001And Mr. Patchell. And then everybody else here is Hey, how are you? I'm working on a couple more paintings. I know you're tired of looking at that one on the wall. Oh, here we are. Good evening everyone. We're going to be going to call the March 19th action meeting to order and we will start with a video that will include the Pledge of Allegiance. A news update. You may shoot me with your words. You may cut me with your eyes. You may kill me with your hatefulness. But still like air, I'll rise. Once again, North Penn students took center stage and delivered a powerful performance in this year's Black History Oratorical Competition. The competition honored Black History while allowing students to enhance their public speaking skills. The winner for group one was Arushi Desai. The
002group two winner was Vivencia Massay. And the group three winner was Eric Crawford. You can watch these speeches and all others on NPTV and NPTV YouTube channel. Four North Penn legends were added to an elite ensemble as the class of 2026 Knights of Honor. Former teacher and principal Bert Hines, North Penn alumni Tina Simmons DeFour, Missy Mazzoli, and Dr. Mayank Amin were honored in a ceremony earlier this month for their outstanding contributions in their chosen fields and to the North Penn community. The district also turned a page for Read Across America. And at Hatfield Elementary, guest readers brought stories to life like a perfectly scored soundtrack. Superintendent Dr. Todd Bauer and Principal Rita Wayland read some of their favorite books to encourage students to see the joy that reading can bring their lives. March is
003music and theater in our schools month and we always have so many great things happening with our talented students and staff across the district every day, not just in March. The NPHS Tri-M Music Honor Society hosted a talent show that felt like a live mixtape of creativity. From vocal performances to instrumental solos featuring a guitar, drums, saxophones, and even a trio of violins, students proved that talent comes in every key and genre. District-wide, our students have so many great musical and artistic talents. And guiding them along the way, the best teachers and instructors out there. And speaking of showstoppers, all three middle schools staged their spring musicals earlier this month. Penbrook cast a spell with The Descendants. >> [music] >> Penndale felt all the feels with Big Fish. >> [music] >> And Penfield cruised into
004nostalgia with Grease. >> [singing] >> And did you see that car? That wasn't just a prop. It was a full-blown collaboration. Students in the North Montco Technical Career Center Auto Collision Repair Program, along with those in Advertising Design, Machining, Manufacturing and Engineering, and Welding and Fabrication, all collaborated to transform an old car into that stage-ready showpiece. Their work included sanding, rust repair, painting, clear coating, sheet metal fabrication, welding, and 3D printing a hood ornament. Not to mention wiring on and off switches for the headlights. The result was an amazing transformation that helped bring the musical to life on stage. And while so many are familiar with the amazing talent in our large group concerts, early spring is a time for individuals and small groups to shine before the big push of concerts in May. North
005Penn holds over 20 different concerts from elementary school to high school as the culmination of all of the hard work our students and staff put in during the school year. The skill of our staff, the talent of our students, and the support of our community are just some of the many reasons North Penn's music and theater programs are world-renowned and annually recognized as having one of the best communities for music in the nation. And for that, we are always North Penn proud. And finally, be sure to grab your tickets for the high school spring musical Mean Girls, held at the high school auditorium Thursday, April 30th through Sunday, May 3rd. Tickets are on sale now at npenn.org/theater. Be sure to check us out on youtube.com/nptv, WNPV 98.5 FM, and all our other socials 24/7 365
006for all our programming and much more. Welcome to our regularly scheduled action meeting. This meeting is being videotaped for community cable channels and streamed live. Individuals attending this meeting and intending to speak to the board should be aware that they are being videotaped. In order to meet the requirements of Pennsylvania Sunshine Law, it is necessary to record the names of all citizens who speak to the board during the meeting. To assure compliance with this requirement, it is essential that those planning to address the board state their name and municipality. Members of the audience will limit their questions and comments to 3 minutes. And now, please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of our country. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which
007it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I want to thank everyone for joining our meeting this evening. I also want to note that I've heard rumblings that we will shorten the policy outlining the requirements for audience of citizens. We could just put We could just put Bob Gilmore on double speed. That might be a solution. But then every board member who does have to read it, we understand. So, maybe a shortening of the policy. So, we will move on to the audience of citizens and I'm glad that board policy reference 903 was already read. So, we can go ahead and get started and just for as a reminder, please state your name and municipality. Okay. Uh well, excuse me. I would like to interrupt the game and have a
008little time out. If you could get me a little piece of paper according to the policy and protocol so that I could put my name and what the purpose is. Yes. Yes. You know Mr. Patchell, is there a pen up there? It's It's No, there is Wait a minute. I have one of our great nation right here. I don't know if it has ink in it. Okay. Okay, let me I want to make sure everything is done correctly here. Policy I don't know. I can't forget I can't remember what it is. This is Todd. Can we restart the clock for Mr. Patchell? Sorry. Uh if I got to have one extra minute, I have some I wear this hat when I do come. This is to let you know I have nothing but accolades to
009lay upon the the great temple of education. So. No. I'm ready. Oh, perfect. Okay. Now the Now the game can start. Okay? Um I want to I want a couple shout-outs around here. And I usually come here in a confrontational manner. >> sorry to interrupt. You have to state your name and municipality, please. I stand corrected. That was a foul ball. Okay. >> [laughter] >> Okay. My name is William Patchell. I live in Montgomery Township, which I must put an ad in as the greatest township ever devised for the rest of the country to emulate. So, that is it. So, uh I got a few questions that I wanted answer and in the expeditious speed, I cannot believe. Okay? But the one thing that I saw was very, very important was that I recommend approval
010of 28 MPH so baseball players two NPS staff members, three. Most people don't read this stuff. Three additional adult chaperones to participate in the uh to to approximately cost uh 120 176 transportation with you know, really dry subjects, you know, uh finance is very a dry subject and the total cost of the trip will be $42,616, which I think is well worth it uh to Vero Beach. I used to go there many years and I got to see Gary Sheffield from me to there and I saw Jose Vizcaino and my son went to the outfield at Holman Stadium and brought me many baseballs. In fact, don't get eaten by the alligators. So, I want to shout out for uh Kevin Munroe. He has been a true guiding light and when I see them running out
011there for the Pennsylvania state championship, although they did not win, they looked as passionate as those players from Venezuela >> [laughter] >> onto the field. So, anyway, so this will be germane to this. Uh Dr. Barry, you'll find a white thing there. It is is it is not a Open it, please. This is the closest thing I could find to Columbia Columbia blue and white. That comes from the gift shop that I got 28 years ago at Holman Stadium in Vero Beach and they no longer play there because somebody decided Arizona was a a more applicable place to play. So, that is to that baseball department and if they could go down there every year, it would be truly inspirational to go there. Vero Beach, Florida. Okay. Now, the second thing I want to say
012is I had a little problem and I've been tracking the the the where is it? Oh, Disneyland world that I my son went. It was only $600 and there was a whole bunch of kids and slowly slowly slowly it has melted and now it was 139 139 kids. >> do this, Mr. Patchell, because we have really missed you Huh? and I'm sorry, your time is up. Oh, I I begged for 1 minute. Please, do I get down on my knee and please? >> No, Mr. Patchell. I'm sorry. >> Mr. Patchell, will you if you stay after, we promise we will speak to you after the meeting because it has really been a long time and we do miss conversing with you. Yeah, I I will I will take my passion back to my seat and
013try to uh Please hold on to your passion. Never lose it. But we did get that uh that uh And thank you. >> bobblehead there. Thank you, Mr. Patchell. >> And that thank you for the story behind the gift. Anyone else like to make public comment? Uh Jason Lanier, Lansdale. Um I'm up here again trying to I wanted to again address what I think is a problem with what is happening in the overall performance of the school and the misguided use of equity in education is using that as a rationale for shaping everything in the hopes that you're going to reduce disproportionality. And I've done spent way too much time looking at this data and made some graphs, sent you guys all the information so that you can reference it on your screen and try
014to see this this uh these charts that I made up. But if you look at the all student proficiency, I don't need to explain it too much, but you see it's going in the wrong direction. 2015, we are way up here. 2025, we're way down here. This is proficiency. Um This is this is not very good. When we break it out looking at subject matter and by cohort of what they break it into uh historically underperforming white, black, Hispanic, Asian, IEP, uh ELL and economically disadvantaged, it doesn't look much better. And we can do this through all of the different uh all the different subjects and what you got you what you can uh eke out when you do the what's called the uh disproportional risk ratio is that with every subject matter, kids that
015were doing that were disproportionately not doing well before, are doing worse than they were they are doing they're they're doing worse now than they were doing doing before. So, all of this money and all this effort to try to make things even has gone the opposite way. And it's not by a little, it's by a lot. I mean, it's it's 20 points difference between where where they were, kids that were historically underperforming, uh 20% worse. Or excuse me, 20 points worse. It's really alarming. And what is the plan to address this? It It's not that that I don't think that it's a lofty effort to try to get every kid what they need to succeed, but it doesn't look like it's working. Kids might be happy. They might feel great about being in school, but
016if they're not learning anything, this is a problem. And I don't know if this is just sort of a you know, an iatrogenic you don't know if you know it's a medical term meaning of a uh a medical medicine that's offered in it in hopes of remedying things sort of like a uh thalidomide What is it? thalidomide back in the '50s and '60s which was supposed to help nausea, but turned out to make a lot of birth defects. Is that this I mean, by mistake this is happening and it's not doing what it's intended to or is there something other reason why we're continuing to do this with the hopes that it's going to get better when all the data shows it's going the opposite direction? And a little feedback would be great because I
017mean, I spent way too much time doing this and I'm not joking this comes from Department of Education. It's not my numbers. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Lanier. Okay. Anyone else like to make public comment? Okay, perfect. Good e Ooh. >> [laughter] >> Good evening, everybody. My name is Alicia and I go to North Penn High School. I hope everyone had a wonderful day at their workspace or at home. I'm going to get straight to the point. If you guys were to tell me a year ago from now that I was going to be in a room with a bunch of people trying to convince them that we should have an SPO, which is a school resource officer, I would have said you guys are insane. Out of your mind. I was one of those
018people that was strongly against weapons and didn't think it was necessary. And I even said it in one of the student um superintendent meetings I was at Penn Dale. And afterwards, I told my mom and I was like I said no because that's that's my that's my opinion. And my mom yelled at me, scolded me. She was like, "What? You said no. Why would you say Why would you say no to such an important matter?" And I'm like, "Because that's my opinion." And there goes the argument. Then she went on and on and on saying that all the pros and that she already thought we already had one because most schools have one. And I was like, "No, we don't." And then she went like, "Why wouldn't you guys? What if this happened? What if
019this happened? What if this that?" And I'm like, "Well, I said no anyway." And then so, sorry. Um where was I at? So, at the end of the day, there is more pros and cons if we do go forward with this. I'm not going to go into much detail cuz I only got like less than 3 minutes to do this. But think about it this way. Every day when we go out to the grocery store, parks, concerts, there's always someone with weapons. Always. You might not know it, but there's always someone trained or not trained. Also, we have local police. Local police always have weapons to protect us and school should not be any different than that. And we're in high school now. This topic, if I'm not wrong, has been there for many years,
020decades on the table and it never goes away. Why? Because it's not a total bad idea. It always stays on the table because it sure is a good idea. And I go to North Montco Technical Career Center where they made that car. I do culinary. And recently, I got told there's two SPOs, which I did not know. But when I did, I was like, "Wow. Okay." And then I got told that the other districts that go to North Montco also has SPOs. So, I don't understand why we keep tabling the reason why we shouldn't have SPOs. I think it should be a great we should really have one because it would be safer. And the little amount there's little amount of people that say no. And if you were to put anyone in front of
021me, I can assure you I could convince them otherwise. I don't want to say anymore cuz I feel like I'm going to go over the time. So, I'm just going to say thank you, and yeah. Alicia, please make sure that you sign in on the on the paper. So, thank you. I think that's the one. If that has other Yeah. So, thank you. Um and many of us have had the chance to have a meet of meeting you, Alicia, so we're glad that you've joined us at the school board meeting. Um we met you in your capacity as a student at the tech school, so um we appreciate that opportunity um to meet you and get to know you, and we know that you have a career path planned through your connections with the tech
022school, but we're grateful um that you do have a voice, and you continue to use it. So, I I do think I have some questions for you, and I'd love to talk to you again at another point. So, okay. Um cuz you've obviously considered this issue, and I would love your perspective. Um okay. So, I any other persons desiring to be heard? If not, we'll move on. I don't see any. So, we'll be moving on to the approval of our minutes, and if we could roll that up into a motion and a second for both our meeting minutes from the February 19th action meeting and from the March 3rd work session. Looking for a motion and a second. >> So moved. Second. >> Motion by Mr. Kaiser, seconded by Mr. Bell. All those in favor,
023say I. Hi. Any opposed? Motion carries. We'll move into our committee reports, and as a reminder to the community, the we will not be publicly stating the reports out from our internal North Penn um committees. Those are all have all been recorded and are available on YouTube, and the reports are available in the inboard docs. Um but I'll move on to North Montco Technical Career Center. The J- the JOC met virtually on March 16th. Uh Dr. Damon Van Norman was introduced, and the JOC voted unanimously for him to be the next administrative director of North Montco Technical Career Center as of July 1st. Dr. David Zorbaugh was named the step superintendent of record for the 2026-27 school year. >> [clears throat] >> Carol Corr, executive assistant to the director, has been employed by North Montco
024for 34 years. She has uh submitted her intent to retire uh effective June 30th. We would would like to thank her for her service to the school district. We We approved the uh 2026 through 2029 uh comprehensive plan. We approved it to 2026 through and through through 2027 budget, and for and we submitted it to the five sending schools. We passed a motion to acknowledge that the education department of Fox Rothschild LLP, the appointed solicitor, will become the education group of McNees Wallace and Nurick LLC effective April 1st, 2026. No changes will be made to the terms of the representation, current rate structure, or personnel. We passed a motion to approve the performance contract with CM3 to serve as North Montco Technical Career Center's energy saving company provider. We passed a motion to accept the
025bid from W FW Holder to serve as general contractor for the health sciences renovation. And Cole will take the last one. Uh do you want to apply? Sure. Yeah, and uh we approved the submission of the public school facilities improvement grant, um which was in a grant in the amount of $3.5 million approximately. Um and I do also want to note in here that um there's a little bit of uh clarification. Um in the notes, if you'll see, it says that I worked on that grant. I did not. Um I don't want to take credit from the good work of the people that did secure that. I did, however, work um on an additional grant that we submitted um that would provide for a state-of-the-art um nursing lab um and the equipment uh to make
026that possible after um all the the construction. So, just a little point of clarification there. Thank you very much, Cole. That's it. Thank you, Mr. Rash, and thank you, Mr. Chiba. Um I will move on to give the report from the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit. The MCIU board met on February 25th. We received an update from the Office of Innovation and Strategic Partnerships um around around efforts that they are undertaking. The executive director gave an update. The assistant executive director gave an update and a reminder of the legislative breakfast that is coming up on the 27th, um and did share that they're very excited um of the panelists who will be joining, including several North Penn students who will serve as MC. Really grateful that students in that program will be joining that meeting. Head
027Start and Pre-K Counts shared a report of upcoming events, and Patton acknowledged the um celebration or um passing of 50 years since the passing of IDEA, um and a reminder that of MCIU's work um to support the special education um within the Department of Education. Um student services shared that they're part piloting an art therapy program and contract um with services from Child and Family Art Therapy Together. So, the next meeting of the MCIU board will be um held on March 25th. Um I do want to take a moment and pause and acknowledge to the community that I am aware of the article in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Um I want to just share that um as a as a board member and as someone who is mentioned in that article, I am taking time with
028my fellow board directors and um key staff from the IU um to investigate items further. There were items that I was aware of and items that I was not aware of. Um and um today I in speaking with the executive director, I did recommend that um I do value the professional development for all of all staff, um but also did recommend that travel expenses related to that should be returned, perhaps in the form of a contribution to the Ed Foundation that the IU offers or another um option. But it is something that um we take very seriously, and I will continue to work on this matter. Yes, Mr. Um I I did ask Dr. Bauer how uh how uh these kind of expenses are done in the school district, and I and so Dr. Bauer
029will address that to the public uh because it's not something that we usually review, and we have trust in our administrations in this district. Uh but the question had to be asked. So, if you want to address it, Dr. Bauer. I'll be happy to. You okay with that, Mrs. Rash? Um Is there any way that the volume here can be raised a little? Because I'm sitting in the front row, and I will Can you hear me okay, Mr. Pacho? >> Okay, you got it. Um Thank you. If it is possible technology Mr. Gilmer isn't here. Understood. >> [snorts] >> Um so, each building and department has a budget for professional development. Uh there is a three-step process for approval in the North Penn School District, Mr. Rash. Um it would be your immediate supervisor for
030approval, then we have an administrator who oversees professional development at large, and then ultimately there would be an approval for um from the cabinet level administration. So, if it's a principal, for example, it would ultimately go to Dr. Waters. Um in my case as superintendent, um it would go to the board president and vice president for approval. So, uh Dr. Waters gets approval from me and then ultimately advises the board and my professional development, uh which does have a cap on it that is pretty clearly outlined uh a figure for the year um that would come to the board. So. Thank you for >> grateful to have that mentioned within your contract and grateful for the advice on adding that in. Okay, so I'll move on to the report of the North Penn Educational Foundation.
031The foundation met in February and welcomed a new member, Brooke McKeever. Brooke is a uh Towamencin Township resident who works for Girls on the Run. She brings diverse experience and enthusiasm. We are so excited to have her as our newest trustee. The annual campaign numbers are in, and we are happy to report that we raised nearly $11,000. Thank you to those who contributed. Next up is our online auction, which will be held on from May 5th to May 11th. Local businesses are being asked to donate items or services for this popular fundraiser that brings in more than $10,000 each year to fund innovative programs within the North Penn School District. The currently the foundation is accepting grant proposals for the 2026-27 school year. All North Penn staff are invited to apply. For more information about
032the auction or the North Penn Educational Foundation, please contact Christine Labrosky in the ESC or visit npenfoundation.org. Um I will say in years past um the board has contributed an item or experience to the Ed Foundation, so I will be reaching out to my um fellow directors for um contributions, and we'll put something together. Okay, next report is the legislative report, and I believe I will turn it over to Mr. McBain. Thank you very much. We have no report uh this evening, but keep on watching the news, and hopefully we get those budget uh conversations in Harrisburg to continue. Thanks. Okay, great. Next up on the agenda is the solicitor's report. Thank you, Madam President. Uh my report tonight is just to announce that the board did meet in an executive session immediately prior to
033tonight's meeting for the purpose of discussing a confidential student matter. And that concludes my report. Great. Thank you, Mr. Summers. Dr. Bauer. Yes, good evening, everyone. Thank you so much. Mr. Patchell, I hope you can hear in the front row. I recommend the items listed on the consent agenda, items A through I, namely adoption of policies, adoption of policies for a first read, a notice of intent to repeal, student travel, our Chapter 339 K-12 guidance plan, gifts to the district, contracts, student agreements, and a change in award for the 25-26 SNS equipment bid. Do I have a motion and a second for items A through I? Second. Motion by Dr. Tiao, second by Mr. McBain. Any comments or questions? Yes. I have a question about the change in contract. It it looked like it was
034Yes. >> over the one that was accepted. >> Yeah, so that we I believe accepted a bid and then the vendor changed some of their prices, which no longer kept them as the lowest bid, so we went to the next bidder. Is that correct? They didn't they one of the items in the bid they did not include in their pricing and when we went to place the order and we said, "Well, what is this extra charge?" They said, "Well, that's for I believe it was installation." We said, "No, that was part of the bid." So then we had to go to the next responsible bidder. Yeah, good question. Great. And that was related to item I. Thank you. Dr. Tiao. Uh just a comment about the item number Pardon me. E. Yes, E, the K-12
035guidance plan. Um this came before ECI a couple of weeks ago. Uh and we had the opportunity to hear from the staff about uh counselors and guidance work in the district. And uh I just wanted to call out on page uh three of the report about the number of and staffing levels of counselors across the district. Uh you know, this is really impressive in terms of our ability for the district to be able to staff and ensure that all of our schools have access to a high-quality guidance counselor. You know, when we talk about things like mental health, student mental health, as well as preparing for career and beyond work at the high school level, the fact that we have highly trained educators helping serve our students in really important and critical needs. Um this
036is really impressive. And I we had the opportunity to hear from Dr. Waters around the guidance uh and counselor strategies and and the staffing levels. Um I understand that uh numbers have actually gone up in terms of how our staff are been able to serve kids. I don't have the numbers off the top of my head, but Dr. Waters, maybe if you could um just bring that to bear. Sure. I think you're referring to a couple of years ago when we recognized at the elementary level that our schools could use some support. So we had some schools that were over 600 students and then we had some schools who just were experiencing their data was showing some significant need. So we did add 2.5 elementary school counselors and um hopefully um at least to the
037best of my knowledge, that's been helping a lot. But yes, all of our school counselors do an outstanding job and we're very fortunate to also have SAP counselors Lakeside, Merakey supporting mental health as well in addition to all of the responsibilities at the building level. Sure. I would encourage folks if they're interested in learning more about some of that work or revisit the ECI meeting that we had on this and the incredible presentation from the staff to do that. So thank you to the administration for all the work on that. Thank you. Thank you for that recap and question. Appreciate that. So we have a motion and a second on the table. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Back to you, Dr. Bauer. >> Okay, now to the non-consent agenda.
038I recommend the personnel items as per the attached. Do I have a motion and a second for item A? Motion by Mrs. Coyne, seconded by Mr. Bell. Any comments or questions? Okay, seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Uh with that motion and vote, I am very pleased to share that we have three individuals in the audience who you just approved. We have Mrs. Rachel Early who will be our new director of curriculum. Rachel, if you just want to stand and WAVE REAL QUICK. >> [applause] >> WE HAVE UH MRS. REBECCA ROUSSEAU WHO will be our new curriculum supervisor. >> [applause] >> And lastly, Mrs. Deepa Richardson who will be a curriculum supervisor. >> [applause] >> And I believe Deepa's family is with her, so congratulations to all of
039you as well. Um I do also want to call out, while it's not on the agenda, it is certainly worthy of calling out in this moment. This is our last action meeting with our current director of technology who has served the district for over 11 years in her second stint here and is also an alum of the North Penn School District. Um I just want to offer publicly a sincere gratitude and appreciation for uh the director of technology that she is, but more importantly, the human being that she is. So Kristen, thank you FOR EVERYTHING. CONGRATULATIONS. >> [applause] >> I THINK IT SPEAKS TO HER CHARACTER that she's retiring in about 2 weeks and she's sitting in the audience at a board meeting that she doesn't need to be at. So that just tells you
040a little bit about Kristen. So. Okay, uh next item. I recommend um approval to advertise multiple RFPs uh for bid packages for miscellaneous services for the school district. Uh namely, in the public content there, you'll see that it's fire sprinkler testing and inspections, elevator inspections, emergency generator monthly service and inspections, asphalt repairs, uh concrete and sidewalk and curbing repairs, job source contract as required for site work and construction services, and lastly, snow removal services on an as-needed basis. Just to note, these are very typical, very routine RFPs that go out and we did not mention them at the F&O meeting. So Mr. Slaughter just asked that I call them out specifically. >> [snorts] >> Thank you for that summary. Um and congratulations to um our personnel and thank you so much, Dr. Landis. Really have
041just appreciated the work in ushering in the use of technology. I think if I look back at just at my time on the board, how much has changed and shifted, it's it's pretty monumental. Um so thank you so much. Okay, so back to the matter at hand. Do I have a motion and a second for item B? So moved. Motion by Mr. Rash, seconded by um Mr. Bell. Any comments or questions? Just Just a note. Like to your point, Dr. Bauer, these are very standard, very uh non-noteworthy RFPs in many circumstances. And at the same time, it's both really important and really proactive to be getting ahead of it now. We're finally coming out of winter and we're talking about snow preparations. And so I think it says a lot about our facilities department that
042we're constantly planning ahead to make sure that we've got these provisions in place and looking to do it at the right time. So I'm grateful for the advanced work um and thinking about it so that you can be judicious in when you're bringing these in and can act big when you need to come, God willing, a less adventurous winter or another thing coming down the line. And with that comment, the next time it snows, Mr. Bell will have to make the decision cuz he just said winter was over. >> [laughter] >> Just kidding, Mr. Bell. Yeah, thank you so much for that. And Mr. Slaughter, um it's a lot of work to put together all these RFPs, so thank you. Maybe that's an idea for the online auction, an experience to partner with you in
043making the call on a snow day. Um and Mr. Bell can [laughter] make Mr. Bell will be the first to place a bid on that auction item for the North Penn Educational Foundation. Okay, item C, Dr. Bauer. Oh, we did not vote. Let's Let's pause and do that. We just want to I clearly want to move on from winter. Um okay, all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Next, we're seeking approval to advertise for bid for our newest batch of Chromebooks for 26-27. Do I have a motion and a second? Motion by Mr. McBain, seconded by Mr. Kaiser. Any comments or questions? Okay, seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. And that's the real reason why Kristen is here. She wanted to see us pass
044the final the final um request for um Chromebooks. Okay, item D. Uh recommend approval to advertise for bid for the installation of the new radio tower to replace the existing tower on the WMPV radio site. Okay, do I have a motion and a second? Second. Motion by Mr. Rash, second by Mr. Kaiser. Any comments or questions? Okay, seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Okay, item E. I recommend approval of Bid Pack One EC Contract Construction, Inc. for multiple change orders totaling in the amount of $60,553.45. This will be applied to the budgeted allowances and does not increase our overall cost of the project. The remaining balance is $105,288.17. Thank you. Do I have a motion and a second? Motion by Mr. Mr. Bell. Second. Second by Mr. Kaiser.
045Any comments or questions? Seeing none, um all in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Next, I recommend approval for Bid Pack 1 to Penn Builders Incorporated for a change order in the amount of $89,543.35 to furnish and install a video scoreboard in the natatorium. This will be applied to the allowances, leaving a remaining balance of $278,597.40. It does not increase the contract amount to the vendor. Do I have a motion and a second? So moved. Motion by Mr. Kaiser. Seconded by Mr. Bell. Any comments or questions? Yeah, I'll just call out that this is a change, hence the term change order. Originally, with our assessment of the natatorium, we were not going to replace the scoreboard as part of the renovation, but some of our booster club organizations approached the school district and
046said, you know, would you be willing to entertain if we contributed? So, we are partnering with three other organizations to help with this purchase. So, really excited about their partnership and we'll have a state-of-the-art video board in the natatorium as a result. Great. And appreciate the community partnership and parent support. Um Do I have a motion? We have a motion, so now we're going to vote. All in Oh, questions from Mr. Kaiser. >> I just had a quick question. Um the the both of these were no no effective change to the project and then but they're both different remaining balances. Can you explain? Yeah, so there are different pots for Go ahead, Mr. Slaughter. But different buckets for allowances in different areas of the project. Mr. Slaughter. Uh we promised you last month you would
047have a name tag. I apologize. No worries. As long as everybody knows who I am. Um so, yes, there these are separate contracts. One was for the electrical prime and the other was for the general contracting prime. So, each of the four four primes that we have for Bid Pack 1 have allowances built into their contract. We also have a contingency uh for each phase of construction as well. Thank you. Great. Okay, any other questions? Okay, seeing none, all in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Okay, next I recommend approval to dispose of equipment and furnishing uh no longer in service or function through municipal online auctioning services. Okay, do I have a motion and a second? So moved. Second. Motion by Mr. Kaiser, seconded by Mrs. Miss Coy Mrs. Coyne. Any comments
048or questions? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. I recommend approval for proposal award to Bowman Consulting Group LTD in the amount of $92,500 for the design services required for the Talman's and Township requested pedestrian crossing along Sumneytown Pike at Bridal Path Drive. The proposal is for the roadway and flashing warning device design services. We've discussed this crosswalk many times at F&O and in work session, actually. >> [snorts] >> Okay, do I have a motion and a second? Motion by Mr. Bell. Seconded by Mr. Kaiser. Any comments or questions? Just a just a question cuz I know this has been on the agenda quite a few times. This is you said just for the design, not the implementation, so this is coming back around again. Yes, so as part
049of our approval process with the Township, they're requiring us to put in a crosswalk right there from essentially where Crawford Stadium is across to Bridal Path Road and this is a design services for where the calculations on distances and sight lines and those types of thing. What would be required to make it as safe as possible. But the actual construction will come at a later time. Correct. Okay, thank you. I think to name part of this is that this is more than some of the other design phases that may have come in. I do think that there's a lot of wisdom in going through the process with the Township's engineer or design team to make sure that this moves smoothly as an effort to keep ahead of schedule in a lot of ways. So, I
050think that this is a wise move uh despite any numbers. Okay, great. Any other comments or questions? Okay, seeing none, all in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Recommend approval for the contract award for architectural and engineering services associated with the RFP for the performance of district-wide facilities assessment report to CMTA in the amount of $28,850. I'll just call out here that when we originally talked about this, we were talking numbers well in excess of six figures. So, Mr. Slaughter has said sometimes for these companies it is a loss leader that they, you know, will take a hit in providing these services in hopes of future work, but this is a number that is much less than we expected. Okay, thank you. Thank you for that intro. Do I have a motion and
051a second? So moved. Motion by Mr. Kaiser, seconded by Mr. Resch. Any comments or questions? Okay, seeing none. Oh, go ahead. I want to thank you, Mr. Slaughter. I was looking at the numbers and I was surprised of the $100,000 difference between the first bid the lowest bid and the second bid. So, very nice work. Thank you very much. Thank you. And thank you to all who participated in the RFP process and the interview. It was truly a worthwhile effort and we really do appreciate the due diligence. So, any other questions? Thank you. Sorry. Um and just like I guess this isn't similar to another situation where they come back and it's actually more there's another surprise fee, right? Yeah, so the assessment itself is going to identify the work across the the district in
052over 10 20 to 30 years. So, the figure is going to be hundreds of millions. All the work that needs to be done across the school district for decades. [clears throat] So, it is not right now. It is to help us establish a more devised concrete long-term facilities plan. Thank you. And very much having ready to have this before the F&O as a guiding document. So, we're very much looking forward to this. Okay, we have a motion and a second on the floor and and great questions. Appreciate it. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Slaughter. And the last item here, don't go too far yet. I recommend approval to allow FC Warwick Soccer Club to rent the fields at Penn Dale Middle School for Sunday morning soccer. This
053may seem weird to some of our newer board members that we're seeking approval for this, but certain categories of groups in our admin reg require board approval. It is also not typical of us to rent on a Sunday morning, but this group is a Class 7 and requires board approval. Okay, do I have a motion and a second? Motion by Mr. McBain Mr. Kai Mr. McBain, seconded by Mr. Kaiser. Any comments or questions? Okay, all in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. And that concludes my report, President Romich. Okay, great. I'll turn it over to Mrs. Hauser for the financial report. Thank you. I'm going to skip to 8D if that's okay. That that is the resolution authorizing the incurrence of general obligation indebtedness. Our attorney our bond attorney Ms. Rhonda Lord is
054here to present or answer any of your questions about the resolution. You did see the resolution at the finance committee meeting. Now we're voting to approve it. And we have the attorney here if you have any questions. Does anybody have any questions or concerns? Did you want to step through just a couple of like the highlights? Through the highlights. We did this I think I was here about a year ago for those of you who are here then this for the newer board members this is a process whenever you're going to incur any debt we have to go through the Department of Community and Economic Development and do this resolution and file debt proceedings and then get approval. So, this is the process to get that approval. I believe representatives from PFM were here several
055weeks ago and went over the financing plan. This is a resolution to borrow up to $70 million for the high school project. Right now the intent is to borrow about 60 million this year, but if you'll recall from last year the parameters has to be a little higher so that they have some flexibility in pricing. So, that number will be adjusted downward once we actually do the sale. The other fact in here it says an interest rate of 5 and 1/2%. We don't anticipate it to be that high, but again it just gives flexibility in pricing and in structuring the debt because we do file this DCD assuming you approve this tonight, it will be filed with DCED. They'll issue with approval and then we will go ahead and issue the bonds and then update
056DCED with the correct numbers and all of the actual figures. The other point is that before any debt is actually issued, your Tara Hauser will have the final approval or the board president. So, nothing will happen until everything is approved by either the officers of the board or Tara. So, um with that I'm I'm to answer any questions. Any questions? Uh Yeah, and when this is going to be a roll call vote. Just so everybody's aware. Okay. So, do I have a motion and a second? So moved. Motion by Mr. Rash, seconded by Mr. Bell. And would you like to start with a roll call vote? Mr. McBain, yay or nay? Yay. Mr. Rash, yay or nay? Yay. Ms. Coin, yay or nay? Yay. Mr. Kaiser, yay or nay? Yay. >> [clears throat] >> Mr.
057Chiva, yay or nay? Yay. Mr. Bell, yay or nay? Yay. Dr. Teo, yay or nay? Yay. Ms. Romich, yay or nay? Yay. Okay, motion passes. Thank you very much. All those microphones were not open. They were not red, which indicates they are open, which would make it very difficult for anybody in the audience to hear this. I would make a motion to to take that roll call again. Thank you, Mr. Patchell. It Yeah, the the vote was eight to zero. Um so, Mrs. Ms. Hauser, I will move it back to you. Okay, thank you. And thank you so much for coming to our meeting. And and just a reminder to board members to please put the mic on and speak um so Mr. Patchell can hear. Thank you. Um the rest of the items were
058all things that we covered at the um at the finance committee meeting, and the contract for the demographic study is in your executive content. Um it's pending um legal review. So, I put it in executive content. I don't expect any of the terms to change um and then we'll move forward with that. So, if I can get a um a vote for items 8 A, B, C, E, F, G, and H. I believe we have a question from Ms. Coin and then we'll move to those items. >> Okay. So, go ahead. >> sorry. I just for for clarification, so I'm I'm remembering correctly, once we pass the resolution, is there a time limit that we Am I remembering correctly that we have to vote to Well, you have to make the decision to issue the
059bonds? Uh I Honestly, I don't remember if there's a time limit from the point of resolution. The intent is to close by the end of May. Um so, I'm I want to have the cash in house in before the summer because we're going to have um we're we're going to start incurring some construction bills over the summer cuz we're doing a lot of construction this summer. So, the intent is to be able to close everything by the end of May. Okay, thank you. >> don't I honestly don't. I'd have to double check. I don't I don't think there's a limit, no. That's okay. Yep. Okay, and Ms. Hauser, I'm afraid I Okay, so I want to make sure this is correct. We're We're the motion now is for items A, B, C. A through C,
060E, F G and H. >> Oh, all of it. Okay. Everything else Everything else minus that. Okay, so do I have a motion and a second? So moved. Motion by Mr. McBain, seconded by Mrs. Mrs. Coin. Um any comments or questions? >> Just going to say H is not an action item. I didn't think so. And And A isn't either. Okay, so minus B, C. B, C. E, F, G. E, F, G. Okay. We'll Do any comments or questions? Okay. Mr. Rash? No, okay. Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Okay. Any items for other business? I do just want to wish our families celebrating Nowruz a happy Nowruz. Um I was also informed that our hockey team has won um the Flyers Cup and will be going on
061to the Penguin Cup. So, very proud of those students. Um also want to acknowledge that several board members also attended the Black Oratorical Competition and want to thank the students who who participated in that and for the team that organized it. Um it is one of those events that I like to sit in the back and just soak in the goodness of our students. Um they did an incredible job. Also want to thank um the team that organized the Knights of Honor event and to congratulate our honorees. It was um a tremendous success and a beautiful evening. Um any items under for other business? Okay, then do I have a motion and a second to adjourn? No, wait a minute. What about paying? Okay. Second. Thank Um no, but just what No, we'll we'll come
062talk to you, Mr. Mr. Patchell, I promise. I'll come Yeah. So, do All in favor of adjourning? Meeting adjourned. Thank you.