001Good evening and welcome to the May 27th, 2025 meeting of the Abington Board of School Directors. I note the attendance of all board members with the exception of Miss Fraser, who is 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. This meeting is also being recorded and will be accessible on the district's website and cable channel no later than Friday, May 30th, 2025 to allow those members of the public who cannot participate
002to view the meeting at a later time. Comments from citizens will be conducted in person and by phone. Information regarding participating remotely in public comment will be displayed on the screen at the time of public comment. 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. Dr. Fetcher, do we have any additional announcements or agenda items? Uh yes, Dr. Malerie. Uh before we begin tonight, I would like to take a moment to recognize that yesterday was Memorial Day, a day meant to honor and remember the brave members of the US armed forces who gave the ultimate sacrifice. Please join me in a brief moment of silence and observance of those individuals and their loved
003ones. Thank you. Uh, as most of you are already aware, last week voters in Abington Township in the Burough of Rocklage approved the $285 million referendum to build a new Abington Middle School. This outcome is a direct result of members in our school community being civically engaged and going to the polls to have a say what is next for the future of the students in the Abington School District. This was a communitywide decision from start to finish and we look forward to the next phase which will include gathering community input to inform the design process. We will continue to provide information about how residents can be part of that process. If you have uh not already done so, I encourage you to visit um www.avingtonsd.org/communications org/communications to sign up for our community list serve to
004receive district emails if you are a community member who does not have a student within the school. Uh thank you again to our voters for your participation and your interest. Thank you. Okay. Um just a quick question about that. Will the district be maintaining the 1d1 future.org or micro site as the project moves forward. Yes. Uh the district will and one of the plans for that I've asked that we ensure that all the material that is there that led to this point at least be available through you know archived within a button on that website. Even as we begin this design process and and put out more information, I would like to maintain the history that uh is present within there. Okay. Excellent. Great. Uh with that, we will move to opening comments of board
005members, Mr. Allen. Uh in short appreciation to the voters and the residents of Rocklage and Abington for uh approving historic measure for the community for years and years to come. Miss Brown, definitely agree. A special thank you to the community members who uh personalized this and took it upon themselves to be informed and to inform their neighbors. Uh this was a community effort and I'm so appreciative of all the work. Miss Eisenhart. Yes. I echo um the sentiments of my board members, congratulate the community as a whole and again recognize the folks involved um in the conversations that happened along in this process communicating with each other. Uh it was truly remarkable to witness and I also have a lot of pride to be a part of this community in Abington uh during this historic
006moment. Thank you, Mr. Muhammad. I want to also thank the community members for coming out and making their voices heard. Um, you know, we we recognize the sacrifice that is being made on behalf of uh the future of Abington and the students of Abington. Um, I've been riding around and I've been seeing playgrounds under construction uh across the district. Um, and you know that's happening at the same time as we're having this conversation about the middle school. Um, and both of those measures, right, the playground job that is occurring currently and this long-term middle school job that is underway. Um, it it they both uh represent growth and positive opportunities for students in Abington and Rock Ledge. And I'm so thankful to be a part of this group and a part of this community that
007has helped to make it all happen. Thank you, Miss Spalding. Um, I'm glad it's over and I'm glad and I'm glad it was uh successful. I mean, I I I get it. I'm I'm in the I'm in a senior group where the um it's it's going to be an increase, but it's just something we just had to do. So So that's it. It's all right. That's it, Miss Hartman. Um, I also just want to thank everybody for coming out and taking part in the democratic process to decide if we were going to move forward with this project. Um, I'm really excited to see what we do for our kids. I think we have a lot of potential here to do some really great things with the middle school and I'm excited for it. So, thank
008you everyone. Miss Fazy. Um just want to echo sentiments from my fellow board members and say that it's very very exciting um to be here a week out and to um be thinking about the new middle school and how this will impact um the children in our community um and future generations of children. Very very exciting. Miss Woo. Um, just thank you for voting and I know I'm not the one paying the taxes, but just thank you for behalf of all the children in the district. Thank you. Um, I will add my my gratitude um to all the community members who involved themselves regardless of how they voted on this issue. Um, the conversations were vigorous um and I think a sign of the general overall health of the community. So, thank you to everyone.
009Um, I too am excited to move forward with this project and see what unfolds and what we can do for for our students um as our schools remain at the heart of this community. So, with that, uh, Dr. Fetcher, can you please proceed with this evening's honors? Yes. Um, before I do that, I just want to clarify in terms of the website and updates and where archives are, we'll make sure that there's communication that goes out that explains where everything's going to be and if if formats change what that will look like. So, um, just to make it clear and we'll ensure that all the information is available somewhere, we'll make sure you know how to get there. Perfect. All right. With that being said, um, at this time I' I'd invite um, Dr. Alice
010Swift, principal of Abington Senior High School. Mr. Charles Grassy, athletic director to share highlights from the 2025 spring sports season at Abington Senior High School. Good evening, Dr. Murray, board of directors, Dr. Fetcher, and our guests. Uh, I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce or bring Mr. Gracie up. He's no stranger. Uh, we're going to um honor our scholar athletes this evening um for our honor spring uh sport honors. Thank you so much. Thank you. You're welcome. Do you want me to? Yes. Come up, coach. Everybody come this way. Thank you. Good evening, Dr. Fetcher, Dr. Malry, and members of the board of school directors. Tonight, I am very excited and proud to share the outstanding accomplishments of our student athletes, teams, and coaches in the spring of the season. First, I would like
011to introduce our boys volleyball team, who was led by coach Maddie Robinson, Coach Lan Messer, and Coach Gabby. The Abington boys volleyball team had an exciting season with a record of 10 and 10, including a thrilling battle with Upper Dublin. The Ghost won that thrilling game 3-2 as it was one of my favorite games and had many spectators standing and cheering throughout the majority of the team. The Ghost continued to battle throughout the season and earned a number 12 seed in the District 1 playoffs. This was only the second time in school history. The boys team also had four athletes receive all league honors. Daniel Mayo, who received a full athletic scholarship to Fort Valley State University for volleyball, was named to the first team all league team. Keshan Pinkney, who will be attending Wider
012Widner University, was voted to the second team all league in the Liberty Division. and Walker Pax, who had an outstanding season, and junior Ethan Wilson, who thrilled many fans, were both selected to the honorable mention all league Liberty teams in a very challenging division. Congratulations to our boys volleyball team for an exciting season. [Music] [Applause] Next, I would like to recognize our Abington boys lacrosse team who was led by coach Michael Duffy. The Abington boys lacrosse team finished this season with an overall record of 9 and eight which included a 5-4 record in a very challenging suburban one Liberty Division. The team was guided by a very talented senior class which included Andrew Lancaster, Matthew Miller, Grayson Stewart, and Ryan Higgins. Matthew Miller received recognition for his stellar play by select by being selected to
013the first team all league Liberty Division team. Matt had a remarkable 56 goals and 34 assists for a total of 90 points on the season. Liam Pendergast was selected to the Liberty Division honorable mention team. Liam had an impressive had an impressive 154 ground balls, three goals, and six assists this past season. Trevor Holleshauser was also selected to the honorable mention all league team. His outstanding defense was recogni recognized by the opposing coaches who had to game plan around him. Congratulations to our boys lacrosse team as well as coach Michael Duffy for a fun and exciting season. Next we Next we would like to recognize our girls track and field team coached by Bill Neely and Brian Schaefer. The Abington girls track and field team finished their season being very competitive and had several student
014athletes receive recognition for their efforts. The all league selections were Hannah Winters was voted second team all league by opposing coaches. Also receiving recognition for all league honorable mention were Kyla Woodridge, Ella Swany Young, Hannah Winters, and Janelle Vincent in the 4x100 meter relay. Nola McMacken, Mercedes Sandival, Elizabeth Ambrose, and Michaela Fitz Maurice were honorable mention all league in the 4x800 meter relay. Michaela Fitz Maurice was also named to the honorable mention all league team in the 3200 meter run. Congratulations and thank you for an exciting season. Next, our boys track and field team. The Abington boys track and field team finished their season being very competitive as well and had several student athletes also receive recognition for their efforts. The all league selections were second team all league honors included Jonathan Long in the
015long jump, Joseph Raggy in the triple dump jump, and Jackson Thomas in the shot put. The Liberty Division all league honorable mention teams were Timothy Brown, Braden Davis, Jir McClinton, and Jaden Randall in the 4x100 meter relay. James Stewart, Joseph Raggy, Terrell Wright, Anthony D'Angelo also was named all league honorable mention in the 4x400. Anthony D'Angelo, James Stewart, Terrell Wright, and Nolan Flood in the 4x800, Carter Shannon in the Javelin, Terrell Wright in the 400 meters, and James Stewart in the 800 meter sprint. District qualifiers included Timothy Brown, Anthony D'Angelo, Braden Davis, Jamir McClinton, James Stewart, Jonathan Long, Joseph Raggy, Terrell Wright, Jaden Randall, and Nolan Flood. Congratulations on an exciting season. Next, we had our unified track team coached by Miss Pamela Smith, who also had an exciting season. The unified track finished in
016first place in the Lower Morland Unified Track and Field Tournament and finished third at the Abington Unified Track and Field Invitational. The unified track and field team had 15 student athletes and is a fully inclusive co-ed high school sports program which successfully brings together students with or without disabilities. They train together and compete as equal teammates and through this experience become very good friends. The interscolastic unified sports teams are regarded like every other intercolastic sports team in high school especially in the PIAA. Congratulations unified track. Boys tennis is next to be recognized. Our boys tennis team is coached by Brian Wenders and Hanora Hagerty. The tennis team finished with an impressive six wins in an extremely challenging Liberty Division. Our team was recognized by opposing coaches by selecting eight of our student athletes to an
017all league selection. Suhan Kumar, who is a junior, and William Goldstein, who who was our only senior this past season, were selected to the first team all league doubles team and had an impressive run in the suburban one tournament. Thomas Inama and Alexander Newman Pinto, who will both return next season, were named to the second team doubles team with several exciting wins this season. Eric Ginsburgg was selected to the all league singles team and also had many impressive and exciting wins this past season. Brandon Ekenbomb was named to the honorable mention singles team and also teamed up with Eric Ginsburg to make a fun and exciting run in the suburban one tournament. Eton Bogatin and Brian Hall were also selected to the honorable mention all league double doubles teams. Congratulations tennis. Next we have girls
018lacrosse coached by Meg Mlan and Ellie Hughes. The girls lacrosse team had a successful season this this year. This was a very talented and hardworking group. Our girls lacrosse team finished the season 9 and nine and narrowly missed the district 1 playoffs. The six seniors that helped guide the team were Sophia Afflesio, Jaden Bagby, Olivia Caps, Jamie Failing, Aurora Trainer, and Molly Zimmerman. The first team recipient went to Kathleen Pinnacamp as a midfielder who received an athletic scholarship to the University of Delaware. Katie hit 200 points between goals and assists this year and is a returning well she's a junior and she'll return for her senior year. The second team included Jaden Bagby, our goalie, and Carly Hughes, a midfielder. Jaden will play lacrosse at Ithaca University and Carly Hughes, who has another year with
019us, has committed to play college lacrosse at Kutztown University. Joanna Duff was selected to the all league honorable mention team for her outstanding defense. This young team has a very bright future and looking forward to being very competitive again in years to come. Jaden Bagby also had 500 saves for her career which showed her dedication and commitment to our program. Congratulations to our girls lacrosse team for an exciting season. Our next sport was baseball which was led by coach George Kopoulos. The 2025 baseball team finished their season with four wins this with four wins. While in his first year as head coach, coach George enjoyed his team that included nine seniors returning from last year's competitive team. All league selections were Gavin Graasso, who was selected to the very talented all league first team in
020the Liberty Division as a junior this past season. Gavin also helped lead the team to a fun and exciting season. Senior Chase Wolf was selected to the Liberty Division's all league second team. Chase had several exciting at bats and played very well at third base. from Coach George. Through the ups and downs, this was a fun group to coach, and I am excited to continue to grow this program in the right direction. Congratulations to our baseball team and the coaching staff for an exciting season. Our next sport is softball who was coached by coach Tina Hesden, Heather Morgan, and Sandre Jones. Abington softball finished their season with an impressive six wins, including an imposing 10 to zero win over Sheltonham on senior night. Although we missed out on the postseason, senior Sam Winhold reached an
021incred incredible milestone with 250 strikeouts and junior Danica Santiago notched her 125th strikeout which showed her continued strength on the mound. Danica is a junior and will return with us next year. Several players had impressive milestones as Haley Hernandez and Mallerie Beiel both were key contributors on both sides of the ball. Their senior leadership provided consistency, leadership, and many clutch performances throughout the season. Coach Tina stated, "We were proud of how hard this group worked and how much they have grown as people first. With a solid group returning and a hunger to build on this year's experience, the future of the program is bright. With us tonight, we have Grace Mian, who posted an impressive 423 batting average. Paige Holden, who did a tremendous job playing first base with a near-perfect defense and added a
022333 batting average. Also, Mia Luki, who had an outstanding season in center field and hit a number of dingers this season. Mia also just found out that she will be a part of the coveted Carpenter Cup team. Sammy K also had an impressive offensive and defensive year and looks to build on that next season. The senior night continues to be one of the most attended games in the spring season. If you get a chance, you should attend. Thank you. Softball flag football concludes our spring sports to be recognized tonight. Coached by Melissa Brazelle and Francis Bro Bo, the 2025 Abington girls flag football team has an undefeated record of 12-0 and won the Suburban One League Championship 20-13 over North Penn in a competitive game. The strength of our entire team have led each the
023team to each victory. Maya Johnson and Shia Croftton are a dynamic duo at quarterback. Maya is able to move with the ball to get multiple yards while Shia has a beautiful long ball. Misha Pausner is our center who is tough to get the short pass plays. Madison Oldm is our speed player at running back and rusher. Sarah Kaiser is the player who makes the players h plays happen playing safety on defense and wide receiver on offense. Paula Jerome is an aggressive defensive player covering the long passes to create and complete passes. Sydney Bryce is the leader of the team with her experience in flag coaching her teammates and skills in how to be successful on the field. Miriam McMacken is our newest defensive player and has stepped up to get sacks as a rusher. The
024team has been focused on one goal this whole season to be the first team in Pennsylvania to win states for the second time. For the third straight year, the Abington football team is headed down to the Nova Care Complex on Saturday, May 31st to achieve this goal. With two wins, our team will bring home the state championship. Go ghosts and thank you for your continued support for our Abington student athletes. [Applause] Okay. And we want to add that coach Brile was nominated coach of the month by the Philadelphia Eagles. She's huge. Thank you. Excellent. We should have commercial breaks for these. Okay. Thank you to Dr. Swift and Coach [Music] Grae and congratulations to all our scholar athletes. Dr. Fetcher, can you please proceed with this evening's board orientation? Yes. Thank you, Dr. Mauy. Uh,
025this evening, I'm going to ask that Dr. Melor, um, Mr. Victoria, and M. Mr. Lionetti join in presenting the projected enrollment and staffing as well as an update to the draft of the 2025 2026 general fund budget. Uh, please note that this is forformational purposes only this evening and there is not an agenda item. Thank you, Dr. Fetcher. Uh this evening's presentation is going to begin with a review of projected enrollment and staffing for next school year. Uh the first slide that is on the screen shows the projected enrollment and staffing across uh each of the grade spans. You see in the far right side in the f in the last two columns the uh projected staffing adjustment as well as gray boxes for next school year. The enrollment projections are based upon uh five-year
026averages of October 1st official PTE enrollments. You see that in the third column our actual enrollment for the current school year that was reported to PTE on October 1st was 8,42 students. And our projection for next year is 44 fewer students K12 8,358. Those student enrollments include students uh who are uh participating in the Abington cyber education program full-time u which is a total of um 58 students as of October 1st. Based upon the projected enrollment, you see the staffing adjustments for elementary of minus5, which would be a decrease of five general education teachers across the seven elementary schools uh for next school year. Two gray boxes are projected. Gray boxes is uh a way to account for the potential need to have an increase in a uh particular grade level at a particular school
027in the event that we have unanticipated additional enrollment. At the middle level, you see the anticipated decrease of 107 students uh for a projected enrollment of 1,940 students at the middle level next year. Based upon that decrease, we're recommending a decrease of four general education teachers for next year at the middle level. And finally, for the senior high school, while there's an increase, projected increase of 49 students in grades 9 through 12, we're projecting a staffing adjustment of minus2. That minus two includes three general education teachers uh but also the addition of a librarian additional full-time librarian at the senior high school to bring the number of librarians at the senior high school to two full-time librarians. With respect to special education, you see that there is an overall decrease anticipated for the number of
028special education students next school year. And based upon that, we have a recommendation for a decrease of two special education staff members at the elementary level. We have a recommendation for a gray box for senior high school special education based upon a specific population of students at the senior high school level who are ages 18 to 22. um who we are still engaged in communicating with parents and guardians with regard to uh anticipated return to school next year for our strive and active uh academy programs. What I'll walk through briefly is information on specific um schools beginning with the elementary schools and I'll just briefly touch on Copper Beach and then the same explanation would hold true with regard to Highland McKinley and the other elementary schools. What you see for Copper Beach is on
029the right hand side actual October 2024 enrollment of 860 students and a projection of 847 students for next year. A decrease of 13 students. Copper Beach has had a decrease in enrollment each year over the last four years. Um, from 930 students in 2021 to the 860 that you see in October of 2024 and projection of 847. Based upon that decrease, we're recommending a reduction of two general education teachers for next year. It's important for me to note that the number of students that are shown in each section, each projected section for each grade level are 100% of all students in the grade level in that school. So even if students are out of general instruction for a portion of the day, uh could be u out of general education for 5% of the day
030up to 50% of the day or more, those students are included in these arrays. It's important to note that particularly in the case of grades four and five where you see um higher uh anticipated enrollments in class sections than in the other grade levels. Those 26s and 27s account for um some of those students who may be receiving their instruction for a significant portion of the day in a special education setting. And what I'll show later within the presentation is um an accounting of what those sections would look like uh during the times when those students are receiving special education services. And you can see in grade in the case of grades four and five uh those class size enrollments decrease to 21 to 23 students. With respect to Highland Elementary School, again you see
031a projected increase of 19 students but no overall impact on staffing. We have a reduction in grade in one grade level but an increase in sections in another for a net zero. McKinley Elementary School, an increase of 12 students. But again, based upon looking at individual student needs and section arrays across the grade levels, a decrease of one general education teacher. Overlook, an increase of 13 students, but a recommended decrease of one general education teacher. And again at Roslin recommended decrease of one teacher with an anticipated increase of three students. Again in the case of Rosland you note that in grade two um classes of 25 and 26 with all students included. Um but again in looking at the times when students are in special education setting for supplemental special education instruction those uh class
032sizes of 25 and 26 diminish to reduce numbers. Finally Ryal and Willow Hill elementary schools there is no uh change in the number of professional staff. Ryle has a anticipated decrease of 11 students with no impact in the number of class sections and Willow Hill anticipated decrease of nine students with no impact in staffing. So overall you see at the bottom of the screen anticipated increase of 14 students with a staff decrease of five. There have been over the course of the last several board meetings a number of retirements that have been presented to you. uh during the P personnel section of the board meeting that you have approved uh for next year. These decreases account for those staff retirements so that these reductions in staffing can occur through attrition. Again, the next two pages
033that are part of the presentation and uh available uh to you on board docs show again these numbers looking at specifically uh those special education students um removed during the times that they are in uh a special education setting for instruction. Looking at the secondary level at the middle school, you see the anticipated uh enrollment by grade level, grades six, 7, and 8. Uh again, a decrease of 107 students is anticipated for a staffing reduction of four. Senior high school, grades 9 through 12, an increase of 49 students. But over the course of the last several months, as Dr. Fetcher and I have met with the building principles with the members of scheduling teams and uh those teams have begun looking at student recommendations for courses for next year. Uh student requests for courses for
034next year. Um we believe and those teams believe that the requests and recommendations can be accommodated with these reductions. I would note that you see projections for grade levels uh at the secondary buildings of uh high 600s in in most cases uh to 752 next year for grade 12 where we are seeing the decrease in students is presently at the elementary level. Uh I note that this slide shows 7 705 current students in grade 12. those students who are graduating in a few weeks will be replaced by 571 kindergarteners. So, it's a it's a significant uh difference between the students at that upper secondary level and our primary grades. With regard to special education, again the important number is at the bottom of this page that shows the total students projected for next year, which
035is a decrease uh to 546 from the uh present 611 uh as of October 1st. And that results in a decrease of two elementary special education teachers. a minimal difference at the middle level from 412 to 406 which has no impact on staffing needs at the middle level for special education. And again, finally for senior high school, a slight adjustment from 532 current students to 546 students anticipated. Again, no anticipated need for additional uh teaching staff with the exception of the potential of a gray box for that specific population of students in the 18 to 22 uh great um age range. That concludes the enrollment and staffing portion of the presentation. I'll turn it over to Mr. Victoria with regard to budget. Thank you, Dr. Melor. So this slide u shows the proposed general fund
036budget that was presented at the May 13th meeting. Uh at the time revenue was at $195.1 million. Uh expenses were at $24.9 million and the allocated fund balance needed was $9.7 million. Budget managers were able to reduce expenses by $2 million from the proposed final general fund budget to $22.8 $8 million. The reductions came from salaries and benefits along with a reduction in uh contracted substitute service costs. At the same time, revenue was reduced $275,000 because of social security and uh retirement reimbursement, which reduced the allocated fund balance needed to $7.9 million, which is a decrease of $1.7 million. So this slide shows the 2425 uh final budget compared to this updated uh 2526 budget. The uh updated budget raises real estate taxes 4% which is the maximum allowable tax increase for the 2526 school
037year. This 4% tax uh increase uh increases the millillage to 38.55 mills which generates an additional $4.1 million in real estate taxes. State revenue reflects uh a 6.08% increase which is what uh Governor Shapiro recommended for basic ed special ed and Paser subsidy. Federal revenue decreases $687,000 which is due to the end of the esser's funds. Um and then allocated fund balance needed is goes from $1.1 million to $7.9 million. The expense side compared to the uh current school year increases $3.2 million which is a 1.65% increase. Salaries increase 2.54% or $2.4 million. Negotiated benefits increase $677,000 which is uh health insurance cost. Mandated benefits increase $1.3 million which is a 3.38% increase. This is due to the increase in the uh prisoners percentage that increased to 34%. and non-s salary non-benefits expenses have decreased
038$1.2 million which is a 2.74% decrease. So looking at a typical homeowner with an assessment of $141,130, uh they would see a tax increase of $16987, which is 3.59% increase. This homeowner, if he's a senior and qualifies for the district's rebate, and is in the first three income levels, would not see a tax increase. And if they're in the fourth income level here, they would see a tax increase of $17.87. So, this slide shows an estimated fund balance uh needed for the 2425 school year at $5 million. This would uh end this 2425 school year with a fund balance at $16.6 million. With this updated budget, the ending fund balance would be $8.6 6 million instead of the 2 $2.4 million that is shown on page 12 of this presentation. And then looking ahead at
039the June 24th uh board meeting, the board will be asked to adopt the final 2526 general fund budget and adopt a resolution to implement the homestead exclusion uh if upon notification from PD that there's sufficient funds in the property tax relief fund. Dr. Fetcher, that concludes our presentation and we can answer any questions the board might have. Thank you. Any questions that you may have? Any questions from board members? I have some comments. I wanted to address the uh enrollment. I am pleased to see that we're going from 1.5 of a librarian to uh two full librarians given our focus on uh literacy and ELA. Uh, so I'm happy about that. I appreciate the showing the numbers and and just ju just ju justaposing the um class size with students who are in there for
040special education and when they're pulled out. Uh, I do like that the community is able to see that. Um, with the larger class sizes, I had the opportunity to do a board walk. Is that what we called it, Dr. Fetcher? Yes, a boardwalk. And one of the I want to make sure I was using the right terminology. Uh, and one of the things I enjoyed was seeing how our amazing teachers, uh, in elementary, we have amazing teachers, K to2, but I'm focusing on elementary because the numbers are higher, are able to take those larger class sizes and make them feel small by using things such as uh, groups, grouping, um, centers, uh, utilizing the the, um, support staff that are in the room. So, our teachers continue to do amazing jobs. We just want to
041make sure that we provide them with the support to do so. And one of the ways that the board has done that is continuing to pass uh curriculum that will allow them to do things like centers and students getting feedback without having to wait necessarily for a teacher to give them that immediate feedback. So I am confident that although I do not like to see the higher numbers uh that I see our teachers doing an amazing job with what we have. I just want to commend the budget managers on finding $2 million worth of savings. Um, and commend the entire administration on reducing the the fund balance usage over the past couple of years uh as we try to uh move into a better place when it comes to our spending uh for the long-term
042health of our of our district. So, thank you for sharing that with the entire community. Anyone else? No. Um, I just want to clarify once again for people who are here and who are listening that the decrease in instructional staff is coming from retirements and there are no layoffs. Correct? Okay. Um, okay. Miss Woo, did you want to say anything? No. Okay. Um, thank you for those orientations. Okay, with that we will move on to our first section of public comment. Comments from citizens are being conducted both in person and by phone. The phone number to participate in public comments is being displayed on the screen at this time. 2677153717. You'll be able to join the meeting by calling in on your mobile or your landline phone. A citizen will be recognized once during this
043period 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. We will start with speakers in the room. If there's anyone here who'd like to make a comment, please use the microphone either to your left or to your right. Please state your name and address. Okay. Adele Cubell and my address is 1848 Amble Road. I have these bullet points. The vote yes group organized by John Spiegelman is not a grassroots effort. Mr. Spiegelman is one of 15 commissioners that incrementally vote for the agenda of billionaires. Mr. Spiegelman promoted the need to provide the millionaire Gman family with a shot in
044the arm. Commissioners invite wealthy VIPs to rent families who attend the school housing that needs to be condemned. Commissioners allow VIPs to utilize blight as a weapon to force homeowners to move. Billionaires that are destroying home ownership for the middle and lower middle class are prioritized over citizens all the time. That is why we have township decline. Vote yes supporters posted derogatory and divisive statements on the internet so regularly it appeared to be a job. Pigeonholing people into stereotypes is a regular thing with vote yes. Oddly, vote yes claims to promote diversity and inclusiveness. Dr. Mary posting an emoji heart next to a divisive internet remarks is horrific. A first grade teacher put ages hate on a community site. Ms. Mary, you encourage verbal assaults. Your behavior is a red flag. The assault language of
045vote yes is a red flag. Tax money. We pay a lot. Where does it go? Advanced math level students should be encouraged. Instead, students are expected to utilize Chromebooks that do not have the functions needed to do the co coursework. Buy upgraded computers. This is not a a way to save money. During the 2425 school year, no mulch was added to the Willow Hill Overlook and Highland playgrounds. Is that money saving? This is a safety hazard. Weeds cover trees and overgrowth rules. That was not the case. just maybe five years ago. Willow Hill has severe neglect. The approximately 40year-old playground is rusted and worn down. It's about 10 years too late. Be you should have gotten the equipment 10 years ago. That's how bad that playground w looks. The black top is riddled with cracks
046at Willow Hill. Entrance sidewalks are crumbled. Way worse than the middle school. A long dead tree greets young students. The new state-of-the-art science center has had multiple leaks for years. The roof is rotting. Why? More tax money. Mr. Flet Dr. Fletcher had to intervene to get art students just basic supplies. Thank you for your voice. Your time is up. Don't thank me. Good evening. I'm Richard V, 1719 Edge Hill Road. Um, I don't have a scripted uh uh comment to make. other than to thank everyone in the community, especially the board of directors and and Superintendent Fetcher for um putting forward uh putting in the years of study it took to get to the end result, which is this referendum, which I'm very grateful is over as well, and that it passed. Um my agenda
047is simply this little kid over here. He's a kindergartener at overlook and I want him to be able to have the best possible this community can provide and now we have that middle school in his future. So I thank everyone tonight. Thanks. Thank you for your voice. Go ahead. Hi Jen Patell Glennside. Uh I wanted to basically echo what the previous speaker just said. Um, I wanted to thank all of you for the years of work you put in, the the amount of effort in getting information, getting options presented to the uh to residents to uh shephering this whole project to the point we're at now. And I'm I'm excited to see what the next phase is. I can't wait to see what what is developed. But um I wanted to share um something that
048I heard on election day. uh somebody that is u been very familiar with referendums and and these kinds of efforts. He said that uh kudos to the board and to the district for getting everything together so that it could be on on the ballot on an actual election day and which was a huge savings for the township. It was a huge uh benefit for voters to just have the one day to do all the voting that they needed to do and it was I think also helped um with getting people you know uh to the polls for this very important vote which I am super thrilled that it happened and that it passed and thank you very much. Thank you for your voice. Go ahead. Uh Dr. Mari, Mr. Muhammad and the uh board of
049school directors uh Dr. Dr. Feter, Dr. Melor, and the uh central administration team, everyone who's here tonight, and everyone who's participating uh at home or watching later on video. Uh good evening. My name is John Spiegelman. Uh I live at 1217 Edge Hill Road here in Abington. Um as has been pointed out, I am the commissioner of W 11, but I'm here tonight uh as a private citizen, which is the same capacity in which I very proudly served uh along with my teammates on the vote yes to invest team. Um, it was an incredible honor to serve with some of the hardest working, most dedicated, most passionate, creative, communityoriented people. Um, and downright decent people that I have ever had the privilege of working with in in public life or or beyond. Um, and I'm
050here today to say thank you. Uh, to thank you to absolutely everybody who voted, regardless of how you voted. uh the interest fermented by this referendum and the ballot question um led to an unprecedented turnout. Um and uh as I've said before, I would be saying this exact same thing if the result had been different. Thank you to absolutely everyone who voted. Um my vote yes to invest friends and I obviously really happy with how the result turned out. The result itself uh was historic just like the turnout. Um, and I just want to encourage everyone, uh, everyone who got involved for the first time because of this referendum, because of the ballot question, regardless of which quote unquote side you were on, please stay involved. Uh, every every voice mattered. I can tell you
051I learned an incredible amount from folks who were voting no in in deep conversations that were often intense but were respectful and uh and reciprocal and I will never forget what I learned from them. So I hope that absolutely everyone will stay involved. I know my vote yes to invest friends and I will be involved. Um we will be we'll be cheering you on but we're going to be watching you. uh we all know as as you've shown with the incredible transparency uh throughout the entire process and of course the 1AD1future.org website uh uh public participation, openness and transparency are incredibly important. So we you know we're we're going to be there through this whole process. Uh you know we're excited. We remain dedicated and committed and again um thank you all. Thank you to
052everyone who voted. Thanks. Thank you for your voice. Anyone else in the room? Carol Godfrey, 1021 Devon Road in Abington. I too would like to thank the administration and the board for keeping the community informed throughout the entire process for the new middle school. Also, I was so happy with the to see the excitement in the community leading up to May 20th. It was especially wonderful to see the young children just like this fellow has his child here um come to the polls with their parents. These are the children who will greatly benefit from the new school. I have not seen such excitement in Abington Township since we built the new stadium and hats off to our community for their support. I plan on attending the meetings just like John uh in the future so
053I can remain informed about the process and I also plan on adding my two cents as well of course. Um again thank you to the administration and the school board. I appreciate it. Thanks. Thank you for your voice. Uh with that we will move to our callers. Mr. Cargus the next uh citizen for public comment uh phone number ending in 3219. Please state your name and your address. Sure. Um, my name is Ashley Brim Johnson and I live near Ryol Elementary School. I wanted to call in tonight as well to share my excitement at the middle school referendum passing last Tuesday. I too was a member of the vote yes group. I am not an elected official. I am just an Abington school district parent and my children were also excited to help in whatever
054way they could over the past three months from creating their own lawn signs to helping to deliver signs to throughout the community um and ultimately to be with me on election day and watch me go into the building to place my own vote. Personally, I am so happy that we don't have to face the many potential consequences of a failed referendum and instead we can look forward to the next phase of planning. I wanted to thank the school board for their plan and their steadfast transparency throughout the whole process and ultimately our entire Abington and Rocklage community for coming together to pass this referendum. It was so heartening to see the community effort that developed to support the referendum. um both you know in the community and online um and to see in my view
055what were very uh thoughtful dialogues that were had um both in person and online. Um thank you to everyone um and all of their contributions to the you know the leadup to the referendum and on the day itself no matter how small or large your contribution was. Um and yeah that's all I have to say. Thank you. Thank you for your voice. Mr. Cargus, can you confirm that there are no other callers on the line? I can confirm there are no more callers. Thank you. Uh, is there anyone else in the room who'd like to offer public comment who has not done so already? Okay. Okay. With that, we will move on to agenda item six. Yes. 6.1. Miss Hartman, could you please read the recommendation uh for personnel? That the board of school directors
056approves the changes in personnel as reflected in personnel addendum 6.1. Second. Dr. Fetto, we have a second. Thank you, Dr. Malerie. Uh the personnel addendum begins with a request for leave of absence for one professional employee compensation for IEP meetings and interpreter and translation services. Okay. Any questions from the board? No. Okay. Uh Mrs. Flynn again. 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 Fazy I. Dr. Mauy I. The eyes have it. The motion passes. Miss Hartman, can you please read the recommendation for approval of the financial report? That the board of school directors approves the financial report for the period ending April 30th, 2025 as reflected in addendum number 7.1. Second. We have a second. Dr. Fetcher.
057Thank you, Dr. Mauy. At this time, I'm going to ask Mr. line Eddie to please summarize the April 2025 financial report. Thank you, Dr. Fetcher. For the period ending April 30th, 2025, real estate tax collections are ahead $6 million when compared to the same time in 2024. Year-to date, total revenue $7.2 million ahead of last year at $166.1 million. In April of 2024, the district had collected 158.9 million in total revenue. The difference is due to the 5.3% actin index real estate an act, excuse me, act tax increase uh in 2024 25 as well as greater receipts for delinquent tax collections, interest earnings, as well as the increased payments from the state for basic ed and special education subsidies. Year-to- date expenditures are $141.9 million, which is $1.9 million greater than this time last year,
058which was $140 million. Even in terms of percent of the budget, 71.1% of the budget is expended year-to date. However, last year in April of 2024, 73.7% of the budget was expended. That concludes my summary. Dr. Fetcher, if there's any questions, we'll do our best to answer them. Thank you, Chris. Any questions from the board? No. Okay. If you would, Mrs. Flanigan. Mr. Allen. I. Mrs. Brown. I. Miss Eisenhart. I. Mr. Muhammad. I. Miss. Balding. I. Miss. Hartman. I. Miss Basy. I. Dr. Mauy. I. The eyes have it. Uh, Miss Hartman, can you please read the recommendation for approval of the payment of bills? uh that the board of school directors approves the payment of bills for the period ending April 30th, 2025 as reflected in addendum number 8.1. Second. Dr. Fetcher, we have a
059second. Thank you, Dr. Mallerie. I'll be happy to answer any questions uh that you may have regarding the payment of bills. Questions from the board? Okay, it's another roll call vote. Mr. Allen, I. Mrs. Brown, I. Miss Eisenhart, I. Mr. Muhammad, I. Miss Falding, I. Miss Hartman, I. Miss Fezy, I. Dr. Mauy, I. The eyes have it and the motion passes. Miss Hartman, can you please read the recommendations for permits for use of buildings and grounds? Sorry. that the sport the board of school directors approves the applications for permits and use of buildings and grounds as reflected in addendum number 9.1. Second. We have another second. Thank you, Dr. Maui. The permanent addendum uh continues to reflect requests for buildings and grounds for meeting other school events for this time of year. Okay. Questions or
060comments from the board? I had one. Where you gonna go, Mrs. Brown? Okay. I just wanted to comment about the uh senior sunset. Was that the same one? Yeah, that's such a wonderful tradition. Congrats to all of our seniors. Um something that I think is very special to Abington. Um and I look forward, you know, to hopefully hearing from my neighbors about it. Mrs. Brown, do you want to add anything? Second. Anyone else? Um, I did want to know that um there's a permit for the 21st when the 9th grade parent orientation was conducted by the senior high school counseling department. And I think that's an important opportunity for families with students who are making that transition from the middle school to the high school. So, I'm pleased to see that. Okay, Mrs. Flanigan Mr.
061Allen I Mrs. Brown I Miss Eisenhart I Mr. Muhammad I Miss Balding I Miss Hartman I Miss Fizzy I Dr. Mauy I the eyes have it and the motion passes. Miss Hartman, can you please read the recommendation for awards of contracts? That the board of school directors approves the awards of contracts as reflected in addendum number 10.1. Second. We have a second. Dr. Fetcher. Thank you, Dr. Mauy. Uh, tonight for your consideration, we have one change order, and that is for the playground renovation of the Abington School District elementary schools. As you know, we're in in the process of uh renovating all the playgrounds uh for the elementary schools across the district. Um this we anticipate to have some change orders along the way but we wanted to ensure that we looked at everything on
062a case-byase basis um and not uh just put that in as a contingency from the outset. So we are val evaluating each playground as we move forward to ensure that we can be most cost-effective um and uh prudent while also ensuring that the specifications of the playgrounds meet our um our goals uh from the outset. Okay. And so I just realized I neglected to give you an opportunity to to respond to the first period of public comment. Um and I know one of the comments we had was about the playground at Willow Hill. Do you want to address that now? Um, across the district, we have been working probably for three to four years in um, one designing the playgrounds and then we have gone out to bid I think it was three times uh,
063in order to ensure that we had the most competitive pricing. Um the result of that longer process is that we are getting a surface that is much better than we anticipated uh from the outset and that surface is much better not just in aesthetics um but for accessibility. Uh it is the uh best ADA surface um for wheelchairs um and accessibility for playgrounds and that is the port in place um playground and we had looked at uh various various opportunities for different services and because we have gone through that bidding process we were able to secure uh a bid that allows us to do what from the outset we wanted to do but didn't know if we were going to be able to do that within our budget. Okay. And am I correct in understanding
064that the renovation of the Willow Hill playground is is in fact underway? Yes. All of the playgrounds um there's a schedule. We we started with um Copper Beach Elementary School as the first playground and they are continuing uh through throughout the end of the school year and uh throughout the summer with the hope that everything is open and um ready to go by the start of the school year. Okay. All right. I apologize for the earlier oversight. Yep. No worries. No worries. Okay. Comments or questions for my fellow board members? I heard you say that we do anticipate change orders and we made room for them. I just wanted to confirm that this particular change order does fall within the budgeted amount for the playground. Yes. Thank you so much. Other questions or comments? Uh
065yeah. Will the uh all the elementary school playgrounds will they be closed during the summer months completely or or you don't know? Uh it depends on uh the playgrounds will be closed as they do them. So for example, there are playgrounds that were uh closed earlier um starting with Copper Beach and as they do each playground they're they're going throughout the district. So there it depends on which playground in the district and the timing of the renovation. Okay. So maybe a portion of summer where I I anticipate uh playgrounds being closed at certain schools. Um and I anticipate them being open at other schools. Just depending on the timeline and the plan. Well, if they're working on the playgrounds, I'm assuming like the the grass the fields will be open, right? Or you don't know?
066Yes. Okay. Yeah. It's just really where the surfaces of the playground, the footprint. Um, right now we are in the middle of three of them and uh at that I had the opportunity to to look at both of them and it's literally the footprint and it's dug out so it can once the equipment is installed there's new equipment and then the surface has to be done uh and they'll be done at um the same time at each school. Okay. And this is this is completely separate from the township playgrounds, right? So yes, Cresmont, Penbrin and Althorp will all remain open, correct? Okay. Yeah, this is um our playgrounds uh are for student for student use. Um and some people access access them throughout the uh summer and off times as well. But the main purpose
067of the Abington School District playgrounds is to serve our student population. Okay. Right. Thank you. All right. Any other questions or comments? No. Okay. Mrs. Flanigan, if you would. Mr. Allen, I. Mrs. Brown, I. Miss Eisenhart, I. Mr. Muhammad, I. Miss Balding, I. Miss Hartman, I. Miss Fazy, I. Dr. Mauy, I. The eyes have it and the motion passes. Miss Hartman, can you please read the recommendation for approval of contracted food services? that the board of school directors approve the renewal of the contract with Chartwell School Dining Services for the 2025 2026 school year at the guarantee of $40,000 to the district contingent upon budgeted operating days student enrollment and budgeted operating costs. Second. We have a second. Dr. Fetcher. Thank you, Dr. Mallerie. Uh we are recommending the renewal of our contract with Chartwells
068uh school dining services for the 2025 2026 school year. Chartwells has been our food service provider since 1984 and has provided quality food service and um and uh finances to our district through our food service account um as well as support to our students through things like donations to the high school's scholarship fund and donations to the Abington Education Foundation uh to run underwrite their events. I'm going to ask Dr. Melor to explain the contract. Thank you, Dr. Fetcher. This is the first of four potential renewals. Uh you may recall that last June you approved a new contract with Chartwells. As Dr. Fetcher mentioned, they've been the food service provider for Abington for more than 40 years. Uh they periodically uh we do periodically as a school district need to go back out for new
069bids. Uh so they completed a competitive bid process for the most current agreement. We uh continue to have a positive relationship with them. We have a new food service director this year uh Chanel Trailer who has worked um collaboratively with our building principles particularly at the secondary level in school breakfast expansion grants this year where she has worked with Mr. File and Dr. Swift to implement additional breakfast options for our students. U so for those reasons and the reasons that Dr. Fetcher has mentioned um we're pleased to present this as a recommendation for continued service by charters. Yeah. Yeah. And I think uh Dr. Melor hit on a very important point and that is uh the willingness to listen to feedback uh from not only the administration but from our students as well. Um each
070school has a food service committee that includes parents uh students and um faculty on that food service committee. I also have had the opportunity to have um Chartwell's representatives come to the superintendent student advisory council and um usually the food service is a very hot topic uh with the students on the advisory council um pretty much every meeting and a lot of suggestions. But the nice thing about it is their willingness when they do get the feedback. Um they do take it seriously and um have made adjustments on the menu or brought uh back some items that students missed. Uh the cheesy bread sticks are still the favorite of um K to2 of our students. Uh and I can tell that from my informal poll uh that I do with the students. Um, but we
071truly appreciate the relationship and their willingness to be flexible and that's why it's been such a long-standing relationship with the district. And, uh, Dr. Fetcher, could I just ask you um, when was the last price increase? The last price increase was uh, two three years ago. Um and that on our next item on the agenda, we'll go through the school lunch price increases. Oh, okay. Um but yeah, it was 20 uh 22. Okay. All right. September 2022. Okay. Other questions, comments? Okay. Mrs. Flanigan, please. Mr. Allen, I. Mrs. Brown, I. Miss Eisenhart, I. Mr. Muhammad, I. Miss Falding I. Miss Hartman I. Miss Vasy I. Dr. Mauy I. The eyes have it and the motion passes. Miss Hartman, would you please read the recommendation for approval of the 2025 2026 breakfast and lunch prices. That
072the board of school directors establishes the following breakfast and lunch prices for the 2025 2026 school year as reflected in addendum number 12.1. Second. We have a second. Dr. Fetcher. Thank you, Dr. Mauy. I'm going to ask Dr. Melor if you could review uh the school breakfast and lunch prices. Sure. As Dr. Fetcher just mentioned, the last price increase uh for school lunches was for the 2022 2023 school year. So, this is the first increase in three years that is being recommended to you. It is a 10-cent increase uh at the elementary and the secondary level as well as for adult uh meals. Uh this an increase uh is necessary to ensure that we're able to maintain the quality uh of service as well as the quality of food options that are available. Um, as
073we all know, uh, food costs have gone up significantly, um, over the last few years, and we want to ensure that we're able to continue to, uh, provide a quality, uh, school lunch program to our students, um, without, uh, impacting, um, the ability of the district to maintain a self-funded program. Um the monies that are raised through um the school lunch program uh go into the food service account um that uh are available to you to fund purchases of equipment uh pay for equipment maintenance uh equipment repairs. Um so this 10-centent increase um impacting students who pay for lunches. This doesn't impact students who receive free or reduced price lunches. Um, this 10-centent increase will be the first one in three years. Okay. Questions or comments from the board? I just wanted to uh emphasize
074that the universal uh free breakfast program is still in effect and these prices are what um the state pays for. Is that accurate? How the the lunch prices are what students who I'm sorry breakfast regarding breakfast not breakfast right so we have not we have not adjusted breakfast prices the prices that you see on the screen are the prices that were in effect uh up until the time that universal free breakfast came into effect a few years ago and that continues to be part of the budget proposal by uh governor Shapiro so that that program currently is fully funded Mr. I don't know if you can add additional detail. Uh it's important that um we establish these prices through your vote even though we are not anticipating that we will need them given the fact
075that Governor Shapiro has included a proposal in his in his budget uh to include um this program. We won't know till after June 30th whether or not that's the case even though it is his desire as he's negotiating with the legislators at this time. So it was important that we at least have these prices in case in case they're needed as they need to be established each year. Thank you. Anyone else? Just confirming that milk is included for the children's lunch and it's just not included for adults and that's why it's separately priced out there. That's correct. It's it's part of the uh there are particular components that are part of the uh school lunch the student would receive. Uh the prices that are shown here would be the price if a student was choosing
076or adult was choosing to purchase just milk as a standalone item. Anyone else? No. All right. Mrs. Flanigan, please. Mr. Allen. I. Mrs. Brown. I. Miss Eisenhart. I. Mr. Muhammad. I. Miss Balding. I. Miss Hartman. I Miss Fezy. I, Dr. Mauy. I The eyes have it and the motion passes. Miss Hartman, can you please read the recommendation for completing the MCIU board member ballots? That the board of school directors complete the ballot for the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit election of school board members. Second. Dr. Fetcher, we have a second. Thank you, Dr. Mauy. Uh, the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit is conducting its annual election. There are eight seats on the MCIU board which will become vacant as of July 1st. In accordance with Pennsylvania code, the board of school directors from each of the member
077districts um must submit a nominee to serve on the MCIU board of directors. Okay. Any questions from the board? So, the action, the recommended action is that you all have a ballot at your uh seats and that um you complete the ballot for the MCIU uh election. Okay. So, this is not a roll this is a roll call vote. Yes. Yes. Okay. Go ahead, Mrs. Flanigan, please. Mr. Allen, I. Mrs. Brown, I. Miss Eisenhart I Mr. Muhammed I Miss Balding I Miss Hartman I Miss Fazy I Dr. Mauy I the eyes have it and the motion passes Miss Hartman can you please read the recommendation for election of the treasurer that the board of school directors elects Mr. Sir Wanka as treasurer of the Abington School District for the fiscal year beginning the first day
078of July 2025 at an annual fee of $16,500. Set election being required at this time in accordance with section 404 of the Pennsylvania School Code 1949. Second. Dr. Fetcher, we have a second. Thank you, Dr. Mauy. I'm going to ask Mr. Landi, could you please review this item? Thank you, Dr. Fetcher. Mr. Zawanka has served the district's treasurer for the past 21 years and has done an excellent job. Dr. Fetcher and I agree with the recommendation to engage Mr. Zawanka for the next school year uh for a $500 price increase or 3.1% over last year's fee. This is less than the act one index of 4.1 and similar to the 3% CPI for the greater Philadelphia area. And this is the first increase in two years that Mr. Zwanka is requesting each month for his
079fees. Uh Mr. Zwanka reconciles the school district's operating statement and cash balances for each of each of its accounts. His monthly report is an independent reconciliation and verification of the cash position of the school district's funds as reported by the administration in its monthly report each month. If there's any further questions about Mr. Mr. Walka's engagement to answer those questions. Questions or comments from the board? Okay. Mrs. Flanigan, please. Mr. Allen, I. Mrs. Brown, I. Miss Eisenhart, I. Mr. Muhammad, I. Miss Balding, I. Miss Hartman, I. Miss Faze, I. Dr. Mauy, I. The eyes have it and the motion passes. Miss Hartman, can you please read the recommendation for approving the treasures performance bond? That the board of school directors approves the purchase of a bond with an approved charity on the treasurer for the
080faithful performance of his duties which is in the amount of $100,000 for the period July 1st, 2025 to June 30th, 2026 at a cost of $500. Second. Dr. Feser, we have a second. Thank you, Dr. Mauy. Uh Mr. Dr. Led, could you please review this item as well? Thank you, Dr. Fetcher. In agenda item 14.1, the board approved district's engagement of Mr. Zurwanka as treasurer in accordance with section 436 of the Pennsylvania school code, a bond for the faithful performance of the treasures duties as required, and we ask for your authorization to acquire this bond. Mr. Zuranka has no um access to our cash. She merely reconciles it and the requirement um of this bond fulfills the school code. Questions or comments from the board. Okay. Mrs. Flanigan, please. Mr. Allen, I. Mrs. Brown, I.
081Miss Eisenhart, I. Mr. Muhammad, I. Miss Balding, I. Miss Hartman. I Miss FZY I Dr. Maui I the eyes have it the motion passes Miss Hartman can you please read the recommendation for the confidential student matter 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 matters regard to an education service agreement and keeping in mind the confidentiality of student matters, I can answer any questions that you may have. Questions or comments from the board. Okay. Mrs. Flanigan, please. Mr. Allen, I. Mrs. Brown, I. Miss Eisenhart, I. Mr. Muhammad, I. Miss Balding, I. Miss Hartman, I. Miss Fezy I. Dr. Mauy I. The eyes have it. The motion passes. Dr. Fetcher, are there any additional reports andor
082recommendations by the administration and superintendent? Yes, Dr. Mauy. I provide for you the conference attendance and professional leaves for your information. Thank you. I just want to note um that Mrs. Lee, who is retiring this year, is continuing to uh serve the district and the AEA by attending the Pennsylvania State Education Association Board and Budget Committee meeting. So, we thank her for her ongoing service. Anything else? Okay. Uh is there any other business that appropriately may be brought to the attention of the board of school directors? All right, that brings us to our final section of comments from citizens. So 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'll
083be 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 3 minutes except at the discretion of the president. Time may not be yielded or otherwise transferred by one speaker to another for the purposes of extending a given speaker's time allotment. If there's anyone present who would like to make a comment, please use the microphone either to your left or to your right and please state your name and address. Again, my name is Adele Cubell, 1848 Amler wrote, "I have a lot of confidence in Dr. Fetcher. He did a great job intervening to get art students basic supplies." Basic supplies. He should not have had to have done that. the math
084students I well the upper level math students should have the computers they need to do their classwork you're not buying it has nothing to do with Dr. fetcher. When a first grade teacher is writing horrific aegist remarks on the internet and people who are also teachers actually put a star next to it, it's an issue. When you, Miss Mauy, are actually putting a heart emoji next to hateful statements. It's an issue. And it's not Mr. Dr. Fletchers. Board members, why have you not been speaking up? Commissioners voted a feeble vape shop ordinance forward. I mean feeble. The ordinance allows vape shops to open just about everywhere except not a thousand feet from a school. Mr. Spiegelman called this responsive government. No commissioner would support partnering with community development to create a summer job program from
085high for high schoolers. I mentioned that last year. A summer job program for high schoolers would be a big step up and many of our commissioners know a whole lot of people. Vote yes is supported by billionaires. Classism is being practiced in Abington. The school neglect cutting back on basic resources that happens as the wealthy drain communities. Classism is taking down Abington schools. Miss Mary, Miss Brown, why have you neglected to supply students and properly take care of maintenance issues? A parent told me from Willow Hill his daughter fell off the swing when a chain broke last year. That should never be happening. Willow Hill does not look good. All the sidewalks need to repaired. A dead tree needs to be removed. You don't have a dead tree in front of an elementary school like
086that. It doesn't look good and it's not good for young children. It doesn't greet them well into the school. Nothing like this should be happening. The black top also needs resurfacing. It's riddled with so many cracks. It's unbelievable how awful it looks. And we pay high taxes. Why have you allowed Mrs. Brown and Mrs. The high school science state-of-the-art science center should not be leaking in multiple places. Before you know it, taxpayers will have another bill. And I do want to say that many people will lose their homes because of rising taxes. The way you put it up there, it doesn't look like much. Those taxes are going to go up very high. Commissioners have a whole lot more tax increases. People will have to give up their homes. Thank you for your voice. Your
087time is up. You're going to answer. Go ahead. Good evening again. Uh John Spiegelman from the Highland Farms section of Abington. Um, I want to say one thing that really hasn't been expressed uh anywhere throughout the the the referendum process in social media or the many communications uh regarding the referendum and specifically the communications from us in vote yes to invest. Um there's one thing I really want people to know about our team uh that they might not. Um, we we're made up of folks from all over Abington Township and Rocklage Burough. Um, and as as I said, I I could heap praise on my teammates forever, but there was one particular demographic that was not just over represented, but hyper represented. Um, and I think it's uh integral to why we got as much
088done as we did. the over represented demographic was Abington School District moms. Uh that was the the vast majority of our membership and moms get stuff done. Um again that hasn't been acknowledged anywhere and I just wanted to say that about my teammates. I'm so so proud to have worked with them and again look forward to working with everyone uh towards a a new middle school and a better future. Thank you and good night. Thank you for your voice. Anyone else in the room? Okay, Mr. Cargus will move to our callers on the line then. Yes, the uh next uh citizen for public comment, phone number ending in 5002. Please state your name and address. Hi, my name is Beth Kerr, Chester Avenue, Abington. I wanted to call and thank Dr. Fetcher and the school
089board for your commitment to improving accessibility across the district. Um, I was waiting to call in until we got that report on the playgrounds because I wanted to hear what you had to say. Thank you for expanding accessibility to our playgrounds. It doesn't just benefit the kids. It benefits our teachers and our staff and our parents. um whether they're permanently disabled or or temporarily disabled. Having an accessible play surface is a really big deal. Accessibility in the middle school is also a really big deal. And so I'm really glad that the vote passed and I want to thank the vote yes team for everything they did to help get that done. Um I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Mauy and Mr. Muhammad and it was fantastic to meet you guys in person. Thank you
090for all that you do and I'm grateful to have people so committed to all of our residents in Abington. Thank you. Thank you for the voice and uh the pleasure was mutual. Uh Mr. Cargus, we'll move on to our next caller, please. Yes, the next citizen for public comment. Phone number ending in 1662. Please state your full name and address. Um good evening. This is Michelle Cooper, Kingsley Road. I just wanted to call in quickly to say thank you to the Abington School Board of Directors um for your transparency and dedication throughout this years'sl long process. Um I'm going to keep this really quick um because I know this is the end of the meeting. The passing of the referendum is not just a win for our schools, but a reflection of the collective commitment
091of our entire community. Um every voter who participated, regardless of their vote, they contributed to the shaping of the future of Abington. And I just want to thank you for all of your leadership and I look forward to seeing the vision come to life for our students and our community and participating in all of that. So just thank you so so much for all of your support and just for our community. Thank you. Thank you for your voice. Uh we will take more speakers in the room. Sorry. No, that's good. Jen Patel Glansside. I uh everybody's already said it, but I also wanted to thank the Yes to Invest group in addition to you guys again. Um I was so impressed by their enthusiasm, their their commitment, their I mean the work they did, the
092it was truly impressive and all the volunteers and all the citizens that participated in it. I thought that was just um incredible and it really made me proud to be in Abington and um and also um best of luck to the Abington Ghosts on um Saturday and um hopefully they get a third win, championship. Thank you. Thank you for your voice. Anyone else in the room? Okay, Mr. Cargus, can you confirm that there are no callers on the line? There are no more callers. Okay, Dr. Fetcher, is there anything you'd like to respond to? Well, first I just want to comment my mother watches all these meetings. So, um I appreciate the comment that moms get things done. Um and mom, I'm trying to do my best here. Um but yes, she doesn't miss a
093meeting. So, I just wanted to mention that. Uh first of all, um next I wanted to just talk about um some of the things that came up in terms of maintenance uh throughout the district. Um, and you know, number one, we appreciate when things are brought to our attention, and I know that uh, Mr. Curtain and his team have regularly scheduled across the district u improvement projects. Uh, so when we do have, um, the knowledge of something or there's something faulty, we try to fix it as soon as we can. Um, so I do appreciate uh when things are brought to our attention uh this evening, you know, uh we will definitely have whatever the tree is. We'll uh take a look at the tree uh with our grounds crew. Um but also some of
094the ongoing repairs we have our masons doing concrete projects uh throughout the district um all year round. So um I thank people who have brought things to our attention but I also want to say that um Mr. Curtain uh under Mr. Curtain's leadership the all year round we tried to complete as many projects as we can especially um when weather is provided in a in a best manner. Okay. Um I'm just going to ask Mr. Curtain to clarify something if he can for me. Um, in winters where there's hard freezing and thawing, that takes a toll on masonry. Is that correct? Yes, it does. It takes a tremendous toll, especially on the surface with all the freezing, thawing, salting, uh, and ice prevention. We did that. It's quite common in the spring we have to
095resurface. We started at Willow Hill a couple weeks ago redoing the front. We just uh completed a small portion of ride to the front and that really will encompass quite a bit of our summer projects for our two full-time Masons. Okay. All right. Thank you. Um and then Dr. Fetcher, can you just clarify that uh school board and school district governance is entirely separate from township governance? Yes, we are um two separate entities. Okay. Um so the school The school board is elected um to serve for the Abington School District and um to hire the superintendent to run the school district. Thank you. Uh with that, we will move to closing comments of school directors. Mr. Allen, nothing. Thank you, Mrs. Brown. Hello, Mrs. Fetcher. Thank you so much for tuning in on a regular
096basis. We appreciate you. Um, I just wanted to take a comment that I heard tonight and I also hear from a friend, uh, Representative Katherine Gilmore Richardson, that moms do indeed get the job done. So, have a good night everyone. Miss Eisenhart. Um, yeah, in closing uh, today and also just in celebration of um, the community coming together to make a decision in the referendum. I think that was a pretty incredible thing that happened in Abington. I I I think uh the numbers and don't quote me, I believe it was like a 40% turnout on an offyear primary election. And in Abington, I think we're we're used to seeing about 20% in similar years. Um that's pretty incredible. And and as we all know, it was close. We had lots of conversation and lots of
097dialogue that happened and I would just like to encourage that to continue. Um we had a lot of activity in the months and years leading up to this vote and it it was all-encompassing um community members that were taking part in the process and coming to spaces like these meetings to to express what you know they thought was what what was important to them and their neighbors. And I I think that um we're in a place where that should continue and that Dr. Fetcher is encouraging to continue as we move forward in the process. Um, and I look forward to hearing that and um, you know, that's remarkable in itself. the amount of community members that were engaged in um the decision that is taking place that will impact uh the members of our community
098for a long time, futures of generations to come and the importance of being involved and having a voice, knowing when and where that voice can be heard and how to vocalize it. So, [Music] um, looking forward to moving forward with this and, um, and onward, uh, with the district and all of my neighbors and friends in Abington. Mr. Muhammad, everything Miss Eisenhardt just said, good night, everyone. Miss Falding. Uh, yeah, I don't have anything else to say. I think everybody else has already said it. So, have a good evening. Miss Hartman. Um I was just thinking while we were going through this meeting um that we're living in a world right now with a lot of uncertainty. And I think one of the most it's we teach our kids to look for the sparkle, right?
099You look for the sparkle in the world when things are really hard. And the referendum passing was a sparkle, right? We get a new middle school for our kids. um new playgrounds for our kids. That's a sparkle. Um and I also think everyone coming out and speaking their truth about the referendum was really important. And I also had some conversations with community members that opened my eyes to different perspectives because we don't always understand other people's perspectives until we hear them and we try to understand them. Um so I'm grateful to those those really hard conversations that I had with people. Um we did say along the process um that as a community there was a lot of there was a division the yes the no you know um but that when all was said
100and done we wanted to come back together as a community because we need to be a strong community right now. Um and we are all part of the Abington community. So I want us all to remember that and that we all live here. Um, our kids go to school here and we are such a strong community that I don't want us to be divided after this. I want us to be able to move forward and be able to build a new middle school that everybody can be proud of and that our kids can will benefit from. So, good night everyone. Miss Fazy. Um, take care everyone. Have a good night. Miss Woo. Um, a very late. Happy AAPI month and have a good night. Thank you for that reminder. Happy AAPI month. Um, I, you
101know, my colleagues have spoken so eloquently tonight. I think I I don't have any thing to add to it. Um, except that the process moves on. Um, and the community does too. We are at the end of the day neighbors now as we were before the process started. So I would encourage everyone to keep that in mind. And uh hello Mrs. Fetcher. All right. Have a great evening everyone. Thanks for coming out.