01/08/2026 RTMSD School Board Work Session

001Good evening. Welcome to the January work session of the Rose Tree Media School Board. The school board holds monthly work sessions to carry out its responsibilities in public as dictated by the sunshine law. At these meetings, the board standing committees conduct the work of the board through discussion with the administration. We welcome the public to these meetings and depending on the length of the agenda may be able to entertain public comment. If we're not able to address comments, we encourage emails to either committee chairs or the administration. As a reminder to where our conversations should focus, the students are the center of the RTMSD learning community. Our mission states that all students will reach their intellectual, emotional, social, and physical potential in a safe environment that celebrates diversity, individual talents and efforts, and promotes collaboration,

002caring, respect, and leadership. Students will be wellprepared to create meaningful and productive lives in a global society. Uh before we begin, we're we'll have we have a couple of presentations. I just want to acknowledge that January is school director recognition month and to thank all of our school directors for their dedication to the Rose Tree Media School District. And so we will begin with a presentation about the K to1 center. Dr. Malash and the team from ICS Shrader Group will provide an update on the center. >> Thank you, Dr. Napson Williams. As the team gets the presentation, um up on the the screen and on the broadcast, I'm excited. With us tonight is Phil Solomon, uh Yanni Vardyas uh are up here at the table. You'll hear from them as they go through the presentation.

003Some very important updates. Also in the audience, Matt Kelly and Jennifer Grafton. Jennifer Grafton is from the Shrader Group. Matt also is from ICS. Um there's been a lot that has been going on behind the scenes uh in terms of discussions and work to get us to where we are today to uh continue to advance the project. So uh excited to turn it over to Phil and to Yanni. Okay. Thank you for having us back. Happy New Year. Um we have a pretty substantial update tonight. Uh kind of hitting on everything and Oops. So, our agenda essentially go, you know, just a refresher. Um, >> sorry, I don't know what happened there. >> Is it Zoom's clear? I apologize. Sorry about that. When it uh when it did the scream thing, everything went haywire. So,

004okay. So, uh, talk a little bit about some prior discussions just to get everybody back on, you know, head back into the the project. Talk about the traffic study update, uh, where we are with building design, athletics, and then we have an update on budget and schedule, and then we'll have plenty of time for discussion after that. So, just a just a refresher from prior discussions. Um, you know, the land development process is where we're in right now. It's a very rigorous process. It's dealing with traffic, storm water, sewer, environmental, zoning, etc. Um, this has particular complexity because of the PennDOT future plan with 352. So, we've talked about that a little bit. Um, but it does add a wrinkle into an already complex process. Um, just a refresher, traffic study is also a traffic

005impact study. It really is a study looking at what is happening with traffic now. what would the impact of development be and how can you mitigate that uh impact. So this is something we've been working through. PennDOT is the one who oversees this and then any changes are done through the PennDOT uh hot permit highway occupancy permit. This is can be an iterative process and in this case it has been uh and we're going to give you a little more information on some of the curve balls we've gotten recently. So, uh, preliminary traffic study findings, uh, there, you know, obviously was a traffic issue prior to this building, um, being contemplated. Uh, unfortunately, you know, it's it is falling somewhat on the district to to kind of cure some of the ills in the past.

006And, um, although the the traffic situation would be better if PINDOT had moved their uh, realignment project forward, the interim position is a problem. So just a refresher, there was four ways that we could mitigate that. None of them were permanent except for accelerating uh kind of the pendot planned project. So that was the the choice that the district was pursuing and that we are pursuing. Uh and certainly it's the right thing to do as a community neighbor. You know, certainly tons of benefit, but again adds complexity. Uh this is the picture of the the the how it should look when it's done. This is the the realigned road from PennDOT solving that existing problem with Rose Tree Road and Middletown Road. So Yanni's going to talk a little bit about some of the wrinkles

007we've encountered here and then what's happening from there. Thank you, Phil. Appreciate that. Uh, okay. Since we last met, we've received an additional request from the township. As most of you know, the adjacent property to the school is owned by a church organization. that church organization is approved, permitted, and scheduled to build a new church at this location with a main entrance at Middletown Road uh not too far away from the current Rose Tree Road um intersection at 352. So, the township reached out to the school district and the church and as well as uh the ICS team and they've requested the project team to evaluate if there's any opportunity to collaborate with the church organization and proactively address any potential future traffic issues along Middletown Road associated with the new development. Uh we've met

008with the PENDOT, the church, um the township and as well as the project team several times and had several discussions. We have not finalized anything as of the date, but we are currently in discussions. So, as far as next steps for the traffic study, uh we're going to finalize the the the counts for the new the new intersection that was added, which is recently reopened. It was closed for a renovation over the uh for quite some time. So, we couldn't do the traffic study. So, now it's just recently open. So TPD, our consultant, is now actively doing that count. Um, with that information, they'll finalize the traffic improvement approach and then of course finalize the traffic study, which we hope to complete in the next three or four weeks. >> Yes. >> Um, can could

009you go back to the site plan? >> Yes. >> And could you just show us the church's property and their entrance and what you're where you're looking at? >> Yes. Um, >> probably So, we don't have the I don't have the plan up where the church is entrances, but essentially um if I can use this as a pointer, it's Oops. It's going to be roughly right here. >> Yeah, if you can see the pointer. So, it's about 150 feet from edge to edge, 250 ft from center to center. So township doesn't love that as a final condition. Uh because you have that entryway so close to a signalized light. Although that being said, that's that happens all along this just for >> also this was going to happen when Pendot did this renovation in the

010future anyway. >> Correct. >> So again like here we are >> it would be an existing condition no matter what. Okay. So, you know, again, it is unfortunate that that you're kind of holding the the piece, but whoever is going for the permit is the one that essentially gets the brunt of what it is that they're trying to do. So, you know, I can see how that how that that final condition is not optimal. However, the church already has their permit, you know, so they are already permitted to move forward. And as a courtesy, we're trying to run that to ground. Um, you know, you say courtesy, but there are some levers that that everyone can pull if, uh, if you don't abide by that courtesy a little bit. So, this back to you. Okay,

011just a quick building design update. Uh, some of you have already seen some of these renderings, but uh, we'll go through quickly so refresh everybody to what this beautiful school will look like in the future. So, here's an aerial view of the front of the school. Another shot of the front entrance. Here is the cafeteria and dining commons and the media center. Uh just some site updates. We've uh we've concluded the geotechnical report. Um the report came back and has confirmed our assumptions and the design that we've progressing is in within budget. Um the geothermal conductivity test is also complete. Um the results were great and we are proceeding with the geothermal design. Uh just a quick update on athletics. So as you can see here on the image on the screen um there's an

012updated sketch that has a realigned field the proposed parking lot and you can kind of see it but is the concession stand that's uh on the right hand right there above the parking lot. So next steps determine uh determination of the surface of the field uh develop design alternatives and then integrate all this into the overall land development submission because this will be part of the K1 center project uh budget. So this is um a shot that I we had presented last time. The difference here we are right now is we've added a third row which will um capture the cost associated with the ro tree realignment. Um, as you can see the new construction and the which is the first row in green with the green highlights up top. The second row includes the

013athletic fields and then to the right the purple will include in the future all the costs associated with the ro tree road realignment. Uh there are several TBDs on there because the the design has not progressed so we still cannot capture the exact cost of that. Uh it's something that we're working on right now. Next slide. >> Just a question about the Rose Road realignment. You said you're doing a traffic study on Ridley Creek and Rose Tree Road, which is not directly related to the alignment, right? Is there any other potential mitigation we're going to be possible have to do depending on the result of that traffic study? >> I don't >> they haven't indicated that at the time. So >> yeah, >> when we so as we finalize that traffic study, the end of

014it is that you need to have a final solution actually to the problem. So the way that we're looking at it now, if you proceed with what you're doing, that will resolve the problem and that will resolve if there's other traffic issues in other areas, um you will have done your part is the way that we're understanding it right now. Okay, so good news at the at the uh at the divine design development phase. The project remains on budget. Um even though we are on budget, we are still actively looking at additives and alternative options to provide the school with flexibility. So the school has options when selecting preferred but non-essential non-essential items. Uh for example, equipment and finishes that may cost more today but can provide a longer life cycle and reduce maintenance for

015the school in the future. uh for example interior finishes uh such as Terzo versus LBT. Terzo is a longer life cycle, may cost more upfront but will provide a longer longevity of of the school um and the finishes that are there. Uh improved energy efficient equipment which will reduce cost in the long run and things of that nature. So we're we're still looking at all these different options in the school. Just because we're in budget doesn't mean that we've stopped. Uh the project team is also pursuing grant opportunities to help offset the cost associated with the Rose Street Road realignment. Um so our schedule here um as you can see this is a timeline that we've developed here. I won't go through each phase um in in singularity but you can see where we started

016um and what's TBD and what's going to progress afterwards. Unfortunately we don't have dates for some of the things that are there because >> I'm sorry. Can you put the maybe the mic a little closer? >> Okay. Sorry about that. So, uh, as you can see, the timeline here illustrates where we started, uh, where we've been going and and where we're going to go. Um, there are some TBDs on the screen and dates associated with it with no with with durations, but not dates exactly. Uh because the TBDs, they're they're in front of us that we need to overcome before we can develop the timeline and and and move to the next steps. So the proposed timeline is up here as you can see. So we started schematic design in March of 2025. They concluded

017in June of 25. Uh we are currently in design development phase which we started in June. Uh the end date will will will come will come across once we've finalized the road realignment. Um unfortunately there are several TV days um after that because we need to complete design development before we can move to the next phase. But that being said, permitting and and approvals are still targeted for May of 27 with bidding of March of 2027, concluding in April of 2027 and asking board for the approval of the bids in May of 2027. Construction is scheduled to begin in July of 2027 with a completion of August 2029. Unfortunately, the uh 2028 date is no longer viable because of what's transpired over the last few weeks. >> Can you explain that a little bit more?

018Yeah. So, this has been a, you know, kind of a long time coming. We we had a solution planned uh essentially the correction of the Rose Street Road and realignment. We had a date certain that we had to have the land development in this month uh if we were going to make that work. There is no kind of secondary date. It's not like you can move in mid year. Um, so when we lost January, you know, in terms of being able to submit land development, we literally ran out of time. And unfortunately, we we still need to finalize this piece. So, there's a there's a key piece up there about, you know, making sure we have an easement between ourselves and our neighbor. So, you know, we we trying to have a trying to have

019a good relationship with the neighbor, make sure that we can get that worked out, but we need the easement to be able to build the road as it stands. Now essentially PennDOT already owns an easement there. So we are accelerating it. So you know hopefully they will be a good neighbor as well and have some kind of reciprocal agreement. We have had multiple conversations with them and there are some things that you know would be beneficial to them as well as the district. Uh but we still have to make that work. Plus, we have to now make the change because the the suggestion that the township had made was to have the church connect to that realigned road. And we did go down the path of developing that and and finding some pathways that that

020maybe would be acceptable and that's still getting run to ground. So you know until we have a final plan we cannot finish the traffic study and then once the traffic study then we can submit land development. So with all the changes that have been requested of the district and you know it is again unfortunate that you are the one who is having to address this problem. Those changes have put us completely off schedule and you know you can file that under no good deed goes unpunished you know because you are trying to do the right thing by the community. Um but it's it's kind of a sticking point right now and we still have to work through the easement with the church and then finalize that plan and then move it forward. um without the

021curveball we we would have been able to make the original plan but it's just impossible at this point you know and it's there are certain things you can rush uh and you can just put more um you know design hours against but some of these things you cannot so they are done in series versus parallel we're stuck in a series problem right now you know and even if we work in parallel we can't catch up there's no way to catch up at this point so we have been speaking with the administration over the last month or so. We've been, you know, having special meetings right around Christmas and everything else to see if we could find a way and there just there wasn't one unless the needles were lined up for us to thread them

022perfectly. Uh, which we were still pushing for all the way until, you know, basically Christmas. Um, that that is what really kind of pulled us off track. If we were to come to an agreement with the church next week, when would you be submitting to Middletown Township? >> So, you still have we still have three about three weeks to finish that traffic study from the time that we have that. The problem is we actually need a a legal easement or some kind of documentation between us. So if you were able to get that we can get you know we can pick up we can get call it finish in three weeks then we have to finish the design piece of uh the civil engineering because that has been changed as well. So we have to

023to catch up with that then we can submit to the township. So you're talking about a couple month lag but that couple couple months we we you know we can't catch up. We already ate what's called float. So, we ate all of our float in terms of construction. So, we were already making all of our construction people's sweat, you know, even up to the January time frame. Um, there's just there's no way to accelerate it faster. >> So, are you running I'm gonna have a series of questions. >> Sure. Yeah. >> Are just warning you. Are you going to be running the Middletown and the PennDOT drawings at the same time or are right because there's a difference. Middletown's going to approve and what Pendot is going to approve. And being that we've had a

024relationship with Middletown Township, we've been in a lot of conversations. Is there a way to um you know submit those approval drawings without the completed PEND dot drawings with the understanding that that's where we're going and that we will be working with PENDOT. >> That is correct and that is what we will do. So we won't have we won't have full drawings for the actual road realignment for several months after that. >> Yeah. Because that that all has to be to pendot specifications with with all that. So we can still submit the land development once we have a finalized approach. >> So that that will be that will be submitted. >> Okay. Um, in addition to that, we have been working trying to work collaboratively with PennDOT and the township and all the parties together

025and they they have been complying at least showing up and they don't have to, right? >> You know, they they can just say, "Hey, submit and we'll we'll let you know, >> but they have been coming to the table because they they do recognize the unique situation that you're in." Um so yeah that we are we will be able to submit the land development without having everything finalized. >> And so why is there the time frame between having the easement in hand and finalizing the traffic study? Couldn't we move forward with finalizing the traffic study with one an assumption that we're going to get an easement and then also an assumption we're not going to get the easement? So, I mean, just if if I'm okay, I mean, we literally got information from the church

026today that we're trying to work through. So, we had one direction we were going >> and that direction is going to have to be changed. There's just it's a non-starter. You know, what's >> I'm sorry. Um, we we we were going in a different direction, you know, per the direction of the township, and that is the that's what we've been pursuing. Um, but as of today, we got some feedback uh from from the neighbor about what their expectation is, and it's just a non-starter to do what uh what the township has asked us to do. So, now we have to go back and go back to the original plan. We can still accelerate those things, but January was the drop dead. I mean, we were really dropped dead, and even then it was late. So,

027we we're quite a bit behind. And you had two years for this completion of the building, the construction. Is that because you were aligning to a September start or like is it going to take 18 months but you were trying to align to September? So you said two years. >> We are right now aligned to a start. Yeah. So I mean it could it could be done it will be done earlier than that but it'll be of almost no benefit. You know if you're done if you're done in the spring it doesn't help, right? you know. So, yeah. So, we realigned it to where where the land where it would land um and then backed into the pieces of uh bidding because we know we know that's when we have to do that to to

028land in August. Some of these things can get moved up, you know, of of course, but um again, if we're going to miss August and you know, not by a little, but say October or something like that, you know, how do you how do you open a building, you know, couple months into a year? It's very difficult. >> Yeah. I mean, I guess it's up to administration like if it's if we're talking about October, is there a way? But I I guess I mean, losing a whole year is clear. I mean, everyone knows this uh a huge disappointment. >> Yeah. >> And just means longer for our students and our families to be put in a less than ideal situation. >> Everyone's getting educated, but like this is continuing on over a decade now before

029we can open the school. And anything we can do to pull drawings apart and get approvals concurrently, bid it separately. I mean, I think we have to be really aggressive on doing everything we can and I know you guys are, but I just have to say it publicly. This is >> I agree >> a huge disappointment. >> Yeah. And we we have waited till the till there was really nothing left, you know, no opportunity left uh to to do that. I mean, like up to the edge to push everything. Um and it it is a disappointment, you know, to the board. It's the disappointment to us, to me personally. I've been in this project for years. So, it is a Yeah, it is not a it is not an easy thing to sit here and

030tell you that we're going to we're going to move this timeline out. >> So, I would echo Jackie anything we can do to expedite this, even if it's a month or something like that. My other question is, if we really aren't going to be able to make the 2020, fall of 2028 opening, are we sure we really want to wait until July 2027? I mean, like, wouldn't we want to put a shovel in the ground ASAP because there's always delays. So, I'm looking at uh finish, you know, finished in August 2029. that gives very little time to actually get everything up and running. So >> that that is not the I just put those in there as kind of the final dates. We will move them up as soon as some of those TBDs get

031filled in. Those all those dates will will scoot up as well. >> I didn't essentially those are artificial dates that are just placeholders until we have the TBDs determined and then we can move everything on up. So, we should have when it comes to actual construction some buffer for the point that Shelley's making, which is there will be some delays and we should still be fine and at least definitely be able to get in 2029. >> Correct. So, so what and this could just be my mistake, but I just didn't want everything to be TBD there and we had to put the the August 2029 date there because we had to we had to let you know. So the basic conclusion is you are really confident that we can open the school by August 2029

032given what is to TVD and what is known up there and there is a chance that the building will be actually ready months before August 2029. >> Yes. And we're we are hopeful that everybody understands the situation and works diligently to make sure that those TBDs get turned into real dates as soon as possible. >> Right? So that if the administration had some great imagination imaginative solution to getting us into the school for the second semester, say for the spring of 2029, that might be possible >> if we were targeting that. Sure. Yeah. >> I think we should target August 2028. [laughter] I do too, Jackie. I totally do. Yeah, I you know, it's it is not an easy thing to sit here and and have the things slide. It's not. Yeah, I know. It's

033It's okay. I I get it. Yeah. >> I just make one comment about the turf, the new field. Uh I think this was brought up previously, but there has not been a change. I just want to like put it in everyone's ear again. the way the two field the baseball and the softball field are aligned opposite corners one field is at a disadvantage it is the softball field because that is the one facing to the west right so like I don't know we talked about is there a way to equalize that out so that >> yes um I thought that was addressed but let me maybe I put up the wrong image uh because that was addressed a while ago yeah that was that was brought up as an issue So maybe I grabbed an

034image that was not aligned correctly. >> And speaking of the turf, even if the building itself isn't ready, would the turf fields possibly be ready much sooner than August of 2029? >> Yes. Uh the key thing is we just need to get our permits. So the permits are all tied together. Um so essentially when we get through the permitting process, the fields don't take as long as the building. So, we could certainly organize that differently and uh you know get some wins there even if the even if the building's not ready. Yeah. Um just real quick, I mean there's there's a bunch of next steps. Um you know, we're hyperfocused on finalizing the things around traffic. Those are the things holding us up. But um we did break out just some key next steps so

035that uh the board and the public could see you know we we clearly got to expand the you know finish the traffic study so that we have uh a direction we we need to to get an agreement with the church and we get our land development drawings submitted. Um we've been advancing the the DD drawings to where they can be until we have everything finalized. Then we will continue moving those. Act 34 hearing is going to follow. That's also a TBD because all of this has to be finalized before we can put all the costs together. >> Happy to field questions. >> Are there any other questions from the board? >> The act 34 question is triggers a ballot initiative if the budget is too high. Right. So is are we in [clears throat] danger

036is as time drags is that >> no that it's so that's about the building. So these other additional costs are not part of that. I mean they will be captured in there as part of the overall budget but they're also then deleted back out as site and site improvement things. So it's really about the building size. Yeah. So that we had done the preliminary preliminary calculations on that and we we felt pretty comfortable. All right. Any other questions, comments from the board. All right. I see a hand up um in the community. I will just um emphasize like I usually do that um try to keep your question direct and brief because I have to repeat it so people who are listening online can hear it. a question. >> There was a question about um

037trying to get clarification on um a comment about accelerating the PennDOT project. So, PennDOT has been planning on making roadway improvements in the Middletown area. It's a project called MPMS 15251. You can look it up. It's called the US1 roadway improvement. So, PENDOT has had this in their plan for multiple years, not just to reconnect uh the one signalized light, but all through the area. However, the area that we are looking to build is right where they're going to realign uh Rose Tree Road with the signalized of the Granite Run Mall or whatever that's called now, but you know that one intersection there. So, if they were had if they had done that project already, we would not have a traffic problem with the school. However, it's not done. And when you ask them when

038it will be done, it's mid 2030s and mid not 2031 as of August, like mid 2030s. So, uh there's no way to wait and coordinate with that. So, the only way to solve the problem and still be in line with the larger um plan for traffic is to take that one piece and actually build it to the pen. So that is the the proposed solution for this project which also helps the community out as well. >> There's a question about the school district subsidizing the cost of the road improvement. >> So there would be off-site improvements regardless of you know how this would work. I mean you still have to mitigate the traffic. um coming from your development, there are grants available. They're not guaranteed, but uh there is a the district is doing kind

039of the right thing by the community. So that should accelerate or help get the grants. If there are no grants, then yes, the district would be bearing the cost of that road improvement. >> I don't Well, I think it the answer was a little more complicated than that. And um there is the belief that those grants um will be available to us because it's for the the larger community, not just for the school. Jack, yeah, I think you had a question. Did you >> No, actually I was going to say that after Phil's answer that we were actively pursuing grants to offset the cost of that work. >> Yeah. Yeah. And there's two bites at the grants just for uh there's a grant that just opened which we will pursue. Uh you know we just

040had a kickoff today for that grant. Then there is another grant in three months that will open uh two different agencies. One is via I think agency but there's also another one that's the DCED grant. So um and you can apply for both of them. So, you know, essentially since you are solving a community problem, the idea is that should get precedence over somebody just needing to solve their own problem. >> Thank you. All right, I think we're good. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, guys. >> All right, we will be moving on. Oh, okay. I'm sorry, Dr. N. Just as a little final piece, um I want to share just where we are with the planning for full day kindergarten uh committee that we started this year. Um has been seated and has been meeting.

041Um we have a wonderful group of folks that have been together. Uh they've had one formal meeting so far. Um and on the committee right now it's made up of there are 33 total participants. Uh all certificated staff members from the district um and there's representatives from all four elementary schools and from Springton Lake. And these are some of the job titles that are represented on the committee. art teacher, school counselor, school nurse, MTSS teacher, librarian, occupational therapist, speech therapist, reading specialist, title one math specialist, special ed teachers, kindergarten teachers, first grade teachers, third grade teachers, fourth grade teachers, and elementary principles who are all currently involved in this committee. And this is just the the outline. And I just wanted you to see again because I think it's as we talk about the structure

042and the frustrations that we are dealing with to get it built. There's a reason that this is taking place right there. This is where we are headed to be able to offer this full day program for our children and for the community. So this is the work that the the committee is doing during the course of this year. Um they have are in the process right now of setting up site visits to some other districts that currently have full day kindergarten programs. the focus of their goal as they go through this year is to develop and propose a daily schedule for full day kindergarten. So, I'm very excited. I had the opportunity to attend the first meeting and to sit back and to listen and talk about a passionate group of human beings um who

043see that they can make a tremendous difference because not all educators get the opportunity to design something new in the best case scenario. Um so, we have staff members that are incredibly excited about doing it. Dr. Jannine and Barry and Miss Katie Melenich uh are co-chairing this committee uh for the district doing an outstanding job uh and I'm excited to be able to share later in the year uh where they're progressing and ultimately to have a draft uh of a proposed schedule for us all to look at in the spring. But I just wanted you to see this again. There's a reason it's not just about uh the building is a is serves a purpose and it's to meet the needs of the kids. So, thank you. >> Is there going to be um participation

044from parents at any point or are they preparing something to get their input? >> Yes, we'll we'll actually look for input from parents and from community members. I know um we have some folks who are experts in our community and early childhood education. So we'll be invite inviting participation as we move forward from them as well and a process to do that. >> So um I see so two of the districts Intero and Springfield have um all their kindergarten students in those in the one building correct like what we're going to be doing. Um >> Pendelo is different. Is Garnet Valley also a kindergarten center? Now kindergarten I believe Dan Garnet at the elementary schools right they don't have a kindergarten center now but they have so we're looking at the full day program so

045it's really looking at not necessarily how it's organized in the district but how that program operates what's it look like for full day versus a half day program >> right and then I know that Garnet Valley has a K through2 that one of their schools is K through two only okay so not different so different from K1 All right, I'm good. It's exciting. All right, let's see. We'll move on. We have another presentation, the turf update. Um, Hugh Kadzo from ELA Sports. >> Thank you, Dr. Williams. So I have um Hugh is online in case we have any questions. Let me just find here and Dennisi is going to be joining me and Mike Nolan. It's like a two for one. >> The dream team back in effect. And if I could miss Wisconsin, it's

046okay. I share again. So, we spent quite a bit of time in December at the work session on December 1st talking about uh synthetic turf and the materials that go into the into the fields. Um Hugh from ELA Sports um spent a lot of time going through he was with us uh provided a great deal of information. There were some questions that we did follow-up with um and it sounded that evening, you know, with the board discussion um with the leaning towards the EPDM as the filler material. And just a reminder, EPDM is still a rubber filler, but it is first run. It's not recycled material. It's it's the byproduct of um creating things that are made out of rubber in manufacturing. It's what's trimmed out of the side when um you know, under pressure.

047the rubber is placed under pressure made into gaskets or or other things to be used. So it's it's a firstrun material. Um so we spent some time doing the additional research. Uh Dennis worked with Hugh in the development to look at what would the difference be in the cost from what the original perspective was uh to simply replace, you know, and using the penrest field as the foundation for what had been put in and to go with the EPBM. Um, and you can see up here on the screen, uh, what we originally considered it was going to be, you know, going back to just the original crumb rubber versus using the EPDM and then the safety mat that we also talked about and the inclusion of the mat, which as Hugh told us, you know,

048the expectation is we will get two life cycles out of that, you know, a little more than 20 years um, for two life cycles of fields, you know, to be used. And we're we're assuming 10 to 11 years or so is the average life cycle uh for the field. Mike Nolan and I had the opportunity on the 22nd of December. We went up the the closest EPDM or field that uses EPDM uh is up at the Muenberg School District just outside of Reading. Uh so Mike and I met early Monday morning and took a drive up there and beautiful complex, right? It's always I'm always fascinated to go into other school districts to see how they organize, right? Because again in districts there's it's just space and and money and and they have a property

049that was 48 acres I think they told us the administration building the middle school the high school the stadium baseball and softball mixeduse fields and they're building a a five and fifth and sixth grade center all on the same property. Um but this EPDM field they opened it was the construction was finished during the course of the summer. This is the first season that they've used it and it's >> they love it. >> Stunning. Love it. Right. Love it. Is a good descriptor, Mike, from what the facilities folks, you know, they talked about the maintenance of it. Talked about what that looks like, you know. So, as we move forward because we are expecting Dennis can talk about it, you know, we are still expecting the approvals um you know, and the permitting and all

050to be finished this month and to be looking to go out to bid Dennis >> February >> in in February. um you know to be able to have the work start late May um and to have the field at Penrest replaced you know for the opening in the fall uh and the field and the the new track here at Springton uh also to be ready for the fall. I don't know if you Dennis if you want to talk about the numbers or if there's anything else >> before >> could I ask a question really quick? You may have mentioned it. I may have missed it. Are they using a pad at Muenberg underneath the >> They do not. Okay. Interesting. Thanks. >> We don't either. >> Rather surprised at the numbers. EPDM not that much

051more considering. So, um, just slightly over our budget at Pankrest. and well within the budget or very close to it at Springton Lake. >> Reminding him the Matt is um helps with concussion industries force >> Gforce impact testing the U Hugh is online too and he could jump in as well, but from my understanding you will you will always pass the Gmax testing with that map. Um, so when they come out with that mat down there, it just gives you that extra um cushion for the M GMAX testing. >> I Sorry. So sorry. I understand that's with pad >> that that comes into play. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> Correct. Yeah. I'm sorry. >> So the mat is the pad. >> The mat. Yeah. Sorry. >> Terminology. Sorry about that. >> It's just like buying

052carpet in your house. Um, you know, you you get the nice pad underneath. It just your your turf is going to lay. Okay. >> And the G and the GMAX standard is to is used to determine how likely a knee injury or head injury is. >> Head injury. Concussion particularly. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> All right. Are there I I do have a question about the EPDM. um that a lot most places around here don't use it. It's mainly in New England. And I guess it was a question of whether the materials will be available for us, right? Because it sounded like I don't know where I read it, but that they don't >> Yeah, we were told that it's not they make it on demand or something. So, I'm just wondering if that could

053prove to delay what we're trying to do if that's becomes an issue. I believe in and you you're here but yeah email I believe >> said once ordered it's a five to six week time frame. >> Yeah. The one the one the one vendor of it says it's it's made pretty much made on demand. Uh so it's like a five to six week uh lead time uh because they have to assemble all the uh cutings etc to uh to create it. uh they're it's starting to be an uptick in in the requesting of of out there to use it. So they're starting to look at possible stockpiling of this and actually having a little bit in their you know uh on demand but it's kind of it hasn't started as of yet. So, it's still

054a it'd be a five to six week delay, which is if you if they know up front, they can order that ahead of time. So, it's because they'll they'll be they'll take a little bit of time to do the work in the field. So, you know, it just has to be ordered ordered early enough and it it shouldn't cause any delays. >> I had a question. It's yours. Turn that off. >> All right, let's try that again. >> Thank you. >> What? One of the >> All right, let's see if it stays on. Okay, >> just pick it up. >> The uh the aspect of the heat reduction. I know there were some materials that um permitted I think some color other than the black color that really absorbs a lot of that heat. Is

055EPDM one of those materials that allows for an alternative color to reduce heat? Yeah, you could that you could purchase that that that actually comes at a at a higher price because um that you know most everything with rubber is black made black. So uh they can be made and uh as that has it from my my conversations with people uh that really hasn't since EPDM itself isn't used a lot around here. Uh there's really no one has used it with the color. You can do that. I I would have to check and see if there's any uh adjustment in price in that. Um uh the prices we were able to get was was was based off of uh the standard black. >> May I may I ask a question in connection with that then?

056because obviously a lot of the EP um EPDM is all used in New England where it is colder and so therefore heat absorption is perhaps not as much of an issue or is even a little bit desirable. Is that have they done studies? Is there a major difference in how hot the fields will be with this material? >> It's it's it's it's similar to to the SPR uh uh when it comes to the the heat uh production on it. Uh since again it is it is a rubber material. Uh >> and that's significantly hotter than grass, right? >> Yeah, it's Yeah, it it it it is, you know, depending on your ambient temperature and stuff, it does get does get hotter. Uh they're uh and normally like in the uh in the summers in the

057summer months that's usually you know there's heat protocol that's implemented with these with these fields uh is is the way to handle it. The only other way that that's a cooler type system is an organic um which may be cooler but then often you know in the northeast here where it that retains water then it can freeze and could possibly do damage to the field. So it it's there's a trade-off with the usage of of that type of material. There are pretty stringent heat protocols um for our athletic trainers, for our coaches, for our teams, uh especially and they do the whole heat acclamation process during the course of the summer. Temperatures have to be taken and determination about whether or not they can be on the field or not. >> Yeah, we I mean,

058speaking of putting my coach's hat on, uh yeah, we've you know, we we'll we get uh we get orders from the athletic trainers. uh you know uh I I coach uh coach football. It's what could be done and can't be done those days. Uh so you'll you know so you call it shorts and short shorts and shells. They just have helmet helmet on and shorts. Uh so you have to adjust your practice uh for the weather. >> So the administrative recommendation is uh as they get the approvals and they build the spec sheets to go out is to spec it out for the EPDM. Um again through all of the discussion and where we are we believe that that's the intention uh and the feel uh and we think that's the right thing to do

059um for the committee. So we're just looking for you know the um as we've talked about at the perspective and any if there's any other questions or thoughts from the board and if not then that's what we're going to have Dennis work on um to do the specifications. >> Just have another please >> question or two. Um, we did we I I know coated sand is more expensive. Did we consider at all doing fewer fields with coated sand if that's something that can work with the heat and the cold temperature? Well, >> so I believe Hugh went through and talked about the coated sand. The concern was with the freezing of it um which then makes it unplayable and dangerous. Yeah. because of where we are. >> Um in the specification of the EPDM, uh

060I saw the brochure which uh called out that some of the EPDM is um sort of rated uh I forget the terminology like uh toy proof like it is approved for usage in toys in terms of its not toxicity. I just want to make sure that that is part of the specification that that is the level PDM that we would be using >> there there is uh yeah there is yeah you >> you can get bad quote unquote bad EPDM you have yeah you have to have standards there's there is a in my conversations with one vendor had indicated they had used it uh not in the not in this area but uh I think it was the Midwest uh and uh it actually uh melt it. It actually uh like like it was ended

061up forming little balls of rubber which that was a manufacturing process. So you you have to you have to have criteria on the manufacturing of it. >> Yes, Jackie that it to be included in the specifications. Yes, we will. >> Okay. Okay. Are we good with going forward with the EPDM? >> Okay. And there's a question about finding about out another color besides black, right? Okay. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thanks you. >> Thank you. Have a good evening. All right. So, we will um move on to debt financing. >> Dr. Malage, [laughter] >> no one's ever cheered for us. >> I'm very excited to welcome our uh financial team back with us this evening. Brad is handing out documents to the board. Ken and Ally are also here. Oh, you did. We're just

062setting up the presentation. Okay. It is a pleasure for us to be back. Um, when we were here last, based on our timing, it was really being driven by the 2018 bonds because we have a chance to refund those. But we talked about the flexibility that we have with those bonds. They're really short. Okay, there are some savings there. But going into the first leg of the financial plan, we said we need to make some decisions. We have some ideas that we shared with you before of how to fund this long range plan, but let's take a look at how we which we're going to show you tonight. another alternative which we've been working with the administration on of how we may be able to utilize the 2018 bonds to help reduce the annual impact

063in your budget. Okay. So really exciting for number guys like us because the the 2018 even though it's a liability, we're really using it as an asset tonight to possibly give you another alternative for how you go ahead and and and finance the long range of projects. Okay. So, we'll start off. Brad passed out handout, but you know, for those in the audience and for those online, you can see interest rates uh pretty much are at an average since uh 1993. This is the average. Uh you can see the red line. You can see the blue line. The red line is sort of where we are today. The blue line is the average since 1993. All right. Still very, very attractive interest rates. The Federal Reserve is bringing down short-term interest rates. So you we

064hear in the marketplace that rates are going lower. Okay, that's a good sign. That's on the shortterm side. The longer term rates pretty much staying the same. Okay, but still based on the timing of the next couple years, we think at least initially we're going to be fine with some of the estimates that we have in here tonight. make this bigger. >> You can follow I don't know >> but for the people in the Yeah. So, page three, just to keep it going for those, you know, who have it in front of them, and then we'll get get it back up on the screen, lists the outstanding debt, and you have your share um of the community college debt. Okay? uh you have your share uh obviously the 2018 column three is your debt and

065then the 2025 is the issue that we completed last year which gave you money to you know begin some of your projects I believe about half of that remains uh you've been um you know spending it on you know some of the projects that uh that that you had this summer So when you look at this slide, it's the 2018s that we're going to use in a capacity to give you an alternative with respect to the total funding mechanism. Okay? And we're at the point where we can go ahead now legally under IRS code and refund or restructure the 2018s. Thus, in our timeline with you, that's why we're here this evening. Um, and we'll go through a timeline at the very end if we're going to stick to that and uh, you know, see

066which way we go with getting some new money toward your projects, but also then the decision on the 2018s. So, with that, I'm going to turn it over to Ally, who's going to review two options for you. um and how it ties into the 2018. And then we're going to have some discussion as to which way you want to proceed because before we can do anything legally and and have the legal team here with the resolutions and and so on, we need to make a decision which we had talked about that when it comes time to do something with the 18s, we'll have the you know, we'll have to make a decision and how that impacts our long-term plan. >> All right. Thanks, Ken. Uh, all right. So, now I'm going to go through slide

067four. Slide four is uh a direct carryover from when we were here last and we laid out the $130 million complete financing plan for you all. So, we've just simply updated this to show you what has occurred and how the plan lays out going forward. So, in column two, again, this ties back to the slide Ken just went over. This is the district's outstanding net debt service as it currently stands today. Column three is the new issue we did in 2025. So that's now final. So, you know, those interface have been locked in. That debt service has been wrapped around the existing debt service and and those proceeds have been deposited into the district's account. Um, and as Ken mentioned, we you have about, you know, half of those proceeds left at this point in

068time. And then we went ahead and we just kind of pulled apart into pieces based on how we thought you were going to spend the money uh for construction on the other projects over time. So we had the series of 26, 27, 28, and 29 in columns 4 through 7. Each one of those again wraps around uh the you know depth before it to keep the ultimate budget impact as low as possible. And uh we've kind of learned this new information tonight about maybe the project's slowing down a little bit. So maybe this changes a little bit. Maybe we don't need as much upfront as we thought we did in 26. So we might kind of move those pieces around a little bit. Um but we're going to as we talk in in the next

069couple of slides about the restructuring or refunding of the 18s, you kind of do get an economies of scale when you're going to go issue uh to do a refunding or restructuring. Anyway, it it makes sense to get something. It just might not be what we've shown you here in terms of the total dollar amount now with the the delays uh related to the project. So, we can talk about that some more. But then you can see here in columns 12 and 13, this is uh very close to what you saw last time we were here where we then phase in what we need for these projects over a seven-year time horizon. And basically we need just shy of 1% of your index annually for the next six budgets because we've already have the uh

07079 and 2526 in the budget uh to fully fund you know the 130 million over the next five or six years. And that equates in in column 12 to 0.15 mills annually if you want to look at it that way instead of percentage uh of the budget. [clears throat] So, I'm going to stop there for a second because I know there's a lot of numbers on this page. See if anybody has any questions before we move forward. All right. So, the next slide then, as Ken mentioned, we have the 18 uh bonds existing. If we did the original plan and we're going to plan to put that, you know, roughly 1% into the budget each year annually over the next six budgets, then we can go ahead and we can just refund these bonds. So

071basically, just like you would refinance your home mortgage, we're going to take these bonds and we're going to refinance them to lower interest rates and it's going to save you interest expense or, you know, and those dollars will come back to the district. So in the top um right box here, that's really what you're interested in. You can see the prior debt service. You can see what we're estimating the payments to be. If you just simply again refinance them high to low, we keep the term the same. you can generate roughly $250,000 annually of cash flow savings just by changing the interest rates um and matching the term of these bonds. So that in aggregate is roughly $750,000 of savings or 3.14% of the amount par amount of the bonds that we're refunding. For a

072current refunding, the industry standard is anything in excess of 2% is where you would want to be. So we're, you know, well in excess of that. Um, and then we have a little sensitivity analysis there in the righth hand corner where you can see, you know, if interest rates move on us plus or minus 25 basis points, how much savings we would lose or gain. And it's still a significant number. So, you know, hopefully we're we're in the right place or rates go a little bit lower, but we're not going to like lose all the savings if we lose 25 basis points over the next month or two. Uh Joe, >> can you go back one page before I turn it back over to Ally and Brad here? So this page, if you just have

073your pen there, just write down two things. This is $130 million study. Okay, roughly 13 years. So we're going to fund the 130 million over 13 years, taking it in conjunction with your existing debt. And the total cost is about $214 million if you were to add pay column eight and nine. Okay. And on the far right hand side beginning in 2039 you really have 16 plus million coming back to the budget. Now we may not be sitting around this table. Ally may still be around. Uh, but there will be other projects that Rosary has done. I've been here 41 years and you've done a very good job of your facilities, but people around this table, okay, 13 years from now are probably going to be looking at other major projects. So, the beauty of

074this is you've always kept your debt in a very manageable way. So the takeaways from this page 13 years that program about $214 million. Okay. And it cost you on column 12 a little less than a mill. All right. Now I'll turn it back to Ally because now we're going to give you the next option that we thought told you we'd come back with but we wanted to there's no reason to you know go through it until now. One thing I was going to point out that 215 I think Ken or 214 includes their existing debt I believe if I understand this. So it's not just the new debt. It's for what you already have as well. >> Right. Good point. >> And the the other thing Brad just mentioned to me that I failed

075to point out is we keep your value of a mill static in all of these studies. So we assume assume there's no assessment growth whatsoever. Obviously, if you have assessment growth, that's going to decrease that percentage and in the future and the number, you know, as a a static value of a mill that you would need on a larger assessed value. So, just keep that in mind. It's so it's conservative, I guess, is the point from that. All right. So, then if we go to slide six, this is the exact same study that we just looked at. However, you'll see there's two green columns inserted in here. And what we've done here is we've used a small portion about $3 million, $3 and a half million dollars of those 18 bonds. And instead of straight

076up high to low refunding them, we're going to move some of the principle that we were going to owe in 26 and 27 and 28 out to 29. So you can see that in column five there. We're extending a little bit of that debt out a little bit further. And what that does and what that allows you to do then is if you look in column 14 and 16, we can now decrease the amount as a percentage of the budget annually that we need to put in for debt service because we're essentially using a small portion of those savings to do what we call restructure the debt to allow for that to be a lower number. So you'll see here for the next six budgets instead of just shy of 1% we're looking at about

077a half a percent over the next seven years. >> So that I'm sorry go ahead. >> No >> go ahead. >> So at the end of the day in the bottom of column 14 now instead of you know around a mill you're looking at about 610 of a mill in total over each of those you know years if you sum them up. Um, we also need a little bit less cash than in column 10 to equally phase that in over that seven-year time frame. And if you look at the bottom of columns four and five, you know, usually when you do a restructuring, it costs you a lot of additional interest expense because you're basically taking principal you're going to pay off in the next year or two and kicking it down the road and

078and it's costing you more. However, because we have savings on this issue, it really isn't costing you anything to do this and be able to lower how many mills you need annually. And then as part, can I move to the next and then we can come back? Okay. So, as part of that, I just wanted to show you on the next slide, we are still able after we re, you know, use what we need to to restructure here to refund high to low the balance that we don't need for the restructuring and still save an additional 6 $150,000 on the part we don't need to move around to to get down to that lower mill run rate. >> So now going back to the previous slide just so we can compare. So again this is

079still 130 million now it goes out 15 years. Okay. So because of the restructuring we've taken out another two years. The differential if you were to add column 10 to 111 compared to other you had 214 million on the other page you got 225 million if you go down go to the bottom of 10 to 11 on this page. So this option cost you 11 million more. Okay, but it saves you on the annual requirements to your budget and still on the right hand side you have 14 and three/4 million dollars coming free in 15 years. All right, so the beauty of the 18s is you have the option to do either option one financing structure, option two financing structure and it really comes down to the overall costes. Yes, $11 million is a lot

080of money. Not diminishing that ever. But based off of your annual obligations to your budget, based on act one index projections, we thought this was a good alternative to talk about because it gives you the flexibility of maybe instead of going up roughly, you know, n8% to go up roughly 0.5%. So, we'll stop there before we talk about next steps in terms of legal documents and and where we want to go and and you know, so on. Let's talk about the two options. >> I'm going to ask you a couple questions, Joe. The $130 million um is that's out there is for the new school plus all the fields plus a bunch of other additional capital projects, correct? and I'm looking at um you know borrowing significantly more than that having a lot more um

081so we always have options if we don't need that additional capital we just don't do it correct okay and I'll say thank you for the second option because the annual amount of debt service is a much more manageable number that the district is much more accustomed to that doesn't put as big a wrinkle into our overall budget so um grateful for that thank >> [laughter] >> I guess I'm curious from admin. We had talked before about how this first option was manageable, right? Like I think we said we felt like we could handle it. So then I guess the question is is it worth 11 million dollars more in interest payments for like two additional years of payment schedule? It just seems like a lot for only extending it two years and does it do

082anything for us if we have to do the middle school, we have to make changes to the high school. Does the second option significantly change our opportunities for those future improvements? So they're good questions there. Those are challenging questions because um it it's wrought with a lot of supposing you know that's there. Um yes the do we believe the first option can we manage it? Yes. Is it less pressure in managing through the business office um in the second option? Yes, it is. Um it's also less of a of an imp just because of the the bite that it'll take out of what that annual increase is. It's less of a burden, you know, to carry through. Um stretching the the shared responsibility a couple of extra years may be worth it for the people

083that are going to have the opportunity to take advantage of what's going on. Um, >> I guess I would have agreed with that if it was more than two years that we were extending >> it, right? Like it's a big difference if you're talking about a 10y year versus a 20 year spread. >> But for two years, I don't know that that argument feels carries the same weight. >> And I don't know, Dr. Scott, if you want to say anything about the budget impact, if that what that looks like or feels like differently to go from 0.97 to 0.5. Can can we go back to the previous So I think the point that Ken and Ally are trying to make is requiring less mills to go into debt service. So instead of where you see

084I'm not sure what line that is. We're going up to 15 16 17 million >> on the other scenario we're never hitting 17 million. And yes, there is additional interest, but it helps only two years. The fact that it is only two years, but it's lowering that is a good sign. And if you the professionals want to weigh in better on >> I say something too. >> Okay. Um we can make it longer in two years which is then going to drive the 0.5 even lower. Okay. The cost is then going to go higher, right? Because we're delaying now. Maybe it's four years, maybe it's five years. Okay. We actually looked at an option that eliminated you can do a complete restructuring and have no further obligation based on what you did last year. Nothing.

085Cost is $45 million because we're extending it way out. What we are very conscious of is not only this board and previous boards that came before it is this district will be facing additional things down the road. Wouldn't it be nice because you're in that position now where you have a run rate of $10 million. Isn't it nice when that's going away that okay it's the annual obligation. I'm sorry. The annual your annual mortgage. Okay. when you look on and you you don't need to go back, Joe, but right, you know, right now you're at $11 million. Okay. So, the beauty of that going away in three or four years enables you to do this project, whether it was 130 or 110 or whatever the number is going to be at a dimminimous amount that

086if you didn't have that in place. So, you are very fortunate to have the debt structure you have now. Could we stretch it out further? Absolutely. The answer is yes. At some point, we would say, you know what, stretching it out another five years and it's going to cost us $20 million and we're taking the opportunity for additional things down the road when we're not around. I'm not sure we would agree to that as being prudent. And so I guess if we do the second option now and in five years we have another we have to let's say totally renovate the high school >> and we need a sort of a bigger piece there in one of those later years. We could then potentially be looking at this 17 >> million debt service and then

087try to deal with it then when we needed it. Correct. But we'd still have the opportunity to flex like that. >> That's absolutely correct. And we can even flex if you just stay in the next page. >> You're a great tech guy. >> Even looking at option two or really >> I think it's the next >> uh the that one. Yeah. columns uh seven, eight, and nine guarantee there change because you heard Ally say and based on what we heard an hour ago, you know, the third we're scheduled to get roughly 40 million now in conjunction with a refunding and or a restructure. We may not do that. Okay, maybe we get we're going to talk to the administration. We're going to see what the the immediate needs are and maybe we're going to get

088something less than that, which means we're going to change column seven, eight, and nine. depending on ultimately what the projects are seven eight nine may be pushed out another year or so. So we have the ability on the future issues which is going to be 6070 million maybe we decide to take them longer maybe the index is just going to be such a burden okay that you can't fit all all your operations into it that we may then want to alter column 7 89. So you will have flexibility to go ahead on the future issues if you care to. But we wanted to share this with you. We we knew we were going to share this with you. We just want to tell you, okay? Because it didn't make any sense until we're talking about

089what we're going to do with the 2018s. Um so option one is really worst case scenario. Okay? And then this option gives you another option of hey, yes, it's going to cost me a little more. I'm extending, you know, two more years. But is a tradeoff in the budget to put less demand on the budget. Is that, you know, extra 0.4%? You know, that's Yeah. Is it worth it? Go ahead, Brad. >> Yeah, I was just going to say it's like think about it as your home mortgage. Right now, you have 11 million in the budget. Option one, you have to go from 11 to 17. For option two, you start with 11 and we have to go to 14.9. It's almost the same as when you go and buy a house and get a

090mortgage. It's a similar situation. Can you afford, you know, the do you want to only have to go up 3.9 or do you want to go up six million in your budget? It's kind of like like I said, when you go and get a mortgage, what can you afford in terms of a payment? >> Additional questions? Okay, we're going to ask you to make a decision. So, so let's go to the last page. Can I ask that just about about this proposal in the fact that you're making it now? The anticipation that interest rates are going down and therefore the act one index is probably going to continue to go down. Is that make this more appealing in your eyes? Um short, let's talk about the interest rates first. Interest rates are going down on

091the short end. The long end really has not moved for the last two years. Up, down a little bit, but sort of the average. Shortterm interest rates, the Fed controls controls overnight interest rates. It's the investment rates that Vanessa and Heather invest all the time. Unfortunately, they've gone from five down to probably somewhere in the mid-3s right now. the borrowing cost has gone from the 10-year MMD from four and a half to four and a quarter, not the same. So, the fact that rates may be coming down the short end doesn't have a huge impact on this. All right. The index, the >> Yeah, the Pennsylvania what are they? Economic >> Oh, yeah. The uh >> forecast whatever. >> If came out at 3.2 for the next four years. >> Okay. Okay. Now, your adjusted

092may be higher than that. Okay. Let's say it's three and a half. I'm just going to make up a number. So, column 16, whatever we decide on either of option one, option two, or there's some other hybrid you want us to show. Um, that in essence is what will come out of your index. And I think what what Joe just said, not paraphrase, is it just puts more pressure if we do option one, which you could probably afford, but does it put on a little more extra pressure because the index is going lower. >> Okay. >> I just want us to be careful about tying act one to um interest rates because it's not >> Yeah, correct. >> It's not at all retire to inflation or interest rates. It's tied to the cost of employing

093um educational workers. So, It's tied to health care costs. It's tied to wages. It's not at all tied to those things. And there's the correlation is very very loose. >> Yes. Agreed. So let's go to the last slide. So in in discussing things with the administration, yes, we're here tonight. Uh we uh talked to lawyers. We could put the res the maximum parameters resolution which is just the shelf filing. uh in place here this month. We then start to go through the rating and credit process, sell the bonds in March and get, you know, new money in April. We can't legally call the bonds, the 18s until 41. So, we can't do anything and settle until April anyway. And that was the whole timeline that we shared with you before. This is in essence what

094we're talking about now. But in order to go come have us come Jan 22 with the resolution. We need to know option one, option two. And if you don't want to make that decision, that's fine. We'll come back. We'll push everything back, okay? And we'll then show you something else if you want. But we have looked at a lot of different other options. We thought the one that we we're presenting tonight gave you a nice bite of the apple without, you know, wasting the whole thing. So, >> I'm comfortable with option two if we're ready to make movements forward. >> Anybody else? Option two. >> Okay. >> And go ahead. Sorry. >> No, go ahead. So um we won't see like what changes it may be based on the fact that the project is being

095pushed back a year >> just I think she's asking question sorry >> I think oh uh we talked about um obtaining 40 million with this you know with this issue Um, and I think if you we don't need to do the 40, okay, we're not opposed to doing the 40 because of just hedging the markets, okay? And you know, you have a long range plan. So whether we get 20 or 30, we think in a minimum you get 20 in conjunction then with the 18 restructuring that we would have to do. Um, we always believe in hedging the markets. We don't know what 27, 28, 29 are bringing. We know where we are now. Market is attractive. Okay. But it could be better in 27, 28, 29. We have no idea. We have no idea.

096Um, we were going to basically ask for your permission to make that decision with the administration. It depends on what their cash flows are from their capital. Okay. We spent a lot of last years already. So, we were gonna, you know, check with Vaness and Joe and say, "Okay, what do you think you need, maybe we get that and then push whatever we don't have back to 27 or 28." You know, we have flexibility there, but I think it's going to depend on what they say they need from a capital standpoint. They all the 18 money is gone. A lot of 25 money is gone. So, in terms of capital, just capital stuff that you're doing, we need some money. All right. I I think I heard from a couple of people. Anybody else want

097to weigh in? Option two versus one. Option two. Two. Looks like the majority say option two. Susan, are you two? I have to admit, and I've been trying to think it over. I'm just I'm just struggling still to figure and I know you've been patiently explaining the benefit of option two from what I gather is the perceived increased flexibility for budgetary purposes. And when we're saying the additional cost of $11 million, which is just rattling around in my brain as a as a taxpayer and everything, $11 million is a lot of money. >> And so I what I'm trying to figure out is that is that meaning $11 million less than what we're saving as opposed to option two or excuse me, option one where you talked about the savings. Is that what we're talking

098about for it? Or is it purely it is actually costing all of us an additional $11 million, but the perception is that the increased flexibility is worth that? >> It's increased interest expense. It's like having a 20-year mortgage versus a 15-year mortgage. Your expense is going to be higher. Okay. Now getting back to this question and tying these two together, I would probably say option two is the best only because there's three more financing is coming after it. If all of a sudden you say >> so let me make sure let me stop you there and make sure I understand. So if that is the case kind of like with a mortgage where you can get it changed or whatnot. So you can do this now, but if we see a better deal down the

099way to decrease payment like you would with the home option, you may do that. >> So it's not like we are locked into something. >> Correct. Correct. Okay. >> So let's say that we have three more at least on what we have now and that can change with the project and the cost and things of that nature. >> Let's say you say you know what we can afford next year to throw in 1% not a half percent. So you tell us that and then we can adjust the future financings. So option two structure and really all we need is for the legal team is to have the structure. Now once we do that it doesn't mean that you're procluded from adjusting that structure in the for you know in the future. If you want to

100accelerate it we can accelerate it. Not a problem. >> Thank you. that that helps wrap up some of my concerns that I'd be okay with considering option two then. >> All right, folks. >> Sounds like we're we're good with option two. >> Okay. >> So, what we'll do is we'll we'll work with we'll have a phone call with the administration here in the next day or so. We'll talk with the lawyers. We we're going to give you as much flexibility as possible in the resolution. It's only a filing. That's all it is. Um, so we'll give you as much flexibility and you know, so we can adjust if we need to. Okay. >> I really appreciate you guys come here and you talk to us in ways that are really easy to understand and so

101I just want to say I really appreciate that. It's kind of it's a it's a big thing. It's a hard topic and you really make it in a way that's easy to digest and it's very helpful. >> Thank you. >> I can never beat that fifth grader on that on that TV show. So that works great. Well, and now you expect when we come back every time for cheering when we >> Well, we might have some uh questions from the community. So, just give us a second. Um, >> yes. posted on the website. It'll be posted by close of business tomorrow, Miss Abetimi. And it'll be in the same place under the board presentations if you go to this the board subtab on there. Uh board presentations and I believe there's one that's financing financial

102that's on there, but it'll be on there by the end of the day tomorrow. I'm sure before that, but by the end of the day. underturing the 2018 debt, are they net? >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> The let me just repeat that. The the the question hold on just segment 17. The the question is the restructuring the savings that were talked about are those net savings? And then the response from the team was >> yes. >> Okay. board. Good. Looks like we're good. Thank you. >> All right, let's see. Moving on. We have another I'm sorry. >> Okay, we are going to move on to another presentation. >> Um We have um the athletics and activities access and opportunity presentation. We have uh Mr. Doerty and crew. Looks like a couple of people with them.

103>> So, just give us a second to set that up. All right, Mr. Doerty, I'm excited to introduce Mr. Dockerty and some members of his team that have been working on uh this access and opportunity in the district. Again, um the board members know this has been a a topic of discussion um at least through the three years that I've been here. Uh and we've taken a very broad approach to trying to get all of the information together in one spot um so that we can further the discussion just talk about this means. So, uh Bill, I'm going to turn it over to you and ask you to introduce the folks that have joined you this evening. >> Thank you. Okay. So, before we start, I will ask the folks here to introduce themselves to

104you. Hi guys, I'm Lauren Baylor. I uh I'm Bill's administrative assistant. I'm also a parent of a student and I have been on the uh PTG and I was band parent president. So, >> a lot of institutional knowledge right there. >> Chip Islander, athletic director at Penrest. >> Good evening everyone. Jody Dunston, assistant principal at Pinrest High School. Thank you. So, so again, um tonight's report is is intended to give you a closer look at review of the process and also um you know, we're not going to look at the spreadsheet tonight, but you will have one as a copy of the spreadsheet tonight that we'll ask you to look through. But we wanted to give you a little bit closer look as to um where we are in the process this evening, give you

105an update, and then um we'll talk about next steps. Okay. So, our purpose to do a review of student participation costs in athletics and co-curricular activities. We'll talk more specifically about that. So, first of all, before I start, I do want to make sure that um you know, one of the main reasons I asked people to be here tonight was so that I could publicly thank um our people for their effort behind the scenes. And I know that um you know it's not easy to get out here all the time at night, but it is important I felt like for um some of the people in the public and the board to see who is working diligently um behind the scenes. Sometimes they might rather be behind the scenes. Um but there's a um it's

106been a tremendous effort on the part of of the people here. Um Dr. Saladino has been part of the process, Vanessa Scott, Heather Hogan, um teachers, parents. So, we've had it's been a collective effort and it continues to be because we're not finished uh but it continues to be a collective effort of um collecting information and starting to peel back the onion which we are just starting to do. So, thank you everyone. Um the review itself so far we've looked at um those are the numbers up there as you can see high school programs 23 athletic programs 12 curricular curricular programs and select clubs middle school 19 athletic programs and 16 clubs and activities. This is not an exhaustive list that we've looked at so far. Um we've started with in especially at the high

107school there are many more clubs than 12 right so um but we started with those clubs that are competitive and travel right because those are most of the questions that have come up have been um you know where are they going who's paying for that what happens if what happens in this you know those comparisons so as we go through and you'll see the spreadsheet um the categories that we looked at were um you know the list of the sports in those particular programs which I did just give you a list in front of you and the spreadsheet that you will receive via email tonight will look like this. So we looked gender participants numbers of students under district paid costs we started with personnel and with personnel we just did a total for what

108those costs are for coaches. So we we did not split it out by how many per team. Um some of those as Mr. Oligen can Allen can attest to sometimes as contracts get split but we were just looking at total costs um equipment, uniforms, transportation and facilities cost. Um then we looked at family paid costs as you can see there. Um many of the I just put baseball there was the first one on the list. Um but there are for the clubs and activities as you will see in the spreadsheet there are different costs for different clubs. We took a look at that. Um, we're also asking the questions of, you know, how do how do parent how do we ask families or how do parents know if there's a hardship, you know, how do

109we account for that, right? And how do we support those families? Okay. And then um also doing a review of what are the boosters supporting in each of the groups. And again it could vary depending on the particular year the the people that are in charge and the particular needs at that particular time. So our next steps that's where we are right now. We have a spreadsheet and it's again it's it's being comp I made a copy for the board that I will email you after this meeting the master spreadsheet the real one that's live Lauren Baylor keeps track of right so she does um she's collecting all the information she's investigating calling emailing calling again and it's um it's quite a process because we'll ask a question and we get an answer and it's

110really didn't answer the question that we really meant to ask Right. We had to rephrase it. So, we really like peeling. We're learning a lot, all of us. Um, so what I'm going to ask you to do is I I will email you this evening with again a copy of the spreadsheet and I have some prompts for you to respond to and I'll ask you to respond to that um via email to me and CC Dr. Malashsh. Um on our end, we're going to do the same thing in terms of get together as a group again, see what we've collected and start to do an analysis and we will make our own comments and then when we get your comments and have ours, we'll gather that, make a uh prepare a summary, and then to

111be determined is we want to find a date for all of us to reconvene with the board um so that we can respond to your comments, your concerns. um you know things that you saw and you wonder about. So um again a lot of the information that we are finding there's a lot of institutional knowledge there's a lot of narrative and nuance behind some of it and some of it is pretty straightforward as we're seeing. So, we'll, you know, there's a piece to all of it, but I really um would appreciate if each of you could just kind of take a look and see what with fresh eyes just kind of what sticks out for you and what questions you have so that we can be prepared to have um a comprehensive and efficient targeted

112discussion. >> Bill, just to just so you can provide the clarity, the public presentation, the additional discussion, you're going to look to schedule a separate meeting for the board, >> correct? Just for this, right? because it's this topic obviously, you know, it's not something that we really felt like could do justice at a work session in between other topics. So, um we're going to have a special we plan to have a special evening just for this particular topic um with panel members and and prepared responses. >> A huge thank you for doing all this work. Huge thank you. Um, I know I feel like I've been a pest sometimes over the last few years asking for a lot of this stuff, but I sincerely appreciate all the work that's going into this, especially with an

113eye of making sure that those kids who may not have the resources to participate in things don't fall through the cracks. That's always been one of my key issues with um this whole initiative from the beginning. So, thank you >> and and thank you. And that's one thing that we have said from the beginning too as a team is that we are fortunate to work in a district that has a board that is looking to support students and programs, right? Not the not the opposite of eliminating, but actually how can we help even more than we already do. So we appreciate that. >> Any other questions or comments from the board? >> I feel like they've come all this way. I should at least also say thank you very much because I know we've really

114been hounding about this and I know how much effort it's taking and you know thank you for you know really kind of diving in and and really looking at it. >> Well, I appreciate the patience. Um that's why we want to continue to give you updates because we don't want you to think that we forgot about you and we want to give you updates but it is is taking a long time. Right. If it was up to me, I would I wish that we could have gathered it already, had a discussion and made recommendations that we and changes that we need to make, but it's just a long process. So, um, that's why I really just want to make sure that you're informed and you know that we haven't forgotten. We're working on it. >>

115I I'm actually going to be interested in what your findings are on a larger scale since this type of accounting may have never been done before. Um, I imagine you're gonna uncover some maybe interesting things, some maybe helpful things. And so I'm really excited to learn more about that. >> And I'm also excited over some of the changes that have been made as you've been going through this process like funding the um performing arts at Penrest and funding directors and professional things there that has been I think overlooked for a long time. Um, but thank you because I feel like a spreadsheet. Bill, you know me and my love of spreadsheets. This is like a little bonus Christmas present. So, thank you very much. >> Lauren Baylor also loves a good spreadsheet, just so you

116know. >> All right. Thank you. And we look forward to it. Thank you. >> All right. So we we have another presentation um the budget calendar >> that's going to come just as a discussion under business operations. >> All right. >> Okay. All right. uh finance and operations, right? We're moving on to that. What's first up? Okay. Capital projects update. Dennis Seini and Mike Nolan. Couple hard acts to follow right there for sure. >> Right. >> Let me just give you a quick update on where we are with our capital projects. I think as we all know our uh skylight media has been rescheduled for the summer and we seem to be on track for that. Thank you. Springton Lake track and turf field discussed that but we have received our original comments from for

117review from the conservation district. They're revising those drawings. We'll go back in next week. They have 30 days to review that and we'll submit to the township at the same time and then after that approval we go to MPDEes permit. So we're probably into end of February, early March for our final permits. Um again construction scheduled for spring summer hopefully going to start in May. Penrest Turfield uh there isn't a formal approval process. is only a replacement. So those documents are in progress. HBAC upgrades for Glenwood and Rose Tree. Last summer's project, we have two rooftop units remaining to be completed. They were due in mid December. Now they're due in mid January. So we're still waiting for those. Cafeteria expansion here at Springton Lake. Everything inside is pretty much completed. Some minor punch list

118items. The exterior site work remain to be completed and obviously that can't be done until the spring. HBC upgrades for media and Indian lane. This summer's project the contracts were awarded. Bids were received. Construction is scheduled for spring summer 2026. and our 2026 capital improvement projects um consisting of science rooms, penrest toilet rooms, fire alarm here, Glenwood HVAC unit replacements. Those drawings are in progress. We're going to put them out to bid on February 6th and construction schedule for summer 2026. >> Question. the Springton Lake Cafeteria. The exterior site work remains to be completed. The interior is completely functional and open. >> Yeah, we have some minor things. Oh, yeah. Completely functional. Yeah, we got some minor punch list, but all being used. Yes. >> Great. Thanks. Any other questions or comments about capital projects

119update? >> Okay. >> Thank you. going to be moving on to we have a resolution for the sale of the Middletown Road property. Yay. >> So, this one is a ratified seem as though the property has sold. It was just the timing of the hearing and all that that made it ratified, but the board had already approved the sale of the project. So now we just need to do the um approval of the resolution or ratifying it. The next um is the vehicle purchase. So in the 2026 approval of capital projects the transportation department had requested the purchase of buses and two vans. So, this is the quote, the co-stars quote that we have for the two new vans for the transportation department. >> Um, can I ask one question about that? Um, I asked

120Mike to check into this and I think he's going to write this. >> Well, and these are from transportation, so it's not Mike. >> Oh, okay. >> Um, okay. So, there wasn't right to ask Mike about this. Oh, is >> um these are MSRP prices um that we're paying on this and I know that the vehicle market is really crazy right now, but is MSRP do do we ever negotiate off of M MSRP for vehicles? >> So, these are part of the co-stars they're co-stars bids. So, they had already they've already been bid by the state. So, that's how we have been purchasing like the maintenance vehicles and some of the vans. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Um, next is for Tom Kelly wrapped up some appeals that he was working on and we

121normally would not have gotten these until the leg right before the legislative for the agenda, but he gave them to us um last week. So, we were able to put them on the agenda for approval. So, you will see them again on the 22nd. this item budget calendar. So we do have on March 2nd we'll be having the budget meeting which is um what we've been doing the last few years just one meeting designed strictly for budget. It's March 2nd here at 6:30 and Dr. Malash wanted to go over the board similar to last year board priorities just as a discussion >> just again for the board to think about you know we We've talked over the last couple of years just about the focus and your role as board members, right? And that guidance

122uh piece for us, you know, for an efficiently run school district. Uh once again, I will send you out a Google form and ask you on there to identify what do you see as the top three priorities that you as a as a board member believe we should be focusing on as we move forward in in this year. I'll share the current goals. um you know some of it will feed into the strategic planning work that's going on you know which is beneficial but just to give you an idea of what's there and with the reminder you know the the board members lens is from that balcony view right that oversight seeing the forest right so when we're talking about what you'll be focusing on in this forest that's where we're looking for you to

123identify I'll provide the current district goals that we are operating with uh just to give you some context uh and then just look for your very honest feedback what's We then take that feedback um you know if all by if all nine board members identify three priorities there are 27 of them again we analyze to find what that looks like thematically and then we go in as we build the budget which we are in the process of doing right now that affects staffing and that affects materials and supplies and programmatically but it helps to give us that continued guidance about what it is that you see. All right. Can I ask one question? Um, the 2020, Can we open the summary chart? Nope, wrong one. The other file. >> [laughter] >> Thank you. The other

124uses of funds, $9.5 million, but we haven't spent any of that so far. Is that earmarked for something that I'm not familiar with or We do have something from the community. Yes. >> A question about the the purchase price of the Edgemont property. There's a question about the tax assess assessment appeals and um the status of the settlement. Um, basically who's it in favor of? All right, I think we're good. And we'll move on to education and wellness. We have a a few things there. The the first thing are just uh overnight field trips. First one is for the baseball team to travel to Richmond, Virginia to play. Second is group of Spanish students and this is for February of 27 uh to take a trip to Costa Rica. The third one is also uh

125for the winter spring of 27 for a group of French students to travel to Martineique. >> Is the University of Maryland a typo on that because Richmond is in Virginia and the University of Richmond [laughter] is probably there. Just curious. That should be University of uh uh actually I will find out because >> they for the uh baseball team is the tour gonna be of the University of Maryland or they is that a stop on the way or on the way back? >> We just a question because they're playing in Richmond. Are they touring Richmond? Are they touring University of Maryland? We'll find out. We'll make sure that it's it's if it's not accurate, we'll make sure that it's accurate for the That's a good question for the legislative meeting because they could be stopping

126in College Park. I thought that maybe >> either on the way down or the way back. >> And then my next question is do they need chaperons for either the [laughter] >> for Costa Rica or Martin trips? >> Um I I believe that they will have some interest meetings that'll take place. I can certainly make sure that the board has that information >> to uh to go >> to to either one >> just to the just to Martinique. Yes. >> All right. Uh Mr. Harrison, if would you go through the the next two items under Educational Wellness? >> Thank you. Uh the first item is a settlement agreement with a family of a student uh with a disability under the individuals with disabilities education act. Uh it resolves all issues without any further litigation uh

127and involves uh tuition payments uh compensatory education and attorneys fees to uh the family. The second item is payment to Elwin Davidson School uh for students tuition. As a reminder to the to the community and the board uh Rose Media hosts Elwin Davidson in the district. So uh when students reside at Elwin, we are responsible for the education but then we bill the home district of the parents for 100% reimbursement. So it's it's us fronting the money and then we get reimbursed from the uh home district of the family. >> What does it mean when it says the student is a host student? So that that's the uh technical term under the the state code. It's the 1306 is the code and we are considered the host because they are sleeping in a in a

128place that is within the confines of Ro Street Media School District and then the home district is where the parents reside. >> Okay. So in our district >> they're the folks that are paying. >> Okay. So that's the terminology when it's a student not in our district. >> Correct. It's not a student whose family is a resident, but they are presently sleeping. Yep. They're sleeping in grocery media. >> Okay. Okay. Any other questions or comments about that? All right. We'll move on to human resources. Uh Dr. Saladino is here. Seriously, >> good evening everyone and happy new year to uh everyone. So to start off with, I'm just want to share some good news that uh Josh Rehack, the new principal at Glenwood Elementary School, started on Tuesday of this week. Uh and I'd like

129to take this opportunity to thank Mrs. Considine for her service as the interim principal leading Glenwood uh during the uh first half of the school year. Uh it was a smooth handoff and smooth transition and Mr. Rehack uh was thrilled to to get started this week and he has really jumped uh right in. On the board agenda tonight, you see what I expect to be the first of a handful of retirements from our teaching staff. We have now reached that point uh where some of our staff members are starting to think about wrapping up their time in education. Uh and so I expect over the next couple of months we may be seeing a few more retirements from our teachers. I've had some inquiries. Uh Mrs. Extramm is the librarian here at Springton Lake. Uh

130and she has been with the district for uh 13 years. Uh and it's been a pleasure uh in my former role as principal to work alongside of her. and so she is going to be retiring. Uh we also have the retirement of one of our substitute bus drivers uh on the agenda as well. Um we also have some a handful of resignations uh of some employees uh typically happens at this time of the year at the end of the calendar year. Uh folks looking uh for different opportunities. Uh we also have uh the extension of two LTS assignments. Uh we have two teachers who have been in for the first semester. They both happen to be in the world language department. One at Penrest High School, one here at Springton Lake. Uh they are in

131for two of our teachers uh who are on leave and will need to extend their leave beyond uh the original time that we had uh believed that they would be out. Uh and so these two teachers have agreed to uh to stay on. We have some additional appointments of some uh staff members. We've got a substitute receptionist uh a bus aid. Uh we are continuing uh to hire folks. And so between now and the legislative meeting in a couple of weeks, I expect that we will have uh a few more positions that we will be adding to the agenda for uh for your approval. Uh we are actively interviewing uh for uh a position at Penrest High School that we have for the second semester. Uh and we're hoping to have a candidate for uh

132for that position. Any questions? Thanks so much for your time or great night. >> Thank you. >> All right. Oh, we're moving towards the end. We're >> just policy >> policy committee policies for discussion. >> So on the legislative agenda for this month in two weeks, we have only one policy for second read and approval school district searches. Um this recall we had we had great discussion um among the board and honestly great discussion at the policy committee as well. Um we did transition Kyle um Burman who's our solicitor is now with us at policy committee. We'd had somebody else from Fox Rothschild who um is in a different position now. Uh so Kyle is with us. Um we had some some very good discussions. The first reads for the legislative meeting this month. The

133first one is 903 public participation in board meetings and the second one is 209.2 diabetes management. Again we we had not as much robust discussion about the diabetes management because it's a little more straightforward. Uh but had great discussion about the public participation. >> That was a fascinating one. I mean honestly because that policy was over 20 years old and the technologies and the medications used to treat children with diabetes has changed dramatically in that time period. Senate policy committees are >> a change to that policy. >> It is a it is a a hot ticket. Uh and we are still going through a discussion about a civility policy which we don't currently have. Uh we've been looking at some other ones that exist talking about what that means for here. Um and this is

134something that would apply across the district not necessarily this is not necessarily for the board or for board meetings but just in our school buildings and um that kind of stuff at large. >> Is is there something that had kind of stood in that in the place of a specific >> there really is not >> is this a new policy for districts that they've started looking at. So the it's a good question. There I there are some districts it's really a mix. Um it's one that often is adopted as many things are when it comes to legislative bodies in a reactionary sense. Um we started talking about it just about is there a need uh and before there is a reactionary piece to put something into place. It's easier to say these are our expectations.

135This is how we believe everybody should behave. this is the the the bar for our interactions and to put that out there proactively rather than the reactionary to get it through. But it really is a mix when you look at at other districts. And our next uh policy committee meeting is on Tuesday the 20th of January. Uh it's the day after Martin Luther King Day, which is why it's on a Tuesday. today prior to the legislative meeting and we are at 4:00 uh in the boardroom. >> Are we we good with policy update? All right, we are at the end of our agenda. Um, the legislative meeting is on Thursday the 22nd at 6:30 p.m. at Penrest High School in the auditorium. All right, have a good night.