School Board meeting: May 21, 2026

001Good evening. Today is Thursday, May 21st, 2026. I will call to order the meeting of the Council Rock School District Board of School Directors. Uh we have a very full house this evening in the audience. Thank you for attending this evening and those of you viewing at home. Dr. Senko? Thank you, Ms. Khan. Please allow me to introduce to you Goodno Elementary Into the Woods cast member um led by Ms. Fairy and Ms. Milligan. Ladies. Thank you. Please uh stand for the singing of the Pledge of Allegiance and the singing of the Star-Spangled Banner. I pledge >> [music] >> allegiance [singing] to the flag of the United States of [singing] America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, [singing] with liberty and justice for all. Oh, [singing] say, can

002you see by the dawn's early light [singing] what so proudly we hailed at twilight's last [singing] gleaming. Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous >> [singing] >> fight, o'er the ramparts we watched, were so [music] gallantly streaming. And the rockets' red glare, the bombs [singing] bursting in air, gave proof through the >> [singing] >> night that our flag was still there. Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave o'er the >> [music] >> land of the free and the home [singing] >> [applause] [applause] >> So, Miss Perry and I are super excited to introduce uh these cast members from Into the Woods. These were uh some of our lead characters. Um not our entire cast that we would be putting in here. So, our lead characters and they worked really hard to uh

003produce our show Into the Woods and it was performed in March. And we're excited to uh sing for you tonight. This is our closing number, the finale, called Ever After. And it came to pass all that seemed wrong was now right. The kingdom was fulfilled with joy and those who deserved to were certain to live a long and happy life. Ever after. Journey over. All's ended. And it's not just for today, but tomorrow and extended ever after and ever after. All the curses have been ended, their curses wiped away. All sadness and laughter are forever after. Happy now and happy ever after and happy ever after. Joy today and bliss tomorrow, [singing] tenderness and laughter. To be happy and forever you'll see your wish come true. So be careful, so be clever when you see

004your wish pursue. It's a dangerous endeavor, but the only thing to do. Those fearful, those deep, those dark and dreary woods. The path, if you want your wish, you can have your wish, but you can't just wish to get your wish. You got to face the wolves and nothing's feared or wished or ghosted or cursed or feared. Into the woods and through the fear, you have to take the journey. Into the woods and down the dell and maybe perhaps a little bit of help. Into the woods to lift the spell, into the woods to lose the money, into the woods to have the child. To wed the prince, to get the money, to save the house, to kill the wolf, to find the father, to conquer the giant, to have, to wed, to get, to

005save, to kill, to keep, to go to the festival, into the woods. Into the woods and out of the woods. Happy ever after. I wish. >> [applause] [applause] >> THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR HAVING US AND UH thank you for our good going to the woods. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you, gang. Thank you. Enjoy your summer. >> Okay, thank you to the Goodno Elementary and to the Woods cast and directors of the play. We will move on to roll call board secretary. Ms. Khan Present. Mr. Tate Present. Mr. Hidalgo Here. Mr. Roosevelt Here. Ms. Osaki Present. Ms. Stone Here. Ms. Horner Here. Ms. Rickert Here. Mr. Green Here. All right, great. Thank you. We will move on to item D, Council Rock North students and Council Rock South student advisory board are here

006this evening. I believe it is South that's presenting, but everyone's here. Welcome and we have Mr. Vanzieal, Mr. Gravich from the high school principals. Good evening school board members. My name is Arthur Kiss and I am the 12th grade representative for the student advisory board for Council Rock South. Good evening board. I'm Olivia Esposito, the 2026 student advisory board representative for Council Rock North. And I cannot believe that this is the last time I am saying that. All right. Two weeks ago, Golden Wings Theater Company put on its dessert a spring dessert theater production Murder at Monte Carlo. The show was completely sold out for all three nights and received extremely positive feedback from the audience who were actually seated on stage for much of the performance and were part of the experience making it

007much more engaging and memorable. It was a great example of student creativity, collaboration, and dedication. Additionally, as I'm sure most of you have heard, last month the seniors had their senior class trip down to Disney and Universal Studios. Despite being slightly battered by rain for the first 3 days, it was still a great experience and gave students a chance to spend meaningful time together outside of school as we approach graduation. And speaking of graduation, we only have 27 calendar days left until the big day. For Council Rock South, graduation will be on June 16th at 6:00 p.m. in the gymnasium. Finals for seniors are also set to end on June 11th and graduation is to be held on June 16th at 4:00 in the Walt Steiner Stadium. Senior prom also just happened this past weekend

008on May 17th, which took place at the Crystal Tea Room. The venue was beautiful. There was awesome food, great music, and everyone seemed [clears throat] to have a great time. Now back to a Council Rock South. In addition to graduation, we will also have a whole host of senior events coming up. First things first, senior prom is rapidly approaching, which will be on next Friday, May 29th at 6:30 p.m. at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Our senior slip and slide will be on Monday, June 8th, and our senior car parade will be on Friday, June 12th at 8:30 a.m. Our senior luncheon will be on Monday June 15th. For North, the car parade will be held on Friday, June 12th and seniors will meet at 10:00 a.m. with their decorated cars at Newtown Middle

009School. For senior sunset, the senior class officers have decided on the date for our last bonding event and it will be on Tuesday, June 9th at 6:45 p.m. For Mr. CRN, the class is also looking forward to Mr. CRN where the senior boys pageant show and that will be held on June 4th in the auditorium. It is always a fun event and I'm very excited to say that my best friend Elizabeth Bond and I will be the host this year. All right. So, um this is it guys. As this is our final report, I want to take a moment to express our sincere gratitude. To Dr. Senko, thank you for your leadership, your visibility and your continued willingness to listen to student voices. Your support has helped to make all students efforts meaningful and impactful,

010further reinforcing our district's model of students first, always. To members of the school board, thank you for your time, attention and commitment to the students of the district. The decisions you make you've made make have a direct impact on our daily experiences and we appreciate the respect you show in considering student perspectives such as the student advisory board. I'd also like to thank our principals, Mr. T from Council Rock North and Mr. V as well as the former Mr. Radic from Council Rock South for helping orchestrate orchestrate these types of events and being our advisors for SAB. All three have contributed greatly to shaping a positive and supportive school environment for the students. For college plans in the fall, I will be attending West Chester University where I will be playing lacrosse and studying biochemistry.

011As it comes to an end, I am very sincere in saying that being a part of the student government through SAB has truly been one of my favorite parts of high school. I owe you all a huge thank you for giving me the opportunity to be part of such an incredible group of students and advisers for the past 4 years. I'm so grateful for the experiences club has given me, as well as the friendships. With that, there is so much to miss next year, but I'm so excited for the future. Oh, I guess it's my turn. Uh As for me, I'll be attending Lehigh University where I plan to study mechanical engineering. I am excited for what comes next and thankful for the foundation that this district has given me. Before I go, I just

012wanted to say thank you for allowing me to serve this role for the past 4 years. It has been an honor to represent the student body in this setting, to speak on behalf of my peers, and to be a part of these conversations. It has It's been a privilege to meet the administrative staff throughout the years and the opportunity to share my experiences with them. I've learned a great deal about communication, responsibility, and leadership, and I plan to carry these lessons with me moving forward. So, in thanking you for your time, Arthur and I will do our best to sing for you. >> [clears throat] >> All right. In keeping in tradition from last year, uh please enjoy our rendition of Good Riddance by Green Day. >> [laughter] >> Steven Belder will be proud. All

013right. Another joint in boy, a fork stuck in the road. Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go. So, make the best of this test and don't ask why. It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time. It's something unpredictable, but the end it's all right. I hope you had the time of your life. So, take the photographs and the frames in your mind. Hang it on the shelf in good health and good time. Tattoos of memories and that skin on trial. For what it's worth, it was worth all the while. It's something unpredictable, but the end the end it's right. I hope you had the time of your life. >> [applause] [applause] >> Well, thank you Arthur and Olivia. That took some guts and we really appreciate it. We were

014actually talking if you were going to make that um presentation for us, so we really appreciate it. So, thank you for doing that. And again, on behalf of Council Rock High School North and Council Rock High School staff, Arthur and Olivia, thank you all for your four years of representing the students of each respective high school uh with dignity and respect. Uh we both all of us know that both of you are going to excel at the next level and we're very proud of both of you. It's been great working with you the four years. Enjoy the next several weeks. And again, you made many memories. I know you're going to make many more in the years to come. Congratulations to both OF YOU. >> [applause] >> THANK YOU TO THE REST OF THE STUDENT

015ADVISORY board from both North and South High Schools. It's been one of the most enjoyable experiences sitting up here as a school board hearing about your events and updates from the schools. Thank you for keeping us informed throughout the school year and besides Arthur and Olivia congratulations in moving on. We will see the rest of you next year. So good luck with everything to the end of the school year. Thank you everyone. Thank you. [applause] Olivia. Did you get your name plate? Okay, we will move on with the superintendent report Dr. Sanco. Thank you Ms. Khan. Welcome and good evening to the Board of School Directors, to the staff and community members joining us tonight and those tuning in on the Council Rock YouTube channel. Thank you to the cast of Into the Woods from

016Goodno Elementary for leading us in their very own version of the Pledge of Allegiance led by play directors Ms. Fairy and Ms. Milliken. Thank you to our graduating senior representatives from the Council Rock North and South High School Advisory Boards for your joint report this evening accompanied by their principal Mr. Vanzie L and Mr. Truscavage. A note to our student advisory board here tonight. Your monthly reports at board meetings throughout the year keep us connected to happenings at your respective schools. We appreciate your time, dedication, and wish you all the best for the upcoming graduation. Congratulations, you make Council Rock proud. May is one of the busiest months on the school calendar, and tonight there is much to celebrate. We will start with recognizing a special group of athletes who represented the district with pride.

017Each year, many of our students participate in the Special Olympics, an opportunity for athletes of all abilities to demonstrate skill, perseverance, courage, and sportsmanship. The mission of Special Olympics Pennsylvania is to provide year-round sports training and competition in a variety of Olympic type sports for individuals with intellectual disabilities. For our student athletes, Special Olympics is much more than a competition. Many of these student athletes overcome significant challenges and disabilities in order to participate. This event gives them a well-deserved opportunity to shine while also building confidence, pride, and a sense of accomplishment. We are especially proud that many of our participating athletes are here with us this evening, and we are honored to recognize them. Each year, the Special Olympics event continues to grow with more and more participants from across Bucks County joining the celebration.

018This year marked Council Rock's 20th year as host with 165 total athletes from across Bucks County school districts participating, including 76 of our very own Council Rock athletes. At this time, I'd like to invite Dr. Oberman, Ms. Kahn, Samantha Julian, Michelle McGill um to the podium to acknowledge our student athletes, if you would, please. Samantha, do you have the certificates? I do. >> We're coming up to join you. All right. We just want to say thank you so much for allowing this event to continue every year. Our athletes are the true superstars of this event and without um Michelle McGill, who is the Pennsylvania um adapted PE teacher of the year for the state of Pennsylvania, Wendy Lausch, who has been involved in Special Olympics for at least 20 years, >> [applause] >> we couldn't

019make this event happen. I'm going to open this up so we can have a picture at the end. >> [clears throat] >> Okay, when we call your name, if you'll come up. Come on up. Get your certificate and then join the group in the center there. Okay. Okay. Silas Adhikari >> [applause] >> Allison Biak Loriann Bobst Hailey Erlick >> [applause] >> James Ferrante >> [applause] >> Cammy Hendricks >> [applause] >> Dylan Kasakin >> [applause] >> Grace Kasakin Grace Kasakin >> [applause] >> Justice Kelly >> [applause] >> Aiden Madison >> [applause] >> Jaden Mannion >> [applause] [applause] >> Thomas Mestemacher >> [applause] >> Bobby O'Brien >> [applause] >> Victoria Seda >> [applause] >> Michael Sieratowski >> [applause] >> Avery Smith Congratulations. >> [snorts] >> Christopher Stasnic >> [applause] >> Alvin Tahiro Jonathan Williams Did anybody sneak

020in that I didn't get? Okay, we're good. >> [applause] >> If we If we could, could we have all of our um athletes slide to the back and invite our board members up for a picture with our Olympians, please? >> Michael Hold your paper. Michael, put it down. >> [cheering] [applause] >> Good job, Tori. Good job, Tori. Good job, Aiden. Good job, Tori. pictures of Janie and Tori. Yeah, right. All right, let's see how that works. All right, okay. Say cheese. Look up. Look Janie We need a photo bomb. >> [laughter] >> Count to one and smile. One, two, three, guys. Let's try this. How you doing? Uh, yeah. So, those two were supposed to come, but they didn't. Goodnight. Okay. So, you are Thank you to our Council Rock Special Olympians. And I was

021recognizing and thanking our our teacher coaches, I failed to mention uh Ms. Wendy Lautch. So, Wendy, I know you're still in the back of the room. I'm not sure if you can hear me, but thank you just the same. Thank you, Dr. Sanco, and thank you to our Special Olympic um athletes. That was great. We will go ahead and move on to the solicitor report. Oh, you Oh. I still have more if you're okay with that. That's okay. Every May Every May, we pause to recognize the teacher, staff, and administrators whose service to our schools is coming to a close. Tonight, we celebrate 58 retirees as they reach this meaningful milestone, and we on- honor their unwavering commitment to keeping students first always. Together, this remarkable group represents more than 1,000 years of service with

022an average of more than 22 years of service per retiree. That's a quarter of a lifetime and an extraordinary legacy of dedication, care, and impact. In every role, in every setting, these individuals have made a lasting difference in students' lives. Tonight, we honor not only their years of service, but also the lives they have touched, the moments they have shaped, and the legacy they leave behind. To our retirees, thank you for the time, talent, patience, wisdom, and heart you've given to our district, Council Rock. Thank you for showing up for students, supporting colleagues, strengthening our schools, and serving this community with purpose. On behalf of the Council Rock School District, we offer our deepest gratitude and warmest congratulations. We wish each of you joy, health, fulfillment, and well-deserved happiness in the years ahead. Congratulations and

023thank you. Appreciate it. >> [applause] >> Each year, Council Rock School District chooses a charity. You've heard me mention the Red Cross blood drives previously. This year, the American Red Cross was selected, as you know, and in typical Council Rock fashion, donations exceeded all expectations. A Red Cross representative recently met with us and noted that every Council Rock school and facility hosted a blood drive this year. And that Council Rock will now serve as the template for all school-based Red Cross blood drives. This year, 665 pints were collected, equating to 1,995 potential lives saved. A shout-out to Liz Potash, our health and physical education curriculum coordinator, for organizing this year's successful initiative, and also to those who generously donated. And on behalf of the American Red Cross and Council Rock, thank you for your support.

024In keeping with a life-saving theme, I'd like to share a brief story about Newtown Middle School staff member who was in the right place at the right time and saved a student's life. Ryan McDowell, a security officer at Newtown Middle School, jumped in to administer the Heimlich maneuver recently to a student who was choking. Ryan's quick thinking averted a tragedy. Although Brian is not here tonight because he told me he was too camera-shy and that it was all part of the job and he was complimentary to the student for getting his attention, we want to applaud Brian for recognizing a student in distress and coming to his aid. Brian, you are most certainly a hero in our eyes. Thank you for keeping students first always. >> [applause] >> As you know, our transportation service provider

025is Durham School Services. As the administration, we are fully aware of the services the service deficits in Durham that result in delays and cancellations and the turmoil this causes our students and our families. I will be direct. We are doing everything in our power to hold Durham to their responsibilities and will continue working to find solutions that are in the best interest of Council Rock School District and most especially our students. We recognize the frustration families feel when buses are late, routes are disrupted, or communication is delayed. These concerns are real and the district takes them extremely seriously. To be clear, timely and safe student transportation depends heavily on Durham's daily operations. Under our contract, Durham employs the bus drivers, owns and operates the buses, and is responsible for managing daily driver coverage and route

026assignments. As a result, when Durham experiences staffing or operational challenges, that impact is felt across our school district. We have been clear with Durham about our expectations, and we continue to press for improved reliability, stronger communication, and better service for our students and our families. As recently as today, Mr. Rapp and I met with Durham administration, including their new vice president, Justin Cox, who has agreed to speak publicly with our community in person in the near future. I want to address the importance of accurate information as we continue working through transportation concerns with Durham. As we emphasized at every meeting, accuracy and transparency matter. We urge the community not to rely solely on social media for information. While some posts may be well-intended, others are inaccurate, false, or misleading, and they can create confusion, heighten

027frustration, and do more harm than good for our community. Actions speak louder than words, and they are words that I have said in our last several meetings with Durham. We in Council Rock want to see Durham act on their promises and improve their service immediately, and not just talk about it. Unfortunately, today's rain forced us to reschedule the sixth-grade track meet. The new date is scheduled for Wednesday, May 27th at 3:15 p.m. at Walt Snyder Stadium. That's at Council Rock High School North. Parents of sixth-grade students should mark their calendars for the new date, and let's keep our fingers crossed that the third time is the charm, and we have good weather in store for us next Wednesday. You heard from our students a bit earlier about graduation dates. Please let me remind you there

028are only 26 calendar days left until graduation. Commencement ceremonies for the class of 2026 will be held on Tuesday, June 16th. Ceremonies begin for Council Rock High School North at 4:00 p.m. in Walt Snyder Stadium. Council Rock High School South will graduate at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Rock High School South Gymnasium. As graduation day approaches, Council Rock North students and families should look for additional information in case rain interferes with the ceremony. The last day of school for students in grades K through 11 will be Wednesday, June 17th, which is an early dismissal day. And for those of you who are planning ahead, a reminder that Council Rock schools open on Monday, August 31st for students in grades K through 6, grade 7 and grade 9, and all students K through 12 report Tuesday,

029September 1st. Parents, please mark your calendars with these important dates, and look for additional information from your school principal and in the Rock Report. Please note that this is a reminder that student registration for the 2026-2027 school year is open. All required information, instructions, and forms are available online. They could be found on our website at www.crsd.org. If your child will be new to Council Rock or entering kindergarten in September, we encourage you to register before June 1st to ensure a smooth start to the new school year ahead. This helps us lock in enrollment and class sizes for a new school year. Some important dates to note. Monday, May 25th is a Memorial Day holiday. All schools and offices will be closed. Thursday, May 28th is an education committee meeting 7:00 p.m. at Chancellor Center.

030Monday, June 1st is a policy meeting 7:00 p.m. Chancellor Center. Tuesday, June 2nd is the Bucks County Intermediate Unit graduation at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 4th is a Facilities Committee meeting 7:00 p.m. at the Chancellor Center. Monday, June 8th Middle Bucks Institute of Technology senior recognition 6:30 p.m. William Tennent High School. Thursday, June 11th is a Finance Committee meeting 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, June 16th I just mentioned, I'll repeat it, will be our graduation ceremonies. Wednesday, June 17th is a final day for students in grades K through 11, which is an early dismissal day. Thursday, June 18th is our final teacher day for the school year and we will have a board meeting 7:00 p.m. the evening of June 18th here at the Chancellor Center. Please note that there has been a change of date for

031the July school board meeting. The new date, which is advertised and will continue to be advertised, will be Thursday, July 23rd at 7:00 p.m. here in the Chancellor Center. Finally, this is a reminder to our community to use only Council Rock School District resources, websites, and social media platforms for the most reliable, up-to-date information about our district. We urge the public to verify information on social media and be discerning in where they obtain information relating to Council Rock. If you have questions about what you are seeing, need clarification, or want to reliable fact check, please contact the district directly. Our contact information is available on our website at www.crsd.org. That concludes the superintendent's report. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Sanko. I'm sorry to cut you off earlier. You had many more pages there. Um all

032right, so now we'll move to the solicitor report. We have again with us um Ms. Leslie Delio. Good evening. Happy to be back. The board met for executive session on April 9th, 2026 in regards to labor negotiations. On April 23rd, 2026 in regards to real estate matters. April 30th, 2026 in regards to litigation and personnel matters. And on May 12th, 2026 where the board participated in the Council Rock School District retreat at the Bucks County Intermediate Unit. The board has our written solicitor's report and there's nothing else to report at this time. Thank you, Ms. Delio. All right, we have public comment. Um this is for agenda items only. Um I don't have anyone signed up for an agenda item. Was there anyone in the audience that wishes to speak with an agenda item? Okay.

033If you would just state your name um and your township. We just re ask that you keep your comments to 3 minutes and I just have a quick item to read. Sure. I am um sorry. Northampton Township, Carolyn Buser Blacknell. I'm going to speak again later, but this I'm looking over your um notes for tonight. So my question is number six the finance committee. Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm sorry Miss Carolyn. Can I just read the public comment? I usually do a little blur before. Oh yeah, I know well, but sure go ahead. Sure. Public comment is an opportunity for members of the public to address the board. We would ask that you limit your comments to no longer than 3 minutes. Please consider the fact that there may may be young children in the audience

034or watching this broadcast live on CRTV when when speaking. It is our goal to maintain a respectful environment so that members of our community have an equal opportunity to address the board without interruption. While the board welcomes your ideas and will consider them in deliberating an issue, we may not respond to your comments or questions at this time. Thank you. Okay, I'm sorry about that. Okay, Carolyn Buescher Blacknell. I'm looking over for agendas items tonight. Number six finance committee. Statement D. And I'm looking at your your summary of distributions of funds for May 2020 21 2026 and it says debt service fund is zero. I have looked at all your budgets and audits on your official on your on your website not on mine not on any social media. I've read your budgets and audits.

035We've been talking about this for months. And this shows me that you're saying that we have no debt and I know that's not true. So I'm I'm as you're going to speak about this, this is looking like we're in the positive by 25 million and I know that there's no chance that we have a debt service fund of zero unless it's somewhere else that I don't know about. I know you can't answer the question, but that's it. Thank you. I'll be speaking later, too. Thank you Miss Miss Blacknell. Was there anyone in the audience that wanted to speak on the agenda item at this time? >> [clears throat] >> Okay. Um Believe we have a student here. Um, but it's a non-agenda item. Um, we typically that would typically come at the end of the

036board meeting. Is that okay? Yes, that's fine. All right, do we have any objections any board members this I know it's a school night um, and I did see that it was William. If you wanted to come speak now um, and come up to the podium and speak. Okay. All right, if you would state your name and your township before your 3 minutes. I am William Ye and I'm from Newtown. Newtown, PA. Hi, my name is William and I am a third grader at Newtown Elementary. I'm here because the playground doesn't feel very safe right now. I actually fell off the slide because people are pushing to be first. I see kids playing tag on the climbing equipment, climbing up slides the wrong way and swinging so high that the whole swing set shakes. Sometimes

037kids are not being nice or they throw things like wood chips and makes me feel unsafe. I'd like to ask for more adults at recess so there more people to go to for help. I guess if we have at least four adults at first recess, three at second. The more adults we have I think people have behave better. I also think we need clearer rules that are explained to everybody. I saw the Hellcrush rules look more specific than ours. They tell you exactly what you sh- should do and shouldn't do. Our rules are just obey the four pillars, respectful, responsible, safe and kind. That's too general. Please help us make these changes so other kids don't get injured like I did. Thank you for listening. >> Thank you I am for coming out on a

038school night and sharing your experience. >> [clears throat] >> We will move on to the item H, approval of the minutes of the meeting of the school board on July 23rd, 2026. Um can I get a motion for approval of the minutes, please? I move to approve the minutes of the meeting of the second of the uh school board directors. Oops, sorry. Held on April 23rd, 2026. Thank you, Ms. Stone. Can I get a second? Second. Ms. Sosaki, thank you. Question Questions or comments from the board? Ms. Warner? Okay. No No questions, thank you. Thank you. Okay, hearing none. Um board secretary, if you would mark that. The minutes as consent, unanimous. Thank you. All right, with the education committee, we have um Ms. Sosaki reporting out. Thank you. Okay. The education committee met on

039April 30th. We discussed the textbook that textbooks that will be approved tonight, our special education program, the high school schedule, and the results of a survey regarding the elementary school report card. As a reminder to the community, we are completing the first stage of making course curriculums available to students, families, and the public on a program called Atlas. This is a major endeavor, and we are targeting a release date at the beginning of the 2027-2028 school year. Additionally, we discussed new state standards in the following areas: science, family and consumer sciences, personal finance, economics, and career standards, which will be integrated in grades K through 12. Dr. Al Oberman presented to us the upcoming agreement with the Bucks County Intermediate Unit. Council Rock rarely sends students to the IU for their classes, but we do

040use the IU regularly to supplement our internal staffing, as we have students who need particular resources. The district continues to offer a special education parent advisory committee, a CPAC. The most recent CPAC offered insight from parents on ways to improve academic experience, social inclusion, school experience, communication, and family support. The special education team values this feedback and will be spending time over the summer and during professional development days next year to try to implement some changes [laughter] in response to these discussions. If you are the parent of a child with an IEP, and you would like to participate in CPAC meetings, please reach out to Dr. Oberman. On May 8th, we published a request for proposal on a special education audit. I want to thank the families, community members, and board colleagues, and especially the

041administration who provided input into this RFP. Over the last few years, we've really emphasized our special education program. From the introduction of the CPAC to the inclusion of special education as a standing agenda item at our education committee meetings, and the ongoing training with the goal of having a Wilson certified reading teacher in every building. Under Dr. Oberman's leadership, we've made and continue to make great strides in this department. The idea of this audit is to have an external review of our IEP process to guide continual improvement moving forward. Proposals are due at the end of May and will be discussed at the next education committee meeting. QPR, question, persuade, refer training, took place for parents yesterday. This program helps parents know what signs to look for in their children if they're concerned about suicidal

042ideation. We are hoping to repeat this training again next year. If you were interested but unable to make it last night, please keep an eye out for more information in the new school year. Mr. Funk and the high school scheduling committee presented a very informative video of the current high school schedule, which discussed the goals of reviewing the high school schedule. One, increase credit opportunities for students. Two, allow time for intervention and enrichment. Three, improve staff collaboration. And four, reduce student stress. There will be a survey available to high school students, staff, and parents. And I encourage you to please first watch the video that they worked very hard on before taking the survey. Finally, Mrs. Crawford discussed the results of a recent elementary report card parent survey, which had 822 responses and gathered information

043on the transition to trimesters, the addition of letter grade, the potential addition uh of letter grades in in grades four through five, and the potential of adding additional conferences in the spring. A parent stakeholder group is being formed and teachers participated in focus groups at the beginning of May. The next education committee meeting is May 28th at 7:00 p.m. here at the Chancellor Center. And with that, I move to approve consent agenda items B through N as contained as the in the attachments to this agenda. Second. Thank you, Ms. Osicky and Mr. Tate. Questions or comments from the board? Seeing none, um if board secretary would mark that as unanimous, please. Thank you. Yeah. Okay. All right, thank you so much, uh Ms. Osicky. We'll go ahead and move on to the uh oh, before

044I get uh move on to the Bucks County Intermediate Unit uh representative, which would be my report. I just wanted to um I I told Dr. Obaman that I would um give a shout-out to I believe it's it's been almost a year or or exactly a year at that since he's joined Council Rock officially. So, it's been a year. So, thank you so much, Dr. >> [applause] >> Thank you for all the hard work and along with the rest of the administration. Okay, so the Bucks County Inter- Intermediate Unit uh report. All right, so the Bucks IU met this past Monday, May 18th at the IU building in Doylestown due to the um elections on Tuesday. Uh many school districts across the state are working on budgets for the school year. The IU is doing

045the same. However, the IU is not a taxing authority, therefore its revenue is based upon entrepreneurial initiatives or programs along with the payments that they receive from the 13 participating school districts across our county. Um I believe Ms. Osicky already alluded to this in her report, but item E under the education report was our annual renewal of contract with the Bucks um Intermediate Union Unit. Um the budgeted cost estimated at about 2 million 2 million 812 dollars 2 million 812,715 dollars for the 2026-27 school year. This is based upon the amount of services we use this current school year. We are lucky to have the IU, which has a highly specialized and able to provide very specific needs for some of the students within our district that we are not able to fulfill. Some of

046these positions actually include a speech language teacher of the blind and teacher of the deaf. The IU has um developed a comprehensive clinical fellowship program model that goes beyond the requirements from the American Speech Language Hearing Association. Newly graduated students from as a speech language pathologist are provided with mentorship, supervision, program coordinators, induction, and more. I'm proud to say that there are several clinical fellowship members who graduated this year and will join the IU for next year's program. This program supports and provides experience for these newly graduated students, but also serves as a mean to attract and retain retain these cohorts of professionals to stay with the IU and to support schools and districts like ours across across the county. I believe there were nine graduates that were recognized the other evening that will be

047joining the IU. These professional professions are highly sought after not only across our county, but also the state and the country. Kudos to the IU for being so innovative with the clinical fellowship. This year the IU interacted with 5,350 students [clears throat] across the district in just student events alone. The largest reading the largest program, which we all know of, is the Reading Olympics, which I know Council Rock is very active in every year. The IU just finished its 32nd year motivating students across the county to read and discuss books. Both of our high schools participated in the Bucks County Student Forum, a long-standing leadership development work group giving students a voice in regional concerns and advocating for needs in their schools and communities. High school juniors and seniors engage and work in year-long subcommittees

048to drive student-led initiatives and advocacy. A few of the highlights are in teen mental health awareness, which included a proclamation that was presented to our Bucks County Commissioners. They were They shared native seed packets to encourage regional bio- biodiversity. Uh they held clothing drives for the homeless youth and also held um and sent letter petitions to local retailers for responsible lottery sales. Uh the IU hosted its first regional Keystone competition, a new nationwide initiative designed to challenge students to collaborate with peers and to solve problems in creative ways. The event was at the Fab Lab Center with 15 teams from two middle schools, two middle 12 middle and high schools across Bucks. I wanted to congratulate our Council Rock um North High School team who won first place for the 9th to 12th grade group.

049Students from two Bucks County districts also participated in the PA Media and Design Competition at the regional level. 15 projects were submitted with engagement from 34 students. Two seventh grade students from Newtown Middle School uh advanced to the state competition at Elizabethtown College this past Tuesday and I hope to hear how they did in that competition. Um in the statewide STEM Design Challenge for grades K through 8, I wanted to recognize Holland Middle School for placing second in the overall county competition and they went on to the state challenge to went on to the state challenge. Richboro Elementary School also received an award as the most friendly environmentally friendly in Bucks County. The IU offers so many opportunities for our students to complete to compete and be recognized at both the county and state level.

050Thank you to the schools, the staff, families, um for support such wonderful innovation, advocacy, and initiative. Um you really make Council Rock stand out and makes us super proud. Um the Bucks IU will hold its class of 2026 graduation on Tuesday, June 2nd at Delaware Valley University if any of the board colleagues wish to join. Um the IU's next and final board meeting for this school year will be held on June 15th at 7:00 p.m. at the IU building in Doylestown. I also was going to give a shout out cuz I was notified at the meeting that the fall programming is available with the for the IU um early bird registration through until July 15th. So that includes um a 10% savings. Uh it's the programming is available on their website at bucks.iu.org or in

051their Facebook um search Fab Lab Bucks IU. I know it includes an afterschool school program, a Saturday program, and I believe um another STEM program over the weekend. And I And new this year is the days off school. So school's out um full day uh programs as well. So please check those out and with early bird uh special for 15 or for 10% off. That concludes my IU report. Thank you. All right, we will move on to the Middle Bucks Institute of Technology representative. Um I believe it's Ms. Rickert. Yes, thank you. So just as everyone is in budget season, MBIT is as well. So the last executive meeting, the board approved a budget for MBIT for the next fiscal year of 15.5 million. So we do continue to see application numbers increase um for

052MBIT, and that is very encouraging. Um we've had close to 700 applicants, of which approximately 430 um were accepted. It is wonderful to see the continued growth in an interest in career and technical education. And of course, the team at MBIT wishes they had the capacity to accept all the students interested. One of the things that they are doing in order to increase the number of students that they can accept and serve is in the approved budget, we will be increasing by one program the addition of a new health and medical teacher. And so that's an area that there's continued growing interest and high application numbers. So that is a wonderful addition to the staff there so they can serve more students in that program. Some student activity I'd like to highlight just some of

053the recent activities that have been going on and accomplishments. The media associate and student influencers headed to Harrisburg this last month and they represented MBIT at the career and technical education day at the state capital. This was an opportunity for them to connect with legislators, engage with other CTE programs across the state, and share their story about the impact MBIT and career and technical education has had on them. Our automotive technology students earned first place at the UTI Top Tech Challenge and we are extremely proud of their accomplishment and achievement and the way in which they represented MBIT. And lastly, we also had a group of newly licensed cosmetology students. And this is really a big achievement because it provides them the skills along with the credentials to be able to pursue an immediate career

054opportunity after graduation. So big congratulations to that group of students. At our last executive committee meeting, we had the the privilege to honor and celebrate 61 students that were the newest inductees into the National Technical Honor Society. And this program is an opportunity to recognize a commitment to the skill development, leadership, responsibility, and motivation of these CTE students. And lastly, summer career exploration program. The I want to mention that if you are looking for a program for students over the summer, MBIT does offer a summer career program. And this provides opportunity for real-life learning for students. The programs that do still have spots left are plumbing, electrical, digital cinema, web design, and child care. So, registration for those programs can be found on the website at mbit.org. Two [snorts] important dates to keep in mind

055is Dr. Sanko mentioned that Monday, June 8th will be senior recognition night at 6:30 p.m. at William Tennent High School. And the next meeting will be on June 2nd at 5:30 at MBIT. Thank you. That concludes my report. Thank you, Ms. Ricard. And moving on to the Council Rock Education Foundation Liaison, Mr. Tate. Thank you, Ms. Khan. Um this is an antique wooden driver. Uh it's got to be at least 70 year old. It was my dad's. And here's a trivia question. What kind of wood do you think it is? I'll give you a hint. I thought it was cherry. It's not cherry. It's an It's an unusual kind of wood. Does anybody know what kind of wood it is? Mr. Rapp. I believe it's persimmon. You're correct. >> Thank you. >> [laughter] >> Wow.

056Give a prize to the man who writes the checks here. >> [applause] >> That's pretty good. He did tell me that's what it was. Yeah, it was It was It was a setup. But anyway, the CREF golf outing is June 15th at Jericho National Golf Course. You can read all about it at the Council Rock Education Foundation website. Enough said about that. It's really neat event. Um I will also just mention the Education Foundation is always looking for volunteers for its committees, um marketing, um website committee, that sort of thing. And uh it's a really it's a wonderful group of people, uh members of the community. Um prize patrol will be going around schools pretty soon, continuing to hand out checks and surprise teachers who have uh won uh their grant being awarded by the

057Education Foundation. And lastly, if you're looking for a good end-of-the-year gift for a teacher, I know my mom was an elementary teacher and and it's hard to find gifts I think that teachers appreciate, um but there is a neat way to honor a teacher. You can make a donation to the Council Rock Education Foundation in their name. If you go to the website, you'll see ways to give and you can make a gift to CREF and um do it in honor of a teacher or a staff member and they'll be notified of your gift, that your family recognized them in that fashion. So, that's a neat end-of-year gift idea. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Tate, for that exciting presentation. Um and I was going to call you out, but you guys called yourself out. So,

058um the trivia question. Thank you. It's a memorable one. All right, so moving on to the Policy Committee, we have um Sosaki. I don't really want to follow that. I don't have any props. All right. >> [laughter] >> Um the Policy Committee met on May 4th to discuss the level zero policies. Tonight, we will have a first read on the following policies. The first one, two, three of which have no changes. Those are policy 000, which is Board Policy Procedure and Administrative Regulations, Policy 001, Name and Classification, Policy 002, Authority and Powers. and then we will have a first read on the following policies that do have changes. Policy 003, functions. Policy 004, membership. Policy 005, organization. Policy 006, meetings. Policy 006.1, attendance at meetings by electronic communications. And policy 007, policy manual access. We

059will discuss these policies again at our upcoming policy meeting on June 1st, and they will be presented again for a second read at the June 4th meeting. And with that, I move to a Oops, hold on. I move to approve Hold on. Please hold. I'm in Sorry, technical difficulties here. Hold on. I move to approve consent agenda items B through J for first read as contained in the attachment to this agenda. Second. All right, thank you, Ms. Sasaki and Ms. Ricker for the first and second. For discussion, comments, questions for first read. All right. Hearing and seeing none, if we had board secretary, please mark that as unanimous. Thank you, Ms. Sasaki. Moving on to the facilities committee, we have Mr. Tate, I believe, who will be reporting out. Yes, um very simply, um we

060had a meeting 2 weeks ago, I believe, and discussed all of the items uh before you as action items on the agenda. And uh that was the extent of the conversation. I will point out that um item K says reject all bids for the CRHS North baseball scoreboard. We are going to do that project. We need to reject the bid simply because there was an oversight at the newspaper and they failed to properly advertise the the bid opportunity. So we have to rebid it or re-advertise it. That's all. So we will pursue the uh baseball scoreboard for North. Um so I will make um the consent agenda motion if I may. I move to approve consent agenda items B through K as contained in the attachment to this agenda. I guess I can please. Second.

061Okay, thank you Mr. Tate and Ms. Stone. Thank you. Questions, discussion from the board. All right, marking seeing none. If you would mark that as unanimous as well, board secretary. And Mr. Tate, if I might just add to that, you're absolutely right. We had sent the advertisements to new to several newspapers as we're required to. And the Council Rock North baseball scoreboard was inadvertently omitted from the posting. So once we advertise that, we'll bring that back to the board to to ask you for your approval. Thank you. Will that delay the timeline of the the scoreboard installation? Uh yes, we had planned to have it um uh be installed next month, but now it it's put it off it's going to put it off by a month and it will will be a we won't

062be able to install it till the summer. Okay, but summer was going to be the planned time anyways. >> Yeah, it it it so puts it off by about a month or so. All right, great. Thank you. Okay, moving on to the finance committee, Ms. Stone. Yes, hi. Before I begin my report, um I would like for us to uh pull items M, the budget, and P uh from consent. So, if I can make a motion for such. You don't have to pull You don't have to make a motion, it can be pulled. Okay. Oh. So, it was item M, I just wanted for clarification, the approval of the 2026-2027 proposed final budget, and then item P, the EDRP P assignments and payments, which we are pulling out of consent. Uh so, Ms. Stone, do

063you want to go ahead and continue with the report? Yes. So, >> [clears throat] >> Kevin Carbuck from uh Cornerstone came and presented an update on the district's investments, and uh even in this uncertain market, we have earned 4 and 1/2 million in our general fund in the first three quarters of our fiscal year, and therefore we're on target for approximately 5 and 1/2 million in earnings for our fiscal year ending uh June 30th. Um then the district will be purchasing two vans to replace the two that are past their useful life, and the old old vans will be traded in for their market value. Um we also will be continuing our arrangement with BCIU for a technology legal services, and we'll be continuing our contract with Fortinet for our phone system, as well as

064seven other educational software programs. IT has been diligent in continuing to put in safety nets and backups to deal with external power outages. And all of our software programs have been reviewed by IT and administration for redundancies. And I want to thank Mr. Joseph Torieri for his diligence and his supervision in in these endeavors. Um we're also excited to receive a donation from Giant Food for over $11,000 to be used for our food service program. And we're certainly grateful for our business partnership over the years with Giant Foods. We're also grateful to CREF which is awarding the district seven grants this year totaling over 31,000. And before awarding the grants, administration make sure that the schools are able to support these grants. And I thank you for to all the educators for submitting these grant

065applications to CREF. >> [snorts] >> Um we will be supporting a new program this year in cooperation with Moreland University. And this program will provide for an in-house grow-your-own teacher by allowing a pathway for instructional assistants with with bachelor's degrees to undergo a 9-month program to become certified PA teachers. It's a great way to develop our talented pool of educators. Um and we will be supporting 10 to 12 individuals in this program this year. Uh included in the budget in our budget will be the MBIT budget and we will be approving approximately 2.1 million which represents Council Rock's portion of um the cost for us approximately 176 students who will be attending. >> [snorts] >> Um our budget process is close to completion in spite of several financial challenges and the reality is that we're

066seeing decreases in state and federal funding, decrease in our return on investments, rising health care costs, and general expenses, as well as the need to make staff additions in the area of special education. Um so before making a motion on the budget, I would like to give Mr. Rapp the opportunity to review some of the details in the budget for the 2026-2027 school year. That's not part of consent. Can we make the motion, Ms. Donahue, first for the consent agenda items? Yes. >> the consent? Yes. So, um I would like to Hold on. I move to approve consent agenda items B through L, and N, and item O, as contained in the attachment to the agenda. Thank you. Can I get a second, please? Second. Ms. Rickert, Ms. Donahue, Ms. Rickert. All right, so consent

067agenda items B through L, N, and O. Board discussion, comments. Seeing none. Ms. Horner. No, all good. Thank you. Thank you. Um if we would mark that as unanimous, Board Secretary. So, all right, so before I make the motion on the budget, may I turn this over to Mr. Rapp? Thank you, Ms. Donahue. I Can May I ask permission to please do a presentation for the board and the public? Yes. Do we have any objections from the board? I believe we don't. That would be great. Thank you. >> [snorts] [clears throat] >> Just take a minute till the projector comes back on. >> [snorts] >> Okay. Uh again, thank you for giving me a chance to present the budget uh for the 2026-2027 school year. Uh some and and these are the slides the same

068slides that were presented at last week's finance committee meeting. Um so I I want to go over to some of the budget highlights. Uh the state revenue uh basically we have effective decreases in basic education funding and special education funding while costs are increasing um at a much greater rate than uh uh a lot of the revenue sources that we have are increasing um basic education and special education funding are basically at 1/10 the growth that they used to have uh if that uh compared to prior years uh at least in in my tenure. Um so we have less effectively we have less state money coming in while we have the same amount as prior years. We don't have it doesn't go obviously as costs are rising the money we get from the state when

069it comes to basic education which is one of our largest funding sources from the state and special education which is one of our largest funding sources for special education do not go nearly as far as they used to. Uh so that's uh one uh situation that we're we're dealing with. Another is as interest rates are coming down or normalizing I would say almost uh uh we we are having a a decrease in our budgeted return on investment. I do work with our advisor very closely on this number, and he did advise that that there is uh that we should lower the number for next year. Although it is better than what I've seen throughout most of my career, it's still lower than what we've been getting. >> [snorts] >> Um uh we do have uh

070federal access funds, which are our funds in in special education that we receive. Um we had a a surplus of funds that were built up over the years. Uh those funds have been spent over the last couple years, and uh we do not have that surplus anymore, so we're we're working with uh a lower amount to spend this year, so uh we've had to reduce that budget by about $500,000. Um we uh as a as an administration and board, uh we've spent the last uh uh three or four years um looking at our health care fund and realizing that we had a an excess of funds in that in that fund, and um we wanted to bring that amount down slowly, which we've done over the last uh three or four years. Uh what we've

071done is in the first year in the 2023-24 budget, we uh actually reduced health care uh contributions for the the district and for employees, and the last 2 years uh we kept them the same. So, we did reduce that increased amount, and uh our our target has been about $18 million, and we're about at that $18 million right now, uh or I expect to be close to it at the end of this year. So, we also don't want to do something where we make a giant leap forward with our health care costs. So, uh and health care costs are so because we're self-funded, we put money into that fund from uh the general fund and from employees, and then we pay our claims based on that fund. And we like to have at least 6

072months of claims available in that fund, which is uh the targeted amount that we have of $18 million. Um Uh so so we're increasing it by 5%. Um we think that's a good number to start with. Uh it's not going to it's it's it is a an increase in expenditures for the district and also but we also have to be mindful of our employees' contributions as well and uh their contributions from employees will increase at the same rate that they increase for the district. Um continuing other highlights, uh costs continue to rise in excess of the Act 1 index. Our Act 1 index for the 2026-2027 school year that that is the maximum amount of money that at maximum percentage by which we can raise real estate taxes, that is 3.5%. Um we uh we

073uh uh are recommending though with our costs that are exceeding uh between you know, salaries and um our uh con con third-party vendor contracts that are increasing by more than 3.5%. Uh 3.5% is a very realistic number concerning where we're at with uh with our increases in expenditures. Um we obviously we realize that we can't um we we we have to look at what what we can do to keep costs down and and and we work very hard this year. Administration uh worked on that. We worked with the teachers in the um different programs to try to keep costs down and we tried to keep costs down um as far and keep the cost reductions though as far away from students as possible. And if you think of it like circles, we have the circles

074of the students in the center and and going out from there you have teachers and then um uh other staff and then sa- uh uh non-salary and non-non-payroll expenses. And and so we we start on the outside and and and work our way in. And uh so we spend most of our time on that outer ring of of non-payroll non-personnel expenditures and and and try to to bring those numbers down. Um Uh we uh one of the things that we did with all this work Al, Nicole, all the people, all the uh uh uh Joe Ronnie uh people of people in uh uh facilities and and transportation uh we were able to keep our total expense increase less than 4%, which [snorts] is pretty good considering we have contracts that increased by that amount. Um

075our budgeted deficit, we will have a budgeted deficit this year higher than we've had in past years, but less than we had less than we have in the current year. Um and we do one thing we don't want to do is not provide the staff that we need to for our students, so we do add any necessary additional staff. Um and uh most of those staff are in the special education area. Um so those are the main highlights of the budget. Uh so looking at our revenues, uh if you look at the first column, that's our 2026-2027 revenue. We're looking at an increase with the tax increases and some uh differences in one area where where state revenue doesn't does increase is is we get reimbursed for uh social security retirement that we pay. We

076get reimbursed reimbursed for half of that. Um because of that, that does increase. Um but again our you know, that's uh you know, on par with our basic education, so half of our money does increase as as salaries increase. Um but again, that that basic education does not increase uh at any at any reasonable rate for our use usage or to make it go as far as it went in the past. Um so we're looking at $230 million in in local revenues, 65 uh almost 66 million in state revenues, and $1.4 million in federal revenues, and that takes into account a $500,000 reduction in access funding for a total of $297,907,355, which is a $12 million increase over the prior year of uh for a total percentage increase of 4.21%. Uh on the expenditure side,

077uh this is a little more complicated. As you can see, uh we have uh on the first two columns are salary and benefits, and that's uh basically broken down by bargaining unit or area. Uh we have the administrators and confidential assistants uh with a salary increase of $535,694. Our professional staff uh have an increase of $11,919,962 in increase in um in uh personnel expenditures. However, I will draw your attention to the next slide is that uh when we were working on the budget last year and we finalized the budget, the uh contract with the uh teachers association was not completed. Therefore, we could not put a budgeted amount into their salary categories um at that time. So, the budget contained a uh a significant amount in what's called the budgetary reserve. That's an amount that

078we put in there that we will transfer out to other areas to transfer that money out into areas where we have a budget deficit throughout the year. Um, and I'm working on that now. We're We're We're going to ask next month for uh some budget transfers out of that fund to cover the payroll. But, because of that, it appears that we have a very large increase in personnel uh salaries in in the teach teachers contract. That is really a 2-year increase because last year's budget did not contain that increase. So, I just want to make that clear that as we look at that number, uh that 11 almost 12 million dollars is uh or 8.7% is actually 2 years increases in increases. Support staff, we have we did get that contract done in time this

079year to get it into the budget. We're looking at a 7% increase or 2.5 million dollars. And other salary, which is uh things such as EDRPP, um which is uh payment for coaches and clubs and and teachers that run those clubs and and and coach the sports, um that that there's extra pay in there and some other work for curriculum writing and other work that that teachers uh do perform throughout the the school year. Uh that's an increase of about $688,275 or 8.4%. Um so, total in salary total salary and benefits increased by $15,606,709, $606,709 is 7.66%. And this is where it's really uh we're we're really proud of what we did here and that we had a 7.66% increase in personnel cost. But when you look at our non-personnel expenditures, which part of that

080admittedly does include the amount that was in there for um salaries and ben- salaries and benefits for the new teachers contract, but not uh not a majority of it, but that was reduced by 4.65%. Um or it's about half and half, I guess. Um we've reduced total expenditures um by al- almost uh 11 and a half million dollars for a reduct- for a total expenditure uh de- uh increase of 3.93%, which again is a below a 4% increase, which when you look at our contracts, when you look at our third-party contracts, when you look at our employment contracts, I think we did a great uh I think administration did a great job in getting that number down to where it's it's a very reasonable percentage increase from for for the district. Um moving on from

081here, I I did talk about this the 26-27 budget, why the salaries seem to increase so much in in in the teachers for the teachers. Um and we are adding um uh 14 13. 14.4 additional positions. As you can see, the majority of those positions are for continuing increase in AS enrollment at Goodno, at Richboro, and at Hillcrest. Those programs are growing. I will make a note that on the I didn't change the slides, but part of that 1.4 teacher at Holland Middle School is for a teacher for a English language arts teacher, part of that. So, one part of that point four part of that 1.4 is for an English language arts teacher. So, I didn't have that information when I did the slide, but we do know that that's what that's for. And

082so, we have a that that that hasn't changed since last week, but I just want to make it make it transparent that that includes an English language arts teacher. But the rest of it is related to special education and additional PCA in Newtown Middle School to help with special education students. So, that those are our you know, 1 2 uh 4.4 teachers. What's a point four teacher? You know, part-time. And then uh 10 PCAs. So, or I'm sorry, yeah, 9 10 PCAs. So, that that's what we're looking at and and those are all necessary changes. Al Oberman Dr. Oberman went through that many times and and and really concentrated on what we need and got has to that point. Um so, uh you know, great job there. Uh and then uh did talk about the

083budget schedule. Um we're here on May 21st, 2026. We're asking you to approve a preliminary budget, a preliminary final budget. And all that means is that you're approving the budget to be advertised that we can advertise the budget, that you've approved it to be advertised, and that we can display it on our website and in the lobby here at the Chancellor Center. So, anyone from the public that wants to come in and view the budget is allowed to do that, or they'll they can more easily find it on our website. Um so, that will be posted uh sometime next week. Uh we're we're getting the advertisement out tomorrow, and we'll get Once it gets advertised, we'll have it posted on our website and have it in in the lobby. Um we're looking for final budget

084approval at the board meeting on June 18th, uh 2026, and uh by law, we have to approve a final budget by June 30th, 2026. Um and then going back to uh the the the 3.5% tax increase, I want to make clear uh when uh we talk about uh tax increase, uh the average assessed value of a home in in uh Council Rock, assessed value, that's not sale value, it's assessed value, is about $46,000. Um that 1% of a 1% tax increase for that assessed value results in a 69 $69 increase. So, a 1% increase is a $69 increase in what's needed to be paid. Um so, if you take 69 to multiply by 3.5, you would get the average uh tax increase for a homeowner uh of average uh assessed value. And thank you, that

085is uh the end of my report. If there are any questions. >> Actually, we need Ms. Stone to make the motion and the second and then we'll take the questions and discussion at that time, please. Second. Thank you, Ms. Stone and Ms. Hidalgo. Okay, so now we will have board discussion questions regarding the proposed [clears throat] final budget. I believe it was Mr. Was it Roosevelt and then Hidalgo? Okay, Hidalgo. Mr. Roosevelt. Thank you. Um, I do have a few questions for you, Mr. Rapp, and I'm glad that you're on this slide. But before I get in, I want to thank you for the work for the work that you've done to assemble this budget for the community as well as to go through this presentation that you just did. I'd also like to thank

086Dr. Senko and all of the other administrators that Mr. Rapp mentioned that helped put this together. It It does paint a picture that effectively you're being squeezed from both directions, that we are losing revenue from federal and state. Thankfully, we're picking revenue up from local sources, but we're also getting squeezed from a continued increase in expenses. So, that's what makes this year a little bit more challenging than previous years and I expect next year may even get worse. The first question that I've got is, I guess, more administrative. The first bullet point says approve preliminary final budget at the board meeting and I want you to just reiterate what you indicated that a vote yes for this is approve this board approving that the budget would be advertised and made available for the public. Uh,

087uh, the budget may change and our votes may change, also. Is that correct? That that is that is 100% accurate. Your votes may change. We're only looking to advertise the budget at this point. Um, we we we we did present you with uh, details on on the budget. Um, and you know, you you will have opportunities at uh, throughout the month and and the public will and into next month and next month's finance committee meeting to make to to review the budget and ask for changes or ask for clarifications, um, moving forward with that. So, uh, this is by no means considered a final budget. This is just saying, this is what we're proposing right now. And, um, obviously, if the board is looking to make changes, um, we'd, you know, Thank you. The title

088of item M is to approve proposed final budget, whereas the but the bullet point is approve preliminary final budget. Should I just want to highlight that there's a distinction between that? It's slight. I don't know if the title for M should be changed to reflect that first bullet point. Um, I'll leave that open for a moment while people consider it. Uh, this the other element that I think is very important. Several years ago, this body had a five-year forward-looking budget, and, um, that was based upon a consistent, almost identical tax rate. And, this is very important for any organization to review planning such that this district is facing now of about a $10 million increase every year over year for the past four years. Uh, and, uh, especially reducing in income coming in, revenues coming

089in. So, as this board considers initiatives or investments in education, uh having a 5-year budget looking forward based upon what we've always said as a consistent and predictable amount is very helpful for an organization to have planning. This body is considering planning of a lot of facilities as well, making this even more important. I thank you for having in the budget books that were presented sort of a look back of about 3 or 4 years, uh including our current year. So, it's more of a look back of 3 years with the current budget facing. It's very helpful, but I'd like to see it get pushed out for the next 5 years as well. Um I don't know if that's something that you could produce in the next coming days or month or so is some

090sort of uh you know, a consistent 5-year budget looking forward. Um another question that I've got is I appreciate in this book that there's a narrative for each school that indicates the enrollment and indicates some of the accomplishments and the challenges for each school in the district. It's very helpful. Um the Are we able to Dr. Saikou, this is a question for you and your team. Are we able to provide a look back as far as the last 5 years of enrollment numbers for K-12? We can. Thank you. So, that brings me back to this bullet point. Now that everybody's had a little bit of moment to think about it, should the title of M be changed from approved proposed final budget to approve preliminary final budget. Thank you. All right, before we address that,

091I think we want to just go ahead and continue with the discussion. I mean, in my personal opinion, I think proposed and preliminary are, you know, pretty similar. Um and it says on our agenda, so I guess we can discuss that, but uh I believe Mr. Hidalgo was next. Yeah, thank you so much for uh Mr. Rabb for the presentation. Um I guess my first was kind of a point of order that this budget was originally in consent item. Was that a mistake to put it in as a consent item the final proposed budget? Okay. Cuz I saw that. I was like, okay, we are going to talk about this, right? Um and then >> [clears throat] >> the presentation, was that slides given to us ahead of time? The slides were given to you

092a week ahead of the finance committee meeting. They're the same slides Oh, the same slides as okay, not this one. Okay, could you go back to the one that showed the compensation, please? It's two more. I'm sorry. Oh, yes. Yeah. Okay. So, again, you explained the budgetary reserve when we did the budget last year and we were in negotiations, we couldn't uh add the numbers directly. What was the number we did for budgetary reserve if you roughly? Uh It was about uh it was four and a half million dollars. I I don't want to I don't want to talk about what that um what was what in that. No, no. I'm just trying to get the the the general number for my own sake. We all kind of have a roundabout view what's what's going

093on or what happened. So, that that worked out good. Um and then I look at, you know, I'm trying to looking at everything from just a regular old standpoint of managing a book and uh I have a few questions, but I think just to say the technology department did did a good job of cutting uh the budget, but that was basically on computers. I would guess that's that actually we we didn't get as many computers as we would have have liked. I guess that's where the budget came right out in the classroom. >> one of the many areas. >> Right. So, that that I thought yay, but now I'm like no, that's what we need. We need technology more than ever. So, this is uh We we do have money put aside to buy rather

094than buy technology up front. We we do have money put aside to purchase technology should we need it. We do have a a lot of like no no student will be going without a computer this year. That's That's fine, but my focus would say cuz again, we have to I'm looking at this from a very long standpoint, and I'm going to get to to the point, but that's just one I thought the budget looked good. Another question I had was um most of the budget increases is salaries and in and employee benefits. Um and in most cases, employee benefits are lower than salaries, right? Subs- But I was just wondering when it came to the one department, I believe it was HR, was there maybe a certain uh situation we can't speak about that No,

095there's no situation. It's It's simply that there are certain benefits that are accounted for in the HR department that are not accounted for throughout the district. Okay. So, that's why there's more benefits in the human resources than in >> Accounting differently. Well, it's it's it's they're not accounted benefits are are not accounted. We don't uh allocate those benefits to the departments. It's in the HR department. You know this better than me. You'll explain it later. Um So, thank you. And um So, my my point is obviously, it's a preliminary budget. I'm not going to beat it down. I see revenue is very nice. I mean, I see the projections for revenues is what's keeping this uh the local revenue is what's keeping the this school district afloat. And, to to to the public, I think

096we are doing much better than than a lot of school districts in the area from a financial standpoint. So, I mean, I got to give kudos to to the group. And, I do appreciate what you guys did since the very beginning of this budget process to bring it down into a very reasonable um uh increase of 3.49. That's uh that's that's admirable. So, the other questions I guess I'm thinking of when it comes to um the budget is [clears throat] um the I guess it just goes back to uh the salaries and and and the negotiated prices that we have done. Um and my thought is if we get a decrease in in local revenues, like a downturn in the economy we haven't seen since 2008. If that happens again, uh I would ask the

097next time we do a negotiations for a contract. And, I'll say the Crespa I'm 100% behind the Crespa uh contract. I voted for that. I would have just keeping it that. Uh the the the other uh contract that we have with our professional staff is is great, and they earn every penny. But, I look at the career rates, and I look at what we can afford, and and how many teachers you you with the increases that they get make a make a big difference in their lives. But, if we lose the revenue, we're going to lose teachers. We're not going to have any choice. So, then the next time we go around, um we have to just look at the ones who can can um that are doing well, you know, at the So, look

098at the career rates and try to negotiate a a a lower a lower increase at the top. That's what I've been asking for since I've been here. I'd rather give more salary to the beginning. I'd rather I start off at $80,000 and say, you know, and move from there. You'll get all the teachers you need in the in the country if you start at $80,000. Um but, the increases are slow and uh once you get there. I just say that that's the only place and we can't do anything for 5 years. So, when we get to and I'm saying they earn it. I can't say they're not earning it. Um but, when we get to the final budget, it's going to be difficult. That's why I hope to hear from people and and their feedback.

099And I have to grind the numbers myself because when I look at salaries and even though you're at 3.93, um that's well above the 2% even if I include kindergarten, I include some reasonable increase. Um it's just a rich a very rich contract that we have to uh fulfill. And when you in compound it with the salaries and I'm sorry, with the benefits, it it's going to be tough for me to to and it equates to a 3.5% increase in tax rev, which you can say it's uh you know, in absolute numbers, $69 per household, but when you look at it from other it's just not that simple, you know, to me. That's as about all I can say. So, thank you so much. Just wanted to put my words on the record. Thank you.

100Thank you, Mr. Hidalgo. I believe I had Witness Stone next. Yeah, um with regard to what Mr. Roosevelt was asking about preliminary budget or final budget, I think there's a semantical I think it has to be called a financial budget because we have to present it to the public. It's 30 days before we actually approve it. So, it's it's a preliminary final budget. So, you really can't call it anything else. So, I would say we're fine the way it the motion has been presented. Just um to put you at ease if it's necessary from legal standpoint, you can approve it as is, but you're welcome to amend the name if you'd like. And the other comment I just wanted to make is that uh to keep in mind that again, Council Rock has approved the

101Pennsylvania the uh real estate rebate program, which which mirror mimics the Pennsylvania state uh real estate rebate program, which is great for those on fixed incomes. Again, [clears throat] anywhere from $380 to $1,500 from the state. And then the same from uh Council Rock. Not to exceed your actual um real estate tax amount. Um if you meet the income requirements, which if you're on a fixed income, it only in it includes um your income, but only half of social security. It has to meet uh the I think it's you have to be under 55,000 a year for this coming year. So, that certainly is um an item that I understand has really gained a lot of traction in the community and we have been able to um give that re- those rebates to quite a

102number of households in the community. So, don't forget to look that up under state and then if you once approved through the state, then you can get the equivalent up to your um up to those maxes for Council Rock as well from Council Rock. Please keep in mind that you you cannot apply for Council Rock's rebate until you've received the state rebate. Great. Thank you, Ms. Stone. Uh Mr. Green. Yeah, just a a couple of clar- clarifying points. Um Mr. Rapp, um just to clarify what Mr. Hidalgo was saying, um he was saying that it was $69 per household, but is it $69 per percent? Per percent. Per 1% one a 1% increase is $69 per average assessment on a house on a property. So, a 3 and 1/2% increase would be somewhere around >>

103$69 * 3 and 1/2. >> * 3 and 1/2. Yes. Just just to clarify that. Um and then to Mr. uh Mr. Roosevelt's point, the difference I believe what you were asking was the difference between proposed and preliminary. Is No? It was final. No, I was just pointing out that there was a difference in the name between the two. That I agree it's a semantical difference between the bullet point and what we're calling it, but just I thought that that bullet point was named clearer for the community. Prelim- approved preliminary final budget as opposed to approved proposed final budget. Okay. I I understand the process of having it out for the community to review for 30 days is just a you know Yeah. I've seen it I've seen it in PDE literature using both words

104at this point. Um, I think it's just the the fact that that it's about a about advertising. It's not final and that we we have that point clear. Um and and that might have just been the way that when this when the the the the wording I believe is in the um in the uh motion is the the proper wording. This this is probably just slide language that using from looking at the state information. Tony, just while we're on this this topic, last year on the agenda for the same purpose, we used the word proposed as we have this year. Yes. Okay. That was it, Mr. Green? Yes, thank you. Thank you. Uh, Mr. Tate. So, are we talking about on the agenda, the word is proposed and on the slides, it's preliminary? Yes. And

105and I did the slide before I prepared the motion. >> Okay. Well, so it's just the agenda versus the slide. >> Yes. Okay. And like I said, they're they're both um they're both commonly used. Yeah. Um there's no difference in my view. Um can I make a couple of comments? One is um three comments. Um I would point out to my fellow taxpayers the amount of federal funding that we receive. It's less than 1%. So, every time I read somebody in Washington talking about what public schools should do, I think you don't get a vote. Um you know, if you want to start funding public schools at a higher level, then maybe you then maybe you [clears throat] have a say. That's just a personal opinion. Um I'm proud of the fact that in this

106budget, the vast majority of the increased spending directly impacts our students. It's not on facilities, it's not on extracurriculars, it's on teachers and staff that work with students. I think that's commendable. And the last thing, Mr. Hidalgo made this point a moment ago and I I would the one I want to make as well. I'm I'm really not thrilled with having to look at a 3.5% real estate tax increase, but we are in far better shape than a lot of the school districts in Bucks County. I mean, they're looking at some colossal tax increases elsewhere, which is really unfortunate. And it's probably true in school districts around the country. And I think it's very unfortunate, but I think, you know, the people ought to take a look at what's happening elsewhere and realize that 3.5%

107while it it may not be palatable, it's comparatively rather good. So, I commend the administration for the work done on this budget. Okay, so thank you, Mr. Tate. So, we have Mr. Saki and then Mr. Rickert. Okay, thank you. Um Thank you to Mr. Rapp. I know it's not easy to put together this budget. There's a lot to it. It's a pretty thick document. So, thanks for giving it to us and you know, we'll review it. I know it's not easy. You can't ever satisfy everyone. I think this is a higher increase than most of us up here would like, but I understand the situation we're in. As Mr. Elizabeth said, we're being squeezed from both sides and as Mr. Tate said, you know, other districts are are going to need to exceed the Act

1081 index. And and glad that we're not in a position that we have to do that. I also know that the Act 1 index is projected to be lower next year, right? So, as Mr. Roosevelt talked about, you know, looking forward, you know, maybe not a 5-year look forward, but we can look forward 1 year and know that next year our belts are going to have to be even tighter. Um, and so it's good to know what our limitations will be in the future. Um, but what I wanted to comment on, and I I commented on that on this also at the Finance Committee meeting, is that the additional positions that we're targeting here are working directly with students, particularly special education. Um, as a taxpayer myself, and all of us are, uh, I would

109like to see my tax dollars go into that inner circle, as you talked about, you know, this the circle that's directly working with kids. Um, so I'm I'm glad to see that. And And we'll discuss it at the next Finance I think we all know that prices are going up everywhere, continuing to go up everywhere. Um, and I think it's probably our most important responsibility as a school board, um, as school board member members to ensure that as prices are going up everywhere, from everything that you buy, that if you put all of that in line, our kids and our students aren't the last ones, and that they don't lose out because everything else gets more expensive. So, you know, I think you've done a really nice job, and I'm glad to see that, you

110know, this is a budget that puts students first. Thank you. And that that this was an effort by, obviously, the whole administration, and I'd be remiss in not also mentioning that, uh, lion's share of the work on that budget book, uh, was done by Cheryl Rubanich, the, uh, assistant business administrator, uh, who will be retiring at the end of this year, leaving a huge hole. Yeah, we're going to miss her. Thank you, Ms. Osaki, Ms. Ricker. Thank you. I just wanted to add a few comments to what I've heard other board members say, and and we all know this is this is a tough economic climate, and I do appreciate the the work Mr. Rapp and the rest of the administration has done to put this budget together and to have the very, very clear

111details so we can understand um every aspect of it. I will say I I want to echo what a few of you have said about. I I am proud of the recent contracts that we have put in place with our educators, our staff. We are a desirable district to work in. We had a ceremony prior to this for people retiring, and we have educators that have stayed with this district because we recognize the value they provide, we treat them fairly, and we put these contracts in place to allow us to be competitive so we can have educators to keep us a top district and put our students first. And we are seeing that reflected in in the numbers that you shared, Mr. Rapp. And I think one more time to reiterate, um you know, it

112is worth noting what our neighboring districts are doing. We are seeing increases above 4 and 5%. So, I do think it's admirable that we are able to be competitive, attract competitive teachers and staff to this district, and it is a 3.5 increases is not something easy to stomach, um but I appreciate the work that has been put in to show why we are doing so. Thank you. Great. Thank you, Ms. Ricker. Anyone else? Okay. Um I guess I will just say, I mean, I think there's been plenty said, so I just wanted to highlight in a couple of topics, and I echo everyone's statements here on the board. Um I think Mr. Rosevelt touched upon having a 5-year budget and lookout, and I know that Mr. Rapp comes in um every quarter or so and

113does some presentation finances, but, um, you know, with the new teachers contract that we have this year and the recent cross bar, um, what, you know, the goal's not from the district as a whole and the administration, um, but even from the board, I would I would the goal was to attract and retain our our educators. They're the most important ones. They're the ones that have a daily impact on our students. Fortunately, with these last two contracts, it does allow us to have some stability in planning for our future for our finances. So, the four to five years, we don't have to think about another contract coming out that would be substantial and, um, affecting our budget. Um, I also want to say state that, as Mr. Ozaki stated, with the 14 positions that are

114teachers, full-time teachers that were at were needing to add, um, happily for the students in our special education program, that's because our program continues to grow. Um, that means uh, people are continuing to come and see that Council Rock is the place to come for a great education for all students. Um, so, you know, two AS or autistic support classrooms require 14 staff members to allow those students to be in school and receive the best education that they can. So, um, I will stop there. I know we're going to have more discussion at the finance, um, committee meeting next month and again in June is when this final budget will be approved by the board members here and hopefully it won't be like last June and we won't have to do it under a flashlights

115and candlelight. Um, so, at this time I I know Mr. or Dr. Sanko stated that it was the same language. I I I respect, um, Mr. Roosevelt saying the preliminary propo- preliminary final budget versus proposed, um, unless there's some significant objection. I believe it was Mr. Roosevelt's intention to just bring that up that there was a difference between the slides that were presented several weeks ago to this agenda being created. Um, but at this time if there isn't any other objection, I would like for Ms. Stone to make Uh, you made the motion, we had the second, we had the discussion. Um, we will do then roll call vote. Uh, Madam Secretary? Ms. Khan? Um, yes. Mr. Tate? Yes. Mr. Hidalgo? Yes. Mr. Roosevelt? Yes. Ms. Osaki? Yes. Ms. Stone? Yes. Ms. Horner? Yes. Ms.

116Rickert? Yes. Mr. Green? Yes. Thank you. So, the proposed final budget um passes 9-0. Now, we have the next item. Thank you, Ms. Stone. I move to approve consent consent agenda item P as contained in the attachments to this agenda. Second. Second. Okay, thank you. Um, Ms. Stone, I guess Ms. Rickert. We will do a a question Um, do we have any questions concerns regarding item P, which is the EDRPP assignments and payments. Mr. Roosevelt. Yeah, I have a few comments about this and or questions. Mr. Rapp, the EDRPP payments, these rates are not set by the district, correct? They're They're in the contract. >> They're in the con That's what I meant, right. So, they're in the contract and as same as the positions that are available are not made available by the district,

117they're made available through the contract and or the state that puts it all together. So So, the positions are based on student interest in particular. Um when you look at it, they tend to be broken up into two more generalized groups. One would be athletics, which is governed by obviously the state athletic um body, and then there's clubs and activities, and those tend to be more student-driven and student-interest driven. So, they may vary somewhat from school to school. Um one school may have students particularly interested in one type of club versus another. Um so, really they're created internally um the primarily by the students or if it's an athletic team, obviously, through the athletics. Thank you. I just wanted to call attention to that to make sure that everybody in the community is clear that

118these aren't rates that the district is setting, and they're not positions that we're directly setting, that this is effectively um largely [clears throat] set from other factors. Um this is also something payments like this get made every What is it? Three times a year, correct? Yes. Um there's a December payment, a February payment, and a May payment, and they tend to align with the athletic seasons. Right. Mr. Rapp, do we have a total? We've I believe we've we may have had that in the past, or at least some of us have added it up on scrap pieces of paper of what the total of this one particular payment represents. >> Yes, it's it's approximately $518,292.62. And And that That's That's paid three times a year, as we've discussed. So, this This represents basically a 1.5

119million dollar annual expenditure toward these positions and these rates. I would say generally just to point out the May payment tends to be a little higher because it includes elementary which generally doesn't get paid until May. It also includes certain events such as the art show and and things of that which get put on the May, but it's not a huge difference, but it is somewhat higher in May. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay. And that those payments are for everything beyond the school day for and and events. So, it's not only sports, it's clubs, activities, chorus, music, band, all of that, correct? Generally, it's for, you know, the elementary shows, elementary, you know, concerts, or um clubs, activities. Generally, um for the shows at the high school and middle school, um the the chorus and

120things of that nature also may fall under coordinator pay depending on how it's, you know, set up, but I would say you're primarily correct. Yes. Appreciate that. Thank you, Mr. Spring. Okay. All right. So, we will have the roll call votes. Please, Miss uh Miss Khan? Yes. Mr. Tate? Abstain. Mr. Hadalgo? Yes. Mr. Roosevelt? Yes. Miss Osaki? Yes. Miss Stone? Yes. Miss Horner? Yes. Miss Rickert? Yes. And Mr. Green? Yes. All right. That's eight yeses and one abstain. Great. Thank you, Mr. Spring. All right. Public comment. We are on to the second portion of public comment. These are the non-agenda items. We had the student young student William who spoke earlier. That was a non-agenda. And we have Miss Carolyn Blacknell who's here to speak on a non-agenda item. Um Just bear with me again.

121The public comment is an opportunity for members of the public to address the board. We ask that you limit your comments to no longer than 3 minutes. Please consider the fact that there may be young children in the audience watch or watching this broadcast live on CRTV when speaking. It is our goal to maintain a respectful environment so that members of our community have an equal opportunity to address the board without interruption. While the board welcomes your ideas and will consider them in deliberating an issue, we may not respond to your comments or questions. Thank you. Hi, I'm Carolyn Buser Blacknell. This is my father. He passed away a couple years ago. But he was This is the Chinese accounting magazine. Believe it or not, they have magazines for accountants. Um anyway, he was the

122COO of Deloitte, the international CEO of Deloitte, which is a very large accounting firm. So I know a lot about accounting. I grew up with my father who talked about budgets and audits my entire life and unpended unfunded pensions as a child. That's what I heard when I was 17 years old about pension funds. So I have a uh interest in all of this and um there has been people in my email so you might not have received my email cuz my emails have been blocked by people high up in this area that don't like me sharing information. So I'm going to leave the handouts here that it just shows you the net position is the most important thing. A net position, this is uh New Hope-Solebury. They are in a positive 3.4 million. And

123Council Rock is behind by 126.7 million. This is your stuff right here. I'm going to leave it for you. This is the email I sent. I'm sure you whether you got it or not, you're not interested. I don't care. And um on my phone, I should have brought it up here. Council Rock, the average salary is the third highest in Pennsylvania. I don't care about the 3 and 1/2%. You shouldn't be giving anyone a raise. We do not have rich people walking around here that can pay for the teachers have extra salaries. I know that they work really hard. I have a lot of teacher friends. They work really hard. And maybe they could use assistance in their classrooms instead of a raise because they are exhausted by all the garbage that they have to

124deal with and it's not fair. And they also have to pay the high gas prices and everything. The gas You're not paying attention to what's going on right now. The gas prices are high. You're looking at a budget in isolation and you're not putting into Iran war, gas prices up here, and you're not adding in all the extra stuff, and it's really not fair. You're just saying the teachers need a raise. The teachers need a raise. And that's what Neshaminy School District did years ago. They ran into a problem this by 15 years ago. They wanted more money and then after the residents that live in Neshaminy were like, we can't afford that. You're You can't ask for people who don't make what you make to pay more so you can have a higher salary

125because you're happen to be some gold star job. And I get it. It's very hard. My I'm telling you all my friends that are teachers tell me how hard it is. They work really hard. And um but I also wanted to talk about something really important real quick. From libertytocaptivity.com is a documentary >> Am I done? 30 seconds. I was just giving you a >> Is it from libertytocaptivity.com is a documentary 2-minute trailer. All you have to read is watch is the 2-minute trailer for the children. This is for the students. I particularly the high school students and middle school students. I need you to watch it to understand the profit motive of the sex trafficking industry that's going on. And um you need to be protect yourself from that. And I reported backpage24 to

126the FBI in um 2019. And I just looked right now. It's it's they changed it to two backpage.com. And if child if children are still >> 3 minutes. That's where they're going going to find you're going to find your child there. Um cuz that's what happens around here. Thank you so much. I appreciate the time. Thank you, Ms. Blacknell. Anyone else in the audience that wishes to speak that did not sign up for a non-agenda item? Okay. I don't believe there was anyone else in the audience that could. But uh all right. So moving on to board comments, new business. Any new business? Old business? Mr. Roseval. Thanks. Nothing uh earth-shattering here. I just wanted to see if there's an update on the wording for the RFP for the special education audit. Dr. Zenko. Uh

127I know Mrs. Osecky referenced that earlier in her report. Al, do you want to talk about the RFP update for the audit special ed audit? Sure. The RFP audit was placed uh put out on May 8th. Uh the deadline is next Friday, May 29th. We'll start reviewing uh the proposals. There's three main areas I focused on kind of from our discussions at our uh curriculum meetings. Um assess the effectiveness, consistency, and alignment of services across the district. Identify strengths and areas for growth specifically in the area of inclusion. Um provide actionable strategic recommendations to enhance student outcomes and programs program quality. Okay. Specific but vague enough to kind of give us a little uh leeway in terms of what we actually want to accomplish with it when we get come in. Those are the three

128main focus areas that I focused on when I with the proposal. Thank you, Dr. O'Donnell, Mr. Roosevelt, Mr. Hidalgo. Sure, thanks. This is just on the fly, but I've been thinking about a lot. When I visit schools, uh same thing happens like when we go and vote at a school, um the there's a lot of uh dead dead space for cellular networks in all of our schools. And I'm wondering if that's by purpose. I remember before remembering hearing something about repeaters or something like we would have, but I would think it would be important for I want to know personally why we have such terrible cell service. I I consider it a safety um a safety issue for myself, even though maybe kids aren't supposed to have cell phones in school. Uh I do believe

129that that we should as great a school district are we as we are, how come we can't get cell service in our schools? I don't know if anybody wants to answer that or has any ideas. Is there anything we're doing or is there something we can look at? Who do I talk to? Yes to all of that. Joe, do you want to do you want to take that and talk about the work we've been doing with um we're trying to get Verizon to help us with, particularly around the Castle Rock High School South area. And some of the other topics we would be happy to talk about during a closed session on safety and security, but the um the overarching part of your question, uh we continue to push Verizon, uh who has promised us

130a cell phone tower to get better service not just in our schools, but the entire area around Council Rock High School South. Go ahead, Joe. Yes, uh thank you, Dr. Sankey. That is correct. Uh we have been working um with the local carriers uh for quite some time over the past 6 to 9 months. Uh we've had many conversations with them. They're well aware of the problems that we have um encountered. Um first responders uh are involved in these conversations as well. It's a major concern of theirs. Uh as a matter of fact, they're going to be in the area next week uh working with our teams again to identify what can be done. Um Unfortunately, we were promised before the end of Q1 that a tower would be placed on top of the water

131tower at uh Council Rock South. Uh that has not come to fruition. Uh we've uh been asking for an update as to when we can expect to see that. That would um greatly improve the area around the high school um well into uh the area of Rolling Hills as well. Uh Verizon is also promised by the end of this calendar year to add a tower on the old Bucks County Roses smoke stack, which would also increase uh the coverage for Hillcrest uh Elementary and Holland Middle along with Bucks County uh the Buck Road corridor. Um so, we're anxiously working with them. Um we're reaching out to them quite regularly to see if we can get those those projects completed. And if I could just jump on that, I mentioned this the other night. I think

132it was the um finance meeting because uh we have had that same experience and we've been trying to work and as Joe said, even at our chiefs' round table when we meet with the first responders, what we have done is we initiated as a district uh we've reinstalled landlines in every school building, and we have also um uh have we also have a dedicated cell phone for every school district. Those numbers have been shared with uh with the schools and with the first responders, and unfortunately, some of our parents have had to use those lines because we've had experiences where phones have gone out, not necessarily as a result of poor service, but something else. So, we do have uh two backup phones in every building in the event of an emergency. One more follow-up.

133Uh so, in my instance, you know, Richboro, the new school elementary school, there I have many people in there voting, and somebody had called me, and I just left, and we just lost connection. And I'm like, it's not it's unusual for this person to just not call me back. And then I tried calling three other people that were in that building, and the calls did not go through. And I'm like, there's a cell tower right down the road at by Rich, you know, that big one by the firehouse in in Richboro, and I just thought to myself, this is just weird. And so, it might be the the building too. Sometimes the roofs So, that too also. So, then you need repeaters inside the buildings. Well, you're you're absolutely right about the buildings. If you

134were to take um Holland Elementary School for example, which I know very well, it has a concrete roof, and the signals do not get through it. They move better now in that building than they did before because we used to have glass before the building was renovated that had um I I know the proper term. I'll refer to it as chick chicken wire in the glass. uh uh Uh so we get some better service there, but we've also been waiting on with baited breath. We've been told uh and I and I I I can't guarantee this, but this has been part of the conversation. Additional tel- uh cell towers on the uh the water tank outside of Castle Rock High School South. Oh, that's Thank you. I I didn't know you guys were doing >>

135work good. Thanks. Thank you, Mr. Adago. Any other board comments? I just wanted to recognize um a couple of weeks ago, there's just so much to report, I know, that um Castle Rock had their annual art show. It was at Castle Rock um High School South. And I was, you know, able to go and I know several of my board colleagues, I'm sure, were able to attend for that weekend, but uh it was I one of the things that I recognized and I took a photo of it was that um it was the first time our kindergarten students got to participate in the art special this year. So, they actually had artwork there and I I believe Mr. Saki said there was a whole wall that I'd missed that somehow, but I just wanted to

136note that and that I just something that I recall. Um so, that's great. And I And just in closing, I know spring is a busy time as um Dr. Sengel had had mentioned in the superintendent report. Um I know we will have the last day of school um will have been the 17th before our next board meeting. So, I just wanted to say that um it's busy with field trips, you know, different sports activities, finals, AP exams, prom, um and so many other things. And I wanted to recognize all our graduates that we're going to be seeing in a few weeks as board members. Um not only is it graduates for our seniors, but I, you know, I kind of think about it as a graduation time for like those next um my milestones. So,

137we have kindergarten this year, you know, often times at schools they kind of celebrate that. Um sixth grade that will move on to middle school next year, our middle schools, students moving on to to high school, um and then our high school students obviously moving on to college. Um congratulations to all of you and we're really proud. And also to recognize the retirees as the class of 2026 that we were able to celebrate um earlier this afternoon. Um so, thank you so much and I hope that everyone has a wonderful and safe remainder of the 2025-26 school year to all of our students, families, staff, and community members. And we will see you in June. Thank you. Meeting adjourned.