001Good evening everyone and welcome to the May 13, 2025 meeting of the Abington Board of School Directors. I note the attendance of all board members. Uh 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 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 16th, 2025 to allow those members of the public who cannot participate to view the meeting at a later time.
002Comments 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 in high regard and everyone's voice is respected and welcomed in this space. Dr. Fetcher, do we have any additional announcements or agenda items? No, we don't. Okay. With that, we will move to opening comments of board members. Mr. Allen, good evening everyone. Mrs. Brown, good evening everyone. Welcome. Miss Eisenhart, good evening. Mr. Muhammad, good evening. Missing. Hello everybody. Miss Hartman, welcome everyone. Miss Fraser, welcome. Miss Fazy, good evening everyone. Miss Wood, good evening everyone. I'd like to welcome everyone once again. Uh, Dr. Fetch, can you please proceed
003with our student council representatives? Yes, Dr. Mauy. Uh, this time I'm going to ask Bryson Edmonds from Abington Senior High School to come forward. Good evening, Dr. Maui, Dr. Fetcher, and the members of the board of school directors. My name is Bryson Edmonds, and I am the student council president at Amonson Senior High School. Braden Davis is our excellence in athletics recipient for the month of April. Braden is an integral part of the spring track and field team where his teammates look to him for guidance and leadership. Braden is energetic in regards to both academic and athletic activities. His strong academic determination has shown throughout high school and especially his senior year where he has achieved an acknowledgement on the honor role each of the first three marking periods. Today, the student council had a
004fundraiser at Humpty's Dumplings in Glennside. The funds raised from this event were used will be used to support community outreach activities. This month, student council will be putting together care packages for the children at the Ronald Ronald McDonald House. The Abington Senior High School girls flag football team qualify as the number one seed in the District 1 playoffs. The girl flag football team will travel to Central Bucks South to play against Central Bucks East. The Abton Senior High School boys volleyball team qualifies as the number 12 seed in the District 1 playoffs. The volleyball team will travel to North Penn. The Abton Senior High School boys and girls track teams have both been earning various medals including multiple first, second, and third places in various track and field events. The Abbottton Senior High School indoor
005units traveled to Per Perkam Perkan Valley High School for the tournament indoor association region three championships. All the groups won the respective respective championships. The indoor percussion unit won the region A championship and the two high school guards won the regional A and A class championships. The choir and orchestra participated at Lebanon Valley College in a and a coral school competition through music in the parks. The Abbottton Senior High School choirs competed against four other schools from Pennsylvania and Maryland, as well as eight middle schools. And the concert choir received a super superior rating and received first place in the mixed high school choir doubleA division 1 category. And the Corral received a superior rating and first place in the mixed high school doubleA division 2 category with also receiving best overall choir award out
006of 14 total choirs. The Abton Senior High School indoor guards indoor percussion and Abberton Senior High School Jazz Band participated in the tournament indoor association's Atlantic Coast Championships in Wildwood, New Jersey. The indoor percussion finished in second place in a Scholastic Region A division and the jazz band earned a superior rating with a score of 90.33 and finished in fourth in the Scholastic open class division. The Aon Senior High School art department is proud to announce the recipients of the Morai Annuits Creative Arts Competition Award at Gratz College. Ninth grader Bridget Core won first place for the ninth grade 2D art. And 11th grader Alistister Fang won honorable mention for the 11th grade 2D art. Grayson Stewart, an Abington Senior High School senior, is the April 2025 student of the month at Eastern Center for
007Arts and Technology in Willow Grove. Grayson's being recognized for his outstanding work in East's design, photography, and illustration program. The Aton Senior High School chess team competed at the United States Chess Federation's Super Nationals 8 this weekend in Orlando, Florida. At the event, Abton placed second in two divisions and had seven players receive accommodations for their play. Players included in the U1600 division include Eaglei Kleimman, Noah Hersier, Gregory Renitzki, and George Chevik. George placed second in a field of 34 teams from around the country. Eli was 19th overall in this division as an individual while Noah placed 21st and Greg 25th. In the U200 division, Tristan Lundy, Sophie Abora, Vincent Foley, and Ching Chen placed second in their division of 46 teams. as individuals. Lundy placed 10th, Abora 20 20th and Foley 22nd. Jacob Chen
008competed as an individual in the U1900 division. His his score placed him sixth in this entire division. Chen finishes his Abington chess career as the second highest player in team history. Matt Chen, Kareem Tricky, and Blae Wide Journet also competed for Abington. As we're approaching the end of the year, this is a good chance for reflection. Reflecting on all the things we've done and looking forward to what our decisions, how our decisions now can affect years in the future. Thank you and have a good evening. Thank you, Bryson. And now from Abington Middle School, Jessica Jaglo. Bryson, don't go anywhere. I have a question for you after this. Good evening, Dr. Maui, Dr. Fetcher, and members of the board of school directors. I am Jessica Jaglau, and I'm on the executive board of the student
009council for Abington Middle School. While Abington Middle School Vibe and Imagine program looks forward to our leaders attending the DV CE leadership conference on Tuesday, May 20, 2025, hosted right here at the Abington Senior High School. We will host our final meeting of the year on Wednesday, May 21st, 2025. And Dr. Pierce looks forward to returning the next year with fresh ideas and new ways of engaging our leaders and school community. Students who attended the crochet and knitting club enjoy sharing their projects with one another and teaching each other new stitches and techniques. Recently, the club donated more squares to Project Chemo Crochet, which is an organization that makes blankets from donated squares for people undergoing chemotherapy. The GSA continues to advocate for the LGBTQ plus community. The group has created resources to help students
010find safe spaces and they are currently working on schoolwide ways to celebrate Pride Month in June. TATA held two events in April. The first was the unique board game event on April 11th. Congratulations to the green team captained by eighth graders Colin Flood and Brooke Menchello on their victory over the blue and red team. Secondly, we held our annual extravaganza event on April 25th in addition to carnival games, bingo, a DJ, face painting, cornhole, and fabulous prizes given away at the extravaganza event. We also held two tournaments. Congratulation to Milton Alex, Liam Deck, James Meyers, and Bill Nardon for winning the 3v3 basketball tournament. And to Lauren Bistine, Christine Canyon, Avery, Fitzgerald, Chelsea Keenan, and Victoria Keenan for their triumph in the family feud tournament. We are currently planning our annual big end of year
011event Tata game starting in late May. In April, the builder's club packed 55 duffel bags filled with supplies and gifts for children and teens in foster care. The AMS parents, students, teachers, and staff members donated hundreds of books, school supplies, toys, games, blankets, and personal hygiene products, which filled the bags with lots of extras we donated, too. In May, students went outside and filled the sidewalks and pathways with chalk messages of thanks and appreciation to AMS teachers for teacher appreciation week. Our spring sports will be con concluding later this month. We are grateful to our coaches, many of whom are teachers, for their support throughout the spring season. As usual, we have had many student athletes participate on the many sports team. Students from our web where everyone belongs club took part in various activities
012to recognize our awesome teachers during teacher appreciation week. Thank you. Thank you, Jessica. Thank you. Good job, Bryson. Did you decide where you're headed? Yeah. Okay. You don't have to say it out loud if you don't want to. Okay. All right. Thank you both for those reports. Great to hear everything that our students are doing. Uh Dr. Fetcher, please proceed with this evening's honors. Thank you, Dr. Mauy. I'm going to ask uh Dr. Alice Swift, principal of Abington Senior High School, uh to introduce Grayson Stewart, who's the April 2025 student of the month at Eastern Center for Arts and Technology. And while they're walking up there, I would like to say that um uh fortunate to be on the um board meeting at Eastern when uh Grayson was honored and um just really fabulous story
013of what brought you to this point. So I'm proud to see you here tonight. Thank you so much. Okay. Good evening Dr. Maui, Dr. Fetcher, and members of our board of directors and all the uh constituents in the audience. is I have our scholar Grayson Grayson Stewart standing next to me. Bryson already mentioned uh what has occurred but in the month of April, excuse me, Grayson was and has been acknowledged as the student of the month at Eastern Center for Arts and Technology in Willow Grove. He's being recognized for his outstanding work in Eastern's design, photography, and illustration program. And I would like to tell his story. Okay. When Grayson first learned about the program at Eastern, he was excited by the opportunity to explore how the career pathway in art could help him develop
014valuable professional skills. He appreciates being able to do something he loves and excels at every day. At Eastern's award night in May of 2024, Grayson was honored with the outstanding junior year sketchbook award and the straighta Award as an active member of Eastern Student Leadership Organization or Skills USA. He achieved first place in the District 2 action skills competition in February 2024 and earned third place uh at the Pennsylvania State Competition in April of 2024. For this competition, Grayson Grayson demonstrated the different shading techniques commonly used in illustration. And in February of 2025, Grayson often um and once again received first place in the Skills USA District 2 competition, but this time it was for t-shirt design. Uh and through his design, photography, and illustration program, Grayson obtained an industry standard certificate in the Adobe
015in design. And here at Abington Senior High School, Grayson is an active member of our National Honor Society, the boys lacrosse team, the Friends Against Alcohol and Drugs, and the Alternative Sports Club outside of school. He works part-time at the Bwell Bakery in the cafe in Huntington Valley, where he serves as a server, food preparer, smoothie preparer, and kitchen assistant. and he volunteers at the forgotten cats in Willow Grove and is a certified American Red Cross lifeguard with CPR and AED certification. Grayson brings a positive, encouraging energy to the classroom, said Nicole Abusi, Eastern's design, photography, and illustration instructor, and he is always ready with a kind word for a classmate and is consistently willing to lend a hand. And after graduating from Eastern at a from Abington Senior High School, Grayson is committed to
016attending Suscuana University where he will pursue a degree in graphic design and play lacrosse. And during college, he hopes to secure an internship with the outdoor sporting goods company. I and we are extremely proud of you, Grayson, for all that you do. Um, your parents are here. I'd like to honor them. If you could please stand up. Thank you for such a wonderful young man. Thank you so much. I'd love to. Thank you. Thank you so much. Strong handshake, too. Thank you. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] At this time, I'd like Miss Ali, our tour, communications coordinators share a video highlighting recent media coverage of Abington School District. Good evening, Dr. Fetcher, Dr. Mauy, and members of the board of school directors. Uh Abington Senior High School observed Holocaust Remembrance Day uh by opening an art installation
017in partnership with the Holocaust Awareness Museum and Education Center, which was also curated by teachers of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanities Course. Social Studies classes have been visiting the exhibit over the past few weeks to learn about the events that inspired the artworks. Both NBC 10 and 6ABC Action News covered the exhibit's opening, and I'm happy to share the 6ABC news clip with you this evening. A pop-up art installation is paying tribute to the millions of lives lost in the tragedy that was the Holocaust. This display was curated by social studies teachers at Abington Senior High School. Time to coincide with Holocaust Remembrance Day, which began at sundown last night. Now, among the items on display here, five artworks about the Awitz experience, all created by Frank Root, the spouse of a survivor.
018Each piece also features a QR code so students can further explore that subject subject. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Sar. Okay. Dr. Fetcher, would you please proceed with this? EFI is a free online financial education resource that uses interactive game-based learning to expose students to real life financial situations to help them make smart decisions. UFly um which is the UFI they say UFFLY foundations from the University of Florida is a step-by-step reading program for primary grades designed to build essential reading skills and support struggling readers. The UFI program would be used as an intervention tool with um students in the primary grades in small groupoup instruction. Moving on to secondary high school personal finance from NextGen Personal Finance is a free standards align resource including units on budgeting, investing, credit management, and paying for college.
019This resource is recommended for the new personal finance course that is going to be required in 10th grade starting next year. Financial algebra, also from NextGen Personal Finance, combines financial literacy with math concepts through real world applications. Topics include units like sading with systems of equations, investing with exponential functions, and credit with statistics and probability. And this resource is recommended for the new financial algebra course that would be an option for students after geometry. We are recommending two programs um to support the reading courses that we implemented this year in grades 6 through 10. First is Achieve 3000 literacy. This is an online program that supports reading comprehension through non-fiction texts and instruction in phenomic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, and writing. And this resource would allow us to expand the students that we're working with to
020um really target the needs of more students. And also, we're looking to expand our use of the starry series. This was a series we adopted last year that has highinterest texts. And the literature is an intervention tool that is to work with students reading below grade level to build fluency, decoding, and comprehension skills. And so that is just to expand that to incorporate more texts. Um, Freedom on My Mind is the recommended text for the new African-American studies course. This um book was selected from a series that were reviewed and it offers a comprehensive primary source-based approach to African-American history aligned with AP standards. Uh the advance that AP is um College Board and supports critical thinking and writing skills. And for those who aren't familiar with the primary source-based approach, that is the concept
021in social studies that you're using the original documents. So um it actually the the book is infused with all different documents from history over time and and those can be images and textbased documents that they they look at in special education for our students with an IEP. We're recommending expanding the products from Attainment Company. Attainment Company provides standard-based researchbacked supplemental programs for students with disabilities, especially those with intellectual disabilities. The resources include blended learning curricula for academics, life skills, transition planning, um functional math and reading, and all the materials are adaptable to individual student needs. And finally, we are recommending that we renew the subscriptions that you see on the screen. Um, these are resources that we currently use that we would like to continue to use next year. They support literacy across multiple subjects
022by providing engaging standards aligned content that builds reading, writing, critical thinking, and media literacy skills for a wide range of learners. And that concludes the presentation and I'm happy to answer questions. Questions from the board? No. Okay. I I would just like to say that I'm um very excited to see primary sources being integrated into the uh AP African-American studies class. That's all. And I'll share that I'm excited that we um had um enough students to enroll that we are going to be running two sections of that looks like next year. So that's a great start for a new course. Um, so you know when we knew that we had students that were interested, but that is a nice strong start for that course. So that's exciting. Excellent. Anyone else? Thank you, Miss Woo. Nothing.
023Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. For next orientation this evening, um, in agenda items numbers 14.1, 14.2, 2 and 14.3. We are recommending the 20252026 proposed final general fund budget. At this time, I'm going to ask Mr. Victoria and Mr. Lionetti to continue with this evening's presentation to review any changes. Thank you, Dr. Fetcher. The proposed proposed final general fund budget is based on staff input estimated and actual local, state, and federal revenue with an increase in real estate taxes to reflect the 4% act one index in which the mill rate increases from 37.07 mills to 38.55 mills. We are currently using the April assessment data from the county and the June the uh and the county will provide us with the uh actual assessment in June of 2025. The other remaining local
024revenue are still forecasts. State revenue for basic education, special education, transportation, and block grants are budgeted using the information from Governor Shapiro's budget presentation. Property tax relief is being budgeted at actual PTE amounts. Federal revenue for title and access programs are being budgeted at 2425 levels. On the expense side of the budget, salaries are being budgeted using collective bar bargaining agreements. There is one agreement that has yet to be finalized. Negotiated benefits are being budgeted at the CPASS second look. We have the percentages for mandated benefits with pers being 35 34% in the 2526 school year and department departmental budgets are used to budget non- salary non-benefits portion of the budget. This slide shows historical data from 2005 2006 to the 2425 school year. Beginning on the left, the slide shows the millage rate, the
025revenue and expenses. It also shows usage of fund balance and accumulated fund balance. The right column shows enrollment during this period. From 2005 2006 through 2023 24 enrollment increased by almost 1,200 students. In the 2324 school year to the 2425 school year enrollment has decreased by 204 students. Again, this slide shows historical data for the increase in the PERS rate on the school district's budget. In the 2009 2010 school year, the PERS contribution rate was 7.13% which was $5.4 million of total expense. In the 2526 school year, that the Pasers rate is going to be 34%. Which is $34 million. This time this expense has increased $28.5 million. As the slide shows, Pasers projects the increase the contribution rate to continue increasing and in the 202930 school year, the expense will be $41.1 million. So
026the initial uh budget was presented at the March 11th meeting. At the time, the budget had $195.6 million of revenue, $25.5 million of expenses, and $9.8 million of allocated fund balance. Budget manager reviewed their budgets and were able to cut $617,000 from the expense line, bringing the expense to $24.9 million. This reduction came primarily from non salary. Excuse me. This reduction came primarily from instructional and non-instructional supply expense throughout the district. At the same time, revenue was reduced by $556,000 due to the decrease in assessed value. This brought revenue to $195.1 million and the allocated fund balance to $9.7 million. So this slide compares the 2425 budget to the proposed final 2526 budget. The proposed budget includes a 4% real estate tax increase, which is the maximum allowable increase for the 2526 school year. Please
027recall that the administration recommended and the board approved a resolution in December that the district would not seek referendum exceptions which would allow the district to increase taxes above the 4% index. The 4% tax military rate increase raises the millage rate to 38.55 mills from 37.07 mills, generating an estimated $4.1 million compared to the 2425 school year. This amount may change, excuse me, this mountain may change uh due to the change in assessed values until June of 2025. Local revenue has increased a total of $4.3 million and that includes earned income taxes of an additional $192,000 and $525,000 of other revenue inclusion of real estate transfer tax, delinquent tax collection, earning on investments, and pass through IDA funds. Local revenue has increased 3.11% budget budget year to budget year. State revenue reflects a 6.6% increase
028due to the increase in state funding from the governor's recommended increases for Abington School District in basic ed funding, special education funding, and PESR subsidy. Federal funds decrease $687,000 due to the end of the Esser's funds. The subtotal revenue reflects $6.7 million of increased budget to budget and the allocated fund balance at $9.7 million is a projected reduction of budgettobudget reliance on allocated fund balance of $1.3 million. The expense increases $5.3 million or $2.68% to $24.9 million. Salaries increase $3.4 million or 3.54%. Negotiated benefits for things such as health insurance for district employees increases $677,000. Mandated benefits costs primarily the the employer's contribution to staff, social security, and retirement. That increases $1.9 million or 4.73%. A non non-s salary non-benefit portion of the expense budget decreases $661,000. So this slide shows an impact on a
029typical assessment of $141,130 increasing the millillage to 38.55. The increase is $28.87. Because the Sterling Act tax credit is $39 more than the previous school year, the overall impact on this homeowner is $16987. The bottom portion of this slide shows the impact on seniors at a assessment of $141,130. Seniors who qualify for the district rebate program and are in the first three income levels would not see a tax increase. Seniors in the bottom income level would see a tax increase of $1787. Mr. Victoria, if I can just jump in here as we look um forward to May 20th and the referendum, if the referendum were to pass um on the 20th, there would be no impact on these uh millage rate or the amount of taxes that um Abington and Rocklage residents um would pay
030um as we begin our design process if the referendum is successful. So again, uh there would be no impact, no additional impact on um the the taxpayers um moving forward in the 2526 school year. Thank you. So this is showing an estimated 2425 expense to the proposed 2526 budget. We are estimating that the allocated fund balance needed in the 2425 school year would be $5 million. This would end the 2425 school school year with $16.6 million in fund balance, which would carry forward to the beginning of the 2526 school year. With the al with the expenses and revenue in the 2526 proposed general fund budget and the allocated fund balance use, the UN the ending fund balance would be $6.8 million instead of the $694,000 presented on page two of this present page six of
031this presentation. Looking ahead to the June 24th meeting, the board will be asked to adopt the 2526 final general fund budget and adopt a resolution to implement homestead exclusions. Dr. Fetcher, that concludes our presentation and we can answer any questions the board might have. Thank you, Mr. Victoria. Questions for my board colleagues? Uh, yes. Slide five where it uh mentions non salary slashnonbenefit. Would that include ESS substitute services? That would be the excuse me that would be the category where we capture that expense. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? There was a mention of a decrease in student population of about 204 students. Um, two questions to that. One, where are they going? And two, uh, does that translate into a decrease in staffing or how is that handled? So um in terms of the
032decrease between last year and this year of about 200 students in the district um those we would look at our positions and start with uh positions that would we would not fill through attrition. For example, we would look at um our retirements throughout the district and if that position that is vacant from a retirement did not need to be filled um because of enrollment and a decrease enrollment, we will not fill that. And the first question around where where they've gone, do we have any information on that? I think you're looking at general enrollment trends and populations within the in the community. So if you look at for the example um the past um 10 years or so there's about a thousand students difference um and that was part of our enrollment studies that we
033did um going back to the reason why uh we began the the project um at the high school and looked at every elementary school that was reaching capacity um during that enrollment time. So, uh that trend uh continues. Um but we're seeing a slight dip at this time. Okay. And so you said um people retire and um reductions are occurring through attrition. Uh does that then translate into savings in terms of the budget impact? Yeah, absolutely. Um the biggest driver of uh school district budget is employees and employee benefits. Um it's the largest portion of our budget. Um so when we are trying to control expenses um we have to examine every position and it is across the board. So, um I can tell you that u when we look at even um administrative positions
034when we have retirements, we examine whether or not we're going to refill that position or consolidate positions. Uh we do the same with teaching positions and and all of our major uh groups and associations across the district. Thank you, Mrs. Brown. Yes. a few questions about the uh rebates for our senior citizens who um who qualify. I believe we started this about three or four years ago. Can you just speak to the numbers uh of people who signed up to take advantage of this? Mr. Ftori, do you have that information? I do. Um, so the first year we had 29 uh rebates. Last year we had 64 rebates and we're currently at 66 rebates. Okay, that's a that's a nice jump from 29 and 66 64. My next question is, do we know how many
035senior citizens within um the township qualify but have not uh signed up? Do we have any idea of that? I don't have that information. Okay. Is that something that's attainable? I believe it's available on uh the Department of Revenues website. Okay. If the board does not mind, that is something that I'm interested in just to make sure that uh the our most uh vulnerable population who qualifies for this that they're actually taking advantage of it. Um my next question has to do with the the fund balance and I know we shared there are some things that we can control as far as spending but there are others that we can't. So just to quickly summarize the things that we can't control such as peasers and that that makes up a a high percentage of the
036money that we have to spend. Uh there's also uh charter schools which includes cyber charter and brick and mortar and I believe we're up to 2.6 six million, 2.3 million. Where are we with that? We are approaching anywhere between the figures you're representing 2.6 million um to perhaps as high as almost $3 million this year. Um and don't see a reason that that's going to decline into next year. So, it's a very significant increase. Precoid we were at $ 1.5 million. Mhm. And that's something that we we cannot control unless legislation. I know there's some um talk on the table about capping um cyber charter, especially when it comes to special education programs because students are given the same amount regardless of whether they're receiving speech services or services that require a lot more in-depth
037um attention. So, I know those are some things that we can't control. So why is it important to bring those things up? Because spending is very important and we want to know where our money is being spent and what are some things we can control so we can continue to have dialogue about that. Uh attrition is one of those things that we're uh that we're discussing now. Um and I just think that those are important things to to bring up. Is there anything that I missed as far as things that we can't control that we uh want to keep our eye on and then things that we can control so we can continue to cut down where it makes sense? One of the other areas um that we don't have much control over are um
038insurance costs with regard to general liability. We're seeing about a $200,000 increase this year. Um while it's not um a huge part of our budget, but it's another example of costs that um although we look at our um insurance carriers competitively um the nature of general liability for you know land and facilities given the what's been occurring across the nation with regard to disasters, fires, floods, hurricanes. Um we are seeing an increase there as well. Mhm. And I know we've had uh some new hires um particularly the counselors that we hired precoid and I know that was a a relatively bigger budget item considering paying uh for benefits and things of that nature. But those are the type of things that I stand by. My vote is still yes. Those counselors that we hired so
039that our elementary schools could have more support is is a vote that I continue to stand by. So again, some of these things cost money and they are worth it. Uh so thank you so much for reminding us of those things that we can control and then those things that we cannot when it comes to our budget. Anyone else? Miss Woo, if I may. Um go ahead. Could we go back to that slide with the peasers contributions? Paser stands for Pennsylvania State Employee Retirement System. Um, and it speaks to the the district expenses uh that we have to pay into uh retirees pensions uh when they you know serve the district, serve the state and then retire. Um, and we see this number grow tremendously from 2000. If we just go to 2009, 2010, uh,
040we were paying $5 million, $5.4 million. And when you look at 2425, $33 million, about $28 million increase over 15 years. At $28 million accounts for almost uh 15% of our budget. It's 15% that we weren't spending 15 years ago, 15 years ago. Um, and it actually accounts for a substantial portion of the increase in our budget. When you look at what we were spending in 2010, which was around $123 million, and what we're spending today, uh, we're projecting $200 million. That's about a third of the increase just on statemandated retirement contributions. And so to Miss Brown's point, there are uncontrollable expenses that we are working very hard to work with and then address the things that we do have control over. Thank you. Anyone else? No. Mr. line, Eddie. Um, the Pasers contribution that's
041included in the mandated benefits line. Is that correct? Yes, you're correct. Okay. Okay. Could we go back to that slide again just quickly? The slide with the mandated benefits. Yes, this one. Okay. Okay. Thank you. All right. Any other comments or questions? No. Okay. That brings us to anything else, Dr. Fetcher. That's all we have for orientations this evening. Okay. Thank you. Sure. That brings us to our first uh session of Comments from citizens are being conducted both in person and by phone. The phone number to participate in public comments is 2677153717 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
042limited 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 aotment. So we'll start with folks in the room. If there's anyone who would like to make a comment, uh you may use the microphones either to your left or to your right. Please state your name and address. Yes. Bob Jnowski, 927 Irvin Road. Um with this uh increase that we just had tonight um and the upcoming referendum since uh the 2021 to 22, it looks like it's coming up to 33.23% um over this time period. Um, and I noticed that to make the budget work every year, we're up near the uh statemandated limit. So, whatever the state says that you
043can charge, that's what you have to do to try to make the budget work. Um, how will this be affected? as the uh inflation rate drops and we get a lower um inflation or index rate for next year, how will the budget be able to accommodate that? And and also with the increased amount of debt services with the new um middle school. Um the other thing I had a question on was uh the SPS fire cost. Um, is this had any impact on the budget and has that been calculated with the loss of jobs and uh revenue and everything else for the SPS? Um, and also about the drop of students. Uh it's my understanding that um this year we had like almost 200 students that were found to not be part of the district
044and that were removed or paying or uh some other accommodations being happen on that. Is that a number that is true? And if are we going to continue to do that uh this following school year to go and make sure that we're only paying to educate Abington students. Does that conclude your comments? Yes. Okay. All right. Thank you for your voice. No answer. Okay. Anyone else? Yes. I'm Murphy. I'm in the 11th grade. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. Good evening. I'm Julie Murphy, 11th grade and the president of the GSA at the senior high. Can you I'm sorry. Can you state your address as well, please? Uh 818 Crossix Road. Okay. Thank you. We recently received confirmation that the book The Rainbow Parade was challenged and then removed from the McKinley School elementary library. This
045was not made public or announced on any school website or parent newsletter. The quiet removal of books is something that is deeply concerning for me and for other students because we are the ones who are most directly affected by this. Are there any other books that have been removed? How would a student know? If the school district quietly removes books without telling the students, then the students who need these books the most don't have access to them. The adults appear to control the flow of information. Where is our voice? As students, we are the stakeholders of these libraries. When the rainbow parade was removed, no students input was considered. Isn't the founding principle of America the right to self-determination and free speech? As such, students who are affected by governance should have a voice. As
046students of this district, it is integral that we are a part of the book removal process. Though the Rainbow Parade harbors controversy who determines the line between censorship and freedom of information. I am not here to challenge the removal of the Rainbow Parade. I am here to challenge the process in which it was removed. The superintendent's administrative procedure for handling challenge materials consists of only adult super representation. The concern I have is that adults controlling the flow of information will result in a smaller body of literature that is accessible to students. Adminally we were taught that books could be a window or a mirror. This means that you learn about others experiences and reflect on your own through books. For a child to develop into a healthy teenager then a healthy American adult, they need
047books that are mirrors. To continue a united country, we need books that serve as windows and mirrors for every American. We the people, the students, need to be involved in the book removal process. Self-governance is crucial for Americans. To avoid unnecessary bias and self-interest in government, fair and equal representation ensures that all American rights are protected. Including the students in the book removal process upholds these American values. Thank you. Thank you for your voice. Um, hello. I ama Ner. I live at 203 Edge Hill Road and I am also a member of the Abington Senior High School GSA. Um, at the beginning of my elementary school years, I attended a private school. Like any other school, this school had a library. Like all too many schools, this school required a parent permission form to check
048out any book that briefly featured any queer representation. That I learned after moving to Abington. And as I got older, happened under the idea that being queer is a choice or something wrong that happens because of exposure to the idea. However, the American Psychological Association recognizes queerness as a natural variation of human sexual orientation. Being queer is not a choice or a wrong. At a public school, it is important to give children the tools they need to thrive and grow, not just as people, but into themselves. This is the key idea that marks the importance of diverse children's literature as a whole, or in this case, queer children's literature, which brings us to the recent ban of Emily Nelson's book, The Rainbow Parade. Before taking a look at the process in which the book was
049banned, I would first like to make clear that neither I nor the GSA are arguing to reverse the ban, but instead looking at what the ban has the strong possibility to lead to and how we suggest to counter that. By banning a queer book and not making it public to the community, whether for nudity or other reasons, it opens the way for more queer books to be banned. The future rights of today's queer children are at risk in the modern day as shown by statements made made by the current president such as we will get critical race theory and transgender insanity the blank a word inappropriate for a schoolboard meeting out of our schools which was stated on January 19th at his rally in Washington the day before his inauguration. Similar to sexual orientation, transgenderism
050is also natural with many studies pointing towards the idea that it is due to biology as also supported by the American Psychological Association and not external factors. While any queer book can be banned for something deemed inappropriate for children, it is important to keep in mind that queer books are not inappropriate for being queer. But as the government moves towards an administration that believes otherwise, it means that queer books are thus as a forementioned at risk for bans disguised as other reasons simply because of out as outright homo or as outright homophobia. Finally, this leads to our suggestion. We as the GSA ask that as the risk for queer bookbs increases, students be incorporated into the bookb review proceedings so that it is even more assured that there is no ne negative impact on queer
051children and no bans on the queer community simply because they are queer. Thank you. Thank you for your voice. I am Finn Row. My address is 2932 Jenintown Road. I am also a part of the GSA. The GSA and I are here to discuss concerns regarding potential de discrimination or restriction regarding LGBTQ and other minorities in the student body. It is important to the population of the students in our district no matter a student or an adult stand on political or social works to provide a framement for the understandment and inclusion of for the student body. It has been brought to our attention that the ban regarding to book the Rainbow Parade by El Emily Nelson, a majority of our representatives as an LGBTQ plus community understand this ban, which is why we are not
052challenging it or its directive. Our concerns more lie in the doors that this can open to the idea if the idea of banning books is entertained. It is well known that there are groups targeting minorities, especially LGBTQ plus individuals. It is also well known that there is a history of hateful groups banning books to limit the knowledge of certain topics. Our fear is that this will escalate into a situation that is that prohibits inclusion. Something like this wouldn't just affect the LGBTQ community, but it also opens doors to minorities being discriminated upon. What we ask is for preventative measures to be taken so that these doors stay these doors to discrimination stay as closed as possible. When discussing these preventives me measures, our main idea was that student representations or opinions from group or communities
053related to the topic are brought into consideration during the banning. We feel that it is important when considering these bannings we bring the opinions of not only the adults but the student as body as well. We hope you consider our con our suggestions. Thank you for your voice. Hello, my name is Michelle Bonnet. My address is 2817 Mount Vernon Avenue and I'm here to talk about the the talk of the referendum regarding the middle school. Good evening teachers, parents, and other faculty members. I'm here to speak with you all about the future of our very well-loved middle school and why it's so important that we do something about it for its future students. Very quickly, I would like to speak with the parents. I want you all to think about how many students are attending
054our middle school currently. I want you all to take a guess. Not too far off. Well, according to our district's page, 2407 students attend the school, which in comparison, the high school has 2,693 students. And when you look at the building, there's a clear size difference, which takes me to my main point. The middle school is obviously pretty small, but I want to take a slightly deeper dive here. Take the middle school's hallways for example. You know them, you love them. It's where we all travel to classes, and it's a great place to talk with your friends and or co-workers. However, there is just a small problem with them. The hallways are very small, especially considering over 2,000 students walk through them every single day. Trust me, it is not fun. And this may seem
055like a very small issue. But as a former student, I can say from experience, this is a bigger issue. And let's be real, it's bigger than the hallways. But this is why we need your vote. This middle school is very old. And it's so important that these future students have a better learning environment. They should not have to be shoulderto-shoulder walking through halls or move to other rooms because their original room is boiling or is a freezer. And yes, this has happened before. They should be able to have a clean school that makes them feel safe and motivated to learn. That is why we need your yes. Your yes means that we are one step closer to making that hope a reality. Please, please think about their future, not their now. Thank you. Thank you
056for your voice. Anyone else in the room? Um, hello. My name is Eileen Denton. I live at um 1978 Morland Road. Um, I'm not going to repeat anything that um the students already said because they said it really eloquently and prepared. So, I'm not going to try to restate anything because I agree 100%. Um, actually what I came to say was I actually wanted to thank the concerned citizen who um brought to our attention uh this book banning. Um because what I did when I learned about it was I was really concerned if there were any other books on this topic or the removal of this book meant children could not learn about pride. Um, so I went to the catalog um for the elementary schools and I searched some common terms that anyone would
057search if you were trying to find books um on LGBTQ topics. And I found some interesting things. First of all, I found that I never my kids didn't attend McKinley, but that librarian there is clearly amazing. Um, if you don't know that the elementary school librarians are the ones that choose the books, read all the research, um, and decide what the students need. Um, they have 45 titles that represent LGBTQ students and families. Um, then we get to Highland. It also is an excellent library um, for these students and their families, but a little bit less. They have 29 titles um that reflect LGBTQ families and students. And then we do a really big drop off to Ryal that has 12. Um then we drop even more to Willow Hill, which has seven. Then we
058drop even more to Copper Beach, which has four titles about LGBTQ people. Um then Roslin has five and overlook my kids school has three. Three. Um that's it. And I know the students mentioned the whole idea of mirrors and windows and sliding doors. And I want you to guys to think about the children in this district who come from families um LGBTQ families and do they have the opportunity to find books that represent them their families and who they are and their experience. When you go to a library and you can't find one book that looks like your family or your experience, what does that say to you about who you are and who your family is? I would encourage um the board um administrators to allow the librarian at McKinley to offer some professional
059development to the other librarians. Um there are school librarians who have a master's in library science and did that training. Um but there are also some who while they're very skilled did not have that training and a big part of that is collection development and learning how to create a collection of books that represents everyone. So, I want to thank again the person that brought this to our attention um because it's allowing us to hopefully rem up. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] Go ahead. Hi. Um my name is Ashley Bram Johnson and I live near Ryel Elementary School and I'm part of the community group Vote Yes to Invest in support of the middle school referendum. Being a part of the vote yes to vote yes to invest group has been life-changing at least for
060my life in Abington. Before joining the committee, I was an Abington parent. Yes. And I cared deeply about investing in our schools and community. Yes. But then I went to my first meeting and my second and my third. And before I knew it, I was allin with this amazing group of other Abington residents and parents. And over the past three months, I've just gotten to know more and more of them. Some better than others. But knowing them and seeing their own enthusiasm and care for our district has only acted to bolster my own. And what makes them all extraordinary is that not only do they care, but they all care in different ways. I know some parents across multiple PTOs, others whose kids are affected daily by the challenges in the middle school. Parent coaches
061who use the district's fields, parents with kids who love theater or who are in the high school robotics club. I could go on for a very long time. But what brings us all together is this shared love of our community, its kids, its teachers, and the whole package of the Abington district experience. This project is more than just a building. If this referendum passes next Tuesday, we will be able to build a whole new campus for the Abington community. Yes, with a modern, safe, secure, and accessible new school that can serve us for generations. But the $285 million bond will also get us brand new athletic fields, new parking lots, tennis courts, a new theater, new roads to facilitate easier navigation. And the district has said multiple times that an important part of the design
062process will continue to be feedback from the community. The price sounds large, but that's because not only does the budget include the whole new campus, but also the design process, management of this massive project, the demolition of the old school once the new one is built, completely new athletic fields, and an included buffer for construction inflation, and contingencies for design change. This is a huge project and I would argue the best investment our community could possibly make. If this referendum fails and the plan cannot move forward, it's also abundantly clear that the current building will eventually have to be replaced no matter what. If that does not happen now, not only will it continue to be a detractor to new families moving into our community, but the price for building a new school will only
063increase with time. I could go on and on and on about my experiences with this amazing grassroots group of volunteers, but I know that for weeks you have also heard from them as well. Together on May 20th, let's all vote yes for a brighter future for all of Abington and Rocklage. [Applause] Thank you for your voice. Hi, my name is Len Zangwell. I live at 621 Kelly Lane over in Glennside. And I wanted to pick up on the comments of speaker before me and the student before her and a student the last time I was at the school meeting commenting on the middle school and basically first as far as the speaker before me I'm also part of the S2 invest group. I think I'm thrilled there's a group like that in Abington. I'm thrilled
064I can do a little bit to help take a stand for public education. We all know what's happening in Washington and the policies down there. It's very anti-public education. So if I can do a little bit and this school boost to an awful lot, take a stand for public education and a community resource for education, I think it's a wonderful thing. I hope this referend to passes on Tuesday. A big part of the reason why I support the referendum is I support a new middle school and that speaks back to the comments of a couple stu couple speakers ago and last time where the student talked where students talked about the facilities in particular the hallways, particular a lot of other very cramped spaces in that school. reminds me of work. There's two campuses I
065can go to. One, I'll call it the the nice campus. Plenty of open spaces, plenty of light, plenty of places where we can congregate as teams to get more work done and just a better place to be physically and have bigger events and have more personal interaction. The other campus, I'll call it the not as fun campus. I'll call that campus B. tight spaces, bad lighting, very cramped, no rooms, very few rooms with any capacities for any kind of routine building, anything like that. And I think of the new middle schools like that as we are now basically as far as I can tell in a B campus being it's cramped. There's heating notable heating issues, other issues, other lack of space to really have a lot of creative endeavors and I think probably a
066lot of educational things that cannot happen because the facilities don't allow for in the high school with the with the new wing. A lot more things can happen now that couldn't happen 5 10 years ago. So, I think it's really great that the middle that this plan is to build a whole new middle school. So, I wanted to thank the board for stepping up to the plate, dealing with this issue now versus kicking the can down the road for another 10 years and having lots of transparency. So, anyone who wanted to learn about this had the chance to go on a website, go to a presentation, answer a survey, and just find out what's going on if they wanted to. So, I think a transparency has been great. I look forward to more of it,
067and I'm looking forward to the referendum passing on Tuesday. and thank you very much for your time. Thank you. Thank you for your voice. Next, Carol Godfrey, 1021 Devon Road, and that's in Abington. Once again, I would like to encourage the community to vote yes on May 20th for the referendum to build a new middle school. People on social media have been having a heyday giving their opinions regarding the May 20th referendum. The school district has done an excellent job in keeping the community informed over the past several years as they went through the planning process for the need for a new middle school. ICS and the Shrader Group, two local consulting firms were retained by the school district. These are the experts, not the many folks on social media who have been ranting and
068raving over the past several months and encouraging the no vote. Actually, I planned to support the opinion of the experts. I went on two tours of the building, attended many schoolboard meetings that discussed at great length the need for a new middle school. I completed at least two surveys from the school district, and listened to teachers and students opinions. I feel I have done my due diligence in making an informed decision. I have heard some people ask why the middle school building can't be renovated as was done with the high school. The senior high design was and still is a more traditional school design at ground level, not like the middle school that sticks straight up in the air with interior classrooms and glass hallways on the outside of the building. The middle school is
069a curved building and the hallways are very hard to maneuver and monitor. The the tight stairwells are very dangerous and with over 2,000 students changing classes, the stairwells have always been a problem. The building layout is poor and outdated. We need an ADA compliant and safe middle school building. Our Abington students deserve better in this day and age. In closing, I'd like to encourage all residents to keep in mind that a new middle school will make Abington an even more desirable place to live and in turn raise our property values. A vote yes for the referendum is a vote for education and yes, education matters. Thank you. Thank you for your voice. We'll do one more speaker in the room and we have My name is uh Matt Palmer. I live on Excuse me. Oh,
070sorry. One second. We're going to do one more speaker in the room and then we have a few callers. I'm going to pivot to them after you're done. Certainly. Thank you. Uh so my name is Matt Palmer. I live on Carat Road uh in Abington. And uh first I want to commend all the youth for coming in here and talking in front of you all because I'm 45 and I'm nervous. So I know it takes a lot of guts for them to come in here and say what they want to say. So thank you. Uh aside from that talking about the middle school and the conditions there, uh it's already been mentioned ADA accessibility. It's a major issue. Uh security for our students uh in case of any kind of active situation that nobody wants
071to talk about in this room. uh it's pretty ridiculous. You know, you can walk down the hallways and see into every single room, everything going on with nowhere to hide. So, it's pretty straightforward what needs to be done there. Aside from those things, the main thing that I've heard from the naysayers is uh slow the process, better planning, right? So, I just want to point out that Act One was a Pennsylvania bill that was established in 2006 and revised in 2011. And this bill essentially states that there's a lot of legal ease. I tried to research it as much as I could, but it's really long and there's a lot of complicated stuff. But the bottom line here is that no school board can tell us how to vote or propose what they would like
072to do or not do. They can only propose the options that are available to them. and also that they have to hold a referendum and ask as we've heard, excuse me, from the uh selection of what we were hearing earlier, there's uh no opportunity for people to move forward and increase the budget without actually asking us as voters to vote on it and have a referendum. So, they are forced to have that situation whereas in the past, they were able to just increase the school taxes by their own vote and make their own decision about it. In order to get to a referendum, which we have on May 20th, they have to follow a set of legal procedures that involves their planning and consultation and other things. So, I think it's pretty straightforward and simple
073to say that in order for them to put the referendum on the ballot in May 20th, they are required legally to have already done this planning that so many would say hasn't occurred. So, it's pretty straightforward to me that uh if you are approved to put it on your referendum and if you're approved to put it to a vote, obviously all of the forms and all of the required things have already been submitted and there's really not much else to say about it. So, thank you and please vote yes on the 20th. Thank you for your voice, Mr. CarGas. I see we have some callers on the line. Yes. The uh next citizens for uh public comment phone number ending in 1437. Please state your name and address. Hello. Good evening. Hello. Can you hear
074me? Yes, we can hear you. Thank you. Hi. Good. Good evening. This is Lisa Logenhoffer, Rosemont Lane. Uh, I wanted to counter an argument that I continue to hear that building a new school does not improve education. There are many studies available that confirm modern, safe, and efficient school buildings do in fact improve educational outcomes. A new and modern school building can significantly improve learning in several ways. One, better learning environments. Modern classrooms with good lighting, ventilation, acoustics, and comfortable furniture help students focus, reduce distractions and fatigue. Two, access to technology. Updated facilities include integrated technology like smartboards, high-speed internet, and digital learning tools. enhancing both t both teaching and student engagement. Three, flexible spaces. Modern schools are designed with adaptable spaces for group work, individual study, and project-based learning, which support a variety of
075teaching styles, and student needs. Four, health and safety. New buildings have improved air quality, sanitation, and safety features, reducing absenteeism, and creating a more supportive environment for learning. Five, inspiration and motivation. A welldesigned, clean and attractive environment can boost students pride in their school, increase motivation, and improve behavior and attitudes towards learning. Six, accessible and inclusive classrooms, safe and accessible spaces for all students of all abilities. This isn't about a building with all bells and whistles. This is about creating an environment that is more conducive to learning and supports our young people. We have amazing educators. I could spend an hour listening to the dozens I've encountered over my 17 years as a parent in this district. Let's invest in them, our community, and children. Please vote yes. Thank you for your voice, Mr. Cargus.
076The next set is in for public comment. Phone number ending in 3984. Please state your name and address. Hi, it's Mike Senhopper. Uh 1267 Rosemont Lane in Abington. Um you all hear me? Yeah, we can hear you. Thank you. Excellent. Uh I'd like to take you all through a day in the life of a particular type of Abington resident right now. I wake up. I brush my teeth. I go downstairs and I grab a cup of coffee and take a seat on the couch. At this point, I open up my phone and find my favorite Abington Facebook group. I log on as anonymous user number 17,823. And then for the rest of the day, I post the same things that I absolutely know are untrue in order to drum up drum up init additional no
077votes for building a new middle school. Have they even discussed the cost of removing debris and dirt? I post knowing that's included in the cost of construction, but that's okay because I'm getting engagement and misleading people. Somebody mentions attendance courts exist. That's too fancy. Next, we'll be giving students a spa and sushi bar if we allow that. I comment realizing I'm not sure if I took my Tuesday pills or not. Why not just fix the old school? I say somehow not realizing how much all that will cost and not caring that that money has to come from somewhere else. But that's okay. I tell everyone school sports and clubs are frivolous and too expensive. Let's cut those and use that money to pay for a tiny fraction of the cost of renovations. I'd post more
078now, but it's getting late in the morning. And I've been distracted by some people I don't recognize who have been waiting at the bus stop a little bit too long. Once I post about that on nextdext.com, I could turn my attention to getting books supportive of Abington's LGBTQ student community pulled from McKinley Elementary's library before returning to my favorite hobby, posting wrong things on Facebook. I'm begging you all, please go to 1d1 future.org. All the information regarding this project is there. Every question you ask or see or respond to on Facebook has been answered on that site. It's complete and it's exhausted. Do not be like that person I just described. Please vote yes for our children on May 20th. And finally, all you kids from GSA from McKinley who spoke tonight, good on you.
079We're all proud of you and you're on the right side of history. Thank you very much. Thank you for your voice. Next citizen for public comment. Phone number ending in 1120. Please state your name and address. Shaylee Baker, go ahead. We can hear you. Uh 1078 Winwood Road. Um I just wanted to call and say a couple of things. Um I have a graduating senior this year and uh we moved here when she was in fifth grade in 2017. And I wanted to call and specifically give a thank you to Abington School District. One of my concerns when we moved here from the Midwest was the lack of um sort of Chromebooks and electronic learning. And um thankfully, but not thankfully, uh when um the pandemic happened um that was an immediate priority made by
080our superintendent and it was done swiftly and quickly and enhanced our students learning. Um I have really uh really want to call and say thank you to Dr. Fetcher and to the school board for doing an exceptional job over the last several years in managing many crisis both in our nation and within our district um with dignity, with respect, with poise um and with listening and open ears to the community. So I really appreciate that and I want to say um thank you to the district for doing that for my students. I have three children and two in that went through the district. Um, I want to specifically thank teachers. There are so many. Um, but when we arrived here, Coach Conlin was one of the first teachers that really helped my son. Um, Casey
081Chuckler, who is still in the district, was phenomenal. Um, Coach Grassy was a big support. And for my daughter, everywhere after the pandemic, she found an amazing teacher, including Mr. Hines, Mr. Pentagramraph, Miss Whitman, and Miss Wolf. So, I want to thank everyone for their support and what they do in educating our students. Um, regarding the new school building, obviously we won't be here, but I want to just offer for consideration that in 1962 when the new junior high was built, people were able to invest in our students in 2025 by making sure that our students now would have a school to go to that was good for that time. I want to encourage people that a no vote is voting against our future kids that makes our grandkids not have a thriving educational system
082and it will be a deficit to the community of Abington in 20 30 and 40 years if we don't invest in our future now especially with everything that's happening in education. It is vital and important that our citizens know that our voice and voting yes on the referendum will have a positive impact in generations to come. Even those on fixed incomes that have raised their children who are now in their 60s and 70s and even 80s, their no vote is is voting against the the family dynamic and the community that they Thank you for your time or thank you for your voice rather. Your time is up. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else in the room like to make a comment at this time? Hi, Michelle Cooper. Um, Kingsley Road. Um, I just want to
083say real quick before I get into why I came up here, um, to the GSA students, so impressed and, um, grateful for their voices and wanting to be a part of the process. um they could have come up here to protest, but they decided that they wanted to come in and ask to be a part of the process moving forward. And that is so mature and very impressive. Um so I'd like to share the financial and educational consequences of a failed referendum, not just for the middle school, but for every school in our district. If the May 20 referendum does not pass, the district will be forced to allocate an estimated 8.3 million per year for the next 20 years to repair a building that's already more than 60 years old and beyond its intended
084lifespan. That money would come straight from the general fund, which currently supports essential district-wide services, teachers salaries, academic programming, mental health staff, curriculum development, student services, extracurriculars, athletics, special education, transportation, and facilities upkeep across all buildings. Let's be clear, an 8 million shortfall isn't something you can absorb quietly. It means freezing new programs, scaling back electives, increasing class sizes, delaying technology upgrades, and reducing student support services. As an example, the robotics club that just asked for more funding, that kind of funding may not be available in order to sustain other priorities. The counselors, reading specialists, and intervention staff that families rely on, those roles may go unfulfilled or unfunded. A yes vote means a support a purpose-built middle school designed for collaboration, safety, accessibility, and future ready learning. A no vote means we spend nearly
085as much money over time just keeping a failing building on life support without gaining any of the academic, health, or structural improvements our students need. This referendum isn't just about replacing walls and pipes. It's about building an environment where students can thrive, where educators can innovate, and where we stop wasting money on yesterday's problems. Let's choose a path that strengthens our schools, protects our classrooms, and ensures we are investing wisely. Let's vote yes on May 20th for real progress for every school and for every learner in the Abington School District. Thank you. Thank you for your voice. Uh, hi, Jen Portell. while I live in Glennside. Um, I really can't add much more to all the uh amazing comments that everybody has had uh so far tonight. Um I will say that uh in talking
086to co-workers and friends in the last few weeks um some of the things that they have asked about and that are on the website 1 ASD1 future um I will just run through a why uh you know was there um uh who how did they pick the the people that did the planning although that was put out for a bid and it was um they were selected from that point. Um why are is this happening so quickly? Um this is a three-year process. This has been taking a lot of time. There's been a lot of transparency and a lot of information. Um there is the uh why didn't we do this 10 years ago or and that's we were doing the grade schools, we were doing the stadium, we were doing the high school. Um,
087and in general, it's just we this is an investment in us, in our kids, in our teachers, and in our community. And I just think that we are worth it. Our kids are worth it. Our teachers are worth it. And the the future of our school district is worth it. So, I will be voting yes on May 20th, and I suggest everybody else does as well. Thank you. Thank you for your voice. Go ahead. Do we still have time for time for comments? Um we'll take we'll take maybe one or two more and then um just a reminder that there is a second session for public comment at the end of the board meeting. So go ahead. Hi uh Tara Ing. I'm on Gregory Road in Ridle and um first I wanted well thank the
088school board for doing such a great job of planning and educating the public on the options and the transparency. I don't know how anyone can accuse them of not being transparent. Um, I also want to compliment the students who spoke today. It takes a lot of bravery to speak at these meetings. Um, especially for the students. So, I appreciate their voice and the librarian at McKinley. She's here. Um, but I'm here to talk about the referendum. really I echo everything that um people who spoke tonight said about the referendum and so I'm not going to rehash all that but one thing um I know a lot of people watching and here are very involved in the district or in what's going on in the district but one thing people who do support the referendum one
089thing they can do is to talk to friends and family that may not be as tuned in to what's going on because I have run into several people or lots of my neighbors and friends who don't necessarily oppose it, but they just weren't aware. So, I would ask everyone who's talked tonight in support or who's watching and listening to please reach out in these last in this last week to um educate your friends and family of what's on the line here. And one last point is Michelle spoke a lot about what I was going to say about the um cost of not approving the rec or voting for the referendum. So there is that $ 8.3 million figure a year that we'd have to or that's estimated we'd have to put into the school if
090it doesn't pass. So it's not like people a lot of people know people are opposed because of finances. Well, it's not free if we vote no on the, you know, if the referendum fails and the 8.3 million is probably a low estimate because once you have these emergency fixes, it becomes even more expensive. So, just keep that in mind for anyone who's worried about the finances. Thank you. Okay. Thank you for your voice. We'll do one more comment in the room and then Mr. Cargus, I see we have one caller waiting online. Okay. Go ahead. Go ahead. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Joe Rooney. I live in Arsley. First, for those of you who are watching or will watch the video, uh, visit commonsenseabington.com and you'll get a lot more information about this project. And,
091um, I encourage everybody to vote no. Voting no is a fact that education does matter and our focus should be on education. Uh I'd like to deal in the first comment section with a little bit about election interference though. So um there's a wise person once told me rule rules are important until they're inconvenient. The school district had an opportunity administration to put the studies or whatever they had to the board and then the board voted that they wanted to go to a referendum. And remember, a referendum is just to give them an opportunity to borrow $285 million to build a new middle school. That's the whole plan right now. However, when you send out a mailing two days before the mail-in ballots were received, and this is prepared, developed, and mailed by our school
092district, that's election interference. When you ask reasonable questions about who designed it, when was it designed, and how much there was it cost, and then you're told you won't get an answer until after the election is over, that's election interference, and it's also a point of guilt. Okay? When you put posters in schools to advertise people with all the reasons why they should vote yes, that's election interference. when you add a disclaimer on all of your literature that basically says this is being produced by Abington that's in compliance with campaign finance laws and the reason the school district does that is because they know they're treading on and beyond the line of just providing information. So that's a CYA that's actually a self admission that they're doing it. um use of a school employees during
093working hours, whether it's the administrators or whomever, that's also a violation of the board policy and a superintendent's administrative procedures. Violation of pro or prohibition of political partisan activity by ASD personnel and grounds during work is what those things say. When you don't answer questions as to who designed the mailer, who printed it, who mailed it, how much did it cost, and who authorized it, that in itself is ident is indicative that there's a problem with the work that our school employees are doing. Thank you. Thank you for your voice, Mr. Cargus. This is a repeat caller. Uh, okay. So, we'll ask them to wait until the next session. This one. I'm sorry. This one that we have right now is good. Okay. There's a repeat caller after this one. Okay. So, we'll just do
094this one and then we'll close the first session. Correct. So, the next citizens for public comment phone number ending in 3325. Please state your name and address. Wentzville Carmel A. Hello. Hello. I'm sorry. Could you say that? Could you say that one more time? Caramel A. Did you get that, Mr. O'Donghue? Okay. I'm sorry. I'm gonna have to ask you to repeat it one more time. Shoel Mount Carmel A. Mount Carmel A. Okay. All right. Thank you. Go ahead. Okay. So, I've I've looked on the website and I don't see an actual plan for how spending a quarter of a billion dollars is going to improve student performance. Most of the reasons listed for a new school are vague or generic, and there's not even one photo I found showing what the real issues are
095for those that are unaware. Right now, we're being asked to spend all this money based on the hope that the new building will raise student grade. And I just want us to be honest that nice facilities don't automatically lead to better learning. If we're being if we're being told this is about the kids and helping them learn better, then where are the goals? Where is the plan that shows how this spending will will raise test scores by 10, 20, or 30%. If there is no plan for that, then why are people voting yes? The district should provide a clear framework connecting this spending to student learning outcomes or just be honest that this is about facilities and not grades. Thank you. Thank you for your voice. Okay, that brings to a conclusion our first section
096of public comment. Dr. Fetcher. Thank you, Dr. Malerie. uh just to address some of the uh questions that I can this evening or um presentations from the public. Um first in terms of the question about residency verification um the number is approximately one to two dozen in this year not 200. Um and that is a process that we continue one to every one who registers within the district and throughout the time in the district we do res residency verifications. That process will continue into the the next year and following years. Um part of the difference in uh number of students that are that we see on the um on the screen this evening. There are currently 705 uh seniors and that who are who will graduate and the prediction for kindergarten students for uh next
097year is 572. So that accounts for about um 130. Thank you. Uh so uh next I want to move to the the students uh who came in this evening um to speak about the challenged book and the procedures uh for the challenge book. I first want to applaud the students for their voice and coming in. I appreciate the suggestion of student representation uh when these uh books or anything is evaluated. Uh so I wanted to thank them for that suggestion and that recommendation um as we constantly look at our procedures uh to ensure that we have equal voices um and representation on all of our um committees and this being one of them. Uh this procedure that has been uh put into place uh is to ensure that the voice of one individual like the
098superintendent is not the only voice uh that makes the decisions on uh these matters. Um this process which has been in place uh enables someone to challenge a material bring to a committee and then a discussion with that committee and ultimately a committee decision is presented to the superintendent. Um I think that there have been some suggestions about that committee and the process within that committee and I want to say that first of all I appreciate uh those suggestions and as we constantly evaluate our procedures to look at uh ways to ensure that we tighten up the procedure um and make sure that all voices are essentially heard uh within our community. um when making such a critical decision. So I want to thank the students for coming out and uh validate that their suggestion
099isn't aligned with most of our uh committees throughout the district and we have committees on various things from curriculum um you know to um different student activities or uh scheduling those types of things. And on those committees we typically have uh students, we have teachers, we have community members, we you know we have administrators and uh when the students spoke this evening uh I think their point is valid that if we are doing this throughout other uh committees that we have that student voice is uh just as important uh in this committee that is formed uh when we are um examining a challenge. material. Uh to that end, uh I also want to address um what Miss Denton uh spoke about this evening, and that is, you know, we do have numerous uh works within
100our libraries, K to 12, uh that are representative of LGBTQ plus voices, uh as a school community as a whole. And you know, it's important for us as a district to make sure that uh there are literature that reflects diversity of our school population. And one of the um components of the data that was shared this evening um is is concerning to me uh that we examine the equity of opportunities across the libraries to ensure that um if one library and their students in Abington School District is different than another library. I think that we should look at that and I appreciate those statistics being brought up this evening. Um as you know it is essential that any student just like in math class when students in elementary all are in the same math program
101and move and move forward with that on a daily basis and try to keep a pace with whether you go to McKinley whether you go to Willow Hill uh our students are receiving the same curriculum. Uh I I also feel that the resources that are available for our students regardless of their elementary school uh it is important that they have um an equal opportunity for resources as well. Um, and I think that so the final piece that I want to address this evening is the um allegation of election interference. And I will give that from my my viewpoint as superintendent of the school district. Um, our goal from the outset of this process was not to tell people how to vote, but to provide information for the community to be able to uh make an
102informed decision that we have put out information uh throughout this process. And yes, we have made a recommendation to the board of school directors that uh the administration believes that we should move forward with a process of a new middle school. That was an administrative recommendation. The board took that recommendation and said, "Well, we're going to move that recommendation to the public and let the public decide." Um, it is important uh to me as superintendent that people's questions are answered, that they're um that they receive enough material to make this informed decision. The decision to communicate a tax tax calculator was to be totally transparent so that everyone knew the impact and could make an informed decision regardless of what that decision would be. Uh, for example, you know, I've spoken to some residents who
103after looking at the tax calculator have stated, I do think we should have a new middle school, but I can't support it because I can't at this moment in in our lives afford it. And that's a decision that they made based on using that tool that we provided. So to say that you know we are trying to promote one way or another uh is false and I will stand by that and and and explain that we have merely given out information uh to our community. One of the questions that came up was, you know, who is who is funding uh postcards that went out actually early when we were doing um surveys and and getting community input and directing people to the website so that they could have information. Well, the reason why we sent
104out cards to everyone in the community uh stem from one of our one of my meeting community meetings where people said, you know, we don't know about this and my neighbors don't know about this. So, we made a decision to say, okay, we will mail every single person in this community a postcard so that they they can know about this. And we did that because we wanted majority of community input. We also, you know, sent out an additional postcard. And that postcard was that there is a vote. At no time did anyone say vote yes. Did anyone say vote no? And quite frankly, from my seat, I respect the decisions that people make regardless of what it is. Um, and everyone has their own decision to make. Everyone um has to look at their own
105situation to make that decision and also look at all the information that we've put on uh our website and all of the transparency from the start and community input. So to that end, um I would debate the fact that uh we as a district or me as a superintendent did not interfere with this election, but rather promoted the election as a form of democracy. Thank you. Thank you. Do we want to ask Mr. O'Donn to weigh in on this? Sure. I have no issue. Okay. In my perspective, this was not election interference. This is providing factual information about a referendum which is absolutely legal. Okay. Thank you. Um I'm going to call president's prerogative and go first tonight. Um, for my position, this district has done an extraordinary job getting out factual information to the
106community. Um, it is my opinion that it had an ethical obligation to do that. The alternative would be to withhold that information and therefore deprive community members of the facts um the tax implications on which they could come to a valid conclusion about how they intend to vote on May 20th. the decision. Had there been a decision not to disseminate information, that would have been, in my opinion, um, a breach of the district's ethical obligation to the community. So, not only do I not have a problem with the district sending out information about the referendum, the specific nature of the question, the potential cost to the district and to taxpayers. Um I think that they have done everything right in that regard. Um I'd also like to make an observation about um the students who
107came to speak tonight and thank them for their input and their suggestions. Um, and I'll I'll indulge myself tonight and make an observation from someone who wrote about the perils of censorship nearly 400 years ago. Um, John Milton observed who kills a book kills reason itself. And so efforts to censor collections should be undertaken with extraordinary care. I think part of that care um involves having a student on the committee to help uh other members of the committee understand the implications of those decisions. So I would wholeheartedly support that. And with that I will turn things over to my fellow board members for comments and observations. None. I am proud of the students who came to uh to speak and and it was already said before but I think it's worth saying again. Uh there
108are different ways you can advocate for what you believe in. Uh one and I'm not saying any of this is wrong. One is to stand in protest. The other is to come with solutions. I like that when they finished speaking, I knew exactly what they wanted and I knew exactly uh what um they were clear in saying, "We're not objecting to the book being pulled. We're objecting to the way that it was pulled." And I respect that uh so much. Um and I do uh appreciate and invite as much student voice as possible, which is one of the reasons why we have Miss Woo here. Uh so I do also agree with your um with what you're saying Dr. Maui. Thank you. Anyone else? I want to echo that and say that um in addition
109just expand on that and say that there's a term that we use in my career called change agent and what we saw here was um students advocating not only um for to be included in this process but also for a change in how we do things. um and it won't only impact them but also the students that come after them and impact our district. Um and so I'm very very proud of them. Um this might be kind of long but go ahead. Um, first I just want to say that I agree that students should have a voice regarding like student matters such as topics about minority groups like for the development of students and um this is like shown during a quiz that was given out from the English committee and it was shown that
110students want to read books that they find relatable because that's like a reflection of themselves. And like during that one of those English meetings I saw books that I saw a reflection of myself and my culture in. And like while it's not exactly the same, students need to read books that they're interested in to grow and develop and also about the flyers in the high school. Um, thank you to the Young Dems Club for posting them around, but they do not have points of why people should vote yes for the middle school. All it says is vote on May 20th. And I know that because my friend changed the poster five times to make sure there was no opinion on it. Thank you for that insight. Anyone else? No. Okay. Did you want to add
111something else, Dr. Fetcher? No. No. No. Thank you. Okay. Not at this time. Okay. I'll save it for the second round. Okay. Uh, all right. So, we have no additional agenda items this evening. Correct. Okay. Correct. With that, we will move on to the approval of minutes. Miss Frasier, can you please read the recommendation to approve the April meeting minutes? Yes. It is recommended that the board of school directors approves the minutes of the board meeting on April 8th, 2025 and the board meeting on April 22nd, 2025. Second. We have a second. This is a voice vote. All those in favor? I I I all opposed. The motion carries. Miss Frasier, can you please read the recommendation for approval of the personnel agenda? Yes. It is recommended that the board of school directors approves the
112changes in personnel as reflected in personnel agenda numbers 8.1 and 8.1A and confidential addendum number 8.1B. Second, Dr. Dr. Fetcher, we have a second. Thank you, Dr. Mauy. The personnel agenda begins with a request for leaves of absence for five professional employees and compensation for IEP meetings, interpreter and translation services, and parent meetings. I'd like to bring your attention to the retirement of Miss Natalie Hirsch, an art teacher at Ryal Elementary School, who has served the district for 29 years. Mr. Mr. Raymond Hirs, a music teacher at Copper Beach Elementary School, who has served the district for 36 years. Miss Jennifer Tanai, science teacher at Abington Middle School, who has served the district for 32 years. Mr. Wayne Carol, a bus driver in the transportation department who has served the district for eight years. Miss
113Donna Jones, a par profofessional at Copper Beach Elementary School who has served the district for six years. Miss Suzanne Martin, a par professional at Copper Beach Elementary School who has served the district for 23 years. Okay, thank you. We certainly want to wish our retirees well. Um, Miss Tai, I think was a teacher at Highland when my daughter started there. Um so and I know she is much beloved so she will be missed but we wish them well in this next chapter. Other comments or questions? Go ahead. Miss Tana was a teacher at McKenley when my daughter started there and um she runs or ran the environmental science club at that time and I think she's running it at the middle school now if I'm not mistaken. Uh and so uh to all the retirees,
114congratulations. And Miss Tai, thank you for your contribution to my household. Both my kids had Miss Tanai at the at McKinley and at the middle school. So she's just a wonderful person. I wish her all the best in her retirement. Mhm. Uh coming off of teacher appreciation week, just a big thank you to all the teachers who are retiring and a special heartfelt thank you to Mr. Hirs. Um I have five children, four of them came through the district and and one is almost here. He'll be on his way in a year or two. But Mr. Hirs has touched each and every one of the four who've come through Copper Beach through the music program and he will be forever missed. Um, big shoes to fill. Just thank you so much for your service. That's
115lovely. Um, okay, Miss Flanigan, this is a roll call vote. Mr. Allen, I. Mrs. Brown, I. Miss Eisenhart, I. Mr. Muhammad, I. Miss Balding, I. Miss Hartman, I. Miss Frasier I. Miss Fazy I. Dr. Mauy I. The eyes have it and the motion passes. Miss Frasier, can you please read the recommendations for permits for use of buildings and grounds? Yes. It is recommended that the board of school directors approves the applications for permits for the use of buildings and grounds as reflected in addendum number 9.1. Second. Dr. Fetcher. We have a second. Thank you, Dr. Mary. The permit addendum continues to reflect requests for buildings and grounds for meetings and other school activities and events for this time of year. Okay. Questions or comments from my fellow board members? I was excited to see DVC
116um coming to Abington after having to change the date of the day of the Eagles parade. So, go Birds. I'm happy they did change the date. Um but I'm happy that it's close to home. So, I'm excited to attend with my students that have the pleasure of teaching. Okay. Anyone else? 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 Frasier, I. Miss Fazy, I. Dr. Mauy, I. The eyes have it. Miss Frasier, can you please read the recommendation for advertisements for bids? Uh, yes. It is recommended that the board of school directors approves the advertisement for bids as reflected in addendum number 10.1. Second. Dr. Fetcher, we have a second. Thank you, Dr. Mauy. Uh this evening we
117have one request for permission to advertise and that is for audio equipment for Abington Senior High School um in the auditorium and that will that will be um paid by the Abington Senior High School theater fund. Um one thing I would like to mention about that is obvious question that someone may have is uh wasn't the building renovated and um an additions placed on the building. Um during the renovation, the Abington um auditorium was not renovated. It was not part of the project. Uh so at this time, this is to replace that audio equipment which was not part of the overall um additions and renovations project. Okay. Thank you. Questions or comments from the board? I just I did have one question. the way that it was uh phrased um in our documents. Is it
118fully funded by that or partially funded by the music fund? Mr. Lion Eddie, I believe that's totally funded by the um theater fund. That's my understanding. If we find that um something different, we'll let you know, but I believe Dr. Fcher has it absolutely correct. Thank you so much. And I'm excited that that's that that's there. That's awesome. And just to explain what that means is um you know if you attend one of our programs there are tickets and you purchase a ticket to go in and it's part of the theater fund um that assists with that. So um for those of you who have come to our plays and purchased tickets thank you and students thank you for uh new audio equipment. Um my recollection to you is that this update has been needed
119for some years. Yes. Um yes. Uh the need for new audio equipment, if you have had an opportunity to attend a show, um it it's been uh very trying over the years and I not only with theater but with our music programs as well. um to to upgrade that equipment has been uh necessary. So, I'm glad to see that uh it is finally occurring. Okay. Any other questions or comments? 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 Frasier, I Miss Fezy, I Dr. Maui I the eyes have it. The motion passes. Uh Miss Frasier, can you please read the recommendation for awards of contracts? Yes. It is recommended that the board of school directors approves the awards of
120contracts as reflected in addendum number 11.1. Second. Dr. Fetcher, we have a second. Thank you, Dr. Mallerie. Um there are two awards of contract for your consideration this evening. And the first is for access control district u districtwide and that is paid for by a grant from the Pennsylvania commission on crime and delinquency and that access control is um essentially means keyless entry uh at doorways um and a security a security system for those entryways. Uh the next is for HVAC upgrades at McKinley Elementary School and this is funded from the uh series 2024 general obligations bond as well as our uh public school facilities improvement grant. Okay, questions or comments from the board? None. Okay. Mrs. Flanigan, please. Mr. Allen, I. Mrs. Brown, I. Miss Eisenhart, I. Mr. Muhammad, I. Miss Balding, I. Miss
121Hartman, I. Miss Frasier, I. Miss Fazy, I. Dr. Mauy, I. The eyes have it and the motion passes. Miss Frasier, can you please read the recommendation for adoption of instructional materials? Uh, yes. It is recommended that the board of school directors in accordance with sections 508 and 803 of the Pennsylvania school code adopt new textbooks and or instructional programs for the subjects, courses, and levels reflected in addendum number 12.1. Second. We have a second. Dr. Fetcher, thank you, Dr. Mallerie. Uh, we saw the presentation this evening. We can answer any additional questions that you may have. Okay. questions or comments. Just always thankful that uh the proposals for adoption um is very diverse in nature. So for example, we have um adoptions that help students. It was K to Can you scroll down to the
122last one? K to 12. What's it reading? The special education attainment company. Um, I am thrilled about the uh African uh placement AfricanAmerican studies uh book. I had a chance to peruse through that. I love that it has the primary uh documentation in there. Um, so I'm very excited about that. I know the financial literacy courses is a mandate, but even though it's a mandate, I'm excited about the the algebra component and connecting it to uh giving students who may not think that calculus is a place where they want to go. It gives them somewhere where they can see math and how it applies in real life. And that's really important uh to offer students. So, I'm excited that we have those courses and I'm excited to say yes. Okay, anyone else? All right, it's
123a roll call vote. Mrs. Flanigan. Mr. Allen, I. Mrs. Brown, I. Miss Eisenhart, I. Mr. Muhammad, I. Miss Balding, I. Miss Hartman, I. Miss Frasier, I. Miss Fezy, I. Dr. Mauy, I. The eyes have it. The motion passes. Miss Fraser, can you please read the recommendation for adoption of instructional subscription renewals? Uh, yes. It is recommended that the board of school directors approve the instructional materials subscription renewals as reflected in addendum number 13.1. Second, Dr. Fetcher, we have a second. Thank you, Dr. Mary. This item is for the annual review of instructional material subscriptions for a variety of content areas uh which are for use in classroom instruction for the next school year. Okay. Questions or comments from the board? Okay, one more time. Mr. Allen, I. Mrs. Brown, I. Miss Eisenhardt, I. Mr. Muhammad,
124I. Miss Balding, I. Miss Hartman, I. Miss Frasier, I. Miss Fasy, I. Dr. Mauy, I The eyes have it. The motion passage passes. I stand corrected. We have one more. Can we can we roll these into one on 14? Um, you can roll 14.1, 14.2, and 14.3. Okay. Um, I would not not 15, right? Okay. So, that 14.1 and 14.3 is 14.2. Okay. So, Miss Fraser will combine 14.1 and 14.3 for the purposes of this vote. Mhm. Okay. So, instead of reading those items separately, you'll just combine them. Gotcha. Okay. Okay. Would you please read the recommendations for items 14.1 and 14.3? Yes. It is recommended that the board of school directors adopts the proposed final general fund budget of the Abington School District for the 2025 2026 school year in the amount of 204,914,426
125as shown in addendum number 14.1. It is also recommended that the board of school directors advertise its intention to adopt the 2025206 final general fund budget on Tuesday, June 24th, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. in the boardroom of the administration building, 970 Highland Avenue, Abington, Pennsylvania. and that the 2025 2026 proposed final general fund budget be available for inspection for no less than 20 days prior to June 24th, 2025. Second. Dr. Fetcher, we have a second. Thank you, Dr. Mauy. Uh this evening we presented the recommended proposed final general fund budget. Um, we can answer any further questions that you may have, but I would like to take a moment to remind you that the budget will continue to be reviewed and we welcome your recommendations as we move forward toward adoption of the final budget
126in June. Okay. Thank you. Questions or comments from my colleagues? Just one comment. Um, I just wanted to thank uh board members today. There's a lot going on in this meeting, but there was a lot of um you know time that was taken to identify areas that are um able to be you know in our control and out of our control regarding the budget. I think that's really important to use our time for that and I I just wanted to thank uh Mr. Muhammad and Miss Brown for taking the time to go through that this evening and I look forward to our next presentation so we can continue that conversation as needed. Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? Uh budget decisions are not taken lightly and [Music] um you know we are in a position where
127we are trying to keep this good thing and make it great and keep it great. Um and we have to pay for nice things as as a community. Do we have to pay for nice things? And the cost of nice things continue to rise. Um, we spent some time discussing the cost of things that we have no control over but we are obligated to pay for. Um, and we either make tough budgetary decisions so that we can maintain and improve academic programming for our students. Um and and sometimes that means we we turn to the community and say continue to make this investment because I think we all can agree that here in Edmonton we have we have a good thing. Um and it's important to keep that good thing good. I would add to
128that good things cost money. expert teachers cost more. Um but they are worth every penny and we are very lucky to have a talented um faculty here who work hard every day to lift up our students um and are really integral members not only of our district community but our community at large. Um, and it's, you know, salaries and benefits are the biggest line item in this budget, but in my estimation, it's worth it. Um, any other comments or observations or [Music] questions? Okay. Mrs. Flanigan, please. Mr. Allen, I. Mrs. Brown, I. Miss Eisenhart I Mr. Muhammad I Miss Balding I Miss Hartman I Miss Frasier I Miss Fasy I Dr. Mauy I the eyes have it and the motion passes. Miss Fraser uh would you please read the recommendation for um the cost plan
129for the MCIU? Uh yes. It is recommended that the board of school directors authorize the board president and chief school administrator to execute an agreement between the Abington School District and the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit number 23 where the intermediate unit will provide the school district with special education services for 2025 2026 as reflected in addendum number 15.1. said agreement being subject to changes based on district needs and intermediate unit costs. Second. Dr. Fetcher, we have a second. Thank you, Dr. Mauy. The regulations of the PA Department of Education require each school district to develop a service services request plan with its intermediate unit. Uh this the plan is is to reflect the nature and estimated costs of special education services that the district intends to contract from the intermediate unit during the 2025 2026
130school year. We can answer any questions that you may have. Questions from the board? I just wanted to comment on this as well. Um, I appreciate um that we're situated in a county that provide such robust services um that help fill gaps here that present to um student benefit and um I'm looking forward to voting yes um and I'm grateful to have the intermediate unit to um service our students as needed. Okay, anyone else? I firsthand know the benefit of having these uh supports and having them early on. So, I too appreciate the uh services that we receive through MCIU. Okay. Great. Mrs. Flanigan, this is a roll call vote, please. Mr. Allen, I. Mrs. Brown, I. Miss Eisenhart, I. Mr. Muhammad, I. Miss Balding, I. Miss Hartman, I Miss Frasier, I Miss Fazy, I
131Dr. Mary I the eyes have it and the motion passes. Miss Fraser, can you please read the recommendation for the adoption of the IDEIDA agreement and adoption of policies and procedures? Yes, it is recommended that the board of school directors authorizes the superintendent to enter into the use of funds agreements with the P with the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit number 23 for IDA funds for the period July 1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2026 and adopt the Montgomery County Intermediate Units policies, procedures, and use of funds under the federal requirements of 34 CFR part 300 which fulfilled the agreements of 22 22 Pennsylvania code chapter 14 and the regulations of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act part B. Second. Dr. Fetcher. Thank you, Dr. Mauy. Uh we anticipate that we'll receive IDEIDA funds from um the
132Montgomery County Intermediate Unit, which receives funds from the federal government. The funds are used to pay for a wide variety of special education expenses such as special education teacher salaries, benefits, extended schoolyear services uh for our students, professional development, technology, and other supplies and and programs. The agreements pertain to the distribution of the funds. the notice of adoption of policies, procedures, and use of funds and cite federal regulations that we agree to follow as a recipient of these funds. Uh we can answer any questions that you may have. Questions or comments from the board. Okay, we'll move to the vote then. Mr. Allen, I. Mrs. Brown, I. Miss Eisenhart, I. Mr. Muhammad, I Miss Balding, I. Miss Hartman I. Miss Frasier I. Miss Fazy I. Dr. Mauy I. The eyes have it. The motion passes.
133Miss Fraser, can you please read the recommendation for approval of the confidential student matter? Yes. It is recommended that the board of school directors approves the confidential confidential student matters as reflected in addendum number 17.1. Second. Uh Dr. Fetcher, we have a second. Thank you, Dr. Maui, the confidential student matters regarding an education service agreement. Uh, keeping in mind the confidentiality of student matters. I can answer any questions that you may have. Okay. Questions? Okay. Mrs. Flanigan, let's vote. Mr. Allen, I. Mrs. Brown, I. Miss Eisenhart, I. Mr. Muhammad, I. Miss Balding, I. Miss Hartman, I. Miss Frasier I Miss Fezy I Dr. Mauy I the eyes have it the motion passes Dr. Fesher are there any additional reports and recommendations by the administration and superintendent? Yes Dr. Mauy I provide for you the conference
134attendance of professional leaves report and the capital improvement projects report for your information. I'd like to bring your attention to professional leave for Mr. Michael Carol Abington Middle School teacher who will present at the Montgomery County Intermediate Units steels or science, technology, and engineering environmental literacy sustainability expo uh at Upper Maran High School. The presentation will focus on the curriculum of a sixth grade in invention uh lab class. Uh he will share insights into the course design, showcase examples of student work, and conclude with a live demonstration of a hands-on project commonly completed by our students in the class. Excellent. Always glad to see our uh our students um or our sorry our faculty and our students out and about. Um any other comments or observations? No. All right. Uh, with that, if there is
135no other business that may that appropriately may be brought to the attention of the board, we will move on to our final comment from citizens. Comments from citizens are being conducted both in person and by phone. The phone number to participate in public comments is 2677153717. It's 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. 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. Um just before we start this if there's anyone who wants to make a
136comment who did not comment in the first session I would take that [Music] first. Thank you. U my name is Aaron Palmer and I live on Carmet Road. Um first I just want to congratulate Mrs. Tanai. My my eighth grader has known her since she was in second grade and I remember in 2020 during virtual learning and um asynchronous learning. Mrs. tonight and I handd delivered little goodie bags to all of her students. C contactless delivery um that were filled with goodies and fun educational activities. So, uh we have a very warm place in our hearts for Mrs. Tanai and she will be greatly missed. Um, since entering the Abington school system, my eighth grader has had at least 20 different teachers, and each one has challenged her in positive ways. Every single teacher I
137have reached out to for reasons that range from clarification on curricular activities to coming up with a plan for my daughter to stay on track, have responded and helped promptly, effectively, and willingly. Every single teacher has had the success of my child and all of their students as their top priority. This year alone, my child's ELA teacher is pushing them beyond the limits they thought that that they could achieve by assigning challenging texts and writing assignments. My child's social studies teacher allows heated but friendly debate in his class and encourages his students to think outside the box. My child's musical theater teacher believed in her artistic and leadership abilities and encouraged my child to become a role model for the younger cohort of actors. The service learning program here at Abington encouraged my child to
138achieve 100 hours of service this year. 100 hours of giving back to her Abington community. and my child is just one of thousands of Abington students who are receiving a quality education while giving back to their community. Abington doesn't have a problem with their teachers or with the success of their students. Abington has a facilities problem and has presented a wellressearched and datadriven option for us to vote yes on next week. And just as a reminder to the community, especially those who think this process needs to be slowed down from beginning to end, if the referendum passes, the length of this process would have lasted at least six years, starting with input from citizens in 2023 and ending with the new school being ready to use in 2029. During those six years, this very transparent
139process included lengthy surveys which were offered to every single community member, a dedicatedformational website laying out the entire process and two years of research that produced a feasibility study and five options that were presented to the community with the majority choosing the option that will be on the ballot on Tuesday. If the community votes to build a new middle school on May 20th, the discussions, planning, and research will not stop. I'm sorry. Yes, your time is up. No problem. Thank you for Thank you for Thank you for your voice. Okay, Bob Jnowski from Urban Road and um I wanted to state that um I'm a vote no for the referendum and you stated that there's a lot of information out there. U I want to address some of the information that was the yes crew
140has been saying. Um they stated that the old the middle school is old and that it's um it's actually eight years younger than the high school and their science wing is less than 30 years old and hasn't been paid off yet. And there's other sections of the middle school that are in fine shape. Um my children all gone to the middle school. I think it's a well-built school. It needs a lot of updating. It's been neglected for years. I want to see a uh process that was done like in the high school. I was impressed with the upgrades that were done, hiding all the pipes, doing new ceilings, new walls, floors, and everything else. Um I in construction business, I work on 100-y old buildings all the time, get rid of the knob and tube
141and everything else. um the figures. The other thing that I hear all the time is the cost is the same or 93% of what it costs to go and uh rebuild it as what it's uh the cost is to build a new one. That is not true because they keep leaving out the demolition cost and the rebuilding of the roads and the parking lots and the fields and everything else. um that the actual cost is it's about $80 million more to go and uh build a new school because you have all those demolition costs that you wouldn't have if you were to rebuild what you have. I've walked through the did the tour of the school. I can imagine the classrooms there. They have the full windows on the rooms. I imagine them having a
142transom at the top so they get the light in there but the bottom section would be blocked off. um any problem with the windows, they can have tinning put on them. I would imagine having a large um addition on to take care of any ADA matters and any kind of issues like that and added additional space just like we did with the high school, just like we did with the science wing. And those things can all be done and these are this is why I suggest that you vote no and that you go to commonsenseabington.com. Thank you for your voice. Um, I just wanted to direct some of the comments that he just made. Um, the demolition costs are within Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry, your name and address. Sorry, Ashley Bram Johnson. I lived over
143near Ryel Elementary. Um, the demolition costs are within the $285 million budget. Um, I also went on a tour of the middle school and they did say that some of the windows on the outside of the building I think already have like tinted stuff on it, but because of like the age of the windows, that's not going to do anything to like with the temperature control of the building or anything. As for ADA compliancy, like the walls are solid, you know, cinder blocks. There's no going into the walls. they already have problems because of like plumbing and stuff inside the walls that when things break like that's incredibly expensive to be breaking into cinder block walls to fix these things. So I don't know just again like the building was not you know from its
144inception almost was not made to be modified in the ways that we need it to be modified in 2025. I've heard from people going back to, you know, the original class who was in this building and they said that they had problems with it back then. Um, it's just clear that we need to move on, have a brighter future, come up with a better plan and that's what you guys are doing and that's why we should all vote yes next week. Thank you. Thank you for your voice. Hi, my name is Lydia Sit. I'm on 1551 Warner Road. I'm here to speak um in support of the new middle school. I agree with all the other issues that have already been shared about why a new building is necessary. We can go on and on
145about the physical issues of the building, but as a child and psychiatrist with over 15 years of experience, I actually want to shine a little light on the mental health of our middle school students. And it's no surprise that the youth in America are in a mental health crisis. Um, according to the CDC study from 2023, 40% are reporting persistent sadness and distress. And suicide is the second leading cause of death for ages 10 through 14, which is alarming. And what does this have to do with a building? Well, honestly, most of those students that are in distress don't make it to offices like mine. And pouring more money into just more therapists and um psychiatrists aren't really going to help. we really are moving toward preventative measures and those lie within schools. Um creating
146safe, welcoming spaces that increase connection and belonging. Um the current building is not going to do that. Flexible spaces that will allow for smaller groups, interventions, and a community within the student body. That current building is never going to do that no matter how much money you pour into it. and a space that feels inclusive and doesn't exclude those with differences. A school that is safe from the anxieties and dangers that we read in the headlines all too often. We need to do something. We need a new school building. And the least that we can do for our children is voting yes on May 20th. Thank you for your [Applause] voice. Anyone else in the room? Go ahead, Joe Rooney and Arsley. Um, a couple of issues. First, uh, the budget today just increased taxes
147by another 4%. Uh, last year it increased by 5% and this building is another 13.8% increase. So that's almost 23% tax increase in a little more than two school years is what uh the proposal is if you vote yes. So we're asking folks vote no because we need a better plan and we need to take our time because education actually matters. The values of Abington does not say oh good things cost money so we got to pay for it. Our values should say we need to get first what we can afford, but we can't chase people either out of their homes or out of the district by increase in taxes by over 20% in a little more than two years. 75% of our local tax is spent on schools already. People are unbelievably generous. And
148your hard decisions is where figuring out how much to increase our taxes. That's not responsible. It's fiscally irresponsible. Now, um people have said, "Oh, it's going to be eight million dollars to renovate the school a year." Well, a 13 and a half percent tax increase is $17 million increase for every Abington and Rocklage taxpayer for the next 40 years. That's a $17 million collective increase in our spending right now. So, 8 million pales in comparison. I also like to say Abington School District themselves said that the current building is worth $100 million roughly in 2022. There's 22,000 taxpayers. That's almost $5,000 in value that every taxpayer has in that building. And now the board says, "Let's just tear it down and throw it away." That's not an investment. That's not how you treat investments. You
149already have $5,000 in value. And you also have reports from your own experts saying we have a structurally sound building. That building can and should be renovated. I love people who call in and they say what a great education their kids got in Abington. And I think they're getting a good education right now in the current middle school. If the neglect that our board and our administration has allowed lighting to go down, has allowed our bathrooms to fall into a near embarrassing state of disrepair, that doesn't mean tear the building down. That means address our board and our administration and go and our principal and go, why have you allowed these to get in that condition? Please folks, common sense.com. A vote no is a vote for a better plan and to take time and
150actually look and see what's proposed before we borrow $285 million and bankrupt or chase out some of our seniors. Thank you. Go ahead. Hi, Michelle Cooper Kingsley Road. Um, I had a question about the um the state of Medicaid and the federal budget and how that might affect the funding from MCIU and from IDA. So, I didn't know if there was any contingency plan. So, that's just a question I want to throw out there. Um, I want to take a moment to speak to those who may be concerned about how this referendum will affect their budget, especially older adults, residents on fixed incomes, and working families. The proposed investment in a new Abington Middle School comes with a cost, but there are important protections in place for those who may need them most. Residents who
151qualify for the property tax/ rent rebate program through the state of Pennsylvania can receive up to $650 back annually. In in some cases with supplemental programs, that amount can be even higher. Many seniors and lower income homeowners are already eligible for these rebates, but may not know it. The district is already committed to helping residents access this relief through outreach and support. There's also the homestead and farmstead exclusions which reduce the assessed value of your home for tax purposes if it is your primary residence. This lowers your school property tax burden, something many residents already benefit from and would continue to benefit from even after the referendum. Most importantly, what we're voting on is not waste. It's a smart long-term investment. If the referendum fails, we'll still spend nearly the same amount over 20 years,
152over a h 100red million in emergency repairs. And that money will come from the general fund, draining resources from classrooms, student services, and every other school in the district. That's not responsible. That's not sustainable, and it doesn't give our students or our taxpayers what they deserve. Voting yes ensures that we use our dollars efficiently, transparently, and in a way that actually improves education, not just patches holes, and aging walls. Let's support this investment, not just for the students, but for the community. Relief is available, and the district will work to make sure residents can access it. Thank you. Thank you for your voice. Uh, Mr. Cargus, shall we move on to callers? Yes. The next citizen for public comment phone number ending in 2925. Please state your name and address. Hello, my name is Matthew
153Palmer and I live on Carmit Road. I had to return home so sorry I couldn't uh stick around. I didn't think you'd get to comments within the next hour or so. Uh, so I just wanted to uh comment and say that uh first of all I uh find it hilarious the irony of someone incapable of following campaign laws and rules uh attempting to call out the school board and the school district on uh campaign interference. Because when signs are not permitted in public spaces and they are constantly found there, clearly you have no respect for the rule of law or order and uh you don't really get an opportunity to speak out against other people for the same kind of thing whether it's true or not. Aside from that, anybody with the ability to read
154a budget can read the line items brought up as concerns about the existing budget. It states that there's line items in there for the deconstruction of the current grounds and the reconstruction of the roads and all the other things. If you can read a budget, you can find that information. It's pretty straightforward. That's really all I wanted to say. Please vote yes on May 20th for the new school. And thank you very much. Thank you for your voice. Our next caller, Mr. Cargus. Next citizen for public comment. Phone number I need in two 2201. Please state your name and address. Hello. Can you hear us? Okay, we'll move on. Do we have any more callers? Repeat caller. Okay. Um I they can call in again during the second session, right? This is the second session.
155Second session for public comment. What? They they've already called in. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I misunderstood you. Okay. All right. So, we have no more callers. Correct. Okay. All right. Is there anyone else in the room who would like to make a comment? Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see you. Go ahead. Thank you. Jen Patell, I live in Glennside. Um it's it's really just reiterating what a lot of other people have said. Um but my um my opinion is we don't have a choice whether to spend a lot of money on our middle school. The question is what do we want to get for our investment? And I personally would rather proactively and thoughtfully with the plan that has been being been in the works for three years. And I appreciate all the work
156you guys have done and I trust the expertise you guys selected to do it and that you they will then um carry it out if if it passes. But I would rather have a proactive and thoughtout plan that in the end our investment which for me I use the website I think it would be in total it' be a 9% increase and that's over the lifetime of this because I know it's going to be phased in and in the end there'll be a new middle school. If we didn't uh approve this, we end up patching for a hund over a hundred million or patching and and a little renovation for 200 million. We end up with the same building with many of the same problems. And you know, it'll be 80 years old by the
157time that the uh impact on our budget has been um resolved. And I would rather uh end up with a new building that we have decades and decades of use out of made for today's learning environment, today's Abington School District. And so I again encourage everybody to vote yes on May 20th. Thank you for your voice. Tara Tara Ing on Gregory Road. I'll just keep it quick because I know we all want to get out of here. Um first I want to wish Miss Tanai all the best in retirement. my kids also had her and she's just one of the best that we have at Abington. Um, also I'm really happy to see that the HVAC at McKinley is finally getting updated. Um, that's great news. And um, so just on a closing statement, I
158want to thank this the board of school board directors and administration for giving Abington residents the opportunity to vote yes or to vote, but I'm promoting vote yes on May 20th. And to remind voters to um, please remember to check both sides of your ballot on election day. so you don't miss the opportunity to vote on this very important question. Thank you. Thank you for your voice. Bryson, you want to close us out? Yeah, I guess so. Okay. I I just want Oh, there might be. Okay. All right. that uh this is all really about or it was mentioned that the goal of this or this being advertised that it's supposed to benefit the education of the students and someone mentioned that they don't see how you know renovating this building could help the education
159of students and I just I don't really understand that and it might be me but I just am if you go inside the high school and just look at it really and then go inside the middle school. It It's not the same. And it's definitely a different environment and a different kind of learning environment. And I I just don't really understand how you could say that the difference in those two environments wouldn't make a difference in a child's education if they're going there every day, spending six hours of their life there every day. That's a that's a lot of time. So I was just I just was a little bit confused. So, I just, you know, was just letting everyone know. Thank you. All right. Well, um, there was a thought that we had maybe
160one more. Go ahead. Hi, I'm Grace Taylor, uh, Jackson Avanardsley. Um, I just want to just make it known to everybody that even if you are not registered uh with a particular party, this is a primary election. So, you might not be thinking about it if you're independent. you can still vote on the referendum. Uh you'll your ballot will just have the referendum question on it. So please don't avoid uh election day if you're not registered with the party since we have closed primaries in PA. That's all. Great. Thanks for that reminder. All right. Anyone else? We have one more. Okay. One more. Let's let's do it. Okay. the next citizen for public comment. Phone number ending in 2561. Please state your name and address. Uh hello, I am Susie Pella and I live on
161Highland A. Go ahead. We can hear you. Thank you. Okay, great. Um I'm also going to keep it short. So I I'm voting yes for the tax referendum on May 20th. Um, aside from sort of all the the benefits to having a new building, um, and the potential for reconfiguration and spacing, one of the things I think that spoke to me was just looking at the financial burden in light of all the different options that are out there because I think the financial burden is there regardless of which path we ultimately take. Um, and it's a question of what those tax dollars are going to be allocated to and whether this solution is a short-term or a long-term fix. So when the school board was originally considering a bunch of options and then narrowed it
162down to four, they looked at the cost for just, you know, plain proper renovations and they came in at around 206 million. And then they looked at the cost for these, you know, proper renovations um in addition to an addition which would have helped address some of the layout and overcrowding and that was 268 million. And then there was the cost for one new middle school which addresses the layout and the overcrowding concerns and has multiple other benefits and that came out at 285 million. And that's the plan that they proposed to move forward with after getting community input on at least two surveys that I answered. Um, and based on the studies and the materials on the 1 ASC website, I think moving forward with one new middle school is the right approach. Any
163way you look at it, we're going to need to spend money. And I'd rather my tax dollars go toward a long-term proactive solution that has the highest chance of resolving the challenges that face the existing middle school. I think it's too costly to keep waiting or to make bare minimum repairs if the referendum fails and then ending up having to make major renovations or build a new middle school, you know, five years down the line or what have you in the near future. I think it's too costly and sufficient to make renovations with or without an addition instead of a new middle school. So, at this point, I think it's time to move forward with an investment grade decision. And that's why I'm voting yes. And I hear the questions about the education. A new
164building does not by itself create new education programs, but it supports the teachers by giving them the space to create these programs and to collaborate. And it supports the students, all the students who would have a better learning environment configured to meet their their needs. The results of some of the early surveys, which you can find on the website, they asked teachers what their primary concerns and considerations were. And at the top of that list for the middle school teachers was a reconfiguration of the middle school, either completely restructured or split into two new smaller schools and that building size and space was insufficient relative to the current instructional needs. So, I'm voting yes to support the community. Um, and because I think our students and our teachers need something better to move forward. Thank
165you. Thank you for your voice. That was our last caller. Thank you. All right. One more time. Anyone else in the room? All right. With that, uh, Dr. Fetcher, is there anything you'd like to respond to? Uh, no further comments. Okay. Okay. So, we will move on to closing comments of school directors. Mr. Allen. So, so much has been said tonight and really over the past uh months and and years. Um, Tuesday is kind of the the day of reckoning for us and um, it's like reality and um, I really am hopeful that the referendum passes um because for all the reasons we need to to do something with the middle school. With that said, um if the referendum shouldn't by chance not pass, um I I also want the community to know that it
166doesn't mean I'll speak for myself that I'm going to wash my hands and say, "Well, we tried." And the, you know, the kids and the teachers and the community will just suffer in the middle school. Like that that just means we have to retool and and figure out something else to do. Um but I'm going to go into this way more positive than that. I just had to put that out there that it's not a, you know, zero sum and and um I I I really am confident and hopeful uh through a ton of community conversations I've had, people support this. Um they invest in the community uh by and large in this town and um I think we we are something special and we have a good thing going as Mr. Muhammad said and
167um I'm hopeful for Tuesday. So, get out to vote and definitely flip your ballot over and look at the back. That That was really good advice. Thank you, Mrs. Brown. Thank you. I just want to uh highlight student voice and um and just promote how important it is for students to have an opportunity to express themselves, to share their insight, and to uh make demands for positive change. One of the ways that I saw that manifest on April 25th was at the MCIU legislative breakfast where our current uh school president and our current school board uh student representative attended and they were able to engage with uh legislators uh regarding uh education and I thought that was quite powerful. I also want to thank uh teachers, nurses and principles as we went into May. It
168was nurse appreciation day, teacher appreciation week, and principal appreciation day. Uh and then finally, I want to recognize uh someone who was an administrator here in Abington. And uh yesterday was her funeral services. And although I was not able to go because I was serving students at the MCIU um at a 24 competition, my heart was with uh all who were there. So, I am praying for Levanda Daniels family and the school community because I know that there are people including in this room who loved her dearly. So, my heart goes out and my prayers are with you, Miss Eisenhart. Um, first and foremost, I just wanted to commend the students that spoke this evening. um if their parents um or loved ones are listening, you should be proud uh any child that can create
169a voice and use it and have the confidence to do so in this room or any other space for something that is important to them that they feel strongly about. Um I'll always be encouraged to witness it and um I applaud their actions this evening. Regarding the referendum, um I am a board member. I'm a member of this community first and a mom first. I am absolutely almost overwhelmed with the amount of engagement and thoughtful discussion that has taken place in these past months. Tonight, I feel like there's nothing that I could say um even as good or even close as well to what was said this evening in the comments. I'm excited and happy to vote yes on May 20th. Um, an investment in public education is the greatest gift that we can do
170and provide for our community. It's a legacy for generations. And a long time ago, when my husband and I decided to set up our roots here in Abington, we did so because of the school district. and I feel reinforced that I'm surrounded in a community that upholds to those values and I look forward um to continuing to do so and to see it thrive. So, thank you for all of the wonderful engagement. I will be voting yes and um I have appreciated witnessing this process as long as it sometimes has been. Thank you, Mr. Muhammad. If I had it my way, every student across this globe would go to school in a palace. There would be no facilities issues. There would be no overheating classes. There would be no freezing classes. There would be none
171of those concerns that students have to deal with within Abington and Rock Ledge. outside of Edmonton and Rock Edge. Um, of course we cannot afford to build a palace, but we can afford to build a school that lacks the distractions and disruptions that the current middle school is presenting to our students. Um, it's going to improve their educational outcomes. is going to improve their experience here in the Abington School District. You know, Bryson, thank you for drawing the comparison or the contrast between what what you have in the high school based on a community investment and what we have in the middle school. And the middle school has been on the radar of several iterations of this board for for years now. It's a process. It takes time. And people saying, "Wait, I don't know
172where you've been for the last 3 years. We've been discussing. We've been giving people the opportunity to give input. We've invited people into the middle school. people are always invited into this space. Um, there have been ample opportunities to get the information, to get the factual information. And I wonder what kind of school they want to actually send our students into. What What are they saying when they say, "Wait, kick the can down the road." Um, our students deserve this form of investment in the community. This community deserves this investment. And the question becomes, where do where does the funding come from? If we do not say yes on Tuesday, we automatically start to chip away at the budget we spent time discussing earlier in this meeting. And the $24 million budget that is coming
173down the line is going to be a little bit smaller because we have to put aside money for the middle school. And if we put aside the money for the middle school out of the budget that we currently have, we then have to talk about what do we take away? What do we take away from that beautiful high school? What do we take away from those amazing elementary schools? What do we take away from the middle school? What happens to our educational programming because we have to take away $8 million or more on an annual basis? Our students deserve this. This is not a political decision. This is not a political conversation. This is a conversation about the future of our community. This is not a Republican, Democratic, independent, green party. It partying does not
174matter when it comes to this decision. This school system serves every family and every student. And in our democracy, we are blessed to have an education system that says everyone gets this. In our community, we are blessed to have the resources to afford this sort of project. It's time for us to recognize that these decisions need to be made and to say yes and invest in this new middle school. Vote yes on Tuesday, May 20th. And um I am hopeful that we'll get the right outcome. Thank you, Miss Falding. Um I I've heard a lot of people, as you can see, I I represent the senior group. I've lived in the township. Next month will be 29 years. I don't have any children, but I've paid my real estate taxes every year, and I will
175continue to pay them. I think the issue with seniors is a separate issue, and I'm going to address that with my uh state rep and uh you know, and and senator because I think that needs to be tackled another direction. As far as the middle school goes, um I was sort of indifferent. I don't have any kids. I don't have any grandkids. But seeing the the the school and I'm close with a lot of the uh kids in the community, I I I think this is something that we just have to do it. We we just have to do it. and the kids can't vote. So, we have to vote for them and we have to think of them. So, all I can do is just hope that next week we have a good outcome.
176And please everybody go vote whichever way you decide. Thank you, Miss Hartman. Um, I echo I echo a lot of what my board member my fellow board members have already said and I'm not going to repeat it all again. Um, I do want to applaud the students from the GSA who came out to speak um, tonight. It takes a lot of bravery and self-awareness to come out here from the high school and and speak out on a topic that can be controversial. Um, but it also speaks to the strength of our student groups at the high school and our clubs and giving kids an opportunity to um feel like they belong and and and have a sense of um strength to be able to come out and speak to something um in such a public
177forum. So, anyone if their parents are listening or any of their teachers can pass that on to them. Um, I want to thank everyone who came out tonight and who has come out over the past few months, years to speak about the referendum and and the need for a new middle school. Um, it's a really important day on Tuesday and I hope everyone, no matter how your vote you're voting, gets out and um practices their democratic responsibilities and votes and and hopefully we can make this happen for our kids. So, thank you to everyone who came out tonight. Miss Frasier, I'll keep it short. I'd just like to say thank you to all of our stakeholders and I'm wishing for the best like each and every one of you tonight. Thank you, Miss Fazy. Yes.
178Um, so I wanted to just say thank you to everyone who came out and spoke tonight and thank you for all your voices. Um, and thank you especially to our brave and brilliant students who came out and spoke tonight. Um the opportunity to vote on this decision is something that's very unique, at least in my mind. Um coming from Philadelphia to Abington, um largely driven because of the schools and the education that um I could see my children receiving here. Um this is something a vote for a referendum isn't something that you see in Philadelphia. Um, so I'm very very excited to take up to, you know, participate in this. Um, being here tonight and hearing from everyone here and hearing to all the community members that came out, I'm really proud and happy to
179be in Abington and I'm happy to stay here and raise my family in Abington. Um, and I'm happy to be a part of this community. Um, that's about all I have. So, take care everyone. Thank you, Miss Woo. Um, relating to what Bryce was saying earlier, recently I went back to the middle school for ELD family engagement night, and it was very nostalgic, but I can tell that the school definitely needs help. And I didn't recognize the like large difference between the two buildings until I had the chance to go back and compare the two. So, even though I can't vote, I want to encourage everyone to go vote next Tuesday. And also, congratulations to Miss Nai, who was also my teacher, Eminently. Um, and have a good night. Thank you. Um the conversation is
180a sign of a healthy community. Um and that includes everyone who has shown up at these meetings to express um their views of the referendum as well as the students who felt comfortable enough to come here tonight and share their views um about the book. So from that perspective, we've already done ourselves proud. Um, I like to think that much of that conversation is driven by people who benefited from public education and that on Tuesday they will cast their vote in favor of a referendum that will continue to sustain the high quality of education we enjoy in this community and the high quality of the community itself. Um, there is no more American institution than public education. So, on that note, I want to bid everyone a good night. Thank you for coming out. We'll
181see you in two weeks.