001Mr. Michael Landis, just so you know, he is here with us just by phone. Our district's mission, nurture, and challenge for success, is a reminder of our intent to enable every student to learn, grow, and thrive. Tonight is a meaningful moment for our district as we welcome Dr. Caroline Kate Hefty to her first board meeting as superintendent. It is truly exciting to begin this next chapter together, building on our strength and embracing new ideas while maintaining our focus on meeting the needs of all students. Welcome Dr. Faith Hefty. Now I invite you to stand and join me in the pledge of allegiance [Music] 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. [Music] >> Item 1
002C on our agenda or announcement. and two announcements. The board met in executive session on July 17th, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. solely for the receipt of information. No deliberations occurred. The board also met in executive session on August 11, 2025 at 6 p.m. to consult with legal counsel and for the receipt of information. No deliberations occurred. Now, we're at item two on our agenda, which is a state budget update from Mrs. Robbins, our chief operating officer. Welcome. Thank you. >> Um so as you can see the um presentation was as of August 7th. I do have some updated information I want to share with the board. Um as of today August 14th the state budget is currently 6 weeks or 43 days late. Uh Senate Republicans and House Democrats have put both put um forward
003proposals but neither legislative body was to consider the other's plan. Two days ago, last Tuesday, the Republican le Senate returned to Harrisburg to pass his own spending proposal won little little chance with the Democratic House. The budget bill that was passed by the Senate essentially maintains the budget from the previous year, which is well below where the House Democrats and the governor want to be. The Republican proposal is for 47.7 billion, which is about $3.9 billion less than the Democratic proposal. Unfortunately, many disagreements still remain, but as far as school funding, the biggest concern is the $500 million of adequacy funding that was included in last year's budget. As a reminder, these funds were intended to address longstanding imbalances in school funding statewide as confirmed by the Commonwealth Court ruling. Um, the Democratic the Democrats
004are a strong proponent of the adequacy funds. They view these funds as essential, equitable, and required to uphold the constitutional rulings. The Republican plan zero is out this program. They are skeptical over long-term fiscal sustainability and want to ensure that the funds already allocated are being used effectively before putting any more dollars uh for cyber charter reform. Uh school leaders across the state continue to advocate to cap the regular ed um cyber chart tuition rate at $8,000 per student. Ash Shapiro's budget proposed. Um, it saves $17 million for Pennsylvania school districts annually. Both sides do support some type of reform here, but the Senate has not taken up when passed any um sort of cyber tuition cap. And unfortunately, both chambers are in recess until midsepptember, which leaves negotiations at a stalemate. So I wish
005I better read to you on the state budget. This is just a quote from our secretary budget. I'm not going to read so you can see it there, but he's still seeing them as respectful and productive. However, defining agreement can be slow moving and they've not yet come to a final agreement. Uh I'm not going to review all of these ingredients at your leisure. But it really comes down to five major disagreements. spending levels, uh, federal transit, education funding, new revenues, and also Medicaid. For education funding, I just, um, share with you what those disagreements are. On the spending level, again, the, um, Democratic plan is at 51.5 billion and Republican plan is flat at 47.6 billion. The support of marijuana legalization is supported by the Democrats and opposed by Republicans. a major sticking point
006and mass transit. I guess the good news is they're both agreeing that there's a $292 million increase to mass transit. However, they're disagreeing on where the funds come from. The Republicans want to take the money from the transportation trust fund and the Democrats only use new revenues, the sales sales tax for that. So, I took a look at over the last 10 years and the budget has been late five of those 10 years. And I also pulled a couple other facts here. Um it has not been on time since 2122. Uh the longest stalemate hopefully this is not going to happen again was from which was 267 days late which we didn't have a budget until March 16th because we don't have to red that was not fun. Um and then since 2003 there's been
007four times since the budget was delayed more than 100 days. So the unc uncertainty for school districts um because of the impass the state has delayed over $2 billion of payments to districts, universities, head start programs, libraries and early education uh providers. Some districts will need to tap into reserves or unfortunately issues short-term loans in order to cover ongoing costs and they will have to pay interest as well. So I listed there the um distributions that will be that will be held up at August. see the basic ed funding, special education funding, social security funding, tuple transportation funding, and also uh federal grants. So for Manhattan Township, the estimated potential delays for our district include about $2.3 million of subsidies that loan received in August. Um some districts have already borrowed money using tax um
008revenue anticipation nodes and historically the state has not reimbured any state any districts for borrowing costs. Um so unfortunately this cost will be borne by by districts and their taxpayers. And similarly I do want I do want to point out that this loss of money does cost us um interest earnings of about $270 per day or $8,100 per month. And again, I don't think the season reverses for any of those lost interest earnings. So, I'll certainly keep you updated on the budget, but as of right now, we're just going to chong and keep keep watching. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. >> Thank you, Mrs. Robbins, for that work. And we share your sentence, but we wish that news was better, too. Any questions for Mrs. Robins? >> All right. Thank you
009very much. All right. Item 3A on our agenda, a recommendation to approve the 2025 2026 bus and van driver list for Manhattan Township School District. Mr. Phillips, welcome. >> Thank you very much. Good evening everyone. So this evening, we're approving the driver list for the 25 to 26 school year. Every month we'll have some updates to the driver list where we're adding or removing different drivers. Please do not panic. Right now, it does look like there are a lot of open vacancies for routes and that we have substitutes in many spots. Uh we were awaiting paperwork and just making sure that we had credentials on file before we could approve the drivers. Uh rest assured, we probably have another 15 or 20 that we have the list for the month of September. So, we're excited
010there. Uh so, during the month of uh the months during the school year, either myself or Dr. We'd have people do like the quick little update just to share like, hey, it's just this one driver this month or these two drivers this month. Um, we're very excited to get started. We had the opportunity to meet with our kindergarten families this week and give uh some kindergarten bus orientation. So, ready to have an exciting year and looking forward to the new technology that we have. Any questions that I can help answer tonight? >> Any questions for Mr. Gillis? >> Can I just add has been presenting at all the schools welcoming our kindergarten families and I want to give him kudos. They are so well attended and so welcomed by new families. The kids get to
011ride the buses and it's appreciated. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. >> Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Gills. I was going to say we uh we got our transportation letters home earlier this week and and as usual it's very detailed and and and uh appreciate the way that uh you make it very accessible in my experience for folks to understand. I heard you say this before, but just in case, you know, now that we are we're live streaming and and if uh anyone who watches this recording later, you've said I heard you say before, if people have questions, they can reach out to you if they have not sure whether that bus stop is the best one. You're open for that discussion, right? >> Oh, 100%. So virtually once we post the letters uh we do
012have in our in our letter and as I shared with all of our families new and you know coming back with new students to the buildings we want to make sure that transportation is a positive experience. Sometimes it could be a negative experience or a negative connotation when we talk about busing. We like to change that here at Manheim Township. We're accessible. Both myself and my assistant Crystal are happy to take any phone call. We want to see what we can try and do to support all of our families. there are many options and different solutions that we can create. Please just reach out to us. Don't let something you know go by the wayside that yeah we could just navigate this and it's okay. No, we want to make sure that it's a positive
013experience that you guys feel confident because once again at the end of the day you're trusting yourselves with us with your students. We want to make sure you feel confident and comfortable. So the standpoint of technology with all the new latest and greatest things that we have specifically the uh the live streaming and the live view inside the buses is a game changer for what I can see on my computer and also my mobile phone. We're seeing not only in location but also right inside the bus. I am so excited when we need to use that technology to see how we can do to better support our families. But yeah, absolutely. We welcome any any feedback, positive, negative, indifferent. That's what we're here for. >> Thank you, Mr. Gallas. Any other questions, Miss Lamb? The
014light's not coming on. It's not. Sorry. Um, I just want to commend you for taking your job so seriously. My daughter was one of the kindergarters yesterday and everything was so thorough and I could just tell the bus driver that they had was also taking her job so seriously. So I really appreciate that because safety is the most important when it comes to these little kindergarters and their first experience in public school. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Gillis. >> Thank you very much. >> If the next microphone over works, feel free to That's section. >> Oh, >> okay. Technical. We'll have to project and we'll we'll repeat questions or comments that that you might have. >> All right. So, now we're on item 3B, recommendation to approve the submission
015of the Manheim Township Zoning Hearing Board for the Landis Run Intermediate School Drive parking and maintenance shop projects. Mr. Cotch, Mr. Charles and this is Robin. Welcome. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Tonight we'll be giving you a overview of the phase 2 projects that uh we'll be submitting to the uh zoning and hearing board and that is on the agenda for the September 2nd meeting. Uh we do have presentation that might be delayed for a second. Thank you, Dan. We appreciate that. So, with the plan, if if you recall, we took a pause on the athletic portions of the master plan, the campus master plan, and with that, we created another phase. So, the phases are follows. Phase one is underway right now. That's the softball baseball track, uh, removal of the existing
016fuel pumps and lighting at Journey Field. I'm going to turn it over to Zach right now so that he can give you an update where we are on on these phase one projects. >> Yeah. So, uh, the softball and baseball irrigation wrapped up last week. Um, so we have in the outfield at baseball, we now have irrigation and both softball, JV, and varsity have irrigation. Uh the removal of the existing fuel pumps that was taken care of last week as well. The fuel pumps are removed and no issues with that job as well. Um the track this week they are putting the UV uh protectant on the track. Um they're hoping to have that wrapped up tomorrow and this weekend. We uh pushed a couple buttons, but they look like they're going to get the
017line painting on the track done this week and uh weather permitting. um and lighting at Journey. Um this week they got all everything trenched in. Um next week they will be pouring the cement for the light fixtures and the following week they'll be uh erecting the poles and getting them energized. Um they're a week ahead of time. All this is weather permitting. Uh but we're moving right along with all those projects. So that takes care of phase two. Phase three, of course, is the stadium uh athletic improvements and phase four is the proposed indoor practice facilities. So, as we move through uh we'll be bringing updates to the board, but on September 2nd, we will be making a presentation to the uh to the zoning hearing board on the proposed maintenance shop and the uh
018upgrades to Landis Run Drive and the parking. We combined those two projects and that was very strategic. They they really shouldn't be two separate projects, should be one because, as you know, we're very close to our limit on impervious. And as soon as you add a building to the submission, your your uh impervious allowance goes from 30% to 80%. So, they work well. They do very well together. Uh so, that's what will be on this September 2nd. We're hoping, we don't see any red flag. We're hoping it's smooth sailing, but that's the first step. That's the first step. I'm going to turn it over to Zach so he can show you the renderings. Uh zoning hearing board's going to want to see what does it look like. You know, they're concerned not only for the
019district, but they're concerned about the neighbors as well. So, I'm going to go over a uh bird's eye view here of phase two. I got a little here. It's not showing up, but uh the uh new proposed Lannis Run Drive uh the arrow in the middle going along the proposed roadway uh that will alleviate traffic uh dismissal arrival. The uh traffic on this run is is pretty bad in the morning. Um as you follow that drive up to the top, you will see two new proposed parking lots. Uh these parking lots will be huge for after school activities, extracurricular activities, um school events. Uh right now sometimes we have people parking all along that curve line. Uh it gets pretty busy up in that area. That down here in the bottom here, that's where our
020uh dirt pile currently is going onto the campus. Um that area down there will be used for the new maintenance and food service building. Um I'll go to the next slide, kind of go over them. So, this is the rendering. Um, if you are looking north from Valley Road, uh, the plan is for a pre-manufactured metal structure with a metal roof and a stone veneer water table, uh, with the entire south elevation there, that bump out, uh, covered in stone veneer as well. Um due to the close proximity to Valley Road and uh Blue Street Boulevard, uh we want to make this building look as nice as possible when you're entering the campus. Um the new uh building will be approximately 18,000 square ft. Uh we currently have about 12,500 right now. Uh but when
021we add we look at the other views of this, we'll be adding food in the first bay. So, in that first bay closest to us, uh that'll be a food service bay. Um they lost a lot of their dry storage and uh freezer walk-in space when we built the new uh middle school. So, with this new building, that will gain them extra space to store all their dry storage and have a walk-in freezer for all the district food. The other five bays you see, they'll be used for uh maintenance equipment, maintenance, storage, uh repairs. Um and all the garage doors on the building will be 12t wide by 12t high. This is looking from uh Blue Street Boulevard looking south down towards Valley Road. And the last rendering we have here is the view is
022the view looking uh northeast from the corner of valley and blue street just showing the rest of the building there. Okay. Uh as you can see it's going to look a little better than the dirt pile. But with that being said we do have some preliminary estimates. These are preliminary. We're still early on, but we need to provide the first step is the zoning hearing board. So for the maintenance building, we're looking5 to $6 million. Landis run drive 1.8 million to 2.2 million for a total cost of 6.8 to 8.2. As I mentioned, these are preliminary estimates, but regardless, where is this money coming from? And I'll ask Robins to help us out. >> Sure. So, as important knows, um, every year you're very diligent in saving and transferring money over cap reserve and knowing
023that we have these future projects coming up. So, we do have a current cash balance in our cap reserve account of approximately 16 million. So, I'm recommending that it should the board approve this um later on next year. We don't need to borrow for that. So, we would utilize current cash. Um so our next steps would be um to ask for your action next month or next week and then we would proceed with submitting a plan to the zoning hearing board on September 2nd. Um the projected um bid date for February 2026 it is February 226 is the protected bid date. And then you'll see this again um the approval next week does not authorize the project to proceed. You'll see this again when we get the bid results in April May of 2026. And
024one last thing, uh, prior to, uh, the bid, we'll have updated budget estimates. >> Thank you very much. Are there any questions? I see one already from Mrs. Hoffman. I have a couple for you. >> Yep. In phase one, did we get a soils clean soils report or anything back? >> We did. Everything was clean. >> Good. >> That is that's great news. >> Yeah, that's huge. um especially for future use of that. That's that's a big impact on that on phase two. Thank you for bringing all this information. It's so important. I know that parents have been long griping not only about the dirt pile but how to get into Lison. So this is a huge huge step for um moving this forward on this campus. uh with the maintenance building. Um was there
025any discussion or um thought put into any additional signage out there? Because we don't necessarily have much that says it's the Manhattan Township campus. You're coming into the campus. You might have an opportunity at this end of the building. We're adding to to get some campus signage at that. >> Great minds think alike. It is part of the project. It's not shown shown in the sketch, but that is one of the items that Steve Durley with Harper Engineering is looking at. Uh, you know, what are the provisions? What will township require for signage? >> Yeah, because that'll be important. >> Yes, that's going to be a great addition. >> Was it easy? >> I know. This is >> um so for the maintenance building 5.5 building is is that around $300 a square foot is
026that seems for maintenance without refer >> you know garage >> the site work when you look at projects many times the site work is a separate prime this is all one prime the site work is a a good part of that a pre-manu manufactured building is what it is. Steel prices are up. Everything is up right now. But with that being said, the lion share of that work is the site work. You know, you got that big pile of dirt. You know what's going to be underneath it? We will bid that unclassified so that we're running caveats uh that will be on the contractor. >> Any other questions? >> Yes. Um So, I've been hearing about fixing that road into um compared to we've talked about it in the past. I guess is there anything
027different about this? Anything better? How can you assure us that this is the great plan for getting around the fixing land? >> Well, let's put it this way. the first time it was looked at by a different civil engineer. We have a new civil engineer. Uh we've enhanced it a little bit. One of the things that we're able to do is uh reduce the cost of the storm water uh the way he's going to do with rain gardens and the detention basins, but the roadway pretty much hasn't changed that much. We're widened so it's a center lane and we're putting the additional parking spaces as many as we could fit in that location because we once again we do have a tent site >> and how are we um adding building when we were so
028tight on on the carable land back school. How how are we managing >> and I said the great thing about combining the two projects is we went from a 30% impervious to an 80% by adding a building and that helps us out quite a bit. >> I don't understand what that seems to me should be the other way around. Yeah, it should I can't even Can you help me out there? >> Well, it has to do with how much acreage you're you're affecting. So, in in essence, like you take your just the dry, you're only affecting a certain amount of acreage. But by adding on where we're doing the maintenance building, then your acreage goes up and you're impervious. But wouldn't that all have been counted in when we did the the middle school project?
029to include all of what we have available, >> right? >> It's because we're relocating to a spot that is impervious that it goes from 30% to 80%. So adding the building helps us out because you know a building like Erin says takes up so much square footage. So that helps us from 30 to 80. You know the rules are what the rules I I asked Steve uh Gerley a number of times. Please explain that to me because I have a hard time comprehending that as well. >> Thank you. I'm just trying to put together understood. >> But I've learned from you. >> Sometimes it's as clear as mud. >> Mr. Brener. >> Uh thank you Mr. Couch, Mr. Charles, Mr. Robins. Uh these are all the questions I had in mind. Like I wanted to
030ask about storm water. You kind of talked about storing water and then the cost thing struck me too, Mr. Ronald. So I'm glad you raised that. Um, and I it's a it's a I appreciate the thorough answer. Um, I'm excited about this. I've I think I've been talking about the dirt pile since I came on. So really uh really excited to see this this this high quality rendering, you know, come to life. I guess a question I might have might be from Mr. Charles or or Mr. Kasha. Guess the added storage for dry or I guess the added food storage is that going to meaningfully reduce the burden on the middle school which I know is kind of serving that purpose for a lot of our other elementary schools. Are we going to shift that
031over to the new maintenance building? >> Yes. If you walk into the back loading dock of the middle school, you'll see the walls lined with shelving. Uh their storage room is jam-packed. This will alleviate all that space being brought over to the new maintenance building and obviously more storage space over at the middle school. Correct. >> So part two of that I guess do we have enough onampus transportation for our kitchen staff or or food services staff and they will if they're based out of the middle school or based out of different building to make it to the maintenance building and and go forth. And then part two of that also might be for you Mr. Gillis. I'm concerned about uh I'm sure there is a plan. I just want to hear about the plan
032about the sequencing and timing of delivery and drop offs in a when it's going to be the front of campus, you know, right front of the middle where where parents and students and buses are going to come and going. Be interested to hear how we're going to control for that too. >> Okay, let let me compartmentalize my head here. Let's go with the soonest piece first. Regarding the deliveries, I know we have timing cycles for what we do prescribe to our vendors. I know Mrs. price from the food services department does, you know, indicate, hey, this is an okay time or a not okay time. We've had situations in the past where drivers do arrive and they shouldn't be in that spot. But I can really tell on one hand how many times that's negatively
033impacted us and mainly from my experiences is more or less during the high school middle school arrival and drop off time. Uh from the other standpoint with vehicles, so the food service department does have vehicles. Um, it is very limited. We have a catering vehicle. We have a couple box trucks. However, that's not always where it needs to stay. And as we continue to grow, we do continue to assess what we have. I mean, the security department now has a vehicle and we look to see what we can shift around and, you know, kind of go from there. We do have a new uh Chevy Suburban, so that is going to be moving on to campus. Uh, it will be mixed use. So, that may also be something to assist that team. So, we're constantly
034looking at that. Uh, we do partner with Enterprise. we have an agreement with them that we can add vehicles as we see and you know we can kind of go from there but I think it's just more or less as we get into that spot we kind of plan ahead and kind of build into the budget all hey this is what our future needs are going to be but flexibility is key >> okay yeah no that that's that flexibility exactly I'm glad to hear that I'm sure we can solve those problems when they arrive I was made think about our you said our safety and security team I remember I connected with Mrs last year about She's asking me about ebikes for our uh our school resource officers and their ability to move around campus.
035So, that's part of what came to mind, too. I'm not I'm not sure we you know, our our website is probably wheelies or something, but uh I don't think >> Yeah, unless there's like delivery of pizzas, which are very good by the way, but you know, we'll see. >> I'll be looking forward to hearing about the on campus door dash. Thank you so much. I appreciate all of this information about the plans. It's very clear what's coming first and next. All right. Our next agenda item is 3C. Your recommendation to accept the donation of a Kabota utility vehicle with the Manheim Township marching band logo from the Mannheim Township Booster Club in the total amount of $11,936.14. Mr. and Mr. Seagull, welcome. >> Good evening. Thank you. So, the Mano Township Marching Band Club would
036love to purchase a Kabota utility vehicle wrapped in blue with the Mano Township marching band logo on it as a donation to our marching band program. The Kabota utility vehicle will be used by the marching band to tow a trailer with instruments, sound gear, props, etc. to and from um their uh entrance to the performance. The current utility vehicle has reached an age where replacement parts are either impossible to get or too expensive. Um so the cost of the Capota utility vehicle um plus the wrapping will be $11,93614. Schoolboard policy 702 asks that we present this to the board and with a with majority approval and you get your grant that exceeds the have information to go across the board. So we are asking for the approval of the donation of the Kabota utility vehicle.
037>> Thank you Mr. Any questions for Mr. >> Mrs. Hoffman? >> Just saying thank goodness because I've got a marching band kid and I hear about we got to pack all this stuff. So I appreciate this and and I know the boosters work really hard uh raise money. They do a great job and I actually thank you Mr. Lamb for being part of that process but this is a big step. >> Thank you. >> Now we're at item 3D recommendation to approve the second reading of policy 246 student wellness. Mrs. Price, director of food services. Oh, Mrs. Robin is Mrs. Robin is filling in. >> I am um in June Mrs. Price did uh present to you the draft regardless policy 247 and this evening we're just presenting this as a second reading to the
038board. >> Wonderful. Does anyone have any questions? I looked through it and I saw a green paragraph which means this is the words that changed. >> Yes, that's the only section that changed. >> All right. I am not seeing any questions. Oh, M. >> Um I just want clarification for families with younger kids. The classroom parties lied to for what happens when there's like multiple birthdays in a classroom that's so we have guidelines that outline um what's permissible by each building and typically what will happen is that the teacher will confirm with the principal if there's a a need that extends beyond what's outlining in those guidelines but I don't think there's anything in this polic students land that will sort of put limitations on those kind of things. It's more about what what foods
039we're allowed to put in front of kids and just making sure that anything anything food related that we put in front of kids align with our smart snacks guidelines and state regulations. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. I'm not seeing any other questions. Thank you. >> For our parents who might not be reading this policy to the very end. They may not send in homemade items at all. We're saying everything is packaged for safety, for cleanliness, or all of that. Um, so that probably needs to be clarified forever. >> You're correct. And that's also outlined in those guidelines that that I just mentioned to Miss Lamb. And we make sure the PTO's are furnished with those every year and we do our best to get those out there most of the What happens is
040someone has a question that surfaces we put the guidelines. We remind them of the guidelines and it's all spelled out in two or three pages. But you make a good point. Um we're past the point of being able to cook things at home and bring them in because we can't vouch for what happened in the kitchen at home and allergies and all those things. >> All right. Thank you for that clarification, Mrs. H and Dr. Ryman. Sure. >> Safety first. >> All right. We are now at item number four, which is Manheim Township community comments. Residents, taxpayers, district employees, and students are welcome and encouraged to participate. To speak, please submit a commenters card to the board secretary as you approach the microphone. In accordance with policy number 903, state your name and limit remarks
041to five minutes. Speak once per topic until all others have been heard on that topic, after which an additional five minutes may be granted. The board will not engage in discussion at this time. Follow will be provided as needed. Are there any who wish to make comment this evening? [Music] >> I like to give shy people just a moment in case there are any. >> All right, I'm moving on to item number five, adjournment. Um, is there a motion to adjurnn? >> Mr. Basar, is there a second? Second. Miss, our next meeting is Thursday, August 21st, 2025 at 6 PM here in the district office. It will also be livereamed and recorded for viewing purposes. Thank you to all Mannheim Township staff, administrators, and volunteers for your dedication to our students and community. All in
042favor, please say I. I. All oppose, nay. The motion carries. Thanks to all. We are