001good evening and welcome to the May 28th 2024 meeting of the Amington Board of school directors I note the attendance of all board members with the exception of Mr Allen and Mr Muhammad please rise for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the thank you very much the Amington Board of school directors has convened this evening meeting at the middle school and the public is welcome in consideration of the health and safety of the school Community this meeting is also being broadcast live on the Abington School District YouTube channel this meeting is being recorded and will be accessible on the district's website and cable channel no later than Friday May 31st 2024 to allow those members of the public who cannot participate to view the proceeding at
002a later time comments from citizens will be conducted in person and by phone information regarding participating remotely in public comments will be displayed on the screen at the time of public comment the board thanks the public in advance for his cooperation this is a place where we hold dignity and respect in senior high school students listen to the experiences of Ronnie breslo on what was the 85th Anniversary of her journey on the SS St Louis her visit was covered by NBC 10 News additionally CBS Philadelphia highlighted the district's annual fifth grade Community day which is a transition activity for students in our seven elementary schools where they can come together as the class of 2031 to get to know one another before they become Abington middle school students in the fall I'm pleased to share
003these news Clips with you this evening news High school students in Montgomery County are hearing a firsthand account of the horrors of the Holocaust when you left you lost your citizenship and they were immediately taken to con NBC 10 was at Abington High School today as Holocaust Survivor Ronnie breslo spoke to students today is the 85th Anniversary of the day breslo escaped Germany on the SS St Louis the visit was organized by the Holocaust awareness Museum and education center in Elin Park well on this beautiful day the aington school district in Montgomery County held its fifth grade Community day today and all seven aington elementary schools got together for some fun some games and some food the event was organized for students to get to know one another before they all transition to the same
004middle school next fall the fifth graders were also given their very first Abington class t-shirts very nice thank you very much thank you Dr fetcher we can continue yes um our next honors this evening which I imagine many people are excited and waiting for if I had a drum roll I would do that um our literacy achievement awards um I'm going to ask members the teaching and learning Department to present the 2024 literacy achievement awards these include the silver pen Awards the Amington Middle School writing Awards and recognition of our reading Olympics teams good evening Miss Janine sack our supervisor of literacy will provide a brief explanation of each honor good evening Mrs Brown Dr fetcher members of the board of school directors tonight we celebrate the 2024 silver pen Awards it is my privilege
005to begin tonight's program in recognition of the outstanding writing achievement of the fifth grade class through the silver pen award my name is Janine sack and I am the supervisor of literacy and I am proud to introduce the winners of this year's award before I begin Miss Natasha Hatton board chair of Abington Educational Foundation has a few words to share good evening everyone I'm here on behalf of the Abington Educational Foundation and it is our pleasure to once again sponsor the silver pen and Abington Middle School writing Awards congratulations to The Talented group of students that are being honored tonight I'm very impressed with your hard work and dedication it took to create such wonderful writing pieces AF would also like to thank the teachers and faculty that mentored the students and judges submissions I
006know that it's not an easy task choosing winners for tonight um because they were all really good and a lot of fun to read so once again congratulations to our students um and I hope I think they're at the hallway there I hope your creativity and love for writing continues for many years to come thank you thank you very much Miss Hatton this annual award which is funded and fully supported by the Abington Educational Foundation is designed to recognize and reward the outstanding fifth grade student writers in abington's elementary schools a silver pen is awarded to two student winners from Highland Overlook rosin Ryle and Willow Hill Copper Beach and McKinley Elementary have four student winners fifth grade teachers selected and submitted pieces of student writing to a building level committee comprised of principles and
007teachers each paper was read and evaluated with respect to established criteria for excellence and writing the papers are blind scored and the students whose papers are in the highest ratings are being honored tonight and will receive an engraved silver pen and certificate of recognition in addition their names will be added to plaques in each school which has been provided by the Abington Educational Foundation from Copper Beach Elementary the honor goes to four students first honor is awarded to Jane Yi for the story the cloak curse of the sea [Applause] from Copper Beach Elementary the next honor is awarded to Emily bis for the story a secret to be [Applause] told from Copper Beach Elementary the next honor is awarded to lucenda Mancini for the story empty [Applause] boxes from Highland Elementary the honor goes to
008two students the first honors is awarded to Josephine daily for the story The [Applause] Blizzard from Highland Elementary the final honor is awarded to Hannah Gil again for the story mville [Applause] mystery from McKinley Elementary the honor goes to four students first honor is awarded to nefeli Banas for the story The [Applause] Willow from McKinley Elementary the next honor is awarded to Vincent hang for the story project 10,000 from McKinley Elementary the next honor is awarded to Lyla Kalen for the story keep dancing from McKinley Elementary the final honor goes to kith and limb for the story wake up Jose [Applause] from Overlook Elementary the honor goes to two students first honor is awarded to arena arova for the story a school Fiasco from Overlook Elementary the final honor goes to Omar Omar for the
009story uncounted from rosin Elementary the honor goes to two students the first honor is awarded to Kyle Clemson for the story Invasion from Rosen Elementary the final honor goes to teren pin III for the story The Mirror [Applause] from Ral Elementary the honor goes to two students the first honor is awarded to Hannah montavo for the story space pirates from Ral Elementary the final honor goes to Aubrey pona for the story Cooper's New Beginning from Willow Hill Elementary the honor goes to two students first first honors awarded to Bella Wilson for the story rain eyes Prophecy from Willow Hill Elementary the final honor goes to Ava Sloan for the story mental notes congratulations to our silver po silver pen award recipients thank you for joining us you may return to the room thank you okay
010as we continue these Awards is my privilege to begin the recognition of the outstanding writing achievement of our sixth seventh and eighth grade classes through the middle school writing award these writing awards are also sponsored by the Abington Educational Foundation and these awards are scored in the same manner this is in our second year and are funded and fully supported by the AF and are designed to recognize and reward outstanding sixth seventh and eighth grade student writers at Abington Middle School the schoolwide award recognizes excellence in three different writing forms in appreciation letter for grade six poetry for grade seven and speeches in grade eight English language arts teachers submitted and selected student pieces of writing to a building level committee comprised of Administrators and teachers each paper was read and evaluated with respect to
011established criteria for excellence in writing the students whose papers earn the highest ratings are being honored this evening and will receive a special recognition pin and an achievement certificate of recognition in in addition their names will be added to the plaques in in their school which have been provided by the Abington Educational Foundation so for grade six they wrote a tribute or an appreciation letter our first honory in grade six is Bella Arena the first honor for her story the older sibling the next honor for grade six is Mason Frederick for the letter my tribute to my mom Mason the next honor from grade six is Juliana guito for the letter tribute to an amazing mother [Applause] the next honor from grade six is Eloise Haren for the letter don't throw away your shot the
012next honor from grade six is Emma leive for the letter my one and only tribute the next honor from grade six is Cassidy pelberg for the letter my hero the next honor from grade six is cie ramsdale for the letter my mom's the bomb and the final honor for grade six is Oriana roserio for the letter Miss inspiring [Applause] so for grade seven they submitted poetry we have eight awarded winners in grade seven as well the first honor is for Benjamin Coleman for the poem at noon outside playing football the next honor from grade seven is Georgia Davis for the poem teenagers [Applause] the next honor from grade seven is kayy fik for the poem Forks Washington the next honor from grade seven is Rebecca japat for the poem The Sun shines through the silver
013rain the next honor from grade seven is Julia pakula for the poem The Awful rain the next honor for grade seven is Victor Thompson for the poem sonnet number 82 the next honor for grade seven is Anna to toar for the poem where did that feeling go the final honor from grade seven is Joseph Urban for the poem reborn in prison and grade eight submitted speeches we have eight Award winners in grade eight the first honor is for Maya Alexander for the speech regret remorse and the return of kindness [Applause] the next honor for grade eight is saer Baron for the speech struggle is essential for Success the next honor from grade eight is Nico kovic for the story our [Applause] stories then next honor from grade 8 is Elena Kavik for the story learn
014prepare and live the next honor from grade eight is Maria Kavik for the speech power in the moment the next honor from grade 8 is Emily Mahan for the speech Middle School challenges and discoveries [Applause] the next honor from grade eight is Dave Rays for the speech and epilogue to the Middle School journey and our final award from grade eight is Anita Thomas for the story strength into struggle thank you uh congratulations on your Awards and one round of applause again for our Middle School writing Award winners okay you guys can return to M3 thank you okay for our final recognition for this evening we are going to recognize our reading Olympics program and honor our participants the reading Olympics uh is a countywide reading event held in the spring of each years students form
015teams led by their team leaders to read a curated list of books and participate in a fun culminating competition competing against other districts and teams in the area on the night of the event students go oneto one head-to-head with uh competitions from schools across the County students prepare for the event the entire year and it is our honor to recognize these teams this evening ASD has the highest participation in Reading Olympics in the county this year alone there were 35 teams comprised of 429 students this also included the dedication and support of 75 staff members in the district we have the distinct honor of recognizing these teams this evening all teams participating were recognized on the evening based on their performance during the head-to-head competition on the evening of the event Abington School District has
016the distinct privilege of being awarded 20 blue ribbons 11 red ribbons three yellow ribbons and one G ribbon that evening representing the total amount of points awarded during their question and answer sessions next I share with you the teams that represented each school with pride and enthusiasm about reading collaborating with their peers and gaining a wealth of knowledge and experience about terrific books and authors from a variety of genres please note that these teams take enormous pride in naming their team to represent the counting competition you will be thoroughly entertained by the names of these teams from Abington Senior High School we've got two teams the reading Rock to pusses and the reading race Miss anama would you please accept this certificate on behalf of the senior high school and their participating teams thank you
017the middle school was represented by four teams the reading Raiders the Dead Poet Society the reading Strikers and The Wizard of wisdom Dr Mr file please accept this certificate on behalf of the participating [Applause] teams at Copper Beach they were represented by seven teams bananas for books bookie monsters Mrs maier's fantasy Fighters bookies and the Beast kagney's cruising readers Beauty in the books and the reading rock stars Miss Stokes will you come up and and accept this certificate on behalf of your teams Highland Elementary was represented by four teams the book Burgers The Fearless readers the howling huskys and the story Smashers Dr [Applause] eten McKinley Elementary was represented by the bookie monsters the Bookers the story Squad the mid-right readers and the Brain blasters Mr [Applause] odm Overlook Elementary was represented by two teams
018the zom books and the paperback Pirates Miss Boyd Rosal and Elementary was represented by four teams first editions the bookie monsters booking it and novel Navigators Miss Richards Ral Elementary was represented by four teams the Bushman bees the Ral reading raccoons ch's crazy readers and ryal rally Bookers Mr Watkins and our final team group from Willow Hill represented by the three teams paage Warriors soaring readers and the soaring bookworms Dr [Applause] [Music] Jordan congratulations to all teams we are proud of our students for participating in Reading Olympics and we sincerely thank our staff members for volunteering their time to coach these teams and we thank our parent par and Guardians for encouraging their children to read and supporting their involvement in this event congratulations and thank you definitely congratulations I want to open the floor
019up to my fellow uh board members any words of encouragement to our writers and our readers definitely an impressive award ceremony congratulations all yeah I I would just love to add um as a parent also I share in the joy that everyone has here tonight to be recognized individually is such a cool thing for our kids um I'm just so happy for all of you and I hope they feel as proud um for these moments too it's so important and cultivating a love for reading and writing is just a beautiful thing to witness so just sh celebrating in your joy and sharing in it and thank you all for being here tonight [Applause] I just wanted to um take a minute and maybe address the parents in the room and thank them for encouraging their
020students in these efforts um as as some of you may know I am a writer um and I will tell you from experience that the best way to be a good writer is to read widely and deeply so um keep encouraging your students to do that and their writing skills will develop as they move along um congratulations to everyone here tonight it's a big big achievement I just want to say congratulations to all the children and the parents what great achievements and and how wonderful all the kids are thank you for being here [Applause] tonight any other comments okay it gives me great pleasure to see uh so many young people that like to read I I have a love of reading all my life which I think I picked up for my father and
021it makes me feel good to see that there are still a lot of young people out there that enjoy reading keep it up it will do you well in life I just wanted to take a moment first to uh once again thank the Abington Education Foundation for sponsoring this um award and also for their commitment over the years um to sponsor something that's extremely important to us and that's our literacy achievement awards um I'd like to take a moment to recognize all of our um teachers and staff members who work very hard with our students to inspire them on a daily basis um particularly um with this I'd like to thank the um parents and families who are here uh your support is is of utmost importance to our our students and I just have
022to take a moment to say how impressed I am with our students and it is so important that we as a community Take A Moment Like This to recognize the great things that our kids are doing and you know as far as I've had um love of reading and writing my entire life and and uh started my teaching career of as an English teacher and one of the things that inspired me um the most was a moment like this when I was a a youngster and and I think that we need to Rally around our kids and make sure they know that um we we really appreciate all that they're doing and there's true Talent out there and to build with it no matter what they do in life reading and writing is going to
023be essential so I thank all of you for coming out tonight to support them and I just say keep congratulating them and building them up that's what our kids need need the most indeed indeed I know our Scholars have left but parents you can share the message that uh reading is my favorite pastime uh and maybe your children can relate walking through Elementary School I walk through the hallways like this in class the teachers would say shm put your book away and at one time she decided deed to pass my book around so everyone could read a chapter I was upset I wanted my books to myself um writing however did not come to me until later in life there is such power in telling your story so please encourage your children to continue to
024tell their story um and there's no limits to what they can do I'm quite proud of these achievements tonight thank you so much for coming out [Applause] Dr fetcher we can uh move forward with our board orientations for this evening okay okay for our orientation this evening um I'm gonna ask Mr lionetti um and Mr Victoria to present an update on the proposed final general fund budget uh that was adopted our May 14 2024 public meeting Mr Victoria thank you uh tonight we will review revenue and expense ch changes due to the uh carryover of essers funds the impact of the prop uh to property owners and a look at upcoming board meetings uh we usually have the federal revenue allocations at this point in the budgeting process but those amounts have not yet been
025provided we anticipating having the 2425 allocations for title programs and Ida funds prior to adopting the final budget this slide was presented at the April 30th board meeting at that meeting we were estimating uh federal revenue at $2.2 million since the 30 the April 30th meeting we have recognized that we have carryover of essers funds which changes the revenue expense amounts in the budget federal revenue is increasing $687,000 from 2.2 million to $2.9 million total revenue is increasing to 95.4 million expens are increasing $687,000 um to $195.42 math IRL and World Language Tech textbooks adoptions the allocated fund balance will remain at $6.8 million so comparing the current information to the 2324 final general fund budget local revenue is increasing $7 million to $38.64 million to$ 47 million federal revenue is decreasing a million to
026$2.9 million the fund balance is remaining at $6.8 million and the total revenue is $15.4 million salaries are at 98.7 million negotiated benefits are at $17.1 million uh non uh mandated benefits are at $42 million and non-salary non-benefits are at $37 million total expense is $195.42 million so there is no change from our last presentation regarding the impact on a typical of assessment of $141,100 the amount of $262 50 because Homestead has increased from $426 to $494 this assessed property would see a tax increase of 194 uh $94.50 which is a 4.28% increase and then the bottom of the slide shows the impact on seniors who qualify for the Abington School District rebate program seniors in the first two income levels would not see a a tax increase while seniors in the bottom two income
027levels would see an increase of $10 50 to $42.50 looking at the June 24th uh 25th meeting we will be asking the board to adopt the 2425 fineral final general fund budget adopt a resolution to implement Homestead exclusions and adopt a resolution to implement the senior citizens real estate tax rebate program and Dr fetcher that concludes our presentation we can answer any questions the board might have thank you thank you questions or comments from the board seeing that there are none Dr fetra does that conclude our orientation for this evening yes Mrs BR thank you so much we will move forward with agenda item number four which are comments from citizens comments from citizens are being conducted both in person and by phone the phone number to participate in public comments is 267 715 3717
028and is featured on the screen at this time you may join in by calling in from your landline or mobile phone you may also use the mics to the left and to the right of the auditorium please uh be sure to state your name and address Mr Brooks we'll give the phone lines just another moment and then I'll confirm if there are callers on the line or not Mr Brooks can you confirm that there are no callers on the line uh we still have about 30 more 20 more seconds uh to give people enough time to call in thank you so much we'll wait another 30 seconds at this time we do not have any callers on the line thank you so much for confirming that uh we will move forward with agenda item number
029six Miss Frasier can you please read the recommendation to approve the Personnel agenda recommended the board of school directors sorry about that guys let's get it on this side it's a little better it is recommended that the board board of school directors approves the changes in personnel as reflected in Personnel agenda numbers 6.1 and confidential addendum number 6.1a do I have a second second thank you Dr fetcher thank you Mr Brown um the personel addendum begins with request for leave of absence for One Professional employee and rehire 14 current long-term substitutes for the 20242 school year the personel endm continues with compensation for professional development IP meetings interpreter and translation services tutoring and support and auxiliary staff items bring your attention to the retirement of Miss Edith bramante bus driver in the transportation department who
030has served the district for 32 years thank you any questions or comments from the board as always we wish our retirees a um a congratulations and a thank you for your service and we hope that the next season of your life is one of the be is the best season of your life 32 years is a long time especially being a bus driver you are one of the first faces that our students see and one of the last that they see as a representative of the school district so thank you 32 years that is a very long time to serve Mrs Flanigan miss frer I miss eisenhart I Dr Maui I miss balding I miss bazy I Mrs Hartman I Mrs Brown I eyes have it and mo motion passes Miss Frasier can you please
031read the recommendation for approval of the financial report uh yes it is recommended that the board of school directors approves the financial report for the period ending April 30th 2024 as reflected in addendum number 7.1 do I have a second second thank you Dr fetcher thank you Mr Brown I'm gonna ask that Mr lionetti if you could please um summarize the financial report thank you Dr fetcher as of April 2024 the district received $159 million of the $78.19 which equates to 89.3% in April 2023 a year ago the district collected $11.7 million of the then $ 168.5 million budget which equated to 90% year-to date we are 7.3 million ahead of last year which is attributed to Greater real estate tax collections greater interest earnings and an increase in the basic education subsidy is compared
032to April of 2023 with regard to expenses year-to date we have expended 14 million over 89.9 million expense budget which equates to 73.7% for the same T time period last year $137 million was expended of the then $18.9 million budget which equated to 75.7% that concludes the financial report summary if there's any questions we'll do our best to answer them at this time thank you can I ask a question please yes you may um Mr lionti did I hear you correctly when you said that we've only collected 85% of the revenue in taxes this year I was referring to um total revenue revenue at um 89.3% however I do have information um regarding tax revenues if you give me a moment I'll share that with you as well so Dr Mary year to date we've
033collected 100 5.4 million of real estate taxes which is um 99.2% of the real estate taxes we are anticipating to collect um that compares um to last year at $10.4 million at this time of the year okay thank you I I misheard you when you said it the first time so I just wanted to double check thank you thank you any additional questions or comments from the board Mrs flan again m I miss eisenhart I Dr mauy I miss balding I miss Bey I Mrs Hartman I Mrs Brown I eyes have a motion passes Miss Frasier can you please read the recommendation for approval of the payment of bills it is recommended that the board of school directors approves the payment of bills for the period ending April 30th 2024 as reflected in theendum number
0348.1 do I have a second a second thank you Dr fetcher thank you Mr Brown I will be happy to answer any questions that you may have regarding the payment of bills thank you questions or comments regarding payment of bills may I have a a total for the line items for um the charter Cyber Charter Schools I know that there are various uh schools that we pay money out to yes M Brown Mr lionetti can you review the expenses uh for our Charter Schools certainly Dr petcher um year to date um we've expended $2.3 million for both brick-and mortar and Cyber Charter Schools um more specifically Mrs Brown that breaks down to just about $1.8 million to Cyber Charter Schools and just over $500,000 for Brick and Mortar schools we're anticipating that the total bill
035at the end of the year will be $2.5 million for 126 students that attend um Charter Schools the tuition rates um for regular education are just over $155,000 a year and for special education just over $31,000 a year thank you and for that $31,000 for special ed it does not um it does not take into consideration what services is student is getting it's just a matter of them being classified as special education is that so that is correct um it's the amount is not dependent on the um the IEP okay thank you so much any any additional questions there comments from the board thank you Mrs Flanigan Miss Fraser Miss eisenhart I Dr mauy I miss balding I miss bisy I Mrs Hartman I Mrs Brown I eyes have it and motion passes uh Miss
036Frasier would you like to be relieved from speaking if if not that's fine if you guys could handle it it's not as bad as it sounds it sounds horrible of course it's allergies you're fine I just want to make sure that you are okay thanks for your consideration because I care for you thanks for your consideration I'll continue excellent we thank you in advance guys we'll move forward with agenda item number eight Miss uh Frasier can you please read the recommendation for approval of the payment of bills it is recommended that the school that the board of school directors approves the payment of bills for the period ending April 30th 2024 as for I apologize I'm making you read twice I I didn't I asked you if you wanted to stop reading and then I
037have you reading twice M frer I am so sorry will you forgive me spoke appr we're going to really approve it my apologies Miss Frasier agenda item number nine can you please read the recommendation for permits for the use of buildings and grounds thank you so much thank you yes it is recommended that the board of school directors approves the applications for permits for use of buildings and grounds as reflected in addendum 9.1 all permits are subject to change forther provisions of the health safety plan pertaining to the covid-19 pandemic second we have a second Dr fetcher thank you Mr Brown the permit agend continues to reflect requests for buildings and grounds for meetings and other school events and activities for this time of year thank you questions or comments from the board uh thank
038you for creating the space for the staff members uh who make time for these events to happen for our students to bond and to enjoy their uh School experience we appreciate you Mrs Flanigan Miss Frasier Miss eisenhart I Dr mauie I miss balding I miss Bey I Mrs Hartman I Mrs Brown I eyes have it and so moved Miss Frasier can you please read the recommendation for awards of contracts well yes it is recommended that the board of school directors approves the awards of contracts as reflected in the Dum number 10.1 second we have a second Dr fetcher thank you Mr Brown uh tonight uh we have one retroactive Award of contract and that is for compressor HVAC compressor for the uh boardroom thank you questions or comments from the board will that fix and
039bring us back to our usual meeting spot allegedly yes allegedly that will uh that that will do it excellent can we go home thank you yes we will um it it everything should be be in order by the next U board meeting for us to return to the space to which everyone is accustomed okay thank you any additional questions or comments Mrs Flanigan Miss Frasier I miss eisenhart hi Dr mauy I miss balding hi Miss feezy I Mrs Hartman I Mrs Brown I eyes have it and motion passes Miss Frasier can you please read the recommendation for the approval of the grant submissions I see is that 11 facility thank you it is recommended that the board authorizes the administration to submit the public school facility Improvement Grants for McKinley Elementary School and Ral East
040Elementary School to the Department of community and economic development as reflected in the dentum numbers 11.1 and 11.1 a second we have a second Dr fetcher thank you Mr Brown uh the administration recommends authorization of an official resolution to apply for the public school U facility Improvement Grant from Pennsylvania Department of community and economic development for renovations at McKinley as well as Ryle East um should aington be awarded the funds uh we will Implement in a manner to to ensure that all compliance with federal state and local laws and regulations are met thank you questions or comments from the board uh Dr fetcher do you know when we will know whether the grant has been approved or not Mr ber yes preliminarily we've been told that we will know within two months however it depends
041on the number of school districts that actually apply and the turnaround we're anticipating it will likely be longer okay thank you any additional questions or comments from the board in regard to the impact on the budget um my assumption is that some of the things that will be fixed would have to be fixed anyway can you speak to how those where those things are already placed into the budget and how this grant money would overall affect um our budget I'm sure it's probably a drop but how it will affect the overall budget I can answer that two ways Mrs Brown um we are leveraging the bond issue that you passed at the most recent meeting um because we have to provide matching funds and we do have um a list of priorities for the $14
042million net uh spendable proceeds from that bond issue and um we will have to uh look at what the priorities are and see how we can do the maximum number of projects that we can um with or without these Grant funds and my final question um briefly can you share what was unique about these two schools whereas it wasn't is not applicable to say the the middle school or other uh schools uh yes um we we and this does not relate directly to the Giza project but we are doing repairs doing upgrades to various buildings through the Giza project uh this grant allows you to apply for no more than four schools so we can't apply for all the schools it can't be spread amongst the schools uh the schools that need it the most
043are McKinley and rle East dollarwise the middle school would but we're currently looking at other options to that so the next two schools that fall in line would be Ryle East and McKinley which is the schools that we're applying for the grant thank you so much for that explanation any additional questions or comments from the board just for just for the sake of um anyone else who doesn't know can they just elaborate on the Giza award what that means um so the district in the process we began the process a few months ago in selecting a Esco which would be a company that would receive the contract um cm3 was successful they have been working on an investment grade audit which this district is now in receipt of to the requests from the district from
044that audit recommendations will be brought to the school board at the next school board meeting for award um two of the buildings that are related to this are rle East and also McKinley but in addition to that they're looking at all the rest of the buildings with the exception of the middle school and high school high school construction was just completed and the Middle School we're looking to other options thank you any additional questions or comments Miss Flanigan Miss Fraser I miss eisenhart I Dr marry I miss balding I Miss Fey I Mrs Hartman I Mrs Brown I eyes have it and motion passes Miss Fraser can you please read the recommendation for approval of the rooted tree agreement okay yes uh it is recommended that the board of school directors authorizes the administration to
045enter into an agreement with rooted tree Productions Inc to provide District space for the organization's summer theater program second thank you Dr fetcher thank you Mr Brown uh this resolution is for an agreement with Rudy tree uh Productions to provide the space for the organization summer theater program from June 21st through July 15 thank you any questions or comments from the board just like to say a couple of years ago I attended a play uh sponsored by the rooted tree it was amazing so if anyone um within hearing my voice uh if you'd like to have something to do in July in the community or even June possibly August as well come out to support that organization they're fabulous indeed thank you so much Miss Flanigan Miss frer hi Miss eisenhart I Dr mry I
046miss balding I miss fezy I Mrs Hartman I Mrs Brown I eyes have an emotion passes Miss Frasier can you please read the recommendation for The Substitute Teacher service agreement with the ESS Northeast yes it is recommended that the board of school directors authorizes the administration to enter into an agreement with ESS Northeast LLC to administer a district professional substitute program effective July 1st 2024 second thank you Dr fetcher we have a second thank you Mr Brown this agreement moves forward a relationship with ESS uh Northeast LLC to provide the avocate School District with the management of professional substitute Services Miss Christine Taylor or I can answer any questions that you may have have thank you questions or comments from the board what is the cost of the agreement to the district good evening as
047we explained in the memo the cost for the district is going to vary dependent on the fill rate so we have an estimated cost of between 724 th000 to 760,000 dependent upon our fill rate the estimated costs are estimated looking at ESS achieving a fill rate between 85% and 90% And my understanding is the higher our fill rate the greater the cost to the district and so the lower our Sav that's correct any additional questions or comments from the board I I have another question um what is so this is it the total I mean the the amount range you gave us is pretty significant um what's the benefit to the district of entering into this contract so there are a number of benefits one of the biggest benefits is that ESS brings the professional
048management of the program they're going to bring recruiting they're going to be able to bring to us a more robust training program a larger number of Subs because they have such a great greater amount of resources than we have to manage the program inhouse additionally they're going to be a very good partner to us as we leverage our new technology Frontline absence management that is the technology that they use to facilitate their program and we are just starting out we're excited to implement and having them on board to allow us to have the smoothest possible transition and to Leverage The Power of that system for us to look at how are we deploying substitutes what are the reasons why we're using substitutes I believe that there's such a great benefit to having this managed professionally
049by an organization that does this is all day every day because it puts more qualified trained substitutes in front of our students and when students have substitutes and teachers have the ability to have their prep to be able to teach their day and we have coverage I think it makes for a better school day for our students first and foremost and also for our staff I've worked in the past with ESS and have had a wonderful experience and I can say that in the District I was in bringing this service in really improved our service as a district additionally on the financial side we will save anywhere from 300 to 500,000 in moving the service outside of the district so we're saving between 300 and 500,000 but it is costing us between 300 and 500,000
050well it the the program now costs us money to run because we employ our substitutes we pay for benefits for piecers for unemployment for FICA for all applicable taxes we will be paying ESS their their fill their percentage for providing this service and that's where the cost is for ESS but by using ESS we are reducing the cost of the district from anywhere between 300 and 500,000 again that fill rate is going to determine how much we save but we will save money by moving this to the outside service okay I guess I guess I'm missing something sorry who currently manages um like substitutes within the buildings and the hiring and management of them that's done in-house through human resources and then our principles bear a lot of the responsibility of supervision any additional questions
051or comments can you speak to the training modules I received a list of some of the sample U modules that uh the subs would um would study or would be trained in can you just read off that list some of the samples sure we had looked at we had asked ESS to provide us with what type of trainings they offer for diversity equity and inclusion and they provided us with a sampling of some of their offer offerings but what I found to be most pleasant good news was the commitment that they have to diversity Equity inclusion and belonging in hearing that they have a council that's been in place since 2022 and has Representatives at the top level for example their senior vice president of HR their senior director of HR and their coo they
052have 10 members which are employee members they review company policies and procedures to Foster inclusion they're working on implementing employee resource groups they provide training to the corporate staff and then that training is then passed down to their substitute employees and they also work with staff to make sure that they handle issues in a in a way that is very Mindful and cognizant of diversity Equity inclusion and belonging so some of the training that they provide are diversity for employees diversity for supervisors discrimination cultural awareness and implicit bias lgtbq awareness transgender and gender non-conforming awareness and Trauma informed approaches thank you very much any additional questions or comments from the board are those module training modules mandatory for anyone who works for them I will double check on that because I don't know that for
053sure sorry just to clarify so um with this agreement there is incentive for them to fill positions as they get greater reimbursement from us I think the goal is always to have a good fill rate because that's what you know provides the best service to our students and they are of of course in iviz because that is how they earn their living um I think when we see the fill rates improve here that it will become important to us as well um it is important what's our current fill rate we don't have the technology right now to truly capture that so bringing on absence management that you approved earlier this school year and again I thank you because without technology to leverage that data we really don't have reliable numbers we will now that we
054have the technology any other questions or comments uh one last uh comment there was something I noticed about the representatives who from ESS who came to share their program and from what I gather they have a history and education these aren't people who are are business people trying to make a profit these are people who have worked through education and understand the demands of education and therefore um can really uh um I guess tackle the issues with uh their experience and knowledge yes um Andy Hall the president that we met with is a former Director of Business Samantha who is a regional vice president is a teach was a former teacher and a number of their staff come from education to then work for ESS and I have found in the past working with them
055that they do truly understand our day-to-day uh our needs and do Place students first which is really important to all of us and I I just want to highlight what you said about Frontline the um absent management system that we bought that we that the board approved uh and how important it is to make sure that we uh approve either programming or anything that's going to support us in using that well and um my vote is a yes because I think this is a step towards using that technology well any other questions or comments from the board what's the duration of this contract it is a one-year agreement and so it will be review reviewable again in one year that's correct be 90 days if we wanted to exit the contract before its expiration if
056not it will renew again for a year so this does provide us with a unique opportunity to see if this partnership works for our district because it is just a one-year agreement I heard another voice so I just had just a clarified question um difference between a daily substitute teacher versus a building based substitute so we will have building based substitutes again building based substitutes work primarily at one school guaranteed work 5 days a week for the duration of the school year with our building substitute program for the upcoming school year if there is not an opening at the assigned school that substitute would move where there is an opening within level so if you're an elementary building sub you would move within the elementaries if you're secondary you would move between middle and high
057school a daily substitute is someone who works on a day-to-day basis so for example in our program we may have substitute teachers who are available three days a week not five so they would be a part of the perdum any additional questions or comments from the board yes I'd like to mention that um after I retired from the Philadelphia School District after 33 years I worked for Kelly Services which is a substitute service but over the past two years um because their contract was not renewed so the school district of Philadelphia went with ESS services and um I've been very pleased I've been affiliated with them for two years now they hire certified teachers retired teachers and uh in response to the training one of you asked um there's lots of training I could tell
058you there's a minimum of perhaps up to 25 videos which you're quizzed you know after each video and um it's it's somewhat rigorous even for retired teachers but um I've been pleased I have no complaints thank you Miss Frasier for mentioning that and um and that I'm sure would be a part of the reason for you abstaining your vote uh for because you work for the company so thank you so much for sharing that information and now the public knows why uh you will you will abstain from your vote this evening thank you so much any additional questions or comments from the board Mrs Flanigan Miss frer Miss eisenhart I Dr mauy No Miss balding I miss VY I Mrs Hartman I Mrs Brown I eyes have it and motion passes Miss Frasier can you
059please read the recommendation for election of the treasurer uh yes it is recommended that the board of school directors elects that's 141 correct a 14 yes thank you so much yes and we're electing said individual as Mr Michael zanka Mr Michael zanka thank you as treasurer of the Abington School District for the fiscal year beginning the first year of July 2024 at an annual fee of 16,000 said um election being required at this time in accordance with Section 404 of the Pennsylvania School code 1949 second we have a second Dr fetcher thank you Mr Brown Mr lion Andy could you please review this item um yes Mr zonka has served the school district as treasurer for the past 20 years and has done an excellent job uh with understanding our current Financial conditions Mr zank
060is proposing uh the fee of $116,000 which is the same um price that um he's charging for the current school year as a CPA and principal of the public accounting firm of Patrick and Zerona each month Mr zanka reconciles the school district's operating statement and cash balances for the various funds prepares a Reconciliation Report and his independent report is a verification of the cash position of the school district funds as presented by the administration both Dr fetcher and I recommend that Mr zon could be reappointed for another one-year term as he has done an excellent job for us thank you questions or comments from the board uh please forgive me usually I'm I'm a little bit sharper but is this our third party or is there an additional uh is there a third part I
061know there's a third party that goes over line by line to make sure that we're in compliance and things of that nature um you're correct Mrs Brown um in addition to U Mr zanka who reviews um our finances on an monthly basis um we have the firm of Mali uh LLP which is our audit auditing firm that reviews our annual financial report and produces the year-end audited financial statements so we have um two groups of individuals that are looking at the finances in addition to um your business office and the administration as a matter of fact um in the most recent and in previous years's um writeups by Mali um the school district is commended for having an independent um third party reconciling your financial statements each month um independently of your um you know
062business administrators and they commend us for having that extra set of eyes independent of of your of your paid labor force excellent and I brought that up to to to just confirm that he is doing a great job uh because it's not just you saying it uh it's a third party who has nothing to gain or lose uh double-checking and making sure that everything line by line is done in decency and order any additional questions or comments from the board uh yes uh have you did you consider anybody else besides this one question just because he's been doing a good job for 20 years there still may be somebody else out there we have not and why not because that an outstanding job is a member of our uh community and um has an excellent
063reputation um for the work that he's doing and it's at a price that when we did look at it several years ago it was for half the cost that others would have provided okay thank you any additional questions or comments on the board Mrs Flanigan Miss frer hi Miss eisenhart I Dr mauy I miss balding I miss bazy I Mrs Harman I Mrs Brown I eyes have it and motion passes Miss Frasier can you please read the recommendation for approving the treasurer performance bond number 15 thank you it is recommended that the board of school directors approves the purchase of a bond with an approved shity on the treasurer for the faithful performance of its duties which is in the amount of 100,000 for the period July 1st 2024 through June 30th 2025 at a
064cost of 500 second we have a second Dr fetcher Mr L in the previous agenda item the board elected Mr zanka as a school district Treasurer in accordance with Section 436 of the Pennsylvania school code a bond for the faithful performance of the treasurer's duties is required the bond is limited to the minimum amount of $100,000 as the treasurer has no access to school district cash or other assets we're asking for approval to obtain the bonds which will cost a minimal amount of $500 questions or comments from the board Mrs plig again miss Razer I miss eisenhart I Dr mauy I miss balding I Miss Fey I Mrs Hartman I Mrs Brown I eyes have it and motion passes Dr fetcher any additional reports for this evening yes Mr Brown I provide the conference attendance
065and professional leaves for your information thank you any questions from the board any additional items to be brought about from the board this evening that takes us to comments from citizens comments from citizens are being conducted both in person and by phone the phone number to participate in public comment is 267 715 3717 and is featured on the screen at this time you may call in using your landline or mobile phone and if you're within the room there are mics to the left and to the right of you please be sure to state your name name and address if you can confirm if there are no additional callers on the line there are no additional colors on the line at this time thank you with that being said that takes us to closing comments from
066my fellow board members Miss Frasier no thank you uh Miss eisenhart again it was a pleasure to recognize all the great students um in the district with their writing and reading Awards and also uh again just to recognize our wonderful staff that contribute to their success as well everybody have a wonderful evening thank you Dr Mau I'll just second Miss eyes and her comments thank you Miss balding nothing at this time but let's hope uh we have a wonderful uh graduation next week thank you uh Miss Miss fazey nothing at this time Miss Hartman good night everyone Dr fetcher I just want to thank everyone for coming out tonight to celebrate our student students yes and final words congratulations to our eighth graders who are completing uh eighth grade and moving on to the high
067school congratulations to our seniors who went on their prom and I do look forward to graduation this meeting is adjourned have a great evening everyone