001Yep. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. >> Mhm. >> Good evening and welcome to the March 23rd meeting of the Conestoga Valley School Board Directors. To those in attendance and also to those online, would you please [snorts] first join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United [clears throat] States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. This is our second meeting of the month where most official votes are taken, many of which are listed on a consent agenda which includes those items which are routine or have been discussed at our last work session, which was 2 weeks ago, or previously. Our meetings observe all legal requirements in our district policies to the best of
002our understanding and ability. All agendas and related public documents and details are posted on the district website. So yeah, thanks for bearing with us for the We had it on good authority the weather was going to be nasty and it was, it just came in much after the board meeting last week, so thanks for coming tonight instead. So we have a couple things for tonight. Obviously Dr. Hartman is not here. Joe Cozer is sitting in for him tonight. He does have a good reason to not be here, I promise. We are also missing Ms. Marilyn Martin, so before we take attendance or anything, I would like a move to appoint Katie Meyer as secretary pro tempore for this meeting tonight. So moved. Do I have a second? Second. All those in favor say I. I.
003Any nays? All right, Mrs. Meyer, you are the secretary pro tempore. So would you please give us attendance for tonight? Seven members are present. Dr. Martin and Ms. Laura Givler are absent. All right. Are there any changes? What's that? We have a quorum. Awesome. Are there any changes to tonight's agenda? There are none. Okay. I will mention that Ms. Hunsinger is actually out sick, so when we get to the item for under the action discussion agenda for the budget review, I think we'll just table that for next week. You can review the information. If you have any questions, you can bring that to I'm sorry, I said next week, for the first meeting of next month. There's nothing in that that needs approval or anything. It was just a review, so we'll go over that
004with Ms. Hunsinger first meeting of April. Could I have a move and a second to approve tonight's agenda, please? I so move. I second. >> Second. All right. All those in favor say I. I. Any nays? All right, we have an agenda. So we'll start with some board commendations. One second. >> [sighs and gasps] >> Riley Fidler, a senior at CBHS, starred as Persephone in Ephrata Performing Arts Center's Hades Town Teen Edition, which is an awesome show, by the way. And that show show ran from February 13th to the 22nd. Also in the CVBA report this evening, at the bottom you'll see another section about Riley Fidler and some of the things she's been very very busy doing lots of things, which I know she has been. I've I've seen her in previous shows when
005she was in younger grades here at CV. Really really talented girl. Congratulations to Leola Principal Dr. Taylor Aloisa and Leola Reading Specialist Mr. Dave Paul on being selected to present at the AIM Institute for Learning and Research's annual research to practice symposium. That is a long title. Dr. Aloisa and Mr. Paul spoke as part of a panel discussion entitled Effective Implementation of Literacy Initiatives Begins With Hard Questions. This renowned professional learning conference for structured literacy practitioners also featured sessions by Dr. Hollis Scarborough, the reading rope creator, and Nancy Hennessy, comprehension expert. Big kudos to Taylor and Dave for representing Conestoga Valley School District and Leola Elementary's hard work in the implementation of structured literacy [clears throat] leadership alongside national leaders in this area. That is a very very cool thing. The high school's campus greenery
006is now delivering to the middle school. The staff order from the campus greeneries weekly offerings and students personally deliver each order to the middle school and there's a great picture of our buddy Michael delivering some greens, which is super cool. It's nice to see that being delivered now. That they've got it down to a science and they're actually taking care of staff. Last week Dr. Christine Mitchell, Director of Early Childhood Education Operations at Straight A Line, which is a leading provider of high quality affordable online courses that help learners earn college credit and meet their professional goals. She visited Mr. Girl's Pre-K Counts classroom at Leola Elementary. Dr. Mitchell had visited the same classroom earlier in the year and was so impressed by what she saw that she wanted to come record video footage to
007use in future training videos. And Dr. Cozer mentioned me, these are national training videos. So she came back to record footage for national training videos. That is a huge deal. And we're super proud of what's happening in Leola. Very very cool. And then there's a picture of her actually recording. A picture of her taking a picture. I love that. I think that's very clever. So that's all the board commendations. Are there any superintendent's comments tonight? I do have a few comments this evening. So thank you for welcoming me welcoming me to the table tonight. We are excited for our upcoming theater productions that are happening at the middle school and high school in the next month. At the middle school, our spring play, The Last Gladiator, is actually happening this weekend. It will be here
008at Smoketown in the auditorium. And then our high school musical is Frozen this year. That's happening April 9th through the 12th and you can get your tickets now. They're available through the information that Katie sends out weekly. Also, anybody can help spread the word that our kindergarten registration is open. Can you believe that we are welcoming the class of 2039? That is our That will be our graduating class for this kindergarten group. We have transition to kindergarten activities that are happening in all four of our elementary schools. We've had a great turnout so far. Actually, we've had more kids coming out and enrolling this year than in previous years. So our first 10 team has really been working on getting that word out. Speaking of first 10, I am going to take this opportunity tonight,
009as you probably could have predicted, to highlight just a successful implementation of our spring play and learn series for our infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. I want to thank Karen Sullivan Sullivan, our first 10 administrator. She recently just closed out what we call our gym jam sessions at Fritz Elementary and these were open to 0 to 5-year-olds and their families. We had about 22 children come for the first Saturday morning, 26 children and their families the second Saturday morning. Our CV staff members, Bobby Swift, our PE teacher over at Fritz was helping kids climb up the ropes. Katie was there taking pictures. Michelle Trasborg supporting the event. And a big thanks to Ken and his operations team because somebody had to transport all of the goodies that you see here over to Fritz. So I I
010cannot tell you how wonderful this was. What made this this particular play and learn really unique was that all of the materials you see here were funded through a grant from the Conestoga Valley Ed Foundation. And so Ms. McCune was there on on Saturday and we all got to see this in action and see the just the joy and the excitement on our families' faces. So really great opportunity and I wanted to say congrats to our first 10 team for their hard work on the play and learn series this spring. Thank you. That's awesome. It's hard not to smile at pictures like that. Any board comments this evening? I just had a quick question in regards to the the kindergarten registration. In my mail I We got a flyer about kindergarten registration, but we don't
011have any more kids registering. Is there just a list of that just keeps going out or is that just So we actually purchased a mailing list from the post office and you can I didn't know this, you can target very specific populations. So we targeted and bought a mailing list of households that have children, I believe it was seven and under, figuring there might be younger siblings. We want to catch everyone that might have a kindergarten eligible child. So or freshman. Yeah, I was just curious. I just didn't know if we were just, you know, >> to save money. We didn't want to do a blanket mailing, but we realized we could purchase a very specific mailing list, so Okay. And the other thing was I attended the Harlem Wizards last week. It was very
012well attended. It's always a good time and the kids had a really good time. It was pretty full and I want to thank all the staff that tried to win the basketball game, but as always, no luck. [snorts] So that's about it. Anybody else have anything to share? I did want to give kudos to the high school track team, which is out against I think it's Manheim. Um that wind is brutal and it feels like the middle of winter again, so I don't know how they do that. And I'm well insulated um more than they are. I don't understand how that they don't get cold, but anyway, kudos to them and I understand that they're dominating right now, so we'll take it. Um is there any correspondence that you're aware of, Mrs. Myers? No? Okay.
013All right. So, no presentations tonight, so we'll move to our first part of the agenda for public comments. If there's anybody that has anything from the public they want to share about tonight's agenda specifically. Okay. Are there any comments from CBEA? No. Okay. Or any other employee employee groups? I don't think so. All right. So, the consent agenda, which is items A through J. Um if there are any questions about that, or if anybody has any comments um they want to bring up, now's a great time to do that. Kathy? I want to just commend Robin Dr. Hamm on her um special ed plan. Mhm. Uh that was a lot of work, a lot of detail, a lot of information. Kudos. Absolutely. So, if there's no questions, then I will take a move to approve
014the consent agenda items A through J. I move we accept the consent agenda as presented. Second. Okay. Can I take a roll call vote, please? Um Mr. Eby? Aye. Uh Ms. Groff? Aye. Mr. Benigno? Aye. Mrs. Fisher? Aye. Mrs. Kapka? Aye. Ms. Trowbridge? Aye. And Mr. Gensel? Aye. All right. So, then action discussion agenda. Like I said, item A, we will review that first meeting of April with Ms. Hunsinger. Uh but now we're going to talk about the thing that I've been dreading the most as things warm up, which is mowing. Mowing? Yes. Yes. At least the one thing winter does for us, it kind of slows it down. So, um but then we have all the leaves to pick up and everything. So, uh typically every 3 years we bid out our mowing contract.
015This covers um all our elementary schools. The one thing I did a little differently this year was I asked for an alternate bid to provide us with a cost of mowing all those islands up at the middle school parking lot, Mhm. which are more than I ever want to mow, but township requirements. Um so uh bids came in very well with the three that we well, I'll say two of them came in very very decent. Um the third, he was much higher than the others. Uh others just didn't have the capacity in their in their schedule to accommodate us this year, which that that ebbs and comes and goes. So, um my recommendation is to award the project for the 3 years to uh Sunset Edge Landscaping >> [snorts] >> um for the $159,000 with
016the alternate bid to mow the islands at the middle school for uh what was it? Um 21 6 >> Total cost was um 21,600 for the 3 years. So, total contract would be $180,600 um for the 3-year period. So, this actually has built in it more mows than we need because there's sometimes you actually need two mows in a week, and then there's other times where you you might not even need one, but um I built in some some buffer in there to to cover us, and it's done very well for us um these these past couple years uh years' worth of contracts anyway. So, I believe this is the fourth contract I've bid since I've been here. So, the fourth 3-year? Yes. >> 3-year bids every time? Yes, always a 3-year bid. >> Okay.
017Couldn't tell you why, but that's we we do them as 3-year bids. We do trash collection the same 3-year bid. Yeah. Yeah, like a 3-year price lock. Nothing wrong with that. >> Yeah. Uh and you need approval on this tonight, correct? >> Yes, please. Yeah, that's fine. Anybody have any questions? >> Mrs. Groff? Did uh did they request a uh a clause uh to cover uh fuel No. >> prices? No? No but nobody put in a cost for like a fuel surcharge or anything. So, and I I typically have that covered in the in the bid specs as well. >> Oh, okay. >> That you know, it's it's all inclusive. So, you know, whatever their their pay increases or whatever >> for a lot of them, I mean it They have to >> that part
018of their their services that the cost is doubled. Correct. Yes, I I completely agree. It's it's making us a little nuts when it comes to budgeting for like fuel costs for buses and things. Do you expect we're going to be asked for that from any of our other contractors? I I don't anticipate that. Typically, the language in the specifications does not allow that. Oh, okay. I I'm sure we'll see it from other vendors at times. You know, if we order specific parts or things like that, I'm sure we will get hit with a fuel surcharge somewhere in that itemized list. Have we worked with Sunset Edge before? Uh we have not. Um I have vetted them out. Um reached out to some some of their current clients and things. Uh smaller company. Mhm. So, I
019think his overhead is much lower than some of the other ones that are out there, but uh good reviews all around. Okay. So, any other questions? All right. Then I need a move uh to approve the mowing contract bid. I move to approve the mowing contract bid for Sunset Edge. Second. All right. Let's do a roll call vote, please. Mrs. Groff? Mr. Benigno? Aye. Mrs. Fisher? Aye. Mrs. Kapka? Aye. Ms. Trowbridge? Aye. Mr. Gensel? Aye. And Mr. Eby? Aye. All right. There's your mowing plan. All right. Thank you. Sure. All right. Up next, we have the review and the approval of the of withdrawing the Unlimited uh Construction Company from that general contract bid. Good evening. In the board packet tonight is a letter um from our office. Actually, it covers both items C and
020D. So, I'll I'll explain those. They kind of go in tandem tonight. Uh last month, the board approved all the bids for Fritz Elementary. Following that, we received a call and an email from um the general contractor that was approved uh U D or UCS Unlimited Construction Services that said they were no longer able to proceed uh with that contract. And so, uh item C is just the approval of that withdrawal. As a result of that, um we contacted the second low bidder, who was more than willing and excited to be a part of of this project. So, that's ECI. They're they've currently on projects with the district and um have had successful projects with the districts uh the district in the past number of years, actually. So, um that is uh this other piece
021of this letter here. So, it's similar to the letter that we presented last month. It just has the general contractor this time rather than the GCMCPC. So, that's the uh new low bidder with their low bid amount plus again uh the alternate for the mill and overlay of the parking lot, which was accepted previously um in March. So, um I I think that covers both both those items. Are there any [snorts] questions? I may have missed it, but are they going to be giving us the uh the penalty for withdrawal? Yes, so following tonight, the district solicitor will be sending a letter to um the lawyer for UCS in regards to that. And they've already had conversations about that. Thank you. Yeah. I imagine the removal's the first step. That gets the ball rolling. Right.
022So, I guess we'll do this out. God. >> You want a motion? Yes, so I need a motion. We'll do it in two steps. A motion to approve the withdrawal of Unlimited GC as well, yeah, the Unlimited [clears throat] GC contract. Let's start with that. Yep. I move to approve the withdrawal of the Unlimited GC contract. Second. Can I have a roll call, please? Mr. Benigno? Aye. Mrs. Fisher? Aye. Mrs. Kapka? Aye. Ms. Trowbridge? Aye. Uh Mr. Gensel? Aye. Mr. Eby? Aye. And Mrs. Groff? Excellent. And then I'll take another motion to approve the acceptance of ECI as the GC contract. I move that we accept ECI as the general contractor. I have a second? Second. All right. Another roll call, please. Mrs. Fisher? Aye. Ms. Trowbridge? Aye. Mr. Gensel? Aye. Mr. Eby? Aye. Mrs.
023Groff? Mr. Benigno? Aye. All right. You're all set. Thank you. Thank you, sir. All right. So, up next, we have the uh nomination approval of the IU 13 IU 13 board representative. Uh Ms. Groff has been doing this for a while. Um I discussed it with her, she would like to continue. So, I'm going to nominate Mrs. Groff to be the new representative for the or the continue as the board representative for the IU 13. Uh Um Are there any other nominations? Okay. So then I figured that would probably be that one that would be easy. So I just need a motion to approve Ms. Groff as our board representative for the IU 13. I move we accept I deck Groff as board representative for IU 13. Can I get a second? Second. All those
024in favor say I. I. I. Any nays? All right. Congratulations, you get to keep doing what you do. Yep. Yeah. And I will add that uh I did and I also talked and I will be her alternate for the Lancaster Academy. So in case something comes up I can swing over and catch up with those as well. Comment. What's that? Comment. >> Oh. >> [laughter] >> Observing. I was I I appreciated the board job description. Do we have that for our regular school board? Do we have a description? That's a good question. I mean it was just one page. It was I thought it was very good and would be You mean just for like a general school board member job description kind of thing. Right. And it'd be good for for people interested in
025being school board. >> Yeah. When they're looking to see what what does this entail and it doesn't take 6 weeks to find it out. >> [laughter] >> That's a great question. We'll find the answer. Um for the information agenda you have the three reports in front of you. Uh finance and operations, the curriculum instruction. I'm sorry, two reports. Any questions as you've reviewed those for finance and operations. Like I said at the on the curriculum port for the CBVA comment at the end you'll find more information about Riley Riley uh yeah Riley Riddler uh who is on the board commendations. Just some interesting info there. Any news on federal funds? Nothing this month. Okay. All right, board reports. Uh you have an IU 13 report attached. Anything of note there? A couple things I'd bring
026to your attention. Um They did come out if you're interested in that in PSBA's uh uh I forget what they call it. It it it's a review of the state of education from last year. Um Is that what this is? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, okay. Uh I've I haven't had a chance to add as we can see that uh to to the calendar that's on May 4th. Um You should have your winner pool and finally I know that came out a little bit late. Uh other than that I just bring your attention to uh the two pieces of legislation that affect us directly. Uh one is on uh closing the gap and sunshine law that that was uh passed by a judicial ruling. Uh I will tell you PSBA is uh not in favor of closing
027that gap. They didn't uh They actually spoke in favor of the judges uh decision. So I think there's a split on board members on that. But there's also another um issue uh and this is access uh for posting >> [clears throat] >> our agenda. Uh PSBA uh is is is uh in favor of that. But I've been listening to a number of the interviews and with local with legislators and they're not in favor of doing that un- unless there is no local newspaper. So uh if you're interested in letting them know you disagree, uh they have not come out with a resolution for full boards. But if you if you check the PSBA website or if you open the under the dome that they send you once or twice a week, uh there's a link
028that has a a sample letter. If not, I do have a list of the points that they want um that they suggested that you use in those letters, but they want individual letters this time. That's it. All right. Uh nothing from Lancaster County Academy. Uh was there anything at the CTC worth mentioning? I don't have anything for tonight. >> Okay. Um construction team update is attached for Leola. Um For those of you guys that are on the meeting, anything worth mentioning? [laughter] We have a board tour coming up. >> Yeah, just you want to remind the board of the tour. That's probably it. I think that's uh I can't remember the exact date, April. It's it's Yeah, second meeting of April. So if you can do that, please. It would be nice to walk through
029that and see um that building. The only question is that's at 5:30. Does that would do we need to bump that to I know it should be plenty. It should be plenty of time, yeah. There's a lot more I know When I've done the walk-throughs, I have a lot more questions when I can see everything underneath the ceilings and walls cuz it's all exposed. I find I have a ton of questions. When it's all sealed up, it's like "Can these colors are pretty. Did you pick them out?" Which usually the answer is no and then we move on. So You got it. Uh but yeah. >> It's scheduled for the 20th. 20th, thank you. Yeah, so the 20th we'll do a board tour then. Uh but it's looking great just from the pictures. Nice to
030see everything buttoning up really nice. Um and I think I think teachers have already been in to see their new spaces. >> I was going to say I was there when the teachers got in for the very first time and I cannot even tell you the smiles and the happiness and the excitement um in that building that day. I mean it was just they love it. So job well done by everyone. Just positives all around. Especially I imagine for the fifth grade teachers who have always taught in the catacombs, what we called it, with the giant pillar right in the middle of the room which are now gone. That's exciting. They actually look like regular classrooms now. So very cool. Any other reports or anything like that tonight? I don't think so. This the second
031part of the meeting for um public comment if anybody has anything general they want to share with the board. Okay. Any board announcements or initiatives tonight? Okay. Uh next meeting will be April 13th followed by April 20th with board tour. Keep in mind we have a retreat on April 27th. That'll be our second retreat for the year. So make sure that date's marked down. Other than that, I will take a motion to move to executive session for a student discipline issue. >> So moved. All those in favor say I. I. I. All right. That's what I'm talking about.