001We will be >> okay. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Abdai School Board meeting for Wednesday, September 3rd. Would everyone please rise and pledge the flag? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Can I please have a roll call? >> Mr. Abdalah >> here. >> Mr. Azar >> here. >> Mrs. Henderson here. Mrs. Hillibbran. >> Mrs. Karum >> here. >> Mr. Moran >> here. >> Mr. Robson >> here. >> Mrs. Tierney >> here. >> Mr. Aer >> here. >> Eight present. >> Thank you. Can I please have a motion to approve the agenda? >> So moved. >> Second. >> On the motion. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Abdullah? >>
002Yes. >> Mr. Azar? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Henderson? Yes. >> Mrs. Kum? >> Yes. >> Mr. Moran? >> Yes. >> Mr. Robson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Tierney? Yes. >> Mr. Aker? >> Yes. >> Eight nothing. Thank you. Uh before we have the superintendent report, I'm going to ask, are there any board reports? >> Mr. Abdullah. >> So, we had an extracurricular meeting where we went over the uh building and field fees that haven't been touched in about 25 years. And in a nutshell, we're basically just looking to cover our cost. So, the new rates will include um custodial costs on weekends. We're not looking to make any money. We're just looking to not lose any money in the future. It's available online if anybody wants to see what the rates are. And uh that's about
003it. >> Thank you very much. >> Are there any other board reports? Okay. Uh Dr. Schaefer, you want to do your report or you want to ask for public comment first? >> I can ask for public comment first. >> Okay. Uh, is there anyone Mark you'd like to uh We won't even ask you to fill out a card. >> He hasn't been here in a while, so he probably >> Yeah, he probably has a lot to talk. >> I hope he had a good summer. >> Yeah, >> we hope you did. >> Did we ready to go? >> I have a just a few questions on the um the the the first trunch of borrowing that y'all did on the 30 million Can you um can you explain where you're at with that right now?
004>> Yeah, sure. >> If you asked him while Jim's here, he can >> um >> Well, I think it would stem from uh at a previous meeting. Were you going to put out a schedule of the borrowing? Is that online for us or just for yourselves, >> Jim? >> I can only go into the public section of your uh >> Right. Right. >> your section. So I >> Okay. Right. >> So yeah, Jim can affiliate. Maybe as he explains it, it may answer any >> it would be fine. >> Okay. Yeah. >> Um N. >> So specific dates are escaping me, but we had our S&P bond rating calluh a U stable outlook was affirmed. Uh we went out for pricing. It was on Tuesday. It was about two. It was about >> two I
005want to say two weeks ago. The date escaped. It went out on Tuesday the >> Okay. Um >> so mid August. >> Yes. But Tuesday and mid August. I apologize. is a date off the top of my head is escaping me. >> Um pricing was successful. Um our bonds were overs subscribed which means there was a a demand in a lot of the maturities for our for our debt. Um and um you know overall we described it as a successful pricing. Um so the bonds were they closed that day. Uh we are awaiting the proceeds in the coming days. So we we do not yet have the 30 million in our coffers at this time. >> Okay. >> Um but the schedule is to wrap up expending the first trunch the $10 million um which
006has approximately it's just south of $2 million left in it and then we will begin uh spending down the 30 million on the middle school project. Does that help? >> It does. So the bond construction fund. >> Everything is flowing through that. >> The bond construction fund is set up specifically for that specific bond. The $30 million will be deposited. >> That one's not online yet, though. >> No, that that it's not here yet. >> Okay. >> It's set up. I I can give you the report. It says zero on it. But it's not. So the construction bond fund is from a previous borrowing. Correct. Okay. >> And so anything you've been spending uh for the project is going through the construction fund that you have now. >> We we have a look back resolution
007if you want. >> Yeah. So it we we do have a look back uh resolution which means that we can go back uh for expenses incurred on the project prior to so things that are occurring right now and being build right now will be eligible to be paid out of the $30 million. Okay. Okay. But the expenses coming out of the $10 million bond are largely a mix of projects such as mostly the projects going on at the high school right now, >> the field. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> And the um the upgrades at the bleachers and things of that nature. So does that help? >> Yes. >> Quickly brought me up to date. Uh just as a total other question, um are you using the the high school now for the football season?
008>> We use a a mix. So there'll be, I believe, two games here uh at the pit. >> Okay. >> And in the remainder there, so uh this this weekend's game versus Dallas is Saturday >> and then I believe uh it's the senior night, senior day. I don't have the date. Uh in front of me on that one. >> So, the pit is still active. >> It's still active. Yeah. >> And will be >> less so. >> Okay. >> It's less so in that So, over the last five years or so, we've used uh the pit less for a myriad of reasons. So, for instance, we won't schedule a game uh when the ACT or the SAT is offered that morning. I don't think that's a position to put student athletes in. So then we
009move uh the games to Friday. That's one of those. Uh another one because of the lack of officials, uh there are now Thursday night games in Pennsylvania. So uh that occurs and then um you know sometimes the despite sometimes what you see the field looks um really great and it's not used a lot. So it holds you'll sell the pit. >> Oh, we haven't made any decision uh regarding that. What I've said publicly before is that I'd be exploring all those options and that first starts with like data gathering to bring back to the board, but um that's not anytime soon. >> Okay, great. Thanks for the time. >> No problem. >> We also had a freshman football game and a JV football game in the pit this week. >> Yes, we did. It is
010being used. >> And it's nice that the pit is being used this Saturday because there's a class of 1975 has their 50th reunion and they're tailgating at the pit. >> That's great. Oh, it's nice. >> That's great. >> Good thing. >> Soda. >> Okay. >> No, soda. I said, right. So, soda and burgers, right? >> Well, you know, you know, they're they're in their 60s or something, right? >> Yeah. Right. Probably soda and burgers. >> Yeah. Right. >> Okay. Dr. Schaefer. >> Sure. I just have some brief uh remarks um for the community and maybe the five people listening to us on YouTube right now. Um I I I am sending out a message over social media as well as um to all of our uh Abington Heights School community members on our on our
011list serve that will go out um via email welcoming everybody back to the 202526 school year. Um we are we are so excited to welcome back all of our students and family members and faculty and staff um back to back to school. Our administrators, teachers and and staff have been working uh tirelessly through the summer to prepare. I know that it's somewhat uh conventional wisdom that you think that you know everybody's done in the summer, but there are a lot of teachers and faculty members that come back and a lot of things that we work on. our our athletes uh have been out there for the last month in the heat working, running, kicking things around, having a good time uh in in in this heat. Um so we we've we've done a lot of
012work and you're going to see uh a lot of progress. We've got the the middle school project that's uh well underway and it does look like a big construction site. As you uh come up uh to the the middle school, you'll notice that Noble Road is is paved. We want to thank South Abington Township for uh going after a competitive grant and and receiving it and deciding to put that money uh to uh fixing the sidewalks and the road at Noble Road. Uh we were a partner uh in in that bid process and and we got a a fantastic bid where we were able to uh uh pave the the high school. Uh we're also working in the bleachers um in the in the back bleacher expansion in the back of the high school as
013well as numerous other projects including a new gym cafeteria orium uh at South Abington um that was damaged in in in part by the flood a few years back. Um, and then all sorts of things that you just won't see, whether you're fixing doors or uh pipes that have bursts or uh getting uh new curricular materials. There's just been a lot of um upgrades and we're really proud of that. And uh with with progress comes inconvenience at times. So, I just want to uh remind all community members that some 4,000 students, faculty, and staff will be um coming back onto our six campuses. That means that the the traffic flow around town is going to be very different from the past three months. We're going to have probably two to 300 uh teen drivers out
014there. We'll have a lot of parents dropping their kids off for the first time, maybe at a different school. Uh maybe they'll be car pulling with other kids. Maybe those kids would be so excited that they're yelling and screaming in the back of the car and and taking attention away from the the parent, family, or friend who's driving. So, these are all things to keep in mind. Um I'm not I I you know, I'm not going to lie. Sometimes I'm driving around going places to move my kids around and I get frustrated with all this construction happening and and having to wait for a couple different light cycles. Um, but just remember that there's a lot of people going to school and we want them to arrive safely, enjoy their time at school and get
015back safely. So, if everybody could just exercise um caution, that would be great. Also, as as we plan to come back to school, um there's a whole lot of logistical um things that happen around the district and sometimes that takes us a couple weeks to settle out. And what I mean by that, for example, is transportation. We have 3,500 students that have to have a um you know, a bus. Not everybody has to take the bus. Um but we have a lot of people that move and changes and we need to communicate with drivers. We have new drivers. We have new routes. we've got uh routes um that have to be changed or you know altered in some way because of either construction or something has happened that we can no longer do it or
016that that area has been uh deemed unsafe. Uh so we just uh thank everybody in advance for their patience as we work work through this. Um it it is a a community effort, but um first and uh f uh first and foremost, we're just super excited to be starting the 25 26 school year out uh tomorrow. So I look forward to seeing everybody uh out tomorrow at school as we travel around and welcome all the uh kiddos. That's all I have. >> Okay, thank you very much. The next item on our agenda is the treasures report. Mrs. Carum, >> so we began the month with a cash balance of 14,817,629.34. We took in monthly revenues of $513,626.13. Our net dispersements were $4,272,93722 for a cash balance available of 11,58,31825. >> Thank you very much. May
017I please have a motion to approve the treasures report and uh bills that are attached to the report? >> So moved. >> On the motion, roll call, please. Mr. Abdullah, >> yes. >> Mr. Azar, >> yes. >> Mrs. Henderson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Karum, >> yes. >> Mr. Moran, >> yes. >> Mr. Robson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Tierney, >> yes. >> Mr. Aker, >> yes. >> 8 nothing. >> Mr. Aer, ask the board consider a motion to approve the personnel report as follows. >> So moved. >> Second. >> On the motion. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Abdala? >> Yes. >> Mr. Azar? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Henderson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Carum? >> Yes. >> Mr. Moran. >> Yes. >> Mr. Robson. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Tierney. >> Yes. >> Mr. Aker. >> Yes.
018>> 8 nothing. >> Mr. Aer ask the board consider a motion to approve the Abington Heights principles and procedurals manual for the 2526 school year. This is an annual um handbook that we publish. >> So moved. >> Second on a motion. >> Um yeah, I have a few questions. Um so you hand this out at the teacher orientation every year or do does this get discussed? Do any of the teachers and administrators have questions on this? How how is this distributed? >> Each uh each year we provide the principles uh with time to um review uh certain procedures. Now we'd like to spend our time on uh professional development, but what we do with our new teachers and their other teachers was to tell them to take a look at this. Most of the time
019the updates we do are um dimminimous in that like for example HR as we move to a more online atmosphere like how you may report your absences maybe to how you go in to do that may be different if we uh change a policy um that we would do that's something that would directly impact some of the things that we um have in here. some of these things that we talk about when we talk about say for instance teacher responsibility student behavior type of things um they're uh more general in here and what we'll say is really we're focusing in on the student handbook where they have the different types of categories um and this is just this is just almost meant as uh like hey I have to go take a vacation day or
020I need like what are some of the procedures that I should know about I need to change my I9 form you know where do I go >> and um cell phone usage Was is that anything that was mentioned in here? Is there is there was that a procedural change for for teachers to um look at or anything? >> No, I think it's it's fair to say that that is a change in expectations that we made clear and it wasn't a change in expectations uh relative to any policy that we had. Um what we did was we talked to our principles who then talked to the teachers about what our expectation is about and I'll talk specifically about the high schools saying when you come into class we're going to be putting our phones in the
021caddy right um you know some school districts use uh different locking bags but I it to me that's really a distinction without a difference um when the kids are in class or there to learn we ask them that they put the electronic devices away unless uh you know for For some reason, a teacher may uh want them to use the electronic device that they otherwise couldn't use with the functionality of their their laptop. Uh and then they could take that to their next class. Um so we've we've laid that expectation out and made that made that clear. >> That's great. That's great to hear. Thank you. >> Okay. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Abdullah, >> yes. >> Mr. Azar, >> yes. >> Mrs. Henderson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Kum, >> yes. Mr. Moran, >> yes.
022>> Mr. Robson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Tierney, >> yes. >> Mr. Aker, >> yes. 8 nothing. >> Mr. Aer, ask a board consider a motion to approve the 2526 memorandum of understanding between Abington Heights School Districts in the Lacawana County Head Start. >> So moved. >> Second. >> On the motion. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Abdala? >> Yes. >> Mr. Azar? Yes. >> Mrs. Henderson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Kum? Yes. >> Mr. Moran? >> Yes. >> Mr. Robson? >> Yes. Mrs. Tierney. >> Yes. >> Mr. Aer. >> Yes. >> 8 nothing. >> Mr. Aer ask the board consider a motion to approve the administrative coaching proposal. >> So moved. Second. >> On the motion. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Abdullah? >> Yes. >> Mr. Azar? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Henderson? >> Yes. >>
023Mrs. Kum? >> Yes. >> Mr. Moran? >> Yes. >> Mr. Robson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Tierney? >> Yes. >> Mr. Aker? >> Yes. >> Eight nothing. >> Mr. I could ask the board consider a motion to approve the agreement between Abington Heights School District and the Gregory Center to provide consultation services related to contracted students. >> So moved. >> Second. >> On the motion. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Abdullah? >> Yes. >> Mr. Azar? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Henderson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Kum? >> Yes. >> Mr. Moran? >> Yes. >> Mr. Robson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Tierney? >> Yes. >> Mr. Aker? >> Yes. >> Ain't nothing. Sir, I could ask the board consider a motion uh to approve the agreement between Abington Heights and the total grant services. >> So moved. >>
024Second on a motion. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Abdullah, >> yes. >> Mr. Azar, >> yes. >> Mrs. Henderson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Carum, >> yes. >> Mr. Moran, >> yes. >> Mr. Robson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Tierney, >> yes. >> Mr. Ecker, >> yes. >> Eight nothing. >> Mr. I could ask the board consider a motion to approve the rates for the Abington Heights field and building use. >> So moved. >> Second on a motion. >> Yeah, I just want to make a comment. Thank you for doing this. This is a long time in waiting for this. It's important that um everyone that uses and and uses it with care, but it's important for them to know that there's a lot that goes into this and it's uh on the expense of the
025district. So, it's nice that everyone else is going to help participate and increase the increases that we've had. So, thanks. >> Okay. Roll call. >> Mr. Abdullah? >> Yes. >> Mr. Azar? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Henderson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Kum? >> Yes. >> Mr. Moran? >> Yes. >> Mr. Robson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Tierney? >> Yes. >> Mr. Aker? >> Yes. >> Eight. Nothing. Mr. I could ask the board consider a motion to approve the transportation contract between Abington Heights School District and Jessica Guard, a private contractor to begin September 2nd, 2025 to transport children to Summit Christian Academy. >> So moved. >> Second motion. >> Roll call. >> Mr. Abdullah. >> Yes. >> Mr. Aar. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Henderson. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Kum. Yes. Mr. Moran. >> Yes. >> Mr. Robson?
026Yes. >> Mrs. Tierney. >> Yes. >> Mr. Aker. >> Yes. >> Eat nothing. >> M sir Aer ask consider a a motion to approve the transportation contract between Abington Heights and Courtney uh Suko, a private contractor beginning August 25th, 2025 to transport students to school. >> So moved. >> Second. >> On a motion. >> Roll call. >> Mr. Abdullah. >> Yes. >> Mr. Azar. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Henderson. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Karum. >> Yes. >> Mr. Moran. >> Yes. >> Mr. Robson. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Tierney. >> Yes. >> Mr. Aer. >> Yes. >> Paint nothing. >> Mr. Aer ask the board consider a motion to approve the settlement agreement between Abington Heights School District and Student 22X. >> So moved. >> Second on the motion. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Abdullah. >>
027Yes. >> Mr. Azar. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Henderson. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Karum. >> Yes. >> Mr. Moran. >> Yes. >> Mr. Robson? Yes, >> Mrs. Tierney. >> Yes, >> Mr. Aker. >> Yes. >> Eat nothing. >> Okay, thank you. Uh, the next is the listing of use of facilities for August of 20125. I think if you go through that, you'll see there's something like 11 pages of uses of our facilities and I think to some extent that speaks to some of the mo uh motions we made previously. Uh, is there any unfinished business for the board? There any new business for the board? I'd ask for a motion to adjourn. >> So moved. >> Thank you very much. We're