May 12, 2026 Meeting of the Abington Board of School Directors

001Good evening and welcome to the March 12th, 2026 meeting of the Abington Board of School Directors. I note the attendance of all board members. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> 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. The Abington Board of School Directors has convened this evening's meeting at the administration building and the public is welcome. The meeting is also being broadcast broadcast live on the Abington School District YouTube channel. For those members of the public who cannot participate this evening, the meeting is being recorded and will be available on the district's website and cable channel no later than Friday, May 15, 2026. Comments from citizens will be conducted in

002person and by phone. Instructions for calling in to each public comment section of the meeting will be displayed on the screen during each segment. The board thanks the public in advance for its cooperation. This is a place where we hold dignity in high regard and everyone's voices are respected and welcomed here. >> Dr. Fetcher, do we have any additional announcements or agenda items? >> We do not. Dr. Murray. >> Okay, that brings us to opening comments from board members. Mr. Allen, >> good evening everyone. >> Mrs. Brown, >> good evening everyone. >> Miss Eisenhart, >> good evening. Welcome to the meeting. >> Muhammad, >> good evening. Miss Spalding, >> good evening everybody. >> Miss Hartman, >> welcome. >> Miss Fraser, >> hello. >> Miss Fletcher, >> good evening. >> And Miss Lee, >> good evening.

003>> Welcome to the meeting. Uh, okay. Dr. Fletcher, can you please present our student council representatives? >> Yes, Dr. Mauy, at this time, I'd like to ask Ava Palaceio to come forward, please, from Abington Senior High School. >> Good evening. Oh, I'm sorry. >> Thank you, Ava. >> Sure. >> Okay. >> Um, good evening, Dr. Maui, Dr. Fetcher, and members of the board of school directors. My name is Ava Palasio, and I'm the student council vice president of Abington Senior High School. To begin with academics, we are excited to recognize Abington Senior High School senior Nami Tani as May 2026 student of the month at Eastern for arts and technology. Namiya is being recognized for her exceptional achievement and in Eastern's culinary arts program. The student of the month award sponsored by Eastern's faculty faculty's

004joint operating committee and will grow vertary club celebrates students who demonstrate excellence, dedication, and service. Regarding athletics, junior Xander Grassi received PIAA distinction for basketball all state. Additionally, the Montgomery Memorial Invitational. Additionally, at the Montgomery County Memorial Invitational, the Abington Girls track team earned top honors as Hannah Winters, Kayla Brown, Tory Lundy, and Ellis Swan Jung captured first place in the 4x100 meter relay. Abington Senior High School boys track medal winners included Rowan Schumach who placed fourth in the 3200 meter run, Carter Shannon who placed fifth in the javelin, and the 4x400 meter relay team of Tafara Mafaru and Connor Mecc Young and Lust Mafuru who earned fifth place. Lastly, Kaden Oor played on team Hammerheads in the USA Sled Hockey National Tournament in Texas. The team played second and he scored 19 goals over

005five games. Turning to the arts, we are proud to share that Abington Senior High concert choir earned a superior rating and received second place in the mixed high school choir division at music in the parks. Abington Senior High School Corral also received a high rating and captured first place in the mixed high school choir division along with the best overall choir award out of 10 competing choirs. Students additionally participated in an orchestra master class at Lebanon Valley College and a coral a coral competition held at Hershey Park through music in the parks. To commemorate our faculty, senior high school psychologist Dr. Sam Sherah was selected as the the recipient of the Elizabeth Stout Stout Dissertation Award from Lehigh University. We are extremely proud. As the school year comes to a close, seniors are preparing to

006celebrate several memorable milestone events. On May 21st, seniors will attend prom at presidential caterers. On June 3rd, the class of 2026 will gather for senior sunset at the high school. On June 9th, seniors will participate in the grad walk, visiting their former schools through Ab throughout Abington and reflecting on the journey that brought them to graduation. Finally, on June 10th, graduation will be held to honor and celebrate the accomplishments accomplishments of our graduating seniors. Thank you all for your time today. Respectfully submitted, Ava Palasio. >> Thank you, Ava. And thank you for coming out tonight. >> Yeah, appreciate it. >> Thanks, Ava. from Abington Middle School. Tan Beck. Good evening, Dr. Maui, Dr. Fetcher, and members of the board of school directors. I am Trigan Beck, and I am on the executive board of the

007student council for Abington Middle School. TATA held two events in April. The first was our inaugural trip to Topgolf where 150 TATA members from all three grades enjoyed a beautiful spring evening driving golf balls into the deep Philadelphia night air. Secondly, we held our annual extravaganza event on April 24th. In addition to carnival games, bingo, a DJ, cornhole, table games, and fabulous prizes given away at the end of the extravaganza event. We also had held two tournaments. Congratulations to Johnny Hosel, Braden Morgan, Nolan Aenhouse, and Ellis Small for winning the three verse three basketball tournament, and Bailey Lurch, Hannah Mont Mont Montalo, Sophia Swan Young, and Molly Wartman for their triumph in the family feud tournament. We are currently planning our sorry we are currently planning our annual big end of the year event TATA

008games starting in late May. On April 23rd the AMS modern music makers performed performed a half an hour opening show at the Reading Philly's first Energy Stadium stage. Immediately following the show about 50 AMS Corin students sang the national anthem. The students enjoyed watching at the AAA Reading Phillies play and a great time was had by all. Abington was made proud by the outstanding performances of all these ex talented students. Our AMS yearbook the compass is finished and sent to the printers thanks to the many hardworking designers, editors, photographers, and yearbook staff members. The yearbook features interactive moments as well as fond memories from the year. American Sign Language Club celebrated Deaf History Month in April by learning about important people and events in deaf culture. This year, students learned a wide variety of signs,

009school vocabulary, colors, emotions, and animals. Students also chose a favorite song of theirs and began translating it into ASL. We look forward to even more learning next year. The Going Green Club celebrated Earth Day by doing a campus litter cleanup and collected numerous bags of trash as one of the final meetings of the year. The club members planted annuals in the in the flower beds by the middle school entrance to welcome staff and visitors every day. STEM club will be wrapping up their cardboard arcade games to have them ready for students to play at the SRK carnival in June. Finally, builders club held their last meeting at the end. Oh, sorry. Last meeting of the school be school board. Oh my gosh. Let me redo that. The builder club held their last meeting of the

010school year at the end of at the beginning of May. Students created gifts for teacher appreciation week. And for teachers, they created large posters with messages of thanks where each teacher had their own signed display in the main office for all to see. Thank you. Go ghosts. >> Thank you, Tan. Appreciate it. >> Thank you, Tan. >> Dr. Feter, can you please present our board honors? >> Yes, Dr. Mary. This time, I'd like uh Dr. Alice Swift to recognize Miss Patina Roar, social studies teacher at Abington Senior High School as a grand prize winner of the Citadel Heart of Learning Award. Good evening, Dr. Fetcher, Dr. Mary, and members of the board of school directors. Tonight, I am proud to be here to recognize our Abington Senior High School social studies teacher, Mrs. Betina Roar,

011who last month received a special surprise when she found out that she was the recipient of the Citadel Heart of Learning Award. Not only that, but she was also named the grand prize winner winner, excuse me, for all Montgomery County. This year, which is the 25th anniversary of the program, the Citadel Credit Union received a record-breaking 3,200 nominations from across the six counties of the greater Philadelphia area. Miss Roar received more than 50 of those nominations and was amongst uh just a handful of teachers recognized in Montgomery County. I was proud to be a part of the surprise announcement in front of our scholars, Miss Royer scholars last month and they were very enthusiastic and excited to also learn that she had won. It is evident that her scholars appreciate her as a teacher and

012enjoy her class, which I'm pausing because it was amazing that day. Thank you. Um, the nominations did highlight how much she excels at student engagement. Miss Roar received a trophy from Citadel as well as $5,000 as a prize. And as a grand prize winner, Abington Senior High School was also fortunate to receive $5,000. Another prize was given um to us. We are grateful not just to have received the donation thanks to Miss Roar's dedication, but we are also beyond appreciative to have you in our school. As our social studies teacher, Miss Roar teaches AP government and our Holocaust genocide studies and crimes against humanities course. She helps lead our service learning program at the high school and alongside our other Holocaust and genocide teacher, Mr. Bill Pendergast. Miss Roar has most recently been instrumental in

013bringing a permanent exhibit from the Holocaust Awareness Museum and Education Center to our school, which I believe will be talked about more later in tonight's on that on the agenda. The Citadel Heart of Learning Award was created to highlight the extraordinary dedication of teachers and I think it is evident how deserving you are, Miss Roar, of this recognition. We not only congratulate her this evening, but we certainly extend our gratitude and appreciation and service to our scholars of Abington Senior High School. Congratulations to you. Thank you. >> Thank you. You want us to move over a little bit? the lighting. Okay. >> International relations. >> Thank you, >> Miss Roar. Um would you would you mind saying a few words um about the uh museum and the work that is being done and and tonight

014later on there is a um an acceptance of donation for signage uh on our board memo. So I I would like to put in context for people if you could just expand on it and the hard work that's being done. Um, so last year, just about a year ago, um, Hammock, uh, through their education director, Lee Marlo, uh, she asked, uh, Bill Pendergast and I if we would have this undertaking, if we would set up a museum within the building somewhere. Um, so after much searching, um, we did find a good space. Um there is a room that is directly next to think tank 2 has wonderful lighting has has good walls and um we procured that space. Uh we also applied for a grant um through the AEF which they generously donated um six

015display cases to us which we have. We are in the midst of filling them. Hammock has donated artifacts. Um we are also getting some artifacts from uh a second generation survivor who is a friend of mine. and she's kind enough to donate some items that tell her family story. Um, and we also received a $1,000 grant um from, forgive me if I mispronounced the name, from the Mark um Shower uh Holocaust Foundation. We've been using that money already to hang curtains and to get liners for the cases. And with the remaining money, we're very interested in creating signs so that we actually have signage for the museum. and we have created a name for the museum um in conjunction with Hammock and we would love to display their logo which is similar to the one

016that's actually hanging on the wall over there, the butterfly that has the barbed wire across it underneath of our name. >> Thank you. >> And we're looking we're looking to do a official opening in the fall. Correct. All right. >> Great. >> So we look forward to that. >> Great. Thank you for all that work. Okay. >> Okay. >> So, I'm going to ask if I could switch the order. >> Sure. >> Of uh our orientations. >> Um so, at this time, I'd like members of the financial team from Raymond James, our underwriter, uh Ellen Enters, bond council, to review the general obligation bond parameters resolution. Good evening everyone. It's a pleasure to see you again and be out here this evening. Lauren Stadel and Alli Mackey with Raymond James. We're joined as well tonight

017by your bond council from MCNE Wallace, Ellen Enters, and Colleen Denon. And we're going to be going over tonight the financing plan for the remainder of the financings that are going to need to be done for the middle school project. We're going to talk a little bit about the mechanism very similar to what we did last fall. We're going to talk a little bit about the structure of the bonds, the anticipated amortization, interest rates, etc. taxpayer impact, and we'll talk a little bit about timing as well. So, if you have any questions along the way, please feel free to stop me. But, um, we're going to get started here. First off, as you may remember when we were here last fall, we talked about borrowing the first approximate $15 million towards the project. This was

018to begin to lock in interest rates, move more things from that unknown column to the known column when it comes to financing this project, and to get you a little bit of seed money to get things started so that you would have money in the bank if you needed to be paying any invoices toward the project. The plan then was to borrow two additional bond issues at some point in the future. The first of which is contemplated to be later this summer or early fall in the neighborhood of about 136.9 million. The final financing, which underneath the authorized amount by your constituents, by the voters of $285 million total, would allow us to borrow approximately that final financing of about 133.5 million, which we anticipate would occur sometime in late uh winter of 2028, probably

019sometime in the first quarter of 2028. But that final amount would be honed in once we know the final project costs etc. Um that would be the maximum amount that that final borrowing would be. But in the event the bids come in lower and that we have some savings we would only borrow the amount that you actually need to finish the project. So as we say the sizing and the timing of those two bond issues may vary depending upon uh again what those final construction costs are, what interest rates are doing, what the bond market is doing. If we see that interest rates are dropping precipitously and it's the middle of 2027, we may call you up and say, "Hey, we think now's probably a good time to go and lock up that last piece

020and take advantage of an attractive interest rate market." So, this is kind of the general plan for now, but understanding that it may change as all of those other outside factors change. So, similar to the process that we went through last fall to actually authorize this debt and take it to the Department of Community and Economic Development as you are required to under the local government unit debt act, we have a very similar resolution that uh Miss Enters and Miss Denon will review this evening, but it it is similar in that it is going to set forth maximum principal amounts, maximum interest rates so that we can get all of that information filed with the state and it will contemplate the full amount remaining amount of the authorized um amount that the voters gave you

021of the 285 million less what was already issued in December of 2025. So that was kind of always what we had considered was that we'll do that first piece and then we'll come back and we'll get one kind of master authorization for you for the balance of the project understanding that more than likely it will be done in two separate financings and the resolution is written in such a way that we can do it all as one financing. We can do it as two. We can do it as three, four, however many we need to to finish up the project still living within that $285 million max that your voters set for you. And as we talked a little bit about last fall, the the resolution sets those maximum amounts. And in that second bullet

022point there, we say that the final numbers may not exceed that maximum principal amount. The resolution amount tonight is for $270,445,000, which is the $285 less the amount that was issued in 2025. So anything that is issued within that resolution must live within that maximum amount. And importantly to note the final par amount of the already issued series of 2026 2025 bonds plus the series the proposed series of 2026 and the proposed series of 2028 will not exceed the $285 thou million as authorized by the voters. The next page talks a little bit about what the structure of the debt will look like. Just like with our home mortgages, we have the ability to kind of pick an amortization that best fits our budget and our ability to repay. Home mortgages can be 10 years,

02315 years, 30 years, etc. We have that ability as well as a school district borrower to sort of set an amortization and a repayment schedule that best fits our budget models. So, as we reviewed with you last fall, we have run a 30-year level debt amortization to pay for the middle school project. The columns three, four, and five are the financings in order to do that. Column two, which Ally will talk about in a couple more pages just to give you a little bit of a sense of your existing debt, but that is where the district currently stands prior to undertaking any middle school project. Column three is that financing that we did in December. So that is a final payment schedule. Column three, fiscals 27 through 206. Those are the amounts that the district

024will have to budget annually to service the debt for the series of 2025 bonds. That is locked in. Then columns four and five are the proposed future hypothetical issues that we're talking about for tonight's resolution. If we stay the course of getting this next trunch of money sometime later this summer, early fall, we estimate that in column number four, if we settle sometime around the 1st of September, maybe sometime in late August, we have a current interest rate in there of 4.67%. You can see it in some of the notes at the top of column number four. And that is reflective of the current market plus a little bit of interest rate contingency. So we have a little bit of an unknown here of where interest rates will fluctuate between now and when we're ready

025to lock in that next financing. But we think we have enough contingency built in here that we're at least being um somewhat conservative in what these plans look like. So, we're matching the final maturity of 206 just like we did in the 2025 bonds because we didn't really want to amortize the bonds longer than 30 years uh and be stretching the debt out unnecessarily uh and paying extraneous interest expense because the longer we stretch it, the more interest you pay back over time just like in your home mortgage. So then if everything stays kind of the course and we get to the end of this and we know that we need $285 million for the project, then column number five would be that remainder that is financed sometime in 2028. At least in this um

026scenario, that's what we're contemplating. But the resolution does allow you the ability to kind of pick your time and if you need the money sooner or if we need to push it back, you've got the ability to do that from within the resolution. So column number five then shows the annual debt service for a hypothetical 2028 issue. So column six then becomes the repayment schedule for the middle school project. Column 7 shows you what if you add in your additional debt that you currently have for your old projects that you undertook. That is the district's total overall debt. But column number six is important because that is the number that will be directly reflected on the tax bills of your constituents and that is the number that drives the um the PTE forms that we've

027worked through with your business office to determine how much you are permitted to raise your taxes above the act one index and set aside specifically for the middle school project for no other capital projects of the district. And then when that debt is fully repaid in 206, those mills would then be rescended back to the taxpayer and that line item on their tax bill would no longer be charged to them. So it's important that that debt sort of remains in its own silo and that's why we have a subtotal that column there in column number six that we call electoral debt because it is representative of the debt that is authorized by your electorate and will sort of live in its own silo um and be paid specifically from those tax dollars that the voters

028authorized. Important to note down a couple bullet points down the right side. Um, when we look back to some of the hypothetical scenarios that were run for the one ASD, one future website and and for the community um, pieces that were put on there, the debt st or the debt structure has has morphed a little bit on that over time to what is now, as we explained tonight, a level debt service structure where you're paying the same amount on a level basis year-over-year. Previously, there had been some discussion of of implementing a wraparound structure where you're deferring principal up until some of your existing debt is paid off. However, by utilizing the level debt structure, we're saving approximately um in today's interest rate environment about $95 million in interest expense. Um, it's the same $285

029million borrowed for the project, but by amortizing it on a level basis, we are saving approximately $95 million of just interest expense. And importantly, it is still keeping us at that approximately $54 per month um impact to the uh median assessed home value in the district as well. So importantly, you know, a lot of those things I know are very important to the board, to your taxpayers, and we wanted to be cognizant of that as we were structuring the new debt. Um, so unless there are any questions on the financing itself, I will turn it over to Ally to talk a little bit about timing and some things that we're keeping our eye on for the district as well into the future. not necessarily a question, but I noticed there were some uh statements that

030you continued to repeat over time uh throughout your presentation, and I appreciate that uh that the voters in this community, the majority of the voters voted for this, and nothing has changed since the initial presentations where taxpayers were able to go onto the website, see how this would impact individuals, have that that monthly estimate, cost and all of this still aligns with that. So, thank you for being so intentional about repeating that because these are some really big numbers and we want to be as transparent as possible and we want to make sure the community knows when something has changed and when we are still on par and we're still on par. So, thank you so much. >> Yeah, our pleasure. And I think it's important to note there um in that vein and in

031column number six, this is not full board debt service huge tax bills coming right out of the gate. This is phased in over time. >> Uh because I don't think anyone wants to stomach going up that much on a tax bill from one year to the next. So this is layered in over time. In column number six, you can see that next year's impact in in budget 2627, 4.8 million to service this debt. The following year, it jumps to just south of 10 million. The year after that, we're at 18 million. So, we're phasing it in over time as well to allow the um the debt to be sort of phased in in a way that is not as impactful in one foul swoop in one year. um which was also uh I believe an

032important factor as as your voters considered all of this as well. So we wanted to point that out. >> And even with that phase in uh as we get to the 19 million, we're still operating within that median household estimate. Correct. >> Yes, that's exactly correct. Thank you. >> Thank Thank you so much. I just wanted to add that um I'm grateful um that you shifted to the level debt structure rather than the wraparound debt. Um that 95 million is a big savings for the district and for the community. So thank you. >> Anything else? we can turn it over to Ally just to talk a little bit about what to expect next. >> Yeah, sure. >> Thank you. So, I'll just talk a little bit about the schedule for the next uh piece of

033debt that Lauren talked about that we're contemplating currently for late summer, early fall. So, you can see here, I won't belabor the bullet points and read through them all, but we're here tonight to consider the resolution that would allow us to move forward with that. Um, on May 28th, we'll have our local Raymond James office folks, uh, wealth manager folks here to give aformational session for the public on how they can buy the district's bonds. I know there was some interest in being able to to provide that to the community and some interest from the community and maybe being able to purchase the school district's bonds. So, they will be here to do an info session. How can you do that? Um, how do you set an account up and the like. So, we'll be

034sending an a flyer to the business office so that they can start to uh post those around so folks are aware that on the 28th we'll be providing that. And then in June, we'll start working with the business office to put together all the documentation that needs to go behind the scenes to get ready to issue bonds. So, the preliminary official statement, we'll go to uh in July to rating with that information. We'll get the school's credit rating updated. uh we'll ask the bond insurers for quotes and that'll put us in the position by early August to then lock in the interest rates on that piece um if we're ready to do that at that point in time. That would get the money in the bank for the district right around September 1st, uh which

035is what we're currently targeting. But again, to Lauren's point, if anything shifts, if we need to make adjustments, we can certainly do that. This is just how we're going to proceed unless something changes. And then that last slide is just the outstanding uh current debt of the district. This ties back to column two on the slide that Lauren went over. If you look at column seven, that is the currently outstanding debt of the district, not including any of the debt related to the middle school project. Um the important part here is those highlights at the bottom in yellow. Um these are the call dates on those bonds. So those are the dates that these bonds are available to be refinanced if it makes sense to do so. So typically uh about 90 days in advance

036of those dates. If it does make sense, we come, you know, to the district in advance of that and let them know there's economic savings similar to refinancing your home mortgage. You go from a high interest rate to a low interest rate. You save interest expense just like we were talking about on the other side of the fence. Um and so if it makes sense to do that, we're always monitoring that. we would bring it to the administration and we would come to the board and let you know that those things are available. Um, which could save the district additional money if it is feasible at that point in time. And then we've just separated to the right there again that electoral debt. We want to keep that separated. We always want to be cognizant

037that that's the electoral debt versus the non-electoral debt. What's going to have to be rescended in the future. Uh so we are going to track that separately going through so that the board's always aware of which which trunch or which bucket you're you're playing with there. And then if there's no other questions on timing or the existing debt, we'll turn it over to the ladies from MCN to talk about the resolution. >> Can I ask a a quick question about the community meeting scheduled for the 28th? >> So um there may be a lot of reasons why people might in the community might want to purchase these bonds. Um, not the least of which taxpayers can realize some sort of relief from the uh increase in their property taxes as the bonds get paid back.

038But not everyone in the community has a five a spare $5,000, which is what individual bonds cost, right? So, um, at that community meeting, will Raymond James offer guidance, for instance, on how community members might pull resources to purchase one or more bonds. And that way, um, community members who might not have that kind of liquidity can still realize some of the benefits of being invested in the bonds. >> Yes. And so I'll say Lauren and I aren't allowed to talk about the investment side because we have a separate >> group at Raymond Dreams that does that. Um but they will be able to answer those questions yes at that session about how those things could be available for them. >> Okay. For me that's an important equity piece of this. We want to make

039sure that those benefits don't just go to the wealthiest residents but are distributed as as broadly as possible. And I I think this will be a good educational opportunity as well because um the ladies that are coming that night, I think we'll also do a little bit of like investing 101. Uh so if there are, you know, some high schoolers that want to come just listen in and maybe they're not in a position yet where they're in a financial place to be able to make an investment in Abington School District bonds. hearing those sorts of things and that kind of talk and and and putting that in their pocket of things to consider as they mature into adulthood may be something they want to think about as well. So, uh while it's certainly targeting people

040that may have actual interest in purchasing Abington bonds, there will be an educational element as there as well that could be beneficial to folks that even aren't thinking about making an investment. >> Excellent. Okay. Thank you very much. >> Perhaps a free homework pass, Dr. Fetcher, would uh motivate Some are financial literacy students >> for you. >> See what we can do. Look at that. I think we can arrange something. >> Okay. >> Well, then we'll turn it over to the legal experts to excuse me run through the resolution. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Hi everyone. I'm Ellen Enters and this is Colleen Dgnen. We're with the law firm of MCNE Wallace and Nurk. We're acting as eurabond council um for this transaction. So our primary role really is twofold. one compliance with state

041law, the local government unit debt act. And then because these bonds will be issued um tax exempt for um federal income tax purposes, we will also be issuing um a tax opinion um when it when you issue the bonds. So, as it's been mentioned, the resolution is what we call a parameters resolution because it sets out the framework for you to issue um the balance of the bonds. As it's been mentioned, um this is electoral debt because the electors authorized up to 285 million. This resolution specifically covers the balance of that 285 million. So 270,445,000. Um and again that's the maximum. So this you know as a parameters resolution we're setting out the maximums. Um as they've said if if it's not necessary to issue all of that then you do not have to issue

042it all. But um the resolution does allow you to issue up to that amount should it be needed. Um as it's been mentioned, the resolution contemplates that you can do this in one or more series of bonds. Um so that again you have the flexibility to issue the money when you need it. Um it sets out a maximum interest rate. So, um, and it's it's set at 6%. So, at any time over the course of the next couple years while you're issuing the bonds, they they cannot have an interest rate greater than the the 6%. Um, not only does it set out the maximum total aggregate amount, but it also sets forth the maximum amount that can be issued in each year over the next 30 years. And again, a lot of this one, it

043provides you with flexibility and provides um Raymond James with flexibility when they are sizing the bond issue as you need it, but it's also to comply with the local government unit debt act that we have to set out those maximums. Um the purpose of these bonds is limited and it is specific to the Abington Middle School project. Should you want to use this money on anything else, you would have to go back to the electorate and get permission to do so. So, the purpose is limited. Um, this resolution accepts what we call a bond purchase agreement from your underwriter, Raymond James, for them to um again go out and sell the bonds, market the bonds on your behalf. So this resolution does officially appoint them as the underwriter um for for the bonds covered by

044this resolution. Um again this resolution has to check certain boxes under the local um government unit debt act. So, it um states that you can file whatever you need to file with DCED. And again, we'll prepare all those filings for you and get those submitted so that you can get um approval of each series of the bonds from the Department of Community and Economic Development. It has to include a form of the bonds, you know, that will be issued. Um so, it does that. It has to um appoint a paying agent for the bonds and it appoints manufacturers um traders and trust company as your paying agent. And um it also identifies that the projects have a useful life of not less than 30 years because again your bonds can go out 30 years. So

045the projects that are being done need to have a useful life of at least 30 years. Um, so I'm going to stop there and please let me know if you have any questions about the the legal mumbo jumbo. Um, just to clarify for members of the community, on the outside chance that the project comes in under budget and there is money left over, that money can only be used to pay down the debt for the bonds. Is that correct? >> This is electoral debt, right? Unless she went back to the electors, >> put out another vote to move that money to another project. Okay, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> Thank you. >> Yeah, please. >> No, we're right. >> I didn't know if you wanted me to prompt you or not.

046>> Nope, I'm good. >> All right. Uh, at this time I'd like to ask Miss Denakola to present the proposed final general fund budget for the 2026-27 school year. >> Good evening. Well, there will be the proposed final um budget on tonight's agenda for approval. We will have additional um budget presentations at each um board meeting um up until the uh final bud budget adoption on June 23rd. >> So, our next board meeting, we'll have an update as well. Correct. Correct. So the agenda tonight is just to review the 202627 budget timeline, review the referendum exception, talk through the real estate tax increase as it is proposed in the final budget, and then review the key factors of the 202627 proposed final budget. The key dates for the budget, we adopted the U preliminary budget

047on February 10th, 2026. We then filed the application for referendum exception for the middle school project. We filed that on March 2nd and we received approval from the Pennsylvania Department of Education on February uh we advertised on February 15th and then Pennsylvania Department of Education approved it on March 26th. On tonight's agenda, we are asking for the board's approval of the proposed final general fund budget. And then on June 23rd, we will be seeking approval of the Homestead Farmstead exclusion resolution and the final general fund budget. The Pennsylvania Department of Education approved our referendum exception on in the amount of $4,830,826 that directly relates to the um debt service on the middle school project related to that first bond issue. Based upon the preliminary assessed values we've received from the county, this referendum exception equates

048to approximately 1.3738 mills. From a max allowable standpoint for the school year, the real estate tax increase is subject to the act 1 index which is 3.5%. This equates to 1.3492 millage increase. The referendum exception equates to the 1.3738 mills. For the 2026 tax year, the homestead property tax relief. Uh the tax relief provided by the state is $7,974,86822. While these dollars come in as a state subsidy to the district, we must return this money to qualified um properties within the district that qualify as homesteads um in the form of tax relief. So the number of approved homesteads within our district are 14,846. Calculating out the relief provided by the state results in an assessed value exclusion of $13,15. That means that they have their assessed value and then a portion of it is excluded

049from taxation. The approximate real estate red real estate tax reduction per homestead property is $537.16. This will change this could change slightly based upon the final assessment valuation, but generally it only changes by a penny or two. So that's the amount of tax relief that uh homeowners will see on their tax bill. the impact on the 2026-27 proposed general fund budget on the um on a homestead eligible property for 2026-27. The county has certified our median homestead assessed value at $127,440. We would apply the homestead exclusion of $13,15 to have a median homestead assessed value after homestead exclusion of $114,425. That is the amount by wi on which we would apply the millage to get the tax rate. So for 202526 the millage rate was 38.55. At a 3.5% increase it would move the millage

050rate to 39.8992 8992 and then we would add on the referendum debt estimated millillage of 1.3738 from a monthly increase on the act one index the 3.5% increase it's about a $1545 increase each month for the average homestead for the taxes that directly support the middle school project it is going to be about a $1310 monthly impact. So the net real estate taxes net of those homestead exclusions in 2026 27 will be $4,722.66 which equates to a monthly increase of $28.55 including the middle school project. Um the estimated home value relief um in 2526 was $533.14. It increased slightly to $537.16 for 2026-27. To review the key factors in the 2026-27 proposed general fund budget, again, it includes an act one index of 3.5%. We will continue to update based upon assessment information that we

051received from the county and that may change our real estate um tax revenue numbers as those numbers change. From a state revenue standpoint, we are currently budgeted of what the governor's proposal was. Should the state budget um pass at a different number, then we would need to make those adjustments. Our federal revenue has been estimated at the 202526 amounts. um our salaries and benefits are budgeted at known peasers rates and known rates within our collective bargaining agreements. We continue to analyze um our other benefits to see if we can realize additional savings within our employee benefits. So, we'll continue to do that. Um from a salary perspective, we are actively um looking at retirements that have happened and trying to determine whether whether or not we can um achieve attritional savings from those positions. Um,

052and we hope to report back to the board on that at the next meeting, the next board meeting. And that is the presentation for this evening. And again, the proposed final budget is on the agenda for approval tonight. The proposed final budget does estimate a use of fund balance of about $2.4 million, but again, that could change depending on um additional savings that we may find. >> Okay. >> Questions from the board? Just the emphasis on this is the proposed final budget and not the final budget itself. >> Correct. Once this is approved, we can continue to make changes to the budget up until June 23rd where we have it slated for final adoption. >> Um, one thing we have not discussed yet and I'm curious um about what my fellow board members think about

053this is the senior citizens rebate. Um, I know we typically do that as we're approaching the the final budget. And so, um, I'd be curious to hear from board members whether they would like Ms. Denola to prepare several different scenarios uh, regarding that rebate. >> Uh, refresh my memory. I believe the first year was about 25% and then we upped it to 50. It's currently 40% of the amount. Okay. Um, current year to date, we've issued 147 rebates for $28,980. >> So, we've had 147 individuals um or property owners take advantage of it. >> Okay. And is that an increase from previous years? >> Um, I believe it is. Yes. >> The max amount is $400 and it's tiered just like the state um tax rebate is tiered as well. So the max amount any

054given taxpayer can receive as a rebate currently is $400, >> but we are at liberty to increase that amount should we be inclined to do so. >> How does one qualify for the rebate? Um, there are income qualifications and other qualifications established by the state and our rebate follows those same qualifications >> and you have to fill out an application >> annually. >> You have to fill out the PA 1000. That's very important document and your local representatives um are often they their offices will help people fill those forms out. We've also had uh the opportunity and we can continue to do so of having members of the business office help um people in the community and have times in different locations around uh to assist in in filling out those forms as well. >>

055Okay. Thank you. >> So at did you say 40%. >> So 40 the max is 40% of what the state rebate was. >> Okay. >> Um but no more than $400. >> Okay. At that rate, it's only costing the district just under $30,000. >> And is that based on participation in the program? >> Um, it's based upon the number of people in our community that are approved at the state level. Um, generally, um, when you when a school district offer these rebates, if they're approved at the state, they always reach out to the district to say, "Do you have a rebate as well?" So, you generally see equal numbers of applications. But with increased applications that number could increase. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> We we can prepare for the next budget update um various

056scenarios, you know, in incremental scenarios to see the impact if that's the desire of the board. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> I would like to see that. >> Yeah, I would like to see that as well. >> I agree. Okay. >> All right. If you would for the next meeting then, Miss Danakola. >> Question. >> Thank you. Oh, I'm I'm sorry. I didn't see your hand, Miss falling. >> Um, if it's appropriate, I could give a little bit more information on that on that. It won't take one of my It's up to you. >> Okay. >> First of all, to get the rebate from the school district, you know, people people think of the uh property and rent rebate. What you get from the state, you can get if you're a homeowner and a renter.

057And the maximum amount you can get is $1,000. In order to get it from the school district, you must be a homeowner paying property tax. And you have to have filed the the the uh Pennsylvania uh rebate form the prior year. Like in, for example, to get it for 2026, you have to have had filed the form in 2025. and you have to be a property owner and pay property taxes in 2025 because it requests uh you to attach copies of your paid uh school taxes. I know this because I did a couple of them on myself this year and I will do them for people free of charge if they come to me. All right. >> Okay. Thank you for that. >> Welcome. >> Anyone else? >> No. Oh, and the income has to

058be for uh less than 45,000 for the school district and 46,500 for the state. >> Okay, great. Um so we will look forward to that presentation at the next meeting. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay, >> one more. >> All right. At this time, uh, ICS will provide an orientation regarding updates on the middle school project, >> the exciting middle school project. >> Good evening. So, I'm Doug Taylor with ICS and with me is Ryan and also Dan uh with our architectural team and David is also with our architectural team in the crowd. So, um have a couple things we want to review tonight. It is not a lengthy presentation, but uh we're going to talk about some of the building sustainability items that we have incorporated in the design. Uh some interior reviews,

059some exterior views, so kind of a peak ahead of what this building will look like when uh you visited in 2029. And uh then project next steps. So I'm going to start with the uh building sustainable design elements that we're incorporating. And this is not an inclusive list. It is in alignment with the guiding principles that we've been following as we've been uh working through the design of this process. And uh again some of those features um listed up here include uh parking spaces for EV vehicles that uh will have some limited number of those native and diverse site plannings that will also be incorporated in that uh constructed wetland design which is another one of the items on the list. Um design glazing uh maximum daylighting in the building. So you'll see when Dan

060goes through these renderings there's ample daylighting that gets into even the deepest part of the building. So the building feels very uh warm and welcoming. Materials with high recycled content are something that we're incorporating and that that includes concrete, insulation, uh metal panels, flooring, some of the lumber and um and steel. many low uh VOCC building um products. That includes some of the paints, adhesives um coatings, meaning um it limits the offging when you walk into a new building and often smell those uh odors coming off the floor, those fumes or you know, it's uh limits the amount of that that you'll have in this new building, which is favorable when we want to move students into this building relatively uh quick. daylight harvesting systems, meaning when uh those classrooms are lit by the sun

061that the lighting will actually reduce the number of foot candles that it puts out, but maintaining that 50 foot candle lighting level at a desktop. Uh maybe the exterior the lights closest to the windows are actually off and there's lights that are lit to adjust to that 50 foot candles. um more inbound in the classroom. We are putting in uh constructed wetland design which uh is important because we're going to be able to increase the water quality before it leaves the site through that wetland as it goes into the repairarian buffer and downstream which is a responsible thing to do. Uh solar ready roof system and an electrical room. So, we'll make sure that we're providing um the space for a transfer switch down the road and making sure the structural steel will support those

062solar panels on the roof if we decide to um introduce solar to this project later. And of course, high efficiency building mechanical systems and you know gas fired boilers, water cooled chillers, uh we have uh digital building and lighting control systems and LED lighting. So, those are some of the features, but there's certainly more than that. But some of the things that you may see as Dan uh presents these renderings or some of the the outdoor indoor spaces um the ADA accessibility um indoor and outdoor. And again, that includes getting to that wetland area that could be an outdoor learning space um and a teaching tool and some of the daylighting that you'll see. So, with that, I'm going to turn it over to Dan. >> Thank you, Doug. Uh again, Dan Demoiko Wish Raider

063Group. Um before we get into some of these images, I do want to stress that um with the advanced technology, some of them look like photos, right? But we're still working through the design process, um testing the different materials and and seeing what we can make uh work for the building. Um starting off, uh we have the uh kind of main view of the front of the building. Um if we see that kind of canopy here that would designate the uh main entrance which is facing out towards uh Susuana. Um as we've discussed in other meetings um we know that this building is going to be situated up on the hill where the current tennis courts are. Um, and like we've said before, and you'll see in some uh later views, the gym starts to

064uh sink into the site. Um, using the topography to our uh advantage um to uh not have to fill or cut everything away from from the land and use what's there. Um, off in the distance here, we start seeing some of our uh classroom houses. Um, so this would be the the threetory uh side of the building. And then again, we just have the the large spaces on this side. Um, sandwiched, uh, in the middle is our front entrance. Uh, one thing to highlight here, um, this is that road that comes from the high school side, and you can see how we're bringing that, uh, road now to a four-way stop. Um, again, trying to make a safer crossing for students to the athletic fields. >> Can I ask you to please use the cursor?

065Um because the laser pointer will not show on the video and people watching from home. >> All right, man. My fancy laser pointer can't use it. So, >> thank you. >> All right, so let's go to the next image here. Um so this brings us closer to that main entrance again kind of designated by the canopy here. Um, as we get a little closer, you'll see some of the the grade changes um that uh we're uh trying to navigate by using stairs and ramps, making sure that everyone has access up to um the covered area and into the building. Um here in this area, this would be our front office. Um we're proposing um good visual line of sight uh as people approach the building into a secure vestibule. Again, off the left uh hand

066side, we have our classroom, threetory wings. Uh in the corner here, uh this is our stair towers that allow students to traverse and come out of the building. Um and we'll get closer to uh the courtyard to see some of this outdoor space that Doug referenced um as part of the um sustainable initiatives. Here is one of those uh courtyards. Um again with the um the grade difference uh this courtyard will have a few uh different terraces. Um but what we're trying to provide is different um areas for students to um come out during the school day. Teachers can use this as outdoor classroom space. Um there is some grass space here, but trying to create uh an open and flexible area for um students and staff to come out and use this as a

067teaching space. On either side is one of those classroom uh wings. And then what would be behind us would be a fence to close it off to make sure that it is secure. Um one of the features uh that we are providing for um daylighting and and making sure we don't have a lot of glare in the building. you can see are some of these uh sun shades. Um these are louvers that will help block the direct light um and still allow some of the ambient light to bounce off into that higher piece of glass and filter into the classroom. Uh again, moving back to the main uh entry here. Um you can see those stairs. Um, and then off to the side there's the pathway that comes up and around to the uh um

068canopy and the front entry. And that would be our ADA um ramp up once we get into the building. Uh again, this is um artistic uh license here with some of the finishes, but we're starting to look at ways to warm up the space. Um trying to use some of the sustainable uh elements in the structure above. Um so some some wood beams up here. Um we did talk in um a previous meeting about making sure we provide some display cases to help u bring some of the the other buildings um Copper Beach and some of the elementary schools uh that feed into this building and provide a home a display case that can help represent um and identify with the the students as they now come together in this uh large building. Um this

069space here is the the main lobby and is really meant um to receive all the students that we're going to um get in the the morning and allow them to leave in the daytime and provide space for them to filter through. Um so in the far end and off to the side would be two entrances to allow for the um kids coming on buses to enter the building and behind us would be the main entrance is where the the parents uh would drop off students. On the left hand side um you can see a staircase Um there's also a a corridor right next to that that takes you further down to an elevator. Um but this starts bringing those kids up and through the building. Uh moving into the uh classroom spaces. Um again, if

070you've remember the plan, the classrooms are organized around a central um classroom commons um to provide uh that visual connection for teachers. We do have some glass that overlooks that can be um uh closed off with shades to pull down, but we have raised the sill height um of that that glass so it helps students at a seated height not have that visual connection and get distracted throughout the day. Um we have the the teaching walls throughout um and then again visual connection and daylight coming in. Again, there would be shades in here. And as Doug mentioned, as um the daylight harvest system uh kicks in, some of these artificial lights would um dim or turn off um and would rely on the the natural light coming in. Uh this is a a look at

071what one of the um classroom commons uh learning commons could be where the classrooms are situated around. Um we have different types of seating that we're starting to explore. uh maybe some writable walls. Um similar to some other projects that we toured, there's uh water fountain here. Um out in the space, there's going to be toilet rooms uh for the students and staff. Um so really trying to create um a smaller community uh of learning for the students um for all of their day-to-day um main classes for general ed and science. They'd really live in this uh space. And you can see through uh the window there that connection out to outdoors. Um and that would be that courtyard we shared earlier. Uh one of the important items that we've been uh uh looking at

072during design is universal toilet rooms. Um again really to help with the safety and security of students. Um we've seen a lot of uh districts start to implement these and see a lot of reductions in all the shenanigans that happen in in the toilet rooms um because now you have that visual connection. So again, total privacy uh where the toilets are, where those doors um are in the background here. Um we have full full walls and full doors. Um but the sink area is is out for the the students to u wash hands. Um again so you have a lot of um security uh and supervision in this area. Uh another uh defining feature for um the design of the building is to um anchor uh the center of the building with the cafeteria um

073and allow a full team to eat uh lunch at the same time. So, if you remember the plan, there was um one large space that can be divided with a divider. So, if I go back and forth, you can kind of see those dividers open and close. Um and each of these uh four quadrants of the cafeteria feed one of the teams. Um we're looking at different colors now to help define the different uh classroom houses um and how that feeds into um the center of the cafeteria here. Uh moving up above the cafeteria, uh we have the library. Again, really trying to emphasize when you when you look at these photos how much natural daylight's coming into these spaces. Um again, using like warm materials to make it a nice inviting space for the

074students, providing different areas for um seating. There's reading nooks on the sides that you can see that are uh kind of defined by these uh the Abington red here. um just allowing students the freedom in this space to to find a cozy spot and read. And there's a few other um educational and more um classroom type spaces with tables. And in the back there are some um classes classrooms for the library itself. And then uh moving over to the gym um again this is kind of sunken down to the site. that main level that you enter on is actually at the top of the bleachers here. So, as you come up to the gym, you actually look down into that. Um, if you remember at either end of the um that hallway in the gym,

075we do have a stairwell and an elevator that brings us down to this lower level. Um, in the distance here, we have our auxiliary gym that can be closed off with a partition. Um, and then a view from the top here, looking down from the top of the the bleachers here. And I think these might be the last two images. Um looking at the auditorium. So the design of the auditorium, we're looking to house an entire grade structure. Um the lower level has about 550 seats and this balcony level would have about 200 seats. So we got 750 um in this space. Um oops, went too fast. Uh up at the balcony here, there's a couple of operable partitions. So, some of the buildings that we toured, um, it allows for a lot of flexibility

076for this balcony to be used for different situations. We can open it up, as you show here, um, for performance. Um, but day-to-day, we can close off some of these partitions, create, um, smaller tiered LGIS for like a 100 or 200 students. Um, the seats are retractable, so you can do other activities up there as well. Trying to find ways to use a space that doesn't get used often. um and provide that flexibility for day-to-day activities. And I think that's it with the pretty pictures. Any questions? I have a question for you. Going back to um the design is so exciting by the way. Um going back to three where you talked about sustainable features. I recall a lot of these things coming up on surveyed stuff in the early planning portion. um which I

077appreciate emphasis on as we're implementing the design and and you're looking at that to lead that. Um and a lot of the photos that were shared spaces, student spaces with um stairs that tend to look on view um that may lead to accessibility or mobility issues. Can you just address those shared spaces? I saw them in the court courtyards and the theater. um just a bunch of them and just the impact of making it ADA accessible and how that's impacting design in a lot of what you're showing us um you know in the photos today. >> Yeah, absolutely. So um it's kind of hard to tell. What we really try to do is avoid um just ramps and especially outside we try to um stretch out those pathways um to be more of like sloped

078walkways. Um so where these folks are walking here on the side and then there's a few other around there are ramps that bring us down to the different tiers um in the courtyards. Uh same thing in the uh front >> this walkway here comes up. It's kind of hard to tell. It kind of zigzags to make sure we have enough length length to get up because there's um uh increases and slope uh ratios that we have to meet to meet ADA. Um, but there's we make sure that we trace out ADA paths all along the exterior of the building. Um, so it's kind of hard to tell because we really try to keep them as flat as possible. Um, but there are ways to get from where these students are. Kind of come up, zigzag

079over, and then up and you'll be up to that level. And then inside the building, um, there's three elevators. Um, so again, you see the stairs right here, but a little bit down the hall. Um and actually if I go to this, this central stair is between two classroom wings and then mirrored on the other side. So adjacent to this is an elevator. So where our main circulation up and down for students um is the stairwell, there's an elevator uh associated with that. And if I go back inside, sorry I'm jumping around. Um just to the right of where these students are sitting, there's another stair and an elevator that takes us down to um that level of the lower level of the gym. If we look at the gym, let me get here. Um

080one of the things that's actually kind of hard to see in these renderings is at the top of these bleachers, there's ADA spots and wheelchair spots to sit up here. That elevator's off to the left. brings us down. And then what's not shown in here is ADA uh wheelchair cutouts in these bleachers. So we make sure we provide all of that um when we work with the different uh reps for the the bleacher systems. Same thing in the theater system uh theater seating. Um you can actually see in this rendering some of the seats uh are left out and we provide that um mix throughout the building uh throughout the the room to allow for um wheelchair accessible seating throughout. Another thing to note here is the way that the wings work to get up

081to the stage. Um off to either side there is a pathway that brings us around to the stage. um so all students have access um up and around to the stage and not everyone's just taking stairs and a few kids are then off you know by themselves having to to come around the that periphery. >> So just to just to confirm right now part of our issue is we have one elevator that elevator breaks down >> and you know we have backup plans for that but it's not ideal at all. Um if one of these elevators were need to be serviced or down, is there an alternate plan with each one of the elevators? >> Yeah. So um the two that take us up from the first to third floor in a classroom wing, they're

082redundant. So if one goes down, the other one would be operational, bring us up, and we have connection there. For the gym, there's just the one elevator that brings us down to the lower level. Um, but with all the ADA paths that we have uh through the courtyards and around the building, um, if students were going out to those fields, they have an ADA path to get down there. Um, that's not really taking them, uh, far away, the opposite direction of the other students. >> Thank you. >> What I just want to make sure I understood what you said. So, there's one elevator to take um, students down to the the floor level of the gym. Is that correct? >> Correct. >> So if that goes out >> what >> you have to go outside

083and around >> at at the moment. Correct. >> Okay. How's that going to work in inclement weather? TBD. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> Um because we do we do have students who um are involved in wheelchair basketball, right? And so making sure that they get access to the gym will be important I think. >> Yes. This is this is in the event that there's a breakdown in the elevator. So, >> right. >> So, an emergency situation, >> right? So, TV >> and right now, right now, part of our issue, just to explain it, is in in the current middle school, if that elevator goes breaks down, there's not an easy way to go from floor to floor. >> Yep. >> Right. I understand that. I'm just I just want to make sure that

084there's let's say it's November and it's pouring rain. >> Absolutely. >> Um that there might be an alternate plan that doesn't involve students having to go out in torrential rain to get into the gym. >> Right. Yeah, absolutely. And and one of the things that um we we do uh have on that main level is a few of the um athletic spaces are on the main floor. So, there's a multi-purpose room wrestling room that we've been talking with folks that could be used for PE. Um, the the PT rooms up there, the fitness rooms on the main level. >> So, uh there are places to if there's inclement weather and scheduling allows it um to have students stay on that main level for gym. Um but yes, if there is inclement weather and have to

085get down to that lower floor and the elevator is not serviced right now, we're we're looking at going outside to get to that lower level. So, work in progress. Mhm. >> Love the progress part. >> The question about the chairlift that we uh the board approved uh within a year ago, does that can that be placed anywhere in the new middle school or will that be sold because it does not fit the design of the middle school? I don't I don't think that's a question for you. You may not know what I'm talking about, but uh Dr. Fetcher. >> Yeah. I'm going to Dr. Melor, can you address that? We did not purchase that lift, >> right? We we ended up not making an award for that. >> Um there were more constraints to purchase

086an installation than we anticipated. Okay. >> When we had engineers come out and take a look at the current building. So although you approved a permission to advertise, >> um we weren't able to make an award and install. >> Okay. Thank you for that clarification. While while you have the picture of the auditorium there, can you can you hear me? Okay, good. Um, you mentioned that it'll hold an entire class, I'm guessing. And you said like I think seven seven Yeah, 700 some students. Did we look back to like our kindergarten entry to know like how long 700 students gets us? >> Yes. Okay. >> Yeah, we have Yes. >> All of the enrollment studies would say that uh >> this will fit. >> That this will fit. because I know that's an important attribute.

087Thank you. >> I will I will say throughout the building there's um different levels of group um spaces. So starting with something like the li uh the classroom commons you can fit like two two and a half classes in that space. Um in the cafeteria you can fit a whole team. Uh if you open it up you can fit a whole uh grade level. Um you have a grade level space here and then the gym can the bleachers hold about 800 but then plus whatever uh chairs we put on the floor you can get um a large group in there as well. So trying to create different levels and different uh size spaces for collaboration. >> I think that's awesome. Thank you. >> Can you just speak to some of the images? Um the angles

088on the image are a little off like the first auditorium one correct. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I just think that's important for for people, you know, to understand that this is from a a particular viewpoint and whatever program that this is in. Amazing that we could see this, but it it can be distorted a bit. >> Yeah, that's a good point. Um, this gets a little uh like kind of fishbold and really stretches out and it makes the stage look tiny. Um and then when you look at this view, people seem a lot more uh direct to the stage and this is a little more accurate uh in and um perspective compared to the the first image to tour. But yes, there are some images that start to get a little skewed as you

089as you move off to the side. >> And as you know, my concern about the reading nooks that they look a lot smaller than they are based on the angle. >> Yes. >> And the direction is that I >> I should be able to fit in one comfortably. >> Thank you. with or without pillows >> with with a book. >> Could you could you speak to the materials that will be used in the interior of the building such as plastics and so on and so forth? >> Sure. So, um starting with uh the floor um in the uh main hallways, the the cafeteria, a lot of the public spaces. Um the the base bid materials, Terzo, nice, durable um hard surface, timeless. Um there are some alternatives for uh for pricing. Uh we could do

090polished concrete which we've done in for other projects and and we toured a few of those buildings. Um moving up through the walls, a lot of the walls are uh drywall. Um in the hallways we have a lot of uh tile protection, wall protection again for durability. Um, in more of the athletic spaces that something might take a beating, we do like cinder block CMU walls um to make sure that they're nice and durable and they can withstand the kids uh pounding them. Um the ceilings will have um a lot of um drop ceilings in in a lot of the the spaces and classrooms. Um but looking to provide warmth with some wood um or wood veneer types of products. Um, also looking at um some some wood beams um in some of these uh

091more public spaces in like the library. The the panels that you see on the wall here um it's more of like a wood veneer or plastic laminate. Um so high pressure laminate. Um I'm trying to think of what else the um there's a lot of uh exposed uh steel. Um again to like a lot of recycled content for sustainability purposes. Um >> maybe exterior. >> Yeah, an exterior. Um like Doug mentioned, these are um mostly metal panel and brick. So again, trying to uh keep the durable materials at the lower level. Um uh so we'll have brick along the base you can kind of see actually let me get a different view here. Um so along the base here we'll have a brick material and then above that um we're looking at uh metal panels.

092Uh the the basis of design right now is actually uh a a well building so it's a little more stringent than lead. Um but they're they're well certified. Um so high highly recycled content. They're recyclable. Um so looking at from exterior to interior uh sustainable materials that are durable and and will stand a test of time and still provide a timeless uh look to the building. >> Will you guys also supply the furnishing for the building as well? >> So the furniture is typically um like a separate contract. Uh we we work with the team to help layouts make sure the space um the spaces will fit all the furniture that the the team's looking at. But later in the process, I can let you guys talk to it, but we'll start working with the

093district to um start looking at uh different furniture uh companies and vendors to to provide those. I don't know if you want to add anything to that. >> Yeah. >> Uh lastly, I'd like to know if you have any experience with prochemicals. >> Prochemicals. >> Yes. >> Um yeah. So, oh >> um so like Doug mentioned um with the the VOCC's and a lot of the paints um and adhesives um we look to a lot of water-based uh water-soluble adhesives um and products. The carpets um that we try to specify um have reduced those types of chemicals. So the offging isn't harmful. You'll walk in and still have that new smell um but that smell is not going to be hazardous. Um so so a lot of the materials that we go through and again

094if this was like a lead building um there's a lot of checklists that we we um stick with even if it's not lead um to make sure that these building or these materials are low in VOCC's and those contaminants. >> Thank you. >> Just one comment. >> Okay. >> We do just to clarify we do have a budget line item for furniture fixture and equipment. So that is included in the project but again comes after the design. >> Thank you. Uh speaking to the concern that Dr. Malry raised and the query that uh Miss Brown had, um it does sound a bit absurd for students to have to go around the building um especially during certain times of the year. Um, so it sounded like Miss Brown was making a somewhat of a suggestion around

095um, incorporating a chair lift of some sort that could only be pulled out in case of emergency or used in case of emergency. Um, and so if we could explore how to potentially fit that into the gym design, I think that would be important. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you for that, Mr. El. the um from the gym perspective, the pictures you could see that it's accessible to the outside for events and whatnot. The the theater, the auditorium, does that have like where is that in the footprint of the building? Is it accessible from the outside for events or >> Yeah. So, if I if we look at this image here, um the the gyms uh to right to the right and in the distance there's another uh set of vestibule doors that's right adjacent to

096the theater and performing arts. Okay. >> Um so there's uh multiple uh egress exits out that way. Um so when we do these uh projects we have to run a code review and make sure that um the 550 plus people that are occupying these spaces have um all the means of egress out there or certain widths um and certain calculations we have to run. Um but also what's nice is to have a secondary entrance. So if you want to use the the main doors or those doors you can start locking down the building in different ways. That's what I was >> to provide nighttime access >> instead of if the if a community group uses the auditorium trudging through the entire school to get to it um versus outside access. So there is a separate

097access >> there. Yes, there can be. Absolutely. We have different points that we're able to cut cut the building off so people aren't meandering through the whole classroom lane. >> Right. Thank you. >> Mhm. But you do also have um I think we called it Main Street or something where it could it would be separate from the classroom wings and people would just have access to the gym and the auditorium, >> right? That's basically where we're standing in this image now. This would be like a main street. So what we could do on the the right side just lock that or sorry on the left side lock that down for a nighttime event. um lock a couple doors, bring some gates down um so people can't, you know, go through and and um wander through

098the hallways and the classroom side so you can lock that down. >> Cool. >> Anyone else? >> Turn it over to Ryan. >> Much less visually appealing here, but looking at some of the uh next steps we have on the project. Uh so we have submitted to the zoning hearing board. Uh that meeting has been moved to May 27th. So that is a public presentation at the Abington Zoning Hearing Board. Uh the next one, we're actually currently in the middle of our second round of enduser meetings. So this is when we meet with uh all the faculty in the building, get their feedback. We show them a lot of the views that we showed you here today. Um but honing in on their specific areas and get their feedback so we can incorporate it into

099the drawings. So, kind of like Dan said, the these look very final, but they are still very flexible based on the feedback that we have gotten and we'll continue to get over this next week. Uh, we then have our value engineering kickoff. So, I know there was a lot of talk about the materials that we're using. Part of that we look for um kind of value with some other materials. So, how can we get the same feel? how can we get the same end result by maybe using um more more value materials to keep this project under budget. So that kicks off it's actually already kicked off started coming up with ideas. We're going to continue to come up with ideas all through July. So just because we kick off the project now and you'll

100we'll talk about a little later of how we evaluate we're going to continue coming up with uh ideas through July um of this year. We then have our design development. That's our 60%. So think 60% through the design which is kind of what you saw here. We have that estimate update. So we use that a lot in uh handinhand with the value engineering. So a lot of the value engineering we use with the estimate to make sure that we are on target for that $285 million referendum. Uh we do have another board meeting update in June that we are planning to attend. So we do plan to attend the uh the June meeting as well. We also have an additional feedback survey that we plan on launching to the community around that June time timeline

101as well. So, this will be another online uh survey. It'll have links to the images that you saw here today as well as some floor plans and a walkthrough presentation of what we did at the community presentation back in April. And just for another avenue to continue to get that community feedback on the building we're designing. Uh we then have that be evaluation. So this is that next step I was talking about. So we first come up with the ideas and then we have to evaluate them. So this will go from June up through August. Again, taking all those ideas that we come up with, reviewing them with the big team and then deciding if this is an aspect that we want to incorporate into the project documents prior to going out to bid. And

102then finally, we have our uh phasing plan development. So this we have slated for August. Again, this is what will this site look like uh during construction. This will include the work we're doing prior to uh the actual building going up, the fencing and what this building will look like while it is being constructed. And then finally, when we shift from that new building construction to the old building demo, what does that look like? That will include safety measures, fencing, uh construction vehicle, uh ingress and egress, temp parking as needed, as well as um sediment basins and all storage of material areas so that the school community and uh teachers are well aware of what we're doing, the approximate timelines of when it's going to happen and what this site is going to look like

103throughout the entire construction process. So finally we have this milestone schedule here. As you can see uh what the images you saw were the 60% design development drawings. We are now advancing moving towards those 90% construction drawings. Uh as we mentioned with the zoning hearing board we are right in the middle of that permanent approval. Um as of right now we are still on track for starting in the beginning of 2027. U obviously we need to get through all those uh township permits and approvals which we're currently underway. We've currently have all of our submissions in. We're just waiting on those uh review letters and then to go before them. >> And that is all we had for you today. So, I know we had most of the questions knocked out with the uh the

104fun part, but if there are any additional questions, please let us know. >> Any questions? >> I would just be interested in knowing with the survey if that includes not just residents but also staff who may not live within the district. Uh yes, that will be a a public survey that will be put on the website. So that will be available to anyone uh accessing through the 1SD one future website >> and thank you for mentioning the website. Will this update also be placed on the website? >> That is correct. >> web page. Thank you so much. >> Anyone else? >> When you mentioned Terzo, the use of the building material, is that for indoors or outdoors or both? >> Interior. interiors. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you, gentlemen. >> Thank you. >> Okay. This

105brings us to our first section of comments from citizens. As usual, these will be conducted both in person and by phone. The phone number to participate in public comments is 2677153717 and is being displayed on the screen at this time. You'll be able to join the meeting by calling in on your mobile or landline phone. A citizen will be recognized once during this period of the meeting and each citizen's comments will be limited to a total of three minutes except at the discretion of the president. Time may not be yielded or otherwise transferred by one speaker to another for purposes of extending a given speaker's time allotment. If there's anyone present who'd like to make a comment, please use the microphone either to your left or to your right. whenever you're ready. >> Thank you,

106Joe Rooney. I live in Arsley. Um, first I'd like to start off with a thank you to Dr. Fetcher and Dr. Melor. Um, I know of an individual who experienced some pretty significant uh uh personal trauma, tribulations, whatever you want to call it. And uh on very short notice uh they reached out to that individual and that family. They helped them out. Really took a lot of stress off of them and uh helped their kids finish out the year and the family. So, I just wanted to acknowledge that and thank them for that because um it worked out great and I know that the family appreciates it. So, thank you for that. Uh the second one um just because I have the mic, Queen of Peace Parish has our carnival Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. If

107you have kids or you want, they're setting it up. We were setting it up today. It's for the evening, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from uh 6:00 till 10 and then the afternoon and evening on Saturday. It's 30 bucks in advance for a wristband and 35 bucks at the door. But um the weather looks good is at the corner of North Hills and Fitzwater Town if you're interested. So thank you for time with that. Number three, I have some questions about the budget. Um and maybe you can give me a little extra time. We'd be interesting to see. So last meeting the budget that was presented had a $6 million hole in it. And I reached out to Dr. D and I I sent a note to Dr. for uh Allen also and uh tried to

108figure that out and then I went over the agenda and this budget is significantly different than the previous budget, but none of you all asked any questions about the last budget, this budget, or the difference between the two. And I'm just wondering if you read these things. So, like there was a $6 million hole in the last budget between expenses and money coming in and um I asked about it and didn't get an answer till 5:00 tonight. I did it right after that and and it it concerns me. So, please look at your agendas and there's opportunity to ask questions and please do it. Second one with the bond presentation and I might be wrong but the table that was referenced multiple times was that in the agenda packet like it was too small for

109me to see. I don't know if people on that are watching this can see it but when you reference column four, five, and six and I I didn't see that there was a schedule B that had the bonds going out. So I didn't know if that was in there or not and I'll go back and check again. I tried to quick look on my phone. Beyond that, um, the ICS thing, I just got to tell you, you brought a bunch of AI generated pictures in here, and I know it's intoxicating to dream about spending $285 million of other people's money with a bunch of pictures on it. But we've got kids, first off, for the next three to four years that we have to educate in the current middle school. And those pictures don't look

110a whole lot different than the current school that we have. So, we're going to pay 600 million bucks, which is $20 million for 30 years. >> Your time is up. >> Can I have a little extra time? >> There's a second um opportunity to to comment. So, you can continue your comment then. Thank you. >> So, now I can have an extra 30 seconds. >> Take a seat, please. >> That's a no. >> Are we waiting for other people or what? >> Thank you, ma'am. >> You're welcome. Is there anyone else in the room who'd like to make a comment? Mr. Cargus, do we have anyone on the line? >> We do. Um, the next citizen for public comment, phone number ending in 4437, please state your full name and full address. >> Connie Briggs,

1112953 Susanna Road, Abington. >> Thank you. You can go ahead. >> Hi. Um, thanks to the board for uh mentioning seniors in your budget comments uh tonight. I'm glad that they're in your mind because we feel invisible very often. And uh I just wanted to remind everybody that that referendum vote did not really represent all of the 40ome,000 voters. There was only uh a portion of them. About 17,000 voted and about half of them voted yes. So, please remember that because there's a lot of the residents are hard to reach out to to um to get them the information and the ballot information last year. So, that's not representative of the total population of Abington. Okay. Now, my comment tonight is based on budget materials posted with tonight's agenda. I just wanted to confirm that

112the table you showed on April 28th is the same table that you is in the budget. There was no change to that table. That's still the active table um in the U April 28th one. Is that correct? >> Well, um we don't we'll answer questions at the end. >> Okay. Just uh if you could answer that one, I'd appreciate it. Um because there's no budget table with numbers in it. And this this one just the uh the second table is in there but not the first one with all the numbers of the salaries and everything. Okay. So the May 12th budget package shows the median homestead tax bill from uh increasing from 40 $4,380 to 4,723 next year about $343 more per year or a 7.8% 8 7.82% increase. So it's not 7.0 06% like

113we thought if that is the rate that of the millillage increase that's only the millillage increase that didn't include the homestead um consideration of the homestead uh amount of money that you're going to also apply to this. So my question is uh again the major drivers of the increase appear to be $4.8 million more for salaries 5.5 million for dues fees and debt service 1.2 2 million for professional services and 1 million more for other services. And uh those are the major drivers. So if the once the full debt rolls out for the new school, it's going to be about $650 for a median household uh extra above and beyond the operating cost increases under the act one millillage uh cap. And so I'm asking if you can just worry about those big drivers. The

114salaries, due fees, and debt service are the major ones. And of course, the pensions that aren't mentioned, but we have no control over those. I know the state tells you what to do with that. So, uh, again, the $4.8 million salary averages about $3,700 per employee if spread across what I believe to be, 1300 employees that you have in the in the school district. That's a lot of money for an increase and do the salaries. Yes. >> I'm sorry. Your time is up. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Cargus. Do we have anyone else on the line? >> We have no more callers. >> Okay. Uh Dr. Fetcher. >> Thank you, Dr. Mallerie. Uh first I just want to confirm the presentation that was referenced uh with the tables is in board ducks

115and uh available for anyone to pull up. >> Okay. The uh the Raymond James presentation. Okay. >> Yes. So the the numbers were difficult to see in the room but you can pull it up in board docs and expand it. >> Okay. All right. >> Um Miss Dennole, I didn't know if you wanted to address any of the comments as well. Um, I'll have to open up the that other agenda item and compare it. I don't have I'm trying to get into the network right now. >> Okay. >> So, we'll we'll maybe defer that till a little later in the meeting if you can get in. >> Okay. Okay. All right. That brings us to the approval of minutes. Mr. Allen, can you please read the recommendation to approve the February meeting minutes? >> Yes,

116Madame President, is the recommended action of the board of school directors approves the minutes of the board meeting on April 14th, 2026 and the board meeting on April 28th, 2026. >> Second. >> Okay. Uh, this is a voice vote. All those in favor? >> I. >> The eyes have it. The motion passes. Mr. Mr. Allen, can you please read the recommendation to approve the personnel agenda? >> Yes, Madame President, is the recommended action that the board of school directors approves the changes in personnel as reflected in the in personnel agendas number 8.1 and 8.1A. >> Second. We have a second. Dr. Fetcher. >> Thank you, Dr. Mauy. The personnel agenda begins with the appointment of one professional staff member and compensation for interpret interpretation services. I bring your attention to retirement Mr. Robert Bey, coordinator

117of receiving, who has served the district for 35 years. >> Okay. We uh certainly thank Mr. Bey for his long years of service to the district and wish him well in his retirement. Any further comments or questions from the board? >> Mrs. Flanigan. >> Mr. Allen. >> I. >> Mrs. Brown. I >> Miss Eisenhart >> I >> Mr. Muhammad >> I >> Miss Falding >> I >> Miss Bartman >> I >> Miss Frasier >> I >> Miss Fletcher >> I >> Dr. Mauy >> I the eyes have it the motion passes. Mr. Allen, can you please read the recommendation for permits of use of buildings and grounds? >> Yes, Madam President. The recommended action of the board of school directors approves the applications for permits for use of buildings and grounds as reflected in addendum

118number 9.1. >> Second. >> We have a second. Dr. Fetcher. >> Thank you, Dr. Murray. The permanent agenda continues to reflect requests for buildings and grounds for meetings and other school events and activities for this time of year. I'd like to bring your attention to the Abington Police Department CAP Act and PAL triathlon >> which will be held on May 30th, 2026 at 7 a.m. >> That's an early start. Um I noticed that is that the permit that is requesting a suspension of the rules for Schwarzman Stadium? >> Yes. Um your board policy states that that an exception has to be granted from the board for the use of Schwarzman Stadium uh for things that are outside of the school district. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. >> As well as the natiatorum. >> Okay.

119Uh questions or comments from the board? Okay. Mrs. Flanigan. >> Mr. Allen. >> I. >> Mrs. Brown. >> I. >> Miss Eisenhart. >> I. >> Mr. Muhammad. >> I. >> Miss Balding. >> I. >> Miss. Hartman. >> I. >> Miss. Frasier. >> I. >> Miss. Fletcher. >> I. >> Dr. Mauy. >> I. The eyes have it. The motion passes. Mr. Allen. Can you please read the recommendation for advertisement for bids? >> Yes, Madam President. is the recommended action of the board of school directors approves the advertisement for bids as reflected in addendum number 10.1. >> Second, Dr. Fetcher. >> Thank you, Dr. Mauie. Uh this evening we have one request for permission to advertise and that's for the middle school softball field. Just want to remind you that um we have had done this before

120and this is based on a grant to improve the middle school softball field and uh the bids that came in based on the scope of the work were more than double um at that time and therefore we need to um change the scope of the work and to maintain these uh this field and do some improvements to the field. >> Okay. I know that the uh condition of the girls softball se field has been um a thorn in the side of many parents and players over the years. So, I'm glad we'll be able to make some improvements to that. And um this is for the the time between now and then the end of the middle school project when we'll begin to address some of those field changes and improvements. Is that correct? >> Correct.

121This will get us from from now until about July 2029 uh March 30 during that time period. >> Okay. So players will have two and a half three years worth of use of these improvements. >> And this is covered by a grant? >> Yes, it's covered by the grant. The grant uh is for $50,000. >> Okay. Okay. >> So it cost the district it doesn't cost the district anything. doesn't cost the district anything. Um, if we don't change the scope of the work, the importance of this is that we will lose the grant. We uh applied for an extension on the grant. So, we have an additional year for that grant. Um, and that's why we're going through this process. >> Okay. Thank you. >> But the work needs to be completed by the end

122of this calendar year. >> Correct. >> Okay. Okay. Anyone else? >> No. Okay. Mrs. Miss Flanigan, you're Europe. >> Mr. Allen, >> I. >> Mrs. Brown, >> I. >> Miss Eisenhart, >> I. >> Mr. Muhammad, >> I >> Miss Balding, >> I. >> Miss Hortman, >> I. >> Miss Frasier, >> I. >> Miss Fletcher, >> I. >> Dr. Mauy, >> I. The eyes have it and the motion passes. >> Mr. Allen, can you please read the recommendation for awards of contracts? Yes, Madame President, is the recommended action to board of school directors approves the awards of contracts as reflected in addendum number 11.1? >> Second. >> Dr. Fetcher. >> Thank you, Dr. Mauy. Uh, tonight for your consideration, we have four awards of contracts. Um, the first is for our district assessment and data management

123software and services. Um, next is for our endpoint protection software and then our single signon solution software and our visitor management system. Um, I'm going to go through those a little bit more in detail to the best of my knowledge and uh defer to Mr. Cargus if if necessary. Um but I first want to point out that on addendum number 11.1 uh it is incorrect by saying that um January is the start date. Uh that is July 1st 2026. So I'm just correcting that for the record that visitor management system is July 1st 2026 to June 30th 2027. >> Okay. The district assessment and data management software and services is for linkit. Uh our endpoint protection software is for endpoint detection and response and management detection and response for security of our system. Our single

124sign on is uh for multiple programs so that all of uh our students when they sign on have one individual sign on that covers um the multiple programs. And the visitor management system is the raptor system that everyone has to go through uh when visiting a school or um entering into a school building. I can answer or Mr. CarGus can answer in more detail any of those um any questions you may have on those systems. >> Regarding the um visitor management system, Dr. Fetcher, could you um or Mr. Cargus just elaborate a bit on what this system does as far as far as volunteers um when they coming into the building uh for any reason? Um does it replace the clearance verification that happens for volunteers? are they able to access it with it? And

125then um the safety ramifications of using this system for people say picking up a child or entering to attend an event that doesn't require the additional volunteer clearances. >> So anyone entering the building has to provide their ID that gets scanned and then there's a sex offender check that happens and um and then there's a badge. issued to the person visiting. >> So that's for anyone for any reason that comes in, they have to show a photo ID, a state a state license photo ID, and then it's it's that name that comes up is then um put across a database to allow entrance. >> How the system works. >> Okay, >> I'm gonna maybe kick it over to >> Miss Taylor. >> Yeah. >> Hi, good evening. I can help on the volunteer side. So

126we utilize the raptor system at the start of the process for volunteers. So on our website under volunteers there you'll see some instructions regarding the clearances that are required and the process by which um individuals can become approved to volunteer. So through the raptor system um an individual can apply to be a volunteer through that system. They submit the needed clearances. That all comes through to the human resources office where we review those documents and then we're able within Raptor to approve volunteer applications. The system uh is works really well for us. We can communicate with our applicants through the Raptor system and once they're approved, our schools are able to see them again through the Raptor system that they have been approved as a volunteer. So when they go to the building and they

127present their photo ID or they present to the receptionist, they are in the Raptor system as an approved volunteer and then that's a little bit different than how it was done in the past, but they're able to access that information live as opposed to wearing a badge or, you know, limiting to which building you're entering within the district. >> That's correct. What's really nice about it is the badge that you get through Raptor says volunteer. Um, it it allows us to see who is in our buildings in real time as well, which our previous process did not allow us to do and it allows us to facilitate the clearance process through the Raptor system. Okay, so clearances have to be renewed every 5 years. That system allows us to generate the renewal prompting and to

128deactivate those that do not renew. We've been really pleased. I believe we put that into place in 2023. Okay, great. And then for folks just coming in um that aren't volunteers, but they're using a photo ID, what happens if you don't have a stateisssued photo ID um when you're trying to access the building in the vestable area where that's scanned. Um just curious about that. >> I do not know the answer to that question. So I'm looking at Dr. Melor or Mr. target to see if they may be aware. If not, we can certainly circle back. >> At the building level, they would need to have a verification of an ID. So, in cases where it may be a parent that they're familiar with, but generally if they come into the building and access where

129students are, they would need to go through the Raptor system. >> Great. So if they don't for whatever reason, they're then limited to the vestible within the building and they don't have access then into the general area. Um so that the raptor system seems to like prevent incidents of entrance, you know, with malice or not because it prevents them from going any further even if they weren't to have their ID um unintentional or not. Correct. >> Is that correct? >> Correct. And in in each of the buildings, that's why the raptor system is positioned where it is. So you can get through that first set of of doors, but you can't go any further until you're buzzed into the building after completing the system. >> I understand. Thank you. >> Other questions or comments? >>

130Okay. Mrs. Flanigan. >> Mr. Allen. >> I. >> Mrs. Brown. >> I. >> Miss Eisenhart. >> I. >> Mr. Muhammad. >> I. >> Miss. Balding. >> I. >> Miss. Hartman. >> I. >> Miss Frasier. I >> Miss Flutter >> I >> Dr. Mauy >> I the eyes have it and the motion passes. Mr. Allen, can you please read the recommendation for the 2026 2027 proposed final general fund budget? >> Yes, Madame President. It is a recommended action that the board of school directors adopts the proposed final general fund budget of the Abington School District for the 2026 2027 school year in the amount of $216,4564 as shown in addendum number 12.1. The proposed final general fund budget identifies the proposed expenditures of funds as itemized for fiscal the fiscal year beginning the first day of

131July 2026. the necessary revenue for the same period by a real estate transfer tax of 1 half% and by a real estate tax of 41.273 273 mills on the dollar on the total amount of the market valuation of all property tax of all property taxable for valuation wait sorry for school purposes in the Abington school district or at a rate of $4.12 70 4.1273 on each $100 of assessed valuation of taxable property and by an earned income tax of 1/ half of 1% on residents of Abington School District. >> Second, >> Dr. Fetcher. >> Thank you, Dr. Mary. Uh first, Miss Dakola, can you uh explain the uh change uh from the 428 meeting to tonight's meeting schedule? The 428 meeting referenced that the state revenue was going to be budgeted at 202526 amounts. It

132should have said 202627. That was the update that was done. >> Okay. >> So, it's budgeted at the governor's um proposed budget amounts. >> Okay. Thank you. We can answer any questions that you additional questions you may have. >> Okay. Questions or comments? Okay. Mrs. Flanigan. I >> Mrs. Brown >> I >> Miss Eisenhart >> I >> Mr. Muhammed >> I >> Miss Balding >> I >> Miss Hartman >> I >> Miss Frasier >> I >> Miss Fletcher >> I >> Dr. Mauy >> I the eyes have it. The motion passes. >> Mr. Allen, can you please read the recommendation for the general obligation bonds parameters resolution? Yes, Madame President is recommended action at the board of school directors adopts the resolution shown in addendum number 13.1 to partially fund a project consisting of a

133portion of the costs of a capital improvement program consisting of costs associated with the planning, design, and demolition of the existing Abington Middle School and associated work, including but not limited to the relocation of athletic fields, the construction of a new Abington Middle School, the new Abington Abington Middle School, including the relocation of parking lots for the new Abington Middle School and to pay costs and expenses of issuing and possibly ensuring all or a portion of any series of the bonds. >> Second. We have a second. Dr. Fetcher. >> Thank you, Dr. Murray. Uh tonight during our orientation, uh the parameters resolution uh was reviewed. Uh we have our bond council here. if there are any additional questions or we can answer any questions that you may have. >> Okay. Questions or comments from the

134board? >> Right. Mrs. Flanigan, please. >> Mr. Allen, >> I. >> Mrs. Brown, >> I. >> Miss Eisenhart, >> I. >> Mr. Muhammad, >> I. >> Miss Balding, >> I. >> Miss Hartman, >> I. >> Miss Frasier, >> I. >> Miss Fletcher, >> I. >> Dr. Mauy, >> I. The eyes have it. The motion passes. Mr. Allen, can you please read the recommendation for the flexible instruction day program? >> Yes, Madame President. It is the recommended action that the board of school directors approves the resolution regarding a flexible instruction day FID program application as reflected in addendum number 14.1. >> Second, Dr. Fetcher. >> Thank you, Dr. Mary. Uh this application is for flexible instructional days for the 202627 school year, 202728 school year and a 2028-29 school year. Uh this is required um by

135PTE in order during emergency um situations or emergency closing that this plan would permit the district to use up to five uh days per school year that count toward um statemandated 180day or 9990 hour requirements. Okay. questions or comments from the board. >> Did we use any or Yeah. Did we use any flexible instructional days this past year? >> Uh no, we did not because built into our schedule will you first uh exhaust any of the the times that are over 180 days or um 990 hour requirements. Okay. So, this is really just a backup plan in the event of an extended physical closure, >> right? And I would I would venture to say that, you know, unless there were something um major in terms of emergencies or concern, uh this year, for example, I

136think we were at eight um eight days that in the plus of going above the 990 hours. Um so this would be after that. Um so I I don't think that we will need this. We apply for it just because you have to have this application in the event of you know some kind of catastrophe or um a winter where we're snowed in for 20 days >> or something of that sort. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. Um, if I could just say the the children really do appreciate the >> the oneoff snow days that that they've gotten um when necessary. Um, there are some districts that go straight to virtual learning um and you know have essentially stopped doing standards altogether and it's just a little part of the of a childhood that it's

137good to maintain. >> Yeah. we we meet um based on our schedule and time and hours. Um I can't speak for other districts, but we exceed the state requirements. So, it gives us the flexibility to do that. And um you know, it it does help with uh student approval of the superintendent to make a a call for a snow day. But, uh we work in conjunction. I think it's important to note that the the there's never um there's always going to be an opportunity where I'll put it on me, I mess it up um and call one of these days and and you know it we try to do the best we can with all of the um all the radars and etc etc. and the local superintendents who all feed into Eastern meet together

138on mornings or evenings to discuss what our plans are um and and compare that based on our districts and sometimes there's an anomaly um for a district but it's it's a decision that that does carry heavy weight and we try to do the best we can with it but as I always tell the parents there will be one that I mess up and uh if you could just uh keep in mind that meteorologists have a good margin of error and um and treat that with the same uh understanding. >> Thank you. >> Okay. All right. I think you're up. >> Mr. Allen, >> I >> Mrs. Brown >> I. >> Miss Eisenhart >> I. >> Mr. Muhammad >> I. >> Miss Baldin >> I. >> Miss Hartman. >> I >> Miss Frasier >> I. >>

139Miss Fletcher >> I. >> Dr. Mauy >> I. The eyes have it. The motion passes. Mr. Allen, can you please read the recommendation for the Montgomery County inter intermediate unit board member election? >> Yes, Madame President, is the recommended action that the board of school directors complete the ballot for the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit election of school board members. >> Second, Dr. Peter. >> Thank you, Dr. Mauy. The MCIU is conducting its annual election. There are 13 seats on the MCIU board which have become vacant as of July 1st 2000 which will become vacant as of July 1st 2026. In accordance with PA school code, the board of school directors from each of the member districts has submitted a nominee to serve on the MCIU board of directors. Uh currently Mr. Allen is your delegate

140and he was is in for a term from July 1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2028. >> Okay. All right. Questions or comments from the board? >> I just want to thank Mr. Allen for his service and representing uh the district. >> You're welcome. >> For your term. Thank you. >> Thanks. >> For his excellent job representing the district. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> My favorite agenda item. Okay. Uh, Mrs. Flanigan, this is a roll call vote. >> Mr. Allen, >> I. >> Mrs. Brown, >> I. >> Miss Eisenhart, >> I. >> Mr. Muhammad, >> I. >> Miss Balding, >> I. >> Miss Hartman, >> I. >> Miss Frasier, >> I. >> Miss Fletcher, >> I. >> Dr. Mauy, >> I. The eyes have it. The motion passes. >> Mr. Allen, can you please

141read the recommendation for the confidential student matter? Yes, Madame President. Is the recommended action that the board of school directors approves the confidential student matter as reflected in addendum number 16.1. >> Second. >> Dr. Fetcher. >> Thank you, Dr. Mary. Uh, the confidential student matter is in regard to an educational services agreement. Please keep in mind the confidentiality of student matters. I can answer any questions that you may have. >> Okay, questions. All right, let's do it. Mr. Allen >> I >> Mrs. Brown >> I >> Miss Eisenhart >> I >> Mr. Muhammed >> I >> Miss Balding >> I >> Miss Hartman >> I >> Miss Frasier >> I >> Miss Fletcher >> I >> Dr. Mauy >> I the eyes have it. The motion passes. Mr. Allen can you please read the recommendation

142for the Holocaust awareness awareness museum and education center gift. Yes, Madame President. Is the recommended action to board of school directors acknowledge the gifts of artifacts by HMEC Hammock and the installation of signage at the senior high school to establish the hammock legacy center at Abington Senior High School. >> Second, >> Dr. Fetcher. >> Thank you, Dr. Mary. Um as as we heard earlier in collaboration with uh our teachers between Aurora and Bill Pendreas, the Holocaust Museum and Education Center or Hammock um at um Congregation Ki is establishing a permanent exhibit at uh Abington Senior High School. The Abington Educational Foundation has provided a grant for cabinets. the Mark Sean Weter um Holocaust Education Foundation has provided a $1,000 grant for signage and Hammock is providing artifacts for the display. This space will be named

143the Hammock Legacy Center at Abington Senior High School with a planned opening for the 202627 school year. The artifacts will be used uh to continue the education of our own students as well as students from other high schools in the area with students enrolled in Holocaust genocide and crimes against humanity course serving as the dosent. >> Thank you. Um I want to thank the uh uh the Holocaust Awareness Museum and Education Center for their generosity. Um, this is going to provide our students with important uh educational opportunity, but also some experience in thinking through what goes into making a museum and why they remain important parts of our cultural conversations. Um, questions or comments from the board? >> I just want to say I'm really excited about this project. I can't wait to see it.

144>> Okay, >> Mr. Allen. >> I, >> Mrs. Brown. >> I, >> Miss Eisenhart. >> I, >> Mr. Muhammad. >> I, >> Miss Falding, >> I, >> Miss Hartman. I >> Miss Frasier >> I >> Miss Fletcher >> I >> Dr. Mauy >> I the eyes have it. >> Uh Dr. Fetcher, any additional reports and recommendations by the administration? >> Yes, Dr. Maui. I provide the conference attendance and professional leaves and the capital improvement projects for your information. >> Okay. As always, our faculty um continue to be busy providing our students with lots of opportunities. So, we thank them for that additional work. Um questions or comments from the board? No. All right. Uh any other business that may appropriately be brought to the attention of the board? Okay, that brings us to our final

145section of comments from citizens. Once again, comments from citizens are being conducted both in person and by phone. The phone number to participate in public comments is 2677153717 and is being displayed on the screen at this time. You can join the meeting uh by calling in on your mobile or landline phone. A citizen will be recognized once during this period of the meeting and each citizen's comments will be limited to a total of three minutes except at the discretion of the president. Time may not be yielded or otherwise transferred by one speaker to another for purposes of extending a given speaker's time allotment. If there's anyone present who would like to make a comment, please use the mic either to your left or to your right. whenever you're ready. Uh, still Joe Rooney and Arsley.

146Um, first uh for the board and for the board president, we're still waiting for a public apology about your mean-spirited character assassination for Dr. Swift. And professionals apologize when they're wrong. Second, with the MCIU, we heard the stories about at least abuse of funds, three-w week uh safaris to Kenya, trips to Singapore, Korea. Uh we've never heard any followup about that. There's lots of stuff going on about fraud. What are we doing to protect our 285 million bucks that you guys are going to borrow? How are we going to protect fraud for fraud in that? Um, ICS has already gotten what, $5 million and we don't know what it's for other than AI pictures. I've asked for some things and there seems to be a few holes in the uh information that I've received. Third

147one, um, for Connie, the budget is very different between the table given to the last meeting by millions, maybe even up to$10 million from last meeting to the budget that's that was presented today. And for taxpayers, it's $20 million a year for 30 years. There's 22,000 tax accounts in Abington and Rock Ledge. That comes out to $910 a year. That's additional taxes every year for every tax account. Now, that may come out of your real estate taxes. It may come out of your rent. It may come out of the prices that you pay in Abington Township, but that's we're paying just for the middle school. Uh the Raptor system, real quick, we got all these great pictures of all these kids hanging around outside during the school day. All these AI pictures, but the Raptor

148systems meant to control the kids and keep people away from them. There's a disconnect there somewhere. I don't get it. Maybe you could explain the security part and the freedom that why are the kids outside during the day? And then uh all the pictures that we've got uh the I the AI stuff they're talking about daylight harvesting. We already have daylight harvesting. Everybody was complaining about how hot it was inside the um the current middle school. Um I'd love to see some actual pictures of the beautiful library that we have that you all are planning on tearing down and compare that with the library that they showed. The library was nice. It has nothing over the library that's that we own already that's in the middle school. It's a bad deal to borrow $285 million,

149pay it back over 30 years, $600 million plus, to not get what looks like it's much different than the middle school that we already have. And I know it's intoxicating, like I said before, to dream about spending 285 million bucks. But y'all are here to educate kids in middle school tomorrow, next month, for the next three years. You supposedly had this chairlift was going to come in, but now there's no chair lift, but for the next three years, there isn't a chairlift either. But you're worried about a chairlift into the gym. Is that >> Yep. >> Is that done? Yeah. >> Wow. Dang. >> Oh, well. Don't tear down our current $100 million. >> Your time is up. Take a seat, please. >> It's valuable. >> Take a seat, please. >> Mr. Cargus, do we

150have anyone on the line? >> We have no callers. >> Okay. Do we need to give them a minute or >> We do not. >> Okay. That brings us to closing comments. Mr. >> Oh, I'm sorry, Dr. Fetch. I just apologize. >> Uh address um a couple things. First, >> um the district has an internal audit um that we hire and an external audit that occurs uh to provide safeguards uh against fraud. And so I think that is important to note that um all of our uh budget including our referendum budget um are audited internally and uh externally. Um in terms of the uh wheelchair lift at the middle school um we actually um change direction on that based on a few things. One of the factors was um the capability of of putting in

151a chairlift that was uh appropriate and that could work within the infrastructure. Uh we worked with parents and um of students who brought the concern concern forward and there's an alternative um for for our students. Uh Mr. Carter, Dr. Melor, could you could you speak to that? Yes, for the current elevator, we currently upgraded our service to a premium platinum service. It cost a little bit more money, but anytime we have a call, we are guaranteed service within 1 hour. That doesn't necessarily mean the tech is going to be on site within an hour, but they are dispatched within an hour. Um, we've had several instances over the past couple years where there's been an interruption in service, whether it be the night before or first thing in the morning, and we've never had to

152go more than a period without having this elevator restored. >> Okay. That's all I have to think. >> That's all you have. Okay. All right. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to >> preempt you. Okay. Now, we can move to closing comments. Mr. Allen, >> have a good evening. >> Mrs. Brown. >> Congratulations again to Miss uh Betatina Roar. Um listening to her being acknowledged and receiving the prestigious award. Uh just as a teacher to give your get your flowers while you're still here before you retire. There's something very special to that. So congrats again uh Miss Patina Royer. >> Miss Eisenhard. >> Good evening everyone. Mr. Muhammad. I also want to extend my congratulations to Miss Roar, um, social studies teacher at heart. Um, I I really appreciate the work that she and Mr. Pendergast

153are doing with the Holocaust Awareness Museum and Education Center. Uh, it is an an excellent example of bringing history to life in a public school. Um, it's a beautiful example of public history where every day students can experience a little bit of piece of history in their school. And you know, it's another uh reminder of how terrible ideas and terrible policy can turn to um horrendous horrendous circumstances. Um, and hopefully it serves as a reminder to everyone who encounters the space that humanity can go down that road very easily if we are not careful and if we are not intentional about pulling away from some terrible ideas and terrible policies. Um, so I'm I'm very thankful that that space will exist in the high school. Good night. >> Okay, Miss Folding. Um, well, I want

154to say we'll come back after Memorial Day, so enjoy the first holiday. But I also hope we have teachers like Miss Roar around to write the current history of what we're going through. This country is going through a lot and it needs to be properly recorded. Good evening. >> Good evening, everyone. Miss Fraser. >> Yeah. regarding the Holocaust um um event that's occurring in the museum etc. that's at the high school. I think it's wonderful um that that's something that's uh coming to pass in this day and age of misinformation. You the ideal is to um have or teach based on primary sources. So there's primary sources, there's secondary sources. So again, in this day and age of misinformation, to have artifacts, firsthand information, primary sources is ideal. So I'm happy about that. Good night,

155>> Miss Fletcher. >> I don't think anything additional. Have a good night, everyone. >> Miss Lee, >> I think most of it's already been said, but I'd also like to congratulate Miss War had her last year as my teacher, and I can't think of anyone more deserving. So >> a well, that's great. So, it's been a long meeting, but I'm going to beg my colleagues indulgence for just a few minutes. Um, to be an educator, as many of us know, is to engage in an incredible act of faith. We don't always know whether what we teach our students sinks in, has an impact, changes lives. students come and go out of our classrooms. Um, almost 20 years ago, this is going to be hard. Um, I took my daughter, my oldest, to Highland Elementary the

156second year that the new school was open. and Denise Young, um, who's taught there for many years, took her hand and walked her into the kindergarten wing. >> Sorry. Um, this Wednesday, that little girl is graduating from law school. >> She is a public school kid through and through. And I am eternally grateful to this district and every teacher she had for challenging her and encouraging her to become the extraordinary young woman that she is. Um, it is both an honor and incredibly humbling to sit up here and to continue to create these same opportunities that my kids enjoyed. Um, and so thank you to everyone who helped shape her. And with that, this meeting is adjourned.