001good evening and welcome to the how to get the date together November 22nd 2022 meeting of the Abington School Board of Directors I know the attendance of all board members with the exception of Dr clyman Dr Mowry and Miss fazey uh who are excused please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice foreign thank you the Abington Board of school directors has convened this evening's meeting and them at the administration building and the public is welcome in consideration of the health and safety of the school Community this meeting is also being broadcasted live on the Abington School District YouTube channel the meeting is being recorded and will be accessible on the
002district's website and cable channel no later than Monday November 28 2022 to allow those members of the public who cannot participate to view the proceeding at a 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 to public and its events for its cooperation and we we remind everyone that this is a place where we hold dignity in high regard your voices are respected in this space are there any comments or additional agenda items to be brought up from my fellow board members excellent will open up with comments Mr Allen nothing thank you thank you Miss Fraser no thank you uh Mr okay uh yeah I'm a 1985 graduate of
003Abington High School and uh one of the most exciting things for me is tonight I love the art that people make one I was very lucky to have great art teachers here at Abington and I was lucky enough to make part of my living as an artist and as an illustrator over the years so when your kids come and they show this sort of work it's not just fun sometimes it can be something that helps them something that shows them a great Future something they can do amazing things with something that communicates great ideas so I just want to thank all of the parents and the teachers for supporting your kids and coming out here for something like this it's uh it's really exciting we all love it and thank you for doing this for
004the district indeed indeed Miss Glasser Mr Muhammad nothing thank you thank you and Dr fetcher any announcements for this morning this evening uh yes I have a few announcements this evening thank you Mr Brown um as we have discussed at previous board meetings this year Abington School District is implementing a tax rebate program of up to 25 percent for select homeowners over age 65. an informational meeting will be held at the administration building for those who qualify on Friday December 9th from 9 30 until 11 30 A.M at this meeting homeowners can learn how to apply for the state rebate program which is a prerequisite to qualify for the Abington School District program printed copies of Abington School District's form will also be made available at this meeting there's more information including whom to contact
005with questions and that's available on our website the information will also be posted to our District's social media cable channel and we have also reached out to area organizations to share this information with any of their potential eligible members uh in addition I would like to take a moment to announce that the board of the foundation for Abington School District will hold its regular meeting on Monday December 12 2022 at 6 pm here in the boardroom of the administration building thank you and as far as comments are concerned I'd like to welcome all the families here for an exciting evening and as you will see I get to see these paintings and pictures on a daily basis because they're in this building so I appreciate it very beautiful work and with no further Ado Dr
006fetcher can you proceed with this evening's honors all right the moment you all been waiting for document Dr Matthew Harris our supervisor of Fine Arts and the art teachers have curated the 2022-2023 Abington School District Art Exhibit and the administration building we will recognize the students who have created wonderful pieces of artwork and dedicated them to this building their artwork will be on display the administration building for four years Dr Harris will present the virtual exhibit to to you as we publicly recognize each student artist Dr Harris thank you Dr fetcher Mrs Brown and board of school directors so uh this evening I'm very honored to present this year's exhibit and as you heard the art faculty worked very diligently curating this exhibit but it was all grounded in the student artwork that was happening
007during classroom instruction this year's pieces are currently being exhibited in the back of this boardroom and along the hallways of this first floor and they are going to be displayed within the building across the next four years so all the administrative staff will have the opportunity to enjoy them as well as its visitors so tonight as we take you on this virtual tour and publicly recognize each student artist we invite you to get to know them through what they're showing you and sharing with you and also as I as we view this artwork I will introduce each art faculty member who will present a certificate to those students who are able to join us this evening please note that the grades listed in the presentation and the schools that are also listed represent where the
008students attended at the time they created this artwork we will congratulate all of these student artists and faculty together at the conclusion of the virtual exhibit and just before we launch into that we want to recognize the district itself specifically our art program the Pennsylvania art Education Association again this year granted us the endorsement of an outstanding Visual Arts Community this is something we competitively apply for for recognition each year is only started in the past several years but it it does ask very detailed questions then they get more detailed every year about how rigorous and inclusive our programs are how accessible they are and how visible they are so we are very proud to share that with the community this evening and appreciate everybody's support that makes that possible so presenting for copper Beach
009Elementary School this evening is Miss Dana taskerella and Ms Patricia Forrest come back here Mia thank you wonderful and our first student artist tonight is Mia Chen who is being honored for her watercolor paint crayon and marker work titled Castle and next from Copper Beach is Charlotte Hanford being honored for for her oil pastel and temperate paintwork entitled sunflowers [Applause] also being honored tonight is Joshua Jocelyn Gamez for their watercolor paint and crayon work entitled Monet leaves [Applause] and Morgan Brown is being honored for their color pencil and marker artwork that is a symmetrical animal face design [Applause] next we honor Eleanor Davis from Highland Elementary School for temperate paint artwork entitled The Great Wave and also being presented by Mrs Patricia Forrest is um an award that goes to chiaka akuda for their temperate
010paint artwork entitled sign language inspired by Nancy Rourke [Applause] presenting next for McKinley Elementary School is MS donazar and first she is presenting to Grace Keenan for her mixed media work entitled spring flowers it's a very unique use of coffee filters in this piece of artwork and next is uh Ava shalosky who is being honored for their watercolor paint of tulips [Applause] and next from McKinley is Daniel Kaiser who's being honored for his yarn and glue work entitled Audubon flamingo and next from Overlook Elementary School is Mrs Margaret Johnson who will be presenting the awards and we're starting off with Malachi Wilson for his work his crayon and marker work entitled Clark of the shark [Applause] and next is Emma heibach who's being honored for her marker and oil pastel work entitled parrot [Applause] so
011presenting for Roslyn Elementary School are both Ms Dana tascarella and Mrs Margaret Johnson and first we're honoring Lucia spiewack for their work with their watercolor paint and crayon work entitled fall trees [Applause] followed by Nathan Yeager where his crayon and watercolor paint work entitled sea otter [Applause] and presenting um for Mrs Natalie Hirsch at Rydal Elementary School tonight is Ms Patricia Forrest and from Bridal we first honor Mia Dietrich or her watercolor paint and marker work that is a John James Audubon inspired birdhouse next we honor Sean Martinez for their watercolor paint color pencil and marker work that is a van Gogh inspired sunflowers [Applause] so um on behalf of Willow Hill and Mr Tony Shelton tonight um we honor Amaya Paul for her marker color pencil and crayon work that is Britto inspired cat
012and presenting for Mr Shelton right now is MS taskerella who is presenting Gemma woolberg for her Adora batik design that is a crayon resist so presenting from our current Abington middle school but as these were created the Abington Junior High School is a in place of Miss Kelly Stein Nagi MS trinhwin and she's presenting to Caitlin lay for her pencil artwork entitled next we honor wrong Hong for the oil pastel creation that is hyper realistic cheetah eye [Applause] and next Ms Wynn presents to Nora Spurrier for her colored pencils artwork called climate change and claustrophobia [Applause] and next we honor Jenny Huang for her watercolor pen and Sharpie artwork titled watercolor Contour portrait [Applause] we also honor um from the Abington Senior High School from faculty member Ms Catherine Shields Hannah Gillespie for her horse
013hire choina Creation in the Ceramics program I'm presenting Joshua Young this evening is Miss Nicole caracolo for his pencil work entitled still life thank you and Mr David Farrow is presenting to Evelyn bartner for their linoleum cut artwork entitled sold [Applause] okay the FDA um high school work that's region 11 Pennsylvania 's work on overall membership all three Awards and I have these other homework videos from caea we're very happy to honor Evelyn's achievements both here and abroad so thank you and we look forward to seeing your artwork well into the future in the world so all Mass please help us acknowledge and congratulate this year's participants in our exhibit and we we also need to congratulate The Faculty who tirelessly work all during the day before the day after the day nurturing the growth
014of this creativity thank you and at this point Dr fetcher yes if you could remain where you are because I know that I just have a feeling that the board members would like to have an opportunity to address you um so I will uh turn it over to you Mr Brown excellent that was him not me it usually is I'm going to give a shout out to our board member Mr K who also is an artist um but it doesn't take an artist to recognize Beauty and talent so I'm going to speak for myself in this moment and say that you are amazing your work makes our jaws drop so continue to invest in your passion because you bring smiles to people's faces and guess what we need that today we need that so thank
015you so much and for our artists on the board wow uh like I need more competition just phenomenal beautiful uh just I can't even say enough it's it's a gallery I wish I had to see every day um plus I get Nora Spurrier here which is nice for me personally um but I just think it's amazing what you do uh what you've done just keep doing it all the time whenever you can and tell your friends to do it too because it's magnificent that you could share this sort of art with the world so thank you for that and also I'm curious if this is is there a gallery online where you could purchase artwork the students artwork not yet but we've been teasing that idea myself and Dr Brown I just want to say
016wow as well such beautiful work thank you so much for contributing to our world in such an amazing way thank you you really brought joy to this room tonight yeah and it has to feel really good to be standing here in front of all of your family and all these other strangers recognizing you thank you for bringing smiles to all of our faces and and to mine I appreciate that and I'm also trying to figure out how do you do art on linoleum so I'll be Googling that thank you so for those of us who are not as talented in art I'd like to say that you are talented and I see even I I said to Mr K during the middle of this WOW in kindergarten someone to be able to make a work
017of art like that my memory of kindergarten was I did spill the paint in the drawer of the art cart and was in trouble then and probably since then for most of my academic career that's why I do what I do today so I'm just amazed at what you do and my point in telling that story is for those of you who have talent nurture your talent and keep going with it and no matter whether it becomes the focus of your life or an opportunity for you as an outlet with whatever you choose to do it is it's amazing talent to have and for those talentless artists um we are so jealous of your talent so keep keep it up and once again I love that I can walk down the hallway here and I
018come to work every day and get to see your works and it truly brightens my day and helps me set um helps me set my reason why why I'm here and why I'm leading the school district to remember the the students and all the good that you can do and bring joy that you can bring to this community so thank you thank you Mrs Brown Dr fetcher members of the board of school directors and parents for supporting Arts education and the opportunity to present to you this evening so at this time students if you can follow your art teachers out into the lobby families if you would like to join us we're going to have a final photo op out there for all the social medes and scrapbooks and the memory boxes thank you so
019much [Applause] Dr fetcher does that include conclude our honors for this evening yes it does thank you we now turn to agenda item number three which are 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 will be able to join the meeting by calling in on your mobile or landline phone for members of the community who are with within the building please use a mic to the left or to the right of you and state your name and address we'll give it a moment Mr let's can you confirm that there are no callers on the line that has confirmed thank you uh we will move to agenda item number
020five Mr K can you please read the recommendation for approval of the Personnel addendum yes it is the recommended accident the board of school directors approves the changes in personnel as reflected in Personnel addendum number 5.1 good we have a second Dr fetcher thank you Mrs Brown the Personal Agenda begins with item number one and the request of leaves of absence for two professional employees the Personnel addendum continues with the hiring of substitutes compensation for a curriculum project title one parent meetings IEP meetings interpreter translation services and support Personnel items thank you questions or comments Mrs Young Mr Allen aye Ms Frazier aye Mr K aye Mrs Glaser aye Mr Muhammad aye Mrs Brown I eyes have an emotion passes Mr K can you please read the recommendation for approval of the financial report is
021the recommended action that the board of school directors approves the financial report for the period ending October 31st 2022 as reflected in addendum number 6.1 second we have a second Dr Fletcher thank you Mr Brown Mr lionetti would you please summarize the October 2022 financial report Mr Fletcher as of October 31 we received 120 million dollars of Revenue which is 71.2 percent of 168.5 million dollar Revenue budget last year through October we received 113.5 million dollars of Revenue which was 69.5 percent of the budget Revenue collections are 6.5 million dollars ahead of last year to date we've expanded expended 46.8 million dollars of our 180.9 million dollar expense budget which equates to 25.8 percent through the same period last year 45.2 million dollars were expended which is 25.5 percent of the then 178 points excuse
022me 176.9 million dollar budget we've expended 1.6 million dollars more this year compared to last year for this period which equates to a minimal 0.3 percentage points with respect to your capital projects fund The District page senior high school project contractors 360 thousand dollars in the month of October September Food Service report indicates an 83 thousand dollar loss for the month of September chartwell's contract has a guarantee of 85 000 for the year Dr fetcher that concludes my report if there are any questions I'd be happy to answer them thank you Mr Elaine Eddie thank you questions or comments from my fellow board members yeah Mr Allen aye Miss Frasier aye Mr K aye Mrs Glasser hi Mr Muhammad aye Mrs Brown I eyes have an emotion passes Mr K can you please read the
023recommendation for the approval of the payment of bills the recommended action at the board of school directors approves the payment of bills for the period ending October 31st 2022 as reflected in addendum number 7.1 second we have a second Dr fetcher thank you Mr Brown I will be happy to answer any questions that you may have regarding the payment of the bills thank you questions or comments from the board yeah Mr Allen hi it's Frazier aye Mr K aye Ms Placer aye Mr Muhammad aye Mrs Brown I eyes have it in motion passes Mr K can you please read the recommendation for permits for the use of buildings and grounds is the recommended action that the board of school directors approves the applications for permits for use of buildings and grounds as reflected in addendum
024number 8.1 all permits are subject to change for the provisions of the health and safety plan pertaining to the covid-19 pandemic not good we have a second Dr fetcher thank you Mr Brown the Primitive denim continues to reflect requests for buildings and grounds for meetings and other school events and activities I bring your attention to permit number 191 which I'm very excited about for the Abington Senior High School's performance of the musical Footloose on March 2nd 3rd and 4th and I will save dance moves for later thank you nothing all right Mrs Young Mr Allen aye Ms Frazier aye Mr K aye Mrs Glasser aye Mr Muhammad aye Mrs Brown I eyes have it in motion passes Mr K can you please read the recommendation for awards of contracts yes it is the recommended accent
025the board of school directors approves the awards of contracts as reflected and addendum number 9.1 second we have a second Dr fetcher thank you Mr Brown tonight for your consideration we have one award of contract and one Montgomery County Consortium of communities award the first award of contract is for the replacement copiers for the administration building a print shop for a 60-month operating lease and this is this will take place during the general fund budgets for each year of the lease and next the Consortium of communities Montgomery County award is for bulk rock salt as the weather gets colder we need to make sure we have that agree questions or comments from the board Mrs Young Mr Allen aye it's Frazier aye Mr Kai hi Mrs classa aye Mr Muhammad aye Mrs Brown I eyes
026have an emotion passes Mr K can you please read the recommendation for the local tax collection law Act 57. is the recommended accident the board of school directors approves the ACT 57 Abington School District resolution as reflected an addendum number 10.1 second we have a second Dr fetcher thank you Mr Brown in July of 2022 Governor wolf signed into law house bill number 430 as act 57 of 2022 which is a local tax collection law effect of a failure to receive tax notice beginning with the 2023-2024 school year act 57 requires that school districts to pass an ordinance or resolution requiring School Tax Collectors to waive additional charges or penalties for real estate taxes under certain limit circumstances I'd ask if Mr o'donny who has any would like to expand on that at all sure
027thank you Dr Fletcher The Limited circumstances under which this waiver of penalty applies are won the taxpayer must assert that they did not receive the tax notice two they must have acquired the property within the Pro 12 months prior to the time they submit the request for waiver and three they must pay the full amount of face tax at the time they request request the waiver so it's essentially to eliminate the issue of a new property owner not receiving the tax bill finding out about the tax only by getting a delinquency notice or something later than that Pennsylvania law has always been failure to receive the tax notice is not a an excuse for non-payment because it is a known thing that occurs with with property owners but this will this mandates you pass this
028resolution so that in that limited set of circumstances those taxpayers will get a relief from the penalty thank you questions or comments from the board Mrs Young Mr Allen aye Ms Frazier aye Mr K aye Mrs Glasser aye Mr Muhammad aye Mrs Brown I eyes have it in motion passes Dr fetcher are there any additional reports I provide the conference attendance and professional leaves for your information I'd like to bring your attention to Miss Janine sack our literacy supervisor who will be presenting at the Keystone State literacy Association conference in Hershey on November 27th and through November 29th the presentation will focus on using technology to enhance face-to-face instruction excellent any questions from the board okay any additional business to be brought about from my fellow board members Dr fetcher few I know that you
029gave the date for the information session for those that are interested in the tax rebate program I'm not sure if that's on the website or if that was going to go on the website uh yes it if it is it should be on the website correct if it's on our tax rebate page so can we also put the meeting on the on the home page just on the calendar of events it's great it's great that you're doing that so just to make sure make sure people know about it easily accessible thank you excellent anything else from my fellow board members okay we're going to agenda item number 13 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
030featured on the board I'll read it again a little slower slower 267-715-3717 uh for community members present you can make a comment at the mics to the left and to the right of you please be sure to state your name and address we'll give it a moment Mr Lutz can you confirm that there are no callers on the line that is confirmed Mr Allen nothing thank you Miss Frazier No thank you Mr K Happy Thanksgiving to everyone yes Happy Thanksgiving and I am very grateful to be able to serve on this board and to be with all of you so thank you excellent Mr Mohammed I just want to make an acknowledgment to the the victims of the shooting in Colorado Springs yeah acts of hate continue to happen in our country acts of hate
031continue to happen across this world and uh it's heartbreaking I also like to acknowledge indigenous American Heritage Month and to remind us all to remember the indigenous Americans who experienced acts of hate and continue to experience acts of hate Dr fetcher I just want to extend a warm Happy Thanksgiving to our community and I hope that you have an opportunity to either spend time with your family or alone whichever you prefer and have an opportunity to relax and and recharge as we get back to school and work toward the new year as well uh definitely I agree with everything that was said I just wanted to to add my sentiments to what happened on November 21st I've read the horrific news resulting in the member of the murder of members of the lgbtq plus Community
032I was heartbroken and we can't afford to be silent so we have to do better we must do better and one of the ways we can do better is by acknowledging and recognizing and making sure that we practice inclusive practices one way of doing that is acknowledging things like transgender awareness week which was observed November 13th through 19th is a time for people to learn about those who are different and who are the same and make sure that we eliminate Hate by embracing love so that's what I want to share with you I wish everyone a healthy break this meeting is adjourned