11/13/25 RTMSD School Board Work Session

001to carry out its responsibilities in public. I hear an echo as dictated by the sunshine law. At these meetings, the board standing committees conduct the work of the board through discussion with 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 conversation 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, caring, respect, and leadership. Students will be wellprepared to create meaningful and productive lives in a global society. And

002we have a a few presentations uh tonight. We will start uh with the K1 Center update. Dr. Malashsh. >> Thank you, Dr. Napson Williams. Uh I'm excited that we have uh some folks with us tonight. Um some who you will recognize because they've been at a number of other meetings. Uh and we have somebody new with us here this evening as well. So, I'm going to turn it over to Phil Solomon from ICS, uh, and Alex Mitsler, uh, who is with us from TPD. So, Phil, you're probably going to >> Yes, let me just take a moment. He's going to share his screen, then I'm get his presentation pulled up. Also with us, uh, Jennifer Grafton, uh, who's one of the architects from the Shradera group who's with us, uh, and and Yanni Verdotus, who

003is I apologize, Yanni, for the last name, project manager uh, with ICS as well. >> Sorry, it won't let me share. It's not being a good sharer. >> There we go. Thank you. the presentation tonight. Uh we will focus more on um what's going on right now uh and where we are in terms of preparing the applications to go into Middletown Township. Uh and there's been a lot of meetings over the last couple of weeks uh a lot of discussion related to traffic uh and to the roads and the roadways uh that we'll be taking a look at. We will not be spending um time this evening going through and looking specifically at the finishes and you know the inside parts of the building. Uh it's just more important that we have these discussions right

004now. >> Sorry, I just working through some technical difficulties there. I was it was not sharing so for whatever reason. >> Be good sharers. >> Yeah, need to be better sharers. So, right. >> Um, okay. Thank you, Phil Solomon. Thank you for having us back tonight. Um, I have with me Alex has was introduced. Our >> agenda is pretty narrow. I mean, we're going to go through a little bit of information that we've reviewed before just to kind of tee up our discussion uh and then really talk about the preliminary traffic study findings. So really focused on that and some of the some of the findings that Alex is going to talk about. So just the prior discussions uh just to level set obviously we've been looking at this schematic plan for quite some time.

005You have the K1 center here athletic fields uh up to your you know top left if you will and what we've been showing is kind of this road uh here and it says proposed pen dot road but really what that is that's kind of showing an end state. So that would be if we could, you know, coordinate with Penn DOT and they would build everything to our timeline, that's how it would work. But obviously they're not going to do that. So we have this interim process and this interim situation, as much as we'd love that to happen, uh their timeline is 2030 to mid 2030. So it's it's not even really set yet. Uh so we obviously have this interim uh situation which we have to solve for. So just uh just a a little

006bit more of background. Remember the land development process uh very rigorous process that we're going through right now. Uh you have a lot of different municipal agencies, Middletown Township, Delaware County, Department of Environmental Protection, Pendot, etc. Uh each one of these uh agencies is really looking at different aspects of a project. So tonight I have kind of bolded this traffic section. So this added complexity with this pen. future plan is really what we're looking to solve for. And if you look up just on Google or whatever the Route 52 Middletown Road US1 roadway improvement project, you'll see a whole bunch of information from PennDOT. So that's their big plan and then we have to work our way into that in some way. >> And Phil, correct me if I'm wrong. This is the plan that

007they originally said they were going to do in the mid 2016 17s originally. >> Yeah, I believe so. So, I mean, it's it's a known >> we're talking about a 20-year delay at this point. >> Yes. And we we've spoken with them several times. It's even pinning down when the the actual date is is a little tricky because they're like, "Well, there's a funding and there's all these other things that have to be done." So, they have a plan. They recognize there's an issue. Um when they're going to address that plan is really really tough to get to get a straight answer. Um just to just to remind everyone, um we we have been in the process of doing a traffic study. Middletown Township gave us notes to look at a whole bunch of different

008intersections in addition to the ones that would traditionally you you would look at for the development of a project. Uh we've listed them up there and recently an additional one was Rose Tree Road and Ridley Creek Road. So that one's been added to the traffic study. This is a bit of an iterative process. So with that, I'm actually going to give over to Alex because he's he's got the real information. I was just teeing it up. I'm assuming holding the puck is the right way to go. Yes. Statistically. Okay. I was taking your lead on that. Uh good evening everyone. My name is Alex Mitzer. I work with traffic planning and design. Just a quick commercial about us and then a little bit of my background to hopefully give better context as I go through

009my my presentation. Just brief briefly. TPD. Uh we've been in business since 1989. We're based in Pottstown. We have about three 280 300 staff firm firmwide. Uh we are a uh very experienced in Pennsylvania. I'd say at this point in time we probably have 30 plus active projects in district 6 which is where we are with PENDOT. And I think it's also one of the things I think we bring value in is that we represent applicants such as the school private developers but we also work on the public sector as well. We represent municipalities. We have on calls with PEDOT Pennsylvania Turnpike. we understand what it's like to be on both sides of the table, which I think brings a a good lens. A little bit about myself personally. Um I'm a Chester County native.

010I grew up behind Longwood. I went to Penn State and actually spent my first two years at it was Delaware County campus then now. And I still can't get used to it being called Brandy Wine. So, I um lived the experience of commuting up here and using the mall and when it was still Granite Run Mall when it was the mall, but I uh am very very familiar with the with the area. Uh just briefly again, I went to Penn State. I'm a uh registered professional engineer in eight states including PA. Um, and I want to just kind of bring that home that as a professional engineer, my first obligation is to the health, safety, and welfare of the public, not necessarily to my applicant or my client. So, everything we do is with that

011lens. Uh, if we have bad news to deliver, we're going to deliver it. Not because someone just might want the answer they want to hear. So uh I can want to say just whether it's this applicant or any other applicant that we work for my our first responsibility is to the health safety welfare and the public which is actually driving a lot of the reasons why we are here to discuss things uh here further tonight. So what is a transportation impact study? A traffic impact study is to evaluate the impacts on traffic of a new project, whether it be a development, a new school, a Wawa, a bank, you know, insert land use here. What impact will putting this land use have on the surrounding transportation network? That's our responsibility to figure that out. And

012under uh uh and really not only PENDOT regulations but really anywhere in the US, you need to evaluate h what are my impacts and if I have impacts, what do I need to do to mitigate the impacts of my traffic. So that that that in a very brief synopsis, that's that's what we're looking at. So they want to add, you know, you want to add the K1. What does bringing the K1 do to the surrounding to to the surrounding trip network? Uh we work with uh we're working with uh the uh Middletown Township and Penn District 6 to uh using their regulations and requirements as far as what needs to be included in the study, how big should the study be, uh what are the results of the study, do people, you know, what do

013we agree with it? How do we account with the um the US 1352 project? You know, what how does all of that factor in? And it is always an iterative process. It there's a lot of discovery as you go. Uh again, while we're why we're talking here, public comment, um things come up. You again, you discover things as you go. It's not just a oneanddone. Well, here's the answer. this is what we're going to do and we're going to rubber stamp and and move on. Uh there's usually some back and forth on that. And the purpose of the TIS is then to guide what is the mitigation that is required. We don't very rarely would we go into the to start designing something until we we're sure what we're designing is what is accepted by

014everybody because you don't want to throw good money after bad, right? Right? You want to don't want to go into something and go, "Oh, no, wait. I want this here instead of there." And uh so that that's the purpose of the uh the main purpose of the of the traffic study. Thanks. Uh so the process is we submit an application into uh Independ with our recommended scope of study. what we feel is, you know, encompasses or should be encompassed within the study. Endot looks at that and they either agree with this or go, "No, I don't like it. I want you to also do X, Y, and Z." Uh, the township also has input um on that as well. So, what we give to Pendot is a is always a it's a starting point. It's

015a basis of a basis of discussion. Um uh we then meet with PennDOT and and the township to finalize the scope once everyone agrees typical processes and we go and collect data based on that uh based on the scope do our operational analysis find out if there are any uh existing and then future operational def uh deficiencies and if there are what do we need to do to to to mitigate those. So right now in this uh we we have um we have done the scoping application we've started the TIS uh and while we're here tonight is as we've gone through our our the our preliminary analysis we've identified some some areas you know we we've identified some operational deficiencies that there isn't just a clean simple add a turn lane here there there's a

016gap. So, how do we bridge how how how do we bridge the gap? >> So, as part of this study, we did 13 off-site uh intersections. Uh we evaluated the existing conditions that are out on the road and also future conditions with and without uh future conditions of the K1 center with and without the 352 US1 project. uh where we are focusing on looking at the peak the the school peak peaks which are generally between 8 am and 9:15 a.m. excuse me and 3 p.m. and 4:15 p.m. We are now looking down the road to 2030 or whenever that may I was trying to come up with a good blue root joke quickly but I you know it's not that fast tonight. Uh certainly with the future PENDOT project that will cure fix a lot

017of well it will fix really [snorts] the operational deficiencies and what I would call kind of the granite run circle there but again we're not looking at that until the 2030s. The K1 centers would like desire to be open in 2028. So we've got we've got a long time in between. What what happens in between? >> Question. >> Sure. Absolutely. >> Um how do you determine what the future conditions are? Are there professional standards you use to know what traffic a school will bring? >> Yes. So in this particular case that we we would we will use not only there there's a publication the Institute of Transportation Engineers trip generation. It's currently in the 12th edition. It has many different land uses, schools being one of them. Now, that is a general guide. If you

018say do not have specific data to use, uh it's studies taken from all over the country that gives you an aggregate. Um it'll give they they give you a average a lot. If there's enough data points, it'll give you a fitted equation that you could say, well, I have x number of students. This is generally how many trips we will use that in conjunction with information we get with the school district to kind of say you know how close you know how how close are we to that national standard. Certainly in this particular case uh in this particular development I mean you you the school district know you know how many kids you're going to have here even accounting for some growth I would assume in in the future but that's that's [snorts] generally how

019we would estimate now we will as far as looking at the traffic operations given that the students aren't I understand that the you know we understand that students are coming from different places around the district. There's no way for us to model that based on every kid and where they're coming from and are they coming from north of Route One or south of Route One. So, we are basing our trip distribution on the existing road pattern on the exist the existing trip distribution that's on the road because that's really the only thing we can and >> I I just can't get that granular with where is every student coming from. Uh so we're generally so we we're using the existing trip patterns on the road. >> Ask a question is when you're looking at an

020the current situation for intersection. So >> you know say you've got a two-lane road and a thousand houses go in. It's very it's pretty clear you've got a two-lane road. Even if it was in good shape traffic-wise putting in a thousand houses is going to change things very materially. Mhm. >> How do you and maybe you can talk about this as you're going through things. If there's already a terrible intersection, >> how do you say whether it's marginally more terrible or a lot more? I mean, cuz there's a lot of traffic around here and we have a lot of terrible intersections. Like I'm I'm trying to figure out >> how do how do we how do we do that? It always seems like Well, anyway, if you can if you can go through that. Well,

021it it there's if you know certain so the idea of doing the traffic study is that you mitigate your traffic. Sometimes the mitigation is beyond just your traffic. You need a capital project like the US 352 project. Um every project is different. um when there are when there are existing conditions when there are ex existing conditions like we all know that are out there I mean it's it it's well all right we're going to study it and how bad is it really and um getting back to it I it's getting back to knowing there's a problem figuring out what's the best way not to exacerbate the problem And sometimes it, you know, the last guy in, so to speak, is stuck with [snorts] with the burden of of fixing the problem. And I can I

022can tell you in today's climate, uh, in land use, you know, it it's pretty video, everybody drives, right? Uh, it's pretty hard to hide and say there's, oh, there's no traffic problem here. I mean that getting back to health, safety, and welfare, I'd have no credibility if I said, "Oh, your roads are great. Nothing nothing happen, you know, nothing ever goes on here." Uh, but getting back to answer your question, sometimes, believe it or not, sometimes the fix is just as simple as retiming and re-asing the traffic signal. Long story short, we did we did a project for Longwood Gardens a couple years ago when they were trying to unload all their Christmas things and they're like, "Well, why why is it D?" It turned out there was literally a switch in the controller cabinet

023that wasn't clicked the right way. And it eliminate, long story short, we were pretty easily able to eliminate the need for them to have to hire Kennet Township cops to direct traffic. And just because there was something simple in the cabinet, but had they not studied it, that discovery would not have been made. Um because when we looked at it, we were like, you know, on paper this should work. So then we went out and observed it. It's like, okay, well, this isn't cycling the way it's supposed to. We went out in the cabinet, fixed it, problems gone. It's great when things are that easy, but when you have excessive when you have excess excessive volume to capacity, you you know, it's like a it's like a water pipe. You can only shove so much

024water through a pipe at at at some point without either you got to reduce the demand or you have to make the pipe bigger or find a way to make the pipe more efficient. If that helps. I'm not sure if I've >> It's good. >> Just uh a little bit of um history as to how we've got here. U we missed >> Did we miss one? >> Oh, did I? No, I think we No, we're good. >> Yep. We're we're we're good. Uh we had our uh first coordination meeting with um uh a after we did uh got got scoping done. We had a coordination meeting in August with the PennDOT uh school district and and the town Middletown Township. It's kind of our first coordination uh to talk about the K1 project as it

025may relate to the US 1352 project. um kind of kicked off. Everybody got an idea of what you know, bless you, we got an idea of what we wanted to do, what they were looking at. We had a second more little more of a deep dive meeting in uh in October after we were able to do our data collection, we had a better sense of what we were looking at, you know, as far as traffic, you know, really uh have we had some data to actually talk about now. and our we had a meeting uh just here uh here last week with the uh just the Middletown Township and the school district to kind of go over some of our findings and to discuss an approach. You know, we kind of felt what approach we'd

026like to recommend going forward and then of course we are here tonight to to give an update to the board. So, as part of the our discussions with with PennDOT, the township, we looked at several scenarios that are listed up here, all in varying that are of varied sizes, uh, shapes, and forms. Um, without going into the details of all four of them, in the interest of time and keeping the descript, what we landed at was the realignment of Rose Tree Road, uh, with the, um, former Granite Run Mall, you know, with the traffic signal that entitled Run Mall site that is consistent with the US 352 project. And the reason for that is the 2, three, and four did not address the problem. 2, three, and four were band-aids. 2, three, and four would

027require building things that would then be torn out. You know, getting back to what's the highest and best use of everybody's dollars, whether it be the school districts or pendot, you know, it they two two, three, and four did not address the operational problems. Uh that's the very you know we could talk more if you'd like on the other ones but that's the short re really the short answer. So what we are looking at is and then again this is consistent with the preliminary draw information we've gotten from PennDNOT is realigning Rose Tree Road so it becomes a the fourth leg with the uh existing signal at um at the former Granite Run Mall property. Yeah, if you can see the cursor going along. So the the um the existing intersection would be removed. Uh

028benefits of this is it it provides a signalized access to Rose Tree Road which uh helps eliminate conflicts. It normal it more normalizes the geometry of of the approaches. you know, you create a uh 90 degree fourth leg and it also uh provides more uh we would we're looking at providing a right and a left turn lane out to 352 which operationally makes the traffic signal much would make the proposed signal much more efficient as well as increasing the distance away from the proposed driveway from uh the connection at 350. 52. I mean, we're essentially from the existing alignment, we're we're essentially doubling that distance, which the the the more space you can put in between things, the better from a safety site distance, uh turning movements and everything. Yes. >> Just so I understand,

029um the driveway to the new school property, would that have a traffic signal or No. >> No. Okay. >> That would remain unsalized. Yes. >> Thank you. Can you can you point out where the entrance to the park across the street is? >> Is it that is it that part on the right hand side? >> Well, hang on for >> Yeah. I Is it okay? >> It's right. >> Okay. That's what I thought. >> You're right there. >> Okay. >> Sorry. It's a little off the screen. That's That's where it is. We had originally looked at maybe sorry >> maybe connecting directly to that there's an elevation problem uh between where the building would be built and where that would connect. So that you know you're you're solving a lot of different engineering problems at

030the same time and that was one that we could not solve without the building sticking 20 feet out of the ground before you get into the first floor. And also I think one thing also to note is generally the the peak hour of the school is not going to match the peak hour of of use in in the park. Uh I think you know schools um I've I've worked on several schools. I worked at my old high school, Unionville High School. I mean, in the AM and the PM, there's usually about 15 or 20 minutes that it's really intense when the buses come and go, and there, you know, you're you're you're trying to design and accommodate movements and everything for a very short window, whereas in the rest of the day, I you know,

031the rest of the road may stay busy for the rest of the day, but as a trip generator, the school is quiet as far as being a generator of of traffic. It it it usually is concentrated just in in very short spurts of of traffic. >> Can you just uh comment real quick on some of the other or we'll call them off-site improvements and these there's some turn lanes, there's additional widening, >> correct? Yeah. >> Help with that throughput. >> So, uh on 352, we would also be adding a uh I'll call everything going to the right, I'll call that east. I'll call that an eastbound left turn lane. Uh so there would be a dedicated left turn lane uh coming out of Rose Tree Road. As I mentioned earlier, we are proposing a dedicated

032right turn lane and a dedicated left turn lane just just to improve the efficiency of of the signal. That's also based on what we're seeing uh from traffic data just as far as a a distribution of trips. Um, and we would also be making right turn lane improvements >> [snorts] >> uh for I'll say westbound for on 352 as well. And now one of the challenges uh certainly anything that we do we would propose here we would want to make sure that however this is left it is left in such a state in a place that when pendock comes through the whole thing's not being ripped out torn up moved uh we would more than likely have to account at this point in time to build storm water facilities that would accommodate a final solution

033again so that you're not going back out and and and redoing things later. Uh um you know, we would also th this this improvement also requires uh um acquisition of property to um Yeah, thank you. Yeah, this acquisition of property uh in in the in the adjacent parcel that part property would become uh would ultimately be rededicated to PennDOT as as public right away. It would not be school property. It it would be ultimately uh dedicated as uh PennDOT public rightway because Rose Tree Road is a public road, public pend road. So where we are, where we're at right now is uh as part of our uh we we've uh prepared a we we have gotten preliminary results of our traffic impact study which again which is why we we are here here talking. Uh

034we are looking to get confirmation from the board. Uh we've talked to Middletown Township. We heard from PENDOT today actually that in that they are on board with with uh us looking you know going going down this route in order to accommodate the K the K1 center. Our next step would be to finish the traffic impact study with those assumptions in mind. with that as a uh you know again we didn't want to go down a path without it being a path that everyone was comfortable was comfortable going. So we're looking to conclude the study uh looking to submit it in for its first review in December. Um and once it gets submitted into the township into Pendot as I mentioned earlier it's an iterative it'll be an iterative process. Uh PENDOT has 30 days

035to review it. the township hope as the fourth bullet says update study based on comments and re resubmit. Um multiple submissions and review may be required. That's not atypical. Um it's not it's not atypical and but again the an agreed upon traffic study then sets the parameters as to how everyone proceeds and goes forward. There are um there are a lot of other elements that of course have to go on. There's the property acquisition. There's um uh a after the TIS is is approved uh we would look at then start looking at design plans in the in the design arena there's a lot of things to account for permits utilities and again the HOP process is is usually an iterative process as well um especially for a an improvement that is that's is involved um

036>> HP is the permit >> yeah I'm sorry Yeah, a HOP is highway occupancy permit. Sorry about that. >> Sure. No, go ahead. >> So, I think you said earlier a lot of times these interim projects we're trying not to exacerbate the problem but not necessarily fix the traffic problem. Is that what this >> and this the other what I'll say less intense options that we looked at don't address they don't address your impact. this solution over addresses it. But um you know but we but again we there there was there there's not a a halfway point that we I think I really I think that would be palpable for everybody the school district the township the public at large to say well we'll get to it in 10 years. uh you know so this

037solution it it it overaddresses your impact >> just to make sure I'm clear on that by the overaddressing if I'm understanding correctly that makes us good neighbors correct I mean like that's want to make sure is that yes >> because we want to be good neighbors right it's meant to be a community so that's really important thank you >> yes you you you are you're you're more than fixing an existing problem out there you are doing more. Yes, you you're you're you're over you're you're you're creating additional capacity that's needed above and beyond your impact to the roadway, but you are fixing a significant operational and safety deficiency that's out on the road right now. >> And I do love being a good neighbor also. Um, however, it does seem like we're doing a bit

038of PEDOT's work for them that they promised to do more than a decade ago. And so I do understand that there are sometimes grants in which PEND do actually rec compensates you for doing the work for them. Can you explain? >> Yes. And we we've started to address that because you know our our feeling is the same. It's like hey we're accelerating what you were going to already do. Very hard to get them to commit to that because their funding is not set but there are certainly grants uh multimodal grants that that you could apply for. and you being a public entity, doing a public service certainly puts you at the top of that list. I mean, you know, nobody can guarantee you grants, but um I believe one of the board members before said,

039"Hey, this is a community problem. You know, maybe there's a way that we could community solve it." And a lot of that's done with grant work. Uh so there you would be, yes, you would you would be at the top of the list for those grants. >> And I'll tell you that we have started to look at some of those grants that will be available. Um, we've started to talk to to one of Alex's partners, you know, through TPD about what does the application look like. Barbara Wilson is tracking the grants have not opened yet for this year. We thankfully we got a a state budget yesterday. Uh, so we will expect that there'll be some movement in that. uh we've been in contact with our state representatives uh who've been very gracious and in

040listening um you know and and offered want to be a part of a solution you know in the discussions that we have with the folks from with the professional staff through Middletown Township um you know we we see this work as serving our community and it's our community right these are it's all the same people serving the same families you know to to go forward so um we expect to be moving forward together in addressing the issue. Um, but yeah, it's interesting the way that you phrase it. It over addresses, you know, because we do believe, you know, that we are we need to be good stewards. We need to be successful and effective neighbors. You know, that we've had a building on the Penrest property for decades and decades, you know, and we'll continue

041to be there. It's a central piece of the community. Um, you know, we want to continue to be positive in in how we approach it. If and just to be clear, I I mean is your percentage of the existing problem, >> you know, did you create the existing problem? No. Um but it's there. >> Oh, I mean I know life's not fair. So like I I definitely understand that. I just want to make sure that the that if I'm correct like we are being good neighbors because I know people understandably are concerned about the impact of traffic and even though we didn't create the problem we want to make sure again we're good neighbors albeit fiscally responsible who can hopefully get some good grant money because we are doing PENDOT's work. So um >> you're

042accelerating this portion of Yes. Okay. >> I mean I Yes. You are as a public entity you are doing a >> I Yes. >> [laughter] >> men. Some of the other intersections that have been identified, I know you said sometimes the solution is as simple as a light timing or some or a no left turn at certain in intersections. Are those also things that are being considered? And by no left turn, like I'm specifically thinking 352 in Van Leer is one of those very dangerous intersections with left turns. So what is that also? what we have found the the only other intersection that we thought that feel that there could be uh where it doesn't technically met meet Pendot's criteria is 352 and Barrow Road and we're looking at that a little a little harder

043as again we haven't when when we came up with when we kind of got to this point we paused uh you know let's that we we need to figure out rose tree in 352 and we I'm not going to lie to we haven't finished everything yet that because this was that was the big red that was the big red flag. Um, you know, I I think we need to finish the study and really kind of codify that result, see what it may or may not be. And again, that we have lots of talking and coordination to do with PENDOT and Middletown Township as far as as but that that's the only other intersection in the study that we identified an oper a potential operational deficiency per per the letter of the standard. We can certainly

044have more discussion. Just the key next steps are complete this expanded traffic study. We have to coordinate I'm sorry I called it the church the adjacent property. I believe it will be a church eventually. Um you know just so you're aware. I mean the design is still ongoing. So obviously we're we're doing work um working with stakeholders and and getting all of the interior ready. And that is uh typical. you're going to typically do these things in tandem um because some of the work that Alex and team are doing will impact some of the site work. So all of it kind of works in conjunction. Uh we're looking finalizing geothermal investigation and you know we did the test well so we'll be able to get some evaluation on the sizing and all of the all

045the particulars for uh that piece of the project. The act 34 hearing I just wanted to put up there we would slide that because some of this is going to impact that as well. So, um the requirement for the act 34 is just before bid. We were doing it a little earlier. Um now it's probably prudent that we, you know, move it a month or two, but it's to be determined um based on all the rest of the moving parts. Those are the those are the key elements and there's there's a bunch of other like this is just one element of the permitting. You know, you saw four or five others and there's modules for all of those. uh I don't think any of the others will be as complicated as traffic uh because it's

046not you know obviously traffic wasn't an issue before you started so that's why that's especially complex with that certainly open to more discussion are there any other questions from the board I have some questions this do you know what the development that was done at granite run what type of traffic studies did they have to do? How far out did they have to look? >> I honestly personally I have not reviewed that. Um for a development that size it would have been significant. Now, I also um I I would have to go back and do more more detailed research on on that to see what they uh what they were committed to do as far as improvements, contributions, off-site, you know, off-site improvements. Um I I I would have to mine into that a little

047further. I I I honestly can't answer that specifically. >> Yeah, we can find out. ious because as someone who drives around here, >> I don't remember seeing any large improvements happening during the course of that construction. And it just goes to show again like sort of like you said, last man standing. Life isn't fair, but I'm going to complain about it. It's not fair that here we are as a public entity having to put in this level of investment when private investment did not have to do the same. >> So, one thing I can say, you can agree with it or disagree with it. There was an existing mall there. So the re the develop the developer does get credit for that existing use when they do a study. >> Although they did add over

048a thousand apartments, >> it's >> it was a different use. >> However, back to the IT trip generation manual. If you're saying, well, I'm taking away and I'm making numbers up just so don't this is discussion purposes. I'm taking away a million square foot mall and I'm going to put back apartments retail and all that and based on it my apartments retail and all generates the same amount of trips as what was there I'd say you don't have to necessarily agree with that philosophy but that >> but that is the that is the process uh as because the >> their argument would be well I'm not increasing any traffic >> and Riddle hospital. >> It would be it would be the same. >> But they just they put a huge additional they just double >>

049they so if they they they they would have had to have done >> but no improvements were made over there. Violet new neighborhoods you know that >> I know but like how do we address that given that there were you know there were a thousand new housing units and Riddle like doubled the size of their property. We had a small neighborhood go in right at the corner of 352 and Baron Road with a whole bunch of new houses. Van Leer is also putting new houses there and the that retirement home was built 15 years ago, but still that had a huge impact. Why? Nothing has been done to that intersection in all of these changes. That's again we're the last man standing and so it's our problem [laughter] >> that that I I cannot sit

050here and and answer the spec I I again I we would could mine into all of those. They're all on public record. It would all be there. you know, it's not only here, but where we see it in all the states that we work in it, you know, peacemeal development that does not have an overarching uh master plan for it. Again, it builds over time. You're also having pass through traffic here from all the development out in Chester County, right? I mean, I know all the fields and woods that I played in as a kid are now full of homes. So, and a lot of people come this way to work in media or go to Philadelphia. Uh, you know, uh, it it's, you know, there's there's not only the immediate growth, but then there's

051the regional growth that that goes that that goes with it. Um, you know, as far as those specific developments, I I don't know the details of those. I again, we'd have to go back and and look at those records. I guess my question is, is there an argument for us to not be saddled with the burden of all these other developments in the fixing of this road? I mean, this is a neglected road. That's the thing to do it for another 10 years. So, we have the school to build. >> I'm talking about 352 and Baron Road. >> Oh, you talking about 352 and Baron Road. That's the one that's the second red flag to everybody. I I think you have all right my professional opinion you have a significant bargaining chip. >> Okay. >>

052Here. >> All right. >> Because this is this is a significant improvement. >> Okay. >> For a for really any applicant. >> Okay. >> Um and if and and for what it's worth >> excellent neighbors that's >> well no very good neighbors. So, and just so everyone's clear, when I use the word applicant, hypothetically, our recommendation would have been the same if this was a housing development, a commercial development, a WAWA. This some you know, this needs to be done. You're you there's no hiding from this. So, you know, I know it's the school. Fortunately, the school is a public use. Um but as far as any other offsites I cannot sit here with a 100% guarantee but this is a significant um this is a significant give again because you are more than addressing

053your impact. >> I have one more question. >> Sorry if I didn't understand the question at first [laughter] >> thinking of 452 352. Yeah, >> which >> right >> if they saddle us with that. >> I don't even know. >> That intersection was terrible when I went to college. I will tell you how long ago that was. So that's I avoided it. I took the back way in. >> Um, does your traffic study get a professional seal on it? Do you see? Yes. Yes. >> Okay. So you you're doing this under your professional >> license. So our so it will be >> um >> it might be guy's professional seal that goes on it but it will be our corporate in you know liability but yes it will be sealed by by prof licensed professional

054engineer in the state of Pennsylvania in good standing. Yes. >> Anything else from the board? I understand you're looking for direction from us, but I think maybe we should hear if there are any comments from the public and then board can make a final like yes proceed or not. >> Okay. I'm just I don't want Joe to be nervous. We're not going to get there. >> All right. I I see a hand. And let me just remind the the public that I will be repeating your question slash comment. So just keep that in mind. Um in terms of the length >> is the approved way to go. Mr. Solomon said there are grants to cover the cost of making those improvements. Do you anticipate that the grants would cover the entire cost? >> All right.

055There's a question about um the Rose Tree Road realignment and that there are um grants possible and do we think that the grants could cover the entire project? >> Uh tough tough to answer. We we don't know. Most grants will not cover 100% of anything. They're going to have a matching portion to it anywhere from you know 10 to 30 sometimes up to 50%. I don't know specifically. Um, since this is a public project and you're doing a public service, I would think you would get, you know, a special, you know, I guess uh support, if you will. Um, but I there's no guarantee on grants. There really isn't. But there are multiple grants that are available for this type project. So, you know, it's not like they're they don't exist. They do. And m

056Miss Savine, I will I will tell you too when when it comes time for us to apply for the grant, we will ask the board to take action. So that will be discussed at a work session meeting and then at a legislative meeting, the board would vote to submit the grant application. So we'll talk about what that is publicly once those become available. >> There's okay, there's a question of if the grants don't cover it, then who's paying for it? Yeah, then it is it is the person it is the entity developing the project. Yeah, >> there's a question about if it the grants do not cover the entire amount. Is there I guess a contingency in the 80 the price of the the school >> or is it an additional cost over and above

057the 84 million? It is an additional cost. Yeah, it's definitely additional cost. >> All right. Uh, we have something else from the audience. Go ahead. >> School. >> There's a question about how much property we will be taking away from the school because of the the proposal. Okay. Answer is 1.26 26 acres is will be taken. All right. >> That the park across the street is not in sync with the time school is. That park is mobbed at 8:00 in the morning with walkers and dog walkers. >> All right. There is a comment about the the park across the street. Um and there is a view that there is a lot of traffic there even early in the morning. All right. Thank you. Right. Thank you guys. We appreciate it. And uh do we need

058to get something from the board in terms of their view? Right. >> So, Dr. Naps Williams the the next step it we're just looking for you know consent perspective from the board of yes that this sounds like this is the reasonable option to ask the professionals to continue to develop following up with with PennDOT uh as we go through and approach Middletown Township you know in the next month with submitting our application that this is the resolution that we want to move forward with. >> I would agree with that. I think this is really the only path forward and as much as I don't like the price tag of it, I'm hoping we can get grants for it and it is the right thing to do for the community to solve this problem sooner rather

059than later. >> What Jackie said? >> Yes, I concur. I see a lot of head. >> I was just going to say I I agree completely. Um, and the cost piece. I was wondering too, and you're probably already thinking this, when you come for these updates, if that can also be a regular part of the update, the grant perspective. And also, I mean, I'm not familiar with these grants in particular, but I can imagine it also helps if you can go into a grant application and say that you have funding support from X, Y, and Z, whether they are public or private entities. So, I think we as a community should be thinking about that and talking about that so that does not fall on the burden of the district and taxpayers. All right. Thank

060you very much. All right. Next up, we will be having the financial audit presentation from Barbara Thornton and Company. Just give us a couple of minutes to set it up. Dr. Malash. >> Thank you, Dr. Napson Williams. So, I'm excited that Joe Manfrey is with us this evening. Um, he's going to be going over the initial audit uh for the school district. Um, it's a little bit different this year. Uh, and he will go through and and talk about the details of it. We're at a bit of a standstill. We're at a at a lull right now. It's not in final form yet because it can't be in final form because the government's been shut down. Um, and Joe will kind of go through and talk about that. Uh, it's always exciting for us and

061and a pleasure for us to work with Joe uh and the team of auditors that he brings from his office. Um, so he's going to pull up the presentation. Miss Hogan or Dr. Scott, anything else that you want to add before Joe gets started? >> It says I'm sharing All right, good evening everybody. Uh, as mentioned, I'm Joe Manfrey. I'm an audit partner at Barbcane Thornton Company and I'm here to go over um the audit for the year. As um as already mentioned, uh we are showing you a draft tonight. as you know every year you are required to have a single audit because you do spend over 750,000 in awards that originate at the federal level. Um usually that a compliance supplement is issued which helps us drive our audit testing of those programs

062that may be in question. Um usually comes out around May or June I guess because the government was short staffed originally that never came out. So, uh, we were issued a draft sometime in September, but were also instructed to not release any single audit reports until the final version was released. And now we've been in shutdown. So, um, I have no idea when it's coming out. Um, so that's why we're in draft. Uh, management has elected to remain in draft um, until the single audit report comes out. We could have split out the single audit report, but then you know it's just a little bit more work and additional cost and ultimately your numbers are final. So you elected to stay in um draft format. So [sighs] going into the audit a little bit, uh

063we're looking at the independent auditors report. Uh this is pages 1 through four of the report. And to cut to it, we are issuing an unmodified or what is otherwise known as a clean audit opinion over your governmental activities, the business type activities, each major fund and the aggregate remaining fund information uh for the year ended June 30th, 2025. Um the basis for our opinion uh you know we we a we conduct our audit in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America and standards applicable to financial audits contained in government auditing standards. Um I always like to go over this paragraph. I I highlighted some points while I was sitting over there. Um I always like to go over this paragraph because this goes over the auditor's responsibilities for the

064audit of the financial statements. So our objective is to ultimately give reasonable assurance. I say reasonable assurance as we cannot give you absolute assurance um that the financials statements are free from material misstatement. Otherwise, I'd be probably working at the school full-time looking through every single transaction um that you go through in a given year. >> Um someone >> just to be clear, reasonable assurance is your >> it's the highest the highest level of assurance. Yes, that's our professional standard. You got it. Um so yeah, some some of the ways that we approach our audit, you know, we exercise professional skepticism um throughout the audit process. We identify areas uh and assess risks of material misstatement over the financial statements whether that is due to fraud or error and we design our audit procedures um

065in response to those risks. uh such such procedures include uh examining on a test basis evidence relating to uh the amounts and disclosures in the financials. We obtain an understanding of the internal controls uh throughout the district. So essentially just how cash flows in and out. Uh that could be cash receipts, dispersements, payroll and we make sure that they are operating effectively and also um you know appropriate for the size of the district. uh we evaluate the appropriateness of accounting policies held by the district and make sure that they are um you know any estimates related to those as well are reasonable and then ultimately we conclude whether um in our judgment the district has the ability to continue operations. Um one thing that's different this year um we have an emphasis of matter paragraph.

066So, the district did have to implement a new Gazsby standard for the year was Gazsby statement 101. Uh, it's Heather's favorite. Um, it's related to changes of compensated absences. Uh so essentially I yeah I'm not going to get long- winded here but originally uh standard like 30 something um basically said whatever you had at the end of a year you know in terms of acred uh sick or vacation pay that's the liability. Now it's kind of making you look forward and see what individuals might use in a particular year and also in their tenure. So we had to use um a weighted average approach of individuals that have left the district and kind of come up with some assumptions. So it did uh require a restatement to your um governmental activities as well as your

067business type activities which we'll get into in later uh in the report. All right, the next few pages are management's discussion and analysis. I always uh encourage readers that aren't too familiar with financial statements to kind of look here as it does give a nice summary of uh the year in total and kind of g goes over what some of the changes were from 25 and 24. Um it does say unodudited at the top as it kind of goes into the why and we are not allowed to audit the why. We can only go off of fact and numbers. So um just always like to point that out. Um but ultimately all the numbers that are reflected in this report uh we have validated that they are correct and they do match the financial statements.

068Uh moving down it's a lot of discussion. Um okay this is your statement of net position at the entitywide level. So this is a look at your full acrual statements. Um, so it does have your fixed assets as well as your any um long-term debts. Um, just wanted to point out a few things here. So, your total assets did increase to about 193.1 million for the year. Um, and in 2024 they were 189.9. The big drivers there just construction and progress. Um, you know, it came in at 10.9 million versus 6.3 million in in the past years. [snorts] Moving down to your liabilities and ultimately your liabilities in total did decrease about 9.4 million coming in at 195.1 mil. I want to try to make [clears throat] this a little bit bigger cuz just now

069noticing it's super small. Um so if yeah if you look here the biggest drivers are this is your accounts payable. Um it's a lot of it's related to the construction of progress as we'll see at the fund level, but your con your AP came in at uh 4.9 million versus 1.5 in 2024. And then the big the big reason for the decreases, however, were the assumptions surrounding your net pension liability uh resulted in a decrease of that liability coming in at 133 million versus 139 in the previous year. And then the other number I have highlighted, the 25 million, this is just payments of long-term debts, your bonds and your your notes payable. So, um, as they're coming to maturity, you know, you're seeing decreases in those liabilities. All right. Now, we're moving down to

070the fund level. Sorry, I can't really see that much. It's too big. So uh so um this is just a look at your uh government funds governmental funds and this is at the modified acral level. So you won't see those fixed assets and the long-term debts. All that's run through the kind of the the profit and loss statement at this level if you will. And as you could see that 4.8 million in AP, a lot of it's coming in your capital projects fund. uh coming in at about 3.7 million at the end of the year and ultimately your total assets remained fairly on par uh from year to year. You had 50.9 million in 2024 and you have 49.1 million in 2025. Moving down to your uh revenues and expenditures. So, uh, in total, your

071total revenues did increase, um, a pretty substantial amount. They came in at 128.1 million versus 121.5 in 2024. And the big drivers there are the two top buckets, which would be your local and your state sources of funding. And then, um, if we look at your total expenditures, which would be this line right here, um, we have 136.2 25 million this year versus 119.8 in 2024. And again, um probably no surprise to you all. It's related to some of the construction that was going on during the year. So, you had 13.1 million in capital project expenditures. Uh moving down, this is a look at your budget versus actual statement. So, um you have your your original and final budgets and then your actual results. And the district did have a favorable uh result in your

072total revenues. So, you came in at 6.3 million higher than anticipated. And then again, this is just a look at your general fund. and then also a favorable variance in your expenditures as well coming in at 418,000 uh favorable. I did want to point out there's one like kind of outlier of 4.5 million in an unfavorable variance. This is related to special education costs. So um this is something that we've seen as a trend across the state. um whether we're auditing school districts or charter schools, we, you know, probably no surprise to you all, but special education costs are kind of up across the board. [snorts] Uh moving down to your food service fund. So, your food service fund, I just wanted to point out, has a positive net position of about $1,60,000. And, you

073know, this has gone up a a decent amount each year. And I I believe when I started auditing you all um you had a deficit of about five 600,000. So it's really great to see uh the positive trend in the food service fund. And if we look at the total cash in the food service fund alone, you have about just shy of 2.1 million and your current assets are only 275,000. So you have about Xfold of what you know you need it, you know, currently to pay your um your current debts. So that's good. And I always like to point out too, this does have your pension and oped liabilities in there, too, because the food service fund is a business type activity. So it's shown at the full acrual versus the modified acrruel. So,

074if you would if you were to back out those liabilities as well, because ultimately you would never have to pay those uh in full. Um you know, the net position grows even higher, you're coming in at about two 2.5 million. So, really good. Something that I I think you guys uh should be proud of as a as a district. And then again just wanted to point out here uh change in net position was about a positive 350,000 and the prior year was a 521,000. And just going into your cash flows really quickly. Um just wanted to point out one thing. So equipment acqu uh acquisitions um the district has been active in you know purchasing new cafeteria equipment each year. So, um, you know, it's not just you're hoarding cash, you are replacing old equipment

075and you are, um, you know, making that better for the children. So, uh, moving down into the footnotes, um, with Gazsby statement 101, there was no significant changes to the footnotes. It's kind of funny. It was really all accounting related and there was one change as it just says that compensated absences are reflected at net. So, it's literally one sentence. Uh, which is a little crazy because every other standard adds tons and tons of pages to this. Um, but I just wanted to go over one footnote quickly and then I'll try to give you all your night back. Um, [laughter] that's I'm just trying to, you know, just trying to get you guys going quicker. [snorts] Um, just wanted to go over the change in uh accounting principle. So essentially this is the net effect

076of the change of 101 to your uh governmental activities as well as business type activities. So uh the changes did actually um decrease the deficit at the governmental activities level. Uh it had a positive result of 1.25 million and at the food service level it had a um a negative result of 20 about $22,000. So, this just goes over um you know that re retroactive look back of 101. Um but at this point, I would just open it up to anyone that had questions about the report itself. >> A question on um and maybe it's not for you. >> Okay, >> Vanessa. So the increase in revenue or local taxes, do we expect that to be ongoing? The number we'll be using carrying forward, do you think that was the result of the new properties

077coming online, paying taxes? Where do you think the discrepancy was from? >> So I wouldn't say it's a discrepancy. It's like each year there's like interim taxes. There's delinquent, then there's the local, and there's also transfer. So, excuse me. If there are more houses being sold, then that leads to more transfer taxes. So, and in combination of the millage increase and the increased tax rate. So, all of that together, excuse me, all of that together is what led to the more positive, favorable continues. It's been going up and down like we've had years where the interims have not come in timely enough to make a difference. So, it's I don't want to say crystal balling it, but it's somewhat just trying to forecast it every year is different >> discrepancy, which is probably unfair because

078it's a loose term in your unloose world. So, my apologies. I did not I did not mean to. >> We both twitched people. >> I know. I saw it. I saw it. I'm sorry. It was my misspeaking as opposed to casting aspersions. [laughter] Um, my other question is about the food service number. So, happy to see positive direction, but also like having $2 million sit in the food service account, like is is that typical? What should we expect? Does it sit there forever? >> We are actually um doing a lot of investing in equipment. We're building a new freezer, so it will go down in this year. Yeah. >> Down for good use, right? Like that's the goal that we can use for many years and benefit our students. >> Yes. We are trying to

079buy equipment um replace everything that is like 30 years old with some new stuff that doesn't break constantly. >> All right. Anything else from the board? >> My one is just sort of my my standard question for this. It always takes me a little while to honestly reread stuff, absorb it. Um, if we have questions moving forward, we email Joe, we and Vanessa. Okay. Um, like I said, it's a it's um one page. >> It's a potent, intense document. It's going to take me a little bit of time to go over and absorb it all. So, I just want to make sure I can do my due diligence on that, >> of course. And I think, um, this year you have more time than probably ever. Um, again, I don't anticipate it being the first

080course of a action. Um, as soon as, you know, everything's open and running again and everybody's back to work. Um, would it be an easy win for them? Yes, because it was in draft format and I could see it being released next week, but I could also see it being released mid December new year. So, yeah. and Susan, we will bring it back. The board will have to act at some point to accept the audit. So, it will come back. I doubt that Joe will be back to present on it unless there are substantive questions or or something else that we need him to come and do, but the board will be asked to act on the audit at some point once they're able to finalize their work. >> Okay, one sec. Anything else from

081the board? Okay, we have something from the community and just remember about the question. There's a question about the the gap analysis and what the fund balance was at the end of the year. >> Do you want it for the general fund? General fund. >> Bear with me. a lot of pages. Um, you had a ending fund balance of 14.8 million. >> 14.8. >> Question about what the capital fund balance is. >> Yep. 6.7 million. Okay, go ahead. >> Some of those three >> the sum of the capital projects, capital reserve and >> debt service >> about 18.26 million. >> Yes. All right. It will have to wait for the audit report, the final draft. Yeah. >> All right. Okay. Thank you. Uh next up we have uh the high school update from Mr. Raw.

082>> Dr. N. I'm actually going to have Mr. Dockerty and Mr. Roth are walking over to the table to sit down. Uh I'm going to have Mr. Dockerty do a little introduction for Mr. Roth just to kind of set the stage as to why we asked because this is a is a a share and a discussion that was added on um that we believed was timely uh with what was taking place. So I'm going to ask uh Mr. Doerty to kind of tee it up for Mr. Roth. >> Thank you for the introduction for my introduction. >> [laughter] >> Um hi everyone this uh last week um election day as you know is an inservice day for our teachers and myself and Christa Considine Dan Harrison like we have the opportunity to bounce around a

083little bit work with different teachers at different levels and um it's really a one of the my favorite [clears throat] parts of the job is is having that perspective of seeing all the great things that are happening around the district. Um, our district is in a really good spot academically right now and a lot of it is because of the hard work that our teachers are doing and the planning that goes behind that. And I was especially proud of the work that I saw on November 4th. Um, at the elementary level, we're implementing a new ELA program which Christie can tell you more specifically about. Um, I spent some time here at the middle school in data conferences with our new principal and administration and the level of conversation about not only programs but also

084individual students and support and enrichment that's being provided is is second to none. And then um and I'll get back to um what we saw at the high school in just a minute. >> Apologies. Um, we had the opportunity to, um, as Mr. Dockerty said, be at data conferences with Springton Lake. Um, I participated in the English language arts. Um, and one thing at the very end of the conference that led to the rest of our day with the elementary were the middle school teachers asking us, um, how can we meet with the elementary as they're going through their first year? This is the second year for our ELA program. um to talk with them and tell them how exciting it will as you learn the program and really get into it, how exciting that

085will be. So, that was a great opportunity. I told them to to hang on a little bit. Our um elementary wasn't quite there, but um as we went back then into the elementary school, we focused on um looking at our assessments within the program, looking at our um benchmark assessments. They're a little bit more um deep K to five this year. So allowing our teachers opportunity um to look at that data to understand how they were administered to really be able to speak to every subtest um and then work as district grade level teams on planning um the next unit again taking careful look at the assessments looking at how the students had done in unit one um and then plan how they will align with our current progress report and how we will communicate

086unicate that um to our families. So, it was an extremely busy day, but an extremely productive day. >> So, that as um as we wrapped up the afternoon and I checked in with Mr. Roth, he shared with me some of the great things that are happening at Penrest and how they're related to our new schedule. So, as I was sitting there listening to him in his excitement, I thought to myself, this is really something that we should share with all of you this evening. So, here's Mr. Good evening everyone. For once in my life, I will be the I will be I will have the least amount of words to say of any presentation tonight. Um which never happens. So we are excited. Uh it's been a great start at the high school. Um, you

087know, we've been here speaking time and time again about upcoming changes and I'm really happy about the fact that now we're talking about changes that are, you know, kind of in the past. Um, and really focusing on what matters most. Uh, so at the towards the end of October, we gave one survey to students and we gave another to teachers specifically about uh the the new schedule. Um, you know, we wanted to get some feedback. Was it working? Was it not working? Obviously, we've had a lot of conversations with kids. We've had a lot of conversations with uh you know faculty and staff members. Um but we wanted to get you know a large amount of feedback. Uh and when you do that you know you always hope it comes out the way that you

088want it to. Uh and in this case uh honestly I'm pretty thrilled about where we are. Uh so November 4th we had a chance to share this data with our with our faculty. Um you know when we asked students and we had over 500 students um you know respond to the survey. Uh this was not a like everybody do this at one time. This was just something that we put out in the morning announcements for a week. Uh and we got over 500 responses. So uh was thrilled about that to begin with. Uh and as you can see, largely positive feedback. Um I'd be worried if 100% of people told me that they liked it because then it wouldn't be real. Uh but you know, 62% of our students giving us favorable views of the

089school day. Very small percentage having negative views of the school day. Uh and you know this was really all about changing the level of engagement and changing the style of instruction and changing academic outcomes for our kids. Um and so seeing that almost twothirds of our kids are saying that they're more engaged in class uh and that there's a really small percentage of kids saying that they're less engaged. You know, again, really positive signs. Um change is hard. Um, we spent the last year and a half trying our best to plan, trying our best to, you know, problem solve. Uh, and that brings about a lot of anxiety. Uh, and so once we got underway and two months into it, being able to say to our teachers, hey, if you go back to last year

090and have the schedule we had before or stick with the block, uh, for four out of every five teachers to say, I like the block. Uh, I won't lie, it brought a really big smile to my face. uh because it's a lot of hard work. Um and then I think the greatest thing that we were able to share that day and the greatest feedback that we got from the kids um we asked them open-ended uh you know give us an example of a teacher who g who is a great example of how to teach in a block. Um 500 kids gave us open-ended responses. Um before I shared those open-ended responses with teachers, I did what any responsible principal would do. I read them all to me. Uh, and there was one, literally one, where

091I had to delete half a sentence. Uh, which is a testament to how awesome our kids are. And honestly, that one that I had to edit just said, "So and so and so and so are great. They do this, this, and this. So and so's class is boring." So I just took out so- and so's class is boring. Um, because the whole faculty didn't need to see that. And that person actually was highlighted by many others. Um, and so what we did on that day, we we had teachers, you know, look through one, it's nice to see that the kids are giving that feedback, but then said, you know, all right, great. You know, look for yourself first. Uh, and then notice who else you see, notice what you see, and then go talk to

092your colleagues, especially those that you don't get a chance to talk to regularly, those outside of your department, those that don't have the same lunch period as you. Um, and pick their brains. Um and it was a really great session based on you know really great feedback. Uh and it's all thanks to our teachers. Um our our teachers have been amazing. Um going into classrooms looks a lot different. I'm not going to lie. The kids are very engaged. Also along with this we did change you know how we are handling cell phones in the classroom. I do have to tell you our kids were not as favorable in their views of the cell phone policy, but many of them did say, "I didn't need this, but it is helping my friend." So, I loved it.

093Um, the kids are talking to each other much more. There's a lot more discussion. There's a lot more interaction. Um, and something that's interesting, we're using technology a ton, but there was less reliance on it. Uh even in our strategic planning session the other night, the two students who were part of that said, you know, we're doing more old school stuff like paper and pencil. Um it's beautiful. We're not getting rid of the technology. It is present all day every day. But it's also great for kids to be brainstorming on paper, for them to be doing old school freewrites as they start a class. Uh and it's leading to a lot more face-to-face conversation. Uh in August with our teachers, we just kept stressing the word vulnerability. We wanted them to be vulnerable. um to

094make this work. They were gonna have to try new things. And uh hats off to them. I'll forever be indebted to this group of teachers. I have a veteran staff. I don't have a bunch of rookies. Um it's easy to ask new teachers to try new things. Asked a lot of people with 25, 30, 35 years of experience trying new things. And not only have they done it, but they have done it over and over again. And they've really have embraced being vulnerable. Uh and it's really paying off. Uh and then, you know, it's just been a really enjoyable day. Um the classes are longer but the days feel shorter and that was a big part of the goal. Um kids are going home with you know homework and fewer subjects. They're finding more work

095life balance just like we talk about as adults. Uh and so we're really happy about you know what has happened so far. Um next steps for us we're going to come back you know next month we'll talk about the academic guide and you'll see and I'll explain this next month. Um you know we're going to do a little you know fewer classes that will rotate uh red days and gold days. Um we will never be a true 4x4 semester block, but we're going to work to get closer to it. Um because that's the feedback that we've gotten from students and teachers alike. Uh and our focus really now just gets to be on what matters most, right? We're going to fine-tune the schedule. You know, we're going to figure out what classes work best in

096which format. Um but we get to spend a lot more time in classrooms observing teaching, talking about teaching. Uh and our teachers are knocking it out of the park. And one last thing, we did change how we do our intervention and enrichment period, which used to be uh in the middle of the day. It's now how we start the day. U there's a lot more flexibility and freedom for our students. It is something that when we visited other schools, we kept seeing people doing this and thought, "All right, maybe we should try." It has been a great way to start the day. There is a lot it's a different feel in the morning. Um but kids are increasingly making use of the time even with the flexibility that they have. you know, we've got kids

097coming in to get extra help, uh, when they could sleep in for an extra half an hour. Uh, and it doesn't hurt for some of them to sleep in an extra half an hour as well. So, uh, really pleased with, you know, how everything is going so far. Uh, and really pleased with our teachers, our students, uh, and of course the support of all of you. Thank you. >> A didn't mean to jump right over here, but I'm super excited by all this. This is really really interesting and I'm I'm glad to see that you see someone pay off for it. I was wondering if you took into account or or noticed a difference between incoming like the the freshmen, right, who have come from a different culture and you different perhaps use of cell

098phone all the other stuff versus the older students. uh is that you know I will say and it's completely anecdotally but my my daughter hasn't she she felt she didn't notice any change right from the middle school but I suspect from the upper school people they have noticed a change and I wasn't really sure cell phone wise what what the vibe is on all of this >> I you know the the data when you break it down are our our seniors really do not like the cell phone policy um but when you talk to them they I mean they they will say it makes a big difference. Um, you know, in their mind they lost something that they felt like they had. Uh, but they will also sit and talk to you and tell you

099why it's, you know, good. Again, that theme of, you know, I don't like that you're treating me like I'm a kid, but it is really good for a lot of other people. Um, you know, and they acknowledge, you know, class feels different. Um, you know, we're noticing less and less, you know, when kids get up, you know, even just, you know, to use the the restroom, you know, they're not running over to the cell phone pocket, they're just going to the bathroom. Um, so yeah, I I think, you know, there is a difference for our younger students who come in and this is the only way that they've ever known high school. Um, but that being said, a lot of times kids look forward to the freedom that they, you know, feel they're going to

100get in high school. Um, I won't say that our freshman statistically say that they like the cell phone policy either. Um, but it's working. >> By the way, I am totally a fan of of the policy. So, you know, even if people even if all students are not happy with it, if it's more productive and conducive for their learning and focus, then I am in favor. I was just curious if there was a disconnect or a difference that you notice because also when you had the first slide and you talked about the 62% um who were happy with the block schedule and then the 12% who had a negative feeling, the middle part was that just kind of neutral, you know, neutral. >> Um, yeah. And what we did see the the one trend, and

101this goes back to the less red and gold, um, teachers and students alike, if you break it down uh, a little bit more by, you know, teachers, we specifically asked if they have rotating schedules, uh, either all rotating schedules, which definitely like please do not give me that schedule again. Um and then others who have a mix um you know that is where uh teachers were much more likely to be in a 20% category that said you know they would pick the traditional schedule. Um which is something that to be honest was kind of predictable. Um and we just have to find the sweet spot you know what fits into the schedule. >> All right I think we're good. >> Thanks everyone. Thank you. >> All right. So, we will be moving to finance and

102operations. Thank you, Dr. Napsson Williams. Excited for us to transition into the first part in finance operations with Mr. Dennis Seini and Mr. Mike Nolan are here with us again this evening. No pictures tonight because there's nothing new to show from last month. [laughter] >> So Dennis, >> thank you. >> Michael, it's all yours. >> Good evening. Uh guess we'll go through our capital process again. Most of them are in the punch list phase from last year. But um the window replacement project is well again windows are done skylight next year and at media there's going to be a lot of work next year at media the skylight and the HVAC at media next year too. um our turf field projects, Springton Lake track and turf field that has been submitted for review to MPDES

103in the township. Um the Penrest Turf Field replacement, the drawings are in progress. That doesn't require a review because it's only a replacement. Looks like our schedule for bidding both of those will be January February with construction during the summer. And Dennis, I just want to remind the board that our next work session on December 1st, yes, we'll be having an in-depth discussion about synthetic fields, what are the materials, what are the options, what are our choices. Um, so Mr. Cini and Mike Nolan, uh, Phil Solomon through ICS because they're, um, we, Mr. Cini and Mike through the district are managing the Springton Lake project and stadium replacement. ICS is managing the new fields uh the baseball softball multi-use field. So they're working together. We'll have discussion that evening with the board. Okay. Our last

104our last summer's HBAC projects at Rose Tree and Glennwood punchlift phase. We have two units at Rose Street are actually delayed until mid December, but we're working on it. Yeah. And that's not bad for all those units. We had to replace the cafeteria here also in punch list phase pen press high school Indian lane uh the renovations to the science rooms and consumer family science I was told today that all that punch list work is done today that's completed and again HBAC upgrades to media and Indian lane bids are due November 21st. first. Okay. Capital projects. Tonight we have a proposal from GKO Architects for professional services for next summer's capital projects. >> And uh uh Dr. uh excuse me. Um I just want to give a quick update on the solar grant that we

105are awarded. Um right now we have a structural engineer completing a survey and he should be done that survey at the end of this week and then um if you know if that comes out good and we're confident that the structure can hold the the panels to go on the roof then it will go into the electrical design phase. So just want to give you a quick update on that and Mr. Roth did not have the least amount of words to say tonight. [laughter] >> So you are men of action that don't >> any questions? Nothing. >> All right. Are we good? We're good. I think >> so. The next items on the agenda, the are there any questions on the GKO proposal change order? Any of the other items for Dennis? >> You know

106what? I did have a question about the uh was it the donation for the Springton Lake Middle School music boosters. I just remember years ago there was a trailer for Penrest Music and it was donated and it became a big deal because something about where were we going to put the trailer. So I just >> big right that was the thing. >> I think it was they didn't know where to put it right in in terms of storage of the trailer. It was a big thing for like it took a long time for them to figure it out. I guess I just want to know there's a place to put this trailer. >> So, this trail, if I could jump in real quick. Um, this trailer will go, we have a band trailer down at

107uh transportation now. And um so it's going to go We actually had this discussion today with uh Bonnie Kinsler about where we're going to put it. So, that will be down next to our band trailer at Penrest. >> Okay. All right. >> Yeah. Behind behind the football field there. >> Okay. Okay. >> Good me. Thank you, Teresa. I had forgotten about that, but that was when we first joined the board and I remember it was >> it was a big thing. They didn't have nowhere to park it, which is >> But we have a place. >> Excellent. Thank you. >> Are there any other questions about anything else on the list? People reviewed it. Okay. >> No, I'm good. >> I have a finance question, but it's not related to Are we on that or

108no? >> Yeah. >> On age. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. >> Um >> Oh, >> no. >> Yes. >> Um >> I I just noticed that I don't usually see two contracts in and then there's like a separate contract in there for like Racetown for like the accommodations if Oh, you can't link to the attachment. So, in the attachment that I can see logged in, um it looks like there's two contracts in there. Okay. So, we're looking into this uh the question. Just give us a second. >> So, I would have to look. So, I'm looking through the attachment now. I believe it's the bus. So, there's the bus and then there's the accommodations, I believe. >> Yeah, that makes sense. I just You don't usually I don't usually see two brid usually separately because

109I was like, "Oh, wow. That's a lot for like raised ton and I opened it up and I was scrolling through and I saw another contract which was the charter bus." >> Yes. >> Um Okay. Yeah. Thank you. That does actually relate to another question which we're not at yet, but this was also under education and wellness for approving an overnight field trip for $6,000. Um, so I was curious about seeing it listed both places. >> Oh, good catch. So the part that is on the finance side is the agreement to pay for the charter and the accommodations. I believe that what education and wellness puts on is the overall trip. So it's like yes the approval of >> the education and wellness site is approving the overnight trip. Yes. It lists what the approximate

110cost is that's on there but there's not a bill necessarily that's associated with that. the contract that's in business and finance they they do appear in two sections. >> But so just to clarify now that we're talking about this. So that is the that is the cost related to this specific trip. Have we seen these costs previously? Yes. They're sort of we see these every year. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Still have them. Sorry. One other clarifying question, but this is not actually the cost, right? Because the cost that we're approving in finance is about $4,500. Correct. >> Right. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. One more. And [laughter] I really do want to go home, but do does the this is the district cost. Do parents um share any of this cost or is this district

111cost? >> Are we still on finance? Right. We're still asking a question about that. Okay. It's the district cost. >> This is one of the things, Jackie, that feeds into the discussion about access and opportunity that Mr. Dockerty and the group are working on that we expect. Yeah, this is one of the ones that's on there, right? What's paid for? What's the district pay for? What are parents has to pay for? This is one of the things that feeds into that as science olympiad. All right. I guess we're good for finance and operations. Not okay. Resolution of course will not move forward to the legislative meeting. Um, if we jump to item K, it's just just a review of the investment of district funds, which is just a minor review. Miss Hogan, >> she just

112wanted to make me talk. Um, our investment plan, it says that we go will go over it in November with the board and nothing has really changed. We're only investing in things that we are allowed to. We only go out for about 13 months. If anything, they want to put out longer, they call us. Sometimes there are really good um investment rates, but we very rarely go over the year to fall in line with our investment program. Any questions for being responsible and conservative with the district's money? >> Always. >> Thank you. >> We have a question on a resolution actually. even though they passed it, there was a section in there about um payment for interest that other districts would have had to pay in order to um oh my god, lend be lent

113money. Um which seemed like a valuable piece of um the resolution, I thought. So, even though they've passed it, do we know did other school districts need to borrow money in order to get through the budget impass? And if so, then I think we should consider at least passing that part of the resolution to support those districts that did were put in that position. >> But is it a moot point if they already passed the the budget? Well, >> if they had to pay interest on the money they had to borrow, >> I think we should support their interest in perhaps being compensated for that interest they paid. >> So, just taking that part and saying they shouldn't have to pay interest. >> Yeah. Or they should be compensated by the state for that interest

114that they had to pay. >> Would also help in future if this were to happen again to let our legislators know that this is the expectation. I I actually think it's a great point and that we should consider doing it. >> Jackie and Hillary and and Teresa, we can modify the resolution that's here and get it out to the board um and adjust for the uh legislative session. What is listed? It's it's in number four under the resolutions. It says establishes a process by which any interest and fees acrewed due to borrowing throughout the impass is repaid to districts. So that's what you're looking to be maintained. We will we'll modify the resolution and get it out so that people can see it. >> Is there any way for us to share that intention to

115our neighboring school districts to perhaps then garner support for others to do the same? >> Yeah, I will actually I have a a meeting with um county superintendent tomorrow so I can let them know that we're going to take action on that or I ask the board to take action on that next Thursday evening and that that's what we're going to include. and also share it with um Chester County and Montgomery County uh legislative councils and let them know >> and if there were no more questions and then we can move off of finance. >> Okay, we're good for >> what vehicles are we scrapping? Just curious. Sorry. >> There are two um older maintenance vehicles that are nonworking and there is one Mr. Kelly CG bus >> that has over 170,000 miles and right

116now the estimate before they even went in it was $50,000. And yeah, so those are the vehicles we're looking to scrap. >> Do they even have like salvage value? like to get something for >> um not for I'll have to check on the maintenance vehicles but not for the CJ. >> Yes. >> All right. So, we'll move on to education and wellness >> and we have Mr. Doerty will take us through it. Okay. So, um these are consent items. We have any questions about those? We just um we just mentioned the Springton Lake Science Olympia. That is part of our access and opportunity. We'll have more information for you on that. Um, the educational fund. Give everyone a minute. Questions? Okay. Okay. I'm not seeing any questions, concerns for education and wellness tonight. All right.

117I think we're good. Thank you. Next up, uh, human resources. >> So, Dr. N Williams, I'm going to go through the the human resources items. Uh, Dr. Saladino is out of district uh, today, so he's unable to be with us this evening. Um same thing a number of consent to items and typical things that we find under human resources resignations appointments change in classification of employees transfers the change in start date for Mr. Rehawk who's the new principal for Glenwood. He'll actually start on January 6th instead of January 5th. the way that it balanced out with his finishing his time in Upper Derby. So rather than starting with us on a Monday, he'll start with us on a Tuesday. Um he and Miss Considine and Dr. Saladinos have been going back and forth to set

118up visitation dates for him in December, both during the day to see students and staff and then uh sometime after school hours to be able to meet families. You have the supplemental contracts which are done each year with different seasons. This includes the winter seasons and then um twous with RTMA. And then the last is just policy committee. We will meet this Monday because our legislative meeting is a week from tonight. Remember, it's a quick turnaround in both November and December. Um, so we will have our policy committee meeting on Monday evening. The agenda will come out tomorrow afternoon to the board. Uh, we are at 4:00 in the boardroom 4 to 5:30. So, this is what we are looking at and this is what will be on the agenda next Thursday. The first read

119student discipline generative AI. second read and approval and then we've been we're starting the discussion about policy 226 which is school district searches. All right, any questions about them? We're good. Okay, that looks like we have reached the end. Oh. Oh, I'm sorry. There's a question about the supplemental contracts and how much we have budgeted. I don't know, but we can get Yes. Yes. There's a question about theou and the one with RTMEA and whether it expands the number of supplemental contracts. >> No, it's just a reallocation of unit supplemental units that are not currently being used to be used for activities that are currently occurring. But no, there there's no it's a it's a net zero in terms of what the cost is. >> Sure. All right. And that is it for this evening.

120Uh have a good night.