001Good evening and welcome to the August 12th, 2025 meeting of the Abington Board of School Directors. I note the attendance of all board members with the exception of Miss Eisenhart and Miss Brown who are excused. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge algiance 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. This meeting is also being broadcast live on the Abington School District YouTube channel. For those members of the public who cannot participate this evening, this meeting is also being recorded and will be available on the district's website and cable channel no
002later than Friday, August 15, 2025. Comments from citizens will be conducted in person and by phone. Instructions for calling into each public comment section of the meeting will be displayed on the screen during that segment. The board thanks the public in advance for its cooperation. This is a place where we hold dignity and high regard and everyone's voices are respected and welcomed in this space. Uh Dr. Fetcher, do we have any additional announcements? >> Yes, Dr. Mery, you have a few uh announcements today. Um first and first, as we return to our regularly scheduled board meetings for the 202526 school year, wanted to provide the public with an update on the status of the middle school project. uh following the voter's approval of the referendum at the end of May. As a reminder, at the
003June 24th meeting of the board of school directors, the district entered into a contract with ICS for professional program management, design, professional, and construction management services for the middle school construction, demolition, and relocation of athletic fields and related improvements. This was the first step in the design phase of the project which is being followed by uh finalizing the approach for funding and bond sales which Mr. Lionetti is leading along with our bond council and tonight you'll see an agenda item uh regarding that. Uh I would also like to thank our ICS team for taking the board and administration on a tour of the new Keith Valley Middle School last week. It's helpful for us to have examples of how some districts have designed their new buildings and we have plans to visit a few others
004in our area in the weeks ahead as we get closer to developing a design for Abington Middle School. Uh further there will be opportunities for community input this fall which will include an online uh stakeholder survey that will help uh inform the site plan. The survey is currently anticipated to be available in late September uh to October. Middle school teachers and staff will also be included in feedback opportunities and sessions to ensure that we have input on programming and design uh priorities. When there is an opportunity to provide community input, we will send emails out uh to our community list serve. So, please make sure you subscribe uh to that if you are not already receiving district emails and you can do that by visiting our website under communications uh for directions on how to
005sign up. We also uh continue to utilize our other routine communication channels as our dedicated 1ASD1 future website and district social media platforms. For those who do not utilize uh social media, you can also download the Abington School District app on your mobile device to receive live feed updates direct to your phone. Uh next, I'm going to ask uh Mr. Lionetti to please give an update on the status of our federal and state funding as we head into the new school year. >> Thank you, Dr. Pitcher. Last week, Dr. Viola of our teaching and learning department was advised by our regional federal programs administrator that the federal programs grant process has reopened for 202526 with updated awards amounts for titles 1 2 3 and four programs. The total award is 1,364,340 which is $33,165 less
006than the amount reflected in our 2526 budget. Out of an abundance of caution in speaking with Dr. Buts, the teaching and learning department planned programmatically for 1,3674, which is $3,546 less than the new award amount. Please be reminded that the updated amounts are not typically finalized until January, but those final amounts are typically dimminimous in nature. So, we're in we're in good shape with those federal federal funds for title projects. As you know, the state um has not completed its budget yet, but in July, the school district received a letter from the Commonwealth Secretary of Budget regarding subsidy payments that will be delayed due to the untimely completion of the state budget. At this time, um I'm not anticipating um any cash flow problems as a result of the delay of those funds. Um it
007looks like about $8 million is in is in question. Um due to the fact that we are in August and September and it's our highest collection period of real estate revenues, we do not have a cash flow problem and we'll be be able to meet the obligations of of the school district. Uh we await uh further information from the state. It was interesting to note that with the SEPTA um issue looming forward that there might have been an opportunity for the governor to move the the needle forward on this. But as of this afternoon, which I last checked around 3:00, I didn't see anything that was optimistic about the budget being done anytime soon. So, we'll continue to moni monitor that situation and as we have information, we'll share it with the board. >> That's
008all I have. Dr. Fetcher. >> Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Lionetti. That's all I have in terms of announcements this evening. Could I ask for a little bit of clarification? Mr. Lionetti, could you um just clarify for folks what those 8 million state dollars are typically used for? >> Yes. Um we have two major subsidies. Uh basic education and special education subsidies. Uh we also have um a first installment of our transportation subsidy which is um quite minimal. And um we also have an accountability block grant that totals $41,000 which is also um delayed. Most significantly is we receive half of the um homestead allowance from the state in the month of September. So, you recall on the budget there's a $7 million um state source of funds that offsets the homestead reduction that appears on
009all the homestead invoices that went down in July. So, we're going to wait for that resource to come in um until the state budget. Again, we don't have a cash flow problem right now. If this goes on for >> October, no, no, December, we'll have to take another look at that. Okay. Um, and how much of what is our special education subsidy do you know off hand? >> Um, I have the information with me if you give me a moment. >> Sure. Thank you. [Applause] >> While I'm looking, I can say that we do not receive it all at once. It's spread out over the course of the the year. Um, our special education subsidy is just under $4.8 million and our basic education subsidy is just under $12.3 million. >> Okay. >> And what
010I'm expecting from that state property tax, the total amount is 7.9 million. So somewhere around 3.8 is what we would have expected in September for >> for the homestead. >> The homestead. Mhm. >> Okay. Thank you very much. You're >> welcome. Okay, with that we will move to opening comments from board members. Mr. Allen. >> Nothing. Thank you. >> Mr. Muhammad. >> Good evening everyone. >> Miss Folding. >> Um, hello everybody and welcome back to a new school year. >> Miss Hartmouth. Welcome back everyone. Looking forward to a really productive school year. Miss Fraser. >> Same. Welcome back. Miss Fazy, welcome back everyone. Um so I will also add my welcome to that and that we are looking forward to some exciting developments this year related to the middle school project the design phase as
011we move forward with that. Okay with that uh did you want to add anything Dr. Peter? No. Okay. Okay. So we will move on to our first section of comments from citizens. 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'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. So we'll start with folks
012in the room. If there's anyone present who'd like to make a comment, please use a microphone either to the left or your right. Yes. Good evening everyone. Uh my name is Roy Bant, 925 Cherokee Avenue, Huntington Valley, PA. >> Thank you. Um, speaking of the new, uh, middle school project, um, some awards were granted and as a taxpayer, just want to know were bids given out, were multiple bids received when decisions were made for whom was going to get the project, and will the there be any preferential treatment for Abington residents that are in the building trades and union labor and things like got. >> Thank you for your voice. >> Anyone else? >> Go ahead. >> Hey, uh hello everybody. I hope you all have had a nice summer for folks working. Thank you
013all for the work you've done this summertime and uh we still have a couple weeks left. So, um we appreciate you all being here. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Joe Rooney. I live in Arsley. Uh, I'd like to talk about the uh finance team item. First off, just as a quick reminder, um, the yes vote won by 411 votes. About 40% of the voters turned out in the primary. Um, there are 44,000 total um, uh, voters. So 400 votes is less than 1%. That's a $285 million bond for an undetermined number of years. I hope you all keep that in mind how what a thin majority that was. The school district also violated campaign finance law and at least was unethical in their campaign. So all of those don't reflect well. I hope we move forward
014from there. Um the vote itself made no stipulations as far as the rate was concerned nor the time length of the bond was concerned. Uh, with that in mind, there are six people on the finance committee and I don't know positively, but I don't believe any of them are either Abington residents or Rock Ledge residents. I think that when we make such a momentous decision that an Abington resident, Rock Ledge resident should be on it. I don't understand why no one of the directors is on that committee either because you are elected representatives. So with that in mind, I will offer myself I would like to be on that finance team and um I'll make that formal request, but I would appreciate you considering that. Along with that, um how many of the people on
015the finance team have a financial interest in this bond? I would assume Audrey Bear, George Magna does. I know uh Mr. O'Donn does because he's our solicitor. He gets paid for every hour. Um beyond that, we have two CFOs. I don't understand that. I realize Mr. Lion Eddie's retiring, so we only need one CFO, so there's room for other people on that committee. Um, moving on. As far as that's concerned, uh, let's see, the last thing is the bond issue. I would like to see, just like Mr. Bant said, the money should stay in Abington. So, Abington and Rockedge taxpayers should get the first shot at the bonds. If we're going to float 30, 40, or 20, 30 or 40year 6% bonds, then we ought to keep the money in Abington so Abington taxpayers can
016invest some of their IRA, some of their retirement funds into four, five, and 6% returns over 40 years, not just sell it to city or whomever. So, I hope the finance team considers that. Also, when we did the high school bonds, there were one and a half and two-year bonds at 6% and they just went out to anybody. I know a hundred people who would have bought those bonds if they had the opportunity. So I hope the finance team working with whomever else is in there goes, you know, we got to give Abington and Rock Ledge residents, hardworking teachers, the janitors in the school, people like that. Thank you for your one minute left. >> Nope, you're done. >> You want to hear anymore? >> Take a seat, please. >> There's nobody here. It's a
017short meeting. >> Take a seat, please. Now, >> I'll request a little more time. >> Denied. >> You have that option available. Take a seat. >> Thanks. It's great to see you again. >> Mr. Cargus, can you confirm that there are no callers on the line? >> There are no callers on the line. >> Okay. Anyone else in the room? >> Okay. Dr. Fetcher, >> I'm going to ask Mr. Lionetti if you could review um Mr. advanced question about um the bid process and where we are at this point uh within the project. >> Uh a number of years ago, we first engaged with ICS through a competitive process to get program management um services um selected. Um, moving forward, ICS is working with the school district to develop the plans and specifications for which
018we will have uh a competitive bid process for um all of the prime contractors that are going to be um working on that project and will be in concert with um all the state purchasing regulations that's imposed on us by the Department of Education. So timelinewise um in terms of the contractors and all that would probably be um in the fall of 2026. Correct. >> Yes. We're anticipating about a 12 to 15month uh design process before we go up to bid in the time frame that you're stating. >> Right. Okay. >> Thank you. >> Anything else? >> No. Okay. >> Okay. With that, we will move on to approval of minutes. Yes, >> Mr. Allen, can you please read the recommendation to approve the June meeting minutes? >> Yes, Madam President, is the recommended action
019that the board of school directors approves the minutes of the special board meeting on June 3rd, 2025, the board meeting on June 10th, 2025, and the board meeting on June 24th, 2025. >> Second. We have a second. This is a voice vote. All those in favor? >> I. >> All those opposed. The motion carries. Mr. Allen, can you please read the recommendation to approve the personnel addendum? >> Yes, madame president. It is the recommended action of the board of school directors approves the changes in personnel reflected agenda personnel addendas number 5.1 and 5.1a. >> Second. We have a second. Dr. Fetcher. >> Thank you, Dr. Mauy. The personnel addendum begins with the request for leaves of absence from uh two professional employees, change of assignment for two professional staff members, rehire of three current long-term
020substitutes for the 202526 school year. Of these uh two have been rehired as temporary professional employees. The personnel addendum continues with the appointment of three professional employees. Uh the personnel addendum also includes changes of status for 18 professional employees who have completed the tenure requirements to go from temporary professional employees to professional employees. Compensated compensation for uh curriculum projects, IEP meetings, interpreter and translation services, summer schedulers schedulers and um team leaders. >> Thank you. Questions or comments from the board? No. Okay, Mrs. Flanigan, this is a roll call vote. >> Mr. Allen, >> I. >> Mr. Muhammad, >> I. >> Miss Balding, >> I. >> Miss Hartman, >> I. >> Miss Frasier, >> I. >> Miss Fazy, >> I. >> Dr. Mauy, >> I. The eyes have it and the motion passes. Mr. Allen, can
021you please read the recommendation for permits of use of buildings and grounds? >> Yes, Madame President. is a recommended action to board of school directors approves the applications for permits for use of buildings and grounds as reflected in addendum number 6.1. >> Dr. Fetcher. >> Thank you, Dr. Mauy. The permanent addendum >> forgot the second. I'm sorry. >> Now we have a second. Dr. Fetcher. >> Thank you, Dr. Mauy. Uh the permanent addendum reflects typical requests for buildings and grounds for meetings and other school events activities uh for this time of year including uh district athletics, coral, band, and instrumental activities. Please note there are various permits that have been submitted for open houses to start off the uh school year. >> Okay, questions and comments from the board. Great to see those open houses
022being scheduled. Um, good to see our schools um and our community members interacting. Okay, Mrs. Flanigan, >> Mr. Allen, >> I. >> Mr. Muhammed, >> I >> Miss Balding, >> I >> Miss Hartman, >> I. >> Miss Frasier, >> I >> Miss Fazy, >> I. >> Dr. Mauy, >> I The eyes have it. The motion passes. Mr. Allen, can you please read the recommendation for awards of contracts? >> Yes, Madame President. Is the recommended action that the board of school directors approves the award as a contracts as reflected in addendum number 7.1. >> Second. >> We have a second. Dr. Fetcher. >> Thank you, Dr. Murray. Tonight, for your consideration, we have three awards of contract. The first is for uh capital lease finance agreement. This is for um an agreement for the four nine
023passenger student transportation vans. This will uh be in the general fund budget beginning in the 202526 year and continuing through the 2029 2030 school year. The next is for those uh for nine passenger student transportation vans. And this is a combination of funding from uh the 202526 access funds as well as the general fund uh budgets and as mentioned in a prior award it would be uh purchased through a capital lease finance agreement. Uh the last award this evening uh recommended is for a simulated impaired driving experience vehicle accessories. Uh this is paid for by a grant. This is from the um Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board Reducing Underage Drinking and Dangerous Drinking Grant. Uh essentially this is a a car that has an uh experience for our students um to see what it would be
024like if they are impaired driving. Um and it's part of our uh curriculum as well with our health curriculum. And um we've had the vehicle last year and this is for additional accessories for that vehicle. >> Okay. >> And it's uh 100% grant funded. >> Okay. I have a question. >> Go ahead. >> Uh state or federal or either for the grant? >> That grant is a Pennsylvania liquor control board. Y >> other questions or comments? >> No. Okay. Mrs. Flanigan, if you would please. >> Mr. Mr. Allen >> I >> Mr. Muhammad >> I >> Miss Falding >> I >> Miss Hartman >> I >> Miss Frasier >> I >> Miss Vasy >> I >> Dr. Mauy >> I the eyes have it and the motion passes. Mr. Allen can you please read the
025recommendation to assemble the bond finance team? Yes, Madame President, is the recommended action that the board of school directors authorizes its finance team comprised of Miss Audrey Bear, financial adviser, Mr. George T. Magnata, bond counsel, Mr. Justin Odonahghue, solicitor, Mr. Christopher A. Lionetti, chief financial officer and board secretary. Miss Patricia Danakola, chief financial officer, and Dr. Jeffrey S. Fetcher, superintendent of schools to investigate and prepare for the issuance of general bond or excuse me, general obligation bond series 2025 the for the Abington school district middle school project. >> Second. >> Dr. Fetcher, we have a second. >> Thank you, Dr. Mary. Uh the district is requesting authorization to assemble the B uh bond finance team to investigate and prepare for the issuance of debt uh in series 2025 general obligation bonds. It it is recommended
026that the finance team proceed in order to fund capital projects that address the Amington School District uh middle school project. >> Okay. Questions or comments from the board? >> No. Okay. I have I have a question. Has there ever um in past bond offerings has a school director been part of the finance team? >> Not that I'm aware of, but I'll defer to Mr. Lionetti. >> Dr. Fetcher is correct. Um clearly, um we will have to keep the board informed as you will have to deliberate deliberate this in public when we bring the uh bond issue in public. So your input um is extremely valuable um in the process as well as in the final result. But no one board member sat sat on has sat on a committee in my tenure here uh on
027this team. Um that doesn't mean that there isn't um a precedent if you wish to set that. >> Okay. Does anyone else I'm sorry. Go ahead. I didn't mean to cut you off. >> We um we report to you on our progress, >> right? and take direction. >> Right. >> Anyone have thoughts on that? >> So, I don't necessarily feel uh a personal interest, but I wouldn't be opposed to supporting if somebody wanted to join this this team. >> Okay. Um Mr. O'Donn if if a board member stepped up and expressed interest in being included on this team, what would the implications be for this agenda item at this meeting >> in terms of could you amend it to a you could you could have somebody vote to amend it to add a board member
028make a motion to amend to add >> a board representative to the finance team. >> Okay. Okay. So, that gives us a a chance to think about this. Okay. Is that okay? All right. So, then we'll move to a vote on this tonight, right? And then we can also we could move to amend it subsequently. >> Oh, sure. You can add a member to the finance team at any point in time. You you you're talking about tonight approving this and then adding someone present at the second meeting in office. Right. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. So, in other words, that if we if we vote on this tonight and approve it, the finance team has the board's permission to proceed, but we could because we're we're we have two me board members who are not here
029this evening. So, if we chose to amend the policy at a subsequent meeting, they would have an opportunity to weigh in on that. Does that that make sense to everyone? >> Yeah. Okay. All right. So, in that case, we'll proceed with the vote. Mrs. Flanigan, thank you. >> Mr. Allen, >> I >> Mr. Muhammad >> I. >> Miss Balding, >> I >> Miss Hartman, >> I. >> Miss Frasier, >> I >> Miss Fazy, >> I. >> Dr. Mauy, >> I The eyes have it and the motion passes. Uh, Mr. Allen, that brings us to agenda item nine. Could you please read the recommendation for districtwide assessments? >> Yes, madame president. is the recommended action of the board of school directors. Approves the district-wide assessment program, thereby thereby providing represent representational consent for this method of
030collecting information about students with the stipulation that parents and guardians be provided written notification of the name and purpose of each assessment to be administered as attached in addendum 9.1. >> Second. Okay, we have a second. Dr. Fetcher. >> Thank you, Dr. Mary. It is requested that the board of school directors provide representational consent to administer the assessments reflected in the attached addendum. Parents and guardians uh will be advised in advance that such assessments are to be administered throughout the school year and to which grade levels as well as the purpose. >> Okay. Questions or comments? So, um am I correct in understanding that this list of assessments was produced after um some scrutiny and consideration about the number of assessments that we were administering to students? >> Yes, that is correct. Um what what
031we have on this list a lot are uh required assessments. Okay. and then some and individual uh assessments for uh could be for placement or for uh reading assessments. Um however, what we are trying to do is take a look at the not the amount of time that our students are doing assessments throughout the throughout the uh day and focusing on how can we consolidate some of those. Um so some of those may be in the form of unit exams or they may be um in the form of using one assessment versus uh two you know replacing two assessments. >> Okay. >> I can um turn it over to uh Miss Anama or Dr. Biola if you want to add anything to that or if I missed something. >> Uh no, you said it correctly.
032Um I could just add an example as a for instance um in K5 we are using our new program that we adopted for reading amplify CKLA we're using their program materials and that will replace I ready reading and reading. >> Okay. All right. Great. Um, so I'm glad to see that we're still obviously monitoring our students progress, but um, easing that burden a bit both for teachers and students so that there's more time and opportunity for learning. >> Okay. >> Yeah, I just want to concur with that. Um, it's an extensive list. It's a lot of instructional time. I understand that we need to monitor and assess student learning. Um, but it is a bit troubling. >> Okay. Anyone else? >> No. Okay. We'll move to the vote then. Mrs. Flanigan. Thank you. >> Mr.
033Allen. >> I. >> Mr. Muhammad. >> Abstain. >> Miss. Malding. >> I. >> Miss. Hartman. >> I. >> Miss. Frasier. >> I. >> Miss. Fezy. >> I. >> Dr. Mauy. >> I. The eyes have it and the motion passes. Uh, Mr. Allen, that you good? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Can you please read the re recommendation for the revision of public board meetings? >> Yes, madame president. Is the recommended action that the board of school directors cancels the board meeting scheduled for June 1st, 2026 and schedules a district-wide student achievements award ceremony. >> Second. We have a second. Dr. Fetcher. Thank you, Dr. Mary. In uh 2025, the board scheduled a board meeting specifically for the purpose of acknowledging student achievements and awards in write reading, writing, mathematics, and the arts. While the event was
034a wonderful celebration of our students, it does not require a formal board meeting because it does not involve deliberation or official action by the board. Instead, a district-wide uh student achievement awards ceremony will be held on June 2nd, 2026 at 7 p.m. in the Abington Senior High School auditorium in lie of a board meeting for this purpose. >> Okay. Questions or comments from the board? >> No. Okay. I The awards ceremony is pretty awesome. Even though it's not an official board meeting, I would encourage everyone to attend if they're able. The smiles are the best. Uh, Mrs. Flanigan, if you could do the roll call, please. >> Mr. Allen, >> I. >> Mr. Muhammad, >> I. >> Miss Balding, >> I. >> Miss Hartman, >> I. >> Miss Frasier, >> I. >> Miss Fezy, >>
035I. >> Dr. Mauy, >> I. The eyes have it and the motion passes. Mr. Allan, uh, can you please read the recommendations for special ed programs? And we're just going to read these consecutively instead of each one. >> Thank you, >> Madam President. Is the recommended action of the board of school directors authorizes the administration to contract with pediatric therapeutic services for the provision of applied behavior analysis services, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech and language services for the district's special education program for the 2025 2026 school year for up to 1,162,870.54 including uh during ESY summer 2026. six if needed. Further, it is recommended action to authorize the administration to contract with children's therapy consultants for the provision of occupational therapy and physical therapy for the 2025 2026 school year in the amount not
036to exceed $500,000. Further approve payments to the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit for the age of beginner students for the 2025 2026 school year for costs associated with early intervention services in the amount not to exceed $135,000. >> Second. >> We have a second. Dr. Fetcher. >> Thank you, Dr. Mary. Uh these items are for contracted services for our special education program. Um either I or Miss Capatola can answer any questions that you may have about any of these services. >> Okay. Questions or comments from the board? >> I have a question. Um, do we does does Abington um hire internally any occupational therapists or physical therapists or is that is that all contracted out to pediatric therapeutic services? >> It's all contracted out. Okay. >> It's also contracted out to children's therapy services consultants as
037well. So, two separate agencies and district schools. >> Okay. So, we don't we don't actually provide any of that internally. >> Not speech. >> Okay. Thank you. >> That was ironic because that was my question considering I have two occupational therapists. >> Other questions or comments from the board? >> Okay. Mrs. Flanigan. >> Mr. Allen. >> Hi, >> Mr. Mohammed. I >> Miss Balding >> I >> Miss Hartman >> I >> Miss Frasier >> I >> Miss Vasy >> I >> Dr. Mauy >> I the eyes have it and the motion passes. >> Dr. Fetcher, are there any additional reports and recommendations by the administration and superintendent? >> Yes, Dr. Mauy, I provide for you the conference attendance and professional leaves report as well as the capital improvement projects report for your information. >> Okay.
038>> Questions or comments from board members? Okay. Uh, any other business that m that appropriately may be brought to the attention of the board of school directors? No. Okay. That brings us to our second uh section of comments from citizens. As before, 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'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 three minutes except at the discretion of the president. Time may not be given, I'm sorry, time may not be yielded or otherwise transferred by one speaker to
039another for purposes of extending a given speaker's time allotment. Uh, if there's anyone who would like to make a comment, please use the microphone either to your left or to your right in the room. Excuse me. >> Yes. Good evening. Roy Bant, 925 Cherokee Avenue. again. Um, I'm going to ask the same two questions that were not answered earlier correctly. I represent many taxpayers with no children in the school district, but we pay the taxes and we have a right to know. So the first question is for the contracts and awards that were already awarded for the middle school project. What was the bidding process and decision process for those that were already awarded? Number two, for the middle school project, will Abington and Rock ledge licensed contractors be given preferential treatment for the project?
040Thank you. Thank you for your voice and for reiterating those questions. Anyone else in the room? >> Yeah. Joe O'Brien Glennside. You voted on people to handle the bond, but yet you never said a word about their qualifications. How do we know any of these people are qualified to handle bonds? Can you explain anything about that? Why you vote on these people without telling us their qualifications for it? >> Does that conclude your cl your comment? >> I just want the public to know that you vote on your friends and people you know without explaining anything about their qualifications to handle bonds. Bonds are not something simple. They are not a simple financial thing. Does that conclude your comment? >> Yes. >> I just want the public to know. >> Thank you for your voice.
041Anyone else in the room? You could have just asked me to flesh out my idea a little more because I actually put a lot of thought into this. Um, I don't think anybody on the board had thought of it until I brought it up. So, here's the scoop with the finance team. We should have a civilian on the team. We should have an elected board member on the team. This is $285 million. The last bond issue was 90 million bucks and Mr. Schwarzman gave $25 million and Dr. Cickle was in charge. This is a whole new thing going on right now and that's three times the size. We never tore down a hundred million dollar building before either. The board should be representing the elected people in Ab or the the voters in Abington and
042Rock ledge and make sure that we are getting some kind of protections as far as the interest rates or the coupon, whatever you want to call it, and the terms are concerned. That's reasonable. Next, um there ought to be a civilian, there ought to be a board member, there should be a Republican on that board. 50% minus half a percent, 411 votes voted no. And none of you represent any of them. They are Democrats. They're Republicans. They're independents. None of you care about any of them because you've never reached out to them. That's important going forward for the next 40 years. The next one, um I'm offering 300 $3 million for the middle school once it's not being constructed anymore. And I'm inviting other Abington residents to entertain the same idea. We will develop it
043and then whatever we do after that, we can put that money back into the incredible bond we have. That's a $100 million functional and structurally sound building. It is insane to tear that down. So, I'm making the offer right now and I'll make a formal written offer and I will I will recommend other people entertain the same thing. There's plenty of old school buildings in our township that are now owned by whatever the school is over in Roslin and what the church is over in McKinley. We sell school buildings all the time. The next one is uh oh, what do I have here? Oh, I'm sorry. The last thing completely different. August 15th is both the feast of the assumption, but it's also the 80th anniversary of VJ day, the end of World War II.
044There's a list of a hundred dead Abington school district students, teachers, janitors, but there are thousands of people in Abington that fought in World War II. And I realize that the school district is just beginning the school year, but there ought to be some way to recognize them. And I'll ask everybody when you go to mass on Friday, say a prayer for our incredible World War II vets. They're almost all dead right now, but we owe them almost everything. I hope you all have had a good summer and I welcome you all back and I look forward to the coming year. Thank you. >> Thank you for your voice. Mr. Cargus, do we have any callers waiting? >> We do not. >> Okay. Okay. Uh Dr. Fetcher, >> thank you. Um Mr. Lionetti, could you
045review the question for Mr. um specifically about any bid process or process that was used uh for services that are already in place on the middle school project. >> So our program management services are being provided by ICS. ICS was gained through a competitive proposal process a few years ago leading up to their um contract. I believe I stated that that earlier. Thanks for letting me say it more succinctly. >> Okay. In terms of um Abington and Rocklage uh contractors, we are not in the um bid process for contractors at the >> Yeah, >> sure. Um the when when it is time for construction uh when it's time to conduct that bid process the district will be required to bid those contracts publicly multi-prime and be required to award contracts to the lowest responsible bidder
046for each of the trades. There is no uh we're not permitted to have a local preference in terms of that calculation, but certainly anyone from Rocklage and and Abington who is qualified to bid the project would be welcome to submit a bid and encouraged frankly. >> And will that take place the fall of 2026? The hiring of subcontractors, for example, >> That's the plan. That's the timeline >> planning to go. But >> yeah, >> that's all I have. >> Okay. Anything? Nothing else? Okay. All right. Thank you for that clarification, Mr. Ardon and Mr. Lionetti. Okay. That brings us to closing comments of school directors, Mr. Allen. >> Uh, have a good night. Thank you. >> Okay, Mr. Muhammad. >> Good night, everyone. Miss Falding, >> have a good evening. >> Miss Hartman, >> good
047evening everyone. >> Miss Fraser, >> I know you. >> Miss Fazy, >> take good care. Have a good night. All right. Thank you. Uh, thank you for coming out everyone. We wish you all a good night and uh, we will see you again in two weeks.