001[Music] or heat. [Music] Evening, ladies and gentlemen. I'd like to call to order the Monday, August 4th, 2025, uh, Pen Manor School Board Committee, the whole meeting to order. We have reached August, the Sunday of summer. The next scheduled meeting of the Pen Manor School Board will be held on Monday, August 18th, which is opening day. Right, Dr. Gail? >> That's correct. at 7:00 p.m. in the large group instruction room of Penmanor High School. An executive session was held prior to the committee of the whole meeting for the purpose of discussing personnel as detailed above. Mrs. Rhodess, may we have a roll call, please? >> Sure. Mr. Beaks >> here. >> Mr. Her >> here. >> Mr. Lombardo >> here. >> Mr. Stro >> here. >> Mr. Swiger >> here. >> Mr. Warfl >> here.
002>> Ms. Wart. >> I had to adjust to that new W. I was so ready for work. I'm here. >> Yes. >> M threw me off. >> Mrs. Nasser >> here. Dr. Fullerton >> here. >> Nine board members present. >> You know, you just make it too easy. Too easy. >> I would love to entertain a motion to approve the minutes of our July 21st, 2025 committee the whole meeting. Move. >> Thank you. A second. >> Second. Thank you. Any further comment or question? All those in favor. >> Nine affirmative votes. >> Board development opportunities and reports. Do we have any? July is a a late month for board meetings, so no surprise there. And Mrs. Nassinger, what do we got for opportunities? >> I'm trying to get there, but for some reason I'm having
003>> Well, maybe if you weren't talking to Mr. Dr. Egan here. >> Mr. Dr. Egan. Yes. >> Yeah. Um, there's nothing new. I did know that. So, just a reminder, opening day is August 18th. Um, first day for students, August 25th. And then, um, the continual reminder to not leave Mr. Lombardo alone in Kalahari at Kalahari for uh, the PSBA conference um, which is October 19th through 21st. And Miss Rhodess needs your RSVP by August 18th. So, run, don't walk to say yes. and um enjoy an invigorating conference at the water park. >> I'm so glad that I got other people saying the water. >> Uhhuh. >> I'm just going to keep selling it as hard as I can. >> I'll report back. I know nobody's going. >> All right. Well, with that, we have
004some introductions. Dr. Gail. >> Thank you, Dr. Forson. uh tonight have the opportunity to introduce one new person and one familiar face but in a new role. We'll start with Lisa Sudam. Uh Lisa is our new principal at Lee Tour Elementary. Uh Lisa has been with the district as both a teacher and an administrator uh for won't tell how many years. Uh but uh look forward to Lisa taking over at Leort. So Lisa, >> good evening. um asking many familiar faces, but just to tell you a little bit about myself, I joined PM Manor in 2000. So, uh over the last 25 years, I have been an educator, a parent where we live within the district as well. Um I was media specialist. I was also um acting dean of students at Manor Middle and
005then most recently I served as assistant principal at Central Manor for the past five and a half years. So, I am beyond thrilled to be the new principal at Lator Elementary and I look forward to leading LTOR, working very closely with the teachers and getting to know the students and families. So, thank you very much. >> Do you want to introduce >> Oh, and I also have with me this evening my husband. >> So, Lisa and George have two Peter graduates. One will be junior >> Junior Well, I'm sorry. One graduated and then sophomore >> sophomore college and then a junior here at the high school. So >> very excited for Lisa. Uh she's done an outstanding job in the different positions that we've had her uh fill. Uh and actually she's going back to
006Letor where she was a classroom teacher. So although I kept telling Lisa she didn't have to work over the summer, she spent many hours at Letor getting ready for the year. So we're excited for what she will be doing. and then like to introduce for the first time uh Maddie Long. Maddie is our new communications coordinator. Uh Maddie comes to us through a variety of experiences, but I'll let her introduce herself. But uh Maddie, it's great to have you. >> Hi, thank you guys so much for having me. Um so I grew up in Lancaster. I graduated from LS. Uh my mom was a school counselor. She just recently retired. Margene Long from Pam Manor. Um, and I'm very excited to be here. Um, I've heard such great things about the district, and although I
007haven't um I didn't I haven't been working here for too long, I'm very excited to see what I can do with uh all the different schools and the district as a whole. And um just to advertise all the great things that Pen Manor has to offer. >> And tell us a little bit about your background. Uh so I went to Millersville University, graduated in 2017 uh with a speech communications degree uh with a track in public relations. Uh so I have a variety of experiences within marketing um and public public relations as well. Um, so a lot of um back-end website editing, a lot of social media, um, a lot of blog writing, um, and I also worked at a law firm downtown to add to my marketing experiences, and most recently, um, I worked
008at Spooky Nook Sports, and while I was there, I was on the marketing team as well. So, I did a lot of, um, partnerships and, uh, marketing there. >> So, Maddie has a father who is in education, a mother who is in education, and a sister. So kind of came around and saw that she wanted to be part of what we all do here. So very happy to have Maddie. Again, spent started really the last week of of June. Spent a week with uh Brian Wallace as he was finishing up his time. But Maddie has certainly jumped in uh met with a number of different uh sources, media folks that we we interact with, but then has started to meet with all the administrators to get to know uh everybody who's in now at this
009time of year, but uh we know Maddie will be around the school and she will be our point of contact uh with the media uh as we move forward and will be here for our meetings as well. So, we're very excited to have Maddie uh to to fill this role and actually to see how we grow and develop and she becomes our our best storyteller of what we have going on here. So, >> welcome Maddie. >> Well, thank you Dr. Gail. >> Thank you. >> And welcome Maddie and welcome to the new role. That's wonderful. >> It's always good to fresh faces. >> Yes. >> And you don't still live in LS, do you? >> Yeah. >> Well, at least it's not field, right? Yeah. Could be worse. Okay. Well, with that, we'll move right
010into item number one, and we'll talk about the district's debt service, which is zero, right? So, introduce uh Lauren Stadel and Olivia. Olivia, I can't pronounce your name. >> Sorry. >> Uh but uh many of you know Lauren. Lauren has been with Raymond James, Ken Phillips for a number of years. Uh but we're glad to have Lauren come. Uh Dan, Mr. Cory and Lauren have been working on providing us with a with an update about where we are as a district in terms of debt services and some potential uh opportunities that we may have coming. Uh so she'll give us a rundown. Uh and Mrs. Roads. >> Well, that one had crossoffs on it. >> Okay. >> Well, I can talk while you find it. >> Yeah. Go ahead, Lauren. Get started. >> Good evening
011everyone. It's a pleasure for Olivia and I to be here this evening. Ken does send his regards. He's out of town tonight, but we wanted to give you a bit of an update as your plans continue to evolve and take shape for what uh your building projects in the future might look like and how we go about potentially financing those. So, for those of you that were here, I think the last time we were in front of you was January of this year and I know that a number of things have continued to develop since then. And so what we want to talk about tonight is, you know, let's set the stage a little bit with we'll talk about what your existing debt looks like. Um there's actually going to be potentially some refinancing opportunities
012that are coming up within the next couple years. So we'll touch on that a little bit. I've got a brief market update and then we'll really get into the meat of as the plans continue to evolve, what those financing plans could potentially look like. So we have in front of you now the uh copy, thank you, Cindy, of of what we put together this evening. So, on the first page, this is very familiar to some of you that have been here for a long time, but I'll still go over it because I think it's worth um pointing out several details on this schedule. So, this is a summary of all of the district's outstanding debt as it stands today. You have four separate financings listed in columns two through five that have funded a number
013of different uh items over the years, but most notably and most recently would be the high school project. And those were done by the 2018 and 2019A bonds. So this is all of the principal and interest that you make on an principal and interest payments that you make on an annual basis for these four outstanding obligations. And you can see the annual um sum of those numbers in the far right column. Worth noting in columns 2 and three and four are the upcoming call dates of those bonds that we did to uh build this building that we're sitting in. So the 2018 bonds are callable in September of 2026 about one year from now with the 2019A and 2019b bonds being callable about one year after that. And while we were able to take advantage
014of the fact that interest rates were at an extremely attractive level at that time and lock in um actual yields that you can see there bolded in the arbield row of 3.24% for the 2018s, 2.52% for the 2019 A's. And you might say, well, we really can't do better than that in today's market. And that's that's an accurate statement. Rates are are higher now than they were then. However, when municipal bonds are sold to the marketplace, they're typically done so with premium coupons. And so, right now, buyers in general like a 5% interest rate on their bonds. And so, they are willing to offer you more than one, you know, 100 cents on the dollar for the right to purchase your bonds. Therefore, increasing the coupon and having a lower yield, thereby creating this opportunity
015where we have an an opportunity in, you know, the next couple years to refinance the debt. It gets a little bit into the weeds, but our true cost of funds back in 2018 and 2019 are those RB yield figures that you see. But because of the higher coupon that is associated with those bonds and is still outstanding on those bonds, we can do better, especially on the 2018 bonds in today's market. So, I do have a summary in here of what a potential refinancing of those bonds could look like. But I did want to point out that we do have those dates kind of in articular in the future because they may very well align with new money borrowings for capital projects. And it makes a lot of sense when you're thinking about financing projects
016to look at any refinancable debt that you may have because when you combine them together, there's some cost of issuance, savings, economies of scale. Really doesn't necessarily make sense to always separate those. And so if we're going to be in the market anyway with a new money bond, we would probably pair a refinancing with it. So more to come. Obviously, as we get closer to those dates, we can't really act much in advance of those dates. We have about a 90-day window in advance of those yellow highlighted dates that you see there where we can enact a refinancing. So, as we get closer to those dates, we'll be continuing to update the administration and the board on where those refinancings stand. But those are the important points to talk about on this page. So these
017are the full principal and interest payments that you make on those four obligations. Let's go to the next slide. And this nets out the reimbursement, excuse me, that you receive as a result of having gone through the plan process. And the plancom process was around for decades where the state would subsidize your debt for projects that were highly reim that they deemed highly reimburseable which were new additional student capacity. They didn't really reimburse you for HVAC projects, new gyms, things like that. However, there's been a moratorum in place on any new plan projects for nearly a decade at this point. And so all new debt in the future is 100% responsibility of school districts. However, you do have projects that are grandfathered within the plan con system. And so you still continue to receive subsidy
018payments back from the state for those prior bond issues that were deemed reimburseable. So this is net of those subsidy payments that you receive. So this is really your true interest pay principal and interest payments that you make on an annual basis in column number 12. Important to note additionally is um while you might look to the bottom right column of the prior page and this page and say that's our full debt, in actuality the district has about $90 million of outstanding principal as of today. So the additional 25 million or so that you see as a difference between the 90 million of principal outstanding and the 115 million at the bottom of column 12 is really just the full interest payments that would be made if all of this debt was paid off until
019the call date. But more than likely, as I said, we'll be doing some refinancings over time and hopefully saving some money on on these bonds. Uh so I'm going to keep talking, but please feel free if you have questions. Um this is not me just speaking at you. Please chime in, raise your hand if you have any points of clarification that you'd like to talk a little bit about more. The next page, uh, just wanted to give you a little brief update on where interest rates stand. I think we showed you this last time where we put the dates of when we re, uh, when we did the financings that we just reviewed on the last page. Um, we'd love to pat ourselves on the back and say, "Wow, we did a really great job
020of timing the market on some of that, but uh, really that was pure luck." and um and and COVID honestly that that pushed rates that low and we just had obviously a project to finance and then some refinancings to do in that time frame which is why we really were able to take advantage of the fact that rates were at all-time lows back in 2020 and were certainly very attractive in 2017 through 2019 and as we all know rates have ticked up since then uh and we're getting close to kind of the 25-y year average of where rates have in going back to the year 2000. Uh but what what we like to point out is that when you hear in the news about mortgage rates being at 7% or north of 7% uh and
021while that's all true, fortunately as a municipal as a municipal entity, you're able to borrow your funds tax exempt and there's a pretty good break right now between taxable and taxexempt interest rates. Additionally, you have an extremely good credit rating, which drives your interest rates even lower that you can get in the market. And so, municipal bonds are trading at a level much better right now than certainly personal mortgages are. And uh I'll show you in just a couple slides here what a potential, you know, interest rate scenario could look like if you were to go out and start getting money here in the next year or so. And just one other thing on this before we go. I know that uh there's been some headlines lately about the Fed and what they may or
022may not do going forward, especially given the fact that we just had some less than desirable um employment data come out last week and we went from a Fed funds futures, which is, you know, the folks that predict what the Fed is going to do over the next year, 18, 24 months. Um the likelihood of a Fed rate cut, I think prior to last week's uh Bureau of Labor Statistics news was something like 65% chance of one rate cut this year. After that news, um it actually skyrocketed to basically 100% chance of at least one Fed cut this year and something like an 80% chance of two Fed cuts this year. So if those um labor statistics of of weaker employment numbers continue, we will see interest rates come down at least on the short
023end. What's going to happen to the long end is a lot more difficult to predict. While we tend to see rates move um in conjunction with one another, we don't always necessarily see them move lock step. So, if we do get a 25 or 50 basis point Fed change over the rest of 2025, that doesn't necessarily mean that it's a 20 to 25 basis point downward movement in long-term interest rates as well. There's a little more nuance to that. But hopefully, we see at least a portion of that of that drop. If the Fed if these, you know, sort of uh recessionary or or or retractionary numbers continue, we may see those drops. So pages five and six uh are based on the most recent estimates coming from the architects and the general timeline that
024they're looking at for the three projects that are in question. So what we've done tonight is we've laid out potential future financings for a new middle school, Echelon Elementary Renos, and Lee Tort Renos. and we lay them out generally in line with what the um the architect is expecting based on and we as we you know get draw schedules and things of that nature, we'll be able to refine these studies even more. But for those of you that might need a refresh or this type of study might be new to you, let me walk through first kind of the mechanics of how it works and then we can kind of delve into more of of of how do we get from where we are to where we need to be if we're going to embark
025on these capital projects. So column number two is what we just reviewed uh two pages ago which is your existing debt net of state reimbursement. So this is our starting point. We're at about $8.4 million give or take um in the next several years for where we need where we're currently at to pay our existing obligations. Columns three through seven are then potential future bond issues to finance the projects that are lift listed up above them. I'll skip column 8 for now and we get to column 9 which basically sums everything up. In the top right box where are some of the assumptions that we're making and notably we are keeping the value of your assessments and the value of your one collected mill static. And so more than likely if all of these developments
026are to come to fruition, we're going to see that number grow. And so this is we're trying to be extremely conservative in our assumptions here. Um but that's kind of item number one that we wanted to point out is that we assume no growth. And so when we add in then columns 10 or 11, and it really depends on how you like to view things. If you're talking about tax increases as a percentage, you're looking at column number 10. If you're talking about what kind of new dollars do we need in the budget, you're talking column number 11. And that gets us to then the total dollars that we're, you know, quote unquote appropriating for debt service out of our budget. So if we were to layer in approximately 125 million, you can see highlighted
027there at the top in yellow over the next five years for these projects. We're doing so in a way that we're trying to one not um have too many you know small borrowings done over the you know subsequent subsequent years. Um, but we're also trying to recognize the fact that we don't want to borrow too soon or too late. And we really want to marry the borrowings as closely we can as we can to your draw schedule. Especially in this interest rate environment where you know a few years ago when the Fed funds rate was a little bit higher and borrowing rates were lower. We were encouraging people to go ahead and borrow early because you could set that money aside, arbitrage it for a set period of time and then you know be earning
028more than you were actually paying in interest and make a little bit of extra money on that. That relationship does not exist in the way that it used to. um those two numbers are much more closely aligned. And so what we're assuming here is that we're getting the money kind of as needed um but not doing you know extraneous multiple borrowings over time. So the other thing to note is that if you see in the bottom uh of of the top box there under the rate assumption for all of these scenarios we are assuming current interest rates plus 50 basis points. So we're trying to again be conservative in our assumptions and we're using that number. Again, we could refine this and this these studies will continue to morph over time, but we're hopeful that
029at least with the contingency that we have, if we do see some upward rate movement, we're within that. But hopefully, and more than likely, if interest rates go down, these numbers should improve pretty dramatically along with an interest rate reduction. So, in order to get to where we are right now for debt service, and as of this fiscal year, if you look to column number 12, the dollars in your budget for debt are approximately 10.5 million. And if you look to the run rate we need to get to in column number nine, over time, we need to somehow get to 15.2 million. 15.2 2 million run out through 2049 and drops down a little bit in 2050 fully funds $125 million of projects. And so for illustration purposes, we've layered in over the next five
030years since the year 2526 budget is already baked. um over the next 5 years, approximately a 1.5% tax increase, which equates to about $943,000 a year of additional new recurring debt service would get you fully funded. Now, there's no magic behind why we picked five years. Uh we just needed a starting point. Of note, by doing that, if you look to the yellow column on the right, the yellow highlighted numbers, you'll see that we actually are generating more by by enacting these, you know, additional mills into the budget for debt service, we're generating more dollars than we actually need to spend on debt service. And the reason that we do that, well, the reason that's happening is because we're feathering in over time. The debt service is not up to that level yet. So more
031than likely, and that number approximately is six and a half 7 million, that $7 million would likely either be used to downsize the last bond issue, um we could if if economic and, you know, political, whatever the case may be, um forces influence us to maybe need to feather this or layer these tax increases in over seven years instead to five, whatever the case may be, those dollars that are generated in the early years will be put be put to very good use. Additionally, I know you have about $15 million of of reserves that are set aside and may be used for these projects as well. It is our recommendation that any of those dollars, including the 15 million plus this 7 million that we're looking at in the the yellow highlighted boxes, would be
032used last because well, for a number of reasons. We know what we know now today. We don't know what budgets and state aid may look like three years from now. Uh but maybe most importantly is the fact that at the beginning of a major capital financing process like this, we want to have as much money in the bank as possible for rating agency considerations. And having those dollars set aside and in place and a plan like this put together to show to the rating agencies will show them that you're serious about the capital projects, not only from, you know, an educational perspective, but you also have a solid plan in place on how you're going to finance it and how you're going to get your budget to a place that can afford and absorb this
033additional millage. So again, those num those dollars in our recommendation, while we can stand up here and say that very easily, are to always use those dollars last and then you sort of end up right sizing your bond issues. And so if you have you get to, you know, let's say everything works out exactly as we have planned on this page and we get to 2030 and it's time to finance Leort and it's 30 million or $21 million, but we've got all of that set aside. we may go say we're going to use the cash for it and now we don't have to do that last bond issue and now your debt service doesn't you know doesn't go up that additional million and a half dollars that you see in the purple column. So again
034the lots of things are going to change on these uh studies as we as we go through time. In fact, I guarantee you they will and we'll continue to um update them and work obviously with the board and administration to make sure that, you know, we're all rowing in the same direction here. But as a starting point, we think this is an, you know, a good first step at least to see what this what these projects may look like. So next page exact same study but uh architects provided both a low-end range and a high-end range of of for the um three projects in question. So this is the same study over the same time horizon but just a a higher amount. So this is at the high-end range of 138.1 million. And so now
035instead of one and a half% a year now you're looking at about 1.7% a year for five years. Okay, next to rewind a little bit and talk about the 2018 bonds. With those being callable in September of next year, we will more than likely be um pulling the trigger on that refinancing probably in the May June time frame because that's at the 90-day window prior to the call date. And what this page lays out is what a hypothetical refinancing or refunding. We use those terms um you know they're co-terminus in our world. So you might hear me say refunding or refinancing they mean exactly the same thing. So when we refinance the 2018 bonds and I'll walk down the right side of the page first. You have the prior debt service of those of those
036bonds and then the new debt service. If we were to uh go out in today's interest rate environment, again, we don't know what rates will be like 10 months from now when we're able to actually do this refi, but if we were to to go out today, we' we'd, you know, assume that we would get the rates that are shown in um or the debt service would that would be generated by today's rates is in that refunding debt service column. And so when you take the old minus the new, that generates savings, cash flow savings of about $300,000 a year. and we're showing it level over the life as as best we can. There's because of the structure of the underlying bonds, we can't make it fully level in the first couple years, but we've
037taken it level over the life. So, we're about $300,000 a year of cash flow savings. Um, which we would recommend given the fact that we're kind of embarking on potentially embarking on this capital project that we take it in this fashion because it's going to offset the additional new debt service for some of those bond issues that we reviewed on the prior page. Do the prior two pages take this $300,000 in into account? They >> do not. >> Okay. >> A sunnier outlook. Yes. Than >> again, trying in in efforts to be as uh sort of conservative as possible in the numbers estimate, you know, if if things go sideways and and we're not able to do this refinancing, we wanted to make sure that um we weren't, you know, overselling anything on on what
038the financing package needed to look like. But um assuming that doesn't happen, uh if we get today's rates, so we're looking at about $3.4 million of cash flow savings. And if you look to the bottom right box, this is helpful if you want to kind of extrapolate out what interest rate movements may mean to the refinancing. So if rates were to rise a quarter of a percent or 25 basis points, the savings would evaporate to about 2.9 million. Still pretty significant. Um, conversely, if rates were to fall 25 basis points or one quarter of 1%, we'd be looking at something more like 3.9 million. as a percentage of debt service uh being nearly 10% if that blue highlighted box on the top left in general refinancings if you say well what's at what point is
039does it make sense to go ahead and refinance bonds because we don't want to pay all these issuance costs and maybe not save something that really moves the needle uh in general 2 and a half to 3% is kind of the minimum industry standard that you'll see for percent savings on uh on a refinance. And so we're nearly 10%. It's obviously going to make a whole lot of sense. And if interest rates hang in there, I would fully expect that um a year, you know, a little less than a year from now, we'd be doing this refinancing regardless of any capital project financing. This thing would stand alone on its own. And if it's coupled with a new money deal, it'll look even better because they'll share in the issuance cost and the the refi
040savings would go up in that scenario. So, wanted to put this on your radar. Um, additionally, the the coupon that's outstanding on the 2019 A bonds is a little lower and so and that's another year out in advance. So, that one doesn't make a whole lot of sense right now, but we're going to keep an eye on it. And our recommendation would be that when the board is ready to move forward with a borrowing resolution for new money projects that we throw in along that res in that resolution the refinancing of the 2018, the 2019A, and the 2019B bonds, even though they're really short, we want to make sure we have the ability to enacted refinancing if it makes sense when we get to those call dates. And so by putting them all into the
041authorizing debt resolution, it gives us the most flexibility that once we get to those call dates, then we'd be able to come back to you and say, "Yep, makes sense to go ahead and do those." Or if they never happen, then it's no skin off anyone's back. The resolution sits there. It's a filing at DCD and and we move on and wait and see. Or we just pay continue to pay the bonds off at the fixed rates of interest that they're outstanding at. So that would be our recommendation. And then on the next page, we put together a hypothetical timeline of what all of that could look like. Um, so obviously you'll be having lots of meetings over the next several months talking about these plans and refining them further, but it would be our
042recommendation that sometime in February, and we just arbitrarily picked a few dates from your February and March schedule to come back and review this plan again. and it will likely have changed, but uh review the plan, review the refinancing, and move toward a March authorizing debt resolution so that we can be then over April and May working toward being in a position where we're either ready to go ahead and borrow the first piece for what may be a new middle school alongside the refinancing or if we're not there yet, we'd be able to do the refinancing on its own. So, that's what I've got for you tonight. I know that was a lot of information, but happy to answer any questions um that you may have. >> Any questions for Mrs. Stater? >> Thank you.
043By the way, >> I sort of have a question. Thank you. Um at the last meeting when we had the facilities update, weren't we talking about lead to being closer to a 55 or $60 million project? if if you were building a new building and expanding it. >> Okay. And then >> this is just a renovation and staying relatively the same size. >> So when do we when are we able to determine whether we need to expand lead to it? >> I would say that's going to be multiple steps down the road. I mean once we figure out what the impact of uh some of the developments would be coming in but also once we go through if we if we start with the the middle school then we would look at Echelman and then
044really kind of that renovation time period while we're looking at renovation to what Echelman would be then we would be looking at Lee Tour or even possibly Central Manor. I'm I may not remember it correctly, but this basically looks like the new middle school >> and the new echelon. >> That's a renovation of Lead toward. And what about the other two um projects that were on the list? The renovation of >> Manor, >> Central Manor. Oh, the renovation to Manor >> and then of course the com the small project, the comic field, but that's another $40 million or something. >> It could be the two. >> So, where do they fit in this timeline? Well, again, it it's kind of variable like what what do we want to do? We still have to make those
045determinations. That hasn't been locked in yet. >> So, the the numbers that that Lauren's working with are kind of the projections of what the architects have provided us with for those three projects. We did not include in this the the renovation that we have to do at Manor with the mechanical upgrades and the roof. Uh but then we would also we did not include in this the comet field. Correct. >> The what? >> Comet field project. >> Or or wasn't there a number of like $30 million to convert Manor Middle to an elementary? >> No, >> that was an option in lie of building a new middle school. >> So not both. >> Okay. So the there's minor renovations that need to happen for Manor Middle School to be a staging like we have the
046cash for that. Correct. >> Chiller the chiller the heat the heating unit and then the roof. Those would be through our >> in my mind and maybe everyone else knows this. I'm sorry but just to tie these two together. This is only these three buildings >> and we're not touching the other buildings as part of this >> correct debt. >> This Yeah, this runs out about 5 years. anything beyond that, we're talking seven to 10 year, you know, window. And and I think to to Lauren's point, this is probably as fast as it would happen, right? So that's, you know, part of looking at this whole timeline is say, okay, if this timeline occurred, how is it possible? You know, when does the cash get used? >> Yeah, I mean that's obvious. You can tell
047where I'm going. My fear is that we have to pull either we have to do a full leap toward rebuild or we've got to pull another project forward. Then 138 million is quite a bit short of what we need. >> Right. Yeah. I can't see a scenario where we pull another building forward from where we're at. >> Okay. >> Cuz we're we're in a cycle, right? 10 buildings every two to three years we should be addressing a building. Okay, thank you. >> And to the point of comet field, sorry, Lauren, just as we >> we have the renovations on that, we're assuming we have cash on hand for that we're not going to need to borrow for that. >> You would either use that's the question. You'd either use part of that 15 or 16
048million that's there. You could use part of this savings that occurs the next couple years. Those, right? Those are >> right. You wouldn't we wouldn't issue a bond for that in particular. >> Okay. Just I'm making sure we're on the same page that we're not going to later talk about issuing a bond for that. >> We're not we're assuming we're we're working within our means, our current means >> or just adding to one of these. >> Right. >> The issuance cost. >> Right. The biggest thing as Lauren said is is really understanding what potentially happens in 2030. Right. we had to start someplace, you know, could that be lower? Could that like we'll find out. >> And maybe this is another question. Maybe Lauren, you mentioned there's some state reimbursement dollars associated with some of
049these older projects that are older than 10 years old. If we do the refi or the reimbursement, we get to keep those and carry those forward. >> Yes. Anytime you refinance bonds, uh, a plan conc form is submitted if they were previously reimburseable and it carries forward at basically the exact same percentage unless you're restructuring debt service. So, you do not lose out on those um, very important reimburseable dollars if you refinance is an excellent question. I was just going to ask, this isn't specific to this, but now that we have that tenative schedule, is there a way we can make like a mask like tie in the facilities like so we can kind of see the whole thing all together like these are the next steps with cuz they they're together, you know what
050I mean? Like it would be beneficial to >> That's what that's what we're going to begin working on. >> Combination of Dan, myself working with the the uh architects, but then also keeping uh Lauren and Ken involved and then we'll do this primarily through the facilities committee and then reporting back to the to the full board. Thank you. >> So I I looked at the um facilities thing before and we do have in there a $33 million elementary renovation for Manor Middle. So we're not going to have to do that before right building the middle new middle school and so we're not going to do the 33 million renovation to move presum presumably over to there. So we're just going to have it as is $5 million plus or minus for chiller roof. So we're
051not going to do the 33 million that would be at the end. >> Right. that that's one of the options that if comes to the point where we decide to use Manor the existing middle school as an elementary school then we would do some type of major renovation to it but that's if you think about it that's like in a minimum of probably about 8 to 10 years out >> okay would be a viable >> yes >> place to house and and have a good learning atmosphere for elementary kids yeah probably in terms of renovations to make it suitable for an elementary school like as a as a kind of a a flex a flex space. I mean again with the roof, the chiller, the heater, uh we may have to do some upgrade in
052a couple of plumbing situations, you know, have the smaller toilets and things like that, but nothing major. Does that $138 million does that include roughly averaging 3% inflation for costs or is that just kind of >> what we what today's dollars for? >> So when if you remember when Larry talked about it, they try to estimate the project to the middle of when the project would be bid. So if if they're talking about a $50 million project, they're saying, "Okay, a $50 million project. Three years from now, we expect the middle of that project to cost 50 million." So they're they're trying to inflate that in the in the estimate. >> And then there are some contingencies that are built into that that price. Lauren, what's um what's Raymond James plan to market, you know,
053our upcoming bonds, and as a follow-up to that, should we be doing anything differently to better position ourselves for the next 5 years of debt issuance? >> Excellent questions, Mitchell. And uh the district, as I mentioned previously, you have an excellent credit rating. And so that really is a testament to this board and prior boards and this administration and prior administration and um really running a sound fiscal and financial ship. Um when we actually go to market the bonds uh you know we as you know we put together a a full document that is basically an offering statement much like uh a bond or a stock perspectus um that stipulates all of the financial demographic and other pertinent information that a bond investor would want to know and that gets published and available to the
054market about a week prior to when we would want to be marketing bonds. We also have an in-house um credit rating person or um in-house credit person that will do special writeups for our sales force on all of our credits. Um so that marketing effort really begins in earnest about a week prior to us marketing the bonds on the day that we're actually selling them to the marketplace. And obviously the credit rating report, we would go through a new credit rating process whenever we do a new bond issue. That's a requirement or the the bond holders really want that every time we go to market. And so then after you know a full week's effort then we pick a date certain to be in the market and we always you know part of the beauty
055of doing a what we call a parameters resolution or this borrowing resolution we're talking about is it gives us the flexibility to enter the market on a date that makes the most sense. So we don't want to maybe price bonds on the same day that there's a $300 million Pennsylvania turnpike deal coming and a $50 million hempfield, you know, bond coming. So we try to spread the mark or spread the bond issues out so that each uh you know issue that we're bringing to market gets the most investor interest and participation as far as what you can continue to do going forward. Um a lot of it will be very easy for me to say again from my non-board member non- taxpayer status up here. Ken is a taxpayer though so he can he can
056wear that hat still. But um you know obviously sound financial planning, raising taxes or finding revenue to meet your obligations, um balanced budgets, all of those things. um you know the credit rating agencies really understand and I think most sophisticated investors understand that education the the difficulties in funding education from our from our state level and obviously operating in a in a system that is a little bit broken when it comes to timing of budgets and then when the state budget comes out or when it doesn't come out still doesn't come out still doesn't come out so um investors in Pennsylvania credits understand that but when you can continue to put your budgets together in kind of in spite of of all of those headwinds. Um, and I think Pen Manor has really been, and
057I'm not just saying this because I'm here tonight, but, um, we've done a lot of work together over the last decade plus, um, really in Ken's entire career, but, you know, over the last decade, when we think about the high school projects, uh, and and all the the elementary projects that we've undertaken here over the last 15 20 years, um, the market kind of understands, I think, and and respects Penmanor bonds, and they always garner a lot of investor attention. And so, um, if you can kind of continue to do what you've done in the past, even though I know it's a whole lot harder now than it was 10 years ago, but, um, running a sound financial ship and and trusting and and and hiring good administrators, um, rating agencies and investors look very
058highly upon things like that. A lot of your credit rating is is outside of your control. um how the state funds education, what you know the birth rate is doing, a lot of that is outside of your control. So things that you can control, you've controlled well and I would you know encourage you to continue to do those as best you can. >> Great questions. >> How how would you expect a marketing perspectus to deal with the possibility of five new developments in Pen Mariner? Is that a positive thing or >> it's kind it's kind of both. Um because while you're going to more than likely have some enrollment pressures coming out of that, you're also going to have >> if if the headlines are to be true, significant um growth in your assessments. So
059or your you know your overall um value in the market. So uh they'll they'll view it both ways. So I would say it's going to be mostly credit neutral uh because the additional assessments that are you know slated to come online should um compensate for the fact that we've got pretty significant additional capital needs. Um but all of that will be explained in the perspectus and we'll talk about the fact that we have future financing needs and projections. Um and and that's where putting studies like this this this kind of study doesn't go into that perspectus but it does go to the rating agencies and explaining to them that there is at least a plan in place and they understand the plans will likely change as well but you know gone are the days of
060kind of showing up telling the credit rating agency yeah we've got $50 million bond issue to do and we're going to raise taxes next year for it pre206 you could do that we really can't do that anymore and when When you think back to um the conversations that we had when we were talking about getting ready to finance the high school and the tax increases that were needed in order to do that, um that was absent significant growth. Uh there you were you've certainly been growing for a long time, but that was done um prior to kind of what we're all reading about and talking about right now. And so this will be um kind of a different same old story but told in a very different way this time because we're going to have
061a lot of um support for this additional debt from the assessment growth. >> Okay. >> So right so this year our tax increase is pretty much going to our future projects. Right. You're saying we need to continue to tax save tax. what what's going to look like if we pull out $6.8 million for a very much needed common field uh renovation all at once versus letting that drag out and and use the savings over time. What would be >> in a in a budget of your size that won't move the needle significantly one way or the other? Um in some districts pulling six and a half 6.8 whatever it is million out of fund balance or cap reserve uh would would be a pretty big gut punch. But again, given the fact that we're going
062to more than likely be generating some budget surpluses in the next couple years, if if we if you decide to follow something like the plans we've laid out tonight, um those dollars are going to get replenished over time. And if assessments begin to grow, those those budgetary surpluses in the far right column will grow even more. And so, while it's um something we're going to have to note, uh but it's it won't it's not a significant enough dollar amount given your budget size that it it will be uh something that pricks anybody's ears up. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions for Mrs. Stato? Yeah, I'd like to talk about um I'd like to talk about fees briefly before you head offline. Um what was the discount that you had in your projections and can
063you educate the board a little bit about what goes into determining the bond discount uh for deals like this? >> Uh more than likely I'm guessing we had probably something around $8. Um, in general, an $8 and that's per thousand fee is what we've somewhere between8 and$875 is what we've worked for here at Pen Manor for the last 20 years or so. Um, and that that that fee does not, you know, all come directly to Olivia and Ken and I. Uh, about twothirds of that fee goes to the salesforce to actually sell the bonds. And so we need to commission our salespeople to actually sell your bonds at attractive market rates. And when you try to undercut that fee that is paid to salesmen or sales people, they do, you know, they might not try
064as hard. And when they don't try as hard, it results in higher interest rates. And so while the fee might be on, you know, what if someone may perceive on the higher end at 875, that's very much the average across Lancaster County issuers. Um, and really South Central PA issuers. um we really do need to incentivize those salespeople to sell your bonds because while you could find a firm that would probably be willing to work for something less, um at the end of the day, the thing that's going to drive those multi-shaded columns we talked about are the interest rates that we garner on your bonds and not the fees that you necessarily pay up front. And so that's a discussion that, you know, we have every time we market or every time we have
065an issue, we're putting those fees in front of your administration and um, you know, they're very straightforward and and out there and it's always a discussion that we're willing to have, but um, we think our fees are very fair um, in order to effectuate a bond issue that is hopefully achieving um, you know, the lowest market rates we can garner at that day. I appreciate that and thanks for sharing a little bit about that with the board. I would like to see us sharpen a pencil a little bit on that. I think Hemfield did a sale about a month ago at 750. So, we can talk about that as we get closer to bond issuance. You won't have to deal with me because my I'm going to be off the board in December. But um
066you know as we're looking to do 120 million here for the next five years if we can sharpen our pencils on that um I think that would go a long way and uh showing the taxpayers that we really do care about um you know the total cost of the project and uh the projected tax increases over that time. >> Absolutely. And I can appreciate that sentiment coming from from any board member and certainly from you Mitchell with your knowledge of the market. And I I will point out additionally that you know in Hempfield we there's also a financial adviser involved. Um so while we don't necessarily take the bond discount and add the financial adviser fee to to come up with what that total would be here at Pen Manor historically have you have not
067worked with a financial adviser. So that fee and some of those responsibilities that a financial adviser um would would uh be responsible for. Raymond James is is performing all of those duties. So it's a little bit apples and oranges between Hempfield's bond discount and Pen Manners. But um those are those fee discussions are something we're always happy to have and um given our longstanding track record and uh relationship with Pen Manor, we we hope that we can all come to an agreement on something that everyone's happy with. Thank you. >> Any other questions, >> Mrs. Stale? Thank you as always. Olivia, welcome to Penn Manor. Tell Ken to stay on vacation. >> It's another LS grad. Sorry, we're >> Can we see that contract with Raymond James? >> Well, have a nice evening. Thank you
068all. >> Thank you. >> Have a good night. Good to see you. All right. So, we'll move into item two. Dr. Cox and Dr. Egan. >> So, if I were to stay on time, we have about one minute to get through. >> Yeah. All right. You got it. >> You know, Mr. Johnston would do that. So, >> so we just spent the past half hour or so talking about investing in the spaces that we provide for our students and community. And now we're going to spend a little bit of time, probably not a half hour, talking about the how we invest in the humans that occupy the adults that occupy uh those spaces. And so, as you know, our our mission is to work collaboratively to help students define and achieve their academic and life
069goals. And uh when when we look at our our budget, our salary and benefits is our uh greatest portion covers the greatest portion of our budget and uh is our greatest investment. We take that uh very very seriously. So uh we're going to spend a little bit of time talking about new teacher uh orientation and induction and then move on to professional learning. So just to give the board a little glimpse into the staffing climate for 2526, we have 29 people new to the district, 29 teachers new to the district this year. It's about 7% of our professional uh workforce. Uh we had 12 resignations out of 408 professional staff uh which equates to about 3% of our overall uh staff. We had 15 retirements. We can't help those. Those those uh you know when
070it's time it's it's time. But uh the the the 3% resignation rate I thought was was uh pretty positive uh for us. Uh and then uh based on retirements or resignations, we have uh 20 of our staff uh existing staff shifting to new positions. Uh we always post any position internally and externally. And if we feel like one of our current staff members is a good fit for any new position, we try to honor that to uh help them continue with their professional growth. So, tomorrow starts new teacher orientation for the 29 individuals coming to us and and the goal of orientation is really to help them become acclimated to the district, to each other, and to their classrooms. And so, uh, tomorrow they'll we'll be taking a tour of the district. It's one thing
071to hear that we're 113 square miles uh but it's another thing to see uh the 113 square miles of our district. We'll be we'll be starting off here at the high school heading down to Marduk and for many folks uh that will probably be the only time that they go to Marduk Elementary School. Uh but we feel that it's really important. and it's a valued part of our community uh and uh want them to see it and then we'll make stops along the way uh before we come back to the high school. We are going to dur during that time Dr. Cox and I the learning facilitators and and building principles uh will be sharing with them uh a lot of lot of information about the district uh about our curriculum about some of the
072things that we have to offer and it's it's uh If if tomorrow is like previous years, it it it's one of the better days uh for us in in the year. It's it's exciting. Um we we rent a rent a bus and give them a talking tour of the district to help them get acclimated and it's been received positively. Then on Wednesday, they will be spending a healthy part of their day with Charlie and his team reviewing the technology resources that we have uh as well as meeting with our HR department to do some basic onboarding. And then the final day on Thursday, they'll be spending time with learning about professional responsibilities and then meeting with their mentors and uh actually spending the the rest of the day in their buildings, getting a a tour
073with their mentor of the buildings as well as their classroom and where to access different resources throughout the building. So that's orientation. That's for anybody that's new to the district. New teacher induction is for anyone who's new to teaching. Uh this is where by Pennsylvania Department of Ed, we are required to offer two a two-year induction program. This is needed for them to shift from their temporary certification to their permanent SE cert certification level one to level two. It does require mentorship and it requires pretty rigorous u observation the observation cycle where we're providing constant feedback uh to them and helping them successfully on board. In addition to that, we we hold so part of the induction program is holding monthly meetings throughout this school year directly with the new teachers where we cover a
074variety of topics like classroom management. That that that is a very high need topic for folks who are new to the field. So, we spend quite a considerable amount of time talking about effective classroom management techniques. We review instructional resources found on places like the playbook. We direct them uh to them pretty pretty often. We go over uh all of our curriculum is housed in Google's curriculum drive or Google Drive. Uh that where we house all of our curriculum. We spend quite a bit of time reviewing how to access that as well as talking about the very detailed evaluation process that um >> It's also required by the state and it's pretty intensive. >> Any questions about induction or orientation? >> Do the principles exclusively do the observations? They do. Yes. >> Okay. I didn't
075know if anyone >> you have to be an administrator. >> Right. Right. >> Supervisors and principles. >> So, okay. >> And the supervisors would be in their subject area. >> And that's mainly at the secondary. >> Right. Exactly. Yeah. >> And then Jerry, do you want to mention how that happens at the elementary level with principles working together? >> Sure. So, we pair up buildings. So if there's a a new teacher in one building, they're not only getting observed by their administrator. So for example, Central Manor and Asherman are paired together. Hambury and Leto are paired together. And then Mardik, Pekway, and Knesogga are all are clumped together. And so when we hire new folks, they have a spreadsheet that they that they look at and then they divvy up the observations and walkthroughs uh
076amongst those pairings and then Dr. Cox and I or supervisors or Miss Scalin and her team will also assist with some of those observations. >> So a Martyville principal could be observing >> a manner teacher. >> Okay. And then here at the high school with the assistant principles and the principal, they take turns in that rotation because you figure there's six observations being done >> that teacher's first three years. So >> right, >> we try to get different perspectives and but one thing that we are working on is the consistency between all administrators as we're doing those observations. So even though it's a different perspective, >> we're still using the same practices and the same standards that we're evaluating on. So, have we always done it that way? We've always >> We have for many,
077many years. Okay. >> Yeah, I can say for at least 10 years, if not if not more. >> Yeah. >> Seems like a great idea. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> It was. >> No, it wasn't. >> Take it where we can go. >> It was not. Keep going. Next slide. >> Donna, I think you should give a quick >> moving moving right along. So, uh, without giving too much away, I want to just take a couple of minutes to talk about our professional learning or our inservices that are upcoming. We start these um on the 11th and we'll run straight through until the 21st um for our teachers and professional staff. So, while teachers are required again by PTE to complete um a specific number of hours of inservice learning or continuing education
078credits each year. We use this time as an opportunity to grow our teachers in order to grow our students. So we believe in providing a variety of options from the required sessions that might have to do with state mandates like safety or new initiatives um to the elective sessions that align more with individual professional goals. So the required sessions I listed some here. Um as you are aware we've been talking about it for a couple of years. We we have this new steel science curriculum happening. Um we have some training on imagine edex which is um previously we've called it egenuity. It's uh our online uh course platform. So all the teachers that help out with um teaching egenuity courses have to have a fresh training. They do do that every year anyway, but they're
079learning a new management system. We do a lot of collaboration or team learning. So we have a lot of opportunities where we're bringing teachers together so they can share uh best practices. They talk about um what they're going to do for the upcoming school year. They explore data informed instruction and look about look at new resources to ensure student success. We do a lot of this in um job alike groups like departments for example special education academic support our grade level teams or content areas. So just some examples of what our required sessions are. Our state mandated trainings this year will be approximately 6 hours. Um and then some of the steels curriculum is adding a little bit more. But our steels curriculum was um written by teachers and um we're looking forward to that.
080We're doing that with our K to6 classroom teachers. They're watching a video that was created prior to so that we're all coming in with a foundational groundwork and then we'll do a in-person session on August 14th. So those are required sessions this year. our elective sessions. Um they're based on teacher feedback that we gather all throughout the previous school year through um surveys that we collect after really every session that we do. So we collect the feedback and then we ask teachers to if if they'd like to do a session, if they have ideas for sessions. Once we collect that information, we offer um kind of a facil a facilitator session on how to do this and we provide them a a handbook or a a guide to professional learning. And after that, we really
081put together um a booklet of offerings and released that along with some planning sheets that let our teachers know what they need to what they how many hours they need to do as per the collective bargaining agreement. And then they get to register based on personal goals and interest. So the sessions you see here are some examples of sessions based on addressing student needs. And then these sessions here are based on enhancing core instruction. So um this book that is listed here has been really um we I think this is probably the third year that I know we've been offering sessions in this and it started at the elementary level and then it was in the high school math department. Now it's um made it to the middle level math department too and there's still
082because we keep getting new teachers we're working through it again but it it has to do with vertical learning and really team learning with students bringing them up and having them work together um to be more active participants in learning math. So um we have three teachers who are teaching this session. Um two from the high school and one from um the elementary. So they're bringing together to do to do that session. So that's pretty exciting. Um then we're doing a primary and intermediate deep dive which turned out to be really really great idea because we have a lot of um new primary teachers and a a bundle of new sixth grade teachers. So they'll they'll work with our current teachers to look at the curriculum um see what they can do to to have
083some best practices. We find with the elementary very often um their January day just keeps getting um snowed. We keep getting snow on that day. So we were looking for other ways. They kept asking for other ways to come together for team learning. So we've orchestrated some time for them to come and and work together. So that we'll be doing that for a couple hours um next week. some other elective sessions that have really been um really desired uh are ways to leverage technology and Mr. Rising there along with his team and some teachers who have really developed resourceful ways to use technology are offering sessions. Um we have a lot of teachers who have found different things to use in their classrooms and they want to share it. Um we have had to move
084lots of these sessions to bigger places because they are full. What's the highest one is like >> 91 or >> 91. So, um, we are really excited that our teachers are looking for ways to use what we have available and use it in meaningful meaningful ways and ways that it's going to to help them um instead of dragging through. Sometimes I feel like uh people might struggle with it when they could just ask the right questions. And so we're we're trying to put the answers right there for our teachers. So that's our focus. So um I think if you were here last year, we had you do some of these sessions. Tonight we didn't want to um spend all the time to do that. We But we do want to remind you that when teachers
085grow, students grow. and the opportunities, the professional learning opportunities represent really our commitment to providing PEM Manor teachers with the skills and resources they need to create exceptional learning opportunities for our students and experiences for our students. So, we know it's essential because when teachers grow, students grow. We also know that not that professional learning isn't a one-sizefits-all approach. So, we have to keep trying to find ways to differentiate for our teachers. It's a lot of work. I have a great committee that works with me. Um, and I uh I think we get a little bit better every year. So, pretty proud of um who who we have working together, what we're about to offer. If you see me over the next two weeks, I will work on smiling just in case I'm not. So,
086but that is professional learning. Any any questions for Jerry or I, Dr. Reagan or I? >> I would just commend Dr. Cox and the team that she's worked with on this. You notice with the exception of the online class of edenity, I forget what's called now. What's called >> Edex. Uh, where we have someone from the outside coming in. Everything else is done internally. So whether it's our learning facilitators, our supervisors, our principles, or some of our teachers, we're all leading our own. Uh takes away from that, you know, bring in somebody, they they drop a message and then they're gone. We have our in-house experts and uh you know, everybody should be commended upon that. Uh it really does develop that team learning aspect that we're striving for, not only for our students, but
087for our staff and our and our administrators along the way. So, it >> it's also nice to see the school start to be filled with people. >> It's been a while. >> So, we're ready. >> Mrs. Rhodess is trying to melt away. >> Mhm. >> Maybe he won't be in the office when she's open. >> Any questions for Dr. Egan or Dr. Cox? Thank you both so very much. the planning that obviously goes into it is not unnoticed. >> And and actually one more reminder, I'm sorry, I apologize, but with new teacher orientation, we get started the next three days at 8:00 here at the high school. Uh Tuesday and Wednesday are here in the LGI and then Thursday we'll start in the library if anybody wants to stop by, say hi. We will have
088our new teachers at the September board meetings where you'll get the opportunity to meet with them. So, uh just a little bit more personal if you want to stop in. Uh and then on the 18th, our district day, uh again, we start at 8 o'clock in the auditorium. Uh Crabtree has sponsored our uh what are you calling it? Munch >> Munch and mingle breakfast uh coffee uh which will be available at 7 to 7:45. We'll get started at 8. Uh Dr. report and we'll have we'll be sharing some uh words with the the staff and then we will be recognizing our employees educator of the year uh employee employee of the year and then also our milestone folks. So, we will take a little break and then I'll have the opportunity to to uh cast
089vision for this upcoming year. And then after that around 9:45 or so, 10:00ish, uh we'll split where our professional staff will continue in the auditorium and then all of our support staff will then go into training with uh Courtney and our HR department. So, schools are technically closed on that day because all of our staff is here for that for that opening day. Okay, thank you. And uh since Dr. Egan and Dr. Cox did a wonderful job, they put Dr. Gail at 9 minutes. So, we'll just >> we can do this really quick. >> We'll skip item three. >> Yeah. Now, we can't skip it, but I'll go over this real quickly. Uh tonight, we do need to review and then ultimately approve two policies. These are existing policies but according to state requirements that
090have gone into effect and all the mandates uh two policies that we do need to look at and approve. Uh one is our school wellness program and really what this is looking for is how does the school provide an environment that supports our student well-being both in terms of nutrition as well as activity. And what I can say is this functions in two different perspectives. One, nutrition happens through our cafeteria. So, we follow all those guidelines that are put in place by federal and state law about content, about the types of foods, the nutritional values and all those things. Uh, and then the kind of the activity and wellness that happens through our fizzed curriculum and that's just both in terms of activity but also uh the health components that are put in there. And
091then for those who students that come to the high school, this would also carry over into other programs such as our a program, our FCS program uh that we do have here. So there are multiple things that we are consistently looking at each year. Uh Courtney uh and her team across all of our cafeterias do an outstanding job of making sure that our students not only are wellfed, but they're they're fed. in accordance with all the state and federal guidelines. Uh sometimes it's been a little hard. I mean, yes, the big cookie isn't the big cookie. Uh can't quite get all of the tees and things, you know, uh you know, even salt shakers where it might be contraband in in the schools being brought in so that students can salt their food. We can't
092provide that. Uh but they do an outstanding job of providing our students with alternatives and different opportunities for them to find foods that they like. Um so our hat is off to them. Uh thank we thank them for their work and their efforts through that and then the other aspects you know in terms of wellness physical activity that all is driven through our fizzed curriculum. So this policy kind of more or less outlines that there are a couple of aspects into this. One of them is certain like exceptions. Uh schools are permitted certain exceptions. For example, uh fundraiser events that would take place uh like one of the clubs here at the high school from time to time uh with with principal permission might sell donuts as a fundraiser. So, we do have to monitor
093that and uh we do have to say yes to some and no to some others. So, that's the wellness policy. Uh again, we need to review that and then have that approval. The other policy is our bullying and really this is extended not just into school it's also in cyber bullying. So anything that is taking place through uh virtual methods or anything Mr. Don't look at that. That would not meet accordance of our nutrition guide. >> Yeah, I'm getting sugar. >> Way way too much sugar >> for sure. >> That's why you all get if you drink the diet, >> right? >> If you drink the diet, you're okay. >> Yeah. >> Have the real stuff. >> The bullying and cyber bullying uh policy. Uh we could also include the probably the the one change
094in this policy is the the addition of the definition and use of the word or the term and obviously the meaning behind harassment. But again, this this outlines how essentially we have a uh a you know policy and practices more importantly that are designed to prevent and then also or to stop and then prevent uh bullying whether it's bullying in person in place or cyber bullying that's taking place throughout the district. >> Okay, any questions for Dr. G? Seeing none, may I have a motion to put these on the agenda for our August 18th voting agenda? >> Second. >> Thank you both. Any further comment or questions? >> All those in favor? >> Nine affirmative votes. >> Okay. Anything else for the good of the committee of the whole? Seeing nothing, I will adjourn the
095committee of the whole and I will call to order the school board meeting for Monday, August 4th, 2025. Would you please join me for a moment of silence and the flag seat? >> Thank you. 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. [Music] >> The next scheduled meeting of the Pen Manor School Board will be held on Monday, August 18th, 2025 following the committee of the whole meeting. An executive session was held prior to the committee of the whole meeting for the purpose of discussing personnel detailed on the committee of the whole agenda. Mrs. Rhodess, may we have roll call, please? >> Mr. Beige >> here. >> Mr. Her >> here. >>
096Mr. Lombardo >> here. >> Mr. Straw >> here. >> Mr. Swiger >> here. >> Mr. Warfall >> here. >> Ms. Wart >> here. Mrs. Nassiger >> here. Dr. Fullerton >> here. Nine board members present. >> At each of our board meetings, we offer our citizens two opportunities to comment. We have reached the first opportunity which will pertain to items on the agenda only. Do we have any citizens comments? Fantastic. May I have a motion to approve the minutes of our July 21st board voting agenda? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Mr. Bes. A second. >> Second. Thank you, Mr. Stro. Any further comment or question? All those in favor? >> Nine affirmative votes. >> Thank you, Dr. Gail. Superintendent report. >> Thank you, Dr. Forson. Uh, as we've commented tonight, uh, August is here. Uh,
097today was the return of our 10-month administrators. Uh, so all of our principles, assistant principles, supervisors are here, uh, working, although many of them have been in and out throughout the summertime. Uh we had our first ad opening admin administrative re uh meeting today. Shared a lot of new things that are taking place, requirements, uh more logistical things than uh really setting vision or mission for for the district today. Uh today was also the start of our fall sports season. Uh it was the first day of heat acclamation for our football team and our golf team. Uh, and of course, you know, heat acclamation. If you've been outside, this has probably been the best week of the summer. Uh, which, you know, kind of falls just kind of like when it snows at the farm
098show. Um, other fall sports officially begin on Monday, August 11th, even though many of them have been working out and attending camps throughout the summer. Our PM marching unit, uh, Keith, was today the first day of band camp here at the high school. Uh, it was what? Neon day. >> Yes. >> All right. So, I thought we had a bunch of uh road construction taking place, but it was really just them and the neon. Uh so, we're off and excited about our upcoming seasons that'll take place. Uh thanks to Mr. Risinger and Mr. TSI. Uh we do have a new athletic website. It has been updated and there's two ways to find it. Uh you can go to athletics.penmatter.net or if you're on the district website, you can go to the students tab and then
099there is a place that you can drop down and go to the district athletic site. All of the fall sports uh schedules are there. And just as a note to board members, if you'd like to attend any of the events, we'll get you a pass, but in the meantime, uh you just need to show your your district ID, and that'll get you into uh any of the games that are coming up, the home games, I should say. Uh, and then one other note that I do want to share with the board as we're talking about PSBA conference. Uh, back in the springtime, I had talked with our learning facilitators and Dory Andes, our ELA supervisor, and we submitted a an application to be a presenter at the PSBA conference and we learned this week that
100we were accepted uh, and we will have the opportunity to present on Tuesday morning. And I think Miss Word, you had mentioned something to me last year when we were there and you said we should be doing something. So >> I took that and worked with them and we're going to talk about how we have really worked to uh support our teachers through the instructional coaching initiatives that we've utilized as well as uh how we've aligned our professional learning and to really support teachers as an effort to attract, prepare and then also retain our educators here at this at the in the district. So we have a time slot on Tuesday. I think it's 10:30. Uh so we look forward to that happening. Uh as of right now, obviously our sites are uh this week
101with our new teachers coming in and then next week with our inservice days beginning and working on our opening day. So we're looking forward to that. >> More excitement is in the air obviously, Dr. Ford, as we get closer. >> No, no doubt about that. Any questions for Dr. Gail? Okay, let's review our agenda. Item two, A through C. Item three, A through E. Comments or questions? And item four, A through D. comments or questions? Seeing none, may I have a motion to approve item 2 A through C? >> So move. >> Thank you. A second. >> Second. >> Thank you. Any further comment or question? All those in favor? >> Nine affirmative votes. >> May I have a motion to approve item 3 A through E? So move. >> Thank you. A second. >>
102Second. Thank you. Any further comment or question? All those in favor? >> Nine affirmative votes. >> And item four A through D. May I have a motion? >> So move >> and a second. >> Second. >> Thank you. Just getting funny. Any further comment or question? >> Just a question on uh 4 D those uh is that is that part of the new collective bargaining agreement starting >> this year even though it's >> Yep. to to to kind of step into step but step into >> sorry that that wasn't intend so that when we drop the first two steps in the first year of the collective bargain agreement that starts with 26 27 school year so it's kind of take instead of going from step one to step three it's step essentially starting at step
103two and then step three >> and any budget impact for >> no it was all it was all factored into to our budget for this year. >> Okay. >> These the the folks that we have here tonight were were were hired before we finalized the collective bargaining agreement. So, um we had them I think the step one and step two is it's $500 or so, but it was all factored into Dan's calculations this year. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. >> Did we have a motion? Yeah, we did have a motion and second, right? >> All those in favor? Nine affirmative votes. >> Thank you very much. We have reached the second opportunity for citizens to comment on any district business. Do we have any citizens wishing to comment? Wonderful. Anything for the good of
104the board. Seeing none, we will adjourn our voting meeting and the next time we see each other, school is back in session. >> Close. No. >> No. Staff is back. >> Staff is back. But it's back in session. >> Students are not >> when the staff comes back. [Music]