001the flag. 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. This meeting is being recorded and transmitted just so everybody realizes that. Can we have a roll call, please? Sure. Mr. Chrisman here. Mr. Pedorcha here. Miss France here. Miss Husach present. Mr. Kern here. Miss Culp here. Miss Snder here. Miss Williams here. Mr. Green here. We have a quorum. Thank you. Uh public comments restricted to agenda items. I'm I'm going to say if you want to speak there is a paper out of the lobby and you will need to fill your name in there. Uh you need to do that and able to speak and that will be brought in. Uh is
002there anyone that wants to speak uh that you have at this point? Uh we have several but they're on an agenda item. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Uh, I guess there's just two things that I want to say before we start the meeting. And first of all, I've had some conversations andor messages with uh with some people and and they concern one of our board members writing negative comments to LGBT, gay sites, whatever. Uh, I've told that some of them are planning on showing up tonight to uh to bring this to a head. I need to tell you that that board member has every right to do that. They have a first constitutional first amendment right to speak out on anything that they want and we will not be taking any kind of censure action
003etc against that person because it would be against the law for us to do that. And uh I just wanted to point that out. And uh I've responded so far to some of those proposals. I would say if you're here tonight or not, I will not be responding to any more. I would ask Dr. Link to also not respond to any more of those requests at this point in time. I sir, I would just like to say that when school board members or anyone does make a comment like that, do not interpret that as reflective of um Northern Lehigh School District. Those are individual comments. Correct. Okay. Uh, next I would like to talk to Tanya. And, uh, speaking of Dr. Link, uh, if you have some information for us, Tanya, that would be wonderful.
004I do. Can everyone hear me? Okay. So, on May 21st, Dr. Link was presented with the Cooperative Leadership Award from the Lehi University School Study Council. Dr. Brian Oborne, the executive director of that council, presented Dr. Link with the award. Um, I have his remarks here and I'm just going to share those with the public. Um, it is my distinct honor and genuine pleasure to present this year's cooperative leadership award to a leader whose work uh consistent consistent ability to bring people together to move education forward. Dr. Dr. Matthew J. Lane. In a time when educational leadership is tested by complex challenges, tight budgets, rising student needs, public scrutiny, and a rapidly changing world, Dr. Link has not only met the moment, he has expanded what is possible. As superintendent of the Northern Lehigh School
005District, Dr. Dr. Link has overseen every aspect of district operations, serving over 1,500 students and managing a team of 250 educators and staff. What makes Dr. Link stand out is he is the way he leads. Focused on relationships and results, he inspires progress through trust, vision, and shared commitment. Dr. Link brings a regional lens to his work, understanding that educational success does not happen in isolation. As superintendent of record for Lehi Career and Technical Institute, LCTI, he serves as a vital bridge connecting the institute's leadership with sending school districts and ensuring that students have access to both academic excellence and career ready skills. He is deeply invested in ensuring that every student is equipped not just to graduate but to thrive. His professional journey from special education to curriculum development, from assistant superintendent to system
006level leader reflects a clear, thorough line, a belief in continuous improvement and a passion for service. He walks the walk when it comes to learning and consistently seeks to develop his own leadership. He holds an ED D from Vanderbilt University where his capstone focused on enhancing the customer service experience in public education through engagement and feedback. And now he is pursuing a certificate in advanced education leadership at Harvard, staying on the cutting edge of research and practice. Collaboration is a core part of Matt's way of operating. his involvement with organizations like the Centennial School of Lehigh University, the Lehigh University College of Education School Study Council, and the Greater Northern Lehi Chamber of Commerce shows his commitment to cross- sector partnership. He brings people together, aligning diverse voices around a shared purpose, bettering education for
007all. Dr. Dr. Link also contributes meaningfully on the state and national stage. He represents Lehigh County School Districts on the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators passes legislative committee where he advocates for public education and champions policies that reflect the real needs of students in schools. He serves on the passes election committee helping select the Pennsylvania Superintendent of the Year. He also plays a role in shaping the educational programs our students rely on. From expanding workforce pathways at LCTI to ensuring alignment with traditional academic tracks, he is helping to build a more integrated future ready model of education. His contributions to the public school district's opioid recovery trust reinforce his commitment to community well-being, especially in times of crisis. And just recently, he advocated alongside members of Congress to ensure funding for the community eligibility program
008so no student in our country faces food insecurity and for continued support of Head Start programs. We recognize what Dr. Link has accomplished and how he has done it with a spirit of service that reminds us what's possible when leadership is rooted in both heart and strategy. Please join me in honoring Dr. Matthew J. link at this year's recipient of the cooperative leadership award. Matt, thank you for the work you do, the way you do it, and the example you set for us all. Those are the remarks from, uh, when Matt received his award. So, uh, thank you, Dr. Stoker, Mr. Green very much. Um, I was surprised to receive that award. Um but honestly it's it's just a reflection of all the people here in northern high northern Lee High School District and the
009work that we do collectively um to support our students here in in the region. So again uh thank you very much. Yeah. And I I just like to couple out with something that you said at uh some of the recent meetings about teachers uh being recognized on a statewide basis uh recognized as outstanding in their field. Uh we've even had a few that have been recognized on a national level which which is astounding to me. Uh I think of Mr. Hower, he's here somewhere. Uh recently he and his team were were were chosen as one of the outstanding counseling firms in in the state of Pennsylvania. Uh our lunch and learn program, and I keep coming back to that. I can't get away from it. You know, uh has been visited by people from all
010over the state. I I I mean it's like it's it's in a class by itself. So, it's it's pretty obvious to me that there are some really good things happening now in in Northern Lehi and and I hope we can keep moving forward with some of that. So, okay, moving on to let's see, approving of the minutes. The regular schoolboard meeting on uh May 12th. Is there a motion to approve the minutes? Motion. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. Any questions or discussion? hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed, no. And so ordered. Okay. Uh, special board reports. Mr. Green. So, um, are is it your intent to do public comment at the associated agenda item? Yes. Okay. Thank you. That was my intent. Yes. I assume they
011had checked off there what they wanted to talk about, right? Yes. Okay. Uh, where were we? Elsie, uh, Miss Husach. Thank you, Mr. Green. uh report on the carbonly high intermediate unit 24 21, sorry. Uh we have our golf tournament coming up June 17th at Old Homestead that does um supply funds for our special needs children's foundation. So if anybody's in the area, feel free to come and join us. Um want to introduce greetings from Gemma. She is um our newest service dog that will be at our visually impaired and speech rooms out at uh the main office down in Shexville. So, we'll be making their way around and uh servicing our students there. Um she uh all three of our puppy dogs will be at the golf tournament. So, another reason to come. And
012uh just a reminder, our next meeting will be held uh next Monday, June 16th at 6:30 at the IU board meeting room. That's all I have tonight. Thank you, ma'am. Uh LCTI, Mr. Farta, please. Thank you. Uh yes. Uh at the board, they elected Sarah Neimoth from Salsbury for the new treasurer of the board. Uh we we had a great senior awards program. Uh I'm not quite sure exactly if Dr. Link would have any extra stuff to say about that. I was visiting my own grandson in Indiana during that day. So that for his graduation. Uh also that our surplus sale is July 17th at 4 pm. If anybody would like to know anything more about the surplus sale or what's on the surplus sale, I'd be very happy to share that items with you.
013And also we had a number of approvals for some training programs for industry which is adult programs brought into the vocational school. And we're actually working in partnership with a lot of industries in order to offer training for their employees. And that's all I have unless you have anything else. Dr. Link. Thank you, sir. Mr. Anything? Um yeah, I just wanted to mention that um House Bill uh 1500, which is the cyber charter reform bill. Um it passed out of the house last week. Um this legislation would bring um comprehens uh would bring comprehensive cyber charter school reform specifically targeting funding and accountability of cyber charter schools. Um this bill is a very important bill because it can really help public schools to reel in some of the um money that goes out to a
014lot of these charter schools that are charging excessive amounts for kids to attend beyond what even private school tuition can be. So, this bill is a good bill and I really do hope it passes when it gets up to the level it needs to be at. Thank you. That's it. Uh Community College, uh two things. Uh we have a building on Hamilton Street and over the years a few contractors have said, "Hey, we'd like to trade that building and we'll give you something here, something there." And after about three false starts, we finally said, "Okay, enough of that. We're just going to fix it up and keep it now. we're not going to not going to try and trade it anymore. Uh the other thing was you you probably saw that uh uh Penn State
015is closing a lot of campuses and and we're wondering what effect that will have on community college. Uh there aren't any in our immediate area, so we're not expecting an impact there. But if if the state just does what they've done in the past and that's put x number of dollars in a in a bucket for community colleges that might be dispersed to some of the other places and and it might wind up in a shortfall for LRYC. Uh we don't know. So we're we're watching that cautiously optimistic and and we'll see where that goes. Uh, you've all received copies of the committee reports. [Applause] Olivia, it's you. Talk at the podium so everyone can hear. This is I think we should get one at the school board meeting at like the one at the
016elementary school, the the podium. I think we should invest in that. That's That's not on my agenda. I just wanted to let everyone know that. So, good evening everyone. It's great to see everyone again. Tonight, I'll be covering the end of the school year report. So, the Northern Lehigh Patriot Club took a trip to Jim Thorp River Adventures where they went whitewater rafting. In addition to rafting, they also had the opportunity to zipline and they had a lot of fun. I was on the trip. It was a lot of fun. Um the PIAA state and track and field meet took place on May 23rd and 24th. The following students qualified. Discus and Javelin was Anna Triss. Caitlyn Barold, Taylor Everick, Michaela Gordon, and Natalie Moffett was the 4x8 relay. And then the 800 meter run
017was Caitlyn Barthold. Congratulations to Caitlyn Barthold who placed eighth, winning a medal and resetting her own school record. On May 27th, the senior academic awards ceremony recognized our seniors for their academic achievements across the curriculum, as well as having seniors earn scholarships in the amount of 151,267. Congratulations to all our seniors and recip senior award recipients. On Thursday, May 29th, um Lehi Lehigh Career and Technical Institute celebrated its 53rd senior senior recognition ceremony. The Northern Lehigh School District had over 30 seniors recognized at this event. Congratulations to all our LCTI award recipients. On June for On June 4th, our seniors participated in the annual parade of graduates as they retraced their steps through their academic career within the Northern Lehigh School District. Seniors were cheated on by students at the Peters Elementary Slington Middle School
018and High School. They were able to connect with their former teachers one last time before graduation. On June 6th, graduation was held at 7 p.m. at the stadium. We congratulate the class of 2025 for their accomplishments. We know they will all do great things. The last day of school will be June 10th. Um, we hope everyone has a great summer. And then lastly, I have with us our junior representative for next year, Maline Husach. Stand up. And that's all I have for tonight. I hope everyone has a great summer. Uh, if there be no objection, I I'd like to just change the agenda a little bit tonight. And if you go to page six on the bottom, uh it talks about student representative to the board and uh approve Husach a student representative to the
019board 2526 school year. Uh she has been appointed as the junior representative to the board and will serve from September 25 through June 26. Olivia will continue to serve as a senior representative until June 2026. So congratulations. Do you need to swear her in or anybody? You have to vote. You have to vote on it, sir. You have to vote first. Oh, that's right. We have to vote first. Duh. I move. Uh, is there a motion to approve her? I approve it. Sorry about that. Vote first. Any discussion or questions? Hearing none. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Those opposed? No. Now, I'm sorry. You're going to swear in. You're going to swear in. Did you vote me? Uh, typically our school board attorney would swear them in. Okay, it's okay.
020That's right. So, Meline, if you could maybe just step up to the table here. Raise your right hand, left hand, any hand, doesn't matter. Just raise one hand. Just be a second. put it up on my computer. I'm going to go by memory here. So, actually, just give me two seconds. No hurry. The next thing is to solicit a report. So, I have no report. So, we'll lean into that time. Let's see. Okay, you ready? I do solemnly swear I do solemnly swear that I will support that I will support obey obey and defend and defend the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of this Commonwealth and the Constitution of this Commonwealth and that I will discharge the duties of my office and that I will discharge
021the duties of my office as student representative to the school board as student representative of the school board with fidelity with fidelity. Congratulations. Congratulations, Matt. [Applause] Now, solicit report. You have anything? No report, sir. No report tonight there. Okay. Mr. Green, I'm just going to ask that. Um, again, congratulations, Maddie. You're in very good hands with Olivia. Very experienced. Now, um, you are both welcome to stay. Uh, but it's okay if you want to excuse yourself. Um, as I know you're looking forward to wrapping up the school year. Again, congratulations. Yep. Thank you. Good job, Olivia. Dr. Stoker. Thank you, Mr. Green. This evening, we have our end of the year local data presentation for um the public. This is a presentation that we give throughout the year at various points um after benchmark assessments.
022Um so tonight will be our end of the year data snapshot and uh we will begin with each of our principles going through the data um that's relevant to their school buildings. We'll begin with Mr. Schneiderite who will discuss the uh data from Peter's Elementary School. Thank you Dr. Stoker. Good evening to the board and good evening uh to the Northern Lehigh community. Um we're going to start this evening and as you can see we'll be uh sort of looking behind. Um we are beginning this evening with our ELA data from Peters Elementary School. Uh this is the Dibbles 8 assessment. This is a new assessment K through uh five this year that is uh you know provides some commonality. Um so to explain this you'll see that there are it's a lot of data
023on one page. I'm going to use a pointer here. At the top here you can see it says Peters Elementary School grade K. underneath that beginning, middle, and end of the year. So, it's grouped by grade from the top to the bottom of that grouping, beginning to middle to end. And there are four categories. Blue being above benchmark, green being at benchmark, yellow being below benchmark, and red being well below benchmark. So, the Dibbles uh assessment, the Dibbles 8 assessment, excuse me, examines early literacy skills. And what we would hope to see that as we go through the grade from the top to the bottom that we would have an increase in students that would fall into the blue and green categories and that we would have a reduction of students who fall into the
024categories of uh below or well below. So we want to see more green and blue less red and yellow. So we're going to start in kindergarten. Again this top I'm not sure you can see the pointer. Uh it's the top uh bracket there. So in kindergarten at the beginning of the year 26% of students were at or above benchmark and at the end of the year 77% of students were at or above benchmark. This represents a 51% increase from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. That's common because if you recall at the beginning of the year we haven't yet taught them anything. So we're used to seeing data that's um you know very low at the very beginning with the most amount of growth. And we did see that again
025this year with 77% at the end of the year being at or above. Um also in kindergarten from the beginning to the end of the year students considered below benchmark went from 25 to 20% a reduction of 5% and students considered well below benchmark went from 49% uh to only 11% representing a 30% 38% improvement. So if you look at the top to the bottom, you can see m a lot more blue, a lot more green, about the same amount of yellow, not much of a reduction there, but a significant reduction in the students considered well below benchmark. uh what I believe you'd hope to see blue and green throughout most of it um with less of the others next to the middle of the three the grade one at the beginning of the year
026in grade 1 52% of students were at or above benchmark and by the end of the year 73% of students were at or above benchmark which represents a 21% increase throughout the year. I think it's also notable to recognize that if you look at the bottom of the first grade and the size of that blue category by the end of first grade 33% of our first grade students in ELA lit in early literacy were above benchmark basically onethird of the entire grade uh which I think is significant especially starting with just 14%. Um, also in first grade from the beginning to the end of the year, students considered below benchmark went from 26% to 10%. You can see that the yellow at the bottom of that middle category there is significantly smaller. And you can
027also see that from the beginning to the end of the year in well below in that red category went from 22% down to 17% also a 5% improvement. Finally, in second grade, the bottom of the three, at the beginning of the year, 47% of students were at or above benchmark, and at the end of the year, we ended with 68% of students at or above benchmark. This also represents a 21% increase from the beginning of the school year. It's also notable um not 33% but very, very close. By the end of second grade, um 31% of students were rated as above benchmark. Again, close to one-third of the entire grade. Um also in second grade, from the beginning to the end of the year, students considered below benchmark went from 19% down to 8%, an
028improvement of 11%. So you can see that yellow um column there is very small on the bottom of the second grade. And you can also see that those students uh who went who were considered well below benchmark went from 34% to 24%. A pretty significant 10% improvement. So you can see again that red at the top of the second grade is you know 10% less at the bottom of the year. So that's the uh end of our ELA data. We're now going to move on to the Peters Elementary School data. So if you remember math is a data point we are now using K through 12 and this is the first year that Peters Elementary School is using this for our math benchmarking. Um for math there are four categories. Above grade level is dark
029green on grade level is the lighter green. Below grade level is yellow. And far below grade level is that reddish orange. I'll call it red. Um, remember there's also that gray sliver that represents students who do not take that assessment. The pie charts reflect the entire school, I'm sorry, the whole school's benchmarks throughout the year. At the top left is the beginning of the school year. Um, so that's where we began. On the top right is the middle of the school year. And of course, where are we now? We're going to be focusing really on that bottom left, which is the snapshot that was taken um and ended on May 30th, so just two weeks ago. So, what we'd hope to see here as we go from the top left to the top right to
030the bottom left, we hope to see again an increase in that dark green and that light green and a reduction in both yellow and and uh red, that far below and below benchmark. So, as a school, we did see growth from the beginning of the school year to the end of the year. At the beginning of the year, as a school, we had 187 students who were at or above grade level. Um, of those, 161 students were on grade level and 26 students were above grade level. By the end of the year, we finished with 238 students at or above grade level. meaning that from the beginning to the end of the year 51 students um add additional students went from a small a lower category to at or above grade level. Uh this represents
031a 13.1% increase from the beginning of the year. And again just focusing on the colors you can see if you just look at the green it's pretty much straight down a little bit less than 50% here. You can see straight down it's a a different angle there with more success. And then at the end of the year, uh, even more success with a small sliver of red, um, but a, you know, a pretty decent sliver of yellow as well that are below grade level. On the bottom right, you can see three graphs. These represent the end of the year at each grade level. And you can see that in all grades, the in all grades, kindergarten on top, first grade in the middle, and um, second grade on the bottom, the dark green and the
032light green is more significant than the yellow or red. By the end of the school year in kindergarten, 80% of students were on or above grade level. By the end of the first grade, 69.8% of students were on or above grade level. And by the end of the year in second grade, 54.6% of students were on or above grade level. So, next I will turn it over to Mr. Briner who will take us through the Slington Elementary School data. Thank you, Mi uh Mr. Schneiderite. And good evening everyone. I'm going to be covering the Slington Elementary School data and you're going to see very similar charts uh that Mr. Schneider Wright just went over. So the first chart up there uh is the Slington Elementary School Dibbles 8 uh assessment uh data. Uh this is
033the first year that Slington Elementary is using this program and examining data this way. So there really is nothing to compare for past years uh in terms of data uh related to this. The Dibbles 8 assessment is given to grades three through five. Um and as Mr. Schneider writes said, it's actually K through five. Like Peter's elementary, this assessment is given three times of the three times a year. Beginning of the year, middle of the year, end of the year. On the slide, you'll see at the top the beginning through the end of the year for third grade, beginning through the end of the year for fourth grade in the middle, and beginning through the end of the year in fifth grade on the bottom. In third grade, at the beginning of the year, 44%
034of students were at at or above benchmark, while at the end of the year, there was 39% finished at or above benchmark. There's this is a slight dip, but it's important to note that this is a moving target, meaning as the year goes on, the actual benchmark gets more difficult. Uh we also knew going into this year that there were going to be gaps that we were going to identify in light of the new implementation, not just of this assessment, but also our curriculum. In fourth grade at the beginning the beginning of the year there was 43% of students at or above benchmark while at the end of the year there was 50% or of students at or above benchmark. It's important to highlight that uh in fourth grade that uh students above benchmark went
035from 3% at the beginning of the year to 11% at the end of the year. In fifth grade, at the beginning of the year, 56% of students were at or above benchmark, while at the end of the year, there were 65% of students at or above benchmark. Um, this is a 9% increase. And students above at students in the above benchmark category went up 13% from the beginning of the year or went was 13% at the beginning of the year and went to 40% at the end of the year. This is a great jump and a a great celebration, but it's also important to remember that uh this is a measure of early literacy skills. And by fifth grade, there should be a significant number of students that are at or above uh benchmark in
036oral reading fluency, word accuracy, and comprehension. This year was a learning curve for us at Slington. uh with the new program and a new way of measuring benchmarks, we have seen impacts of the tier 1 curriculum uh CKLA, a large focus uh with a large focus uh with this benchmarking tool is on fluency. And what we have noticed in the program is as you continue to get older, there's a decreased practice in fluency. So, one of the things we're looking to build in next year in our win periods is extra fluency practice. um uh three times per week. This next slide is our LL data specifically in ELA. So, Slington Elementary saw a stagnant growth in EXL data throughout the school year in ELA. This assessment is given to grades 3 through six. At the
037beginning of the year, we saw an equal percentage of uh 50% um in the categories of above and and ongrade level achievement. We saw 1% overall drop in both below level and far below level categories, but that was most likely because there's a there was a slight increase in uh those students that weren't uh pinpointed. While the percentages in all categories were similar from beginning to the end of the year, there was a shifting in the actual students between levels and in the grade levels trending towards the positive, but we are not seeing the overall building movement just yet. It's also important to note that this is also a um a moving target in terms of benchmarking. So again, as the year goes on, the assessment gets more difficult. uh we knew going into the
038year uh that the older learners would not see dramatic shifts in our new ELA curriculum uh data immediately due to the shift in curriculum because uh the first few years of implementation would be heavy lifts and changes for them uh to meet the expectations of a more rigorous curriculum. We will continue to work uh to close this gap with our students as we progress in CKLA. And the next slide is a very similar data uh but we are now talking about math. So at Sladington we saw stagnant growth in LL data throughout the school year in math. This assessment is given in grades 3 through six. From the beginning of the year we saw an equal percentage of 43% in the categories of above uh level and on level achievement. We saw 1% overall drop
039in both below grade level and far below grade level categories. While the percentages in all the categories were similar, there was shifting again with students uh it from on on grade level to above grade level. Um, unfortunately, there was not an impact on the overall percentages buildingwide, which continues to be a concern for us in math and is another additional local data point for the reason why we are examining our current curriculum and considering moving to something more comprehensive and robust. So, at this time, I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Hower for the middle school. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mr. Briner. Good evening, everyone. Um, I will start at the middle school looking at our EXL numbers in math. Uh, very much like Mr. Brighter described, we see a lot of the
040same color representations up there with the uh, percentages as well. The end ofear numbers reflect student levels just prior to PSSA testing. We had 227 middle school students up to date and properly measured for um the math assessment at that time. That was about 20 more students than originally reported on uh prior and that's due to attendance and a few new kids uh coming into our building. Uh the data shows that some students are moving into higher levels but we do have uh some of that stagnation in the percentages that um is similar to what we saw at at Slington when Mr. Riner explained what's not reflected in these graphics though is growth of students within each category. The way EXL reports is on a 100 point scale. So for example the seventh grader coming
041in at the start of the year we should anticipate all things being perfect having a score of about 700. So that light green slice is worth about 100 points. Okay. when they get to 800, they might move into that dark green slice, but then everything from 800 up through the high school level is represented in one category. That works on the other end as well. So like the the scores that are available in the yellow and the red are more broad than what you'll have on grade level. I say that because after the final snapshot, I ran reports to examine growth um in individual classes. And what we would expect to see by the time that report is made is a growth score of approximately a plus 85 to plus 100. Plus 100 being the
042full year and 85 representative of kind of where we are in the school year at at that point. In um math, our average score was a plus 93. So, we were making good gains within uh all categories. Excuse me. Across tier 1 uh math instruction, we ran 12 total sections of math between seventh and eighth grade. 12 out of 12 sections showed positive growth throughout the year. Some sections were more pronounced than others. Five of the 12 classes exceeded the expected growth by the time of the final snapshot. And of those, three exceeded the fullear level. Two other classrooms met that expected growth or were within a few points. They were right there. Four other classrooms showed evidence of growth equal to about a half a year. And there was one class that there was
043a little bit uh below that. How are we growing our students in mathematics? We do schedule remediation enrichment classes at the beginning of the year targeting those students who are identified in that red category and then as the year goes on we move to kids who are below grade level and then kids who are considered what we commonly call bubble level. They're on the verge of going into a new level of achievement. In ELA, we had 224 students who were up to date and properly measured by EXL. Again, about 20 more than we saw um previously. Um and very similar trend here. We we see not a lot of shift in the percentages, but we have to get into more granular at the classroom uh level. So again, I ran a classroom byclassroom analysis to
044take a look at where we actually were. Uh in ELA, our average growth rate was a plus 86. So again, right where it needed to be. We ran 14 classes uh between seventh and eighth grade. All 14 show positive growth throughout the year. Six of 14 exceeded the expected rate and three of those six exceeded the full year. Four classrooms came close to that mark or within a few points. two were at about the halfyear level and there was one classroom that was a little bit below that. Uh you will see a few uh less students in this one because we do not use for ELA with our special education population. They have a different measurement tool in their programming. Very much like math, the way we grow students in ELA is through remediation, targeting
045those far below grade level at the beginning of the year and then moving to bubble students as the year goes on. At this time, I'll turn things over to Dr. Bali. Couldn't find you for a second. Dr. Bali, thank you. You're welcome. Thank you, Mr. Hower. Good to see everyone tonight. All right, let's see if I can work this thing. All right. So, um, our data looks very the way it's presented looks very similar to the way Mr. Hower did at the middle school. We're going to show algebra, ELA literature, and then we're going to show you biology. Um, these are the students that took the Keystone test um for algebra just this past May. So, remember when the first uh three buildings are presenting their data, they're presenting year-long data. The high school looks
046a little bit different because if you remember when we had our mid of the year, middle of the year presentation, it was really us showing you our end of the semester data. So right now we're showing you the end of our second semester data. So I'm going to look on my screen because I can't quite see it very well. Um so as you look again red is uh far below grade level yellow is below grade level and then green there is on grade level. So what you can see there in our algebra um beginning of the semester benchmark. So that would have been right when we got the students about mid to the end of January. Those students we were 4% on or above grade level. So one could say 4% proficient or advanced. Um,
047as we moved through the semester, you moved down to the third benchmark, which is the end of the semester, which was right around the time a little bit after um, Keystone was given, and we moved from 4% on or above grade level to 36% on or above grade level. Again, as Mr. Hower stated, you know, this is tough sometimes because it doesn't show um the movement, you know, within the different categories. So, you know, you have students who were below grade level and they may have been closer to the far below grade level and got very close to the on-grade level, but in these pie charts, you can't see that. Uh, moving on, this is our ELA literature cohort. These are our kids that took the Keystone in the spring. Again, as you can see,
048um the first benchmark, we were at 28% above and on grade level when you combine the two, and we moved up to the end, um of the semester to around 41% on or above grade level. And lastly, uh looking at biology now, we did not have a cohort of students take biology this semester. They took it last semester, they tested in the winter. So, I just put that up there so you could see that again. Um, this was actually from the winter because we did not have any students that took it in the spring. Um, we went from 28% um on or above grade level to a little bit over 40% uh on or above grade level for the winter. So, those are our three slides. If you have any questions, I want to thank
049you. I also just want to take a minute to thank you for your support. We had a great day u my graduation and much of that is because of all of you. So I just want to thank you for that as well you question. Thank you Dr. Stoer. Yep. Dr. Thank you Mr. Green. Good evening, members of the board, staff, and community members. As we reach the close of the 24-25 school year, I'm pleased to share several highlights and updates from the past few weeks. First, I want to express my gratitude to all of our teachers, support staff, administrators, students, and families for their hard work, collaboration, and commitment throughout the entire school year. These final days mark an important milestone for everyone in our school community. Today was a half day for our high
050school students as we begin the process of winding down the school year. Tomorrow will be the final day of all school final day of school for all students across the district and it will also be a half day. On Wednesday, June 11th, teachers and most support staff will conclude their work for the year. This past Friday evening, we celebrated our class of 2025 graduates in a beautiful commencement ceremony held in Bulldog Stadium. The weather gave us a wonderful win window of time between the rain and storms so that we could send the newest Northern Lehigh alumni off into the next chapter of their lives. I would like to commend Dr. Bali and Mr. Williams and everyone who played a role in making it a memorable night. And of course, best of luck to our graduates
051moving forward. Over the past few weeks, our staff has also engaged in meaningful endofear activities, including end ofear celebrations, field days, award ceremonies, moving up ceremonies, and student recognition events that h highlight the outstanding accomplishments of our students. These events not only celebrate academic achievement, but also reinforce the strong sense of community that defines Northern Lehigh School District. Next, I am happy and proud to share the names of the following students who scored a perfect score on the ACT 35 civic exams exam. So, this is an exam that all students in public schools have to take each year. Um, and we have this year more than a handful of students that have received a perfect score. They are in 10th grade Gracie Frederick, Maline Husach, who was just sworn in as our new uh school
052board representative for next year, and Landon King. The next group of students are all 11th graders. Ky Dobert, Marley Edwards, Jaden Chrisman, Riley Deal, Ariel Daherty, Colton Oberly, Ivy Simpson, and Savannah Tomics. Uh, congratulations to these students for their outstanding achievement and commitment to civic education. I'd like to acknowledge the commitment of our administrative team, faculty, and support staff in facilitating a smooth end of the year transitions and ensuring a well-coordinated wrap-up of instructional programs and services. As we move into the summer months, the district remains committed to preparing for the upcoming school year. Planning is already underway for summer curriculum work, professional development opportunities, and essential maintenance products uh projects to ensure our schools are ready for the return of students in the fall. And that concludes my report. Mr. Green, thank you. Okay.
053Business manager, Miss Molatorus. Thank you very much, President Green. And just give us a second to make sure that this shows up on the screen. And we are good. I'm good. Hey everyone. Uh this will be our final budget presentation uh this evening in anticipation of the school board approving a final budget for the 2526 school year. Uh I'm going to highlight uh some of the decision points that we presented to everyone during the June finance committee meeting. The first of which is administrative re recommended additional positions in the proposed final budget based on feedback during the May board meeting. Here we are recommending district-wide ESL teacher, a life skills teacher here at Northern Lehigh Middle School, two PAR educators in lie of open horizons, and an elementary assistant principal shared between Peters Elementary School
054and Slington Elementary School. Again, just uh uh to view our fund balance. Again, these are the trends over last several years. And currently, we are um uh just slightly above $18 million. And I'm sorry, bear with me one minute here. Um Yep. Hold on. I just lost I just lost what happened there. Excuse me. One second while I re reset this. Gentlemen, this is not advancing at the proper uh proper sequence. So um are you able to project uh from over there? Okay. And I will I will deactivate this. I appreciate everyone's patience here. And Mr. Hill, if you can just go back to the first slide. Yeah. other way. Other way. He wants back at the beginning. Oh. There it is. Okay. Thank you everyone. So again, we'll we'll take it from the top
055here. Um, so the administrative recommendations were a district-wide ESL teacher, a life skills teacher at Northern Lehigh Middle School, two PAR educators in lie of open horizons, an elementary assistant principal shared among Peters Elementary School and Slington Elementary School. And if you can advance to the next slide, please. Okay. Okay. And here is our current fund balance which is slightly above $18 million. On our next slide, you'll see that we administration is also recommending two additional capital improvement considerations to be included in the 2526 school year budget. That is uh water softeners and filtration systems at both Slington Elementary School and Northern Lehigh High School. And next uh Mrs. Milurus will talk about our district expenses and revenues. Currently, our expenses total 43,000 or 43,15,620. That does include those new positions that were um recommended
056during that finance committee meeting in June. Um our revenues total 42,440. Of that is one-time purchases. that onetime purchases of them 1,ion32874 includes those new uh water softener systems that Dr. Link just spoke about. The local revenues currently does still have the 3.5% tax increase in it which gives us additional revenues of $457,045. At this point in time, our expenditures still supersede our revenues by 575,599. Next slide. So again, our expenditures are 43 uh million15,620 um 3 and a half% tax increase would be the 4119147 and then when we add those one-time purchases in there of 1,32874, we have a budget shortfall of that that I just spoke about. estimated uh ending fund balance at the end of the school year. If we use our uh fund balance for um just the revenue for the
057one-time purchases of the million32874 will end with a fund balance of 17448. In order to balance the budget, we will also need to use the budget shortfall of 575599, which means we would have an ending fund balance of roughly 600 or 16,872,41. Keep in mind that these fund balances are projecting that we are going to put roughly $725,000 back into this fund balance. So that 17,448 includes the anticipated amount that I I anticipate we're going to put roughly 725 back in the fund balance. Next slide, please. So again, this is our homestead farmstead relief. Um, as I've been addressing, um, we did receive more, um, homestead farmstead money this year, roughly a little over 200, well, $218,000. Additional relief for taxpayers that have applied and are approved for Homestead Farmstead. They will see an additional
058$72, roughly $72.80 on their tax bills. Um, so we're going from 2425, it was $427.82 per parcel would receive that reduction. This year we're estimating 562 depending upon where um the board lands with a tax increase. That will change slightly and slightly I mean pennies. Um, next slide please. So again, um, our collection rate is 94.75% with that three and a half% tax increase, uh, as recommended is giving us $457,045 in additional revenue. So in Lehigh County on that median assessed value of a home of 15,1850, if it's a 3 and a.5% increase, the tax bill will increase for the year by $132.30. 30 cents. However, that does not include the offset for the additional Homestead Farmstead that that uh person would approve would receive if they did qualify for Homestead Farmstead. So, that dollar
059amount could go down to roughly around $60 uh for the tax bill for the year. If the board decides to go down to a 2 and a half, it's $93.84. Again, if they co-alified for Homestead Farmstead, you're going to reduce that bill by another $72. So, you're going to see about a $21 tax bill increase at a 2 and a.5%. Northampton County, you can see the same thing. 3.5 is 123,325. Take the 7280 off of there. And then at the 2.5, it would go down to $88.33. Again, $72 off of there. You're looking at a $16 increase to their tax bill. Next slide. So fund balance utilization we have the million32874. Additional shortage is 575599. So our total shortage right now is 1,896473. But again that is with that 3 and 12% tax increase in
060there. So if the board would decide to stay at the three and a half% we are total shortage of 1896 1 million896473 if they decide to jump down the 3.25 25 to three, two and three/4er or two and a half, whatever in that realm. Um the difference between each one of them is roughly anywhere from 47 to $48,000. That would be added then onto your additional shortage of the 575 because every time you lower it, we're losing revenue. So you're going to have to take that from somewhere and that would come out of fund balance. It would be an additional shortage that you're going to you're going to have. Next slide. Okay. Okay. Administratively, uh we are recommending uh utilization of fund balance for one-time purchases previously discussed debt service payment and pasers and healthcare
061increases. Additionally, to pass a 3.5 tax increase in conjunction with utilization of fund balance to close the gap in addition to generating some revenue for upcoming years of capital improvement. administrative uh recommended additional positions to include the district-wide ESL teacher, the life skills teacher at Northern Lehigh Middle School, two PAR educators in le of the open horizons camp and an elementary assistant principal shared among the two elementary buildings and two additional water softeners. So, at this time, I'd like to open it up for questions and comments from school board members first and then uh open it up to public comment. any comments? Uh, okay. I'm not hearing a lot. So, uh, would you like to go down a list, please? And, uh, so, uh, quick check, Mr. man. Are there any other signature sheets out
062there that people have signed in on? Thank you, sir. Okay. First uh signature to speak this evening is Crystal Bilby. Good evening. I'm here speaking again tonight for the lack of fiscal responsibility of the board. There are a few of you that have asked the tough questions and stand up for the taxpayers. And for that, I want to say thank you. As for the rest of the board, your seat at this very table was voted on by the people who you are now not listening to. The last few meetings I keep hearing it will only go up a few cents a day or $100 a year. The problem is that is you keep adding more and more and more every single year. People can't afford it now. And if you want to add 250 to
063me this year, 250 to me next year, in four years I will be paying $1,000 more for my house. Ask our very large low-income and fixed income taxpayers if that sounds fiscally responsible to them. We already have the highest school taxes in Lehigh County. If you can't balance a budget with what you have, then maybe you shouldn't be spending it. I can't spend money that I don't have on my home and then expect my boss to pay for it the next day when I get to work. You have increased taxes every year for decades with no end in sight. How do you justify that? How do you add more hiring when we can't afford what we have now? I would like to also address Mr. Green. You said that the committee meeting last week, which
064shocked me, saying that people showed up to speak against the common campus because they thought it was the only way that the taxes weren't going to go up when it well when it came to taxes. That wasn't true. People came out to speak against the common campus because you can't balance a budget now without an increase. Why would we want to put oursel more in debt and spend money we do not have? People have looked at the common campus differently. They would have looked at the common campus differently if you wouldn't be raising the taxes every single year. I am well aware that the public school funding is flawed in many ways and I have contacted my state and some of the friends that I have and stress to them to look at our school
065board and the that we do not have the tax base that some of the other schools have. But just remember, you are hurting the very people who put you in the seat at this table and who the people that are watching online and the people in the audience today. Just remember this vote tonight when you're casting your vote in the elections in two years because it does matter. When most of you are up for reelection, I am hoping that the community outcry for you to make a decision will make you rethink your votes tonight. Thank you. And next we have Mr. Keith Horn. Good evening everybody. Um, when I first heard about this 3 and a half% hike anyway, even though the common campus was trashed, it's like, okay, I was pissed off. I'm just
066going to be honest with you and just put it out there. Uh I'm a graduate from here 1978 in Northern Lei School District and the Vote Tech School in Shville. I know a lot of people and I talked to a lot of people on and off since the last time that I I was at a meeting and I thought we were done with this tax increase when we were done with the common campus, but I see now that that's not so. And here we are again in the snake pit trying to talk into not doing it. It seems uh you think we have big pockets maybe. I don't know. You know, maybe like you do because I'm sure you make more money than I do. I'm going to pick on Mr. Link here. You got
067an award and and good good for you. I know. And but what all that entails to and what all it amounts to would be to me you're keeping everybody in tow and like I know you make a good dollar. You make what I would have wor you got nine months. I'm talking about me in a full year at 50 to 60 hour weeks. It would have take me four times my years to get what you make in one year. Now I'm retired. I get a fraction of that. Okay. The school needs library chairs for how many years now? We haven't addressed that. You know, it's it's for the kids. Everybody says for the kids. Is it? When is it going to be? Okay. So maybe with you maybe you wouldn't donate chairs, you know, to
068the school. I don't know. I can't I don't have that kind of money. And I'm going to pick on Mr. green too. Not only for his comment last meeting and Feroc Ferocchia, sorry if I pronounced that wrong. Yeah. How long have you been on the board? Do you even know half the time what you're voting for? What would be the better way of doing it? You know, you figure you would and like now to me is not the time to raise taxes. It's just not. Okay. We're just coming out of this Build Back Better system, which I mentioned before, which sucked. Excuse my language. And it did. And if anybody would disagree with that, well, I'm sorry. You don't have a brain. There's a big time mismanagement of money here. I mean, like, did anybody
069did any call like the burrow just to see about this water? Can they help with this water filtration system or send us water pure water that we're paying for? How about the roads? Does anybody call about that? Anybody call a burrow or a state? And everything says it's for the kids. I think a lot of this is for the teachers. Now we're going to hire more teachers on which is more money out of pocket again. And the money right there to us isn't here. My thoughts are and this only my thought my opinion is the landlords. They got how many units? So you got how many tenants? How many kids do the tenants have? How much are they paying in taxes compared to somebody that owns an acre, somebody that owns five acres? There's a
070big difference here on that. Something should be looked into about that. Maybe you guys should go door todoor and talk to elderly people and just to see where they're at. See what they're thinking. You know what's going on here. what you know this is getting crazy and and it was already said about you know maybe it's time to write letters to people in higher places you know let that sink in now is not the time for a tax increase for all of you's who are against this hike thank you for all those that ain't for it well you can kiss my you know what next Mr. Uh, Mr. Fred Phillips. Evening. As I know, budgets are not easy to come up with and to get approved. Obviously, we got to live within our means. Sometimes
071we have a wish list that we don't always get. But the last time I knew, a P PA system never got a student athletes GPA up. And as it comes to an assistant principal, from what I heard from the meeting from last week was that there's a lot there's time investigating in and discipline. Is there a disciplinary problem here with the school and that's the fact and what are we doing about it to correct it to have kids not make bad decisions or maybe it's just that we may need to hire a disciplinary head of disciplinary. Also, it was said that principles had to leave the building and you needed someone else to have do administrative uh things. How often do principles leave the building? What it comes down to is I believe that the
072the fund account should be used this year to not have a tax increase on the taxpayers this year. What I recommend though is maybe we hire someone to consult to come up with ways of raising money to come up with alleviating from the taxpayers. How about other districts? I'm sure some of them are having money issues, too. Why not find out what they're doing? And I guess the bottom line too is that it was mentioned before I've written to uh my representatives. I get the candid feedback email. Horse's mouth needs to come out to speak and let you let them know that hey it's not easy to have a budget with the tax base that we have here. And yes, it is important to have money to hire teachers that are needed to upgrade certain
073systems that are needed, but we have to live within our budget. Thank you. And next we have uh Mr. Eric King. [Music] Good evening. Um, I'm going to kind of go against the winds here tonight with the last three speakers and just kind of ask a clarifying question. Obviously, the community knows a lot of things need to be upgraded in the school district building-wise. Um, the plans that were laid out to us in the common campus model were kind of all-inclusive and it seemed like a take it or leave it kind of approach. Where are we at now with the other major improvement projects that have to happen? Are we waiting another 12 months for a completely new budget process for that? Or are any of those projects still able to be piece meal together
074at all in this budget? I feel like because it was all presented to the community and the board as a take it or leave it all encompassing budget, now we're left with okay, well now we have to wait another 12 months before we do some of the improvements that physically need to be done to these buildings. You guys said that fire alarm sprinker sprinkler systems and things like that were kind of a priority and needed to happen. Do those projects get kicked down the road for another 12 months until we do another budget. So, I don't know if anybody's able to answer that question tonight. I I think it's going to depend on what the board votes on tonight. Those things are still alive. You're absolutely right. Uh they haven't been corrected. They haven't gone
075away. And uh we can either address them or kick them down the road. So, it's we'll see what happens with the board vote. Okay. I just I think the community would have preferred to have two different options to say yes, we know we need to fix some things and get stuff rolling on a long-term 5year 10-year plan, but we don't necessarily need an all-encompassing take it or leave it approach to expanding a common campus. Appreciate it. We have uh Miss Lauren Gancer. Good evening. Um I'm just going to open up a couple questions. I know that you won't answer them but or you can't answer them in this method. Um, I know we had the ESSER funds which were also the COVID funds. I was just wondering if we had any of those left. Um,
076and if they we did, what were they able to be used for? Uh, the sewage question is about why are we totally responsible for that when it is burrow water? Um, and the $18 million fund balance. I'm assuming that that does bear interest. Um, and the Homestead Act. I was wondering if that's going to are we anticipating more revenue from that this upcoming year. So, we all know that taxes will increase contrary to certain comments which were made on Facebook that we should pull all pull our bootstraps up. We're not ignorant. We know that taxes need to be raised to maintain, you know, the budget. The issue is that we all came and spoke up at a few committee meetings regarding the common campus proposal which uh seemed to be put back on on the
077back burner. Then at the next committee meeting the administration came up with new and additions addi additional items to make a proposal to keep the tax increase at 3.5. To us looking in that almost appears to come across as we'll show them. They didn't get the we didn't get the common campus, so now we're just going to make this we're just going to put more stuff in there. Um, how terrible would it be to give the taxpayers a little break for a change? We have all as taxpayers contributed to the fund balance. So wouldn't it be a bit of a more favorable direction and certainly a bit more respectful to utilize that fund balance a little bit more to you know to the advantage of the taxpayers and create a more amicable and amicable atmosphere
078and better community relationship. I want to reiterate that attending these meetings is not a priority for many of us due to the fact that we have other obligations. But we are, you know, we are hopeful that as elected school board directors, you all remember in addition to keeping our district up to date and educationally sound and competent and competitive, that we the taxpayers have entrusted you with being cognizant of all of the demographics that are left in the district. And we are the people that whose tax pay taxes you are raising perhaps forcing hardships along with mental anguish. So I'm just imp I'm just reiterating what I've said in the past few meetings. You know just can you just give us a break you know and just use the fund balance that we've all been
079compete you know contributing to. That's all. Thanks. Next we have uh Miss Mary Frank. [Music] [Applause] Good evening. Um, my name is Mary Frank. I'm a parent in the district. I'm a taxpayer in the district and I am NLEA representation. Um, I want to begin by acknowledging the thought, time, and energy that went into developing the proposed positions. These are not decisions that were made lightly, and NLEA recognizes and values the efforts behind them. We especially appreciate the board members who have acknowledged that these challenges raised by administration is not isolated. They are deeply felt across every corner of our schools. That kind of awareness matters. It brings validation to what educators are experienced every day and offers hope that these voices are being heard. I won't stand here and say that I have issues
080with any of the proposed positions themselves. They are not without value. Each one serves a purpose. But while they may address specific requirements to help the district check boxes, they fall short of tackling the most urgent and foundational needs in our general education classrooms. These positions may help us meet compliance. But are they helping us meet the moment? The district needs to ensure that they are being accountable for what is being put, excuse me, being put into the comprehensive plan and for district growth goals and must align them to the actions taken. A concern that NLEA has regarding staffing conversations is that there seems to be blurred lines between professional staff and classroom teachers. This is not to diminish the importance of these non-classroom rules. Everyone in education makes a difference for our kids, but
081rather to highlight the weight of the implementation. Climate, culture, MTSS, student services, they fall heavily on the shoulders of those already overstretched in the classrooms. Our teachers aren't just teaching and oftentimes they are doing so without the time, tools or support to do so sustainably. All the best designed systems and initiatives, be it MTSS, climate strategies or operational plans, still depend on successful implementation. And that implementation relies on educators whose schedules are already packed beyond capacity. Without relief in general education, even the best plans will fall short. Right now, we're trying to cram 10 pounds of responsibilities into a two-pound bag. Are these new roles a real solution or just someone to help carry an already overloaded system? Our classrooms are where every plan, every initiative, and every promise made by the district comes to
082life. Yet, those classrooms are under enormous strain. The gap between what is being asked of teachers and the support that they are given has never been wider. The statistic of um 800 behavioral concerns reaching administration only tells a part of the story. Countless more are handled at the classroom level unforeseen and unaccounted for like an iceberg. Some elementary staff members are serving over 800 students a week. That is not sustainable. Where am I? Hang on. Equality or equally as unsustainable are examples from the secondary levels. At the high school, elective offerings are minimal, even when these electives are graduation requirements. And yet, there's no investment in departments that touch every student. The middle school staffing has significantly declined from over 25 staff members to just 19 with five of them, a quarter of the teaching
083staff, being shared between buildings. There just aren't enough classroom teachers to manage our students needs with fidelity. If we want real lasting change, if we truly want to improve climate, culture, and student outcomes, we need to prioritize investments that directly affect classrooms, general education, and the staff who are asked to do more with less every single day. We are at a point where we need more than just strategic compliance. We need courageous investment through bold action. Thank you. And that concludes our list of people that have indicated they want to speak tonight on public comment. Okay. No one else on the list. Uh okay. I'm going to do it since uh since people figured Mr. Green was okay to pick on. Uh our district several years ago went through what I call the dark ages.
084uh both the board and administration. Uh there was no transparency. Everything was done under wrapped. I asked for and did not see a superintendent's evaluation for years despite the fact that I'm a board member and I should be able to see that. It was just ridiculous and and uh we'll let it go at that. We finally got some new board members and some new administrators and things started to open up a bit. people started to al ask for some long range planning. Let's let's not do everything because oh, we got to do it now and we don't have the money. Let's plan ahead. We started to do that and and I'm going to call it the hardscape for one of a better word. We started planning on when we needed to fix roofs, when we
085needed to put new chillers in, when we needed to do repair on our Macadam, etc., etc., etc. uh we started delving into curriculum and educational changes and and then our good old friend CO came up and and we all know the results of that. We did find for example that some curriculum items had not been updated for 12 to 15 years. Can you imagine that 15 years of not upgrading curriculum in a day and age when you go to bed and you wake up the next morning and things have changed? But that was what we were struggling through in Northern Lehi. Uh in today's fastmoving world, that's just not acceptable. We also began to look at facilities from an educational perspective. Classes aren't taught the same way, guys. Sorry that they were 35 years ago.
086They don't throw 35 kids in a class, put in a teacher who reads a book, and then at the end of the the chapter give the same test they've been giving 15 years ago. It doesn't work that way anymore. We've got individualized instruction. We've got small groupoup instruction. There's all kind of stuff going on in the classrooms that didn't go on when I was there and probably not when you were there. So, we finally hired Ally 5 to take a look at it. See where are our classrooms? Are we up to date? Are we doing what we need to do? And they came back with two plans. Common campus, which everyone has heard of, no one wants to hear about it. Uh, I thought it would have been a value. It would have leaped us
087into the future, but that's beyond the point. do nothing was not an option. As as one of the gentlemen said who stood up earlier and spoke, they also had repairs that were necessary in every building. Those repairs, if they were done in total, are $50 million. $50 million. Now, I'm not saying we're going to do every one of those, but there are some red things and there are some yellow things that that need to be taken care of. They can't just be get get swept under the rug, but people are trying to do that. We kind of try to kick them down the road. How do you pay for that? There's two ways. Probably a massive tax increase, and I'm not talking three or three and a half%. I'm talking 7 8 10%. Or you
088can take out a bond. I I saw all kinds of language that, oh, you can't take out a bond. It'll take us 25 years to pay it off. Well, that's the alternative to coming up with the money up front. Do you remember when you bought your house? Did Did you pay cash or or did you take out a bond? Did you take out a 25 or 30-year mortgage? That's what we as a board want to do. We want to take out a mortgage to pay it off over time, not all in one year. How about when you bought your last car, you know, five, sevenyear bond on your car? Uh I would prefer that to a massive tax increase. Uh, also if if we had borrowed the money, we could have engaged in what's called
089arbitrage. Look it up. It's a simple word. A rbi t a ge. We probably could have generate 75 $80,000 by following the 2year 70 formula. So that's what we've got to do. We we have to do something. Uh we can just keep kicking it down the road and do nothing or we can start to address the program. Now, I'm in no way suggesting we do $50 million of repair next year, but we have to start putting things on our agenda. We have to start putting more than a $30,000 water filtration on our system because it's going to cost us in the long run if we don't. And and that's all I'm going to say. I won't be speaking while we're taking motions. At this point, we'll go to board members and uh we're looking for
090an adoption of the general fund. And and I would say one other thing. If you're sitting on this side of the table, you're part of the Northern Lehi Education, the Northern Lehigh Education. We're here to educate our children, and that's what we're here for. And and I hope we don't lose sight of that somewhere along the line. Education board is the word I wanted. I'm sorry. So, having said that, item four, adoption of the general budget. I will look for a motion and uh comments if you would like to make them or where you want to go with it and we'll go from there. I I would like to make a motion, but I would have the privilege to make a comment first. Of course, as preface to this, first of all, my comment is
091I understand that a 3.5 I rate the you the public. Please understand that it was said when we did that that we had to do that in order to set forth towards accomplishing what we're going to be doing tonight is passing a budget. If we would have passed anything less than that and had to go higher, we could not by law. So in turn, we do a higher budget uh number in our preliminary. That doesn't necessarily and if you look at our past has never been the number we have come up with at the end, but we have to do that to be in within the law. I want to be also fidicially responsible looking at what Mr. King had said looking at what we have to do to our schools and so forth. We
092need to make sure that we do what we need to do to keep our schools, our students and our our faculty safe and well educated. So with that in mind, I do want to help to secure to lower some taxes for the for the public and taking some other fund balance away. I don't believe we need to take a lot of it away and I'm afraid to take a lot of away because just like some of the projects we're looking at are costly. If we get to costly projects that we can't afford because we have no longer a fund balance, we're going to have to borrow money like other school districts have done and you know if you have to borrow money what the rate is today. So, in turn, I would like to make
093a motion, sir, to lower our tax to a uh 2.5. Motion to lower the budget to 2.5. Any suggestions on where that money would come from or go to, Gary, or just lowering it to 25? Well, I I I did say that maybe we could take some of the fund more of the fund balance. I know it's going to lower that. I don't want to take a lot of it, but I think that will help that it will not uh we still can do the the projects that we have to do right now and would also set forth what we need to do in the future. Uh there has been times in the past, Mr. Green, and you have been on the board also in which the boards decided to lower taxes to zero and
094two or three years later, as you had said, we're looking at raising taxes 7% or more just to survive. We can't go that direction. So that's why I'm suggesting a 2.5 that will also help uh to alleviate some of the tax. Thank you. Of that $18 million fund balance, by the way, I think what like 16 million something is designated uh 16 and a half and and we're putting what about a million back in. So there's not a whole there's not a whole lot of fund balance left at this point in time. That that isn't ne isn't designated, but okay. Is there a second to that motion of 2.5? I have a motion of 2.5% increase. Is there a second to that motion? 2.5% increase. Is there a second? Hearing none, it will die for
095want of a second. Are there any other motions? Looking for a motion on the uh budget. Where are we going to go? Not everyone at once. All right. Over here, Mr. Green, real quick. So, before I make a motion, um, obviously we're we're in a situation where we have some wants and some needs and, uh, little little to no money where it comes from. So, we have to be financially responsible as far as what we're doing. Um, I think everyone in this room would love to see a 0%. Um, but like Mr. Fedora just said, we go with 0% for a year or two, that's just going to mean it's going to be a 5 to 7% next year or the year after. So, at some point, we're going to be playing catchup. You know,
096everyone everyone wants the the 3 to 4% raise annually, but no one wants to pay for it with with taxes. And unfortunately, you can't have one without the other. Um, so with that being said, as much as I would love to make a motion for 0%, it is just not financially responsible. So I will make a motion for 2%. We have a motion for a 2% increase. Is there a second? I'll second that. I'm sure we got a second. Thank you, Miss Slater. I'm sorry. Motion in a second. Discussion questions. Can I ask a question in regards to that? Of course. So if we would accept a 2% would all the positions that were recommended and all of the changes to the um capital projects. Is there enough to withstand that for more than one
097two years by putting those in place? So the answer is um yes we could do that but knowing that every year moving forward that.5% is is you know ultimately off the table. Um it would be uh we would have to maybe reevaluate some of the things that we're looking to do you know 3 years out 5 years out 10 years out and adjust some timelines. Um, but I'll I'll look to like could we do it? Yes. Right. If we could we could we make that work in next year's budget? Yes. Um, but I'll look to uh Mrs. Molus to say, well, what does that actually do then to the fund balance um kind of moving forward? So, we, as I said, you're looking at about $47,000 to $48,000 between each one of the percentages, quarter
098of a percent that you go down. So, taking it down to the 22 1/2, that's already 190,000 of that 457 that you're losing. It's 2%, not 2 and a half. I know. Okay. So, then you're looking at another almost $100,000. So, you're going to be down $290,000 that you're going to have to be using additional out of fund balance. So, you're going from 57599 to almost, you know, another 290,000. So round it up to 300 even numbers $800,000 $875,000. Now I'm projecting putting $725,000 back in the fund balance. So now you clearly are going to start to use fund balance for some reoccurring costs that can be in the budget. Can I make a comment, please? Sure. Um, I know Sherry, you've done very well at taking our money and trying to get extra interest
099on it, taking advantage of the interest rates that are out there. That has helped us make some additional money that we can use for the public. Um, I I just think the state's also going to give us more money. Isn't that what you initially said that on the projection from the state? I they're projected to give us more, but the budget never comes in and gives us as much as what they say. I budgeted 50% anticipating that's probably where we're going to go and that's probably where it's going to land at. I don't think it's going to be too much more than that, but um there is another I think it was the first original slide back in um when we first did the presentation. And there might have been another 120 or $140,000. I
100think at $110,000 in basic ed and I believe there was about another 30 or 40 in special ed. So if I can respond to that also in knowing in the past the state has always supposedly supposed to be giving us 50%. As far as I know the last 20 years they have given us less and less to being down to about 35%. So to anticipate them giving us that uh is a wish. I I would like it to be happening, but I do know that and we do have those records of that that the state does not and it's been proven. So I'm I'm I'm leerary on on on putting that type of cart before the horse. And I'm going to go Gary, I'm going to agree with you and I'm also going to say
101as um Mrs. Snider mentioned about that that charter school funding that too. If that comes through that's going to be about $270,000 for us. But year after year they say this is going to happen and it doesn't happen. So it's not money that we can really count on because we don't know if it's ever going to happen or not until it's actually happens. Then we can start budgeting it moving forward. But you can't budget for what you don't know and we don't know if that's going to come through. So Sherry, when we passed the past year's budget, how much of that budget was set aside for taking money and putting it back in fund balance when we did last year's budget? We never put money in there to put back in the fund balance. It's
102just where the expenditures and revenues go at the end of the year. if I get more revenues in exactly what you're saying, budgeting or um investments of that money, I over a million dollars we earned in interest revenue this year from those from the fund balance money that I was investing. If if the market takes a tank, I still have like 700 800 $900,000 in for fund balance again this year for that we're going to make it in revenue um for interest. But if all of a sudden the market crashes, that money goes away. I can't, you know, I'm you're you're you're you're budgeting on what you think is going to happen and you just don't know. I'm just saying I know we have put money back in the fund balance, correct? Every year we're
103saying we pass the budget. We're not looking to put any money back in fund balance. Right. So we have had the ability to do that. That's why I'm trying to understand that you are correct. We don't budget to to increase our fund balance. We budget on what we think the expenditures are going to be and we budget on what we think the revenues are going to be. Expenditure side of things. If we have five or six powers that we cannot fill in a year's time, that's a chunk of change that we budgeted for because we were hoping to be able to get people and we just weren't able to fill those positions. I just wanted to make the point that when we pass the budget, we don't set aside for I'm sorry, we do not
104take into account adding to the fund balance. Okay. But we've been able to do that each of the last few years. So, I'm wondering, do we need to go as high as we are with with with the percent increase? That's where I'm coming from since we're always putting money back into the savings account. And that's what I'm that's what I said, Ron, or I'm sorry, uh, Donna, that I anticipate putting about $725,000 back in the fund balance when I when I estimated our expenditures and our revenues through the end of the year. I'm estimating on putting about 725 back in there. So, if we do do that and you're using, as um, Mrs. Susk just asked if we're going to be 725 back in, but we're going to take $825,000 or more out for reoccurring
105expenses. You're now using up that money that you've put back into there. Plus, we're not guaranteed that we're going to be able to put that money back. I mean, correct. It's an estimate. Correct. You got it. Yep. Quick question. I'm talking about the fund balance. Everybody sees that big number on the screen says, "Oh man, we got all $18 million." How much of that actual fund balance is allocated already? It's not like a slush fund we could just keep taking money in and out of. A lot of those monies are allocated for different things. Correct. And how much of that is 16.5 million is allocated designated as it's called, Bob. Yeah, you're right. 16.5 million y is is designated for for purchases. So if you so if you keep taking away from that fund balance
106things that are in that feasibility study are going to suffer. Um you know the high cost items that might occur down the road that you know we can't see in the future what might occur. Uh we had a flood in the high school. You know we have other issues that may happen at any time. So you keep chipping away at that fund balance even though some of that money is already directed at certain things. Um, I don't know what that leaves as left if we have a major emergency. So, that's my that's my concern. I'm going to look right. Any comments up here? Everybody got their got their say? One last comment on on the fund balance again and maybe you could educate me on this and perhaps the public. Do we need a certain
107percentage of a fund balance versus our budget allocation? what we're looking at to have a rating is say say we need to to get a bond and we need to take out a mortgage for whatever um and obviously your interest rates are based on the school district rating. What is that percentage of that we need of fund balance in comparison to our our regular budget? Well, just even for regular operating costs, they say you should have at least 3 to four months worth of operating cost within your fund balance for that very reason. if if the state doesn't give you money or if there are major uh issues that happen within your um within your buildings that you have the money aside to be able to do that. You know, your water example is is
108a prime example at the high school. Um but then again, the the bonding companies want to see that you are proactively um raising taxes and not going at zeros. If you go at zeros, it causes an issue and it'll affect your bond ratings, which then makes you pay higher interest rates on the points if we have to get bonds. Now, as we've been talking about that um the feasibility did say that we have, you know, these orange and yellows and and red areas that must be done. If you're looking at only $18 million in fund balance, you don't have enough fund balance to cover all of those items. And then on top of it, if something else arai happens that you have to you won't have the fund balance to do that. So you need
109to have the fund balance. I if the if we start to use too much of it, then they end up saying you're not setting yourself up you're setting yourself up to fail. If the more you use it, you're setting yourself up to fail. Okay, Bob? Yep. Thank you. Any anyone else to the left? No other discussion. Okay. If not, all those in favor of that motion, please signify by saying I. Those opposed, no. No. No. Let's have a vote. Uh, roll call, please. Mr. Chrisman, yes. Mr. Pedorche, no. Miss France, yes. Miss Husse, no. Mr. Kern, no. Miss Culp, no. I'm sorry, Miss No. No. I apologize. No. Miss Snder? Yes. Miss Williams, no. Mr. Green, no. [Music] 7 to three. No. Take that motion. How about 72? No, I get 73. 73. Mr. Oh,
110sorry. 26 63. You don't have to add anymore. Sorry. Okay. So, that motion was defeated. Silven. Mr. Green. Yes. I realize that 2.5 did not get even a second. Does that still allow me to make a 2.5? Okay. I would like to move a 2.5. I'll second that. Second down here. Right. Okay. It's now on the table. Discussion on 2.5. Anyone? If not, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed? No. No. Roll call. M. Uh, Mr. Fedora. Yes. Miss France. Yes. Miss Husach. No. Mr. Kern. No. Miss Cole. Yes. Miss Snider. Yes. Miss Williams? No. I'm sorry. No. No. Sorry. Mr. Chrisman. Yes. Mr. Green. No. One, two, three, five. Yes. One, two, three, nos. That passes. What was it? Four nos. Thank you. Okay, we have a 2.5 budget passed.
111Uh, I would ask our business manager to please do the write up on that and then we'll need a motion on that. All right. So, um on the paper for the um final resolution for the adoption, it'll be a proposed final budget of $43,15,620. The tax rate for L for Lehigh County will be 25.9914 which is $259 cents per $100 of assessed value for Lehigh count or for Northampton County sorry it's 77.7220 mills or $7 and77220 per $100 of assessed value. That would be the motion for A on the board agenda. Okay. There's a lot of numbers there. Uh I'm just looking for someone to say, "Yeah, I let I I make that motion." Okay. So, thank you. Is there a second? I'll second. Discussion or questions? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by
112saying I opposed. No. And so ordered. Uh before we get too far, I missed an executive session was held at 6 PM in the Nor Lehigh Middle School. Uh we talked about school safety and we talked about litigation. Those were the two items. Uh item 4B, uh approve the Homestead Farmstead resolution. Is there a motion to approve that item? Yep. So I will give you the Homestead Farmstead for um Lehigh County and Northampton County. every tax play uh payer that is qualified for Homestead Farmstead would see a reduction of 57 $500.76 on this year's tax bill. Um so at Lehigh County, your reduction will go your assessed value will go down by $19,266 and for Northampton County it'll go down by $6,443. So again, every tax parcel that qualifies for Homestead Farmstead will see a
113reduction of $500.76. Thank you. Is there a motion? Do we get a Do we have a motion? We had a motion from Do we have a second? I'm sorry. We did the motion for the Do we have a second? Second. Second. Okay. Thank you. Discussion or questions? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed, no. So order just if if you don't have homestead farm headstead if you don't understand what that is every year you get a letter from Lehi County and if if it's a property that you live on I think that's a requirement. It can't be like a garage or a vacant lot or something like that. You fill it out. You say you live there. You send it in and you get credit for that $500 a
114year. If you don't sign up, you don't get it. So, it's an opportunity for for you to get an extra $500 off your taxes every year by simply filling out that form and sending it in. And they do send it out every year, as I understand it. It's not every year. It's every year they will send that out and you can save $500 a year on your taxes. So, uh, if you're not doing that, you know, please look into it. It's well worth your while. Okay. Mr. Green, can I just say one thing? Yes, sir. Bailey, if the problem here is the water and the and roads are responsible of these burrow and I would ask you as citizens of the burrow to please contact your burrow council and let's get those roads fixed for
115you, for us, for everyone as far as the water goes. We need to do that also because it's affecting your homes, not only the school. And we're going to be doing a filtr filtration system here to compensate that that we shouldn't have to be doing, but we're doing it because we want to make sure that we have safe water for our students and our faculty. So I do plead with you if you live in the burrow that you speak to your burough council member. Thank you. Thank you. There have been discussions. I know that Mr. Man, I think has had some conversations with the burrow and and this is where we stand. So, uh, we're not we're not moving very fast on it, but Okay. Uh, anything else on the budget? No. If not, we'll
116move under personnel items A, B, C, all the way down to M. Uh, all the way down to M. Is there a motion to approve the items under personnel? Second. Motion second. Any questions on the personnel item? hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. No. That's the order. And Mr. Green, if I can just take a minute to acknowledge um Miss Taylor Cooper, who I believe is in the audience with us tonight. Miss Taylor Cooper is going to be the new emotional support teacher at Slington Elementary School. Congratulations and welcome to Northern Lee High School District. Thank you. [Applause] Okay. Uh we have board policy second reading. We have board policy first reading. And we did do item C. Uh but on the next page we have E. I item Oh,
117D is program of study and E. Is there a motion to approve the policies? Please. So move. Motion. Is there a second? I'll second. Any question on the policies? I'm sorry. Who was the first to to move that? Gale. Okay. Thank you. Gale. Yeah. Uh, okay. Any questions on the policies anywhere? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed? And so ordered. We have two conferences. Is there a motion to approve the conferences? So move. Second. Motion in a second. Questions on the conference? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppos. No. And so ordered. Uh curriculum and instruction we have ABC D and on the page eight ABCDE. Is there a motion to approve the items? Yes. Okay. Second. Second. Thank you. Any questions on the
118uh curriculum instruction? Hearing not all those in favor signify by saying I. Those opposed? No. And so ordered. I have nothing under rule business. Anything? Nothing. No, sir. Okay. Uh, under new business, we have a motion to approve the attached settlement agreement with the mutual release. Is there a motion to approve that settlement? Second. Uh, I don't know if we should really get into that too deep because it's a legal item. I I would say probably not. So, with that in mind, I'll just call for the question. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppos? No. And so ordered uh whole bunch of financial items here. Uh Mn O all the way down to Q. Is there a motion to approve the financial items? Some move motion. Is there a second? Second. Any
119questions on the financial items? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed? No. And so ordered. I have nothing under legal. Any correspondence? Anyone? Dale, anything? No. Thank you. Okay. There's some information there. Uh different group meetings that we've had. Are there any other guests that would like to be recognized at this time? Are there anything? No. Hearing none. Is there a motion to adjourn? So, I'll second. Motion a second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I was a Oh, no. We can't adjourn. Scratch that. Uh, I have to call a special meeting on July 7th to do the it it's going to be a private meeting uh to do the superintendent's evaluation and uh that will occur at 5:30. It will occur in our boardroom and I
120apologize for not doing that. Uh that will be 5:30 on July 7th in the boardroom. Uh now we have a motion to adjurnn. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. No. And so ordered. We're done here.