001I think we just Good evening. The purpose of this meeting is to conduct the business of the Gettysburg Area School District. Board of Directors meetings and committee meetings are open to the public but are not public meetings. All school district residents who wish to make comment should prior to the start of the meeting request to speak at the citizens participation portion. Public comment is welcome and all issues will be referred to the appropriate board committee or administrator. Comments will always be summarized in the official board minutes which will be made available by contacting the business office. Excuse me. Please take a moment to silence your cell phones and any other electronic devices. Everybody's present. Dr. Moyer is on the phone with us here. He's in spotty cell phone coverage, so hopefully we keep him for
002the duration of the meeting. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I >> pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Do you have any notices and communications presentation? >> Under notices and communications, I believe there is a middle school presentation. Oh, welcome this evening. Thank you. >> Okay. Hi, welcome. Um, I'm Christy Kaywood. Most of you I've talked to before. Um, I didn't realize we were first first tonight, but that's great. All right. Uh, so the middle school, um, two things that we are working on is the same thing the district's working on. Um, reigniting student engagement, getting them excited about school, excited to learn, excited about their classes, and also reimagining
003what success looks like, especially at the middle school level. So, to highlight, I guess I'm hitting the wrong button. um some of those things. Uh one is this year we started off our school year with a warrior way kickoff assembly. Um imagine a little bit of a honor roll kind of assembly mixed with a pep rally. Um it's it's kind of what we did there. Uh we we advertised be here and we celebrated positive attendance. Um we gave out random Mr. G awards for kids who were just present. Um and we do that randomly now throughout the the year. Um but we are using that as an incentive towards our our goals at the end of each quarter that if a child has or a student has um no more than one unexcused absence per
004quarter that qualifies them in the be here category and gives them positive attendance. So they'll start earning certificates at the end of each quarter for having positive attendance. Uh for being involved we had some minute to win it games. um you know had fun and put together some um teamwork for being committed. We handed out all the um honor role and distinguished honor roll uh certificates from fourth quarter the uh year previous because apparently they never really ever got handed out by fourth quarter. Everyone just went home. So it was kind of nice for our sixth graders to sit there and watch all the seventh and eighth graders names being called and being able to get those awards which was really neat this year. Um, and we did, like I said, introduce some new requirements.
005Um, our sixth and seventh grade especially have reward um, trips and reward activities that they do at the end of each quarter. And before, uh, in the past, it had just been based on behavior alone. But this year, we've incorporated grades. So, they need to be passing all of their classes in order to participate, and they also need to have positive attendance. And then that resets each quarter. So, motivating kids to continue that success um, all the way. So, it was a great fun way to start our school year. Um, positive expectations and goal setting. One thing we brought back this year that we're really excited about is our eighth grade service learning projects. This was something um our eighth grade teachers had done with the students for years up until COVID and then that
006kind of all went away when it was hard to bring in community members. Um, and this year we decided to bring that back. Um, you can see even our Dr. Moyer was there um representing the Gettysburg Area Recreation Association. Uh so we're going to have groups of students working with them. Uh the Lincoln Fellowship uh has a lot to do with the America 250 thing that's happening uh next year. So our kids are going to start getting involved in some of the projects for that. Um specifically, um they can they be assigned a a soldier who fought in the war who was buried in the cemetery and um the foundation is going to give them some research sources and then the students have to do the research themselves and compile a story about the person
007and then that will be hooked up to a QR code. So, as you walk through the cemetery um when that happens next year, you'll be able to see some of our kids and their um their writings and research being published, which I think will be really cool. Uh some of the kids are also doing projects in our building uh which is painting some murals um taking doing this photography project and trying to get some some things up on our walls that show our kids doing um you know, good stuff in our building. So, lots of neat things there uh with our eighth grade um service learning projects and the return of that. Another thing we have this year is the birth of our national junior honor society. So I would like to introduce a few
008members who are going to talk with you tonight about our NJHS. Thirsten Campbell, Ellie Frey, and Elena Waggamman. Hello everyone. My name is Campbell Thirstston and I am here as president of our chapter to represent our new GAMS NJHS chapter along with Elena and Ellie, our treasurer and our vice president. We make up three of the four officer positions as our secretary could not make it tonight. So in March of 2025, 40 eighth graders applied to the NJHS chapter. Only 20 kids were accepted and they are now part of your GAMS NJHS chapter. All of us were accepted because we actively showed the qualities of character, citizenship, service, leadership, and scholarship. Throughout this year, we will be doing certain services in our community to not only show these qualities, but be a model of what
009young leaders can do. And now, our treasurer. Hi, I'm Elena Wagaman and I am our chapter's treasurer. As a member and leading officer of the NJHS, our goal is to not only make our school, but also our community a better place. We are engaging fellow classmates by doing fundraisers and sports activities. We will be also taking part in a community and school service. A minimum of 10 individual in two school hours are required by the end of the year. But I'm sure I can speak for all of us when I say that we will be going above and beyond with our service hours. And now our vice president. >> Hi, I'm Elanor Fry and I'm our chapter's vice president. For our chapter projects, we are thinking about these. RNK sub fundraiser, selling minithon items, parents
010night out. This is to be approved. Dodgeball tournament, collecting soda tabs for Ronald McDonald House. For this one, we are making posters to put around the school and are trying to make some sort of system to collect them. We've already started the RNK subs fundraiser and we will be finished with it soon. >> If anyone has any questions, don't hesitate to ask us. Otherwise, thank you and have a good night. Thank you before you walk away and congratulations on something something brand new. So I mean you're the pilot program for something that's very successful. So thank you. A great example of what success is now going to look like at the middle school and engagement. Uh for this one I have El Elsie Miller and uh Nishka Patel. >> Hello, my name is Elsie Miller.
011I am a seventh grader and my role in the play is Tweedle Dum. >> Hello, I'm Nish Kapatel. I'm playing Tweedle uh Tweedled D in this production. So, our what we're doing this year is the real story of Alice in Wonderland. It's a comedy parody based off the original Alice in Wonderland with a couple twists and little jokes in there. This show actually has not one but two Alice's in it. And it's really engaging. It's a fun activity for a lot of kids to do. >> You should 100% consider coming to the performances. It's just an amazing way to support young actors in the community. Um that's completely free to attend and our performances are the 19th >> and no sorry I misspoke there. Uh the 16th and the 17th. >> 17th and 18th. >>
012Are they sorry >> 17th and 18th. I promise I know. I know. >> I totally know. >> Okay. So a reason that I personally love doing all these productions. It's a great way for people to meet new people and it's like coming together to create something that everyone can engage in. It's pretty interesting to see how everything goes. The story, even the story is just pretty fun to look through. It's also really I find this the best part to put yourself into a character and make yourself that character and amplify what you're doing there. >> I feel very similar to her. I would just like to um say one of my favorite parts of theater is the people around it. There's amazing casts and crew and director, even parent volunteers who come together and we're
013just making this amazing show. I hope you come and I hope you enjoyed our little advertisement. >> Thank you so much. >> Whoa, whoa, before you walk off again. >> Sorry. >> We have the 17th and 18th. Do you know the times? If not, Miss Kwood see there. There. See how quick that happens even to me. So, it's good. Thank you so much for your presentation. >> Thank you. [Applause] >> Wow, what a great job by our students. Um, so I am Matt Lob, assistant principal at the middle school. Um, I just want to speak briefly about something we had happen here a few weeks back. Uh, our Southwoods restoration project. Um, so Konowago Enterprises provided their services for free to repair existing trails and bridges that have been damaged due to flooding um in
014our outdoor learning space which is behind Warrior Stadium. Uh, so this effort was spearheaded by Mr. Tony Floyd. So he really deserves all the credit here. Uh, with help from Mr. Klinger who you see there. Um, and so these repairs, uh, they're going to allow our students to continue to access this area and that's our outdoor classroom. Uh, and you know, science classes go out there for different kinds of outdoor learning experiences. So, you know, we're really grateful to Konago and Mr. Floyd for putting this all together. Um, you know, it's it's nice when the community and local businesses come together with the school district to do good things for our kids. So, we really appreciate that. um and maybe caught caught us on uh Fox 43 News. So, thank you. >> All right. And
015the last update about the middle school uh is something that you all supported last year. Uh and this was our renaming of our gym uh to the Steve Linton uh Memorial Gymnasium. And um I just like to say the project is complete. Our goal was set to raise $5,000 and we raised over seven. So, we were very fortunate to um not only get plaques made, and those might look familiar u Mr. Morris, because I believe your son Anthony designed those for us. Um so, the high school students uh put some time into this as well. Um creating those plaques at both of the entrances. We now have um the um the signage above the entrance. And we also were able to work with the athletic department and buy a new scores table that says welcome
016to Gettysburg Area Middle School, Steve Linton Memorial Gymnasium. So, we're really excited. We're going to we are planning our dedication uh where his family is all planning to attend. Uh we hope some of you will attend as well. So, we'll be sending invites out, but it is um December 3rd at 4:30 and we're going to do this during a boys basketball game. So, we're really excited for that. So, um, that is what we've got from the middle school so far. It's been a great year. >> Thank you so much for your presentation and that last bit there. You are correct. The board supported that wholeheartedly and I'm really really appreciative speaking for the board of the staff and everybody that dug in to really make that a successful and I guarantee it'll be packed on
017the third. It >> probably will. Thank you. >> Thank you. That brings us to citizens participation. Mike, look like we have one speaker uh this evening. Um Miss Terry McCracken You all are amazing. So, good job, girls. So, um mine is not as fun to talk about, but anyways, I'm Terry McCracken, and my husband and I moved to this area about a year and a half ago, and we love this area. So, we are trying to learn more about the community and and the school system. So last year when our taxes were raised, we decided to start attending these board meetings this school year and educate ourselves a little bit about what's happening in the schools. So at the last board meeting, there was quite a bit of discussion about the team room. So I
018I understand a vote's going to be taken tonight and I totally respect that. So I apologize for speaking at the 11th hour, but I just wanted to share some thoughts with you. So the conversation at the last team meeting was interesting. Uh to me it to me it seemed obvious that multiple people on the board didn't feel comfortable voting yay on this building and it sounded like this discussion has been ongoing for quite some time. So of course as a taxpayer I started thinking about the conversation afterwards and I'd like to mention just a few of the highlights that I've been thinking about and have me concerned. So, I just wanted to share these. So, the number one thing is the cost of the building. It was originally, if you went with all of the
019options, it was $2.108 million. So, in reading the notes for tonight, I see that that's now $1.8 million and the square footage of the building is $3,200 square ft. So this means that the cost of the building comes to $591.88 per square foot and the land's already paid for. So that doesn't include the cost of the land. So I don't understand commercial pricing. I understand residential pricing. And in this area, I know you can buy a beautiful home uh with appliances and the land for $200 per square foot. So, this almost $600 per square foot seems really high to me. It's three times the cost of residential. Um, I understand stand there are five football games each year and I'm sure that this building is going to be used for more than football games, but
020um, you know, five football games. And looking at the plans online, it looks like the building's in halves. So this half has four toilets, a couple of sinks and 10 benches. This half has four toilets, a couple of sinks and 10 benches. And then there are couple of whirlpools and a couple of benches for taping. So anyways, you know, I I would think for that much money that there would be more to offer the the school and the kids for that price. Uh also during the discussion I heard multiple times from various people that the home stands are filled to capacity for games and my husband and I we've attended a couple of the home games and yeah they are full. So more seats are definitely going to be needed at some point. Uh this
021area is growing so much and so last weekend we went to a couple of the new developments that are being built. The Courtney Meadows development is planning on building 151 single family homes. The towns at Cambridge are building uh 81 town homes and I don't know how many apartments are being built over there by Aldi on Route 30, but it's a lot. So, the enrollment is going to be going up, which means more students and the need for more um homeside benches. So, with this new building, it does not add any bleachers at all. So, like I'm just kind of struggling with this. Um, there was also discussion about the turf possibly needing replaced next school year or soon thereafter. So, I don't recall if a price was mentioned, but I'm sure that that price
022tag is costly as well. So again, you know, looking ahead to next year, uh, when there's discussion about adding home bleachers or turf, I just wonder where is this money going to come from? Um, a couple of the board members were were being so fiscally responsible last meeting and asking about the financing of this project. So I thank you so much for asking the questions. One, one response was along the lines of we have the money. if we don't use the money, we're gonna lose it. So, finance is not my background. So, I I didn't follow like how do you lose money that you have? So, in talking with some people, I'm now under the impression that the school district has bond money to use, which is the same thing as a pre-approved loan. So,
023please correct me if I'm mistaken, but if this is a pre-approved loan, that means we really don't have the money that we're going to have to pay it back. So anyways, that was just another thought that, you know, I struggle with. So I do understand the challenges of high schoolers trying to change into the uniforms inside of a middle school locker room. I myself work in a middle school, so like I know how the spaces are smaller. I understand a team room is definitely closer for for the boys to run to if a storm kicks up, but I just think that there has got to be a more fiscally responsible plan. Um, you know, just looking down the road in the next couple of years and the growth that's going to be happening at the
024schools, I I just want to make sure that the money is being used in the most responsible way. So, I'm hopeful for all of us that our taxes aren't increased again in the near future uh when there when we talk about more bleachers, turf replacement, expanding buildings, updating buildings. Um so, I'm just trusting you all to make a good decision for all of us. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. That brings us to our routine approvals as we normally do. I'm going to lump on lump in all of them. 5.1 through 5.8. May I have a motion for 5.1 through 5.8, please? >> So moved. >> Second. >> And I would normally uh so we have people uh live stream. 5.1 is the agenda. 5.2 2 is a regular board meeting. It's September 2nd. 5.3
025is a regular board meeting minutes September 15th. 5.4 is approval of Jacobe Transportation Drivers. 5.5 is approval of Warner Transportation Drivers. 5.6 is approval of overseas trip Italy. 5.7 is approval of PSBA um slate of candidates and 5.8 is the HR human resources. So we have a motion on the floor. I have a second. I is there a question on ending a motion on the floor? >> I have a question about uh 5.6. >> Um you have the dates on there is June 8th through June 16th. Um and saying that there's eight student days missed, but we'll be out of school by then. >> We will be. That's correct. >> So we won't be missing eight student days. >> Okay. Kathleen >> 5.8 HR recommendations. I just would like to acknowledge Ms. Wilson and Miss
026Shiloh. Thank them for their combined 34 years of service to the district as they retire. >> Yes. Congratulations. Additional question hearing none. Roll call. Tim. >> Yes. >> Kathleen. >> Yes. >> Jeremy. Yes, >> Mike. >> Yes, >> Ryan. >> Yes, >> Michelle. >> Yes, >> Al. >> Yes, >> Al's voted yes. >> Alice, >> yes. >> And I vote yes. >> Items for board action. Uh the 6.1 is the ACTI 2526 budget amendment for personnel. May I have a motion, please? >> So moved. >> Second. question on the floor or question on a motion. >> Mr. President, I have a couple of questions. >> Kathleen, >> uh, actually, I've got three questions. I'm curious to know the specific reasons the part-time lab assistant position is difficult to fill leading to the request to hire
027a second full-time teacher. >> I I think we can make this easy because I see a gentleman in the back. Mr. Der, do you mind coming forward? it probably probably be more suited for you to provide an answer to the questions that we have. Thank you so much. >> You're welcome. Thank you. Um, yes, we had uh we advertised for that part-time lab assistant position and we interviewed three candidates. One candidate was uh a good candidate, but it was very difficult to get her on board because of the salary and the hours. um folks in healthc care make pretty good money and and it was difficult for her to give up her full-time job to come and work with us for um part-time hours and the salary that we were offering. >> You you have
028the floor. >> All right. Thank you. I've got two more questions for you. So, uh until now, how has the acti superintendent of record position been compensated? >> It has not been compensated to this point. Um, I will say though the superintendent of record that we recommended and was approved for the coming two school years, uh, she has a lot of experience in career and technical education and she wants to see our project move forward. So, the first five years of ACTI's existence, the superintendent of record was kind of there on call. if I had a question, I could give that person a call and, you know, have a short meeting with and they could help me get through whatever I needed help with. But this superintendent of record, she is very involved. We meet
029every Monday morning for two hours to discuss ACTI and what's going on and what we'd like to do. um she has really spurred conversation among the superintendent group whereas uh in the past when the superintendent met ACTI was always a topic of discussion but it was usually a pretty quick discussion but we had uh several two-hour conversations with the superintendents the last couple of months we've met. So she's she's really doing a great job pushing things along and and helping me out. >> All right. Thanks. And then my last question is, as I look at the $30,000 salary adjustment that's being requested, >> it leads me to question. Has there been a holistic review of all positions to identify are there other positions that are so below market rate? Well, apart from our eight teachers
030and until two months ago when we hired our assistant to the director, there's only been me and the two folks that are part of this budget amendment. Um, so I would say yes, we have done a pretty thorough review at this point because there's so few of us. Um but yes, we had um we got some data from the Lincoln Intermediate Unit where they compared salaries among folks in their service area and then we also had the Pennsylvania School Boards Association do an analysis for us and uh their results came back that uh yes, those folks should be compensated a little bit better for all the work that they do. Uh uh I'll remind the board that ACTI is a completely separate school entity and all of the things that you all have to do
031for your district. Although on a smaller scale we have to do at ACTI. And I'm talking about human resources, benefits management, getting substitutes, um payroll, all the business office functions from budget to audit. Um, so those those two folks really help ACTI stay afloat and and uh yeah, we felt that uh they deserve that. >> Thank you. >> compensation. >> Does anyone have any additional questions before we can excuse him? >> I do. >> Go ahead, Michelle. >> Um, so for Dr. Perry and this 15,000 I mean it says that it was uh for support during potential land purchase and building project justifies for stipen. So once the land is purchased and the building's done, does the stipen go away or is this going to be a stipen in perpetuity? That would be up to
032the joint operating committee to decide depending on where we get to with the project and if it continues and you know how far that goes. Um I would say the project would probably take three to four potentially even 5 years till it's complete. Uh the land purchase hopefully we can get that accomplished within six or eight months here. Um but um that would be up to the joint operating committee as to whether that stipen stays in place or not. And have you hired an an assistant director? >> We have hired an assistant to the director. Uh that gentleman started on June or July 1st. >> Any additional questions? Thank you for your time this evening and your answers. >> You're welcome. Thank you. >> I appreciate it. Hear knowing no additional questions on the motion.
033Roll call. Alice, >> yes. >> Al, >> uh, no. >> Michelle, >> no. >> Ryan, >> yes. >> Mike, >> yes. >> Jeremy, >> yes. >> Kathleen, >> no. >> Tim, >> yes. >> And I vote yes. 6.2, the team room bid review. May I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. question on a motion on the floor. >> Mr. President, I do have a couple of questions, >> Kathleen. >> So, and thank you for answering my questions last or two weeks ago. That was really helpful and through email as well. I appreciate that. But I have a couple of additional questions. Um, high school athletes can't use the middle school locker rooms when the middle school has games. So, that's one reason we want the team's room, so students aren't changing in the
034parking lot. But how does the team's room without actual lockers satisfy that problem for us? >> Uh, I'm going to ask Ke Kevin, you want to can you respond to that? You or and or Cody? >> I I can at least respond on a higher level. So um lockers were not considered because in of course it would increase the footprint of the building as well as the dimensions inside the building in order to accommodate lockers is one area and it was considered a team room. So lockers were not necessary at that level. C >> can I follow up on that? Are lockers even used anymore? >> They're not used in the middle school for the players at presently. Uh which is why they weren't included here. This is merely they're going to come in with
035a a duffel bag full of gear. They're going to change in. It's a locker room. They're going to change right there in front of everyone. And >> and and it's kind of a bigger question and it might go a little off topic, but I have the middle school represented here. I have the high school represented and we have main the whole whole gamut's represented here. Is it a fair analysis that lockers throughout our district, I know they're in there now, are rarely used by our students? Would that be an accurate statement? No, not at not at the middle school. >> They are used high school. >> Not at the high school in the in the gym and athletics. I mean, they do lock our belongings up. >> Okay. >> Not in the main academic. >>
036Kathleen. >> Oh, all right. Well, thank you. >> Thank you. Uh, so teams room is being built for more than just the football team. Other teams that will use uh that field. So, I think about track and field uses that space, right, for their competitions. Yeah. Um, and if we're looking at we're looking at a team's room that's got a home team side and a guest team side, but something like track and field is male and female. So, for track and field, how would that space be utilized? Would the home team and the guest team females be on one side and then the males on the other? Like, have we thought about that? >> Cody, I'm going to defer to you. I don't want to put you on the spot. Does that come up? >>
037So, track and field is kind of a little bit of a different entity. Um, usually the away team comes dressed and ready to go. Um, for our team, I envisioned having a male and female side, one visitor or home, whatever it our team would have on the left male, on the right female, and then we could look at other options for the away team. Um, but typically the away team puts their stuff under the pavilion or somewhere on the um visitor side and they're good to go. >> All right. Well, thank you. And then the last question, and I did ask this in an email, and I did get um I got a brief answer for it, but I'd like a little bit more. So, if the bond money is not used toward a team's
038room, what priority projects could we use that money for? So, I'm really thinking about what's the opportunity cost of using the bond money toward a team's room. Yes, thank you for the question. If the team's uh room does not move forward, the next available project in the making that we're going to be coming forward to the board is the administration HVAC project. C can you elaborate the timeline because I know we had a we had a citizen come in and did ask a few questions and we normally don't go the banter back and forth. >> Yes. >> But can you explain that bond money again to us? >> So we took out 2020 and 2022 bonds. 2020 bond was for the high school. 2022 bonds was for the James Getty and the Lincoln. Um, so
039three years after you take the bond money out is your countdown is pretty much you've got to expend more than 90% of your funds in order to avoid arbitrage. Arbitrage is you must return funds on interest earned if your money is not spent. It's calculated on the dollars that remain of um unspent. So we are still dealing with a closeout of 2020 and 2022 bonds so that we have those funds available for the next project. We are hoping to get the 2022 gone so we don't have a recalculation of arbitrage. So the bond money is sitting there. It's earning interest. What is what is returned to the IRS arbitrage is the interest on those funds unspent. So, we need to work towards getting those funds spent down on the bond. Does that >> or it's
040going to cost us money. >> So, yeah. So, we're not it's not tax. It's going to cost us money. We're giving them back money. Money that we made as a result of bonds from other 5-year capital improvement projects. >> 2020 was the best deal ever that we had. The interest was so low and we've been earning a good amount of interest on that bond. The problem that we have is the fact that it's earning interest. um we're not able to appropriate that interest uh the difference thereof because you know the timeline kicked in. It's over three years old. So we have to set those funds aside and pay back the IRS on that. Um arbitrage is not a bad thing but it also it it goes on the clock. Basically your time starts ticking away
041to to work down your expenditures so you don't have to face arbitrage. No one wants to really pay back interest. The good news is is we were earning interest. We were earning good interest and so we've set those funds aside in order to make the payment to the IRS. Our goal is to get those 2020 bonds down and below so there's not a recalculation of interest where in fact we may not be in a good situation for whatever funds are remaining. So if we were to delay this team room and move to the administration HVAC, we're looking at another 2 three years until that project's like futition that we're completing it. So we could be facing another arbitrage calculation that we'd have to do. So, so really to summarize this, and if I'm wrong, stop
042me at any point is is this district historically, long before I've been here eight years ago, established a group of people, a collective group of people, not just the board members, but administration and other other people, other sources that have a vested interest in this district. And what we formed is we came up with is a five-year capital year plan. Correct. >> That's correct. And and in evaluating that five-year capital year plan, these people identified key areas that needed to be improved over time. And fiscally, this district set aside or worked to fund those projects, not on the back of a taxpayer. Quote, in this real time, ultimately it is taxpayer and other funding money for projects that need to be done. And that's where we came up with this collective group of people over
043time identified this as an area that we needed to address. And that's where we're at tonight instead of at the at the HVAC system. Would that be accurate? >> That would be accurate. I will say that um for large scale projects, HVAC, we're not looking to born in the back of the taxpayers. We took out bond money for those. The large scale projects we cannot afford without taking bond money. the capital projects which we have yearly budgeted money to help fund the normal improvement plans for of capital-l like nature that is separate from these FIP funds. um FIP funds are just focused on largecale projects and so the team room and correct me if I'm wrong was probably three years in the making now um before we started with getting the architect and the engineers
044involved having several meetings by several vested parties um to determine what the need was. We've already been out to bid once and we rejected the bids because they were a lot higher than this second bid time. Um so again this is a second bid. we have a time frame to approve those bids or we have to go back like we have to reject them. So if if the project's not done then we're basically rejecting the bids and starting at square one or no square at all and determining that we're going to do the next funds towards the HVAC project at the admin building. So, so you've really explained what I wanted to get out because I didn't want the narrative to be that this board arbitrarily said we wanted this team room that this was
045over a three, four year project. Whether you want to call it under the cap five-year cap fun or plan or not, it still comes through building and finance. It still comes through the same recommendations from PE vested people of interest, not an individual or single or a collective board members doesn't get it to this point. This has been brought as a need from the administration on down over time. >> Then there were many people involved and determining what that need of the team room was going to look like. >> Thank you. >> Mhm. >> I would just like to ask a quick question on the logistics of the um item on the floor. I'm seeing lots of different um recommendations listed, right? the one of the finance and facility committee um which includes all of
046the components and a higher project total and then I'm seeing the administration's recommendation which we reviewed last meeting that includes um slightly fewer of those or at least the alternates added in there. So I guess my question is just this vote is what is the detail of this vote? Is it just to say we accept this bid or Yeah, >> I'm glad you asked that so there's no confusion. The vote in the motion that just went through a second is for the entirety. So when you look at that's the entire project that includes the bleachers and everything. I don't want any confusion there. It's not broken down that way. Sure, the board is being able to see a breakdown on the agenda and it's been broke down at previous meetings, but the single motion 6.2
047is its entirety and includes everything. It's all-encompassing. >> Okay. I appreciate that. Um I I do remember hearing the concerns from the administration in terms of the usage of that um structure spectator access structure over top um and just wondering if that was you know entirely needed right now in terms of like have making sure that it's monitored by safety and security. I just want to make sure that that's I I don't forget that conversation. Um, I generally I, you know, often can't go to the football games here because I'm at the football games in Mechanicsburg, uh, with our marching band, but I I know that understand that need to make sure that kids and and community members are safe wherever they are and that they're monitored. Um, less so of safety of the actual
048structure, but more so of safety of just making sure that there are adults around knowing and and addressing student concerns. So, um, I just, you know, I I don't feel the need to hold that up on that end because of that being included in this, but I do want to acknowledge the administration recommendation and and hope that, you know, in the future, should this go through that we can support them with uh having, you know, the access to that separate space accommodated with either more staff or um adults that can kind of help monitor that situation and just keep keep an open open communication. with them about that if issues arise. Thanks. >> Thank you, Alice. Any additional question on the motion on the floor? >> Belinda, can I just ask you, is there a
049dollar amount for this arbitrage? >> I believe the last case calculation is 1.2 million. Now, mind you, that is all interested. So, we're giving back half of what this project is costing. >> Well, can I ask one more question? >> Sure. I just not I want to make sure I understand that 1.2 million is what we are due to give back based upon planning over four years if this project's not approved. Is that an accurate? >> So, we have 1.2 million of interest earned that is set aside to pay back to the IRS. that is not a reduction or an increase in the principal portion that still remains to be paid for the project. Does does that help? Does that make sense? Okay. >> So, is that 1.2 million money that if we do the
050team room that we can spend >> regardless the 1.2 million is going back. >> Okay. Okay. What I what the goal here is to spend down the bond money so that the arbitrage calculation is not done. Therefore, requiring more interest to go back to the IRS. Okay. Any other questions? >> Sorry. Any additional questions? Roll call. Tim, >> yes. >> Kathleen, >> no. >> Jeremy, >> yes. >> Mike, >> yes. >> Ryan, >> yes. >> Michelle, >> no. >> Al, >> yes. >> Alice, >> yes. >> And I vote yes. 6.3 the approval of um 6.3 approval Adams County Board of Assessment Appeals. It is uh to remind the board this is uh Blenda helped me out here again so I'm not making a mistake. 2022 the district has been working on the assessments and
051these transactions. May I have a motion? >> I mean a motion on format. Second anyone >> second >> question on the floor on the motion >> I just wanted >> I'm sorry um I just wanted to if if Belinda could um just give us since it's been so long like how much the original was how much it is now what tax base are we losing from this so on and so forth I'd appreciate >> I apologize I don't have the exact assessment value to provide to you but I will say this has been in the making since 2022. It became an issue when COVID hit and just the shopping andor experiences of the mall um had tanked down. Uh so of course they like every other taxpayer has the opportunity to do a appeal. Uh
052appeals went through several levels of uh review. Um so um there were appraisals done on the property and the appraisals were a good number good middle and or bad number so to speak. Um so the property uh owner had done an appraisal and their number came in very close to what the appraisals were that were completed by the county and the district. We joint shared the appraisal. So, a high-end chance of loss was like $44,000, but we came in a mid-range. So, we're slightly around $25,000 change in assessment below what it initially provided us. We will account for that in the next round of budgeting. We'll show those reductions um as a true tax reduction in there. And then not a not approving this would take it to litigation which would probably cost us more
053than what >> that's correct. So this is just a finalization of the process. >> All right. Thank you. >> Mhm. >> Any additional questions. >> Roll call. Alice. >> Yes. >> Mike. >> Yes. >> Al. >> Yes. Michelle, >> yes. >> Ryan, >> yes. >> Jeremy, >> no. >> Kathleen, >> yes. >> Tim, >> yes. >> And I vote yes. 7.1 into theformational items, the repurposing of supplemental positions. Do any board members have any questions related to thatformational item? >> I have a question, >> Michelle. Um so on the theou it said that it was a lack of interest in academic competitions position supplemental position >> what what academic competitions would >> those were not specific um to anything uh specific things in particular. I know one was I believe Environ which is something that
054we still you still have. Um and then I think there was one in there for Brainbusters but there were positions that um had not been filled in a couple of years were still in the list. So after um some conversation with myself and um Morgan and the middle school administration, we decided to try to move those to places where there is a greater need. I was just going to say I appreciate your collaborative look at that because I know that there can be um you know shifts in need over the years and I think it's great that there's an opportunity there for educators to help students in a in a more uh meaningful time frame and and application with those funds. So thanks for looking at it. >> nothing additional 7.2 to the ACTI emergency
055nursing service agreement. Any questions from the board on that? >> Can I just ask one question? >> Sure. >> Michelle, >> am I reading this right that it's it has to be a nurse that can tend to all the students from all the districts? It's not am I completely off base there? >> Um, no. I think that is correct. Sean, I don't know if you want to comment on that one also. So, the um when we were Adams County Tech Prep, the Gettysburg High School nurse did serve all of the students in the tech prep programs. Uh when ACTI separated from Gettysburg School District, um there were conversations around nursing services and the district decided not to provide those anymore. So, ACTI was um we we if a student came to their teacher and said
056they weren't feeling well or something like that, then the teacher would send them to me and I would typically call the parent and find out if the student could be picked up or or if the illness wasn't so severe, then we would probably just send them back on the bus and they would, you know, go home from their high school. Um and that that works fairly well. Um, but this agreement, we're just looking for emergency services. If something were to happen where a student in building trades would cut the end of their finger off or something, then, you know, we would we would like the Gettysburg High School nurse to help us out a little bit. Now, we do have a couple RNs on staff. Our our allied health teacher is an RN. Um the
057lab assistant is not, but um our criminal justice teacher is trained in CPR and AED and stop the bleed and those types of first aid services. So we do have people that can respond, but uh we're just requesting that an e- in an emergency that the high school nurse would respond and we would reimburse the district for her time if that were to occur. I say that seems more than reasonable and it and it you know leaves you guys without um a major issue you know on the hands of the teachers there. It also says in the note here that you know in the case of a coordinated plan of care or administration of emergency medication that for specific types of um illnesses students might come with or um conditions students might come with that
058their home district nurse will help coordinate that. So, I think that's great, too, since they have that um that plan of care already in place for students and information from families, >> right? We're not asking the high school nurse to collect all the records for all of our students from other districts or anything like that. It's just emergency services. >> Great. >> Yeah. >> Thank you again. >> Y >> any additional questions on theformational item hearing? None. Board committee reports. anybody this evening program reports uh Belinda 9.1 at C I see that you're going to step up here just hopefully quickly um just to provide information to the board uh so there's a clear understanding I believe Mr. Moyer had sent me some information relative to charter school fund balance and what I'd like to
059share with you this evening is um Commonwealth Foundation which was the generator of the information that was painting the picture uh first let me back up Foundation is um an organization that does research to expand school choice strengthen charter school movement um they promote free market ideas and policy solutions so they're researchbased um so they provided a um an update to uh research they had recently done and it was titled find your school district's reserves and um it was underneath a title on Commonwealth Foundation's site of rethinking school district's reserve funds as students return to class. So the article in itself if you were just looking at numbers it paints school districts reserves as far exceeding charter school reserves. And what I have before you this evening using our wonderful research system that we have
060in place is comparing Gettysburg Area School District to the actual cyber charter schools for the last five years on fund balance. And these are our charter schools that we deal directly with. And what I like to point out here is um on these um where the green line is shows approximately where the chart where the uh fund balance is and the colorations below will show you exactly what is unassigned assigned um committed so forth. So for example um and the information can be misleading if unless you're really looking at the detail and the data. Um, basically the article said that school districts reserves exceed 20% of their spending and there's no need to raise taxes to address any sort of charter school funding is basically the the sideline. So it shows um the information being
061shared that Gettsburg area school district had 30% of total expenditures in our reserves. So what it didn't necessarily tell you and what you had to go down to a deep dive is is to say what exactly the fund balance is for the rest of the charter schools. So before you this evening is a chart um we can make it available to you so it's a little bit easier to read but basically 21st starter excuse me 21st charter century charter has 111.4% 4% of fund balance um sitting there that is not necessarily um capped there for what I would like to recommend to the board excuse me is that charter schools don't experience caps like school districts do school districts do have a cap in place for addressing unassigned fund balance and using year-toyear uh so
062again 21st century 111.4% 4% of expenditures moving across achievement house is 187.4%. Um you can see this slide as over the last 5 years of where where their fund balance had fall along with the appropriations. Agor Agore yeah excuse me agora is 24.7%. Commonwealth charter you can see there I apologize I don't have the percent in front of me. um pretty flat overcrossed insight is 54.3% PA cyber um which is the the highest chart there that you can see and if where the pointer is showing for the Pennsylvania excuse me for the Commonwealth sorry for the PA cyber two over is Gazdy so you could see um our I'm sorry going left there we go down at the very bottom where you see the colors One more there. That column there is Gazdy. So if
063you compare that to where our fund balances are and then move across to where the uh PA cyber is, it's 164%.3% of funds. Um large scale fund balances sitting there. Um and um across the board you have PA distance, PA leadership, PA virtual um Penwood which is relatively new, reach charter school is 61.2% and then SUSCQ is down at the very last. But the the purpose of sharing this slide is um dependent upon who's writing the article, how that article can be chosen to determine um what is good, bad or indifferent. Um, Pennsylvania school districts fund charter schools. Um, we are the only taxing body that can raise real estate tax revenue to address all of the expenditures and charters are not able to. They work directly with the schools. So, the advertisements that you
064see that are free and appropriate charter school is incorrect because it's technically born by the public school system to fund the charter schools. I know there are many pieces of legislation out there right now. one um that is going through legislation is that um trying to set a threshold of $8,000 per charter student um still hung up into the uh several offices. Uh so it is not nothing at this point has been concrete but anytime we can reduce the level of um expenses for cyber charters uh the far better that we are as a district. >> What a way to end. So we keep our fund balance between unassigned between six and 8% and they're sitting at 10 and some percent. >> Pretty much >> interesting. >> And they wonder why our taxes and why
065we fight. >> I wanted to show Yes. >> that people are arguing and coming to the wrong board to get something to change. >> Okay. Any questions? Okay. Our next meeting will be October 20th here at the board meeting. May I have a motion to adjurnn, please? >> So moved.