001Good evening. I did like to call the um February 17, 2026 Miss Actton School Board of Directors special meeting to order. Please stand for the pledge. 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. >> The public is hereby advised of audio and video recording of this meeting for the purposes of rebroadcasting. By way of attendance, I believe we have all board members here. Um, next we have guest and schedule speakers, Dr. Zerby. >> Thank you, Madam President. Before we begin, I just want to make an announcement that uh tonight there are two meetings uh scheduled. The first one is a special meeting for a specific item uh looking for the consideration uh
002from the board of school directors on approving the preliminary budget for the 2026-27 school year. And the second meeting which will immediately follow this special meeting will be the work session. Uh so with that said uh we have uh one uh speaker Miss Stephie our director of business services will present uh a summary of the 2627 preliminary budget. Members of the board you should have a copy of the uh budget in your packet at the table. >> Thank you Dr. Zerby. At the January 20th board work session, the draft proposed preliminary budget was presented for discussion. In summary, the proposed budget outlines total expenditures of 143,485,34 and anticipated revenues of $141,714,243. As a result of this projected shortfall, it is necessary to seek board approval to apply for the special education referendum exception. The proposed
003budget has been available made available for public inspection and the required notice of intent to adopt has been properly advertised. At this time, I am recommending that the board approve the 2627 preliminary budget as presented on PTE form 2028 in the amount of 143,485,34. This budget requires a 5.29% 29% tax increase and authorizes the administration to apply for the special education referendum exception in accordance with act one. It's not advancing. Following approval of the proposed budget, the administration will continue working diligently to identify efficiencies and recognize additional savings wherever possible. In April, I will present the proposed final budget for board consideration. And in May, the final budget will be presented for adoption. That concludes my presentation. >> Are there any questions for Miss Stephie to my right? Miss Graph? >> Yes. Thank you. I
004just wanted to ask if you could remind us again what the act one index is. >> 3.5%. So, we're looking at um act one index of 3.5 and the proposed budget is a tax increase of 5.29. >> Correct. >> Great. Thank you. >> Any other questions from board members to my right? Seeing none to my left, Miss Purdue. >> Thank you for the um presentation. I do have a quick question for you in reference to the next steps as you've indicated on the slide. um the deadline for Department of Education to issue a ruling on referendum exception. Can you um just provide a little bit of clarification on what that is and what we are to expect? >> Sure. Um just because we apply for the exception doesn't mean that the st is the state
005will grant it to us. Um so once the board gives us approval to apply for the exception, we will um apply to the state for the exception and March 25th is the deadline for them to get back to us whether they approve the exception or not. And then just a follow-up question in reference to that is there can come back and provide a number or do they just is it a yes or no in reference to >> it would be a yes or a no. >> Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Uh to my left, Miss Alustin. >> Hi, thank you. Um can you just remind us what the act one was last last year and versus this year? >> 4% I believe. >> Four. Okay. And and this year it's 3.5. Okay. And can
006um you know and I know we've talked about this in previous meetings a lot but just for the sake of this vote can we talk about what the administration h what steps the administration has taken if you could summarize just to um you know taking a look at the budget what areas have been evaluated or re-evaluated in the budget and what other evaluation is planned going forward in terms of expenses. >> Do you want me to take it? >> Okay. So um how the process works every year is the departments will submit their budget. So um once those some budgets are submitted Dr. Zerby, Dr. Jane and myself um have a look at those budgets. Um we go through those. That's basically um the wants and asks of all the departments and the buildings. Um
007we sort of go through those um and try to align it with where we're at in terms of projected revenue and act one index. So we've made um I think probably about a $1.5 million in department cuts. Um, we looked at special ed programming. Um, we were able to do um reduce professional services by about a million dollars. Um, we looked at our supplemental contracts. We were able to reduce um about $40,000 there. Um, anyone time that someone um has given a um resignation or retirement that gets looked at. Um we were able to reduce about five positions through that. Um we reduced a staff nur nurse position. Um we cut the number of building subs that we have. We went from 24 to 12. Um we um are looking at transportation reducing the number
008of transportation routes and we have had some success there. We were able to reduce about two so far. Um and that's something we continue to look at. Um we do anticipate other changes within healthcare and staffing. Did I miss anything? >> Okay. Thank you. And and so just um so everyone's clear that this um exception is for is based because our special ed expenses are outpacing our revenue. Correct. >> The special ed exceptions are outpacing the act one index by $1.7 million. >> Okay. And so so that's the that's the focus. So in order to maintain the programming that we need to maintain, the administration is saying that this step is necessary, but costs are going to continue to be evaluated. Correct. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Alson. Any other comments or questions to
009my left? Am I right? Thank you, Miss Stephie. Oh, thank you. Now, that ends our guest and scheduled speakers for the special meeting. I'll turn the uh meeting back over to Madame President for public comment on board action items. >> Thank you, Miss Stephie, for the update. Um at this point I will um provide opportunity um for public comment. The board will now take comment on board action items. This is opportunity for residents to comment on matters that are to be decided upon as outlined in the agenda. The board asks that you keep your comments to three minutes or less. The board of school directors may choose to respond to matters following conclusion of comments on the board action items. And then just to um highlight, please state your name and municipalities um so we
010can have that recorded. Thank you. >> Jim Malik Warester, does this budget include provisions for a $113 million borrowing for the renovation? Is that one of the parameters for this? If we could know, that'd be great. The enrollment over the past 20 years has decreased by almost 800 students along with the loss of more than 30 plus classrooms, 30 plus teachers and their support staff. The enrollment has dropped so much that you had to close and then sell off autobond and that means less expense and revenue from the sale and you still can't balance your budget. That's a problem. The current inflation rates 2.4%. You guys want to raise our taxes 5.29%. Over the act one index and more than double the rate of inflation made possible by your exception. Last year you applied for
011the same exception based upon a totally arbitrary tax increase that Mr. Winters admitted he pulled out of his tokus quote unquote so we could get the votes. We're not doing any better this year. It's like the same thing. Somebody pulled 5.29 out there took us this year. Even more scary, the business manager stated publicly that we have been consistently below the act one index over the past seven years and it was negatively affecting the district. She suggested we should consistently go to the act one index to take advantage of the revenue regardless of whether we could balance the budget below the act one index. Now I ask, is this a plan to get your mills up? You remember that presentation your PFM guys gave, Dave? I actually sent you questions two weeks ago you haven't
012answered. One of his things was in order to afford your building project was to get the mills up. Is this one of the ways that we get the mills up to avoid the project or afford the project? I mean, if you could answer my questions that I sent you two weeks ago, I appreciate it. Case in point, what I handed you guys is $1.57 million of alternative reductions that nobody mentioned. It wasn't in her presentation. All these positions, reduction of LTS, eliminate positions, eliminate reach. Nobody discussed it. If you do these alternate reduction, I didn't make these up. You guys did. If you did these, we wouldn't be going above the index. How come? I want to know why you didn't do these alternate reductions that you guys put together. And you didn't even mention
013it. That presentation for somebody who doesn't come to finance meetings and stuff, it doesn't mean anything for the for the public. Um, what you could do, you could take uh money from your capital reserve to uh cover this. You could scrap your big idea wish list. You could do classroom efficiency study and cut your undersubscribed programs. recently dis discussed in the education committee, but nothing. I don't hear anything. It's like, oh, you know what? We'll approve more money to the district and then, yeah, we'll give it a shot and see if we can reduce it. You know where that's going to go? You give a politician more money and they're going to spend it. And you guys are really good at it. Thank you for your comments and I'll just check if there's any additional
014public comments at this time. Seeing none, I will move on with um with the rest of the meeting and then I will just ask if there's anybody from the board that have any comments or anything they want to respond to. Miss Ste, >> thank you. Um, I did just want to um address some not address uh any particular comment, but I did just want to share some um some of the reason why I'm voting to support the preliminary budget because it is preliminary. The final budget will not be voted on until May. Um, and that's very important. But the reason why I'm doing this is because and why I did not um why I would not want to see the alternative reductions without going above without taking the special ed exemption. some of the reasons
015why um we have a responsibility as a district. I feel a responsibility to make sure that our district is as strong as it can be and there is very important work going on in the district right now that could be in jeopardy if that uh if we were to start making cuts along those lines. the work being done in our literacy program and our multi-tered support uh systems of support um will only make our district stronger and I absolutely believe that it's necessary for us to continue that work for our family and our our families in the community and for our community at large. It it will have lasting impact. Um speaking just for the work being done at literacy which is being done tirelessly by all educators in the district as they learn and
016implement and grow and grow the knowledge and the application with students. Literacy has an impact across all areas of life and success for all areas of life and some of the positions that are on the alternative um reductions will have an impact on that. and I feel that that is extremely important work for our community. Um, some of the other areas include security which I really feel like we need to prioritize and we do prioritize and I I don't it doesn't make me feel comfortable at this moment with the preliminary budget to to make any decisions that would lower that with where we are and for the security of our district. Um that's really what I wanted to kind of share is that important work and I do think that there is that responsibility to
017make sure that our decisions are aligned going forward um on the priorities of the district including that literacy and MTSS priorities and and that the decisions across all areas help those move forward. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Ste. And I will pass it over to Miss Clary. >> Um, yeah. Uh, just a couple things in maybe in response to public comment. Um, we do have for the public's benefit, we do have monthly finance meetings that are open to the public and anyone is welcome to attend where we do discuss in detail um, our finances. Dr. Dr. Zerby is also putting on a um finance forums for the public in the uh school library. He held one already. And the next one, Dr. Zerby, is that April 4th, I believe? >> 16th. >> April 16th. Um
018at 7 o'clock in the six 7 o'clock. >> 7 o'clock in the high school library. And everyone is welcome. Um the administration puts on I went to the first one. the administration puts on a really good presentation uh by the administrators and uh stays and answers all the public's questions. Um in terms of the alternate uh reductions that were mentioned, um I guess I would say those are just that they're ideas. They are not the end all beall of what alternative reductions the district is considering. Um, and I'll leave it at that and uh reiterate what Miss Seal said, which was that I want the public to understand this is just a preliminary budget. Um, and we're still working on it and we're working hard on it and we'll be voting on it, a final
019budget in May or June. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Clary, Miss Graph. >> Yeah, thank you. I I do I did want to sort of echo that um I was happy that the administration did provide alternative reductions for the board to consider. I think a lot of these things are things that um to Miss Theel's point some of us would be very uncomfortable moving forward and pursuing while others may already have been considered and included in the budget as it's proposed. Um the other thing I just want to say is that you know I think we we're in a position where we need to prepare for the potential that the budget is going to exceed the act one index and in that process we have to do this approval tonight so that we can
020have that option available to us come May or June when we're voting on this final budget. If we don't do this tonight, we don't have the option to exceed the act one index come May or June. Um, so I I think that, you know, along with that, we are accountable to supporting our special education programming and as those costs continue to grow, we need to continue to support those programs for our students. And I don't think that um the public comments are necessarily taking into account the increase in costs that we've been seeing in special education. And that's not specific to our district. That's all districts are seeing those cost increases. and we're trying to figure out ways to optimize the programming while also, you know, making costs very competitive and keeping our costs reasonable
021within the district. And I think the administration is doing a good job of looking at all the alternatives they can incorporate to provide good programming at a good cost. Um, and so I I just want to say that like while I'm supporting this vote tonight to put forward this proposed preliminary budget, I don't necessarily support exceeding the act one index. And I'm hoping and will continue to work in my position on the finance committee to push for additional reductions and considerations that we can look at across the entire budget without necessarily negatively impacting our special education students or some of the other programming we have in the district. Thank you, Miss Graph. Well stated. Any other? Okay. And then with that, I will ask for a motion. So, may I have a motion to approve
022item 7.1 as presented regarding the 2026 2027 preliminary budget um which is um to proceed with the PTE 2028 requiring a 5.29% 29% tax increase and authorize the administration to apply for special ed referendum exception in accordance with act one. Miss Chandanda second miss and then can I just ask for any discussion from the board or any additional comments? Okay, seeing none, do this have to be a roll call vote? >> No. Okay. >> Okay. So, seeing none, I will ask all in favor. All any applause. All right. So, that motion carries. 90. At this part of the meeting, we will have opportunity for um residents to now make additional comments during courtesy of the floor. The board of school directors will now provide opportunity um to make comments on matters that are are or
023may be before the board. The board asks that you keep your comments to 3 minutes or less. The board of school directors may choose to respond to matters following the conclusion of comments. You can also submit questions via email to informationsacting.org and please state your name and municipality. >> Yeah, Jim Malik again. Miss Theo, money doesn't equate with success in education, but parental involvement does. So, you know, I think you're concentrating on the wrong issue. It doesn't take any thought to raise taxes to the limit and above the limit. Anybody could do that. That's why you're supposed to be doing your job. Um, you guys can balance, you can't balance your budget, but you want to spend 300 million on a building project. How is that going to work? you can't even make cuts to
024get it to the act one index and then you want to spend an additional 300 million. Something's not right. What I gave you guys has to do with the food service. Give you some idea what's been going on here to get us in this situation. Um you guys departed from the national food service program which we were getting money for to subsidize the food to do it on your own. You got operating losses of 200 grand a year for three years straight. That's 600 grand, which was paid for by me and fellow taxpayers. Well, now you decided, oh, you know what? We're losing too much money. Let's go back on the food pram food program and get the money. You could have been getting money for the last three years. That's how you get your
025budget where you don't have to cut things you don't need to cut. Um, right to know summaries. If you guys look at your right to know reports, you'll see the numbers don't add up. I don't have time to go into that, but your right to know specialist charge never changes. It's 6374 a month or 76 grand a year. And she is supposed to make $33 an hour as an hourly hourly employee. So, somebody just maxed her out and divided by 12 to come up with what you guys got there a month, regardless of how much she works. There's a problem. Could be a lot less. That needs to get looked into. Then you have the assistant superintendent doing the open records officer job and that comes in at two 2200 a month, 27 grand a
026year divided by 12, right? He's getting paid as the assistant superintendent. So on one side of the ledger, he's getting a full boat for assistant superintendent, but you're getting charged for an extra 27K that's not being deducted from his super assistant superintendent job. There's where you have problems with your numbers. Right to know legal bills. You guys spent a million dollars on right to know about three years ago. All of a sudden, it's down to less than 100 grand. What happened to that hole in the budget? Because once you raise taxes to pay for the mill doesn't go away when the mill goes away. It's always there in per perpetuity. So where's that money going? How'd you fill that hole? There's so many problems with the budget. And I know you find it humorous, Miss
027Graph. I don't as a taxpayer. I don't. >> Thank you. >> I'll just check if there's anyone else for courtesy of the floor. All right. At this point, I will close the um courtesy of the floor and I would just see if any board members have any comments. Yes, Miss Austin. >> Just asking for uh one point um to be addressed about the school lunch program if the money was a loss to the district. Um the operating loss, was that the district's operating loss? If you can clarify. Yeah, I believe when he refers to $200,000, $100,000 was the operating loss were the actual cash loss to the district. The rest was the operating loss to the uh vendor. >> Thank you. >> And then with that, if there's no other comments, I will ask for
028um a motion to adjourn this special meeting. All right. Mr. Winters, second. Miss Clary. Okay, with that this meeting is adjourned and we will continue with the work session shortly after this. Okay, perfect. She's ready to go. Um um we're continuing with our meeting. I did like to call the February 17, 2026 Mthakan School Board Director's meeting to order. At this point, I say please stand for the pledge. 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. >> Thank you. That was great. >> Thank you so much, Shay. And now we have Bryce to tell us why he loves Eagleville. First and foremost, I want to thank you all for being here. My
029name is Bryce Stocky and I am I am a fourth grade student at Eagleville Elementary School. I am here to tell you why Eagleville had such a an impact impact on me. Every one of my teachers through my years here have been encouraging and helpful. I really enjoy going to all my specials. I actually joined chorus this year and have learned so so much. Lastly, I enjoy learning at Eagleville and the chance to make friends and share the experiments with them. Thank you all for coming here and listening to why I love Eagleville. These are junior school board director certificates. Congratulations. Thank you very much for being so brave, Shay and Bryce. I know it takes a lot to be up here and we really appreciate you um and your courage for coming up here
030tonight. With that, I would like to say the public is here by advice of audio and video recording of this meeting for the purposes of rebroadcasting and typically we're checking attendance and as all board members still remain available after the special meeting. Um we will now move on with our agenda and go to recognition of guest and schedule speakers. Dr. Zerby. >> Thank you madam president. This evening we have a number of presentations. The first the spirit of mthactton award. I'd like to recognize Dr. Corkran, principal of Eagleville Elementary School, who's going to help us recognize a number of outstanding individuals. And then that is followed by Mr. Kenwood and Miss Stephie across some of the other support areas within the district. Dr. Corkin. >> The Spirit of Methactton Award is an opportunity to recognize
031our students, staff, and volunteers. Spirit of Mthactton recipients are individuals who consistently model the qualities of the nine core values of the Methactton School District. These individuals enrich our school community with their knowledge, commitment, and support. It is my distinct honor and privilege to recognize our Spirit of Methin recipients. First, we have Miss Julia Romik, second grade teacher. Ms. Romik creates an engaging, warm, and respectful learning environment for each student in her classroom. She demonstrates professionalism, teamwork, and a strong commitment to school growth through her leadership on the PBIS team and with her collaboration during grade level planning. Her respect and rapport with Eagleville students support student success and help define our Eagleville school community. Thank you, Miss Romik. Next, we have Miss Sarah Roose, fourth grade teacher. Ms. Roose consistently leads by example, taking
032initiative and getting things done with humility and purpose as a valued member of our PBIS team and her grade level team. She motivates our fourth graders to grow, highlights their talents, and inspires them to be the best students they can be. Her commitment to student success is contagious and strengthens the Eagleville community. Thank you, Miss Roose. Next, we have Mrs. Heather Regina, Secretary to the Principal. Mrs. Regina is the welcoming face of our school as the first point of contact with our guest, representing calmness, professionalism, and warmth. Her relentless commitment to getting things done and creating effective in systems empowers staff to focus on teaching and learning. With deep Eagleville pride, she inspires each of us to do our best and to do so in an organized fashion, all for the greater good of our
033school. Thank you, Mrs. Regina. Next, we have Mrs. Colleen Darflur, instructional assistant. Mrs. Darflur is unable to join us this evening, so we are going to celebrate her and read our description. Mrs. Darler is a caring, kind, trusted instructional assistant who is highly respected by students and staff. She greets students each morning and sends them off each day with care, supporting the sense of belonging that we strive for so that everyone knows they are valued. Through her hard work and commitment to supporting instruction, she empowers learners and helps every student grow to be their best. Thank you, Mrs. Darflur. Next we have Mr. Eric Leonetti, parent volunteer. >> Mr. Leonetti generously shares his time during fourth grade lunch, creating a positive and welcoming presence in the Eagleville cafeteria. Through his interactions with students and staff,
034he builds relationships and strengthens our sense of community. His support reflects an appreciation for what matters most, our students and our school community. Thank you, Mr. Leonetti. Next we have Mrs. Sarah Riley, parent volunteer. Mrs. Riley is a devoted third grade parent volunteer whose Eagleville pride shines through her service at lunch, leadership of this year's STEM fair, and continued commitment to Eagleville's home and school events. Her kindness, patience, and positivity strengthen our teamwork and appreciation of our community. Mrs. Riley's love for Eagleville is evident in everything she does, from consistently giving her time and talents to proudly supporting our school community in countless ways. Thank you, Mrs. Riley. And next we have our student recipients. So, first we have Ryan Collus, fourth grade student. Ryan consistently demonstrates strong motivation to succeed and a genuine commitment
035to growing each day at Eagleville. He approaches new challenges with a positive attitude, remains open to new opportunities and is willing to try different strategies to improve his learning through encouragement, cooperation, and respect for others. Ryan helps his classmates by fostering a supportive and inclusive classroom environment where everyone feels valued and capable of success. Thank you, Ryan Collus. We are proud of you. And our last student award recipient is Thiago Tanokco Sanchez, fourth grade student. Let's give him a round of applause. Thiago is unable to join us this evening. Um, but we all had an opportunity to meet Thiago when we were visiting classrooms and so it is my honor to share. Thiago is a student who shows the spirit of Mthactton through his kindness, respect, and his willingness to help others. Each morning, he
036arrives ready to learn and motivated to succeed. Whether he's tackling a challenging math problem, preparing to write an ELA, or helping others on the soccer field, Thiago is always ready to support a classmate, offer encouragement, or make sure someone feels included. He treats everyone with patience and fairness, creating a welcoming environment wherever he goes. Thank you, Thiago Tanoko Sanchez. We are proud of you. Michelle Pekco is our spirit of Mthactton award winner for Fina Education Center. Michelle Pekco truly embodies the spirit of Mthactton through her unwavering commitment to our district and community. As an essential member of the curriculum department, Michelle is is an effective communicator, a master organizer, and someone who consistently anticipates the needs of both the department and the wider staff. Her ability to motivate, empower, and support others strengthens teamwork and
037helps transform ideas into action. A proud Mthactton alum, dedicated parent, and long-standing volunteer, Michelle brings a deep appreciation for our district's heritage and a genuine desire to nurture those around her. Her commitment, openness, and care enrich our community every day, making her a deserving recipient of the spirit of Mthactton award. Thank you, Michelle. Nancy Kusamano is our spirit of infected award winner in the food service department. Nancy consistently exemplifies the spirit of Mthactton through her unwavering commitment to students, colleagues, and the school community. Each day, Nancy approaches her role with professionalism, care, and pride, ensuring that every student she serves feels welcomed and valued. She understands that food service is more than providing meals. It is an opportunity to positively impact students daily school experience. Nancy is dependable and collaborative team member who leads by
038example. She actively supports her colleagues, promotes effective teamwork, and contributes to a positive and efficient work environment. Her willingness to step in where needed and her focus on doing things the right way reflect Mthactton's core values of responsibility, respect, and service. Thank you, Nancy. Bill Mason is our spirit mthacted award winner in the transportation department. Bill exemplifies Mthactton's core values through his unwavering professionalism, commitment to safety, and genuine care for students. He understands that a school bus ride is an extension of the school day, and he approaches his role with the same sense of responsibility and purpose as any classroom educator. Bill consistently greets each student with a warm smile and a friendly good morning as they board the bus and ends their day with a kind good night as they depart. Through these small
039but meaningful actions, he builds positive relationships and fosters a sense of belonging. Bill promotes an atmosphere of acceptance, respect, and inclusion for every student who rides his bus, ensuring all feel valued and supported. Through his daily actions, Bill models the spirit of Mthactton and positively impacts the lives of students, families, and school community. Thank you, Bill. Good evening. It's my honor and privilege to nominate Mark Draon, maintenance mechanic at Mthactton High School for the Spirit of Mactton Award. Mark is an exceptional craftsman whose skill, reliability, and positive attitude have made a significant impact at the high school where he has worked independently throughout the entire school year. while the second maintenance mechanic has been out on leave. Despite this challenge, Mark has consistently gone above and beyond, willing to step in wherever help is needed
040and ensuring the building remains safe, functional, and welcoming for students and staff and visitors. Mark has also selfishly supported our custodial team with snow removal, including early mornings and weekends, demonstrating true commitment and teamwork. Mark's dedication, work ethic, and readiness to serve others truly embody the core values of the spirit of myth and award. >> I looked up at the Let's go in the middle here. Uh, Madam President, we'll just give people like two or three minutes to to leave uh after this recognition and then we can start back up in the meeting again. Um just bringing to everyone's attention that um we did we do normally celebrate the spirit of Mthactton at the end uh the voting meeting every month but because we weren't able to recognize the Eagleville uh family and the Fina
041folks in January because of the of the weather we brought them here uh for you this evening to recognize. So we appreciate you being uh flexible in doing that. Uh next on the agenda for guest and scheduled speakers is Mthactton High School renovation. I know we have ICS and the Shrader group present this evening. U and uh they will be presenting uh this evening u primarily in reflection of an action item that you'll find on the agenda uh which is item 13D high school renovation which is authoriz the administration to proceed into design development phase. With that, I understand that the presentation has a number of animations in it. So, we would like if the board would be so kind to gather the handout that you have at your table and we'll take a seat
042in the audience so we can see the animations. Thank you very much. All right. Thank you, Dr. Zerby. Everyone left, so we're here. All right. Uh we're going to give a quick update on the status of the high school additions and renovations project. uh we have presented at property and finance and you'll see a lot of the same uh discussion here this evening. Um we'll start with a schedule update and then we'll go into some of the uh site plan um discussions that we've had recently. Uh do a quick overview of the floor plans and then some animations of the uh schematic design and then I will pass it over to Mr. Tim Guyder to go through all of the cost estimating discussions. So bring us to if I can get this to work. There
043we go. All right. Um so to date we are through schematic design. We are wrapping up uh this month. We've been meeting every two weeks with the administrative team. Uh we've gone through the township uh review process. We submitted a sketch plan back in December. We finally received a traffic review letter the first week of February. We received the traffic uh the township engineer letter most recently. That was on February 11th. Um just highlighting a couple of key points to to come out of those um review items here in green. Uh there will be an additional waiver for Cartway width, which is essentially the width of Kbo Mill Road. Um that is currently not up to the uh standard set in the ordinance. Um so we'll just need a waiver from that. That's an existing
044condition. Uh they've also identified several waiverss regarding the sidewalks and curbing along Germantown Pike, Krebel Mill Road, and Mill Road. Uh the ordinance for the township requires sidewalks along all of those roads and curbing. Um and the district will uh look for waiverss for those items uh likely to be deferred once there are connections to be made to those sidewalks. Uh we did confirm the following uh zoning variances that we knew about and we've uh spoken to the board previously. The front yard setback, the parking setback. Those are both uh pre-existing conditions and the township has recognized those as such. Um and we will be requesting additional uh the the township has requested additional information regarding the on-site circulation uh and parking situation. There have not been uh too many comments in the letters we've
045received to date. Uh next steps we have zoning application submission in early March uh for a zoning board hearing in uh April and then planning commission were planned uh to be at that meeting on a uh March 26th. So the end of schematic design uh ends next week where we hopefully vote uh to move into the design development phase and we'll get into a little bit about what that means uh later in the presentation. So, as far as the site goes, this is what was uh presented last and submitted to the township. You can see if I can do my laser. Um along here, everything in the colored area is essentially the areas of the the site that we are touching as part of this project. So, the existing uh uh access road remains as
046it is. There is a new access point off of Creable Mill for buses. And then you can see uh the yellow area is the proposed addition for the high school. Um the proposed student entry points are located here in the red area. So one in the new uh addition and one over where they currently have the east wing uh entry point. In this plan, we were planning on keeping the parent drop off essentially the same as it was. Um so they would enter in through here and come back out. So that Q length is essentially what you have today. What's changed here was the bus entry and exit. So the buses would come in, loop around this loop up here, and come back down the same entry point. And then students would enter and exit
047the same as they do today uh through the main access road. What we realize is that not improving the uh parent drop off is probably not the best idea. Um there's currently issues with cars stacking out on Creable Mill. So the township will likely when they do provide comment require us to make some improvements. So what can we do to improve those uh that option there? Uh what the team looked at was essentially bringing the bus loop around where the current parent drop off is. So coming in from that one point all the way around uh through that uh turnaround as well and then coming back out the same exit. So you do have one point of entry and exit for the buses, a nice long length to get all of the buses on site.
048Um, and again, that would create them going in those two access points along the site here. Parents would come in through that middle access point. They would be able to queue a little bit longer inside the site, get them off of Creable Mill Road. uh they would loop around that staff lot which is lot 8 and then come out the same access point that they enter the site and students again would uh enter the same point that they currently do. The problem with this is that we lose 91 parking spaces around that uh staff lot because of the the the queue. So that might be non-negotiable. Um, we currently we're sitting at 861 spaces from the previous plan and the uh quantity that you need to get everybody on site is 857. So, we're right
049there at that that number. Uh, that includes getting everybody off of the church parking lot, providing parking spaces for all student, staff, and bus drivers. Uh the other conflict here is um one with the parent drop off and the staff. Having the staff park in here and then walk across a parent drop off does not seem uh like the best idea to some of the high school administration. So again, the two entry points there. What else can we do to to improve the situation? We go back to the plan that we originally submitted. um you still have all of your um staff uh and student lots over in lot 8 and nine and can we make an improvement to the existing lot without making significant changes? So you still have your bus uh in and
050out. You have your parent entry coming in and out uh on the right hand side of the plan and then students would be coming in the same way they have been, same way they are today. uh two student entry points again at the main entrance and the uh east wing. Buses would be able to double stack along that bus lane. So they come in, park, let students off and then loop around the uh the lot 10 up there where it says bus driver and then come back out that same entrance. Um so you're really still separating buses, students, and parents. the bus drop off loop would be able to loop around this extended loop and get a little bit longer of a queue length on here and then go back out that entry point again.
051Um, and all students and staff will be crossing this one uh point across the site. So, we're trying to create a nice boulevard to make it a nice safe crossing. That's where you'd have your staff uh directing traffic around there. And just a quick note, um this area right here, there is a crossing so that buses would not be able to park here. So the buses would essentially stop at this point and allow uh traffic to go across that. Um the our engineers did a quick uh sketch of this and found out that if we do this properly, we can get um about 20 plus more cars in that queue length. uh which essentially doubles the amount that you have. Uh we did get some quick numbers from our traffic consultant. It sounds like at
052least when they were there, there were 24 cars at peak uh traffic point, which I think was like 727 or something like that. Um but 20 24 cars were out on Creole Mill and Mill Road. So, by getting those 20 to, you know, maybe we can fit 24 on here, it essentially gets all of those cars off of Creable Mill and uh hopefully make a a huge impact to u the traffic out there. So, this is the direction that we're headed uh at the at the moment. Uh we'll see what the township thinks of of this these improvements, but uh the only change from what we've presented to the township at this point would be this loop uh improving over here. quickly uh into the plan. The plans have not changed much. Uh we still
053have all of the additions that we've been discussing. You have your natiatorum and athletic spaces in the orange. You have your auditorium and performing arts spaces in the purple. Uh the darker blue is the high school administration. Uh creating a new main entrance with that secure vestibule entrance. Uh there is a twostory classroom wing down in the south of this plan. The yellow uh we're creating that commons really opening up that space so that you have a nice uh gathering space for students to come in in the morning and to gather before the buses come in the afternoon. You also have this as a queuing space for the auditorium, the natiatorum and the main gym. So really nice public uh facing space over here where all the academic spaces are kind of quarantined off uh
054when there are public events. Um the pool would be infilled with a wellness center, uh athletic trainer, fab lab, and life skills apartment. And then we are relocating the FCS labs over to this area in blue. Second floor uh basically reflects what's happening on the first floor. Again, the the classroom wing is two stories, so it's essentially the same as what you see on the first floor. We are moving the district data center from Fina over to the high school. So, there's a space on the second floor designated for that. Uh, the the high school administration has some space up on the second floor and we've talked about the balcony of the auditorium uh having a dual purpose as an LGI space as well. So, you can use that when the auditorium is not in
055use. And then you see the the second floor of the pool space. Those bleachers would be converted to uh what we're calling a cardio mezzanine. So, you can get some cardio equipment up on the second floor of the pool. Quick update. Uh this is what the current building is looking like at the end of our schematic design phase. You can see all of the additions in the front. This would be the two-story classroom wing. Here's all of your existing classroom wings. We're sitting kind of over in this space right now. Have a brand new entry that's really uh clear and focused to get people on site and into the building. We have our auditorium over on the left and then our natiatorum over at the other end of the the site. Quick animation to show
056you what that looks like as we're getting through the building. And we'll have more uh showing you what the interiors of the building look like. But uh this is kind of getting a feel of what the campus starts to look like uh with this concept. And then quickly, we're developing the interiors very quickly. Um, you can start to see what that new main entrance looks like. There's actually some natural light coming into the building, which is a nice change to what we currently have. Uh, looking back in this direction, you can see there's the new connecting stair on the right hand side. Um, we're looking down the corridor. So, down to the left would be down towards the pool. Uh we have our auditorium on the left hand side and then the common space is
057right under that sign. So you can see how that could act as a a pre-function uh area for auditorium, gymnasium and pool. So those are some quick uh schematic updates. Uh we'll get into uh next steps and the cost estimate. >> Thank you Devin and hello hello everyone. Um so over our team uh since January 16th when we got the the final plans and the narratives for the schematic design uh put forth a lot of effort and and due diligence in uh in putting this estimate together. So um we started by uh you know initiating our own internal estimate. We did also engage a third party estimator uh for additional uh quality assurance uh on our side. And then we uh shared the first draft uh on February 4th. So it took a little bit
058over two weeks to uh complete that. Um once we got to that first draft, we really went back to that October 2025 uh budgetary estimate that was put together uh by CHA and uh we we did flag uh discrepancy with the square footage which we'll talk about on the next slide. Uh but then we also met with the design team, reviewed all the assumptions um that we were making, made sure that our scope was was complete and uh everything was uh intact with with what they envisioned the the project to be. We updated the estimate um reviewed it with the with the administration that draft. Uh finally on February 6th, we received that third party estimate, confirmed our scope and takeoffs and unit costs and finalized the estimate. and then last week shared that final
059um estimate with the administration and then property committee and and finance committee. Uh this table on this slide compares the square footage estimates from the concept phase back in October uh to the schematic design phase uh currently uh that we're working with. So you could see the renovation square footages are roughly the same at, you know, 34,750 previously and 33,100 today. Um but a big difference was in the the total addition. So um back in October it was 83,700 and today we're at 103,90 uh square feet just under 20,000 square foot difference. You can see the breakouts that we have uh first floor and second floor uh on the right hand side. When we went back to that uh that previous estimate, we didn't have a breakout. So, we're just working from the total square
060footage that was used um in that previous estimate. On this slide, you can see the table. This is a breakdown of that estimate side by side with where we sit today. Uh good news is we're we're still within the budget uh largely due to the $7.5 million um allowance for various MEP and and general uh contracting replacements. So that allowance um as you can see by the those blue arrows that are indicated uh kind of goes into about $2.7 million of um improvements in the HVAC systems within the existing portion of the high school. So, the classroom unit ventilator replacements, we'll get to that on a on another slide coming up. Um, temperature controls upgrades and uh HVAC testing and balancing uh in the existing building. And then some of that also is uh going
061towards the additions to make up for that square footage discrepancy of about just under 4 million about $3.8 million uh in that bucket. And then lastly um in the design and estimate contingency. So, typically we're we're carrying somewhere in the 5 to 10% range for um estimate contingency based on 5% kind of leaning towards more new construction, you know, clean sheet of paper. 10% more is is more geared towards heavy renovations and we're kind of in that um mix of additions and renovations in this project at this point. So, we're carrying 6.5% of the construction cost for that contingency. And then you can kind of uh follow the numbers down. We still are carrying construction cost escalation in this estimate. At this point, we know we have a few years before we get to the
062midpoint of construction, you know, through design bidding and then and then construction. So, we have to carry some contingency, some allowance for uh anticipated construction costs that are still going up um albeit not at a a rate like we saw several years ago. Um and then you can see all these other items. Lastly on this, the design and land development construction management costs went down by roughly a million dollars. So what was carried in the previous estimate in October uh by CHA had about three $750,000 more in the construction management than where we are today with our team and a little bit more for the architectural design which is uh less today than it was. So uh all in all, we're we're still on budget. Uh the next few slides that we're going to go
063through really focus on just making sure that we're we're clear on what's included in these budgets at this point and you know knowing that we're still going to be working towards uh in design development um refining the estimates and refining the scope uh from where we are today. But you can see here um that in that budget right now we have a lot of these warm, safe, dry um scopes of work that were included um were discussed previously. So fire alarm system upgrades, a bunch of HVAC related improvements, the central heating plant, the classroom unit ventilators, and uh critical roofing areas from the roof assessment, which we'll show on another slide coming up. uh and then other various HVAC upgrades. So, this next phase of design development, we're going to work with the design team,
064with your administration, and really refine some of these decisions as we go because we still have some of those contingencies built into this estimate. We have some decisions that'll be made um you know as we're getting feedback from the township and refining the site work as well as the the square footage of the addition and some other options uh in in inside the building for the remaining portion of the building. This table um really was was a question that came up at the finance committee meeting was you know around the the baseline scope of what's what's addressed in the project, what's not addressed in the project. So, we went back to what was presented previously and considered in the feasibility study and took that list and then we're basically showing you here uh what's included
065right now, what's not included that may be considered as we get further into design if we can afford it within the budget. We'll include it if it's important. Um and then if not, if it can be deferred for future project, um some of these items may may end up being deferred uh as we get further along. But you can see there's a lot of these warm, safe, dry items that are that are included in the scope right now. So on the building envelope side, the the critical roof sections, um we are addressing the groundwater infiltration issues that you have in part of the building that's being demoed right now. a lot of the HVAC focused scope uh to improve the temperature controls and uh dehumidification and ventilation in the existing portion of the building. Uh
066we already talked about the fire alarm system upgrades and then a lot of the safety and security improvements um with the new front entrance and then also uh addressing the first responder communications piece. Uh this is a floor plan that shows these purple dots basically represent a unit ventilator that sits in a classroom which is you know the standard. It's floor mounted. It's underneath the window. Um there's 36 of them that are left in the remaining portion of the high school that would be replaced as part of this project. Those unit ventilators are outdated. Uh they're noisy. they don't have the best controls or modern controls that you have today. So, uh these are included in the baseline scope uh in the budget that we just presented to you. On the roofing side, uh this
067map shows you all the various sections that were flagged in the roof assessment that was completed by Mark Sobec uh roof consulting. Um, you can see all of the grade D or the critical areas that need replacement listed on the right hand side and you can see a lot of those areas are already planned on being demolished as part of the scope of work with this project. So those are indicated in the the yellow um boxes on the left hand side. Those are areas of the building that that are going to be demoed anyway. So section 1 2 uh and part of three uh 4 26 and se and 27 are going to be demolished. We don't need to plan for replacing those. Uh the remaining portions of section 3, five, six and seven and
06822 are indicated in green on this uh map and those are included in the budget to be replaced. I think Devon's going to talk about the schedule and then we have one more slide after this. Yeah. >> All right. So, what happens in design development? Uh if you do approve us uh next week to move in into this phase, we'll continue to meet every two weeks as we have been uh we really would like uh our end user meetings to begin in the design development phase to get all of our feedback from the high school staff, from students, and from the parents and communities. Um we'd like to hold several of those sessions just to understand what each of those groups is looking for as part of those renovation uh and addition projects. Land development
069approvals will continue even beyond the design development phase. So we are going to have a zoning hearing. We're hoping to be in front of the planning commission uh in March and then continue that process through the board of supervisors all the way through the fall of 26. And then the longest term uh uh approval is the Montgomery County Conservation District. Uh we have submitted uh and we're going to uh continue to work with them through the the spring and the fall of 2026. Um as Tim will mention, we're going to continue estimating and value engineering through this process. We'll be back for monthly board updates, property committee, and finance committee. And then this phase goes through August of 2026. And then we'll look to move into the the final phase which is construction documents. All
070right. And then a final slide here before we we take questions. Um, one of one other question that was raised at uh the property committee meeting was around uh the deliverables to expect at design development and you know what the professionals that you're you're hiring you know ICS and and trader group um what uh we're responsible for and what we're um you know how our our services are kind of split up. So what we did we took that feedback um and we built uh what's called a racy chart uh or responsibility matrix. So really it shows you know who's responsible and and and does the work who's accountable for the final decisions uh for these different areas uh who's consulted and provides input and who's just informed and kept updated. So, uh, as far as,
071uh, Shraider Group and ICS, you can see that we're involved heavily in in all of these major tasks at design development. Um, with Shraider Group, uh, really responsible for completing the and developing the the design development drawings and specifications, all the architectural plans, the the site civil plans, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and uh, and structural plans. Um and also the coordination between your security department, the technology IT and AV uh coordination. ICS as the owner's rep is responsible to do the the detailed cost estimate like we just did design, but we'll have a lot more information at that next design step to to do a complete estimate across all you know all these different trades. Um you know today we have good architectural drawings and good site plans but we will have a lot more details
072uh in the next you know coming months uh constructibility review to make sure that those parts and pieces are coordinated. Our team will do that. We'll develop a construction phasing plan and schedule for construction and then also uh lead the value engineer project is is on budget in the end. So with that we will take questions. We'll ask the members of the board to take their seat at the table. Do we have questions from members of the board to my right? Uh, Mr. Wyers. >> Yeah, thank you. I I appreciate that you added some of the things from the property and I think it clearly puts uh puts the board in a a good position of knowing exactly where we're at uh at this situation. I just want to I think you said it, but
073I just want to clarify for somebody watching when they're looking at that slide related to the square footage that I know that you do not necessarily want to say anything derogatory about anybody, but the reality is we have a a an original estimate that is 20,000 square feet less than what we have now, which is where where we have to design. I just want the community to understand that that more or less is not a change associated with design. The design for the most part except for you said maybe the locker room or something like that. The square footage has not changed significantly. It's only a change in the baseline estimate was sort of unknown because it was done by somebody somebody else. Is that correct? >> Yeah, that's right. So, um, from our our
074team's perspective, we went back through that estimate in in detail from October, looked at how they estimated it, um, compared that to ours, there's a delta of about 20,000 square feet, but going back through the design at that point and talking with with Devin and his team, there's not a 20,000 square foot difference in the design. It was about 5,000 other table there. And this is an image. I guess Steph, you can talk through this. Yeah, just just to clarify. So the image on the left is what was left off from the concept and we've moved into the design portion of this. This is what we have today on the right hand side. You can see there's really not much difference. The the difference is really that locker room up in the top left and
075maybe the admin area and music area may have gotten a little bit bigger. So it's about a 5,000 square foot difference from what we had originally to what we have now. >> Okay. Thank you. And then I definitely appreciate the new slide related to what um on the when we call it the existing high school. So that's the the the renovation portion of the the east wing and so forth. This where we're sitting here. Uh, I I would just sort of recommend also when you're talking about the to the high school about the programming and so forth that if they weigh in on and I imagine Doug probably knows where they would weigh in on the things that they're going uhoh what does this mean that we're not going to be able to do item
07613 or whatever it is. I'm just picking one randomly. Right. So, you know, there may be things in the high school that is that are sore subjects. I assume you're getting that feedback as well related to the footprint of the building. >> Yeah, absolutely. We're I mean we're going to continue like we've been saying all along. We have a lot still to to uh focus on in this next design step and we're going to work through different options uh with the administration because we're going to have to make as always you get to this point you make some trade-offs with uh with decisions during design that are you know budget related and programming related and uh you know maybe there's some items that are not addressed currently in this project that become priorities that we'll
077address as well. >> Okay. And thank thanks. And the last point I just say, uh, Devin, when it comes to the, uh, uh, design of the traffic flow, um, you're saying we did not really receive any feedback from Warscester at this point. >> Yeah, the township has not really commented on the traffic or circulation, which we would have expected by now, but uh, they just have not provided too much comment. Uh, we do anticipate them requesting some improvement over in the drop off area. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anyone else to my right? Miss Graph. >> Yes. Um, thank you so much. This is I I really appreciate the updates from our discussions at uh property and finance. I did have one comment on slide 18 on the printout and I don't know
078exactly what will be posted but we don't see the call outs on the what's green and yellow. If we can just make sure that the version that gets posted has the explanation that the yellow is to be replaced and the green or the green is to be replaced and the yellow is to be demolished because it doesn't show up on our printout when you PDF the slides it should show up. Just let's just make sure because otherwise it's a little confusing. >> We're going to be posting the one that was presented on the screen. >> I was gonna >> there are slight variations from when this was printed. Yeah. So, I do apologize, but the sequencing of of all of that. Yeah. >> And the order was a little different, but I, you know, obviously
079not a cons that much of a consideration. The only other thing I wanted to potentially consider adding is on slide 20 on the land development approvals. We list that the zoning hearing is going to be in April, but we don't say the Warsester Planning Commission will be in March. I don't know if we know the dates for those two meetings and if we want to add them. I think that could be helpful if the public is looking to come out and either express concerns or support. I think we give them the opportunity to know when those meetings are going to happen. >> Planning commission is March 26th. >> March 26th. Excellent. Do >> the zoning hearing? We do not know yet. Uh we are submitting the application in um early March. >> So the hearing
080is is a specific hearing for this project but not in a standard zoning meeting. >> Correct. >> Okay, >> great. Um, and I just would I don't know if we list on the high school project website like upcoming meetings and events. We may want to start doing that so that the public meetings are posted and as dates become available, we're posting it there. So, if somebody wanted to know what the next meeting is, they could make a point to identify what those dates are and times and such. Um but otherwise um I also I I will say like this chart that you've added on the baseline scope is so helpful as we discussed the other day. I think it was a little bit like we're not sure exactly what's included and this helps the board
081to really understand what we are doing. Um so I really appreciate it. Thank you. >> Any other questions or comments to my right? Seeing none to my left, Miss Purdue. I do want to thank you both for um making the updates from both um committee meetings. I think it's helpful. I do have a question. It's more of a curiosity on slides seven. And I see we have cars parked along the parent entry and exit. Um I think it's seven. >> Yes. Is that is that a representation of the number of cars that we can fit here now? >> That is. >> Oh, okay. That's good. And then do you happen to know and I don't know if you Doug or anyone from the high school know the current number of cars that we can fit
082in the current drop off? >> The number is right around 20. >> 20. And then Okay. So currently we're at um so we're by changing this we increase the queue by 20. >> Correct. >> Okay. Okay. >> And that kind of depends on where you the cut off is for the end of the the front of the queue line. If you extend it a little further you get a couple more cars. >> And then this is still based this current site plan is based on the fact that goes back to your previous one where we lose the 91 spaces. >> So this one picks back up those 91 spaces. >> Picks back up. Okay, perfect. I think that's helpful. Um, and okay, I did have another followup question for you in reference to the slide
083that was previously up in reference to the roof. So, I believe 18. So, we have all the different sections noted as far as what will be demolished or partially demolished. Um, I did have a question about three, but I think you clarified it just because. So, just to make sure part of three will be demol partially demolished and then the other part will be clarify that point again. So, it's it's hard to see because we took an image from the the consulting report that was put together, but um part of three, section three is highlighted in yellow and then part of it is just left of that um number five. So, >> it's highlighted in green what's remaining in section three. So, that'll be replaced as part of the project. >> Okay. Okay. And then
084um section 8 I was a little bit confused on so what's part of it is yellow or is it just the way it's represented? >> Yeah. So that's just it's um a representation of of kind of what the demolished section of the building will be before the addition gets added. So, um, part of that section 8 will be will be demolished, but that section wasn't listed as a a grade D. So, all we're showing on the right hand side is the the critical areas that were flagged in the in the roof assessment. >> Okay? >> And then separate from that, um, there are no grade C sections. So, only what will be left will be grade B and and A. So, um, that's, uh, you know, there's no no high priority items of on left
085on the roofing assessment. >> Okay. And then can I just confirm and I don't know if Dr. um Sorgini or Doug um based on the other sections by the time based on our timeline now do we have an estimate for the condition that those other roofs will be in. I don't know if that's clear. >> We don't have one for right now. We do have those assessed every year and at the most recent assessments those were A's and B's. So right now they're still doing well and we do expect that they'll remain that way for some time to come. >> Okay. So currently what we have is based on the fact that everything else so these the ones that we have listed here the sections that are the ones that we're concerned about. >> That's
086correct. >> Okay. All right. I just wanted to clarify that and I think that's it for me. But thank you. >> Thank you Miss Clary. >> Yep. Thanks for adding the slide on the uh the cost or the services breakdown against the cost. I thought that was very clear and super helpful. Um on slide two, there's a reference to two letters, the traffic review letter and the township engineer letter. I would just ask that that be provided to the board to look at memory. >> Okay, great. Um and then I kind of want to go back to slide seven, uh which Miss Purdue was uh asking about um so I thought you said that um you didn't get a whole lot of feedback from the township yet about about the well the original the original
087plan of using the east wing parent current parent drop off lot but then I thought I heard you say that you submitted did you submit this revised drop this revised? >> No, we submitted the one without the the loop that we added. >> Yeah. >> And we are anticipating feedback that they will request improvements along that. So, the team went back and decided what what else can we do to improve that drop off >> area. I I heard you wrong tonight, but I but I guess and this really isn't it's more of a comment maybe for my fellow board members, but um keeping the parent the current drop off in the east wing and using that as an entrance for the kids to enter the building in my mind does two things. Um, it defeats
088the be it defeats the purpose of having this beautiful brand new entrance where all our kids funnel into one place. Um, and I think it creates some safety concerns to continue to have kids go in that entrance when we do have this other entrance. So, what I love about slide seven is that you could stop using the east wing entrance way. You could close it off and the there's a path in your diagram on seven. There is a pathway that leads right to Can you go to the more of the there's another there's another um picture that shows like a pathway that right there that pathway that goes from that new loop that le that conjoins with the student entry. Like to me that is you've got one entrance, everybody rolling in the same direction,
089less staff maybe potentially with different entrances. So, I guess my concern is that this isn't going to go anywhere unless what I think I'm hearing is this isn't going to go anywhere unless the township comes back and has concerns with just keeping the standard east wing entrance. No, >> no, I don't think that's the case. I think I think there's a push from everybody involved to improve that current setup because they know that there are everybody knows there are issues on milk. >> Okay, that makes me feel better. >> Yeah. So, so what we submitted was kind of the minimum and we we couldn't turn back after we submitted something more. >> Okay. >> So, we wanted to hear some feedback so that we could improve that. Now, the administrative team is pushing we need
090to make some improvements. So, let's go ahead and resubmit that new sketch that you just saw. They're still working on engineering, but they're moving forward in that direction. >> Okay, that makes me really happy to to hear. Um, >> and that number is included. There's some cost associated with that added uh loop, and that is in the the cost estimate that you saw tonight. >> Okay. All the all of the anticipated additional costs. Okay. All right. I just love the idea of being able to fully use the commons that you're creating and the one entrance. I just think that is fabulous. Um, and I think with that I don't have any other questions. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any Miss Theo? >> Yeah, thank you so much. I just have uh just a first thank
091you for this. It's extremely easy for me to understand. Um, so thank you so much for that. Uh, I just had um just a timeline question when it came to this here. Sorry, the parent drop off area. Did were because I think the last time that we spoke or we met like you were waiting for the traffic study was part of that because the tra like were you submitting it and then the traffic study was coming back to process. Does that make sense? Like I just I was just asking point of >> we so the traffic study all the counts have been done and they're still pulling the report together based on which direction uh we end up going with as a final uh layout. So now that we have that we're going to submit
092the report and the township will react. But we were hoping that they would react to what was what was submitted previously. >> Great. Thank you. Thanks for clarifying that. And uh I was going to thank Miss Clearary for pointing out the walkway because that's great. So thanks. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions or comments? So I left Miss Purdue. >> I was just curious when we think about and I know the double entry points have come up. I think it will be good to get I believe the administration at the high school is part of the process and they were okay with the double entry points. I think it will be good if it seemed like there's a favorite towards having just one entry point. It will be good to get an idea just
093because I know as someone that comes in and is on this campus in the morning, the opportunity to now have students coming in through the two entry points have really helped alleviate some of the traffic from backing up, right? Because we are using a full drop off and dropping off and getting instead of waiting to get closer to the door for students to exit. I think most parents are dropping off once we're in the drop off loop and then making our way out. So, I do think it helps, but considering this is new, it will be good to gauge for if there a decision was made to keep the entry point just one, how does that impact um that movie? I don't know if that's something that we can gauge from a schematic or like
094an assessment to see, but I think it will be good to have an idea of if we do end up limiting to just one entry point, what's that impact? >> It has been a good discussion with uh a lot of the uh high school administration groups so far. Uh there's even been discussion of if those two entrances are drop off entries, then maybe the pickup is only at the one entrance exit point. Um but that that's logistical that I think the the administration needs to work through. But um the good news is the plan is set up so you could do it either way. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions to my left? Seeing none to my right, Miss Graph. >> Yeah, I I think I I know we had a lot of talk
095about this uh one entrance to entrance question in uh the property committee and you know I want to echo Miss Clary's comments. I think one of the things if you go back to the original list of prioritization, one of them was security and I think that we all have acknowledged that the security is much easier for us if we have one main entrance and all students enter through that point. I also think part of the objective here was to allow our students to have an area where they would congregate in the morning and so they could not have access to the whole building and we would have some restriction to the educational spaces. So we didn't have to have teachers and administrative staff station throughout the building. The only way we can do that is
096to go to the one entrance approach. And so from a security perspective, from a building staff perspective, one entrance really does make a better solution for us. And I think we have to sort of just keep looking at it from the lens of what are the priorities. And I think your your revised approach does give us that option. It increases the queueing off of the streets. So it gives us more space for cars to be on campus. It would again to to the comment that um Miss Purdue made, it does give us access to have student drop off in a separate location for buses and parking, but it does also force them into the same entrance space. So, while I'm not sure this is the perfect solution, I think it is a good one. And
097I think that we can continue to explore options, but I do think the more we can sort of push for one entry, the better the solution will be in the long run for the district and for our staff in the mornings and our kids to be able to have this sort of programming where they come into this space and you can have meetings and everybody's entering in one space and everybody gets to have this beautiful entrance that we've now built. So, thank you for the work in making the improvements. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions or comments? Seeing none, thank you gentlemen. Appreciate it. Uh that ends the presentation for the high school renovation. Uh this evening. Uh next we have a handout in your packet for an early retirement incentive program. Uh this
098month at the finance committee meeting we briefly touched on an early retirement incentive program for professional staff. Uh this evening uh we we're asking Dr. Regina to provide some detail of that with the intent of providing the memorandum of understanding or of agreement with the association on the early retirement uh to be provided to the board at the earliest possible time prior to the uh the the voting meeting if you so choose to to vote on this uh next week. With that said, uh Dr. Regina. >> Thank you, Dr. Zerby. Uh give it a second for the slides to pop up on the screen. >> Okay. Um I'm going to just talk a little bit about uh next week. Uh we have some uh we have some additional presentations. I do have the Mthakton High
099School renovation shader group on there in case there's any final questions before we uh move into design development. There's no particular planned update uh scheduled for that. Um and certainly uh we also have the 2425 student performance report. Dr. Regina will be uh presenting that. That was presented at the education committee this month. And we have the presentation on the screen. So I will stop filling time and turn it over to Dr. Richie. >> Thanks Dr. Surfe. I appreciate it. Uh good evening everyone. uh really relative to our discussions around um really where we are in the budget season and and things that we're doing and decisions we're making as a district. Uh one of those conversations really revolves around any creative solution that we can talk about in order to address some of those
100budget concerns. Um as we talk about early retirement incentives though, it actually addresses a couple things. And so before I get into it too deep, what is an early retirement incentive? And so the early retirement incentive is a voluntary program that offers employees the opportunity to do that, retire early. Um the strategic tool helps districts manage workflow transitions and budget challenges. And so why do we consider this now? Uh really there's three major factors. One of them is just as I said to address the budget shortfall. The second one is to prevent potential future furlows. And so that's a conversation that we can certainly have at a later time, but a furlow essentially in school terms is laying off employees. And the last one is managing the anticipated large retirement wave um proactively. And so
101let's talk a little bit about that wave. Um there's two groups that we talk about mainly when it comes to retirement. There is a group we call the superanuated group which is the group that can retire with certain stipulations where they receive no penalty in their pension basically retirement ready. Um, then there's a group called the special early retirement group. And that group is the 55 years of age, 25 years of service, and they take a minimal penalty when they retire, about a quarter of a percent per month until they would reach the eligibility age that they're looking for. Um, right now we have 52 employees that fall within the special early retirement wave. Okay. over the next five years or the end of our collective bargaining agreement, we'll end up with 92 employees that'll
102be eligible for retirement. One of our concerns is that third year, so we have the new contract. Uh many of our staff members may be looking to, if you know about our pension system, it's a three-year average and so they may be looking for a new year three-year average. and we're anticipating that three-year mark to get uh potentially a large number of people all retiring at once. And so this also allows us to spread out the retirement wave and be able to control that flow a little bit better. So when we look at employee cost comparisons, how does this affect us from a budget standpoint? And so uh just some quick math that I want to go over with the group. Uh the first one is what is the cost associated with a retiring employee?
103And so on average when an employer retires here from the district, they end up at the top of our scale. Uh step 16, which is now step 15 in the new contract. We've fixed that. Um we used to start at step two into step 16. It's a long story. I won't get into it. Um but we now go from 1 to 15. N plus 30 is 30 credits. And so besides the doctoral degree, uh this is where most of our individuals retire at. And they typically uh retire at the employee spouse benefit level. And so that's a cost of 193 plus,000 um when they retire. And that's an all-in cost that in encourages or that's uh healthcare, our pasers, FICA, Social Security. Uh for a new employee, we budget the those employees at master's degree.
104Step five, uh with family benefits because that's often where they are or they will end up soon. And that all-in cost is about 140,000. And so again, if we think of the math there, the replacement scenario, there's about a $53,000 plus delta. When we hire a new employee and replace a retired employee and when we attrition an employee, we look at the total 193 um that we would then be deducting from the budget. Now, one thing we're going to talk about with the ERI is is what's the package deal? And we're going to talk about the incentive of $10,000 uh for three years over each year for a three-year period. And so when you look at those numbers, you would be deducting the $10,000 from those numbers because you would have to account for the
105stipend. And we'll get into that. And so what what's a part of the early retirement incentive? So there's really four things that I want to cover here with you. Uh the first one is the retirement requirement which is uh the employee must actually officially retire from teasers. The idea is you don't say to a myth act I'm going to retire and then go to another school district take the incentive that we gave you and then work somewhere else. Uh the idea is that you have to officially retire from the Paser system. Um and you have to be eligible for either superanuated or special early retirement. The second part of this early retirement incentive is the financial benefit, which is $10,000 deposited annually into a 403b for three years. And so that'll be $30,000 total, but
106to each employee, $10,000 each year for a period of three years. We will have a participation threshold of 20 individuals. And so right now, we have already had five retirements. So we would need an additional 15. Um, and we'll talk a little bit here at the end of this slide on on the calculations that that come after this slide. And then the participation cap, we will be capping this at 30 individuals, first come, first serve. And the board would have the right to re-evaluate the number upon receiving uh anything beyond 30 to see if that would be included in the early retirement incentive. It wouldn't mean a person couldn't retire. It just means that they would not receive the incentive unless the board chose to extend the cap. Um and then we could naturally talk
107about that if if that were to happen. Um all the calculations after this slide will just be looking at the base number of 20, but I reduced the five people from it. So you'll see the number 15 there because we've already accounted in the budget projections for those five that have already retired. So I didn't want to double count those in the numbers. So I'm just going to represent the 15 um and not include the original five. So again uh if we look at just a real simplified uh equation of this the minimum three-year financial impact uh for 15 employees if we replace every single person again this is the minimal financial impact uh the first year would be $650,000 um and some change. Now notice that's $43,000 not $53,000 because we had to account
108for the $10,000 stipend. we do have to carry that liability for the next two years. And so that would be $150,000 and $150,000 for a net savings of $350,000. Now, if I I do not want to forget the five that we still have out there, the five that we have the liability of. So, what does that look like for our next year budget impact? And so you might have remembered on the previous slide that that first year was $650,000. With the five people that we have now, again, replacing all positions, that would then be $600,000 for next year's budget impact. The attrition potential. So for each attrition that we do, it's $140,000 in savings. Again, why is it not 193? is because you already accounted for that 43 in the budget right now. But you
109you think about that it's the cost of hiring a new employee. The timeline for this, so tonight, February 17th, we're presenting on the concept of the early retirement incentive. If the board is interested in moving forward, uh we would draft an MOA, a memorandum of agreement with the association and have it presented to you on February 24th at the board meeting for your approval. If it was approved February 25th, we would then put the announcement out to our membership or to our employees, the MEA membership for anyone that is eligible that is interested in retiring. we would give them till March 18th and if we did not reach the number of individuals we would notify them that we did not and they would be able to resend their retirement and so you know our employees
110can resend their retirements provided you don't vote on it but once you vote on it there's no rescending it and so we want to make sure we get that to them in time so they can make the decision it will also be explained to them by Dr. or Sereni or I, whoever takes the retirement a letter that that is going to happen. So, they'll be fully aware that they would have a decision to make on March 18th if we were to notify them that we did not reach our number. March 20th at noon, the offer window would close and that's that's Friday before the voting meeting. So, we wanted to make sure everything was on the agenda in time. And then 24th, if we had the uh number of people, you would be approving all
111new retirements in that new retirement cohort. And so for recommendations and next steps again next week would be to approve the memorandum of understanding with the in fact an education association for early retirement incentive for retirements occurring on June 30th 2026. That ends the presentation. Thank you. >> Thank you Dr. Regina. Questions to my left. Miss Clearary. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Um I and I definitely like the the look of your PowerPoint by the way. >> Um it's fancy. >> Thanks. Um so before we could move forward if the board wanted to this memorandum of understanding so the the district would have to approach the you the MEA >> correct >> and what the you the members would vote on whether they wanted us they would be willing to have us offer
112this. Is that how that works? >> Yeah. Fortunately the membership would not have to vote on it. the leadership would have the authority to sign the MOA. Um, since there would be really zero risk to the MEA to do this, um, I would imagine that their association leadership would see this as an advantage um, to the members that might be close to retirement and think this might be a possibility. The risk would be to the employee naturally if they aren't quite ready to retire and might see that the $30,000 is an incentive enough to start their retirement early. Um, that might be something that they want to do. But for the association, uh, there really isn't much of a risk. So, I wouldn't wouldn't see an issue with them drafting, uh, that language with us.
113>> Okay. Um, and then on slide, there's not a number, but it's the minimum three-year financial impact slide. That one. So, the 2627 number of 650,000. Did you say that that is if we if we replaced all 15 employees? >> Correct. >> Okay. And do I mean and if we didn't replace if we only had to like >> Sure. >> Can you talk about that a little bit? >> Yeah, absolutely. And so for every individual we don't replace, you basically would add about $140,000 to your reductions. And so as you start to to mess with some of the mathematics behind it, um it would get you to approximately like three or four um four specifically to get yourself close to about a million dollars in savings. So you if you're thinking about what's the attrition
114number you're looking for, it really becomes the target number um from a budget perspective. Um if if you the board may remember the presentations that I did during the MEA early bird agreement and we talked about retirement potential down the line and and where attritions might be. A lot of that was dependent on timing and on positions and so naturally the attrition is based a lot of times on the position and the certification of the person that left. So for instance, if we had a physics teacher resign, we may have to fill the physics teacher position and we may not have another physics to move people around in the district. So it becomes highly dependent upon uh who retires at that point. >> But do we have data then that would tell you as you
115as you look about whether you need to you can attrition a position or not and have to replace it? I'm assuming that the district has data on how many how many kids are taking certain classes and um what's full and what's not to to determine whether you actually you may have had a specific you may have had a teacher there but perhaps you don't need a teacher going forward because of class sizes or what >> absolutely yes great question >> okay thank you >> welcome other questions uh for the early retirement center to my left Purdue >> um can Can you please explain um the rational with the 15 participating employees? I just feel like I wasn't it's it's not clear to me just because when we're thinking about the minimum participation, we're using 20
116and I know we have five. So can you just explain that again? I just want >> Why did I use the number 15? It's Yeah. So great question. Um 20 becomes the minimum number. So, as you increase the number of potential individuals retiring, you can increase the savings or reductions um that you might be able to assume. And so, I I didn't want to over forecast what reductions would be. So, I wanted to keep it minimum. Um but by counting the five people that have already retired, we have already embedded that into some of the budget forecasting that we have already shared with the board. So if I project the reductions here on this slide, I'm counting them twice, which would then give the illusion as if there's more savings than really we're going to
117assume. So I pulled them completely out of the calculation. But I did add their liability because right now we are not paying a stipen to those individuals and we would we would have to if we offered this to anyone that retired this year. And so I didn't want to use the benefit of those employees, but we had to assume their liability. Hope that is clear. >> Yeah. Can you also explain um the participation threshold um just so it's clear? >> Sure. So um I didn't want to go over 30 right now quite frankly because um depending on how many people we attrition or replace it could be very challenging for us. Um that wave that I'm talking about I don't want to artificially create that wave right now. And so if I do that and
118I you end up with 50 or 60 people, poor Dr. Sorgini is going to have to hire a whole lot of people this summer that he was not anticipating and um you know his auction tank may be running low already. So I don't want to do that to him uh this summer and then panic. But it becomes challenging as you can imagine. A lot of the positions that we have there um on the list. There are some tough to find positions. We have some world language positions. We have chemistry positions. We have a number of science positions. And so um we recognize those and and to find them all at one time can be a challenge. So, if there's a way to spread some of that out um and limit that, I wanted to put
119the 30 cap on there just to ensure that we didn't get ourselves in hot water, you know, creating that on our own. >> So, I understand the cap is the threshold for the 20 >> that we say must commit to activate incentive for the entire retirement cohort. >> Yeah, there comes a cost. uh there's a bit of a threshold where it doesn't really make a lot of sense financially to do this and and 20 is approximately where that that number is. You you'll get minimal savings um at a lower number but not enough for the effort that you're going to put into it. And so 20 is about the time where your numbers start to make a little sense. >> So we need to have 20 employees total including the five that's already committed. >>
120Um and if we don't reach that threshold >> Yep. If we don't reach the threshold, then we'll notify the employees that have retired that they are willing to uh resend their resignation if they want. Some may not. Some may decide that they want to stay retired and that's okay, but they just would not receive the incentive and we would notify them of that. >> Okay. I just wanted to make sure that part was clear. Can I just ask just because your timeline so based on the schedule or implementation timeline here you're looking for the board to vote to approve the plan and the memorandum of agreement. Is that correct? >> Yeah. That the the MOA the memorandum agreement will essentially be the plan. Um and so it will highlight any stipulations the board is interested
121in putting into the MOA. Um and then any stipulations that the union may have based. So this is a conversation. It is not a negotiation, but it is a conversation um on if there's something that they want the board to consider. They may say, "Well, we'd like you to ask for this." And so that could take place in between these two moments and be presented to the board on the Tuesday session. I not anticipating many, but um it sometimes that does come up. >> Okay. That's why I'm just asking just because I'm not sure like between this week and next week if you're going um to get it like you know what changes will be provided if you're looking for a board vote the same day right so I'm just cognizant of the timeline and
122that's where um that's where my question is or my concern in reference to the timeline to have that um agreement available. Yeah, I I I would encourage naturally to to reach out to to Samir and Kathy if there's any questions specific to anything beyond what I shared about the MOA. Um but what I share with this this evening is what we would put in the MOA at this moment in time. >> Okay. Um that's it for me. Thank you. >> You're welcome. Any questions to my right? Uh Miss Graph? >> Yeah. Thank you. Um, I'm gonna I'm gonna follow up with some of uh Miss Purdue's comments. So, I guess I think the question I wanted to ask is when will the board see the MOA in advance of the meeting next week? >> So,
123provided we seem good with it this evening, I'm planning on meeting with the association tomorrow. >> Okay. So, you already have a meeting scheduled so that if we we decided to move forward, you could meet with them. >> Yes. And so essentially by Thursday or Friday we would be able to see that MOA with the information and review it in advance. >> Yes, I am I am hoping to have that completed for Friday so Dr. Zerpie can get it to the board. >> Okay. Um, and then the other question I had related to the timeline was, so, you know, there's essentially the formal offer goes out on the 25th and then by the 18th we're notifying them if the threshold has been met, which means we sort of it only is open for 3 weeks.
124>> Yeah, that's about right. Yeah. >> And and why such a short time frame? Yeah, >> retirement, permanent retirement is a fairly significant life decision. I'm just wondering if what's pushing our schedule. >> I I think what's probably pushing our schedule is to not have it presented to you in the April board meeting because there's a lot going on in April with the budget vote at that point potentially. And so trying to get these numbers ahead of the board in time was some of our interest so that you knew how many retirements we have and is there any savings associated with that. Again, the the activity was initially was created as a creative way to help with the budgeting process. And so we wanted to try to get those numbers to the board as soon
125as possible because you have there's some tough decisions to be made and anything that we could do early enough to help is what we were trying to do. I guess I was just thinking like you could extend this two weeks and we could have the information presented at finance in April and then at the work session in April and have the information like finalized for April, incorporated into the budget by then. I I guess I just I don't want to make the window so short that people feel like they can't be making a thoughtful decision since it is, you know, a very big decision for some of these people. It's fair. So, I >> I'm going to question it and let you guys think about it. >> No, you you make a good point. I
126I think that um there are a lot of decisions on this budget that need to be determined. And I think the sooner we would know where we sat with this, it would help um us with the decisions of what remains, >> right? >> Um but if you don't get this, those decisions are also uh >> too short of a time that we don't get 20 people and then we decide we can't do it. If we could have waited two more weeks, maybe we would have gotten 20 people. Like >> I don't know. I guess I just see it both ways. So >> if if it's not if it's not an issue with with the board, I think uh we'll have that conversation with the association. U >> because that that might >> that would be
127great >> be helpful. Yeah. And I I would be okay I'm I'm okay with supporting this and leaving it up to the discretion of administration and the MEA leadership to decide if that's too short or if you need more time and then you can decide for the the MOA and then we can see it when we see it in the agreement. Thank you. >> I'm I'm fine with that. I just it it's a big decision for some people. >> It it is. I appreciate that. Kate, thank you. Um the other question I had you had mentioned on the year 1 gross reductions was 650 and that assumes that all 15 are replaced. Did we in the budget assume that the original five were also all replaced? >> No. >> Are they all attrition? >> No.
128>> So So do we know what we assumed? >> I think it was two. I I like >> I was going to say is it two or three? I feel like I saw it somewhere just a minute ago, but >> it's my understanding that there's there's one attrition and the rest were were replaced. >> One attrition so far. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, there was one attrition and then four replacements. Um, so following up on uh Miss Clary's comment about the potential to attrition some of these positions, let's assume we get 25. Um, when would that evaluation occur? Would that be occurring in March and early April? >> Yeah, it's a it's a great question. Um, we actually do it immediately. So the moment we receive a retirement, Dr. Sorgini and I are working with
129Dr. Zerby and the principles associated with those levels to determine if an attrition is possible. And it isn't just that level. So for instance, let's say for instance, we lose a uh English teacher from the middle school and we may say, okay, Mr. Aworth, do you need to replace the middle school teacher the at our cola? And he says, yes, I do. We don't stop there. So then we see is there anybody else certified in the district that could teach English? And then we speak to that principal. Do you need all the English certified people in this spot? So that it's what we call checkerboarding. And so we do that every time we go to attrition a position the potential attrition. When I look at a position like let's say French, I don't I might
130only have two people in the district that can teach French. And so if I lose one and I have to rehire it, I can't pull from anywhere else to find one. But when it comes to special education or K to6 or K to4 certified teachers, we have a lot of those. And so there's a greater potential to do things like that. Um but we begin that immediately. So once Dr. Sini receives it, we start sitting down and brainstorming um is this a position that we have to fill. >> Okay. Um, so my follow-up question is, are you currently looking at class size, quantity of classes of the same type that are offered different times throughout the day, very similar classes with different names to them that are offered, particularly at the high school, that could
131be combined into one class. Um, are we doing that assessment now? >> Yes. And when are when is the board going to see the results of that assessment? >> We do that. Go ahead. I believe it's uh we have an information session scheduled for the 10th or the 12th of March. >> Okay. And um I don't know how much you can tell me about that information. I guess what I'm looking for is are we also really closely assessing what I would consider to be duplicative classes? In other words, um, one example might be like a German 4 and an AP German. They're basically the same curriculum. One is an AP class, one is not, but essentially it is for fourth year German students, both of those classes. Are we doing that assessment as well as
132class size? Yeah, I actually think that example we just did last year, but yes, we started to connect our AP and our honors >> courses in around world language because there were lower numbers and it relatively was the exact same curriculum. So, it's we did that one last year specifically. But yes, we're we're looking at that more holistically uh across the spectrum on a lot of our areas. Um and I think this attrition what happens is right now if some of your class sizes are smaller or there might be pockets as people leave we might be able to say okay now we can make that move immediately and so the idea is to keep the schedule flexible at this moment in time and so as we get the attritions they're doing the schedule at the
133same time at the high school. So some of those things would mesh timing wise pretty well. Well, and that was going to be my follow-up question is when does that um optimization of classes need to happen so that it doesn't impact the high school scheduling because I feel like we're getting to that end of the year. I know I remember the March, April time frame was when you picked your class. >> You're in it. Yeah. >> So, are we going to have that in time? >> Well, what we're planning to to share and recommend is something that'll take a three-year period. Uh so, not all recommendations be for year one. not only or or for year two, but be for a three-year uh uh period. >> And why are we doing that? >> Because certain
134things can't be implemented in year one. >> I guess I just I I might need a little more clarification on why why not. I'm not sure I understand. >> And we plan to share that with you on the 10th and the 12th. just I I I think it's something I know we've talked about it last year and I think this is like now we're a year in and I feel like now we have a little bit more information and the considerations of the budget this other option that we're doing now. I think there's so many things coming together. This is the right time to rightsize our classes and to really look at our offerings and really make sure we're giving kids lots of options but not you don't get the same class 14 times a
135day. Do you know what I mean? >> I do. Yes. >> So, thank you. >> You're welcome. Any other questions? Mr. Winters? >> Yeah, thank you Dr. Regina. I just want to at the very least acknowledge the the knowledge drain that we may be facing over the next five or seven years. There's some very good teachers said 90ome that you're saying are going to be eligible on top of the superanuated that. So then on that slide you were only showing the special retirement people. Is that correct? So, you know, although we are uh trying to do things related to the bud budget, I just want to acknowledge that it's not as an easy decision just to say, okay, we want these people with 35 years experience in teaching in the high school or teaching in
136Warsester or whatever to leave. It's not not so easy, but um so and but it's a reality of the generation X people getting to that age, right? The early generation X people, right? getting to that age of retirement uh in their late 50s and >> when we were hiring these guys 30 years ago, >> this is what we're facing and everybody's facing because of there's going to be a shortage. >> Yeah. So, to your point, Mr. Winters, it's a great point. Um that wave that we're talking about, so the superanuated group again is the one with no penalty. Three years into this contract, 44 of them are eligible to retire. That's that's when we're predicting it's going to hit is three years into this contract. It's 44 superanuated, no penalty. It it'll hit like a
137storm right about that point with no control. And so that's that's what we're well we're watching that number. That's the number we're watching. Right now it's only 20. It it'll end up being 44 in three years. >> Yeah. So I to follow up on the fellow board members question. So the the 20 is is the minimum and hopefully the reason we want to do this now is to spread it a little more evenly over these five years. Um but that does raise the question if we get 12. >> You're saying that it's less advantageous. But if a an individual was concern belief that there was another incentive plan coming next year the same or the year after year after year but if they think it's only this year there might be a an encouragement to
138take it. Um so on that question um you say that it's the MEA obviously is not the team serves me but are admin eligible as well? >> No we we just are offering this to the MEA group right now. >> Okay. And then this is the accountant of me. >> Sure. >> The the the the $10,000 is not peasers eligible. >> So it would be $10,000 starting sometime after July 1st. So it would not be in this calendar year, but it's also not eligible for Pasers going. >> Not eligible. Yep. Has there been any other districts that have done something to since that is probably the driver of why people will like you mentioned and that three years from now in the back end of the the the current contract we might have a bubble
139of people retiring all as well. Is there other alternatives to entice that element to, you know, not stick around for three more years to get their averages up? >> There there are I think this is the the strategy that most districts if not all districts use at this point. There's two other districts right now that are currently doing this as well um in our county and so both doing a similar strategy of stipened into 403b. Um but yeah, the there are other options that I even would would probably hate to mention because there there's a lot more risk involved in those. This is by far the best one because it's just a straight typed with limited liability besides that. >> Yeah. All right. Thank you. >> Yep. You're welcome. >> Any other comments or questions?
140All right. So you're not to my left. Miss clear. >> Um Mr. Winters uh question uh gave me another qu another another question. Why is this not being offered to the administration staff? >> Yeah. So uh again probably that the easiest way I can explain it. It's actually I spoke to the administrators. I explain it to them the same way. They asked me the same question. Why isn't this offered um their delta is not good enough is quite frankly what it is. um to hire a new administrator um compared to one that would retire is not a $30,000 delta and you wouldn't actually gain uh budget benefits from that transpiring if we attrition the position. Yes, that is true. But if it's a position that couldn't be attritioned um then we wouldn't have that delta
141that we have in our teaching group. >> Any other question or comment? Miss Alson, >> just for the benefit maybe of people who are newer on the board, uh we did this before years ago. Can you refresh can you just refresh like the kind of success what what kind of savings we realized how that worked out? >> Thank you, Liz. Yeah, very similar. Um I think the last time we did this, it was a onetime payment. Jason, do you remember that? Was it $20,000? Yeah, it was the onetime payment of 20. We didn't carry the liability um over time, but it had a a more drastic um or or not as drastic of a budget reduction in the first year. Um same thing, we did a threshold of I believe 15 in that one. Um
142same success though. We basically went through the same steps that we are going through here. Um offered them the opportunity to rescend um about the same amount of timing, about a month I think is when we did it the last time. And the last one was actually during the pandemic if I remember correctly. It was the last time we had this discussion. And then there was one before that as well. I think in 2016 2017 in that area. Thank you, Liz. >> Any other comments, questions? Miss Graph. >> Yeah, that sort of makes me that the thought of it being a one-time payout. >> Would we consider like a $25,000 onetime payout? So you get less but you get it right now. >> I mean is that like sure >> something we could alternative partly
143because I >> I am a little bit concerned about the ongoing impact to the budget. Right. So we get this nice bang for our buck the first year but the second year you're paying. >> Yeah. >> Um still a net benefit but but there is a cost. Um >> Sure. I mean you you absolutely could you you said it very well. you would see less of a reduction in in what we'd be looking at for costs in the first year, but you wouldn't be carrying the liability. And so if you offered less than $30,000 for a one-time thing, you'd be in the long run obviously offering up less money. So that that absolutely could be an option if the board was interested in going that route. >> Okay. I guess maybe I just want to
144I would be curious to get feedback from MEA leadership to see if that's would be something that would be attractive, right? like there's this alternative. I mean, I guess my question is could we offer it both ways and you get, you know, you can pick either option. You're either into the program or out, but you have two options once you're in the program such that we could maybe split our liability, right? Some would take the 25, some would take the 10 every year perhaps. I don't know. >> Yeah. Oh, >> I can see your wheels turning. I'm just the like the >> I know >> the managing but but and it's not that bad but um >> I could see the association I I think they'd be welcome to ei quite frankly >> um it
145people in their mind have when they're going to retire in education right there most of us right when you think about there there's very specific parameters around when your pension can start and so even individuals that would only have three weeks to think about it like we talked about before already have most of them probably having the calculation what would that actually mean now. Um I got to talk to my adviser but I I think that I can manage that and so um so I I don't see the association really pushing back on much. They might have some stipulations they want to ask about but I think no matter what option you offered um they they would be open to it. I could see them asking though for just one instead of because I think
146for them >> It's cleaner. Yeah, it really is. So I could see them ask for one. Um, but I think at the end of the day, if we pushed hard enough, I don't know that they would argue any of those points. >> Okay, >> I just have a quick question. I mean, when I look at this based on what you have, I say, why consider this now, right? And it's address current budget shortfall. So then I go back to the point if you um do a lump sum, do that address the current budget shortfall, right? because I'm and and I I am aware of that there could be multiple options. I think there's a bigger issue um at stake that we're trying to address also with this. Um so I I I will ask you
147the question when it comes down to um you know the other options um based on that I I based what would be the best option to address the current like if that's what's if that's one of the goals here. >> Yeah. So that the the the one we offered tonight as an option would address the one year next year's budget the best. >> Okay. but it carries the liability for future ones naturally. But but you get your biggest bang for your buck in this year's budget >> with the option that we had presented. >> Um >> but I and I probably don't need to tell you guys this, but the reality is the if you lose people and you replace them all, that's fine. There is obviously a a good budget impact to that, but
148the exercise really needs to focus on attrition, right? Because that's that's really really where you're going to be able to get the the potential savings. And then when when you're talking about $10,000 or $20,000, but there's $193,000 savings when that that's really what you're you're aiming for. So we we work tirelessly. The moment we're going to receive these retirements, we are digging into them. U and the association knows that when you go to an ERRI, the association knows exactly what that means, right? We we don't just do them because we want to do them. We do them because there's an exercise and nutrition that we're starting to explore. And so they'll they'll know when I start talking to them what what we're actually doing. And so um and I'll be upfront about it. >> Okay.
149And then maybe as maybe and I could just ask if there's because we will have the staffing update um that's planned. It may be good to just for the board to share like if there's any um anything that they're looking for, right? Cuz I know Miss Graph provided some insight. um it will be good to know so we can make sure we are best prepared to have that um conversation and um to support if there's any right sizing um opportunities there. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Any other questions on the EIP? Seeing none, thank you Dr. Regina. Welcome. >> And uh that ends the presentations uh for this evening. Again, I already went over the the February 24th presentations. Um we have uh the committee reports. We'll have public we'll have public comment and
150then we'll go into the f the fiscal items. Um Miss Stephie. >> Sure. There are seven fiscal items on the agenda for consideration. 9 A list of bills. 9B treasurer's report. 9 C budgetary transfers. 9B MCIU member services budget. Approve the MCIU member services budget for the 2627 school year in the amount of $1,695,550 with Mthactton's contribution in the amount of $80,122. This represents an increase for Mthactton of $3,365 or 4.3% from last year. 9E. Resolution 26-01. Approve resolution number 26-01 authorizing administration to apply for a grant from the Commonwealth Financing Authority. 9F roofing projects Sky View and Warcester. Approve Center Roofing and Codings LLC of Belleville, PA. total bid amount of $878,800 which includes the base bid amount of $869,000 and selected alternative number three AP protective film on TPO membrane in the amount
151of $9,800 to carry out roofing for Sky View Upper Elementary School. Two, approve Mun Roofing Corporation of Hatfield BA total bid amount of 882,000 which includes the base bid amount of 868,000 and selected alternate number four coating interior drive veneer with acrylic coating in the amount of $14,000 to carry out roofing for Warsester Elementary School. 9G, personal care assistance. Authorize the superintendent to hire personal care assistants to fill openings between March 1st, 2026 through May 31st, 2026 when the failure to hire prior to May 31st, 2026 could, in the professional opinion of the superintendent, impair the ability of the district to appropriately fill open positions. All positions will be posted on the board agenda for ratification at the earliest voting meeting of the board. That concludes the fiscal items. >> Thank you, Miss Stephie. Any
152questions uh to my right for any of the matters listed? Miss Graph, >> just a clarification on 9G. Do we not currently um extend offers to our PCAs in advance of approvals? >> If I may, we we do extend offers. The issue becomes that an individual receives an offer, but they usually do not resign from their current employment until after the board has voted on their employment. Therefore, it delays the process for many weeks as it continues on. So being able to do that hiring independent of the actual board approval would allow that to to uh happen continuously. >> So it would potentially um I'm thinking like if if you extended an offer tomorrow, it would have to then wait until next month's board meeting and then they would resign and then it would be
153two weeks and then they could start. So it's potentially a six week. >> Correct. because we have to go through reference checking and then go through that whole process and then wait for the board to vote. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any questions to my left? Miss Purdue, >> can I just ask in reference to um 9G? Um what is the with um the authorization here and I see and we'll go to that in when we go to personal items. this list of PCAs that are currently on the agenda for approval. So, how many more when we thinking about what we have here in 9G, how many more PCAs are we thinking um will be part of this um authorization that we're giving for um 9G? >> We're working with the pupil services department to
154titrate back some of the third-party contracts. It could be upwards of another 8 to 10 And then do you know if based on that um 8 to 10 and what we have now how many total PCAS would that potentially take us to? >> Okay. Thank you. And then can I get um in reference to resolution 2601? Can you just clarify what that is? >> I don't Dr. Serjini, could you clarify the resolution? >> Certainly. The agenda item seeks approval to apply for a Department of Community and Economic Development, commonly referred to as DCEED, public school facility improvement grant, uh, specifically to fund the rooftop HVAC units at Woodland. The existing units are beyond their 15-year useful lifespan. This was originally on the district's master facilities plan for 2029 and at an estimated cost of about
155$590,000. We've done some updated estimating and found that that current cost would be about 1.26 million. So looking to move that project ahead. Uh if we were to receive the entire amount of the uh grant, it could fund up to 75% of that cost and we could move that project ahead. So what this does is it um it shows the DCED that the board is giving its backing to the administration asking for the grant. >> Do the grant have to be used by a certain time um once we're provided or receeded? >> There is a lifespan on it. I believe it's 18 to 24 months, but I need to uh double clarify that >> it also doesn't obligate us to take the money. >> I mean, I'm not turning down any money. I'm just I'm
156just wondering if there's a time um that we have to use it by just because I think you said we are moving this work up, right? Um, >> if you recall when we had presented when Mr. Chemwood and I had presented the master facilities plan, we said that there would be push and pull in the project. So, if we were to move this one up, we would look to conceivably move something back in the process as well. >> Okay. I just wanted to check if you can just check and know if there's um a lifespan on it and just how long um once we if we are awarded it, how long it'll um we need before we need to use it by. Thank you. Any other questions? Miss Alustin, >> just a suggestion on the
157wording of 9G. Um just to make it a little more clear to take or leave as you wish. Um to say um when the failure to hire prior instead of saying prior to May 31st, you might want to say prior to the next board voting meeting. Just so it's clear why what just a suggestion on clarity for that. >> Thank you. Any other questions on any of the fiscal items have to write? Seeing none, we'll move on to personnel item. Dr. Sugjini. >> Thank you, Dr. Zerby. The personnel items for February include the following. Three resignations professional. Lauri Yakarino, sixth grade instructor at Sky View, and Moy Jobson, staff nurse. We thank Laura and Moy for their service to the students of Mthactton, and Terresa Gman, special education instructor at the high school, resignation for
158retirement at the end of the school year. After seven years of dedicated service to the students of Mthactton, we thank Terry for the good work that she has done and we wish her well in her retirement. There are two resignations classified. Michelle Lee, par professional at Arrowhead, and Barbara Goth, secretary to the principal at Arrowhead. Resignation for retirement effective July 30th after more than 28 years of dedicated service to the students of Mthactton. Barb has become synonymous with Arrowhead so often being the first person to welcome students, families, and staff uh members to the building. Barb's genuine depth of caring for everyone in the Arrowhead community has made a lasting impact that will have positive ripples for generation generations rather to come and we wish her all the very best in her muchdeserved retirement. There
159are eight employments classified. Lauri Yakarino, power professional at Arrowhead and seven personal care assistants, Karen Stewart, Tina Jones, Jennifer Brown, Rosemary Beck, Princy Vias, and Susendini Gapertap, and Emily Miston, and we welcome them all to the Matactton family. One sabatical leave, Natalie Perez, music instructor for the 2627 school year. supplemental contracts for a mentor, athletic coaches, the pupil services department, and chaperones, and additions to the classified substitute list, both of which are support staff casuals on call, Valerie Bas and and Lily Ziggfouse. And we welcome Valerie and Li Lily. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Serjin. Any questions uh from board members to my left? Miss Alustin, >> just um looking at Laura Yakarino. So, she's resigning and then becoming employed in a different position. Just to clarify that. >> That's correct. >> Okay. Thank
160you. And the retirement is that then number six. >> That's correct. That's number six. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? U Miss Purdue. Um can you if you're able to um 10m1 um the mentor I'm just I feel like that may be the first time I'm seeing that in reference to the I think the supplemental contract for it say for mentor >> as we do have staff join us uh at the halfyear point we do provide mentors for a half a year if they're as they join us so it's either for a half year or for a full year. And this one's for a half a year. >> Okay. >> I guess it's just because it's saying um 2025 2026 school year. >> That's correct. So >> just because >> for the remainder of
161the school year. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. >> Any other questions to my left? Seeing none to my right. Seeing none. Thank you, Dr. Sereni. Next, we have My button keeps going on and off. U we have curriculum and programs. Dr. Gina, >> thank you, Dr. Zerby. Uh just one item this evening. Um and this is on actually as a standing item and it will be voted on next month. Uh it's to approve the Mythact and School District 339 plan. Um this will be uh provided for public inspection starting on 218. Uh it'll be posted to the district website and a hard copy at the administration building. Uh this was presented during the ed committee agenda and moving forward then uh for this board meeting again and will be voted at the March board
162meeting ultimately. Thank you. >> Thank you Dr. Ojina. Any questions, comments uh for members to my left seeing none to my right. Seeing none. Thank you Dr. Oena. Policy. >> Thank you Dr. Zerby. Uh we do have three new items for first read. Uh principles for governance and leadership. Just a few small changes to avoid uh some excess wording and specific subsections. Um but it's a good read. Uh 903 and 9007 are the other two items. Um for policy again some edits uh some deletions in both of those policies as well. And for second read what's going to be voted on next week is 718.1 therapy dogs and 830.1 data governance storage and security. Thank you. Thank you. Questions on policy to my right. Seeing none to my left. >> Miss Alustin, >> I actually
163am going back to curriculum. How long is the plan on the website for inspection? It >> it'll be 28 days. >> Okay. Can we just note that please? Any other comments on policy? Seeing none, we move on to other gifts and donations. We approved to get generous gift for Sky View Upper Elementary School for music students from Tara Thomas of two instruments, a clarinet and a flute valued at $1,300 and approve a generous gift to Warsester Elementary School PBS program uh from Clayton Kohler in the amount of $25. In terms of trips, approve the Mthon High School trip uh for orchestra students to participate in a PMEA orchestra festival March 5th through the 7th at Harrington High School in Rosemont, PA. And then in a transportation just note there is an error in the the
164years listed there. It should list 2526. So it should read as approve the following drivers as part of the transportation employee roster for the 2526 school year in Walter >> um Kursa Wanko. That's the best I can do. Um and then under 13D we have the high school renovation authorize the administration to proceed forward into design development phase for the methacton high school renovation project with a cost for design development not to exceed 1,454,236 for the shraider group the architects and $198,900 for ICS owners representative. Any questions on matter under other to my left? Anything else to my right? Miss Graph. >> Yeah. In 13D, can we just change where it says design develop phase and correct that to development? Um, it's just a formal term and we don't have it quite right in that.
165>> Thanks. >> Yep. >> Any other comments on other? Uh, Mr. It's not other, but I I just was wondering I I believed I thought there was going to be some um special head agreements as well. I don't see them on the agenda. Is that still up for >> They typically will get posted uh for the next agenda. >> Okay. >> Scheduled. Thank you. >> Just to add, I do want to thank administration and Dr. So, Genie um for your help with this also and um the safety team if I can call them that that were on standby just to ensure that our students were safe in the administration for ensuring that our business as we call it in our school buildings which is education continued during this time and after that time. So, I
166do appreciate the work by the administration and also um those working outside to keep those students safe. Thank you. With that, Miss Theo. Um yeah, thank you very much. I actually just wanted to uh um I guess it would be old and business just the the communic I wanted to check on the communication regarding our image. Um, I became aware that there are some rumors that uh going around the community that um we are no longer going to be the the warriors, which we are. We are the Warriors. Um, but I recently heard we are there's a rumor that we will be the horn frogs. Um, and this while I hear it and I know this was not discussed and this is not up for voting. Um, it it is actually being taken in like
167there are students who who are believing it um as well as community members. So, I'm just wanted to was wondering what the communication around this might be. Thank you. >> And I I'll give Dr. Zerby um a chance to answer just because we um talked about this. I know I've received some emails from students um and um a petition. So, um we talked about ensuring that those uh community do have the right communication. I think there's um probably a lot of speculation and it's better um for the administration to make sure that the community is informed on how we're going forward. So, Dr. Zerby, maybe you can elaborate. >> Yes. So, um it is true uh we've we've had some uh emails from students and uh they I believe they started a petition to bring
168back a certain particular uh image. Um Dr. Uker met with a group of those students today um and heard many of those same uh rumors. Uh I didn't hear that particular uh image but uh there were there were things that were never discussed and then there was there were certain things that were uh you know misguided in terms of their interpretation. Uh but Dr. Uker assured me that uh her work with them uh was was well taken. Um but we as we discussed uh a large a larger communication to the community is is needed to, you know, put most of that clarification to bed, but we wanted to meet with the the group of students that had this immediate concern. Um, so we did that. Um, and we're following up with a communication hopefully by
169the end of this week. >> Thank you. Now, I'll just check. Yes, Miss Graph. Yeah, I I um I I do want to just commend our students um for the events today. I think it was incredibly mature of them to approach the administration in the high school to discuss their plans. And I think that um you know, whether we agree with what they were protesting or not, I think that it's important that our students act in a manner that's respectful of the school day and the the rest of the students in the building. And I am very pleased to know that our teachers were able to continue teaching during this event. And I think that's really a testament to the way that the administration handled this and the security team. So Dr. or Genie, I
170just want to give you, you know, a little bit of praise because it's really important that our students are safe and I think this was a difficult situation, but we were able to address the situation and handle it in a normal school day with minimal disruption to our students, which is really the most important thing here. I mean, we're here to educate and I think we've we've taught our students well when they're able to come to us with their concerns and we're able to address them and talk to them like adults and handle it in an adult mature manner and not disrupt the rest of the students in the classroom. So, thank you, >> Miss Cander. Um, I basically want to mimic the same thing. Uh, thank you to the administration for letting the students
171exercise their civic whatever actions. Uh, thank you to the safety team for creating a safe space. And I'm very proud of Mthactton students for um, acting in a respectful and calm manner in times when emotions are very heightened. These are very touchy subjects. Uh there's people with several kinds of opinions and I think this was the it it was it was just a very wonderful way to see our students uh express themselves and voice their concerns as also members of society who are also being impacted by world events that are going on. >> Thank you. And then with that, I will turn it over to courtesy of the floor. The board of school directors will now provide an opportunity for residents to make comments on matters that are or may be before the board. The
172board asks that you keep your comments to 3 minutes or less. The board of school directors may choose to respond to the matters following conclusion of the comments. You can also submit questions via email to information.org and please state your name and municipality. Thank you, >> Jim Malik Warscester. Um, any reason why the students couldn't protest off campus as opposed to on campus? See, I don't commend that. That's a selfish approach. Um, does anybody know why you guys cross file when you run for election? Any idea? The reason is because your job is supposed to be aolitical. Doesn't sound like it is to me. Um, you just allowed students to protest ICE during school hours on taxpayer funded school property. Would you have allowed a right to life protest, a pro-Israel protest, a Trump rally?
173I don't think so. I think some of you folks agree with the uh the jargon. Uh, I'm forced to pay taxes to the school district or I lose my house. School property and operations are funded by taxpayers. ICE is responsible for enforcing federal law. Federal law was and is passed by Congress. You receive federal funds from the federal government. The state, local, municipalities, and district are subject to the supremacy clause of the constitution. So, how's about providing a civics class for some of you guys up here as well as some of these these uh disruptors? Their actions will and probably did affect other students who are actually trying to do what they came here for, which is to obey the rules, read, write, think, and learn. School's not the place for politics. Maybe you think
174it is, but I don't. And my opinion matters. I'm a taxpayer. I'm paying for this. If you remember, you guys set a precedent and started the ball rolling by allowing BLM activists to use school property for their protest and gathering several years ago. At around the same time, the Wagner campaign, Republican, was denied access. He also allowed teachers to utilize the district's email list to promote the BLM event. The Democrat schoolboard members also participated in that event. And if I remember correctly, Miss Purdue, you had something on your Facebook page with you and Mrs. Hull standing together. Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought I remembered that. I suggest you guys Google what's happened to the leaders of BLM. Hundreds of years in prison, uh, charged with wire fraud, activist admits conning donors. It's ridiculous. I
175mean, what a joke. So, organized hyperartisan political protests during school hours on school property paid for with taxpayer money should not be permitted and should not be commended. Thank you. >> Thank you. I will check if there's any comments from the board as we finish. Miss the >> I do just want to speak real quick um about uh I I did not get a chance to reference and discuss and share um how today was handled with the students um and how the students led and approached the administration on their own. Um but what I do want to share is um the Pennsylvania Department of Education does have common core standards on civics and governments. Students do study the Constitution in a nonpartisan manner. They study what the rights and roles outlined in the Constitution and
176the Pennsylvania State Pennsylvania State Constitution include. Those are part of the Common Core standards that were adopted 20 early 2010s 2011 2009 somewhere in that time frame. Um I know because I was part of a team that was adopting the standard for the school in which I was working at that time as a social studies teacher. um as well while um schools while it's not necessarily outlined there are Supreme Court cases that protect studentdriven and student aligned protest within schools. It does not necessarily apply to walk out but the most the one that most leaders look at is Tanker vers De Moine which is from 1969. It does have to do with silence protest. Students are not allowed to um disrupt the educational environment. Um, and so those are some of that's that's the one
177that is most wellknown in the education. Um, and so what I see when we discuss tonight is I see two things. One, I see a group of students who came together who were concerned about m who were concerned about something going on and we're discussing it and approached the administration for a way to do it. And I appreciate that kind of leadership um, and that kind of approach. But I also what we just discussed about the mascot is students who started a petition and students who approached the um administration with concerns and were able to bring um misunderstandings and concerns about their mascot to the administration. Um, I think students finding their voice and learning how to how to do it in a way that is respectful and within um the school community and um
178in areas where they learn about how to find your voice and how to advocate um for what they think in um I just wanted to share some of that background and some of that information um about what they learn in social studies in a nonpartisan manner, but then students take that meaning and make with it what they do and um yeah, I just wanted to share that. Thank you. >> Thank you. And then with that, I looks like no further comments. So, may I have a motion to adjourn the meeting, Miss Graph, Miss Clary, and the meeting is now adjourned at 9:46. Thank you all. Have a good evening.