001e e e yes can't get this to go off I just take this one all right so for today um we have all board members here with the exception of Miss canro who will be here shortly and with that I will we have no executive sessions to announce for this meeting and we will turn it over to Dr Zerby for recognition of um scheduled speakers but I will like to remind the public that this me meeting is hereby um this meeting is being recorded for audio and video um for the purposes of rebroadcasting thank you thank you Miss Purdue this evening we have a number of presentations the first uh it gives me great pleasure to introduce Dr hos who is the uh director of North monco technical career center and here this evening she's
002brought some of mton students and some information to share with you as as school board as well as a school community Dr hos good evening is this work good evening hi everyone I'm bethanne hos I'm the administrative director at North monco I um I feel I'm a little too close to this or not close enough uh in front of you I did bring a little bit of information you have our course catalog that outlines our programs at North monco and I provided you with some data for the methacton students that attend North monco little bit from last year and a little bit from this year mostly last year is a complete set of data we're still in the this year so uh there's some data points that are still missing from this year but you
003could see your students do quite well and we're really excited for the opportunity to provide technical Career Training for the students of the methacton school district I brought two lovely young ladies today that you would probably more rather hear from than me so I'm going to allow them to tell you who they are I'm only going to give you their first name and they're going to tell you a little bit about themselves um you know what grade they're in what program they're in and what are their career goals please don't hesitate to ask these two young ladies some questions it's good for them all right so we're gon to start with meline hi um my name is meline I'm in ninth grade and in North monco I'm in the health science program um my career
004goals is to be a petition for uh premature babies and what's it called I really want uh to learn a lot more North MCO so I can like help others in my community and my family that's pretty much it all right and again pepper them with questions please this is Misty no how start to be this thing oh sorry um good evening I'm Misty Emerson I attend um North mono's Protective Services Program um I'm a senior here uh and my career goal is to be a firefighter medic um with the help of North MAA last year I got my fire one and my EMT in my junior year and I am also a three-time student in our P up program and what pup is it's our full-time program allowing students to work instead of come
005to school I know that sounds bad but like we get the option to work um and I have an unpaid internship with upper Maran fire and EMS and I've worked there for the past three years my sophomore year I was allowed to work there on Fridays instead of go to North MCO my regular classes and then my junior year I worked Monday Tuesday and then now my senior year I work Wednesday through Friday so it's a great opportunity any question excellent thank than you both for for introducing and I wonder are there any questions from members of the board for our two students yes this question is for both of you but what inspired you to pick your Fields a do you want me to start okay so I'll start my first year at North
006monco it was in the Health Sciences program um I wanted to be a pediatric nurse practitioner and then uh we did a chapter on EMS and then I sh our Protective Services Program and then I realized that I would prefer to be out in the field and I just made the switch so that's how I got started I also come from a family of First Responders um the only reason why I started uh to go to North monco fellow science uh it's because uh kind of multiple reasons um my my youngest brother he was born at s months so he was really small and my dad had recently gotten a chronic disease and um there's a medication that has to do with a lot of medical stuff so I really want uh what's got to
007help him and not having to be in the hospital in and out so he can be at home and I can help him any other questions Miss Austin yeah thank you so much for coming um I am on the joint operating committee and I really enjoy it and I I'm so glad to see that you are enjoying your time and getting so much out of your time at monco um and for Misty what what are your plans after graduation um so I got accepted to Liberty University I'll be studying fire Administration and EMS and minoring and psychology and then I plan to go hopefully get into Fairfax County Fire Rescue and go through their six-month Long Academy and you have a few more years for graduation correct okay that's fine that's fine how about some
008other questions Oh Katie yeah yeah first I just wanted to thank you both very much for being here and for talking to us today I know that we're it's not the most comfortable place to talk and present so I'm that thank you so much um I wanted to ask what for both of you and I know you have different experiences different levels of years um what's your favorite part about your the programs that you've been been in so far so either of you both okay so specifically I guess I'll talk about Protective Services first um I like the Hands-On training we're allowed to get there um they give us scenarios so they really put your mind to the test and I also you build a lot of friendship because we're really team oriented so a
009lot of my best friends are in that class with me so I like that and then py up I just like being able to get experience uh I like to do like in my health science class is that um there's also a lot of Hands-On things I really like the um that you have to use a textbook and a workbook to study everything and um honestly it's just really fun because I get to interact with everybody in my class and not just sit there and just look at everybody so I really like the communication in it I just want to say thank you to the students for attending tonight to share your um experiences at North MCO I think it's a great opportunity that we have the partnership with North MCO just because it gives
010our students a a more hands-on experience and then also expose you to some of the ideas you're thinking about pursuing in the future but also like as you shared it give you an opportunity to maybe something you were considering doing but now exposed to it maybe exp expose you to different aspect of it so I I definitely like the aspect of um North MCO and what it offers our students herea but I do appreciate the opportunity and then for you guys to come and just share with us thank you thank you so much for all that you do and uh we look forward to great things ahead Cong congratulations for all that you do and uh have a great evening thank you for being with us so Dr H I think you have some other
011news to share with the school board is that correct yeah so um our students are able to participate in uh student organizations one is called skillsusa it's actually a National Organization and we we have 100% participation we think it's really important that students are in this organization because uh a couple of things number one is it's a leadership opportunity not only do students get to know other students from other uh young professionals from other schools they actually learn a variety of leadership skills and they look you saw them tonight they get up here and they speak and this is a ninth grader I mean look they're fabulous already and what this organization helps them become even more confident and really grow in their profession and within the community of folks that are going to also
012be growing into these um professions and occupation Pati so skillsusa uh has opportunities for students to also compete they compete against other students in this District so uh we had five medal winners in districts which is Montgomery uh bucks uh Delaware Counties and those that got first place and there are two that you'll hear about this evening from methacton will go to the state competition in Hershey in April and if they win first place at States then they will go to Nationals so it's a real opportunity for students to kind of really show off their skills and win and and you know just get be proud so this evening we have some certificates for the students that uh earned a medal at our district competition just a few months ago hand it to you my
013friend I also asked that M Misty help us with the names and the and the handing out so I'm going to actually start with our two first place District winners first place District winners both that will go onto States and Misty we have Avery Smith [Music] and Avery is in our culinary arts program congratulations here your certificate and then we and our our second first place winner is Elijah per Pur Elijah Purdue he is he's in a team competition for mechatronics you heard at mechatronics he's in a team competition congratulations yours just a myth and she's our grater okay we have two second place winners at districts the first one is jinda myth jinda is in our social media marketing program she's a ninth grader I don't think she's here this evening okay and we
014have Misty Emerson myself wait you have one more to read you can't go anywhere I still need you all right and for our third place Medal winner at our district competitions we have Mason idam Marco is Mason here Mason is in our Auto Tech program [Music] [Applause] thank you thank you so much than you very [Laughter] we're really proud of the of the of all of our students uh at North monco as well as as in our district classes but we're really excited that uh in this in this brochure is opportunities Galore for students in in meth Acton and and obviously in the in the five sending uh school districts that represent that North monco represents so thank you Dr hos now this evening evening we also have with us Dr Walsh and members of
015the curriculum team to present uh the literacy plan so with that uh you should have a copy of the literacy plan at your table and uh I know we're going to be putting that up on the screen so uh probably you want to do that so if there are folks from the audience that would like to uh go on with this wonderful weathered evening um you're welcome to leave now if you'd like um we can we'll just pause for a second if you'd like to do that enjoy your evening everyone you congratulations again so with that I'd like to introduce Dr Walsh our dor of curriculum and instruction to help us lead the delivery of the literacy plan Dr Walsh thank you Dr serby good evening everyone I'm here with my curriculum team uh curriculum
016Department Mrs Strauss Mrs Ricky and Dr gorla as well as we have some Representatives that'll go through some of the slides with us tonight Patty Montgomery from schools cubed as well as Sha aati from keys to literacy and we'll be introducing them in just a little bit again we're here to talk to you about the three-year methacton literacy plan and where we are where we plan to go and how we'll get there so the next slide talks a little bit about that road map on where we are this presentation we'll talk about where we currently are with our literacy work where we plan to go over the next three years and then most importantly is how do we plan to get there um so let's talk a little bit about the history of well where
017we are so the teacher training for structured literacy as a result of changes to act 55 and the chapter 49 regulations the Pennsylvania Department of Education began to require colleges and universities to include training in mandatory structured literacy in their teacher prep programs that became effective of August 1st of 2024 so that was just about five six months ago most training programs focused on balance literacy or whole language prior to this mandate um and I'm just a personal thing I was a whole language student I went to college in the late 80s early 90s pause for the date there but um I was a whole language person so structured literacy and the science of reading was relatively new for some of our teachers who went through those programs even after myself so as a result
018most if not all of our teacher current training on structured literacy came from professional learning sessions within our own School District or outside organizations or training s on their own um so this is a pathway to bring common language common understandings um and uh understandings as we move forward to what is structured literacy surrounded the signs of reading so I'll pass it over now to Mrs Strauss thank you so when we stop to realize that the majority of our staff has been trained in the philosophy of teaching reading other than structured literacy with the district's approved resource being a balanced literacy approach just three years ago um coupled with the state's mandatory shifts in how we plan to provide instruction and literacy it's important that we recognize the significant differences between these two approaches that
019teach a child to read so we have up here structured literacy and our balanced literacy and so we can explain the differences structured literacy believes in a systematic and explicit instruction of all the literacy components phic awareness phonics fluency vocabulary and comprehension while balanced literacy is founded on the premise that simply exposing children to Quality literature helps in the learning process with L less emphasis placed on understanding the foundational literacy components such as phic awareness and phonics structured literacy teaches students to decode unfamiliar words as their first strategy while balance literacy encourages using context clues pictures and guessing strategies before helping a student sound out an unknown word while structured literacy provides a systematic cumulative and explicit instruction focused on developing skills for all students balanced literacy takes more of an opportunist approach to teach
020phonics as they appear organically within a text although this can feel authentic it lacks the direct approach that students need to help them understand the building blocks of the English language making it difficult for them to crack the code and learn to read in order to practice an apply literacy skills structured literacy will begin with decodable texts before moving on to more complex texts a balanced literacy approach focuses more on levels and can rob a student of an opportunity to practice and apply their new reading skills finally a structured literacy approach supports all readers and lays a solid foundation based on the research about how the brain learns to read while the balance literacy approach works for some however leaving a significant number of students behind and cracking the code on their own so as
021the quote from Morton Gillingham States difference is simple balanced literacy is based on a philosophy about how children learn to read while structured literacy is based on the scientific evidence of how children learn to read and our teachers and administrators will need a comprehensive approach to support their efforts in making the instructional shifts necessary to provide our maon students with the structured literacy approach as we present tonight we are going to be using certain terms and for clarity uh we want to Rie view those with you now when we talk about Universal instruction or core instruction we're referring to that English language arts instruction that all students get every day whether it's called reading English Ela Ila that's that every day for every child instruction for intervention we're referring to instruction that's given in addition
022to that core so it's core and more when we talk about intervention that instruction is targeted for students to understand a specific skill or concept it can be small group within the course it could be a pullout session um but students are grouped in a way that they're receiving instruction on the specific area that they need support with when we talk about assessments we're referring specifically to the tests that are used to determine skill levels and what form of enrichment or intervention a student may need we're not necessarily talking about the test they might take in class each day we're really talking about those those pull out Benchmark screeners and Diagnostics when we speak of a benchmark assessment those are assessments that compare students against standardized norms and expectations so it's that individual student compared
023to a typical expectation for a student at their grade level at their age when we talk about the universal screener that identifies a student is whether or not a student is On Target or in need of intervention and that's a quick assessment something that we can do very quickly for each student and lastly when we talk about diagnostic ass assessments that is where we can identify specific skills in which a student is displaying a need or is displaying a strength in methacton our Universal core instruction materials for k to6 for literacy is our wonders program and in seventh and eighth grade we're proposing the adoption of my perspectives which you see on the agenda this evening intervention wise for our tier 2 students that additional instruction with that core resource all of the resources come
024with components that enable a teacher to retach enable a student to explore a concept or a topic in a new way and for the tier three level the student who needs more intensive intervention we have our sips program which is systematic instruction and pheic awareness phonics and site wordss and that is applicable K to 12 and we also have our read 180 Intervention which focuses some on Phonics but more on that comprehension and vocabulary development the assessments that we use for benchmark assessments in grades three through the high school we use our linkit Benchmark which helps us to see how students would do on their end of course assessments either pssa or keystones our Universal screener we use dibles 8 K to six and for a diagnostic assessment K to six we use the developmental
025spelling inventory and K to8 we use the I ready reading diagnostic additionally we'll be speaking about two companies who we've done work with over the last couple of years schools cubed is the first they're based in Colorado where structured literacy or science of reading has been the methodology for almost 20 years we connected with them through the grant that we received through Senator MTH last year they conducted a literacy audit at all of our kada 6 buildings in the fall of 2023 their focus is working with school leadership whether that be principls District leadership or teacher leaders within a building they help schools develop systems and structures to guide literacy instruction assessment practice and datadriven intervention they coach principles on how to provide instructional feedback to teachers regarding structured literacy and they guide a lot
026of this work through their lab schools which we'll talk about a little later additionally we're looking to work with keys to literacy they are a company based in Massachusetts and we connected with them both through schools cubed and through the international dyslexia Association they recently acquired schools cubed and are now one company keys to literacy focuses on work with teachers they provide professional development on all components of structured literacy they provide coaching for implementation of learn components and they provide opportunities for District staff to become certified as coaches or trainers in these various components so that we can continue the work within District there we go so if we think back to the fall of 2023 there were a number of things that we learned from our work with schools cubed throughout their walkthroughs in
027the classrooms K to 6 they discovered some schools were offering enough time for literacy and some schools had sufficient time for small and whole group group instruction schools cubes also noted that the approved resources were tools that could support good literacy instruction they also found that all the schools knew which students were struggling with reading and some schools were engaged in progress monitoring regularly as for interventions some schools provided ample time for small group intervention to occur and there was a variety of intervention materials being used generally teachers were using data to make decision regarding reading needs and interventions School cubes also found that our school leadership had a good understanding of literacy practices and knew which teachers were in need of support generally teachers were collaborative and came together to examine Benchmark [Music] data
028based on the school's cubed recommendations and knowledge of the curriculum leadership team several steps were taken in the 2425 school year already to support strong literacy instruction in an effort to provide consistency to our core instruction a common schedule was developed for our K to4 schools collaborative planning sessions are also happening in the buildings through the leadership of the principles and coaches a systematic and explicit phonic routine was introduced as a supplemental resource this year it is called youly from the University of Florida literacy Institute and is being used K to4 our use of Amplified Dibbles 8 was expanded to use as an Universal screener for all students in K to 6 this year compared to what was done previously K to2 we have adopted the sips intervention tool to address the phonics needs of
029our most fragile readers K to2 and con uh conversations around data focus more on root cause for reading needs and emphasis is being placed on strengthening core instruction for all students K to 12 other recommendations that came out of our work with schools cubed in the 23 24 school year were that Although our wonders resource supports the structured literacy approach most teachers were not using it in such a way and in fact many teachers did not appear to be using it at all a lesson plan template was recommended to assist in creating lessons that align to structured literacy and that work has been done alongside of our teachers and coaches and is ongoing through our collaborative planning meetings moving forward um our balance literacy approach to a structured literacy approach is dependent on professional development
030for our teachers and Leadership teachers and leaders have a clear understanding and vision for what the literacy initiatives look like and how it will affect classroom instruction and the proper use of materials is the most effective instructional strategies to use and we cannot do this without the high quality professional development that's needed so we're recommending that principles as well as District leaders know how to put into place the systems and structures that support teachers and students throughout this initiative School leaders must know what good literacy instruction looks like in order to provide critical feedback to our teachers based on our literacy audit recommendations and Analysis of our own data we're going to go through in the coming slides our act our proposed action steps for our literacy plan the creation of lab schools with schools
031cubed which will involved coaching principles on implementing the structured literacy practices the delivery of keys to literacy professional learning including keys to beginning reading and keys to vocabulary and the training of coaches and facilitators for keys to literacy an essential an essential component of this plan is a designation of two lab schools within our school district Eagleville Elementary and our Cola Intermediate School our lab schools will engage professionals from across the district and learning about systems and practices to support instruction this evening Patty Montgomery one of the founders of schools cubed will share a bit more about the lab school concept I know very I'm not a quiet person do I do I have to hold this or can I put that right works for you okay there you so a lab school um okay
032I'm holding it because I can't get it back in there um a lab school is what we do in a district uh so that the whole entire District can learn about a good structured literacy system without having to pay for a school for every single School to do this so the the district learns so we come in with a consultant once a month generally seven times a year well it is seven times a year uh for two days a a backtack visit and we observe we have a a framework that's called our literacy evaluation tool and it looks at how schools it this is not just about teachers it's also about the systems that are required to change when you move from balanced literacy to a structured literacy as an example in a balanced literacy
033framework and you guys did a great job of the differences uh in a balanced literacy world we look at assessments through standards but in a structured literacy data analysis system we look at assessments through uh how are students learning to read so we would look at the components of phonic awareness phonics fluency and vocabulary so we analyzed the school which is what we did in the it but we continue to use that as a framework so we look at how they're doing in assessments how they're doing in database decision making how teachers are doing in delivering instruction in h a structured literacy world we have very uh systematic instruction explicit instruction in a balanced literacy world we do more of a workshop model so we work with the principal and the instructional coach to help
034the teachers understand the differ between the two so we always continue to look at through the lens of these six domains that we call them we are not we never go in to uh critique a teacher even though we're in there looking uh and seeing how they're doing in their instruction what we're looking for and what we have found after doing this for many years that schools get further if we look at trends of what needs to be done not individual single teachers as an example believe it or not a lesson objective is is critically important because it helps the teacher focus on what exactly she should be teaching that day so we might say for the next 30 days we want you to work on lesson objectives with the teachers or we might want
035you to work on explicit instruction so instead of criticizing one teacher that something isn't going right we're looking at Trends so that teachers can collectively work on um these instructional strategies together so we leave a list that's again based on this framework and say okay here are the very things that we want you to work on and we make sure that the principal and the instructional coach understand and we that's part of the two days we model for them and all of that sort of thing and then we come back in 30 days and see how it's going and so instead of overwhelming teachers and the principal with all of these new things they have to do we take it slowly so that we don't lose any teachers and principes along the way so that's
036what we do for these seven visits each year we like to see them that they lessen maybe the next year we do five depending on how the school is doing and the next year we might do three so that's and then District people are there with us when we are at the labs school so that they can take the practices that they are learning as well and transfer those to the other schools within the district so the whole District gets quicker Chang by everyone learning together does that make sense so that's what a lab school is thanks Patty so really to emphasize our staff that would be involved in the lab schools would include all of our building principles our reading Specialists our intervention Specialists and our instructional coaches so that that way we can
037really be analyzing those systems and structures that can be implemented to all of our K8 schools for assessment data and intervention practices really it does elevate that discourse um um surrounding professional learning and surrounding talking about literacy and the level of feedback that all of our staff will get across the district so one of the things when we look at this is really truly um overall that sense of collaboration and the level of personalization of this process available through the lab school will be key to examining and refining our practices as a district thank you for our work with keys to literacy there are various courses that we are able to select from and what we are looking for is first to work with uh the course keys to beginning reading so this would be
038for our K4 teachers the keys to beginning reading is a professional development course for teaching beginning reading skills to all students in kada 3 and for struggling students in grades four and five it provides practical instructional strategies that can easily be transferred into the classroom and it integrates with any reading program so it's not necessarily related specifically to wonders it's something that's a good practice regardless of what program we're using we would be engaging 40 staff members at k 4 and they would be all of the classroom teachers at Eagleville our lab school as well as a grade level representative from each of the other three K4 schools we would also include all of our principls K to4 and our instructional coaches at that level as well and we expect through this work to see
039our instructional practice more tightly aligned to structured literacy seen through our observations and our walkthroughs in classrooms we also expect to see an increase in our student achievement data and also a reduction for special education referrals additionally as part of our work with keys to literacy we are looking at working with keys to vocabulary this would be for fifth grade through the high school keys to vocabulary routines emphasize the integration of vocabulary instruction using the existing con uh content area teaching materials so it emphasizes direct and indirect methods for building vocabulary and it's truly intended to be used across the school day in content classes so for this area again we'll will receive 20 will'll receive training for 40 staff members on inservice days and really it's again practical instructional strategies to integrate into their
040existing um courses we are looking at focusing on teachers of ela reading English and social studies in grades 5 through the high school and again involving our instructional coaches and our administrators at Sky View Arcola and the high school similar to our keys to beginning reading we would anticipate that our instructional practices be tightly aligned to structured ly as seen through our observations by our administrators increases in our student achievement data and reduction in referrals for special education so outcomes we expect right from the Geto we will be creating the two lab schools one at eille elementary and one at Arcola we will be getting leadership training in the systems of instruction assessment and intervention for our principles reading Specialists intervention Specialists and instructional coaches these being seven two-day visits at each of the two
041lab schools we'll receive training for 80 staff on the selected structured literacy practice courses beginning reading and uh keys to vocabulary we'll receive the materials to support that implementation job embedded coaching for teachers in grades 5 through eight to support the implementation of their new learning four rounds of coaching for two days each throughout the year and we'll also be a able to have four staff members cert certified as a coach and two as a trainer in that keys to vocabulary um course so to wrap all this up we're looking at a financial commitment over the next three years but starting for this year we already have uh worked out through the Grant and through our own internal um practices of a literacy uh review literacy audit if you will at arola and then starting
042in the 2526 school year again as was mentioned we would have the two lab schools at Eagleville and Aras beginning the training for early reading for our K to four teachers and keys to vo cabulary for our fifth grade through High School teachers um we would Implement our coaching and facilitator training at the same time and all that would be inclusive of materials and resources 26 27 would follow the same thing our two lab schools keys to literacy K to four we would uh focus on a topic to be determined based on the needs of the previous year and the 2526 school year same thing with the literacy grade 5 to high school topic to be determined it would continue to have implementation coaching and facilitator training and in year three our lab schools will
043again continue to focus on Eagleville and Arcola our keys to literacy K4 and literacy 5 to8 high school topics to be determined with that ongoing implementation coaching and facilitator training so it is a three plus year if you will including this year um it we're committed to it we're uh ready to roll up our sleeves and get some work done and uh at this time we'll pause for any questions that you might have for the group thank you for your time and commitment to this thank you Dr wsh and the curriculum team before we take questions from the board I just want to make sure that uh you understand that our our presentation this evening is designed to uh make a recommendation uh with on a on on a on what I would term to
044be three one-year agreements uh meaning that uh we would have we would lock in the pricing as it's listed here on this last slide for the three years and we would U uh have the board approve three uh separate uh agreements one in each of the the F the subsequent years uh so with that the commitment of $142,200 is currently factored into the uh proposed uh budget and with that U it would be our intent of giving your permission to make a recommendation for appr approval at next week's uh meeting um Miss Clary um yeah hi thank you Dr Walsh thank you everybody this was for me uh this was super informative and I I really appreciate it so I have a few questions and they're really just to help me understand a little bit
045better some of the things that we're talking about um I wanted to focus for a moment on the lab schools so I understand that the lab school and and this the focus is on uh the principles the reading Specialists the intervention Specialists and the coaches what I had questioned when I looked at the presentation was why is it at Eagleville and AR colola what about the other schools so and we did that based on one uh Eagleville is uh what we consider our Title One school and so uh that school has a uh traditionally has uh maybe underperformed some of the comparative schools in our district so also our Co is also another Title One school so we use that as one of our benchmarks to to work with the staff at that particular school
046to raise student achievement in the area of literacy English and language arts okay so the three-year plan if I think if I remember the slide correctly is focused on Eagleville and arola so then in your mind when the three years is up are you creating lab schools at other schools how does how do you how's work it's a good question it's really going to be based on need you know we're going to be constantly examining this plan throughout um but our focus is on just those two schools for now we I don't really know what we'll look like in three years our goal is to take those practices and turn around and support the other elementary schools ongoing but I assume that all of the principles from all of the schools all of the reading
047Specialists will all be there right okay correct so maybe the idea is then that they're taking that back to their school schools that's exactly right so then right which led me to okay um the slide that talks about keys to beginning reading uh all classroom teachers at Eagleville this is why I went down this path so I take it that the the the staff and the coaches and the intervent intervention Specialists that we're training through the lab school will be taking this information back to the te so let me strike that so keys to be keys to be sorry very early that's okay take your time start over keys to yeah keys to beginning reading so who it says all classroom teachers at Eagleville so are they getting something different than what's going to be
048available to our classroom team teachers at our other schools that's really my question I'm going to I know I'll have Mrs Ricky because she can probably articulate it a lot better from that lens as far as working through keys to literacy okay thank you so it is the same program that they would be getting it's just um a matter of all of the staff at eagal as the lab school would be participating in the initial year and then a representative from each grade level from each of the other schools would be participating in the formal training to be able to take that information back to their school keys to beginning reading is actually a six part A six- Day Series so we are looking to ensure that we're able to deliver this professional learning on
049inservice days so we'd be looking at two days each year for the three years however we've also left that option open if we're feeling like we want to add some more days or we want to make sure the training gets done sooner so that maybe in a subsequent year we could bring in other teachers who weren't necessarily part of the initial training that would be an option to us um but those Representatives will be able to for each of their grade levels kind of Be A literacy leader at their grade level in their building and return that information to those other three schools so you just hit on I think my next question which was in service days so it's two days per year that they will for keys to beginning reading yes it's two
050days per year that we're looking at right now if we again decide that we uh think it's important that more happen earlier on we can talk about that um and then the keys to vocabulary is a two- days training so those folks who will be participating in that would be getting the full training and again um we're covering our ELA teachers our social studies teachers and representatives from the high school who particularly work with our n9th and tth graders so we're we're pretty much getting all of them um at one shot with that training so um I apologize for monopolizing the time I'm almost done um how do the teachers at the other schools um get this information uh to help change change or alter whatever it looks like their practices yes so beginning with
051the inservice that they participate in and that collaboration that we talked about as part of this practice so when the principles are coming to that one lab school and they're learning about those systems and structures and putting those collaborative opportunities in place for teachers that would be part of what we're looking at ensuring that there's time for that teacher leader who participated in the training to be sharing with their colleagues to be able to look through the materials to be able to utilize that in those common planning sessions so we're able to kind of spread that right from the beginning but again if we're discovering that being live and in person in the training themselves is better we have that opportunity to look at that in subsequent years so I think I heard common planning
052sessions is where a lot I I get please correct me if I'm misstating but it sounds like common planning sessions are where a lot of this information will be able to be distilled or that is definitely where a lot of the application of the learning will happen so that's where we want teachers you know boots on the ground looking at their materials looking at their lesson planning looking at those learning objectives and applying what we've learned in addition there'll be professional development for the teachers who aren't in the keys to beginning reading so we'll also be doing some of the learning in those places but it's it's really that when it comes time to put it on paper that we'll we'll be hoping to see that implementation across the board not just with those folks
053that are in the training okay and then my last question is about results or measurement how do you so this is a three-year Financial commitment I I know it will the learning will go go beyond that but how do you folks view success from this uh instituting this so some key things the first is that instructional practice so as principales and District administrators are doing walkthroughs and observations we'll also be participating in training so ensuring that we're seeing what's being learned being applied in the classroom we have the benefit also of the coaching from keys to literacy to help us with that implementation so that we can continue to refine our understandings and our feedback to teachers as well so those practices then we expect to see that higher student achievement when we do our
054um our benchmark assessments throughout the year in addition to our our pssas and our keystones but also we expect to see uh a lot less for referral for special education and even in a reduction in the number of students we identifying as needing intervention okay so it sounds like you have a way to measure it um that like from a data perspective that we'll be able to see thank you so much really appreciate it very helpful thank you thank you for the questions any other question U Mr mki so just to elaborate or maybe expand upon what Kathy was talking about so how how long do we expect that it'll take to fully implement this across the entire School District our goals for three years and we try to tether it to our comprehensive plan
055of 95% um that we expect 95% results through our uh Ela results at the end of the three years so this kind of goes hand inand with our so you expect to be able to train the teachers that through the coaches that train the trainer the rest of the schools in that three-year period that is correct and we've already started that work we've been for about the last year and a half you're welcome any other questions am I right Mr wyers yeah thank you um the question on interventions maybe it's not necessarily in here but the is there discussion with our our Consultants on when and how those interventions and best practices of how to implement those is that part of the the the training that goes along for this for the teachers that is
056correct and from one of the uh findings we had the fall of 2023 was we had a lot of interventions and the recommendation was Focus get one good intervention sips as you saw earlier focus on that as your sole intervention for students so we're implementing that this year with Fidelity we're collecting data we're tracking student progress making changes as needed um so that was actually based out of the recommendations from schools Cube okay how does Wilson fit in I don't see them listed here as a as a a source for intervention as a recommendation is that correct yeah that's that's a specific program um that's kind of outside the realm of this literacy audit okay um wheny really quick uh so the instructional coaches will be part of the 40 the the the waves okay
057and then just generically uh with these two fine Consultants have we spent two hours at the Education meeting um my only concern is do you have a bench um you know a three-year a three-year contract with highly specialized expertise in different areas I don't know enough about you your your breath of experts that can come in here but I would hate to you know and and if they could speak towards the how we can make sure we have the same quality that we've had in the first year the next three years sure yep I could just share um with our initial experience with our um literacy audits at the the five schools we actually had three different experts and and not even Patty at that time um participate with us and we were super impressed
058with not only their understanding but also their Fidelity to using their tool that literacy evaluation tool each of them very different people very different personalities but really stuck to that tool and you can see that in that summary of um one was at Woodland one was at Arrowhead and then we had um Alan Dylan who spoke at an earlier uh committee meeting at our others so um they definitely have the people to be able to support that in addition the staff that they bring on are often either current or retired principes or District administrators so they do have um a lot of folks that are able to consult with them and again their training uh in order for everyone to really stick to that that literacy evaluation tool as well as they did is definitely
059um something that we were impressed with and we'd be looking forward to thank you any other questions Miss graph yeah thank you so much for the presentation this was really helpful to me um I just had a couple questions on the the audit bindings so when I look at this November 2023 audit findings page I see that there's some discussion about time having enough time for literacy I don't see anything in here about achievement were there findings related to achievement so they did look at our data they did look at um our Dibbles data that we're using in the past they looked at our pssa data but that wasn't part of the recommendations because they knew where we are and these were the recommendations to get us to where you need to be so but
060they did look at our data so was a finding that we're not where we should be that is correct we should be achieving at higher levels and the results kind of support that finding okay and then there's another statement in here about the recommendation that talks about core instruction and it says that teachers were not using the core program so my question is is this something that has been noted in observations on an annual basis we have worked very hard at ensuring that our teachers use the program with Fidelity and working with our district leaders and our building leaders on um we have a core resource this is the resource that we should be using and our expectation is through these common plannings this year that we using that to support Ela throughout all levels
061K to six so how are we going to make sure that that's happening like what's the check going forward because it sounds to me like we had a system in place and we have observations that happened to verify that things are being used appropriately and it doesn't seem like that was identified by our own team we had have an outsider come in to do that assessment for us so going forward will that be something that we are assessing our elves or is that something we're going to continue to rely on schools Cube to come in and assess for us absolutely that's something that we are doing at our level as District administrators so does that put a lot of pressure on our principal and our one teacher who's going to the training to sort of
062make sure that they're conveying what needs to be done it's pretty clear we're making it very clear through this through our commitment of this three-year literacy plan it's it's been on our radar and it Contin continues to be one of our highest priorities okay um the other question I I guess and I think that others have said this I'm I'm a little concerned that when we're talking about rolling this out we're only going to have one teacher let's for example at War sester there's only one teacher per grade level that's being trained in the original cohort I don't know that one teacher is enough to be able to facilitate the teachers in that elementary school really getting started with the program fast enough is there an option for us to add a second teacher or
063a third teacher to that original group so we can get a little more continuity if we train a teacher once a year and that teacher decides to leave we've lost that training and there's no one else to back it up sure so I just I'm just asking the question as to whether it's been considered we can we certainly can review all those options but I think it's important to know to the uh the reading specialists at each of the buildings we part of this the building principal of course the instructional coaches so there's going to be a myriad of people coming out of that lab school taking it back and delivering it to their home buildings not just the one teacher per grade level so there're gonna be several teachers with what we've got with
064that's that's the recommendation that's worked in other districts that have used this lab school so it's a best practice that we're we're relying on that we could certainly adjust as needed but this is our starting point I just want to make sure that the other elementary schools are the teachers are also getting the support they need right like I just don't want them to feel like we're being asked to implement something and we don't really feel we're supported fully so I just want to make sure that there's additional support there thank you yes appreciate it okay thanks thank you any questions to my left Miss kro I going on to Kate's thing I think of sorry Arrowhead right because I know that that was definitely an area of Need for Arrowhead so I understand why
065we're Eagleville is our lab school but I know like with the scoring that Arrowhead definitely needs some more support there as well um I do note that principal are going to be a lot more Hands-On I think in the curriculum of literacy so I am interested to hear feedback and how that's going because that's going to need a lot of training it's just a different you know style and protocol that they're dealing with um the lesson the common planning sessions and the lesson plans I would hope that's where you're going to do a lot of that reminders in right so correct will you be bringing those lesson plans to those monthly meetings that you have with school cubes so they could just take a look over at them certainly yeah absolutely that's something that they'll
066want to use to plan for that next month's uh lab school great and the other thing I would just add is that I we did increase time when it came to instruction right so I think that was one thing we should just add into there that was definitely a positive move on our end too so thank you for this presentation and welcome to MTH Acton for the next three years hopefully so um Miss Miss Purdue I do want to say thank you for the presentation I know this is long coming we've discussed this at at committee and I think um I'd like that we are starting I do have a question and I don't if I can ask Miss um Patty Montgomery just because um when we think about the schools Labs I have a
067question and maybe I don't know if it's a concern yet but I'm wondering based on your experience in the size of our district are the two School Labs sufficient um for this work to get started oh thank you we got to start somewhere so yes we hope so I mean we've done it before with one school we've done it with four schools there's a variety of configurations um so I think that we'll learn a lot having one lab school a tremendous amount right two lab schools right I one at the elementary and one at the secondary yes okay so can I just ask maybe um in a year and I don't know I think as part of your three-year plan we'll also do yearly audits is that part of it we do the tool we
068continue to use the same tool that we use for the audit so yes and they get that three times a year three times a year and we do keep track I mean there's we hate to say it's a score but it's how they are doing in each of the domains uh how it's being implemented and so we We Gather what we call a running record to see how that goes over time okay so then can I ask that maybe in once we start in a year can we get an update on where we are I would be curious to see just because when we look at the audit there's a lot of things that's indicated that look like we could be more consistent within our buildings yes and I think I will be interested to
069see in a year where we are I will expect we'll see our audit will look different so I'm hoping we can see that but I'm also curious if if within that the end of the first year of implementing if we'll be able to have enough information to determine if this the two School labs are sufficient for the size of our district right because I think if we find I think based on the results that we are hoping to achieve and um based on the audit and wanting to be consistent I just worry about with the two lab schools and I have to agree with Miss graph um with the inclusion I think we said we'll have the reading Specialists from all the schools also attend the trainings and but then with just having one teacher
070there I don't at each grade level and I know it's it's challenging to get more involved but I think I would like to get a baseline once we start if we think there's a need to consider including more because what we've heard and I think we discussed also at at committee professional development is very critical to achieve to Ure that we can achieve our goals with this and I think it's a big investment is that definitely the right investment for our our students and also for our teachers so I would like to get um I would like to get an update just to see if we're seeing some changes and if there's a need to really evaluate the three-year plan 100% And I can tell you that I would love to come back in a
071year and let you know how I know you will we'll definitely see you again at at committee but definitely for the full board um and I think um so that that was my main focus of the question and I did have one more just give me one second I took some notes here okay I it may come back to me but I'll look through my notes I'll pass it on but I'm wondering if I could speak to something uh one of the two of ladies asked and it was about why aren't they using the resource um for reading and you know that's actually quite typical across the country and here's what happens teachers get a resource they get okay training from the publisher who provides the resource and then they just go oh I don't
072quite understand that or I'm going to pick out the pieces that I like or I want to use this instead but one of the things that we do when we're observing with the principal is is that we say to the principal okay let's pull up those lesson plan templates and let's see if they are teaching what they said that they were going to be teaching and so the teachers get used used to the feedback based on the lesson plan template and the things that they should be teaching what they find is that it's pretty successful to teach that way so because of the feedback and the observations on using the lesson plan template they then get in the habit because they like it better of being having a more structure to their to their literacy
073block so that is how we fix that anyway my other question it it was about the um lower referrals for special ed I'm just wondering how do we how do we bring in special ed into this scope just because I know that's a very hot topic for us and I'm just wondering if you can just elaborate on that a little bit sure yeah um so same thing we we observe special education classrooms often special education teachers are left out of coaching because the coaches don't have the background for special education so lucky you we do uh so we come in teach the principal and the instructional coach what to look for in special education as well so their instruction becomes better and so we end up dramatically re reducing the number of students needing special
074education and it's really quite simple they haven't had the instruction or the coaching that they so desperately need so that is how that works okay thank you and that's what I was looking for so thank you very much Miss steal thank you thank you so much for this presentation um uh Dr Montgomery miss miss Patty Montgomery before you go back up um I I remember from Ed committee that you shared some very impressive um pieces of information of other school districts you've worked with um that have reached the top and not to put you on the spot because I know it's not part of it but I feel like those are numbers that might stick in your head can you just share some of the success that some of your other districts you've worked with
075have have experienced well oh sorry have such a boob I was a middle school principal and I can get 700 kids quiet without a microphone so um yes we we do you know I I'm I don't like to brag but we do see tremendous success many of our schools 100% of the kids are reading at grade level Norris toown just down the road I was just there today um I think they started at 15% I can't remember um we were just there they're at 40 something and they expected this is in kindergarten they expect 51% of their kids to be proficient at the end of the year starting out in the teens just one year ago um and it's Norristown and people think Norris toown can't get anywhere but they're just moving like you can't
076believe so we do see dramatic results um you know often 30% of kids proficient to 75% of kids proficient in two to three years um so that is what you can expect in the first year what we typically see is more students moving out of that lowest tier of instruction special education or tier three um because they have the most gaps in their learning and when we again go in and teach the special education teachers and the interventionist how to give high quality instruction the kids move uh very quickly we have something that's called a data tracker that your school will use and it literally measures how kids that are reading below grade level are doing every single week in a subskill like phonics or phonemic awareness letter naming I mean today I was at
077a Kindergarten Center and I talked about letter names and letter sounds all day um and their percentage of kids that have letter names and letter sounds which is significant to being able to read I think is up to like 75% um again this is in Norristown so it's because we teach the principles and the instructional coach how to focus on the exact right thing again I will tell you the principle that we worked with today and we've worked with for over a year is a tremendous principle and always has been she didn't become a tremendous principal because of us but what the difference is she's learned what to focus on specifically so that the students get better in Reading um so I think that that's the difference I if I gave you enough but um
078we do have good data thank you you absolutely did um I just wanted to I I just wanted to continue thank you for sharing that and I I just have a comment really and one single question um first I tremendous respect for schools for scho schools cubed um my background in literacy and my research in literacy I've listened to podcasts that have connected with the work of schools Cube before ever hearing about it with our district and before our audit was even done also keys for literacy is tremendously respected in the field of Education um I've had the opportunity to be part of their trainings myself and it is very applicable and wonderful training that teachers will be able to use immediately so this work is so vital I I mean I could go on
079and on um I did just want to say thank you for such a wonderful presentation breaking down the difference between structured literacy and balanced literacy is not easy it's complex and it this is so easy to understand so thank you because that had to have taken a tremendous amount of time and this plan has taken time to put together thank you for that um I want to recognize the this powerful moment in our district because it grasps the need to move forward and provide vital instruction and professional development that is so needed and will be so powerful I'm so excited to see the data going forward but I also want to recognize the work already done by all of our Educators because what has already been implemented is hours of work and it's not work
080that we are seeing by our principles and our teachers and our other Educators um this shift in knowledge balanced literacy I was trained in balanced literacy I knew of whole language I was trained in balanced literacy the shift to structured literacy and the understanding of the science of reading takes a while to wrap your head around because many teachers many Educators have to unlearn what they were taught and told works and what they have used and but when they see the power of how many students start to grow with it it is exciting and I'm so excited to see our data moving forward um so I think I can stop I do have two more things to say that's why I wrote it down um first I we have been discussing um our budget in
081the last couple months and special education was a topic Georgetown University's Ed edunom edunom lab which is uh part of their policy Department um focuses on education and economics and the policy around it and what can be done because the rise in special education cost is not just methacton School District it's across Pennsylvania and across multiple states in the United States the number one thing we can support to help that is a strong literacy program and I cannot emphasize that enough um and last but not least my one question is um because there's been a lot of questions I do Wonder could there be possibly a way to capture teachers who if they're not part of the initial keys for listy training maybe they could say hey I'm interested because that buyin is huge so
082maybe we could capture that in some way so that if there's interest yeah thank you it's a great idea appreciate it thank you Miss Austin all right she's a tough to follow but I feel like now it's like um okay so I I do have some questions um and thank you for the presentation and helping me to understand this better um so my one question I have is um what are the plans to evaluate instruction or to assist with instruction at the high school level um for students who may not have benefited from a structured literacy instruction you know and who could maybe benefit from that kind of um coaching or cor I'll talk a little bit about I know uh Dr gorley will also have more information but again we have a group of
083students uh to miss the's point that we're trained under balance literacy that are now at upper levels e8th grade and above and so we're putting some stop Gap measures in we're working with our English teachers as well as at the department about shifting their focus on how we can use some of those science of reading skills even for our upper grade students who may not have some of those basic foundational skills um and you'll see that one of them is the keys to vocabulary that's really going to be the Crux of the focus of our work five to 12 but specifically for the upper grades so um do do we have students identified who are really in maybe struggling with reading who could really B benefit from the keys to literacy not I'm not talking
084about the vocabulary piece but the actual building blocks the phonics um that kind of instruction can can we identify them or do have we identified them and what can we do for yes to the first two yes we can and we do have an idea who they are and that's what we're working on with this plan's working through our Consultants to figure out how we can kind of address some of those needs earlier rather than pushing it off and waiting okay I don't know if you want to talk Dr gor about your plans so we um have been working to ident identify students who would benefit from from this the sips intervention um we are also having ongoing discussions about the interventions that we can provide at the high school level because we recognize that
085it's very different to provide an intervention as students get older and are at that 9 to 12 level um as Dr Walsh said part of the the keys to vocabul is the idea that it's across the content areas the other thing that we've been talking a great deal about is reading and writing across the content areas and how it's so important to have that infused into every class so that that way when you're looking at what we would consider tier one instruction that everyone's getting that there are certain levels of support built into each of those classes to be able to help all students and then of course to be able to work to identify who are our students who those gaps are larger so that we can then help them as they progress through
086high school okay yeah I mean I just want to make sure that everyone's getting the best quality instruction if the balanced literacy wasn't serving them well um and uh my second question so the the keys to beginning reading or the vocabulary so what kind of a resource is that is that like a tangible resource is that a software program or Tech space and then is that something that um all teachers can have access to if they are wanting to develop their instructional skills in those areas or um be able to refer to yeah it is a resource that we have and we'll be purchasing those materials oh hello there they are and we actually have some of those available um that we've been looking at as a team as well so that is the uh
087the foundation if you will the keys to vocabulary and the keys to early reading the keys to writing okay and um just curious about the nist town success did they also use this um lab school model yeah Northtown did use the lab schools cubed yeah yeah okay thank you um and then I guess you know I'm hearing my my colleagues and I just want to Echo the concerns to make just to make sure I would like just actually see a presentation about this sooner than a year um and I just want to make sure that when we are training the trainer in this way that we're sending teachers um with a different way of instructing back to their home schools who are not part of the lab school that they really do understand how to
088deliver that instruction and how to teach their peers this instruction and I I'm just wondering you know I I'm feel very strongly that we are all on the same page this board is all on the same page about that and I don't know if that is if that's some something measurable that we can do um but it it's just really important that we have that consistency across all the schools I understand why we're choosing these schools as the lab schools but to me the consistency of this is the best practice we want to make sure that all of our meth Acton students are getting um the exceptional instruction correct provide correct yeah that turnaround training is essential and uh you know making sure it's done with Fidelity so we're just as excited as all of
089you are and we're committed to this we wouldn't be up here if we weren't committed and it takes a group effort and uh we stand behind it and our belief is every teacher should be a reading teacher no matter what subject you teach the reading is the foundation of everything so that's where this commitment comes in okay and lastly I just want to thank in advance all the methacton Educators the teachers and staff for um ahead of this endeavor then thank you thank you thank you Miss Austin any other questions from members of the board for the curriculum uh Team seeing none Dr Walsh team uh Patty thank you so much for your time this evening well done uh we appreciate all your effort and we look forward to putting an item on the board
090for your consideration uh next week thank you thank you Dr Siri thank you oh thank you thank you uh next on the agenda we have uh the high school update and fiveyear projection so uh Miss Stephie and I uh are going to tag team on this if we could uh put the fiveyear projection up on the screen okay um we'll leave it at the title slide uh for just a minute um it's important that I share the following information over the past several years my Administration and I along with you and countless other members of the methacton school district Community have focused on the future of methacton school district keeping the uh the following at the Forefront our commitment to ensuring a continued focus on student performance program development academic Excellence a focus on our
091commitment to recruiting retaining and developing employees and our commitment to addressing facility needs as outlined in our Master facilities plan collectively our continued commitment to these three pillars of focus are destined uh to produce the very best possible future for our school Community as part of a process to envision our future forward with potentially a a new high school construction we updated we recently updated the assumptions used in our five-year budget projections and with that uh I ask Miss Stephy to take us through uh several of the slides here this evening Miss Stephy sure I am going to share an updated 5-year projection detailing the 5-year impact of a $213 million B borrowing as we look at the revenue projections for the next 5 years our assumptions are based on the 2526 budget as the
092Baseline one of the key considerations is that act one projections will guide Revenue growth but assessment gr growth remains relatively flat limiting new sources of local Revenue additionally State subsidies for both regular and special education are expected to be lower than previously projected creating further restraints on our budget another important factor is the decline in interest rate environment as projected by pfm which will impact earnings on investments furthermore Federal funding is assumed to remain flat meaning we cannot anticipate additional relief or growth in this area earned income tax revenues are expected to follow current trends providing some stability but no significant expansion together these assumptions shape a conservative Revenue Outlook emphasizing the need for careful Financial Planning and expenditure Management in the years ahead on the expenditure side our projections are also anchored in the
0932526 budget as the Baseline salaries and benefits which constitute a major portion of our budget are expected to increase in alignment with contractual agreements and market trends Transportation costs will continue to reflect contractual obligations while special education costs are anticipated to rise at a much higher rate than previously projected placing additional pressure on expenditures departmental and building budgets are assumed to follow historical spending patterns additionally transfers to the capital projects fund and Debt Service obligations have been updated to reflect actual needs ensuring that facility Investments align with available Financial Resources these expenditure Trends combined with the revenue assumptions underscore the need for strategic financial planning to maintain long-term fiscal sustainability this slide presents the financial Outlook over the next 5 years illustrating projected revenue and expenditures with the borrowing scenario of $213 million the figures
094reflect updated assumptions based on current economic conditions funding Treads and contractual obligations as we analyze the financial projections we see that a deficit begins to emerge in the 2728 fiscal year this shift is primarily driven by expenditure growth outpacing Revenue increases while Revenue growth Rises slowly due to minimal assessment growth declining state and federal subsidies expenditures continue to rise at a much higher rate key cost drivers include increasing salaries and benefits in line with contracts and market trends higher than anticipated special education costs and necessary transfers to the capital projects fund and Debt Service obligations these growing expenses create an imbalance leading to a deficit that requires proactive financial planning to mitigate long-term fiscal challenges understanding this trajectory is crucial as we consider future borrowing Capital Investments and operational strategies to maintain Financial stability while
095upholding our core commitments to students staff and Facilities so recognizing that we've begun the exploration of a new high school on the assumption that spending about $170 million and to see the cost grow to about $213 million was challenging to say the least but the the projected $213 million will require us to borrow more money than previously projected it encroaches upon our borrowing capacity level or legal borrowing limit and the borrowing is is estimated to cost us more than the current in in the current market environment when factoring in these new cost assumptions along with our current budget status inclusiv of declining Revenue as Miss Stephy indicated also with the labor market forecast and the overall uncertainty in the economy has been determined that the risk of moving forward with the current new high school
096campus construction plan could place our pillars of focus at risk I reported last week to the finance committee of the board and they concur that the updated five-year projections inclusiv of these new assumptions showing that borrowing 213 million place a significant strain on the future budget years specifically in years four and five and Beyond approaching deficits beyond our capacity to address regardless of how we plan to smooth out the budget or borrowing over time these current projections show a future risk that necessitates consideration for seeking an alternative to the construction project of this magnitude but remember equally important is the fact that uh issues remain at the camp on the campus and in the buildings that require us to act uh next slide please so therefore while keeping true to our three pillars of commitment
097and recognizing the current projections present future risks that necessitate consideration of alternatives to the construction project I recommend that that we do not proceed forward into design development at this time and seek Alternatives from our design professionals to address issues that remain on the campus and in the buildings the path forward will require continued collaboration strategic decision- making and a shared commitment to finding the a fiscally appropriate solution that allows us to address as many of the campus building challenges as possible through the exploration of these alternative options here this evening are members of our design team from cha our owners rep uh to provide Insight on how we may proceed uh forward thank you Dr Zerby good evening everybody um so uh with that information uh which we became aware of we started um
098thinking about the process for reevaluating the high school uh the current High School obviously um if you remember back from February of last year uh we initially presented um a series of options ranging from an inplace renovation obviously all the way out to the new uh building construction so at this point we really just need to um hone in on the needs within this building what uh the opportunities are with um attaining the goals set forth for programmatic needs for curricular needs um so at this point cha and Trader group are prepared to um develop a feasibility study for improvements we won't say Renovations we won't necessarily say additions it most likely will include both but improvements to the existing facility that will address the needs and um address the items that have been identified
099throughout that extensive campus planning committee process really the the first uh thing that we really need to establish with the board uh with the school district is an updated budget obviously that's going to provide the most important parameter for us in terms of the scope of improvements what's feasible and what's not feasible I understand that that process has started with pfm I believe in April there will be an update for some additional uh funding and budgetary projections and options and that again really is key for us to understand what the parameters are moving forward so again that process is is already in the works um so again just focusing in on some of those key items that we've been talking about ADA not only accessibility but um improvements to Ada uh throughout the building obviously
100circulation we keep talking about the transfer time between classes uh can certainly be improved what can we do within the existing building to to help improve that HVAC obviously that's been on the list that was one of the really hot items um historically so what are the opportunities for us to improve the HVAC and uh the conditions within the building as far as actual spaces Collaborative Learning has been a key factor what can we do again to uh recreate or reshape spaces within the building or potentially as additions to enhance any Collaborative Learning spaces so the the first couple weeks as part of this process is really going to be focused on programming and curriculum we really want to make sure that uh the square footage that the spaces available really are going to address
101the pro programmatic needs uh the curricular needs that the the high school has and again if if there are uh improvements necessary through additions um we're certainly going to look at that uh maybe there are certain wings of the building that really are not just serving the the purpose anymore the classrooms as we know in the original section are below the pte recommended minimum um just things like that that you know maybe we can just create a new space or new spaces to address some of the really critical areas of the building obviously site improvements um we are still going to take a really hard look at site improvements related to Safety and Security with access uh for vehicles potentially separating buses and uh student drivers and parents dropping off we all know the bottlenecks
102that um occur at the key times throughout the day so even within the existing building footprint what can we do outside of the building to improve that Safety and Security and circulation uh we will also come back to you with some preliminary phasing plans for both the building Renovations and the site how can we uh start phasing any additions construction traffic do we need modular classrooms where are they going to go how are they going to be served with utilities so as part of this feasibility process we'll also be looking at um phasing considerations as well uh we do still recommend um the uh public sewer connection process obviously that's the district's ultimate decision but um understanding that having the on-site packaged treatment plan is not ideal um whether it was going to be new
103construction or potential uh renovation or improvements of existing so we can come back next week with some updated cost estimates specifically related to the public store connection process um there are I think three municipalities that are all involved as part of that process um starting here and then ultimately with the upper perk Yen uh facility I believe so that process is lengthy it's going to be uh complicated with approval and agreements between municipalities so just something to keep in mind that um we should uh continue that process if the district would like to uh to eliminate the on-site plant and then the other facilities that are on site uh both finina and the transportation building we'd have to re-evaluate uh what's the future the fate of those buildings um is it possible that they could
104be relocated at one point with the high school project we looked at absorbing the district office within that space is that still on the table uh should that maybe be looked at for moving offsite so these are all considerations that we'll be including with this uh feasibility process for the existing building so in general uh the overall timeline that we're looking at um in March uh we would like you guys to approve uh a proposal which will be coming forth uh next week already um and it's going to include the steps that you'll see throughout the next four to five months uh Devon and his team a Trader group will be performing a complete building survey uh so that they can build their model you know you saw all their beautiful renderings for the new
105building they'll have some similar uh data and information provided with imagery for the existing building so that building survey will be undertaken uh probably you know by the end of this month if not in early April again April is key for confirming the budget that's really going to set the stage for the options that we are going to be considering moving forward we're going to be developing the programming re-evaluating the uh programming with the administration to make sure that again existing spaces uh can be reconfigured reused to uh accommodate that programming as I mentioned the building model will be further defined uh throughout that time frame so we'll have start to have some concept design development developments um in May that we'll be discussing with uh the board and with the administration um coming up
106with some initial ideas of um again do we need additions can we accommodate things with Renovations really kind of setting the stage for the scope of what are the improvements what are the site improvements what are the pros building improvements um further defining those options uh through budgeting in about theune time frame just to make sure that we're still on target with the district provided budget we're also going to be looking at the phasing development at that time once we have the overall scope and generally comfortable with the budget we can uh begin those phasing developments so that we can come back to you guys in July with the presentation of the concept obviously an updated budget the phasing and kind of wrapping our arms around everything completely within this existing campus so Devon I'll
107see if you have any other updates or anything to add but that's uh again generally the the four to five month process that we'd be looking at undertaking at this point Thank you Josh are questions or comments from members of the board to my left Miss Alon yeah thank you and thank thank you for your thoughtful consideration of all of these factors um that we're looking at and you know I guess I just want to make sure you know I I understand the budget uncertainty and I understand the uncertainty or in invasibility of um of not doing new construction I mean and I know there's just a lot of um uncertainties particularly in light of possible looming tariffs on building construction materials and that kind of thing um but I guess I just want to
108make sure that when we are looking at a reboot of this plan or a rethinking of this plan that we do keep in mind the student programming um you know I I know that when we talked about a new build we talked about a lot of you know enhancements to the arts program we talked about um fablab International Balor we talked about a lunch and learn reviewing start times uh apartment program life skills um you know having our classrooms have access to Natural Light um the you know music and theater so I just want to make sure that I don't think it's a judicious use of taxpayer dollars to put money into a 60 plus year old building or campus and gain little or nothing in terms of this educational programming um so I just
109want to make sure that we're always keeping an eye to what we're actually trying to accomplish here in the district and make sure that um you know I agree with the plan to connect to public sewer but I want to make sure that we're getting you know some really great programming um changes and enhancements for our students here if we're talking about large dollars that we're investing thank you Miss Austin any other questions or comments to my left Miss Purdue um I do want to say thank you I have to say I have to be honest and transparent to say I'm very disappointed um where we are um just because we put a lot of time and effort into getting here but um unfortunately it seems like we're not in the proper position um to
110proceed and I it's fine because we set this up to be in a position that we will have points in the process where we can say let's pause look at where we are and unfortunately this is one of those stages we are with this process um I think we talked about a lot of the education value that um a new construction will bring and many in our community were very excited about it um so with that I do I do just wanted to be transparent to say I am very I am disappointed to sit here and um looking at this recommendation and I know we said keeping true to our three pillars of commitment but I kind of Wonder because if one of our pillars is to address facilities um I don't know how we're
111going to do that here with the high school right and you you may come back with a plan for us I just don't see it I agree that whatever plan we end up coming up with we should make sure it keep with the focus of the issues that we wanted to address in the first place but I don't want to see us um put in a Band-Aid on this building no longer I think we've done that for years and um and unfortunately I feel like having this recommendation placed in front of me is also to the point where I we I am staying here another year where we're putting a Band-Aid on this building I understand our financial Outlook don't look good based on um the borrowing but I think we always had a price
112that we were well aware of that a project of this size with the high school will um entail so then it comes back to like right now we're provided with the five-year Outlook I think some of that was done already we should have had a good idea of where we will be with the borrowing and I just really it's a little bit frustrating with this um recommendation right now I look forward to see what what we'll end up receiving um um but I also look at the schedule that you have there and I think March so I don't know if maybe it's not updated because it say March to approve design design team and I'm just wondering what are we approving in March with the design team because maybe I missed that what we wanted
113to do is just provide um for us at least Devin it would be a not to exceed um time and expense proposal to go through this process so uh We've provided some preliminary uh bullet points of what the scope of work is and what the general time frame is um so we can get that to you guys for consideration for next week's meeting so that we can be begin this process in terms of of CHA and likely Shader um you know we're under contract already we can certainly um essentially roll the The Proposal of the fee into the project cost um but just in terms of again having you guys having the transparency and having you guys go through step-by-step process of okay here's the plan here's what the outlay is going to be to
114get that plan we just wanted to provide you guys with the proposals to do that so then can I just ask based on what's on here now where is that approval for the um whatever we're going to approve for March it's not on the agenda as you as it's presented this evening I believe it's being worked on by both of the groups uh if the board so does want to consider it for for next week to continue moving the process forward so I mean right now I don't know what process we're moving forward I don't think there's a process that we're moving forward because the recommendation is that we're stopping the design phase so I'm just wondering what is the I will ask the question is there a need to have a vote on week
115for a plan that we don't have in front of us now so I just want to ask that question and I you can respond but I just will like to know because I don't feel like I have anything that's preparing me to make a decision on a plan for next week right we heard there need to be looked at we need to have I believe you mentioned we need to look at the budget and see what is we need to pretty much give you a price point right so we can assess that is that information you're expecting to have next week not necessarily the budget but what we wanted to do so that we're well positioned come April is that we can at least get the initial surveys completed and as the district is further
116defining the budget we can at least have started the process understanding that we're shifting from a new build to looking at the existing facility there are definitely steps we can take before we get that final budget confirmed in April or or may whatever the time frame happen happens to be we just we don't want to lose um time you know time is ultimately going to be money at the back end of the project so we we wanted to try to keep the process moving with giving you guys as many options as possible as quickly as possible we don't want to rush things but we also don't want to become stagnant where we're we're waiting months for additional answers or feedback and again that's only going to raise the price tag at the end of the
117project so we would just like to keep things moving okay that's fine thanks any other questions to my left um Miss steal thank you for this and thank you for your time tonight um I just have two questions and I I kind of answered one just now um the feasibility study how long does that take so that that's the process at the bottom of the screen there so um the presentation of that concept or concepts along with the budgeting along with the phasing considerations that time frame will take through July so so that's the feasibility study correct okay I misunderstood what that was um and I'm assuming that if we were to vote on I guess the possible thing for next week would be to shift focus and then say yes you can look at
118what to work with with the con the existing building right and then you would look at the and I I know like we've just I just in my head and just being transparent since I've been on the board so many presentations and walkthroughs have been about what's wrong with the building which is a lot um and there's things that come to mind that I think about like the pool that leaks and has leaked for a while um and with water comes other things and some health and and some rooms that flood often and so will you looking at the health of the building and if it's a healthy building to work with I don't know what the right words to say here I teach English does that make sense yes certainly we're going to be
119looking at whatever improvements are necessary um and again it it's all going to come down to the concept plan what we can afford to keep what we can afford maybe to demolish and build new if existing spaces are not ideal in terms of water infiltration obviously there would be measures to address that whether it's underd drains or Foundation uh drainage um we're certainly going to be making sure that whatever the proposed solution is is going to address any health and safety concerns within the building thank you and um I guess I just want to make a comment just to be transparent is I also realize where we are right now and at this time and I I realize that there's so much instability in the market right now and we're not where and and things
120and I understand that um but I do also realize the value that a school system and that good school buildings have not only as an investment in the school district but also in our property values um for anyone in who's an owner in in the district and so this that is something that I do keep in mind as well as the speed at which we decide to make decisions and move forward with whatever we ultimately decide to do um because time is money um so we do need to make those decisions so that whatever we decide next thank you thank you Miss clear thanks so just is just Josh it's this is not really a question for you I just kind of want to make a general sort of statement or acknowledgement sort of along
121the lines of Miss Purdue but I do want to recognize that we've heard differing views from all different sides right folks who support the idea of new high school and those who you know really don't support the idea of new high school and I just want to acknowledge both and but I want to pay particular attention for a moment to the community members and our parents who are and and probably a lot of teachers in staff if not all who are deeply disappointed um in where we find ourselves today I just want to take a moment to acknowledge that I think everyone sitting up here at the table is um disappointed in where we are and saddened by by where we are and I think we have to uh you know turn find a way
122to turn the page and try to turn this into the most positive thing that we can for the community and for our students um I completely agree with Miss Austin um about focusing on the educational um programming I mean I for me that is the most important at this point knowing that we're going to have a different budget than and uh what we were uh previously batting around so with that I do want to say uh to Josh and to Devin um thank you so much for all of the work that you did um I know you guys you you did a lot of work really beautiful work Devon um and it was I don't know it was inspiring and exciting right and a lot of you know everybody saw that and it was just
123exciting and it's been a pleasure having a fellow um Lower Providence resident you know with a vested interest in the schools participate in terms of that your kids go to school here um so thank you and I'm looking forward to you know seeing what you guys can do next um so with that few questions um I think that the the key is understanding as Josh said what the budget is um and Josh uh mentioned that we are talking to p pfm could you sort of elaborate on on what's happening there and what we can expect and when I think that uh we have a meeting scheduled for tomorrow miss Steepy is that correct yes so with that the the the concept is you know where in the budget process and in the and in The
124Lending process do we find the ability for the district to afford what within the high school and within uh the existing Master facilities plan and how do we layer uh we're obviously going to have to incur debt of some sort so how do we layer debt appropriately so that we can best afford it um we certainly if you look at one of the projections you can see that in the fifth year of the $213 million there's a $4 million bump well that's that that in any fiscal year is is you know almost impossible to to manage properly uh without some you know very uh uh insightful Vision so that's the kind of conversation that we're going to have and look at you know how long and how well we can do that within the current
125uh uh market and and the current uh parameters that Miss Stephy has put together so we should be expecting another sort of fiveyear uh fiveyear presentation from PM we would like pfm to come back to confirm uh our the conversations uh obviously to update if if they make other recommendations we would update our projections to that that effect but to give an Outlook to the board about how they can best structure debt uh going forward and that will include a look at the at the act the projected Act One index for those five years as well right okay so then one of the questions I have and I don't know if this is for Miss stuffy or or for you um on the very first slide you talked about the revenue assumptions and one was
126that Federal funding would remain flat my my question is just I mean this is I have a concern that we could potentially at some point lose Federal funding have we thought about when we say it remains flat have we looked at it alternatively if we were to lose funding how that might impact us and if not could we um let Miss Stephy answer part of this and then I'll I'll follow up with it Miss yeah so right now um in the budgeting process and the projection process I'm keeping F uh Federal funding remaining flat because I know there are talks of reductions but in terms of the federal funding that we receive like the title funds and Ida funds I've received no confirmation that there's going to be any reductions but as soon as I
127receive confirmation I will make the adjustments so is that about around a million dollars that we're talking about in total uh probably about 1.3 okay so I guess my ask is I understand why you're doing what you're why you're doing what you're doing but I guess to me it would make sense to for us to at least consider it and and understand what that might look like for us because that that is definitely a concern that uh that I have thank you um and just to just add to that um the the the federal funding that we receive of Title One 2 3 four um and and Ida um if in fact um there is a reduction uh of of that funding U we would need to certainly make it while on a on a
128financial basis it's often considered you know you you bring X number of dollars in you typically expend the full amount of that for the services that are provided we would have to then determine are those Services going to continue in the absence of that Federal funding and if so how would we you know make that work how would we pay for it right okay um I think I'm almost joh just give me a quick second um and Josh you mentioned um did I hear you right that at the next meeting you'll be able to provide us with the over what you envision to be the overall cost for the continuation of the um sewer connection process I'm really looking for what the what we think the overall cost for the whole the whole thing would
129be of just the sewer connection of just the sewer connection process um yeah certainly so part of Devon's uh Team um who you guys have seen at some of the meetings T&M associates they are uh responsible for the actual technical design of that as I said there are a lot of moving parts to this including your solicitor and agreements and everything so let us give us a few days to just kind of wrap our hands around um all aspects related to approval process timeline any potential legal fees and we can come back next week with an updated number maybe I didn't I probably didn't ask the question correctly so that will not include the tear down of whatever has to get torn down it connection we just we just want to put everything that's what
130I'm looking for just so okay just so we're clear um and I did have one more thing but I'll use to somebody else while I try to figure out what that one other thing is any other questions or comments Mr wyers uh just add uh some color to miss clar's question I believe that would be about $400,000 or so that is in title one through four and generally title um our specific requirements and usually when we got the title money we use the money for particular school for a particular purpose if we didn't get the title money we didn't use it necessarily we didn't supplement it with local money but the IDE the it uh disabled uh funding of8 or $900,000 certainly would be in question so I I would say at least two-thirds of
131it would probably be at risk and it's a good consideration in a five-year plan so I should just focus I should be focusing my thoughts on that 800k I I don't yeah what we're hearing right now and and I hate to repeat stuff that is likely to change tomorrow and and and and so I I just want to caution everybody with my statement first of all we're hearing that um Title One is likely to in order to be funded fully there will be a subject uh Cuts in two and three but there hasn't been anything at Le from the from the federal level that we're aware of as a communication through the IUS that there will be cuts to idea thank you to you both for trying to and I just will caution everyone that
132that's that's what we recently heard so yeah and I appreciate all of that it's more I just want to make sure that we're actually thinking about it when we're when we're thinking about the numbers so when we see the numbers um and it's it's it's difficult but no I I appreciate your your your comments and your questions it as you as you as you probably realize it's rather difficult to you know make that make that assumption e either way at this point and I just remembered my question if if it's okay if I asked the last one okay um the the cost that we're going to get from um Josh and Devin relative to the Sewer the overall sewer connection process is that money that we're considering part of the overall uh I'm going to
133call it renovation for a lack of a better word whatever project we take on is it going to be part of that overall budget that we're going to be trying to get from pfm or is it separate it's likely going to require uh borrowing for it to to be completed and therefore it will be as part of the pfm process thank you and I I I think and Josh just correct me if if I'm wrong I think there there were two pieces of information that we will come back next week with information associated with the sewer plant and all the all the information that you guys have been talking about but in addition to that a a uh I'll call it a not to exceed fee uh for uh making sure that we could proceed
134forward with some of this the information that's up here any other any other questions members to my right Mr wyers yeah I just I understand the principle and everybody asking for a budget and certainly we're going to do that but I also no offense guys I don't necessarily want to just give a number without an a an understanding of what we're asking for we need to determine of those educational requirements of those physical items that we identify what we've determined as priorities and what we can't we know we can't go with all right so I I see that as going on as an exercise as well as providing a budget because if we come up with a number and I'm gonna guess a number here but 140 million or something like that something between 100
135and 213 we give you 140 but we haven't even determined exactly what we want in that building so I think it it takes a balancing uh with a directional and also want to sort of highlight that as you know these are based on assumptions based on some even more recent not the major consideration of why uh it's becoming um less affordable but there's more recent information the last few months we're talking about ter as in as if so there's lots of uh moving parts so even when you get this 5year projection there is an element of risk associated with it one way or another um so we have to be conscious that this fiveyear number is not something that locks in the district exactly into those because as you know things are changing all the
136time we will be going through a contract a year from now so there's all types of other variables that go into the equation that interest rates change the equation right uh if we're in an inflationary rate and where an inflationary rate these Act One indexes might be higher not great but that's a there's other elements around these These are projections and lots of ifs and we're making uh decisions off of those ifs we're going to just try to do the best we can with those assumptions for this Five-Year Plan that you'll see in April any other question Miss canro um if you can Devin if you could just tell us like I know if we're looking to add this on for a vote for next week to move forward the next phase is kind of
137my understanding is that you're going to you're not going to redo facilities assessment you're going to utilize the information and then kind of talk about maybe like what you need to do as far as software you're prepping what are you doing in the next yeah that's a good question thank you um so we're going to rely on all the work that you've already done as far as assessing the building because you've done already a lot of really good work so we have something to work off of um the next phase is the building survey and building the model um into our programming so that we can then be ready to do the concepts and keep rolling so the next month would be if you approve it in March we would be able to build the
138model prep with the team do the programming that Mr Winters was just talking about and then get ready for concept probably sometime in April thank you good M graph yeah so thank you for the presentation um I just W to I just want to clarify that um well a couple things I really think Mr Winters had a great point with the five-year projection that I think the Board needs to go into this you know with Miss clear's comments that you know whatever number we come up with there could be adjustments that we need to make later that number cannot be set in stone this is kind of how we got here right we had a number and we moved forward and the situation has changed and I think we all need to recognize that could
139happen six months from now and we need to be prepared um to make adjustments luckily we have a really good design team who is willing to make adjustments on the fly like they're doing right now and continue to work with us um I just maybe Josh you know I think it's really important that people understand that the next step like the scope of work you're going to bring that to us next week so you're going to have a defined scope which is basically the kind of things you you've put up here in at the bottom of the screen to really look at what are the options around the building what kind of Renovations could be done what kind of adjustments could be made to get to some of the things that we think are are
140really important right um I also think with that is going to come an estimate of the budget for us to do that work for you to do that work and for Shader to do that work um and I think it would be helpful maybe for the board to understand you know a sort of a ballpark estimate of what that will take you know is it a $5 million spend between now and July is it a $100,000 spend between now and July so between the two teams you know one team how much do you think the district is going to need to estimate I'm not going to hold you to the number but I think we just need to prepare the board to be able to make a decision next week uh next week you'll see
141proposals uh in total for about $150,000 to take us through the process and again that you know would be fee um that could be essentially applied to if the project does come to fruition just included as part of what's already under agreement in terms of a a fee schedule so it's it's essentially the concepts it would get us to a place where we'd have conceptual designs of a renovation project for this existing building um so Devin one question I have for you is does this also include the Lego structure for me certainly well and to Mr Winter's other point which I think is really valuable about prioritization I think there's going to need to be a lot of discussions around the board B about do we you know want to spend the money on a
142new Auditorium or do we keep the existing Auditorium and spend the money on a new art center do we you know there's basically going to be horse trading that has to happen one of the things that Shader has done in the past with other projects is basically make a mockup of the building and create these little Lego blocks that you can take this out and put this in and trade in and out what you want to do and how you want it to look and what you want it what you want to spend this is a $1 million block this is a $2 million block you know and you sort of can make those adjustments and I I sort of see that at some point we're going to need to get to a place where
143the board is confident that we've we've reached the top five things that we definitely want to do and then we leave it to our engineering team to say what else can we get it for the money we have to spend right and so I just want to encourage the board to really go away from this meeting with if everybody starts thinking about what those top five things are for you we can have some really fruitful discussions in the meetings coming up I think before you guys come back with some Concepts you're going to be asking those questions to say where do we spend our time on the design side and do we want a a building that's smaller in space so that we can have better parking and circulation on the on the property or
144do we want to keep the sprawling building we have and you know do some other things so I just you know you probably have some comments St I I just want to make one comment those are all great discussion points and I do encourage all of you to think about those things uh that those decisions need to happen kind of early in the process so that we can have a direction for our Concepts moving forward if we want to stick to this July time frame so think about that that would happen in April um so that's another reason to approve whatever decision we're making in March so we can get the model built so that we can then do some sort of workshop with everybody and and keep the process moving so thank you for
145those comments I think that's a great idea yeah so I guess just to recap what I heard you say is one it's about 150 or so thousand dollars to do this next step in the process to get to some Concepts around renovation around the high school two we would need to workshop and prioritize our items to be able to give you that information in April so it's 30 days we have 30 days to do that I understand we have the high school campus planning committee and I know there were some things that were identified but at the end of the day I think it's really important for the board to have continuity there with what we really believe is the most important items for us and and bring those to the table which may or
146may not have been things that the campus planning committee had discussed right some of them came to us through the design process um and so with that I just want to thank you both for coming and sticking it out for tonight it was a long meeting and I appreciate your thoughts thank you any other questions or comments Miss canro no I just want to thank you all for all your comments tonight I appreciate all the words that You' have all said um I know we're pivoting and I know um I appreciate all the work that we're going to have to put in towards this so thank you for that and uh thank you for everyone that's going to be working with us and the community as you will also will pull you in as well
147to to when we go into the next phase so thank you thank you so with with that um we uh for for next week we have a number of presentations the spirit of methacton award the 2526 budget update and special education update with Dr graines we'll certainly have the reports and we have uh the fiscal items uh Miss Stephy thank you there are three fiscal items on the agenda for the board's consideration tonight item 9A list of bills I've received three questions in advance of the meeting tonight regarding the bills paid report the $10,000 payment to Lower Providence Township Sewer Authority was for the high school project escrow account and is for professional service fees associated with the project uh an escar deposit must be made before engaging with the township and any funds not
148used will be returned to methon check number 2094 to Glenn sha Roofing in amount of 1,00 755 was for repairs to the war sester roof there was a leak that needed to be repaired Glenn Shob is our general roof maintenance contractor the repair is unrelated to the capital plan roof replacement check number 20995 to dishal Bartley and duly in the amount of $ 28861 was applied as follows $28,269 legal costs related to right to know requests $836 for November to January legal costs related to autobond water company rate challenge item 9B treasur report item 9 C budgetary transfers there is one budgetary transfer on the agenda for approval a $250 transfer for the best buddies organization thank you Miss Steepy any questions uh to from members of to my right any on the budget items
149seeing none to my left any questions seeing none thank you Miss Stephy next on the agenda we have Personnel items Dr serini thank you Dr Zerby for the consideration of the board this month are the following Personnel items one resignation professional Dana Heyman fourth grade instructor at War sester resignation for retirement at the end of the school year after 24 years of dedicated service to the students of methacton the methacton family is grateful to Dana for for her uh Superior instruction at War cester and we wish her the best in retirement there are two resignations classified both power professionals at Arcola and both are resignations for retirement at the end of the school year Janine mcfate 23 plus years of dedicated service to methacton and Colleen heidle Butler nine years of dedicated service to methacton
150once again the methacton family thanks them for their support of our students and we wish them well in retirement there's one change of status classified for Aon Pratt from part-time office assistant at Eagleville to par professional at Woodland we thank her for taking on this new role one uncompensated leave professional rivka milrod third grade instructor at Eagleville for the dates listed one uncompensated leave classified Gloria Rosado personal care assistant at Arrowhead for the dates listed supplemental contracts for a spring coach activity night chaperon at arola homebound in instruction a mentor and semiformal chaperon at the high school One Employment custodial casual on call classified for Jennifer crun we welcome Jennifer to methacton and the addition of a Community Education swim instructor Emma sutera we thank Emma for taking on this role thank you thank you
151Dr Serj any questions from members to my left on any matters of personnel seeing none to my right seeing none thank you Dr serini next on theend agenda we're going to ask uh Dr Walsh to come forward about the curriculum program items Dr Walsh thank you Dr Zerby good evening everyone uh for review and consideration uh we'll be putting all these items on for review for public uh 28 days so it'll run from March 19th through April 15th so we'll be coming back at the April Action meeting for voting and approval our new curriculums for data science and security uh we have revised curriculum for science which is aligned to the new steel standards which go into effect July first you'll see those items listed there under World Language we have new um we have
152revised curriculum as well and tech ed um and you'll see all those listed and those documents were shared and again they'll be made for public review starting tomorrow at the finina center um and from 9 to 3 o'clock also for under 11c you'll see resource adoption we have a new human geography AP course that's for social s that's the AP is actually requiring a new tech so we're including that we have a new Ela resource my perspectives we have our guidance Seal program character strong for K to 12 which will be incorporated into the chapter 339 plan World languages for 7 to 12 we have amplify science kits K through six lab AIDS through grades seven and eight and additional science resources that are also aligned to the steel standards as well as AP courses
153uh for grades 9 through 12 all listed um under 11c again they'll be sitting for 28 days for public review we'll be coming back at the April Action meeting um seeking your approval thank you oh and also just quickly for 11d next week we'll be seeking approval after it sat for 28 days uh from the end of February up until now uh the 2025 to 28 comprehensive plan thank you Dr Walsh are there questions from members of the board to my left Miss steal thank you for this um I just have a question if you then I don't necessarily expect you to have the answer because I actually became aware of some information not regarding any of materials but I was just just wondering if maybe before the next when we vote to approve um
154and I'm thinking just specifically about the English language arts um which I know is I'm sure green lit on Ed reports and everything uh I did become aware that Ed reports the green lights do not necessarily um align with the science of reading and that science of learning those details they are now putting newer stickers so I'm just what I'm asking not in a very eloquent way um is that uh if there's any data from other school districts that have used my perspectives if you could share it from other school districts where their data has where they've seen improvements and increases it may or may not be available so I'm just requesting maybe before the April if you can make that available in some way or another I can just add it is a newer
155copyright so this is a 2025 copyright so it's a newer Series so I can certainly seek out some yeah districts that are using it but I know because it's new we totally I completely understand I just didn't I was just wondering if that data is available somewhere so I just figured ask thank you U Miss chonda thank you I am super excited for cyber security thought you would be and I would love to see a review or something on what the education will look like around that sounds good thank you any other questions or comments to my left seeing none to my right Miss clear I just want to follow up on that question because that was mine the data sciences and the cyber security so they're two new classes correct completely new they are
156electives for next year correct that's awesome so I I I agree with I agree with my colleague that's fantastic I mean to use Josh's word cyber security is very hot right now so um puts on The Cutting Edge thank you so much you're welcome Mr wyers yeah and I'm I apologize from a memory perspective but the schools cubed and the keys for literacy have we already approved moving forward I know there's not a financial impact but there is a potential to put it in the budget so I'm wondering did we already move forward with something really like with from a contractual perspective of these guys we we have not moved forward any with what you've seen this evening we've not moved forward with any contractual matter associated with that we've had uh uh in the
157past year and a half through the senator M Grant and through uh maybe some other local dollars to get some professional development done for the administrators but but the the stuff that we would like to bring before you for approval next week is listed in the presentation and it will be a contract that is still sitting with the solicitor for review uh but it it was one of those where it'll be uh three one-year contracts locking in the pricing as you see it here and the current uh budget as it exists uh at the finance committee meeting uh this past week as well as what we present next week includes the 142,000 into the budget so there will be a a voting item in related to that and also there'll be uh a voting item
158I guess you talked to Miss kro and Miss Purdue about putting a voting item on related to moving forward on the on the high school with the high school p y so there'll be there'll be really possibly three new items the one for the sewer plant the one for continuing forward with the the Professional Services related to the high school and the and the third one is the uh uh literacy uh program thank you for clarifying Mr mki so I you brought up the sewer plant as a potential vote item um I personally think we need to prioritize the objectives for the for the potential remodeling of the school and that needs to be included in that before we vote on moving forward unless what we're talking about is just moving forward with like permit
159process so we don't lose the time but but in my view that has to be considered as part of the budget for the renovation and until we we first have to prioritize from the list that we came up with what we want to include and then we need to determine what the budget is going to be yeah I I I I I think I understand what you're saying now and and this goes back to bless you uh goes back to I think what Miss Clary was getting at um she was wanting she wanted a uh not only what the cost is to to continue planning and and working with the township to and the two townships to plan forward but in doing that what is the potential larger outlay at the end in terms of
160tearing the building down cut you know digging the trenches all all that kind of stuff um yeah that so it depends on what you're asking for yeah if if if what we're approving I think they're both but I think they're both challenging uh to even say that we're going to do it without knowing what the the the full I would agree I mean yeah well the the you're right M graph I I think that the challenge is that we you know moving forward with the perming process because it takes so long by stopping it at this point creates it creates a potential where we wouldn't ever be able to include so that's my point is that what are we voting on is it just to move forward with permitting correct which is I would be
161asking for we've already coughed up 10 $110,000 to start the process right so I mean I would assume that the incremental costs is minimal to P continue that process but we need to make a decision about prioritizing this among the other things we want to do no I I in my opinion I agree with what you're saying that that makes sense I mean the other part I'd like to hear about the sewer plan is I thought originally there was some potential cost savings on operational budget standpoint and that needs to be factored in [Music] sure I just well and you know to that point I think that the administration can come to us next week with an estimate of what the impacts are to move it off site versus keep it on site what the
162cost is to the district I think Josh even said he could probably get a full comprehensive that I mean I think in the past Dr sorini has presented to us what the impact is of that on site we have to we have insurance we have to pay for there's maintenance costs there's other things that are considered but to the point that I think we need to get a picture of like day-to-day cost operating cost versus if we moved it offsite there's a big cost but over time what's the payoff for that and I also think that the approval for next week should be strictly around continuing the permitting because we've already spent money to start the permitting process and we would just lose that money I mean we want to move forward that's going to
163take a long time to get through the permitting process um I'll I'll confirm but I I think you're right the es that we that we you lay it out is probably the I don't mean the escro I mean that we've we've submitted permit applications that we would then have to revoke and then we would have to start the permitting process all over again so we would lose that time that time is money yeah okay that's right thank you for that input if if anything uh changes after speaking with Josh and the and the team uh you know will certainly inform the board through our memo process uh Miss Clary uh yes Switching gears for moment back to the literacy plan so we haven't seen that contract next week we're going to be asked to vote
164on the costs for just 2526 or all three years just 2526 okay it'll be it'll be worded so that um the board has to vote on The Following years in order to approve it okay so so that's why I saying there there there it's it's three one-year contracts okay you said something about lock which includes the cost locking down the pricing so they're giving us the pricing uh by by locking that down and if we want to move forward year two will cost I just want to make sure that if the administration the Ed committee when you when we do see the results if you are not happy with the results that we have a way to get out and I I can't confirm that because I haven't seen the contract but I I'm sure
165our solicitors take care of that okay thank you any other questions on on those items thank you Dr Walsh Dr Z I just want to thank the uh teachers and coordinators for helping to support the pilot process and writing the curriculum so thank you thank you uh next on the the agenda we have policy Dr Regina thank you Dr Zerby uh pretty simple this month uh the policies are in the 700 series basically just edits uh some pronoun changes that exist with those policies uh and the three that you'll be voting on next uh week will be 702 gifts grants and donations 74 maintenance and 705 facilities and workplace safety thank you any questions to my right on uh matters of policy to my left seeing none uh we'll move on to other we have
166gifts and donations we approve a generous donation from Kelly mosa for the backpack program of $528 to approve who have a generous donation from worth and Company for meak high school marching band uh for Student Activity Fund in in an amount of $1,000 and they approve a generous gift from warer home in school to the warer elementary for two purchase of basketball backboards with pole rim and net uh in the amount of $77,000 $7,100 there's a trip for mton high school future Business Leaders a club to attend state competition on April uh 7th through the 9th the Hershey PA and under transportation there is an an addition of one driver uh for your approval and then we have under 13d the athletic contract with Rothman orthopedics that has been updated recently to include some of
167the recommended changes uh received from members of the board as well as on 13e the caddy photography services that contract has been updated based on feedback from members of the board um the the transportation agreement so at the uh Miss Stephie do you want to talk a little bit about the the transportation agreement is and uh what the the important part of that sure so we used a contract with a company called balgo um and they would transport or out of District placements they are no longer going to work with methacton so we needed to find an alternative um the alternative that we found that that we think is acceptable is hop skip and drive um so we are asking for approval of that contract um in addition to out of distri placements they will
168be transporting our homeless students uh this contract also is not listed on the agenda still uh in the hands of the solicitor and then under 13g the uh uh Pennsylvania music indicators Association um mton is looking to host the festival January 22nd through the 24th at the arola sky view campus um all the costs are paid through participation fees to the pmea um are there any questions on any of the items listed under other to my right Miss clear um yeah 13d the athletic training contract so I would wanted to offer just a a tad more feedback on this contract um before we consider entering into a three-year deal so on exhibit a um wait is that the wrong contract under the um School support of the contractor with the advertising and the banners okay
169um bullet two is is around the two banners that we're going to hang and it's my understanding that we purchased those uh last year um the very last paragraph says that um the contractor meaning Rothman has the right to require us to redo those if they change their branding and um their limit of liability would be capped at 2 million and we'd have to cover the rest 2,000 what did I say two million can you imagine assign the cost two million we would split I think it says that we would split the cost like we did the in the original purchase Li 2000 I think my point is yes Mr M's correct but my point is if and so is the split I believe so so 5,000 we pay 3,000 they pay 2,000 correct they're
170only responsible for 2,000 but my point is before that if a company wants to change their branding that's on them and I didn't catch that the fir I didn't catch it last year or maybe I did and we couldn't change it um but catching it now and before we do a three-year deal companies change their branding all the time I don't want to pay for that and we shouldn't have to yeah I I I think I understand what you're saying and and I don't think it was in last year's agreement because we we would never have purchas we didn't purchase anything of that by that time if that if that makes sense meaning I don't think they would have put that I think I think it was in there yeah and so I had a
171lot of feedback last year maybe it was something we couldn't negotiate but I think we need to have our solicor put are foot down you want to change your branding you need to pay for that okay um nothing with this $2,000 on them and the rest us and then actually you know limit our exposure as well on on the cost if we're splitting the cost I don't think we should split the cost on branding if we want to split the cost on when the banners become worn out I'm splitting the cost makes sense to me right still should split the cost but we should split the cost evenly which is I think correct to their points so that was my last bit of feedback thank you for that feedback any other questions on matters of
172other oh I'm sorry Miss Altin yeah also on that one we had talked about um are we making sure um the arrival times for the athletic trainers we were we were checking on that to make sure that they were as per the contract yeah that came up in finance committee um and we I had asked the athletic director to comment on that I provided that response in the uh in the last week's memo okay but the the answer is that U during the week they generally are complying with that during the weekend not as much so I instructed the athletic director to in tell Rothman that this moment forward they will comply with that process okay and are we still on okay are you on the Kate are you you're good okay because that I
173just had another question about the hopskip drive Transportation agreement and that was um wondering if the cost of this contract is similar to what we were paying the previous contractor M stut do you know it is okay thank you the the the the challenge with the transportation agreement if we don't get that back in a reasonable period of time we're going to have to punt that to another month because it's actually rather lengthy and it's it that's why it's sitting with the the salissa right now so I I I'm just kind of giving you that heads up um I just want to say that I'm glad to see that math Acton is hosting the pmea um District Orchestra Festival here any other questions on other Miss Purdue I'm sorry I wanted to step back um
174just because I missed this for curriculum I just want to confirm so we have the comprehensive plan under review still and we'll be voting on that next week right have we received any comments I'll just say it real quick we haven't had anybody come in to review it we don't know that anybody didn't review it online but no no comments are submitted and that window closes tomorrow for 28 days okay just wanted to check in thank you any other questions on other or any other Miss graph yeah I um now that we've sort of I think we've nailed down the uh athletic contract I have comments on the photography with Katie our con this document still says that well it says two things that I'm concerned about it says Road shows require a minimum of
17530 senior sessions to be scheduled Within 48 Hours of the Road show so I just want to clarify if that is within 48 Hours of the Road show being posted or 48 hours prior to the road show occurring either way the language should be clarified because this language is ambiguous but the second thing that's very concerning is that even though we had previously commented on this the number of Road shows in this agreement is still only two so if we have 30 seniors who sign up and there's only two Road shows that means we only have spots for 60 kids here everyone else then has to drive to horam which I think is part of the problem and one of the things we were trying to alleviate so I'd like to see them do at
176least four Road shows and the other comment is there's um the timing of when they're going to identify these Road shows like I just think there's again it's the issue last year was they were were announced and they were in the summer months two in the summer is fine I think there needs to be two more in the fall so that people who are on vacation kids who have sports kids who are away at sport camps other things activities band there's a whole lot of stuff going on in the summer that kids may or may not be available to take photos so we need to also offer opportunities in the fall um and I think it's pretty easy for them to move that up to for did we not talk to them about this I
177could comment on that if if it's helpful um Dr Yer shared with us that uh we had two in the contract last year but they did agree to do two others and so I think it makes I do think it makes sense to see if we could get that change to four since they were willing to do four for us last year okay thank you any other questions like interpretation question does the language say a cap of 30 or a minimum of minimum yeah so that doesn't mean there's only 30 spots it means that they won't have it unless 30 people sign up but there could be 90 right could be more than 30 so what they can fit in in a day okay I think it's worth it's worth getting the clarification so appreciate
178that yep any other comments on matters of other can I just confirm will you have these contracts then up Data before the nextest meeting because I think one of these it was indicated that the plan is to have it finalized this month or is there if we don't have the recommendations on agreement will these be removed from the um for next week we will have the modifications made okay thank you any other questions okay um turn it over to Madam president we'll move to old or new business does anyone on the board have old or new business at this time yes Miss Clary feel like I'm monopolizing the meeting it's probably all the chai te latte I had before I came um seriously though I just wanted to spend a minute to thank the methacton
179Education Foundation for a really fantastic dodgeball tournament this weekend um we had over we they had over a thousand uh people participate between volunteers participants and um Spectators it's really well done uh they apparently uh did pretty well as a result of the event and I I'm sure that they will be here I would think next next week to to talk about it but I just wanted to say thank you to them and then finally I wanted to congratulate the finina Fireballs the adult District administration team for a winning once again this year I figured I was surprised you were able to wait this long before bragging so I just thought I would say you know well we're wearing our shirts and our medals uh next week awesome oh so but for the community and
180all seriousness if you go on to the methacton Education Foundation website there are already photos of the winners of each division uh the kids costumes are amazing um even the ARA Fireballs are up there with their medals so it's worth looking at thank you if I could just mention the that whole event is a great example of community engagement and and I think as as a I guess an ex official member of the of the foundation I want to thank you for for being a part of that and helping get that organized and that's it's just a great opportunity for us bringing hundreds of children and adults in into our district it's such an awesome community event and just loved it anyway yes great any other things for old or new business all right seeing
181none we will move to Courtesy of the floor the board of school directors will now provide an opportunity for residents to make comments on matters that are 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 and you could please submit questions via email to information methacton.org Jim mik War sester these comments go to the high school project this is why you work up all the options and don't rely on a big idea wish list to create a budget when you tell people hey what do you want whatever we can get and now I hear some of you guys are surprised we couldn't afford it 440 million bucks we've been
182telling you that for two years somehow it all of a sudden sinks in I don't get it um you need to take a vote at the next meeting not to proceed with the project then to approve the superintendent's recommendation I I didn't hear that being put on the agenda that needs to be put on the agenda to put that thing to bed uh once and for all um you stated in your recommendation that we're not moving forward at this time what does that mean you putting it on hold you're going to come back to it make some finality to your decision and don't leave room to come back to it at some other time um Mr Bryce wants a budget and he wants a budget number so we can find ways to spend it all
183okay um you know we uh what you should do is perform a study of all the options especially renovation right HVAC HVAC and Bare Essentials HVAC Bare Essentials and some something else but don't just give them a budget and say oh you know what spend up to the Limit you know where that's going to go it's not going to go to a good place um I heard that you guys are concerned about educational programming with this high school project what are you guys talking about I went to Mr Regina's presentation on your educational Pro programming you know what you wanted for the new school here's a couple of the highlights sensory room bookstore lunch and learn Fab Lab apartment program those are the educational objectives for a school that's the best ranked in the entire
184District by Niche and US World reports as it sits right now and you guys want to put that in there let me design it I can put that in there easy couple Modell you got 25 extra classrooms use a couple of the extra classrooms for it Mak makes no sense um and I heard building a 400 some million dollar high school is going to somehow be good for property values when you get the tax increases associated with that the property values are going to plummet I know thank you very much hey good evening everyone Ed Theo lower Province um I'd like to say first I I saw the presentation earlier on schools Cube and I was uh really looking forward to some of the program that they offered um I'm really glad they're moving towards
185more common assessments across the district because I've seen that's been issue in the past so I'm really looking forward to as we adopt some of those things in the school that we really see a lot of the Improvement that we're looking for um it looks like a really good program based on a couple of the presentations that I've seen so far so I appreciate that thank you um on the high school um I am definitely disheartened as everyone else is with what's been with what's transpired and where we're at um I know we originally based on the the communications we had the original design cost was in $170 million range and it grew to 213 and I was really wondering why it up it took us to this point to we didn't look at some
186of those trades um there was a lot of communication back and forth tonight on different trading options of how to make that cost a lot lower um I really would have liked to seen those before this this point um because it really when you have that kind of budget like typically in my business we do a lot of design to costs so we look at all the requirements we have we say okay what can we AFF what can't we forward what can we trade out and I really would have liked to see that up to this point so because I really think a new construction is really in the best interest for the district for the taxpayer for property value and all the things that we're doing and like some of my initial issues with
187the renovation you know a lot of the things that I saw in the school when I was touring it as part of the high school command ping committee I didn't really see addressed in any renovation plans particularly I saw lots of mold um leaking natural gas lines in some of the science labs lack of ventilation in the science classes and also the art classrooms like none of that's there I don't think any of the renovation plans would actually address those issues they're still going to exist within the the system you have um and and even flooding in parts of the schools like in some of the life sciences areas there was just flooding every year it just happened and part of the renovation didn't include any of that um so I'd be really disappointed to
188see if we go down a renovation path that like none of this stuff would really get addressed and we really end up with a school we have a ton of issues today and we're going to spend a lot of money and not really seeing the gains out of it that I think the new construction would and I really like to see options where where maybe there is a new construction where potentially you can add on later so as money comes available in the future you can add things to the the building as part of that where you have like places where it says okay we want to add this programming to really add this educational value and I really think if we go down uh renovation path we're really not going to see the value
189and we're not going to get the educational outcomes that we're really looking for um with a lot of the comprehensive plan that that's in the in the budget right now so appreciate your time tonight have thank you thank you very much John Andrews Lower Providence good evening in the uh short discussion around the uh the next three months for renovation we we had uh Josh with cha uh leading that I don't know to what extent he's an architect but I think that if we're talking a100 million for renovation we need an architect in charge and I think at this point uh Shredder group is an outstanding architect for new construction but I think that architect who Thrive and Excel at renovation should be considered for this project and I think that uh in the early
190days of this project when Dr shre Dr Zerby was asking for Big Ideas he got big ideas from some of the students that didn't go anywhere he he ended up uh making a recommendation for a new school without any comment as to uh why is why was renovation uh uh put on put on a a back burner somewhere so I I think that uh it's the board at this point ought to consider uh an architect search and uh that uh architects who have been involved in renovation would be better would would would uh would would have learned a lot that could be helpful to to this new renovation project and uh and there are there are a lot of ideas one idea is for a new Auditorium there are ideas for moving finina around and
191and moving uh sewage around I think those are all secondary to improving the edal educational capability of the existing building and part of improving the educational CA capability of course is the hbac project thank you thank you anyone else for Brian ER Shor Providence um it's amazing how quickly the plans for new high school have come to a halt equally amazing is why finally realizing the projections presented back in October were wrong were faulty as I and others communicated to you many times the only good news here is this project was Haled before mortgaging the district's future and saddling the taxpayers with 420 million in debt service requirements or $10 million in annual deficits or facing severe programming Cuts I think it's important to realize that the additional cost of the high school did not
192sync this project the projections presented back in October were based on $2 million in borrowing an additional $13 million spread out over 30 to 40 years did not lead to $10 million deficits starting in year five the projections were wrong and I hope you all now realize the importance of getting details on assumptions getting more than one page of a forecast asking questions challenging assumptions and spending more than a month on projections to review and evaluate the accuracy this is a really a failure of the board's fiduciary duty to us as taxpayers you almost had us going down the road of buying of building this new high school that we could nowhere come nowhere close to affording and there needs to be some accountability how much time was spent by the methacton staff the administration
193teachers the public students on this project when you could have been FOC focusing on improving education how much money has been spent that's now going to be go down the drain I hope Miss Stephie or somebody's going to quantify that and Report that to the public that' be a great statistic to know and help sync in why it's important that you look at Financial projections we need accountability here for your next step you cannot do these projections in a month you need to take more time you'll never get it done by April if you're going to do a renovation project you need to understand what we can afford I already know that the projections presented tonight and at last week's finance committee are wrong you're starting with the budget we all know the budget process
194is flawed look at the budget variances Miss Stephie presented back in January you'll see significate hundreds of thousand dollars in variances going up going down all directions huge amounts the the the projections do not reflect any growth in property assessment values that's not reality Dr Zerby admitted last week that the projections do not reflect retirements and their impact it's easy to forecast why haven't you the projections again lack details one page three lines of revenues three lines of expenses limited informational assumptions no details whatsoever you need to take at least six months to really do these projections and you talk about unknown factors you need to do sensitivity analysis this is important thank you very much you can't Leverage The District's future on BS projections as we've seen in the past thank you [Music] hi
195Amy Smith War sester I just wanted to comment on the literacy plan and just say thank you to everyone for that engaging discussion this evening and all of your questions it helped me to understand um where what we're looking at what we're doing and why uh especially want to thank Miss Purdue for her questions around special education and Miss Al Austin as well to talk about the high school uh I know as a member of the sca that that's something that we've talked about as a parent group so um I appreciate you bringing up those concerns specifically uh in your discussion this evening and I just I just want to take a second to um acknowledge Dana Heyman from war sester Elementary School uh I was fortunate enough to have two children uh who were
196in her fourth grade classroom at different times um but uh she was a just a stellar example of what you hope for in a elementary school teacher um compassionate kind thoughtful creative um reaching at least my children and I'm sure others um at times when I was I I had no idea what what they were going through or what they were going on as a you know as a nine-year-old um but she had just such a keen Insight in a way of connecting with each of the students so I just wanted to to take a minute to publicly thank her for that um when I saw on the agenda that she was going to be retiring and I mentioned it to my kids um they kind of paused and we're like wait what where's she
197going like what she doing I said well you know it's it's it must just be time so um we wish her all the best and and um you know all of our teachers who uh have have put in all this work at the elementary and I hope they know how much the the students uh who are now no longer in those Elementary buildings I appreciate them so thank you thank you anyone else for Courtesy of the floor seeing none is there any comments or from the board at this time right seeing none can I have a motion to adjourn Mee