001What's Good evening. I would like to call this August 7th, 2025 board work session to order. We'll begin with having board members read the mission and goals. Dr. Larson. >> Mission of the school district of Habford Township is to educate and to inspire a community of lifelong learners who become well-rounded global citizens. District goals are academic excellence in an evolving world. Prepare future ready learners who persevere, adapt, problem solve, think critically, and are supported by engaging learning experiences and intentional use of technology. Belonging. Honor every students inherent dignity through equitable, inclusive, and diverse practices. Social and emotional growth. build a learning community that prioritizes social and emotional wellness as a foundation for academic success, resilience, and strong relationships. And finally, community pride and civic engagement. Empower students to be active, responsible, and contributing citizens through
002shared responsibility and community partnerships. >> Thank you, Mr. Chester. Will you call the role, please? >> Miss Lee, >> Dr. McCay, Mr. Schwarz, >> here. >> Dr. Shelton >> here. >> Miss Snagris. >> Miss Vitali >> here. >> Miss Weedman >> here. >> Dr. Larson >> here. >> Dr. King >> present. >> Miss Lee, Dr. McCay, and Miss Snrass are out due to prior commitments. We'll continue. As a board, we value diverse viewpoints and act as advocates to make decisions in the best interest of students. In order to further inclusive practices and increase community engagement and board cohesion, we are moving to a two board meeting process which we will engage board work session and one board action meeting. The board work session will be the first meeting of the month. At the beginning of
003the meeting, we'll have some limited agenda items to conduct routine business such as personnel matters, financial approvals, and people services matters that may need consideration before the second meeting. These items will be deliberated and voted upon by board members as official actions. When the short action portion of the meeting is completed, we will transition into the work session portion that will consist of presentations from the administration and our consultants with discussion amongst the board similar to what previously occurred in our committee meetings. No official action will be taken during the work portion of the meeting. The second meeting of the month will be the board action meeting where official action by vote will be will take on items after a chance for board members deliberations. We intend to use a consent agenda process at the
004action meeting each month to streamline the process of approving items that have been considered and discussed thoroughly during the work portion of prior meetings. We will continue to hold two public comment sections at each meeting. We believe this approach is aligned with our district goals of belonging and civic pride and community engagement and will allow for collective informed and inclusive decision-making practices. Tonight's meeting is the board work meeting. We have a few items at the beginning for consideration and action followed by the work session where no official action will be taken. We will announce when moving from the action section to the work section. Section two takes us to public comment. So, the board values public comment. There are two opportunities on the agenda for members of the community to provide public comment during the
005meeting. The first opportunity on the agenda for public comment is to allow members of the community to speak on action items listed on the agenda for a board vote. The second opportunity on the agenda is towards the end of the meeting which allows members of the community to speak on any topic. Public comment allows for residents of the township to speak for three minutes. A timer will be set at the start of your comments and alarm will sound indicating that your time has been completed. Should you have any materials for members of the board, please leave them at the end of the table with Mr. Tessa for later distribution to the board. Please note that if appropriate, a member of the administration may follow up with you at a later date. At the beginning of
006your comments, we ask that you would state your name, confirm your residency, and the timer will begin for your allotted threeminute remarks. We did not have anyone that signed up for public comment for this portion of the meeting for this evening. So we will continue on to section three which takes us to items before the board for action. Um so items we go um so section three takes us to approve items B through D as presented on the agenda I'm sorry B through All right. So we have we have okay so we have three items on the agenda for approval by consent vote. Does any member wish to remove an item from the consent vote for discussion? >> So hearing none I will ask you I'm sorry. >> Apologies. Could you clarify which letters are
007for consent? So B through D. >> Thank you. >> Does any member wish to remove any item from the consent vote for discussion? >> So hearing none, I will ask for a motion to approve the items um including items B through D listed on the agenda. >> Moved. >> Shelton second. >> Moved and second. All in favor say yes. >> Um Dr. King. Yes. Have your hands please for a second. Uh after abstaining from this vote, item uh 3C includes an action to approve my child as a paid technology intern for the 2526 school year. I've submitted my application amendment to be included in the minutes. >> So thank you Mr. Schwarz. We will proceed to to the vote to include all members except for Mr. Schwarz. >> So all in favor say yes. Any
008oppose say no. >> The consent agenda items are approved. The next item takes us to 3E, which is change orders. Can I have a motion to approve the change orders in the amount of $137,9290 as listed below? >> Shelter moved. >> Second. >> Moved and seconded. Any discussion? >> Yes, I understand that we are nearing the end of the allocated project budget and uh these change orders are um using up some of the remaining funs. So, I am interested in in hearing what this is and how the approval of this item at this point tonight um will be adequate with the budget that we have because later in the agenda we have the opportunity to talk about transferring funds and some additional cushion and um ways to make sure that we have enough funds for
009the project to be done. But um I guess my question is just to confirm that this $138,000 is covered in the budget that we have already um approved and is available. The uh summary document was provided by CV development. It explains some of the concern. Um Mr. Testa may be able to provide further information uh as well. >> So these are um items that came up in the process whether they were foreseen or not initially. So this will help to finish that project going forward with our other projects different. So we should see the same items come up as we move into the next phase of >> I guess my question is in the memo dated July 31 where it talks about the summary of the change orders it says the at this point the
010project contingency has been depleted and so I'm trying to If we approve this 137,000 tonight, are there months to cover it since we're not since the way the agenda is organized and the plan is that is not to have a transfer from other sources until the August 21st meeting. >> So be part of what we've alreadyed a total for the project. So our bonds cover all the projects park and recruitment. So we have the ability to move funds within uh within that borrowing and if needed there's still a third installment of borrowing it takes place early wrap up project that building at that point if this was not >> yeah my concern 13800 approved substantial um sum for change orders. We get some more information um perhaps from Ken Matthews as to why we're seeing
011this now. >> Yeah. Both Ken and uh a representative from Crabtree are present to answer questions as well. >> Zoom still for some reason. >> I have him on >> Hey, uh we're up presenting so if we have any questions I'll let you know. >> Okay. Um uh so basically um you know since the gymnasium was turned over uh beginning of June from that time to now we have almost $300,000 of additional costs and it's been a barrage of unforeseen conditions. Uh the demolition has exposed all kinds of issues. That building is built of old terracotta brick that's very brittle. Uh every door jamb has been an issue. And so it's just been literally every day I was just telling Matt, I mean just in the last day another 15 or $20,000 of issues have
012come up in one day. Um whether it's an unfinished wall, now it needs to be finished. Uh because the all the tile was ripped out. So now we have to fill in the floor. It's just been day after day uh of those type of issues and they're bit they're big. They add up quickly. Uh we have to cover an entire wall now. That was unexpected. Just found this out yesterday. That's eight or $9,000 like that. So, I mean, pretty much anything in our world that you touch, you're at three or four grand in the blink of an eye. Each man's $1,000 a day. It's plus or minus. Um, so things it it's amazing how quickly, but as I said, since um I think pretty much in my log since June 4th, it's almost $300,000 of
013additional issues that have come up. So, um we are right there at the end. Now, obviously, uh, you know, things are wrapping up, but, um, there's little issues that have come up. Um, just another example, uh, I was walking by a room and I thought we had casework and it wasn't there. So, now we have to finish the wall. It wasn't on the drawings. Uh, so that's kind of the omissions we talk about, but then, um, when we demo through these old walls, um, they're completely torn apart. They're unfinished. You have to put it back together, and, you know, it's it's costly to do that. So, um it's as I said pretty much on a daily basis, it's been continuing and we are near uh near the end here though. >> That's helpful context. Sorry,
014I couldn't give a mic to work. Just a quick followup. Um you mentioned, you know, however many thousand dollars per day this could add up to. Do you anticipate much more beyond what we're seeing this evening? Um, >> so yeah, I mean I still have uh in the total project budget, which you know, we'll be talking about obviously a little later in the agenda. Um, we have plugs for everything that we know of. Um, you know, there usually is a few stragglers that a contractor may not have submitted that I may not have in my log. Kind of get to the end of a job and it's um, you know, their paperwork catches up. Uh, so there could be a few of those. Um, so um, that's why That's why we're coming this evening to,
015you know, transfer a little more money to cover trying to get us to the end. >> Um, and any concerns in terms of, um, you mentioned that there were some omissions from the drawings like the actual, um, contractor we're working with, things that they didn't catch on to, or is this just more something you you don't know what you're dealing with until you actually dig into the building and see? >> Well, so there's a few things. In the lump sum world, the contractors don't evaluate the drawings or pick up on anything uh, at bid time. Now, as we progress through the job, it may be, you know, hey, um, this wall isn't detailed properly. It needs to be a sixinch wall instead of a 4 inch wall. So, you know, as you're working and and
016going through the project, that does flush out issues. Uh, so omissions on the drawings, we always talk about, we keep track of that. Um, and that Keith and I um went through the logs. So, we keep track of unforeseen conditions, environ environmental issues that are unforeseen. Uh, you know, which we had. open up a wall and there's a speestous behind it, we have to take care of it. Um, we have any government uh changes that happened on this project. There was about 75ish thousand uh where the uh the township changed drawings and the county conservation change drawings. So, we track all that. So, and then there's owner generated changes. So, on this project of all the changes to date, you have about almost $400,000 a piece. owner changes, $400,000 of unforeseen conditions, and then about
017$400,000 of what we'll call omissions on the drawings that you would have paid for if they were on the plans. Um so that accounts so the omission part accounts for about 1.7% of the project construction budget which is below the range and you know that we would generally see where you would it would be uh you start getting over 2% and then it's you start thinking about uh potentially going after the architect's errors and omissions uh insurance on a project. But we're well within what we would expect and that's why we have contingency. It's just this project is it's um it's special, I'll say. Um in the amount of things that were found in in all seriousness, just things that you would uh never expect and they just add up so quickly. Uh so, but
018we are near the end and um that's why we're asking to shift some of that some of that money from Coopertown, which I can speak to later as well. >> Um yeah, I I had I had two questions. One of them is quick. Um how does this impact schedule? >> Well um so some some of the cost expenditures are you know obviously the kids are coming so there is no time extension so we've been paying for overtime because of all these changes. Uh so right now we've sat down yesterday as a group again as we have on a daily basis but you know we have a plan where we feel uh we're right there uh to get done in the next three weeks. There'll be a few loose ends here and there, but you know,
019fire alarm, life safety, security, classrooms done. Um, you know, there might be a few things like tack boards, uh, missing here and there, but overall, you know, all the smartboards will be up. All of those things will be done. Uh, so it's a little bit of a war zone right now, but uh, trying to push to get things done and cleaned up. >> Okay. And then you said and so we're transferring money from Coopertown um to to to to Chadam budget here. I saw the list of things that were kind of special I guess if you will about Chadam. Um could ch were built at roughly the same time though. Um can you expand a little bit on why you feel that the >> sure >> reduced uh amount of contingency for for Ctown is
020>> sure >> that could be a problem. >> Um so there's a big some big very big ticket items. Number one the gym by itself has been well over six figures of issues. The gym at Coopertown is already new and no changes are happening to that. Um, so there's about uh I went through the log uh I put it together in the memo, but there's roughly almost $700,000 of changes at Chattam that we know are not happening at Coopertown. So Coopertown, although it's the same vintage uh building, same the scope is still a little different. Chattam was much more complicated. Uh Coopertown is much simpler. It's a one-story building, not a two-story building. Uh so just from those factors alone and the fact that the gym is already there. So we're constructing a whole new
021gym. So that alone has been hu huge amount of changes. Uh so really there's as I said at least 700,000 of what's happened change orders that have happened at Cham that are not going to happen at Coopertown. >> The other change orders then. >> Yeah. So, there'll still be over a million dollars of contingency at Coopertown and um excuse me, a lot of things were also picked up on the plans, lessons learned. So, for example, there was a change for almost 100,000 to cover walls that had no plaster on Coopertown that's already taken care of. That's in the bid. >> So, we've we've looked at the plan. We even plans a second look to make sure that the things that were omitted or missed or >> are on the Coopertown plans. So they're already in
022the cost. >> Okay. >> So that that is a huge advantage. >> Gotcha. Thank you. >> Are there any additional uh discussion items related to what's up for a vote at this point? >> I just had a a question about I think you mentioned insurance, architectural insurance and and I'm also noting on the list like repair floor drains damaged by the concrete contractor. Do you anticipate any uh recuperation of some of these costs? >> Uh so that's a zero cost change. So because we have separate contracts, we have to deduct it from the GC who did the damage and then we put the ad on to the plumbing contractor. Okay. So for you for the district, it's a net zero change. >> It just there they don't have a contractual relationship to pay each other.
023>> Okay. for that specific item, but you you think all there's no other items that we would recoup or you've already counted like we're voting on a total that will basically remain unchanged. I guess what I'm asking you mean as far as a total project budget? Well, I guess, you know, like summer deductions and some uh like you said the the one the $8,000 damage. >> Yeah, that's >> that's recouped somewhere else. >> That's net zero. That's correct. >> It's net zero. Okay. >> Even in this >> it's in it's in that change order list. >> So under the plumber, it's an ad and under the GC, it's a deduct. >> Okay, I see it now. >> See? Yeah. So it's it's covered. It's just you have to formally do it that way, right? due
024to the individual contractual relationship. >> Okay. Thank you. And and I just want to thank you for bringing this in by the you know working hard to make sure it's there for the students. >> No, thank you. It's uh we're going to get there. >> All in favor? >> Any opposed? The motion passes. So we have now concluded the action portion of the meeting and we're moving into the working portion of the meeting at which items are being provided for information discussion purposes only. None of the items discussed are being considered for official action at this time. Section four takes us to uh committee reports for policy and personnel. So Miss Ngrass's absence um there are no policy and or items needed for report this evening. We'll continue with finance. Dr. Shelton. >> Thank you,
025Dr. Lee. Um, for tonight's discussion, we have two items for information and discussion purposes that are being considered for the upcoming action meeting. Um, one is, uh, the Havford Township Little League has submitted a grant or donation form. So, thank I want to thank them for that. Um, the second item is an American Red Cross license training provider agreement. And uh, I don't know if Mr. Tesso if you'd like to is there any additional context you want to provide on these items? >> Um, just on the uh, the little league item. So there is already half of a a wall a ball there. Um, they want to put it on the other side. So this will benefit um, the classes over at Chestnut Wall for recess time. So it gives the students more opportunities to
026use that wall. And then also um when the school's not in session and the Little League is using that area for practices, they would have that available as well. So it would be a shared a shared item. They would donate the materials and we would put that together. >> Great. Thank you. And then the Red Cross, there's no yet there's no other additional detail. >> No, that was it for that. So that was just doing the CPR and first aid training. So that gives us licensing for the supplies so we can use the licensed products. Great. Um, so I'll just Are there any questions from board members on the items presented? >> So for the Red Cross that is training our staff to have certain credentials. It's not like a course for students. I saw
027like babysitting course. So I wasn't sure which is which. >> Yeah. No, this has actually been organized by uh one of our uh physical education teachers, Katie Fischer, has trained to be a trainer uh just for this kind of opportunity. So she will be training our health and physical education teachers in our opening days so that they can remain certified. It's something we anticipate happening um every other year so that they can maintain their certification and um the cost is per person. Right now that is only for the adults only for the teachers employed as health and phys teachers uh in the district. I believe there may be other CPR training occurring but not for this particular contract. >> And I do want to take a moment. I see someone from Hatford Township Little League.
028Um, if you would like to just come to the podium. Yep. It's a come on up. I I know that hat. So, >> hello everyone. Thanks for taking the time to discuss this. Um, my name is Zephra Mitchell. I have two daughters at Chestnut Wald, a rising second grader and a rising fifth grader. Um, my fifth grade daughter has been part of HDL since COVID. um she pitches on the tenure travel team and um you know so she she and her friends uh use that wall to the point where they're actually it could be twice as big honestly uh it gets overused and um we as a organization uh get to use that field for our machine pitch and it's been great. I don't know if anybody's ever been out there had the kids it's
029it's a lot of fun. Um, but you know what I've noticed with not only the kids at school, but my daughter plays travel soccer and travel baseball and they go to all these other communities. And I I got to be honest, our township facilities just are unmatched by some of the things we see out there. And this was a small item that I've seen, you know, I drive past it every single day and it's honestly at this point it's a little bit of an eyesore. It's just unfinished. Um, whoever did the previous work was was great. They did it, but they left the entire fence roll laying on the ground behind the wall and kids climb on it. So, I would think that from the other side of the wall, you can kick a soccer
030ball, lacrosse, and of course, we would use it for baseball. So, we we we're happy to pay for the wall. And honestly, I offered up my certificate of liability for my construction company just to put it up. It's a two-day job max. We could even paint it, put a little logo on it, and the whole community would use it all the time. And it would just be a very simple thing to accomplish. And you know, if we could just be allowed to do it, I would have done it six months ago and over a weekend it would have been done. So, it's that simple of a project and I think everybody would benefit from it tremendously. So, whatever we need to do, just let us know. >> Thank you. I really appreciate that. Thank you.
031>> Um >> yeah, I I just want to echo my appreciation again um for considering us and and that donation. So, thank you very I just want to echo my appreciation very much for that. So, thank you. >> Are there any other questions or comments from the board? >> Okay, there are no additional items for finance. I'll refer it back to Dr. King. Thank you. Um for facilities, Miss Wedderman. >> Yes. Hi. We have four items on the agenda to discuss and consider. Uh three of them are noted as being proposed actions for the upcoming August 21st meeting. That's a reallocation of funds from Coopertown to Chattam Park as we started to discuss with the change order vote. Um a commitment of funds for technology, smartboards, um change orders and um solicitation of bids for
032food services equipment. So I will ask Mr. Ta to present any uh overall information about these and then the board will have an opportunity to ask questions. >> Sure. >> So for the solicitation of bids for the food services equipment um because the dollar amount that it exceeds and because food services is funded by federal funds, there's stricter requirements that we have to follow. So it's not a matter of just using a contractor that is under PA state contract. We actually have to do a formal bid um to get that information back and see what the lowest cost is, lowest responsible bidder is for this equipment. So there was four pieces of equipment for the high school. So just given that threshold and because it's federal funds, we need to do a bid for that.
033So this is just letting the board know that they will be seeing a bid come back in the future for these pieces of equipment. Um, as far as the change orders for proposed action, um, Ken did speak to the change orders this evening, so we will have those, um, going forward. The commitment of funds for technology, so there are some smartboards at Chattam Park that are in a replacement cycle and it's makes more sense to get those pieces of equipment now. and we have some funds that we're able to commit from fund balance to make that purchase now while the wiring's there and the project's in play. So, it just makes sense to kind of advance those um those units into the project and then the reallocation of funds. Um that is going to be
034moving some contingency funds from the Coopertown project over to Chattam Park. As Ken mentioned, the use of the contingency funds will not be as strong as it was kind of when we get to Coopertown. So there there should be enough to to make that coverage. And again, we have that third uh bond issuance that we would go out for in early 2026. So if there was a need, we would have it at that point. That should we should be stable to go forward. >> Okay. Thank you. Um so since there are four items to organize our discussion or questions, I'll I'll go in the order that they're presented in the agenda. uh for the reallocation of funds from Coopertown to Chattam Park. Is there any board discussion or questions? >> Mr. Tessa, can you just
035um expand upon uh PFM and their uh response with being okay about that uh reallocation? So, I did speak with Jamie Slesinger, our consultant with PFM. And when you look at the um mission is not the right word, but the usage of how the bond funds will be used, it does cover the middle school cafeteria, Chattam Park, and Coopertown. So, the fact that we're using those funds interchangeable between the projects, there's no um there's no concern to do that. It's basically the board has the authority with the way the bonds were issued. So, it gives us that flexibility. >> And the proposal is to transfer $250,000 from Coopertown to Chattam Park. And it looks like there's I guess the um the figure for 176,000 that is new change orders separate from the 138 that we
036voted on earlier in this meeting. So, uh there's a little bit of an overlap. Uh I'd have to do the exact math for that. Um but as I was uh telling Matt as we walked in, even since I've written that memo, I mean, just in the last day alone, another 15 or 20,000 of things have come up. Um so we may bump that 250 slightly. Uh I'll have a better answer on that this week um as we get to the end of the week uh and and we can uh you know discuss our re what our recommendation will be for that. Um but yes to as as Tony said and as I mentioned earlier knowing these things that we've already put into Coopertown and what Coopertown is not going to have that's happened at Chadam
037that's why we felt comfortable uh making that recommendation. And can you remind us what the total project cost is now for Chattam Park? >> Uh Chattam Park is just around 32 million. >> Okay. So $250,000 is >> 8%, >> right? Less than 1%. And so just to kind of keep that in in perspective, >> it's a lot of money, but in the in the context of Well, and then you have uh Coopertown's a 28 29 million budget. >> So yeah, 1% kind of goes from one to the other. Um, so >> and then >> dimminimous >> the um yeah, I think it's helpful to hear that the bonds allow for that flexibility, that transferability between and that um that you are planning to have us look at a number at the next board meeting that
038should be sufficient with a couple more weeks knowledge of what what's happening at Coopertown or at Chattam to get a number that will round out the correct >> the cost needed for that project. Any other discussion about the reallocation of funds? I don't think so. Okay. Uh for commitment of funds to technology, the smartboard purchase. Any discussion or questions? >> No. Um, >> I'll just add in that this uh will round out so that all the classrooms are able to have updated smartboards and technology uh not just the original one. So, every classroom uh will will have that technology now updated with that additional commitment. >> So, with um a vote on the 21st for 14 new smartboards, is the idea that they would then be available to be installed at the start of school
039with everything else going on at Chadam? Yes, the plan is to include them in this project. So, as Mr. Test explained earlier, we don't have to go back in down the line uh and do that. >> And that's a readily available >> Yes. >> piece of equipment. No. >> Yeah. I believe there was a quote for it attached um and it's essentially ready to go. >> Okay, great. >> It looks like on the quote um does not include installation. Is the installation done by our tech team >> facilities? Ken's jogging back and forth. >> There comes Ken. But yes, >> uh, so we purchase hanging them with the contractor, but your technology folks are there because just making sure it works properly, plugged in, so it's kind of a team effort. >> All right. Anything
040else about the equipment or the change orders? I had a question on item three, the change orders. Just a clarification on the change orders we just voted on versus what is proposed for the August 21st meeting. >> So, it's it's all inclusive of the budget um to total project budget. So, these change orders are part of the projected amount of being ex expending contingency and going to and getting that additional funds. >> Okay. Got it. Yes. >> All right. And item four was the solicit solicitation of bids for food services equipment. >> Just curious, what are the uh um um test? I think that there were four items that were being curious what those were. And if they are um just kind of replacing equipment that we had or will it allow for a new
041feature or service that's not currently in the cafeteria. And you mentioned um a both the federal dollars and u total cost like is there um what's the threshold for when we need to go to this bidding kind? Right. Any other discussion on these facilities matters? All right. We will see several of these things at the August 21st meeting. And um with that, I will refer back to the meeting chair. >> Thank you. Uh Dr. Larson for academic and people services. >> Thank you Dr. King. Um so we have a variety of items for discussion and information this evening. Um first is um a series of educational services agreements for three students and the action um for those agreements is proposed for the 82125. Next we have out of district placement proposed action also for the
042821 meeting. The first is for Devo for the 2425 year and for ESY at Martin Luther School. Next we have educational service contracts um also proposed action for 821 um with therapy source as well as learn well services. Miss Saxa, can you provide some more information for the board? >> Sure. Um we have uh as you may recall one of our uh psychologists is now an assistant principal and so her transition to that position created a vacancy. Uh we are working to fill that vacancy. We just have not been able to yet. So this will allow us to work with a service provider uh to provide sort of a substitute uh psychologist to start the school year. The actual uh person is someone that we've worked with before. We're very satisfied with the work that's
043been done and so we're uh excited that that will be an appropriate person to fill in until we get a permanent replacement. Um and then the learn well services uh you will perhaps recall this comes up every couple of years. This is u a tutoring service for students who are hospitalized. They actually uh students who are in the hospital and able to complete work. Um this group works directly with the hospitals to identify those students and uh then they sort of send us the the bill which we are happy to pay and it helps keep the students on track if they are able to do that. >> Um next we have an international exchange student um proposed for approval or for action on the 821 at the 821 meeting. Um, this will be a 12th
044grade student from Germany for the 2526 school year. When was the last time we had an um, exchange student? It's been a while. Two years. Dave is giving me the signal. Dr. Parker has all the good information. It's been about two years, he says. >> Any questions? So, I'm just curious, not not specific to the student, but I'm curious more so about the program. Um, is there any um I aside from the exchange process, what sorts of additional resources do we provide for the student? What enrichment activities if if any um how do we help them in terms of their what's what's happening when they're here? >> I'll invite Dr. Parker up uh as he has worked more intimately with this program. >> Good evening. So um first of all this is not a high
045frequency occurrence for us here at Hford. It happens as I mentioned the last time we had a student was about two years ago. Uh in my current position I've I believe this is the third student the board would be asked to consider for approval. Uh coincidentally this particular family the Hurford family that's asking to host the student actually hosted the student's sibling in the 2018-19 school year and it was such a wonderful per the father's report to me in the winter time when I first spoke with him um it was such a wonderful experience for the family for both families the family in Germany and Hford family that they stay in contact over the years um the one of the family one of the children from Hford went to Germany uh and now the younger
046sibling is asked is requesting to come here and join us for this year as a as a senior. Um but in terms of terms of supports and and services is should the board approve on 821 uh this request for or application uh the student would be treated like every other student eligible for uh as in terms of athletics at least anything that would be required or or eligibility in terms of PIAA standards but it would be a a traditional full enrollment in heer high school. uh the student would not receive a Hford diploma. I'm not sure that's a question I was anticipating, but uh he he has fulfilled all of his requirements in his neighbor his home school and he's basically doing a gap year with us, if you will. >> Does that help? >>
047Okay. Thank you. >> Sure. >> I was going to note that um it looks like in December 22 we approved the policy and the AR for how the district handles international students. So hopefully that policy was good guidance and guidelines for how um new student will participate in our district. >> Yes. Uh, in fact, if I may, that we we often get inquiries about the opportunities for for exchange students. Um, and we will use the AR, the administrative regulations for that policy to share with families and with the exch exchange agencies, make sure they fully understand upfront what our expectations are as a local community. >> It's a 202.1 if anyone is interested in exploring those policies. >> Thank you. Sure. Okay. Any other discussion on item four, international exchange student? Um, next for item
048five, we have discussion of removal from active enrollment um per the residency verification process. Um, and that is proposed for action at the 821 meeting. Miss Saxa, could you provide some more context? >> Sure. Uh, I'll start and then I'll probably ask Dr. Parker to return to the podium. Uh, this is a policy that was recently passed. It was several years ago and uh it's where our students entering sixth and students entering ninth are asked to uh reregister. It's a little bit of a shortened process for them uh verify their residency and uh show us that they do intend to come to school here. Uh pupil services works very hard really starting in the winter with notification uh reaching out to folks. We are down to uh 11 students who um are as of yet
049unable to approve residency and so are therefore um set up for removal uh from our rosters. Uh and we continue to get pretty frequently uh you know still as we're coming up to the end here notifications that they are in fact going somewhere else to school or they've been moved or that kind of thing. Um but that's that's sort of where we are. So, we do anticipate on 821 that there will be uh a set of students that we are going to be asking for you to approve their removal from our active enrollment. >> Thank you. Any questions on that item? you um you explained that there was opportunities to reach out and inquire, but could you speak a little bit more about what that process is and um is it just the board vote
050that removes them or are there other parts of that process? >> Sure, there is a hearing involved, but I'll ask Dr. Parker to come up again and uh go through each of the steps of the process. >> Certainly. So we start with our uh messages on the district website uh have free happenings. We give a script to our principles ask in their regular home and school communications that they embed the language or the reminders into uh their emails or s'mores or whatever application they're using. Um that starts in February and then the official launch if you will is March one of every year. This is our third year uh using or applying this policy since the board approved it. Uh, and every year we refine it a little bit to make sure we're we reflect
051back. We meet in the fall after we get through this process as a as a group internally. We look back in terms of communications, principal feedback, uh, and just overall general feedback from the public about how we can refine it and make it more transparent and uh, upfront. The majority of the families that Miss Sax referenced, the 11 students in question, uh, we haven't heard from. So, for one reason or another, you know, we just haven't heard from. But uh starting in March, as I mentioned, emails uh start to go out to families directly and then we kind of if you will whittle down that list based on responses. Those who we haven't heard from or those who had submitted something that we could not approve stay on that list. And then as we hit
052April and then May, we add in uh text messages and phone calls and we increase the frequency from a bi-weekly to a weekly. And then it was it's kind of a progressive um timeline until we hit June 30th every year. Does that make sense? >> Uh I'm sorry. Do you have a question? >> I was just going to ask if I may a question um just based on my own personal experience with this. I don't know if this change has been made. Um I have a son who will be a junior but not at the high school. And when this affected I think we had just made the change as a board what would that have been two years ago and I got those things but there was no and I remember discussing this with
053Dr. Rushi at that time afterwards there was no opt said if you are you have to show your residency you have to I ignored them because I knew he wasn't going to hford high school and so I just oh I'm going to ignore them because why would I provide there was no opt check here if you are no longer continuing and I think Mr. gods. You gave me a call in like July and you're like you're set for here. I'm like well he's not going. So I never submitted and I said this should be a change that there should be yeah I'm here now but my child especially you do have children at the high school level who might go elsewhere or possibly they're moving and they're not continuing on and there wasn't that option
054at the time. So I don't know if my feedback at that time had went in because I don't I'm not getting those announcements anymore. >> Sure. No, certainly. And and to your point, we have a number of families both going into sixth grade and going into ninth grade who elect to go to non-public schools. They might be relocating out of the area. Um so we did in include that into our our mass communications that if you're if you're if you know in advance your family or your student is not going to be continuing with this in the following school year, please just respond to us so we know that and we can take you off our list. I'm paraphrasing that, of course. Uh I don't think I finished the last part of your question. So
055as we get past June 30th, there is a formal hearing process. The board authorized a hearing officer to on behalf of the board go through adjudications that happened on um I want to say the 28th. Was that the Monday? July 28th I think it was. Uh I was there for the hearings. I testified u that the adjudications will be we coming forward to the board on the 21st of August pending any students we have not resolved up to that point. >> Thank you. >> For any families that are multilingual are they communicated with in their preferred language >> upon request we have we are proactive with our e families. Uh but I'm I'm sure as you know we have many families in Hford Township that are multilingual that are not part of a EL program
056and we've gone through that um internally in sort of our community mass communications how to best reach everyone based on their preferences but with our identified EL students we do make an a a second layer attempt if you will through our EL teachers to reach out independently to make sure they're aware of the communications that they're able to receive them in their preferred first language. uh if they have questions certainly because I oversee EL currently that they can come to me or or speak with me so we can work through any potential problems. >> Um do we use an interpretation or translation service to support with that? If we don't have a staff member who speaks the language of the family >> if we need to have a conference with the family because there there's
057confusion or just clarity required we'll use language line but um we don't have any other contractual formal services in place related to that other than language line. >> Thank you >> Dr. Parker, can you also just speak a little bit to um how we've been sensitive to family housing needs as well through this process for families who may be experiencing that? >> Certainly, we uh every year uh we do have students that are on our Mckin Vento list. Uh and this this year is no different in terms of those who were in fifth and eighth grade now rising sixth and ninth graders. Uh we are very very careful with our communications with all of our families, but specifically for Mckin Vento families. Our homes and school visitors serve as an additional layer of support. U
058I also work with our homeschool visitors. I oversee that part of our our program or our system. So there's a lot of interconnectedness between uh those services and supports we provide for families and making sure we're not um for not mis misrepresenting what the requirement is. I'm not sure if I finished that well, but >> any other questions or discussion on this item? >> Thank you. Um, next we move on to six. Um, item six, this is for an independent contract with Dr. Stolman um to become or be district dentist for the 2526 school year. The proposed action is for the 821 meeting. Miss Sax, do you have more information about that for us? >> Sure. Uh this again is a renewal. We have to do this each year. Uh Dr. Stolman has been with
059us for several years and we've been very satisfied with the services he's able to provide. This is dentistry services for students who don't have a private dentist or or another uh resource to use for a dentist. Um so it's a requirement that we have one and he's been greatly will be asking for your approval of this contract. >> Any questions or comments? Okay, moving on now to number seven. um title one agreement with DCIU for services during the 2526 school year. Proposed action for this item is at the 821 meeting. Miss Sax again. >> Sure. And I'm going to now turn this one over to Mrs. Carter. >> Hi. Good evening. So each year we receive a proposal from the DCIU and we also as required in federal programs we do send out a request
060to other IUs but our non-public schools still prefer to go with the DCIU for services. It has as it has been successful in the past with them and they like the continuity of it. But we bring forward a proposal first of what they're proposing. We only use it for title one and we brought title two services in house to avoid the um additional about like 14% administration fees. So um you'll see this come up at the next board meeting for action, but you'll also see in future board meetings an actual contract that we end up signing once it goes through the process at the DCIU, which is a little bit longer than our processes. They have to collect information from various districts before they can officially get all of the information to put through their
061board meeting. So you any comments, questions? >> So with the title one services, it's essentially a pass through of the dollars that the district receives. Um we pass those through for DCIU to provide those services. >> Not exactly. So the pass through funds applies from what the state gets from the federal government and then that then passes test as a district. the what we use the DCIU for in this setting which they've really wanted us to correct our language and how we oversee it is around the IUs being a vendor for us because we have to solicit them um to see what the services are and then we provide oversight and we pay them in part for the non-public schools based off of the per pupil rate that's identified within the application and like myself
062I go out to see at the schools how are the services being rendered if the schools are happy and so the district remains in oversight and the IU continues to work with us and then we provide the payment um three times a year about to >> and so I guess um is the title one funding that we get roughly then equal to the fee for the vendor services with DCIU like you mentioned um the title two had noted some uh fiscal and operational administrative fees um that aren't applicable for title one. So >> title one does not have any administrative fees. Um so you'll see that in the future contract that comes. We actually have now asked them within our contracts to actually list that out that we don't have a fee when doing it
063for title one which is a little different because title two are um professional development services versus studentbased services. I hope that answered the question for you. >> And to clarify, you stated this, it's for nonpublic schools. >> For nonpublic receive to provide the services um that nonpublic schools are required to receive under these >> Yes. And so like I always like to be clear. So the students who receive those services are students who live within Hford Township specifically the schools that we've identified which are Lynwood and Monoa in the catchment area and they receive um their what are considered our fund generators. The schools receive the per pupil amount based off of those students qualifying based off of their free and reduced lunch status within that school. So they are our students that are locally
064going to a nonpublic school optin at the company. >> Any other questions from the board? >> Moving on now to our final item number eight. Um have information on the Institute of Reading Development Reading Skills and Tutoring Program. Sax, >> we are very excited uh about being able to offer this service to students at Manila. Mrs. Carter has a little bit more details because it is related again to title one services. Thank you. So, if I'm going back in years because in title we live in multiple years as we go back in the 23 24 school year, we received additional funding. At the start of the year, we get preliminary funding and then we get our final allocation midway through the year. And we received additional funds, but it's when you get it halfway through
065the year, it's hard to readjust your plans as you're getting it. So, they allowed us the ability to be able to roll over our funds as long as it was aligned to the school was originally designated to. So we rolled the funds over for the 2425 school year and we still had funds remaining for the school year that need to be ex expended by September 30th because that's a one-time rollover. So this is a service that um aligns with Monoa based off of the funding that will be able to provide tutoring to the students um who have been identified as title um service receivers at the building. Is it just for the month of September? >> No, actually it's it's online. It's for longer than that time frame, but we have to start the services
066in September to be able to qualify to be able to use the title funds for. So, our goal is to get it going so that we have the funds and we don't lose the funds for it. >> How was this particular vendor selected? ting services. >> So, one of our building principles um looked at different options that were out there and really didn't find any other um vendors that provided a similar service where is the ability for students that they could have gone in person or online, but because it's during the school year, it allows parents to be able to do it online and they can receive the additional tutoring services that way. So, it ended up being a sole um sole source. Am I saying that correctly, Tony? Okay. A sole source for um
067this election and um it seemed to match what we needed based off of the students at Monoa. >> And how are we going to measure the success and effectiveness of this program? >> That is a great question. So we often use the data from our students to see how they've started at the beginning of the year. All of our title teachers actually work to monitor student progress based on um two metrics throughout the year to see the growth that they've made. So we'll be able to look and see what growth they've made by the end of the year and progress based off of the services. And so they typically check in midway in the year as well. So we can also see it at that point. >> I think you may have mentioned is this
068I mean it's a California company. Is it virtual? Is it is the tutoring service virtual or in person? >> It from my understanding it's going to be virtual. >> It is through a California company but it's based out of Temple. So they use they're they bill through a California company but Temple does the actual they provide the actual services. >> Thank you. >> And just to clarify so it's virtual but is this being done? It sounded like maybe I interpreted wrong. It's being done after school like the the students would do this at home. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> And will there be a way to track that the students are utili utilizing these services or so? That's a great question. I can always find out if that's an option. I don't know off the
069top of my head what it looks like to be able to identify similar to some of our other programs how they're um we could sometimes see usage reports but we could find out a little bit more about the usage reports and see how they're utilizing the services. >> I'd be curious how there so these services then aren't when I think of students getting extra help in the elementary school they're pulled out like are small groups in classrooms. So these are I would what do you call them? Optional. They're not mandatory. Someone could be eligible for them. They could decline them. >> So we have the contract for the number that we think families will be will receive communication from the building and they have the option to participate. So it's not mandatory at all. Okay.
070>> Thank you. You're welcome. And just I'm not sure if uh this was part of your question too, but the students who qualify are receiving supports during the school day. This is in addition to Yeah. >> That takes us to the end of the services. Is there anyone comments before Section five takes us to other superintendent. >> Thank you. Thank you. as um part of my continued growth and development. Uh one of the areas is to continue engaging in uh various activities that enhance my learning as well as the districts uh within the professional learning plan. Uh I will be continuing uh district participation in the superintendent suburban study council uh to join with colleagues in uh new practices and um different approaches to improving education uh as well as the AASA ready learn cohort
071uh which focuses on helping to develop executive functioning skills and advance career college workforce opportunities uh for students in both a college path as as well as a trades or workforce path. So those are the two items in the professional learning plan um that will help align with both uh the district goals as well as um guided learning and uh turnaround development for staff and students and community members here at Hford as well. >> Thank you. That takes us to section six on the agenda which is reported on executive session session held on Thursday August 7 prior to the start of this board work session. Section seven is the second opportunity for public comment. Um this this section of public comment as I mentioned earlier is um an opportunity for members of the public to
072see it. We did not have anyone to sign up for this section of comment as well. Section eight takes us to adjournment. So next regular meeting of the board um will be scheduled for August 21st at 7:30 p.m. This is action meeting administration and motion there. So as we are shifting to the new process um in terms of work sessions and having more meetings we're having a consistent process for comments two opportunity to speak at the beginning and at the end for items that both sections you have to sign up and that's a part of the new process that we're starting. Okay. So, two weeks. >> Okay. >> So, I'll have to take two weeks to to support the German student exchange, Mr. Z, >> please. Okay. Thank you. All right. Can I have a
073motion to meeting?