January 27, 2026 RTSD School Board Business Meeting

001ship school district's regular business meeting on Tuesday, January 27th, 2026. Um tonight, um Miss Dunn is traveling for business and has an excused absence. Call the meeting to order and stand for the pledge of allegiance, please. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [clears throat] >> Thank you. Next on the agenda is a report on executive session. The board met in executive session this evening, January 27th, to discuss potential legal matters. Next on the agenda, we'll have a report from our student. Thank you for coming out on this still snow day. >> Of course. >> Good evening, Rner School Board and community. It's so great to be back with all of

002you after a brief hiatus. So much has happened at the high school since I was last here in October. But before we get started, let me just say that the plowing in Radner district is top tier. And I think on behalf of not just the high school students, but of every Radner student, we all owe Dr. Bachelor a huge thank you for no school yesterday and a virtual school day for RHS. to travel back in time to November, which was a very busy time for the Rner High School. The SpeakUp Club hosted their annual event, which encourages Radner students, staff, parents, and community members to talk openly about crucial issues and topics. The club focuses on fostering safe spaces to express thoughts, and it was a resounding success. Our Black Student Union also hosted events

003in November which included their annual talent show which beautifully showcased culture and student voices and their Friendsgiving festive dinner. Rner Theater also put on a production of the Crucible which was pretty awesome and is really impressive because it was quite a difficult show. In honor of Veterans Day, we had a moving assembly that honored veterans, especially individuals who served in the forces who worked or slash still work or attended RER High School. We also had signing day in early November, which celebrated 14 senior student athletes who intend on furthering their academic and athletic futures after graduation. Speaking of sports, Raner girls soccer had an incredible season, making it all the way to states. We had two runners who qualified from our girls cross country teams to run at states. And girls tennis also had five

004varsity players who earned all central league honors and achievements. Delegates from Model Congress also went to Washington DC to pass bills at Princeton Model Congress. As for the month of December, the high school also had a lot going on. In collaborative efforts with many clubs, during a lunch and learn leading up to the very anticipated winter break, we had a multicultural holiday party where different members of clubs such as Latinx, Jewish student union, BSU, and Bible study club all came together to share food, games, and music to our diverse school community. In early December, Rner's Run for the Cure Club, which raises funds to help find a breast cancer cure, presented two checks. One for $4,000, which was for the Dream Crazy Foundation, which honors the life and legacy of Greta Erit, a beloved RHS

005field hockey coach. And they also presented another check for $20,000 presented to breastcancer.org. The Run for the Cure Club hosted their annual 5K in October, which raised a lot of the funds. Additionally, we welcomed some members from the class of 2025 to speak on a panel to our high school students about their college experience so far, and many pieces of helpful and useful advice was shared. We also had students audition and get selected for district chorus, four students, district, three students. District band, two students, and district orchestra, three students. And finally, hang in, hang in [laughter] there, news for this month. Early in January, January, we had our highQ team crush the opposing competition with a very special audience member, House Representative Lisa Barowski, supporting the team. Raner boys basketball had their annual uh alumni

006night, which welcomed past team members. And a member of Rner girls basketball, Nia Yao became one of just 13 Rner High School students in the history, including boys and girls, to accomplish scoring 1,000 points. Last Friday, the high school started out our 2026 midterms. [gasps] Before the township was covered in snow, Friday was reserved for science in the morning and world language in the afternoon with a 90-minute break in between exams. Tomorrow we will have the first slot reserved for math and then the afternoon makeups will take place. Thursday entails social studies in the morning and then as the same as Wednesday there will be makeups in the afternoon. It is safe to say that January is an anxious time for a lot of students but these exams prepare us for future endeavors which is

007very important. Speaking of future endeavors, we also got news that Rner High School is recognized for the 2025 AP honor role as a gold member. Wise words from Dr. Mack himself said, "This recognition, excuse [clears throat] me, this recognition reflects our commitment to expanding a strong collegegoing culture, increasing access to college credit, and preparing students for success beyond high school." That was a lot. Now you're all caught up on three months of high school updates. I will see you all next month with hopefully warmer weather and a little less snow, but a two-hour delay tomorrow never hurt anybody. >> Thank you very much. Um, next is our report from the superintendent. >> And that report was wonderful, but I can I can clearly let everyone know there is no plans for a two-hour delay tomorrow.

008[laughter] And while we're on the top, before I share my report, I just want to thank again our community for their patience and flexibility as we deal with the snow. Um, you know, as I said in one of my messages, we received more snow, uh, than some of our students have seen in their lifetime. Uh, we haven't had a storm like that. Um, I did get some questions about what really goes into those decisions, uh, and and even the decision today. And, uh, there are so many factors. I don't think people realize that, you know, besides our schools, we bus to 60 other schools besides just our school. Um, we also have staff over 600 staff that come from all over our region. Uh, and obviously what happens in our county, the decisions other districts

009make, um, our county offices being closed, all those things factor into any decision. So, I just want to thank everyone for their patience and so appreciative of the Radner uh Township road crews and our Rner Township staff who um worked since starting early early uh Sunday morning uh and and right through till uh late last evening and even through today um you know to prepare our buildings and our buses and and again appreciate everyone's patience. um super tan remarks. Also want to just share on our agenda tonight, we have a donor, anonymous donor for um the the postp prom and just how much we appreciate uh so many members of our community uh give to our school district in so many different ways and also give financially and these donations truly make a difference and

010just how appreciative we are as a district. Uh Martin Luther King Day of Service was another uh huge success. Uh it was feels like it was a while ago now because that was the previous storm. That wasn't the last storm, but we actually had uh snow that weekend as well that had us move the day of service an hour later. Um but our students, our staff uh people showed up showed up to give to help support u many different community uh outreach and it was really wonderful to see so many kids and so many staff there. And then we had a chance at our last board meeting. Um, but it was a a a quick meeting and I just wanted to officially again here at our our regular business meeting that we are so excited

011to welcome on board Dr. Schaefer and Mr. Brett Snell um who will be starting with us soon. Dr. Schaefer starts the beginning of March and I think Mr. Snell is uh in the next week I believe, right? >> February 17th. >> Oh, 17th. So two. So we're very excited to have them join our uh the Radner team. And then I want to just share for our whole community just to remind everyone and and those watching that we have uh a community meeting planned our building the new Ethan Elementary School. It's this week. Uh just a reminder that it'll be at 5:00 on Thursday, January 29th. Uh our topic tonight in our meeting is all about uh our main presentation is about the status of Ethan, but we also wanted to host a public meeting uh

012and invite some of especially our Ethan families, but everyone anyone in the district is invited to attend uh that meeting on Thursday at 5:00 where we could share an update on where we are on the the project and our next steps and then our upcoming events. Uh there's always so much happening in the district. And that concludes uh the superintendent's remarks for tonight. >> Thank you, Dr. Bachelor. Next is public comment, either live or recorded. Okay, seeing none, we'll move on to our presentation 701, review of Ethan Elementary Construction Bids. um with the administration along with representatives from Brelin Architecture and Site Logic will review the results of the recent bid opening for building the new Ethan Elementary School. As part of this discussion, recommendations regarding which bid alter alternates should be accepted will be

013presented. And with that, I will turn it over to Mr. Morris. >> All right. Thank you. Um yeah, so everything that you were um you just said was part of my opening line. So thank you. That cuts my time short, but that's okay because uh this evening we have uh Damen Spar and Walt Tac from Site Logic um our construction management firm as well as Steve Barren from Brlin Architecture um who has been the um designer of this building. So yes, tonight we're going to go over uh very exciting after years of conversations, evaluations, the decision- making and and hard work from the from the board, uh the administration, staff, our design team, and and various stakeholders. Um we're coming to um one of the the key milestones and one of the last steps in

014in building our our new elementary school, which is uh reviewing the bid opening that um took place. So, tonight we're going to go over um the results of that bid. Um who the apparent um responsive responsible low bidder is. Um we're going to review some of the alternates uh that were part of the bid package, answer any questions about those, make recommendations, and our goal um and hope for um this evening is to come back to you on February 3rd with that recommendation to award contracts. So, um, so without further ado, um, we do have a presentation. Um, and I'm going to hand it over to Steve Barren to start us off. >> Oh, okay. >> All right. So, the agenda is Good evening. My name is Steve Barren. I'm representing a large uh team

015of architects and engineers that are uh very excited. Um Julian, the project architect uh would, you know, he's uh he has other new things in his life that prevent him from being here. So I'm uh glad to represent the team um that is also excited to be at this point. So that's that's the new thing, right? Yes. Exactly. And um so as as as Ken mentioned um the intent is to come to the special board meeting in February with the intent to award contracts. So this is the u the animation of the new building and uh volume. Yeah. So, I'll I'll provide a little bit of narration as we approach the main entrance of the building. The uh canopy that stretches out from the entrance towards the car drop off on the left, the bus

016drop off on the right. That is the main uh gymnasium multi-purpose room volume in the in the background. We're transiting along the bus the car drop off and then looping around towards the backside twotory side of the building that looks out to the landscape. The playground is in the foreground. The tennis courts that exist and are being resurfaced. And this shows the the large expanse of open space around the building, including the large uh playground and the walking paths that take advantage of the landscape. And as we come downward in the view, we're looking at the courtyards between the classroom wings. And the glass at the back of those courtyards looks right into the heart of the circulation paths of the building. On our left is the library perched above the art room and that

017outdoor classroom there is visible connecting to one of those courtyards. The accessible path up to the upper level of the building and the um uh utility and boiler room support and access off the access road. some tiered walls that accommodate the slope of the site. The loading dock there tucked behind the multi-purpose room safely away from the pedestrian and vehicular areas. That's the bus loop in the teardrop shape for to allow for ample staging of buses and queuing. We just passed over the outdoor athletic field. Again, this LA of trees here separating the vehicular traffic, buses and cars and then heading again towards the main entrance of the building. And as we enter, we'll go right into the lobby and look out towards the landscape from the that area. This is the multi-purpose room, the

018library. A lot of exciting spaces in the building. us the cafeteria. All right. So again, very excited to be at this point and thank you for giving that your attention once again. Can I actually ask a question now? >> Sure. Um I I just love that animation and I was just wondering is that currently featured on our rtsd.org or website anywhere because I just think families researching our school district could really benefit from knowing about our plans. >> Good point. I It's It's on there, right? Yes. >> There we go. I think so. Escape [snorts] the other way. Click on that. >> Actually, I have a slightly different question. >> There we go. >> Um Steve Brlin, the um animation at the back. I I some aspects of that looked updated, mostly because I didn't

019remember seeing purple flowered trees before. But is that big apron in the back with the boiler room, is that what the new that's the updated configuration of that? >> Correct. Yes. And that that accommodates the ability to basically be able to turn around a firet truck back in that area. >> That's what that extra apron is for. >> Yes. There's a little bit of an extension there to provide a a a safer transit for >> You didn't have to move the retaining wall in order to achieve that, right? Because >> we did. Yes. it. We extended that apron out to form that T-shape. And it did it did uh require a little bit more grading and retainage in that area. >> Did that that happened before the land permit? >> No, it's part of the

020approval. >> Oh, that's what I'm saying. That that changed because I don't think we had seen that particular iteration before. What I actually noticed was the purple Yes. was the purple flowers in the trees. We we made a couple of those updates to try to accurately show the final design. >> And the final design, if I unless I didn't remember this from before, it does look like we're planning on using some brick and some stone. >> Yes. >> Is that a change? >> No, that the stone of the multi-purpose room, that accent has has been there for a while. >> Okay. Yeah. >> I didn't I Tonight was the first time I noticed that, but thank you. Okay. >> Yep. >> Can I ask something I should have asked probably a year and a half

021ago? But it just dawned on me when we watched this um coming in from the bus loop. Can you go back to the this >> um picture? >> I might be too. Yes, >> there. >> It's not very clear. >> That'll do. That will do to visualize what I'm going to ask. Did we talk about switching where the buses come in and put that in the front on the leftand side in front of the building where the buses loop so that the students who are coming on the buses are looping around and the parent drop off is on the right hand side rather than having the buses where the majority of the students are coming in. It looks like they have to walk the furthest like they're furthest removed from the building. Why did we

022Why do we have it that way? I And I'm sorry. I'm This is the 11th hour, but it was just when we were zooming in watching the buses and I'm thinking we've got five buses, six buses lined up there. Those kids are going to be walking all the way there. Where's the this there's this whole circular part on the left hand side that we could use for all the buses? >> Sure. Yeah, good question. Um we uh back in the schematic design phase, yes, we looked at several options for um for how to configure the site. In very practical terms, the number of cars vastly exceed the number of buses. And so the opportunity one one of the one of the key concerns at in the early stages of design was recognizing the congestion that

023occurs on the existing campus and wanting to provide more queuing space um larger a better separation between cars and buses. And so you really can see here the the proportion of curb pullup space for the cars relative to the buses. And and I would add that yes um for those buses that in this view are pictured all the way around um towards the exit of the teardrop. >> Um they they they may not be all the way out there in in in real life so to speak. the all all of those buses could really fit around um closer to the building and and immediately opposite that will be some cars that will be dropping off in that area and essentially have the same uh distance to traverse. Um but yes, the the the practical answer

024is really just uh accommodating the the much larger number of cars that serve the building versus >> So this may be I think this is wishful thinking on my part, but >> it seems to me if we prioritize the buses and make that the priority, I would hope more people would not drive out with their own cars since they're getting provided free transportation for their children to school. Um, so if we did that, do you think we could or is this just a dream? Could we encourage people not to drive their individual cars all the way over all around the township? >> Probably the architect isn't the best one to answer that. >> I was actually the architect's answer for that. >> Well, as a parent, I thought, you know, we're paying big bucks for

025that yellow bus to come by. I think you should use it. And so >> I I'll just I I mean yes I think we can talk about um you know in our communications department doing something to just encourage people and remind people that we have the buses and um I can say that our afterchool activities bus has been a hit at the high school. Um so we do have kids using the buses and uh but we can certainly do more to encourage people to ride our buses. >> I know we switched it back and forth at RER Elementary. First we had so we do have the buses lined up right in front but at one point they were going to switch it because there were so many people driving their cars and and then [clears

026throat] they decided no the priority should be the buses because that's the majority of the students or should be and so if we make it efficient for the students on the buses hopefully it'll encourage people. So to me the visual was oh drive your drive your student yourself you're going to get this huge lane and the buses are off on the side. So it just struck me when we came flying in just to to ask that again. But >> and and I will also say that some of that design I remember early on there was discussions about uh you know as the kids arrive coming off the bus sometimes you know having kids gather either in the multi-purpose room or the cafeteria which are right there off of the bus loop. So that was also

027besides the what what uh Mr. Barren had shared. There was also I remember some of the conversations with the principal and the staff about you know as kids enter the building where do those kids go. >> So um just a quick question for me. So I love the rendering. I think the visualization is very powerful and it looks great. Um one question I had was when I'm walking through Eython currently the topography is quite different from the rendering. So, I'm just trying to get a sense as to how much cubic tons of earth are we anticipating moving because that seems to be very different from what it is today. >> Yes. Yes. There there's substantial earthwork on the site. That that's indeed true. The um the air the existing building sits roughly in the area

028of the parking lot, the existing parking lot. So, the building wraps around the existing building. So if um and some of some of the images um that are available on the website will show that relationship between the existing building and the new. >> Yeah. And and the related question is is partly that in that area there's you know potentially large stones like for example if you see you know the um Bidenar Hills or something like that I mean they have these large stones out there. Do we have any sense beforehand of whether those sort of things are there or not that could, you know, potentially deter things from the construction, >> you know, any sort of site type thing or or or right, >> you know, whether it's radar or son or whatever it is.

029>> Well, yes, there were substantial geotechnical investigation as as part of it. Um, what what I'll what I'll and I'll let uh Damian speak to the the bidding strategy involved with rock removal, but I'll also say that that the building design takes advantage of that sloped topography. That's how we get the the upper level entrance and then the twostory. Um, so that the the the building has is is its design reflects that reality of the topography and it really gives us the opportunity for that twostory um classroom wing to have uh access to the what is essentially the lower lower side of the site. So it really the the it's a challenge but at the same time it's an opportunity architecturally that uh has created some some very nice um effect with the engagement of

030the landscape. So uh unclassified rock. >> Good evening. I'm Damian Spar with Site Logic and part of the answer to that is that when we bid these projects, we either call them unclassified or classified for excavation. If excavation is classified, it means we tell you where everything is and it and you bid it that way and if something deviates from that, we pay you as a contractor. Unclassified means we've given you all the reports. You interpolate and extrapolate that as you need and you're responsible for all of it. So this is been bid as unclassified. To that end, we're bringing in and Mr. Tax just told gave me the figure 16,000 >> 6 I thought it was a lot before 60,000 cubic yards of fill for this site. The last project you did you were

031hauling off. This project we're keeping here. So part of what's happening is to fill in where the retaining walls are to get the grade that way. And to your point, we're leveling out by hauling on. >> Can I just add to that, Mr. Lee? Back, oh my gosh, what is the timeline? Was that about a year and a half ago now? a year. We um as part that was kind of one of the stubbling blocks we we encountered when we did engage the site work and we came up with um that's when we saw a sizable increase in the budget and so it's something we you know it's been accounted for in the last year in terms of planning. So, we have been meeting for I I'm going I'm going on two years, I think.

032I'm not sure if that's accurate, but we have been planning, professionals, administration, and the board in the community to get bids in. We have been thoughtful about design choices. We have been thoughtful about bid strategies. We talked about when to go out for bid. We talked about all sorts of ways to to garner good bidder participation and I was one of the most excited people in the room when I saw that we had the number of bids that we had on bid day. That started off with general construction. What we're going to do is we're going to work our way through all of the bid packages in Pennsylvania. When we build new buildings for school districts and public works, we have to do public bid which design which is design bid and build. We have

033to abide by the separations act of 1973 which says we have at least four prime contracts. In this case we have an extra prime contract or two in roofing and fire protection. I think we have six. Is that right? So, we looked to have a lot of biders and that's what we expect and that's we got at the end of all this and and I'm not waiting till the end for the reveal and a lot of you know this. The bids came in very close to and just under our estimate. So, there was a lot of patience and as Mrs. Duffy just said there was an impact to the estimate against an earlier budget when we looked at the site work when the building was cited said you know this is going to cost more

034money. How do we work it out? How do we modify the building and make thoughtful design choices so that we can push the number down and we had to wait till bidday to see what was real. Just so happens that what was real on bidday is very close to our cost expectation. Starting with general construction, you can see we have seven biders. I don't remember the last time I saw seven biders in general construction for a job this size. It's been a while and it was great to see here. The lowest responsible bidder at this time is Burough Construction. The alternates you see down the left side in this case are almost entirely there for us to manage the budget. We have designed a building and gone through iterations to get to an expected cost

035which we're close to and said if we need to take some of these alternates or maybe we want something slightly different we have them there to manage our costs against an expected budget. So reducing the floor level of finishes is um one through three. So the the administration and the professional team are not recommending that we're going to reduce anything for the design expectation that we had previously. Whether that's changing the floors in the cafeteria, the classrooms from um really what what's specified to something lesser. We gave some brick and sill options which were not inclined to take. We deleted some pathway in case we didn't want to take that, but we really like the pathway where it was. We looked at segmental block walls. We looked at reducing the height of wall tiles in

036toilet rooms. We looked at cement fiber panels. And we even looked at hydro seating the playfield instead of I think we have turf on the play saw on the playfield. So we looked at all those things and they were really there in this case in the case of this bid package. They were there for us to be able to choose things if we wanted to spend less. As it turns out, bless you, the building that we designed and wanted is costing us slightly less than our last cost expectation. That's not to say that these buildings, you know, we should say harrah and and it's great. I mean, buildings cost a lot of money. takes a lot of planning, but we're getting what we want at a slightly better deal than we expected. >> Could you

037just clarify what you're saying? These alternates, are they included in that top bid or are they not >> the For example, if you take um see where it says pre-cut pre-cast sills um which is $6,000, the sills that we have in are stone sills. They're natural stone. If we wanted to take pre-cast sills, we wouldn't have stone. We'd put pre-cast in and we would get $6,000 back. We in in our conversation said we really would like to keep those natural stone cells. But we're going to have an alternate in case we want to save some money somewhere. >> All right. So we could add these all up and say we want to save this and we could bring that 36 million down by this entire amount. >> You could >> if we wanted to those

038are all included in it. >> You could I think they're all se the brick ones are not of course the brick ones is an ad. So you wouldn't do that. You could take the deducts, add them together, and reduce the cost of the project if you wanted to deviate from the design that we all saw. That's correct. >> Okay. >> And if we took all of them, I I believe roughly if we want to reduce it more, we're talking about 600,000. What's that? Do you know roughly off the top of your head? >> I don't know that off the top of my head. >> I mean, just add it. It's roughly >> Yeah, it's about 600,000. >> Yeah, it's probably correct. >> That's about So, if we want Yes, >> I I do have a

039follow-up question, Lydia. Was that your only question about that? Only just because I have a slight followup about the about the alternates. >> Can I ask my quick question about the alternates? Do you mind? So, the only I I understood everything you said. Thank you. Um, I I do believe that what this says is we're going with the torato floor and you needed to put in the options for the HDT and for the instance for the first three in case the base bit had been too so high that we couldn't do Torzo. Yes, people are shaking their head. >> That's correct. >> They're nodding their head and agreeing with me. My question for you is what kind of for alternate uh 6B, what kind of brick are we going with that we didn't go for

040the Glengary alternate? And what what are we doing instead of fiber cement panels? I'm just curious what those two things I I understand what everything else was. What were those two things that we're going with and we're not doing these are these these are upgrades I assume because they would have been >> not necessarily. Oh, >> so so a good good question though. So the there are other types of brick and it it was it what we wanted to do again for the purposes of introducing healthy competition into the project. We wanted to have a couple of very similar brick that would um meet the same aesthetic and performance requirements. We the the brick that was the base bid that wasn't is included in the topline number. that's the brick we like the best. If

041it turned out that it was helpful and and as as Damon explained, if we needed to reduce the cost because the bids came in high, these were options to do so or in this case to in offer some competition. In the case of the fiber cement, yes, that is a substitute. So that's a substitute for a different material from the metal panels that are on uh that are in the base design. Now if you if you look across in some cases that's a positive number it would cost more in some cases it's a deduct cost less. So that was again just an option that if um it turned out that for some reason the metal panels were expensive. This was a this it it is I believe a despite the the numbers that are there

042I believe from a performance standpoint it's not it's not um as as longived of a of a material. So again not a not certainly not a recommendation to add cost and secondly not a recommendation as a substitute. >> Okay thank you. Any other questions on the general construction bid package? >> The package itself? >> Yes. >> You're just going to go through the packages? >> I was going to go through all of them. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. And I would be happy to talk a little bit more about what we've been doing since we've received bids and take some questions on those if we want to focus on bid packages. >> I just have one quick question on the GC before you. [clears throat] You mentioned that you have seen this number of GC

043bids. >> I have not seen seven on a project this size in a long, long time. That's right. >> What makes this project, I assume, more attractive? >> It's brand new. We're bidding the job in the beginning of the year when contractors are trying to um really get business on their books. And I think that there was also a healthy subcontractor um desire to bid the project which made it easier for general construction contractors to bid. And going back over time, we we'd always been talking about bid at a certain time of the year and that because it was brand new, it was likely to garner good biddership. And I think those are the things that contributed most. Fire protection is the second bid package and it's much simpler because there are no alternates. The

044lowest responsible bidder at this time is Guy M Cooper and they are also a a uh company that we all have had good experience with. Similarly, plumbing has no alternates and the lowest responsible bidder now is vision. And you can see um back on fire protection, the the bids were not quite as tightly grouped together, but you can start to see here with some of the low bidders on mechanical um that the market is really telling you that this is the value of the work. I'm sorry. on plumbing that this is the value of the work because you can see those bids are really tightly grouped. Again, Vision is a is a company that um the professionals have worked with to to good end. HVAC has several alternates and these alternates really were put there

045in in total for competition. So you can see that those alternates vary across. Some are some are ads, some are dedux. It depends on the relationships between the suppliers and the mechanical contractors as to how that all works and it's really quite its own world. In this case, um, Burough Construction is the lowest responsible bidder at this time. And because all of those are alternates, alternate manufacturers, um, and alternate, uh, those V where it says VFD at the bottom, that's variable frequency drive. So if you have a big motor, it's effectively a dimmer switch for a very big motor. So you can see here all those were additive and none of those are recommended for taking. Yes, ma'am. >> Just enlight these are some pretty significant swings. >> They are Can you add a little

046clarity there? I mean, like you said, I mean, we didn't see that in the >> I can explain it. I'm not sure that it'll bring clarity, though. So, what what happens is each vendor that's a manufacturer or manufacturers rep has a different type of relationship with each one of these contractors. Some get preferred pricing, some get the opposite of preferred pricing. They get gouged. So, where you see no [clears throat] bid, it may be that they had no bid. It may be that they got some ridiculous number. You'll see um well, there's a number at North Bay. They [clears throat] wanted $2 million more for an alternate. They clearly don't want to perform that work. You'll start to see those numbers make some sense when the contractors are happy with performing them and they don't

047care either way. Some of these mechanical contractors don't like to work with a specific manufacturer and it's [snorts] reflected in the prices. So, I can tell you that's why it happens, but I can't I can't give you a whole lot more. >> So, >> because I don't live in that world. >> This is a situation, this is a this is a great example [clears throat] to me of what I think you were trying to say about creating >> competition. Mhm. >> Um, so for instance with as it relates to HVAC, if for whatever reason we just were a district that man, we like our Johnson Controls. And by the way, I say that as that is the only company name on here that I recognize. If it was Honeywell, I would have said Honeywell because

048it's just the name I know. But I know the name Johnson Controls. I've heard it. So, if we just really wanted to go with Johnson Controls, it would it would preclude using two of these companies. Do we get to >> do we get [clears throat] to say >> Yeah, we really wanted to use I mean, let me let me pick a different brand. Yeah, we really wanted to use Addison. And you know, that one also was one that didn't get didn't happen to get a bid from one company, but on another company, if we went with Addison, we'd save a half a million dollars. I mean, what if we went with one of the alternates? It could then make a different company the low bidder. Is that am I reading this correctly? >> I would

049want to I would want to Well, there's two two questions here, though. >> Yeah. Damian [clears throat] knows I multi-step questions. If they if they the first question is if they didn't provide a bid and you want the alternate can you just say well you didn't provide a bid therefore >> because there is a difference between zero and no bid. So I would have to talk to Justin about that. I would expect that that could be challenged. However, theoretically you could say I really want Johnson control. >> You just clarify Justin is the lawyer. >> I'm sorry. Thank you. A little too vernacular there. We could talk [clears throat] to special construction counsel >> responsible a little bit. >> Yes. And and and de and determine whether that was responsible. I think that you would

050probably be encouraged to award and negotiate that or find a different way to buy it. What what would happen in that case if you were to do it? you would end up paying the additional money to go up to the next highest bidder plus the value of the alternate >> or minus the value of the alternate in the case. So now let me just use alternate manufacturer RTU the alternate 1C where you could save 750,000 if we went with that particular manufacturer uh under JBM. I don't I don't know any of these. I'm just saying I'm looking >> $750,000 won't make them low though. still want to make the move. >> I I I understand that. I'm trying to understand your process [clears throat] of competition that this is an example of you and and

051then you answered my other question which is basically we'd have to ask Justin the the issue of selecting a a vendor if you happen to want to use an alternate for which they supplied no bid which is different than a zero bid that I understood. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. Could I ask a question? Um, is Dolan Mechanical in any relation to one of our employees with the last name? >> Not the Not that I'm aware of by any stretch. No. >> Okay. >> I I did not do a genealogical search on that one, but I don't believe so. No. >> Um, just so just comment just follow up on what Miss Stern was saying. So right now whilst cost is important um I just wanted us to maybe take a step back because

052it's just one dimension. So in my framework I usually like to think of it like more like optimizing utility function. >> So there are other aspects for example durability and reliability >> in addition to cost. So, do you have any sort of comments or graphs that can sort of help us decide, oh, this is the combination that would work best for us because it'll last an extra 5 10 years or it's 90% reliable versus these other parts that may be 60% reliable. So, I just wanted to, you know, maybe change the framework a little bit. >> Sure. >> Yes, I do have comments for that. In the case of manufacturers, the manufacturers that were designed into the project are the ones that the district administration that's represented in working with the designers, the design team,

053the engineers, etc. all feel are going to provide that best solution in terms of a combination of cost, longevity, good service and all that. So, the preferred is there. If we were talking about taking one of these, then I would want to show you some of those differences because I would be expecting that we might sacrifice something and hoping we weren't. In the case of what's been designed, we have designed for in the in the case of the general contractor, the Turzo floors. It's as durable as it gets. And so we've we started with what was really good. In the case of the roofing, we had a roofing that system that was extraordinarily good and we said, you know, for a million dollars, we can do a little bit better because we think that we

054can use that money in a better way elsewhere. So, yes, thank you for asking that. and and that that's life cycle cost, it's experience, it's um really how well the manufacturers service the area and really a lot of input from the engineers and the end users. >> Okay. So, just to kind of reframe or rephrase just to make sure I understood you clearly. So, the way that it's structured now, the base bid really is optimized. >> Correct. But if we start thinking about substituting and making alternatives, I'm suggesting that we step back and don't focus too much on the money and maybe like or or the savings inherent savings and maybe you can help us quantify like well what about all these other dimensions how how would they change and presumably they potentially could degrade

055or whatever. I think that would be helpful. Hopefully that that makes sense, right? So like if we you know we focus like oh you know here's a big savings here >> but then that changes kind of the dynamics of things. >> Mhm. >> And so you know how much you know uh breakdown potential breakdown with that increase from a probabilistic perspective. >> Sure. >> So again so just trying to like throw out some ideas so that we can kind of like get away a little bit from just focusing on just the money. That's all >> in in the case of these bids when you look at all of those deductive alternates. If you take them all and you don't take any of the ads, that contractor is still the low bidder even if even if

056you took all of the second low biders deductive alternates. [clears throat] So because we've already optimized, there is no path where saving money makes sense with that offset. In the case of mechanical, you have all ads. So there's there's there's no savings and there's no benefit to the change. I don't mean to oversimplify because everything everything you said is right on but the way the bids came in it it by virtue of that those numbers it was quite simple for us. >> So Damian let me just we would be having a different conversation tonight had the bids put us over budget. That's that's where the that's where the >> the deeper conversations about the alternates would be coming into play. there there was an element of the alternates if I'm understanding you correctly that was

057meant to to create a bit of market competition and give us some flexibility but at the end of the day >> because the bids themselves are under what we budgeted we're it's a different >> the context for the alternates is is different whereas we could have been sitting here today going folks we need to figure out $2 million in alternate in alternate deductions every we can live with. >> And when I say we, I mean the construction people and the professionals who knew who you already knew what you put into the building as the base, the finishes. I was I was curious what the fiber panels were like or what did we plan or I was curious what the brick was that there was some alternate that could have been higher because I went with

058the working assumption that you guys put in the highest quality things that um to your point already took into account life cycle best value for the money. I mean like that I've done enough projects with Steve Barren to know that he knows that's how we we want to build a building that brings us value. I do want to acknowledge Steve and Damian knew well but Steve's been here quite a long time that you know he knows that we want a quality building >> and that's why the Tora was so like kind of nerve-wracking for me because I knew Torata was the >> to say the correct flooring. I knew it was the one that you all would say is the long the one that's going to last us the longest, hold up the best and

059whatever. And yet we could have been in a situation tonight saying folks we just can't afford it. it. We went over budget on our the bid packages were higher than we than than we thought. Um that would have been a difficult and then by the way we could have been in a situation where we could have taken every bid alternate and still been over like we could have been in a really bad position. Yes. And been so far over budget [clears throat] with the bid packages that even all the alternates wasn't going to get us the the the >> enough under Act 34 to feel comfortable to move forward. which is why sometimes districts reject bids and start over. And I mean, you did tell us, Dr. Bachelor, that that was these were all possibilities.

060So, this is all in the context of the things I'm going to say a little later. In the context of the things I'm going to say a little later, I this is I do know that these are this was a really good bid day for us and thank you. But that's that all that stuff was inherently built in, but it was a great point to bring up, Tom. Thanks. >> Thank you. The last bid package before we get to the last sheet and the last sheet will show roofing is electric. And the again you see here there are options for other manufacturers. In this case, the options for um those alternates are all additive and we again had designed in what our first choice was and what was optimized. So, we're recommending the base bid

061is accepted for this particular contractor, in which case it's cedar. Now, I do have a question about our did [clears throat] our base bid include the option for down the road potentially bringing in solar panels to the I that did make it into >> we had um we have a conduit >> that we Yeah, I know that was a lot of conversation about that. So, okay, great. Thank you. >> Thank you for asking that. >> So, this summarizes everything, but I first want to call your attention to roofing. Um that roofing uh was is done with cooperative purchase and we were able to work with that roofer and really look at one a budget and we we set our budget before we started talking to that roofer and we said we know what roofing system

062we want. We know a very good roofer that does that through cooperative purchase and we know what it should cost. So when we start to intersect all those things, we were able to work with David Mains and you can see that um when you start to take their the the deduct alternate from their base bid, they get very close to the number we had estimated and then we're adding that um asphalt sheet on top during construction to protect the roof as what I will call an exceptionally good construction practice. So David Means is shown there too [clears throat] with the only alternates that that we're recommending as a professional team. So when you downtotal everything you can see that the construction document estimate with soft cost. So the construction cost was 64,325. The soft cost

063was 12 million 075. The total 77,867 was what our construction document estimate was and what we stood here I believe in November and reviewed. Our base bids came in very close to but just under that number at 77,147. And by the time we've taken those deductive alternates, you can see we're down at 76 357 358,000, which is approximately a million and a half under our estimate that we showed in November. >> So, this is a really helpful thing. It's nice to see that how close the construction documents are to the base bids. I mean, but it is noticeable that the electric contract is much lower. Are there any red flags for you there? I mean, that's a 25% That's 25% lower than you estimated. So, is there something they that we're I don't want to

064surprise there. Let me just say that. And it's that's a pretty huge swing from what you guys were spot on. I mean, the roofing thing is a little bit off, but Well, actually, it's more than a little bit off, but roofing and electrical. What What do you think went on with >> a couple things? We have been catching up to inflation for a while. Our estimates have lagged behind inflation. So bids were coming in higher than estimates from sometime after COVID for quite a while. Our estimates finally caught up to reality and our we've started to see bids coming under at and under our estimates for electrical and mechanical too, but electrical is noticeable. That kind of extended. So our estimating and we've talked about this internally because we have had other projects where we

065had an estimate for our our electrical and the bids were lower. So it is because our estimates in part it's because our estimates are still getting back down to where the reality of electrical construction is now because we had trended them up for so long because of what we've seen in the marketplace. So part of that is us. If you look at the difference between Cedar and Shipsy there, it's $500,000. So that's about 8% 7 and a half% or something like that. And BSI Electrical was close to that and Burough Electrical is close to that. So what you're seeing is Cedar Electric is was aggressive and just slightly under another group that was right in the market. The problem was that our estimate was is still not settled down to where [clears throat] the market

066is. And like I said, Mrs. Stern, we've seen that in some other estimates and we actually talked about that yesterday. >> And what's in the previously bid packages that it's $800,000 over? Those were um tree removal, temporary uh playground and demolition and temporary HVAC. >> But I I thought that that stuff was already included in our bit in our estimates for construction. >> It was it's it's in both columns. >> Okay. Where is it in both columns? That would be >> see the construction document estimate. >> Yep. >> And then the base bid. >> Yes. It's It's in both. >> No, no, no. But it's $800,000 lower in the construction document estimate versus the base bid. >> I think that the What was the What did we take out of the construction document estimate? tree.

067>> No, it was >> I'll I'll be able to get you a better answer to that, but we had some money in the in the construction document estimate that then got moved um to base bids and I'll clarify that for you and make sure that's correct. >> Okay, great. Thank you. >> Thank you for that question. >> So, I have a I'm trying to follow the bouncing ball question. I was not at the bid opening, but I heard through the communication channels that [clears throat] everybody's delighted because the bids came in 3 million under what I thought was roughly around 75 million. So, I'm thinking you're going to present something at 72 million to us. So I don't want to burst anybody's bubble, but where is this where this terminology that these bids came in

068three million lower? >> I can help you with that question. >> We expected this. Okay. >> The qu part of it was I misadded by a million dollars when we were under because I had I had something reversed. Okay, that that was one. two, we had a million-doll flip with what was read by an apparent low bidder. I'll show you this. The apparent low bidder at the time, based on reading the numbers, was Shipsy. The number that was written was exactly $1 million less. The bid documents say explicitly that the written number of dollars governs over the numerical number of dollars. So ships actually actual bid which we confirmed was 7.9 million not 6.9. So what was read at the time was a million dollars lower. So that was part of it. But I I

069I actually think you're if I could just jump in. I think Miss Solomon's question is more what was our the last time we shared with the board the estimate and I think you what I heard in your question was you thought the estimate was at 75 million. >> No, he's actually answering a huge part of my question because I heard through the communication channels you $3 million lower and I'm like no we're not. Um so >> you've answered two parts to it. What's the third part? >> So the third part is the playground equipment that is shown there at 516. We didn't have in that number. So I wasn't adding that in. You see where the playground equipment purchased is three lines up from the bottom. We're buying that through uh cooperative purchase. And that

070was not in my calculation. So, just to help you out, there was I was saying $3 million. The the bid flipped by a million dollars on the electrical that I just explained and it was $500,000 in there for playground equipment. That wasn't in my calculation. When you take that 1.5 and the 1.5 that we're under right now, they catch your three. I was a little excited on bid day, I will tell you. >> Okay, so now back to Susan's question. So these things that we did earlier, those are all under this 1.9 previously bid package >> previous bid package. I'm I'm going to examine that because I want to make sure >> that number is accurate >> because I thought that that stuff and and then now to what Dr. Bachelor said. I thought we

071were still hovering around 75 million, which I thought was exorbitant. I've been saying that. >> So, we're we're not below. I was I thought you were going to say here we are at 72 million. >> Well, in November, because I checked to make sure that I had the right figure, this was the project estimate that we showed the board. And I wish it was 72, too. >> Well, we actually really wish I wish it were 52. If we're going to wish, >> if we're going to wish, we might as well wish big. >> There was some point in time when we made a decision based on exactly that. Just pulling that out there. Are there any other questions about bid packages recommendations on alternates before we talk about everything else? Yes sir. >> Um so

072one thing just a comment the electrical I mean I feel reasonably [clears throat] confident right because >> five of the bids came within 80 8% of each other. >> So um I think your explanation makes a lot of sense. Uh I have a so my apologies um because I'm kind of catching up and I'm still working in my first year as a board member but soft cost seems to be like about a 20% load. >> So I'm just trying to understand that. I mean is that just a like what what's contemplated in soft costs? Soft costs are design fees, construction manager fees, the movable furnishings, fixtures, and equipment, all the technology, all of the permits, um the testing agency, which we'll be bringing to the board. We got numbers in on that. Any miscellaneous costs

073that are not construction related. And if that's hovering around 20%, that's actually about right where it should be for a building of this size. >> Also, >> oh, and our and our construction contingencies in there, too, which is to about a million dollars, a little higher than that. >> Yeah. >> So, Damian, just to follow up, Tom, so one thing that would be helpful, I think, as a uh just a refresher document is that kind of >> soft cross. Well, the the the the to the breaking it all down of like, you know, this is what we estimated the building would cost and the soft cost and the contingency and like that's where we got to the 77 million. >> We can we'll show you that for the construction document estimate which we had for

074November and then we'll show you the current which is in the the final column. >> I thought I saw a breakdown of those soft costs at one point. >> Yes, you did. itemized. So maybe it would be helpful. >> Yes. >> To bring that >> that will help. That will help a lot. You'll see all there's 20 to 30 line items in there. >> Yeah. No, I appreciate that. And and then so your explanation basically is there are a lot of um associated costs that are basically fixed percentages if you want. >> Yes. Peritting >> and and necessary. Yes. In order for you to get there except for perhaps a contingency which makes sense as well. It's just that euphemistically like you know you look at soft cost like oh it's kind of like a

075fudge factor >> which there's there there's a there's a bit of a fudge factor within there that's the contingency. >> Yes. >> The contingency you have to look at not as a savings account but as a checkbook >> y >> because it's budgeted to spend. >> I don't want to spend it. >> And can you remind me what percentage that is of the budget? I don't know that I can tell you what the percentage is right off hand, but I can tell you it's it's a little bit over a million dollars, which is pretty normal for a new building of of the size. It's not >> Doesn't sound low. It's no >> Lydia, just to just to circle back to Damen, I'm just looking at the October 14th uh 2025 facilities committee meeting and that

076the site logic construction document estimate on that date was the 7786659 >> in >> that in October of 25. >> I think we I feel like we presented >> it was back when we were talking about the bats because we had to we had to do something >> the bats. So the change orders are they in the soft costs? Is there an estimate of the change orders? >> There is a there is a fund called a contingency for a construction contingency fund. That's what's just over a million dollars. That is what we fund change orders from. >> Okay. So >> you think the change orders won't exceed a million dollars at this point is what you are anticipating. Our judgment is that that level of contingency is appropriate, particularly given that we're not hauling soil

077off site, but keeping it on site and that we have a new building. So there are places for unforeseen conditions and there are places, you know, there are places of risk, but they're not extraordinary because we've looked at the site in a lot of different ways and we're not taking things off the site and finding places to dispose of them. So that's the case. Contingency is not necessarily for a a a an owner of a building to say, you know what, I want to make this change. If you if you do that, you have to understand you either have to have the money and contingency to do it or you have to fund that from somewhere else. I have had projects where I have added a planetarium by a change order. that was never contemplated

078in those contingency costs. So if you have owner changes, I've had owners that wanted to rearrange their entire IT and make it more robust. If you have changes like that that are owner driven, that's not what we budget that for. We b we budget it for the unforeseen and and those other types of things in this type of procurement method. >> And what's our delta to act 34? >> [sighs] >> I think our delta when we were coming into this was about a million dollars. Was it was it in that range? >> That's a million. So that includes the cont over the contingency. We have an a million of contingency then a million buffer. >> Well, you have you have the million of contingency and think of that separately. You have a million buffer in

079act 34. Then we were lower in building costs. Not we don't think site and building costs. So I think that that is probably more like a two to$ two and a half million dollar buffer. The general contractor and potentially the electrician have to come in and give us the split between site work and building. And after they do that, we'll know what that final is. But the buffer is going to be more than the contingency. And and again from the October meeting just because it was easy to pull it up it our at the October meeting which referenced the August uh construction doc document estimate we have a project contingency of 1.45 million. >> So >> see I want it to be less because I want to spend less money. >> No I think you're

080right. Although I do recall there was a point in time where we lowered the contingency on this to make the construction, you know, the act 34 numbers work. [snorts] And I do remember that you all said part of the the thought behind that was with new construction, you know, we should have fewer we should have fewer surprises, not please find some wood. um you know but it's it's a it's a tight on a percentage basis it's quite a bit less percentage-wise than we had as a contingency up at the high school but the high school you know I know renovation work is its own its own challenge um >> yeah if this were renovation you would see a higher percentage for sure >> exactly yeah I guess that was that was going to be >>

081we do now Walt just made it said we have $ 1.5 million in contingency I don't want to keep standing near the contingency is going to keep going up. >> So you think that was going to be my question is that it strikes me to be a little bit close. I mean how are you feeling you know about what's your comfort level as to our act 34? >> Okay. >> Yes. Comfort level with that. No >> smaller than I I expected. >> It's larger than I expected. So I feel quite good about it. Remember, Act 34 issues are are change orders that happen to the building, not the site. The risk is in the site. If there's change orders in the building, we're going to talk to Mr. Barren because there shouldn't be. So that

082the change order amount in buildings is relatively small. The standard of care for that is like 2%. So if if you look at all that in the site 2% of a million or 2% of $50 million is a million dollars and we're are our limits way under that or is much greater our gap. >> Um is it okay to shift topics a little bit? Um so going back to our obligation to select not just the lowest bidder but the lowest responsible bidder. [snorts] Can you describe just for the benefit of our audience if we have any um kind of the scope of the research that you are doing into you know currently the lowest bidding contractors and kind of their histories you know their reputations um anything that might go toward our assessment of their

083respons you know >> uh you know how responsible you know they they are going to be yeah and I [clears throat] know I as I asked for this in writing Um but just if you could verbally kind of briefly describe the parameter of that research that you have done and we'll continue to do leading up to our vote on the bids. >> Yes, I'll be happy to do that and we will provide a response to you that explains to you these are the things that we were looking at. So in in any normal circumstance when biders put their bids in and we open bids, the professionals in the and anybody in the owner's company that has done construction will have a conversation. Have you seen this person that's apparent low bidder? Do you have experience

084with them? What is your experience? So there is a collective experience by the professional team with all of the apparent low biders. So that's the first thing and that that happens all over the place. If you have somebody that bids your job and you don't know who they are, it's a very different day than when you know who it is and and you understand some of their history. So that's point one. Point two is we had a contractor's qualification statement plus an addendum to that that was submitted with the bids. We did that and we purposefully said you better tell us the truth on this document because we are going to look into it and that that those are those words mean a lot in the contracting community. So folks that I I actually talked

085to I've talked to contractors that said, you know, I'm not I'm not sure that there's not something that would preclude me. I'm not bidding. So that action actually kept some folks out. We review that and we review it with what we know and what our experiences are. We review that also with your special construction council. We had a list of questions [cough and clears throat] that talked about experience in in Delaware County and public schools and all sorts of other things that we added to that that we've reviewed as well. So we have all of that data. Then when the low biders are actually acknowledged as as what we call apparent low biders, then we think about other things that we need to look at. For example, I look at safety modification um or experience

086modification ratios, AMRS, which is the insurance company's looking at contractors saying, "How safe are you? How dangerous is like?" And it's based on, you know, work workman's comp claims, etc. And I'm looking for a number less than one because that's good. Numbers higher than one are bad. I have actually started to look on the OSHA website just to understand some of the contractors and make sure that they don't have egregious situations. So we do all those things. Not sure I did that. We we do all those things so that we can make sure that we feel confident about the low bidders and saying they're not only apparent low biders but they're responsible low biders. And I will tell you, and th this is I'm saying this because I want everybody in the district to understand

087this, what was done with the administration and the board and the thoughtfulness that was put into how do we go about doing the best we can to get reputable and trustworthy prime contractors on this site. We worked a lot together in the boardroom, with the administration, with your council, and I'm really proud of what we've done. And I can tell you, you've done more than most communities do, and it's admirable, and I I appreciate what we were doing here. >> So, just to Yeah, just to follow up on what Miss La was saying. So, a lot of times the game, if you will, or the business model of general contractors is the subcontract things because that's where the cost savings is. Um, to what extent do you kind of examine the subcontractors, if if you

088can at all? Um, you know, with all these general contractors, I think that's a pretty big lever for them to pull potentially. >> It is. In public bidding in Pennsylvania, there is really not a lot of discussion that you're legally allowed to have and and that is had between when those bids come in. First of all, the bids come in and there are 48 hours. There's 48 hours and that's prescribed by the bid documents. If a contractor made a mistake, they can say, "Oh, I made a mistake. I need to please take my bid out." No, nobody did that. Even though one contractor had the wrong number written versus written in words versus numbers, nobody did that. So that's that's point one. After that, between when that 48 hours is up and the award ideally

089and and as contemplated by the way the legislation has been written and used, there's really not a conversation when the contractor and and this is similar for Department of General Services. I worked at the state capital for five years for for state government and in working at at that particular project. They get a list of subcontractors, but they don't necessarily have the ability to say you can't use that subcontractor unless the subcontractor has been debarred or has certain things in which case you can pull some of those levers. These contractors are aware of that and and they stay away from it. I maybe have seen that once or twice in my career. Very rare. Unfortunately, we don't get to dictate who the subcontractor is. We get the sub and and then we have to deal

090with it. So there'll there'll be places where we'll want to know, you know, who's the steel sub, who's the masonry sub, who is the site work subcontractor, and those those do not even if they were revealed to us, we do not have an action we can take against them. After award, if a subcontractor is problematic or something they have done something that is an action of debarment from the state etc. then actions can be taken according to the contract documents which basically says you have to get rid of the subcontractor because they've done these things and there has to be a foul and after that the bonding company's involved etc. Okay. So, >> can you talk Oh, go ahead, John. >> So, just to [cough] just kind of finish that thought then. So, it sounds

091like the process is very reactive in many ways in that like only when they've done something wrong, then you can take action. So, in order for us to potentially be more proactive, is there anything that you know you would suggest? for example, uh more on-site inspections, surprise inspections, things along those lines just to ensure that everything is going. >> So, it to some degree that's reactive as well. And I'll give you an example. Sometimes school districts engage us for some amount of services for a smaller project and the bids come in and they get a less than reputable contractor. Now we up our services and there's more on site time overseeing that subcontra or that contractor. Sometimes it's a very good contractor that has been doing business with the district for years and we're able

092to back that down. In these cases, if we get a sitework contractor that we feel is not reputable, maybe we want to have more testing agency services or other services around watching that quality control because if they start having problems, then we're going to start making our case for getting somebody else or having that solved in a different manner. So that's still in my book a little bit reactive, but I think it's it's doing the best you can with the rules you're given. >> Yes, sir. >> So it's my understanding that all these hundreds of people that are going to be working at this site and just confirm that this is the case, they all [snorts] have to have their clearances, their FBI and their um state >> child abuse >> and their child abuse.

093Every single of these hundreds of people coming on site in their pickup trucks, every person has these clearances. >> Yes. >> And it I think I also heard you will be on site every day during this construction. Is that >> I I personally will not, but Site Logic will with Mike Crane and with Bill Mahan. Yes. >> Wait, say that again. >> Bill Mahan is the on-site construction manager. He will be here every day. He's been working for the district already. He worked for Mr. Morris at Great Valley. and Mike Crane who has worked here in the middle school will be here often as well. So, Site Logic will have a presence every day on the site >> because I reference this often. I'm living through a construction project [clears throat] and I see violations

094of what is not supposed to be happening all the time. >> Um, and so how do how is your gentleman going to handle that? All right, there's one guy and there's hundreds of people doing stuff and it may not always get trickled down the line what they're supposed to be doing or not doing or where they're supposed to park or whatever they're supposed to or not supposed to do. How does he handle that? >> So, it's it's handled in a couple ways. one, it's handled by the foreman of each prime contract and they're informed of what they need to do and they're enforcing that as well because if they're not enforcing it, we're going to get a new foreman for the contractor because they have to be deputized effectively. our person on site, Bill Minahan,

095whether it's whether it's um lanyards and or or some sort of, you know, an ID or whether it's a hard hat sticker, we do all sorts of things depending on the school district and what their preference is to make sure that folks are known. What you'll find out is that there are crews of people that come on site and because we're going around every day and saying, "How many men are here? What's going on?" you start to get to know them like a principal gets to know all the classes in in the school and all those names start to pop up after a while and when somebody shows up that's not usually there they get questioned. So that's generally how it works without it being you know overly um intrusive into the work. >> All

096right. So here's a sort of off the out of thin air example. Okay, they're supposed to park in a certain area, >> but they want to short change something and they drive in some other area. Who who's going to correct that? Like, how does that happen? >> It would not be the first time that we called the police in a towing company and towed somebody off the site. >> Okay. So, so that might be your second line of defense after speaking to the manage construction. >> Move it or lose it and then towing. Yes. >> And then you'll call the you will actually call the police if they park in the wrong place. >> We've had cars towed. >> Okay. >> You only have to tow them once or twice. Doesn't take much. >> Okay.

097>> So, I Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for everything that you've gone over so far. I really appreciate it. Um, you know, I' I've leaned into the last couple of months that I believe as a board member I should be able to lean into the word responsible. Um, and I keep getting told that that the presumption is that everyone who's submitting a bid, um, you know, that they filled out the paperwork and that they're responsible like they they that that's So, I'm going to ask you to clarify that that stage of it in just a moment. But where I'm going to the with this is personally I have long believed that we all as board members should should have more say in who's going to do the work. You know, we're responsible to the taxpayers.

098we got elected, you know, and and that we should have more um more authority to make the choices that we think are best for our local community then it turns out it sounds like we actually have. So, one of the ways that we tried to exact more authority and I appreciate this. It was the contractor qualification statement and you know I have the document actually opened in front of me and there's the AIA which is the really the standard part that I think everybody probably uses and then I do want to thank you guys. You worked really hard to come up with the additional contractor qualification questions. Um, not every question that we discussed having on there made it onto this list. Um, you know, there's a couple I'm particularly disappointed about, but there's a

099lot more here than I think as you indicated mo most districts do. And so I know that you're really trying. So now my request is also in the context of other things I believed about this project. Um, I want this project to go forward. I have supported having this project going forward. although it was not the site plan that I personally voted for and supported. And one of my reasons for not supporting it a couple of years ago had to do with my concern about building a school so close to our students. All nine of us and the entire district and Dr. Bachelor and everyone who's working on the team and we all care greatly about the safety of our children. I'm not saying that I am unique in this regard, but it was one

100of my factors where I thought it was it's it's a big deal to be building so close to the children. So my ask of you and the team is as part of that qualifying these low bidders as responsible is to really lean into do they have any OSHA violations? Do they have OSHA um you know uh fines? Are they involved in litigation that was around safety? And one of the questions on the qualification sheet does address open or closed litigation or claims. So I do think that there's one aspect of this that we can really lean into. Um because I can't vote for a bidder a low bid if I'm honest. if I don't feel like that's going to be at the heart of it that this the safety above all else and there you

101know there are I just need you all to really lean into that that for every responsible bidder you're going to bring to us that we have done everything we can possibly do to make sure that we know everything about their safety record because that and that's by the way separate from the quality piece that I you know I wanted more authority over quality and just to be able to pick who I thought would do the best job and and I was disappointed to learn that we didn't we as part of selecting the low bidder that the low bidder didn't have to disclose the subcontractors. Now in number eight they have to confirm that all their major subcontractors you know have been in business. There's certain aspects of the subcontracting and you know the masonry is

102one. Um that's a big part of this building. We saw the view. There's a lot of brick. >> Mhm. >> And there have been projects in Delaware County that were done with lowquality masonry work and it had to be redone. The quality of masonry work that was done at the high school was really high quality and we didn't run into the problem. So that's an example of quality, but I'll put it under the category of safety. We certainly don't want any bricks falling off of a building. So, if you want to put that under safety, I'll put that I'll put that back under safety. But I am hoping that, you know, I'm hoping that you can use number eight to find out, you know, who who are they. It number eight says to me that

103you should be able to know who their subs are in order to be able to confirm that the statement number eight is true, that the subs they're planning to use have been in business for more than 5 years. And then to follow up on Tom's point, which hadn't really even occurred to me, thank you, Tom, you know, about their their quality rec the subquality records. And I appreciate your answer for all that, but I I'm just really leaning into please utilize our additional qualification statement questions to to to bring us the the truly responsible biders. Um, and it's not to say that you won't, but the the OSHA is a big is a big thing for me. So, that's what I wanted to to ask you about and and to lean into for this. >>

104I want to say something that might go with your thoughts. It's not like the justice system where you're innocent until proven guilty. Here, you're not you're not responsible until proven responsible. >> That's kind of my point. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> So, um I I think we're thinking the same way. I will tell you that if I if we even called contractors and asked them who their subs were, if they would be willing to tell us now, they might not even know because they may have two or three prices that they have to go out and buy out and descope and everything else. So, you might get a list and you might go, "Well, I don't like that person." And so that puts the contractor in a position where they say, "Well, oh yeah, you want

105somebody else? We'd like some money, please." And you know, there is a delicate balance that we have to walk where we're managing risk and dollars. Obviously, safety is there's no balance. It's just safety. But the the you know what the contractor is and and who they are and what their past is certainly play into it and we will look at that. We will continue to >> I appreciate that. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> So I appreciate everything that Miss Stern just said and I appreciate your response but um and please let me know if I'm making any wrong assumptions. I mean, just being realistic, I I assume it's not going to be automatic disqualifying, like automatically disqualifying for any contractor to have any OSHA violations or workers comp claims, right? I mean, because I

106would imagine any contractor that's been in business for a certain amount of time and sometimes like accidents truly do happen and it's there's a good deal of luck involved. Like to me what is actually more um relevant is their response to right claims and and actual incidents and violations. Like it would be much more concerning to me if they're a repeat offender or they have multiple unadressed right violations over time or if they don't honor their workers obligations, right? I mean cuz honestly if someone has never had one, I would just say, "Wow, they've been really lucky." where they've probably only been in business for two years. I mean, I just think it's unrealistic to kind of equate a clean sheet with being the most responsible contractor in in business. >> A lot. >> Is

107that true? >> A lot has to do with the culture of safety and their safety plans. >> So, when when we know that we see safety planning and there's a culture of safety, those contractors by and large do better than the ones that are more laxidasical. But everything that you've said is accurate. >> Thank you. >> Any other comments, questions? >> Thank you so much. I >> You're welcome. >> Thank you all for your patience as we've worked through this. It's been a long journey. I'm really happy that we're here and we have a chance to make the Radner community even better with a beautiful building that seemingly looks like it came in where we needed it to to provide the education that you desire to provide. It's been a pleasure doing this. It's been

108a little nerve-wracking, but it's been a pleasure. Thank you so much. Thank you. >> Okay. Next on the agenda, the report from board committees. Um first um 801 is Miss Girtton, curriculum committee. Yes. Um the curriculum committee met on uh January 20th in the um administration building. Uh we discussed overnight trips and book adoptions. Um but the bulk of our uh meeting was focused on our yearly elementary achievement data and report and review. Um we had a great presentation by our elementary principles and assistant principles and a really robust conversation. Um and I would recommend if anyone has any interest in the magnitude of the work being done in our elementary schools um I would go to that uh to the website and watch that portion portion of the meeting. Was excellent. Uh we will

109be meeting uh on February 10th um at 4:30 in admin. >> Okay. Next um 802 facilities Miss Rosenl. >> Hi the facilities meeting. Uh the facilities committee last met on Tuesday, January 13th to discuss the 5 to 10year capital project plan that was presented by Mr. Morris and Mr. Pauling. And we also um went over the Rner Elementary roof replacement which is on our agenda for approval tonight. Our next meeting is planned for Tuesday, February 10th. >> Thank you. And then 803 finance, Miss Solomon. >> Yes, thank you. The finance committee met also on January 13th. We had a very short meeting. We um had a discussion or a presentation about advertising and sponsorship opportunities um within the district. Um we received an update a physical and fiscal and a budget update from Mr. Pauling.

110moving into the budget cycle for next year. Our next meeting will be February 10th at 5:00 PM. >> And just a correction, um I'm working off an old agenda, so it's we're in 703 7. Um um and then um we did not meet, the policy committee did not meet, but Miss Laauo wanted to give an update on some of the um items being under consideration or discussion upcoming. >> Thank you. So yeah, we did not meet this month because the board had more pressing matters um that we needed to use the time for. So we were in a position to give back our time um to handle those matters. Um but committee leadership did have a chance to meet and um discuss our priorities for the year. And I just wanted to give um the

111board and everyone a heads up that you know um obviously we will tend to you know uh our kind of routine regular cadence of policy reviews that are often dictated by legal developments or just the amount of time that has passed since we've reviewed certain policies and just giving them a fresh look. Um but in terms of more substantive kind of no um you know novel uh topics um that we have identified um first and foremost I think um I'm going to urge the committee as its new chair to consider implementing a welcoming schools policy for Rner Township School District. Um, you know, you might be familiar that last year the Department of Homeland Security rescended its own long-standing policy against ICE, uh, carrying out enforcement actions in certain designated safe spaces like schools and

112also places of worship. And I just think given everything that's going on in our country right now, it really would be prudent for our district to um not just reaffirm in our policies um the constitutional rights of all of our students, which the Supreme Court has established, no matter their um immigration background or citizenship status. But also, I think we owe it to each of our employees and our administrators um to adequately train and inform them as to the proper protocols, not just for our students safety, but for their own safety, what exactly, you know, they should do, you know, if you know, we do encounter any incidents like this on school grounds. And I just think it's too much to expect our our employees and administrators to, for example, be able to spot on

113the, you know, on the spot distinguish between a judicial warrant, which is enforceable on school property, versus an administrative warrant, which is not enforceable. And I just think, you know, and this will probably show up in the administrative regulations rather than the policy itself, but I think that kind of detail, you know, I would hope if I were an employee of the district, I would want to receive that kind of training and knowledge and information so that, you know, I think we all hope that the likelihood of incidents like this occurring in RNER are low and hopefully will remain low, but given the severity of the potential impact and the stakes involved D, you know, we have tons of policies that we hope never get invoked, right? But I just think we need to be

114prepared and this is something that it's worth at least the committee to vet through and we're currently, you know, Mr. Han is already assisting us in kind of looking for examples. For example, Northtown Area School District has been a leader in our region on this. They did this immediately last year in late January um in response to the to the policy being rescended. So um we have lots of good examples. We hope to do our research and really do do a good job and um hopefully bring it to the committee and then hopefully um ultimately to the full board for consideration early this year. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Lao. Um next is the consent agenda. Although board action is required, it is generally unnecessary to hold a discussion on these items. So right

115now we have consent I we have a consent agenda 9001 through 1402. Do I have a motion for approval? >> So moved. >> Second Solomon and then Mr. um all in favor 80. Moving on. Um 15. The reports from board leaison and community announcements. Um 1501 Delaware County Community College. >> No report. >> Okay. 1502 Delaware County Intermediate Unit DCIU. Mr. >> Thank you. I have that as60016002. What? >> It's a typo. It's an old agenda. >> Thank you. >> Uh so the update from the uh Delaware County Intermediate Unit is that the search for a new executive director continues. Uh the previous candidate uh is not moving forward. And we also have presentations regarding programming at the last meeting. The next meeting for the DCIU is next Wednesday, February 4th. Thank you. Then um

1161503 Delaware County School Board Legislative Council. That's Miss Dunn. So we will not have a report. And then 1504 PSBA. Miss Lao. >> Um yes. So they would just like to remind all of our newly elected and reelected directors to complete their mandatory training. I know that some of you already have. Um so kudos to you. Um, I think it's five hours for new directors and only three hours for the reelected ones. So, you guys know know the routine. Um, the only other big announcement is that advocacy day is coming up in early May. Um, and so for those of you who are unfamiliar, the PSBA organizes um, you know, one day each year in which, you know, they kind of try to mobilize all and it's not just for schoolboard directors, it's also for

117administrators. um superintendent um teachers um I guess you know they think that if we all show up on the same day to Harrisburg that somehow it's much more effective and influential but obviously like we don't all go talking about the same issues you know they actually split us up and they also you know distribute different issues for each group um and you'll meet with like a specific legislator um to address your issue and I think you have some choice case as to which ones you you kind of particularly resonate with you. So, I guess if you're interested in participating this year, I know we always have a few every year who go and always have a good time. It sounds like um you can register for it online or ask um Trish to help you

118with that. >> It's it sounds I have attended and it's also a great opportunity to meet other um district school board members. So, it's a it's a time well spent if you have the time. Okay. 16 board announcements. Um, we next Tuesday, February 3rd, at 5:00 pm, we will have a special board meeting to vote on the E and bid and that will be at the administrative building. On Tuesday, February 10th at 5:30, we have curriculum, 5:00 pm finance, 6 pm policy, and 7 p.m. facilities. again in the administration building and then our um monthly business meeting will be February 24th 20 at 7 pm. Do we have any other public comment? It's in person only so no one's here with that. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? >> Miss Solomon, a second. Miss

119Girtton. That meeting adjourned. Wait. Oh, do I have a vote? Sorry. I almost did it. Okay. Allen.