001[laughter] >> I would call this meeting to order. Roll call, please. Mr. Baker? Here. Mrs. Varner? Here. Mrs. Bomberger? Here. Mrs. Dixon? Here. Mr. Erb? Here. Mr. Harshbarger? Here. Dr. Ketchum? Here. Mr. Thayer? Here. Mr. White? Here. Communication reports, uh school board secretary, Mrs. Lewis. Um I received a letter from the PSBA uh CEO about the delegate um appointment for that voting delegates at the PSBA delegate assembly. Um the Mifflin County School District can send up to three delegates. Um it's being held on November 7th at 9:00 a.m. at Cumberland Valley School District Mountain View Auditorium. There is no virtual option, so if you would like to go to represent Mifflin County School District, um please let me know. We have to put it on the agenda for next month we can vote on it.
002That's all. All right. Thank you, Mrs. Lewis. Uh school board members? All right. For our superintendent, Mr. Varner. Thank you. At the March 26th board meeting, um at the end of the meeting I stated we needed to have an executive session for a student-related topic. During that executive session a board member asked if we could speak about a personnel topic, so we are going to put that in the minutes that we talked about a student-related topic and a personnel topic in executive on March 26th board meeting. We have one correction to the personnel sheet. It will be corrected for the next meeting next Thursday, but underneath new hires, that'd be page two, number one, Dr. Eric McGinnis, English teacher at the high school. Um he would be step two at the far right. He has
003his PhD step two. So, his um updated correct salary would be 59,633. And at the end of tonight's meeting we'll meet in executive session for personnel topics. And that's all I have. Thank you, Mr. Varner. Our chief academic officer, Mr. DiArment. Thank you, Mr. Harshbarger. Nothing for tonight. All right, Mr. DiArment. Um our chief operations officer, Mr. Aaron. I have nothing for this evening. All right. Thank you, Mr. Aaron. And our director of building and grounds, Mr. White. Thank you. I do have a few things. Uh we had our buildings and grounds committee meeting uh last week, and we hit uh some of the topics that I have in my report. There is a few things that uh I thought I had figured out a couple days ago, and then we had a few twists
004in the process. So, one of the things is the Indian Valley playground equipment that's on my report. I had planned on replacing a couple plastic pieces to buy us a few years there uh until we'd have to replace the equipment and the mulch is about $85,000. So, in the process that they had given us prices for those pieces, but when they called the factory, the factory had gotten rid of the roto molds for those parts, so they can't make them anymore. So, uh kind of now we're looking at replacing an entire piece of about $11,000. It's a plastic tube that's on the side of the playground equipment. So, options right now for that is to take the tube off entirely, and then they make a panel which is like a big bubble on the side
005of it that would take its place. And that's about $550 plus shipping, which would buy some time. There is some other parts on it that have some corrosion that we were going to treat and just buy us some time until we had to replace that. So, now we're looking at $11,000 [clears throat] to, you know, replace that piece, around $1,000 to take it off and blank it off, or about $85,000 because whenever we replace a piece of equipment, we're going to need to replace the molds for ADA items. So, that's a decision um you know, that you guys be involved in, so you can we can spend as little or as much as you want. Uh I did talk to Mr. Portzline. Uh one of the you know, one of the things I thought about
006it at the current time is we don't have anybody in wheelchairs out there, so that was the one to me to repair it for now. If we got more students, maybe you know, maybe we spend the money on it, you know, to get the molds and stuff replaced in there. So, my feeling is right now we either block it off to buy a couple years or totally replace it because the alternative is to spend about 30 35,000 dollars to bring it up to par, you know, the graded pieces, uh the slide and whatnot. And at that point, uh I don't think we should do that. conversation. What part does that relate to in the overall replacement? The which part? The plastic or the corrosion parts? >> [laughter] >> How about both? So, the plastic there's
007a there's a tube slide off the ones right now where the slide you just slide down that's open that has a crack in the middle of it. Uh that's about uh I think $1,500. We were going to replace that. I actually had it ordered and it's going to production today and I had her stop it uh after I found these other you know, that we weren't able to replace the other piece. And then there's a an enclosed tube that comes off the backside. Uh the very first piece and the second piece has some stress cracks where the bolts are. I mean, nothing catastrophic, but it's certainly what we would plan to replace if we weren't going to do anything else with it. So, those were the two pieces, and I think they were about 30.
008>> [clears throat] >> The two of them. Actually, they were $1,600, I think. They were $1,600 for those two pieces on the quote they had given us, but whenever they called Playworld up in Lewisburg, they can't make them whenever [clears throat] we decided to order them. So, now the alternative is to replace the entire thing. It's about $8,000 plus uh labor to put it in. So, they'd make an entire new uh type of tube and retrofit it onto that. And then in addition to that, there's some platform and stuff that the uh the finish is coming off. There's like a rubber uh coating or almost like a bed liner coating on that. The steel had laminated and gotten crazy. Not any huge emergency, but uh if we were going to keep it, we would probably
009treat it for now, and then in a couple years look at replacing those panels. They're about 15 to 20,000 dollars. They're expensive. Some of them are $4,500 a piece. We're going to replace the whole play set? So, if yeah, if we were going to replace it, we'd replace the entire thing. The whole thing would come out, whole sale, the footers and everything. They dig big holes. >> like there's too many band-aids. Yeah, well that's that's where I'm at. I mean, if we were going to spend three to five thousand dollars to buy a couple years, it might have been worth it. But now when we're looking at spending, you know, 20 25,000 dollars plus, uh it's >> that's already 20 plus years old. >> 20 years old. Uh 20 26 years old. It's a 1999
010piece of equipment. >> my lesson trying to fix my dishwasher. So, if we replace it, we get a 20-year warranty, and um you know, hopefully get 25 years out of it doing anything with it. So, but as soon as you touch anything, whether it's the mulch or the equipment, you got to make sure you bring everything up ADA wise. So, that's where the mulch comes into play. Which is another 20 Probably 25,000 dollars if we replace it. We'd bury all that stuff underneath whenever we dig. What is your timeline for the new set? I think we could >> [clears throat] >> I I I would hope they didn't shoot down my timeline. My plan was that if we wanted to do we would order it hopefully get it done over the summer because we would
011we would remove the old piece. I had planned on taking all the old rubber mulches out. Find a place to stock out where we do use it on other playgrounds. So, rather than just getting rid of it, we would reuse it cuz everybody likes to take it home. So, >> [laughter] >> the kids like to carry it in their pockets and everywhere it's in the schools. [clears throat] So, we would try to save that, and and you cuz we actually add probably a skid to each school each year, you know what I mean, cuz it does get displaced. So, we would try to reuse that and then uh put new mulch on the playground that's ADA. Something we've put on or what? Does that give you direction or what's the Is that something that could
012be is you put out for bid or potentially put out for bid or or >> So, there's only a few places that provide it. Um they have they have some uh that's under COSTARS program with state funding. You buy from COSTARS. Yeah, one of them yeah. So, we would do it through COSTARS as a supplier in Harrisburg. It's Tom George and Associates, and then the manufacturers uh the manufacturers There's only a few There's only a few around here. I mean, when you start looking at shipping and stuff like that, and then that drives the cost. There's only a few around here. I mean, uh we've shopped around. We have a lot of their equipment. Like they have a certified Yeah, you have to have a certified installer to do the installation. And they they do
013everything. So, you have to have a certified installer do the the installation so that you're covered liability wise. So, >> [clears throat] >> What are you looking at as far as the design? Would it be a different design? Uh they had They had sent us three designs. Two designs had monkey bars on them. We stay away from monkey bars because um history tells us to because we've had a lot of accidents where the students are coming off the monkey bars and breaking arms. So, um it's similar it's a similar design, and then it meets the ADA requirements for it. Uh I think 50% of your elevated um activities have to be ADA accessible. I think there's all the requirements, and then there's charts and um uh uh scales that go with that that, you know,
014that shows it's ADA compliant. I'm just curious, how's that How do they pick that? If you have like three or four, is it something you could solicit feedback on or maybe Uh I think I mean, I certainly can look for more designs. I mean, is something that you want to look at or is something I mean, we put to the building. I mean, it's very similar to what we have. >> Yeah. Like I said, they had sent us three options, and the two options had the had the monkey bars on them. And like I said, we typically stay away from them. Like I said, we removed one at LBS cuz we had three fractures in one year there. So, over a couple year period. What's the protocol here? So, I would recommend if that's something
015that you guys want to vote on this month, um to see what uh what Mr. White could bring to us and put that on roll call vote. Other than that, I would say probably by May or June uh let you figure out if we decide not to vote on it this month, let you figure out what would be best uh practice and maybe put on put it on the consent agenda under custodial and maintenance. We can wait. He's looking He's looking for direction now. a half months. It is. That's why that's why we're talking about these things now because we have a two and a half month window to try to get some of these things done. So, I'm kind of planning now and there's a lot of other things that I have on my
016list and If it's this month, I would recommend a full combo. Okay. What is manufacturing time then? Like once we order >> They never told me that. Okay. My assumption is I think that we could have it by summer, you know, in time because like I said, the factory is right up in Bloomsburg. It's Playworld that that manufactures. So, I mean this isn't this isn't do or die right this second, but my hope was to have an idea of direction, you know, next week the voting meeting. My plan is the things that I have on my there's a list on my report here. If there's anything that you have question, you guys might not be interested and we just won't put them on the you know, the voting the voting agenda. You know, or we
017put everything on the voting agenda next week and just have a you know, roll call vote for all the items on here that are on the capital. Am I correct that playground is open to the community? It gets a lot of traffic. I mean there's a lot of kids out there, but it gets a lot of traffic out there. What is the age of that equipment compared to the other buildings? So, I'm told that this is one of the older pieces. I I haven't verified that personally myself. There's a couple of older pieces out there. When you're looking at the playground, the stuff in the front I think is like 2012, something like that. And there's a couple small pieces right behind it that doesn't really have any moving parts or anything that are older,
018but they're in good shape. This piece was I the other thing that I left out that I discussed in voting grounds. This was moved from either Brown or Armagh. >> [clears throat] >> So, it was already moved. So, whenever they you know, abandoned one of those schools, they had moved it to this playground. So, it has some dents in the post and stuff. The finish is still there, but you can tell that it was you know, moved. So, I mean it's relatively good shape, but this this is expensive. That's why you just don't jump on you know, throw a piece out and replace it. So, I was curious about the monkey bars. What happened? Is it just I think they it's the ones that they climb across. I think they fall and try to catch
019themselves. They didn't know where Our mulch meets the impact you know, requirements or whatever. I think try to I think it's wrists mostly. Like they try to catch themselves. Like they they get them off it and they land like on their hands or whatever. I think they had one student break it twice. And then the old one that's lower sound and that's what we took the matter there. So, it's then they had issues with that one. So, that's why we just don't put Cuz they've been around for Yeah, I know. 100 years. So, like I don't know if we go better now than we did you know, 100 years ago because I don't I guess there's a lot of that goes into it. Okay. So, you're going to walk into a little 12 improvements on
020the agenda for for whatever million dollars and We can do it that way. I was looking for a little discussion tonight. The other thing that I had to discuss in voting is the grounds. I was going to put off for a little while, but NRG just came in off this yesterday. The J's controllers for HVAC equipment that's on there that I just added. They have a promotion and actually just in a is an NRG >> [clears throat] >> Schneider Electric who makes the makes the controllers has a promo. And it's like $60,000 savings if we replace them now rather than waiting till end of life, which is next year. Actually they're going to quit supporting them. You can [clears throat] only buy them through the end of the year and next year is when they
021quit supporting them. So, it makes [clears throat] sense to save $60,000 to do those controllers now. So, and then the other thing with those two items there combined is two items with the J's controllers in the schools. [clears throat] I asked them this morning if we did both of those projects together if we realized any savings there and I had him back this afternoon and the answer was yes. So, if we do those two together, the combined price is $75,870. And if we do them together, he can save us $11,210 by doing them together because they when they send their people up, they can do them all one time. So, it would bring the price down to $64,660. That's total savings of about $61,62,000 over what it normally costs us to have that work done
022if we do it while this promo is on buying this equipment. So, Just out of curiosity, do you even know what happens after 2028 when support stops? >> [laughter] >> So, number one you can't buy the hardware. So, you're faced with paying full price for the piece of equipment, which instead [clears throat] of $2,800 or whatever it's six some $6,000 and then you pay the emergency price for them to send a tech up to you know, install it and you have to reprogram it or do whatever. So, and then the other thing is when you have this part when we do have their controllers now on rare occasion, you know, we they're stumped even NRG's guys are here and you can't figure out what's going on. You call Schneider Electric for support. So, the difference
023is they tell you what to look for and when not, they just say we can't help you. So, Dumb question. I can imagine what the cost would be going with a different system. >> [clears throat] >> At what I mean Your pause tells me the answer. But I'm going to ask. I mean I've this The guys that asked me several times about I mean it's like anything else when you're looking at I've dealt with SCADA systems at the water plant. Everybody has their quirks and I haven't seen anybody that you talk to, you know, the people in person that are using this stuff think it's awesome, everything's perfect. There's never issues. I mean you get glitches all the time with this stuff. So, It would probably surely cost over a million dollars for us to
024jump ship to go to somebody totally different. Something more modern. Yeah. Well, I don't I don't I wouldn't say any more modern, but to go to a different I mean this stuff's proprietary. So, you go [clears throat] with somebody other than Schneider Electric, then you you have to replace all the hardware, software, everything. My concern is support after 2028. Yeah, I don't know that. I mean if Schneider Electric provides If some of those fail, then we're going to be in a lot. Okay. I mean it's like it has to be done. It's like replacing your computer. I mean that's what we're doing here. I mean I have had my feet on this stuff as long as we can. I hadn't planned on doing it until this promo come up and then they come we should
025throw that in there because it makes sense now. So, all the all the schools are automated. Our administration building main buildings are not, but all schools are automated. We can nearly see every room. I can pull them up here right now so you can see everything. >> Including this system? Yeah, that's what that is. That's the controllers that So, we have the J's controllers for the individual pieces of equipment, you know, the comms come back to those and then they report to a master controller in each school that connects to the Doug network that we can enable we can remotely access. I mean from my office I can see every room in the district. We can tweak settings and equipment and whatnot. So, this is how we optimize our efficiency. So, we you know, look
026at stuff and tweak it. So, Last question, do we How long has it been since we replaced these last year? So, those I I don't know exactly. I would say they're probably The AX controllers in the junior high and in the valley probably original when we did the automation. So, I'm saying probably 2014. So, they're 12 years old. Okay. So, you know how long you keep you know, keep computers and software. So, that's what we're running into. The next Niagara upgrade that we hit at N5, which is the next version of software. It's kind of like Windows. That's when we're going to run into problems because these 8000 controllers won't take the next software upgrade. So, this is buying us 12 more years. Well, hopefully. They say it all the time. They say I want
027to get it in writing. They say we're going to buy this 10 years and then in five years, you know how it is. Like hey, by the way, we're running into a wall here again. We're going to I mean we're going to need other hardware. So, Thank you. For next week, will you uh solve the numbers for the uh lighting upgrade and the floor or uh Yes. So, I had a company from um Wave Wayfarer's the flooring companies. Hillary Yoder our cleaning product company recommended them so they're really good. Uh the prices are good and they're good people. I talked to him last night. He's coming down from New York to give me a price solid price on the stage floor. And the lighting, Pittsburgh Stage was in I met with them last Friday afternoon.
028That was a verbal number he gave me. He said 200 to 250,000 and that's because we're reusing We had a controller that we took out of um the junior high whenever it was renovated that's sitting there. It's only a couple years old. That saved us quite a bit of money. He said typically uh to upgrade an auditorium with all the incandescent lighting still like we have, we're talking at 300, 350,000. I know you brought that up when we were in the buildings grounds and I said 100 plus. I don't know and you're like is that enough? And I'm like I'm not sure. So, all the house lighting is still incandescent. Uses the the mini candelabra bulbs and stuff like that. I mean that stuff's getting hard to get now. So, that's house lighting plus stage
029lighting? Yes, house lighting and stage lighting and all the controls. The biggest thing for us is our has original There's the 400 amp electric service with all the relays and stuff on it for the actual line voltage. That guy said he never seen one that old. So, um they used to send How old was it? It's original to yeah. I mean I feel like I'm old anymore. So, I didn't really always feel that way, but it's original to the school which was built in what '75, '76. So, Yeah, so it's original to the school and they used to send the modules out and get them rebuilt, but nobody touches them anymore. We've been robbing Peter to pay Paul by just switching circuits over to different relays and stuff, but we're running There's no more nothing
030else left in there to steal. So, that's why we're back in the floor. And the flooring the stage flooring original as well. The back half of it we're not going to go with the uh like highly finished oak. It's going to be uh fir or like yellow pine like the the high school is because they typically paint that part because it takes a beating from moving stuff in and out. Uh it'll be uh cheaper, but the other thing with that I've never seen it before, but the the ends of the flooring doesn't land on the the runners. So, there's soft spots in it. So, technically whenever either you're laying on a total flat surface or normally in our gym floors have runners every 10 inches or so, the butt ends are not all on the
031supports. So, anytime anyone steps on one of those, it breaks the holding force. There's patches all through it and there's soft spots everywhere. So, the existing one Yeah, the existing one. So, once we do the lighting and stuff, I'd like to replace that back part of the stage floor because it it has patches everywhere and it just has soft spots in it. There's a couple of things that I would really like to see and and I don't know how much it work it work with you know, how how hard this would be, but for everything like it would be nice to have when possible to get like two competing quotes, right? I mean to be able to see if Keep everybody honest, you know? I mean, it's one of those things that always good to
032have a couple options. Of course, some things might be easier than others because you're limited on the suppliers out there. And another thing that we I think we brought up the other week was the the idea of if there is financing available, at least find out what kind of rate it might be. You know, I don't know if any of these places have financing, but I know I think we talked about it with computers too. But, you know, because if it's less than what we earn in interest, then it might make sense to be to finance these things, too. Okay. It It probably isn't, but it's good ask question. >> Well, I know you did ask. James, you asked about the computers. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. >> we ran that and it doesn't >> [clears throat]
033>> It wouldn't work Okay. But, it was a great idea. Well, what I think is it's one of those things that if it is available, I mean, maybe don't look too hard, but think about it a little bit to see if it's something that would be uh make sense. Yeah, this is one we ran about and back in the day when it was the zero Back in the day Back in the day when it was It was like Yeah, yeah, yeah. >> [clears throat and cough] >> There's no way they're going to start buying anything like that. So, to that point, the the boiler I've gone through I've been I had three different quotes on that and land where we're at. Uh the paving, if it's over 25 or 23,700, it's going to be put
034out for bid. So, that that meets that. Uh using anything up to 20 up to 23,000, we get three quotes like the windows in the building where we do that. Um we typically do our due diligence. Uh there's things like the stage lighting there's only a few people that do that. So, I can try to search around and I find somebody else to get a similar number. They are CoStars, I guess I said, so you don't typic- typically have to. Uh the um what are we using? The KPN. So, the uh the boiler the the company that we're using now actually is going through the Keystone Purchasing Network, which is pre-bid. Okay. So, CoStars is a pre-bid. I mean, you're familiar with CoStars? Yeah, CoStars get they You should be able to look it up
035and see what what their mark up is, right? That's mark up. That's where it's transparent pricing. Yes, right. So, that you can see exactly what they're making. Yep. So, CoStars the the playground equipment is on CoStars. The And it seems fair. You you Yeah. Yeah, and the difference between CoStars and like Keystone Purchasing Network though is CoStars isn't necessarily competitively bid. So, you have a manufacturer that just for instance like one of our mowers that we're getting ready to buy right now is 27% discount over what you or I would go out and pay for a commercial, you know, company that mower. So, it took, you know, $10,000 off that mower. So, they show the discount. They get they make a couple hundred bucks on it basically. So, um when I see things like that
036because I know, you know, they when they show what it costs, you don't really need to go, you know, search around and try to buy a vehicle or whatnot. So, some things you might not know as much like installing a boiler it's the labor, materials, things like that. But, the Keystone Purchasing Network actually this stuff is pre-bid. Whereas CoStars isn't. Right. CoStars, they give you the your discount on what they're willing to offer off, you know, Just transparency. Yes. And Keystone Purchasing Network is transparent. They have all the bid They have all the bid documents, all the advertising, you have everything that you would need because we'd actually use those for the escrow money. Federal funding especially and all grant money, you have that requirement. So, no matter what you want to do, you have
037to do your due diligence. Group advertising may be required. If it's federal money, you have to have bid Davis-Bacon wages versus state wages. So, there's a lot of moving parts to to all that. But, we follow all of our procurement stuff, too. Great. Well, thanks for explaining that. I really appreciate that. Uh I'm trying to think if there's anything else here. So, do you Does everybody just want us to put all these items on the agenda for next week? We have any more discussion for any of the other things we have on there? Just a comment. Sure. So, I don't think we touched on this in building around our this comment here. Ritual field. Sure. If This is my thought. If you sell a lot of this stuff that's there, the bleachers, the lights, and
038all that, I think we should probably set that aside in an account somewheres to have because we also discussed the idea of putting up a building for you guys to store some stuff over winter. Maybe that money could be used towards that. I don't I'm sorry. So, what do you If we sold all the bleacher boards, you put that back into Where do you put that back into whenever we bring in new checks? I mean, it's just it's money. It's revenue. Okay. She puts it back in revenue. Is that something that you want to hear, Mark, or Well, I think that has potential from what we discussed for you guys, your maintenance team, to be able to utilize that space somehow. But, it's obviously going to cost some money to put up buildings. Right. So,
039if you sell any of that, why not reinvest it? I'm That's my thought. Do you put the paint on the side of the side light? We are for the replacement of the Yeah. park. We did that for the AR district for replacement. Okay. Yeah, well, yeah. Same thing. Yeah, I don't know what the bleacher plank leaves. Aluminum planks on the visitor bleachers have been I probably the only thing I mean, unless somebody is willing to buy the whole structure. My feeling was if we looked at that and decided it would Yeah, the visitor bleachers we talked about removing. Um I was going to ask the Norris question and probably Tony Tony Wheeler question. So, if we sold them if somebody wanted to come and tear them down for personal personal use or whatever because they
040would need to have you know, building permit to put them back up or whatever. What's our liability if we sold something like that? If somebody come on our property as as they provide the liability so if they come and do it? We would [clears throat] need to see some sort of uh liability insurance and also have the district probably added as uh as a uh covered insured. Right. Uh you know, as part of the same way as if you'd be bringing somebody in to do construction, it's just demolition instead. That was my feeling. I mean, if we if we got the somebody who would want to do that and it was a decent price, you know, maybe you know, make sure that we're covered and the Norris and and Tony Wheeler were satisfied that we're,
041you know, uh held, you know, not liable if if they had an accident while they were doing that. Yeah, sure. Just my thoughts. Any other discussion? All right. Go ahead. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. White. Um Mecklenburg Academy of Science and Technology, Mrs. Hicks. Um I just wanted to share this week is our uh written NOCTI exams. Tomorrow is our last day for that. Preliminary results show that we um have quite a few advanced um students that placed advanced in the written part already. Um our 11th grade students take their pre-NOCTI. Our seniors will be taking their um their post-NOCTI written next Thursday. They will take their performance. So, we will have only seniors in our building and lots of business professionals. So, I thank the business professionals to come in because that that written
042part or the um performance part has to be proctored by actual, you know, industry professionals that come in and and judge the students. So, um hopefully by our next meeting then I'll have some finalized results for you on that. But, um preliminary results were pretty um excellent on our students' results. Thank you. I have a question. This is just for me and it's my problem. It's already been answered, but if they take the if they're taking that over there today, are they required to take the Keystone then still? They They still do take the Keystone exams, yes. Yeah, it the NOCTI for us gives them some added benefits when they um complete our program. They can be considered a completer, which gives them access to some um post-secondary credits that um they can take to
043different schools and things like that. So. All right. Thank you, Mrs. Hicks. You're welcome. Um ad hoc committee reports. Uh first from the technology committee meeting on March 30th. Um is there anything that the technology committee would like to highlight? Mr. Warner answered my question if they followed up with the lease idea. So, that answers that. My second question is refresh my memory or maybe there wasn't necessarily a next step for Mr. Cunningham to look at the Parent Square or some other option that he was looking at in terms of uh Mr. Cunningham, the whole See that. Uh Dr. Ed Hinos. Yeah, I I actually uh saw a presentation last week at the Skyward uh committee users group committee um on Parent Square. I had good discussion with the vice president that was presenting. Um
044I gave him some suggestions for us and he says it's great to hear from customers. I said, "I'm not a customer yet." He said he wants to sign us on, but uh we're reaching out to them and School Status to get a deep and let you guys know uh whenever we have that going, but uh we want to figure out who needs to be involved in that. But, but I did see it last week again and we'll we'll be moving forward with that shortly. So, the idea and my thought pretty sure I mentioned in the technology committee was if we can gain efficiencies from Mr. Cunningham looking up alternate solutions besides Skyward, which he clearly thinks there are some alternates that can do us some good. Um if we can gain some efficiencies and example
045I persistently uses why am I getting four copies of 25 sheets of paper for one of each of my kids if I can do it either online or do it once for medical form and then have it propagate. There just seems to be some efficiency gains that hopefully Mr. Cunningham can uncover. That That's on there. We discussed that. Thank you. All right. Um anything else on the technology committee? Um any notes from the building and grounds committee that members would like to discuss? All right. We discussed them under discussion. Yeah, I think Mr. White went over them in pretty good detail. So, moving on to the first public comments. The general rules that apply for the public comment is that you must state your first, last name, and the town that you reside in before
046you begin. Uh public comment cannot individually exceed more than 5 minutes, and for this first public comment, it has to pertain to what is on the agenda. So, at this point, do we have any public comment? No. All right. So, we'll go ahead and move into the consent agenda. Items A and B include the approval of minutes from the Committee of the Whole and regular board meetings held on March 19th and March 26th, and that also will include the requested amendment from Mr. Warner. Um for item C, recommend approval of the following policy and curriculum items, which includes uh approval of the following draft policies as a second and final reading to replace the board's previously adopted policies of the same number if they exist, which include policy 204 pertaining to attendance, policy 218.1 pertaining
047to weapons, uh policy 626 pertaining to procurement, policy 805.1 pertaining to relations with law enforcement agencies, along with recommending approval of the following draft policies as a first reading, including policy 140 pertaining to charter schools, policy 236.1 pertaining to threat assessments, policy 805 pertaining to emergency preparedness and response, policy 805.2 pertaining to school security personnel, and policy 810 pertaining to transportation. There is nothing under custodial and maintenance, so items E and F recommend approval of the following financial and cafeteria items. Uh Mrs. Kennett, is there anything that you would like to highlight for the board? So, I noticed um when I was looking over things prior to the meeting that I failed to include the items number four. There are no real estate and per capita tax reports in your packet. I can include that
048um for next week. You know, the the tax season is over. So, um there really isn't anything new to report. We do have a spring supplemental. So, I will be uh sure to uh Mrs. Foltz um scan I'll scan it and send it to Mrs. Foltz so she can have it um posted. Uh that was my oversight. So, and we do have an exoneration and opera on a depository, and then number eight, um at the April meeting, we always ask for the board approval for the next year's employee pay schedule. And what's different about the 2026-2027 schedule is that the teachers will have 27 pays on the um schedule that's on the agenda for your approval. And it just has to do with um the number of Fridays uh every other Friday that's included um
049when you look at from the August to the August, and it just has to do with um if we don't have an occasional 27 pays, um you know, the first pay of the year keeps getting earlier and earlier in the month of August, and we start to pay uh have the first teacher pay be before the first work day of school. So, we need to avoid that situation and occasionally add in a 27-day a 27 pay a year. We've done that um you know, for central office, you know, occasionally, too. It simply is a matter of how many Fridays there are in the 52-week year. That's all I have. All right. Thank you, Mrs. Kennett. Uh moving on to transportation, uh which just includes an informational item that uh BG Enterprise drivers, Susan Slonaker, will
050be transferring to Christ Transportation um effective April 8th. Um there is nothing under student related, so item I recommend approval of all personnel items uh listed below and on the attached personnel sheet, [snorts] uh which includes, and I believe it's an updated job description for the full-time person in charge in the satellite kitchen. Right. I'll take that as yes. Oh, it's called Okay, I got it. And then moving on to item J is recommend approval of the following athletics and activities items, which includes item one, permission for the cross country teams to attend the Hoka Showcase on August 29th, 2026 at the Spire Academy in Geneva, Ohio. Cross country boosters will be responsible for paying the costs of hotel and food accommodations. Uh the showcase start times for the boys would be at 9:00 Is
051that 9:50 p.m.? It's only the boys. Got it. And then the girls would be at 9:20. Um and then that goes for all items on the consent agenda. Um is there anything Is there any discussion on any consent agenda items? Is there any items on the consent agenda that a board member would like to pull for roll call? All right. Hearing none, we'll go ahead and move into roll call items, which includes item A, recommend approval of Karen McMullen's resignation from working ESY as a certified occupational therapy assistant effective of the 2026-2027 school year. She will no longer receive [laughter] the $2,500 stipend for working ESY. Uh is there any discussion from the board on that item? Does that just get replaced with someone else then, or is that not filled? Mr. Warner? Yeah. She
052was an anomaly. Um she was hired and we usually don't have when a co-ed is hired, they don't put in a stipend with it. For some reason, when she was hired, it was. So, [clears throat] what we'll do is we'll pull that back out, and I actually sent me an email, so we're going to bill. And then moving forward, if we need any co-eds, we just pay them like an hourly rate for summer time. All right. Any other discussion on item A? All right. So, then item B, recommend that Stephen Bearman be approved as the federal programs coordinator at a monthly stipend of $600 effective July 1st, 2026. Is there any discussion on item B? All right. Moving on to item C, recommend approval of girls wrestling, both varsity and junior high, to be fully
053funded Mifflin County School District sports beginning at the 2026-2027 school year. Estimated cost for each program is approximately $21,000 for the varsity program and $12,000 for the junior high program. Is there any discussion on item C? I have a question that's probably going to be the same for C and D. What does the budget look like for like athletic expenses? Is there Is there room in there for these additional sports, or are we increasing that as we look at the budget here as well? Mrs. Kennett? Um these were included in the numbers that you saw last night. Okay. Um honestly, off the top of my head, I I can't uh think of a year-over-year increase in athletics specifically. [clears throat] Okay. And then I think Mrs. Kennett's comments were were certain that there was going
054to be enough interest next year as well. Like, do we have pre-signups or anything, or is the first year everyone's excited and they're signing up for it, and then it just seems from the conversations that we two years was, you know, what what we waited for this in this year. This time it's one year. Correct. >> have the interest. Yes, usually the common practice, and I believe lacrosse was the latest sport that had to go through this process, was that any sport that wants to be funded by the district has to go through um it's not per policy, but has gone through a two-year process as a club sport. Um obviously, it's not against policy to make it as um to allow them to be funded after 1 year. It's just a matter of is
055that the precedent that we want to start putting from here on out. Yes, Mrs. Barlow. I was just going to ask for clarity on the 2 years um prior to becoming a school-funded sport, and what led to this being put on the agenda now after 1 year? Why was it Why is it being brought to the board before the 2-year period? Was it the coaches? Um I can't remember exactly. How So, I thought it was brought up at the athletic committee meeting. Did she discuss it? Yeah. She brought it brought it up there about putting forward >> [clears throat] >> But I don't believe that there was a reason behind why she was recommending it be brought up before, and if there was, I'm sorry, I don't remember that. I don't know if it was
056strictly based on interest. Sorry, Brett. Keep going, Mrs. Barlup. Sorry. No, I I was I was finished. I just I I wasn't sure if it was strictly based on interest or if there was another reason behind It is primarily behind the the strong interest um behind both sports with the increasing interest in girls joining the wrestling program along with the uh long time interest that the baseball program has wanted to have a junior high um feeder. So, what what is the risk if we ask them to continue as a club for the second year as has been I guess past practice for other sports? They're responsible for their funding. That's the main They're responsible for their funding. I'm not sure about the scheduling. Yes, Mr. Styres. Um Mr. Barlup, you you might need to refresh
057my memory. This two-year thing, is that just um coincidental? Cuz I don't recall a a conversation that a new sport had to go through a two-year We love There's nothing written anywhere, but it's just been what's happened in the past. >> Okay, okay, then my next question, with what's happened in the past, okay, obviously with cross, um what else? Was was swimming one of those? Swimming was one. Remember Nancy Craig volunteered in the game back in the day. We had bowling. All right. And bowling was another one. Was bocce? Bocce had to be boys two years. I don't think there was I don't I don't I don't recall, but I would I would be surprised if we put that on a two-year Yeah. So, I don't know. I I just know At the end of
058the day, it's not policy for them to be um a club sport for two years before a school is funding them. We could fully fund them from the get-go and then not even be a club. That's just again the at least the precedents that I'm familiar with and most board members are familiar with. Has there been a club that turned that was fully funded and then we didn't have participants? I think it was swimming. Swimming was. And the [clears throat] one year um from a few exchange students, I guess, I we ended the bowling. But swimming's [clears throat] the one we keep our fingers crossed and we don't have enough. But they're allowed to go independent. You know, I mean, you know, I mean, you know, I mean You know, compete the end by themselves.
059And then the the funding then just it expands. It sits somewhere. Correct. Okay, so it's not like Yeah, it just sits somewhere. a general underneath [clears throat] that budget. It's budgeted. It was budgeted in 2025-26. We didn't have a swimming team. So, that money wasn't spent. And it was spent elsewhere in the athletic sport. She's under budget. She is under budget in athletics. And the reason why I can't put my minds I can't wrap my minds around the year over year. I had looked at everything when I was preparing for the meeting last night. I looked at everything by object. So, I looked at, you know, salaries and benefits and [clears throat] um I didn't look at things by function, which is a department. All of her numbers are under function code 3250. And I
060just wasn't doing those comparisons. So, I don't have that number off the top of my head. So, if if it is converted from a the two years is kind of arbitrary. It just kind of how it worked out. Yeah. >> Historically. And if you move it move it into a a sanctioned team instead of just the the club, then if there's a lot of interest in it right now, great. And in the future that interest goes away, then you are no doubt Right. Right. I can tell you that But wouldn't we have the initial investment for equipment that would be sitting around if we don't have equipment? Is that the money that we're being we're asked to allocate or did they buy a lot of the equipment already as a club? Um I'm not sure
061Yeah, I'm not sure how I'm not sure how it's going to be requested. I know baseball a lot of times the kids provide their own. I do know they need a lot of money. The money numbers was a lot of money in the fundraisers. Yeah, so It could very well be what they're looking for. >> [clears throat] >> This year Correct. Yeah. So, what what expenses would they have incurred funding themselves with? We would be looking at obviously paying for transportation. Transportation. Equipment. Uniforms and equipment. So, I do have an email um response from Ms. McClain. I said she's out of the country, right? No, Mrs. Barlup might not have been Oh, I'm going crazy. Maybe. Um So, [clears throat] for the first question, the normal time for a sport that is club status to
062become a varsity sport or varsity sport is two years. Why are you asking for this one after one year? Um Ms. McClain's response was uh sport is sustainable uh through the MPC and through the Mid-Penn Conference and state with plenty of competition and feeder programs from junior high through the elementary level. Um and this that we believe is for girls wrestling. This would also help with Title IX as it will increase our opportunities for female participation as a full varsity sport. Um and the interest has been overwhelming with enough to support a full varsity and junior high team. And for question two, junior high baseball is playing in the spring and its season is not over. How can you How can you state that junior high baseball was successful? And Ms. McClain's response was success
063is measured by the number of players interested in the sport as several had to be cut from the team. In addition, we had no problems getting games to fill the schedule. And in addition to that, it is an established sport in the community with feeder programs beginning at T-ball. So, that's Ms. McClain's responses uh to some of the board's questions. >> yesterday. We sent that out. Yes. So, is there a coach for the girls wrestling team? I know that was small issue you all said last year. Does anybody know if there's a coach lined up? Or are they going to continue to share between the boys and girls? Amy, do you I I would assume they would end up with their own coach [clears throat] and that would be part of the budgeted expense. Yes.
064I don't That's my I As as there have been some discussions, [clears throat] you know, practices wouldn't take place necessarily at the same time. They might do like early and late practices. >> Kind of like basketball has to share the gym. So, my take on that was there was going to be you know, a dedicated coach. And she said that I think she said at the athletic committee meeting the baseball they do not play the same teams that are in the Mid-Penn. >> [clears throat] >> Correct. Cuz the Mid-Penn Conference does not have a strong junior high baseball program. But district six um does have a strong presence in junior high baseball in the PIAA. Just not the Mid-Penn. What about the girls wrestling? That is a Mid- That is Mid-Penn strong. We do have
065a coach. Yes. I would also assume Sorry. I would also assume that there is a separate coach for girls wrestling because I think at the athletic committee meeting Ms. McClain um mentioned that they were trying to coordinate practices at the wrestling club. So, it would be outside of Mifflin County as well. So, I would anticipate a separate coach for that. >> [clears throat] >> Then Yes. Um I'm just curious. Ms. Kennett, what what percentage of our budget is athletics? Um I'm going to say it's roughly a million dollars. So, 1%. That's what I Okay, that's what I thought. I thought it was around 1%. I think as long as we have the interest, it's something that can be supported. The rest of the group agrees that I I just didn't want to see it on
066there and then not, you know, it it be if it's a new sport, everyone signs up the first year and then they go to be a second, you know, as an actual district approved sport and not as many in that sport. I think that's my only thought on it. And then I'll follow through that. I can't speak for the wrestling side, but certainly the baseball side, the feeder program is strong. But um it definitely has followed on as the Ms. McClain's answers indicates, right up from T-ball. But there's strong interest on it. It's probably the fastest growing sport in Pennsylvania. Oh, I don't agree. And at least in terms of Mifflin County's participation in sports, the junior high program has been a massive ask um of varsity and JV baseball because of the amount of
067kids that participate um at the birth level. Okay. Yeah, we're good then. Thank you. All right. So, I will get an answer. Cuz I just checked and did not get a response. I'll find out if bocce ball was a club or did it become straight a sport? I don't know that. I'll email the board. So, any other discussion on item C? So, then item D, uh recommend approval to add junior high baseball as a fully funded Mifflin County School District sport beginning in the 2026-2027 school year at an estimated cost of approximately $13,000. Is there any discussion on item D? All right. So, moving on to item E, recommend approval the resignation of Jessica Baumgardner as a member of the operating committee for the Mifflin County Academy of Science and Technology effective immediately. Do we
068have any discussion on that? Well, I'll just say my resignation is due to the change in the time of it. They wanted to switch the meeting to be the same night as our COW meeting. I can't get there as early as they want to start, so. Which is understandable. >> And interest of everybody else. [clears throat] Thank you. It was short-lived but enjoyable. And Mrs. Baumgardner chaired that BOC meeting. It was very upright, yeah. All right. Um, is there any other discussion on item E? I just want the board to remember this is the one we have to vote on because it's an operating or a regular ad hoc committee. The board president has the authority to appoint for operating committees such as this, this has to be voted on, so that's why I added
069her resignation and then we'll go through next week and >> [clears throat] >> do the nomination process. And then you can see here like F and J is kind of like you run into a situation if the alternate comes with four seats, then you have to open up the alternate position as well. So, there's kind of a lot of moving parts to this one. All right. So, speaking of which, moving on to item F includes the nominations for the operating committee member open seat for the Mifflin County Academy of Science and Technology. Is there any discussion on item F? Hearing none, item G will be the recommend will be recommending approval for a future board member to serve as an operating committee member to fill the open seat on the Mifflin County Academy of Science
070and Technology. Um, I don't think it's for one calendar year to the that would that should be to to reorganization. Yes. Um, any discussion on item G? All right. So, [clears throat] then item H, if needed, to recommend approval of future board member to serve as alternate alternate operating committee member for the Mifflin County Academy of Science and Technology till the reorganization meeting. Any discussion on item H? Moving on to item I, recommend approval the 2026-2027 and 2027-2028 agreement between the Mifflin County School District and Follett Corporation for life services for junior and senior school transition classroom. This program will be held at Mifflin County High School. Do we have any discussion on item I? All right. Item J, recommend approval to purchase 1,423 Dell Pro Education 11, I'm not reading that one, laptops to
071the price of $508.24 [clears throat] each. The total purchase price will equal $723,225.52 with Mifflin County School District purchasing 1,315 of those laptops for $668,335.60 and the academy purchasing the remaining 108 laptops for $54,889.92. Is there any discussion on item J? Are we locked in on that price? Mr. White or Mr. Cunningham? Mr. Cunningham. Okay, yes, we're locked in on that price. There was a price increase originally on Monday. It took two days to get that in. They told us we'd delivered to October. I told them that's fine, I'll look elsewhere and within less than two hours they got back to me and the price actually dropped down to 508. Um and we're supposed to expect delivery earlier than July, but the latest would be the first week of July is what we're looking at.
072And I also want to thank Mrs. Wingard for providing the uh presentation papers that you got in the front of you explaining the purchasing versus the leasing options. And And these are the the ones that you preferred. I know that we talked about some different options. This is This is the preferred. This is the preferred. That is correct. So, also just to note um Correct me if I'm wrong with the details, Mr. Cunningham. Till next year this item should be on our board agenda earlier. Right? The locking in of the price. So, what February time frame? Uh, February, latest March, but it could even be as early as January if you prefer it. As long as As long as they're they're not switching out to a different hardware version like they did this year and
073not have it ready till March. So, the idea is we can lock in pricing a lot sooner and not get those increases that he's talking about, which are sometimes drastic. He told us. Yeah, he thought it was supposed to go up to 570 if I heard him correctly. So, that's great paying at 508. So, we need to somebody make note that this needs to get on our agenda. I'll make that put on his Outlook calendar to get that committee or technology committee meeting scheduled earlier. Sure. Thank you. All right. What grade level should get these computers? Um, it's spread throughout the school district. Um I know it will heavily be uh the middle school will get a lot. Um, Indian Valley Elementary has quite a few and it's either LES or LIS have quite a
074few and then there's several hundred just spread throughout the district. What grade do they start working with computers? Uh, well they they start getting on the laptops in second grade in the classroom. But as early as kindergarten they start with getting on the desktops or laptops through library or computer class. Now, these these laptops, then do they still all they all stay in the classroom or do the kids take them with them when they're moving throughout the day? They take them with them whenever they're moving throughout the day. Okay. The only students that take them home are grades 10 through 12. Okay. >> [clears throat] >> Thank you. Any other discussion on on item J? All right. So, moving on to item K, recommend approval to purchase a Synology storage system along with supporting hardware
075and software for district backups at a price of $42,053.26. Uh, is there any discussion on item K? I want to just say that Mr. Cunningham, did you not You told us this is something that is I want to say you used the word mandatory, but is it mandatory or is it something that's pretty much otherwise encouraged? Um I mean, we we're we're replacing the existing data arrays that we use backups to and their life normally is five years, we're at six years for ours. So, we do a we do backup. There's two arrays, one at the administration building, one at the middle school, and then we also backup to the cloud, but you're supposed to have three backups at all times. Is the best practice. All right. Okay. Thanks for clarifying. Is there any other
076discussion on item K? Is there any other business that the board would like to discuss? All right. So, we'll go ahead and move into the second public comment. Um, same rules applies last time except this one can be about any district function. So, this time, do we have any public comment? All right. >> [clears throat] >> Hearing none, public session is adjourned and the board will move into executive session. >> Mhm.