001We got nine, Greg. >> Okay, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Abington Height School Board meeting for Wednesday, November 5th. Would everyone please rise and pledge the flag to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands nationy andice for all. May I please have a motion to approve the agenda? >> So move. >> Oh, that's C. >> No, no, we've got it back. It's backwards in here. >> We should have roll call first. You're exactly right, Mr. Chair. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Abdalah >> here. >> Mr. Aar >> here. >> Mrs. Henderson >> here. >> Mrs. Hillibbrand >> here. >> Mrs. Karum >> here. >> Mr. Moran >> here. >> Mr. Robson >> here. >> Mrs. Tierney >> here. >> Mr. Aker >> here. >> Nine present. >> You know,
002speaking of roll call, I'd like to congratulate the board members who uh recently won the re-election, although I understand Mr. Bella is going to be recounting your case. >> But congratulations to you all. >> Now, may I please have a motion to approve the agenda? So move >> second >> on the motion. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Abdullah, >> yes. >> Mr. Azar, >> yes. >> Mrs. Henderson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Hillibbran, >> yes. >> Mrs. Kum, >> yes. >> Mr. Moran, >> yes. >> Mr. Robson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Tierney, >> yes. >> Mr. Aker, >> yes. >> 9 Z. >> Okay, Dr. Schaefer, I understand we're on time for presentation. >> Yes, we do. Uh prior to the presentation, I just want to >> I have it already on, right? >> All
003right. Everybody hear me? Okay. >> Y >> perfect. Uh before we start, I just want to make a couple uh just one announcement. Well, a couple actually. Uh [clears throat and cough] we're are proud of a a lot of our all of our student accomplishments and uh I want to just make a couple announcements about uh athletics that are are timely right now. Both our boys and girls soccer teams will be advancing on Saturday to the state quarterfinals. Uh fortunately uh PIAA has scheduled them both at the same venue on Saturday. So, uh, this Saturday at Lee Heighten High School, uh, our girls will be, uh, playing at 2:00 p.m., followed by the boys playing at 4 p.m. In addition, our varsity football team will be playing this Friday night at 7 for the district
004championship. Um, and I also want to congratulate all of our uh fall athletes uh for a tremendous season and particularly the ones that had just this past week uh performed and performed admirably on behalf of of of Abington Heights and they just did a fantastic job. So kudos to uh all of our student athletes um for the job that they did. At this time I'd like to ask our director of special education, Miss Non, uh to come up. She's going to give us a brief presentation on an agenda item and she's going to fill the board in the community and tell us a little bit about um why this uh item is up and what we uh believe the benefits to be for our students. >> Sure. Hi everyone. I'm Kaylee Newon. Nice to officially
005meet you. I um moonlight as a cheer coach for the Junior Comet. So that's why I haven't been around until now, but here I am. Um I'm here today to speak a little bit about Teachtown. It's a social skills and transitional um skills program for our students with special needs. Um when we are planning for our students IEPs, we need to not only look at their academic performance, but their functional performance as well. Um, so this program would really help our teachers to have a structured scaffolded lesson plan, video models, progress monitoring, built-in goals, um, that touches on uh, appropriate social skills for our elementary and middle level students and then goes into the transitional um, components for our high school age students. Um, since it's federally mandated that we begin transition planning at age
00614, I think it's really crucial for us to have something structured and organized to help transition our students and make sure they're fully prepared to enter the workforce and independent life. Um, so I've had great success with this program in my previous district. Karen actually got the ball rolling with this before I came and I was able to jump in and um, carry on from here. Does anybody have any specific questions about what this might address? Kaylee, can you give uh the board and and the public here uh a couple examples of some uh uh concrete examples of some words that we use that are Sure. [laughter] So talk you just give us a brief run what are transition skills and can you give us the garden variety social skills like what are the types
007of things that we are working on with our um students with some specific special needs? So the topics that are covered in under the elementary social skills um would be following rules, interpersonal skills, self regulation and coping skills, um good communication, working on friendships. It not only gives the teachers a lesson to present as a whole group, but it has individualized um student computer modules so they could work at their own pace, at their own um goals, whatever they are targeting. Um the middle school goes into building and maintaining relationships, interpersonal skills, problem solving, self-awareness, personal care, um safety and community participation. And then um there are other topics coming soon like managing body odors, friendship qualities, handling peer pressures, accepting responsibilities, understanding different relationships, and understanding the perception of others, which is something a
008lot of our students struggle with. So we need to give them the skills to take on those. Transition skills is promoting independence, employability, um community uh access, which our VFAC program does a wonderful job of actually implementing this, but this gives them the prerequisite skills to go out and use in the community um when they are out on their community outings. >> Fantastic. Any questions? Thank you very much. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. [clears throat] Okay. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> The next part of our meeting would be public comment. If anyone likes would like to address the board, um there should be cards or paper that you can fill out. We ask that you >> identify who you are, where you live, and keep comments to about three minutes. >> Dr.
009CS will take your cards. Thanks. Go ahead and do it as it go. >> This is Burge. >> Amy Burge. >> Hi. gonna pull up my notes. Hi. Um I'm Amy Burge. Um [sighs and gasps] I've been visiting a few times now um to speak about full day kindergarten. My daughter's in first grade. My three-year-old will be attending sometime in the future. And as I'm attending the meetings, a couple of points that I wanted to touch on or suggest or just things that have come to my mind since thinking this through continually, right? We all know it's a bit big expense. We've talked about housing a few times. We all know these things are it. Um, but I'm curious if there could be some way to share some of the ways or committees or the
010research that you plan on putting into this. I know that some of it has happened. I know that it can continue to happen, but is there a committee or some something that can be shared with all of us so we can see some of the steps at the same time, too? Um, also probably an unrealistic thought, but if there was a way for parents to sign up, tell if they were interested in an official way, maybe then it would give you better [clears throat] numbers for the first couple of years. Maybe I know some people talked about red shirting. Maybe there's a reason they do keep them back. So, if you had a more definite number for that first year, maybe that would be helpful. Um, and then our teachers. I'm an educator. Uh I
011wouldn't want any of our wonderful teachers to feel like this was by any means underhanding them or undermining them. Um am I allowed to give a shout out to my daughter's kindergarten teacher? Because Miss Bvard, Jessica Bvard, is magical. There's nothing less than that. She's magical. And I would so be upset if she or any of our wonderful teachers thought this was by any means an intention to make their job more difficult, harder. It's a bigger workload. The first few years of transition are awful. Uh but we support them in that. We know that they care for our children and um I think they deserve the recognition. So although it would be difficult uh it's hard to get beyond how much it's appreciated what hard work they do. So >> that's all. Thank you. >>
012Thank you. Thank you very much. >> Thank you very much. >> Brian Griffiths. >> Hi. Good evening everybody. Uh my name is Ryan Griffiths. I am a South Aington Township resident and a parent. I'm speaking tonight to urge the board to act on implementing a full day kindergarten program in the district. Currently, Abington Heights is the only school district in Lacawana County without a full day kindergarten program. In addition, 434 of Pennsylvania's 500 public schools currently run a full day kindergarten program. 34 more of those districts offer a full-day program on an individualized basis to students with an IEP or who are English language learners. We are one of only 32 districts in the state that does not offer some type of full day program. Kindergarten students in Lakeland, North Pocono, Scranton, Dunore, Riverside, Old
013Forge, Valley View, Mid Valley, Carbondale all collectively receive on average 540 more hours of instruction than kindergarten students in Abington Heights. At the last board meeting, we spoke about overwhelming need for a full day program, and we stressed that parents desperately want to see this become a reality. I appreciate the comments from some of the board that we continue to advocate to our state legislators about more funding for public education and for charter school reform. The good news is our local legislators do favor those proposals. So, we're here to advocate directly to you because you are the decision makers. You can take concrete steps to put this plan on a path to reality. And we know that there are upfront costs, but the research shows that full day kindergarten generates significant returns. In your equity
014program that you have on the agenda tonight, it cites that there is a 26% poverty rate in the district right now. On average, 26%. Full day kindergarten students would overwhelmingly benefit, especially those who are facing poverty. Oftentimes, students who have full day kindergarten have higher achievement rates, which reduces the need for remedial programs or grade retention in later years. Obviously, full day kindergarten doubles instructional time. It leads to stronger gains in literacy and in math. We have to shift our focus from the short-term cost to the long-term return on investment and our children's education. Dr. Dr. Schaefer, you noted at the last meeting that if we were to do something, if the board agreed to this now, it would not be a reality until 2728 school year. I am here to say and we are
015here to say that that is a timeline we welcome and recognize that it will require difficult decisions. The lack of existing space is a problem, but it's to be solved through strategic planning. It is not an insurmountable barrier to implementing a beneficial program. You were all elected because we believe that you have the fortitude to make difficult decisions. We are asking you to do that now, please. And rest assured that this decision will have numerous benefits for our district and most of all for our students. Thank you, [applause] >> Julia. I'm guessing you're cop, but I didn't want to say it wrong. Sorry. Hello [clears throat] everybody. >> My name is Julia. Um I live in Clark Summit and I have a kinder afternoon kindergartner at CSE with Miss Bvard who is amazing. Um I
016also went to cse when it was renovated and reopened. I was in second grade. So it's a great school and everybody has already spoken very eloquently on the issue of all day kindergarten. And I know Abington has always had a long-standing reputation of exceptional academics, which I too benefited from. Um, however, I do think sometimes we focus so heavily on EP acade academics, excuse me, that we miss some of the social emotional aspects of an all day kindergarten program. Just simply being in the building for a longer period of time at a very young age for young learners will be helpful to them. Um, I also believe that, you know, the vast majority of households contain two working parents and relying on private child care in today's economy is simply untenable for the majority of
017people. Um, I grew up in Clark's screen. I'm raising my family in Clark Summit. It is a wonderful area. I would not want to do it any differently. Sometimes I do think we are insulated in a financial stability bubble where I think if we drove you know like six miles down to Scranton we would all be like really upset at what we see. So, I think sometimes we don't see it, but there is still poverty like um this gentleman just said, and I don't think that it's reasonable in today's world to have to ask people to find transportation in the middle of the day um for it to, you know, affect their working lives. Um for the majority of people to have private child care because of course in Pennsylvania we don't have like state
018funded prek or anything like that either. So it is incredibly difficult for people. Um just as a personal example, luckily I am in a financial position where I do work from home. I do can work part-time. Uh but even so this year like my career is taking a bit of a backseat because I have to be in the car for my younger daughter in the morning preschool, my older daughter in the afternoon for pickup. It's just not possible for me to work as much as I normally would. And I think I'm not the only mother it. Usually mothers, you know, mostly dads have make my husband makes more money, so he's going to work every day. So I, you know, have to be the flexible one, which is okay. That's okay. Hopefully, you know, won't
019always be like that for for women. But, um, I just think since most people in this area can provide midday transportation, most people can afford, um, private child care, doesn't mean that everybody can. And I think as a community we need to remember that it's not just what you see on a you know daily basis of everybody's seems to be doing fine. So thank you for your hard work for our students and community. >> Thank you >> Lauren Babalakqua. Hello again. It's very nice to see you all. Um, my name is Lauren Roco Bevelqua and I'm here as a parent and a community member. This is now the fourth consecutive meeting where families have come forward to ask that full day kindergarten be formally added to your agenda for discussion. This issue isn't new. Parents
020have been raising it for more than 20 years. I'm sure it's even longer than that. And during the last board meeting, we heard that it likely could have been implemented 20 years ago, even 10 years ago. But that it didn't happen then. So now it feels like we missed the boat. So, it will take a backseat to other priorities. Yet, two decades later, as you've heard, our neighboring districts have found creative solutions to those same challenges. It's time for Abington Heights to do the same. Since the last meeting, we've continued to organize. We launched a petition to demonstrate just how strongly our community supports this effort. And as of today, 294 residents, parents, grandparents, educators, and taxpayers have signed asking the board to take formal action. At the conclusion of my comments, I'll provide printed
021copies of the petition for each board member and for official record. Our community also has the capacity to plan responsibly. According to the 2023 US Census Bureau, Abington Heights has the highest median household income in Lacawana County, about $97,000 annually and the highest median home value. By the state's own wealth metric, Abington Heights ranks among the most financially capable districts in the region. And this year, we also had a 5.28% 28% property tax increase. Taxpayers have stepped up. Now they deserve to see those investments directed toward priorities that matter, like ensuring every child in this district has access to a full day of kindergarten. We've been consistent and organized in bringing this issue issue to you. On September 17th, I spoke alongside Kristen Swaha to share the academic, social, and logistical challenges of the current
022half-day model. We emphasized how it disadvantages dual working families, urged the board to set a timeline by fall 2027, and suggested evaluating whether this building could be part of the solution. On October 8th, Amy Burge echoed that message, describing full day kindergarten as a dream that many families still hold on to very strongly. And on October 22nd, Ryan Griffiths, Katie Gity, and Caitlyn Kim spoke powerfully about the educational and equity benefits of full day kindergarten and the need for real planning and public discussion. At that October meeting, board members responded thoughtfully. Mrs. Tierney said she's been advocating for this for a long time and urged the board to start planning now. She said, "If we don't start now, we will not get this done and that this is a priority that should be done before
023anything else." We also heard from Mrs. Kum and Mrs. Henderson, both sharing their support and also the challenges that still remain. Dr. Schaefer estimated that implementation would require six to seven new teachers and could not realistically begin anytime before the 2027 2028 school year. That's a very reasonable timeline. So tonight, our ask is clear. Formally add full day kindergarten as an agenda item at an upcoming board meeting and follow the appropriate process for approval to keep this moving. Schedule a dedicated public works session to discuss instructional instructional, financial, and facilities options and adopt a targeted timeline aiming for implementation by fall 2027 with clear milestones along the way. We're not here to criticize. We're here to partner with all of you. Parents are ready to help with research, data, and outreach. We have a very
024smart community that wants to make this happen, not just for ourselves, but for others that really genuinely need it. So we simply ask that the board take the next step formally, transparently, and on a timeline families can plan around. So thank you for your time, for your service, and for your commitment to Abington Heights. [applause] >> Mr. Stler, Mark, you're up. Do we have any more full day? All right. >> I didn't want you to ruin the flow. >> I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to Mark. >> He's gonna talk finance. I want to talk. I want to hear more full day. Okay. >> Uh Mark Stler, Waverly Township, Joe Taxpayer here. Uh last meeting uh more residents have been coming in about the uh request for the all day kindergarten and Dr.
025Schaefer uh gave some detailed lengthy reasoning as to where he thinks the district is at this point. Your focus, your priorities. the last number of months you've indicated facilities and that just didn't come about recently. You have been at the focus of the facilities for months, >> maybe years, >> not maybe >> the upgrading of the facilities has been in my opinion your number one priority. Not that other needs and wants are important to the district. What your focus has been and what your plan is is to upgrade the facilities first and foremost. Last year during the summer you completed borrowing 10 million This summer we completed the borrowing of 50 million. I would think that >> it's 30 then 10. >> Well, you just you took 30 of the 50. >> Yeah, correct. >>
026Okay. I could go out on a limb and think next year the board will come back to borrow another large amount for the facility upgrades that you have on paper down the road. I have a request and then a comment. My request doctor is to better articulate to the residents who have been coming and have been voicing their their need, their want and you've been direct and have not pandered to these people that have come. And I wouldn't want you to start, but you have your priorities and your focus on the facilities could be better explained to those in the district. When it comes to the facilities, you have a uh use of facilities report on your agenda. It's lengthy. The facilities in the district are are well used and well positioned to accommodate the
027breadth of this district. It's impressive. But there is one facility that in my opinion is underutilized, hardly used. We have roughly 12 acres here. Part of it is the football stadium. Part of it is the old administration buildings. You have this building with with the 60 million that you borrowed in the last two years. Would we consider putting a dent in that debt service of selling this 12 acre plot with buildings and and facilities that we're not using item for uh maybe down the road, but not too far down the I appreciate the time. >> Thank you. >> Do do should I answer with yes no questions or answers? Uh I'm I will I will do my best um to provide um a little more uh detail to uh some of the comments uh that
028I've that I've made over the last four years when when when full day K came up and and certainly Mark when we talk about finances and priorities and I will I will start by telling telling you what I have told the board before uh and we had a retreat and you know I I took the board through an activity where I talked about tradeoffs. I'll I'll skip all the the boring pieces. However, as we talked about it, there's one space that becomes really difficult uh for the board and and administrators um is when you have uh sacred trade-offs, these these values, these things I will call it, that we consider to be sacred. And you never want to get rid of anything that's sacred. That's part of the definition. You hold it sacred. So it
029makes it very difficult. And on one hand, we we have facilities that are aging. Some 660,000 square feet of facilities over 69 uh square miles uh in the Abingtons. And we've been educating students here for over 190 years. And it is our obligation and it is the mandate of the board to ensure that we continue. In fact, we are obligated uh to do that which means that we have to attend to the needs of the facilities. Simultaneously we have a a mission to provide the best education for our kids. And it's and it's really difficult when you have to u seemingly prioritize one or the other. So I I am I won't stand up here and and say that we will never have full day. told the board that uh I'm exploring that and I
030will give you a little more detail about what that means. So, it's it's not so vague. Um because it's it's complex. Um but I'm I I know that you don't want to hear the complex. I I I want to make sure that I um am able to articulate everything that uh we are doing to consider all these options while simultaneously as Mark pointed out trying to finance some very large facilities projects that are needed. They're it's not um it's not a want. Um, we're talking about work that we're doing in our schools that must happen otherwise we're going to be in a position as a board in a community uh where it's going to get really tough because we didn't attend to those needs. Um so let me first start with the kind of the
031the exploration um of this. Uh I've told the board that in order to even explore this I have to think about things like enrollment. The average class size in Abington Heights is around 270. There's es and flows there. We've had a couple classes of 300. But uh as a district we're very stable. Miss Beth Gulakqua pointed out um and I and I've said this quite uh a lot um is that we have many protective factors in this community which uh make it very stable in my opinion statistically. You know, we have um familiar with not only the uh median household income, uh housing values, education level, uh proximity to health care, appropriate neonatal care, the list can go on and on, but all those are correlates of positive outcomes in academics and and schools. And
032that's conventional wisdom. If we took the 500 school district and I ranordedered them by medium household income and then rankordered their academic scores, I bet we would be pretty close. I'm not going to say they're exact, but these are the types of things um that uh many of you have spoken about that um make this community what it is. You are what you value. We value education, right? We value uh the success of our children not only in academics, but we want to make sure that we provide them with a wellrounded experience. That's why our arts and humanities and extracurriculars and philanthropic clubs, it's just unbelievable. And that's what makes our kids strong. And that's why I can't say despite not having the money that we're that full day is completely off the table. But
033what I can say is that I need to gather a lot of information for not only the board but the public to see. So I mentioned enrollment but also the facilities. I've had many people talk to me about this one here. this in in my personal opinion and I'm collecting data on this. Is this building underutilized? I personally don't think you need to be a rocket scientist to figure this out. This was a a school that housed approximately 300 students. It was converted in 2000 2001 to a business facility at the cost of about $3 million. That's a lot more money than three million in today's dollars as compared to 2,000 to turn this right back into a school. But I'm still investigating that because people have asked. Mark, you asked about this. I'm still,
034as I've said before, exploring the sale, but I'm not going to throw that out to the board without information and data that that they can look at. So, I will be giving the board and the community what does this building cost to operate? What are the utilities? What is the sewage? What is the what is the maintenance? What is the 5-year projection for capex in this building? So on and so forth. What would we gain if we sold it? What could we reasonably expect for that? What if we leased it? All of these things need to come to the board. I need to weigh in on instructional resources, transportation, food, uh support services. I told the board that, you know, I'm exploring every option. There's one option that may mean redistricting. That's not popular. And
035I wanted to be clear that I'm not saying that we're do, let me be really. I am not saying we are redistricting. When I provide the board with options, I tell them these are theoretical options. Some of them may not be practical. Let me give you one that's a theor and again I want to be careful. This is a theoretic. This is a theoretical example that I knew was not possible. How about we outsource it? That's an option. I say we have a half day K. If you want full day K, we will subsidize it. And as soon as it came out of my mouth, I said, 'Well, we cross that off because it's illegal. I can't do that in the school code. In Pennsylvania, your job is your property right. I wouldn't do that,
036too. That's but it's, you know, in theory. So, we put that down. All of these all of these things we have to uh take a look at, cost out, see if they're possible. Here's another and again this is what is behind the scenes that information that I have to gather a referendum really [clears throat] two referendum one of them may not be legal so I have that being looked at this is the same thing that we talked about three years ago when we were talking about facility improvements in 2006 the state legislature passed act one whereas that means that we cannot not raise taxes past a certain level. If we want to do that, we have to file for an exception based on three things which have now been taken away from us. Okay? Which
037leaves the referendum for construction or I'll call that capex. Okay. So that would have to go out to the voters to say we're going to vote on in a primary, it's usually in May, to raise [clears throat] taxes above the act one threshold by X amount for the purpose of. Okay, I give that example. Uh as I've said before, we don't have the facilities right now. That's the first question. [clears throat] Even if the board said I want full dayk I would say where. Okay. So working with our architects to say what are the possibilities for facilities what might that cost and then to figure out what that may look like. You could put that on on a referendum to say, "Okay, you put that out there and I can't think of anything more democratic
038than that to put that out and let and let folks vote on it." But that's putting the cart before the horse because I have to make sure that we provide all of this information so that we can determine that if the community, let's just say passed it and said we want to do that. Where could it be? Where would it be? I could probably think of a couple examples in my head that would be expedient and very unpopular to certain parts of the community. So, I'm I'm I'm telling you all this I'm being very transparent that I'm gathering all of this information so that I can have this synthesized and put it out there. I'm not making any judgments on it. That's that's not necessarily my it is my job. But I mean, in this
039case, it's not necessarily my job. This is my job is to make sure I provide the board with all of the information so that they can make an informed decision, interact with the public on it. I'm here uh to provide consultation and recommendations. But that starts with the very information that I give the board. So I want to make sure that we consider everything when we do it. And I'm being very cautious here. I've given some examples and I haven't given some others because you know I know that they're not they're not popular. And again, I want to be clear that when I talk about exploring, I'm writing everything down. And because it's an option, doesn't mean it's feasible. I mean, it would have been feasible for this board to say, "Let's shut down all
040the elementary schools and let's build a mega school." From my own experience, I know that getting rid of community schools is not very popular. And what I mean by community schools is that's how we started. Clark Summit Elementary services the students of that community. Newton Ransom, that community, Waverly, South Abington, so on and so forth. So these are all things that that we we need to consider, you know, along with with um some of the research. And I I may not necessarily uh agree with uh everybody on how they uh that represent that research and that's okay because that's the purpose um of the discussion. But that has to go into play as well. Um you know there are there are reasons why some of uh the school districts with higher poverty levels have mandatory
041prek or prek or full day K. Um these are things um that that you have to uh consider particularly when you talk about long-term educational outcomes. So all of that I'm I am working on and and getting that out because at the same time uh we are looking at um a facility project that you know we are working hard to finance and I sit before you today missing 35% of our budget because the states lolly gagging. I told the board, "Hey, there's a chance. I don't know what the probability is that maybe it rains money and then maybe this isn't that much of a problem." I don't think that that's going to happen, but we did receive more funds last year. not as much as I think that we should have and that other educators
042in Pennsylvania believe that school districts should have. But once that comes in, that information in our state budget, then the business manager and I will sit down and we will recalculate our financial forecasts and then provide that back to the board, which informs our financial position as we look further out. So, those are all the things that need to happen as we uh consider this. And I'm I'm hoping this doesn't sound um too vague because I want to make sure that I'm I'm answering. If I if I said if I thought that it was a never thing, I would just tell you it's a never thing. I would I I I would say that. But I'm right now we have prioritized our facilities because they have to happen. Like that middle school work has to
043happen. The work that we're planning, God willing, this summer has to happen at South Abington. I know this building where I can't even see now. It's so dark and either front or behind me, the maintenance building right there. We're not putting money in that. That has to go. That's on the shortest timeline. We're not talking about that now, but I've said this publicly, so I don't mind saying it right now, is that our maintenance and facilities that that that building's in some bad condition. So, we are working on all these things, and I'm not putting anything on the back burner. I'm hoping that this puzzle will become clear uh later on. And um it it is a lot of work and and this is what the board wants. They want that information so that we
044can make an informed decision. So I I wish I could give you a a really straightforward answer, but that's what I have. Some we have a a teacher with her hand raised. >> Um just a quick questions for money into the district. Is there an option for it to be a community shared project of finding out all the answers that you just talked about where we can have people sit and consult with the experts to ask these questions and weigh in as members >> not the gathering of the information that I'm talking about right now. I would I would I would provide that information to the board and then I would talk to the board about that process. Um that's not a unilateral decision that I make. The I'm I'm a member of the board,
045a non- voting member. Uh so I provide uh the board with that information. Uh and we talk about uh processes and things like that. So >> will we be made aware of the for this community. >> Yeah, I'm I'm I'm up here telling you what I'm doing. Uh and I do that in part I'll hold myself accountable. I'm on YouTube. You pull it up. um because if I don't provide you this information in detail then uh you know there could be a perception that I'm not being transparent or the board's not being transparent. I think that like the data will tell a story. I don't know what that that story is. I mean I'm I'm missing a you know information. So I don't have I Yeah. >> Can I Can I interject? >> Sure. >>
046Thank you. Um I I actually So I use this in my home. Take it or leave it as you will. Um supposedly Oprah said it. U you can have it all but maybe not all at once, right? It takes time to be able to accomplish the goals and dreams you have and sometimes you're on that path and you're not necessarily there. Um I want to give Dr. Schaefer some credit because we have been talking about this quite a bit and when we did prioritize the facility study um which is actually our elected duty to make sure our facilities are safe and up you know upgraded for our kids. If you um happen to look on the district website and I just did this and you Google facility study and you pull that up, it actually
047has um for us the capacity amounts in the in the elementary schools and whether or not we could host full day kindergarten. There's several pages on full day kindergarten in this facility study. One of the reasons that we prioritized our um buildings is if you go up, every building gets a score. And it's one of those tests that the higher the score actually the worse it is. Um and our middle school had such a high score that it was if we do not do something about this now, it's a problem. Um as as Dr. Schaefer alluded to. So we are gathering the information. We actually did talk about putting it on a public board meeting agenda um maybe in the spring. I also want to be mindful that um and this isn't meant to be
048antagonistic. I'm really glad you're here. I just also see the behind the scenes and how much work it is to run a school district and to keep everything on the rails and especially with this project we took on. I mean, if you drive down past that middle school and you see all those trucks, we spent a ton of time talking about sewage and drainage and, you know, so many things go into these decisions and um I want to again keep reminding these things. I think we can get there. I'm not, you know, I don't think it's a no. As he said, I don't think it's a never. Uh but we are trying to balance quite a few things and um and I I just want to give evidence that this is something we actually talked
049about three years ago that we actually have this in the what's our capacity and then to the point about what are we doing with this building we've been doing a title search and again these things take time and um my dad worked in government and so there's also a slowness to government um so like it just takes time to get all of your um eyes dotted and tees crossed So again, we thank you for coming out here and I appreciate uh Dr. Shaver's response tonight and I just want to I guess vouch for the fact that uh we've asked him to look into this information and he has been week by week pulling more information together and talking about when we can get that on the agenda to the point of the um community being
050a part of that. Uh I do think that's possible and I think it's a next step. So the board would have to decide okay this is something we want to do. we get it together commun um involvement in that. And so um I just think procedurally that's the a little bit of the issue. Um but when we get there like I think we'd all be happy to have as much participation as possible. Um because it's a lot of work and uh many hands make light work, right? So thank you all. you know ju just in terms of community involvement uh in terms of the the current facilities project we had four public meetings >> four public meetings at different facilities uh asking the public to make input into that project so this is not something
051we haven't done before um I I I have to say um when you look at the financial situation as Dr. Schaefer said the first thing we have to do is see what our current budget is and see what we can support. Um quite honestly my my current guess is that um we have very little room to to support any additional financing. I I certainly hope we do but I I think any project like this is is realistically not in the cards uh in a couple years. I think because of what's going on now, what's already been started. And I think at that point, we then have to decide what are the priorities for the district. Do we finish out the middle school project because the current project only covers two classes, seventh and eth? Do
052we do all day K? You know, h how do these all these things fit together? So, uh it will be a process. [clears throat] We will be looking for input. Um I I don't think this is going to happen honestly from my perspective where I'm sitting in in the next uh next year or two. We're certainly going to be discussing all these things as we do, but it's a question of trying to set priorities that the district as a whole has you know thing things like um every every building has uh the heating and HVA systems that are out ofd. they're past their useful life. So what happens if we don't have heating and you know the heating in a building? How do how do we deal with that? So these are all issues we
053have to discuss in in terms of setting the priorities. I just add to that. So I I appreciate you all coming tonight and I said this I think at the last meeting like it was on my campaign thing like I want all day K2. I think all of us do. And I like echo what Mrs. Kum said like it's a matter of timing and like and to also answer Mr. Staler's comment or concern that we should do a better job of articulating the facilities. I'm not sure what you mean. I'm not sure if you've maybe haven't been a part of the meetings that we've had, but like we've been I think as clear as we can and as public as we can be with the facility study, what it included, what the major projects were
054that were potentially to be done and and how we were evaluating them and why we chose to pursue the middle school. Um, so I mean I'm happy to talk to you offline about that to get you more up to speed, but like we've tried really hard to be as transparent as possible and to include the community by having multiple meetings to invite the community to come in to that process. Um, we have talked about all day K a lot like I don't want you and I'm on the board for five years and I've lived in the school district for 15, right? I didn't know what was going on in the school district until five years ago other than my kids, right? And what they were experiencing like and now I've been on the school board
055for five years and I know a lot more than I probably want to at this point, right? And I live it every day. So I don't know how many of you have been like heavily involved in like what we're actually talking about for like the last several years. Some of you might just be new to really paying attention because I was new when I I'm not saying that to be like, you know, critical at all. like you're everybody's busy with their lives, right? And so if you haven't been involved that much until recently, I just want to assure you like we have talked about this extensively. And when we got the facility study back, it was stunning how much work needed to be done in this school district that was not like wants and not
056like hopes, needs, like real hard needs in every one of our buildings. the lack of air handling in our buildings. The need for a STEM facility at the high school, tremendous capex needs in all four elementary schools, even Newton Ransom, even though that's a newer building 25 years ago. It's it has a lot of needs there, too. Um, a brand new middle school, top of the list, no doubt. Like when you if you paid attention to these meetings and to our consultants that we hired, without question, the biggest need that we have. So we we had many many discussions about what to do like what do we pursue and the biggest discussion we had was do we build a brand new middle school and do it all and we couldn't do it and we could
057have tried to do it but we actually if even if we had tried to do it we would have found out that we we couldn't access enough capital to do it yet right because our budget actually in the last two years it's got a little better recently but it got a lot worse over the last three years because a rising sp we've talked about this publicly ris rising special education cost, rising healthc care costs, and rising charter rising charter school costs. Tremendous headwinds for the school district that actually would have stopped us had we tried to build a whole middle school at once. The reason also why we decided to only go after a portion of the middle school first was so that we could do some other things and and the things that we
058constantly talk about are do we do air air handling in all the schools which is according to our architect and our consultants incredibly beneficial to the educational process and needed. Do we fix the systems that are at the end of their useful life the existing systems? Do we put a STEM facility in the high school? Do we have all day kindergarten? You know, the list goes on and on and we talk about this stuff all the time. Um, I also don't want to give you false hope and this is just me speaking and m Mr. Aker said it as well. I don't see us doing this in the next few years. I wish we could and I might be outvoted. I'm I'm only speaking for myself. It's I will not do all day K before
059I finish that middle school. I can tell you that because I still go over there and I see these kids in these rooms that are just terrible. So I I just can't continue to watch fifth and sixth graders continue to go into that school and put that kind of money because it's a lot of money to build a facility for for all day K. So I just I just want to know you to know that we do appreciate you coming and like we do talk about this stuff all the time. So thank you >> Mr. Journey. >> Yes. Um thank you. Um I think one board member had mentioned timing. Uh timing is an incredible thing. Um I want to say at least four or five years ago we started this conversations of going back
060and forth and I think Mr. Staler had asked some questions about this facility. We had all had major conversation about this facility and have been told and I'm still waiting for the factual information for the last four years of what this building costs, what this usage is, what the price of this could be, what the options are for us board directors to hear from the community and to really look at an opportunity to make a decision on this 14 acres with four buildings with a beautiful field and make a decision. My time is up. I have one more meeting here. I have been patiently waiting for the factual information so I could be a team player to help this board make a decision on this. And unfortunately, the information hasn't come yet for whatever reason.
061I'm not blaming anyone. Timing is an incredible thing. So, I wish this board well in making the decision on this, a possibility for uh a good opportunity to make some money to lessen our debt to possibly renovate. I don't know. But this has been a very concerning situation for me personally because I want to help make the right decision for our district for this property and the information isn't there yet. So I'm unfortunate not going to be a part of that decision. So and and there's just a lot of issues. So I just really want to say [snorts] that as I'm ending these last few meetings. Thank you. Any other comments? We have another question. >> Thank you so much. >> Would you please stand up so we can hear you? >> Our children are
062going to go to that middle school that we're not a little grown up in looked at the rose family where you wanted to be six years ago. There was no other option here because of the school district [snorts] [clears throat] because I don't think it's valable. that was it for us and I can't I was just shocked to hear so much of this as you said you're just not familiar with it wealthiest school district so much so many people do a little bit how did it get that It's shocking to me having the other piece of it that we know and it's really diffs get a petition. Are we fighting for something or is it just 294 signs as petition and I'm like yes it will committed to this and want to take this on
063believe that in our communities. Right? Some of the us from just for our kids. We're fighting for the kids that come next and I just I think the main thing I'm saying here tonight was one part of this and finally just us as soon as we hold on to so that it gives us hope and we feel like this is a fight that's worth fighting and it's not even a fight it's really in all of you and the rest of our I just wanted to share those bits of information [clears throat] take on something from the work that you're doing. >> Couple comments. Thank you very much. And and I I appreciate your comments very much. Um, first of all, I'm I probably shouldn't speak for the whole board really for myself, but we certainly
064understand the desire for all day kindergarten. I think everyone on this board would say the same thing. Um, from a personal standpoint, I've got a three-year-old granddaughter. I I I'd love to see all day K for her. Um, this board is tasked with educating all the students in the district to the best of our ability. Um, hard to say. I we could go on and on about what happened or didn't happen and that's that's in the past. I I I would direct you to the looking at the facility study that's on and you'll get a better sense of what we're dealing with and I think this board is going to do the very best job we can to to parse out the priorities that we have when we can address them. I just don't want
065to mislead you. You people have done a wonderful job. you've come here and talked to us, it it's great. But I don't want to mislead anybody. Just think that this is going to happen soon. Soon being two years or whatever that that would be disingenuous on my part as a board member and I think the board as a whole. We have to deal with the realities of the situation here and we're going to do the best we can. Um, I can tell you that when we get to the point where we can do something, we're going to have some very, very difficult decisions [snorts] because again, we have to look at the education of all the students in the district. And all I can say is what you have done is not gone on deaf
066ears. We understand the desire as we all do and and we're just going to do the very best job we can. So, Okay. >> All right. At this time, I'd ask the board to approve the personnel report >> as follows. >> So moved. >> Second. >> On the motion. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Abdullah. >> Yes. >> Mr. Azar. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Henderson. >> Yes. [clears throat] >> Mrs. Hillbrand. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Kum. >> Yes. >> Mr. Moran. >> Yes. >> Mr. Robson. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Tierney. >> Yes. >> Mr. Aer. >> Yes. >> 90. >> Second ask board consider a motion to approve the Abingtonite School District federal programs equity plan. >> So moved. Second >> on a motion. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Abdullah. >> Yes. >> Mr.
067Azar. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Henderson. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Hillbrand. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Kum. Yes. Mr. Moran. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mr. Robson. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Tierney. >> Yes. >> Mr. Aker. >> Yes. >> Nine. Nothing. >> Mr. Ask the board consider a motion to approve the proposal for the teach skills programming tool. >> So moved. >> Second. On the motion. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Abdullah. >> Yes. >> Mr. Azar. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Henderson. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Hillbrand. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Kum. >> Yes. >> Mr. Moran. >> Yes. >> Mr. Robson. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Tierney? >> Yes. Yes, Mr. Aker. >> Yes. >> Nine nothing. >> Okay. The next is notice of theformational uh uses of our facilities. As Mr. Stalder pointed out, it's it's extensive uh
068and it's it's a wonderful thing to see. Um is there any unfinished business for the board tonight? >> Um I I have some unfinished business. >> Um yeah, I'd like to talk a little bit about enrollment. Um, I've been circulating around at other school districts and hearing a a significant drop in enrollment and I'm just wondering where are we this year? Are are what what are our numbers this year? >> 3370 give or take 510 either way. Um, >> is that similar to last year? Is that around the same? Usually we're going to uh fluctuate um it's down fluctuates, you know, it can fluctuate for a myriad of reasons. So for instance, this year with the the K class coming in, I track uh live birth rates throughout the different zip codes. So I knew
069that we were in a spot where we were going down. So if you look at that trend line, um the uh charter school numbers are kind of holding where they are. Um I will tell you probably from 2020 uh to to to 22 to 23 we would have maybe a handful of homeschoolers. So now that number is close to 100. Uh that was uh a significant hit when uh taking in the charters. So both of those uh hit at at at the same time. Um so um you know certainly that that that that uh plays a part in it. We don't get or receive any data from any of our private schools. So I I can't uh determine how many kids go there other than say some of the high schools I'll look at their
070PIAA classification. and I'll see some of them getting into smaller ones. So, I'll infer they're dropping enrollment, but I don't know if it's where it's coming from. Um, but we've we've this is something that the legislaturator's taken on. I mean, it it's it's uh we've seen increases in in in charter schools and yet their performance uh continues to to fall. They've admitted they don't take attendance and so on and so forth. So, um, you know, it's just one of those things, but yeah, that's about where we where we are. >> And in talking with other superintendents, are their enrollments are they comparable to what we're getting or are they dropping more? Yeah, I while I don't talk about specific numbers, what what I hear um from them and what I can infer about their enrollment
071is that uh they're having trouble staying afloat based on the um charter numbers, which means that they're losing kids to charters at a greater clip than we are at uh a higher cost. Um, even though we put out a lot of money for charters, the uh surrounding schools within Lacawana County pay more. >> Um, and and with the government shutdown still for the state, are is our district beginning to see some financial constraints with that? >> Not what you can I I'll say it this way. In all the reporting, there are numerous superintendents, including a few of my friends, that are now giving dates to close down the school. That may be part of that political process in late January. Um uh but what what what gets us right now, I'm not I'm not saying
072that this doesn't hurt us. This is why we have reserves, right? Which is great. However, we're not investing those reserves. So these shenanigans at the state are losing interest dollars and we've had significant money revenue from interest. So um I mean I I I'm I'm optimistic but I won't I won't believe it until I see this budget. >> Okay. Thank you. >> No problem. >> Is there any new business for the board? >> Just a reminder that we have our IT committee meeting next week. Thank you very much. >> 6:30. >> Uh in that particular case, I would ask for a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Thank you very much.