001Okay. Good evening everyone. I'd like to call the special meeting on June 17, 2025 to order. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The public is hereby advised of the audio and video recording of this meeting for purposes of rebroadcasting. All board members are in attendance with the acceptance exception of Miss Shondaanda and Miss Graph and Katie Theal is remote. I will now move to recognition of guest and schedule speakers. Dr. Zerby. Thank you, Madam President. As a reminder for members of the audience tonight, there are two meetings. The first one is a special meeting for the adoption of the 2526 uh fiscal year
002budget. The second uh meeting that would follow immediately after adjournment of the special meeting will be the work session uh of of the board. Uh this evening we have Miss Stephie our director of business services to present the final uh 2526 uh budget. Um Miss Stephie had we had posted the presentation uh to the agenda in advance and the presentation has approximately about 13 slides with a number of slides for an appendix. Uh those are for reference uh only and she'll be reviewing the 13 slides this evening. Miss Stephie Hello. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. I am pleased to present the 2526 general fund budget which reflects Mthactton's continued commitment to fiscal responsibility and educational excellence. In January, a preliminary budget totaling 139,84,158 was presented. Between February and May, various additions and reductions were
003proposed that resulted in a net expenditure decrease of $1.97 million. There have been several modifications since the last budget iteration was presented in May. I will walk us through those now. Salary reductions have been made to account for two additional retirements as well as the reduction of two positions. A Spanish teacher at the high school and a second grade teacher at Woodland. The Spanish teacher who is dual certified in French and Spanish will be moving to the open French position at Orcola. The special education budget has been increased to accommodate a significant cost associated with a special education due process which resulted in expensive outofd district placement. The cost presented is inclusive of attorney fees. An additional $20,000 has been allocated to support possible costs related to the implementation of the new community cares program.
004Due to the shift to a new provider and the reduction of one psychologist position within the REACH program, a cost savings of $98,000 has been realized. June adjustments result in a net decrease of $56,888, bringing our total final budget expenditure figure to $137,776,916. The chart on page three compares budget figures for the 2425 school year to final budget figures for the 2526 school year. I'm going to take us through the line item variances. First, the increase in salaries is attributable to contractual obligations. Notably, we were able to limit the salary increase to 1.1%. largely due to strategic staffing reductions which I will elaborate on in a later slide. The rise in benefit costs is driven by a budgeted increase in medical expenses. In the area of professional services, we successfully reduced our reliance on thirdparty
005providers by nearly $2 million. This strategic shift allowed us to mitigate the increase in this category. The $1.8 $.8 million increase in other purchase services is the result of several factors, including a substantial rise in thirdparty transportation costs and budgeted increases in tuition. While the budgeted tuition increase may appear significant, it accurately reflects actual expenditures over the past two years. The supply category includes a major investment in curriculum enhancements, specifically new science and foreign language materials. Expenditures in the property and other object categories remain consistent with the current year. Although the overall dollar amount in these other uses of funds category is unchanged, there is a notable reallocation from capital transfers to debt service payments. On slide four, you'll see a chart outlining the district's top 10 expense categories. As expected, salaries and benefits comprise
006the largest portion, approximately 65% of total expenditures. Other significant spend categories include debt service, professional services, and third-party transportation contracts, all of which are consistently amongst the highest areas of a spend from a fact school district. On to slide five. As mentioned previously, we were able to limit the overall salary increase to 1.1%, reducing over $2 million in costs through a strategic reduction in staffing. These thoughtful adjustments were made to align with enrollment trends and operational needs while minimizing the impact on instructional quality. Administratively, the assistant director of IT and facility supervisor positions were eliminated. There have been a reduction of eight MEA positions, a middle and an elementary level technology integrator, two elementary teachers, a high school social studies teacher, a high school Spanish teacher, a Fab Lab integrator, and an elementary instructional coach,
007an HVAC mechanic position, as well as a communication secretary, and five PCA positions were eliminated. These reductions played a key role in managing budget growth while maintaining core programs and services. Next slide. In addition to staffing adjustments, significant reductions has also been made in the area of professional services where costs have been reduced by $1.9 million. These reductions are part of a broader effort to control costs and increase operational operational efficiency by bringing more services in-house and reassessing contracted needs. Those reductions include eight program support specialists, one behavior technician, three and a half BCBAs, five registered behavior technicians, and a reduction in cost due to the transition of a new provider for the REACH program. Next slide. The 2526 budget includes investments across several key areas to support student achievement and district priorities. These include
008expansion of special education support, hiring additional instructional aids as we transition away from reliance on thirdparty staffing by bringing positions inhouse. School safety enhancement funding the addition of a police chief to proactively address safety concerns. Literacy improvement, implementing the school's cube literacy program to strengthen early reading skills, curriculum development, adopting a new science curriculum aligned with the Pennsylvania Steel standards, launching an emotional support program at Eagleville to better meet our students needs in district and a capital investment managing an increase in district debt to support our long-term capital projects plan. Next slide. Now I'm going to shift our focus to revenues. As with expenditures, we began the budgeting process in January with a preliminary revenue budget of 139,84,158. By May, we successfully eliminated the need to use fund balance and were able to reduce the
009reliance of the approved special education exception by more than half. In June, updates to the revenue budget included a reduction in Pasers and FICO revenue, which reflects changes in salary projections. The decline in real estate tax revenue is attributable to two primary factors. The impact of multiple significant assessment appeals and a modest decrease identified through the county's assessment monthly report. The total revenue reduction for the month of June was $297,776. To maintain a balanced budget with expenditures totaling $137,776,916, a tax increase of 4.45% is necessary. Next slide. As discussed, a tax increase of 4.45 45 is necessary to achieve a balanced budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The proposed increase exceeds the act one index of 4% thereby requiring the use of the special education exception. This chart provides a comprehensive visual overview of tax
010trends over time. The red line represents the historical act one index while the green line represents the adjusted act one index including special education exception. The blue line indicates Mthactton school district's actual tax increases and the purple line shows corresponding inflation rates for broader economic context. The key takeaway from this slide is that Mthactton has historically levied taxes below the act one index in some years significantly less. Next slide. So what is the tax impact of a 4.45% 45% increase using the median homestead value provided the by the Montgomery County Board of Assessment of 4.45% ACT tax increase when an increased tax bill of $26925 over the current year. Next slide. It is understood that some members of the school board have expressed a strong preference not to exceed a 4% tax increase. While we
011have explored all avenues to reduce the tax impact, the only viable last minute adjustment to achieve a 4% cap would be to reduce our debt service allocation. While technically feasible, this approach is not recommended. Mthactton is planning a robust capital borrowing plan to address critical infrastructure needs and future capital improvements. Any reduction in the debt service budget directly limits our borrowing capacity, potentially compromising our ability to fund essential projects in the years ahead. Next slide. This chart on page 12 illustrates both the annual and cumulative revenue loss resulting from limiting the increase to 4%. In the 2526 school year, limiting tax incre limiting the tax increase to the act one index results in a revenue loss of approximately $48,000. This revenue loss grows modestly each year in line with the act one index reaching an
012annual loss of $465,000 by 2930. Over the 5-year period, the cumulative revenue loss approaches $2.2 million. It is important to note that Mthactton currently qualifies for the special education exception as special education expenditures have been increasing annually at a rate significantly higher than the act one index. However, this is not expected to continue as projections indicate a reduction in special ed costs in the coming years. Additionally, the act one index itself is projected to decline year-over-year. Given these trends, it is fiscally prudent to consider utilizing the allowable tax increase now while the opportunity remains. Next slide. It is the recommendation of the administration to move forward with a 4.45 45% tax increase to ensure we can fully fund all educational programs and maintain the highquality services our community expects and our students deserve. This concludes
013my presentation. Thank you, Miss Steppy. Are there any questions for members of the board? Anyone to my right? Anyone to my left? Miss Purdue. Can you please clarify on slide four um in reference to the top expenses um with the categories? Can you um clarify number four, number five and number six exactly what falls into those categories? Maybe summary if you can. Yeah, sure. So redemption of principal has to do with debt service. That's paying off the principal of the debt. Contracted carriers, that's our third-party transportation costs. And then other professional services are things that we've talked about like subservice costs, um special education thirdparty services, um medical services that we outsource through nurses and and things of those such. Okay. Thank you. And I don't know if there's a way to kind of include
014it cuz I think the other ones are um clear, but I just want to make sure um that information was clear to the public. Also, I think I have one more um can um on slide seven in reference to the investments emotional support program at Eagleville. I don't know if you can give a little bit more information on that. Can in fact um if I if I may uh could we ask our director of people services to the podium to kind of explain uh what the emotional uh program is emotional support program? Good evening everyone. Um, so our emotional support program at Eagleville is part of our continuum of supports and services that we need to be able to provide to all of our students. We have some students with a disability category of emotional
015disturbance that require uh more intensive supports throughout their day. So inclusive of this is uh training for the staff uh on how to appropriately respond when uh students are escalated, how to reeregulate uh the associated uh personnel that are associated with it. um making sure that we have um supports available for students as they're transitioning throughout their day. So if they need to come to the emotional support room to reregulate, get back to baseline, and then push back out, making sure that we have all of those plans and services in place with regards to functional behavior plans, uh individualized goal setting for each of the students, as well as uh communication plans associated with when things like this are happening, partnering with the families so that they're aware of their students and then being able
016to formulate a plan to keep them at baseline as much as possible. Previously without this we had um placed students out of district. Um so this allows us to have an in district option for their needs. Thank you Dr. and that was going to be what I was going to ask you if this was the way to bring students um to ensure placement in the school. So thank you. I think that was it for me. Thank you. Uh other questions? I'm sorry, Miss Clearary. So, um, there were questions from Sorry. So, following up on what Miss Purdue was asking about the um emotional support program. So, are some of the hires or the some of the new positions that we've approved going to fill what you're trying to do at Eagleville? Yes. So we have
017reallocated um our special education teachers that are at Eagleville to be able to fill the need for our students. But with that um we have added some uh behavioral support position to be able to to help with this. Um we ha we have titrated away from um RBT support, registered behavior technician support to utilize a more uh inclusive model of having the teachers trained appropriately to be able to handle behaviors so that we can have a more sustainable system in place. Okay. Thank you. I just my questions are next for Miss Stephie. So thank you. Anybody else? Yeah. So on that um the when we're using the acronyms like in the presentation so my request is things like RBTs um PCAS if you could please try to remember to maybe asterk those at the bottom
018not just for members of the board who who don't use those terms all but the public when they see these presentations. Okay. Um, and then I just had a couple of clarifying questions just so I can better understand a few things on here and and Miss Purdue's questions may have already addressed it, but you went really fast. So So no, that's okay. So just bear with me if I'm if I'm repeating on slide three, the the um the groups of services. So there's property services and then there's property is property the Ottabon property is that all that is? So property is more you would think about equipment as property like purchasing equipment. Okay. And then property services. So that's like maintenance to buildings and and such. Okay. Yep. I will certainly make that more clear
019for next. No, that's a Yeah, I just I just need to get used to the terms that you're using. And then I think you said under other services is transportation. So other services 1, two, four, five. Yes. Like that would be contracted carriers. Um and also tuition costs. Charter school tuition. Charter school tuition, votech, um private schools, any type of tuition that we would pay. Okay. And then under other objects, uses of funds. Can you give me an example or Yeah, sure. So, that that would be all of our debt service payments would be in there. And then if we were doing a transfer to capital, that would also be in there. Or um if we were doing a like we're doing we have a small transfer to food service in there, that falls under
020that category as well. Okay. Um so then when I go to the next slide on four the top 10 expense categories I'm looking at other objects under rank of other which is the 17 million but then when I look at other on slide three it's 12 million. So they're not the same thing. I'm trying to figure Yeah. So, yeah, I should have made it more clear, but yes, like other objects and services on this that's that's an actual like school district term code that we use. Okay. And then on the next slide, it's just basically the catch all of everything that's not listed in the top 10. Okay. Okay. Okay. Um, other professional services. I heard you say specialized third party services. So that is that is all the people that we contract with. Correct.
021Is it anything else? So it would be any third party contractual. It's just the third party stuff. Okay. Yeah. All right. Thanks for bearing with me here. Y um Okay, that's all I have. Thanks. Thank you. Uh Mr. Wyinners. Yeah. First, I want to thank uh Miss Stephie and the administration because I know that uh there's going to be some comments about the contrary to what I'm going to say, but I'll just put it out there. I I think the approach that we take at Mthactton looking at the educational delivery and the needs and scrutinizing how we want to deliver at Mthactton from appro from an approach perspective is the best approach for balancing the fiscal requirements and the educational delivery from Mthactton. So, uh I certainly support the process we're taking. So, I just
022want a couple clarifications on number five. Um and maybe um Dr. Sugini can jo the comments have been made related to we've had lots of open positions and we're finally taking them out of the budget. Um if I look at these positions that I see on page five which includes the facility supervisor, assistant director of technology uh 1 2 3 4 eight teachers and a teamsters position. I believe that one might have been open. I know that the communication secretary person has moved back into an aid perspective. Um, were these positions filled primarily this year? Yes, Mr. Winters. Overwhelmingly, these were filled this year. Yeah. So, you've taken this opportunity to identify ways for operational efficiency as we've had requirements or reduction in class size or new requirements of how to deliver the educational delivery.
023Is that correct? That's correct. Anytime a position is vacated, we re review it thoroughly and determine the need to replace it or not. Okay. Thank you. Micro microphone. Sorry, I page seven. Um I also just sort of highlight um well actually I could go to page page six as well. So I appreciate Dr. Gravise um and uh Dr. Virginia Regina and the supervisors looking at uh our delivery which is primarily going to be around um special education. It it's a lot to look at. It is all individually identified. It's not just one big swoop. It's a lot of uh I think we have I forgot what the number was but seven or 800 students with IEP I believe. Um so I understand that that it's not a quick exercise. on page seven. Uh we are
024investing uh in a in a solid solid police chief that has a fantastic reputation in the community and also I Dr. Sergen's done a great job supporting uh safety, but I certainly support um especially sitting in Skyola somehow uh the police chief. I think it's a fantastic uh mo or movement for Mthactton around safety. Uh certainly the SKU school's cube literacy program we've talked about many times a huge investment that we relatively dollar-wise not a huge investment but a huge project investment that hopefully will really move the need related to our literacy uh and getting students uh reading better. Um, and of course we're supporting and it it is a little vague right now because we don't know exactly what we're going to do, but we know we have to do things related to the
025capital projects. Um, so we are also preparing ourselves for that in this budget. Thank you. Thank you. Any other uh Miss Alustin? Hi, thank you for this. I I have questions. Um, okay. My first question when I read um on page five the reduction of the high school Spanish teacher and then I see on the agenda today that we're approving the employment of two other Spanish instructors instructors. So if if we could just what just speak to what is happening with the Spanish program. Certainly at Arc Colola, two uh Spanish teachers who are currently in those roles are moving to other roles in the district based on new certifications that they achieved. They vacated those positions. We did post and we are filling the two Spanish positions at Arc Colola which are on the agenda
026this evening at the high school. Uh there was a change in the schedule based on the number of requests for Spanish. So, we were able to move a staff member from the high school to our COLA. That staff member has dual certification. She is currently teaching Spanish. However, she's also certified in French. So, she will be moving to Arola to be a French teacher. Okay. So, there's no change in program. It was a change in enrollment. Correct. Yeah. The programming remains the same. Okay. because I know and then at one time maybe it's not the case anymore with how we're doing languages at our cola but sometimes they would split they would go from our cola to the high school. Is that not the case? That's correct. Okay. Thank you. Um and then I had
027also questions about the uh the emotional support program again at Eagleville. Um, and my question is is to find out if if that program is bringing if the goal of that program is to bring students out of which are who are placed out of district back into district. are those I guess we don't know who or we do know who if we can accommodate those needs and then I guess is that a cost savings that is reflected in this budget or not because it has not been realized yet. So um it's it's dualpronged. There are currently students in the district that uh will be utilizing this program. So we will not be placing them out. Um the second piece is we've reached out to the students who would be eligible for this and are in
028conversations with their families about the program. Obviously when it is new and the families have an established program already that's working for their child, they want to make sure that they understand fully what's involved and how this program will support their children's needs. So we're still having those conversations, but we really want each child to be educated within mythact. So we're working very hard to try to bring them back. Those children who have not yet committed to come back are not actualized in these costs for savings. Um this is not inclusive of that. Okay. And then my my other part to understand the special ed costs is about the um the registered behavior technicians and I understand we had quite a number of them um and we did reduce the use of some. So is
029there a plan to continue to reduce because we're making our in-house program more robust and better to suit the needs of the mythactton students. Are we then going to rely less? Is that the plan to rely less on these third-party vendors? So, we never want to take supports away from students that are using them. What we chose to do was to look at each uh student and to ensure they had specific goals and a titration plan that was associated with it. So, um in the absence of that, it could have kept going on in perpetuity. However, we had meetings with the behavior teams and with the families and talked through, okay, these are the goals and the ultimate goal is independence no matter what. And so, we put together a formalized plan for each of
030the students to make sure that they're hitting those goals and can continue to track. Some of them are able to hit that a lot faster than others. But while we are transitioning out of that sort of system, we still need supports for those students. So, we have um opted to move to in-house programs like this andor trainings for the staff to be able to support their needs. So, the teachers feel prepared and ready to be able to help each student. Um but it it's a it's a delicate balance. It's not a fast thing. It's all based on student growth and how we're able to support our students. But we're confident that by having this emotional support program, this will truly be able to give a student independence. It'll be able to give them um support
031and dignity that if they are having, you know, an issue or a meltdown, they have the ability in place to do that with privacy and dignity and then they're able to, you know, reeregulate back to get back into the general ed classroom. Thank you. That that sounds really like a great plan. And and I'm just curious just in general just because I don't understand the role the those um behavior technicians are they are they generally assigned to a student is it is it usually temporary? Is it usually to achieve certain goals and then and then that support is is I guess removed once the student achieves those goals. Is that normally how it works with this type of service in theory? Yes. So, um, it would be an IEP team coming together, um, looking at
032a child's behaviors. And so, from that, a child could be having a myriad of things going on. We would conduct a functional behavior assessment, which is called an FBA. Um from there that uh behavior specialist would evaluate the child, evaluate how they are within the setting and then they would make recommendations to the school team for how to best support them. Uh they could have a behavior plan, they could recommend a onetoone. And so with the absence of not having strong supports and programs in place, you know, they could make a a recommendation of you need a onetoone, you need a onetoone. And so we wanted to be sure that we have the strongest program for our students so that they can have that level of independence and be able to kind of to access
033uh their education. Okay. Thank you. Are there any other final questions uh before I turn it back over to Madam Miss Purdue? I just I think if you can go back over slide 11 again just to explain the difference between the 4.45 four, five, and four. Just cuz I feel like maybe you went over a little bit quickly. So that's the um I guess the final budget with um the recommendation for 44.45 and then um so this one here behind you I think is the one you're referring to. Yes, sure. So, um yeah, it it was my understanding that there was um there were some board members that wanted to see an increase capped at 4%. So, like the only viable way I could do this um in a short amount of time was to
034remove the money from the debt service allocation. So, all the difference between um the four and the 4.45% uh $47,000. So that amount was reduced from the debt service allocation. So in in addition to that on the agenda this evening is the administration's recommendation. Uh but we wanted to make sure that as we discussed in the finance committee meeting uh this month that uh members of the board who uh you know were were seeking nothing greater than a four uh knew the implication uh to that and and therefore Miss Stephie put a number of uh additional slides following this to uh demonstrate the impact. So can I ask with the 4 um zero that's proposed and you say um the difference is just from removing from the debt service allocation with that is there any
035educational impact based on what is proposed or delivery of education or our programs or anything else. I so as as as it was discussed in the finance committee meeting and as Miss Stephie uh uh um articulated here this evening as a matter of of of a process uh to to um produce the documents necessary to create a balanced budget. If in fact uh the board chose to go to a 4.0 versus a 4.45 45. Um, she would remove the money from the fund balance or not, she would remove the money from the uh the debt uh uh row. That doesn't necessarily mean that's where the reduction in uh in the expense or where uh uh revenues will will be allocated to. The district, as she indicated in previous slides, over about a fiveyear period, will
036likely have to make up somewhere in the neighborhood of about 2.1 million dollars in uh in in other expenditures by not allocating this new uh I'll call it base uh tax approach. Are there any other questions? Yes, Miss Kangro. No, I just want to say thank you very much. I It's very clear and concise where the work has been done for the past few months. So, I thank you to the finance committee as well as well as the administration on this. Um, I am in favor for the the 4.45 tax increase only because I do see special ed being a cost that has risen and that's why we qualify for it. Um, but I am also concerned about the borrowing and making sure that we meet the the de the concerns that we have with
037the high school uh campus. So for that I just wanted to share where I stood in this. So thank you. I do have I and I I understand that the cost associated with um special ed is increasing and I know we've put plans in place and we've done a lot of work to reduce costs associated with third party um vendors and um really looking at the delivery of our special ed services. Um when I look at this with what's proposed for 4.45 versus 4.0 it's a little and um and I want to be fair to say that when I asked the question about to explain this when we stand at a chance of 4.0 versus a 4.45 I'm looking to see is a tax increase in that in the 4.45 45 and if we were
038to um select if we were to do 4.45 versus 4.0 Oh, what does that mean to the delivery of educational services? Right. Is this impacting our special ed services, delivery of special ed delivery of any of our educational programs or anything like that? And I'm hearing that we're removing money from the debt, but that's not necessarily where that will end up. I don't I don't know if that's clear to me or if that's clear to the public. And I and that's why I asked the question. So, I just wanted to state that out front. I understand where we are and where we landed or where we started from when we started doing the budget for this year and and I understand everything as far as special ed and the increase and I understand where we
039are in the times financially um as a school district with funding. But I I still think it's a I think this requires a little bit more explanation as far as how can we go from 4.45 to 4.0. And I understand certain board members wanted that information. I still don't think it's clear um to be able to say this is why we're being um the recommendation. I think it should be a little bit more clear on the recommendation to um support a budget increase of 4.45 versus 4.0. I don't know if that's clear. I I mean I understand, but I just Yeah, Miss M. Purdue, maybe an easy way to from the documents before you. Um if you look at the cost of the most recent uh special education settlement piece, how much is that? $49,000.
040Okay. How much is the difference between the 4.45 and the four uh 407? Okay, that that's maybe essentially what I can share with you is if we don't uh pass a 445, we're going to figure we have to figure out where we're going to eat that $400 some,000. And it's likely that same $400,000 is going to be eaten up in the each of the next several years. And so my recommendation is, you know, to maintain the quality of of educational programs, uh the best uh uh decision that you can make this evening is to adopt the 4.45% tax increase. And that was the reasoning. I think that was where my question was going. I I'm aware and I'm cognizant of that and I I can do the math and I know what the difference is.
041I think a little bit more explanation or a little bit more is needed to um justify this number. That's that's all I was just saying because I'm aware of the you know pending action or ruling and I think it's just it's not clear here. That's all. Thank you. Uh Miss Steel. Hi. Um good evening. Can you Okay. Okay. I just want to make sure I can be heard. Um I just first I just want to say thank you for the presentation. Um and I did just want to jump on and share um what I am in support of and uh a little bit of my thinking. Um and I don't make it lightly because I realize that um a tax increase especially um in 2025 and where our economy currently is is um is not
042a light decision and a light matter. Um, I am in support of a 4.5 of the 4.5 budget. Um, only because I see our district at a point in time with decisions that are being made where we can expand and where we're headed right now can increase the value of the programming that we provide. A lot of the conversations we've had in ed committee and a lot of the decisions that are being put into place, the structures being put into place, I think will expand and actually make I think in the next couple years could make us one of the strongest districts um in south like in the local area. Um but I also am concerned if we do have to um limit the budget and um to to the to the degree that a
0434.0 know with some of the needs that are coming down the line. I I am concerned with the impact that will have on our programming. And and just um just to name some of the things that I think are important that this budget will reflect is is um the programming with schools cubed um and the programming uh to support um the the identified needs that we've discussed um overall including MTSS and special education and um the the you know we continually talk about our the school environment as well. Um these are all all every single one is extremely complex. So even if we say if we just pull from one area or one thing it it doesn't necessarily mean it's not going to have an impa impact on the structures in the system that support
044all supporting says the work in schools cubed is going to benefit the special education program um and vice versa as well as MTSS our MTSS structure and belonging that's just an example um and my concern is if is that limiting to that to the degree between the 4.0 and and the 4.5 I think especially given some of the needs identified in the presentation today. I am just concerned how that also sets us up in the future. Um I also think you know there is a reason for the special ed exemption um because of how complex um and the and the financial complexity of it is as well. And um I just think that we we I support that for the health of our district going forward, not just in this budget, but in the coming
045years. Thank you, Miss De. Are there any other questions or comments on the on the budget? Seeing Oh, Mrs. Clearary. Uh yeah, I so I would say um since everyone's kind of saying how they what what their opinions are um I would say that I don't view well everybody knows on the board that that I have wanted this to be at 4% or less um from the very beginning and and I feel like it's two false choices that I'm looking at between 4.45 and 4%. Um, I recognize the latest special education costs. Um, those we have to pay. Um, but I also think that there was more work that we should have done and I hope that we will consider doing next year as we go through budgeting cuz I really do think that there
046are more things that we should be looking at and I I don't necessarily know that we did that and um so for those reasons um I cannot get behind the 4.45% four or five percent and I and I just hope that we'll consider doing some things a little bit differently next year. Any other any other comments before I turn it back over to Madame President Miss Alustin? Yeah, I just I want to echo what Kathy says. I also can't really get behind the 4.45% 45% increase um for the reason she mentioned and not at all because I'm voting against special ed or the services that our students need or or the the quality of education that we're providing in this district. Those are not the reasons. it. The reason is because I do think that
047um that more could be done and that more savings elsewhere can be realized and um so for that reason I will not vote for four four five. Any other comments before we I turn it over to Madame President? Seeing none, Madam President. Sorry that we'll now move to public comment and board action items. The board will now take comments on board action items. This is an opportunity for residents to comment on matters that are to be decided upon as outlined on the agenda. The board asks that you keep your comments at 3 minutes or less and the board of school directors may choose to respond to matters following the conclusion of the comments on board action items. Uh I say vote no. That's just doesn't mean anything at this point. Um, what I was listening
048for were a couple things. I was listening for the word taxpayer. Didn't hear that at all because guess what? Who pays that bill? Us. Um, I was listening for, hey, what else can we cut? Didn't hear that either. I didn't hear that at the finance committee. How about who's running for reelection? Let me guess. Oh, two. At least two that I know of. I don't think you're running for re-election. Um the eight months ago we heard Dr. Zerby tell tell us that the the tax increase this year is going to be 1.4%. What happened Dave? Eight months ago you tell us one 1.4 and now we're at four five. Something's way off. Don't you think? Don't you think you owe us an explanation? How do we get here? January 28th, Mr. Winters makes a motion
049for the sake of getting home to approve a preliminary budget not to exceed 5.1%. February 18th, Mr. Winters informs the public that the reason we came up with 5.1% is because I pulled it out of my tukus. To be honest, it was obviously we weren't going to get five votes for a 6.3 tax increase. So, we had to come up with something that hopefully somebody would change their vote. That's how we came up with our budget, our 5.1%. No effort I saw at the finance committee for anybody to cut anything other than to announce retirements or whatever. I didn't hear any of you folks at the finance committee going, "Hey, let's cut this, let's cut that, let's do this, let's do that." Um, the proposed tax increase here is actually increased from last month. I
050thought it was 4.3. Now we're at 4.45. 45 guys are going in the wrong direction. Um, and the one option you guys talked about here, this 4.0%. The finance committee wasn't going to tell this board about that. Maybe somebody should tell you guys that cuz I was sitting there when you were entertaining not telling them. So, here's some options. You know, you act like there's no options. Cut DEI. Okay. Discriminatory and illegal. Cut the chief of police. take the money from the general fund, use the 500k of last year's budget surplus to offset it, and the 500k that hasn't been committed is what I'm talking about cuz I reviewed the tape and heard Mr. Winters talk about it. How about this? Cut some administrative salaries. We got superintendent, two assistant superintendent, close to a million
051dollars all in salaries, benefits. How about that? Don't you think we're a little heavy in the administrative salary portion? Um, we hear the same thing every year. We end up with a million dollar surplus. Thank you very much. So, let's see what that happens. Ryan Ar Pro Providence. Um, so I heard the comment more work should have been done on the budget. That's why you're not going to vote for it. Why didn't you do more work? You had six to eight months. I I don't get it. Um, the budget process is still broken. You're still slide three. You're comparing budget to budget. Comparing a budget to a budget that's wrong makes no sense as evidenced by $30 million in budget surpluses over the last 10 years. Um, there are simple ways to get to 4%.
052I don't know. I don't think 4% is much better than 4.45, but I've sent the finance committee probably half or more articles on why your interest income budget is understated. Nobody responded. Um, you could probably add 400,000 of interest income and still be safe. push the borrowings out a few months. Save on interest expense. Still get the same borrowing, just to adjust the timing. Simple way to save money, no impact on programs. Small dollars, but you added 20,000 for community cares. But I sat here and listened to Joe Webster and his chief of staff, Amy Smith, say this program has no cost to the district. It's only 20 now, but that number is going to go nowhere but up. It's amazing that nobody is concerned about the taxpayers in this budget. Um, another reason to
053push your borrowings out, there's no capital plans. Nothing's been approved. You haven't decided what's going to get done, and you can just delay the borrowings. And plus, you've got a huge capital reserve sitting there in the district's balance sheet, probably $13 million. Slide nine. Interesting that inflation rates are coming down, but the Mthactton tax increase is going up. Paul, you talked about salaries um and the positions that were eliminated for strategic reasons. Let me refresh your memory on a schedule that was presented at your March meeting of your finance committee meeting. Um and this schedule showed the reduction of 12 positions. Eight were removed because they're vacant, not needed, which means they're in this year's budget. They are vacant or ghost position ghost positions in the budget that should never have been there to begin
054with. four result from enrollment um declines or retirements. So that's 12. So really there's no reduction in salaries and benefits when you're eliminating a vacant position. Maybe you can explain that to me, Paul. Maybe it's like fuzzy math that you know you pull out of your toucus or something. I don't know. Um there's never been an explanation on why special ed costs increased 250% over the last 5 years. Yet you're all of a sudden going to whack it by $1.9 million. doesn't make any sense. Um the investments, another word for spending. Um the police chief is not necessary. It hasn't been justified. Um I'll have more to say on that a little later. Um but the bottom line is there are many adjustments to this budget going to be made. The board hasn't done its
055job and has not helped us fit fiduciary duties. Thank you. Any other comments? Seeing none, we'll now move to items for board action items. Can I have a Can I have a motion for the 2025 2026 budget as listed below to approve that the general fund budget of the Mthakton School District for the 2025 2026 fiscal year in the amount of 137,776 916 requiring a millage of 30 35.7219 and an increase in property tax of 4.45%. for 5%. Mr. Winters, do I have a second? Mr. MKI, any comments or questions? Right. Seeing none, we will now take a vote. All those in favor? Yes. All those opposed. Right. Motion carries. 5 to seven. What's that? 5 to two. I'm sorry. 5 to two. I apologize. I'm thinking seven people present. I apologize. Motion carries. 5
056to2. We'll now move to Homestead and Farmstead exclusion resolution number 25-3. Uh can I have a motion to approve the resolution of number 25-03 in the amount of $395.91 for the homestead and farmstead exclusion for the 2025 2026 as attached? Mr. Winters. Do I have a second? Mr. Murski. All right. Any comments or questions? Yes, Miss Clary. I'm sorry. Can someone explain this to me? Miss Stephie. So, the homestead exclusion amount is um it's basically a bucket of money that we get from the state. This year it's $3 million. Um every resident that lives in a home that is considered their primary residence can apply for the homestead exclusion. and it is deducted from their tax bill. So that amount they will see deducted on their um July one tax billing. So sorry, this motion
057is to approve everybody who applied getting a $395.91 reduction. Yes. Okay. Any other comments or questions? All right. Seeing none. All right. All those in favor? Yes. All those opposed. Motion carries 7 to zero. All right. We will now move to courtesy of the floor. The board of school directors will now provide an opportunity for residents to make a comment on matters that are or may be before the board. 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 the conclusion of the comments. Please submit questions via email at informationactton.org. Jim Alore sister, I'll say it again, Jen. Why are you telling us to send questions to methactin.org? Why? I send them, you don't get answers. Send them to you.
058You didn't answer them. Miss Graph didn't answer them. I still got pending questions from Dr. Zerby. What a joke. Don't even announce it. It doesn't mean anything. Um I think it's very disrespectful. Three board members aren't here even though one is virtual. If you're going to raise our taxes 4.45% sit here and explain yourself. I think that's just totally disrespectful. Um here's something really nice. The Jen Canro and Liz Drummond running for election. Republican le school board raised taxes 33 times in 34 years. Right. Well, you got Paul doing the same thing. You know, guys are a bunch of hypocrites. You guys have raised taxes every year you have been on the board. All right. So, what was the point? You're cutting up the Republican le school board for doing exactly what you're doing. It's
059ridiculous. Um the budgetary situation here. Um I'm going to give you an illustration of why I think you're getting some budget surpluses. Now, you guys have a right to know budget every year, okay? And we get a breakdown of the right to know request and how much everything costs every month, right? And this probably gets incorporated into the budget. So, if you look, I'll give you an example. The right to know cost for fiscal 2425 assistant superintendent quarter 1 6500, quarter 2 6,500, quarter 36,500. Where does that number come from? 65. Every month does the same amount of work. It's not possible. What happens is somebody estimates how much time they do. Maybe they didn't. Maybe they did zero, but it it gets averaged out, right? But the same salary gets put in to the
060budget for the regular job. So when you pull out that little piece, you're actually overbelling, right? It's overounted. You've got the salary and then you've got this on top of the salary. And guess what? There's no good there's not going to be any on top of the salary because the salary is a salary. So that's your that's one of the ways I think you have budgetary error situation going on. Um I I just I sit here and I go, you know, I agree with Mr. Ernaw, you know, Miss Clear, you're right. There should have been more work done. You were there. You're you're on the finance committee, I think. No. Well, you were sitting there with me at a meeting. They did no work. Okay. I was listening for somebody there to say, "Hey, what
061could we cut? What more can we do?" And it never happened. Thank you. Ryan Ershaw, lower Providence. Um, again, contrary to what you think, Paul, the budget process here leaves a lot to be desired. Nobody here on the board challenges any of the details in the budget, reviews any details, looks at past errors to improve the process, really does anything to improve the process. It's really just you're taking what the administration sends your way. That's what's been happening. And credit to you, Dr. Zerby, when it comes to financial matters, you got it easy. Um, as I said, nobody's challenging the budget. Nobody's pushing to reduce expend reduce spending. Nobody's pushing to protect taxpayers by cutting costs. It's just kind of whatever you want one want comes in. You come in with a high number, 6.3%.
062And it's a it's fictitious because you know it's going to come down. Then you try to look like the hero. Um as I said, nobody's challenging the assumptions, nobody reviewing assumptions. Over the past five years, you've grown your administrative staff by 20%. Enrollment's declined, performance has declined. a lot of the responsibilities that you had get shifted to other people. You've got two assistant superintendents. You've added probably one to two million in cost by adding all all these administrators. And we're seeing the same thing by your assistant superintendent. Hiring a police chief takes some of their responsibilities away, but their salary is not changing. It's not going down. It's still going up under the contracts. Um, you don't have to respond to questions. I asked you a couple questions. You just gave me some answers that
063would I'll give you credit for that. But I asked for the details of how you calculated interest income in the budget. Crickets. I had to file a right to right to know request. I asked for details to show me how the salaries roll up by person or position to what's in the budget to show me what their vacant positions are. I know there's more in there. Do I get a response? No. I got to file a break to know request. And then I get a the response I get is that you need 30 more days to provide information that should be readily available and keep glancing the clocks. I got another minute. Um, you don't respond to questions as Dr. Mollik stated. I could email you to the cow. I don't get answers. Um, so
064I don't know why I got a file right to know request. That's probably why your costs are high in that area and you do allocate salaries inappropriately. I noticed you didn't allocate any salaries to the failed new high school project. That's the other thing. $1.5 million was flushed down a drain on that project. All because there were faulty assumptions and projections, which I told you were wrong. But did you listen? No. Nobody did. It's like you don't care. I'm spending my time because I care about this district. I care about the amount of taxes I myself and every other resident has to pay. I wish the board had the same level of care. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have any other comments at all? Real quick, right? Seeing none, can I have a motion
065to adjourn? Mr. Winters, can I have a second? Miss Alustin. Do we want a short break? Does anyone need a moment? Do we have water here? We are going to take a five minute break. I apologize everyone. And we'll be back at 807. [Music] All right. Good evening everyone. I'd like to call the work session on June 17, 2025 to order. Please rise for the pledge of 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 the audio and video recording of this meeting for purposes of rebroadcasting. Um, I'm making an announcement of the executive session announcement. There was an executive session of the board held virtually on June 9th,
0662025 for the purposes of receiving advice on a legal matter involving a student. Uh in attendance, everyone is in attendance with the exception of Miss Shondaanda, Miss Graph, and Miss Steele. Okay. We'll now move to recognition of guests and schedule speakers. Dr. Zerby. Thank you, Madam President. This evening we have one uh presentation that is the strategic plan update and then uh next week we will have an update uh with the Mactton High School uh renovation. Dr. Sjini, the Shrader group and CHA will present. So this evening um with respects to uh the strategic plan uh my administration and I will present a brief update on the district strategic plan. There are no actions for the consideration of the board at this time. This is simply part of our annual update and a reflection of
067the work accomplished this school year and cumulative over time as well as a brief outlook for next year's task. Miss Stephie. Good evening. Emma, our mission is all about empowering every student, helping them grow, find their strength, and step up as leaders ready to shape the future. Our vision is to be a model district that puts students first and works handinhand with the community to prepare learners for whatever challenges come their way. We're grounded in values that remind us to inspire success, support every learner, work together, honor where we come from, celebrate diversity, and always keep growing and looking ahead. Our strategic plan focuses on one main goal. ensure an exceptional Mthactton school district experience for all. We will use our student focused community centered approach to an achieve an increase in ranking and constituent
068favorable feedback. Today we'll review the strategic plan highlights including completed task, district rankings, and college acceptances. We'll also touch on volunteer efforts in Miss Actton, feedback from our community, how the planning process unfolded, major accomplishments, and what's ahead for the future. The Mthactton School District has, and we are on slide five, I believe. Uh, the Mthton School District has implemented new academic and operational strategies toward achieving the plan's ultimate goal to ensure an exceptional Makactton School District experience for all. Some of what we have accomplished include we built a new Arrowhead Elementary School, constructed a Windy Hill Cafe at the high school, as well as completely rebuilt the planetarium at Arc Colola. We have implemented an an instructional coaching program, instituted the I Ready uh math program, and conducted a literacy audit. Full day kindergarten
069is is completed its third year of implementation. Kid writing is deployed in all four of our elementary schools and we have instituted a student voice program at our cola and the high school. We have increased our technology posture, established additional unified sports options, conducted seal social emotional uh learning uh teen training for staff and instituted PBIS districtwide. There are a number of programs and services that provide opportunities, support students, improve our core academic mission as well as help keep us safe. While this work is a product of our students, parents, staff, and administration, it is supported through the efforts of our board of school directors and their commitment to our school community. So to our board of school directors, thank you for all of your support. Slide six. One of the barometers uh to ensuring
070an exceptional Methactton school district experience can be found through monitoring our rankings. Mthactton High School as an example is in the top 10% of high schools in the state and top 10 nationally or top 11 nationally. Our nation and school digger rankings have been up and down over time. Despite these fluctuations, Manthactton School District has consistently demonstrated resilience with ranking performance in 2023, surpassing most of our 2020 baseline. We've seen success in moving our food service program from a C minus rating to a B minus rating in just the past two years. But we also know that we're we have been stagnant with a C grade for our facilities districtwide. More important, it is that we have made some inroads recently in mathematics scores and on state assessments and our work in literacy will be
071sure to provide gains in our academic standings in the next year or two. Our rankings while not a clear determiner of an exceptional experience is one way in which we have demonstrated a sustained position as a top performing district in the region. On this slide, we see some of our students academic excellence displayed through an impressive list of college acceptances. We're proud to share where the class of 2025 is headed next. This list speaks volumes about their preparedness and potential. Our seniors were accepted into more than 250 colleges from Alaska to Florida, Maine to Arizona, and everywhere in between. We would like to applaud the counseling office for their work to support our students with their post-secary plans. The high school counseling office began hosting a variety of events and services to help students navigate
072the college acceptance and application process, including an annual FAFSA completion night hosted each fall, where families can receive assistance completing financial aid forms accurately and on time. The office has also hosted visits from college representatives at Mthactton so admissions officers can meet with our students in person, allowing face-to-face connections that strengthen their applications. Students also use the Naviance tool to complete required forms, request and track transcripts, submit teacher recommendations and applications. The Naviance integration with the common app ensures clean matching and submissions for all materials. Next slide. As always, we are excited to share that some of our students have been accepted to Ivy League universities. This year, we have two students who were accepted to Cornell University and will be attending in the fall. Two students who were accepted to Princeton with one of
073the students attending in the fall, and four students who were accepted to the University of Pennsylvania, three of whom will be attending this fall. We wish all of our graduates the very best of luck as they embark on futures in which they will serve as Methactton ambassadors to the world. Congratulations to the class of 2025. Next slide. We now move into goals increasing our district favorability by 25% in the 5-year period. Our latest surveys are showing an average of double-digit gains in our focus areas of family engagement and school leadership while recognizing singledigit declines in student safety specific around areas of cyber bullying. With that being said, we're going to take a deep dive into our data for 2024 results and we're going to start with our internal stakeholders. We'll begin with the student feedback.
074Some of our highlights of student feedback with a 93% favorability factor is a strong sense of belonging. Instructional engagement at 86% and a great learning environment at 86%. Our highest score from our student feedback is at 99% in their value of academic success with an 85% related academic success, excuse me, 85 rated academic success as extremely important or quite important. Our lowest factor in our student feedback is student safety at 70% with 30% of the students believing that online bullying is at least somewhat likely to happen in our schools. Our staff feedback, some of our highlights is school district leadership faith is at 85%, professional development structure at 93% and workplace morale and optimism at 88%. Our largest percentage uh favorability is the capacity to address diversity in the classroom with nearly all staff reporting
075that they feel they can handle sensitive issues with confidence. And our lowest is the technology infrastructure with 54% of our staff believing technology updates are needed. Next slide, please. Next, we're going to review the feedback from our external stakeholders. And this is with our families and community members. Again, we're going to look at top level highlights from the 2024 survey results. We're going to begin with our families, leadership, communication, and trust 93% favorability factor, clarity, and evaluations, equity, and fairness of 90%. And school safety perception at 74%. Our largest is climate at 94%, 94, positivity across indicators around student enjoyment, lessen motivation, and valuing diversity. Our lowest factor is family engagement, 53% with inperson, excuse me, in-person teacher meetings at 11% and volunteering at school at 306%. For community feedback, classroom instruction 97%, hiring, developing,
076retaining best staff at 92%, and physical facilities at 93%. Our greatest factor for our community is student activities and extracurriculars at 99% uh with 54 rating this at extremely well or quite well and 90% for school leadership with 71% of our respondents indicating a focus on instruction as extremely important. Next slide. The district. [Music] The district has a system in place to manage the tasks that are associated with the strategic plan in each area and this affords an efficient means to track our progress. This slide highlights that to date we have 456 tasks that are tied to the strategic plan that have been completed. Next slide please. This slide is structured into three key sections. Curriculum and resources professional learning and growth and programming detailing major academic and instructional accomplishments. Under curriculum and resources, it
077is notable that we have completed curriculum reviews and resource adoptions relative to science and the steel standards, world language from 7 to 12, counseling via character strong K through 12, and grades 7 through 8 English language arts. Preparations are underway for a personal finance course requirement at the high school in 2026 2027. in alignment with PTE requirements. We've made enhancements to assessments including adding the developmental spelling inventory for our MTSS pro uh process and core instructional tracking. We are currently developing electives in data science and cyber security which will run next year at Mthactton High School. And we have implemented several literacy interventions including UFly phonics resources and sips system systematic instruction of phenemic awareness phonics and sitewords under professional learning and growth. It is notable that we have provided strong training in structured literacy
078as well as a a profound dyslexia simulation for our staff. This year we've completed an audit not only at our K to4 buildings or at our K to 6 buildings but also at our 78 building for literacy. We've initiated a literacy plan to run from 2024 to 2028. We've standardized lesson plan expectations across K through 12 and strengthened our instructional coaching model with a focus on newly hired teachers. Under programming, we've increased our focus on advanced placement and dual enrollment at the high school. introduced a new dual enrollment course intro to education. Expanded PBIS positive behavioral interventions and supports to grades K through 8. Launched the seal of biiteracy application process at the high school for our graduating students. Adopted the comprehensive plan for 2025 through 2028. Continued and expanded our partnership with Ursinus College
079for student teacher placements and shared expertise. We've conducted career fairs at all of our schools. We've begun a district-wide science fair revitalization at our elementary levels and we've secured funding for our Fab Lab development as well as enhancements to our science labs at the high school. Our pupil services team has made significant strides in ensuring equitable access, student safety, and emotional well-being across the district. Our staff underwent targeted training from SAP updates, deescalation techniques, and restorative practices to conflict resolution and comprehensive evaluation procedures for our psychologists. We've expanded mental health access within our reach program and provided services to 343 students who have for mental health services across the district. Recommendations from our comprehensive counseling audit were implemented districtwide and our updated college and career planning guide now reflects a more inclusive and future forward
080pathway. We completed our gifted audit and while while we await formal results, we've already begun incorporating improvements informed by preliminary findings. Safety remains a top priority. We installed nine new AEDs, hosted the Simons Fund Heart screening, and earned a 98% in our homeless audit, demonstrating our diligence and compliance and care. We've strengthened community partnerships, too. Our drug and alcohol counselor at Mthan High School is provided by the Lincoln Center. It's one example of how we're creatively programming to meet student needs. And finally, we continue investing in staff through training on CPI deescalation, special education coaching, conflict resolution to enhance support for all students, particularly those with unique needs. Next slide, please. Turning now to the student experience. This past strategic plan cycle was marked by intentional efforts to foster inclusivity, celebrate diversity, and create a
081sense of belonging. We proudly delivered monthly messaging focused on anti-bullying efforts, mental health, diversity, and belonging awareness to ensure consistent meaningful engagement throughout the district. All year we hosted signature experiences such as the international fair, unity day, and the lapi symposium at our science or sinus that we offered to students and staff for authentic opportunities to learn and celebrate from each other. We strengthened bullying prevention efforts through teacher training on deescalation schoolwide anti-bullying assemblies at our cola and sky view and deployed safe to say posters in bu every building districtwide. We also worked to remove barriers with the implementation of communication boards in our K to6 buildings ensuring students of all abilities can engage more more fully. We continued with partnerships like Heroes in the Making with Lower Providence Police and the Dreaming Forward Consortium
082through MCIU, fostering civic awareness and empathy in meaningful ways. And this year's initiatives not only enhanced day-to-day student experience, but refor reinforced our shared commitment to a welcoming, respectful, and responsive learning environment for every learner. Next slide. Good evening. I'd like to provide a brief update on our safety, facilities, and infrastructure achievements as part of our strategic planning efforts. Over the past year, our energies have been focused on long-term planning, safety, sustainability, and enhancing the student experience. We finalized a 13-year master facilities plan that will guide our capital priorities and ensure we maintain a safe, modern, and efficient learning environments across all schools. This plan is currently under review, and updates will be forthcoming. In terms of visible upgrades, new playgrounds were installed at Eagleville and Woodland. A significant roofing project was completed at Arc
083Colola, and we've repaired the Arc Colola tennis courts. These projects reflect our commitment to both safety and student wellness. We replaced all the paper towel dispensers districtwide, which is notable because the project will save the district $52,000 annually. We also secured Pico rebates through energy efficient dishwasher and classroom heat pump installations across multiple buildings. We made notable enhancements in technology and learning environments, installing 40 new classroom projectors across five schools and creating an esports room at the high school. Security remains a top priority. We funded and implemented a new security detection system and added physical security features districtwide. We've also completed risk and vulnerability assessments and secured $184,000 PCCD grant to implement security screenings at large events. We've established the chief of police position to enhance district security posture and build lasting relationships with students
084and staff. Lastly, we embrace sustainability with the installation of electric vehicle charging stations at our maintenance facility, the cost of which was 50% funded by a grant, and continued innovation with district-wide upgrades like new antivirus software and new digital signage software. Thank you for your continued support over the last school year as we work to provide safe, future ready facilities for the mthan community. Over the course of the last school year, we have hired and onboarded nearly 100 employees across all staff categories, including teacher, support staff, and administrative positions. This included the recruitment and successful onboarding of three key leadership roles. Principal of Arcola Intermediate School, director of business services, and coordinator of communications. Additionally, we've developed and implemented an internal certification pathway designed to support non-certified employees in pursuing professional lensure. This initiative is
085a strategic move to build a sustainable internal pipeline, reduce turnover, and grow talent from within the district. We've also made meaningful progress in labor relations. The Teamsters bargaining unit ratified their agreement through early bird negotiations and the MESPA contract has been approved, both contributing to long-term stability and collaborative momentum heading into the next fiscal year. Operationally, we've implemented a new budget forecasting model through PFM, allowing us to generate a comprehensive 10-year financial forecast. This long range planning tool will support improved financial transparency and decisionmaking. We're also anticipating approximately $80,000 in software cost reductions in the 2526 budget thanks to system evaluations and contract management. The district was recently awarded a $155,000 psychological services grant which will will help us expand mental health support for students. In addition, we've entered into a coaching partnership with Kutztown
086University to strengthen instructional practice across all grade levels. Finally, we have completed key compliance requirements including the submission of the civil rights data collection CRDC report and the processing of a multitude of right to know requests. Next slide. So, the communications team this year was all new. We had a threeperson team. We were all very new to our roles. Um, there was a lot of learning. There was a lot of growth and reviewing what we've done and how we can improve on our work. We maintained our regular duties and tasks such as releasing newsletters like community conversations, maintaining our social media pages, and running our community education programs. We expanded that community education program to include some additional offerings for both adults and students throughout the year. In addition to that, we did some larger
087projects as well. The largest being the website migration from Blackboard to final site. We created a district site and seven new school sites. We reviewed, edited, designed, and published over 1,600 pages with the goal of making it welcoming, easier to navigate, and easier for families to find the information that we need. Additionally, we created a comprehensive communications plan that is inclusive of a framework for a social media strategy. This plan outlines our path and goals for the 2526 school year with some exciting new projects coming up. Also new this year, we created and launched a marketing and hiring campaign for instructional assistance. We created videos highlighting our instructional assistance and made those into boosted posts on our Facebook page, which allowed us to reach an audience outside of our normal Facebook audience. This resulted in
088more than 580 clicks to our careers website page. And I should note that this is a newly designed careers page in partnership with our HR team. We made this page more welcoming. We made sure to include information about our benefits, quotes from our staff. We really wanted to make it an inviting place that encouraged people to apply and showcase what makes methactin great. Additionally, our team oversees volunteers. So, I'd like to provide an update on that. Next slide. This year we had over 2100 active volunteers in our system. Together there were 4,400 building signins. So every time a volunteer entered our building to do work that was included as a signin. This year we have both position and guest volunteers. Guest volunteers are more casual volunteers. They do not require clearances. They participate in things
089like fun days, field days, classroom parties. Our position volunteers are a little bit more involved. They do require clearances. They help with recess and cafeteria work and helpers there. Chaperoning dances, chaperoning field trips, and of course, postp prom. I'd like to shout out postp prom as it is our biggest volunteer event. There were more than 300 volunteers who were a part of postp prom this year. Um, and I think that's a really great example of what our volunteers are capable of and the impact they can make in our community. I know we are all very grateful for them and the schools are very grateful for the work of our volunteers as well. So I look forward to welcoming back even more volunteers next year. For athletics and activities, uh this year we did roll out
090online ticketing and we do that for all of our high school activities and events. Uh this is the onset of our new esports program. Uh it started this fall and amazing to think that in the spring we went to state playoffs. We took second place with our Overwatch team, which is fantastic. We had a student that uh ranked third and uh for Super Smash, and two others that ranked in the top 15. So, just a great shout out to to that group and the work that they did to not only get that going, but also create a successful program already. Uh we have a new athletic training vendor with Rothman. We have athletic training services that we reviewed. That's the evaluation of the contract and the employees within some updates with our athletic and activities
091newsletter. We established some eligibility among sports clubs and activities. Now I don't even think we didn't have eligibility with our sports before. Um but there was some inequity on how we did that with our activities and now all of them are consistent across the board and they have the same level of eligibility requirements in activities and athletics. uh like we do in every other year, we review our points and these are some of the things that we're discussing uh with our collective bargaining group with MEA. We've updated our parent booster, student activity, and athletics handbooks. Developed new hiring packets for coaches. Uh began updating our job descriptions with the HR department. Unified live streaming under the huddle service that we do now. Uh updated the methactarriors.org website. reestablished the process for all PIAA and NFHS
092coach courses for coaches and now all of our coaches have the updated trainings that are required and we have developed uh the K media days which instead of just doing head shot and team photos uh they have prepared action shots for students uh video aspects almost like a promo reel uh for sports and backdrop photos uh with friends and teammates. Uh next slide please. In terms of things on the horizon for the district, uh we will continue determining our path forward on district facilities, including the future of the high school. We will further develop our efforts under belonging while keeping our focus on developing greater student outcomes in our math and ELA along with a defined support system in our MTSS and PBIS programs. On the horizon, we will likely see the finalization of the
093sale of the Ottabbon Elementary School in the next 12 months. Uh w while uh in instituting efforts to increase uh school spirit, pilot the community uh cares program, increase our volunteer posture and experience and while incorporating a valuedriven artificial intelligence into the operation and instructional framework of the district. There is a great deal of opportunity in our future from academic opportunities and improvements and access to and access to school safety enhancements, facilities and enhanced operations. Mthna school district is poised to continue its mission based on our core values. I want to thank my administration for their time this evening and in preparing this uh summary presentation. And that ends the presentation for this evening. Are there any questions from members of the board? I know it's quite a bit of information uh and many of
094these things you've seen before you throughout the school year, but I think it's good to kind of step back and reflect on the awesome work that uh your leadership as well as the work from my administration, our our teaching staff, our support staff, and our our parents have done to to make this a reality. Um if there are future questions, we'll certainly take them u you know next week or in in in uh in future discussions. But with that said, I'll turn it back over to Madame President. All right. Any comments or questions? I would say thank you very much. I think the list is huge and a lot of work has been done with the administration, your the staff that you work with, your students, and absolutely the committee supporting them along the way.
095So, thank you for all of this hard work that you've done. Um Do you want me to go on with the rest of you? Yeah, why don't we go on to reports? So, in we'll do reports next week. Um and then we will go into uh the public comment on board action items next week. Um we got fiscal items, Miss uh Stephy. There are five fiscal items on the agenda for review this evening. 9 A, list of bills. 9B, treasures report. 9 C, budgetary transfers. 9D Environmental Control Systems Agreement. Approve the Ahira designated person contract addendum with Environmental Control Systems Incorporated to extend the current contract originally dated September 26, 2023 2 through June 30th, 2028 at the rate specified in the professional fee schedule listed as exhibit A 9E. Transportation services agreement. Approve the
096attached transportation services agreement with hot skip drive incorporated. Thank you, Miss Stephie. Any questions from members to my right? Miss Clearary, Miss Stephie, can you uh 9E, what is um Hop Skip Drive? What is that about? So um Hop skip drive is a third party transportation contract provider and we will be utilizing them to transport our homeless students. Thank you. Any other questions on fiscal items to my right? Seeing seeing none to my left, Miss Alustin. Um just question on the hop skip drive contract. Um on page 10 under miscellaneous K. Um it says that the drivers will be subject to criminal background checks. I want to are are they also is it the standard our standard of background check with the FBI clearance the child abuse criminal all of it? So Jean's shaking his
097head. Yes. Yes, that's correct. And they provide all of those documents to us. Okay. Is can we just specify that in the contract because it it does it only says criminal as applicable or something. I just want to make sure. That's a fair that's a fair request. Let us take a look at that. Miss Stephie, you you'll work with them to have that. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Yep. Any other questions on fiscal items? Seeing none, we'll move on to personnel items. Dr. Dr. Senior. Thank you, Dr. Zerby. For the consideration of the board this month, the personnel items are as follows. One, resignation administrator, Dr. Danielle Fston, supervisor of special education after 17 years of dedicated service to the students of Mthactton as both a teacher and administrator. We thank Dr. Fston for the
098good work that she has done and we wish her well. There are three resignations professional. Casey Robinson, special education instructor at Warscester, Nathaniel Ryan, mathematics instructor at the high school, and Jessica Randazzo, school psychologist at the high school. We thank Casey Nat and Jess for their dedicated service to the students of Mthactton, and we wish them well. One resignation classified data specialist at the Fina Education Center, Linda Beer, resignation for retirement. We thank Linda for her four and a half years of dedicated service and leadership to Mthactton and we wish her well in her muchdeserved retirement. There are six employments professional Sierra Wisneski, special education instructor at Woodland. Kylie Crant, social studies instructor at Arcola. Rebecca Lennox, Spanish instructor at Arcola. Shane O'Shea, Spanish instructor at Arcola. Brennan Don, health and physical education instructor at
099both Eagleville and Warsester. and Jesse Jesse Richfield, health and physical education instructor at both Arrowhead and Woodland. We welcome Sierra, Kylie, Rebecca, Shane, Brennan, and Jesse to the Mthactton family. There are six employments classified. Anthony Cruz Morales, student summer worker at FINA, Jonas Murphy, student summer worker at facilities, and Dominic Dinardo, student summer worker at facilities. We thank Jonas and Dominic for taking on these positions. Alyssa Zadrogga, par profofessional at Woodland, and Sher Bruno, par profofessional at Warsester. We welcome Alyssa and Sherry to the Mthactton family, and Mark Steed, chief of police for Mthactton School District. Mark brings over 20 years of distinguished law enforcement experience, most recently serving as the administrative sergeant with the Lower Providence Township Police Department. In this capacity, he has overseen community policing and traffic safety units, supervised specialized staff,
100including a social services liaison, led policy development, budgeting, and coordinated more than 20 community outreach events each year. He has worked closely with Mthactton School District on safety instruction, emergency preparedness, trauma-informed practices, and PBIS aligned student support strategies. Previously, Mark served as patrol sergeant and also as school resource officer here in the Mthactton School District, where he led emergency response efforts, train new officers, and built trusted relationships with students, families, and school leaders. His efforts included proactive safety programming, early intervention with atrisisk youth, and collaborative partnerships with community and law enforcement agencies. Mark currently serves as an instructor at the Montgomery County Police Academy where he specializes in juvenile justice, restorative practices, and youth engagement. Earlier in his career, Mark worked in the det in the detective bureau at the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office,
101where he supported major investigations. Academically, Mark holds a bachelor's in criminal justice from Temple University and is on track to complete his master's degree in criminal justice by January of 26. and he has also completed high level leadership training including the FBA LED trilogy, Penn State Executive Development, and most recently the Northwestern University's police staff and command program where he was awarded the Franklin M. Kreml leadership award. Mark is also Alice certified, FEMA trained in emergency response, and he holds certifications in grant writing, instructional development, and school resource officer leadership. Markstead brings a powerful combination of professional law enforcement leadership, school safety expertise, and instructional capa uh capability that makes him exceptionally well suited to support our students, staff, and community. There is one change of status administrative, Dr. Melissa Gorla from supervisor of secondary
102education at FINA to the director of curriculum instruction and assessment also at Fina. Dr. Gorla is a respected educational leader within the Mthactton School District. bringing over two decades of service and experience in both instructional leadership and building level administration. Most recently, Dr. Gorla has served in our district as a secondary curriculum supervisor where she has led professional learning, instructional coaching expansion, and curriculum review efforts across grades 7 through 12. Her work has elevated our academic programs, especially in the areas of science, mathematics, world language, and English language arts. Her leadership has been marked by strong collaboration with principles, teachers, and post-secondary institutions to grow instructional opportunities for students and cultivate future educators. This includes, as was actually mentioned earlier this evening, with her Sinus College with whom Dr. Gora has partnered in a program
103to support secondary grade 7 through 12 student teachers. Dr. Gorla is a visionary and systems thinker who is committed to continuous improvement, staff mentorship, and student centered learning. Prior to serving as secondary curriculum supervisor, Dr. Gora served as the principal of Ottabon Elementary School and as the first ever principal of Sky View Upper Elementary School, where she brought together teachers, staff, and students from our elementary schools to create the newest school in our school district. During her time at Sky View, Dr. Gora introduced the Character Counts program, leading the school community to earning the designation as a national school of character in 2015. Dr. Dr. Gorla earned her doctorate in educational leadership in May 2024 from Gwended Mercy University and earned a superintendent letter of eligibility from California University of Pennsylvania, a supervisor of curriculum
104and instruction certification from Immaculata and a master of arts degree in educational leadership from Villanova University at which time she also earned a principal certification. Dr. Gora earned a bachelor of arts degree in both English and German from Muenberg College. Her professional experiences as a teacher and administrator span all levels of our K12 educational program. Dr. Gora brings not only technical expertise but a steadfast belief in the power of relationships, respect, and reflective practice. We are confident she will continue to lead with purpose and vision in this new district-wide capacity. Moving on, there is one change of status professional Lindseay Rivas from PAR professional at Sky View to special education instructor at Woodland. We thank Lindsay for taking on this new role. There are supplemental contracts for spring coaches, extended season pay, room movements, extended
105school year, the curriculum, instruction and assessment and pupil services departments and fall coaches, and the addition of one individual grant Uker to the classified substitute list. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Seni. Could you repeat that? No. uh questions Dr. or Mr. Wyers. No, just a couple of comments. One, uh I want to thank uh Danny Fost um for her support in the backpack program over the last few years uh strictly on a volunteer perspective and um going above and beyond in her role and she will be missed. Uh I also want to do a a shout out to Mr. Ryan uh was one of my son's uh favorite instructors and I heard that from several others along the way that uh he is a loss for the district and we wish him well. Um Mr.
106I highly recommend to popularly uh create some type of um chief of police demonstration for the community. Mr. Uh, Officer Steed is very well known in the community and very well-loved and I believe um, this is a huge win for Mthton. Um, so I I certainly think we should be uh, trumpeting this as a huge addition to the district. Um, and also um, congratulations to Dr. Gora. Uh, I was part of the one round I had to miss the second round of some of the interviews. There were some strong candidates but uh, certainly uh, Dr. So Jeanie uh highlighted some of the keys uh of being a lifelong learner uh an example of lifelong learning and her experiences from K to2 uh definitely differentiated her uh as the strongest candidate. Thank you. Thank you Mr.
107W. Any other comments or questions for Dr. Seni to my right? See none to my left Miss Purdue. I had a few questions. Um, give me a second. Okay. In reference to um the positions that we have in reference to the summer, I believe is the student summer workers. How many positions do we typically have? I just feel like we have quite a few here this time. So I think it's three, but I thought last year we had less. We do budget for several individuals at both the technology and facilities for summer work and we do advertise those through uh Sha Mafé who is our career counselor to our Mthactton students. And is that included in um the 2024 2025 budget or is that captured in this budget? It it's captured in both budgets actually
108just because of the way it's spread out. That's correct. Okay, that's fine. And then I had one in reference to give me a second. I believe is we have the supplemental contract for um the extended school year. Is that correct? Am I did I jump over? Yeah. 10N. Right. Um, it's stated 25 2026. That's correct because extended school year begins in July effectively with the beginning of the 25 26 school year. So it begins in July, but it also ends at the end of when when do that standard school year end? At the end of July, but it's during the 2526 school year. So it it only 2526 budget which is the same as as a school year. Okay. So that that's included in our 2526 budget. That's why. Okay. And then can you um
109and we asked this also in reference to 100 number one grand uker for is that um is that student worker position also or is that that's not student work. That's a casual on call. Uh that individual would serve as someone who fills in for our custodial individuals uh when they're not able to be here. Our casuals are critical to filling positions when our our folks are out on leaves uh utilizing their compensated leave and also over the summer as they're taking vacations. Okay. So, this is only for um we have it for starting June 2025 and there's no end time for that then. That's correct. We don't put end dates on casuals. They remain on our casual on call lists. Okay. And then um and then I had a question and I'm going back in
110reference to um give me one second while I find in reference to special ed with um with Danny. How are we with that um with people's services then I guess with our special ed department with um that resignation? Dr. Sardini. Yeah, that position was posted. The posting closed on Friday of last week. The initial applications have been reviewed. We are in the process of inviting individuals to attend a first round of interviews. We do anticipate that Dr. Fston will sever employment with Mthactton in late July and we will be utilizing services to cover as we await likely whoever the finalist candidate is because we do anticipate that that person may have a hold. So I am in communication with uh one of the local IUs to supply services as we have done in the past.
111Okay. So we think we'll be in a good position to have someone in hopefully right in the POS. Okay. just because I know um she played a critical role um with our special ed um team. I just wanted to check. Okay. And I think that was it for me. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Purdue. Any other questions on personal items? Seeing none other. Thank you, Dr. Sereni. We'll move on to uh policy curriculum and programs. Uh Dr. Regina. Yep. Thank you, Dr. Zerby. Uh just one item here for survey. Uh as you know policy 235.1 uh which is surveys uh indicates any outside agencies that are doing surveys with the board have to be approved or excuse me uh surveys in the school district have to be approved by the board. And so this is
112the pay survey and which we do every other year and this will be for the October uh 2025 is when we will conduct this survey. And so that's the item. Thank you. Any questions on items under programs curriculum? Seeing none go on to policy. Dr. Redina. Thank you, Dr. Zerby. Uh, we have the 800 series that were under periodic review. And so that those are the items that you see there. 006.1 is also under periodic review and 226 searches and 904 public attendance at school events are both on here uh because of some of the updated language with the evolve system. So thank you. Okay, questions, comments on matters under policy? Seeing none, we'll move on to other uh for gifts and donations. Approve a generous gift from Wooden uh to Woodland Elementary School on
113behalf of Angela Pushman uh from State Farm and State Farm Company's Foundation in the amount of $115. Uh the second one is approve a generous gift for Arrowhead Home and from Arrowhead Home and School fundraising efforts towards fourth grade uh class gift to purchase a picnic table in the amount of $1,72710. Uh there are uh individuals listed under transportation for the transportation roster and that ends all of the matters uh for the administration. I'll turn it over to Madam President. All right. We have dates for board members calendars. As you could see it is we don't have any committee meetings. So, please be mindful that we have a regular board meeting on June 24th and then a regular board meeting July 27th 22nd and then we go back to a work session in August 19th
114and a regular board meeting August 26th. Anyone have old or new business? I would just say no, it's passed. But I would say I hope everyone has a lovely summer and that the staff are recuperate, spend some special time with their family and friends and the students of course enjoy themselves and their time off. Um, we'll now move to courtesy of the floor. The board of school directors will now provide an opportunity for residents to make comment on matters that are or may be before the board. The board asks that you keep your comments to three minutes or less. The board of directors may choose to respond to matters following the conclusion of the comments and you can submit questions via email to information.org Warsester. Um, you know, case in point, you had a budget
115problem. You're looking for money, looking for cuts, right? So, you do a new position, chief of police. Where does this come from? Where where does it come from? All these years you've had a security service, never had a problem. Now you want a chief of police. You want to add 110 grand. Well, that's salary. Benefits probably take it to 150, right? Here's another example. Not that I'm disparaging Miss Gorla, but 175 grand salary plus Benny's. This is what I'm talking about. your administrative heavy heavy um burden on the taxpayer. Um all's well mact and talk. I love hearing the all's well at methactin talk. This is methactin utopia. Is there ever anything wrong here? It's like look at you know so let me let me clue you in a little bit. I'll give you a
116dose of reality, right? So you come up with your ranking analysis and you pick 2020 as your start date and then move forward. Well, that gives you the best results. See, what I look for is what happened when there was a regime change when care took over in 2014 and 2015. What was the ranking before they took over? Right? So the ranking before right before care took over was US News and World Report 11, Skull Digger 10, right? That's my comparison. So you went from 10 and 11 to whatever that is, right? The thing you didn't look at for School Digger is they have a section in there about cost per pupil per year. Where do you rank cost per pupil per year? Go check that. I want I want you to give us a
117presentation on how we rank cost per pupil per year, right? Because I just did the calculation. It's $30,000 per pupil per year with your new budget, right? That's Germantown Academy. That's even more than Germantown Academy, right? That's a real problem. That's on all you guys up here. And Brian was right. They just listen to you, Dave. They don't even check what you're doing. It's crazy. Um and then we had the test score, you know, all is well macted by Chay, right? He left out preandemic test scores. So all your other scores looked great. Problem was your your preandemic scores were higher than your current scores. And that's a problem you need to address. So all this like propaganda, I'll call it deserving narrative. It's not good. It's not honest. Thank you. Does anyone have any
118comments or questions? I would just respond to the this the last speaker that please email Dr. Zerby and myself with your questions and this way Dr. Zerby can refer to the appropriate area and answer as as he feels deemed necessary. As it deems necessary, I apologize. I'm not saying all the correct wording that you may want me to say, but please email Dr. Zerby and myself any questions that you might have. And you always can email all the board does get information at mythactton.org. It does go to the whole board. So you can copy the whole board as you choose. So, any other comments or questions? All right, seeing none, can I have a motion to adjurnn? Mrs. Alson, a second. Mrs. Purdue, have a lovely evening.