001I'm Hello. I alian. Prior to the meeting, we met in executive session to discuss litigation personnel um collective bargaining strategy and matter subject to attorney. >> Thank you, Mr. Evans. uh superintendent report just very quickly uh want to uh just thank our teachers. We had teacher appreciation last week. Uh our PTO organizations uh a lot of folks who who really just appreciate the hard work that our teachers do. Uh they got treated hopefully pretty well. Uh I think everybody ate pretty well and had some nice snacks and things like that. So big shout out to those people that help recognize our teachers and and I'd like to personally thank them as well for the great work they do. Um we're also engaged. We're finished with PSSA testing. Everybody uh realizes that I think we're done
002with all the makeups. We're now in Keystone testing which is at the high school level. We approve those three-hour u delay those three-hour delay starts uh so that we can get those kids in and focus on having them uh be educated. So getting close to all those end of the year activities. Uh it is a very busy time of the year uh but it's also a very exciting uh time of the year. We have uh Rotary dinners awards with last Thursday. Uh five of our students were recognized there and received scholarships. Uh we also have awards night coming up for Elite 20. Uh music concerts, a lot of things going on. Uh a lot of folks will eat a lot of buffet chicken. Uh so got to be an expert on that and pasta. Uh
003but it's also one of those times where you get to see the the culmination of the kids it path and journey happen there. Uh which ultimately event is going to be that graduation that's going to happen on June 10th. Uh so I think uh our board will be participating in that. Uh our teachers also uh not just the high school teachers but also a lot of folks from the middle school and the elementary uh attend that and participate as well. Uh we'll >> we'll continue with our our new tradition where if we have any um teachers who are parents of graduating seniors, uh we've invited them to participate in graduation and to hand them diplomas. So we're really excited about that opportunity to give them that chance to >> the teachers teachers board members have
004that opportunity but teachers have that that was new last year passport yes board members as well >> so we'll have that going on the one thing that uh the scheduling uh issue we have there is that we have a board meeting scheduled that night and I have to be completely honest with you I would much rather be at uh graduation uh handing diplomas to 184 kids than being here at board meeting. No offense to anybody in this room. Uh but it is it is really one of it's it is my favorite night of the year. I tell people that I get to be there and except for the folks that that hand diplomas, I get to be a part of that biggest moment and that that kids life at that point and those families. So
005it's it's an honor for me and uh just to see our great kids come across that stage is really nice. So operations are ongoing. Uh transportation will be provided again. We'll do the same shuttle shut process. We have a few more parking places, but we're working through that as well. Uh what I also like to do is just do some student recognition. Uh I'm going to start with uh a new friend of mine. Uh we met a couple Saturdays. We didn't meet a couple Saturdays ago, but we got to sit down and uh share some time at a Shazda awards dinner. Uh Ariana Brady is here. >> Is she here? She's back there. There she is. Uh Dr. Perry, myself, and Mrs. Garlo uh got a chance to go to South Point. uh uh Hilton
006Garden in Hilton Garden in South Point and uh have breakfast and recognized two seniors from each one of our our districts that are part of the Shaza group. I think somebody uh I think I can't remember who it was that got up there and spoke and they said one thing that really really really kind of struck me and I hope it struck struck the students. What they said was that every student who is here was handpicked for being special. Uh they there are special people. They are people who demonstrated qualities of perseverance, of dedication, of leadership, of of academic success, and and a lot of those other things. Uh the best part of it was is that I got to sit with Ariana and Nana. Uh so so uh we got to know each other
007pretty well and uh I wanted to I asked her if she'd be willing to come to a board meeting so that we could recognize her. Uh two people from the high school were picked for this award. Uh Ryan Moretti is the other individual. Uh if you remember, Ryan is the son of Netti Debatis who teaches up at the elementary. Uh he had an accident where he hurt his leg. Uh he's really been kind of battling through that stuff, too. But uh but he wasn't able to be here uh continues to deal with some of that stuff, but uh we want to recognize uh Roman's accomplishments at high school, too. Ara, can you come up here and we can give this? >> So, we did. We had a wonderful We had a wonderful breakfast together. Uh
008she told me a lot about her family. uh how much you I'll turn over to you Nana. You want me to turn to you? How are you coming around? >> Okay. So, uh told me a lot about her future and her plans for the future and it's just really exciting. You know, as a superintendent, you don't always get an hour to sit with a family and to talk to them and to just get to know them personally and understand their experiences. So, it was a pleasure for me. I'm honored to do it. I want to thank you for for for being so welcoming. And if we give Ariana a big hand. Okay. >> Okay. The second thing I wanted to do other student recognitions and these folks weren't able to be there be here tonight
009but I do want to recognize them. Uh there is an organization called Pen HOSA. It is the future health professionals uh international student organization. and they have a competition that takes place at uh Hershey and the Hershey lodge. Uh it was back in the beginning of March and um the the theme of this was champions of change. So this is health folks who were involved at our steel center who were involved in healthcare uh opportunities and moving forward in that. So we've actually had a ton of people I think our district had the most that that uh placed in this or in this competition and I just want to recognize them. Lily Shipley, I don't know if that's you guys remember Lucas Shipley was here a couple years ago. I believe that's his sister. Came
010in second place for this sosa competition. Zoe still stto Stella. Terrible. Sixth place. Uh that's for health assistance. Eliza Waters was seventh place for medical professionals. Caitlyn Scalacan was second place for home health aid. Matteline McConnie McConna was fifth place for health assistance and I think that I think I got them all. But I really want to just compliment those folks and uh I'll be sure to get these up to the high school and recognize our folks who are going through our first of all our Steel Center program. Uh we have 139 kids that attend Steel Center. Now that number will actually go up a little bit next year. Uh we appreciate that they get our kids involved in competitions that that force them out into situations where they can show how great they are
011and how the wonderful work they're doing. So, I just want to compliment those kids and recognize them. >> And that's all I have. >> Thank you. >> Before we proceed to public comment, uh I've been asked to read two public statements. These public statements have been prepared by the administration um with the with the knowledge of the board. Uh they will be posted on the district's website following this meeting. Uh and they're largely responsive to some repeated concerns that have been brought up in public comment. The public statement number one, recent public statements suggesting that there have been quote 50 million in change orders end quote associated with phase one of the Elizabeth forward high school construction project are inaccurate and misrepresent the facts surrounding this important investment in our district. From the outset of
012the project, the Elizabeth Forward Board of School Directors was presented with four separate construction options based on four different base bids. Those bids range from approximately $7.1 million to $60.2 million with each option reflecting a different level of restoration, renovation, and long-term improvements to the high school campus. After careful review and extensive discussions, the board made the courageous decision to move forward with the comprehensive 60.2 million option. This was not the result of change orders, but rather a deliberate and transparent choice to fully invest in the future of the Elizabeth Forward School District, its students, and the community. That decision included the construction and modernization work recommended for the high school campus, including a new gymnasium, a new state-of-the-art auditorium, upgraded physical plant infrastructure, new roofing systems, buildingwide sprinkler and fire protection systems, a modern
013HVAC system with air conditioning and improved air quality, and a secure vestibule for visitors during the school day. The board recognized that simply restoring damaged portions of the building would not adequately address the long-term needs of our students, staff, and community. Instead, they chose to make an investment that would provide safe, modern, efficient, and future ready learning spaces for generations of Elizabeth forward students. This project reflects thoughtful planning, transparency, and a commitment to doing what is best for the future of the district, not an accumulation of unchecked change orders, as has been publicly suggested. The second statement follows. At a recent public meeting of the Elizabeth Ford board of school directors, a statement was made claiming that quote, "If you look at the phase one drawings, they don't match what's happening. Where did the money
014go?" To my knowledge, the work being performed at the Elizabeth Forward High School construction site is consistent with the scope of work publicly presented and awarded by the board in July 2024. Projects of this size operate under extensive oversight, including architectural and engineering plans, publicly awarded contracts, inspections, construction management, and ongoing review by district administrators and professional consultants. In addition, any modifications to the original scope occurred only through formal change orders, which are reviewed and approved by the board of school director at the public meetings. Those actions are part of the public record. Questions regarding a project of this magnitude are understandable and the district remains committed to transparency throughout the construction process. However, statements suggesting that funds are unaccounted for or that the project differs substantially from the publicly approved scope or inaccurate and
015do not reflect a documented process and oversight associated with the work. The board's decision to move forward with a comprehensive reconstruction plan was made to ensure that Elizabeth forward students and the community benefit from a safe, modern, and educationally appropriate facility for many years to come. Appreciate you listening. We will post those on the website and we invite the next phase more meeting which is public comment. >> Yes. Uh Mr. Phil Martell, please. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Um, Mr. Reagan is going to present the preliminary budget I think tonight. Correct. You know, it has a deficit or it looks like a deficit. So, I guess my question really is when you look at the reconfiguration and I've done this in two districts. Did we look at potential deficits as far as costs we know
016that are going to exist? Healthcare and has gone up 39% in three years through the health consortium. So, you know, salaries have to go up. different things that are going to go up along with a staffing model and and a long-term picture. So to come to this board and inevitably say go to the taxpayers and do another 5% tax increase, I wonder if that was all factored in it because if it was, let me see it because I didn't see it in any of the projections or any dis um discussions about reconfiguration. So those costs are going to be there. We all face those challenges, but you should have been made aware of that ahead of time before you decide to borrow all this money, okay, to go and because these costs are going to
017exist in the long term. Second, you need to make cuts. You really do. There's no more that you have to make cuts. You need to start with you and look at different areas. There's administrative positions that are going away, including my wife. You need to get rid of it. Okay? You're reconfiguring. Don't just plug holes with new administrators that you do not need. Okay? Between my wife and potentially Mr. Gart's resident retirement, there's almost $450,000 in salary benefits that add up that could be saved for this district to do that. Okay? So, you need to take those hard looks instead of saying, "Hey, we're just going to go raise taxes." Third, the AIU, $70,000 for public relations or $60,000. Like these are fluff things. You need to really go back in before you just say
018we're going to go raise millage 5%. Travel. I don't want to hear that Greyel pays for it. I know they do it, but if I start pulling travel records, guys, I'm going to see a little bit more than that. Take that $20,000 and put it towards a science kid. I respect Mary Carol all in the world, but she's on the agenda tonight to go on another trip. Quite frankly, what is she going to bring back to the district? Because you have no money to do it. Take that money and repurpose it back into something else for kids if it's possible. But not don't take it. Need to be in your district figuring these problems out that you have. Um you have two major contracts coming up that you can't pay for. And I'll be damned
019if I'm going to be quiet about the fact you're going to blame teachers because you mismanaged borrowing all this money. Okay? You have salaries that you're that are not competitive with neighboring districts. It's not their fault. It really isn't. Okay? So don't blame them when you know you don't you can't pay them in a competitive market when we can't find teachers and you're losing teachers. How many did we probably lose the last year Keith? Probably a lot, right? You have to be able to pay people. We don't have that market out there. So you need to figure that out. Um just really the last thing too on a change order, who was responsible for the duck work design? Because that change order shouldn't have happened. Okay. So who originally said that this is what the
020duck work needed to look like in the design because that person either MLAN or somebody else should be responsible for doing that not you guys approving for this is a 14% change in the original contract of the change order. So you may think it's fluff those are the questions all you need to be asking like why this actually happened. Last thing is the pitchford agreement on on the agenda tonight. What's the cap on it? You're paying an you have an hourly rate on it. What is the total cost of that? Why do you not do not to exceed amounts on all of these contracts? Well, we all have to buy. That's what the prior board administration like to do. Okay. So, I'm just telling you and Mrs. Turbo, I respect you, but you've only been
021here for three months. You really don't know what's going on. >> Oh, this speak to that. Thank you, Mr. Martell. I've worked in the last two weeks at least with Mr. Reagan and Mr. Conic on a few of the issues that you have brought. Uh we are consistently working to try and get these numbers down and to get back to zero. And um they both know that I've stood on we need to get the tax increase down as much as possible. also um where I think everybody sitting at this board is a where the things and the tough decisions that we have to make in the coming future and there's been discussions with the personnel items that you've been uh you've mentioned as well. So figure that out obviously we can't discuss it right now
022but you know we're trying to plan for the future. >> These other costs aren't going away guys. So if you weren't giving it as part of this reconfiguration you need to see those numbers up front. Healthcare has been on the average 9%. You need to take a look at it because it's only you're not getting your fair share of the information. I'm telling you now. So, you can't do reconfiguration without that. And then also blame the teachers because they you know what they deserve. >> Appreciate it. Thank you. >> Thank you, sir. >> Uh Miss Mark, >> good evening guys. Hey, I was going through the agenda and saw the U stainless steel 21 ft of countertop going for the concession stand up at the high school and concession area was remodeled after the fire
023and obviously not knowing exactly where this is going because you can't tell by the bill. Um, so my question being, is this countertop for the same area that was already remodeled after the fire? uh why is it being you replaced again after it was already remodeled? Mr. Almer, the bid was sent to him. So, is this an athletic purchase? Where's the money coming from? Because it, you know, as I was at the finance meeting and the athletics budget is already overspent for the year. So, my question being, you know, where is this going? Uh are you tearing out what was already redone to do this? Where's the money coming from? And again, as been stated by Mr. Martell, you know, you guys are in the budget crunch. We know that you're a million 900,000 short
024and balancing a budget. Is this a necessary purchase of something that was on remodeled? And in the process of replacing all that, will there be additional costs in, you know, the top will be replaced? It's going to be installed by the bid and but is there are you remodeling more? or is there more to come to the concession stand? >> Uh Margaret, um that's not just a countertop. That includes all of the items, what fridges >> does include the bridges, but all the stainless all the stainless, all the what furniture that got to go in everything that has to go into that concession. And that room, >> it's the new concession stand. It's not the old one. And the one right as you go into the lobby, lefthand corner, you face it. >> So, we're
025building a new concession stand. >> The one facing the lobby. Yeah. >> I've never really been up there, so I don't >> That area has been blocked off. Um, so you haven't been able to see it. That's the hallway that goes back towards >> budgeted where in your >> It was that was already budgeted and and worked into the scope of work that's been there >> for the high school project. Yes. in the bids for all that. So all the money is coming out of soft cost or >> anybody provided it. Yeah. Under provided item soft cost. Yes. >> Now the bid also states that the refrigerators etc are not included. So will there be more coming down the road to purchase all of those items? >> Yeah, we're we're working to assess the equipment
026that we have now. What works? You're closing the other concession stand. >> No, that that other concession stand. That other concession stand, it acts as a cafe. Uh it's a program that we've worked on for quite a long time that focuses on our life skill students. Gives them the opportunity to have sales experience counting change. Okay. >> That that that will become a dedicated space for those kids now uh and move them concession safety if they're in that space for a long time. So, >> and it ran through Mr. Palmer for any particular reasons >> the concession stand will primarily serve the athletic areas for that. >> So he's in charge of business office >> and it didn't go through the business office. It's running through the athletic office. >> Let's talk through the business.
027You're involved in the process. Can we >> can we have any other questions that you have? Margaret, could you email them to Keith and go that route? Try to get all the answers. Good. >> Thanks. >> I I do have a question on that though. the backup for that. um just stainless steel counters in the amount of 994. On the the backup it lists the counter for 7579, a back wall shelf for 1125 measured deliver set in place for 1,200 and then it says buy others all by appliances, cooking equipment, plumbing, wiring, existing equipment. That's not included. >> What's the way I >> Yeah. No, I I try to correct Jamie. >> Oh, okay. Correct. Clarify that it is not included. >> So appliance, recoging equipment, plumbing, wiring, and existing approximately how much will that
028cost? Some number that >> could we could we get those numbers before we vote on that? >> Thank you, Miss Morgan. Uh and uh finally, Mr. David Yens correctly. >> Yes, you did. Thank you. Um, so is there any place where we have in the budget where we're getting metal detectors and why they're not in the buildings? >> Um, I don't know if they're necessarily I'm sorry, uh, in the budget for it at the moment. Uh, we've had extensive discussions around it trying to figure out, you know, where they would apply, how they would apply, whether they'd be mobile, permanent, things of that nature. Um I I would say that we'll probably still >> I will just uh defer to our our school safety and uh policy committee meetings that that take place. Uh there
029was a a pretty big discussion about that with Mr. Hon when you were there. >> Yeah. there. Uh so so there was conversations that happened there about the brought to my attention that uh my son was in an incident and involved the bait a lot of inside the facility had him down but he was wandered with a hand wander and that's how it was detected. I worked downtown county jail. Uh they're lacing these vapes with fentanyl. I'll let you guys know that they're fruity. They taste good. Whatever the case may be, my wife and I do not date. So therefore, my son had it in his possession from the facility. Couple days later, he had brought one home, said he got it from the facility. I came back up to Dr. Papowitz, open up his
030drawer, and there was multiple vapes inside this drawer where obviously there's a vape problem inside our facility. So, just a concern that maybe we should all look into because they're being waste and it takes a grain assault to kill somebody. So my son does but in possession twice now from this facility. So that's my concern finance and technology. Okay. Well, it's that time of year again. Over to the proposed budget. This is 20 26 27 proposed budget. First, I want to go over we where I think we're going to end up uh the end of this year. So we budgeted a reduction in fund balance of a million52 last year. I think we're going to come in at about a million 123 um loss. I can't do that from here. 123,000 loss. That's about $71,000
031less or more than what the loss was budgeted at. Um there's reasons for that. First of all, instructional wages and salaries are favorable. They typically are. That's usually due to teacher turnover and vacancies, but that the debt is 100% in line with budget. Um the other expenses, so where we've seen the increases are increases in substitute teachers, that's about $260,000. Summer school about $92,000. athletic supplies and transportation about $90,000 and private nursing for students $102,000 on um the revenue side and that was about $645,000 unfavorable from the other expenses revenues about 370,000 favorable about 191,000 is from uh transportation BCCD and federal grants title one in access 154,000 favorable and alternative fuel tax credit which we actually were supposed to split this fuel tax credit with STA but because we had to end up renting
032the maintenance area at Suttersville I think it's 3,000 a month they allowed us to keep all of the fuel tax credit so we basically picked up a little over $50,000 from the part that they were supposed to get and then the other areas There's lower real estate tax collections, but that's pretty much offset by um higher local income tax. I budget 3%. We did better than that on the local income tax. So looking at this year again budgeted a loss of a million 52. It looks like it's going to be a little bit more than that about 71,000 more. Our fund balance will be about $2 million I believe at the end of this year. Any questions on that? Okay, next slide just to go through a couple of the what I consider to be
033some of the um more major areas. So, basic ed funding. Um, as you can see in this graph, the red is what the state proposes, the black is what, um, we budgeted, and the gray is actual basic ed funding in the last three years, the state promised or projected way more than what actually was given out. And you can see for the majority of those beginning years, we budgeted a lot less because we just didn't know what was going on with what they were going to do. Last year, they said we'd get 11%. I budgeted eight. We got two as far as an increase goes. That was terrible. Things are starting to level off. They said we would get a 1% increase. I budgeted a 1% increase. We thought a 1% increase. So, it seems
034like there's they got to the point where they're going to start leveling off what they're going to pay us when it comes to basic ed. And the same thing goes pretty much with Special ed again, they they said we would get a lot. I budgeted a lot less. They never budgeted more than what we got or less than what we got last year. They said we would get three. I budgeted two. We got three. And that and when you look at these numbers, so that three that 3% is about $70,000. On the prior slide, that 1% is about $134,000. So that's the additional amount of money the state's given us for those two areas. Enrollment to 2526, we lost 56 students enrolled. That's 2.3%. uh 2425 to this year we lost eight students in enrollment.
035Looking at special ed enrollment, we lost students 18, I think it was. Did I say 18? Special ed students with IEPs went up 26 out of it can with enrollment going down. We're at 532 students with IEPs now. That's 24%. Um, went up about 102 since 2021. Steel Center Steel Center costs continue to go up. There's an increase in student enrollment, which I think is a good thing. I mean, it's great. You know, kids getting in trades, learning, those kind of things, uni school, all that. So, there's a cost to it. Um, I actually wish I went there. There's a cost to it. And what happened in 2324, we had to pay a piece of their debt. uh they have debt for renovations of that building. Total cost to this district over a 20-year period
036is going to be about $3.8 million. So, it's 187,000 debt service every year for 20 years. We have about 140 kids going there. Tax increases. So, again, I've lived here my whole life. My f everybody in my family's gone through here. my grandkids are going through here. I do everything in my power to reduce and keep taxes at bay. Sometimes you just can't help it. Um over a 16-year period, Elizabeth Ford raised our taxes 39%. The act one index could have been 61%. That's an average of about 2.4%. Out of the last seven years, the index was 34%, we raised 17%. That's about 50% of what we could have raised. So last year, this current year we're in, it was at 5.6, and that's what we raised it at. Now, the proposed budget. So proposed
037budget, and I wish this thing would work. proposed budget. The numbers kind of in the middle there. Budgeted revenues of 54 million, bud budgeted expenses of 54,136. It's a budgeted loss of $112,000 compared to a budget of loss of last year of a million52. That's a $940,000 swing. It's actually the lowest budget of loss since I've been here. That number has been anywhere from 300,000 to 700,000 to last year. million. I never expected that million dollars could be a loss that actually would hold. I thought it would be less than that, but again, for the reasons I said it wasn't. Um, the main items in this proposed budget, it is a tax increase to the index. Include state funding increases, um, including transportation, they they look to be very similar to what happened last year.
0381% here, 2%, nothing major. This does include the elimination of five physicians and admin restructuring. Also includes 8 8.3% medical rate increase. There's increase in thirdparty education services and substitute teachers. Barter school costs have actually dropped because the state changed their calculation on how they calculate uh virtual charter students. We signed a new busing cont bus contract. It started out as a 10% increase. We got it down to 6% and it's going to be a 5% increase um for the next five years. High school electric is the main one a big area that went up um and as it was said earlier includes air conditioning, but it also includes fresh air circulation throughout the building. Right now that building static, so having fresh air is going to be a lot better for the teachers and
039the students that are in there. That equates to a $112,000 uh loss. First, I'll talk about the tax piece. Since 2024 25 to 2026 27, we've lost 5.7 million in assessed value due to the county's common level ratio. Between this year 2026 to 2025, it's another $741,000 loss. These numbers all came from the uh assessed certified assessed uh records from the county as of April 29th. So, it's pretty current. I actually just checked it today and it did go up a little bit, but that number changes weekly. Uh based on this with that loss in assessed value, we'll lose about $20,000. If we increase to the index, we'll pick up about $1.1 million using the current collection rate, which is I'm using 91.93%. That's what it was this year. I don't want to use anything
040higher because it just with these common level ratio changes, what happens is there's a refund given that goes into current tax revenue and it reduces it. So, I'm keeping it at at where we're at this year. That would be a 1.3893 uh millage increase and one mill generates about $738,500. The homestead um payment stayed about the same. It dropped a little bit, but that's passed on to the taxpayers anyway. The good thing about that is we basically get 100% collection on it, whereas tax collections, it's it's closer to 91 92%. Top 10 taxpayers stayed the same as last year. Here's just the major um components of of the numbers. So, revenues the real estate tax increase of 953,000 that is from budget to budget it was 1.1 that was from actual to this year's actual
041to the budget so that's why there's a little bit of difference there state funding basic ed special ed ready to learn and transportation's 544,000 our share of the social security and peasers so what we pay in social security and peasers we get about a little bit more than half of what we pay into that as revenue from the state earned income tax and other local revenues 246,000 like I said that's about a 3% increase I use for local income tax that's the majority of that and then federal pro program revenue access and title one about 109,000 decrease so our elementary school counselor was paid through a PCC grant that 42,000 goes away next year. That's about $1.9 million in revenue increases. Expenses. So salaries and wages, it's actually favorable 121,000. Contractual wage increases is 570,000.
042In this budget, we have a reduction of more professional staff, restructuring of the administration, which is um the middle school area includes elementary and the elimination of the male position. That's 424,000 just in the salary line. We talked about employee turnover earlier. That's going to be 267,000 favorable from a benefit standpoint. 8.3% equates to $448,000. These are social security increase due to the salaries 237. And here's the other piece of the effect of the reduction in um our our restruction in position restructations that totals $657,000. between the two other area purchase purchase professional and technical services special ed mo mainly nursing this year we budgeted last year a pretty big increase in place students um that is pretty much carrying over but there is still more increase in the nursing that's about 106,000 substitute teachers
043was 260 for the budget from what was budgeted last to what we're seeing. We're budgeting 113,000 increase over last year's budget. We actually did some things to reduce how we're going to be replacing uh vacant positions with substitutes. We eliminated the district SRO that was $60,000. Then other savings mainly professional development $20,000. Purchase property services saving 39,000. reduction in thirdparty grounds maintenance of 59,000 and in that line item there are sewage costs that's going up about 20 other purchase services going up 430,000 big component of that is the busing contract that's 272,000 approved private schools 252,000 those replace students as well um charter school savings because of their uh revised calculation 94,000 savings and then steel center rate increase 31 offset by just other savings in that category supplies utilities mainly the high school it's
044mainly the cost of electricity for the air handling the air conditioning curriculum soft curriculum and software costs actually dropped uh we we're testing some things that cost money now that things are implemented implemented have to pay that cost anymore maintenance supplies size increase of 39,000 athletic supplies 30,000. The last item is property. There's no capital budget for this year. Last year we only budgeted 53. So that's a total of about 980,000 in increased expenses I think. And I give um Mr. Mayor Carol, just Carol, Mayor Carol, however you want me. Um, ton of credit, Dr. Sedeski, Josh Cooer. I mean, we did a lot to try to get this budget as close to break even as we could. Um, I I think we did a pretty good job. So, that is the proposed budget. Any
045questions, Rob? Thank you. >> Well, one question, will there be um gas will will there be savings in energy cost with the new boiler system? >> So, I I'm hoping I haven't seen it yet. It's too new to know. So, I didn't want to take a chance and knock it down and then get burnt. Go ahead. Just just the super this is again I missed something from my superintendent report. This is really important. Uh I want to again I think I did this at the last meeting because it was after the musical but since then we've received more information. I really want to commend our musical students. Uh the Jean Kelly awards which are really the the the high standard uh for for musicals in the in the community. Uh we receive very uh many
046nominations. So, if I go through these really quickly, we're budget level three. So, that puts us with another set of schools. Vocal ensemble, dance ensemble, scenic design, lighting design, costume design, student artist who Spencer Callahan, who's one of our student representatives, and this one hits a little close to home. Uh, a finalist for best supporting actress is Emerson Henry, uh, who's this guy's daughter. Uh he will be a final she will be a finalist for Jean Kelly award and she'll perform on the stage uh in the Saturday before Memorial Day. >> Yeah. So just congratulations to those students. I know we talked about the hard work. Uh anybody that was able to make it to the musical knows how how special it was. We're going to see if we get some of those kids in
047here so that we can recognize it was a board. They are something that cons a group that consistently makes us proud. So thank you. education and grants. >> Well, uh so last week we um the whole nation celebrated um you know teacher appreciation week. So I too want to echo uh Mr. Connik's sentiments about our teachers and all they do to help support our students put up with me and all my emails things that are going on in the district. So um you know myself personally I appreciate them. I've been in the district for 20 years. I've gotten to know many of the educators personally um and also professionally and I'm honored to work with them. Um I want to thank the PTO's and the PTAs who helped supply tons of food and cookies and
048candy treats. It just is amazing. We had a lot of student led organizations as well that helped supply um treats for the teachers all week. So um you know, thank you to them as well. Uh, I was gonna say something about the musical, but Mr. Conori did. It was an amazing musical if you did not see it. So, we're really looking forward to them going downtown and showing off um all their talents. So, we wish them the best of luck. Um, so some of you I sent out a couple emails this week. Uh, Allison DeMarco participated in a webinar today um to get an update about Canvas. So, um, what they're said the whole security breach, I'm sure you saw it on the news. hundreds of schools and universities were affected by this. So, uh
049they shared with her that the institution including us will be getting a personalized report um outlining any specific breach in um our information. Um and then they said that but it's going to take a couple weeks for it to get here. And then they said that um they'll assist with any any institution you know um college or school to communicate um and complete any insurance related uh notifications or anything like that. So at this time the information assessed across the breaches included just campus usernames, course names, enrollment information and canvas inbox messages. So I know there was some chatter saying text messages but the kids we don't text message kids in Canvas. So, get that clear. And then, but they're saying that Canvas reported that the core learning data, course content, grade information, login credentials,
050and any curriculum connections were not breached. So, our school so a lot of the information that we we get very concerned about was not breached. And also, we have an added layer of protection through class link. So, that actually protected us as well. So for sometimes class link could be a little bit of a pain but in this instance uh it was it was in definitely worked in our favor. Uh so again Mr. Kik had mentioned about the PFSA so many of you heard too because it was on the news uh like many school districts across Pennsylvania we experienced uh pretty significant technical issues that was not our fault. I'm happy to report um that uh DRC is who manages that and they assured Pennsylvania, all the legislators that they were going to be able
051to make this work and when everybody went online this year. Well, that did not happen. Uh so, didn't take too much of a turnaround. They did end up fixing what needed to be fixed and obviously we started the um the Keystones this week without any issues. So, uh whatever the issues were, they were definitely fixed. So, that was good. And I know they've communicated with us extensively about um you know what had happened and I was at the AIU today and they were taking information from everyone that attended about what they experienced and um it seemed like every area that is surrounding us all had some kind of issue with it. So uh yeah, we're glad that that's that's over. But I do want to give a shout out to the teachers who helped. you
052know, they proctored these exams and they were all very patient and worked with the administration who was running around like chickens with their head cut off trying to figure out what was going on and the kids were incredibly patient. They're so patient. So, um I know that whole experience was pretty frustrating, but we do thank them for hanging in there with us. Um so, again, the Keystone started this week. That's gone on uh pretty pretty smoothly. So, no complaints or anything with that. Um and then AP testing is also happening up at the high school and so far no issues. Um remake learning days uh begins tomorrow with a kickoff at the middle school and the high school events are scheduled for May 21st and all the elementary buildings are going to host on May
05322nd. So for those that do not don't know what Remake Learning Days, it's a regional celebration of innovation, engagement, personalized learning. So, um, it's been kind of advertised. You can see a lot of it going on on Twitter, just different things that school districts are doing in the region to just promote those, um, type of technologies, problem solving, those sort of things. Uh, so next week, next Tuesday, the students will be off. This is the final district full um, inservice day, our final PD day. I'm sure most of the teachers very happy. Uh, I want to thank the faculty again and staff for their continued learning and um, already we're beginning to prepare for next year. So um looking forward to that day. So to move on uh go right to the agenda for 62.
054This is to approve the uh education old service agreement with new story schools. That kind of goes back to what Mr. uh Reagan [clears throat] was saying as far as approved private schools for you know students that are struggling not only with academics but also in need uh pretty significant therapeutic supports uh for social and educational behavioral issues. So um this is an agreement with them so that we can send students there that have that need. Uh 63 this is to grant uh Mr. Rell and Mr. Gerba both social studies teachers at the high school to travel to Washington DC uh for next year actually. Um this is the first time since 2019 they've traveled to Washington DC. I used to go on that trip with them every year when I was up at the
055high school. It's a great trip. The kids love it. Uh a lot of um uh they get like personalized tours and all of that. So, it's always a great experience for them. So, I was really excited when he reached out to say that they were going to start that back up again. >> Very long day trip, right? >> It is a very long day trip. Yes, it is all but it it really is a lot of fun. Yeah. Um so, and then finally, uh 6.4 to um grant my DeMarco and myself to attend a um DCD conference. It's actually a combined conference kind of like some of my field and some of her field. So this is going to be paid for through funds for the Greyel Foundation. These are leftover funds that if we
056don't spend, we have to send back. So um we don't want to lose the opportunity of having that grant. So the conference focuses on uh innovation, teaching, learning practices, trends in education, evidence-based resources. Educators from across the country attend this conference on a yearly basis. That's all. Thank you. Thank you, General Transportation. Oh, yeah. Mr. Mlan. All right. So, you want to go ahead? I think uh Mr. Marco has some >> I don't think No, they're just uh PDF. Which one do you want to portion? Um the phase one. Yeah, this one. This is good. Um and uh just quickly progress in the field. Um Dave Macios is not here this evening, but as if you go by the building, you'll see that phases one and two are now like starting phase two begun. So
057there's work on phase two starting in tandem with phase one. And for those of you familiar with the building, if you look from the backside now, you can see they've taken off some of those metal panels and we're seeing that old glass block that was there with the higher uh window heads with where there was more daylight in the classrooms. That's the beginning of the work that's going to lead to new windows in those classrooms with that higher um window head to, you know, so they'll brighten those classrooms up. And then on phase one, um things are moving along pretty well. A lot of site work going on right now. Um the auditorium in predict in particular is very much taking shape on the inside. So that's just kind of condensed overview of the progress.
058Um on phase one uh we have the the contract summary and um we've got two change orders for you to review this month. um one for the general contractor um and on the general contractor it's it's change order GC19 and it's got six items in there and they net out at a credit of 30,8420 and we had discussed some of this the last time but just quickly those those six items that are in there are that um there's a $60,000 credit for ball field items that had been um put in as a hold holding place in phase one. Um that work was then designed specifically and placed into phase two and that contract uh allowance of $60,000 is now being recovered by the district under under that one. Um and then there's a second item
059for a small bulkhead at the um entrance to the um to the left of the auditorium. There's an entrance that takes you into the corridor going back to teched and there's a ceiling coordination there where there's a small bulkhead um that's added um for $325744. Um additionally item three is a credit of $23,700 removing fencing from the phase one contract that has now been bid directly by the school district to continue that fence all the way around the the stadium. So, there was fence work in the general contract that has come out to the tune of that um credit. Item four is a credit for the signs. We had exterior logo signs on the building. Originally planning two of those, we now have one that's being mounted on the athletic building. Um and there's a
060credit of $6,365.97. Then there is added scope um from the civil um engineers um on the uh site work um that is an ad of $38,82.36 and that is um additional sight concrete and then there are railings coming from the new gym to the stadium. There was in the original design a sidewalk with steps there. um in review with the local uh building inspector and the code reviewers, there was um an interest in getting that to be ADA accessible. So, in the process of making that ADA accessible, um a significant part of that is railings because with a ramp, we now have a handicap ramp there. With that ramp, we need railings on both sides of it. So, we added those railings um into there. And there's also um what are called truncated domes. There
061are those warning strips when you are on a sidewalk or a ramp and you're about to go into a roadway. There are those um insets in the concrete that have the bumps on them. So, someone who's sight impaired gets that warning that they're going to step into a roadway. Those were not on the original civil drawings. They've been added to to the civil drawings under under this uh change order. And then the sixth item is a is a ceiling repair work in part A of the building in the two locker rooms and in the hallways that surround the new gym. Um as contractors did additional work in there, there was damage to the ceilings um attributable to contractors other than the general contractor. Um, and to get the work completed, we we uh directed the
062general contractor to proceed with those repairs uh given the approval of this change order, $17,921.70. Um, and those will that amount will be assessed as credits against those contractors causing uh causing the damage. So, that nets out at that credit of $30,8420. So, that's the change order on the on the general contract. Um, yes. >> Oh, the bulkhead is where um the there's ceiling heights that are different there. So that the when the duct work was all done and the sprinkler pipes were in, there's a change in the ceiling height there. So the as the ceiling comes over right in front of that um al cove where the door is going out um we needed to drop a bulkhead down in there to cover piping that there was no way to get it from from
063where it was going out of the lobby of the new auditorium into the old part of the building. So there's a bulkhead there that was drywall work at like um that $3,200 and some dollars. Um the the second one the updated slate drives was the ADA. >> Um was that according to code the first set of drives like were was it code then and it's not code now by the >> Yeah, that's from the civil engineer which is not it's not and and I'm saying that only because that's not a MLAN consultant. MLAN has the architectural, the structural, the mechanical, electrop electrical and plumbing. the civil design is is the engineers hired hired directly by the district. But in answering that question that um there were subsequent reviews of that after the bids were done
064because they didn't have their final county and state approvals under the NPDS permit. That's a very lengthy process and they didn't have all those reviews done. So there were comments made by the plan reviewers of that that came in after the award of the project which included um some of the items that are in here. So they were added as a result of that review. The same with that that um ramp at the gym. So those were ads that were made at the um following the the plan reviews that were done >> required. >> They are. Yes. And then the damage the 179 are we backcharging the the uh the other contractors? I haven't looked on that already. >> No, we have not. We have uh now we I say we it's the um you
065know the clerk of the works has is aware of who they believe it is. It's a difficult process to get someone to own up to that. So they we informed the contractors that may have these credits assessed against them that that's the plan that we need to get the work done because we don't want to hold the work up. And the general contractor, we want to make sure that ceiling's repaired by them because that's their warranted work. And what happened was people that were pulling cable, pulling wire, accessing areas above the ceiling got the tiles, soiled the tiles, got them dirty, and broke some of the tiles and and some of the T's that hold the ceiling were damaged in the work there. So they they've been made aware of the intent to assess credits
066against those other contractors. >> They indicated they will. I mean, >> yes, not happily, but so far some have and some have not. Some have said they didn't believe it was their damage. So, we have to get to the bottom of it. >> Was one of them the the demo they were? >> No, I don't believe so. I think it was the ceilings were in and I think it was subsequent work. So I I think it was primarily uh the fire alarm subcontractor, electrical contractor, and the low voltage contractors are what we believe to be the most likely people who caused the damage because they were up removing tiles to pull wire through after the ceilings were done. So So that is if are there any other questions on that one on the general? Um,
067and then, um, just going through the rest of I don't have any extras on the mechanical. Um, I know there was a question this evening about duct work, and I'm not sure what that was was concerning. If you look at our mechanical contract, we've got the change orders approved over there on the right side. Um, and at at this point, I think the question was regarding duct work, but our mechanical contractor actually has a net of credits. Um there's probably about if you look at those in the red probably about $120,000 in credits and then the extras that they've had have been probably about 30,000 in those three items that are there and those are specific items that are detailed in the change orders that associated with H5 H6 and H7. So that's the HVAC
068contract. Um uh plumbing contractor no additionals. Um and then on the if we go back to that one next one page up um on the electrical if we look at the electrical we have one change order um this month EC10 uh for the electrical contractor and that's for $13,900 and that's for um additional monitor and and microphone and camera locations that were requested by the by the school district. So, the staff that is going to be using these spaces is now wrapping their minds around exactly how they're going to use these spaces. And one of the unique things is they're tying the because of proximity that to the stage, they're tying the coral room and the band room into the production abilities of the of the uh the auditorium. So, there are cameras and monitors
069that were added to those spaces so that in a production you can see the band in the band room if that's what you wanted to do. And those are things that they've added after the fact. Um, and it's not a criticism to them to add those things after the fact because like I said, they are just now realizing how they're going to use the spaces there. So, they I believe will even have a couple more things that they're they're considering adding in there. This was the the impact of that though to the electrical contractor who had to get outlets and um conduit for microphones and video cables and all those things installed and that's happening while ceilings are going into these areas. So there's a timely aspect to that. Um and then that's the summary
070for um the prime contracts. And then if we go to the next page of this um is there a there's a second page? Yeah, there we go. Um so this is the summary then original construction cost. Um and then our um we do this each month and there's our uh contingency. We had a 5% contingency. Um, we've now got total of change orders approved, leaving us with a uh total percentage of change orders on the project of 1.85%. Should you approve the ones in front of you to today or this month, that'll actually tick down slightly to 1.82% because we're netting a credit um in the change orders for this month. So we have that uh GC change order a credit that's larger than the ad for the uh the electrical. So that's the summary
071of it. Um and you after approving these you still have uh remaining contingency of about 1.9 over 1.9 million. And then these are the percentages based on the last pay applications. Those are the percentages of completion of each of the prime contractors. >> One last question. When you say when you talked about the auditorium change order, the one directed toward the electrician. >> Yes. >> You said they they decided to make changes, they >> once they were thinking about who was I can speak. Yeah. >> Uh we had a meeting with the band I think I said this in the email. Band teacher, the chorus teacher, uh the folks from the musical and all those other things. We did this original collaboration with them. Dave Mlan was involved with that. Uh we did that initial
072collaboration almost two and a half years ago uh where we had their recommendations. Uh they have come to us obviously with some things have changed over time and this is our opportunity to run wires for that thing behind the walls now. Anything that we don't do now would be you know we'd be going through ceilings or adding ponduit later. This will prepare us for those new technology those folks for their functioning of that space. So, >> does >> do we confer with the athletics committees with the teachers with the spaces? Like I >> Yeah. >> Does everybody really have that? >> And these are recommendations. These are recommendations. Yeah. And and this is, you know, I was in that I was in those meetings as well. Uh we're just trying to, you know, we don't
073want to tear down any of these walls and have to go behind them to run any wires in the lake. It's okay. room. There's no room for a musical pit there. We don't have an orchestra pit. So the idea is whenever there's musical, for example, the orchestra will perform in the band and coral room. But in order to do that, there needs to be screens and technologies that are connected. There's no room physical room now for because of the the length between stage and this is a desk. running a wire >> that's powered power circuited power back to a panel for power like for a given monitor and then there's empty conduit that'll be put pulled by like the people doing the video and the microphones and things like that. So they're not just a
074regular monitor. It has like a a mic and a and a video cable with it too. So you get the the signal, you know, the the quality of the transmission. But >> there's no hardware that's the wires preparation for that now. That's correct. Yeah, the the monitors would be by the school district and then the the low voltage would be will be by the um the the TC, you know, the the low voltage contractor. >> I've already seen this to understand it a little bit more because it seems relatively high. >> Yeah, I I think I and it it will help. I'm sure the distances are probably the reason there's they're they're running it from the center of the ceiling of the auditorium, for example. one of the cameras is there and it then goes
075back to a headend room where it then picks up and goes into like the from their band room. So I think it's a good point, but they are there's a there's 800 ft of I think some of the distances that we're talking about. >> Sure. >> Hey Dave, is that something we could just run the conduit and pull later? >> That is with the power. We're doing the power all the way. So you have an outlet there. You wouldn't have a dead outlet. but with the low voltage and with the video cabling. Um, that's later. Yeah, I think it's actually Cat 6 now. But yes, that's right. It's Cat 6. And that we would recommend we would recommend pulling that now. So, you have a live data outlet. But the parts of it that have
076to do with the speakers and the mics and all that, the uh sound people are running those, the sound people will pull the like the mic cables and all that. So um so that's that's the phase one summary. Um and if we go to phase two um phase two we don't have any extras. Um this this time uh we're just a summary of the of the uh the contracts and we had in the uh last month we had a credit that 41,000 and some odd dollars credit to the general contractor. Um and um and like I said phase two work is beginning now. The plumber has probably the most work done so far. We don't have any changes to the other. So, we can just go down to the bottom here. Um, and um, if
077we look at the uh, contingency, we had a 5% to start. It ticked up slightly with a credit to start things off. And then we've got percentages of completion with the plumbing contractor. Enders Plumbing um, is working um, because they're actually doing some of the plumbing site work which is underway now. So they're removing old utility lines, putting new underground lines in, and that's why they're at 15% and the rest are just sort of doing their shop drawings and submitting thing. So that's the summary for phase two. All right. Anything else? You want to >> Okay. Um SBA that would be to approve any new operator additions for um monitors. 7.3 except the water testing results from inner techch. So when they did the water testing there was one fixture that was above the I
078think it's what 0.15 or 0.015 whatever the state guidelines are currently uh that was out of line. um they did rectify that so they're all within the legal limits as far as how much lead is being uh coming out of those fixtures. Just an FYI, the state has and we're trying to figure out how real this is. um a new law coming out that's supposedly following federal law that says that there can be zero lead in any water. Um I I venture to say that's almost impossible because I've done plenty. Um Hasbbo and other legislative areas are looking into this. they don't think that that's they're questioning it as well, but um right now we're in line with the way everything needs to be. 7.4 is to approve Pittsburgh's um commissioning and testing for phase
079two for the construction project, the again the ones that did phase one. 7.5 is to approve proposal from security 101 to do the um owner provided access control connections. We have the units I believe and that this is for them to hook it all up and put everything in. This was rehooked at from a prior vendor and has come in I want to say like 30,000 less than what the other vendor was. I mean it's substantial. Uh, so I give Dave credit on that. Um, 7.6 is the proof. >> Can I ask a question on that? Yes. It said it doesn't include any of the wiring or the wire run. Is that already? >> And that's all part. This is like connect all the stuff. There's like three pieces to it. There's like the units,
080there's the main wiring, and then there's the wiring within the doors and the door door frames. I'm not sure what this all includes to be honest, >> but I know it's the piece we need. >> Yeah. All if I can, all of the um electrified doors in the building, we'll call them the smart doors like the ones with a with a button release or with the ability to to track who when a door opened door, all of that electronics then gets connected and programmed. So, they program that. So when you push a button at the front door, at the front door, you can also view like a a a door in another location, you have different ways of releasing. So some of it's like software programming of what they're doing. >> Here's here's the description.
081It includes readers, door contacts, locks, Rex motions, whatever that is, and additional headend equipment. >> So is the wiring already there is what? >> Yes, the wiring. Yes. Yeah. The old Yeah, the old uh bid was 40 almost 45,000. Uh 7.6 is to approve the stainless steel counters from Keystone Custom Fabricators, $9,94. And um question before I'm trying to think what was the question but this is for that concession stand. This is all the stainless all the electrical everything else that's needed for this is already in that room. This is just the last piece that needs to be bought. But that's why the contractor excluded those pieces. >> So there's no additional cost. >> Right. >> This is it. >> That's my understanding. This is the stainless steel and again we'll have to come back
082to you if there's any need for any additional refrigerators but I think the boosters have their own separate that they lock up right now they will remain so boosters have been taking care of the stuff that they locked up that so >> what about plumbing and wiring >> plumbing is done wiring >> that's why they excluded that wiring yeah they're the sink already in there sitting by itself and the wiring is there for refrigerator Yep. Um, is this TC3? Is that Did you talk about that? >> No, I didn't. Yeah. No, that's a separate >> I >> Yeah, that's a change order from Advent for that's the telecommunication that we that we sourced out. We had a bid for that outside. So this is the change to that for it's data cabinets rack enclosures additional
083things that they need for that. So and I could get I think Matt would have the best answer for that. So I will get answers for anybody prior to the meeting from Matt go back >> president did we on the pitch for things did we as I read through it there is no capital >> I'll take a look at our last agreement see if they >> different they did they did phase one. >> It'll be one of the last ones out >> policy uh policy Dr. You want to take the first two and then Mr. Marco will take the third one. >> Yeah, sure. Uh diabetes management is a new policy by PSBA. Uh we'll take a look at that. Uh the second one 122 opioid antagonist. This is a a reference to the same
084policy of I always say this wrong. MLXone. Am I saying that right? So they changed the word nlloxxone in this policy to opioid antagonist throughout the whole policy. It's almost the same identical policy but it's opioid antagonist. So I guess there were other additive drugs similar to the nlloxxone. Um so that that's why they changed the policy. And then the last one that is the first reading is the social media policy. Uh Mr. Marco, you just want to give a quick update on that. I know you've been working really hard on that. >> Yeah. Um so PSBA um just re recently released an update to social media and social networking for school districts. We have a current policy that I believe has been in place since 2011 if I'm not mistaken, 2009 or 2011. There
085were a couple policies that I was going through uh when when compiling this one. Um the majority of this policy is the recommended policy from PSBA. There were some pieces of our old social networking policy that I did feel were important to to at least have go through the first reading to see if it is something that you want to to keep in there as well. Um this is um a lot of it is designating um what is public forum, what isn't and how our social media should be run as far as who um who is designated as individuals that are allowed to post on behalf of the district, volunteers, PTOs and things like that. Just putting a lot of that policy into place since a lot of those uh mediums are becoming more common
086as far as having PTO uh pages. they have their own pages. Um, student groups having their own pages and that sort of sort of thing. So, those are all included in the city policy. >> Thank you, Mr. >> Brandy. Are there any development in the badge policy draft? >> I I really have to uh Miss I know that she's been consumed with a lot of things. So, I want to talk about that and what we're doing with that. Don't you? >> Yes, I understand. Yes, I think a lot of those conversations happen. >> Well, you need a policy though. >> How many policies you you accepted 2009 2009? How many policies do we know that are that far out of date? >> Um the our district website policy I believe was the 2009 policy. PSBA
087has does not have an updated policy for that. Um so some of that is tied into the social media policy now websites are being considered as all part of our our communication as a district. Um so that one once if this is adopted um that one would be recommended to be retired and then our old social networking policy this would also update that as well. So that would be retired and replaced with this current that's up for first reading. So I have anybody else because our