NPSD School Board Worksession 10-10-23

001all right everyone we'd like to get started Luke and Riley I just want to see if Mr Gilmer's set in the truck can you let me know what he has to okay waiting for Mr scroy here and then we'll get started two more minutes all right good evening I'm going to call this work session meeting to order we're going to start off please with the Pledge of Allegiance to flag of the United States of America and to the for IT stand Nation God indivisible andice for all all right first up we're going to have our audience of citizens public comment and I'm just going to read off the statement again 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

002aware 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 are asked to limit their questions and comments to 3 minutes as a reminder the audience of citizens portion of the meeting is designed for residents and taxpayers of the district to provide comment and feedback on matters which are or may come before the board it is not designed for debate or discussion with the board when appropriate individual School directors may choose to respond to public comments that have been made once the audience of citizens period has concluded

003or request that a member of the administration follow up with the speakers after the meeting and this is in reference to board policy 903 so with the floor is open I don't think we had any people sign up ahead of time so is there anyone who wants to make public comment at this time go ahead Mrs Burke sorry did you yeah I'll put the microphone please because the people at home on the they can't hear if you're not at the microphone hi my name is Margaret Burke formerly of upper gwened currently of landel bur I wanted to um thank the board for considering upgrading the high school um my child has special needs and it's been a real challenge at that High School somebody uh talked about the other option of just fixing things but

004um a lot of you know that the elevators there are constantly break I was lucky enough to have a tour lovely tour of the high school last week and get an up close look of at some of the facilities putting Band-Aids on things is no longer going to work for a 1971 facility when the elevators are fixed they break again immediately one Point both elevators were broken in the high school they can't be fixed right away oh sorry um and uh when they they have people uh come in it takes time they have to go out for proposal my child um was coming back off of surgery and had to was out of a wheelchair and had to go back in because of all the walking that had to be done around the high school

005just waiting the time it takes to fix an elevator and then it would constantly rebre and that's just one example from my experience of what happens when you try to put a a Band-Aid on an old facility it just doesn't work there's holes in the concrete once he stepped in it and fell they put the little concrete patch in there and then that comes out with the shoveling and everything like that and they're back again and there's new holes it just W it's a time for us as a community to have a new high school and I also want to say that recently when I sold my home in Upper gwened I also sold a rental in a very good school district in Long Island that we just talked about in the last meeting and

006that real estate agent in Long Island told me I have to sell that house before school uh starts because the parents need to get their kids into this great School District before school starts and I asked my agent about that do I need to hurry up and get this on the market before school starts here in North pen she's like no you do not so I think that we as residents may find the values of our homes go up when people realize that they're moving to a school district with a great high school with modern facilities there's a lot more I could say about the tour was great I saw how tight it is and you know we talked about violence and fights people are on top of each other from my experience I always

007talk about special needs but the students with special needs now I realize why my child doesn't eat because there's a ton of students going through these two little doors to get their food in the line he could never get make his way through there and carry stuff out so opening up I think will keep them off of each other physically and allow the students with special needs to get around the school easier thank you thank you Mrs Burke is there anyone else that would like to make comment at this time good evening Mrs braio good evening poine braio tell Menon Township yesterday um my daughter and I went to Philly and we saw uh Bobby Kennedy speak and we heard him speak and uh he was fantastic I'm a very big fan of Bobby Kennedy's

008and one of the things he talked aled about was bipartisanship and that got me thinking um and as Joe said here that that bill 422 is also bipartisan and uh I thought how lovely it would be for the school board to become bipartisan so I would like to recommend anybody everybody who's voting uh for the Schoolboard members to remember Vince Altieri Diana bstone and Liz Vasquez the other two Republicans I don't really know know them but there is a debate tomorrow night at the high school at 700 p.m. so we can all go and listen to all the candidates but it would be really great if even just three of them the Republicans would be put on the board because that way we would have a bipartisan board and I I don't think you guys

009are doing a bad job at all except for the mistake with the drag queen that is a big blunder however other than that I think you guys are doing pretty well I mean this is a big school district and and I um am you know on good terms with all of you which I'm happy about I just uh think that we need some Republican representation on the board so people please if you can hear my voice Vince Altieri Diana bstone and Liz Vasquez that's alphabetical order ABV okay so vote for those three at least and and come out to the debate so you could hear them talk and um answer questions cuz I know that I'm very curious about the people that I don't know so um anyway that that was my big commercial but

010vote for Bobby Kennedy in the presidential election I'll name I'll say that again during the next year um I'm a republican I'm not a falling off the cliff Republican I'm really middle of the road and uh Bobby Kennedy is just the answer I think to one because we can't have one or the other everybody hates Trump everybody hates Biden and I don't hate Trump I don't ha I don't have the hate but I don't like like uh what's been happening to our country and I think Bobby is the answer and if you would just listen to his speak go and watch his speech I that was the third time that I actually saw him in person and um I'm I I know I'm just going on and on about him but you know it's just

011he is an answer that we need so please consider him listen to him read about him and find out thank you thank you Mrs prio oh and don't forget the Republicans on the school board thank you Mrs bro you're welcome thank you for the compliment I'm glad you think we're doing a good job I'm honest yeah Mr lanir Jason lanir Lansdale um I guess I want to first start off saying I I don't think I don't think the Shader group is a bad group I don't think they're doing anything wrong I think the Shader group is their competent Architects I think I think dwey knows what they're doing uh but they're also good businessmen and I say that because you guys signed off on a no referendum and just gave them the contract for the

012business and after that the presentation was the cost went up by $118 million so no competitive bid and the bid's ,800 $118 million more I I think I think there's some shouldn't there be some push back like hey what's going on here why why is this cost so high I think you guys are so you want you like the the idea of of the 21st century uh Cathedral for for Education no one said you don't need to update the school but I don't think the cathedral is going to make the school any better there's no evidence that that type of learning environment is beneficial I know it's sort of the thing to do it's the the school theour but it's not it's not going to make it better so my I when you listen to

013the the presentation going on here just as a for instance look at how much more the soft costs have gone up since the Inception of of the school the whole n uh high school project they've gone up tremendously last I saw they were they were uh $69 million I think they're up to $97 million now any explanation for that and I would I would welcome the trader group anybody wants to answer answer the question and tell me to shut up because I don't know what I'm talking about would be fine but the fact that you guys don't actually say anything don't give any logical responses to what's going on is is unbelievable to me I asked you guys last meeting whether or not you're going to not only pass the you know get this referendum

014going by the way in an early election I is weren't they talking about moving the primary up to March or something I don't know why we need to have a January referendum for that uh but we're having a referendum that's going to add 97 million uh yeah $97 million plus the Act One index of 5.3% you know what that means that means everybody's going to be paying 88.7% more taxes next year that's what that means that's a lot of money and if you continue on this path of right doing the referendum the or excuse me the full act one for the next four years that's going to put everybody's taxes 21 7% higher that's a lot of money you guys don't have you paid your taxes recently or do you just let the the your

015your your uh your debt holder uh pay them for you because they're they're pretty outstanding the amount of taxes they're paying currently and I'm not sure the product coming out of the school warrants that kind of uh that kind of cost so I'm not in favor of of the uh of the Cyber Charter Schools but the rationale why people want to leave I I think it's clear we touched on it last time thank you Mr L thank you I can I just quick respond sure you do keep asking I mean how much has the price of eggs gone up man how much how are expensive is a house today in this community versus 2018 even right I couldn't right now purchase the house I currently live in today if I were trying to buy it

016on this market right used cars right I'm now going through college search with my kid everything because of inflation everything since Co has become more expensive and I'm not really sure what this line is I mean we don't make any benefit out of the fact that it's more expensive my taxes will go up are your taxes going to go up yeah by the same amount that your was and I do pay them and I'm well aware of what they are so you know I continue to hear this question the question I think the reason we haven't answered it is because I think most of us think it's obvious that everything has become more expensive since before Co not that expensive not that much more I mean on a percentage basis I'm not going to I'm

017not going to waste the community time arguing 50% more but I agree with you the taxes have gone up that's all the more reason why not to make taxes higher for for for what wor the projections you continue to put that are just projections because we have to year by year by year by year vote on tax increases so you know we will only right now focus on 23 24% not I'm just going to stop this because we need we have a lot of business to can I just clarify something just because I don't want there to be Missin we have voted on a referendum we have not set a date because it is still in discussion we are reviewing prices of plans because they are still under discussion we haven't moved forward with a

018lot of the details because we're still gathering information so that we can have a discussion so I want to be very clear that this is a an exciting time this is a um but it is also a very thoughtful and reflective time we're making decisions in a very methodical um well-considered Manner and I want to be very careful that we haven't jumped to a cost yet we haven't jumped to um a date for a referendum yet we're working out the details of those through discussions and meetings so I just want to be very clear I think Mr lanir and his comments kind of implied that we are jumping ahead of some things and we're we're not there yet we still want people to come on a tour so thank you for coming on the tour

019we still want people to come and have these conversations and review the material so thank you thank you Mrs romage Mr lar if you could have a seat please is there any anyone else that would like to make a public comment at this time if not we'll get on with uh okay good evening Mr aler Vin Salter Lansdale had no intention of making a comment but you answered a couple of Jason's questions or at least attempted to have a conversation with them about it why not get another bid we don't have any PS yet is is is is the is the Shader group the only game in town are they the only one that's going to bid on this they were the Architects that we had an RFP F none of the contract any other

020rfps was are there any other rfps out there and again this is not a debate so com are there any other rfps I mean it's I don't know how to even answer that question there were other applicants at the time they went through an RFP process there were interviews and Trader was the one that we picked is the only one right one that we chose from the other group that we I think there was what eight applicants for the there was eight applicants yes in 2018 I think yes no was it I have to go back but anyway this is not debate time so can you ask your question and then uh we can get on with the presentation I'll listen to the presentation thanks a lot thank you oh you're welcome Mrs sto if

021I could uh just ask Mr scy um I recognize that Mrs ramit pointed out that tax increases haven't been decided yet we did in the last meeting outline the 5.3% is act one if we chose to go if the board V elected or voted to go to that act one index I have no indication to believe that they'll go to 5.3% but if they did when would you say and if a referendum passes when would you say the borrowings for those Monies would start so that's a rough I recognize this is an estimate I just want to kind of get a ballpark I would say late 2024 okay about a year from now so the draw schedule about a year from now is when we would start to borrow money for the project correct and

022that's when the taxpayer would start to feel the impact of a referendum that probably would not occur until 25 26 fiscal year okay so a a yes vote for a referendum should it happen the tax impact from that vote would not be reflected next year correct in the real estate taxes correct okay okay thank you could I could I ask a question Tina sorry I was looking at the numbers myself and I I believe if I'm correct that when we look at the the price of fixing the building and just putting what what some people called lipstick on a pig over making improvements to the building to make it more accessible for handicapped people uh easier to educate our students uh that the the price tag is 10% of the 10 maybe 15% over the

023price of just the lipstick of the pig on the pig is that a correct statement so so so in in other words uh the the price of the improvements to the building is like 20 to $30 million and just fixing the building itself is going to cost 250 and another 30,000 million to to make improvements to the building so uh I understand your question Mr rash so you're you're talking about rather than a systems only we've been referring to it as a systems only renovation um in comparison the systems only vers versus the option one which includes the expansion for ninth graders to be on the campus the difference in creating the 21st century spaces is somewhere in the neighborhood of let's say 20 to $30 million is that your question it's about 10% of

024the budget yeah so so we could we could go your microphone's not on now we could go back to the the same building we have now or we can increase the cost 10% and get a much more functional stud uh building for the uh 21st century so tonight's presentation will outline where the actual costs are coming from so up until this point we've been saying look these are estimates these are generic estimates from a square footage and student capacity and parking spaces need all those things these are estimates um and from a a design standpoint now that we are getting a more refined design we have of course Dewey engineering involved and more specific estimates when there were conversations earlier during public comment about bids project has not gone out to bid yet we have

025Architects designing we have Engineers estimating what they believe those bids could be for these different aspects of the project and that's exactly what tonight's presentation is about um so I think you'd be very impressed with Mr Lynch's presentation you'll hear from me that's not the exciting part a little bit from Mr Shader and some more uh specific images compared to last time but Mr Lynch is really here from Dewey engineering to present where the numbers come from how it was calculated how the referendum cost was calculated um because it's very complex how we were able to separate what the the referendum is and the N the additions as per nth grade versus the rest of the project uh so I think that's a great transition to item number three here let's do our two action

026items and then we'll do the presentation I think we can give more specifics to Mr rash's Question during that presentation sounds great good okay so we'll move on then to Dr Bow's uh superintendent report please okay so the first item is I recommend approval of the Personnel items as per the attached can I have a motion please so moved second motion by Mr Fusco and seconded by Mrs ramage are there any comments or questions seeing none all in favor say I I I I any opposed motion carries hearing Mr Casa's voice I want to point out that Mr Kasa is attending virtually uh thank you Mr Casa uh next item is I recommend approval of the memorandum of agreement with a northp pen education support professional association also known as nespa uh pertaining to the

027addition of the registered Behavior technician or RBT position to the assistant job category within the collective bargaining agreement as per the attached can I have a motion please so moved second motion by Mr Fusco and seconded by Dr G are there any comments or questions yes president stall do this have anything to do with Esser activity from before somewhat yeah di you want to address that I believe that uh so there there is it's a certification program for some of our power professionals uh to be more highly trained in handling challenging behaviors and I believe the certification process um and the increased pay rate will be funded via Esser is that correct okay thank um Mr Bower just one other um quick question about the um RBT position could you speak to how that position

028can help to support some of our students with special needs um specifically because many people not might not be as familiar with rbts um and or Miss Kim can also speak to it um having because I am familiar and I'm fortunate enough to have an RBT in my building as a principal I know firsthand how it can be so supportive of students with special needs so I think it's good for the public to hear that yeah Dr Kim if you wouldn't mind just giving some specificity to the behavior technician position um so behavior um uh Behavior technicians um RBT registered Behavior technicians work under the supervision of um our Behavior specialist in the bcbas and so they are trained uh 40 hours of training to start with and they learn how to you know take

029data collections of students behavior and learn the antient behaviors and then when the bcbas are implementing behaviors how to to revise the student students with challenging behaviors and implement the strategies monitor collect data and then you know adjust and follow up with the bcbas and then adjust accordingly and it is really designed to help students um the reties some of the our students behavior has become more challenging and how to you know meet their challenges um and our power professionals are doing great jobs but the reality is um some of them feel that they don't have enough skill sets and I we do believe that this training will provide them with you know sufficient training thank you thank you Dr Kim so I believe there's a motion on the floor all in favor say I

030I any opposed motion carries okay at this point I'd like to invite Mr Lynch Mr Shader if they want to come up and join us at the table if you would like to present from the podium uh you're welcome to but please feel free to join us up next to Dr Kim and Mrs ramage I'll get started on my end of the presentation and then I will certainly pass the mic okay Mr Nicholson thank you for driving so just some brief background here uh obviously we've been having meeting after meeting after meeting for years now um and we had Mr Shrader uh join us and pfm join us in the winter I guess we're talking February March kind of outlin the estimated costs uh some square footage what things could look like what the taxpayer

031impact could be and then we essentially said okay we're going to get get to designing um we've shared some increased specificity along the way month after month of what the design looks like uh where the estimate is where the square footage is and so each month we provide a little bit more information as we continue to progress in that work so tonight's presentation is really about again showing a little bit more detail but really talking about cost and the project cost buckets and the referendum discussion as a whole so the objective tonight is for the community uh the folks in the audience and of course the board to understand where these costs came from and why the number is for the referendum that we the administration is recommending and then hopefully we would have a

032a vote on a resolution to for a referendum at next week's Action meeting so with that Mr Nicholson if you wouldn't mind advancing the slide here so these are uh bullet points agenda items here that we've discussed in the past but just kind of adding a little more detail to our slides in these presentation but uh we provided some data the last few months on why 9th grade uh would mooved to the high school campus why all high schools in bucks and Montgomery County have ninth graders on their campus the exception being Central Bucks they're moving to that model Next Year everyone else nth grade is at the high school and really it's because of a few things one academic preparedness the curriculum continuity from 9th grade to 12th grade and of course our students

033always say when they're in nth grade at our middle schools so teach are always saying now you're in high school now um well in North pen that's not true they're in three separate buildings our resources are spread across three different buildings and our students do not have the same opportunities in nth grade that our 10th through 12th graders do because of that next slide Please Mr Nicholson uh we also believe and the research supports that the Social Development um and transition to adulthood are um appropriate for nth graders to be on the same campus as their 10th through 12th grade peers I couldn't help but notice um there are some videos floating around social media from the pepper alley the other day um and just thinking that not only does our facility not allow us

034to do a full building pep rally and have certain events but that our nth graders don't get to experience uh some of these things and again I think the the student experience in addition to the academic Endeavors um and we'll get into the academic component here in a moment um it's just as much a part of high school it's the opportunities and involvement um that our kids can have everything from pepper alleys to activities to clubs to sports um and our students are clearly at a disadvantage compared to our neighboring school districts and across the country Mr Nicholson so we outlined in previous presentations that through these focus groups with our community the priorities for this uh High School renovation are and I will read them because I think they're that important is inclusivity and

035accessibility flexibility and adaptability Safety and Security collaboration uh community sustainability Outdoor Connection and Outdoor Learning and pride in branding in our facility these are in no particular order next slide okay so I do think it's important to note that the high school was built and opened in 1971 and when the facility was made it was designed for 2400 students in the late 90s we added kpod to accommodate roughly 900 additional students no hallways were expanded Ed no spaces were changed we added a building in the front so all the throughways all the arteries of the building uh were are not bigger despite the fact that we now have roughly 3,100 kids in a building that was designed for 2400 yes we added classrooms at the front in k-pod but there's not additional gym space there's

036not additional um hallway space at the ceilings aren't higher there we have still have clogs in epod it the building was built for 2400 kids and unfortunately right now we have 3,100 kids in it so it is not as simple as a systems only renovation uh in the opinion of our Architects and of course Administration here so I really want to get into that this is a non not all-inclusive list but just to give you an idea of some of the things that have changed since the 70s um when the building was built some of the opportunities that are available for kids and this is just one slide because the list could go on forever but some of the programs that we have in school now that we didn't have in the the 70s we

037find a way to make it work but I would be um doing a disservice to this community if I didn't outline the fact that I don't believe that redoing our 1971 building with a systems only renovation with new paint new floor new windows and new HVAC we'll accommodate these programs the way that we would like to um so you'll see outlined here are some options in art engineering jotc our preschool Labs some of our strength training athletic opportunities um and then on the right hand side here you have some of our activities and Athletics things that just didn't exist in the 70s that we now have on our campus so everything from field space to gym space to pool space you see we didn't have water polo back then um and in addition to all

038the classrooms and uh the new technologies our building was not built for these things so Mr Nicholson if you would um Mr Shader outlined that some of the things that we heard in these large group design sessions where uh the priorities being Central spaces that tie together the day and evening events some clarity to our circulation routes in the building I believe we use the word wayfinding in that presentation um grouping of primary functions into identifiable groups within the city uh the facility excuse me shared Steam and media spaces with access to the core learning spaces he spoke a lot about the steam center there and things going out from there um and creating access across the whole building creation of daylit teeming areas with access to those outdoor spaces and Courtyards next slide please

039these are two quotes that I I won't read these but these are two quotes that kind of emphasize as we've done in the past few presentations about why some of these environments are necessary in today's design okay and our next uh slide here I'll pass this to Mr Shader you'll see his emblem there down at the bottom with his team but this is really the site map and Mr Sher if you could just add some detail from last month's presentation anything that has changed here sure thank you Dr Bower so the you're going to see a site plan a couple of floor plans and then what we thought we would do is highlight some of the circulation routes through the building you heard that circulation and just space for the ninth grade to be added

040to the 3,000 plus 10 to 12 grade students is going to require some additional circulation within the building uh more creation of arteries and so on but that starts at the site level too and so what this is demonstrating is the removal of the transportation center at the top Center and so you can see the stadium working way across from that there's additional parking there which allows for the growth of uh parking that you'd see related to the total number of people coming to this building and then the conversion of the area to the right of that which is currently the radio station property and so that turns into some additional playing area well uh we're trying very hard to maintain the existing bu bus circulation as you see it down on the right hand

041side but we've added additional bus circulation pulloff areas uh at the top of that area as well so we've accommodated the length of all of those buses pulling up curbside we've added a few roadways at the bottom as well that allow for the circulation of parent drop off and that area with parking combined with the area that weal talked about at the top helps to provide the appropriate parking for students plus uh additional faculty that might come to this building and then off to the leftand side or the playing fields that were uh softball baseball that converted get converted to multipurpose fields and then there's a large area of storm water management required to accommodate the additional roof area of the building and the building is shown kind of in a a tannish white um

042the orange areas are the addition the lower left hand corner that the arrow was just pointing at represents a competition gym and all of the support spaces that goes with that um the jpod area is the center part of the building that becomes sort of a uh a common space similar to those of you who've seen the upper Maran building it's your full function pre function after function space in the building becomes dining becomes everything else throughout the the entire day and so it's a very large space that would typically be dining space that gets used throughout the day from early in the morning till late at night and then the area on the right the two kind of triangle portions represent three story additions to kpod so they come around the corner there as

043three-story functions you're going to hear a little bit more from Jamie Lynch about how those factor into the referendum number uh but those are additional uh classroom area so that the perimeter of the building becomes classroom area the center part becomes the steam area uh very much like what Dr Bower just described so if we can go to the next one this is a floor plan of the existing building plus the additions and so on the left hand side you see a lot of green the green area currently is athletic area and in the future will be athletic area and so what you're seeing is that plus the competition gym the orange area in the center is that full function pre function after function space plus dining plus all day long space that allows you

044to have this many students in the building and at night gives you equal access to the gymnasium areas as well as to the um Auditorium area so that'll be the space that accommodates all of those functions day and night the center part is where your current library is that's orange and that area gets added to and becomes kind of your steam center so it'll have your science your technology technology the engineering and the research spaces and the blues and the perimeter are starting on the upper leftand corner your apod and I'm going to show you a video of that if you go over to the right hand side you see the two three story classroom editions and finally k-pod is at the bottom uh and you're familiar with that space as well so that's the

045plan you see on the next one the second floor of that which is just a reflection of those floors going up and then finally a third floor plan which is the same so what I wanted to share here in these videos if I can go back to the first floor I'm sorry Mr Nicholson yeah there's a gray area that runs left to right in the plan and that will become the new kind of circulation spine in the middle of the building we're calling it Main Street and off of that run all of the SP all of the circulation Roots you heard the idea of arteries or arterials running off of that to try to get students in a clean way finding way to each of these classroom areas to the steam areas and so on

046and so we're going to show you videos of the common space which is the orange we're going to show you a video of the uh Central Main Street that goes left to right we'll show you a video of one of those classroom pods on the right and finally we're going to show you a video of the um aod with the a22 room opened up so that it it's the same as those other two spaces and keep in mind that all of the academic spaces will be modernized and and they will they will feel like brand new spaces but what this is showing you is how you might come into the building um folks have tored a number of facilities on the eastern part of the state from the school district and have seen a couple

047of buildings that do things like this now um particularly for the number of students that are going to be in the building this will be an easy way for folks to have way finding throughout the facility and allow for the amount of dining that'll have to happen at any one point in time on the right there you're seeing the Aion and the nurse area and this is the access point to all the circulation in the building uh it'll give a clean clear way for folks to get into the building and find their way throughout the building as you go and at nighttime creates access to the gyms and to the uh Auditorium as well so I can't remember what the next video is we'll see in one second here okay so this is over in

048the proposed uh classroom clusters on the right hand side it's kind of a means to provide the ability for research uh make and present so it allows for all of that happening in the learning areas uh also provides presentation spaces this is reflecting a similar concept to the upper Marian project that many folks have toured uh has classroom clusters around and then the idea is that it's creating these Courtyards in the middle of the building so that there's indoor and outdoor your uh education that can occur from any one of these pods and this is three stories so this will be the same as the kpod and we'll have the ability to circulate right from the first second or third floor of k-pod to these structures and the little key at the lower leftand corner

049is trying to show you where in the building you are you can see the red area right now is around those two classroom uh pods on the right hand side so what you might not know is that you have a hidden treasure and that is a22 uh any of you who go in that space today which one 33 I knew I'd get one of the numbers wrong so a33 thank you Mr Nicholson um believe it or not that's the existing space that's hidden in there and if you're able to open up some of these walls around the perimeter of it uh you're seeing the existing structure of the building in the gray and on the perimeter of that if you remove the block walls to the classrooms this is actually what you have and so

050this is a way to try to make that learning pod uh which is aod similar to the balance of those new spaces that we're putting in and then finally the idea of the Main Street and so the goal is to create a clean clear path from that bus circulation route on the right hand side of the building that I was identifying to the main Commons area so this is actually coming in from the commons area that we showed you was the first of the videos and it creates a a a wide pathway through the building to allow the circulation of 4,000 students and um some of the branding that you heard heard uh Dr Bower talk about uh it also gives you the ability to go left and right to all of the classroom clusters

051into the steam spaces and so on I think it's pretty interesting to see how this existing building can be converted um within the structure of the existing facility and give you some of that circulation space that you're looking for and I guess I I want to emphasize one more time that all of the classroom spaces all of the science spaces and any other educational space in the building will be modernized to look like the rest of this and you'll have a building in the end that will look like it was a new new structure built on the site and that's the intent of all of this so that's a little sense of what the building could look like based on what Mr Lynch is going to talk about next great terrific thank you good evening

052everyone thank you David um if we move on to the next slide uh our job at Dewey engineering was to take the concept plans that uh David's group has uh put together and perform an independent cost opinion on all of the details there in and this has been um a tremendous task uh in the past month uh working with uh the school district with the architectural team with the Civil designers with the mechanical electrical and plumbing designers with the educational team the district's uh it group and everyone that will eventually touch a project like this in order to try to gather information to apply cost to what is a vision or a concept at this stage for the purposes of giving you some independent cost information and allowing you to move ahead with this um

053important decision on the referendum and so what we've done if we go to the next slide and maybe we we could shrink that just a hair is that possible Pete so everyone could see the cost numbers at the bottom it's possible to go forgive us in in merging three presentations there's liable to be some formatting there we go um so as Dr Bower listed on his title slide uh we wanted to present uh cost in in buckets or in the areas in which cost apply for the project and then also separate the cost that would apply to n9th grade coming up to the building and to the site separate them out so that you would see a referendum cost and a rest of the project cost as it as it were um and so by

054example the first component would be that associated with the transportation facility which in any event with nth grade coming up or even if it doesn't transportation is slated to move offsite you've got a site acquisition cost you've got a building to build site costs you've got some traffic improvements that may need to happen depending on where the site is and then there's a soft cost allocation there's that wonderful term soft cost you know um I should just start by saying what is the soft cost the soft cost is everything associated with the project that is not bricks and mortar and dirt and concrete it's the design fees the permit fees the equipment fees all of the insurances associated with doing work contingency escalation associated with executing uh a project so by example and as a

055part of the project the transportation site in moving that facility offsite we've got a a projected project cost for transportation that is $17.25 million none of that is associated with ninth grade coming to the site so as you can see it's all associated with the project cost 0 are associated with the referendum cost and so I'll go item by item through the the bucket list if you will and then I'll come to a sum total slide and help you to understand uh along the way the transportation site building incidentally is based on Concepts that were done earlier as far as square footage we know the number of buses we know the number of Vans we know the number of staff parking spaces and so that all plays into the site cost and the cost of

056of the building so thank you on the next on the next slide this is a slide that demonstrates the off-site traffic improvements and hazardous materials abatement costs associated with the renovation of of the high school uh Studies have been done prior to um Dewey engineering coming on board uh that gave some indication of what would need to be done offsite to accommodate the traffic that exper is experienced at the high school as a result of the growth of the high school over the years as obviously there hasn't been a renovation in a number of years when the district goes for Land Development approval with the township there will be traffic upgrades that are necessary and they're listed here uh potentially a light at Valley Forge and Snider improvements uh perhaps at the SNY entrance also

057at Snider and Troxel there'd be improvements at the main entrance to the high school at Valley Forge Road uh there's also a traffic impact fee for future improvements at Valley Forge and sunnytown Pike and then we've also included uh an allowance for right in and right out only at Sumney Road where a connector has been uh proposed as a part as a part of the project cost uh this also is a cost associated with the renovation of the high school School whether 9th grade comes up or not and so $4 million is allocated for those off-site improvements $2 million is allocated for hazardous abatement associated with the high school it all is in the project cost none of it is over in the referendum cost okay the first referendum cost is associated with the site

058uh before I split it out just wanted to touch base and I apologize that we've rotated the site drawing for for you 90 degrees upward but the total estimated site cost for the project is just shy of $40 million at this point and that includes the athletic fields that David outlined as part of the site plan the expanded parking spaces that will be necessary to comply with current Land Development codes the modifications to the bus uh drop off area and bus staging uh a connector out to summing Town Pike to improve traffic conditions overall and also the Improvement and relocation of athletic fields as you see including relocating softball and baseball and making them Synthetic Turf fields and also rfing the existing Turf practice field that's uh below the tennis courts the rest of the

059fields here shown would be new natural grass fields and you can always do an alternate for sad and uh for other amenities but that's what that 39 million uh represents it also includes electrical upgrades to the site the tennis courts as I mentioned all the earth work necessary underground tank removals that will be a part of the project and all other facilities um also including the the building demo and the radio tower demo in the upper portion of the site so that's the Allin cost if we go to the next slide we've done the cost estimate to to estimate the difference and the work associated with the referendum which generally is relegated to that corner of the site that we're we're re redeveloping that is the radio uh Tower site we're relocating the softball and

060baseball fields we're creating a new band field we have expanded driveways and bus staging area we have the staff parking associated with ninth grade uh ninth graders don't drive to school so there's not student parking associated with ninth grade and uh the recing of of buses that's all included in the referendum cost it comes to just over 14 million of that 39 million so there's the split the first time we see the impact of ninth grade versus the site work that would be necessary um at the school if we go to the next slide then can I ask a question how how was it split between the high school and is it a percentage it's not a percentage it's based on actual estimated cost for the features so it's not a percentage for site cost

061I have an outline that shows what a amenities are associated with ninth grade coming and the other way to explain this is if 9th grade doesn't come the softball and baseball field remain where they are and they remain natural grass so the cost of rebuilding two Fields making them synthetic and putting uh storm water features underneath of them is the it's what's represented in that 14 million plus the asphalt plus the parking if I may Mr Lynch so um option two if a referendum were to fail we would still I believe the designs that exist would still have athletic fields so the difference in cost is what is represented here exactly essentially option two would be roughly that $25 million cost only so this is the difference in if n9th grade comes then baseball and

062softball would have to move they wouldn't be all natural or natural Fields up there I think that Mr Shader had them as soccer fields or multi-purpose fields in option two so these are the things that would have to happen as a result of the expansion okay so and I don't know do you want me I have questions but if you want me to hold it I will if you prefer I I'll wait I think there are areas where you're breaking it down by percentage and then in this case like square footage wise and in this case it is actual like the difference in option one and option two exactly right so maybe it'll make sense when all of that's out there to ask the questions at the end yeah why don't we wait till the

063end we're not going down to okay so that's the difference in sight now if we go to the next slide we're looking at the difference in in building and um what we're looking at in the concept plans and what we've worked very hard on with the entire team is that all told we have 496 th000 in change square feet in Renovations and we have in this plan over 310,000 Square ft of new construction for that's everything that's on the plan of that space the amount of square footage associated with bringing 9th grade to the building is 167 716 Square ft okay I need that square footage to accommodate 9th grade in the building we've gone around and around we've worked with the educational program understanding the number of classrooms that are necessary the other areas

064necessary to accommodate 9th grade and that is our uh number all of that is in building additions okay so the cost associated with the referendum is the new construction of that 167 and change, square ft in building additions it comes to just shy of $63 million 62893 3 500 the rest of the project cost is a combination of renovation of the existing building and the remainder of those building additions that are necessary uh for the renovation of the high school so it's the 3131 minus the 167 you'll get the number of new construction that's in that 180 number okay so from a building perspective project cost 180 and change 62 million in referendum see if I just to provide some clarity this is not as simple as a ninth grade Builder right it is through

065the design process and the feedback we were getting from the community do I think there will be areas where n9th grade classes are sure in some cases but I also think there will be fully integrated spaces so calculating what is being renovated for 9th grade versus what is being added on is more complicated than this building is this many square foot and this many for this building so that's why the intricacies is in the explanation exactly and I can show it both ways I could color spaces across the building associated with new construction for ninth grade the fact remains that everything that's a dark color on this slide in the floor plans is new construction that that portion of the work will be built first it'll be used as swing space so that Renovations can

066Cur occur throughout the building and then your ninth grade building program or educational program will be construed constucted around the totality of all of the spaces and if I go the other way and say what's option to include it does not include any of the dark colored spaces that you see here they go away completely so that effectively is the piece associated with the referendum on to soft costs the next slide uh identifies what the project soft costs are for uh the total project and as I mentioned this is design and construction management fees the township and conservation and D permitting required the traffic impact fee technology the abatement consultant utility fees all of the things that are listed there the sum total of those costs have come to uh just over $97 million and

067um believe me the uh list of those costs is far longer than the summary purple that you see here it's a it's a long sheet uh in which we've tried to itemize based on our experience and also based on some information we got about the building for instance like the number of uh uh smartboards for instructional technology that might go in the some 250 classrooms that would be in the building knowing what the cost is being able to put that in same thing for security cameras and wireless access points we did work with the team to figure out approximately how many devices would be there and put in enough that we would have coverage in the building and so we've gone through this this spreadsheet really has about 60 line items in it um and

068we've scrutinized each one of them to come uh to these uh numbers one comment go right ahead so one point of clarity here is the last line that you see which is escalation and contingency in this set of estimates dwey has chosen to put the escalation and contingency in the soft costs of the project and the prior estimates had the escalation in the building construction costs the contingency though did fall in the soft costs okay you're saying they were broken out in the last okay now they're combined both in soft cost right got so when we go to the next slide this is where I've used a percentage basis to create the split and uh I promise you this is the slide that has the most complicated math on it of the entire presentation okay

069so $97 million in in soft costs and the question is how in the world do you determine how much of that is associated with ninth grade and after we uh looked at it um the the very reasonable uh uh solution was to base it on square footage of the building and so a total building size of 89,000 Square fet in change we've got 167,000 remember that number always remember that number associated with ninth grade and that equates to 20.73% of the building when we think of n9th grade in the building you would say well it's one of four grade so it's got to be 25% right well there are common spaces there are other spaces associated with the higher grades we've gone through this and tested it and we believe that that's an a reasonable

070estimate for what 9th grade really contributes to the size of the building and so I applied that percentage to each of those line items of soft cost with the exception of one and that's the subtotal for civil engineering and Land Development for the site because no matter what those costs that are soft costs to design the site go through the Land Development and do everything associated with the fees they are the same really regardless of which option we go with the cost of the amenity are larger but the cost to do all of the engineering is essentially the same and so we left that number that $625,000 in the project cost and so you see the uh split here 20 million and Chang for the referendum cost for soft cost 77 associated with project costs

071so to sum up uh this is the summary slide and it lists the option option one project cost for each of the uh buckets that I've just described and the referendum cost and you see that the option one project cost is just over 306 million the referendum cost at 97 million3 and change for total project budget at this point of 43699 and then below is the uh sample or draft referendum question that would be before the board at its next meeting in the amount of the 97 million and change that we worked with your referendum consultant on as far as the Drafting and and your solicitor so that really this this slide really sums up the cost it again identifies how many additions and how many Renovations are associated with the project and uh gives

072you a total project cost opinion again on a concept on a vision but it's something that we believe is achievable it sets the bar for what the design team team the construction management team and we as a a district team have to design too we have to do better than that and uh but I don't want to go too far and too fast in pushing a number down on you that uh I fear may only go up so this is a good starting point and with contributions or with grants or with additional work on where we precisely and surgically renovate the building to meet the goals that you have we can find some more Savings in this I think together as time goes forward but I don't want to go too far too fast with

073you one last slide that I have is um really just for you and also for the community um to understand that if the referendum should not pass what comes out of the project and if option two is pursued in in the effect of a in the event of a a failed referendum ninth grade would remain at the three Middle School locations and as a community you've discussed the impact of of that and the work that has to happen to accommodate them in the future at the Middle Schools transportation will still be relocated offsite regardless uh if option two is pursued there would not be the connector to summoning Town Pike that's shown in the plans Food Service would remain where it is and a Commons for it would not be built the new Performance gym

074would not be constructed the existing would be renovated the softball and baseball fields would remain where they are and they'd remain uh natural Turf uh the library uh and uh a33 would receive really modest Renovations as opposed to what you see in the uh video shown tonight there would be no modifications to the educational spaces there'd be Renovations only um so it would be floors and paint and possibly Windows um and then we'd have to add in the C cost um of approximately 15 million needed to construct temporary modular classrooms so that I would create swing space so that I could renovate and run around the building so it is a very complicated chore and task that you have in front of you but these are some of the things that uh you as a

075board and then you as the North Penn School District public need to understand that if the referendum doesn't happen and we go to option two these are the things that would not be included in the plans provided and maybe just one clarification to one of the calculation Pages that7 167,000 almost 168,000 Square ft of building program for 9th grade was not a percentage basis either it was used to generate the percentages but that space was a calculated program based on how many spaces you needed to support 9th grade it wasn't just a grab out of the air it was an actual program and you folks will remember that prior to even going to these conceptual designs we had building programs developed around each of the grade structures and that was the quantity of space required

076for ninth grade so it was not an arbitrary number Mr scy if I may um the referendum number you know we've been talking about and estimated I think it was roughly 95 million 94.7 something like that since roughly this time last year um and you said once we set that number we cannot go above that number right so I just I want to point out that this is the point where that's the number if we take a vote next week this is the number for that addition right like cannot illegal to go above this number right and any debt that you would borrow in excess of that number wouldn't be subject to the U the Act One exception so that's the limit that's the amount that would be eligible for the Act One exception what

077is stated in the actual resolution everything else must fit within Act One correct the general fund budget yes and so when you said months ago like whenever we set that number this is that number now correct okay Mr Casa you have your hand up Mrs sto are we ready for questions yes I think we are Mr KAS thank you uh Madam president I was wondering if the on this slide and reminds you of the one since 1971 you could probably have 10 more slides after this but it it doesn't mention that band space has always struck me as well so should the referendum not pass I don't know how you even try to put lipstick on on some of these rooms or you know the Arts um you know which are just overflowing right now

078with students um Can someone just speak you know to maybe those two items and some others um so that the community and the board understands it goes well beyond just these bullets yeah so I think what Mr Kasa is referencing is the fact fact that our uh coral and music spaces are not ADA Compliant uh so students with mobility issues students in wheelchairs uh do not have access to certain points of those spaces through a systems only renovation we do need to bring the building up to code so those spaces would need to be accessible but they would not be everything that are in this design I think that's fair to say would they be the same space though like you wouldn't like because I think also there's a question about size right like just

079we're saying that this is a building that was designed for you know 75% of the capacity that we currently have so in a $250 million renovation are we still going to be able to expand a lot of these common spaces um and hallways and whatnot or is that something that in A System's renovation we're just going to have to live with exactly the way the footprint looks yeah the footprint will be the footprint um I will say that I believe the option two there was a little red sliver on that drawing and that was the only building addition if we don't move ninth grade and it was simply to extend that exact area that Mr Cas is speaking to I think right now the the ramps are so steep the hallways are so narrow that

080we can't put an an ADA uh what's the word I'm looking for compatible ramp in with the pitch uh to provide access safely so we need to expand that area to make sure it's accessible um but that is the only space in the entire building that will be expanded are there any other questions or comments I know Mrs Wesley's got I'm sorry I'll be I'll you're gonna no I'm I'll try and be really efficient so I'll start with the specific questions so the geothermal um additions um I understood and maybe I'm I'm mistaken that they were being um implemented in the additional space the 167,000 square feet for the Ninth Grade Center or I'm sorry the ninth grade Edition so does that not happen if Pete if we could go back to the site plan

081and and then I have another question and I did talk you know I did have a quick conversation with Mr Schneider if this turns out to be something that can help lower this cost B by still being environmental stewards could we consider doing geothermal at the new Bus Transportation Center I'm going to answer that one first and say yes because you'll have more space um geothermal is understood to be a higher first cost yep for any owner but is uh because of its sustainable nature uh commonly has a lower life cycle cost but there are systems that are comparable as far as life cycle cost to geothermal so in answer your your second question sorry at Transportation the opportunity could exist um so test Wells would have to be uh taken and we'd have to

082determine if that was an appropriate uh way to go as far as this building the history on geothermal was that uh for the uh additional classrooms that would be put on the location of the wellfield would be in this area between the school and the residences and when our mechanical and Electrical uh Engineers took a look at it that that area is also presently taken up by a new storm water basin that'll be required and so it really limits the area and we found that the wellfield dimensions were such that it's actually wider than the area that's existing in outside of that area and we also know from a construction phasing standpoint that installing a wellfield of that size is difficult to do in one summer and you certainly don't want to do it on

083the Bus Loop that you would need when students come back to school so we found very quickly that doing geothermal for that 167 is not going to be an easy task and so instead we've gone back to an idea of a central plant and perhaps a smaller geothermal field for a smaller portion of the building so that field could be relocated it could be under some of the athletic fields it could be under the parking lot in the back but it would be smaller and so that's contemplated in the cost of the project and and understanding also that having multiple types of mechanical systems in the building it presents an operational challenge it also presents a little bit of a cost uh challenge sure and so that's what we found when we were doing the

084estimate it was our recommendation that we downsize geothermal or possibly relocate it and that's where we've landed today so there is some geothermal in this excuse me in this estimate however it's much smaller than it was when we started good all right and then you'll consider possibly um integrate in including that maybe the bus all along in this process because it's so long we know that one of your goals uh as a board is to introduce sustainability so that's high on the prior list if we're able to take advantage of the uh the um the ACT that's out there now whether it's through photovoltaic or geothermal or other means and it may bring grants with it all of that comes into play as far as how we actually execute okay thanks um can I ask

085a few more okay um regarding the ceiling height particularly in the big open areas the common area is the cost is what is the cost for for building High I mean there's no material it's just high so would we save any money if it was a little bit lower or it would be negligible so I think what you're seeing for the most part here is presentation of ideas that people have generated over the last three months and what's going to happen for the next 15 months if the referendum should pass and this project proceedes as you see is that constant tug-of-war between what you're doing and what you're going to pay for it and that process would only start after that point in time so I know that uh the team has some basic dollars

086for it but they're really looking at these areas as areas that cost more per square feet and areas that cost less per square feet times the total value okay but but just from a building perspective a design perspective when you do something like this does it add a lot of cost onto the construction or not just sure in the new areas it does not add a lot of cost in the areas that are renovated it adds cost and so a33 would be uh one of the more expensive areas to expose roof because you'd be breaking through the roof area Okay so going forward when we start to look at the menu of things to do knowing you know what that cost is does it make sense to actually look at reducing it eliminating it because

087it is substantial versus something else that is the bang for the buck because it doesn't have a really high cost associated with it I think the entire team is going to try to maintain some of the ideas you've seen but the real money has to go to the educational space that's where everybody's going to focus the dollars most profusely okay okay so um that's all right so when we you were speaking about the field Fields being where the radio station is what's happening with the antenna then does it go away so my understanding is that the cell tower that's there would remain and that we have one radio station working on one of the towers there now they would all likely come down and a new antenna constructed which would actually be much smaller for

088the existing radio station there's also copper wire that is uh kind of in a flower pattern that goes between those uh Towers in the ground and so that has to come out as well okay all right and just two more questions why are why is contingency in escalation particularly contingency now in soft cost what is your philosophy on that uh I can show contingency in the hard costs I can show the contingency in the soft costs for consistency we like to show the building cost and the hard cost and isolate contingency on its own because it's really made up of a construction contingency a design and estimating contingency and we've got for this project which is heavy and renovation a phasing contingency okay as we do this work there will be temporary walls there will

089be dust proof walls there will be negative air machines there will be all kinds of things to allow for the safe passage of students both in the building and outside the building and so that's where we're focusing our contingency and we've is olated it and identified it that way so that as we could do continuing estimates if we want to pull if we want to adjust from that we can escalation completely separate and that that calculation gets more complex as we go through the phases of design and we start to really Zone in on how how and what we escalate to what year understand Mr Shader gave that presentation so that made sense but I think my question more was about the contingency and I have one more question the very last slide it hits

090me as huge the number of things that won't get done if we do option to it's like why it just it just gives me pause like why why won't we get any of that or why will it be so reduced I think the the short answer is our financial projections if we go with option two which is about 236 I believe was the number the cost that is still necessary for all three middle schools to house 9th grade our borrowing capacity would be limited for those future projects and that's why none of these other things could happen with option two because of what we still have to do around the district I understand okay and we do have to spend spend the 15 million for those 10 temporary space modulars whatever correct that is a

091total waste of money okay thank you you're welcome I have a couple questions yes of course go ahead um could you go back to the the picture SL the one that you were just on oh sorry Pete I'm looking at the wrong person yes that one so um I I think having kids in in the high school and having been through this I think about kind of the um the the things that students and families deal with um and are any of those going to be solved through this option so one of them is is parking so a lot of people don't know that we have a whole Lottery system for parking at the high school um which sometime sometimes can be difficult for students who either want to take a course off campus have

092a job that kind of thing and so did does this at all this option does this at all expand the parking in terms of what we have currently and resolve even a little bit some of that I know we're bringing additional students on campus but those if we were bringing additional students then they wouldn't be drivers but we still need more parking parking because currently we do a lottery system um so plus there would be more staff so I was just wondering about the parking situation yeah so um we actually believe that from a staff parking standpoint it's essentially a wash and the reason for that is you would no longer have the bus drivers parking on the property and we would no longer have Vans um for obviously for transportation and specialized Transportation so

093we believe staff parking will be a wash if not perhaps a little bit less um however I think Mr Sher I asked you this question last week I think you said 480 spaces additional uh my memory was 430 but I I think it's somewhere right around there so on top of that you're getting an additional 400 plus parking spaces to accommodate staff is that either way um Dr bow like or is it well I mean is that one of the things that gets lost on the list if so we would reduce the number of Staff members who are parking there because transportation is moving regardless but I think we had that estimated at around 100 Vehicles so yes it would be 100 it just wouldn't be the additional 400 to 500 extra SP this lot

094is completely new right in this option if we go to option two this lot gets appreciably smaller and this parking that's right here goes away but this gets smaller so the net is still more parking on the property so if you could show So Jamie bring your uh or Pete bring where like a lot parking is right now come yeah like right here this is roughly where aot parking is right now so there is parking there where our bus drivers Park um so that's about the size of what's represented by the mouse but all that other stuff is additional thank you anything and then oh sorry go ahead Sor okay um and then um in terms of the educational benefit um because I because I'm an educator I'm always thinking about kind of that piece

095and when I look at that last list you can go back to the last list now that you had there's so much loss in the educational benefit um from kind of just trying to put Band-Aids here and there I'm wondering also if we're I I don't see these on the list but when we talk about um enhancing areas where there could be vocational opportunities opportunities for some of our students with special needs to be in like transitional um programs or is any of that that included in what could be the basic renovation in terms of just any of those things I mean we've talked about wanting to expand and have more stem opportunities more Hands-On opportunities for students some of our students who get was weight listed for um North monco opportunities can any of

096those things be enhanced in the renovation that would be option to so other than um the previously mentioned expansion to the music area square footage is going to be the same um so our the walls won't move Mr Shader correct um floors will be replaced new paint new lighting new systems but the actual structure will not change under option two so if we repurpose some spaces and we would have to rob peter to PayPal if you will eliminate some programs to add others uh whereas with option one obviously we have a little more flexibility okay thank you are there any further questions yes sorry I have a few um the tennis courts the addition of the two tennis courts when I was at the community meeting um a member of the athletic department actually shared

097that by not having those two courts we can't host um boys and girls tennis um events at our school is that correct yeah we are actually uh short two courts compared to most high schools so that option one reflects those that addition so allow our tennis teams to play at home and to host um that brings that up to that um with regards to the traffic um offsite cost at six million is that an area that could be where we could explore the possibility of Grants and within this within the budget the Align items that we're beginning to think are we earmarking or kind of noting areas that could be potential for some cost offset through grant funding absolutely through um pend do dced those opportunities always exist uh there is a grant that has

098been made available through the township to install sidewalks on sunnytown Pike as uh Odd as that might sound due to how heavily trafficked it is and so that is an area that's ripe for grant opportunities um as soon as the design would commence and Land Development would start that would be the time to go after those types of opportunities including uh monco 2040 anything else that uh could qualify to help Us in those regards and where would that the role of grant writing and and the the Prospect research and the monitoring of all that where would that be housed would that be housed with you with the district would it be a team approach it's absolutely a team approach between the civil engineering the construction manager the uh District itself depending on what the grant

099is those types of Grants are not very difficult to put together they take some time for review and approval and chasing that's really the biggest exercise associated with them so I think you know those Pursuits are are valid in some cases there's not a lot of dollars available you really want to spend your time going after something where you're going to get as solid dollars for those improvements um but the opportunity that's the area that's most right for opportunities okay if that is a team approach and it is something could we consider um incorporating our internship project into that effort so the Prospect research writing pulling some things together is an an incredible skill to be able to gain through an internship project so I might also note um that the the rack P Grant

100process is is out there in cooperation with the township um the next opportunity to apply and uh get allocation for your project has not opened up yet um we're prepared to put that allocation submitt in and it takes some time um but time is what you've got as far as this project goes as far as before before it actually starts um but it's right for an opportunity for a rack P Grant so that's something else that would uh benefit the project okay and one last thing there was something new that I noticed this time or it was an addition to the imagery but in this in the um kind of lofted or the staircase auditoriums we've had lots of conversations about concerns about mobility and there was something in this one that I noticed where

101there was one design that had little Landings off of it and if there's room for those little Landings I pulled up an image this is not perfect and I I don't even know how to explain it is it is it possible to incorporate a slow grade ramp with the stairs at least in one of those so that we could could we incorporate a design is it too late is it something we could think about so that there could be ways of including yeah making sure that stud with mobility issues have access to those spaces this is the issue with these types of spaces and it's one that we're all grappling with because you're seeing these in a lot of buildings um that concept as long as you have the width the width um that is

102a beautiful way of solving the issue and just so folks know it's a crisscross of a ramp across the stairs which allows a wheelchair to move back and forth up the space so and even if we had a compromise CU one of them was kind of at an angle with it was wider we even had a compromise to allow that for the first half maybe um but there was one that showed there was yeah there was an image that showed like a little it was off to the left right it's that one that you have there and it's you can start to see The Landings on the back side there you're exactly right you're picking that out well so it's a question of how you get to that and I think with some of the

103things you have on the screen you may be able to do that that Landing right so with The Landings in that does that give us enough enough whip width to have a little bit of a a ramp up part I love those little Landing I'm sorry Mrs romage Pete could you go to the a33 image too um because Mrs ramage has been a part of a lot of our meetings and this has come up in every meeting yeah yeah um so there's definitely a commitment to resolve that um I'm guessing it's the at least finding a path to a midpoint is what there you go yeah so see that Landing there in the middle yeah I don't think that was there initially maybe I missed it well it's interesting that's the back side of that

104before you ascend the last couple of stairs up believe it or not it's there it's ex this is actually I know this is maybe counter to what most are thinking this is my favorite image because it is a structure that currently exists in our building those beams exist um just taking you know the the walls out the roof up let's be real the roof is not there everything else everything else is there yes sorry Jamie are there any other that Ro further questions I just want to say um we have heard through meeting after meeting after meeting we did six months of work in six weeks and really uh appreciate the efforts of both of you and jimie was also planning his daughter was married on Saturday uh so he's had a lot going on

105his own personal life too um but it has been we hired Dewey in July July um all of this work and all of this estimation and all these spread sheets um have happened since July so uh it's a ton of work to try to get us ready for this vote next week so if there are no other questions I did not recommend approval for this item to be placed on the October 19th action agenda so can I have a motion no it's a hold on hold on one second so this is just to be placed on action Paulie so it's not a vote to approve it's to place it on next week's agenda gentlem here at the when we want to ask questions I mean I to be open why wouldn't allow to ask question

106and answer Mrs BR can you just wait for one like we have a vote a motion on the floor let's take the vote and then I'll ask okay all right so we have a motion on the floor are there any further comments or questions all right all in favor say I I any opposed motion carries and I would just like to say this is like a once in a-lifetime project I think Mrs braio Mr mikari and I we're all um North pen Alum and we know what didn't happen in the 90s right so this is our second shot at the uh at trying to do this and if we don't do it now I don't know that we'll ever do it so um and I know Mrs prio and Mr malagari can attest to the

107fact that when we go on the tours the schools look exactly like when we were there right Mrs proo I don't have an issue with changing the school no I know you don't what I have an issue with is in these cathedral ceilings it does it may not add to the cost of the construction but it's going to add to the cost of temperature control we know that hot air rises so if you have tall ceilings with no space nothing for it you're going to have hot air rising up and the kids are going to be cold or you know so those kinds of things I don't hear any solutions to or you know why would you even consider a cathedral type ceiling when your heat is lost up at the Raptors we I think

108that's a good point and I think we did talk a little bit about utility costs um so what may be lost or gained at the last facilities and operations meeting um but I think like Mrs Wesley said like was kind of were inferring the designs are this we may have to get to a place where we lower a ceiling or we kind of go okay what do we do so I think all of this is still very much under consideration um as we move forward but the um utility costs and and questions around that were discussed at the last facilities and operations meeting yeah yeah so I just want to emphasize and for those who have not been a part of a process like this and not that I've been doing this for all that

109long what we are doing right now is we have a a very strong estimate for the costs of the Electoral debt and so what you just voted on was to move this to an action agenda for next week let's say that that appr is approved next week then we will have a date and a time for our special election or at primary like whatever it is for the referendum after that there's still a ton of work to be done a ton of design a ton of planning uh we just had to get to a point where we could have a figure that we believe to be as we've discussed a few moments ago that we cannot go above so that we can move forward with which design are we doing and where are we going

110so how high the ceilings are how much glass how all of that is still to be decided um we have a long ways to go and I think you said we're going to be planning for the designing for the next 20 months um so long ways to go but just trying to get to that number which we presented this evening Dr Bower Bas following up from can I speak is it okay sure I'm not sure you can right now I'm all choked up so moving forward and I know we're not there I for me I think it would be helpful when you know we talk about the cost of raising the ceiling that it's it's it would be construction costs it would be material it would be the whole construction um cost issue but also

111too I think to Mrs br's um comment it would be helpful to understand the operational costs um that the that the district would be incurring which will definitely increase we energy costs will increase but I think for us to make it a really informed decision what will the capital cost be and and and an estimate of what the operational costs will be so I think as a board member I would want to know that because then I feel that all right I've got the capital side going but what's the operational side yeah I agree with you that we aren't there yet but I also agree that it's not I'm trying really hard not to you know get too excited yeah what what far up are we like we were at 100 well I know where's

112where's Mr he always tells me but I think that um as we become more refined more granular about this I think that would be something that I know I would want and I think it would be helpful for the board to understand those costs going forward if if I may we can help you with those uh all along the way and we can also help with the Pico rebate program that'll apply heavily when all of the light fixtures and the HVAC equipment is changed out because that will um reduce um costs result in rebates and reduce kilowatt hours and you know the enact Club um presented a number of months back about El um lead certification which is a extremely expensive uh Endeavor to to reach and then maintain however if there are aspects um

113specific points that are included um that we might be able to go back to Pico on for any rebates or grants or whatever that would be welcomed one more uh thing that's changed our Industries changed significantly certainly in the last 10 years but more in the last five in that in the very short time that we've been doing this this process what you would have gotten 10 years ago is the plan that you saw those plans because this is conceptual design we have as we said 15 to 20 months of design design and that's going to be that tug-of war of this should go up this should go down we need to make that space smaller we need there's so much to be done and what unfortunately or fortunately happens is because of the video

114capabilities of all of our software now we're showing you things as if they're done and those are just ideas that came out of all these things that folks talked about in these various Community meetings they're going to be refined from this point forward and refinement means reducing things for costs and trying to make sure things are operationally and maintenance friendly to the school district so this was just a flavor and anybody who takes the videos as the final design give us 20 more months to generate those videos this was the quick shot um do we have any um followup on solar options do we have that included in the project anywhere at all or is that was that deemed too expensive um it's something that's being entertained for for almost all the projects we work

115on and we're we're really excited about the inflation reduction act providing some capability for that because that's one of the things that's giving us some pro project money hopefully in the future for a bunch of projects so the hope is that that can be included as part of the project thank you are there any other questions or comments or anything no everybody good well thank you Mr Shader thank you Mr Lynch we really appreciate your time at um presenting tonight very informative um and we look forward to seeing more from you guys moving forward so and thank you for all the work I know um M Dr bow keeps saying how much work you guys have done and such a short time so we really appreciate that I also have to give a shout out

116to Mr Schneider and the audience he's been integral in all the efforts working with these two in particular so and Mr Scrappy he's all right but we say enough good so I just want to thank everyone for such a rich um conversation um tonight this has been really helpful so thank you sounds good all right does anyone have any other business seeing none can I have a motion to adjourn please so moved thank you