001on the charter application submitted by the Valley Forge Public Service Academy. Please rise for the pledge of >> 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. Good evening and welcome to the special hearing session of the board of school directors for the Rner Township School District. The purpose of tonight's meeting is to conduct a public hearing on the application of the Valley Forge Public Service Academy Charter School in accordance with the charter school law board policy 140 and the Sunshine Act. The hearing is being transcribed by a disinterested court stenographer at the expense of the school district. It is also being broadcast live and recorded for later viewing on the Rner Township School District's
002YouTube channel. The board is tasking its administration and solicitor with the responsibility to formulate a recommendation for board action on the charter school application based on a review of the application and information received through these public hearings. The board is also reviewing the information so that it can make an informed decision on the solicitors and administration's recommendation. I would like to make clear from the outset that this is not an adversarial proceeding but rather an opportunity for the board, its administration and solicitor to further inquire about the application submitted to them by the Valley Forge Public Service Academy Charter School. It is also an opportunity for the Valley Forge Public Service Academy Charter School to present their application in greater detail. The length of each hearing will be capped at three hours. Tonight's hearing will
003be devoted to the presentation by the applicant. A second hearing session has been scheduled for the January 20 20th 20 26 for questioning by the board, its administration and solicitor. If needed, a third hearing session will be scheduled. The board is entering the hearing tonight with an open mind toward gathering information and no decisions have been made or will be made on the application today. The public may recall that the board reviewed two other applications over the past few years for the establishment of a charter school proposed to be located on the grounds of Valley Forge Military College. While this new application is proposing to be established at that same location, it is a different application being presented by a different organization and different individuals. The board looks forward to learning about the connections and
004agreements, if any, between the Valley Forge Public Service Academy Charter School and the privately operated public public service academy Charter School and the privately operated Valley Forge Military College or the Valley Forge Military Academy Foundation during tonight's presentation. Tonight's hearing will begin with a brief state brief statement by the board solicitor followed by a presentation by the Valley Forge Public Service Academy Charter School. There will be a period of public comment on the application after the presentation. The hearing will conclude with any necessary clarifying comments and questions by the members of the board and the administration. At this point, I would request that our board solicitor begin the hearing. >> Thank you, Miss Duffy. Uh, this this hearing is being governed by board policy number 140, which states that each charter school application shall demonstrate
005compliance with the requirements of the charter school law. Pennsylvania's charter school law requires applications to be submitted by November 15th. This application was timely submitted to the superintendent's office on November 14th, 2025. The law then requires the school district to hold a public hearing within 45 days of the application submittal. The district scheduled and properly notified the applicant and the public of tonight's hearing which is within that 45day period. This hearing was also properly advertised pursuant to the Sunshine Act in the Delaware County Times, a local paper of general circulation. The timeline going forward, according to the charter school law, is that the district may not make any decision on the application until after 45 days from today's date, but must issue a decision before the 75th day after today. Before the charter school begins
006their presentation, I'd like to make certain exhibits part of the record and provide a and I have already provided a copy of these exhibits to the charter schools council. Uh they are the application and supporting materials of the Valley Forge Public Service Academy Charter School, which I have bait stamped as VFPSA 01 to VFPSA 0941. The November 19th, 2025 letter addressed to council for the charter school advising of the date and time of this hearing. uh notice of this hearing which was published in the Delaware County Times and a copy of board policy number 140. Thank you, Miss Duffy. Would those who are present representing the Valley Forge Public Service Academy Charter School please briefly introduce themselves for the record. >> Welcome. Uh >> my name is Chris Misero. Uh and for the record, I
007live at 320 West Avenue in Wayne. You want me? Yes. Anyone else? >> Sure. >> Uh, I'm Alan Waltered, president of School Improvement Partnership. I live at 866 Skyline Drive, Erdenheim, Pennsylvania. >> Good evening. My name is Steve Flavl. I'm the CEO of Valley Forge Public uh, Service Academy Charter School. I live at 1776 um Hilltown Pike in Hilltown, Pennsylvania. >> Good evening. Dave Anakico, council for the charter applicants. I live at 11:14 Spring Court, Westchester, Pennsylvania 1938. >> Thank you. >> Hi, my name is Deborah Stern. I'm an independent education consultant. I live at 329 Welssley Road, Philadelphia. >> Good evening. My name is Kevin Corkran. I've uh assisted the school with the uh development of its budget and financial model. I live at 317 Chadwick Lane, Litz, Pennsylvania. >> Hi, I'm Richard Benwanger.
008I live at 580 South Gddard Boulevard in King of Prussia. I'm sorry. Could I ask what Mr. Binswanganger's role is? >> I'm sorry. Oh, my role is I'm sorry. >> Uh, working with the board on board training. >> I'm sorry. >> Okay. >> Hi, my name is Jabri Trowick. I am the community engagement coordinator for Valley Forge Public Service Academy Charter School. Um, I live on 3905 Warlow Road in Brook Haven, Pennsylvania. Good evening. My name is Matt Cass. I'll serve as the board president. I reside at 803 Ridley Creek Drive in Media, Pennsylvania. >> Good evening. I'm Dave Barbase. Uh I am director of estimating at BSI Construction. Um, I live at I'm the only Jersey guy here, which is kind of freaking me out. Um, 26 Schoolhouse Drive in Medford, New Jersey. >>
009Good evening, school board. Uh, my name is David Del Rosa. I'm first most a student supporting the school, but second, I am advising the board on student initiatives. I reside at 653 Lawrence Court, Allentown, Pennsylvania. Well, welcome everyone. At this point, we will welcome the Valley Forge Public Service Academy Charter School to provide their presentation to the board, the administration, and the members of the public. >> Right. Thank you. Um, first I want to start off by thanking the board. Sure. Okay. >> So, we are going to hold public com public comment but after the presentation. Thank you. Um, so I wanted to start off by uh thanking thanking you not only for the time but you know all the hard work that you guys put into this. I appreciate your dedication to our community
010and our our school district. Um I'm here to kick off the presentation uh really going back to the origin of how we got here is my role tonight and I also will be serving as a board member. Um some background I've lived in Rner Township my entire life. Um, my wife Deb and I both graduated from Radner High School. All four kids have graduated from Radner High School. Um, like you, I volunteer in the community. I've coached youth sports. I served and uh volunteered. I was a trustee of the Radner Educational Foundation. Um, we started the Radner um uh all class reunion, which we still do, which is uh pretty phenomenal. We have graduates that come from all over the country, some some places all over the world. We've had the last one we had
011someone that was 21. We had someone that was 91. Um so obviously a ratner education me means a lot to a lot of people. Um I'm really proud I started two programs at Ratner High School a few years ago. One was an internship program. The other one was an entrepreneurship program. These were for uh sophomores to seniors. Um so why did I bore you with all that? I wanted to make a point that um and give you my background because I think you'd be hardressed to find someone that's more proud and more appreciative of a Bradner public school education. Um so how did we get here tonight? Um in my business life I uh consult schools primarily K through 12 schools um that are going through some tough times. It's usually around financial sustainability, campus
012utilization uh and I do this across the country. Um, I drive by Valley Forge Military every day on my way to the office. Uh, and like most people in this community, I I really just don't want to see this become a development, more residential property. It's such a historic landmark and and I want to preserve it. So, I I reached out to uh Colonel Stu Helguson uh back in in October of last year, told him what I do. Uh told him I wanted to help and to see uh what the response would be. He returned my phone call. We talked about the vision, what my vision for that that campus would be. Uh it was really twofold. It was one to to really keep it an academic use, but then also there was other uses
013I had in mind. What could help the community of Rad? What could we do with that property that would be of value to the people that live here? Um so he agreed and we got to work. Um I discussed this idea with a good friend Alan Wstead who you're going to meet tonight. Um I knew Allan uh to be an expert in charter schools. uh he had done um he had recommended that perhaps a special use charter school would be applicable here and that's where the public service academy concept uh came to life. Uh Alan and I did a lot of due diligence. We talked with a lot of people. Um we talked to people in this uh community. We talked to the surrounding communities, people in the fire department, police department, uh local politicians,
014state politicians. Uh we learned two things. One was that there's really uh significant workforce challenges in public service. There's just not a lot of young people that are getting into this prof these professions. We also learned that I don't think one person told us it was a bad idea. Um I was at schools today in Atlanta. Um they asked me what I was doing later. I told them I was coming to this board meeting and they asked why and I told them about the concept and they were said what a fantastic idea. So I'm a believer. Um, I introduced Allan to Valley Forge Military Academy Foundation in April. Um, and they got to work. I've agreed, as I said, to be on the board because I really think, you know, we need a real strong
015community presence. Um, I want to go back to my work at Rner High School a few years ago. So, when we did the internship programs and entrepreneurship program, any student that would apply, we would interview them. Uh, first of all, our kids are fantastic. I think you guys already know that. And a lot of it has to do with the work that you do. But it was really apparent to me that there's a, you know, there's a pocket of kids at Rner that are just not on the college trajectory. Um, they're fantastic. They were fantastic uh applicants, but you could just tell there's something else that we could have offered them. Another option, you know, maybe something that's more career readiness is really what uh I was learning. And because I work in schools, this
016is all this is going across the country. A lot of schools are saying the same thing. Maybe we should be looking changing this to something that's more career related. that doesn't take away from what we do currently. Um, I really think that we could be cutting edge. We can do something special by by really embracing this, being a real partner to the school district. I hope you don't see it as something that is being taken away from what we do here. It's an add-on for sure. Um, it's an investment. I completely understand it's investment, but like any great investment, there's a return uh that we look for and I think there's a lot of return on the investment to the community, especially to the young people that I think will impact. Um, so I hope
017that you take this into consideration. I'm going to let a lot of really talented people talk about it from here. And again, thanks for your time. just ask that you um speak a little closer to the mic so that everyone can hear and then we'll talk. >> We don't need the slides till Kevin comes up. So just so you know uh it may distract the board. Uh thank you board president Duffy. Uh Dr. Bachelor board members somewhere let's see is that a little better? Uh somewhere in Radner or in a neighboring community, there's a fifth grade student. Uh we'll call her Sarah. Sarah is bright, she's curious, and she learns best by doing. Sarah's one of those people who always loves helping other people, particularly her little brother and sister. Sarah and her family aren't
018really sure where the money will come from when it's time for her to go to college. Sarah wants to matter. She hasn't yet been shown a path that totally fits with who she is. Sarah does not need to change. The system needs to expand. Tonight I want to talk about an opportunity built for students like her and why it matters to Rner. I come to you tonight as an advocate for these students, a builder of schools and a firm believer in many paths to success. My work is always centered on getting the answer really just to one question. How do we create real opportunities for every kind of learner? For more than two decades, I've worked uh at the intersection of education, community, and opportunity. I'm the founder and president of School Improvement Partnership, which
019focuses on data transparency in the charter school sector. I'm also a shareholder in the law firm of Zarwin Balm where I specialize in public finance. I started school improvement partnership over a decade ago to support quality charter schools. To better understand what a quality charter school is, we built the school improvement partnership database, which has actually academic, operating, and financial data on every charter school in 33 states and the District of Columbia. I've been involved in financing over 30 charter schools in six states. uh and in the process have come to understand the elements of what makes a charter school successful. Uh I host a monthly podcast, what charter school leadership looks like, where I interview uh different leaders in the sector on their journey, uh their successes and lessons learned. Uh in addition, I've
020actually represented school districts. I helped create and finance the early retirement program for the school district of Philadelphia. The Valley Forge Public Service Academy Charter School is designed for students like Sarah, students who want to serve their communities, who need a practical route to career or college. But before I go deeper, I wanted to just uh thank Dr. Bachelor and his team for the respect and professionalism they've shown throughout this process. [applause] Rner is one of the most accomplished districts in the Commonwealth and it has never stopped evolving with the needs of its students. That is why this moment matters. Families throughout the region are rethinking the cost of college, the value of hands-on learning, and the need for clear career pathways. At the same time, our communities are facing a critical shortage in the
021areas of police, fire, EMT, and civic service. For Sarah and her family, the Valley Forge Public Service Academy Charter School uh provides four things. Uh a choice that would number one provide a path to career or college. Number two, allow her to choose among public service paths such as police, fire, EMT, or civic service. Three, enable her to try different career paths with hands-on learning experiences and internships. And four, promote the value of serving others before self. Sarah and her family are not alone in rethinking the value of a college education. From a costbenefit analysis, the cost of attending Penn State has gone up 14% in the last five years. It's now $62,484 to spend one year on campus there. Assuming no further increase in the cost of tuition at Penn State for Sarah's four-year
022degree, the total cost $250,000. Nearly twothirds of Americans are rethinking whether a college degree is worth the price tag. According to an NBC News survey, 63% of registered voters surveyed said a four-year college degree is quote not worth the cost. because people often graduate without specific job skills and with a large amount of debt to pay off. End quote. According to the poll, a recent analysis was shared by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, which highlights a growing challenge facing recent college graduates, undermployment. According to the talent disrupted study, as many as 52% of college graduates enter the workforce in roles that do not require a college degree. And it even continues a a decade after graduation. 45% remain undermployed, which means severely damaging their long-term career mobility, earnings, and stability. This trend reaffirms
023to us why our educational models must evolve with the current climate. Students need options for pathways that prepare them not only for college but for secure in demand careers right from the start. We need futures focused education so that our students are not aspiring to careers that won't exist once they graduate. At the same time, the need for high school graduates interested in a career in public service is booming. There's not a local police department, including Raders, who wouldn't love to have uh some candidates that are qualified and certified to uh take the challenge of public service. Philadelphia, for example, uh has its lowest police force since 1985. There's 1300 positions vacant in in Philadelphia. For careers in fire and EMT, the needs only escalate. Uh on November 11, the East Landsdown Fire Company announced
024they'll be closing by the end of the year. The scholarship program run by the Mainline Chamber of Commerce Foundation does an excellent job of providing scholarships for students interested in these careers. But we need a pathway that starts in middle school when students start thinking about what they love to do. The campus shift in focus from military service to public service can build on the academyy's important legacy while providing graduates well suited for the public service needs of Rner and beyond. When a call goes out to the radar fire company, there may be charter school graduates who are performing the search and rescue and implementing the strategy to confine and extinguish the fire. Valley Forge Public Service Academy Charter School can become a model showing the link between public education and public service. Just as
025importantly, preser preserving uh as Chris said, the educational use of the campus honors the legacy of that space and it also ensures that that 40 acre campus will not simply become the site of more mult multi-million dollar homes in a community that values its open spaces. What will this school cost the Ratner School District? it'll actually save the district money. Otherwise, the district might have to build a school to accommodate students who want a different avenue than what's currently provided. And and that's exactly the path that the school district of Philadelphia went down uh this week. They opened a middle school, 200 students uh for it's the uh alternative middle years at James Martin uh that they they built themselves. Uh the cost of that $62 million to ensure there's no material adverse financial effect
026on the condition of the Rner School District. The Valley Forge Public Service Academy Charter School will cap the percentage of Radner students attending the charter school at 25%. That means that when we would uh hopefully open September of 2026, which will be a grades 6 through 8, there'll be 13 Radner 6th graders, 13 Radner 7th graders, and 12 Radner eighth graders. Why the cap on Radner students? Really, there are two reasons. Uh first, this will be a regional model that will attract students from nine other school districts in a 10-mi radius. Second, we want to ensure that the financial strength of the Rner school district is preserved as this option to meet the changing goals of students is launched. The approval by the Rner School District of the charter application of the Valley Forge Public
027Service Academy Charter School provides an opportunity to support a regional model that links public education and public service. Uh, it provides a path to 21st century careers for students that learn better by doing and it creates the next generation of public servants for Rner and the surrounding communities. The Valley Forge Public Service Academy Charter School provides a choice for Sarah and students just like her. Thank you. Uh now I want to introduce uh Steve Flavl, our CEO. Uh Steve was a founder and the chief operating officer of Executive Education Academy Charter School in Allentown with 1,600 students grades K to 12. Steve, >> good evening and thank you for allowing us the time to speak with you. We understand the seriousness of your roles and we appreciate the chance to present our proposal. Let me
028begin with a clear picture. Imagine a student stepping into a school that sets a purposeful tone from the first minute of each day. A school grounded in service, high expectations, mutual respect, and a place where young people learn to see themselves as future civic leaders and first responders. That is a vision we're offering. As so politely said earlier, my name is Steve Flavl and I serve as a CEO of Valley Forge Public Service Academy Charter School. My work has always centered on strengthening public, private, and charter education. Most recently, I was the founder and chief operations officer of Executive Education Academy Charter School. It serves grades K through 12. It enrolls over 1,600 students. And what ultimately made the school successful is how it became a part of the educational fabric of of the region.
029A community partnership was developed with a local health network, which resulted in a $20 million investment that provided free staff that support athletics, mental health, social work, facility improvements, and job placements for students who graduated from the school. Thank you for having us all here tonight. It's a privilege to speak with you. Our proposal is simple in design and strong with intent. We want to provide students with a school that it has a day that is structured, meaningful, connected to real world opportunities. The day begins with an assembly that teaches the mindset of a servant leader. In this assembly, students practice workplace readiness skills such as accountability, empathy, and ownership. Students explore three clear pathways. They are college readiness, the first responder academy, and the civic service academy where students start building a career pol
030portfolio that meets the requirements of act 158 and reaches beyond them. This morning assembly is at the center of a school's innovative culture and students are the ones that facilitate it. Students then move into a social emotional learning program called group that teaches practical communication and interpersonal skills. These are reinforced by every adult in the building. The culture is built on shared expectations. It is lived not posted on a wall. Academic classes show how students show students how their learning matters. How literacy strengthens leadership. How mathematic sharpens problem solving. How science and civics prepare them to serve their communities. Our values of service, integrity, resilience, and leadership guide the entire school day. The day concludes with another assembly where lessons are learned from our mistakes, our achievements, and most importantly, how did we work together
031and lead? The close of a school day is one of the most important aspects of the innovative school model. Students and staff come together as a group. Together, not as staff being seen as a sign of authority, but together, which builds a sense of community like no other and is uniquely different from a traditional school experience. As a result of this innovative school model, Valley Forge Public Service Academy Charter School prepares students with the necessary skills to be leaders of the future. By graduation, students earn more than a diploma. They leave with industry credentials, acceptance letters, and the confidence that comes from honest preparation for college or immediate employment. The school was created for Rander. Families, employers, first responders, civic leaders have all expressed the need for young people who are ready to serve. These
032careers cannot be replaced by artificial intelligence and they face a growing shortage of qualified candidates. I want to be clear about something. Some of you may recall early efforts for use of Valley Forge name. This proposal is entirely new. It has a new mission, new leadership, and a new board. There is no affiliation of any kind. Tonight you have a new proposal in front of you. It is complete, carefully developed, and aligned with every requirement of Pennsylvania law. This proposal is brand new. We are asking you to evaluate what is in front of you now. [clears throat] This proposal aligns with Pennsylvania academic standards. It presents a responsible and sustainable financial plan created by professional consultants. and includes a facilities agreement and evidence of strong community interest. You will now hear from a team that
033has built this model. Deb Stern will talk through the academic program. Our facilities representatives will outline the building plan and our readiness to open. Vertex will review the financial structure and demonstrated stability. Members of our board will address governance and oversight. Jabri Treywick will share results of community outreach and you'll also hear from families who believe a school is is the right choice for their children. Our request is straightforward. Evaluate the proposal on its merits. Ask for difficult questions. Hold us to a high standard. We welcome that because we believe deeply in what we have built. We are here to offer a choice for families who want academic rigor paired with a mission rooted in service. We are here for students who aspire for a career in public service. We are here to prepare young
034people to lead with integrity and serve with compassion. This is an and for rander not an or the valley Forge Public Service Academy Charles School represents a commitment to community. We are ready to honor that commitment and we respectfully ask for your approval. Thank you. I now invite Deb Stern to speak to talk about our innovative school design and curriculum. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Stephen. Thank you to the whole board here for inviting us, welcoming us here tonight. Uh my name is Deborah Stern and I've spent my entire professional life working in education as a K12 teacher, 11 years in the high school and middle school English classroom. uh a teacher, educator, curriculum developer, writer, and a school leader. I now work with schools across Pennsylvania and Delaware to design meaningful, rigorous,
035and responsive academic programs aligned to state standards and workforce needs. And tonight, I'm here to walk you through at a high level the academic model at the heart of Valley Forge Public Service Academy Charter School. This model is innovative, comprehensive, and fully aligned with Pennsylvania's academic standards. And as Steve and Allan have said, it is something truly new. It's a program that meets the reality of our changing workforce, the rising demand for public service workers, and this community's dedication to planning for the future, leading with intention in meeting real world conditions head-on. The school hopes to open in fall 2026 with grades 6 through 8 with 50 students per grade. Um it will add one grade per year and will ultimately have 450 students in grades 6 through 12. That's including the 12 for 13
036Rner students. All components of the school curriculum culture out of classroom learning experiences and graduation requirements have been intentionally designed to reflect our core values which are service, integrity, resilience and leadership. And before I go deeper into the academic program itself, I want to lift up three features that have driven the design of this new school. First, our model is futures focused. Every students graduates with a diploma plus. They earn traditional high school a traditional high school diploma plus a piece of their own unique post-secondary futures. That's college credits or an industry recognized credential. That's real experience in their intended post-secary environment and that's connections already established to and within that field. Second, our entire academic program is designed to prepare students for public service careers, the fields where our region and our country face
037some of the deepest workforce shortages. And third, we are committed to transparency and authentic partnership with the Radner community and because that's what will allow the school to thrive. Our academic program has been designed to provide continuity in grades 6 through 12. But there are substantive differences between our middle and high school programs and between what we offer and what is currently available in Rner Public Schools. First and foremost, Valley Forge Public Service Academy Charter School is a small school. No student will slip through the cracks. Our size allows us to personalize learning, monitor progress closely, and ensure every student is known, supported, and challenged. Like Radner Middle School students, our sixth through eighth graders are going to build strong foundations in literacy, numeracy, and scientific reasoning through a mix of traditional and project-based learning.
038They work in teams, tackle real world scenarios, and complete meaningful projects. Every day, our students take English language arts, math, science, social studies, social emotional learning, art, PE, and futures focused electives. One unique feature of our middle school academics is the focus on service and leadership. In their electives, students take on questions relating to community, resilience, and responsibility. They begin thinking about who they want to be in high school and beyond. Another feature is the separation of sixth graders in self-contained classrooms and seventh and eighth graders in DIAD arrangements, fostering the small learning communities and strong adult connections that are aligned with best practice middle school design. Now, in high school, grades 9 through 12, students will enter one of three specializedmies, each of which blends rigorous academics with leadership development and either college readiness,
039first responder training, or service career preparation. Delaware County Technical School does offer local career-minded students a shared time model. They may split their school day with a morning of core academics at Radner High School and then travel to DCTS in the afternoon for specialized training. But our approach is fully integrated fucus, excuse me. Our approach is a fully integrated futures focused one. Career pres preparation isn't a separate track. It's part of the academic fabric. Students in every academy take rigorous core courses and then choose advanced academic electives or electives designed to build the habits of mind required for public service such as case studies and crisis or law and justice and American literature. On top of that, all students in every academy construct a dynamic graduation portfolio demonstrating readiness for post-secary success. So, just pause
040for a minute. Allmies then will include technical certifications or college credits. That's page 44 in the narrative. I'm going to be quoting a couple of the narrative um narrative references. um real exper all academies include in addition to the technical certifications or college credits real experience in a relevant post-secondary environment a senior capstone leadership project and a graduation portfolio that demonstrates future readiness that's page 61 in the narrative. So just to briefly give you an overview of the threemies. First, the college ready academy. That's our traditional college prep pathway. Students take dual enrollment courses, meet all state assessments requirements, and complete a senior seminar that supports college applications, financial aid, and the executive functioning skills needed to persist once they get to college. The second academy is the first responder academy. This focuses on public
041safety, emergency management, and fire service. First responder students earn industry recognized credentials, meet agency fitness standards, build professional resumes, participate in mock and real interviews. Their final portfolio includes certifications and documented documented evidence that they are ready for the field. The civil service academy prepares students for futures in the military or law, government or public administration. Students complete coursework in ethics, civil responsibility and public sector communication. Their graduation portfolios include financial plans and applica application packets for military service policemies or federal agencies. So stepping into curriculum now thesemies are built on the core courses that anchor academic studies across the school which are all connected to one another through a common focus on learning by doing real world problem solving and which are carefully sequenced in longitudinal alignment with Pennsylvania standards. Each curriculum chosen is
042researchbased, uses a mix of digital teaching and learning tools, and has been awarded the highest ratings through independent review processes. That's like Ed reports. We use amplify ELA in middle school and then transitioned to the College Board Springboard ELA for high school high school English. Both programs emphasize critical reading and the communication skills essential to college and public service careers. We use illustrative mathematics in grades 6 through 12. In IM, students apply math skills to real world problems such as budgeting, analyzing community data, planning services. We use amplify science in middle school and SAVIS science in high school, both of which root scientific study in real world phenomena and are aligned to Pennsylvania steels standards. For history and social studies 6 through 12, we use TCI, which is an inquirybased, very engaging program rooted in
043case studies. We use Boytown and Castle's social emotional learning programs in daily advisory. Here students learn to listen to other to each other to problem solve collaboratively and develop positive skills such as empathy and resilience. Our students will also take art, PE, health and then in high school either Spanish or Latin which were chosen for their usefulness in public service contexts and for their application in medical and legal professions. Choice of either Spanish or Latin. Finally, our student leadership program gives students structured opportunities to serve the community, to mentor peers, and complete emergency preparedness and service learning projects culminating in a capstone project connected to their chosen academy. So, how do we make this all happen? I want to briefly touch on instruction and support. To ensure that every student can access these programs and
044grow, clear instructional practices and supports need to be in place. Instruction at the school is experiential, inquirydriven, datadriven, customizable, and responsive, career themed, tech integrated. All programs feature digital teaching and learning tools and I will go into that more on the 20th. Um, our teachers engage in two kinds of meetings weekly. One to analyze their students growth, performances, and needs. And in the narrative that's on page 11 through 11 to 15 and then 50 to um about the data meetings. And then the other kind of meeting that teachers have is to weekly is to develop their own practices through a carefully sequenced series of professional topics and PLC's professional learning communities and trainings. That's all in the PD um attachment exhibit exhibit 30. These systems create clarity consistency and help us engage in continuous improvement.
045So teaching demanding profession. Uh we are committed to training and holding on to excellent caring teachers. It's worth noting that at our CEO's previous schools, teacher retention has remained consistently strong between 90 and 95% after the initial startup years. That stability comes from a strongly shared sense of mission, clear systems, and a tight-knit school culture. We expect to create that same environment at Valley Forge Public Service Academy. Valley Forge Public Service Academy is not designed as a remedial program. Want to be clear about that. It instead offers a rigorous academic experience um collection of rigorous academic experiences described above. The school will maintain compliance with all Pennsylvania laws and best practices for finding and serving students with disabilities. We will implement a robust multi-tered system of supports including smallroup academic interventions and push in and
046pull out services provided by our special education teachers. All teachers will be trained in sheltered English mo in the sheltered English model to better support English learners. And as our staffing model scales over time, we will also contract with external providers such as presence to ensure access to highquality related services that are needed. One of the strengths of a small charter school is individualized programming. We will offer a win or what I need block daily so that students can receive the spec specific supports they need whether that's increased academic intervention increased credit recovery tutoring or working toward their act 51 graduation pathway or academic credentiing. Valley Forge Public Service Academy will measure goals with growth targets increasing every year. will measure academic and goals as well as enrollment, attendance, promotion, academic credentiing, parent satisfaction. These
047are all um articulated in the narrative um on pages nine and 10. That's a lot. Um I want to thank you for your time and attention. This has been just a very high level overview of a fully developed academic program. It's described in detail in the narrative on pages 10 through 45 and in exhibits one and four of the application the academic program. Uh we look forward I look forward to answering your questions and working together as partners in service to this community. Thank you. I'd like to introduce um David Barbase now of Bustleton Bustleton Services who's our construction manager. Thank you. >> Good evening everybody. My name is Dave Barbles. lead the estimating team at BSI Construction. Um BSI's been around for 25 years. Um while we work across many sectors, the company was
048built largely on charter school and public school work. And just the past year, I've personally supported five different charter school clients on new construction and major renovation projects. Uh and over the course of the company's history, we've taken uh care of well over 30 uh largecale charter school projects. um in addition to countless um other smaller renovation projects for a lot of our long-standing clients. Um so supporting educational spaces is just something that we're extremely passionate about and we take care of year after year. For this project, my team and I made several visits to Valley Forge Military Academy this fall. Um we also brought with us some subject matter experts um specifically roofing and uh masonry restoration contractors. Um and those guys helped us develop a very detailed and accurate accurate budget. Um what
049we identified was that this building has very good bones. Uh the structure is solid. Um but you know the interior wise and with some exterior items it is dated. So generally our work and our intent focused on refreshing it so that it was properly able to support students and staff on day one. Um, the planned improvements include new interior finishes and updated restrooms on the first floor, replacement of both the slate and rubber roofing on the building, repairs to walkways and front entrance stairs, as well as a new ADA accessible ramp to make sure that access is equitable for everyone. Um, from start to finish, we expect the renovation to take roughly six to seven months, which is typical for a project of this scale. Uh the Surface Academyy's goal is to repair, refresh, and
050modernize this building so that it becomes a welcoming and functional home for the school's inaugural class. We're confident that the project costs that are included in the next section of this presentation are reasonable, well vetted, and reflective of real world conditions. Um so myself, BSI, the rest of this team look forward to supporting the project um and the community and the students uh that it will serve. Thanks. I'm gonna bring up next uh Admiral Kevin Corkeran. >> Can you hear everyone? >> Um I think I have the visual aids and slides everybody's been waiting on so um but it seems I need a pin for the computer now. [laughter] Just give me a sec to put up on the screen for you. [clears throat] >> Thank you. And uh good evening board members, uh leaders,
051members of the community. Um no slides needed yet. My um my name is Kevin Corkran. Um, I've supported the Valley Forge Public Service Academy Charter School in the development of the school's budget, uh, the five-year financial model and supporting business processes and policies. My organization, Vert.Ex Education, works with more than 50 public charter schools across Pennsylvania in various capacities, but most commonly in support of accounting, finance, and business operations. I am a graduate of Villanova University, and Rner Township holds a special place in my heart. both for natural collegiate memories uh but also as a first generation college student myself whose possibilities in life were greatly expanded by the educational opportunities afforded me here in your beautiful township. The school we are discussing tonight is also dear to me in that beyond the noble mission
052of the school and the important social and societal needs it seeks to promote. I'm also the son of a career public I'm sorry police officer and as well as a registered nurse. I know some folks don't always categorize uh nursing in the same vein as of public service as police or fire or military but I certainly consider nurses as true servants in our society and haven't been raised by one. Uh, finally, I myself have had the privilege to serve as an officer in the United States Navy for 27 years. Uh, still currently serving in reserve status, and I certainly hope this school might inspire and enable students with similar inclinations or aspirations to connect to that path. I'm pleased to have the opportunity to share information on the school's budget and financial model, including assumptions
053and data used to shape them. Knowing that finance and budgeting can be conducive to boredom in some listeners, I've prepared a few slides as visual aids and to help ensure everyone stays awake at this late hour. Uh, first at a at a summary level, I'm just going to advance the slide here. Um, so you can follow along on the screen if you want. I'm not sure if you have them on on your screens, but at a summary level, uh, I just want to share some key points regarding the model. Uh the school will have positive net income and cash flow in each year of operation. The school's revenues are comprised of a mix of local, federal, and state funding with the largest driver being per pupil funding. The school's expenses, while at a much smaller
054scale than the district, um are proportional in in terms of what we spend our funds on, with the largest expenditures being our our our great certified educators and our personnel costs. We recognize there are some always some level of risk and uncertainty in any budget or financial model. Uh and I assess confidence in exact enrollment numbers or transportation costs to be areas where the school will need to closely monitor and plan for mitigation as needed. Um moving on just some some notes on our assumptions. Um we've tried to use a data driven approach in in all aspects for revenue streams. We used actual 2526 data using Pennsylvania Department of Education Form 363 rates uh from the PTE website. Um if not available for 2526, we've used 2425 data. For state and federal funding, we've used
055benchmark information and per pupil averages from 55 public charter schools with whom my team works. On the expenditure side for salaries, benefits, vendor expenses, we again use benchmark data. This time taking more of a regional approach from 30 public charter schools in southeastern Pennsylvania across the fivecount area. Where possible, we also employ direct quotes used uh for a few key areas including IT, finance, and health. Those are those are directly from vendors. For the lease and financing categories, the information is based on documents or discussions from the actual prospective landlord u as well as an external lender. In general, we built our financial model around a datadriven approach and the principle of conservatism. For example, um our all of our revenues assume a 2% annual increase, even though the historic average is higher than that.
056In the area of grants, we do not include um an important federal grant, the charter schools program grant, for which this school profiles very favorably. on the expenditure side and ering on the high side of historic benchmark data we've accumulated over the years uh we assume most expenditures to have a three to 5% increase each year for the school special education census we begin with a lower assumption of 10% and gradually climb to the state average capping out at 17%. Doing a deeper dive on per pupil funding, which is the school's largest source of revenue, we wanted to share our assumptions on a reasonable estimate from where the school will draw students. As you can see in the table before you and on the sides, we believe the school will truly be a regional magnet
057for students and families from the surrounding areas. While it would bolster the revenue of the school to assume higher enrollment from certain districts, we again maintain a conservative approach and have used the median figure rather than approach skewed towards higher funding rates. So, even though the general education funding rate that we've used is more than $6,000 lower than current RER Township per pupil funding, we still take the conservative road, recognizing, especially in the first year of the school's operations, it would be foolish to assume absolute certainty on what the enrollment mix and resulting funding levels would be. Go back on here. Moving on to state and federal revenues, we want to be transparent about what is and what is not included. Based on experiences with other public charter schools in their first year of operations,
058we include only federal funding for title and school lunch programs. In subsequent years, we add special education IDA funding as well as state reimbursement programs for health and lease. There are other federal and state programs for which the school can and will apply, but for the sake of the financial model and again deferring to conservatism, we do not assume success and therefore they are not included here. [snorts] Flipping to the expenditure side, this slide centers on our three largest expenditure categories. Personnel, external or contracted services, and facility and property. In terms of personnel, salaries and benefits consume a range always consume a majority of our of our budget. Um, sorry, and a range between 51 and 60% during the first five years of the school. This number increases each year as the school is able
059to afford additional certified teachers and other educational staff members. Our personnel costs are derived from benchmark data again from public charter schools in the five county area. We while we match the the health benefits of the Rner school district um we do not picture the school as competing for the same teachers as we recognize Rner is a world-class district and frankly the charter school cannot compete with this district on salaries at least in the first few years. Another large expenditure category is professional or technical services. These are areas where either technical expertise or costbenefit analysis guides the school to using external resources. For example, in the areas of information technology, legal counsel or school attorney, uh CFO or business office. These costs are again derived from benchmark data. The last among the three largest categories
060of expenditures is our facility and property groups. Um again the building and renovation costs in the model are based on agreement with the landlord um and discussions and negotiations that are that are ongoing. Um other other items like it information technology student desks related furniture assets and such all related on public charter benchmark data. Uh the eye chart in front of you is a layout of our financial model over the years. I won't point to individual lines. Um, and it's it's all included in the application. But our main points, [clears throat] all of our teachers will be certified. From year one, the administration will focus on instruction and support and be staffed and and resourced to do so. The size of the staff grows each year based on grades added and affordability. In other words,
061the benefits of scale um as we enroll more students in grades um in the higher grades and later years, we'll also be able to afford additional staff that will bring down ratios between students and uh and the number of adult educators in the building. Uh again, all compensation is benchmarked from the fivecount area. Just a couple notes on risks and mitigating factors. I mentioned a valid question you might ask in the coming weeks and months and is what if you have an enrollment shortfall. Uh the lease we are negotiating reduces the the amount paid in the event of lower revenue which which is tied to per pupil funding. Also many of the services that a school has to use are variable in nature whereby if we have lower enrollment costs might be lower as well.
062There's also other unplanned expenses that I'm sure the the district has experienced any given year and we we would not be immune to that. Um but we're aware of what resources we have were available, what to tools we have and especially in in years two through five, we'll be able to absorb that and maintain flexibility. In conclusion, and just returning to the five-year summary that I started with, we've taken a datadriven conservative approach. We've used benchmark data from local PA public charter schools. There's a healthy staffing model from year one. And we're not including as assumed, but we definitely have confidence additional possibilities for grants, contributions, and other resources that can both bolster the school's financial health and also to expand the programs and services we offer to the students that will attend. I appreciate
063your time tonight. Uh look forward to working with you in this process and opportunity. And uh I thank you. Thus concludes the audio visual. >> Good evening. Um sorry. My name is Jabri Trowick. Again I am the uh community engagement coordinator for >> Spell your name. I just want to >> Oh absolutely. Uh J I uh B R I uh last name uh Trow. Uh that's T R A W I C K. >> Thank you. >> No problem. Well, engagement with the community is a priority for us. We want everyone to know who we are and why we're creating this uh what we hope to be an extraordinary opportunity. My own background is in media production. So my work focuses on how we communicate with residents through our outreach, our events, um our website, and
064many of the materials you may have seen around town or online. We've been out in the community every single week. We've set up tables in front of local grocerers, attended township events, and spoken directly with residents. So far, we've done over 35 outreach events. We are proud members of the Wayne Business Association, which opened the door for us to connect with local businesses and take part in the Ratner Fall Festival. There we met the chief of police who told us how excited he was about how our proposal could help build a pipeline of of of future qualified community-minded officers. We were also invited to table at at the at the Radner Fire Prevention Expo that day. We spoke with active and retired firefighters and their families and the support was overwhelming. Um, we received encouragement
065from the fire chief and other local leaders who affirmed to us that the public service community in Rner understands and supports our mission. Since submitting our application, we've now collected a total of 115 petition signatures. We also now have 18 letters of support from local businesses, leaders, and nonprofits, including the Wayne Business Association, Secretary Patrick Murphy, Shriner Tree Care, and Christophers, a neighborhood place, and many others with more on the way. We publish regular new regular newsletters to more than a 140 subscribers. Our email campaign has a remarkably high average open rate of 60%. That has been rising since our last couple newsletters, which each had an open rate of 70%, which suggests a high level of interest and retention. You may have seen the many news stories we've received from CBS, ABC, uh NBC,
066Fox, Telmundo, and more. Uh we post updates on our socials, where we seem to be gaining momentum since our news coverage, and our website now receives far more traffic than we ever expected. Uh from November 17th to today, our website has drawn 351 unique visitors, up 63% from a month prior, uh with a total of 551 site sessions, which refers to all visits including returners. Um up 75%. And we are now uh the top search result when you search Voli Forge Charter School. As many of you know, the Voli Forge campus was traditionally closed off to the public for security reasons. And well, this this year we uh we opened it up for our very first community day and um the response exceeded expectations. Um, we've now hosted three successful community meetings and uh where
067we could hear residents questions and interests directly. For many, the campus has a meaningful history either because they were educated there or they grew up around it [snorts] and they've expressed excitement over over seeing it come alive again. [snorts] Pre-enrollment is already underway as we now have a few pre-enrolles. Um, you'll hopefully be hearing a personal story about that later. Uh, across all of our outreach, this has been consistent. People care deeply. They are curious and they are hopeful about the idea of a school that is focused on leadership and giving back. And on the rare occasion when someone has had concerns, a simple and transparent conversation was all it took to address them. We are eager to continue building new relationships with the families of RNER so that everyone is informed about what a
068charter school on the campus can offer them. I am happy to introduce uh Matt Cass um who we were we are um very proud to call our board president speaking on accountability, transparency and service. Thank you. >> Good evening and thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. Uh, my name is Matt Cass and I will serve as the board president for the Valley Forge Public Service Academy Charter School. I was born and raised in Delaware County and currently reside in media. I've worked in education for more than 20 years and much of my career is focused on building programs that support the underserved and prepare them for real opportunities after graduation. That commitment is at the heart of what brings me here to this room today. Our proposed school is rooted in simple but
069a powerful mission to prepare young people for meaningful futures in public service. Whether that means emergency response, civic leadership, military pathways, or community-based service roles. We believe that students thrive when they are part of a community built on clear values. At Valley Forge Public Service Academy, those values are service, integrity, resilience, and leadership. They guide the culture, the academic program, and the experiences students will have from the moment they walk through those doors. As board president, I want to make one message very clear. Our board will be faithful stewards of this mission. This role is not symbolic. It is my responsibility to ensure that the model we have proposed is implemented with the same precision and purpose with which it was designed. Our work will be student centered and missiondriven and every decision we make
070will reflect that commitment. Stewardship requires accountability. It means building systems that protect student safety, uphold high academic standards and support students well-being. It means monitoring our progress honestly, being transparent with the district and community and responding quickly when improvements are needed. It also means ensuring that our public service pathways, whether EMS, emergency management, leadership develop development, or civic engagement, are delivered with quality and integrity. We also understand that authorizing a charter school is a significant responsibility for the district. We view this relationship as a partnership. We will be compliant, communicative, and responsive. We will safeguard public resources and honor the trust that comes with being a public school serving the community. Our board is committed to hiring and supporting strong school leadership, maintaining a safe and mission aligned facility, and building a school culture that
071reflects the values we expect students and staff to demonstrate. Most importantly, we are committed to ensuring that Valley Forge Public Service Academy Charter School remains true to its purpose, preparing students to lead, to serve, and to contribute to their communities. Thank you again for your time and consideration. We look forward to partnering with you and with the families of this district to create a school that expands opportunities and reflects the best of what public education could offer those students looking for an alternative path in their postsecary endeavors. Thank you. I would now like to introduce Richard Benwanger. He's the board training expert. [clears throat] >> Thank you. >> Hi, Richard Benwanger. Um, among other things, I lived in Wayne for 10 years and I was also the assistant head of the Woodland School at uh
072at Old Eagle School in Upper Gulf. And um, one of the things that I used to tell parents as they came here and a lot of those parents are coming from the school district where schools are like shoes. They have to fit. you have some you have a great school district here, but it doesn't fit everybody. And so there there needs to be alternatives. Um, but my job is is here about it's more about uh board training and how to get a board ready. Background. Um, I have served on countless boards. I should start with the fact I'm old. um which means I go back 45 years when I did my first board chair uh on an educational institution. Um and uh I have a passion towards education uh that uh is built around the
073fact that we need different ways to educate students. Um, I've served on the boards. Uh, I was one of the initial board members of the Philadelphia School Partnership, now Elevate 215, the United Way of Greater Philadelphia, uh, and Southern New Jersey, uh, a lot of young, uh, startup nonprofits, but in particular, um, I've served on the board of three charter schools and helped, uh, chaired one of them and helped, uh, board training in all three. Um, and board training starts out obviously with Act 55 and regulatory compliance and making sure meetings are done properly. You all know what it means to be on a board. I I wouldn't You guys are uh are are doing some yman work just by being part of this board. Um uh but the board that that uh we're going
074to try to build is going to be built around excellence. It's pushing towards excellence and excellence will be defined by the board as they go along. Um and we will build structures that include uh proper oversight maps. Um teaching them the de the the dimensions of of uh good board questioning uh mission performance risk compliance and resources. and um the the the ability to say while we are working with management with the management team and trust the management team um our goal is really to say we have to we are driving towards excellence for the mission and making sure the fiduciary and financial responsibilities are intact. So we will uh I will try to make sure that that happens. Thank you. Uh Dave and a Carico. >> Thank you. Uh good evening, President Duffy, Superintendent
075Bachelor, and uh members of the board, and Mr. Kristoff. My name is David Anakico. I'm an attorney with Sandon Sidell who serves as legal counsel to the applicant. I stand before you this evening to establish on the record that the application before you meets the statutory requirements of the Pennsylvania Charter School Law, which contains a clear set of legal standards governing the establishment of public charter schools in Pennsylvania. The General Assembly of Pennsylvania included these standards so that public charter schools could operate as autonomous laboratories of innovation in partnership with the community to improve pupil learning and create new professional opportunities. My purpose tonight is to direct your attention to the specific evidence in the record that satisfies those criteria centering on three themes. Transparency, legal compliance, and sustainable community support for the proposed school
076model. First, and perhaps most important for a public entity is transparency. This applicant recognizes that as a public charter school, it operates in the public trust and upon the public ledger. Consider exhibit nine of the application. Here you will see that the founding board has proactively adopted a governance structure that strictly adheres to the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act and the right to know law and other deliberate policy choices that ensure openness. This commitment is further evidenced by operational protocols already in place. The applicant has designated an open records officer and established specific written procedures for responding to public records requests within statutory time frames. The practical result of codifying these policies now is a structural guarantee of access from the very first day of operation. Parents, stakeholders, and this school district will have full visibility into
077the school's decisions, policies, activities, and expenditures. a public charter school with an innovative mission serving Rner Township and operating in the light of day. I'd also like to confirm the applicant's absolute commitment to legal compliance. Given the evolution of the charter school law and its interpretation by our courts, I invite you to confirm that authorizing school districts such as Radner Township have a great amount of oversight, a great amount of oversight over charter schools. This applicant recognizes its reporting and compliance duties to the Rner Township School District. Speaking plainly about the corporates's uh uh the school's corporate structure, I confirm the applicant is a Pennsylvania nonprofit corporation in good standing. It is organized for the specific and sole purpose of operating a public charter school and not to serve the interests of a management company,
078not to serve the interests of a third party foundation or any other entity whatsoever. This corporation is governed by an independent board of trustees who legally and formally recognize its independent authority to serve the community. Equally important is the board's adherence to ethical mandates. The trustees are bound by the public official and employees ethics act, as are you. The bylaws at exhibit 19 and the board governance policies in exhibit 9 explicitly incorporate these requirements to ensure that every trustee acts solely in the best fiduciary interest of the school's mission and its students with strict prohibitions against conflicts of interest. We see the same discipline applied to the stewardship of public funds. Exhibit 12 details a financial management system that includes rigorous internal controls, mandatory competitive bidding for contracts, and strict adherence to generally accepted accounting
079principles. These policies ensure that every dollar of public funding is tracked, audited, and used effectively for educational purposes. Finally, I'd like to note the applicant satisfaction of the statutory statutory criteria regarding community support. The model proposed is one that will serve a need, the education of new and enlightened generations of first responders in partnership with experienced first responders. I'd like to direct your attention to our narrative, which explicitly contains the applicant's emphasis on trauma-informed care and social emotional learning. We are prepared to answer the need for public servants who are not just capable, but resilient, empathetic, and prepared for the complex realities of modern service. The charter school law places the burden on the applicant to show demonstrated sustainable support for their proposal. And our courts have clarified that this support is measured in the
080aggregate. The record before you comprising data, petitions, and partnerships provides substantial evidence satisfying this aggregate standard. Beyond the raw numbers, the application specifically advances the legislative intent of the charter school law. By establishing citizen investigator and first respondermies, the applicant proposes to utilize different and innovative teaching methods. Moreover, the school model presented creates new professional opportunities for teachers to collaborate with industry professionals. Finally, it provides parents with expanded choices in the types of educational opportunities available, meaning the core purpose of the charter school law. This application represents a structural alignment with the very purpose of the charter school law and one that you can be confident will serve the school district well. In conclusion, the application is a legally sound blueprint for a compliant, transparent, and high-erforming public school that serves its authorizer, this school
081district. The applicant has demonstrated organizational capability to operate a transparent public school, ensured the highest standards of fiduciary responsibility, and met the burden of support and legislative purpose by designing a state compliant curriculum and school model that delivers tangible industry cred credentials and fosters partnerships to serve the community. And for these reasons, we respectfully request that this board recognize the novel work and the diligence that was put into this application and to recognize the sufficiency of the evidence provided and grant the charter. Thank you. I'd like to uh introduce David Dear Rosa. >> Good evening. Uh, as said, my name is David Delar Roa, a resident of Allentown and a proud graduate of a charter school built under some of the same leaders and similar model as Valley Forge Public Service Academy. I'm here representing
082hundreds of my peers who benefited and continue to benefit from the core values instilled by my alma matter. Now, I know new initiatives naturally raise questions and curiosity. So, my goal tonight is to offer clarity from someone who has experienced this model firsthand. A sixth grade student at VFPSA who will begin their school day much differently than most of their age. At the very start of their school day, prior to attending class, schools students lead a morning assembly in front of all of their peers where they provide announcements, set goals for the day, and take accountability for their actions. In middle school, students are constantly surrounded by adults, whether that's parents, educators, coaches, who through their experience and knowledge shape the lives of students until the day they part this earth. However, the morning assembly
083is just as if not more impactful for students at such a crucial developmental stage. For myself and my peers, it was one thing to hear an adult uh talk about leadership, responsibility, and discipline each and every day. But it was earthshattering to see someone our age, background, someone wearing the same uniform as us exemplifying those values. For me personally, it allowed me to feel comfortable and confident in moments just like this one. And without a doubt, my peers would testify the same if they were here today. In high school, we were provided with the choice to decide which direction we wanted to take through various pathways. By graduation, all of us received industry certifications and credentials that ease the process of obtaining jobs in the workforce for dozens. For example, for those interested in the
084medical field, Executive Education partners with our local health network to provide exclusive opportunities to students, which include exploring medical careers, internships, scholarships, and even agreements with families where the health network would pay the tuition and guaranteed jobs for students right after postsecary education. At a time when obtaining these careers become ever more difficult, this collaboration, one of many, with the local community organizations allowed many of my friends and peers to advance in and contribute to the city we love. Now, today I'm a secondyear student at the University of Pennsylvania, uh, studying international relations, an opportunity made possible by the structure, guidance, and support I received at Executive Education Academy Charter School. I remain connected with all of the members of my graduating high school class, many of whom were enrolled at the school from middle
085school age, and can testify to one thing. None of us is doing the same thing. Through the pathways, many chose to continue their education at local trade schools. Some chose to serve our nation through the military, and others join the workforce. Regardless of their outcome, each student was provided a choice and thoroughly prepared for their pathway prior to graduation. Now, I know many here today have a vested and passionate interest in this community, and I believe their feedback should be heard and understood. However, I'm here because in the fog of that passion, those who matter most and are most affected by this endeavor are often forgotten, the students. This project isn't about changing or competing with the successful schools in this district. Just as this board has strived to maintain and most importantly create opportunities
086for students, this project aims to leave no child behind. VFPSA students will grow to serve this beautiful township, county, and commonwealth just as my classmates and I continue to serve our community today. With that being said, I hope and ask you to consider approving Valley Forge Public Service Academy to continue the legacy of service, leadership, and discipline in this extraordinary community. Thank you, Rander School Board, for your time and consideration. And Ken Karns, president of the Wayne Business Association, will follow me next. Thank you again. >> Hello everyone. I'm Ken Karns, president of the Wayne Association, a 25-y year reser resident. Um, own and operate several restaurants in the township and commercial properties housing other uh retail uses on North Wayne Avenue. Um, I think from a business perspective, um, this is this would create
087positive momentum for the downtown Wayne business owners. We have events on campus and graduations and things that drive people eating in our restaurants and frequenting our coffee shops and shopping in our stores and just um adding more people that will come into the township that are not currently here. Um, more importantly, as a resident that's lived two blocks from the corner of the Valley Forge Military Academy, um, I think this is a really interesting timing situation we have here where, um, the the Military Academyy's problems and challenges have been very well publicized. Um, with the recent or pending sale of the western side of the campus to Eastern University, you had a opportunity here to help preserve a [clears throat] legacy institution that's been here a lot longer than anyone in this room. um but
088also with a program that complements the school district's program. Um and I think the combination of all those things is why we're in support of this program um being part of Rad Township. Thank you very much. [clears throat] Good evening. My name is Matt Marshall. I'm a resident 228 Walnut Avenue in Wayne. Um I'm going to give uh my perspective as a close by neighbor um to the proposed charter school and a Rner taxpayer. Um I'm [clears throat] a u K through 12 graduate of the Rner Township uh school district. A similar distinction that I share with five of my brothers and sisters. My wife Bonnie and I have raised two children in Rner with both Hal and Alice being K through 12 students and graduates of Radner High School. Um my parents were both
089college professors and moved to Rner from Lower Marion in 1959. So we we've been around for a while. Uh my wife Bonnie and I have lived in the township since 1998. Uh we own a clinical psychology business on North Wayne Avenue and we hope to remain lifelong residents in our home on Walnut Avenue. From a public service perspective, I'm a former planning commissioner and a first wart commissioner in the township. Aside from the many good comments you'll hear tonight from the neighbors and former Valley Forge Military Academy uh and um future employers and charter school and academic professors, uh I'd like to express my hope that the charter school and the former uh VF MA campus will remain in an institutional use between Villanova's recent purchase of Cababrini College, the New Oak Hill at St.
090David's Senior Living Facility and Fox Hill Builder 18 home subdivision. Our historic North Wayne neighborhood is at enough of massive development in the immediate area. We believe that the charter school offers a good sustainable and institutional use for North Wayne. And if you know, if you total all of the development I just mentioned, that's about 200 acres of new building and uh traffic impacts, including Villanova's recent purchase of uh Cababrini. Aside from advocating for logical and sustainable institutional use, I'd like to keep my main comments focused on the academic potential for charter school and its curriculum to be a creative to RER Township's overall mission in education and public safety e excellence. It's a new charter school that fits the modern-day realities of community security, safety, governance at the dawn of a nent and potentially
091threatening artificial intelligence ecosystem. Raner High School experienced a recent cyber bullying incident earlier last week that was widely reported in the local news. The first outside response came from RER Police Department. The AI and digital world need uh application creators but also stringent legal review and compliance. At the same time, municipalities and school districts across the United States need protection from civil administrators, code enforcement, and police department in the adoption of artificial intelligence governance. If AI won't police its own bad actors, trained and technology sophisticated high school students with a passion for public service will need to do so. In this era, Rner Township and the school district should strive to be a thought leader in the area. And please support this critical and timely issue and approve the charter school's application. I believe that
092this charter school has an exceptional future on the former mil military academy campus. The plan limits the impact of future development and the benefits will be shared by all the RER residents as a sound academic programming and community outreach are envisioned by its leaders. Thank you. Next, I would like to introduce Jim Higgins, also a neighbor of mine. Good evening everybody. Pleasure to be with you and thank you for the time, consideration. Um, my name is Jim Higgins. I'm over at 449 South Valley Forge Road in Wayne. Ryden resident, lifelong riding resident. I actually grew up across the street from the military academy. So, my parents, Jim Higgins and Idie Higgins, uh, owned a home there for over 40 years. I, um, no one here from the milit No one is here from the military
093academy, I believe, but I, uh, I did a lot of, uh, a lot of trespassing on the campus as a boy, playing around, uh, sneaking into uh, the messaul, stealing food from the kitchen. Uh, this is the kind of stuff we did as boys. Anyway, a lot of great memories. Um, and I'm I care personally about what happens to the property. So, I've been watching it. I did not support the other chart applications. I thought they were the wrong people. There wasn't a community investment. Um, I'm excited by this one. I have two RER uh school um kids who are currently enrolled. One fourth grader at West and a uh daughter at the high school as a ninth grader. We love RER schools. Um, wouldn't trade it for anything to be honest with you. Guys
094do a fantastic job. I know some of you guys and um I'm also a public educator for the last 24 years. Most recently, I served as a CEO and a principal of a charter high school in North Philadelphia for 14 years. Uh so this is sort of a weird confluence of several major aspects of my life, professional and personal. Um so I believe I I bring a fairly uh unique and I hope insightful perspective to the conversation tonight. Um, I support the creation of the charter school and I respectfully ask you guys to do as well. Um, this charter schools make weird bed fellows. That's definitely that's definitely true. Matt Marshall was the first war commissioner and my dad was as well different parties but we come together for something that's good for the community
095and we see as a addressing a need. Um, I don't believe in school vouchers. I don't believe in privatizing education. I don't believe private money public money should be used to support private schools. Um, but I do believe in diversifying public options and you guys, your heart's in the right place. I just think uh we need to look at this as as a very viable and credible option um to make more options available for kids. This has been addressed already tonight. So, I'm going to skip this part of my convers uh my my address. Uh there's a clear and actual need when it comes to kids, families, and the pipeline needed at the uh for our first responders. Secondly, my second reason which uh hasn't addressed too much is the leadership um and the founders
096of this effort, Alan Walsteader. Um I don't know if you know him, but he's been around for a long time. I've known him for 17 years. He is as good as it gets when it comes to charter schools. Um his heart's in the right place. He's not the type that has profited off of this. There there have been plenty of news stories about profiteers in the charter school world. Um there are definitely bad eggs in that community just like there are in every other aspect of our society. Um it's an excellent option uh for the property is my third reason. Um I don't want to say this is the best of a lot of bad options. I think it's a great option but I do fear what happens to this property if we only look
097at this option in a vacuum. I know that's a it's a weighty thing to for you to consider, but it's scary to think about that place of my boyhood to be turned into some Toll Brothers development, which would overload our schools and cause another pain point um with needs for more uh to house more students. Just want to wrap up by saying I support the school mostly because I believe in diversification. It's present in every aspect of our lives, public and private. Diversity is celebrated. It's beautiful. And I think that's what the school offers, a diverse approach to educating our young for a very needed um cause. Thank you very much for your time. Want to uh introduce uh Mr. Dilx Pat Doo I believe is speaking. Thank you. Uh, good evening to all the
098Radner residents here this evening. Um, my name is Dan Della. I live at 214 Windermir Avenue. My family moved into Rner in 2008. My wife Jen and I have four children, each of whom who have spent some time am some amount of time in the Rner Township schools. Uh we have heard here tonight the various ways in which Valley Forge Public Service Academy can bring a unique and valuable experience to students. I want to highlight one additional important aspect of the VFPSA which I believe will be meaningful to our children. No organization can be everything to everyone. Whether that is a company, a sports organization, religious organization, university, etc. People are going to fit into certain situations better than others. Raner School District works hard to ensure that children of all ages and backgrounds feel
099welcome and included. However, again, no organization can be a perfect fit for everyone. As someone who has coached a countless number of youth sports teams in our community, I had the privilege of being around dozens of different kids over the years. This experience was tremendously enriching for me as I learned so much about myself and human dynamics as I witnessed the differences in people. The coaching experience made me a more accepting and compassionate person. I witnessed firsthand the different needs that each child has. I saw how they interacted in group settings. I noticed how parents tried to meet their children's needs by sometimes switching them to different schools that provided a more intimate environment as compared to Radner. I heard parents talk about how a smaller environment helped their child thrive. As a father of
100four children, I experienced this dynamic myself as one of my kids switched to Devon Prep after his sophomore year at Rner. Despite all the strengths of RHS, this move to Devon Prep proved to be an invaluable decision for my son from an academic and social standpoint. Obviously, the cost of a place like Devon Prep and other private schools in the area makes switching out of Radner very challenging. The existence of the new Valley Forge Public Service Academy will provide an opportunity for those children looking for a more intimate environment in which to thrive. An option that will not force their families to come out of pocket with any additional expenses. As a parent, being able to help our kids and watch them thrive is a feeling like no other. Conversely, feeling helpless or stressed because
101we can't help our kids in the way we know they need to be helped is a very painful feeling. VFPSA will provide more flexibility, freedom, and choice for our RNER families. Thank you. >> Thank you, uh, board president uh, Duffy. That concludes our, uh, our speakers. Um, uh, we had, uh, one had a passing in the family and then we have a written comment. I don't know if the solicitor will allow us to submit their written comments as part of the record uh or if I need to read them in. >> Is who who is the written comment from? >> Uh John Buck is a resident of neighboring uh treaty friend uh >> sitting right here. >> Oh, you are. Well, he is. Well, then there you are, John. Then John is our last speaker.
102>> Thank you. Wow. >> Was that rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated. Um, my name is John Buck. I I have uh am not a resident of uh of Rner Township, but I have very very close ties uh to the township uh that I married into. Uh I live in Tradifford Easttownship in Berwin. my daughter's uh K through 12 uh adults now attended uh the Tradition Easttown uh schools in in Konos Stoa High School. Um my spouse uh Amy Talins uh was born and raised in Rner and K through 12 uh in RER schools. Uh my mother-in-law in fact worked at Valley Forge Military Academy. So feel pretty close to to to being here. I'm also an educator um adjunct professor of uh religious studies at Villanova University. So I know a little bit
103about uh teaching freshmen u also have taught at uh uh Chester County Community College and uh and Rosemont College. So really diverse group of of kids and and the skills and uh goals that they bring to uh to the educational envir to the post-secary environment. But I come here to speak to you as really as one of need. Uh I am the chief financial officer of a manufacturing business in the Delaware Valley that serves the defense and aerospace sector. Um and I could readily attest to the importance of a workforce with the technical skills necessary to support well-paying manufacturing jobs which do not require college degrees. Jobs like CNC and CM operators and programmers and engineering technicians are essential to ensuring that our armed forces have the equipment to defend our nation and its allies
104to ready our country for space travel and support the biomedical technology essential for first responders, emergency care, critical care and rehabilitative medicine. These jobs are essential for the functioning of our economy. Uh yet our secondary schools have little focus on preparing students uh for them. Uh simply our workforce is aging out. Rner High School provides an exceptional education for its students and many of my close friends are Rner grads who have gone on to top 10 universities and are now at the top of their fields or retired early as a result of the wealth they've created for their families. But not every student has the desire to attend college or the means to take on the economic burden necessary to fund a college tuition. Uh as a as a firsttime uh uh co college educated
105person in my family, I I can truly attest that the the debt that I took on uh for my pen degree. Um rewarding careers are available to those students uh who are prepared to pursue them. So, I'm not going to talk about Sarah here, but I'm going to ask you to imagine that you're 14 years old. Um, but you're but you're a lot different than when you were 14 years old. Um, your older cousins are employed in minimum wage jobs or unemployed and and saddled with student loans. You have no desire desire to follow in their footsteps. Uh, but you learned about a high school that will prepare you for a a good paying job that does not require you to have a college degree. One that will help you learn about important careers in
106manufacturing, public service, and healthcare. One that will help you learn the skills to become an operator of a machining system that produces metal parts for helicopters. A program of precise uh precise measuring equipment that ensures the quality of metal components used in medical equipment. or an automotive mechanic skilled in the use of software to run the diagnostics of an electric vehicle, a medical technician who maintains the saving uh life-saving defibrillators, or an HVAC technician who ensures the continuous operation of a cooling system that supports an AI data center. [snorts] Imagine that you attended at a high school that places preparing you for one of these essential jobs at the forefront of its objectives. Imagine that you don't have to be anxious about getting into a college that your family can't afford because that's what all
107your peers are doing. That's the purpose of the Valley Forge Public Service Academy. The need for the academy is clear and the demand for it is apparent and I certainly hope that you'll approve its charter. Thank you. Thank you for your presentation for all who participated. At this point in the agenda, we are providing an opportunity to the public to comment on the charter school application. Anyone is um welcome to make comment in person or do we have any recorded? >> I understand. >> Do you have to be a resident of Wayne? the the rules for normal public comment at a board meeting require that the individual be a resident or taxpayer of the school district. For this matter, uh it's up to the board to what whether they wanted to have somebody that has
108an interest in the matter to to expand the opportunity for public comment. Since this is not a typical board meeting, this is a a hearing process. Um so, you know, I know in prior applications, we've allowed people who were outside of the district to provide comment. uh who have demonstrated an interest in the uh in the application and the subject matter. So, but it's up to the discretion of the board. >> I I'm seeing head nods. So, um yes, you may just please come and state your name and then where you're from. >> C can you come up to the podium, please? >> Thank you so much. Um my name is France Horn. I was did live in Wayne. I was at Valley Forge Military Academy for six years all of high school and college.
109And the only thing I would say is uh how much does this charter school have to interact with the current board of directors? Um number one, because I'm sure everybody's seen how that's there's been a lot of things that have been going on up there. Um, the other thing I would say is I believe these students of the charter school are 10 years of age. I really see that as a problem being on the same campus as college students. It's it's uh sounds like a million lawsuits for quite a few different things to me. Um, and that's really all I wanted to say. I just wondered if those those thoughts have been brought up and how everybody how you all think about them. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? Uh, members
110of the board, my name is Michael Kernney. I live at 124 Walnut Avenue, uh, in Wayne. Uh, lived there since 1979. I can't subtract anymore. So, it's been over 40 years since my wife and family and I have lived there. Uh, and I'm here to basically uh tell you that as far as the proposal goes, I am currently firmly undecided. Um, we've heard from a lot of people tonight that says this this is really a good idea. And I think on the face of it, it really is a good idea, but oftent times the proof is in the uh is in the details, not in the idea. So, I just want to make sure that we don't all become victims of magical thinking here, that this is all going to be uh all well and
111good. And I I've reviewed I've reviewed the uh the public the public documents that the uh the applicant has provided. I I'll just pick pick one area that that caused me for concern and I think requires some answers ultimately and that's the building itself, Shannon Hall, which um which the the applicant characterizes as um minimal renovations are necessary prior to occupancy if remains in strong operating condition. Well, we heard from the u the gentleman from BSI the um the estimators. Um among the minimal ren renovations are going to be required are a new roof at a cost of $774,800. Uh 39,000 square ft of new flooring at a cost of $153,000. Elevator repairs at a cost of $115,000. and uh the demolition of Lafayette Hall at $60,000. So, we're talking about the demolition of a
112building on the campus. Um that comes just that part comes to a little over a million dollars in expenses out of a total of $2.4 million that the Valley Forge Foundation is advancing to the applicant in order to make these renovations. And I think that's cause for concern and cause for question. Plus within that application or within the estimate itself, there's there are several things that are left out. Um the building is 90 years old. I live in a house in Wayne that's whatund [clears throat] 125 years old. And I can tell you a building that old may have problems including the estimators um excluded any any uh there was no testing at the time. time the estimate was done, there was no testing for hazardous materials in the building. That was excluded from the
113bid. Uh both the removal of materials and the remediation after that. And the uh the estimator suggested that the um the applicant um have the necessary hazardous materials testing done in the building ASAP. And that was back at the uh the end of October. And uh finally um there's a planning assumption that that um the building which is currently unsinkled will be allowed by the township under inspection to remain unsprinkled. These are all potential large cost items which would then add to the amount that would need to be fronted to the uh to the applicant in order to occupy the building. So I I just think I just think we need to make sure and I c I caution you that we don't get too excited about what is a great idea and ignore what
114the uncertainties and the risks that are inherent in the proposal. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Okay. As I mentioned in my opening remarks, sorry. Oh, sorry. Sorry, Mrs. Stuffy, moving a little slowly today. Uh, good evening everyone. So, uh, I wanted to talk a little bit about the vision for the school and the curriculum because so there were some things I had been hoping to hear um, after reading the application that I didn't hear in the presentation. So, I wanted to pose those as questions both to the board. >> Mr. Moore, could you please state your name just for the record just so that we have that information? And I know that everybody knows who you are, but it's brought on the thing. >> Rosemont, Pennsylvania. Thank you. So, uh, I did
115have some questions about that. Some things I had been hoping to hear that I didn't hear. So, perhaps the applicant can address some of those questions and it's something the board can think about as well. Uh the main impression I came away with was a lot of the things that sounded exciting um to me upon um reading what was asserted in the application um are things that still sound great about what we already do in Rader schools. So I'm really trying to get my mind around what is really different um with this application. Rader already does offer paths to career and college. Uh we rely on the MTSS framework that the applicant talked about as being important to their educational model. Um, the wind block sounds a lot like our lunch and learn at RHS.
116Um, if I'm understanding it properly. Um, and um, as the applicant at least acknowledged, Radner is a member of the Delaware County Admin Intermediate Unit and we do send students uh, right now to the Delaware County Technical School um, to get um, that kind of career and technical education opportunity. Uh I also attended a couple weeks ago a forum and the one of the applicants representatives there made a statement the curriculum will parallel what Rader school has. I didn't understand if that meant it was uh modeled after Radder's curriculum in some ways but had this additional theme of career and technical education and public service or if it meant it would be fundamentally different and would be a you know a parallel alternative option. So um in looking at some of the specific materials um
117in in the curriculum um you know there were it looks like at in as the applicant described tonight there's essentially two classes that look um different and special in some way the freshman seminar and the senior seminar. Um, but other than that, looking at the rest of what's in the curriculum exhibit, I did have a little bit of trouble seeing how um public service is interwoven throughout the curriculum of of the school other than through those particular specialized um classes. Um, and one thing that's emphasized in some of those uh specialized classes uh particularly for um the senior seminar seems to be this idea that there will be um professional certifications um that students can get. Um, so I was trying to get my mind around that. You know, maybe maybe that's what's new and
118different and special about this application, the professional certifications. Um, but then I popped over to the Delaware County Technical School website. It seems they offer professional certifications as well. Um, and it was also unclear from the way the curriculum was described um, how those professional certifications will happen at the school. There's a lot of detail in the curriculum document about how state standards are met. Um but for the certifications piece that was not clear. There's a very brief allusion to them. Uh do they happen in those capstone classes? Are they taught are the professional certification classes taught by school staff or are they instead um based on partnerships or external organizations? And again, if those certifications are coming from partnerships and external organ organizations, you know, what what is new and different and and innovative
119here um about this uh charter school. So looking at the curriculum um trying to understand the mission of the school, those were a lot of the questions um that I was left with. And so I'm hopeful that the applicant can get into more detail about that and the board may wish to explore that topic more. Thank you. Hello, Miss Winters. Robera Winters, 326 Williams Road in Rosemont, Pennsylvania. And as an educator, I was pleased and also as a Radner resident that there was going to be a limit as to the number of Radner students that would be engaged in this school because I know that makes a financial dis difference for each of you as you look at budgetary items in the future. However, I am also wondering and I would hope they might address
120because of the numbers that they showed us. We know that when you have special education students, the allocation of funds becomes significantly greater. So I was wondering if they would also put a limit on the number of students that they identify as special education students that come from the Rner schools and how they might identify them later once they were put in the schools, which I understand is also often used by charter schools as a way of increasing their revenue. And I'm sure that's not their intent, but I know it makes a difference for Radner taxpayers. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anyone else? >> Hi everyone. My name is Devin Griffin. I live in North Wayne on Ryder Street Road. Um my real question is about the traffic in the area. Um, this is a
121boarding school on a college campus as most people have said, and it's becoming more and more of a college campus. It's not having buses in and out of it every day. It doesn't have walking ability from the R5 or any other ability. So, there are going to be a lot more traffic in the area. So, I'd hope that the board looks at how this will impact our municipality outside of just the school district, but also our roads and taking care of it and making sure that it's going to be actually something safe that sixth to eighth grade students could actually go to versus being on a college campus where they don't need buses and other services like that. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Last chance. Okay. As I mentioned in my opening remarks, we
122have a scheduled second hearing date reserved for questioning. However, before we adjourn tonight's hearing, are there any simple clarifying questions by the administration, members of the board, or the solicitor necessary to understand tonight's presentation? >> Mr. Lee. Okay. Thank you, Miss Duffy. Um so in looking at the uh application I just had one question surrounding exhibit 16 um page 25 and 26. So first of all the individual listed says that they declare that they're resident of Rner but their address is actually in Philadelphia. So I'm not sure how that both can be true. And then the second thing is um page 25 and 26 it actually has the same individual submitted twice October 20th and 24th. So I just want to understand how that gets counted. >> So I got that >> the petition people
123who signed the petition. >> Yeah. So exhibit 16 page 25 and 26. >> Sure. This is Alan Walstead. >> Just tack on that question. So sorry. There are a lot of those where the the the >> the petition signing makes an attestation that they are RNER residents and then in fact >> they're they're elsewhere. >> An address that's wildly not Rner. >> Yeah, >> there were more than just that, Tom. Thank you. >> Right. The importance of the signatures is to uh is to measure support wherever it comes from. In this instance, as we mentioned and the financial forecast shows, we expect to attract students from 10 different school districts. So, you'll find and they were at the first community day. Some of these uh families were from Southwest Philadelphia that are excited about sending
124their students. some uh will be from Radner, you know, uh lower Mary and all over. So, the reason for the uh address difference was actually that I think one point I was just going to u mention uh uh board president Duffy is that the application and all the exhibits uh is now going to be live on the Valley Forge uh public service academy charter school website uh after this meeting. Thank you, >> Mr. Lee. >> Okay. And I have a a second follow-up question based upon the presentation tonight. Um, while it's wonderful that you can project profitability from year one, um, statistically most startups are negative in the first several years. Um, so going back to the gentleman who said like there's a lot of improvement, capital improvements and whatnot. How does get how does
125that get factored into your projections? So again, something that may not necessarily answer tonight, but I just wanted to better understand that. >> Well, you'll see in the financial projections uh well, first the financial viability of the school is of critical importance and that's why we uh engaged a team like Vert.ex that does that work for 50 other charter schools in the state. on the particular question you asked, the improvements will be uh advanced by the foundation and added to our rent and paid over time. You've probably seen that in other transactions. So that's actually and so those costs are actually loaded into our rent. We would call it sort of additional rent in addition to the rent that we pay for the use of the service. So you are right and um and of
126course it gets backended as you can imagine because just as you point out in the early years as you're getting more and more students you get to that critical point. You are right that for any charter school and for our charter school those first two to three years when you're ramping up enrollment and therefore revenue you know it uh that's when you need to be very careful and that's why uh we wanted to make sure we had a conservative financial forecast. um the presentation that you gave with the slides, I don't believe we've had that. Can we get copies of that, please? >> Oh, absolutely. Yeah. >> So, because I had I can't recall what page it was on your presentation, but you had an estimate of teacher salaries at 60,000, >> correct? across the
127board. So that doesn't include benefits or anything else. So where are you making up that difference which is more than probably what's that? >> Um can you clarify what you mean by making up that difference? >> Where is that accounted for in your finances? And again I don't have your slide but you had 60,000 for teachers. So where are all the benefits and which is going to double that cost. >> Yeah. Yeah. in the microphone. >> Sorry, >> thanks for the assist. [clears throat] Um, the financial model as included in the application as exhibit has a more detailed breakdown of all expenses which which includes benefits as well. um for that slide and to not bog us down in details. I did not specifically list that out tonight, >> but but they are but they
128are included in the application and I'm glad to send those slides which were just meant to be a summary of the more detailed version in the application. >> Okay. So, I just need to compare what you gave to the more detailed >> Sure. >> thing in here. Yeah, it would be helpful to get your slides then. >> Oh, no problem at all. Glad >> um I also I I think it was also your presentation. Um, why do you have [clears throat] the revenue the second year almost a million below the revenue the first year? The reason for that is um as Allan just mentioned, the way that the the renovation was effectively financed was that funds would be advanced to the school to pay for the renovations in year one that would then be paid
129back through additional rent over the the course of the lease. The Yeah. So that so that is it it is it is an odd to see a higher revenue number in year one than year two but it has to do with that that advancement. It's not from per pupil revenue or anything. It's from basically financing of the renovations. >> Okay. So you're not taking those renovations as expenses. You're taking them [clears throat] >> well as revenue. It's we're we're taking the I guess funds to pay for the renovations as revenue um financing effectively and then that is paid back as you know debt through the lease. >> Okay. So help me out. You're saying I heard a rough figure of two million for these renovations. >> I think 2.4 is what? >> Yeah. 2.4 million.
130>> 2.4. Yeah. >> All right. I I am totally flumxed because right before this meeting, we had a meeting where we are renovating an older building as well here in the township. Um it's our admin building and I believe our current budget is 30 million to do roughly >> 15 oh 20. Okay. >> 15 to do not that much different. a lot of HVAC. Um, how can you possibly do these renovations you're talking about for 2 million if the expense for us to do a similar thing on a similar age building is >> what's I see. >> Go ahead. How can >> Oh, no. I was well I guess I we've used a professional engineering estimator firm. >> Um and that's not my expertise. So I won't try to answer that one, but I I
131wouldn't want to speculate on your building versus this building because they're they're two different buildings and unless we had all the same information. >> Yeah, I can take it. I mean, >> it's a it's a very difficult question to answer without understanding what the actual scope of work is for your other project. You mentioned HVAC um in the other project. That tends to be a massive percentage of cost for any renovation. We're not including many HVAC upgrades in this. >> Uh no, nothing nothing major for HVAC. No. Um yeah, the the major things for this project to reiterate would be the roof replacement. um fixing the concrete and brick walkways, stairs, adding out front, adding a ramp, and then doing some interior renovations. Just those would mostly be aesthetic things though. Um and then we
132would also be uh enlarging the bathrooms on the first floor. Um so we don't get very far into the MEPs, the mechanical, electrical, plumbing scopes of work. Those tend to be the things that significantly drive the cost of a renovation. Um, we're also not doing much reconfiguration of the actual layout of the space. The layout of it is, you know, it's currently a classroom, you know, oriented building. Um, and we believe that, uh, the program programmatically, it actually works for the use case down the line. So, um, some of those things like reconfiguring space and those MEP things often drive the cost of a renovation. That's why we were able to keep this one down. Um we are always especially with charter school clients where um you know facility funding um isn't necessarily received from
133the state um always looking at ways to value engineer projects like this. So it's just kind of in the blood of our organization especially to look at ways hey how can we make this work for us for now um and that's what we've done here. So that's why part of the reason we kept it down. Thank you. >> Thank you. I I know we're not asking substantive questions this evening, but I did have one more question. I think it was for Mr. Corkran >> and you don't have to get up to answer it because it's just something I'd like you to be prepared to answer next time. And and trust me, our our administrators will tell you I grill them on the same type of questions. When you say you are benchmarking the salaries for
134teachers based on the local Pennsylvania charter schools, I'd like to know what those charter schools are because I'd like to I always get it's local and then I go that that school district isn't local enough where they have a different standard than we have. So I'd like to understand what charter schools you're basing that benchmark on. Thank you, >> Mr. Lee. >> Um just one quick followup on the construction comments. Do you anticipate all the renovations to be completed prior to your opening the doors presumably in August? >> Yeah. >> And you said that it would you were thinking it would take six to seven months to do all the renovations. >> Okay. >> Start roughly in April timeline. >> April May plus six to seven months is a little beyond August I think. >>
135Okay. March March to August, right? Okay, at this point we will adjourn tonight's meeting. The next hearing session is scheduled for Tuesday, January 20th, 2026 at 7 p.m. and will begin with questioning by the administration, the board, and the solicitor. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Second. Yeah, I just let me just >> that that meeting will be at the Rner school, Radner Middle School. >> So moved. >> Second. >> The hearing is adjourned. >> Nope. Take a vote. >> Oh, no. It doesn't say. Oh. Oh, sorry. All in favor? I I