001Meeting order begin with the pledge of allegiance, please. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, 1 2 3. All right, okay. Roll call, please, Madam Secretary. Ms. Bilheimer, here. Mr. Fedorcha, Here. Ms. Husak, here. Ms. Polk, >> Here. Ms. Snyder, Here. Ms. Hanson, >> Here. Mr. Weber, Here. Ms. Williams, Here. Mr. Green, Here. We have a quorum. Thank you, ma'am. Public comments are restricted to agenda items. Do we have any tonight? We have a uh Mr. Phillips who would like to speak on property taxes, which is uh part of the budget presentation. Is that what you want to speak I You may address the board. Thank you. Okay, you've all
002received copies of the uh previous minutes. Are motion to approve those minutes? So moved. Second. Okay, hope the secretary got whoever did that. >> [laughter] >> You want to call it? I got it. You got it? Call Mr. Fedorcha. Thank you. Uh any additions or corrections? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed, no. And so ordered. Uh moving into special board reports, CLIU, Ms. Husak. Thank you. Just have a quick update. Unfortunately, due to some illness, I was not able to attend the March meeting, which was held on March 16th. Um but a little bit of an update that went on, um the CLIU and their team created um a video called the 50 years of the ID IDEA, um which was featured at the PDE conference closing. Um this
003basically takes limited access for students with disability to today's inclusive student-centered approach, um and really put a great video together to show um how these students interact interact and uh how their put full potential is is being empowered. So, I do recommend taking a look at the cliu.org website to go take a look at that video. It is the 50 years of IDA video. Um the other item, of course, is coming up is the uh um Carbon Lehigh Children's Golf Tournament. So, that is coming up on June 16th uh out at Old Homestead again, so looking forward to seeing some of you out there. Um there are still available spots. You can go on to that website, which is uh the www.cls ncf.org uh for any sign-ups or sponsorships, opportunities to to volunteer, and tournament
004updates are all there. Um those funds are used uh for students. Um one of the larger items that we've we have done was either um purchased a therapy dog, which is in some of our schools, and we also have um the adaptive bikes that are students can get from their fam through the families, and seeing those faces of those students um being able to ride the bike for the first time is is really impressive. So, those are just two things that we've used that money for. Um our next meeting is coming up um on April 20th at 6:30 at the IU conference room. And on tonight's agenda, just to take a look at it, is our CLIU facility plan um update, so that is on there to be voted on. We do vote on that
005every year. Um the IU uses all district um buildings for their for their classrooms. Um so, Northern Lehigh does have some of those within that facility plan, so we will be voting on that this evening. That's all I have, Mr. Green. Thank you. Uh my apologies for calling you Ms. Husak, because we do have a Ms. Husak in the room, so from now on it will be Mrs. Husak. It's all good. Okay, I apologize for that. And uh Mr. Fedorcha. >> [clears throat] >> Uh LCTI, uh we have a reminder that our senior awards is May 28th at 6:30 at the PPL Center. We are going to be adopting our budget uh this month because of uh some some problems we've had to to get there, and it will be ready for the district to
006uh approve in May. Also, we're having our surplus s- surplus sale in Jan- in June. And that is all I have right now. Thank you. Any Nothing this evening. >> Nothing this evening. Uh I have nothing from LCTI other than attendance is down slightly, we need money, etc., like everybody else. Uh you all have copies of the committee reports here. You're right, I mean. So, we move to F. Highlight, here we go. This would be Ms. Husak. Good evening, everyone. It's great to see you all. Unfortunately, we couldn't make the March meeting because Maddie and I were rehearsing for the spring musical Anastasia. We hope you all could see it. So, >> [laughter] >> moving on to the announcements for this month. So, we started this month on spring break, which was the 1st through
007the 6th. And students also have off the 17th for a teacher in-service day. And moving on to upcoming events, prom tickets are now on sale um for $50. They're being sold every Wednesday and Thursday in the main lobby. Um they end on the 30th, and we look forward to seeing all seniors and juniors at the prom. On the 9th, our SADD club attended the highway safety conference. At the conference, the club learned about statistics on distracted and impaired driving. They watched other schools' PSA videos about different SADD topics, so it was like videos about bullying, vaping, um drunk driving, like things like that. Our SADD video received third place out of 10 teams. Congratulations to the SADD club for this achievement. Continuing with student activities, on the 17th, our history department will be taking a
008group of students to Philadelphia to commemorate America's 250th anniversary of independence. So, students will visit the National Constitution Center and the Museum of the American Revolution. We hope all the students who are attending have a great time. The marching band is holding their all-you-can-eat breakfast on April 19th, 8:00 to 10:00 8:00 to 11:30 at the Diamond Fire Company. We hope you all can make it. Keystone and AP testing is just around the corner. Teachers and students are using lunch and learn as a time to prepare for the testing. We wish all testers good luck. Clubs are starting to plan their yearly trips. The National Honor Society is planning to attend the Dream Mall in Jersey on the 15th of May, and the art club is planning to visit the Philadelphia Art Museum and other world
009art installations on April 30th. That is all I have for tonight, now on to Maddie, who will discuss more school events and give the sports report. Thank you. So, to start it off, I'm going to start with more trips. So, the theater program has a trip planned April 22nd to go to Moulin Rouge and the Museum of Broadway. Speaking of theater, nominations will be announced May 7th at noon for the Freddies. Um you can watch it on WF MC, and if you can please support and watch. It was a great show, and Mr. Shiri and Kayla and all the casting crew did such a wonderful job to produce that. So, please watch. The Freddies are May 21st, I think, at 7:00 p.m. Um and then we want to congratulate Nora Lipsky on winning first place
010in an art competition for a piece she had in the Slate. The piece was questioning what 6 7 was. Um it was [laughter] really good. It was really It was a really beautiful piece and you can find it in one of the earlier editions that occurred this year. Our third blood drive of the year occurred on April 8th and normally we get like how much blood was donated. Unfortunately, I don't have that at this time. The leadership team is running a hygiene drive. Any hygiene products like toothpaste, deodorant, body wash, shampoo, anything like that is greatly appreciated and they're collecting till the end of April. And then the drop off is in the high school lobby. A select group of individuals are taking part in this year's Envirothon on April 29th at Weiser Dam. This
011is the It's second year running. It is a competition basically where teams of five are tasked with identifying different parts of Pennsylvania ecosystems like wildlife, forestry, soil and current problems. On April 20th On April 1st, the high school hosted their annual career fair. Over 70 vendors were participating from military to college, different community run organizations. All high schoolers, middle schoolers, and fifth and sixth graders were given opportunity to come and just walk around and speak to the vendors about other options outside of out of high school. And now for the sports recap, girls track and field has a record of two to two to two while boys has a record of zero to four and their next meet is tomorrow against against Caddy at home. There is also an invitational this Friday at Penn Heim
012Grove. Softball is has a record currently of five to three and their next game is April 15th against Southern Lehigh at home. And finally, baseball has a record of six to three and their next game is also uh April 15th against Southern Lehigh at home as well. Thank you. I have one question. What happened to boys baseball team? I mean, they started out 0 and 3 and now they've won like six in a row. What's What's going on here? Seven in a row? Is it seven now? Yeah. Any idea? Can Can you give us a hint? So we get other teams. No. >> know. I don't know. It's just They just >> now they're ready to go now. They are just They needed They just needed to prepare. They shook off like They shook off
013the winter blues. >> [laughter] >> Did you see the display of pictures? We did. We just realized when we came in and we saw the display. >> [laughter] >> It was an excellent show. Thank you. I just wanted to share I know you share all the accomplishments at the school district but both of you were recently recognized outside of the district. Madeline for the Wallenpaupack Canal Facebook page and Olivia as a girl of the month. So I just wanted to say congratulations. I know you do a lot here but Thank you. >> [applause] >> ANYTHING ELSE? DR. THANK YOU, LADIES. WE APPRECIATE IT. Thank you. Anything this evening, Dr. K? No, thank you. Okay. Assistant Superintendent, Dr. Stolker. Thank you very much. This evening we have a presentation for the board and public. We'll display
014it up there. So tonight is part of our monthly data reports. We will share some general information related to the district's employee and staffing profile. So this visual This visual captures the continuous cycle we strive to create through recruitment, retention, and professional development. It's not just about filling positions, it's about finding the right people, creating an environment where they want to stay, and supporting them growing professionally. When these three elements work in harmony, we build a sustainable staffing model that not only benefits our educators and staff but ultimately leads to stronger outcomes for all of our students. So applying recruitment, we recruit employees through targeted advertising such as the Times News and other newspapers, handshake, colleges and universities, LinkedIn, and digital marquee. Our district website, we have our employment tab and recruitment fairs and events
015at colleges, in-house guest teachers at the IU, and through networks such as word of mouth and professional associations that we all belong to. Onboarding [clears throat] and training. This slide highlights the collaborative effort that goes into welcoming and supporting new staff members from the moment they join our district. Onboarding and training are not isolated to a single department. It is truly a district-wide initiative. From human resources to our school principals, from operations and technology to food service and safety and security, every team plays a role in helping new employees feel informed, supported, and connected. Our goal is to ensure that each new team member understands our culture, expectations, and systems and has access to the professional development they need to thrive in their role. We are always gathering feedback feedback from staff about their onboarding
016experience so we can continue to refine and improve our process. Okay, so some reasons why employees come and stay at Northern Lehigh School District are growth opportunities. Over the years, we've demonstrated that we provide opportunities for support staff to transition into professional staff, professional staff and skilled maintenance to administrative staff, SPOs to our chief of police, assistant principals to principals, principals to district office administrators, and administrative assistants to coordinators. Collaborative culture of opportunities for employees, parents, and community members to engage in committees or provide survey feedback. Teachers [clears throat] are invited to join interview panels and curriculum selection committees. Students are engaged at the building level, groups such as student council, board representatives like our two board representatives this evening, and various extracurricular groups. We have employees in each group that have been here for
017their entire career or have graduated from Northern Lehigh School District and then returned to work for us or actively recruit community members to apply for positions here. Additionally, we have strong working relationships and partnerships with local businesses, local law enforcement, and first responder groups, and local service groups. We have a robust one-to-one device program for our students and employees, evolving curriculum and materials, a track record of investing in our facilities and we continue to strive to meet the needs of our students, employees, and community. Representatives and officers from our different work groups or our unions or associations, administration and school board work to create and implement contracts with our fair and reasonable for all members while being respect respectful of our tax-paying community. Here, this slide is a snapshot of our employee profile specific to
018administrators. So and it it covers several years. Demographic and professional lenses. We included data on gender, ethnicity, age, years of service at Northern Lehigh, and the highest degrees earned. There are 17 administrators in the district and all positions are currently filled. In the 2025-2026 school year, we added an an elementary assistant principal position to this group, the first such position in Northern Lehigh School District. Currently, 59% of our admin team are males and 41% are females. 100% are white Caucasian. The average age is 47 years young. On the bottom left in orange, you can see the breakdown in age groups with the 41 to 51 being the highest at 47%. On average, the admin team has 8.2 years of service in Northern Lehigh School District with many more years in the educational field cumulatively. With
019regard to education levels, 24% of our team has their doctorate, 53% has their masters, 12% bachelors, and 12% either a high school diploma or trade school or associate degrees. This slide includes our professional staff members which includes teachers, school counselors, and our certified school nurses as well as our permanent substitutes. There are 132 employees in this category in the district plus plus one vacancy which we hope is hired through board vote this evening. Currently, 32% of our professional staff are males and 68% are females. 97% are white or Caucasian, 1% are Hispanic, 2% are black or African American, and 1% is Asian. The average age is 42 2 years old with the highest category in the orange graph being the 31 to 40 and 41 to 50-year-olds. On average, this group has 10.2 years of
020service in our district with 59% of teachers being 0 to 10 years of service as you can see on the green graph. On the purple graph in the middle, you can see that the highest education level for professional staff and permanent substitutes is masters with 80 with 68% and then bachelors with 30%. The next group we're going to talk about are paras and our LPNs. There are 58 employees in this group across the district and we currently also have two vacancies. Currently, 7% of our paras are and LPNs are males and 93% are females. 96% are white Caucasian and 2% are Hispanic. The average age is 45.2 years old with groups in the orange >> [clears throat] >> graph pretty evenly distributed. On average, this group has a bit more turnover than others and so
021the average years of service with the district is 5.5 with 81% of the group being in the 0 to 10-year bracket. Next, uh we'll discuss our custodial and maintenance workers. This slide, uh you can see that there are 21 employees in this group across the district with no vacancies. Currently, 48% of this group is male and 52% is female. 95% are white Caucasian and 5% are Hispanic. The average age is 47.5 years old with groups in the orange graph pretty evenly distributed except for the 51 to 60 age group, which is a bit higher at 43%. On average, this group has 6 years of experience with 86% of the group being in the 0 to 10-year bracket. Our next work group are the administrative assistants and school police officers. There are 20 employees in this
022group across the district with no vacancies. Currently, 35% of this group is male and 65% is female. With regard to ethnicity, 100% are white or Caucasian. The average age is 46.8 years with the 51 to 60 and 31 to 40-year-old groups in the orange graph higher than the other age brackets. On average, this group has 6.3 years of experience with 80% of the group being in the 0 to 10-year bracket. [clears throat] And the last group we want to talk about is our first food service group. Um there are 21 employees in this group across the district plus we currently have one vacancy. Currently, 10% of this group is male and 90% is female. 100% are white Caucasian. The average age is 48.2 years old with groups in the orange graph pretty evenly distributed with
023more towards the middle group of 41 to 50-year-olds. On average, this group has 6 and 1/2 years of service with 76% of the group being in the 0 to 10-year bracket. This concludes our Northern Lehigh School District employees staffing profile for the 25-26 school year. Does anyone have any questions? For the the paras, um most of the the paras are in the 0 to 10 years. Is that normal for most districts? You know, um is there a reason why we are losing our paras? I can't speak to what other districts have in that category. I know that some of our paras have actually um gone back to school and become teachers. So, they're not always leaving. Sometimes, they're um relocating within the district to other profes- you know, other work groups. Okay. I can tell
024you that our turnover rate in all categories is much lower than most school districts. That group, though, does have more turnover than the other groups within the district. Are we >> And I think we can one way we can speak to that is I believe there's only two current vacancies. And one could be eliminated this evening if that person is um hired. I I was just wondering if we weren't offering something that most districts were if we are losing them. Good [snorts] question. Just as an aside, I recently seen uh an e- a mail mailer from Northwestern School District. Did anybody else get that? Uh it was in my mailbox. So, they're like, "Did you get it, Sherry?" Like, "Northwestern School District, we're hiring this this and this. Give us a call." So, they they
025did some kind of a mailer. I don't know if I got it by accident or purpose or whatever, but it was in my mailbox with the rest of the mail. So, uh might be something to think about. So. Uh you're complete, Dr. Stocker? Thank you very much for your Thank you, Mr. Dean. Thank you for your presentation. Uh Ms. Malatoris, uh business manager report. Thank you, President Dean. Um we're going to go into our budget presentation for this evening. Okay, everyone. Uh so, this evening, we're going to do a condensed version of the full budget presentation, which provide was provided at the finance committee this past Monday. I'm sorry. Um Hold on. I believe I have Yep. Give me one second here. >> [snorts] [clears throat] >> I think I have the right one. >>
026[snorts] >> Yeah, can you show I don't know why I have this cut keeps coming up the old version. My apologies to everyone. No worries. So, go into the slide for me. Yep. All right. Uh You got it. Yep. Again, my apologies for that. Okay. Um so again, we're going to present uh a condensed version of last week's full budget presentation. All right. So, as we've been talking about, um as you can see, our red lines is our expenditure lines and our blue lines our blue bar graph is our revenues. As you can see, since um the 2020-2021 school year up to last year, 2024-2025, our um expenditures seem to now be creeping up pretty even with what um our revenues are um being received every year. >> [clears throat] >> Okay. And here is
027just a line graph of our fund balance over the years back to 2016. Current fund balance rest at about $18.5 million. So, what are our budget increases and expenditures for the 26-27 school year? Um salaries and benefits and our health cares and PEACERS are um reoccurring costs that continue to um increase just based on our contract negotiations. CLI U special education costs. Um our business portion uh position at the high school that we are recommending putting back into the budget. Cyber charter schools. Um we are staying status quo with that. Um however, those costs are eventually going to um creep up um depending upon if kids venture into charter schools or they return to us from charter schools. So, that's kind of an anomaly every year. Maintenance repair cost and utilities we've increased this year.
028And our we always have a um concerns with our outplacements of students. So, real estate tax collection rate, we use a 94.75% tax um increase uh I'm sorry, 94.7% tax um collection rate for the 26-27 school year. That is the same collection rate we've used for the past few years. Um we did pass a resolution back in December that said we would not increase um our taxes above our adjusted index, which is 4.8%. Our federal revenues were budgeted at um the 25-26 amounts. Um and our state revenues, we budget slightly higher than 25-26 based on what the governor is projecting we will receive. Um basic ed we increased by 115,000, special ed by 40,000. And of course, our ready to learn block grant, um they've reset our base for 26-27 to be 372,000 um with
029additional adequacy funding of 25, almost 26,000 and tax equity funding at $24,000. And they've all been added into our current budget for next school year. Okay. Uh this slide has slightly changed since Monday evening. If you recall Monday evening, the very first thing that was listed there was the flooring project, a continuation of the flooring project at the high school. But that's actually coming out of capital reserve, so it's not showing up to on the long-term fund balance expenditures. Everything else on this slide remains the same from last Monday. So, our estimated fund balance ending June 30th of 2026, um we began July 1st of 2025 with a little over 18 million. That was in a prior slide, 18 million 566. Um current estimates are showing that we're going to use about 1.26 million um
030out of fund balance to balance this year's budget. And also, throughout the year, we did just recently a $3 million uh transfer out of fund balance over into our CR account. So, >> [clears throat] >> although it looks like we're going to be uh ending June 30th, 2026 with 14 million 300 and some thousand dollars, understand that we do have $3 million in our CR account that was not there before. So, we're going to end with about 17 million. It's just in two separate accounts. Uh current year expenditures are what we have in yellow. So, that is what's in the 2026-2027 budget as one-time expenses. Um they total the one total 766,150 and those were for the water softener, high school Slatington furniture, uh $200,000 for bond payments, and again our math and CCLA program
031uh curriculum needs. And then the other 493,000 is money that we put aside for uh PSERS increases and health care increases. What's the CR before you get off that? >> Capital reserve. Our capital reserve account. Um so, district expenses and revenues, our expenses total for 43,218 44,218,800. That is the same amount that we showed um at the finance committee meeting. Our revenues total 42,202,000. With that includes uh our one-time purchases that I just spoke about that total 1,259,150. So, our uh difference between our expenditures and our revenues is showing we still have a budget shortfall of 2,016,061 and at this point in time our local revenues do not show any kind of a tax increase in there. So, that $2 million can be um reduced based on a tax increase that the Board of Education
032decides to elect. So, currently as I stated, our expenses are 44,218,800 and then our revenues without including those one-time uh purchases that we're using fund balance would be 40,943,589, meaning our budget shortfall is actually 3,275,212. But, in the box there you'll see our one-time purchases was a million 259,150, which we recommend taking those purchases out of fund balance because those are not reoccurring costs. And then our remaining budget shortfall would be 2,016,061. Um if the district use use utilizes the 1,259,150 for their one-time purchases, um with the estimate on where I think we're going to end the 2026-2027 school year in fund balance would be 13,047,612. And if we would have to use fund balance for the remaining shortfall, um which is the 2,016, we'll end somewhere around 11 million at the end of the
0332026-2027 school year. Okay, so here we have the prior year tax increases going back to the 2020-2021. Um first uh kind of second column there is what the preliminary budget was approved at and then the far right column is what the final budget was approved at. So, you can kind of see our history there back to 2020-2021. Um this evening we're recommending uh that administration is recommending for the 2026-2027 school year for the preliminary budget approving a 4.8%, which is the adjusted index for us. Um keeping in mind that that's the preliminary budget. So, again we cannot increase taxes uh over the 4.8%, which was the board resolution that was passed in December, uh which if the board did raise taxes to that amount, we would receive $859,926 in additional revenues. Uh for Lehigh County,
034a median assessed home that is valued at $151,850 would see a $111 tax bill increase, which you can see there what it would cost a month, a week, or a day. Northampton County uh of a median assessed home valued at $46,200 would pay a $181 tax bill increase and you could see what that is raised in the month, week, or day break out. And the value of a mill currently is 670,000 670,126. And again, remember that we are in dual counties between two school district uh between two counties. So, therefore we have to equalize our mills between the counties by using step market value and data rebalancing each year. So, for tax revenue projections, if the board is interested in moving forward with the one-time purchases, then the remaining shortfall in the budget is 2,016,061,
035which the board [clears throat] could consider to fund by using the uh fund balance. And no tax increase. However, the issue becomes that these expenses are all reoccurring expenses, meaning that the shortfall in our budget will compound compound year after year if there is no tax increase. The board consideration for a tax increase at the shown uh percentages would indicate that much in additional revenues to offset the 2,016,061 budget shortfall. There is a difference of approximately 48,600 in loss uh each time you drop a quarter of a percent in a tax increase except for that first year there from which is a 4.8 to 4.75. Uh administrative recommendations and direction sought from the school board for this evening's preliminary budget is the utilization of fund balance for one-time purchases, debt service payment, and PSERS and
036health care increases. Pass a 4.8% preliminary tax increase in conjunction with utilization of fund balance to close the gap in addition to generating some revenue for upcoming years for capital improvements. Uh we're also recommending uh one business teacher at the high school this year as well. Uh so, we can Mr. Green at this time open it up to questions and comments from the board or we could have uh Mr. Phillips uh give his uh public comment. Do you want to comment now, sir, do you want to wait until until we Are we we talking You want to do it now? Okay. Sure. Of course, uh I'm sure all of you have seen me here before last year. And obviously, it's never easy to get a budget. Um but obviously, none of you can change anything
037to for the funding of the school. And obviously, we rely on our state representatives, which taxpayers have to realize you got to reach out, call, uh write, actually even a fight on the two of school board meetings see, you know, the troubles that we are having with budgets and funding and that. But, the bottom line is you guys have we have from by law and that and it's never easy coming up with a budget, especially when you use another people's money. You know, there you saw the majority of the shortfall was uh salary and health care. Um obviously, contracts dictate what, you know, everyone gets a bump in their pay. Health care always goes up. I know personally I work for a business that uh insurance went up. I had to do either nothing or
038I put more into my contribution to it. That might be something that has to be considered. Also, uh why isn't there collaboration with other uh school districts with maybe uh all you getting on to some type of health care uh system that uh maybe helps lower the cost. I don't know if that's feasible or not, but it would maybe help out with maybe some of the budget issues. Last year, I suggested uh ways of maybe trying to, you know, generate more money. Um didn't see much. Uh didn't know if anything was being collaborated about to see if uh those could come fruitful. Uh maybe other ways of uh raising money is a gala, you know, nice dinner, prizes that can be auctioned off or whatever. Or I don't know by law if wraps around buses
039or vans could happen with businesses. They don't necessarily need to be the businesses around here. Everyone likes the market. So, if we can try to find ways of other revenue to bring in to help alleviate the taxes until hopefully our our state comes up with something uh that would be helpful. Um I leave with you all. Obviously, we all have other financial burdens, you know, our taxes are one of them here, the school tax. Obviously, there's other ones with utilities, groceries, insurance, other taxes, uh inflation and gas. I mean, it's all that has to be considered, too, when you are finalizing and going to decide whatever you're going to raise for our property taxes. But, I do leave you with this. Don't be the ones that add added stress onto people. Don't be the ones
040that have to have people make decisions of not paying a bill and get behind in that. Don't be, you know, a reason for people to maybe lose their homes because of not being able to pay property taxes. So, I just ask you to take into consideration. Obviously, look over your budget again, see if you can sharpen your pencil to see what else can go over to maybe alleviate and not have so much that has to go out. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Mr. Phillips. Thank you. I just I just want to answer your part of your question. There is a consortium. There is a medical consortium to answer that. You know, not to get down in the weeds with the other stuff, but there we do have a consortium where we work with
041other school districts and and try and negotiate better rates and things like that. And I think we do come up with some good rates. We've heard that plenty of times. So, it's a good suggestion. We're We're already working on that. Thank you. Okay? All right, anything else in the budget? We'll turn to the board. Uh Any comments at this time? Looking right, anybody have anything to say? Looking left. Okay. Mr. Mrs. Kolb. I I'm sorry. I just wanted the public to know that this is a preliminary budget. This does not mean your taxes are going up the 4.8% that we show on the screen. This is the highest it can go and there will be most likely negotiation when we go to pass the final budget. I just wanted everybody to realize this is not
042a guarantee that your taxes are going that high. This is the absolute most it can be. And if you look at the numbers that they showed based on what the preliminary was for the previous years and then what the actual was, they were decreased. So, I just want to make that comment to the public. You got to realize the bottom line, Barbara, is what you paid last year. Sorry, Mr. Public Public comment time. I apologize. I'll be consistent. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Green. All done, Donna? Yep. I apologize. I thought I heard you say thank you. Uh anything else on the business manager report? Nothing, thank you. If that, we'll move to the superintendent. I know you participated in that, but it's all yours. Thank you, Mr. Green. I have
043a couple topics to share this evening. Um [clears throat] we're going to have to trade laptops again. Oh, yeah. >> [laughter] >> So, on March 25th, I attended the What's So Cool Manufacturing Lehigh Valley event at Stabler Arena alongside middle school principal Mr. Williams, assistant principal Mrs. Delgado, and team advisor Mrs. Frank. This year's team included Northern Lehigh Middle School students Cadence Brett Bradigan, Alex Snyder, Addison Overholt, Hannah Davis, Jasmine Graybill, Jillian Hile, Cassie Freed, Michael Peppy. Thank you, Peppy. Henry Schnaufer and Maureen Straw. Our partner company was Primo Brands. Although our team did not earn any awards in this year's competition, it was a valuable and memorable experience for our students. I would like to formally thank them and acknowledge their hard work and dedication to making an excellent video highlighting the Primo Brands
044and the importance of careers in manufacturing. The event culminated with the What's So Cool Manufacturing Gala at Stabler Arena where students from all participating schools, which I think was four counties worth of schools, four counties worth of schools, middle schools, were recognized and given a red carpet experience celebrating their hard work and creativity. Mrs. Frank, is there anything additional you would like to share about this year's event? Um I mean, we always have a really great time at the gala. The MRC does a fabulous job of really making the kids feel special. Um It is, you know, every ounce of what I imagine the Emmys are. Uh they definitely make a big deal about the kids and how hard of a job they do and [clears throat] um there are some amazing cupcakes that it's
045just the funniest thing ever. Um we should really let the kids have fun and not make them sit still for an hour. >> [laughter] >> But we always have a great time. And again, thank you for your work on that [snorts] and to all the students. Uh next, I would like to thank our Northern Lehigh Educational Foundation, which in the last year has raised um already over $200,000 to give back to the school, which is a way to indirectly increase revenue and lower cost because all that money comes back to programs and projects in the school district. Uh again this year, they are sponsoring two scholarships for high school seniors. One scholarship is for a Northern Lehigh High School senior heading to college and who plans to pursue a career in education. Eligible career paths
046include teaching, school counseling, speech language pathology, school psychology, and other professional level roles serving pre-K through 12 students. That is a $2,500 scholarship for one of our seniors. And then the second is for a senior who plans to attend a trade school or apprenticeship program and pursue careers in the skilled trades. Eligible career fields include, but are not limited to, welding, electrical work, plumbing, HVAC, and automotive repair. This scholarship is intended to support students who are passionate about hands-on careers that are essential to our communities. And that concludes my report this evening, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions for Dr. Lake? No? Okay, the executive session was held at 6:00 in the administrative building conference room. Uh before we move into special report or personnel, and I'm sorry there aren't more people here to
047hear this. Uh but just a few things I'd like to say. Next week is, I think, Teacher Appreciation Week. Uh May The week is May 4th. The actual day is May 5th. May 5th is the actual day. Okay. It's not It's not next week then, but it's coming up at any rate. So, Very soon. uh On behalf of the school board, I just wanted to extend our heartfelt appreciation uh for everything that you guys do uh day in and day out for our students and our community. Uh your dedication, painted patience, and and passion for teaching make a lasting difference with our students. I I know you do a lot of volunteering, for example, you know, a whole bunch of people went out to Peters and and assisted with the program that we had out
048there. Uh I think which is a just a wonderful thing and a nice thing to hear that you're doing. Uh we recognize that that work you do is both challenging and deeply impactful. Your resilience, creativity, and unwavering support for students do not go unnoticed and we are truly grateful for the positive influence that you have. Uh thank you again for your continued excellence and for the vital role you play in education and uplifting our community. And I would hope we can get a copy of that somehow to the teachers thanking them for everything they do. Thank you very much. Uh One other quick thing and uh I'll I'll be brief on these, but I I I just feel like we have to do some positive things here for some of the people. And and I
049don't know if you read the Morning Call last week, uh but they listed some people who had done outstanding things. And guess what? Sitting next to me is our solicitor, uh Attorney Christine Rodick. And she was listed as one of the outstanding attorneys in the Lehigh Valley uh in school law and school uh relationships, etc., etc. So, uh congratulations on that. Uh we really appreciate it. And and just as an aside, if if you watched the Academy Awards, uh they have like best actor and then supporting actor and actress and supporting actress. Well, we got we got the best actor up here. We we also have a very good supporting actress over [laughter] here. And uh I would I would like to thank Attorney uh Rachel, is it Sokol? I can never pronounce it. >>
050Sokolsky. Sokolsky? Sokolsky. Okay, whatever, but >> [laughter] >> she also does a fantastic job. I know I have to add that. She'll be whispering in your ear and doing things that I'm sure when when you get your first school district like Christine, they'll be lucky lucky to have you. So, congratulations to both of you. And then finally, uh something else I wanted to mention and uh I don't know if you're aware of this and I wish we had more people here again. Uh sitting to my right, uh not to my left, is a gentleman who has been nominated uh by his colleagues in Lehigh County to be the outstanding small school superintendent in the nation. Okay? Not not in Lehigh County, not in Pennsylvania, but in the nation. And I don't know how many schools
051there are that meet that category, but it's a lot. And it's like the Academy Awards, just getting nominated puts you head and shoulders above. And uh this was this was a nomination by his colleagues uh in Lehigh County uh advancing his name for that. And I just want to say congratulations, Dr. Lake, for uh for that for that extreme honor and I hope you win, but if you don't, for God's sake, this is still a a wonderful wonderful opportunity. And thank you very much for everything you do. So, uh that's all I'm going to say uh at this point in time. We'll save the next one for next time. And uh we'll move into personnel. The personnel, if if you may for a moment, please, just eliminate item I think it's item D, if I'm
052not mistaken. Yes. So, we'll look for a motion, personnel items, uh with the exception of item D. Is there a motion to approve that? >> Motion. I'm sorry. Um if I may bring forth one other correction, uh personnel letter M, M? Letter M as in Matthew, uh should be It says that it's a mid-year salary increase. That should say a retroactive full-year salary increase. Um it is still >> That's for K. Yep, uh letter M. Yes. Yep. So, that should be corrected and I want to correct it here publicly now. Instead of mid-year salary increase increase, it should say retroactive full-year salary increase. Thank you, sir. Okay, thank you. Uh having said that, the motion is kind of semi-amended, but we will still take a motion for all items with the exception of D. And
053I think we had some over there. Yes. And do we have a second also? >> Yeah, Mr. Fedorcha. Okay. Just double-checking that to make sure we did it right. Any questions or discussions? And And you're both okay with the amendment, I assume. >> Yes. Okay. Yes. [snorts] Uh thank you. If If there would be no other questions, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. As opposed no. And so ordered. At this time, I would like a motion for item D under personnel. So moved. Second. Motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed no. And any other votes? You have an abstention. Mr. Fedorchak, you abstain uh you're abstaining? Okay. And I will abstain. And And Mr. Weber is also. Thank you.
054Uh that's because Mr. Weber is involved in in Mr. Fedorchak has a direct relation in in my group, so. Uh So we have seven yes, two no's, and two abstentions for item D, the motion passes. Okay. Just to correct, seven seven yes, two No no, it was two abstentions. Oh, so two no's and two abstentions. I'll get it right. You know, it's not that it's not hard. Uh Okay, element O, P. Okay, moving on to policy. We have seven policies. Is there a motion to approve policy? So moved. Second. Any questions on the policy? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed no. And so ordered. I have nothing under curriculum or conferences uh curriculum and instruction uh we have a couple items there. Is there a motion to approve
055those items? >> So moved. Second. Question on those items? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed no. And so ordered. I have no old business. Uh under new business, we have A, B, and C. Is there a motion to approve those items, please? So moved. Second. Motion and a second. Any questions? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed no. And so ordered. Uh financial, uh we're going down to item I. Uh is there a motion to approve the financial item? So moved. Second. Any questions on the financial items? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed no. And so ordered. Okay, we now move to item X, adoption of the bid budget. Uh and we're looking for a
056a number, a percentage increase at this point in time. After we do that, uh I would ask our business manager to fill in the rest of the information. [clears throat] Mrs. Maltouris. And And then we'll look for approval. So I'm looking for a motion to approve the proposed final budget for 2026-2027. I would move the recommendation of the 4.8. Second. We have a motion and a second of 4.8. And just just a Percentage. >> make a comment. Um The reason for doing that in most of our cases, particularly at this point, is that if whatever we set, we can never go up. So if there's some drastic thing happens between now and the final budget, we could not raise it. So we really like to look at a higher one. No there and we've never
057kept it at that. So just so it's clear that this is a this is a preliminary only. Thank you, Mr. Fedorchak. Any other comments or questions? No, I probably spoke a little too earlier when I made my comment, but that's what I was referring to. Okay. Okay, tonight we're going to look for an approval of a percentage. Uh I'm going to ask for a motion to approve that. I will then ask uh Mrs. Maltouris to fill this in and we'll take a second motion with the numbers filled in. Okay? So all those in favor of approving a 4.8% increase in the budget signify by saying I. I. Those opposed no. No. Roll call. Ms. Bilby. No. Mr. Fedorchak. Yes. Ms. Husak. Yes. Ms. Cope. Yes. Ms. Snyder. Yes. Ms. Thompson. Yes. Mr. Weber. Yes. Ms.
058Williams. >> No. Mr. Green. Yes. Uh one >> hear what his vote was. Seven two. Seven two. That's right. That's what I thought. Okay. Okay, motion approved seven two. So uh having approved that, Mrs. Maltouris, if you would give us the numbers, please. Sure. Um going down to the line that is blank, the preliminary budget is adopted with a 26.7255 millage rate for Lehigh County and an 85.7432% millage rate for Northampton County. Would you please repeat those? Sure. You got it. Go ahead. 26.7255 for Lehigh County and 85.7432 for Northampton County. Thank you. [snorts] You're welcome. Okay. And just as a quick aside, the reason they're different is because the the two counties did their assessment at different times. So uh one way have done that in 1950 and a property was worth X, the
059other one did it in 1970, obviously the rate increased. So taxes are A times B, so the assessed value uh of one county is higher than the other or go you have a different millage rate for the two counties. That's just quick explanation. Go ahead, Sherry. >> And quickly, Matt, also Lehigh County is assessed at 100% and Northampton County is only 50. So that's also the difference there as well. Yep. Yep. Thank you. Mhm. Uh okay, any other questions? If not, uh is there a motion to approve the budget with the numbers filled in? So moved. Second. >> Fedorchak, thank you. Second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed no. No. Did I hear a no? Yes. Okay, I wasn't sure. Roll call. Mr. Fedorchak. Yes. Ms. Husak. Yes. Ms. Cope.
060Yes. Ms. Snyder. Yes. Ms. Thompson. Yes. Mr. Weber. Yes. Ms. Williams. Yes. Ms. Bilby. No. Mr. Green. Yes. Eight one, motion passes. Is it one? Mhm. Yes, sir. Thank you. So that's approved. Okay. Uh We did the budget tonight just to give you an idea, next month we will be talking about it, but there will be nothing officially done on the budget. Uh it will get final approval whatever the June date is, the second meeting in June. At that time, if if we're going to make changes uh and somebody wants to cut the millage, I I'm going to ask you to come up with a suggestion. For example, uh I want to cut the millage rate by 2%. Okay, that's X number of dollars, where are you going to come up with that money? I
061would like to provide some kind of an explanation. And And you may say, uh I I move we go to zero mills and fire 30 teachers. That'll balance it. Is that okay? No, you don't like that one. But that would be an example [laughter] of I don't think Tim likes that one too much either, but uh we had a conversation about that. But in other words, that's just a an obviously an example, but you know, come up with some idea. Don't just say cut it and then, you know, dump it back and let the administration worry about it. We're We're going to ask you to uh to to say what you want to cut to do [clears throat] that. Can we It's okay. Matt, Yes. can we Sherry, can we get some information on the
062homestead farmstead um We don't That does not come out till May 1st. So that will be at the next agenda in May. I will have those numbers for you. Hopefully at finance I can get them before that, but it's May they have to certify by May 1st. Okay, thank you. You're welcome. Are you saying they're sent out May 1st or They have to be certified to us by May 1st. >> 1st. Okay. Do you know when they're mailed out, Sherry? Off the top of your head? What do you mean mailed out? When the county mails out saying, "Hey, you owe us money." >> already done. That's done in like January, February and they have to be back by the middle of March. >> Okay. So anyone who got that and didn't fill it out, please
063do so. If you didn't, I'm going to take a step and say you could probably contact the county and get that cuz that could save you hundreds of dollars. >> not because it's supposed to be there's a deadline on when they have to do it by or they It's that that date has passed already. >> Yes, it's sometime in March. I'm sorry. I apologize. I thought I thought you could still do that, but apparently that that date has come and passed, so uh Uh I didn't get one because I was in last year and I think once you do it, it it stays in place for a period of time, but That is correct. Uh Okay, where are we here? We're uh adoption Uh of the legal notices? Yep. Is there a motion to approve
064that item? So moved. Second. Second. Any questions? Comments? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed no. And so ordered. I have nothing under legal or correspondence. You got a couple information items there uh on the various meetings. Uh There are no guests that signed up that want to be recognized unless there's something on the other one. There's a gentleman in the back waving his hand. Uh Uh Mr. Williams. I'll refrain from comment. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Um And I think that was it, sir. I don't know who that is, but it's not checked up. Did Did you want to make a comment, sir? Yes, sir. Okay. Just just for the record, would you state your name? Uh Absolutely. I'm Reverend Dr. Jeffrey Wickham or Jeff Wickham. I signed
065Jeffrey >> Wickham on the sign-in sheet. I don't know if it showed up. I think it's like number 12 or 13. >> Yep, I got it, sir. Thank you. I'm a Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania House, 187th District. I believe in joining up with the school board meetings. I'm a teacher in Reading School District, Southwest Middle School, and I'm a music teacher there. And I just want to introduce myself to the board and just say thank you for what you're doing because our kids need everything they can get. So, I just want to say hello. And I'm trying to run for 187th District. 187th is kind of a weird district. It comes in at like Grove Street and 873, just south of the southern borders of Slatington, and then picks up on the western side going
066in at Emerald and so forth and all that. So, thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you, Reverend. Thank you, sir. Wish you well. Uh that's the only guest we have on there. Is that correct? Yes, sir. If not, is there a motion to adjourn, please? So moved. Second. All those in favor of adjourning, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Those no. And we're done here.