Monday October 27, 2025 Committee and School Board Meeting

001All right. You ready? >> Yep. >> All right. The committee meeting order 7. >> 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. >> We have a roll call, please. >> Mrs. Bane, >> here. >> Dr. Mary, >> here. >> Mrs. Bush, >> here. Mr. Jeff, Mrs. Lane, Mr. Manarch >> here. >> Mr. Vancis >> here. >> Misski >> here. Wood [clears throat] >> here. >> We have any visitors like to sign in comments from any visitors? Come to the microphone. No. announced that we had executive sessions. We had two of them uh for personnel and contracting negotiations. One was from 4:35 to 5:00 and ones from 6 to 6. There'll be a

002motion on regular voting meeting to approve the September 22nd, 2025 committee meeting as presented. And there'll be a motion on a regular >> voting agenda approve the voting meetings from >> minutes from September 22nd, 2025 as presented. Who do we have from administration who's going to do it today? >> All of them. Now that >> everybody first. [laughter] >> Look there. We got ready. >> I know the drill. Um, so good evening. I wanted to share that this year at the high school we started the Mounty Market. my learning 12th grade learning support teacher, Phil Rousey, started it through um some donations from community members and local businesses. It's run by the autistic support students as well as the life skills students. They sell different products to all of the students and staff who come

003into the store. It is teaching them um skills, workforce skills like cashiering, clocking in, clocking out, inventory management, customer service, and teamwork. Um and the money they make just continues to go back and be recycled into the source of the process. So that's been really good for them. Recently, I went with my life skills teacher, Kelsey Phillips, and four of my students to the Unified Champion Schools Youth Summit. The goal of the summit is to empower students to collaborate with their peers to create school engagement activities that promote um inclusivity. And as a unified champion school, we're required to develop a club, which we've done. That's our Mounty Pride Club at the high school. Be involved in unified sport, which we've done. That's our bot program. And also promote and hold whole school engagement activities

004such as pep rallies challenges. We in support of our unified champions schools commitment. We also have a group who has committed to students and staff who've committed to the polar plunge in February. So stay tuned for more details on that. We also just had our first blood drive of the year and as you know because I've talked about it before, it is 100% student driven and we collected 42 donations. [clears throat] Thank you. >> Thank you. Hello. Um, like to start off by talking about our education foundation. Uh, our education foundation is going uh to make a donation to all four buildings to our positive behavior program in the amount of $3,125. We'll be giving uh roughly $2 a student. Also for everybody out there, chicken barbecue dinner, November 9th here at the middle school.

005If you're interested in not cooking on Sunday, November 9th, $15 a meal, black and blue barbecue. And uh it goes to the non it goes to our nonprofit PO Education Foundation, the foundation that supports staff and students. So uh want to get that out there. Ticket. You can call any one of the four schools to get a ticket. And uh lastly, Life fast forward came uh earlier this month. Dusty Manarchic spoke regional president County National Bank. He spoke to our eighth graders about a career in finance and banking. And every month as part of our 339 plan, we'll have somebody local um from some type of a a business. Uh kind of talk to our eighth graders and get them thinking about what they might want to do when they get out of high school.

006So that's part of our uh 339 plan. Other than that, things are going good to middle school. Thank you. You want to be next? >> I don't know. Might be just here for me. >> Okay. All right. Um at Ool Mills Elementary, our students did their first round of shopping with Mrs. Awell's life skills class. She's here in the back if she wants to give a wave. Um she works well with her students. They fill the orders um and they deliver them to all the classrooms. So that's going really well. Um, we also had our student council elections. We had over 20 students run this year. 11 members were elected. Their first duty is they attended empowering the bystander training at the CPI in Belfont. Um, the students take the information they've learned there and

007they'll do a presentation to the rest of the student body. Um, we held their first student council meeting within the building and their goals this year are to improve cafeteria behavior, bring back the chess club, and organize an end of the year talent show. Um, we have begun our parent lunches. We started this year in October with fifth grade parents and then each month, every grade level will have an opportunity to come in and eat with their students. Um, and the last thing I have listed are students of the month. Each year we have a goal for students to reach to be nominated as student of the month. And for the month of September, this was um being a good role model is how they were nominated. I don't want to knock everybody. Um, good

008evening everybody. So, a lot of things going on at P are similar to OM. U, Mrs. Mason and I work together a lot on the different activities and what we're trying to do for our kiddos. So, at the beginning of that, you can see our students of the month for the beginning of the year. Our student council students, we had 13 students also attend the CPI uh empowering the bystander training at Belfont through the IU. Our students coming back from that um part of what they have to do is they have to present an assembly to the student body. Well, our students want to do an assembly every month at our monthly rewards assembly. So, they pick different categories and every month they're going to do a different assembly about something that they want to

009work on within the school or present to their students. Beginning on Wednesday, our students meet um probably quarterly with uh Jade Halaba and Carrie. uh they come in and meet with some of our students on the student council and talk about how we can improve our breakfast and lunch within the building and just talk to the students, get ideas from them. So that will be on Wednesday of this week will be the first time they're meeting with them. Uh we had a check and connect training. Uh I shared this last month. Um but the big part of that check and connect training that all the schools went through was our tier 2 and tier three PBIS programs to how to support those students that are struggling with those tier one behaviors and how we can

010uh help them identify whether it's academics, attendance, behavior. We just concluded our benchmarks for beginning of the year and that was K to 2 and 3 to 5. Next month in November, uh we have a grant this year through the ECRI program working with Patton and the IU. Um we are going to do a K to one family night November 12th. Our families are going to come in. Uh we're going to present about the grant that we got. We're going to have teachers doing mini sessions with the families to show them exactly what the kids go through every day. And during that time, I volunteer to take all the kids that are there that night. They'll hang out with me in the gym while the parents actually go in and explore and see what goes

011on in the classroom with the kids. And the last thing, uh, Mrs. Mason renewed our contract with the IU for the lending library. Mr. Good and I got to visit that on Wednesday of this past week. Uh, the IU offers me, this program offers many STEM related programs and equipment for all grade levels. Uh, we're excited to team up with them. They talked about maybe coming in and working with each building to present what's available there to the teachers. Thank you. >> Good evening everyone. Uh so fall sportser have come to a a conclusion for PO. Um our cheerleaders had a great spirit week last week. They had pep rallies at both the elementary schools. Sorry. and um sponsored the trunk or treat which is always a big success at the at the high school

012on the Wednesday leading up to um Halloween. Um at senior night they had honored five seniors in their mascot. Um for cross country they participated in districts this past Saturday and the boys finished the season four and eight. The girls finished with a record of three and eight. Um our [clears throat] football team uh we ended up being 500 this year. This is the first time since 2011 that we did not have a losing season. So, um it's moving in the right direction. So, that's exciting um for the football team. Uh golf, we had uh four students athletes, Jake Lucas, Ryan Kby, Parker Lamb, and Fischer White qualified for the sectionals, PIAA sectionals, and also Nick the Simon um earned a spot for the team. And we had Jake just advance to the district uh

013championship where he took uh fourth place overall and qualified and then participated in the state championship at uh Penn State golf courses last week. Um uh girls golf um they started off a little rough four and seven and but finished the season six and one down the stretch. Uh they qualified for districts and we had actually earned as a team third place in districts and [clears throat] Maddox Hampton finished tied for six. um at Windsor Country Club that day. So, that's pretty exciting um for the girls and they have six of eight letter winners returning for next season. Um boys soccer uh had three wins last season. Um [clears throat] but one of them was a really big uh exciting win when they beat Bald Eagle. Kind of big rival game um with 15 seconds

014left in the game. We scored. Um so one of the strengths for our boys soccer team is no matter what they they kept competitive um throughout the season. Um, girls soccer had a rough season. Um, they didn't win any wins. Uh, but there's a lot of improvement throughout the season. They had injury. We had sickness. Um, underassman had to step up and fill the void. So, the girls started playing as individuals and ended the season playing together as a team. Volleyball had a rough had a season of 17, 13, and four. They qualified for districts and lost um in the first round last week. Um, junior high football finished out their season last Thursday at uh, Tyrone. The A team and B team, they both got games in. A team ended two, four and one

015and B team 31 and one. Uh, boys junior high soccer won their first game in three years. So, that's pretty exciting for uh, boys soccer. We had uh, 16 players on the junior high team this year. 15 were from PO and one was from our co-op West Branch. Um, girls soccer did not have have a great season, zero and 12, but we had some athletes who never even participated in in [laughter] a a sport, team sport before. So, it was great to see some some newcomers um and get them exciting and interested in playing sport. [snorts] Um, so they made great strides and skill improvement and had some close games as the season progressed and they improved throughout the season. Um, junior high volleyball the they had some positive improvements throughout the year. uh the

016A team officially ended uh doesn't reflect how they they really improved with great competitions and the B team um really made vast improvements through from beginning to the end of the year. Um [clears throat] so that's pretty exciting and we have winter sports first day of practice is November 14th so it's coming right down the road here. Um and our head coaches for fall sports have put out our end of season survey. Um, so if [clears throat] you hear people talking a lot of that the survey results come to me and I and then I'll share with our administration team. Um, and I know one of the big concerns have been like do parents names get reported to coaches with like repercussions of comments [snorts] and no um so I I created the survey and

017guidance from administration last year. Um, [clears throat] I share the survey results with admin. feedback uh is taken and provided to coaches but no names of parents are are shared upon that process. So if that comes up but thank you. So this is a side note. This isn't in my written report, but I just wanted to say um it's really it means a lot to me and I think it means a lot to our families that all four of our buildings are continuing to make movements forward to include our special education students in all aspects of the buildings. Um the lending library that Mr. Fi talked about they were able to find a piece of equipment there um that is adaptive that one of our students who um has a lot of fine motor and

018a lot of medical needs is able to use now to be able to participate in their regular education computer classroom. So that's really cool. And just as a forewarning if you walk down the first floor hallway of the high school during lunch periods the students will come out. they will invite you into the store and you will feel compelled to buy something. So, I got [clears throat] convinced the other day that I really needed to purchase some stickers which were on sale for just 10 cents a piece. So, um it's really exciting though to see that and to see that the students feel a sense of belonging and they feel like they are part of their building culture. Um we are working very closely right now with our ITC and also with Melissa Krauss um

019who's part of our special education administrative assistant team. She um is working really closely with me on understanding the changes to max capture and medical assistance billing so that we can tighten up on our procedures and try to capture more of that funding that um we should be eligible for. And that just looks like um Missy or myself going around and meeting with pair professionals, having them come here and meet with her, me going to buildings and talking with them about um the quality of the notes that they're taking and the documentation that we're doing and trying to maximize that as much as possible. and also working on PIM's child accounting um which is super exciting but also super important because it captures all of what um we are spending towards special education and what

020that population looks like. And then we are really excited. We are very close to being fully staffed. We [clears throat] still have a couple openings here and there, but I know that Linda has been to a whole bunch of interviews. Um but we have some new people who have started in our support classroom. So that's really exciting um [clears throat] and good for our students. We have started Dr. Reese and I have been going around. We've done all of the schools except for PE at this point that we've done faculty meetings covering the first of our high leverage practice and then we'll do our second one in the spring. That's part of our comp plan. We do have a huge increase in um requests for evaluations right now. So we have an increase of 77%

021compared to this time last year. Um some of that is parent requests, some of it is school referrals. Um so we are continuing to see a high level of need there. Um that is consistently happening in other districts throughout the state though as well. I've talked to some other special education directors um who are in other school districts and they're seeing a similar trend. We did bring Michael Burke on from the CIU. So, if you see a very tall gentleman walking around the district and you're not sure who he is, he is a certified school psychologist, level two, and he is doing the mentorship and supervision for Melinda so that she can finish up her internship year working towards that certification. >> Thank you. >> Anybody else? Hey, tonight um with us we have Jamie

022Doyle from PFM. And if you remember, it wasn't too long ago she was here, made the drive, and so uh we have her back tonight. She has some information to share with us. >> Good evening. It's a pleasure to be here with you this evening. You should each have a document at your places that contains my presentation. And I would really just preface before we get into it that the thing that has changed quite a bit since we began this plan of finance many many months ago and even since I was here in August is we're all experiencing a prolonged state budget impass. So you know keep that in mind. You you'll probably hear me say that a couple of times throughout the presentation. If you turn to the inside cover, page number one at

023the top, nothing new there, just a recap of federal tax law on the bank loan proposal that you previously approved with with Mnt Bank. So under federal tax law, you had to have reasonable expectations that you spend 85% of the proceeds within three years and that within six months of settlement, you expected to enter into a substantial binding obligation to spend 5% of the borrowed amount and then that you just proceed with due diligence. And this piece of federal tax law is pertinent to that bank loan and that borrowing because the proceeds of that borrowing are for capital improvements and so they're not for operational cash flow in light of state budget impass if you will. In that second section, what you locked in on that bank loan is a bank qualified interest rate because

024it's less than $10 million. That's the lowest possible tax exempt interest rate that you can uh obtain. And in bullet three, you know, again, just a reminder that under the local government unit debt act, you can only spend that bank loan proceeds on um capital improvements and any long-term debt for operational purposes that that you may need in light of the state budget impass. uh you know don't qualify for that bank form. And so in that next section four, five, and six, those are the options that were previously considered uh for potential strategies to fund your health care consortium payment, which is an operational expense. [clears throat] And so we previously looked at a debt restructuring. And um you know basically that just means scooping out some of your payments out of the upfront years

025of of your budget and stretching them out a little bit longer. In number five, that was the one we originally decided to go with pay uh finance payo capital projects through a long-term borrowing. That's what that bank loan is that I keep referring to. And you know, you met all those qualifications. You needed professional cost estimates. you needed to meet that reasonable expectations test up above. Uh and in that option, you were going to pay your health care consortium payments out of your cash and then use the proceeds from the bank loan for capital improvements. And you know, really the state budget impass has interfered with that plan because you're using your cash to pay your operational expenses right now because you're not receiving your state subsidies. in in that bottom section to a strategy

026review. We're suggesting that we pivot a little bit from the original plan and in that first step continue with the bank loan with Mnt but delay closing one week to November 5th and downsize that bank loan a little bit. And we're going to look at exactly what that means in a second. uh which will [snorts] allow you to do less capital improvement projects by downsizing it, but it will also downsize the debt service payment on that bank loan. And then step two, consider a TR, which is a tax and revenue anticipation note. And and typically you only think about doing a TR in a state budget impass because you need the cash flow to meet your regular operating expenses. So if you were to consider a TR for the 25 26 current fiscal year, uh

027that would ensure sufficient cash flow to meet operations during the impass. Trans are are different than any other debt you've ever issued. A trans is short-term and it must be paid back no later than the end of your fiscal year. So it must be paid back by June 30th of 2026. And there's a cash flow worksheet that is used to determine how much of a TR you could consider [clears throat] undertaking and and your administration has filled that worksheet out already and and um we'll talk about that in further detail in a minute. But that could be a step two because unfortunately no one knows when the state budget is going to pass. But it certainly doesn't seem to be moving as quickly as as we hoped at the beginning. And then step three is

028reverting back to bullet point four up above. Consider a debt restructuring [snorts] of the upfront principal payments on your 2015A and your 2016 bonds. And if we restructured those, meaning scoop them out of the next two years budgets and stretch those payments out um not further out in terms of years, but we would reamortize them so that there was a little more principle out further at the end of of you know it would mature in the same year, but they would be a little bit more heavily weighted uh and restructure that way. And then that would give you you'd still keep [clears throat] budgeting just as if you hadn't done it, but then you could set those uh those proceeds aside and rebuild your your cash balances that you would ultimately spend on your your

029healthcare consortium payment that's coming up. So that that's an overview of what the rest of the presentation contains, but it's basically we're suggesting a three-step plan of finance now as opposed to originally it was just one step. So if you look at page two, that was your debt summary before you did anything. So it does not contain the geo note series of 2025 with Mnt Bank. That that was your starting point. And when you look down below in column 18, you can see in the current year's budget, the net effect on on debt service on your budget was 2,178,000. And then you see it goes down a little bit in in years following that. So that's important as we think about this concept of restructuring some of your debt. If you turn to [snorts] the

030next page, this is a summary of of everything I just described to you in that three-step plan. So in column five, there was your debt service from the prior page. If you did nothing at all, you keep making the payments in column five. In column one, that's the Mnt Bank loan that you already approved. We're suggesting that you downsize the principal amount. It was originally uh not to exceed 3,590,000. We're suggesting you downsize it to 1,58,000. That will provide a construction fund deposit again for capital improvements of 1,435,000. That's still the same amortization over 10-year period and it's level. And you can see what that would look like down below in column six. Again, just downsizing that bank loan you already approved. Then I'm I'm sort of jumping out to to column three. Step two

031would be that TR that I was talking about, tax and revenue anticipation note. And you can see in box three that we're suggesting the amount of that TR be $7.4 million because based on the cash flow worksheet that the administration filled out. That would basically get you into March of 2026. God forbid if if the state budget impass continued for that long. you know, we want you to be prepared um for the worst. And again, that would need to be repaid and assumes the state budget passes by June, which I've never seen one go longer than March. And even the one that went till March, they approved parts of the budget. So, your subsidy started to flow uh that time. And hopefully some of those actions will will start to happen here soon. [clears throat]

032Um but a worst case scenario, if you did a $7.4 4 million tran. If you look down below in column 10, uh a conservative estimate of what that might look like if you held it all the way to June 30th, uh would cost you about $200,000 in interest. Again, we're always a little conservative. And we would work with Mnt Bank, the same bank that you see in the green in column one, uh on the bank loan you already approved in order to negotiate that interest rate on that TR if you decide to proceed with that. And then I'm moving back to column two, the debt restructuring. That would be the third step of the plan. You can see what that means in box two is that's roughly a $1.4 million debt restructuring. And when you

033look down in in column 8, what we're doing is we would scoop out some of your 2015A and 2016 debt service in column 8 to create cash flow relief. those two red numbers, you know, roughly 179,000 in current year budget and about 859,000 in next year's budget. And then you can see, you know, we would reamortize that principle over the remaining life of that loan. Again, not extending it in terms of of years, but uh extending it in terms of weighted average life, a little bit more uh weighted to the end. And if we did all that, all three of those steps exactly as we've laid them out, the most important column is is column 12. So you can see the difference each year when you compare it to your your 2025 budgeted local effort

034in column 4 because again your starting point which you have in your budget right now is is 2,179,000 rounding up slightly. And so you can see it would be an increase over that in the current year by about 43,000. And then it would be a decrease because of that restructuring next year of about a million dollars. And you would set that million dollars aside and use it to rebuild your cash reserves that are going to get depleted between your healthcare consortium payment and and the state budget impass. And then you'd also have some cash flow savings in fiscal year 2028 and 2029 of about 100,000 and and 258,000 which again you could use to rebuild your your cash reserves. Any any questions on that page before I go on? I know that's a lot uh

035of information. If you look at page four, this is the Mnt bank loan. If we downsize it to 1,58,000, you can see the rate that you already locked in of 3.63% in column 3. And you can see what those payments would look like. So a partial payment in the current fiscal year of about 22,000. And then each year thereafter through and including 2035, it would be just under $200,000. And that was reflected on the prior summary page. But that's uh breaks it all down. If you look at page five, this is the sources and uses of funds on that $1,58,000 loan. Again, you can see the settlement date on this page uh has been pushed out to November 5th. Nothing new on that page really. The only thing that that changed is the the principal

036amount uh and and therefore the available for projects amount that again matched what we just looked at on the prior page. On page six, you'll see your updated portfolio uh with all of your debt issuances, assuming we downsize [clears throat] that BMT bank loan, just as we've looked at on the prior page. So, this is what it looks like at the end of the day. And then finally on page seven is a sample timeline step by step. So the first step that MNT bank loan uh that you already approved the downsize amount could settle on November 5th. That's when the district would receive those funds and they would be available for capital improvements. And then the timeline for the TR, we could be back with a resolution for your consideration at your November 24th voting

037meeting and then that would settle probably late December. We don't really need as much time to settle that as we do a capital borrowing, but we also don't want to settle that any earlier than than we have to. You know, it will um relate to complete [snorts] budget in pass or passage, I should say, not in pass. And then finally, that third step, the debt restructuring, we could be back at your January 27th meeting or later uh with that resolution for your consideration. and then that would settle around the beginning of March. So, I'm going to pause there and I'm happy to answer any questions that you have at this time. [snorts] As as the board can see on [clears throat] the budget tonight, it's going to be under C, budget, finance, transportation item four.

038Um, so we'll have that once we get out of the work session into the voting session. We do anticipate them coming back in November. We're debating [snorts] right now if we happen to have a voting session added in early December. We may be it may help us on the interest if we wait till that first week, week and a half of December. So that'll be the next step provided we do not have a a state budget. Um because I believe Mr. Martin and I have talked it's it's mid to end of December. We will run out of funds without a replenish here through a uh tax uh revenue anticipation though. Um anything you want to add? >> Yeah, you did a good job. >> We appreciate you being here tonight. Any questions for Jamie? [snorts]

039>> Very good. Thank you so much for your time. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate the help. >> All right. Um we're going to need her again or [clears throat] >> I think she's good to go unless there's any questions. Watch the deer. Watch the deer. >> I saw plenty out there in the field. >> Touch base on that. So, um, we'll let Mrs. Do get on the road there. We appreciate PFM being here tonight and just the help over the last couple months trying to get us a pathway on a better course. In addition on my report tonight, we need to have a conversation or discussion on uh the four o'clock presentation tonight. Uh this scenario number one talked about a K235 setup. In order to take that any further there would it would require

040some additional help from the outside on transportation from transportation company that we've we touched base with two narrowed it [snorts] down to one. Preliminarily the the quote that they provided was in around the just shy of $10,000 mark. [snorts] Um, we're going to need direction on whether the feeling of the board is that that's something that would be worthwhile to invest in or whether that is something that before we invest 10,000 that we're going to go a different direction. And so with that, open it up to the board and we need some guidance. Any board member like to speak to that? >> I don't agree with paying that money on that. [clears throat] >> I think we'll have to have some more discussions to figure out the direction before we would commit to paying anything.

041>> Would there be any additional information you would need to come back whether it's now in November between before then or is that to be determined? to be determined right this moment for me right >> others you have any >> I agree with Alex I think that we come back in November further discuss Thank you. >> Yeah, just bill. We need some, you know, more clarity, more information. Obviously, the goal here is, you know, where are we going to be in 3 to 5 years, right? I mean, that's really the goal here. We're not here to try to, you know, try to do something that's not going to be feasible for the for the school district. we're going to have the best, you know, fest on this and being able to try to put a

042good solution in front of, you know, the community. It's not just about us looking here to save this dollar or that dollar. We're in a position now where it took us it's it's really hurting us now. There was, you know, going back probably 10 years ago that we that we looked at some things, you know, we we depleted our funds. That's really what happened when we built a field. We depleted our general fund and that is hurting us today. It it does rear its head later and now we're dealing with it. So, I mean that's5 to $6 million and to be honest, if that doesn't happen, we're not talking today. We have the excess funds. So, I just think we just got to put some more find out some [clears throat] more clarity, find out

043what we're going to do going forward. But, you know, to invest $10,000, I'm on the fence right now. I'm not really sure whether I want to do that yet or not. Um, you know, I just need to get some more information myself and, you know, come back into them. [snorts] [clears throat] >> So, in general, it looks like put it on hold >> coming back. Correct. >> Now, I think we do need to make a, you know, final decision in November because we do got to lay out all the options. That's really the bottom line here is we got to lay out all the options for the district. That way we're not continuing to raise the taxes each year for the community. We have to start this now or we're never going to be able

044to, you know, in three to five years. We're really going to have to make some tough decisions and maybe even before that. So, um, not easy, but [clears throat] we're here to do what's best for the district and, you know, being able to provide the best education for our students. >> Anybody else? I would agree with what he had to say. I think right now I mean I don't have enough in front of me knowing where we're going to go where we're going to be in the three to five years to reinvest this money. Is it going to be for a reason? Is there going to be a reason that we did it? Is it going to be or is it going to be something that we did and ultimately go in a different direction

045and that 10 grand that we don't really have. you don't really want to spend really waste it if that makes sense. So I think not saying no, not saying yes, I just need a little bit more information for me to say yes or no. And I would say November we do probably have to make a decision. >> I agree. >> You with that? All good? >> Yep. >> But I think in November we have to have a definitive answer. >> Yes. either go or not go [snorts] as far as hiring a consultant and spending $10,000. So, we're going to place that on hold until November. >> That's the guidance says looking for I'll bring back additional information in November. Anything else you have? It's everything from my report. >> Anybody from the board have anything

046to bring forward? >> We'll go to C. We'll go to budget, finance, transportation. Mr. Manic. >> Yeah. There will [snorts] be a mo motion on the regular voting aging agenda approve the financial report for number 2025 as presented. Regular voting [snorts] general approve approve the following dispersements and credit card statements with dispersements being 1.24 million for the month of September as well as payroll being 1.13 million. And there motion on the regular voting agenda to recognize changing the amount of general obligation note which we had just discussed. Mr. Doyle um series of 2025 in the amount of 1.5 million and there motion to regular voting agend uh for the proceeds for this note for the note series of 2025. The money [clears throat] will be invested into you know income account for [snorts] us to

047be able to as we continue to figure out what we're going to do with those sting down later. Um there will be a motion on the regular voting agenda for the following drivers for the 202526 school year as presented. >> Thank you. Uh building on grounds will be a motion on the regular voting agenda to recycle obsolete damaged malfunctioning electronics mobile carts for KBS computers and usual Pennsylvania no cost to the district. KVS is a government K to 12 certified electronics recycling company. There'll be a motion on the regular voting agenda to disperse old math textbooks at the Philosola Middle School. And there'll be a motion on the regular voting agenda to dispose of cubby dust. Mr. Chair technology outdated broken at OC. [clears throat] Anything on community relations? >> Not right now. Move on

048to curriculum instruction. Dr. Romero motion on the regular building agenda to approve memorandum of understanding between Philsburg school district the Philos education association regarding textbook selection as presented be a motion on the regular voting agenda to approve the field trip request for 2526 school year as presented. >> Thank you. Let's go to Missy Push personnel. Okay. There'll be a motion on the regular voting agenda to post a long-term substitute teaching position for the Philsburg Oola area school district for the 2015 2026 school year. >> Yeah. [clears throat and cough] >> School year posting retroactive to October 7th, 2025. long-term substitute teacher. There'll be a motion on the regular voting agenda to hire Jordan McDonald as the long-term substitute teacher for the Philsburg Oola area school district at a bachelor step one pror-rated salary of $51,770

049for the remainder of the 2025 20226 school year. There'll be a motion on the regular voting agenda to approve a memorandum of understanding between [snorts] the Philsburg Oola area school district and the Philsburg Oola Education Association for credit reimbursement as presented. hire. There'll be a motion on the rigor voting agenda to hire Dana Fleck as a 5.75 hour special education instructional assistant requiring [snorts] safe crisis management certification at Ool Mills Elementary at the rate of 1525 per hour effective upon completion of required paperwork. hire. There'll be a motion on the regular voting agenda to hire Courtney Hmel as a 5.75 [clears throat] hour special education instructional assistant required safe crisis management certification at Philsburg Oola Middle School at the rate of 1525 per hour effective upon completion of required paperwork. Hire. There'll be a motion

050on a regular voting agenda to hire Shauna Yurich as a 5.75 hour special education instructional assistant requiring safe crisis [snorts] management certification at Philsburg Elementary School at the rate of 1525 per hour effective upon completion of required paperwork. Transfer. There'll be a motion on the regular voting agenda to transfer Madison Laneski from a 4.5 hour special education instructional assistant at the Philsburg Oola High School to a 5.75 hour special education instructional assistant at Philsburg Oola High School effective 20 September 23rd 2025. There is no change in hourly weight transfer. There'll be a motion on the regular voting agenda to transfer Sheila Lurch as a 5.75 hour special education instructional assistant at Philsburg Elementary School to a 5.75 hour special education instructional assistant at Philsburg OIL High School. There is no change in hourly weight. Uh

051there'll [clears throat] be a motion on the regular voting agenda to post a 5.75 special education instructional assistant grades 3 through five learning support position at Philsburg Elementary School posting effective October 24th, 2025. There'll be a motion on the regular voting agenda to accept the resignation of Corey Riggo as a six-hour special education instructional assistant. Autistic Support requiring safe crisis management certification at [clears throat] Philsburg Elementary School effective August 31st, 2025. Post. There'll be a motion on the regular voting agenda to post a six-hour special education instructional assistant autistic support position requiring state crisis management certification at Philsburg Elementary School posting effective October 24th, 2025. hire. There'll be a motion on the regular voting agenda to hire Brandon Evans as a five-hour districtwide custodian at Billsburg Oio Middle School at a rate of $17 per

052hour effective upon completion of required paperwork. There'll be a motion on the regular voting agenda to approve the following pre- studentent teachers for the 2025 2026 school year as listed in your agenda. There'll be a motion on the regular voting agenda to approve a memorandum of understanding between the Psburg Oola area school district and the Philsburg Oola Education Association to remove the position of occupational therapist from the bargaining unit as presented. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Bank. There will be a excuse me there'll be a motion on the regular voting agenda to update policy 815.1 use of gener generative artificial intelligence and education as presented student affairs. There'll be a motion on the regular voting agenda to approve a community and school-based behavioral health program commitment [clears throat] to fidelity implementation agreement school district adaptation

053as presented. There'll be a motion on the regular voting agenda to approve an increase area school district and new direction Solutions LLC doing business as proare therapy for remote technology services for the 2025 2026 school year as presented. A motion on the regular voting agenda to approve a student assistant program agreement between the fals area school district the clerical Jefferson drug and alcohol commission in the community connections of Jefferson counties for the 2025 2026 school year as presented a motion on the regular voting agenda to approve a school-based probation program agreement between the Philsburg Oola area school district and the center county juvenile probation department for the 2025 2026 school year as presented. A motion on the regular voting agenda to approve the following extracurricular positions for the 2025 2026 school year as listed. A

054motion on the regular voting agenda to approve the following position volunteers for the 2025 2026 school year as listed. Motion on the regular voting agenda includes the middle school spring dance advisor position posting effective October 28th. A motion on the regular voting agenda to approve team events, practices, and activities for the 2025 2026 school year as presented. A motion on the regular voting agenda to approve winter athletic events as presented. Be a motion on the regular voting agenda to approve facility use individual agreement between the Philsburg Area School District and West Branch Area School District for girls varsity soccer as presented. Two There'll be a motion on the regular voting agenda to approve an agreement with parents of the Philipsburg oial area school district student and the district to authorize the district's superintendent to sign

055any necessary paperwork saying retroactive March 1st 2025. There'll be a motion on the regular voting agenda to update the 2526 middle school student handbook is presented. There'll be a motion on the regular voting agenda to accept the resignation of Tai Jeff as a member of the Psburg Oola school district board of directors effective immediately. And there'll be a motion on the regular voting agenda to advertise a seat for the Philsburg Oola area school district board of directors representing the district of the Philipsburg burrow second ward rush north central precinct number 11 and 15. [snorts] >> Anything else? Should I have a motion to adjourn? >> Motion have a motion to journ. All in favor. >> Okay, that concludes that one. We will go directly into the voting meeting. You already had our pledge. >> These

056two are highlighted. We can do roller. [snorts] >> Okay. So, we'll open the voting meeting of October 27th. Start time now is 7:22. Veronica, could we have a roll call, please? Mrs. By Shaw >> here, >> Dr. Gary >> here, >> Mrs. Bush >> here, >> Mr. Jeff, Mr. Manic >> here, >> Mr. Bis >> here, >> Mrs. Fesnki >> here, and Mr. Wood >> here. We have a motion to approve the September 22nd, 25 committee meeting minutes as presented. >> Motion second. We have Okay, we have a second. All in favor? >> And we have a motion to approve the September 22nd, 25 voting meeting. >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I We'll open up the mic for any visitors who would like to sign into the paper. And there's a

057mic if anybody like to speak. >> Uh generally is a threem minute limit. Uh anybody would like to speak? You got that set up? [clears throat] Doesn't even have to come up. >> Thank you. Well, I uh came and listened this afternoon to the presentation on our financial position. I didn't know he was in this much trouble, but always sad to hear that. Uh I guess you can there could be a lot of blame go around for a lot of people, but anyway, [clears throat] we're not here for that. We're sort of wanting to think about how we may get out of this mess if we can. And uh one thing I will say though is the ultimately the responsibility lies with the board of education. You're elected. You're supposed to have a hand on

058them. [clears throat] So that's where that came. But uh I was listening, you know, you have a decline enrollment. You know, your funds are going down and you probably know how many people you're going to not have. So you would know basically how much less money you're going to have. Uh but anyway, you should be able to work that out. One of the things that you should do is stop spending period. Now, I've listened to your superintendent. Uh I think he agrees well. He goes over everything real well. I don't know. Um, and probably I don't need to know, but anyway, the uh things that uh you're going to be faced with, it's going to be enormous. And uh I I don't know whether it's the best thing, just let it go and let the

059state take it over, but I know that's not the way I'd like to see it. Uh because then they cut everything, you know. So that's that's one of my chief concerns this year. I my taxes went up. Okay. Everyone's up. Now I'm not complaining about the taxes as much as I am as the kids aren't getting their education. I'm really disturbed with that. And we're coming in less and we're broke. What's going on? Yeah. Just when you wonder what's going on. Yeah. Uh superintendent uh was saying about how much it takes for that football field to maintain. Do you know what what was that figure he was giving me? I heard you said >> so to replace it every 8 to 10 years is about 80,000 a year should be put back. >> Okay. Um,

060what I would suggest, you sell a damn thing. We don't need it. We got Memorial Field down there, which is we played for years on. But anyway, you do what you want. But we It's been lasso around their neck forever. In fact, I was on the board when they wanted to do that. I was the only one voted against it, but it was uh it was a bad deal. It cost us too much to do. We couldn't afford it and there's a lot of other things with it that I didn't like. But anyway, the was not much to build it all. It is a pile of rocks under as one of the students one time play football. I said, "How do you like that field?" He said, "Boy, Mr. a rescue hit order there. >>

061Yes. >> Or rocks, you know. But anyway, instead of having something like that around their neck forever, I I would rather go out to Memorial and play a game of football. Has lots of club school there or >> anyway there. >> Appreciate it, Jim. >> What's that? >> Three minute. We we try to hold it to three minutes so anybody can >> Okay. I just hope you do your job. Thank you. Anybody else? Why not? Could you give us your name, please? Can you go up there? >> Yeah, sure. >> There's a sign in sheet. >> Okie dokie. I'll be sure to >> do that after. >> Okay. So, my name is April Woods. I think that I can provide kind of a unique feedback to you guys. And I will say that nobody has

062ever asked me for this before, but my family has three going on four kids and none of them are currently enrolled within this school district. I chose to homeschool for multiple reasons, but one of the main reasons was because when my child was entering kindergarten, the school had no ability to do any kind of evaluation, even though he was at least two grade levels above. They said I had to wait until first grade for you guys to even address his academic needs. So, I kept him home and I thought I was going to put him in in first grade, but I chose not to because the school still didn't offer him anything. When I tried to get information, nobody talked to me. So, then fast forward, I have a son that could easily be in

063your autism support classrooms right now. Think about the funding that you guys could get if you just enrolled him. But instead seeing instead of seeing him as a person, it seemed like it was just a fun that you guys were after. Nobody saw him as a person. In fact, he had an education plan already made out before anybody met him at this school district. Despite the fact that his services said that he would do best suited in a shared aid situation, his placement within your district was going to be in the self-contained classroom. And I was told maybe he could get out at recess and maybe we could address this and change it up if that wasn't the right thing instead of giving him the ability to work to his full potential within a regular

064classroom. Nobody is asking the people that aren't enrolling their kid what the issue is. And if you did, you'd probably have more kids here. Now that I've already made their education decision, my plan was to still try to get my kids enrolled at this school once some of these things may maybe got addressed. But now I'm seeing these larger class sizes. I know that if you get rid of teachers within the high school, it will impact your AP classes, which will directly impact my child that is so much further ahead. The decisions that you make are costing you money. If I enroll my children in a cyber charter school, which wouldn't be poss because you guys are struggling to run your brick and mortar, I certainly would not enroll them in your cyber charter school.

065These are funds that are slipping from you and you guys are debating about $10,000 in a transportation, whatever you guys were just talking about. We're talking more money than that just within my household. If you're letting it slip away because you guys aren't even asking people, why are we not enrolling our kids? Nobody has asked. That's a failure that you guys have done to your own school district. You're costing money. >> Thank you. Maybe anybody else would like to address the board. >> Good evening. My name is Ryan Steve. Number of you guys know me through whether it be public service or through my business, but I am a local business owner and I can say that um I haven't been privy to everything you guys have on your plates and I understand that the

066the decisions you have to make are huge decisions and I and I don't envy the the role you guys are in. So I trust you guys will do your very best with those. Couple of questions that I have though. I I wasn't able to catch the whole meeting and I caught the tail end of it tonight, but it seemed like a lot of emphasis was paid on decisions that were made during the 1516 period, the football field for for one. Um, how are you guys going to look at situations like that moving forward? And although you're you're you're focusing on things that you need to do in the next couple months and the next year or two, how are you guys planning to make sure things like this don't happen again? Uh I would say

067that if you look from a broader scale where we were as a country in 2008 during the great recession, the reason we're in a much more stable place economically than what we were back then was because of some of the decisions the government was forced to make during that time. So on a much smaller scale because you guys are in elected um positions, what decisions have you guys been thinking about to stop some of the things that you're talking about tonight to happen in 15 and 16? How are we going to prevent those moving forward? >> Well, Ryan, uh I guess the numbers we're looking at right now are pretty immediate. We got to we got to attack this thing early right now. I just brought up several months ago that we need to develop

068a five-year plan so we know where we're going. Uh I also brought up uh before that we have age buildings and we need to get a plan that ties in with our age buildings because we got a high school was built in the 50s >> and the decisions, you know, we can't harp on what was done. Those people that were in charge did it. it's over and now I think you got the the people and there's a couple new board people will be coming on and I think the focus will be forward [snorts] and uh the accountability will be held to a high level I'm sure uh and even like the public input like right now and try to include the public for their opinions and just like today uh we're going to open up

069probably January February So we know what the public feels about the scenarios. So we're trying to be more transparent uh move forward, get a short goal plan and a long goal plan. >> Well, Mr. Wood, obviously we go back to when I was a kid, right? I mean, you've seen me be 8 n years old and grow to a man today. What I will say is like the decisions that I've grown up with and I saw I graduated in ' 06, which was arguably the biggest financial crisis our school district's been in. And fast forward 20 years to today and where we're at today. What I didn't see between those 20-year periods are this forward thinking you're talking about. Like a school that is inevitably aging, buildings are only made to last 30 to 40

070years when you look at appreciation from a business standpoint. That's for a reason. So what I'm saying is I understand and I speak on the public when I say this. You guys have a very tough decision to make and it's affecting a lot of people. Now for me personally, I started a business here and it relies on the creative field. I already feel like our business is pinched trying to find people with creative skill sets. But I also understand that where you guys are today, you have to make some tough decisions and that might mean some art classes. Although I have a problem with that. What I will say, and speaking of the the lady that spoke before me, there are financial burdens to this, is that going to force businesses like mine someday to

071look at other places to start a business because I need these folks in my business to be able to thrive someday. So, decisions we're making today are very important. So, what I say is I understand the decision you guys have to make here in the next couple months into the next year, but we truly need to be thinking long term. What does I I heard our superintendent say that we're not focusing on the 3, four, 5 year period earlier in the meeting this morning or this afternoon. We have to be thinking about that because it's affecting taxpayers. It's affect affecting our teachers. It's affecting our kids most importantly, and it's affecting businesses, too. So, please think that through and please be thinking about what this looks like as we move forward and how we're going

072to stop it from happening again. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. I I think I'll just kind of comment that real quick. I mean, the goal right now is to be able to replenish our general general capital accounts and and we have to start somewhere and that's immediate >> right now in that one two-year period now, >> but as I had mentioned earlier, the 3 to 5 year period, the 10-year period is really, but you have to start re recapitalizing your general operating and capital accounts before you can do that. and right now is tough decisions that are going to happen within the next three to six months. But yes, the the long-term goal is >> well again I share this and I've said I've seen out in the hallway here. I look at our high

073school it is not in the greatest shape. OM is not in the greatest shape. Okay, we continue to see this now. We had this that we had a financial crisis in ' 06, right? [snorts] And here we are 20 years later. And once we got past that storm, and I I believe you guys will be able to get us through this storm, too, because you're very smart people across the board. But we've got to take a reality check at some point and say [clears throat] we've got some big fish to fry. And over the period of as long as I've been alive, it seems like there's been a lot of band-aids placed along the way. And this seems to be another one because you guys have a dilemma short term. What is the long-term approach

074after you guys get through that? And I think you guys need to think about that as you're you're navigating this decision. Okay. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Anyone else? >> Do I have to come up there? >> I don't know if we can hear you. Don't give >> I mean I could have louder. >> Hi. [clears throat] >> Hi, I'm Tiffany Cover. I know many of you. Um I have two students here at PO, one in the middle school, one in the high school. And I also have a unique approach. Um I'm an administrator at CCA currently. The last six years I was at the CTC, which PO is one of our districts, and I was a 16-year high school English teacher at Ocean Valley, also located in here. Um, I also don't envy

075your position and administration can't make decisions that are going to make everybody happy, but we have to look for the greater good. Um, one thing, well, a couple things I didn't hear tonight that I don't know if it had been thought of, but as you've mentioned, every district is struggling. Every district has lower enrollment and part of that is Commonwealth, Charter Academy, other cyber schools and it takes a hit to the districts. I completely see that. Um, but I wonder with West Branch, just as an example, they are losing their enrollment as well. Mo Valley lowered enrollment. Has there been a thought of combining districts and combining resources? um whether it be sports, I know we've done that at some points. Um what about academics? Um coming from the CTC background, giving that opportunity for

076students because I know it's been discussed prior to them leaving. Is it possible that instead of it just being seniors going in the PM, but there is that AM and PM option? Um would that open up more scheduling opportunities? Um, has block scheduling been considered? Is that something feasible to fewer teachers, teach more students? And we know our test scores are low. So, I I fear lowering math and English. Is that going to take a greater hit on PSSAs and Keystones? And trust me, I'm not a fan of standardized test scores, but that's above our pay grades. It is what it is. But how do we not lose those items too? Because we have to consider that for our funding as well. So how can we raise those test scores? And if we furlow teachers,

077who are the ones going to be furled? Is it the least senior or is it the least efficient and effective? So I'm curious about all of these things. I don't know any of them have been brought up because I haven't been behind the closed doors conversations, but I just wanted to bring them to everyone's attention as well. Okay. >> Thank you. Anyone else? >> Hello. Um, I'm Lauren Willis. I just have a simple question, I think. Um, the restructuring that you proposed today, do you have a time frame for that? like whether that would be starting for next fall. Is it like a two-year plan? Just wondering a general time frame of when those changes would take place. >> I thought it'd be I was just going to say I think tonight we're able to

078do a little but generally my question and answer it is public comment but to to share with you to answer that it's where we are at um it would be something that we'd be looking for next year. That's why we're having a conversation but yeah appreciate public comment. Anyone else? Okay, thank you. >> Everyone else go ahead. >> Oh, we got another one. >> Okay. Uh, my name is Janette Sanki. I don't know any of you, but I have grandchildren that go to the school. Uh, a couple of questions I had. What is the closest amount you can give us? Just a total. I know I was at every meeting this afternoon. What is the total amount of debt that we're looking at? I know there was x amount from this and there was x

079amount from that but but in general what is the total amount you're looking at? >> So from the two meetings today you're saying it was just that our funds had been depleted. Um from a debt standpoint there was the 23 million capital uh expenditures. It was at like 30 some million. We had it down to 23. But I guess just to understand your question further, um I'm not sure I understand from a debt perspective, >> how much of a deficit are we looking at? Like I know it was this amount because of the football field and this amount because of that health. >> So our as we look to go into the spring budget, um like what I can share is from last year. Last year's deficit when we went into it was about a$1.2

0801.3 million deficit. We chose to take some out of um out of fund balance. We chose to take some out of taxes, basically tax increases. Um and we basically operate on a negative negative balance sheet from that standpoint um to get into this year. So last I can't speak to this year's yet um but I can speak the last year's was in the 1.2 1.3 million deficit. >> Okay. [clears throat] following that. I know like right now Rush Township is having a meeting with the solar fields again and I know they have offered [snorts] X amount. I'm not saying I'm for the solar field or against the solar field, but if I had to choose between the site that I'm seeing as I'm driving over a mountain and our children's education, I would pick the

081children's education. And I understand they've offered X amount over X amount of years. What if you go back and say if you give us this I mean they want in here so badly and I I know this. I've been on the inside of this. I [clears throat] used to work at Rush Township. They want to know what we want. But nobody tells them anything. They're like, "If you want a community pool, let us know. We can't have that put in a contract, per se, but if they know what we want, they'll give it to us. But nobody's saying anything to them. And no offense against Teresa Maul. I like her, but I mean, her paper's a little biased when it comes to that. Am I done? Can I speak again? If I go sit down

082and come back up. [cough] >> Thank you. [clears throat] >> Go ahead. >> Uh, if it comes down to teachers being cut, would you bring in more student teachers? I know they have to be paid, but I'm sure they wouldn't be paid as much as regular teachers and it would at least give the students someone else to go to. I I would say this whole thing is a work in progress. You know how it is resolved. Nobody has any preconceived ideas. >> Are there plans for the AP programs? I've heard a lot for the special education and programs like that, but I haven't heard anything about the AP programs. >> Again, that's it's all mixed in. And I'm assuming the athletic programs as well. >> Is there >> Everything's on the table right now. >>

083Okay. Has anybody talked to the students about what's going on or anything? Because I can tell you right now and it's very upsetting when I have grandchildren, very intelligent grandchildren, and their self-esteem is in the toilet because they've said, "Oh, well, we've got the lowest test score. Our we're all just a bunch of losers here. That's heartbreaking to hear. Then they already think that [clears throat] maybe somebody should talk to them. They might have some good suggestions. I don't know. But we're all talking about them, but nobody's talking to them. And I think that's very important. >> Thank you. Hi. Who in this room knows it's dangerous to give me a microphone? My name is Christy Heburn. I have two children in the district um both in elementary school. And I was at the meetings

084earlier and I've been listening to like everyone else is saying here. I keep hearing Um people talk about going cyber and I have a lot of conversation with parents outside of the school and you know hear people h you know whether it's rumors whether it's buzz whether it's actuality what does it cost the district to have a child do cyber school and [clears throat] and from my understanding I think there's maybe a couple different options with that maybe the district has a cyber option but then you can go to CC >> A is there I mean per per child who's cyber school in maybe one of those scenarios. Does anybody have a cost to what that costs the district? >> Yeah. Um for we budget almost about a million dollars a year for cyber charter.

085Um the a basic ed student is roughly um right now the funding for basic ed is um 16,000 and special it's about 32,000 a year. >> Is that for the summer through the district or somebody who know CCA >> somebody goes to CCA we get build from CCA for 16,000 for regular ed if it's a special ed like if they have something in IP $32,000 a year. So just maybe information for the board or whoever is making decisions like this. I know that me just as an individual, I'm an implant to Philburg. I did not grow up here. I don't know a ton of people. The amount of parents that I have heard say that they will pull their child from the district if some of these scenarios are voted on and go through is

086is is very high in my opinion because like I said like I I can't believe I'm just standing up here talking into this microphone. I don't I really don't know a lot of people. Um, you know, like I didn't grow up here, but just from what I am hearing, just from being at school events, hearing about parents talk about this, I just think it's would be wise to keep in mind that the amount of parents that might actually be willing [clears throat] and and pull their children from the the school district to spend cyber could could end up costing a fortune. I'm even hearing parents come up with plans already. The ones that are at work that can't like I would have trouble pulling my kids and having them do cyber school. I work my

087husband works full time. I work full- time. But they're literally getting together having a plan that work well then this parent who does stay home, who does work from home, that's where we'll send our kids to do the cyber [clears throat] I I think maybe a public vote on who would be planning on pulling the kids. I think the cyber school cost could really really increase for the district. Just something to keep in mind. >> Thank you. [clears throat] I'm Erico. Much like Christie, I'm kind of an implant into the town. I came here around 2009. In 2009, they're kind of going through all the financial aspect just kind of like Ryan was saying, uh, I know Michael Conte came in, he kind of worked with the school district, got everybody out of debt, and

088here we are again. So, I kind of really agree with when Ryan was saying that I kind of came in during all that and I now I have two kids, three that are going to be in the school here. And looking at the future of where we're going, you know, there needs to be some accountability, you know, like why did we let oursel get here? Did we really need a football field like this? You know, when we're looking at buildings and stuff, I mean, we knew the maintenance of these buildings. We knew the, you know, enrollment of the kids and everything. And when we're looking at stuff like we have geos out there as a prison, geos brings in a ton of tax revenue to the school district. What happens if their contract goes out

089and ICE doesn't renew the contract? Then where are we going to be at a school? Like are we thinking of these things? Are we putting money away and accounting for this? You know, it seems like we didn't even account for what a football field was going to cost and here we are. And what if big businesses like that do go out? What if Lee industry would win out of town? That was a possibility. You know, if they would have went over, we lose that tax revenue. You know, these are big decisions that our school like I'm not blaming any of you guys up here, but this is stuff that I feel like there has been zero accountability and our kids are the ones that are going to pay for. I live I work in town.

090I get to, you know, talk to a lot of the kids, a lot of the older adults. So, I have a big diverse uh clientele. And with that clientele, you have the older people that can't afford the taxes cuz they keep raising them. You have the kids that are worried that they're not going to be able to be prepared for college because you're going to cut their programs. And then you have parents saying they're going to pull their kids and parents that have pulled their kids. So, we're having a decrease in the enrollment because of decisions that have being made. And what worries me is we make decisions, we have more of a decrease enrollment. Are we looking at maybe mergering with Mo Valley and West Branch, you know, West Branch has put in $28

091million that at their elementary school? Is that even an option? You know, like these are things like are we making these hard decisions? I feel as a taxpayer, as a parent, as that like these are scenarios that I don't know the answer to all of them. I wasn't here at the 4:00 meeting to hear all the financials. It's just I I feel I just feel like as as a parent and a taxpayer, I I'm kind of just frustrated and disgusted with the decisions that have been made. Just like you said in 2005 when this all happened. Here we are. It's been 20 years and we're back in the scenario that the state's going to take the school over because we weren't financially responsible. So, um I don't know. I just I hope you guys make

092the right decisions and just think and know cuz I stand outside picking up my kids and I hear all the parents talking if they make this I'm going to pull my kid if I do this and that's just going to hurt us worse. So I I hope I I hope the right decisions are made. I think you need to be very transparent with the people and pretty much you know just ensure the parents that the education we have to do the best for the kids but provide you know the best for the taxpayer also. So >> thank you. >> Hi [clears throat] my name is Samantha Smith. Um we were just talking about the football field. I just was curious, is there anything we can do with the football field that could help with savings?

093Like, does the $80,000 go towards new turf because that has to be, you know, updated. If so, can we move it back to grass? I know that's probably as a suggestion that not a lot of sports fans are going to like, but is that a possibility? Because 80,000 a year seems like an awful lot for turf. I didn't know if there was any other options that were >> Well, part of the problem and it's turf because you got girls soccer, boys soccer, all kind of football using the same field and uh when you have a grass field, you have no grass. So then it becomes a hazard. >> Yeah. >> What about the other football field though? Do we still I mean we still >> we still own that and release that right now. Uh

094that'll be discussed down the road. Okay. I was just curious if that would be, you know, an option to save some money. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Hi, my name is Ashley Foster. Um, I wasn't going to talk, but then everybody else talked, so I guess I will. Uh, I'm from the area. I'm a 2005 graduate. Uh I have family that work for the district. Um I don't know, there's a lot of things that I could point out. Whenever you were talking about cutting the teachers, do you really think that educationally, academically, it's worth having 14 kindergarten teachers between Oiola and PE, but then cutting nine teachers from the high school where the children need more academic structure in high school to go on for the rest of their life. kindergarten. I'm not

095dissing anybody that is a teacher and that if you're a kindergarten teacher, you're not as good as somebody that's in 11th grade, but it is harder to be a high school teacher in my opinion than to have a bunch of kids running around for paint and play. It's just one thing you guys were discussing about the $10,000 on for the transportation if we wanted to yay or nay that. How closely are all of the funds being watched whenever you do spend something? Like this gentleman mentioned earlier, we need to not spend anything. Was it necessary to Is it necessary to outsource all of the cafeteria workers jobs? Pretty soon you're going to do it to the janitors, to the maintenance workers. Was the janitors, the custodians have waxed the floors in these schools for years

096upon years. Was it necessary to spend $7,000 to outsource that for the high school? That could have been $7,000 that we don't have. Those that little bit of money adds up. There's things to get rid of around high school, around the junior high, all of these schools that everybody had to bid on. So things that were just gone at the high school not long ago, how much did we pay somebody to remove that? That's money that adds up and makes a difference. And like Christy said about the [clears throat] cyber schooling, that's where you're losing all of you're going to lose even more money because the parents were done. And I mean, there are still some that are on the board right now that were on the board whenever Paladino was here. And right there's

097your biggest problem. Everybody in this room knows that that's your problem. Why you're broke right now. >> Thank you. Hello, I am Haley Rhinstein. Um, I just want to start off by saying that I did not go to Philipsburg School District. I actually went to West Branch. Um, sorry I'm emotional because growing up, Philipsburg was the school that I wish that I could have went to because the education and the reputation of this school was everything. and my husband and I decided to build a house in the school district to give our kids that opportunity. um I spoke with the superintendent and personally um probably about a month ago um just concerning all of this stuff because as a mom, a taxpayer, a community member, this is not transparent. Nothing. I mean, what we talked

098about that day was these aren't definite scenarios. That's what you told me. So, I feel like the community also needs to see that side that although you're displaying these scenarios, they're not definite options moving forward. Correct. >> Correct. >> Okay. So, I just feel like um you know, parents, everybody needs to know that that this is not just a three option scenario for for our kids and there are other options and we need to talk as a community to try to to preserve the reputation of Philipsburg and like the school district and the education that our our children are working so hard to obtain. And um like I said, I just I just want there to be um transparency for parents, everybody to know that these are just not set in stone options. Just these

099three that we're seeing on the screen because if I can remember correctly, there are multiple beyond that as well. >> We're so even with tonight's presentation, this is where we are in October. We've got a long way till we get to spring. Right here, here's three options in each of those buildings. >> Okay. So there are other options aside from those three options. >> I see only the options at this point that we talked about. We're still continuing to dig into being able to put in the long hours here to be able to provide more options. We just it just takes old time >> and they're not necessarily options. They're just scenarios. >> Okay. >> And more scenarios can be created work through this. Still a moving target. >> Okay. I just feel like the

100information that's being provided is here are the three scenarios and it's not discussed with any parents or the community. These are other options. And so as a mom, a community member and a taxpayer, I am concerned for my kids and the teachers that have mortgages. They, you know, they this is their livelihood and they chose to work in this school district. to to make it their livelihood. So, I just feel like seeing this terrifying information is not transparent either. I know that you have to have three scenarios, but it's just scary to look at sitting here and looking at these three scenarios and it seems like there's no budget. It's like we have to have a decision made in November for this December thing. And it's just like a lot for everybody sitting here to

101take in when there could be 10 more options sitting behind that. Okay. Yeah. And I And the other thing is is I know this is not just the school board. It's not it doesn't just fall. It goes back 10 years. And I understand that and I don't want to dwell on the past because we want to move forward. We want what's best for our kids. We want to preserve the reputation of Philipsburg, but it is a privilege to have our kids enrolled in Philipsburg area school district. >> Thank you. >> Any others? >> Can I just ask a question really quick without coming back down? She just asked about the three scenarios right now and you guys haven't discussed any further scenarios. Is Oola closing down one of the possible scenarios? >> I think it's

102safe to say on that one that is not a scenario. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. [clears throat] >> Back to the agenda. Thanks for everybody's input. Appreciate it. Uh we do have a consent agenda. Uh anything we need to do on a roll call. >> You want to >> we need to do See the best one. Motion to accept amendment. General. >> Okay, we are going to pull C3 to do separately. Linda, did you want to pull one? >> Yeah. K U four. >> What was it? >> Or K3. K3. >> K3. >> C3 and K3. A3 and C4 will be pulled for roll call votes C3 C3 and K3 roll call votes roll. >> Okay. uh need a motion to approve a consent agenda with the exception of polling C3. We'll do separately

103and K3. >> Doing separately. I need a motion, please. >> Motion. >> We have a motion and a second. >> Second. >> We have a second. >> Roll call vote on consent agenda. >> Mrs. Dane Shaw, >> yes. >> Dr. Gary, >> yes. >> Mrs. Bush. >> Yes. >> Mr. Jeff. Mrs. Lamb. >> Mr. Werta. >> Yes. >> Mr. Banker. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Best. >> Yes. Mr. Wood. >> Yes. >> Okay. We're going to We pulled C3. Uh, Mr. Manari, could you read C3, please? Recognize the change in the amount. >> Yep. Motion to recognize change in the amount of general obligation to note series of 2025 to 1.508 million. >> That was our motion. Could I have a second, please? >> Second. >> Have a second. Need a roll call for C3, please.

104>> Dr. Bary, >> yes. >> Mrs. Bush, >> yes. >> Mr. Jeff, Mrs. Lamb, Mr. Manic, >> yes. Mr. Vancus, >> yes. >> Mrs. Dneski, >> yes. Mr. Wood, >> yes. >> Mrs. B, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> Then we had polls K3. >> Go ahead, Linda. [clears throat] Motion to accept the resignation of Todd Jeff as a member of the Psburg Oola area school district board of director effective immediately. >> I have a motion. Can I have a second? >> Second. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Bush. >> Yes. >> Mr. Jeff. >> Mrs. Lamb. >> Mr. [clears throat] Manertrice. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bis. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Zanski. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wood. >> Yes. >> This is By Shaw. Yes. >> And Dr. >> Yes. >> I just wanted this pulled

105separately because Mr. Jeff has spent several years on the school board and the board would like to thank him for his service and time. >> Thank you. Anything else to come before the board? >> Mr. Good morning. Um, at our current rate and with our fund balance, if we didn't change anything operationally, how many years do we have before we would be broke? If you don't have that answer now, um, if you could provide it to us for the next meeting, I think just to further cement the idea that our financial status right now, we just can't operate the same way. And you're talking without any catastrophes, boilers, roofs. >> Yeah. The pretend, you know, there's no roofs, HVAC, nothing. Um, obviously that's something that we need to keep in mind, but as is right

106now, no emergencies about how long we would have. >> Sounds like he's going to get that. Just to throw some numbers out though, if our deficit last year was 1.2, 2 1.3. We're operating this year in a negative 400 paper um deficit. You put those two numbers together, if we have a similar is to last year, um you're out of money. >> Anything else? Need a motion to adjurnn. >> Motion. >> Second. We have a second. All in favor? I