001e e e good evening everyone I'd like to call the the 1022 work session to order please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance the public is hereby advised of the audio and video recording of this meeting for the purposes of rebroadcasting all school board members are in attendance with the exception of Miss clear and Miss Shonda I will now uh provide recognition of guest and schedule speakers to Dr Zerby thank you madam president before we start that I just want to make an executive session announcement if I may uh the board of school directors met an executive session on 101 2024 virtually to discuss a future collective bargaining contract negotiations with maakan education support professional association and Teamsters that ends the uh executive session announcement and I'll move on to guest and scheduled speakers before
002we speak uh before we start can we introduce somebody new to our our table this why everyone is aware of the new member here we have someone new yes we do welcome well we want to welcome Kimberly Stephie Kimberly uh came to us from uh pensbury school district and we're happy to have her here as our new Director of Business Services uh Kimberly is uh on day I believe 15 with us or 12 12 so she corrected me already so you we she she she know she knows her math but uh but we're really happy to have her um and certainly we uh expect some great things out of her and certainly uh uh I want you to give get an opportunity to meet her and we will certainly um uh welcome her to the
003methacton family so with that we have uh guests and scheduled speakers so for tonight we have a number of presentation and then next week we have the spirit of methacton the M awards for both Athletics and and M awards for last year's Arcola students u f so for this evening our first presentation we have Dr serini Mr Kenwood and Mr Grace um presenting the master facilities Plan update Dr SOI good evening and thank you Dr Zerby tonight we are presenting to the board proposed revisions to the 2020 23 to 2033 Master facilities plan the amended plan was developed in conjunction with our owner's representative cha Consulting the updated plan represents adjustments to the 2023 plan developed by our then architectural firm kcba which was derived from the 2022 Bureau of aratos facilities assessment report and
004supplementary information including Roofing studies from Mark J sobec roof Consulting h vac information from more engineering and pavement information from the Cure group in developing this plan the intent is to provide a road map to the district that takes into account the following five priorities the facility inventory of assets which provides a detailed assessment of age condition and expected life cycle of all components annual budget constraints and integration with other funding and borrowing considerations which takes into account the district's ability to afford and properly fund the identified facilities needs across all assets while also addressing a larger project on the high school campus the organization of potential projects is intended to identify econom economies of scale rather to drive cost savings for greater efficiency of project execution the prioritization of projects is an assessment of
005life safety and health concerns of which there are none and an assurance that the building envelopes and major systems are addressed finally the ability to manage and oversee projects involves a predetermined schedule of effort to ensure that the district has the Personnel bandwidth to undertake the identified projects based on these five factors the initial 10-year Master facilities plan is proposed to be expanded to a 133-year plan that allows priorities to be realized in the most efficient and appropriate manner based on the current information and projected need it is important to note that the plan is presented tonight is in draft format and will require fluidity in the coming years based on annual updates of evolving priorities and needs I will now turn the presentation over to Mr Josh Grace with cha Consulting the engineer of
006record overseeing the implementation of the master plan Josh good evening and thank you Dr sorini um as Dr sorini mentioned this is a draft um update at this time uh we've been combing through all the prior reports over the past couple months and really uh coming up with uh projects that we seem uh to make sense from a grouping perspective and from a timing perspective there was a tremendous amount of information as you're well aware within those Bureau Veritas reports and others um but in front of you now is a pretty succinct one-page summary of groupings of projects um you'll kind of see that in in some cases the focus is on infrastructure meaning systems whether it's electrical um HVAC or similar and as Dr sorini mentioned this plan does currently take us out to
007the year 2037 there was really no U magical number or um intent to provide a certain end date for this but looking at some of the larger priority projects and how they could be spread out over the the next 10 or so years kind of landed us at the 2037 um end date so we do have a couple things uh slated for 2025 which are currently in progress uh one of them is actually the chiller replacement at War sester Elementary that project had been put out to bid last year already and just based on product uh product lead times and impact to the HVAC operation that will be implemented this upcoming summer um I know that Mr Kenwood also has some proposals for some State contract work related to HVAC controls so those numbers are
008uh being firmed up uh for 2025 implementation and we've also got another project currently targeted here at this campus which would be for some Mill and overlay improvements to parking areas and to access drives and um without going into too many details related to each project those are sort of the um on Deck projects for for 2025 we're also looking into a potential roof replacement at Worcester um that roof is uh to the end of its anticipated lifespan there will be some investigations and some additional work related to a final recommendation whether there could be a potential Rehabilitation of that system or a complete replacement which we've currently budgeted for complete rep placement just to be uh conservative um a couple things that as mentioned in the uh committee uh meeting last time there are
009some projects that are planned for this building um Sky View arola Sky Ola Sky Cola whatever you guys want to call it um that I think really are going to require some additional board level input we've targeted system Replacements related to boilers chillers HVAC equipment some systems upgrades some minor architectural finishes upgrades um but it's certainly not to the level of a complete renovation of spaces and that's one of the things that I think we want to talk to the board about are the educational spaces being used to their full potential are there any other um changes to the the floor plan the layout the instructional delivery methods that maybe would cause us to take a look at maybe some additional renovation Scopes within this facility okay um some of the things also that have
010been adjusted we did also uh look at more of a renovation to the transportation building at the high school campus I believe the prior plan indicated a complete a completely new facility uh for that uh for for that department with transportation and there have been a couple other uh ads deducts and shifts of timing with this plan again this is a what we consider a living document so uh priorities can be updated budgets can be updated annually and that is the intent moving forward is that we will provide continual updates to this master plan are there any questions in particular before we move along about any of the slated projects or timing are there any questions members to my right at this moment seeing none to my left Miss Purdue um just a quick question
011um and I know you indicated this is just draft as things change and you mentioned like the war the chiller replacement is already in progress um and then new things get added how will you be differentiating that on here like the war say the chill shouldn't we have it so is indicating that it's already in progress already on here we can certainly do that whether it's a footnote or some type of asterisk indicating the status of it uh we can certainly Implement that moving forward yeah I think that may be helpful and then if something new get added maybe um I see um there's a date up ahead maybe it may be helpful if something new get I me it'll go to property but um um maybe where we finan just so we know what's
012changed on here the next time we look at it thank you okay Doug I believe you're gonna um so I'm gonna turn the next few slides over to Mr Kenwood he's gonna take us through another uh few sets of slides here thank you Josh the major revisions to the master facility plan are result of a number of factors the projects detailed on the plan were moved backwards and forwards based on revised District needs budget considerations and the ability to manage the projects smaller capital projects were broken out from large scale interior renovations to dress excuse me to address more immediate needs the high school zone renovation projects the High School site Improvement project and the finina education center renovation project were removed from the plan in addition to cost estimates were updated based on recent
013bid results and the plan was expanded as uh Josh mentioned and Dr sorini in additional four years some of the more notable additions to the plan include Roofing work at Sky View and RCA in 2029 uh Sky View proper in 2035 and Woodland in 2037 and as Josh mentioned the the transportation building project was changed from a new construction project project to a renovation project uh in closing I just want to stress that the plan is in draft format it's fluid and will be updated as unanticipated needs arise and in the absence of any unanticipated needs the plan will be updated on an annual basis thank you and if anyone has any additional questions we'll certainly take those thank you Dr serini Mr Grace and Mr Kenwood are there any questions from members uh to
014my right any questions from m m Miss Purdue sorry just a clarification for the sky view I you see you have the roofing projects um sky view or Cola and then Sky View can you differentiate between the two thank you yes the the sky view AR Cola roofing systems are the way I think about it is the section of our Cola that was annexed to Sky View when Sky View was built so it's not as what I would think of is our coal it's really that intermediate section and then the sky view roofing systems are were new with the 2009 construction of of Sky View any other questions to my left seeing none all right so approximately a month ago uh the board of school directors approved uh us Contracting with flow analytics uh to
015to conduct a a uh student enrollment forecast uh members of the board you have a a copy of this in front of you and it is titled preliminary student enrollment forecast um if we uh take a look at what we have for you this evening as you recall flow analytics was going to do the demographic and residential development analysis um the enrollment assessment enrollment forecasting and then the final reporting uh they are they are on target to do that this evening as part of our discussion they provided uh me with one figure from that report that we provided in about a week and a half and that figure uh is is not the full or final report but it is one of the figures that will be provided in the full and final report and
016the figure represents preliminary K12 forecast under low middle which is most likely as according to them and uh and high scenarios so if we if we look at this um on on the third and final slide of the pre of the presentation you will see and the purpose and again of course the purpose of this conversation and the purpose of the uh of getting the the forecast was really twofold one it was to make certain that um any decision that we're making on October 29th um Was Not absent of information associated with either a sharp decline or a sharp increase in the uh overall student uh uh forast and as you can see here this evening it's very similar and in line with the previous forecast that Flo had conducted approximately three years ago and
017it does indicate that we're likely to remain steady if we use the middle or most likely uh scenario as it's outlined so for example you will see that for the 2425 school year we have about 45 uh 100 students um with with projection of 25 26 about 40 uh 40 another another 45 uh as we continue through um we we get about about to 23435 we would see us possibly jump to about 4600 students certainly not a significant change uh in in either direction so it is reasonably Affair as as part of my discussion with the uh the folks from Flo analytics that the board can consider uh the enrollment forecast to indicate that we're likely to have a flat enrollment for the next 10 years so with that um I'm I'll be glad to
018take questions but I I do know that some other reasons uh for doing the an the analytic report was to determine uh specific uh challenges or potential challenges of enrollment in the war CEST Elementary School given the the conversation about whether or not to add-on classrooms or to uh potential the redistrict in the future and these things all fall into uh some of the master facilities plan uh conversation so with that said uh this presentation here this evening certainly doesn't answer any of that but it gives us a fair indication that uh we're on target with a a a status quo in terms of our enrollment forecast questions from members of the board this point Thank you very much and then on the next presentation [Music] we have some questions oh sure let's I'll take
019them then um so I think this graphic um if I'm reading this correctly the potential for the high increase would be about a 10% increase in enrollment if I if I recall correctly it's hard to read the numbers from I want to say it's 4983 versus um 23 24 enrollment of 4608 yeah we're seeing so roughly 400 increase correct which would be about a 10 little less than 10% um so when we look at a 10% increase at the high school how does that change our enrollment numbers there well I I think that the uh the the good news is that when we look at uh the way we're building for the high school when we talk about building for uh 1600 students as an example uh that is the that is the the number
020that is the is 80% of the actual capacity uh within that particular building so we're actually building for um if we're building two capacity it' be for about 1,00 uh students rather than 1600 students so our enrollment at the high school currently is 1500 students so if we took 1500 and added the 10% off to it we'd be at650 and so our proposed construction is at around 1,600 correct um well I think it's 1645 okay so we're just under the 1650 that would be the high estimate of this enrollment projection the high estim of the projection at the 80% pte recommended level right so we're actually under we're oversizing Space versus what PD allows so we could actually accommodate more kids within the space we would have that is correct based on the projected enrollment
021so the proposed High School design actually accommodates the high projection per this graphic and information it will okay um and then the second question I had was just related and you may not be able to answer this we may need to wait for the full report was what's the probability differential between like the high low or low versus the middle you know if the middle is there's an 80% probability of the middle being accurate or and maybe we don't know that I I don't have that answer it's a great question it'll be in the report imagine yeah the the uh again this is the only figure that I that I have uh we we went through some of the other uh figures just to kind of view them to see where were status wise I
022can tell you that um uh they're they're just about done with with the final report but I but given the circumstances the timing that we're that we're in I think it was important for the board to at least understand that you know overall districtwide uh we are in a status quo flat enrollment period so we can at least you know preliminarily plan for uh the future given this information yes thank you you're welcome any other comments or questions Miss Purdue and I mean I think we'll get this when we get the full report I think this is helpful to have the um the I guess the projected High and the low if if we're looking into the high school project with um trying to look at um potential if there's potential enrollment or if that
023is will stay flat what I was going to ask is and I'm hoping we will get when the full report is available it will provide any assumptions that they used into this like the major assumptions yes so I I think what you you'll find is they'll take into account all of the potential uh uh development in the in the district the current demographics it'll take into uh the the history uh to date of our enrollment including our most recent October one enrollment which is which is right on right on Target and then it will provide the forecast and a a report that will outline um where some of the uh even by building uh where uh we can anticipate potential growth and potential uh decline and and it's it's what we've used in the past
024uh when we've closed buildings or considered considered um doing uh uh you know shifts of of our student population uh based on the availability of size and I think I think M most importantly uh at least initially we're trying to figure out you know what is the right approach for the war sester Elementary School with respects to this aside from the high school uh we were trying to determine whether or not um you know doing a uh a shift of of the students or actually building would would make sense and I think it's going to be a longer conversation with that based on what I've seen preliminarily so that report will go um will provide an analysis based on the buildings also then yeah done by every building correct for the same time frame perfect
025when would the final report be available again likely in a week and a half okay yeah thank you and then we'll we'll schedule that to be uh part of one of our either committee meetings and then bring it to the full board and we'll post it online for uh the public to see any other questions on uh the enrollment forecast seeing no no other questions we'll go on to the next presentation so next week on October 29th uh the the motion before the board is to approve the Shader group Architects and Cha District owners representative to proceed with schematic design and design development phases of a new high school campus at an estimated cost of $3 million and note this motion includes All Phases up to and including the required act 34 hearing um again
026the ACT 34 hearing is a a a legal matter that requires the district to provide uh public notice and then to provide public input uh if they were to consider uh construction of of a new school on the on the third slide this is very familiar to to many of you that have been following this process and and this is just summarily a recap of all that we've done for the last two and a half years uh the methon high school we we understand that there is some minimum campus Investments that are required based on the 2023 facilities assessment we've also been uh very uh consistent with our approach to uh understanding what we're trying to do we're trying to develop a comprehensive plan that considers the educational operational Financial context to ensure that the
027future investments in meth Acton high school campus support the mission of the district and vision for the high school for the next 50 years in addition we have in this presentation a summary timeline it's not all the action items but a majority of them U and and dates back to 2016 uh there's some dates in 2018 2020 20123 uh with a lot of uh most recent uh uh meetings presentations uh Gatherings uh in 2023 and 2024 it actually takes us all the way up to this evening where we're looking at the uh updated Master facilities plan as delivered by the team of doct jeie Mr GCE and Mr Kenwood as well as a preliminary en a preliminary enrollment forecast and really this timeline uh it includes many opportunities along the way and I mean many
028uh not just in the most current year but certainly over the last uh two years include many opportunities for public input it's had several surveys associated with it we had planning SE where we brought some 140 individuals from our our school Community to help uh look at our facilities to tour our current High School to tour other renovated and newly constructed high schools to consider on like on slide on slide eight to consider in place renovation to consider the costs associated with renovation plus you know additional uh Auditorium and Auditorium additions uh and and additional classroom additions and new construction on slide nine it considered basically a priority list and how those options would uh best play in terms of completing or some some partial completion of those priorities given the option that we proceed
029forward it included a review of the the educational impact as outlined in in h in slide 10 we looked at the educational spaces Dr Regina presented all the uh methon high school campus planning committee top educational priorities and they're kind of in a word Mash on the screen there to best fit that in there and it speaks and those words kind of speak to what we what we had in in those conversations in terms of opportunities about collaborative spaces about program about learning those are the key words those are the words that we are are building for we also had as in as we presented in slide 11 an initial Financial impact summary where we talked about being able to continue our focus on student performance program development exceptional educational experience and AC academic Excellence
030continue our focus on recruiting retaining and developing employees and doing all that with a focus on addressing the facilities including construction of a new high school campus we also recognize that any path forward is going to require additional uh tax uh burden on our on our public we recognize that one way or another whether we're going to do option uh one with renovation option one or option two with renovation some new construction all the way up through option four we know that there was going to be an impact on our taxpayers but we also know that from our financial analysis of uh from pfm there are ways that we can manage through that uh we are in in an excellent position uh to take on the challenge and take on the challenge uh not only
031uh with the borrowing of 200 million for new high school but also uh with being able to keep our priority focus on academic excellence and and into our staffing we've also had presentation as outlined on slide 12 uh what those next steps are so if the board on on next Tuesday decide to pred forward we know that the schematic design uh timeline and dates and decision processes are outlined on the slide that was presented last month and we look at slide 13 this is the motion and while we spent a lot of time having conversations about the methacton high school campus planning process I first want to thank all the members of the school board for their participation in the process there have been many meetings that you've attended uh certainly there's been many uh
032uh uh Communications that and and documents that you you've read through uh you've participated in a number of the uh uh public forums um and and it is it is for you next week uh to determine based on your your elected uh status to determine whether or not we should proceed forward with uh the motion as presented so with that said uh if there are any questions related to the methacton high school campus planning process that we can answer for you this evening before we uh uh um have the motion in front of you next week we'd be glad to do that members of our team are here this evening we'll be glad to answer any of those questions are there any questions this evening Mr wyers yeah so the only the only question is
033the same question I asked I think uh last month around um if you go to slide 12 please so it talks about that the motion goes through the stage of including act 34 hearing and gets us past the schematic and the design development but we do have a decision Point schedule scheduled for 225 yes um so I'm just making sure contraction you know things can change if and my understanding is it was about onethird way through the 3.2 plus million dollar would be at that point I'm just wondering if we've written the contract if there's a decision not to proceed with schematic beyond the schematic design what what is our responsibility for the additional $2 million yep uh Mr Grace can you answer that point please uh sure so we have provided a breakdown of
034fee by phase um just uh to get us through schematic design design development and then construction documents um obviously within the contract there would be Clauses for notice of termination uh by owner termination for cause termination for convenience um all of which basically would you know be the district paying for services provided up to that point so you know without referencing the exact language in the contract there's always the opportunity at those DEC ision points to break from uh that process I have a question um so my question I'm sorry Mr Mercy has I thought sorry so my questions related uh the last meeting we had which was roughly 10 days ago I asked that we include the approximate cost at each of those decision points it's related to Paul's question but uh I still
035don't see that so I'd like to see that so that uh document was provided in uh our Friday memo um I can share that information with you now um can you read this I could yes so um um for the schematic design phase fee now we've also included some estimated costs related to uh the Land Development process whether it's uh submissions or assuming that you will engage the solicitor into zoning hearing board meetings those types of things so we did include also some numbers for those efforts as well so the number that I'm about to read is not indicative of only the cha and shraer group fees but for example schematic design fee at 1,741 400 design development fee at 1,513 437 so that's the breakdown of the 3.2 that you had seen previously sure
036so um following that act 34 process through design development the next phase would be construction documents and again all of these phases really just increase the level of detail level of documentation getting ready for the bidding of the project so in the construction documents phase we would be anticipating a um an amount of 2,768 330 and then a bidding phase of 422,000 220 thank you well except for construction yeah yeah so the only the only phase that's not included there is a construction phase and that gets us through the bidding process y I didn't ask for that so thank you Miss graph yeah so um Mr Grace can probably answer this question are these uh estimated costs are they time of materials or lump sum these are lump sum um for example the cha contract
037specifically did not break them out by phases we have assigned um based on our best Judgment of effort per phase what that would be approximately uh shrer group I believe is a little bit different in that they did provide a um spreadsheet of fees by phase so those numbers and Devin can correct me if I'm misspeaking but I believe those numbers are also lumpsum numbers for that phase so do we have a lump suum number for each phase and is the contract written such that if we get to 225 and we say okay we're stopping at this point the fee due to the architect would be their lump sum amount that got us to that point or is it lump sum for the whole project and we would have to then decide how much percentage
038has been completed it would be by phase I believe for the shraer group and again it's different for cha in that we basically have a design phase fee and a construction phase fee but we did you know based on the request of the board try to break that up into each schematic CD and DD phase um I would suggest that if there are specific contractual questions that they would be directed to your solicitor with review of the actual contract I don't want to misspeak tonight about fee structure and what fees are due when and um if there are anything that following termination if it would come to that that may still need to be paid I I would suggest that you review that document with solicitor input to get the final determination of that sure
039good evening everyone um so for Sher groups fees we are based on an estimated construction cost so that construction cost that we're basing the project off of is I think is $160 million for the full project uh 5% of that is for schematic design of the whatever I think it's 3.95% is what our total fee is based off of that construction cost so for the 225 uh board uh decision you would be uh paying 5% of the fee for us and then additional 10% for the design development portion okay that makes sense thank you my other question is although we have these decision points in the middle and maybe Shader may be the answer to this one um when we get to schematic design there's a point at which that work has been completed and
040are are you then on hold until that approval or do you continue to move forward pending non-approval I guess is what I should say so uh we can do it either way um if there is a decision from the administration team to have us move forward uh we can do that but uh we really need the approval of the each phase to move contractually into the next phase so maybe if there's uh some some Goodwill we can move forward without that but uh contractually we would be required for that approval and the reason I'm asking is because there's this once you do schematic design there's a month after after that for the actual estimate to be completed and I assume that estimate is coming from cha so the estimate we we give them a package
041at about 90% of each phase they build their estimate off of that and then we complete that extra 10% up to that date okay so the approval would be based off of 100% but the estimate would be off of a previous package perfect thank you any other questions from members of the board M Purdue I just have one um and I'm just wondering on slide 10 where we have the educational impact summary are the things listed here are are there going to be more discussions on some of the um aspects listed here like we have curriculum spaces special education spaces and high school spaces or are these like cuz I I know the instruction planning centers was brought up before and I believe we receive feedback from the teachers and so I'm just wondering why
042that's still on here is that something that's just on here just based on some of the initial schools that we visited or is just wanted to clear yeah that's a that's a fair question uh this kind of represents a summary of the the presentation that Dr Regina and a number of other administrators and teachers actually presented uh more than a month ago uh so it talks about the the four or three types of spaces that they they spoke about so instructional pan centers was one of them um and then the word mashup was just a quick way to kind of get everything uh from the priorities into a graphic for your under for for representing that feedback but but this is this has no new information on it than what was presented uh when we
043did the educational impact presentation I guess my question is and I I know that's not we still have more pending items what I'm asking is in reference to the instructional planning centers at what point is their decision or do a decision need to be made on instruction planning centers or no instruction planning centers well I I think that uh besides instructional planning centers shared laboratory spaces and I'm sure there's a number of other matters that uh we're going to need to be able to make decisions on at sometime in the future some of those decision ISS can be made prior to going out the bid some of those decisions could be made as alternates in a bidding process so as an example I'll just say we have our base bid is going to be where
044every uh teacher would get their their individual classroom and an alternate bid would be uh The Bu the building of the school with you know 11 IPC uh uh setup so so then we could determine at the conclusion or the the recip the receipt of the uh the bids whether or not um we want to take one item or or take the alternate because of its Financial you know benefit uh to move the project forward so there's a number of ways we can do that um the the uh the challenge uh is if when we move forward on the 29th there there will not only be the things that we've already talked about there are likely to be some additional things that we need to discuss um and certainly some of those things might be
045coming before the board as part of the education committee uh that might become in front of the board as part of the property committee finance committee and certainly as a board of the whole so there's a lot of involvement uh not only from our teachers and students and our community if we proceed forward but certainly there'll be you know a heightened involvement of members of the board okay thank you because I do see where we have student input there so I guess that should also include teacher input maybe and I think like you said there's more to come I had a quick question on slide number three and I just wanted to um maybe for information the final total campus investment number that's listed here in slide number three can you um summarize for me
046how is that different from what's provided on slide number eight in reference to the in place renovation well what I'll do is I'll I'll speak to this slide and then I'll ask Mr Grace who presented the uh the other options back in February of 2024 to talk about that that difference but the slide that you see here actually are the the the matters that are associated specifically with uh the re the replacement of of uh of assets within these three facilities uh that come from The Bureau veritos report and again these are specifically to The Replacements of those assets and then Mr Grace the when we talk about options one two three how did we determine that um you know those those are at100 million and up the question is related to the first three
047options back in February is that uh okay so the February presentation of the first three options as I recall with the first option one was an inplace renovation of the high school so it was basically um renovation Square uh cost per square foot numbers um options two and three then expanded into um additional areas of renovation including a new pool and a new Auditorium so several key new spaces with the the rest being renovation I believe um option three as I recall just expanded the amount of new construction versus renovation of the existing footprint I can find that presentation shortly here okay so option one of in place renovation and all of these options at the time um also did not include any work related to a Fieldhouse construction so there were some other um
048overall project scope changes that were not captured in these first couple options but again option one in place renovation um a portion of the building then the I believe the latest portion um the the bresin project was slated for MEP meaning mechanical electrical Plumbing only with no work happening in the main gym um option two included renovation plus Auditorium and Natatorium additions so those those two areas of the building would become new construction and then option three included Auditorium Natatorium editions as well as a new classroom addition so a portion of the building being renovated for instructional spaces and also an addition of classroom spaces under option three obviously option four um a and was for totally new construction the difference of which was the square foot of the building 4 a was targeted at
049308,000 square fet and for B was targeted at 345,000 square feet I'm sorry and thank you for um reviewing the options so for the in place renovation um that we have there that did not include the admin building all the transportation building right it's just and I'm just trying to figure out what the difference is and I my question is really on option one without the other options the difference in the price for option one two and then what we have on slide three is it just a matter of when we had the report that's just the estimate or is the in place renovation price like what else is included I guess I'm looking at the difference in uh for in place renovation we had a square foot cost uh which included $140 per square
050foot for HVAC Electrical Plumbing $60 per square foot for GC related work uh you know finishes U maybe some minor architectural um interior wall revisions and then exterior window replacements so that total came out to about $215 per square foot as an example for in place renovation the uh to answer your the prior question the district admin office was an inplace renovation of the current footprint so that that did not incorporate any district office space within the high school I think I can answer the question I think the question is on slide three the math Acton High School minimum cost is $69 million on slide eight option one which is identified as a renov ation is approximately 95 to 999,000 $99 million so what's the difference between the 69 million to the 95 million I
051think the difference is the 69 million was replacement of HVAC boilers Plumbing Systems so that it was just interior what we would call Building Systems Replacements the renovation cost included finishes um ventilators in the in the classrooms it included some new finishes throughout the building new flooring things that were in addition to just the systems themselves so I think that answers your question yeah that's that's the part that I wanted to have clarified I just think is like when you look at this and you look at the other slide those it just it's not clear and I think I just wanted a little bit more information on what the differences are so thank you that's helpful thank you other question Miss Al yeah thank you for the presentation um yeah further exploring the differences of
052these costs um I'm looking at SL 11 here and um we've been talking and have uh have had U Myriad reports about the educational impact and our why of doing this at all right the educational impact of spaces of learning of programs and I am wondering why we keep using using this $100 million number for renovations because if we're talking apples to apples then really to have a renovation that gets us anywhere close to the educational programmingsoftware I think you're talking about you know we're really if we're trying to equate and I'm just going to rephrase and if I'm if I'm incorrect you know you know correct me please uh but but I think you're saying you know we really should be talking about the the Delta between you know 148 156 and and say
053200 million as as an example versus talking about the Delta between 100 and 200 because while while while the those two Deltas are are are different in terms of actual dollars they're significantly different and and very wide in terms of their impact and and one is going to be generally uh keeping the same educational program in place there are no new improvements we're not adding things like the apartment program we're not fixing uh the you know the the the stage area we're not fixing the hallway congestion uh challenges I mean many of you have sat through all of these conversations over the last two and a half years and and we're not really making uh any educational impact or uh climate impact into that school but we will be replacing Motors we'll have some new
054uh impact in terms of of air condition and we'll we'll still be able to operate as a school so I I I want to make sure that um I reiterate maybe what you're what you're getting at because I think I think that is an important part uh and certainly that was the whole reason we had Dr Regina and his and the team come and present uh more than a month ago about the educational program and the impact it would have and and I thought they did an outstanding job of making sure that you know these changes are and these opportunities are going to be uh significant for our students not only tomorrow or in four years or five years but for the next 30 50 years yeah I that that is very much my point
055that that that we should not be talking on any in any rate about the 100 million I mean we can mention the 100 million as as the necessary input to maintain our systems in our building but what we have been talking about why would we do that you know what we've been talking about is where we want to get educationally in the school with the you know we're listening to the teacher input we had presentations from the students we're we're doing all this to get somewhere and I think I think that 100 million should be replaced with a more accurate figure when you're talking about especially with right above it you're talking about the educational um goals and I don't I do not think we should be continuing to talk about the H hundred million
056no I I I certainly appreciate your your point on that and uh and and certainly I I clearly understand if if we're going to be comparing uh the future education uh it's got to be between those two Deltas versus the hundred million so your spot on thank you for sharing that Miss deal thank you so much um I I just want to Pig you back a little bit off of what Miss Drummond was saying sorry atin I'm so sorry um what Miss Alon was saying only because um as she was saying you know that that an education impact is why we're all here and the renovations captur one 2 and three they and the auditorium obviously an auditorium but they don't get to all the problematic spaces in the high school right like there are
057there are places in the high school that are not on the priority list such as a gym that needs to be reff flored every year and um an area that floods a lot um that needs to be addressed those aren't even on those priority lists in the current building correct am I understanding that well well I I'm hear hearing what you're saying and and I just want to add this to your your comment I I think there's there's two things to to consider we we had Miss Aon talk about you know are we doing this for the educational program and if so this is the Delta should be between three and four and if we're doing it to actually fix all the challenges that were brought up by our students by our staff by our
058school Community you you you really need to be in four and and and that's and that's the that's the challenge because you will you will not address all the matters you will not address all the parking the the uh the congestion uh in the in the in the uh uh in the parking lots uh you will not you're not you will not address those those matters um and certainly um there will be things that will be left undone uh based on all that we've seen and all that we've uh uncovered and certainly all that we've studied so I I think I think those are two key elements for your consideration as as a board of school directors that you know if we were to Pro if we are to proceed forward at least doing the
059schematic design and doing the uh design development we're going to be in a much better position uh to uh achieve the educational objectives that we've set out and to achieve uh the resolution to all the challenges on on the campus uh by by taking that path forward so I hope that uh it was consistent with what you were thinking yeah thank you any other any other comments I want to make sure that uh everyone is comfortable uh I know this it's a it's a huge decision uh for the board of school directors and I and I want again want to thank you for all your patience in the process and certainly want to make sure that um you are comfortable uh knowing that uh we've done our due diligence and making sure that we provided
060you the information necessary for you to be a comfortable making decision move forward when I say comfortable it certainly I don't mean it' be easy I mean it be that that you're informed and uh and you know that our mission uh to to develop a comprehensive campus plan is at the Forefront of of all of our uh objective outcomes so with that said thank you for your time this evening and we'll continue on with uh the uh work session so that ends the uh guests and scheduled speakers for this evening uh we'll go on to reports and then to public comment uh for uh when we when we meet next week um we also have fiscal items for your consideration uh Miss steppie do you want to review the fisal items with the board sure
061there are seven fiscal items tonight for consideration 9A list of bills 9B treasurer's report 9 C budgetary transfers there are no budgetary transfers this month 9d environmental survey approve environmental Control Systems Inc to conduct an environmental survey of methacton high school and other ancillary campus buildings at a cost of $1 16,144 with the option of up to 20 additional asbest bulk samples as required at a unit cost of $34.75 9e tax collection committee Representatives approve resolution 24-5 regarding the appointment of Kimberly stepy and Danielle Penza to the tax collection committee as presented 9f management trustee appointment approve Kimberly Stephy as the methacton school district trustee on the bu Montgomery Healthcare Consortium effective October 30th 2024 9g Bond resolution approve resolution 24-6 as prepared by Bond Council authorizing the issuance of one or more series of
062General obligation Bonds in an amount necessary to fund an approximate $15 million deposit to the project fund for repairs upgrades and new construction to the high school and other projects associated with the facil master plan as approved by the school board and to pay cost of issuance thank you are there any questions from members of the board to my right Mr wyers I know it's going to be called out but the uh the semantics of uh the last one there um where it says 15 million deposit in the project fund repairs upgrades and new construction can we change that as an or or is it a aspect of uh requirement that we're going to vote on this it doesn't look like we are we would be voting on this prior to the vote on proceeding
063with the high school yeah I think that um it it it allow I think the motion designed by the uh by the um Bond Council to uh to include all possibilities so you you yeah no I understand I understand that it's not the way it's written though that that's my my point semantically it's saying and and not or so you suggesting change the and or yes I know it sounds all right yeah are there any other questions uh to my right M gra yeah I just want to note um we had discussion about this in uh property committee this is the approval for the environmental survey and we did um I see that Mr Kenwood has in fact added the AB ility for us to do additional sampling if required as they are working through
064the high school and the auxiliary buildings on the campus so thank you for doing the leg workk to get that included I appreciate it thank you any other questions to my right seeing none to my left see no questions left thank you Miss stey uh Personnel items Dr sorini thank you Dr Zerby the Personnel items for this month are as follows one resignation professional Alexis Washington diversity equity and inclusion climate counselor we thank Alexis for her service to the students of methacton school district and we wish her well four Employments classified including Kathleen St schy ananya Jones power professionals at Sky View and Kiana Matthews boss assistant at transportation we welcome Kathleen Tanya and Kiana to the methacton family four resignations classified three of which are for retirement stevenh shy custodian at arola Sky View
06524 years of service to methacton and fra personal care assistant at the high school 14 years of service to methacton and Linda Milligan power professional at Woodland 13 years of service to methacton we thank Steve an and Linda for their commitment and dedication to the children and schools they served then the entire methacton family wishes them the very best in their retirement there's one employment professional Sarah Wright special education instructor at Eagleville we welcome Sarah's return to the methacton family one change of status professional John conran from teacher on assignment supervisor of special education to teacher on assignment director of Athletics and activities we thank John for again taking on this new role five changes of status classified Mark drone from custodian at the high school to maintenance mechanic at facilities Aaron Pratt from Recess
066assistant at Woodland to office assistant at Eagleville Kathleen shyman from par professional at Woodland to office assistant at Woodland Kelly rubendall from custodian at the high school to head custodian here at ARCA Sky View and Kim Whit uh from personal care assistant at Sky View to par professional at Arrowhead we thank Mark eron Katie Kelly and Kim for taking on these new roles there's one uncompensated leave professional Gabrielle Arthur special education instructor at the high school for the dates that are identified three uncompensated leaves classified Janet H custodian at Woodland Lindsay Rivas par professional at Sky viw and Maria long Ander part-time attendance secretary at the high school for the dates listed supplemental contracts for the pupil Services Department curriculum writing math club sponsor board meeting support Esports fall coach and Dei Liaisons and two
067Community Education swim instructors Avery Gat and Dylan Becker we thank Avery and Dylan for taking on these roles thank you thank you Dr sir do any questions from members of the board to my left Miss Austin yes I'm just um curious about 10 B2 and 10 C2 please yes yes we were in a situation where we started an employee prior to the board because we had a need to fill that role uh that employee then decided that was not the best role for them and they did resign after one day of employment so we need need to show that employment and that resignation okay that's how it does read to me and so thank you for the clarification any other questions members to my left seeing none to my right seeing none thank you Dr
068serini next on the agenda we have policy Dr Regina thank you Dr Zerby as you can see we have a number of policies for first and second read on the agenda uh really the first reads there's only one real notable one there is policy 620 it was a discussion of policy committee and there was some language in there about Wednesday being the only day that we cut checks for Student Activities which is not a true statement uh we do that any day that we can um so we did remove the Wednesday designation in policy so the policy committee would would want to know that uh for second read um again the notable policies there were 103A and 104a and just so the board is aware there has been no updates to that list so AR
069Cola and Arrowhead will be the only two schools uh utilizing that version of the policy the other five schools will be utilizing the version uh that is currently on there for policy 103 and 104 additionally policy 200 for enrollment will also have two proofs of residency from this point forward and that's my report thank you thank you Dr siga any questions for Dr Regina to my left seeing none to my right seeing none thank you Dr Regina next on the agenda we have items under other we have gifts and donations uh we approve the generous uh donations from community members for the backpack program in the amount of $234 182 approve the generous donation from the manaon Education Foundation for the backpack program $1,500 for the 2425 school year approve the generous gift from Betsy
070o uh to Sky View Library valued at $60 approve a gift of the football table for the sky view PBIS uh program uh by Anonymous Community member at $250 approve a gift of a trumpet to the sky view music program from Bridget Spade at valued at $200 in addition we have trips we approve the girls high school basketball team to participate in the boardwalk Classic Tournament from December 27th to the 28th in Wild New Jersey and then we have under action item 13d and it reads approve the Shrader group Architects and Cha District owners representative to proceed with schematic design and design development phases of a new high school campus at an estimated cost of $3,254 1837 this motion includes all phases through and including the required act 34 hearing as listed in the attachment
071are there any questions under other seeing no questions under other Madam president I'll turn it over to you for dates from board members calendars right and we have old business and new business anything for old or new business yes I just want to thank the uh district and especially the nurses and um uh speal uh Dr Raven and anybody else that has uh put together the Simon's heart that was very successful and serviced many students both inside methon and outside of methacton and I'm proud that methacton has done this twice in the last half doz in a year so appreciate everybody stepping up and and doing it and really um providing a service it's uh potentially life saving thank you any other new business seeing none we will move to the courtesy of the floor
072the board of school directors will now provide an opportunity for residents to make comments on matters that are or may be before the board the board asks that you keep your comments to 3 minutes or less the board of school directors may choose to respond to matters following the conclusion of the comment ments please submit questions via email to information.org good evening John Andrews Lower Providence findings about a new high school and renovation for each I say what's the rush terms of the concept A Hillside location that has more stairs and elevators and less ADA compliance a two small buildable area small size 1600 student capacity versus an 18800 goal huge site disturbance during construction and site restoration separate Fieldhouse includes a central administration offices difficult to expand building and required variances are time critical
073and uncertain education the concept limits funds to raise teachers salaries critical to raise the rankings one immense gym versus three or four now week on improving the stem program takes back some specialed programs that are better done at the mciu finances new high school is too expensive bonding interest for 30 years is costly risk of lower credit rating tied to possible lower index values cost is too close to act one and act 34 limits costly mistake to demolish a decent building communication and logic professional study of renovation should have been done ahead of or alongside recent and rushed incomplete new high school concept study you're relying on a renovation cost estimates that I would call Wild they're certainly not done to the quality of that uh the shrer group has has done few postcards and
074undisclosed cost led to 3/10 of a percent or less public turnout at open forums apartment occupants and businesses receive no Communications public and possibly staff feedback strongly opposed to a new high school little board commentary of public inputs renovation the altern alternative to a new High School in methacton Fall of a year ago emphasis by the administration on a new high school with hint of renovation as a fallback possibility multiple expert facility assessments failed to mention demolition suggestion is to perform a professional study of renovation renovation is doable and affordable with tolerable disturbances it would be a wisely spent $100 million and the Freshman Class could be housed at arola to ease several years of renovation and for instance replacement of the audit thank you very much my position on this issue should be obvious
075to you by now thank thank you thank you um before I begin I'd like to request the five minutes that I was unable to have at the special meeting you had recently that was not advertised that you going to give five minutes to speakers even the agenda said the time was limited to three minutes it was an announcement at the meeting there was no way of anybody knowing including me that five minutes would be provided and also note that I requested 30 minutes at this meeting to talk and was denied by the superintendent the board president and the board vice president your your time is started wow it just furthers my comment that you could care less what the public has to say especially those who disagree with where you're going what you're doing uh
076Paul you don't need the word or in that language because you're building a new high school it's a done deal another step was taking it tonight by removing all the high school projects from the master plan so before you vote in the affirmative next week to start spending money on this debacle couple things to keep in mind with require with the construction of a new high school the required tax increase will be substantial over the next four years average homeowners will pay $888 more in school property taxes this is about 13 138% more than than such tax increases without the debt service for a new high school given the District's recent tax and spend policies that tax increase will never go away it will only be compounded by Future tax increases construction of R new
077high school will increase taxpayers debt service requirements by a Monumental amount $425 million yes $425 million annual debt service requirements in 2029 are currently it slated a drop to 4.8 million with this debacle they go up to 15.1 million annually an increase of over 10 million there'll be little room for spending on teacher contracts any other contracts educational improvements or other things that matter or even God forbid a t reduction in property taxes it seems as though this decrease in debt service requirements is a driving Factor even the district's financial advisor viewed this as a Now or Never moment in the history of the district as been stated before you've not fully considered all your options renovations got barely got the time of day the amounts are based on square footage estimates no details whatsoever
078there are many contingencies that are unresolved how will the school operate during plant construction waivers and variances required from War sester as we saw with a field lighting debate not an easy process it will be resolved quickly preliminary design seems like an effort to put a square peg in a round hole cost estimates exceed preliminary expectations and will likely go up the further you go many issues that should be resolved and addressed before you spend a dollar more on this project the financial projections are lacking detail the starting point the annual budget has historically lack accuracy rejections shared with the board and public lack details only one page was provided nobody with any Financial background prepared them nor reviewed them there's no effort made in the projections to reduce operating costs thank thank you very
079much one last thing given all of these issues which I cannot elaborate on because you will not give me the time of day I don't see anyone in the right mind would approve spending any money on this project without additional research study and evaluation the work done to date is incomplete more Works to be needs to be done and serious consideration needs to be given to a less burdensome option Mr ansha please I have much more to say but the district's timekeepers are telling me I'm done before I start don't start the clock Madam chairman you have the authority and the uh Power to extend me an extra minute I understand thank you and is that a refusal yes it is at this time okay thank you um Dave you should resign you you should
080resign um Miss Purdue good questions the answer is there was and is no plan for renovation it's a bunch of square footage that somebody put together Miss Austin you want to spend $450 million on your why here's your why Fab Lab lunch and learn apartment program school store sensory room Fieldhouse and eight lane pool can you tell me since you're the expert how that's going to affect scores how that's going to affect grades how that's going to affect people getting into college you know how much do you pay in property taxes by the way when you start paying your fair share in property taxes you can go tell me oh I federal federal law my friends don't break it because I will sue and the average cost per student here per year is 30 grand
081you're not paying your fair share actually you're not paying your fair share either Mr Winters the board resolution is for repairs and upgrades but at present you don't have a plan right for the repairs and upgrades so yeah you are going to get called out there's no plan so you know it's obvious that there's a problem um you guys rely on the bureau veritage study for all of this right for all of it only thing is there was an email sent to Bureau Veritas or by Bureau of veritos to the district maybe I've read it before um they basically said Bureau of veritas was asked to get additional costs from kcba to be included in the analysis a bulk of these costs for were for modernization which typically don't get included under FCA but Bureau
082veritos was asked to include it so as to show the high school in poor State and making a case for demonstration of demolition of the high school you cannot rely on any of this and if you're going to go down this road this is where we're going Dave okay there's a word for this and it's not good that's the problem um as far as your enrollment goes flow was off by 100 students K to four underestimated 100 right well that means your high school enrollment that they projected is going to be a hundred higher they're just not going to disappear and you're already at your building capacity but somehow you turn that into a functional capacity greater than the building capacity and I asked you about that functional capacity and you you said you didn't
083know what the answer was so there's a lot of there's so much lack of transparency here my recommendation will be to put this place into a receiver ship that's where we're going thank you my name is Wanita de graio I live in Lower Providence and I've lived in this Township for 66 years I moved here as a teenager from the upper Maran School District I attended upper Maran till the middle of 9th grade moved up here and we didn't have metha in high school we had to go to nstown and it was a big change for me because I went from a class of 135 to a class of almost 400 and instead of going right into a high school I had to go to written house because they had uh upper Mar we went
084from 7th to 12th up here we just went you had 7th 8th and ninth grade middle school and then noran High my question is please indulge me in my ignorance and tell me something what actual grades are in our elementary schools what are the actual grades in elementary we can answer after the comments okay I also want to know the grades that are in Sky View and the grades are in our Cola and the grades are actually in our high school okay uh 66 years I lived here my children all went to methacton my grand children all went to methacton but my grandchildren as they got married and were buying homes originally started to look in the methacton school district this is where they grew up this is where they went to school but unfortunately
085when they started looking at homes and started to compare prices and the taxes unfortunately one was able to stay only because the family home became available to her the rest all had to buy out and out of the school district and the majority of all their friends who have been gotten married 90% have had to move to other school districts and that to me I feel bad about because like I said it was always through the years it was a nice feeling that you grew up here you did everything here helped each other out but like I said my question really was what are the actual grades in the elementary school what is Sky grades what is our colar grades and what is the high school grades we asked that at the end of your
086comments you have three minutes and then you can we will answer okay that that's you know was my I said my children my grandchildren all went to school here they all played Sports here were very active in it and wanted to stay here when they got married but when it finances came they've all moved other places which I feel bad about but I do get to see them my question too was um I when I moved up here we had Trooper school I do apologize the three minutes are up okay my three minutes up that's fine you can send your further information to information maa.org it's at the bottom here and you could send the the questions to that okay it's right there at the at the agenda of the courtesy of the floor so
087I do apologize no problem like I said I've been attending meetings and um I know it's hard work for you guys to do and I appreciate the work but right now with the finances for everybody and me being a senior citizen I know what the tax increase is going to do thank you is there any more for Courtesy of the floor seeing none would anyone want to follow up on any of comments or questions I will do the clarification for the last speaker that elementary school is kindergarten to fourth grade yep to fourth grade and then we go to Sky View and that is fifth and sixth grade our Cola is 7th and eth and then our high school is 9 10 11 and 12 so 9th through 12th grade thank you and again you
088could send your information at methacton.org for additional comments and all the school board members will be able to read that any other questions or comments for the closing seeing none can I have a motion to adjourn Miss graph can I have a second Miss Purdue motion is return have a good evening