001do we need to move down good evening everyone i'm going to call this meeting to order welcome to tonight's action meeting we're going to start off um oh i just want a quick reminder that there is a mask mandate in place i think everybody pretty much has their mask on it's a masked mandate from the state but there's also one from the district so please make sure to have your mask on all right we'll start off now with the pledge of allegiance please okay we will move on now to the audience of citizens before we start i'll read off the statement 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
002meet the requirements of the pennsylvania sunshine law it is necessary to record the names of all citizens who speak to the board during the meeting to ensure compliance with the 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 allow time for all those who wish to speak to the board the board president may ask an individual to yield the microphone to the next speaker 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
003to respond to public comments that have been made once the audience of citizens period has concluded or a request that a member of the administration follow up with the speakers after the meeting so with that we will have our first um pre-registered speakers so i believe that's mr lanier go ahead mr lingard here uh sorry jason lanier uh lansdale borough i wanted to talk to you guys about three things i've talked to you about it before but i wanted to kind of narrow the focus here and see what the problem is with actually coming forth with all true information and toes to suppressing information first topic is regarding critical race theory you guys said it never belonged here i talked about this way back in may of this past year and you denied it ever
004being so you denied there being any kind of uh privileged walks or race walks or or papers about uh talking about your your white privilege and yet that happens to be true and you denied it and now you say it may have happened but not quite sure the extent to which it happens i'm wondering if any of you have done any kind of uh investigation whether or not it's happening with other classrooms i'm assuming it is i'm assuming it is maybe you should bother to do that uh and then it's gotten so far that it's actually in some of the professional development books i talked about this last time mr roche called me up and asked me for the information i told you the information when i've i've i've come up in numerous times i
005once you guys take some time and actually look at your professional development information and see where it's specifically referenced second thing i wanted to talk to you guys about is the sexually explicit books i know you guys have made an action to take one of these out of the library at an elementary school but what about all the other ones you're aware that there are other books in other schools that are sexually explicit and you realize that there is a pennsylvania law that prohibits distribution of pornography to children this being one of those things this specifically references graphic novels uh literature film audio it's uh section 5903 mr summers maybe you can take a look at it because it's really there and you guys have been know about this yet you still re these books
006still remain i don't understand why i mean the rationale for bringing in is is amazing to me too like who who does it benefit uh third thing i wanted to ask you guys about is the mass mandate you said there's state mandate i didn't i read that was that was uh struck down by a court of law and you guys re issued the emergency or your safety plan are you familiar with um the dillon rule i i don't know if you are mr summers which is what what uh basically it doesn't allow local municipalities and school districts to go beyond the state mandate or the state uh law so you guys are not allowed to unilaterally write laws or pass jurisdic or pass mandates without first having a state approval and that fact that you
007don't means that you should not be doing this and you should probably read about it because this again is something that you've been forewarned about you know that this is the case and you're violating the law thank you mr lanier mrs blanc i believe is up next good good evening mrs blunt hi erin blanc from hatfield i am here to urge you to update the north penn mask policy and make masks optional at the start of the school year our pennsylvania health director who was a lawyer not a doctor imposed a mask order for pa schools the order allowed for medical exceptions and did not require a doctor's note north penn and their lawyers decided they could act as doctors and deny medical exceptions submitted by parents i was recently showed shown this email written
008by john george director of the pa association of intermediate units he wrote it to all of the pa intermediate units when referring to the above mask order he states that the guidance will attempt to tighten the medical exception but it cannot alter the order nor impose any additional requirements for example a doctor's note north penn violated this order a group of parents sued the state over this order and this week the commonwealth court determined that this order will expire on december 4th the secretary of health does not have the authority under the disease prevention and control law and no school district has the authority to require masks under pennsylvania school code it is now in the hands of the school districts to lift their mask policies now that this case was won and if districts
009don't follow suit we will move to lawsuits against districts on election day when mr fusco was asked why he was not wearing a mask inside walton farm elementary school he stated that he is vaccinated is that the current stance of the school board or just one board member or does it just apply to one person mrs still told me that we could not remove masks because not everyone has had the opportunity to get the vaccine other occasions board members have stated that we are waiting for vaccination to remove masks so now that our youngest students have been offered the opportunity for vaccination it is time for masks optional thank you thank you mrs blanc and mrs blanc if you wouldn't mind putting your mouse back on that would be great thank you is there anyone
010else that would make to comment go ahead mr patchell good evening my name is william patchell i live in montgomery township i always stress that the montgomery township is far in excess of what anybody would really expect in a township it goes way past that and what i tell you you're on the verge of academic and financial apartheid if you keep raising these taxes act one is a bar you don't need to get to the bar we could use a little prudent because if you're given two million meals away i wouldn't be real proud of that that means people are struggling what i'm going to talk about is i had a very nice discussion with our superintendent and assistant superintendent about my vision is you're wanting to go back to the happy days you're never
011going to go back look at ireland they've done everything they've had lockdowns they're vaccinated and you know what they're going back down a hole again you're not going to be able to get compliance you're not going to be able to to solve these problems with these unilateral socialistic mandates which people just i'm not gonna do it and you know what i'm gonna quit you know why people are quitting they're sick and tired of people telling them what to do they've reached the limit 4.4 million quit one month then we exceeded that in another month and you know what money doesn't really mean anything more your self-confidence and my determination where my family will be is for the utmost support and we we are revisiting those brave souls in which decided that we no longer needed
012a monarch to tell us how to run things that we were billed for but we never really had any decisions thousands of people gave their lives very close here to valley forge that was all about the walking around with uh with the rags on their feet it wasn't easy but they stood firm now the thing we have to do here is you desperately want to get back to whatever it was i'm telling you i'm not a fortune teller you are not going to go back we have many people online okay i i see that the tide may come back and some will come back and i've talked to a lot of people i told them you know what's going on today the other side of the world the people are praying that their child will
013pass that central examination they all must pass that you know what they don't go to football games they study day and night to pass that exam what are we doing we're living a lackadaisical life hoping to go back to the past and it's not working our military is challenged we have hypersonic cruise missiles our defense department even the people at lockheed martin are a little struck if you want to get engaged in a war you let that you let the development of our defense fall by the wayside like american education is and you will be exceedingly sorry thank you thank you mr patchell is there anyone else that would like to make public comment this evening hello good evening my name is kim deveny i'm from north wales i have two boys that are in
014the district ninth and fourth grade i'm a single mom who's worked throughout the pandemic while my kids suffered at home with learning loss issues amongst others due to the detrimental covet policies last year it was very hard and unjustly affected working parents rather than other parents who had the luxury to stay home with their children that was not equality furthermore bad policies including six feet of social distancing with masking once three feet of social distancing with masking would have been sufficient and kept kids out of the classroom the cdc in effect caused effect caused learning loss in millions of children nationwide makes no make no mistake the cdc was behind the times when neighboring counties said three feet was enough our kids suffer unnecessarily now we see kids in school five days a week which
015is great we are making some progress but however the new test to stay policy would set all of us back and it's completely intrusive anyone who wants to test for kovit can do so pretty much anywhere and even do it at home testing force testing on children in order for them to receive an education that they are entitled to steps over the line vaccinations are now available for any child five and above some parents have reservations about the covid vaccines especially when a child such as mine has a cardiac condition of which i am concerned that vaccine could cause harm it's my decision and not yours it's your job to educate our kids not to blindly test them for a cold to keep them in school the test to say program is segregating the vaccinated
016from the unvaccinated children furthermore your test to stay policy does not coincide with the cdc according to the cdc there is no contact exposure when both parties are masked and there is universal masking in north penn thus why this testing is even it's not necessary we want to get our kids back to normal not threaten kids to test to stay home when they are healthy if we don't agree to test keep my chi my healthy children home even though they are wearing a mask why do this at all if you require mask anyway test to say sets up a permanent solution to where there is no way out when you are testing asymptomatic children for for now chronic disease get rid of it immediately it should be voluntary not mandatory thank you for your time
017ma'am could you sign the register please thank you mrs tiffany is there anyone else that would like to make public comment this evening i'm sorry are you waving your hand it's kind of dark i can't see okay yeah come on up good evening everyone my name is gloria sebastian and i'm from india and my name is english name and i did not change my name just to come to united states there are 50 million such english named population in india who are living as christians with english names my dad is sebastian my grandfather is jokim and peter michael and all these english names they're all there as christians in india and i came here today this evening to say to the school board that do not be afraid to say merry christmas even though i'm
018from india i can say merry christmas in six different languages or in indian languages and i can show you the christmas songs that is played in gujarati hindi or tamil or telugu or any of the indian languages and i would like to bring to the board that all these songs should be played during christmas week in all the school schools in the district and i would like to bring this 2000 years history of christians in india up here in public that's why i'm here thank you mr sebastian is there anyone else that would like to make public comment okay seeing none there will be another opportunity towards the end of this meeting but we will move on to the committee reports for now or uh actually we're gonna do the approval of the minutes so
019do i have a motion to approve the minutes of the october 21st action meeting so move second motioned by dr lewis campbell seconded by mrs ramet are there any comments or questions seeing none all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries next up are the committee reports first off we'll start with the personnel the personnel committee of the board met in executive session on november 3rd 2021 to discuss matters of personnel including the appointment of staff and staffing considerations and positions and a report next up is finance and um mr fusco is not here this evening so i believe mr roche is going to read tonight's finance report at the november 9th 2021 meeting the finance committee met with in a virtual meeting and the financial reports and monthly budget transferred review in addition
020to the following items mr saraki provided an update on the status on the online health clinic due diligence process as well as addressed additional questions from committee members this topic will be discussed again at the december finance committee meeting with the expectation that the final draft of the contract will be presented for discussion the committee heard an update from local auditors regarding the 2021 draft audit report there are no audit findings or internal control concerns and the district had a very solid financial year the final audit report appears on tonight's agenda mr soraki reviewed a potential resolution not to exceed the one act one index for the 22-23 fiscal year the purpose of the resolution is to allow the district to follow normal budgeted procedures and dispense with the more complicated expensive and accelerated act
021one budget requirements this option is available only to school districts that are certain that next year budget can be funded without increasing the real estate taxes rate by more than the index and therefore without exceeding the approval for any index limited exceptions that 2223 base act 1 index is 3.4 percent the this item appears on tonight's agenda mrs johnson reviewed the building budget per pupil allocation for the 22-23 fiscal year the per pupil amounts will be frozen at current year levels building budgets represent less than one percent of the total budget mr saraki reported that the extended school care program received a federal grant of 933 dollars the grant is part of the american rescue plan act and the proceeds will be used for personnel costs the item appears on tonight's agenda the next financial
022committee meeting is scheduled for wednesday december 8th at 6 pm and will be held in a virtual format thank you mr roche are there any comments or questions for mr rush seeing none we'll move on to safe schools mr casa please thank you madam president the safe schools committee met on monday evening october 25th mr nick cranach presented information about the new transportation gps solution an associate associated parent app called here comes the bus equipment installation is being scheduled and the goal is to pilot the parent app at one school in mid-november if everything goes well the app will be rolled out to all schools in january mr dar then presented an update about the safe to say something anonymous tip program in pennsylvania information about the system operation in north penn's process as well
023as summary data from past two years was shared the next meeting of the safe schools committee is scheduled for tuesday and note that's tuesday not monday tuesday november 30th at 5 45 p.m in a virtual format please note this is a change in the date of the meeting thank you mr casa are there any comments or questions all right seeing none we'll move on to the education curriculum and instruction committee dr g please the eci committee met on november 1st at 6 pm in a virtual format at the meeting changes to the 2022 secondary program of studies was presented to the committee included in those changes is the collapsing of levels from three to two for ninth grade english and social studies and upgrading the level for several courses in the areas of family and
024consumer sciences health and pe music and technology and engineering other changes include the addition of three elective high school courses an internship program for grades 10 11 and 12 an additional dual enrollment offerings the program of studies changes are on tonight's agenda for approval the next dci meeting will take place on december 7th at 6 pm in a virtual format and a report thank you dr g any comments or questions seeing none we'll move on to policy which is also mr fusco so i'll take this one the policy committee met on november 9th at 5 00 pm in a virtual format during the meeting the committee continued its review of policies in the 900 series with the following three policies policy 908 relations with parents and guardians policy 917 parental and family involvement policy 918
025title one parent and family engagement also two policies that have previously been approved were amended to reflect recently recommended changes from the pspa those two policies are policy 103 title discrimination title 9 sexual harassment affecting students and policy title discrimination title ix sexual harassment affecting staff the next meeting of the policy committee will be on december 14th at five o'clock p.m in the virtual format does anyone have any comments or questions then we will move on to facilities and operations mr casa please thank you madam president the facilities and operations committee met on monday october 25th 2021. the committee reviewed a change order request for the crawford stadium and a net for crawford stadium and a natural gas basis contract extension these two items are recommended to be moved to this evening's action meeting for
026the board's consideration the committee then was presented and discussed informational items including the north penn high school's enact club's update of upcoming events and future ideas that's the environmental club an in-depth update of the knapp elementary and crawford stadium projects and the updated 10-year capital project report was presented the next facilities and operations committee meeting is scheduled for tuesday november 30th 2021 at 7 pm and will be held in a virtual format please note once again this is a change in the date of the meeting and the report thank you mr casa any comments or questions i do have a quick question um mr casa is the ten-year capital project report um is that available on online now okay just wanting to kind of bring that to the forefront of everyone and then um the
027the date for specifically naf elementary um for kind of completion of that so the 10-year capital project report has always been online at the facilities and operations page and there's some videos and other informational items uh that gets repo updated about quarterly but recently had some significant updates and i do recommend to the public that that archived meeting from last month is available to watch it's quite in depth as far as knapp elementary we'll see how my my recall is uh mr skaraki and the rest of the cabinet but i believe that the completion date of the interior will be early in 2022 but the total project won't be completed until hardscaping and mcadam can be completed when there are no more students in the building in june so total completion would be this summer
028and we're looking for by this spring for indoor completion that's correct technically for the contract the contractors have until august 16th is a substantial completion date so that's contractually that's the final completion date deadline thank you appreciate that while i recognize that we have committee meetings for a reason i think sometimes some of those high points it's important to bring to action just to bring up thank you dr mr rush mr i know that uh the uh infrastructure plan was just passed and i believe that there was 10 billion dollars in the infrastructure plan for electric school buses does that affect the discussion about uh gas powered buses or the uh or the uh gas filling station that we're gonna do great question we're still trying to find out what procedure will be followed regarding
029applying for any grants you might recall mr resh that the school district has been very successful upwards of six hundred thousand dollars so far in state and federal grants with our propane school buses so we're hopeful this is an opportunity for additional grants however we just don't have the details yet how we might be able to access that money thank you mr rush thank you mr scracky are there any other questions comments okay seeing now we'll move on to the north monco technical career center report um dr lewis campbell no it's it's me tonight it's dr rashford okay sorry right mr rush so the jlc met virtually on november 15th at 7 pm we discussed the state test to stay program this program will allow students to get tested for covert if they are covert
030adjacent instead of staying home nobody's being forced to take the test they can go home if they want and return after 10 days or they can get tested and stay in the schools we are going to be moving on meeting notes to board doc shortly i think that's very good because we will have records of those notes and the public will be able to look back through history and see what the board discusses we did we discussed the two new programs that we want to implement because of space and supply issues the implementation of these new programs will be delayed thank you are there any comments or questions okay i have a quick question what would be the two programs um would you answer dr dietrich please so we were looking at trying to make
031some expansion in some programs um i don't have the particulars for you i can get that to you at a later date but it just isn't going to work out and it was very preliminary at that point in a long shot but with all the supply chain problems we're having we just no it can't happen right now gotcha sorry i didn't mean to put anybody on the spot all right moving on then um montgomery county intermediate unit mrs romich please good evening the mciu board actually met just last evening um so when i have the formal report i'll be sure to get that to mr scracky but we recognized and honored seven board members who will that for last night was their last meeting and we look forward to welcoming district rep representatives um from
032those seven sending school districts we heard great updates and reports from from the team there and our next meeting will be january 26th end of report great thank you mrs ramich we'll stay with mrs ramich as we go on to the north penn educational foundation report please great the foundation did not meet this month but i do have some great news to share first thank you to the generosity of the north penn school district staff the foundation raised more than 16 thousand dollars in its annual giving campaign unite to inspire everyone who donated can expect a small token of appreciation from the foundation in the coming weeks in bigger news the foundation was awarded a montco strong 2021 nonprofit resilient program grant in the amount of 25 thousand dollars the program is being administered by
033the montgomery county board of commissioners and the montgomery county commerce department in partnership with the redevelopment authority of montgomery county the funds will be used for operational expenses and will help to offset contractor cost incurred during the fund by the foundation this year and finally we we launched a north penn strong clothing sale and have many great items that will make the perfect gift for the holidays very popular this time around is the throwback t-shirt and and and spirit wear that features the north penn high school physical education t-shirt we've seen this on stars ranging from broadway to hollywood the sale ends november 19th so be sure to get your order in soon any questions about the foundation can be directed to christine libroski at the esc or you may find your answer at npnedfoundation.org
034the next meeting of the foundation will be on wednesday december 8th end of report thank you mrs ramich does anyone have any comments or questions seeing none we'll move on to the legislative committee report mr mcbain please thank you madam president house bill 1660 a proposal which would limit emergency powers of school boards and which hadn't won the support of psba and many pa school districts was recently amended in the senate education committee the amendment creates categories of emergencies and limits the number of days in which temporary emergency provisions could be made from 60 days to 21. it would also require a local or state emergency disaster declaration before the school board could extend provisions the senate will convene on december 13th and a report thank you mr mcbain okay next up then would be
035the solicitor's report mr summers please uh thank you madam president the uh board did meet in an executive session immediately prior to tonight's meeting for the purpose of discussing two confidential student discipline matters um and also prior to the meeting this evening the board secretary mr scruff we did receive a memorandum from board president um stole and that memorandum read as follows this written memorandum is being submitted to the north penn school district's board of secretary in accordance with section 1103j of the pennsylvania public official and employee ethics act at the public meeting that will be held on november 18 2021 which is this evening it is my intention to abstain from the vote on the agenda item which involves the employment of lauren kane stole as a staff nurse for the district due to
036a conflict of interest under the ethics act the nature of my interest is as follows the person who's being recommended to be hired in the position of staff nurse is my daughter-in-law signed tina stoll that item appears as item 7b on the agenda this evening and with mrs uh abstention from that vote there will be compliance with both the ethics act and district policy regarding the ethics act and that concludes my report thank you mr summers okay next up then will be the superintendent's report dr dietrich please thank you i recommend adoption of the items listed under the consent agenda namely adoption of policies repeal the policy adoption of policies first reading appeal of policies notice of intent program of studies for 2022-23 student travel contracts extended school care program grant various items under student
037agreements the letter i various items under student agreements the letter j and alternative placements do i have a motion please second motioned by mr casa and seconded by mrs romich are there any comments or questions seeing none all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries recommend approval of personnel items as per the attached do i have a motion so moved second motion by dr g and seconded by dr lewis campbell any comments or questions all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries recommended approval lauren kane stole to the position of 6th 10th staff nurse at north penn school district district-wide hourly rate 27.58 cents per hour which is step four grade five effective november 29th 2021. do i have a motion after another motion question so i'm sorry is there a
038motion by a second motion by mr casa seconded by mrs g or doctor chief any comments or questions mr rashford as i understand as i understand it your daughter is only going to be working for a year or two why she continues her education and then she's going to move on to another job yes okay thank you you're welcome are there any other comments or questions ms kim uh just want to make sure we followed all process and procedure um for this uh for this hiring process it's my understanding that the district did follow process absolutely thank you very much and certainly i think we all recognize that there's a shortage of staff nurses so but we did follow all the processes and you know we did make offers to other um candidates as well
039thank you for that clarification thank you dr kim so are there any other comments or questions there's a motion on the floor so all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries just to be clear you do uh do abstain next item is the crawford stadium change order recommend the approval of change order co 7 to grace industries incorporated in the amount of two thousand six hundred dollars for various changes encountered during construction do i have a motion motion by mr casa and seconded by dr lewis campbell any comments or questions all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries recommend approval of the attached resolution certifying that the district will not exceed the act 1 index of 3.4 percent for the 2022-23 fiscal year budget do i have a motion so moved
040motioned by mrs ramich and seconded by mr mcvean any comments or questions all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries recommend approval of the attached 2000 2021 audit report copy which is on file in the business office and posted online do i have a motion motion by mr rush do i have a second second seconded by mrs ramich any comments or questions mr scracky i'd just like to congratulate you and your department on another good audit and thank you for all the work that you do and making sure our finances are in shape so okay motion on the floor all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries recommend that the attached stipulation to settle the real estate tax assessment appeal between the north penn school district and montgomeryville associates concerning the property
041located at 804 bethlehem pike montgomery township parcel numbers as listed be approved as presented and that the board president be authorized to execute the stipulation the total assessed value of the parcel shall be decreased from 81 million 716 dollars to 26 million 386 thousand six nine hundred and sixty dollars do you have a motion do i have a second second merchant by mr casa and seconded by dr lewis campbell are there any comments or questions yeah go ahead mrs matt thanks mr schwarke so this is because the mall's in bankruptcy or so this is a real estate tax assessment appeal it was filed by the owners of the mall it's actually three parcels here it's the main mall it's macy's and jcpenney that's all part of this appeal the property owner filed an appeal in
042for any change to take effect in 2019 so this appeal covers three prior years okay now you mentioned about the bankruptcy that complicated matters in with respect to our settlement discussions with the property owner so that's why we're recommending we basically had two appraisals one by the property owner one by the school district the bankruptcy situation led us to try to reach a resolution prior to this case going to court okay we were concerned about our success if this would have gone to trial okay and do you anticipate that there would be further action by the owners of the mall down the road or do you think that with what has been done this is well it's always tough to predict what a property owner will do but i will say that there's an annual
043right both of the school district and the property owner to file a real estate tax assessment appeal so i would say that if circumstances change there could be further appeals beyond this you're welcome in fact you just made one question mr skaraki it indicates that over 2 million will be refunded to the taxpayer how will they receive that refund yes so this this settlement would result and again it goes back to 2019 20 and 21 tax years the refund would be 2.7 million dollars it's important to note that we have 1.6 million dollars in escrow we've been setting money aside for this appeal since the appeal was filed back in 2018 so we don't have all the money set aside but we have 1.6 million set aside so that was good that we did set
044that money aside so the additional 1.1 million dollars that we'll have to come up with this year will come in essence from our fund balance and we once this is approved by all entities and signed off we will have 30 days to remit the payment to the property owner via a check thank you mr scrocky are there any other comments or questions yes good mr cos uh i'd just like to um commend uh you know the cabinet uh rudolph clark for working on during a very difficult situation as mr skraki said this was compounded uh by the economic crisis uh with the pandemic but to move forward with this type of compromise um you know this is not something uh zero sum game in which either side is going to win this is the best
045way forward that also uh provides some opportunities still um you know to um as mr scracky said to adjust um if the situation changes i also really appreciate the for planning and making sure that we had that escrow set aside so that it wasn't such a hit to our front balance so thank you very much to all involved any other comments or questions okay then seeing none we'll move on oh we have a motion on the floor right so um all in favor of this say i uh any opposed motion carries recommend that the attached stipulation to settle the real estate tax assessment appeal between the north penn school district and one four zero commerce drive llc concerning the property located at 140 commerce drive montgomery township parcel number as listed be approved as presented
046and that the board president be authorized to execute the stipulation the current assessed value for the parcel shall be increased from six hundred fifty seven thousand five hundred twenty dollars to eight hundred forty nine thousand three hundred dollars do i have a motion please version by mr casa do you have a second second second and by mrs romich any comments or questions all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries okay thank you dr dietrich next up will be then the finance report from mr scraki please thank you madam president good evening board members welcome community members and those watching on youtube we appreciate your attendance just want to give a couple quick updates before i deliver the monthly financial report first off with the board's passage of the resolution not to exceed the
047act one index our budget timeline is going to be basically a two-step process for this upcoming fiscal year the 22-23 fiscal year the proposed final budget will be presented to the board for approval in may and the final budget in june by passing that resolution and guarantees to the residents of north penn school district that that act one index of 3.4 percent will not be exceeded meaning that no exceptions will be applied for to the pennsylvania department of education so thank you for passing that resolution it does expedite the process it does eliminate one stage of the process but it does not eliminate any of the information we plan to deliver to the finance committee budget season will be heating up quite a bit starting in january once we get into february we'll have four
048consecutive months of two finance meetings per month so the information will not change it's just the process is a little more truncated so thank you again for that also with the passage of the or acceptance of the final audit report tonight i just want to let the community know just a little bit about our finances for the this would be for the 2021 fiscal year our revenues exceeded our budgeted revenues by 4.6 million dollars and our expenditures came in under budget by 6.1 million dollars so we had a positive variance for the year of 10.7 million dollars so you might remember back in the spring of 2020 we were talking about various economic recovery scenarios we were talking about a v-shaped recovery we were talking about a u-shaped recovery and a w shape recovery and
049i think when we look at the performance for the 2021 year with respect to our revenues in particular i think we've seen a v-shaped recovery with respect to our revenues earned income tax was strong for the year realty transfer tax continues to go like gangbusters we're seeing record revenue with the realty transfer tax real estate tax collection was strong so it was a very positive year and with covid our our spending was mitigated for the year also so the end result was we were able to add to our fund balance by 3.6 million dollars and that's very timely considering the montgomery mall appeal knowing that we're going to have to come up with an additional 1.1 million from our fund balance to cover that settlement so our unassigned fund balance now is a very healthy
05021.7 million dollars okay a few other quick comments also with the completion of the audit report we now will be submitting our annual financial report to the pennsylvania department of education by the end of november we always wait for our audit report to be completed so we can reconcile and tie everything into our annual financial report and just for the community's benefit too we always post all the financial information on the school district website all of our financial reports our annual reports are our audit reports we're working on our budget book now as well for the current year that we'll submit to the association of school business officials international for the annual budget award also i just want to give my monthly reminder on the real estate tax rebate program it seems like there's a
051new individual every month that calls our office that had no idea about this program so we are in the fourth year of this program the north penn rebate program mirrors the pennsylvania property tax and rent rebate program so if you know anyone in the community that's receiving a rebate from the state in all likelihood they're eligible to receive a rebate from north penn also north penn this year we match rebates up to 60 percent of what the individual receives from the state and we are closing in on a hundred thousand dollars in rebates so far this year and we have a number of individuals between the state rebate program and the north penn rebate program that received 100 percent of their property taxes rebated back between those two entities so it's an awesome program and
052again if you know of anyone that receives that state rebate please have them contact the school district office you'd be happy to walk them through the process mrs rocky i'm sorry to interrupt but i have a quick question about that do the tax collectors send out a um notice with the tax bill about that they do they do all of our tax collectors been very kind and put language in the tax mailing each year about our rebate program and do we send out um anything like a reminder to the ones that have filed previously or are they pretty good about like once they file they keep filing yeah once they file we see repeat customers definitely it's nice for those individuals to receive a check and typically they don't forget about it the next year
053okay great thank you in terms of the treasurer's report this is for the month of october 2021 cash receipts for the month totaled 11.7 million dollars and disbursements for the month total 22.1 million dollars so we are now in a negative cash flow situation which will basically continue for the remainder of the fiscal year however our available funds at the end of the month total 192.2 million dollars and that's an increase of 3.4 million dollars over the same period last year so i asked for approval of the treasures report for the month of october 2021 do i have a motion to approve motion by mr rush drive a second seconded by mrs wesley any comments or questions seeing none all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries thank you next we have the sanction
054and approval of invoices i'm recommending ratification of disbursements for the month of october in the amount of twenty six million one hundred two thousand six hundred ninety dollars and eighty six cents do i have a motion motion by mr mcbain do i have a second seconded by mrs wesley any comments or questions seeing none all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries thank you next we have budget transfers for the month of october if this is the first month we were able to do budget transfers for this fiscal year i'm recommending approval of the budget transfers which are attached in board docs for the month of october in the amount of one million seven hundred twelve thousand eight hundred twenty five dollars and thirty cents does motion motion by dr lewis campbell do i
055have a second seconded by mr mcbain any comments or questions seeing none all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries and finally we do have all the monthly financial reports attached we do review these at the monthly finance committee meeting i do want to make mention that we are on a pathway this year based on the current trends to break even at the end of the year so it means our revenues would equal our expenditures and that's good because we did pass a budget that had a roughly five million dollar budget deficit so our revenues are coming in ahead of budget our spending is putting us on a track that we can get to that break-even point at the end of the year which is what our goal was when that deficit budget
056was actually passed and i mentioned earlier the realty transfer tax just continues to be amazing so the number of properties that are selling in the north penn school district in particular over the last eight nine months is just unbelievable it's at a pace that we've never seen before thank you for that information i think that speaks well to the district people want to move here so that's very encouraging are there any other comments or questions yes go ahead mr casa i have to ask mr skrocky when is the next moody's rating call well we we're looking forward to one because we are in an excellent financial position so one would occur if there's another borrowing in the future that's a given but moody's does do an annual rating so they did another one over the
057summer and we retained our double a two rating you know our goal is to get the double a1 rating so i think with the trend with our fund balance i think with our past budget performances um and a number of other managerial factors i think we're well positioned to get that upgrade to double a1 which would really put us in elite you know company with respect to just a small handful of districts that have that double a1 rating so next summer will be our annual review but if there's any discussion about a borrowing that perhaps might happen or refinancing will be subject to another moody's rating at that point in time thank you mr scraki out of the 500 districts in pennsylvania do you know how many have the highest rating well double a2 or
058higher is 19. i believe the double a1 is four or five out of 500 yes great thank you very much okay with that um i think we conclude the financial reports and we will move on to other business does anyone have any other business to discuss this evening i wanted to make sure there was a shameless plug for dr bauer on tuesday on uh ben hartrey our autism ambassador has a streaming show and please everyone look that up i i believe it's uh bennergy1thennumeralone.com and um you know it's it's uh ben's ongoing outreach to make sure that the community realizes how all of us are partners together and collaborate um you know to move forward is one i'd also like to point out to the community as chair of safe schools it's very disconcerting that
059our state house this week passed a bill that actually lowers the age to 18 for concealed permit less carry that's something that our community which invests millions of dollars in school safety initiatives and dealing with unfunded mandates from the state house we should be concerned about because that law where it's been passed in other states has been shown to increase weapons offenses and suicides in those age 18 to 21. it lowers the age of caring uh and getting a gun from age 21 to age 18. and what that means is there is no training there is no getting a permit or a review it means that someone who is once a student here could walk out go to a store get a weapon and show up years later unannounced like it has happened in so
060many other schools across this nation this is a reckless law and for anyone concerned about the safety of our community our students our staff and within our schools i highly recommend that you contact your state legislators senate and house of representatives and make your opinion known thank you thank you mr casa that's disturbing um should we tell people who the representatives are in north penn school district for the audience members who might not know who they are i'll defer to um mr mcbain uh who leads policy because i i don't know if i'd pass that quiz you know okay we are represented by in the 61st district uh miss liz handbitch we're also representing the 53rd district uh by mr todd stevens and mr medal oh i apologize steve i apologize my friend uh in
061the 53rd i apologize that's mr maligari who serves landsale in some areas north in our state senators are they uh mr mensch mr mensch and uh ms colette correct yep thank you very much for that pop quiz okay all right moving on then to the second audience of citizens is there anyone who would like to make another comment this evening mr patch will go ahead oh it's so nice to be back before the public in the in the forum that actually people can see who's doing the talking my name is william patchell again i live in montgomery township you know what they'll probably do with that assignment property group is a fairly savvy group of people and how about we make an over 55 community and miraculously these townhouses sell for 2.8 million but you
062know what it's an over 5 over 55 community and up there at the del webb over 55 that's what they're building now they're building properties they're building houses nice houses that nobody that sends anybody to school is living in the entire country has a massive housing shortage because the people that have the money are doing what they want and they negate the problems that you are creating by raising taxes now i ride by and i don't know how many children get out at valley stream and brookside i'm sure they're going to love the 400 a month rate increase are you going to be able to help them out no they're going to have to move okay so that's what's going on and mr costa you want about safety what's really safe yeah my kid's at
063home doing it online he's really good he's going to do the entire high school he's getting all b's he's going to go to monco online probably going to go to an elite college online and when he sits down with a fortune 500 company he's going well what did you do young man well i did everything online and uh i'm uh i'm a chemistry major and uh you did the entire thing online yeah i knew that someday i would have this meeting with somebody like you and i'm prepared and ready to go to work remotely in any location with people from various locations in the world half the people that go to this high school due to artificial intelligence are going to be relegated to getting a government check that these crazy people in washington they're
064handing out more money you know what this causes i'll flip you back to 1968 with paul volcker we got six percent inflation i'm not a fortune teller six nine twelve you will be so crushed by what's going to happen i got out in 1968 the pay that i got for serving the country was 184 a month almost pocket change and these people oh everybody's doing really good i hear people saying i got two cars i'm paying 800 a month for gas you haven't seen anything yet and these buildings are building they are not carbon neutral you're still using hydrocarbons you're still using electricity for duties michael you're not even on board for this stuff 10 years they're going to jam it down your throat and you won't be able to do anything because the government
065likes you tell me what to do thank you is there anyone else that would like to make another comment mr lanier go ahead i wanted to redress what we had talked about in the when i made my first comment who on the board here is going to take responsibility for the implementation of critical race theory in classes now g board member g campbell fusco casa stoll you all denied ever implementing anything about it and yet it is it's in it's in the professional development books who's taking responsibility for this who looks at the books ahead of putting them into uh into practice for the teachers to learn from who is doing this who is going to take responsibility i assume nobody somebody needs to own up for this we talked about mr cass talked about
066the the the reducing the age of carrying permits i'm not sure all about that but what what about bringing pornography books pornographic books into the school who is responsible for this and who's going to take responsibility which one of you did this did it just happen organically who allowed this and who's continuing to allow it to happen they're still in the book they're still in the libraries who's who's going to own up to this i want to know nobody missed a linear this is not a time for a debate or a question right like so yeah no it's an open-ended question okay and you guys are feel free to chime in with uh who's going to take responsibility by silence i guess that means no one regarding this test to stay we did this uh
067last year with the spring athletes some spring athletes we did we did antigen testing for some of them on a weekly basis in order to play i asked uh i guess it was it was uh i remember who i can't remember where i asked dr baugh i can't remember who i asked but i said can we test our can we bring our own antigen testing and and supply the result because it's really the result you're looking for right negative is negative fine but it wasn't you know what this was it was a data collection point that was given to chop which was subsequently handled by well connect the guy who runs chop who's running this program for you currently the this uh the test to say program he's profiting from this from our data from
068our kids data he's profiting you you realize this yes how is it that you can just say okay we're going to do this not to mention that it's just against i don't know if you know what the dylan rule is mr summers but it's basically says that that locust jurisdictions can't out legislate what is given by the state and that is including school districts i suggest you look it up it's not i'm not making it up it's a real law it will be it will come down in through a lawsuit you guys need to be more proactive in what is actually allowed and not just doing what you want thank you mr linear is there anyone else that would like to make public comment okay seeing none do i have a motion to adjourn before
069we adjourn president stohl i'd like to say something sure um we all know that in this school district we do a lot of celebrating we celebrated when our graduates could complete the graduation during the pandemic with our drive-through graduation we celebrated with graduation this year we celebrated recently with our um sports teams and uh the music programs winning awards so it would seem that we'd want to celebrate the fact that our north fan neighbors for progress team won this election and we look at what happened during that time the people spoke loudly with a vote of confidence for you all and we want to thank you for your example of leadership many times under fire for our candidates that ran that won you were threatened with not being voted back in you had name calling
070uh insults disrespect rudeness and even spit at and you handled it all with the plum and so you handled it with gentleness with dignity with respect civility integrity kindness kindness and kindness even when people weren't kind to you so i want to congratulate you all for the effort that you took and so the rest of your team wants to recognize you with something and it's a surprise because you didn't know uh kathy could you come down alicia julian tim thank you thank you very much did we give out okay we just wanted to recognize our colleagues with some little gifts and if you notice they all speak to kindness and because of what you show to this community uh under your leadership president's dole and the rest of you running we really want to thank
071you from the bottom of our hearts for your example thank you thank you so much that's so sweet of you all and we have a gift for mr fusco too okay well i don't know thank you i i just really appreciate this team and i'm glad that we are able to uh all continue to serve so thank you very much um and thank you to the community for their confidence in us and showing us um you know that they're voting for us and supporting us we appreciate it thank you is there anyone else that would like to say anything or okay then do i have a motion to adjourn thank you very much okay have a nice evening everyone you