001for all. >> Okay. Can we please have roll call? >> Mr. Abdullah >> here. >> Mr. Azar >> here. >> Mrs. Henderson. >> Mrs. Hillbrand. >> Mrs. Karum >> here. >> Mrs. Keho. >> Mr. Moran >> here. >> Mr. Robson here. >> And Mr. Aer >> here. Can we please uh have a motion to approve the agenda for this evening's meeting? >> So move. >> Second. >> Are there any changes to discussion? >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Abdullah? >> Yes. >> Mr. Azar? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Henderson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Hillbrand? >> Mrs. Kum? >> Yes. >> Miss Kio. >> Mr. Moran? >> Yes. >> Mr. Robson? >> Yes. >> Mr. Aer? >> Yes. >> Okay. Please have a motion to approve the minutes of the meetings of November 19th, December 3rd, and
002January 7th. >> So moved. >> Second >> on the motion. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Abdala? >> Yes. >> Mr. Azar? >> Yes. >> Miss Henderson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Kum? >> Yes. >> Mr. Moran? >> Yes. >> Mr. Mr. Robson. >> Yes. >> Mr. Aker. >> Yes. >> 70. >> I think uh we should note that the board also had executive sessions on November 5th, 19th, and January 7th for the purposes of discussing legal and personal matters. >> Okay. Are there any board reports at this time? >> Okay. Gia, you're up. By the way, you've had quite quite >> a year. >> Oh, yes. >> Going from dance to >> Yes. >> one activity to the next. Swimming to dancing. It's very busy, but I'm very I'm very much enjoying it. I'm trying to
003take it all in. All right. So, for this evening, I have the athletic notes. And we have multiple program highlights for winter sports all across the board. Starting off with our boys basketball. The Comets are currently in first place in the District 2 Class 5A standings. Recent statement victories include two league wins over Scranton Prep and Valley View. Last night in a win at West Scranton, senior Jordan Schaefer reached the thousandpoint milestone for his career, becoming the 16th boys basketball player of all time to reach the achievement. Our AYBL night will be on Friday, January 3rd, January 23rd versus Wen Palpac. And our senior night will be on Wednesday, February 11th versus West Scranton. For our girls basketball, the Lady Comets earned an impressive road victory over first place Valley View in a strong defensive
004performance and followed it up with a lopsided victory over West Scranton on Monday while hosting a YBL night. The program continues its P pink pink game invite to support all of the American Cancer Society as part of Coaches Versus Cancer. The pink game will be here at Abington Heights High School versus North Pocono on Tuesday, February 3rd. And senior night will be on Tuesday, February 10th versus Valley View. For boys wrestling, the team remains undefeated in league competition and is preparing for postseason play. Junior Mason Whitney achieved the 100 wins milestone with a pin at 241 at the Powerade tournament on December 30th. Senior night is tonight, Wednesday, January 21st versus Delaware Valley. For girls wrestling in their inaugural season continues to gain experience at high level tournaments, including the Coal Cracker Tournament with multiple
005strong individual performances led by Hayden Manning's three tournament championships. The girls have a try meet tonight at W Palpac versus the host Lady Buckhorns and Western Wayne Lady Wildcats. For swimming and diving, both boys and girls programs remain undefeated. Outstanding performances at the Ernie Shardle Invitational included multiple re meet records, pool records, and a new Ammon Heights High School record for the boys 200 medley relay. Those swimmers include senior Jeff Stanton, senior Derek Williams, senior Jason Casper, and sophomore Charles Voytech with the winning time of a 13907. Earlier this season, Micah White set a new school record for the 11 DIY event with a score of 528.35. Teams are approaching championship season with strong depth across all events. Their senior night will be Wednesday, February 11th versus Dunore. for unified botchi. The team continues a
006successful season with the within the northeast region. Their senior night is scheduled for Tuesday, January 27th versus Lacawana Trail. For some spring sports registration and clearance reminders, we will have free on-site physicals on Thursday, February 19th, beginning at 5:00 p. p.m. by appointment only. Spring sports will begin on March 2nd, 2026. That is all I have for this evening. Thank you so much. >> Thank you very much. >> I know it's a tough act to follow. >> Good evening. I have the academic notes for tonight. Our VFAC students, which stands for vocational, functional, and academic classroom, is launching the school store in February. There has been a soft launch in which students have been selling items during periods four, five, six, and seven. They are planning to wrap up the leftover kitchen wear items and
007shift sales to school supplies, apparel, and special request items that meet the students interests. Please let Miss Sarah or Miss Danielle Ross know if you would like to stop by sometime to visit with the students and browse the items. FPLA students were very successful at the regional competition. Over 60 members have qualified for states. Dr. Calinger Allen recently submitted a grant to help support students in their endeavors at the state level competition. The cast and crew have begun rehearsing for this year's musical Oklahoma. Our musical will be held on April 17th, 18th, and 19th at the high school. Ticket and sponsorship information is forthcoming. Please reach out to show producer, Miss Allison Kovll. If you have an interest in a sponsorship midterms are scheduled for next week, students and teachers have been preparing for the
008midyear. Spring semester classes are expected to start on January 29th. Special thanks to Miss Allison Rogale Levage and student council for organizing and hosting our winter semiformal at the cultural center this past Saturday, January 17th. All in attendance had a great time. And that's all. >> Thank you very much. >> Okay, we're going to uh move the public comment section ahead of the superintendent report because we have some presentations which may take some time. So uh if anyone wishes to address the board, we ask you come forward. identify yourself, where you live, and keep your comments to more or less three minutes. Um, if you have not filled out a card, uh, plea, please do so. Okay. At this point, we have two people that want to speak to the board. The first is Mark
009Stler. Evening. Evening everybody. Uh I know you have a big presentation so I just have a couple of things I wanted to uh to bring up to you. First is the uh presentation that you put on last meeting of the uh superintendent from the schools. Uh it was it was dynamite. I wish more people were here to listen to it. Maybe there's a way in your uh newsletter that you can condense some of the uh comments they made. There's more people I don't have kids in the school, but we really would be uh welcome to know that you have these professionals running these schools. It's uh it's something to be commended. I was uh particularly impressed with the uh elementary school superintendent. They spoke of the uh focus and attention that they the teachers, the
010aids, special people that you bring in that they focus on the first graders that are coming into all day school for the first time. I just wish that more people, and we've heard a lot about that over the last few months, were able to hear it and grasp it that they're doing a uh a great job at that level. The uh second thing, and I'll leave you with this. Um some of you may recall last fall I brought um a concern that some of the facilities that we have aren't being used. they're being minimally used. And I think the bullet point of my comments were you should really consider the fate of this 12 acres we're standing on. I um came across an article that was in the uh in the local paper and it
011was dated March 26 of 2024. The school board voted unanimously on an agreement with this grand attorney to to look into the possibility of selling this 12 acres. At the time, the superintendent Schaefer commented a sale of the site would benefit the district and the community. Sale proceeds could be used to fund projects, offset debt in the district. This property could put on possibly be put on the tax roles. It's going to benefit the burrow. Ultimately, it's going to benefit our district. Sounds familiar to me. Is uh anything happened lately? This was talked about two almost two years ago. >> I get all all I'll answer that. I'll just I'm just waiting if if there's any other once you finish your comment. >> I hate to be uh Betty Lou and Rambo Rambo Rambo, but
012that's my >> That's my nature. Sorry. >> Um what I'll do is I'll wait. I think we got one more speaker and then I'll address uh uh any of the questions that I'm >> Okay. Just so um I went I looked at the uh the use of facilities report from the last meeting and you had over 550 uses of facilities which is >> it's incredible >> phenomenal in our district. This building had 32 comes out to about 5%. I'll welcome your comments on selling and using the proceeds on the 12 acres. I appreciate the time. >> Thank you very much, Mr. Okay. Uh, next up is Dr. Karen Arscott. >> Good evening. Thank you so much. So, before I get into my brief concern, I just want to tell you I'm from Dunmore. My husband's
013from Westside. Uh, our older children went to Wyoming Seminary. Um, but now we have a high schooler here and our daughter teaches at CSE and so we are all about Abington. Even went to see the boys soccer team play. So, um I love Abington and when last year I found uh a concern I thought I should bring it forward. Uh my husband and I come to board meetings whenever we can. Um my concern is the extracurricular code of conduct which parents and children have to sign, student athletes have to sign every year and it's excellent. There's no problem with that at all. I love it. Um but I do know that last year there was an incident that our daughter was involved in um where uh it was another student athlete and there was something
014happened and there was some school uh ramifications we'll say that came about her they did not follow the the coach did not follow the code of conduct. So, what I thought of rather than I don't want to I don't think it's anything um uh intentional. I think it might just be a miscommun like a a lack of communication. So, do the coaches are they aware of the code of conduct first of all? And second of all, if there is um a school suspension or or something like that, is that brought to the coach's attention? And the only reason I'm bringing that up is because uh it was the middle school and the middle school administration I thought handled it very well. I'm going to say that. And when I spoke with the middle school administration
015about how nothing really happened at the athletic level, they were surprised. And I said, "Was the coach advised of?" And they said, "Well, yes." But then I thought, "Maybe the coach isn't aware of, you know, the requirements of the code of conduct." So, I just think that there may be a a break in communication somewhere along the way. But let's face it, with a lot of these, uh, with a lot of these student athletes, um, if they can still keep playing their sport, you know, they could have an in school or out of school suspension, but if they can keep playing their sport, guess what? They don't care, you know, because their sport is what is so important to them, right? And we all know that. I was an athlete, so I understand like what
016I'm what I'm saying. I just think that maybe if we could bring everybody into the same loop so that um so that students who do face uh you know academic suspension or academic consequences for for uh poor choices that that is reflected in their in their athletics as well because maybe that'll mean more to them. Okay. So so that's all I wanted to bring up today and again thank you. You guys do a great job. Appreciate it. Love being in Abington. Go comments. So, is this your daughter, Rayie? >> Yeah, >> it's my daughter. >> Are you still playing soccer? >> No, not anymore. >> Not anymore. >> She was a very good soccer player. >> Now, she runs after little kids that I see all the time. >> Very good. Dr. Arcott, I also
017would like to thank you very much uh for for your help uh during COVID when we had many discussions about masking and so on and one evening you you weighed in virtually and I thought it was very very effective. So, thank you very much for your help at that time. I'll just say anytime I can help with anything, please. Or my husband, either one of us, please feel free to ask. We're we're here for the whole community. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Okay, Schaefer. >> All right, Mark. Uh I'll I'll I'll attempt to be uh brief and uh probably intentionally vague and ambivalent. Um the the process of uh exploring uh choices for the board uh for this for this building uh is in intentionally slow. Um, one is we
018did uh contract with Roco Valvano to make sure uh all the deeds were in order and uh everything was aligned as as as it should be and and that that is the case. Uh however, one of the um pieces of this puzzle that we have been working on diligently and that's with the the board uh president and and vice president uh mostly is trying to uh figure out uh a location an adequate location uh for our maintenance building. So you had mentioned we've got uh 12 acres on this property. oftentimes uh folks focus on on this building which was uh turned from a school to a a business really and in in 2001 for approximately uh $3 million. And uh we have one of our uh architects here, Jim. And one of the questions we
019had uh relative to due diligence is what would it cost to make this back into a school? and and that's just um not fiscally responsible um to do. And there are uh plenty of issues uh I would say probably mostly mechanical uh in this uh in this building. Um however, KCBA who's here uh tonight uh did do a facility study on on uh our maintenance building which used to be the Silk Factory. And uh we are we are not putting our resources into that because that would be just um dead money. U so we have um looked at uh Clark Summit University not only with ourselves but with um engineers and architects to see um if there was uh any solutions uh that way. Um, we've also, um, looked around town at, uh, vacant properties.
020We have also studied the properties that we own to try to find a a place where we could we could put a maintenance uh, uh, facility because before we do anything uh, with this building and and the board would um, most certainly weigh in on that. uh and and when they do weigh in, they will ask me this question. Uh in the event we we wanted to go down this road, where would you go as administrators? And then more importantly, because of all the different equipment that we have uh to operate and and and work 660,000 square feet of buildings, we have a lot of equipment that we have to maintain and and and put in the right spot. And uh certainly I would need to have uh some solutions for that and then we
021are we are working through that but we're trying to do that in a in a in a cost-effective uh manner. You know simultaneously we have started a $50 million project. We have uh another million-doll project on the docket at uh uh South Abington. Uh we had just finished uh almost $6 million uh of work up at the high school and some other projects that are uh in the works uh roofs, mechanicals, things like that. So um we are still in that place where we are uh exploring uh all of our options but we first have to figure out um what's doable um with with um maintenance and I I I wish it was a a puzzle that um fit together. um after a lot of hard work. But I feel like sometimes, and I'm sure
022the board does as well, is like you're a little kid and you're putting together a puzzle and you find out that you're missing like five or 10 pieces. You're chasing around dogs trying to figure out uh where all these all these uh pieces went and it it just doesn't seem to go together like you like you thought. And an example of that would mean, you know, we're looking at options for our our maintenance building. We know there will be a cost associated with it. We feel that there may be a way. Um and then we find out that, you know, we have to replace a roof at the high school. What's priority? I've got 1,300 people up there and we need to fix the roof. And so priorities switch, but that doesn't necessarily mean this
023isn't a priority. So, um I hear everything that you're saying and and I'm I'm working uh as as fast and smart as I can to provide the board with uh as as as much information as they will need uh to make an informed decision. Thank you. You know, ju just to add to that, Mr. Scholar, it certainly you point out, you know, a lot of common sense saying this this is an obvious possible u source of source of revenue to with our projects. Uh at the same time, uh the board takes very seriously the tradition wrapped up in in the football field here and everything going on. So, it's it's not a decision we take lightly. >> Are you coming back up for a second? >> No, I just want to say thank you. Over
024the last number of months, we've talked about priorities and choices and I'm behind you 100%. I appreciate the clarifying and fully understand that you got choices and you got priorities. just didn't want to lose sight of >> this discussion either. >> That's all. >> No, I haven't. That's It's fine. >> We certainly haven't. But, you know, >> it would be easy if if if it didn't have a lot of dangling participles attached to it. So, >> I hear you. I hear you. Thank you. >> Either way, the target gets bigger and bigger and bigger. They're back. >> Okay. >> Um, one other Karen uh >> Arscott. I >> I can't even read my own writing. Um, uh, thank you for the comments. And while I I I can't comment on any particular situation, I really
025don't know the details. What I what I would say is the answers to your question are yes and yes. Um, our coaches uh are aware, at least my expectation, the expectation athletic director and and and principles are that our coaches uh are aware and implement those policies with fidelity. With that said, we are a large organization and any organization that I've um been a part of, any time that um we don't implement policy as intended, it usually boils down to a communication error. So, uh this is something that I'll I'll follow up on and uh uh figure that out and and see if there was a lapse and then what we need to do to course correct. >> Thank you very much. >> No problem. Okay. Any other public comment? And let's move on to
026the superintendent's report and uh Dr. Schaefer and KCBA. >> Sure. Um >> say that again. >> Oh, do we have >> They're not on >> Oh, they're Okay. >> Y down. Okay. In that case, uh, Dr. Schaer. >> Sure. Um, I'm I'm about to in invite up uh members of our uh our project team, our uh our architect, as well as uh our construction management team. But before we do, uh I I just uh need to uh make a uh a few comments. Um, you know, I I try not uh to lose sight of of our focus and and our mission uh as an educational organization um as a leader, as a member of a board and to think about our our board members. And um I would be remiss if I did not uh
027mention the the passing of a a a current uh student member of the class of uh 2026 uh Autumn Beamer and uh as well as a a recent graduate. And it's uh times like this that uh make me uh stop and pause and think about uh my role as a as a father, as uh an administrator, as somebody that uh works within the community. And um I want to just uh pass on uh the words of some of the family members uh that were immediately involved that I had the opportunity to speak with and they wanted uh for me to convey their uh deep gratitude and appreciation for the support that this community gave them. That is not surprising to me in that this is uh unfortunately um not the first tragedy or tragedies and
028it most likely will not be the last. But what makes this community great and in Abington Heights school district great is it's that it's that fabric and the people um that give and give and give. uh that doesn't necessarily have to be monetary at all. Uh it is uh emotional uh support. It is support in in in ways that we just can't fathom. But I wanted to publicly acknowledge uh the importance of our community and how they help us as an organization and as a district and a community um to move forward in in and remembering um these fine young people that we lost um way too early. Um, so with that said, I'll have that hard segue uh and uh introduce uh our our project team here so that they can uh provide us
029with a a progress report. >> Uh good evening. It's uh pleasure to be back. I'm Jim Kefir from KCBA Architects. Uh, I've been working on the middle school project for a year and a half now. So, a lot of you have seen me before. Um, with me is Matt and Mike from ICS. Um, and we just want to give you hopefully a brief update on what's happening out at the middle school and answer any questions you have about the project. Okay. >> So, first, uh, we'll start with the site plan. Um just to orient everybody, the existing building is dead center in white. Um it is the five, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade in that building. And uh this the building was not adequately sized for the amount of students that were in there. So
030the we looked at a bunch of solutions, but the solution that we arrived at, which was the best choice for the district, was to do a significant addition on the west side of the building that would move seventh and eighth grade out of the half circle and provide additional academic space. It also involves building a new gymnasium. So, at the south end of that gray bar is a new gymnasium to supplement the athletics that are on the other end of the building. First uh part of the project was implementing uh site work this summer so that school could function this fall. This past fall, um there was a lot of teamwork involved with the on-site administration and ICS along with KCBA to come up with a plan for how do we start construction and keep
031the the students and the faculty safe at all times. Um, so construction started on the addition, the big uh red piece of the building on the west side there. And we also because that was going on the existing parking lot, we expanded the parking lot this summer. Uh, that's on the east side of the of the building. that was completed and we developed uh circulation path for how the buses were going to drop off and pick up, how the uh parents were going to drop off and pick up and where the staff was going to park. Um that was a complicated exercise. Um, but we did get it implemented and construction has now moved into the contractors are on the west side of the site and they are building the addition and doing all the
032site work on that side where the big red parking lot is there, but also down the hill. They're building basins and doing all the site work that's on that end of the property. Um once that addition is built, then we're going to move to a new phase where administration moves into the building and we renovate a portion of the old building and do some more of the site work. Uh but that's quite a ways down the road. We're going to be in this phase for the next year, year and a half. Uh some quick uh floor plans. The building is exists now as two floors. This is the lower floor. It's only uh those classrooms that are in the the lower part of the half circle. Um we're showing these are our uh plan con
033plans. So the the blue is saying this is existing space. We can go to the second uh plan. This is the main floor of the building. Blue is existing space and red is new space. So this is a good diagram to show you what the scope of the project is. All the red is being added to the building. Um we we are demolishing a very small amount of the existing building. This project is really primarily the addition. And this is the second floor. Um the academic bar is two stories. There's seventh grade on one floor, eighth grade on the other floor. And this is you also see the upper part of the gym. So, that is currently underway. Um, IC is going to walk through some of the slides to just give you a construction
034update of what it looks like out there today. >> Good evening. Uh, Mike Hartney uh with ICS. So, just give you guys a brief idea of kind of like what's been going on on site. Um, you know, projects look a little bit slower in the beginning because a lot of stuff goes in the ground that you don't see. Um, probably anybody that's driven by there now looks like things are flying because the structural steel is starting to go up. Um, but there's a lot of work getting the the building pad prepped for those type of things. So, uh, where we are right now currently is um, all of our concrete footers and foundations peers have been completed to allow us to start setting steel. Um, the steel erection started in mid December, continues to progress
035greatly, should be done probably somewhere around the third week of February. uh it's one of the activities that we could continue to do uh with the cold temperatures. So, we're finding ways to continue to be productive on the site. As far as the MEP stuff, which is your mechanical, electrical, and plumbing, uh we got about 50% of the plumbing and electrical in the building pad addition uh before the ground froze. So, we did get a bunch of it in um but we do have some more work to do in there. So, we won't be pouring those concrete slabs just yet. They'll probably come closer to the spring. Um we're able to get some temporary lighting in there, get our super still structure kind of set and um the MEP contractors have begun installing all the
036penetrations between the second floor and the first floor in the addition. Uh the site work has been a little bit challenging. As you guys know, it's built on the side of a mountain and there's a lot of rock. So on the back side of the building, uh we had to put in storm water. Uh right now it's in solid rock about 10 to 12 feet down. So uh guys are lucky if they get about 30 feet in a day uh with with all the stuff, but we continue to put the storm water in which is part of the sequence for the conservation district. It's why we built the two basins down at the bottom of the hill. So eventually all that water kind of funnels into there. Once that's done, we could start building our
037um our parking lots and stuff up on the top part of the building. So, one of the things that we ended up doing working with KCBA, what you're going to see here as we kind of go through is what the rendering of the main entrance or whatever area of the building we're in is going to look like and where it currently is in progress. So, this would be what the the main entrance looks like. The next slide will show you this is where we are right now with the progress photo. You could kind of see how it's starting to come together and take shape. side approach. Again, um some of the walls that we installed inside the building, uh 20 feet deep to get down to put these walls next to the existing building takes
038a little bit of time. Um this that's your stair tower on the back side. Yep. Right there. Stair tower and you could see it in the next picture. Elevator pits installed. So, uh it's coming along good. Your main lobby. And again, the next picture will show you kind of what it looks like right now. Can't really see it, but but it is coming into focus. Again, you're learning stairs and where they currently would sit kind of in the building or No, this is the back side of the building. Yeah, >> arrow. >> Yeah, the little yellow arrow that's pointed there. The other piece that you're looking at there in the bottom side, um they're openings in the foundation for us to be able to get all the underground utilities into the mechanical room in the
039back space. And then these would be one of your typical classrooms which again you'll see in the next picture. It's the second floor um where the decking is is been installed. STEM classrooms and again a beautiful view of the of the scenery behind it. And then there's your gym lobby which is going to be the least completed at this point. Um, something cool a couple weeks ago, uh, the main trusses that run across the gym are approximately 73 feet long. When they put them on the tractor trailers, which we have pictures of coming in, the trailers themselves were about 96 ft long, came through Clark Summit up the hill and onto your construction site. So, uh, that was pretty pretty fun to watch. And then your courtyard, which will sit in the middle right now,
040just looks like an open pile of dirt. Uh things to look forward to coming up. Again, I touched on this. Uh steel, all of it. Um decking, detailing, all that stuff should be done somewhere around uh the end of February, which works out good. uh because hopefully March brings us some warmer weather and we can start activities like roofing and things like that. Um continued installation of CMU as the weather permits. Uh the the back side of your building where your gym is is all CMU. The front side of the building is mostly uh cold form framing. So we can get that stuff up as we go. And that's why I have that listed on there. You guys will start seeing the framing come up on the front side of the building along with some
041of the exterior sheeting. As far as the MEP guys go, they're going to get as far ahead as they can by installing hangings on, excuse me, hangers on the first floor to carry um, you know, their overhead utilities once we once we get in there and start putting that in. And then, of course, a continuation of electrical and underground um plumbing, roughens, and then the site work. Again, it's a tedious task. So, it but it's one thing that you could continue to do in the winter because rock doesn't freeze. Um, and then again, we talked about this. There are several phases to the project. This phase of getting the addition done to a point where we could take the administration and put them in. Uh, contractually, it's targeted for somewhere in April. We're hoping to
042be in there by February. Um, gives us a little bit of fluff with the weather. So, we'll continue once we get more into the summer months and we get a better idea, we can give a more accurate date as to when we're going to make that transition. With that, I'll let Matt talk about the budget. >> Thanks everybody. Uh Matt Kelly with ICS. Um last slide here. Um just keep a high level. Uh Dr. Schaefer mentioned it's a $50 million budget. We are on budget right now. Um we are about 28% complete. And you can kind of see that. It's hard to see on this slide here, but the bottom right's 28%. We have about 72% left um in the budget. Um that kind coincides with the completion of work too. You know, we're seven
043months in about 25 28% complete. So we're we're on track with all that. Um we have not had any major change orders. Um we still have around million dollars in contingency in the budget. So we're we're we're looking looking good right now. So I want to thank the board again for having us. Um and thank Dr. Schaefer and uh um Michelle, principal, is here. They've been they've been great to work with throughout this process and making our lives much easier to to make sure we get this this building done for you. So, >> can we go back to the uh outdoors right there? That's perfect. Right. Right there. Perfect. So, I I just want to emphasize a point that that you made. One of the adjustments that we made to the timeline um that we
044just mentioned here was uh getting the administration building portion completed and and the team moved in in February of 27. And the the reason why that is is uh right here uh you know this would have been the old main entrance. And then right here, if we took these off, this is where the main office is, but this would be a a really big special education classroom. So, if you've ever been in the middle school office, that's the whole space we're talking about. So, what we need to do is get them out of here and over here in February because originally we are going to have to do all this work in the summer. So all of the um high renovation is what we call it. So when we just gut everything inside and there
045isn't much we're gutting, maybe 12,000 square feet, something like that. Um we want more time in the summer. So, the way to do that is if we can speed up this process and get our admin team in their building in February, that will allow the construction team to get in here and start quietly because school's still going on. Uh taking everything apart so when the summer comes, we can do that and then this classroom and everything else will be completed. Um so we can move in on time. Um, so that's that's one of those targets that we're going to be we're going to be looking at because we could be uh, you know, almost ready to go, but almost doesn't count when you're opening up a new building. Uh, so we'll need to have that
046we'll need to have that done. So, um, we're excited about that. And you mentioned these some of the MEP work. We're currently uh, running the new fire alarm system in there. So, I took some of the board members through the school uh uh yesterday and a couple of them looked up and they saw these the the the fire alarm with the piece of tape over it and I said that that's one of the things that we're doing. So, uh there are multiple projects going on at the same time. Now, there's a lot of eyes on the steel and all the the fun stuff that you see outside, but there's uh plenty of things happening uh inside as well. So I just wanted to acknowledge that and uh uh thank everybody for their work. And then
047finally, as um the last uh slide was about the budget, and it's important to emphasize uh to everybody that's that's listening now or that uh follows this plan is that um it has always been our intention to have a stage two to this project. Right? This is stage one and that's what we could afford. Stage two would be the second half of the building and you know maybe maybe that happens and and in four years maybe it happens in 15 when uh many of us um aren't here. But when it does happen all the groundwork will be laid for them. All the mechanicals are going to be there. the building is reinforced as if there will be another addition made onto it. One of uh one of the the the cost overruns that we we
048came across with some work with UGI um in that we were we were getting ready for adding on as if we would have this building even though we don't. But so uh this will make uh the next board or the board after that or the board after that it will make their jobs much easier. All the civil engineering work will be done. When we take a look at the aerial pictures of the school know that the whole uh storm water runoff is designed for stage one and stage two. there will be nothing for them to do in that area. So, I think that that's really important to mention because that's a lot of work and and and that that does cost um and you know, we're doing it now at these prices and I can't
049imagine what it'll be, you know, even 10 years down the road. So, what questions do we have for uh this fine group? I think I don't know that's really a question, just a comment. Thank you. Obviously, a ton of work was went into this. I was one of the board members who toured the middle school yesterday and uh to say that we are overcrowded the way we are now would be like the understatement of this century, right? Like I'm sure there's a standard. It's not a standard. A lot of us would agree is is the best practice, right? And you know, we we made a lot of decisions spending a lot of money. There's zero bars remorse on my part. Like we we went in there yesterday. We looked around very much needed and it's
050amazing to see this come to fruition. So, thank you for your work. >> M I was with uh Greg yesterday and a few others and um I also want to commend you because I have kids in the school and um they come home with commentary, you know, color commentary on what work is going on, but it's not been disruptive and it's it and it's impressive, you know, that it's not it's not disruptive. I would I would argue that to Greg's point, you know, the current situation is more disruptive than the construction. Um so, um I just want to thank you guys for for doing such a great job and and um you know, making us look good. So, thanks. >> So, Mrs. Kum, you're saying you have some secret shoppers in your house for the
051project. >> Any surprises? >> Let you jump in. I would say uh the biggest surprise would be how cold it got and how quick it got that cold. Um you know I I've been building a long time. I started as a electrician. I worked in the field um for 25 years before I got into this side of the business. And uh you know I appreciate those people for being out there working in that those type of environments. they continue to be productive and um I don't remember a winter this cold in a long time. Um so you know that would be the biggest surprise the rest >> get a lot better on Sunday and Monday. >> Yeah. Yeah, I'm hearing that. So um you know and and just to let you know um we've had
052tons of discussions about ways to continue to push the schedule once we get better weather. you know, weather is something that you kind of have to deal with. But we've already had conversations with the Masons about, you know, working 410s and then working an eight hour day on a Friday to continue, you know, having two crews, you know, whether it's brick and and um CMU. And I, you know, I think it's it's best plans, you know, that that's that's the way you have to approach things. So, um there has not been any surprises outside of the fact that, like I said, it got awfully cold very very quickly. >> Great. Well, it's cold, but Dr. Schaer had me on the roof. >> That's where it's really cold. >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's like >> 15
053degrees colder. >> Yeah. Yesterday was >> We don't We don't share that when the insurance company's listening. >> That's right. That's right. >> Are you covered by the insurance? >> I'm not sure. We should check the policy. >> Who's Who's Anthony? Uh so when when you look at at at a school project, you guys know better than anybody that it it timelines are are tough because you really have to begin and finish uh contingent with the school year. You know, you want to be finished so you everybody can move into the new new unit and that's that's obviously the pressure. So I I know you guys are saying you're on schedule and so on, but you guys have done this. Jim, how many times have you built buildings like this? >> Dozens and dozens. So,
054what what does your tummy tell you in terms of the schedule? Do do you believe we'll we'll be able to open up this building at the start of the school year when we when we need to? >> So, um yeah, again, most of my work was in schools, too. Um my tummy tells me we were in good shape because I feel like the schedule was built the right way where it gave us some flexibility. Um, like I said, the original schedule showed the addition work being complete more towards the end of April. Right now, you know, fingers crossed, we're kind of still targeted in that February range. Um, I think the other thing that has been tremendous is the ability to have people like um, Principal Snyder who uh, allow us an opportunity to get
055head in places. Um, so like one of the things that we've been trying to do to continue to remain on schedule, the the fire alarm system that's being installed, we worked with the design team with with Jim's team to relocate one of the panels so that we can program it early and not have to wait for the addition. So there are constant ways that we're looking ahead to make sure that we're in a situation where the addition is complete, everything's good to go, and you know, we're we're finalizing some of those other areas over the summer. But I definitely feel like we're on schedule and in a in a spot where we're going to be successful for when we're ready to open it that that second summer. >> Great. Thank you. Well, thank you very
056much for your your efforts. We're we're all excited and um you know we're in a hurry. I'm sure you are are too and I know uh Principal Snider is really in a hurry. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Okay, Dr. Schaefer. Uh excuse me. The next would be our treasures report. >> Mrs. Carum, >> I have two tonight. Um, so the November report, we began the month with a cash balance of 27,219,92282. We took in monthly revenues of $8,389,635.39. Our net dispersements were 5,659,841 for a cash balance available of 29,949,75380. The December report, um, as I just mentioned, we began the month with a cash balance of 29,949,753.80. We took in monthly revenues of $4,643,49963. Our net dispersements were 5,222,727 um.98 for a cash balance available of 29,370,52545. >> Thank you very much. Any questions
057for Mr. K? >> I'd call for a motion to approve the treasur's report. >> So moved. >> Bills presented. >> On a motion. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Azar, >> yes. >> Mrs. Henderson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Kum, >> yes. >> Mr. Moran, >> yes. >> Mr. Robson, >> yes. >> Mr. Abdala, >> yes. >> And Mr. Aer, >> yes. >> Carrie 70. Dr. Schaefer. Personnel. >> All right. Sarah, I could ask the board to consider a motion to approve the personnel report as presented. >> So moved. >> Second. >> On the motion. >> Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Henderson. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Kum? >> Yes. >> Mr. Mam? >> Yes. >> Mr. Robson? >> Yes. >> Mr. Abdala? >> Yes. >> Mr. Azar? >> Yes. >> Mr. Aker? >> Yes. >> 70.
058>> Thank you very much. The next portion would be the the volunteer list and as Mr. Staler correctly pointed out it's pages long and many many uh uh activities and so on. >> We also request the board to approve the December and January volunteer list. >> So moved. >> You can do it. Yeah, it's fine. Yeah, you can do it. Second. >> I'm delegating right now to >> unbeknownst to myself. Uh on the motion. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Kum, >> yes. >> Mr. Maram, >> yes. >> Mr. Robson, >> yes. >> Mr. Abdala, >> yes. >> Mr. Azar, >> yes. >> Mrs. Henderson, >> yes. >> And Mr. Ecker, >> yes. >> 70. >> Thank you. >> Okay. And now I would say >> so. Uh is are there any additional information for the
059board? I believe there's some unfinished business. Yes, there is. Uh last >> Oh, Gretchen has >> I'll go new business. That's fine. Go ahead. >> Carry on. Go >> ahead. I have some info. >> Okay. Um, so I don't I don't think it was mentioned in the activity report. The mock trial team kicked off the season at Superintendent Schaefer's alma mater down at Upupen. Didn't look like they got snow from the pictures. >> No, they didn't. I bet it was not. >> It looked tropical there. That's >> um But it's a it's a good sign because the mock trial season has started. It was an exhibition match. It's an invitational. Um, and the first match is against Mid Valley on February 11th. >> Thank you. >> And and that's a it's a that's a great
060team with a long history of uh success. >> Mr. Right, >> okay. I just wanted to um announce yesterday Dr. C sent out a um email to the families to let them know that we have um something coming up for the community engagement series. will be partnering with the Waverly Community House. Um it will be a screening of Screenagers, which is a documentary um written by a physician award-winning um filmmaker and parent who focuses on the different complexities and stresses that um basically technology um the struggles that it faces with our youth. Um it's going to focus on social media, video games, and internet addiction. Uh it's just a critical way to help families uh face the challenges and to help empower them to uh work through some of the um issues that their children
061may be facing. Uh the purpose of the film is to raise awareness, reduce fear and blame, and to help families better understand the roles that screens play in students mental health and development. We are encouraging students and their families to join us. Um, grades four and above. After the um film, there will be a brief discussion period. So, uh, please bring a friend. It is open to all community members. Um, I would even say reach out to your friends that don't have children that go to Abington but are in um surrounding districts because I think the more people that we have um that are able to be exposed to this kind of information um would be best. But that's uh February 19th, 6 pm uh the Waverly Community House Community House in the gym. So
062Dr. C, thank you for helping set that up. >> I would >> I'm going to add on to uh Gretchen's comments and and the work that really uh Dr. cost and uh with the support of of Gretchen are are doing and I'll and I'll be uh really really frank on it is that we have a lot of tremendous programming for our parents and students here in Abington Heights and Screen AERS is showing at the comm because we are trying as hard as we can to switch locations. whatever we can to get more bodies in to see uh some of these very important messages. And it's and you know we we mentioned here screen time and without a doubt if you there there there's a lot there and we do a lot with drugs, alcohol, mental
063health, student leadership, character development, self-esteem, self-worth, self- advocacy. and we don't get a lot of of folks there. And um you know, I'm glad I'm seeing more people out here and I wish it was it was filled because we're doing everything we can and and sometimes it's it's frustrating because at the end of the year we'll take a look at that and we'll put out our survey and we'll ask people what they want. We do we ask you when what's a good time? What what day of the week? where can we piggyback it off an orientation uh a a sports presentation? So, uh if if anybody's out there listening and and and and you can kind of spread the word, this is really important. Uh in fact, I would say this is, you know, one
064of the the most important things uh that you can do as a parent uh listening this or a grandparent. So, uh, try to get out there and increase our attendance. >> Bring a buddy. >> Yeah, bring a buddy. Uh, finally the the Oh, I'm unfinished business. >> Well, you did my like Yeah. Right. So, you So, I'll do I'll do your unfinished business. >> Yeah. >> Yes. Uh uh last week we had uh um some members of the the band boosters uh come here and request uh the board's assistance in the purchasing of some new band uniforms. And the the band uniforms are are an outlier relative to the rest of the uniforms because uh you know they're they're made to last longer and in fact these uniforms lasted 25 years. Um, and we have
065been working with uh the the the uh producer of these and I think we're down to uh about 125 uniforms at a at a cost of around uh $70,000. And $70,000 is uh a lot of money for uniforms. However, they're lasting 20 years. And one thing that I I always like to talk about is um uh how when you take a look at a large figure like this that may if the board would want to uh spend that is you have to annualize that cost or amortize that cost out. So the way I look at that is if these uniforms lasted 20 years that would be 2,000 students in band that would get to use them. So if I said, "Hey, would you guys support $35 a student a year on band?" You would you
066would say yes, knowing what a book costs, knowing what a calculator costs, knowing what anything else, any supply cost. So that's really important that you you amortize that cost out over time. Um, if these uniforms are ordered by the first week of of February, I do believe that they would be in in the summer, uh, which would be, uh, a great time u for the band. And so I'm I'm I'm putting that out there to the board as I as I work on that. So if there's any questions, you know, feel free to ask me now or whatnot. But I just wanted to make sure and get that out in the public that >> is 70 the total cost of the uniforms or is that the cost to the district? >> That's a cost to
067the district. I took out the the money that >> that they would contribute. Yeah. >> So you're expecting to probably have this is a motion at the next meeting. >> Yeah. Bar barring any you know questions or or or problems. >> Very good. Okay. Uh, any new business? In that case, I'd call for an adjournment. So moved. Thank you all for coming.