uh policy number um 004, which is the reimbursement for board members
063to go on the conferences. That still has to have a further discussion. Uh rationale for the recommendation, the charter and transportation policies provide flexibility to the district while meeting state requirements. The Title 1 policy will assist us in meeting federal program requirements. At this time, this ends my policy report, Madam President. Thank you, Mr. McGowan. Does anybody have a question or a comment or concern for um Mr. McGowan and the policy committee? Okay. Um next, we are moving on to properties, and our chair for properties is Mrs. Trina Singleton. So, go right ahead. Thank you, Madam President. Uh good evening, everyone. The properties committee met on May 5th. And uh the things that we covered were facilities updates. Um the GenServe completed the plan A maintenance on generators district-wide. Um recommended repairs will be made
064to the units. Recycle dumpster removed from Academy Park's campus. Um that was something that was on the air for a while. And it's and it's um done. Um in coordination with uh FACE department, annual perennials were added to planners throughout the district. CDL training site was established at Sharon Hill's parking lot. Um and it's now being used. The K Center hosted a mobile career fair on May 1st. Um there carpenters and electricians both attended and showcased the district vehicles and how they are used for work purposes. Um assisting they uh There's another bullet point assisting the athletic department during sports during spring sports season. Um the Harris kitchen exterior doors have been installed. The facilities department um is continuing to make necessary repairs throughout the district in addition to um responding to work orders. Um
065we also uh there were some discussion points. Um the Delaware County Strategic National Stockpile SNS point of dispensing point of operations is coming wants to have Academy Park as their site. And so we did discuss that. And I'll have more on that later. Um upcoming May 14th, the voting machines arrived. This is all about the voting that happened this previous week. Um so, we just discussed how the voting machines would arrive at um the three district locations. Um and then uh the election day um locations that will serve as polling places. Um the machines should have been picked up today, the 21st. And um the Mr. Taylor and his team is um getting preparing the school for summer operations or preparing for summer operations. Um and Delcroft is not included because it's no longer a
066a polling place. All right. Um So, number I'm going to go to number two. Um the committee reviewed the items presented by Mr. Taylor. Um we discussed requests and bids for a new cleaning company and taken action to review the previous plans for a middle school. Um the administration provided information on the Delaware County Strategic National Stockpile point of dispensing operations, and Academy Park would be an emergency site for Delaware County. Um the timeline for the bidding process to sign a contract with the new cleaning company was discussed. We're hoping to have the new contract starting September 1st, 2026. Uh the board will have an opportunity to review the previous plans for a district middle school, and then uh we'll have the presentation by the architect, which we had this evening. All right. Um Key
067questions raised um included the history of Academy Park being um an SNS POD operations site. Um the process and timeline to get bids for the new cleaning company. Um time to in the timeline to review the previous plans for the middle school. Uh areas of agreement included that we should be a SNS POD operations site. We will start We agreed that we will start the process for contracting with the new cleaning company. Um And we would like to explore options for the middle school starting with the previous plans. Um Any concerns or considerations that was that we were noted was the timing of the cleaning company coming on board. We wanted to make sure that summer cleaning is done with the current cleaning company and the buildings are ready for the start of school in
068September. Another concern was the current condition of the buildings. Many areas were identified as in need of care and there is urgency to get the new company to increase the standard of cleanliness in the buildings. Um what the board needs to know uh concerning the SNS point of dispensing I'm sorry the SNS POD program. Academy Park has been a part of the program in the past. The administration is recommending that we uh become a part of that program again. There is no fiscal impact that I am aware of and then there should be some documentation to review. Um, let's see. The committee reached a consensus. Um And we did decide that we were going to uh seek the bids for the new contract starting September a 3-year contract starting September the 1st. Um >> [clears
069throat] >> And I do uh we do I do recommend that we approve any items as presented. And um I I don't have the date for our next meeting, but it's the first Tuesday in June. Thank you. Perfect. Thank you, Mrs. Singleton. Does anybody have any questions for the property committee? Okay. Uh we're moving like right along. Um our last committee is our safety committee and that is chaired by Ms. Cleobay Goodman. Thank you, Madam President. Good evening, everyone. Um the safety and security team met on May 4th. The committee met to review and discuss items and trainings as it relates to safety and security and how it fits in with the goals of the committee to stay current of safety and security needs within the school district. Um the committee reviewed details on the
070approved E-rate grant. The administration provided information on upcoming trainings and projects within the school district. PSSA testing was successfully administered online for the first time for grades third through three through eighth grade. Third through eighth grades. Um There were no key questions raised let's see key findings. The E-rate grant is awarded every 5 years. The district is only responsible for 15% providing the school district a 85% discount for our network infrastructure. Oh, I'm sorry. There is physical impact. Um the 15% that the school district will be responsible for is $78,993.02. There is no policy impact. The committee reached a consensus. Um I would ask that you approve the item. Uh our next meeting is June 1st, 2026. Thank you, Ms. Bateman. Does anybody have any questions for the safety committee tonight? Okay. So, that concludes
071our committee reports for tonight. We're moving into public comment. Are there any public comments tonight, Dr. Sanchez? Yes, Madam President. We have a few. We'd like to invite Ms. Raylene Harmon to the mic, please. Good evening, everyone. Um my name is Raylene Harmon. I'm the founder of Teachers' Teammates, uh which is a nonprofit that collects surplus goods and distributes to schools in Delaware County where at least 65% of the kids qualify for the National Student Lunch Program. >> [clears throat] >> I uh gave you each a little summary of the um collaboration we've had with Southeast Delco schools. Um Um It's been the first It was the first district we worked with. And we have had a very strong and positive relationship ever since we uh were established, actually before we were established. We were
072we were working with the district, especially Darby Township uh school. So, um you can see I I gave you a summary of the value of the supplies that have been distributed to each school. Uh and we distribute things two ways. Teachers do orders. Teachers join us, place online orders, uh and we deliver them. The other way is bulk distribution, where we've given contact schools if they want large quantities of hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, poster board. Depends on what comes in. We don't have really any advanced warning of what's going to get donated. So, we um we are the only year-round teacher resource center in the Philadelphia metro area that I'm aware of. And um it's uh been a very uh fruitful um It It grew faster than I ever expected. So, there there is a
073quite a bit of materials that um get uh thrown away in new materials that get thrown away. And we're uh interested in harvesting them, collecting them, and then uh suitably, you know, wherever the uh teachers need them. We're They're not just the core supplies. In fact, we have to buy those core supplies to keep them in stock um because those don't repurpose very well. But, it's um all office equipment, art art supplies, personal hygiene, uh small storage. Um So, there is an accepted donation list in that packet. You'll see it's quite extensive. Um, the other way we collaborate with the district is with uh, you have your transitional students coming to our uh, warehouse, which is walking distance from here. And um, we they we could not do our work without the volunteers, especially the
074students during the school year. So, um, what's nice about it is we have every possible kind of task to be done. It's very labor intensive to manage all this inventory. Uh, so, no matter what a student's ability is, we have something meaningful for them to do and contribute to their own community. Um, we've learned what works and um, there's great potential for it to be Oh, that's the Sorry. That's um, there's great potential for it to be much larger and it There's a points made in the report. So, thank you very much. Thank you very much. I do want to add we I want to applaud you for the passion, the service that you're providing. You're located in our own backyard in Fall Creek. Um, we greatly appreciate the support that you're giving our teachers
075and ultimately you're giving our students. So, thank you for everything that you do. >> [applause] >> I I do have one question. So, I see that the membership is like $40 for the teachers. If we had a like for the musical when we needed supplies for the musical, would So, uh, the supplies are for any employee that's working with students. Um, so, we have provided materials for um, theater uh, programs, athletic programs, about everything, science, you name it. Um, Okay, thank you. And and I should forgot to mention that you're all welcome to visit our warehouse and actually we really would like to you know, hope you do. Thank you very much. I'd like to invite um Erica Hickerson to the microphone. Okay, good evening. I'm going to be quick. I didn't know this was
076time, so um I think one, I'm shocked at these numbers with this tax increase and I think as a resident who is at the bottom of this list, um I think my concerns are very valid cuz even though you guys talked about renovating the school properties and making the facilities nice, I think there's something that's going on within the schools that isn't being addressed, which is the uh quality of education that our children are receiving. Um the staff shortage is directly impacting a lot of the students, especially the students with IEPs, whether their special education teacher is on maternity leave or teachers have been removed and or fired. Um for my child personally and some of um his friend group parents that are here, um our kids have been without a math teacher all school
077year. Um they would apparently you guys sent out a letter for us to get them to go to ask for tutoring, which apparently that grant ends in 2 weeks, which is not fair to our children. They have gotten no seventh-grade math curriculum consistently at all this school year. I personally have been paying a private tutor to come into my home to educate my child when I'm paying taxes to the school district to make that happen. Um and it's not fair. It's not fair to my family, it's not fair to our community, and I have no issue with the tax increases. I understand the benefit, but if the quality of education for my child is going to continue to diminish, then what am I paying for? Um one thing that was brought to our attention is
078like even though it's going to end, there's an opportunity for the school district to push forward for this um tutoring to happen throughout the school year, but based on what's currently going on, if the kids are going to math class and they're watching a movie, they're not going to be ready for eighth-grade math. And then Then they get to eighth-grade math, they're going to be trying to catch up with seventh and eighth grade math. Now they're not ready for ninth grade math. And that for me, I'm very disappointed in in the district as a whole. I never really had an issue with the school district. I always felt like when I reached out, you guys were compliant and made sure that the quality of education for our students was there. But now it kind of
079seems like that's that is being lost sight of. Um and for me, what I'm what me and the other parents who we've been very diligent about, we started a petition. We've been in the neighborhood. We've been rallying the people at the parks, the all the kids um that you extend these tutoring services for our kids. Like we drop our kids and our kids like I'm I learned about a parallelogram today. And I'm like, "Didn't you learn that in school?" No, we watched the movie. That That's disappointing. And I think um as professionals, you guys should be disgusted because our kids don't deserve that. Um this school district has a reputation of being pretty much okay. But I think for you guys to send us a letter and say that you are no longer providing a
080quality education and that we can take advantage of a tax credit grant to take our kids out of the district, what does that look like? And why should I have to do that when the school he attends is two stop signs from my home. It's within the community. I work from home. I feel safe with my child walking up there. I'm familiar with the principals. That's another thing with the principals leaving. The The amount of emotional and social trauma that it will cause these students. Even if you realign them and bust them, they have social groups and networks that they are part of that that's not fair to them and that's not fair to us as parents because we don't know who this new leadership that's coming in. We don't know what their standard of
081leadership is. We don't know what efforts they're going to make to get to know the neighbors, the the kids that may be having a rough day and they may just need some little lap time. All that matters. And the leadership that's currently at the Sheran Hill School, they are very much aware of that. They are very engaged with the with the parents. And I mean, you can get a call from from Robinson at 7:00 at night. He's going to say, "Sorry, Mom. Sorry to call you late, but this is what's going on. I'm just calling to check on you and your child." And that matters to us. >> Thank you, Ms. Dickerson. I'm sorry your time is >> and I just want to be be clear about what I am asking for, which is to
082extend the ask for tutoring funding cuz it's not on this uh approval list that you guys gave us. Extended past this uh past the school year into the summer and ensure that our kids have access to that free tutoring going into eighth grade, so they aren't at a disadvantage when it comes time for them to move on for high school. Thank you again, Ms. Dickerson. Um I'd like to invite Mayor Donna Mattia Espidel to the mic, please. Good evening, everyone. I have um one thing Only reason I came here tonight is for one reason, one reason only. Dr. Ryan. I totally am behind him becoming the next superintendent of the schools. He has been a member of Southeast Delco his whole life. He's dedicated his life. You're not going to find anyone more um willing
083I I I can't even put it into words. I just think you would be doing this school district a big injustice if you did not make him your next superintendent. He has done everything for these kids. He knows these kids. He's been in every position that he needs to be in, so he knows what he's dealing with. And that's basically all I really have to say. I know about the math teacher, and I think it's terrible that these kids do not have math this year. So, I applaud you very much. >> report card. That's how bad it is. None of our kids have been getting math grade all school year, and that's disgusting. And it's a shame it it it had to end up being now. It should have happened in September. It never should
084have gone this long. So, my kids don't want to Catholic school. So, we didn't have that. But, from what I hear, some of the things that are going on right now should not be going on. And it's very disappointing. I'm a taxpayer. We're all taxpayers here. And all we want is for our children to be educated, no matter where they go to school. It's tough. They're They're our future. They're the next you. They're the next me. They need to have that chance. Thank you very much. Madam President, that concludes the public comment. Thank you so much. Um Excuse me. I'm sorry. Mayor, thank you very much. I apologize for not closing up. I'll talk to you later. And by the way, I have no um relationship with Dr. Ryan at all. I'm not being No,
085I'm not being fresh. I didn't mean it that way. Sorry. Are there any comments or questions from the board members uh before concluding the meeting tonight? Actually, I do have a question. So, I thought that the tutoring was going to con- clude once they took their Keystone. Are Are we not continu- like So, they can't uh they weren't able to get the Keystone um assessments done because the program started up late for our kids. So, she can't even do an assessment on benchmark them and where they are and what they truly need because it started so late. When we all got the letters, we sat on the meeting with Dr. Robinson and uh Miss Kelly to get the the coach and we got the kids signed up. That was only it's been what, 2 and
0861/2 weeks. So, they've only attended two sessions that for all of our kids. They've been in two sessions. So, they can't do benchmarks and keystones because they haven't been there long enough. So, what with Sharon Hill, wasn't I thought it was Harris that was receiving the >> are the eighth graders. They're all seventh graders. seventh graders Okay, so the seventh There we go. That's Now I'm clocking. >> it. They have their own system, rhyme, rhythm, all of that. Our seventh graders have only had 2 weeks and it's supposed to end in 2 weeks. And they want them to get a school year worth of math tutoring in 4 weeks. And how is that possible? They haven't even got it. My son has a report card with no math grade for the whole school year. And
087then the one grade that he did get, it was from a substitute that's not a math teacher and she gave them dittos and said she didn't really know what was going on. And good thing I'm paying the tutor. Why? When my home My tax increases $8,000 coming up per year budget. Last year we just got another $8,000. Y'all put me in the double digits. That's crazy. And for my son and he's a straight A honor roll student. He doesn't give this school district no problems. Nobody You wouldn't even know who he is. Dr. Robinson knew who I am, right here beside my husband. So, you know, I I I'm trying to stay quiet. However, but this is not fair. It's not and I shouldn't have to seek out Catholic school. That's not right to me.
088That's not fair to me and my husband. The Catholic school tuition, is it affordable? Yes, but I pay property taxes. That's not right. My son and he it is I'm so upset and I I made it a matter to come here today. We are Our kids are of a friend group. They hang out together. We as parents, we volunteer. We go on a school trip. Anytime Dr. Robson call, we are there. We're in no matter what they need. But for our kids to suffer in this way, even with Ms. G being gone and nobody actually stepping up in in her space, that's not fair to our kids. I know that I'm just it has to be extended. It should have been on this on this agenda item. And for it not to be there, that
089is disheartening because you guys sitting here talking about state-of-the-art facilities. What about our kids not being able to compete at a Catholic school which don't even doesn't even honor IEP. So now they don't even have a fighting chance. I I thank you very much. My question is for education is it an opportunity for that to continue? Is that um I know that there are we have had significant difficulty in finding educa- uh math teachers. It isn't that we're not trying. It It's It's a nation- nationwide shortage of teachers. And specifically math, I believe it's English and or not English, math, science, and and special education. They're just not out there. And so we're trying our very hardest to get them in. So please know we are actively actively we have been and always and will
090continue to try to find math teachers. But my question uh is if we have students who have not been receiving or who do not have a dedicated teacher in order [clears throat] to at least finish out the school year, do we not have the ability to continue the the So the plan was to continue it through the end of this school year. Your A question, is it possible to extend it? Yes, it is. So, I like to have a conversation with you right when the meeting ends and if not first thing tomorrow morning. Okay. So, I like to talk with you Dr. Ryan and Dr. Reddick's back because I want to make sure the public hears that the communication went out more than 2 weeks ago. So, I'm not sure why you've only had 2
091weeks of tutoring. I also want the public to know that we um additionally rotated a certified math teacher through Sharon Hill so that there was direct instruction for at least 1 day per week with a certified math teacher from one of one of our buildings who was also then charged with helping the substitute teacher with the creation of lessons that a certified teacher would deliver. So, I want to make sure that it's clear and everyone hears that there's more than they got the letter 2 weeks ago. We we gave the letter multiple times. I keep looking at Dr. Reddick's back cuz I know that she and I talked on a regular basis. Why it only started 2 weeks ago, I apologize for that. It's out of my control, but I can we can have a
092conversation about I unfortunately you're one of the few parents who responded to the opportunity. If we had 10, I would be surprised. We were prepared for this to be offered to the entire seventh graders at Sharon Hill and the entire eighth graders at Harris. We planned for that. And at most 10 15 It might have been 20 by the end. Okay. So, we we'll definitely have a conversation especially for parents who are coming out and saying, "Hey, we want the help." We'll figure out how we provide you the help, okay? Thank you. Um so I just wanted to announce the next business meeting. Our next board business meeting will be next Thursday, May 28th 2026 at 7:00 p.m. Committee of the whole for June will be June 18th, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. Our June board
093business meeting will will Thursday, June 25th, 2026 at 7:00 p.m. Uh thank you all so much for coming tonight. We hope to see you next week for board business.