05-08-25 RTMSD Work Session

001Good evening. Welcome to the May 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, look forward to the May work session of the Rose Tree Media School Board. The school board holds monthly work session. Good evening. Welcome to the May 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

002comments, we encourage emails to either committee chairs or the administration. As a reminder to 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. So now we'll start with finance and operations. We have the K to1 center update. Thank you Dr. Napson Williams. We have some folks who are going to come over and join us at the table. Um two of them will be familiar to the board that they've been here a number of times since January. That's David Shrader

003uh from the Shrader Group. He's the principal there. And Phil Solomon from ICS. And then Jess Faber is with us this evening. Uh he works with ICS and actually with just the CMTA CMTA um to talk about energy uh and what that looks like. So David, as soon as you are ready, there you are. Nice. And you'll just hit your make nice and loud. Well, very good. Thank you very much for having us back, David Schrader and Bill Solomon and uh Jess Farber. and we have some other members of our team in the audience as well. So, we thought we would fill you in as we're we're going to do monthly uh on where we are with the project as a whole. Um, real quickly, there'll be just a little primer on prior discussions to

004remind you of of how we got to where we got and then we do have some updated information. Some additional information will be shared by ELA group right after our presentation. and we've tried to integrate the beginnings of that so you get a sense of it. Uh following that, we'll start to show you how the site might start to evolve. Jess is going to talk a little bit about systems, building systems, and then Phil's going to fill you in on uh some of the thought exchange information that's come back so far. So, thank you again for having us. Um as a whole, where did we how did we get to where we got with the Riddle property? And reminder, there's the parcel and you can see Penrest High School just to the north. I'm going

005to activate my little laser pointer here. So, Penrest High School and the entire Penrest site is sitting just to the north. We have Smmedley property and Long View Park just across the road here. As we develop this um folks all understand that there's an entire parcel as outlined in red here that defines the Rose Media School District property. The Riddle property is a portion that has the uh green as you see it here. And keep your eye on the uh corner down here against Middletown Road. A little bit more information that we had from the civil engineer. This represents, although it's a little bit faded in this image, I can see it clearly on my screen. Uh, it shows the existing Smmedley driveway. Uh, gives us a good sense of the grading. Um, a little

006bit about a a water course that runs through an adjacent property, uh, and just hits the tip of the Penrest property. And then it also shows the setbacks. That's going to be a little bit more evident in an image that I show shortly here. Uh we met as you probably remember in December with PennDOT and Middletown Township and the discussion at that time was about this modification to what PennDOT was planning for Rose Tree Road and how it intersects with Middletown Road. Uh the intention at that point uh was to directly to to make an access point directly across from the uh Garnet Valley uh mall area here. And let's let's say Granite Run Mall instead of Garnet Valley. Sorry, we're in an adjacent uh township here. So, thank you for the the uh clarification.

007So anyway, this is where this was going to intersect and there's a setback that occurs uh because of that roadway which impedes just a tiny bit into the property leaving the parcel that we actually been working with there. So you can kind of see how all of that works and uh my memory uh is that it's approximately 14 acres of property and gave us an adequate area to try to develop on. This is the adjacent land development approved project. This is the church property. Uh that little uh jut of your property sits right here. So that's that adjacent piece of property and all of the development that will occur in the church as well. This is that water course. It's a it's a small area and it just hits the penrest property right there, but

008it runs through the adjacent property. So in January, we took all of that information and compiled it with a program. The program at that time was about 120,000 square feet worth of building. It was a two-story structure. Uh we were pushing it as much as we could into the corner of the property to allow a decent amount of vehicular circulation, so car drop off area. And the intent and hope at that point was that we could do a separate bus driveway through. Um we did meet with the township with this this concept. And one of the things that came out of that was the hope that we could also run a perimeter roadway. Uh much of that for public safety, for access to all sides of the building uh for fire and so on. Uh

009but as a whole, this satisfied all of the needs of the program, the parking and uh things like that. So this is what we we presented in January and you folks saw again last week. So there's been some new information and this has been very helpful. Uh you're going to see a presentation by Hugh Casso after this. Uh his presentation will be about these potential sports fields uh that can go in and help to master plan the entire Penrest property. But one of the interesting parts of this is the addition of a parking area and an access drive that goes to that parking area from the backside. Uh you'll all know that this is the gymnasium side of the Penrest High School. So that parking area is really meant to provide access to all of

010these playing fields, but it could play uh a great role for you folks with the elementary center. And so that's the next part of this discussion. Uh as we get into projects, we like to try to do some kind of site analysis. The red area that you're seeing here or brown or whatever color everybody sees this as is a setback and that includes the setback from the potential pendot roadway uh work that might come along here. And we're starting to think, although this could certainly alter as time goes on, that the community spaces of the building, the gym, the cafeteria, the entry points may all face Middletown Road, the academic areas may all face Rose Tree Road and be connected somewhere in this area. And this obviously can change as time goes on, but it

011seems to be setting up a a decent set of parameters for us to work with. We have also in that time frame between January and now gone back and worked with administration again on building programming. Uh you remember seeing these charts and the nine or 10 pages of space programming that go behind these. uh the very first goound, a very quick goound to make sure that we had uh essentially the appropriate square footage for the facility showed about 121,000 square ft. Um as we've gone through the process, we think we may be a little closer to 125,000 and change. That includes the linking learning to life program. We do have a potential alternate that we'd like to entertain for about 5100 square ft of district student services. uh a little bit of an admin program

012that could be over there, but we're going to continue to show this as an alternate and work the building program around the 125,000 ft. And just quick clarification, that's two stories. That's two stories. And the footprint is how many square feet? Oh, great question. A footprint that for 125,000 ft is typically going to be in the 70 to 80,000 square foot range. Thanks. Yeah, we shared with you last week some design aspiration images, the kinds of things that we'd like to see this building looking like as it evolves. So, this is in the back of our minds as we look at program and look at site. And so, we have developed some additional site concepts. This concept is going to look very familiar to the prior uh design in that it has this potential bus

013access point uh from the longer leg of the dog leg here for the pendot roadway. U we still have that adjacency to the park across the street and the access point and a parent drop off loop that runs around that. And so those are still of interest. However, you're starting to see a little bit of an evolution here. These fields are the fields that Mr. Kadzo is going to talk to you about shortly. This is the parking lot that he's going to be talking to you about. So, there is an opportunity for us to continue that roadway through which presents a couple of um opportunities. Uh it certainly can help with this uh this circuit road that the township is looking for and it may help if we are able to bring it around the

014back side of the building access to this parking lot. One of the things that we've all talked about as a team is when does our building and our site work get done versus when the pendot roadway gets done and what happens if the pendot roadway work comes after our building and then how does that access work? So internally as a team, we've talked about this parking lot being accessed previously by connecting to this parking lot, but there's even a better opportunity here. And as we've listened to folks and heard about some of the concerns for the roadways and so on, uh we see an opportunity to potentially bring busing in around the backside of Penrest High School, potentially looping in and maybe even looping out. uh that would just leave the parent drop off traffic

015off of Rose Tree Road and mean that we never have to intersect a second time on Rose Tree Road. So, this is an idea that we're toying with. Uh this will obviously take traffic study work because we will have to look at the traffic and its relationship not just to Rose Tree Road at that point, but also to Baron Road. Now, one excellent piece of news here is that the buses will not be accessing Baron Road at the same time as the high school buses. So, they will be offset in timing if that were the case. And the other interesting thing is if this is the last building on a run perhaps, then they could easily just go internally in the site right back to the bus garage and never have to come back out

016on Rose Tree or Baron. So some of the things that we're thinking about as we go through this, I think you'll find some of those topics interesting as they evolve. So that combined site development as we think about this uh again as Mr. Kazo presents his presentation. uh we do want to be talking to the township. We write site elements related to zoning meaning that we want to understand what the total impervious surface may be for both sets of development at the same time and how the township is looking at playing fields, synthetic turf fields and so on. So that's part of the conversation. There's some great program synergies here. If you can think about some of the high school program working back with the linking learning to life uh program, that's a great opportunity.

017Also working with the young ones at the site is a really great opportunity to go back and forth internally between the building the parking if there's a chance that we can reduce some of the parking on the K1 center site because you've now got this parking area in between the playing fields that might be another excellent opportunity here. And if you think about how that might work for nighttime activities, if the high school and the K1 center do not have things the same night, that could be shared or the driveway between the two could be shared. So there's all kinds of opportunities here and synergies. We do have to obviously analyze the site and off-site circulation as a result of that and we will and we're starting to uh we also have to understand how

018that entire site uh impacts the land development process versus the 14 acres that we were looking at at the beginning. So, we're starting those conversations right now. The civil engineer has already begun that and how it impacts the timeline. So, I'm going to stop for one moment here because that's the end of the site discussion. I don't know whether you'd like to open questions at this point or whether we I'll just say as a comment, thank you very much for taking into consideration the transportation aspect. I really do like the idea of connecting things through Baron Road a lot more than bringing the buses in on on Rose Street Road. So, thank you. Thank you. Oh, yeah. Thank you for your responsiveness to some of the feedback. It's helpful to see that. Um I just

019have a a question about the um as you reconfigured the site and the um to bring the roadway around the I guess we consider the back um side of the building, did that change the outdoor play space as well? Um, looking at the playground spaces, I think we had talked before about having maybe two different areas. You don't have to speak to it now if you don't have it, but maybe in the follow-up discussion, what size are those playgrounds? How does that change outdoor play opportunities? So, it's interesting because we're we're also entertaining ideas of play areas directly outside of the classroom clusters. And so, that's another opportunity here. The concept that you're seeing here, we have several classw oper uh options here. This one shows that students could go right out from their their

020classroom cluster right into a play area or a learning area outside. So, I don't think it affects it in a negative way. We think it actually will be positive as we continue through this. Yeah. Okay. Jet is going to take over and talk a little bit about building systems. Thanks, David. So while we're early in the process of site development and and program and all that, we start to look at building systems. So that has a huge influence on energy cost and maintenance and operations. So it's it's the perfect time to be putting these two things together. So that's part of the process that we work through as an integrated design team. So that's really what this first piece is about is this process. So, don't get too hung up on all the words, but

021basically though, this is important to you because ultimately we want to optimize the classroom environment so we get the right amount of daylighting, the proper thermal comfort, the proper acoustics, all the stuff you want for a good indoor environment for students to excel. And so, this integrated process kind of kind of makes sure we're taking those into consideration as we look to turn the building the right direction, have the right amount of windows, the right building envelope, and the right uh HVAC system to to heat and cool the space. And then on top of that, we can look to future on-site renewables. And I'll talk through a little bit of that here in a minute, but ultimately this will give you the the most optimal building with the right size system with the least amount

022of operational cost long term, which is always a good thing, right? Um, and so again, looking at massing orientation, this is an example from a different project, but basically, if you take a building and rotate it 90 degrees, it performs better or worse depending on how you're doing it. So we will we'll look at those options as we look and study um the classroom wings and whatnot. So uh doing some parametric modeling to really just fine-tune that we understand the decisions we make and the impact that it has on the building performance. So again early stuff that's that's easy to do now uh to help inform good decisions before we get too far down the road in schematics. Uh and then daylighting again as I mentioned access to natural light is is super important. You

023know how many classrooms are out there that have no windows right? We don't do that anymore. But what we don't want to do is put windows in that have the blinds have to be closed. So that really comes down how you turn the building on the site and get the right way. So Dave and I went back and forth on this this morning, as a matter of fact, to to get this the right way. So we're in alignment here with this, which is good. So we'll make sure this optimized um so that we don't have this situation here where you see all the blinds closed because why put in a window to have blinds to close it? It's just not it just defeats the purpose of daylighting, right? So uh we know that daylighting has

024an impact on on indoor uh uh the indoor experience and how students perform and things like that. So it's critical um to that. And so, uh, we've already started to look at different mechanical options of how we want to heat and cool and ventilate the building. We have three options that we've been considering. This was a part of a work session we did a few weeks ago just looking at kind of a good, better, best scenario of these three options. We currently have a geothermal water source heat pump system as our basis of design incorporated into Phil's budget and that's what we're carrying um, right now. Um, there is a premium cost that comes with it, but it does give you all it checks all the other boxes. It is the least amount of energy

025consumption. It is the simplest to maintain and operate. Uh it really helps us with aesthetics and acoustics for the building and gives us the best life cycle analysis. And I'll show you some more detailed numbers here in a minute. We have these other two options we're carrying as well. Um just because that's what we always do. We have to we always compare these system options this level um in the design. Now the ground source heat pump system is an all electricbased system. I'll talk more about that here shortly. So we start putting some numbers to it. Um, these are not small numbers, which is why we do this early in the process. We have to understand, you know, the mechanical system does takes up probably one of the largest chunks of a budget of any

026construction project. So, we want to make sure we've informed ourselves as to what that means and the impact it has as we move forward. Um, so you can see the first cost there. We're in the 10 $10.5 million range for what that system will cost for the for this 125ish,000t building. Um, there's some benefits to it in the fact that it doesn't have outdoor equipment that needs to be screened. doesn't have uh doesn't need extra mechanical room space. So, we have some costs that we offset. You can see in that second row, additional floor area and screening. We don't need those for the ground source system where we would on other options. And then you can see the numbers below the energy, the maintenance, all those numbers are are lower least impact with the ground

027source system. They slowly go up the further you go to the right. In the end, when you look at a 30-year life cycle cost, which is what we would do in a public school scenario, because you need to think about these buildings for 30 plus years, that you're not building it for a five or 10 year. So, a 30-year deal, it it becomes the least expensive option for you to take. Um, when you look at that way in terms of your your ongoing cost, so, you know, it's pay me now, pay me later kind of thing. And so, we'd like to look at it that way. Um, in the end, it becomes the least expensive option for you. And so, if you look at it graphically, this might be easier to understand, maybe not. Um,

028but the numbers on the left are the first cost of the different systems. And when you plane it out to the right over time, that's your energy and operational cost over over a period of years. And then you see the squigglies further to the right, that's where we have to start replacing equipment. Things break. Mechanical systems like a car, you have to maintain it, but they have to be replaced at some point in time. But ultimately, what you need to see here is that the ground sourced heat pump system, although there was a premium, does have a 10-year payback. So, not bad in a public uh a public uh type of facility for that type of uh return on investment for this type of system. I'm so sorry. I just I'm having real trouble distinguish

029distinguishing the colors. So, yeah. Which one is the top one? And then the two of them look very very similar to me. The colors. So, um the So, they invert. What happens is on the left hand side, apologize for the colors, but you Dave, it's much clearer on my screen here than is on on the projector there, but the so on the far left um the very top line that's probably at the 10 and a half, that's the first cost of the ground source heat pump system. The red line uh is the uh alternative uh tower boiler heat pump system. And so when you take that, so the top line is is dark blue on my screen becomes the second from the bottom on the right hand side. So if I can Does this work?

030And here's the Here we go. Okay. So this is easier. We'll do it this way. Right. Sorry. So the geothermal is here and first cost and then long-term it follow the bouncing ball is here. So they invert over time because while you're paying the premium over time it becomes the the the um the least cost. What the other line on that I didn't explain is currently um there are energy tax credits available for investment in geothermal technology as of today. Who knows if it'll be here you know in a few months but as of right now there's significant energy tax credits from the federal government for investing in ground source technology. So that's what that other little that blue the lighter blue line shows. There's potentially like $3 million you could receive back from the

031federal government in investing in this technology, which makes that payback instant, but I can't guarantee you that will exist when this project gets built. So, the building would have to be placed into service and you would apply for those tax credits and get that money back. So, this is a couple years down the road. So, we'll we're monitoring it every day with with uh our connections in DC to see what's happening with it. Um, but as of now, there I want to sell you on that because I don't really know if it'll be there. But either way, it's a 10-year payback without it. It's an instant payback with it. Well, and the 30-year part is very important because all of our elementary our four elementary schools are over 60 years old right now. So, I

032don't want to say that that's not uh important. It's very important even at 30 years. Yeah, 30 is 30 is the low end for public buildings. We we enter into this all the time where we're walking through existing buildings that haven't had anything done to them for 50 years. Um so, it's good to invest in that now and and take care of it. And this makes it easier hopefully for you guys long term to to have a facility that's operational so you can focus on the the students and not the building. Right? So that's what we're trying to get to with this. Um and so here's just some pictures of what the systems would look like. So um the picture on the left is a is a is a heat pump unit. It's I call

033it like it was a refrigerator with duck work. Basically it heats and cools the space. Um you'd have those distributed throughout the building to to take care of the individual um spaces. and we'll figure that out later once the program starts to develop and the floor plans come together. And then you can see pictures of some of the piping and the trenching that goes out on the site and the the drill rig. Just give you some imagery of what what the pieces and parts look like just for some something to see. And then lastly, um we are also incorporating the design for the building to be solar what we call solar ready. So the plan is not to necessarily have panels on the roof when we get done, but to have the ability to plug

034them in in the future very easily. And so what we do is the electrical power service that comes into the building, we have a space in the switch gear to accommodate a future plug-in for renewables that could go on the roof. Um the roof structure will be designed to accommodate those as well. Um and then ultimately once we get in to start modeling the building and understanding energy performance, we can tell you how big that array would need to be to be what we call zero energy. So as much energy as that building consumes in a year, we can produce it back onto the grid through renewable panels if that's something you wanted to consider in the future. But you it'd be ready uh but it wouldn't be included in the budget as of right

035now and I believe that is yeah thank you. So, so we did get some initial feedback. Uh, if you remember the open house was April 30th. Uh, we did a survey um along with that through thought exchange. Um, there's two key questions. So, what questions do you have about the district's plan for the K1 center? And then what advice do you have for the board? Um, there was 300 responses. Only 112 completed that. Sometimes people just look at it, they're like, I don't know if I want to fill that out. I just wanted to rate one to five or whatever. Um, but you know, you do get to fill it out. Um, sometimes that just means they fill out half, you know. So, this will still be open until the 16th. So, you know, more

036input is better. And actually, once I close the survey, I'll actually have more functionality with the software. So, for right now, you know, the the first question is, what questions do you have about the district's plan? Uh the top five thing you're saying? Yes. Sorry about that. I maybe the mic wasn't right in the right spot. Yes. Thank you. Uh the top five themes are timing and construction, logistics and transportation, budgets and cost, the school operations, location infrastructure. So these are just the themes. When when the AI breaks the themes down, kind of does two things. It looks for big ideas where there's maybe some differing opinions and then it looks for areas of commonality. So right now it's breaking it down into there's concerns over traffic and location and I think we we've heard

037some feedback on that. And then the other is a good amount of support for the full day kindergarten and just improved facilities and what you get with this new facility in what we call the common ground. Everyone has concern for student transition well-being. uh making sure that they understand how the program is going to be implemented, but these are just some questions and as you think about it, these are things that we're working through as we work through schematic design. All of these items are being addressed. We don't have all the answers right now because we are in schematics where you saw some of that from David uh as well as from Jess. When you look at the advice, um you know, there's key themes there as well. So top five themes are, you know,

038some community engagement. Uh, you know, make sure you're you're still ensuring the curriculum and program are aligned correctly. You know, there people are still interested in the location, the transportation aspects, environmental considerations, and and certainly financials. So when it breaks it down into two key groups, um it's kind of interesting because this this is a decision that's been made, but uh there's still a lot of feedback around, you know, there's a lot of people saying, "Yes, we understand you need to build this new center. There's all these benefits." And there's still a contingent of the public saying, "We would have liked to see you expand the existing schools for for whatever reason." there is common ground and they just the people who responded want to see some transparency, make sure that there's community involvement and

039you know just understand the decisions that are being made as we walk through. As I said before, this is a snapshot and I'll actually have a lot more detailed information when the survey gets closed and I'll put a report together for the administration and a summary for you as well. In terms of next steps, uh you know, you can see the evolution of the design. So, as as it as we kind of land the plane around where the footprint's going to be, uh we will we will ultimately finalize that before the June meeting. Uh along with that will be a finalized budget for the entire plan. Um we will we'll need to you know determine the HVAC system for certain. Right now uh as you said we have geothermal as the basis and then any

040changes that we make we'll have to calibrate the timeline a little bit because uh as David was saying we now have a much bigger land development um package and we are going to have to see how that impacts timing. So there might be some things that we need to discuss with that. So that's the next steps in June. So a short time away. When you say a much bigger land uh package, you're talking about the roadways. Is that what you're So, before we were really submitting on 14 acres of land. Now, now we're going to have to submit on everything if we're going to include the athletics and they are going to want to see one plan with everything on it. Got it. So there there might be a little bit more involved there because

041there's a lot more storm water, uh a lot more civil design. Um and they're going to want to see that in all on the plans. Are there any other questions from the board? Questions from the board. Good. All right. We have a question or comment from the audience. Um let me just uh sort of in abbreviated form let the people who are listening um know what your question is because they can't hear you. You want your question is about when Middletown Township will sign off. Okay. And when how will that affect the timeline of our project? So, Middletown Township will be will be submitting land development package after the schematic design. So, uh relatively soon. And then it's about a year-long process that you go through to work through all the things about traffic and

042storm water and sewer. All of those things are are are done in what's called land development. So that's about a year-long process. And they'll have, you know, meetings to discuss this and mitigate any any issues that they see. Um, wait, I'm sorry. Just to let you know that when you ask your question, I'm going to repeat it so people can hear it online. Okay. Don't you have to go through the county planning commission before you do anything with Middletown Township? There's a question about whether we have to go through or when do we go to Middletown Township's planning commission before the I'm sorry, the county planning commission before something is done. So the county planning commission documents are submitted at the same time as the first round of land development submissions to the township so

043that there's a parallel track for that. However, you're correct in that the township wants the county comments back prior to an approval at the planning commission level. There's also county conservation district which is your NPDES permitting and that's a separate element from all of this. So that both of those have to be satisfied before the project is approved to move even to the building permit level. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, wait. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Yes, I see a handkerchief for this location. There's a comment about the the size of the location that it is bigger than um the previous Edgemont location and there's a question of whether we will have before and after care and prek question about the location of administrative offices. It it is bigger than what the design was

044for the Edgemont property as we expect it. I can't move the microphone any closer. It it it is bigger than the school that was being designed for the Edgemont property. We're also expecting uh quite a few more kids. Too too close. Sorry, too loud. Just yesterday more children in this school than what the Edgemont school would have held as this will hold all of the kindergarteners and first graders uh in the district. Um what was the second part of the question? Will we have preschool? We have no design or plan for a preschool program there. No, there will be before and after care in the in the facility. There's a uh Mr. Shrader just talked about that there's a possible addition for student services um which is deals with special education, 504s, nursing. We're looking

045that as a possibility um but I don't know that that will come to fruition. But no, we are not looking to move the education center uh and all the administrative offices to that building. number one and the proposal future plan for broken children from the area do not support 800 children in a school like that. So the the question again is it's twice the size on half the land of what the Edgemont property is. It definitely is a smaller piece of land than the Edgemont property. There is no doubt about that. Right. I think that's why the Edgemont property was chosen for the elementary school because of what it offered um and what could have been done on that property. But again, we're expecting 750 to 820 children in kindergarten and first grade. We'll be

046moving from a half-day kindergarten program to a full day kindergarten program. So, there are going to be quite a few more children uh in the school. It fits on the property. That's what Mr. Shrader's gone through and talked about a couple of different times um and what it looks like. There's also different needs on a property for a K to1 building because of the developmental stage where the children are versus a K to 5 building because of the age, the size and the developmental stages that the children in are in at that point. Right. Uh we have a something else from the audience and again I'll I'll be repeating what you say so just keep that in mind. the highest projected was going to be 660. Now you're saying 750 greater that doesn't match the

047data that you prior. There's a question about the the number of students and whether a previous presentation the number of students who would attend the K to1 center was smaller than um back I guess a previous presentation as compared to now. So one of the the changes in terms of what's projected in those numbers uh in terms of the enrollment is kindergarten. So right now we only offer a half day kindergarten program. So we have upwards of a third of the children that attend first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade do not attend kindergarten in our district. Their parents are choosing them to send them to kindergarten someplace else uh in a private placement or something like that. So we look at the numbers first grade, second grade, third grade. The projection that's on

048those sheets deals with half day kindergarten because when we had them done, we don't have a full day program, nor is there any data to show what that looks like. So we rely on what it looks like first grade, second grade, third grade, but we pick up about a third more children or so in round numbers between kindergarten and first grade. We have another question. Yes. We didn't which is going to increase that bus in our school. It's going to take a lot of school one and 352 are going to read up in the next couple of years into a major program which is really going to cause major as well as the traffic issue on road. Are you taking that into consideration at all? Okay. The there's a question and comment about the the

049neighborhood school concept and the importance of that um question about the the bus ride and having a longer bus ride for some students um and the increase in traffic um as a result. So the district absolutely believes in neighborhood schools. Now there's a difference in the concept of what neighborhood schools and I'm doing air quotes for people that are watching online of what that means and what that is, right? What's it what's it look like to what's a neighborhood? What do we consider a neighborhood? There are many children at all of our elementary schools that are being busted into those schools every day. Do we consider them neighborhood? Yes, because they are built in neighborhoods. And again, that's why the school district identified the property in Edgemont to provide so the children who are riding

050the longest on the buses would not have to be on long bus rides to get to elementary school. That did not come to fruition, right? The the district has moved out of that. That's not taking place. So, when we look at what's available in terms of the spaces are there and what is it that we can offer, we needed to say what's the best way to serve the entire community. Building a Kto center, being able to institute full day kindergarten to meet the developmental needs of the children, to meet the needs of our community, provide a better and a stronger foundation, access and introduction to literacy and to formal learning, we can do in a full day K and first grade center. Every part of our community, every part of our community that has children

051and that lives here or owns property will benefit from a K to1 center, not just one neighborhood and not just one spot. The other introduction, if we went with a K to5 school that was on that spot, all four elementary schools would experience significant redistricting, which means a huge portion of children and families who attend air quotes neighborhood schools would be told they are no longer attending Glenwood, are no longer attending Indian Lane, are no longer attending media, that they are being shifted from one to another in order to have a dispersement that fits better in terms of the population. The K1 center benefits everyone. There is no right way. There is no research that'll tell us that this is the exact way that schools ought to be organized. What we have is local control.

052It's the beauty of the local school boards. And when you have the opportunity to make the decision what best serves the community, the schoolboard has the opportunity to do that and to step forward with that. A lot of time, a lot of money was invested in a site, right? and the idea of trying to create that neighborhood school for a part of the community that did not have an elementary school again not happening right so we need to move forward the children are here it's not about the discussion that was taking place in 2016 about these children are going are going to be coming they are at our schoolhouse door every single day and will continue to be here in a community where there are 600 in aggregate 600 additional residences in the next six

053years and there's still building going on right people want to live here they want to raise their children. All right. Um, okay. Go ahead. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Majority of them don't want their kids in that bus that long. I like the idea going to kindergarten, first grade with the second, third, fourth, and fifth graders in the neighborhood. Okay. So there's a question about whether we uh talked to the parents um about the K to one center and their feelings about it. We have talked to parents, talked to many parents, parents who have children in the district, parents whose children have been here, parents who have just moved here, parents who have little babies, uh about the concept and what is available for them and what is the best that we can possibly do. So

054yes, we absolutely have had discussion. There are lots of opinions out there for sure. Um the the desire the opportunity to provide education in this manner has been a very attractive thing for the parents that I have spoken to especially the parents whose children will be attending the school. Are there questions about what will look on the bus? Absolutely. There are questions that look like that. When you look at a community school and the interaction that is authentic that takes place between second graders, third, fourth and fifth graders looks dramatically different than kindergarteners and first graders in schools. Kindergarteners in any school, comprehensive K to5 or K to6 and elementary school are observers at best in most of the schoolwide activities that take place. They are learning school, right? They're in a developmental place where

055the world is revolving around their heads. They are learning how do you function, how do you operate, what's it mean to be a student. As you get into first grade, there is more independence. It also provides more authentic independence and availability between kindergarteners and first graders in that school. There's a direct connection because the property is adjacent to Penrest and we're going to have a pave to come through there for high school students to be directly involved with children at the early at at that center. That'll opens up a whole new opportunity. Right. We have the kids who want to be teachers who already work with younger children in the high school. They'll be able to come through. World language teachers have expressed they want to come down and bring the AP students to work

056with kids that are there. Linking learning to life program that'll be housed in that building. Again, direct interaction in terms of what goes on. It makes sense in every possible way to offer education in this manner in a facility that sits on this property. Think we had something else. Go ahead. Act 34, which puts pretty uh rigid limits on school capacity and construction costs. Are you concerned based on an 81.5 million dollar price tag that capacity of $817, you're in violation of act 34. Uh the the question is about the Pennsylvania Act 34 um that puts limits on school construction and are we concerned about it? That that is correct. So, Act 34 is something that we will have to work through as part of the process. Um, once the program and budget settle down

057over the next month or so, all of the Act 34 tests will be occurring. So far, this project works within the Act 34 constraints. Um, the public will be made aware of that because any project that is 20% new construction or over is required to go through the act 34 process. This project will go through that. So it'll be tested immediately uh upon finalization of this initial budget. Currently as designed we are in compliance with act 34. Um okay. Anything from the board? Anything else from the board? Okay. We have a a a final comment question. How much you already pay these people my school a year? How much more are you expected for all these people to pay to pay for all this stuff? There's a question about they're not going to be able

058to taxes regardless of how school. So the the question is about the school taxes and the worry about pricing people out of the community. One of the primary responsibilities that we have in any sort of design and plan moving forward is to be responsible financial stewards with the community's money. Um, and it it's actually timely because we have our financial adviserss are here with us this evening to talk about what will it look like to borrow money and what will that cost be, you know, in in terms of paying it back. We're also looking at the finalization of our uh annual budget for the 2025 2026 academic year. Same thing, you know, which in the presentations that are online shares the information about what that is. Um, we are not looking to price people out

059of being able to live here. We want people to be able to live here. We then we'll look at the big picture. There'll be more discussions as we move forward about what do additional residences, what do additional tax payments for people that are going to be here. What does that mean for us as well? But we are very conscientious and aware of that. Thank you for uh your presentation. There's a question about putting something on the ballot and letting us let people vote. So, my understanding is does not need to go onto a ballot for a vote. I understand the question. Um, but there's not an intention at this time that it would go on a ballot. board has received a lot of information uh over the last few years, not to mention um the

060seven or eight years that they spent uh and invested in terms of discussion and development um of what they expected to be an elementary school. Uh the board's made a decision, they took action uh earlier this year to move forward with the project. Um so no, it will not appear on a public ballot about whether or not the school will be built. Okay, thank you for that. Um, we're going to move on to the athletic fields update. The athletic fields update. Thank you, Dr. Nson Williams. So, with us tonight, back with us tonight is Mr. Hugh Kadzo from ELA Sport, um, the athletic facilities design and consulting firm that we've been working with. Uh we originally met Hugh last summer. Uh he's will talk a little bit about the work that's gone on at the

061work session in April. We shared information from the initial draft about proposals uh for the athletic facilities. Uh this is a final draft. It's still not finalized, but a final draft. Uh he will kind of work us through about what some of the recommendations are. You've seen um what the initial recommendations were and I'm excited for Hugh to be with us tonight. And we hit just a mic. Okay. Uh good evening everyone. Uh here tonight as as Dr. said to uh give you an update on where we are. So uh ourselves with Hummer uh sports Hummer Turf have worked together on this. Hummer Turf is a uh natural grass uh athletic facility contractor. They've done P they've done Citizens Bank Park. They've done the Eagles facilities, Penn State. So uh they have quite an extensive

062background. So uh next please the goals are are put forth here. What we're looking at primarily to identify the proper number of fields of facilities uh to also identify any design concerns that are going on with the facilities account for title nine any potential safety issues and establish a phased approach. Next please. Okay. Oh, okay. Next. Okay. Uh, all right. So, this is this is penrest high. Those are just this is just to show the the field numbers as we used in our study. So, I I'm not going to drill down in each of these next ones too far, but to give you an I just a general overview. Next, please. Okay, this is field one. the softball field that was constructed looks nice and is never used uh up on field one that uh

063that particular field is in good defair condition primarily because it's rarely used because of of its inaccessibility. Uh so uh fields two and three are the end to end end to end soccer fields. Uh you can see the conditions conditions of them here. heavily used the uh the these are the area this is the area of the site that was at one time I believe an orchard that there was some s work capping done on it which probably contributes to the wear and tear on these on these fields this was taken actually I think around December that was at least three or four days after a rain event so you can see what how what's happening there the clumping of the grass the lack of the ability for the grass to glow grow which provides

064an uneven surface which is a safety concern. Okay. Next. Yeah, this is field four. Field four is an undersized field which is primarily used by the youth youth organizations in the which based off of my just driving up here tonight. You can see the how many youth athletic uh groups are here. Again, it's a smaller size. Again, it's not in not in that bad condition. uh needs does the one thing that is as we have seen throughout all these all these fields is access is difficult uh the ADA access etc which is something that really would need to be looked into uh the sketches the concepts that we have put forth uh have you know have kind of have that have that in mind but it's definitely the the the lack of of easily accessible

065fields also has an impact with these as well. Okay, next please. Field five is a JV baseball field. As you can see the it has there's a little bit of a drainage problem in the infield there. Um what's happened there is just you know this is this is not un this is not uncommon in high school facilities where just over the years many you know many many times uh you know putting infill infill mix in it builds what they call lip up so it doesn't drain. So therefore you have it you have issues here. The outfield is also used as the football field. You kind of don't want to use ball fields outfields as overlay because the wear and tear on the football or lacrosse or whatever versus for baseball is totally different. So you

066end up with with potentially unsafe unsafe conditions, but because of the fact of how your fields are here, you have to, you know, you have to do this. You have to use this. You have to have the overlay. Okay. Next, please. Uh this is the what we call the practice youth field uh number six. Uh this is the throwing venues are there. You can see this was actually used for parking uh which is not really preferred but in light of the programming on campus you don't have a choice. So uh you you used it as such. So uh and uh again you know you can see the clumping growing pattern. Now, a lot of this too because you remember everyone remembers last year with the drought conditions we had. Some of the some of the

067grass patterns on here were impacted by that, but that it's that was a contributing factor to it all. So, next, please. The varsity baseball field, the overlay in Banfield. Uh, this is in real rough shape. Um, it has the the the infield mix. There's a a very I won't call it a cliff. just being sarcastic, but a significant drop coming off the back of the uh of the home plate area from compared to what NFHS PAA recommend the team areas you know if any type of rain again this is four three four days after a rain it sits there so again we're dealing with a situation where there's poor drainage there's parts of this facility really this, you know, really needs as as Hummer as Hummer's first comment indicates there, uh, it needs to be

068completely renovated. So, next, please. The the the the stadium u the the plan, I believe, what I understand is the uh the turf is to be replaced in 2026, which is next year. The track was surfaced in 2015 and hasn't been top coated. Usually uh industry standard is to consider doing a top coat uh within the 10 years uh if possible. Uh there also too there's a new st it's a before it was a guiding a guiding standard was your your fence uh the track fence as you can see it's right up against the outer lane. Now the standard is uh to go at least a well it's always been to try to get at least a meter setback uh for safety purposes. Uh in this case it doesn't apply to existing existing uh tracks

069but in this case uh the condition of the fence as you can see by the the picture at the bottom there um if there's consideration made to relocate this fence which we actually indicate probably would we would suggest would be to move it back to comp come more in compliance with the safety area. Al other other thing too is the visitor side. There's no real access walkways to the visitor side. Although this the grand stands are ADA accessible. Um but you you know those additional pathways need uh need to be done. Uh next please. All right. This is this is one of the earlier versions uh of the the K1. We just kind of put it in here which actually I was surprised by seeing that that presentation. Um actually Mr. Schrader is a fraternity

070brother of mine. So anyway, so uh so but the idea the idea with this now I I see the new concept. So on our sketches which you'll see at the end, we didn't we didn't put this in because we knew this was going to probably change. Uh next please. Springton Spring Lake. Okay, next please. Uh these fields are in poor condition. Um the the a simple summary uh they're heavily used. Just look out the front door tonight. Um and the amount of usage they get the amount of usage they get uh is difficult to keep up with it with regular maintenance. Enhanced maintenance uh you know would could possibly help but some of these fields would actually need to be reconstructed to some degree before a regular maintenance pattern would work. So, in this case,

071the track there's a the that I'm not sure if the is the track still going for 2026. Is that the thought? Uh, we're we're waiting on the approval from uh water conservation, I believe. Okay. Yes, it's scheduled and all that kind of it's budgeted. Okay. So, as part as part of that and I'm not sure I do I I do work with this the civil engineer Gus on on other projects in the area that uh you know potentially renovating the renovating that field is part of that project. I guess the thought was too my understanding was to design it in a manner that it could be if someday it's there's a desire to put synthetic turf there it can be done. Uh so if that's done that will help the other fields to take get

072a break from usage. uh to to rotate because a lot of times the reason why these fields look like they do is they're used continually. And having been a high school coach for 20 years and youth sport coach for longer than I care to remember, uh coaches if they need to practice, they don't care if it's drizzling and they can do it. And once you do that on a you start practicing on a wet field, that that just that's not good. So and it's no fault not not it's just a habit that habits that we are in uh in nowadays. Uh, next please. Uh, these are the over baseball multi-purpose overlay B and C. Again, you know, ADA issues with accessibility. They're heavily used. Um, you know, the ball area system that has at the

073end is is uh, you know, someone has tried their best to put it up. It works to the degree, but you may want actually a little better system there. both fields the infields on both uh are are rough rough shape need to be uh reworked as well. Okay, next please. Uh this is cage field. Um and again this yeah there is unpaved access nota compliant which is this is common. This is not like your the district is unique at this. Um again there uh there were some uneven surfaces some plenarity issues as we call them. So, uh, it looks like that field would need to be would need to be rebuilt like a light regrading as as as Hummer has indicated, uh, with that. So, that's was one of the better shaped fields, uh, on

074the campus. Uh, next, please. Okay. Indian Lane, there's two facilities there, uh, which is the baseball field, which is relatively relatively new. uh although the you know the grass conditions there uh do have some some issues but uh they we feel that could be you know some you know minor aeration over seating could help with that. Uh the running track field is there's no maintenance um at all on that. uh that is from my understanding with the public uh that was here that is that is a heavily used public facility for walking and so it's even though it's a cinder track you know would be desirable to do some level of maintenance on it I wouldn't wouldn't recommend since it's more of a you know it's a more of a like a gravel trail type

075thing it's yeah you know there's no reason you're not going to have competitive track there or anything so um with that so next Please. All right. The public input the meeting on the 20th of February. We had we probably had around 60 people. We broke them up into different groups, gave them a flip chart and we had the three questions there and um uh and we took them back and we transcribed them. It was a very it was a very energetic meeting, shall we say. a lot of opinions uh put forth uh by the community. I as I've learned over the years and also as being a head coach, pretty much everyone's kid is a division one prospect no matter I've heard that more than once. So, um it they they invest in athletics very

076very much and it's something that which is good. They get the kids out and away uh from the uh from the TV. Uh the term field was used. We say that's probably that was mostly with synthetic turf. The softball spring that's a big desire to get softball back back on uh back on the high school campus. That's a that's a major goal with that. The turf obviously would have been you was taken in context with with synthetic turf. Uh so again with the softball like I said that is that is a major major uh uh that was made very clear that night. Uh next please. Okay. Field usage. uh we take take a look at there's two ways we take a look at field uh field usage uh your standard athletic fields you know your

077standard high school field no irrigation it's put down you know uh we don't go per hourly use we look at more events uh is you probably 25 to 50 events uh uh per year uh for your standard field if you have uh if you have an irrigated field with sub drainage irrigated or sub drainage you 75 events a year. And if you're like you have subdrainage and irrigation, it's like a premier field that you would see. Not nothing is to the level of the link or anything like that for high school, but something that could take some beating. It's 100 events a year. So when we what we did is we requested from the uh from the uh athletic d athletic director uh and the number of events, practices, community uh events on it. uh

078we had to kind of cobble together because some of the information wasn't consistent. But and you'll see the chart on the next page based off of event alone 920 you are exceeding your recommended amount by 925 events which averaging 103 events per field that you're you need n you need nine more fields there isn't anywhere to put nine more fields but that's illustrates how these fields are getting getting used. Uh, next please. This is taking each of the fields just so the you know you can see some aren't too bad. You know the stadium obviously it's synthetic. It can take a beating. Uh but uh seven seven and eight are feel seven and eight are pretty bad. Um so okay next the other way we look at it is like the teams per like a

079per team approach which is a little more uh a little more uh online with things. So you take the number of teams in the high school and each field, you know, you work it out. Each school team has a half field because they're in the season. And if you look next working out that methodology, um we it looks like you're deficient about seven field. So that's that reins it in a little bit, but you're still deficient. All right. Next, please. Um so what what are you going to do? Um you could reconstruct, renovate existing multi-purpose natural grass fields. Um and uh and then or you construct can construct a synthetic multi-purpose turf field uh on on the campus somewhere. Uh next. All right. Looking at synthetic turf versus natural grass cost. Next, this is this

080is uh we actually have used this over the years and adjusted it with inflation. This was actually done by this uh sports turf management council as a chart kind of figuring it out. So your initial in installation cost is roughly, you know, $22 a square foot for a synthetic turf field, which that would be fence and and storm water and whatnot. Sometimes it could be a little bit higher, but again, just using kind of a rule of thumb and your natural grass, you can see the cost is roughly 135. Now, when we say natural grass, you can see the the subtext there. We're talking about sold field sand grid under drain with irrigation system something that's comparable because you you know you're dealing you it's not an apples to apples but it's an apple to

081maybe an apple pear thing shall we say so you know you can't look at it just regular grass field so you have to be comparable so okay next seasonal maintenance costs um again this is you know using the STMA chart and just adjusting with inflation you're looking at roughly 7,000 uh a year for turf and about 20,000 a year for natural grass which we actually in our report indicated that really you you know you should consider per field budgeting that that much. I will say over the years that we've worked with hundreds of school districts. I can think of one off the top of my head that had sufficient staff and sufficient budget um for uh maintenance of the fields and it it's it was lower Marian um most every other school district just it's

082it's just you can't keep the people it's not a priority there's other issues so it's this is again this you're not you you know you're not unique this is this is this is common right next please okay and this is per event cost uh This is another chart we use. So you get more events out of a synthetic turf field than you would a natural grass field. This is factoring in the maintenance cost, etc. So um you know per event cost is $260 versus $1,600 for natural grass. So again this is all based off the STMA charts that we have used and just modified uh modified for the over the years. But again that's because synthetic turf can handle more. Right. Next please. So what we did is each facility we drilled down and looked

083at what re what renovations are needed. So and these are budgetary costs. They are subject to ver to vary depending on what you what you actually want to do or not do. Uh with some things. So like with field one if the field is in decent shape. We suggest minor renovations. the paved access that's now that that is sign that's a significant cost because if you would decide to do that you're coming all the way up from the high school. Um and then I note the in investigate proposing parking lots to the rear of the K1 school which that's something in process. I didn't assign a cost to that fields two and three best first approach is is would be major major renovations with grass. Uh the next one would be a would be a

084synthetic turf facility uh with eight field lights and the paved access field four you know we go on in field five you know next please. So again these are I don't unless you want me to go on each one of these just you know gives you all an idea of of various various steps and how much of a budgetary cost they would be and these are based off of recent numbers and and uh we've had on on other projects. So next please. Let me just ask a quick question. Are these are construction costs, not maintenance costs? These are construction costs and and the per um maintenance cost that you had the comparison earlier between turf and natural was per field per year. Yes. And what is the lifetime that that applies to? Uh that would

085I it's in I have it in the chart. I think it's like a I have it a 10ear cycle I believe. So, u because normally synthetic turf fields, they're starting that they have eight year warranties. They're starting to get now you could probably get 12 years out of them. I think yours years yours may be at that point now. Um and so there there's they're a little longer little longer life to them. Uh and the misnomer with turf fields is you do have to maintain them. You definitely have to maintain them. Okay. Uh these are the various costs for spring. This is you know if the item number one option one you know possibility of putting a synthetic turf field there within the track option two would just be to renovate you know grass renovations

086then the next next items there are the cost for you know major renovations moderate renovations etc. Next please. And this is these are for Indian lane. So uh those are the costs you know the cost for that. So uh next please. So key recommendations phasing of recommended work. Um the budgeting IND I indicate and we're kind of saying this more often is the immediate implementation would be would provide budgeting for and implement maintenance program districtwide uh to try to help help the fields recover. Uh what that is depend would be would be depending on what you're you know that could vary how much you can contribute. Uh if you can't that's fine that's understandable. often that is something that just doesn't get can't get um sufficient funding or can't get sufficient staff to do it.

087Uh the phasing of the recommended work, scheduled work, the uh the turf at the stadium and the weather all weather track in Springton. So phase one a the the campus we talk about multi-purpose fields item A would be this a do synthetic turf complex uh in there or um a synthetic turf field at fields two and three. So I we aren't recommending both um at the same time um because that's a lot of work and a lot of cost. Um but between the two of them if there is you know it's felt we feel based on also the the the need to get the softball team back onto campus and the flexibility of usage would be would be through the the multisport facility down at field seven and eight. So next please 1B um to

088bring softball would be to to basically use the the multi multisports turf layout that we have make it make it a grass grass facility um or uh or yeah so that and we don't really recommend that but that is it has to be an option uh because again because of cost but that would be done in conjunction with with u I don't know why I have two A's Uh if two and three were done, phase two, um remedial work at the Springton C uh Lake campus, um address all the address all the overhaul with things uh overhauling the fields. Uh the new synthetic turf field is a is a possibility. You know, uh I understand the community, a lot of the youth people that were here were like, you know, pounding the table. Yeah, we

089need a turf field here. I that's like, you know, first things first. We'll see what but uh yeah so that that that's a possibility um address medial work and I identify each of the each of the fields kind of in order and it's I mean I just did them in numerical order whatever is felt to be a priority you know in the district you just as long as they're they're being they're being uh addressed to then the remainder of the remedial work that we have on our chart. So next please. All right. So this is this is a uh these are very conceptual but the this is an overview of the campus showing the two facilities of field seven and eight is to your left which is a multisport facility and to your right is

090fields two and three and uh we do show the parking lot uh uh in there. So uh next please. All right this is just an enlargement of of the multisport facility. This would you know baseball and and softball can play concurrently here. There's there's an area for uh soccer. There'll also be an area area there for any other sport because I believe I believe that it's a 225 by 360. So that's a fullsize soccer field. So lacrosse, field hockey, everything else would would fit in there um with that. So and in the fairness with title nine, you know, what you see on the left with the baseball facility is what you see on the right with the softball softball facility. The baseball is actually properly oriented that way. Um it's actually you actually are to

091go from the southwest if you go through home plate to pitcher mound it's supposed to be south uh southwest and northeast. Um uh the softball field isn't u but the way things lay out in there again this is just a first blush concept um with that. So, and uh the parking as we had talked about which may have may have some play with the K1 center uh as well. Uh next please. And this is field of two fields two and three which is simply just you know what's there now would be uh converted into turf. These all have lights too. That's one thing in the cost. There's a line item for for lights. So again, um these and actually you'll need a retaining wall for the the bleacher areas and stuff like that. So um

092these fields are because of that the capping that has gone on there because of the previous use is is really um making it's life difficult for those grass fields on that and I believe that is the last slide. So, okay. So, thanks. So, that is kind of the high in the sky. I I did send a link for a PDF of the study and the PowerPoint is in there. Um, so again, this is this is a this is a planning document and whatever route you wish to go um is up to you. I will say it's it's we're doing a lot more as we work uh right now uh do with Garner Valley. They're doing a 318,000 square foot multi- field facility above the stadium. Um a lot more school districts are starting to do

093things where there's baseball, softball, and multi-purpose field. We just finished project for Solderton, which is the baseball field has a soccer overlay field on it. So, um, trying to get that because the spring sports having coached lacrosse was spent half our first month on a parking lot, you know. Um, so it's, you know, the ability to have the turf and get and get things out there. When it comes to uh when the other thing too is, uh, you know, safety there, I I often have, what I have found in my studies over the years, it depends on who's paying for the study is what it says. Um, yeah, there there are, you know, lower extremity injuries and and it seems to be with synthetic, but then again, there's studies that say with grass, the big

094thing with grass fields, it's uneven. Uh, just walk out here and see right now, and I've had kids, you know, hurt uh more in grass fields than turf fields because that's just the conditions the grass fields are in. When it comes to um things such as PFAS and and all that, um, most of the industry now they're being very proactive with that again what uh which we what we've found out in our studies is that which is actually very scary microplastics and PFAS um someone in the industry had a project in up in Cape Cod and they were went through the environmental process up there they did a background test of the soil top soil that they had there on site the results were mindblowing the amount of PFAS and microplastics in the existing soil

095there was no one anticipated it and that is why you see many in the industries they use there's bad PFAS and there's I hate to can't good PFAS but that the other PFAS the turf industry doesn't use the bad PFAS they don't actively put PFAS in uh the thing the the thing is is like usually with your first rainfall you may actually you know microplastics and it it's kind of scary, you know, when you read it. Um, we have an environmental issue a lot bigger than synthetic fields that we need to deal with. So, sorry about a little soap box thing there, but actually that's exactly um the area that my uh some of my questions are about. Uh, one is with regard to injuries and I understand that there are different types of turf

096fields available and then also shock pads or that Okay. Yeah. and the shock pads to to uh number one when it comes to turf injuries too. The one thing the one thing I always uh that I'm finding out too is there's more and more evidence some of the problems when it comes to the college and pro sports is not necessarily the turf it's the footwear they they wear because the action with the grass when you you you pivot with you know you can divot you know in the grass you know that shoe in a synthetic turf may not divot it may lock um and and that's the one thing now there's kind of a trend to like all right just to say that there's more injuries is one thing but let's put it in context

097what type of shoe wear was being what type of shoes did they have you know often too is the size I when people say about well you know the NFL that that the amount of you don't have two 300 pound kids hitting one another so there's a different torque there's a different impact um but that's the big thing is the big thing is the is is starting to be the shoes u the different type The turf infills, the standard is the rubber and sand. There are organic types as well. We normally don't recommend the organic types in the Northeast because they get wet, they get they freeze. Um there are, but there's alternate wood types that are can be used. They're also expensive uh as well. Shock pads. Shock pads prolong the life of turf.

098Uh I always say it if you want to get a good carpet, you get a good pad at home. And it's that it's the same logic. So I it is on um the PFAS there there are other chemical concerns addition in addition to PFAS and and different turfs offer different options. You just mentioned organic which I I was not aware of. Um what other options might we be able to learn about? They have well there's there's manufactured rubber EPDM which is you know that's not recycled. There's often a concern with recycled rubber. So with regard to the safety of young people what is the safest option as far as industry you standards? safest in in sense of infill or what the kids will be breathing in, what they'll be playing on, what they'll be getting

099into cuts. The last last year um like I said, a lot of the studies you have to question because who are they who's paying for them? The EPA came out with a study last year uh on rubber infill and bas they're basically summarizing it. They said they don't see any smoking gun with the the recycled rubber. Um, of course, and they qualify. There needs to be further studies, but that I think that was five years in duration. Um, so there the studies years ago that the whole Washington, you know, I think it was in University of Washington and cancer. Um, it's it's, you know, people have looked at that and it's kind of been the rallying cry because of that. But you look at I mean, you have The state of Connecticut has done studies.

100The state of California has done studies. State of New York has done studies. And sorry this thing California hasn't limited to my knowledge the use of turf surfaces. There there is a couple counties that are there are there is a couple counties that have um and it's or if they have to use they have to use the organics you know organics um which in California it's you know it's 70 degrees and beautiful so it's you know organics are an option better option there I mean there are organic fields around here um but they you know it's just again with the northeast and the freezing and thawing you know it's always a concern so follow up on the injury thing. You were talking about the different shoes and everything else. I think that becomes challenging only

101because you know some fields are grass, some schools have grass, some schools have turf and you know are the kids supposed to switch shoes and wear different equipment and and I guess the uncertainty of that gives me pause of of requiring that level of um scrutiny to make sure our kids are always wearing the same or the right shoes for the right fields and and how that plays out. That's that's actually more in effect to the NFL, the pros um because uh that's the study has been relegated like mostly to the pro level uh with that and it's kind of a new trend right now. That's not to say the kids could grow out because the other thing there's you know student does not put as much ground pressure on as a you know NFL

102college player. So there's a couple different bit uh you know the factors in it that kind of you know it's it's really not a good comparison but u but that's that's again with the NFL they're looking everyone refers to the NFL. I I think one of the bigger issues you got is that we're nine fields short. We're seven field short at the high school alone just for our own utilization and another nine field short for what it is. And I and I heard what you heard what you said that this is at all the other districts as well. Um, but how do you really account for that? I mean, everybody sees, oh, the fields are empty. Let's go play on them. There's no harm in playing on them. But the reality is it does it,

103you know, costs us in terms of life life cycle, the quality of the fields for those things. And I'm not advocating that we somehow say we nobody can nobody else can come play on our fields except for us. But how do you strike a better balance? Do you have any advice on that? Because really, if we're short somehow in the order of 17 fields, this has become untenable. it. Well, it's it's it's that's actually both. It's I would say that was both for the high school campus. Let's say seven. Uh if I figure that out, I'd bottle it and sell it because schools everywhere have that issue. And um my own personal experience, as you know, um youth teams often don't pay their fair share. And it's and that's a sticky subject because, you know,

104first of all, you know, if I've heard it once, I've heard it twice. I'm a taxpayer. therefore I can which yeah but it's like there is that reluctance to really properly assess so uh I know some districts I think I actually think I think Wallingford is look starting to look at to a into a system where you know a little fairer system of of usage because we did work with them actually just did a study with them they're in the same situation as you know you are they're in um their turf field the King Field is there's like people on it 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They have people playing soccer at 7 o'clock on a Sunday morning over there and for them to control it has been very difficult and there

105are there are I can't reme remember that system that they had but it's tough. I mean it I mean tracks people like you know I've had many I've my own district was when we got the new track we lock it locked it that last two weeks before you know a couple calls into the superintendent and then that gate got unlocked because that's part of the light that's like the cinder track you know at Indian lake that's someone every day looks forward to going and walking that they're going to use it and you know I I think the thing too with some of these fields they were built they were left there and they were never reconstructed. Yeah. And so if they get reconstructed then that that could give them a better fighting chance uh to

106survive then but you have to implement the maintenance afterwards too. Gain is a former middle school is why we have a track there in the first place. It was not an elementary school when it was originally built. So, we end up with a track and a and a quote football field at an elementary school that we're not maintaining, but the public is using. And I'll just say there there seems that seems to be ripe for a lot of problems that could come up over the time. You know, we we there's no other school property that we allow people to use any facilities during the school day except for that one. And so as we think about all these field planning, I I hope that the whole district will take into consideration what happens at Indian

107Lane because we are allowing the public to have access to one of our school facilities during the school day in close proximity to the children. Are there any other questions from the board? Okay. I just it's not a question, but I I think technically that's not quite accurate. Um because the sign at Indian lane now I'm not saying it's possible to police but just wanted to throw it out there. The signs do say at Indian Lane that it's not to be used during school hours. The question is how do you enforce it? But it is I don't want it to be out that we are we're not advocating that it happens. Yeah. But when you said allowing I just want to make sure it's clear like that's technically you know it says no. Um I

108will say right this is a lot of very important information. It's going to take me a little bit chance to digest for this. So, um, I just wanted to make sure going and so I'm going to definitely do my diligence and look all that over. I I just wanted to make sure I understood all of your points when it came to safety, um, turf versus natural. And my big takeaway, and please correct me if I'm wrong, is that for the most part, there is no discrepancy in safety. That most of the studies that have been done, you say, um, it depends on who's paying for them, and they're tend to be looking at professional athletes, which is very different from what we're looking at. And so for the most part there's no real data showing

109that one type of field is safer than another for our students. Yeah. I mean there will be studies done but when you I look at like I've read medical reports and of course doctors start factoring in it's like all right number one are they are they properly conditioned? Um did they stretch before they went out there? You know there's so many so many factors. I mean, yeah, it's and the thing the one thing the definite difference between synthetic synthetic turf and a natural grass field is turf is a more level playing field. Natural grass is not. And there's there's no question on that. And it's it's the question is how well that that grass is maintained in order to prevent the you know the the ankle breakers as we call them and stuff um you

110know on the field. So that's I have a process question for what how we're going to proceed with this is like Susan said a lot of information. It sounds like each field has its own unique situation and we have budgetary constraints and and safety concerns and uh compatibility with the buildings and with the building project of the K1 center. It's a lot of things to try and figure out and to try and assess. So what are you looking at Dr. Malash on how we proceed with assessing all this. So ideally on June the 5th when we are back together here in work session um to have a more in-depth conversation with the board about direction and next steps where are we going? What do you think? You know what is it that we want to

111plan for? Um because you know one thing that we can all agree on everybody that's that's been out here you know and Hugh and the other folks um the fields need work. The fields are worse than tired. Um tired would be kind a kind way to describe them. Um, well, we need to be putting a plan together about what's next. So, I think the board to take the time, uh, I'll get you the copy of the presentation that he delivered. You have a copy of his report to read through it to send questions as you read through it. U, but then when we're here on June the 5th, we can have a discussion about next steps. We will bring you a recommendation administratively to say we recommend that we take these steps. Um, and this

112is what it'll look like going forward and get the input from the board to say yes, we should do that or no, let's do that. and and you know similar in some ways to what he has you know in terms of the recommendation that that he and his folks you know put together but we'll have the discussion on June the 5th again and perhaps this will be part of that conversation but one thing I'd be interested in too is obviously whatever we end up deciding to do it's going to impact the students in the certainly the short term how are we going to how are we going to make sure that those students while certain fields are not in service that they're still able to participate do their meaningful um sporting activities That's a there's

113a lot of moving parts and I just want to make sure that we don't forget them in the interim as well. Absolutely. It's got to be part of the discussion about what does it look like? You know, we run full seasons in the spring and full seasons in the fall uh out there on the on the properties at each one of the schools. Um what's it going to look like, right? And that's going to have to be planned into. Nothing is going to take place in September. no matter what we discuss on June the 5th. If we ask the board to adopt a resolution on June the 12th, nothing that goes into that piece is going to involve breaking ground in September, right? So, we will go through that process. It deals with scheduling. We

114certainly will not be the first school that has looked to do field work um in this area. You know, the athletic directors will have to work together. Um but we'll inform everybody. The boosters, the players, coaches will all be involved, you know, so that knowledge will be there. The goal will be to have the least amount of disruption as possible in order for the kids to be able to have a regular schedule at each one of the facilities. Um I just wanted to add to that um question. Would it um will that presentation also address any potential impacts on staffing for ongoing maintenance of the fields if we do move forward? Um I'm concerned about the wear and tear of the fields and I think it's wonderful that the community can use the spaces and

115the district is using them. I just want to make sure that we invest all of this money that some number of years from now we're not going to find ourselves back in a similar position with wear and tear. Um so that's one one question sort of concern and then um just one follow-up question. I could go back and look at the presentation when you were talking about the baseball and softball field. Um you mentioned that the baseball field is properly aligned. I forget what words you used exactly and the softball field is not. And I was just wondering if you could speak more to that. What does that look like for players on the field? Um, as we're thinking of bringing softball back on campus, making sure that they Yeah. You know, good quality. And

116like I said, that's that was a first first blush sketch. And we, you know, would look at at at flipping it. I mean, fields are oriented all different way. Your baseball field out there, both your your fields, baseball fields now, um, uh, it's someone's going to get the sun in their eyes. The thing is not to make sure the pitcher and catcher don't get the sun in the eyes. um having been a first baseman growing up many many many years ago improperly improperly oriented field the sun setting down at you know 4 in the afternoon you know you're catching a ball like that um but uh but that is the key thing even in it's even in NFHS PAA book if you're building a new field you should try to build it that or flip

117it going from northeast to southwest so you know if we could move that softball field because the arc the the radiuses of the outfields overlap Again, that's a first try, but if if you could if it could go that way, then you have the proper solar solar orientation is what it is. Um, that's, you know, a lot of your field a lot of the fields are are east west, you know. So, you know, certain time of day, speaking for many years as coaching, you know, you got to like like this, you know, um you can't use half the field because of you can't see. So, did you say the outfields will overlap in this design? No, no, no, no. when he when I when we had it up in that one corner, it over overlapped.

118We'd have to expand it. Okay. So, and which is like again that was the first blush of of a layout. So, but yeah, no, they would definitely not overlap. Okay. I would I would love to see what it would look like if both the girls softball team and the boys soft and the boys baseball team were accommodated properly because it sounds like you know with the girls softball team where it is right now it's exact opposite of what it should be should be over there and I don't think we can just pick one team over the other say they win the other team doesn't win so yeah if we can somehow figure out a way to orient them maybe if this I don't know how to do that I'm not magical but it would be

119better to have better equity between the girls team that sketch we can we can tweak that sketch like I said was the first blush my designer's learning I you know so okay all right I think we have I think we do have a question um over there please there's a question about the orientation of the softball field number one. Yes. Yeah. condition where it's easily accessible. There are restaurants there. Um Okay. Um Okay. Go ahead. We have another comment or question. Okay. There's a question about there's a question about the middle school track and um when the date is actually it that the project's been we are just waiting on getting the approval back from I think it's land conservation from from yeah from one of them. So I don't know until we get that

120approval we can't bid it. So, sitting here in the beginning of May, I don't expect that it's going to happen this summer because I don't, you know, if it came through, they called me tonight. I don't think we can bid it in the next couple of weeks and have somebody ready to go. You don't have if you don't have approvals by now, just from experience. Yeah. Because it it would have to h would have to happen after football season or something to start. The other the other question trader group they were showing the map fields as well as the school does that mean they're now intrinsically linked in permeable calculations and that sort of there's a okay there's a question about the the fields and the the K to one center and whether they are

121now linked so a simple answer Dr. Peterson is is yes, they are linked, right? Because it it's it's a unified property, right? That it's all of ours. It all is going to go together. Uh when they do the application, when the team puts the application, the information forward to the township, it's going to have all of that together. All right, we have another comment or question. Yes. Th those are Let me just repeat the question. There's a question about fields two and three and the lights. The two and three are the end to end fields. Yeah. Penrest. Yeah. And we we've we've p we've put the line item for lights in as an option. We're not saying definitely do them, but they're the price is there. Just And that may that very well may be

122but with for pricing you know pricing exercise we put those in just to if if it's something Mrs. M. Wolf it's it's Mr. Kadzau is a is a consultant we ask him to develop a plan about well how can we get the most out of where these fields are. The board has not made any determination about whether any additional lights will be constructed on any of the properties. There are lights at the Louiswis Scott stadium. Those are the only lights right now that the district has that we operate on our athletic facilities. Um will that be part of a discussion? It's recommendation that came through from from who the consultant is but notice termination has been made about that at all. We have another question or comment. I'm a proponent turf fields because otherwise you

123invest all this money in natural grass be right back where we are now. There's a comment that a preference for turf fields um and the importance of investing in them. Question is it looks nice fitting the softball field and baseball field in there together. Sounds like you mentioned that the you can fit the soccer field in there nicely. As you develop your plans, it'll be interesting to get dimensions of the softball baseball fields in there. See, how the play together there's a there's a question about the softball and b sorry softball and baseball field and soccer and um getting a sense of what the dimensions will be. Yeah, we design all softball fields with 200 and our base, you know, I think what we have on there is like a 310 to 380 baseball. So,

124um, often, you know, in situations like that, we have, you know, again, because there's a lot more of this use is happening, uh, with ball bearing and stuff like that. And often too what we've found out over the years talking to the athletic directors if you know you're playing I don't know Garnet Valley right the baseball team is the softball teams at Garnet Valley playing it's usually switched like that so but could be but yeah all right okay we have uh something else what I'm so Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see you baseball field. Yeah, there's a question of whether there would be a fence in between the softball and baseball fields. Yeah, there's there's portable fence systems now that are are developed for these multi-purpose fields. Actually right now uh the the project Garner

125Valley is going through they have an overlay softball and soccer overlay soccer and baseball and um we've uh there's a fence specified not something it's it's different than what you normally see at these but uh like I said in the industry there's a propensity for more and more of these multi-purpose facilities. So the fencing they're creating for these is becoming better and common. So yeah. Great. And um over there the baseball field and tracking are the only one being considered um during this process. softball field and um field that is used for football at Ro Elementary and then there are also two soft fields at media and I'm just wondering why but there's a question about uh the fields at Rose Elementary um and media elementary I know that that's Barrel Field so um that's

126not district um so yeah um yeah I Actually, in the in this in the study, we do have a review of Barrelfield uh in there. Um and again, based off of our meeting on the 20th, the emphasis to trying to get everybody back on campus as to why we we didn't do the other school. These were the three we were directed to look at. Um I don't think there was any. It was just thought as was was just the direction we were told. So, and and we in Barl was added um based off of our conversations on the 20th and we we know that Glenwood and Rose Tree that the fields also they're going to need comparable work to what the other schools that was identified whether it's the grass fields that are out here

127at Springton uh or over at Indian Lane. We know that that whatever it's going to be is going to have to be added on to those as well. um why it's a prior the question is why is is there a reason that the baseball field at Indian Lane is a priority? No, I was we were just because I I I think it's probably because that other field tracker it just happened to be on that campus. I don't think there was any emphasis on the field. It was just there's two facilities there and All right. Um, okay. There's just a concern about making sure Rose Tree um and Glennwood are addressed in terms of the the field conditions. Okay. Um, but it's not a district-owned property. That's just what I was saying. Um, it's a burrow.

128Also, the baseball field at Indian Lane is rather new as I understand it. Correct. The baseball field at Indian Lane is rather new unlike all the other facilities that at um Rose and Glenwood and then some of the adjacent facilities at Rose Tree are maintained by the Rose Tree Colts. Is that correct as I understand it? So there's a lot of differences at each of the different sites. I I just think it there is a a concern that we address issues at all of them. um making sure that uh we take care of all the the fields at all of the schools which is you know makes sense. Okay. All right. Thank you. Oh, we have one other. Okay, there's a question about the softball field at Penrest and the use of it. That uh

129the access is access there's no access um basically um that's it in a nutshell. No place to park, no place to, you know, that was before my time. I can't. All right. Well, um I can't I can't say. All right. Thank you. Thank you. We appreciate it. Thanks. All right. We are going to take um just a fiveminut break and we're going to have a countdown for five minutes um and we will return. So just five minutes. All right. Um, we're about to begin again. We're going to have the presentation by uh Raymond James. Thank you, Dr. Naps Williams. We have with us again this evening Ken Phillips from Raymond James, Alli Mackey from Raymond James, and Brad Remig from PFM, our financial advisor. So, we're thrilled that they're here with us again tonight. Their

130presentation they're going to go through and uh I'm excited to have you listen to what they're going to present. Ken, you gonna take it off? Great. Thank you so much. Here we go. Thank you so much. Uh it's a been a pleasure. We've have a four decade relationship with the district. We're very proud of that and and and all the things that we've done in the past. Um this process from just a financial review started about three years ago. It was March of 2022. We've had a couple presentations to the board in that time period. Uh we've met with the administration, you know, uh several times uh without, you know, the board just going over things. And so tonight, one thing to remember tonight is this is a snapshot tonight. Okay? These are illustrations that

131are going to change based off of timing on projects, based off of interest rates, based off a lot of things that we'll, you know, throw into the cauldron as we go through the process. But I think it gives us a pretty good feel tonight with respect to after hearing um the presentations you know prior us gives you some feel for what the potential cost is in today's environment. Okay. So we're going to review just some very background information. You've seen these a lot of these slides in the past. Um these are sort of where interest rates are historically which when you look I think it's blue and red up there. Maybe it's black. Uh but it's since the the blue line represents since 1993 the average you see where we are now. Rates are higher

132than uh we've been enjoying in the past. We haven't been in the market since 2018. Um but uh rates are still historically pretty much on average. Okay. Next slide is the district's outstanding debt. Really the only thing left is is column two. your portion of the uh community college debt and uh the other is the 2018 issue. Uh the other two issues are paid off. Okay. Uh and when if you look at the bottom in the the grouping, it says ARB yield, that's your true cost on those financing. So the district has always been very very good at taking advantage of uh situations where they could do refinancing just like we refinance our home mortgage. So we had a 194 rate enjoyed that for a long time and even the remaining 18s are 2.89. Now

133right above that you see the average coupon 4.83. Okay, there's a good chance that come next year, we'll be able to maybe refinance this issue and save some debt, uh, save some interest cost. And we're also going to, you know, sort of keep it in our hand because depending on what the decisions are with the financing plan. We may restructure this a little bit, the 2018s. So, it's a it it's a great situation in that the true cost is only 2.89, 89, but because the uh the actual printed rate premium bond, not to get too technical in the weeds tonight, is a 483, we'll probably have an opportunity. And that sort of becomes it's a liability, but it's really an asset when we're talking about doing some planning. Okay, this we like to include this

134slide only from the standpoint uh for you know newer board members but also for the public in that the district has always done things in a manner here of trying to minimize cost. The district is never borrowed money frivolously. You're not putting up Taj Mahal as you never have since the mid 80s when you know when we've been here. Um, and you try to take advantage of those opportunities when you can save some money. So, over $6 million since 2009 with respect to just doing simple refinancings. So, now we get into uh the meet. I'm going to have Ally go through the schedules. uh we've added some schedules from the February meeting uh based on the requests from the administration to look at not only a pure wraparound situation where we take your existing debt

135and then we structure the new debt around it but also on a level debt basis which sort of spreads it out equally over like a 20-year period. So we're going to look at these and again remember these are just illustrations. They're going to change as your timing changes uh as the as interest rates change and so on. Okay, Ally. Go ahead. All right. So, the first study that you're going to see here is the 81 million projected cost to fund the K through1 early learning center. Um, we've looked at this study several times over the last few years, but I'm going to walk through on this one um kind of column by column so that we all know what we're looking at because the other three follow the exact same format so we can move

136through those quickly and just point out differences there. Uh, so here in column two, that's the district's total net outstanding debt service that's currently outstanding. So this ties back to that debt summary that Ken just went over. If you looked in the far right column there, that matches what's in column two here. So that's our starting point. You'll notice there that in the 2829 fiscal year, your debt drops off pretty precipitously where you only then have, you know, call it $5 million of debt left in that year. So this first structure that you're going to look at is called the perfect wrap. And what we're doing here is taking advantage of that drop off in your current debt. So we're able to then come in in columns three, four, and five and build out those

137debt issuances, wrapping the new debt around the existing debt when those drop offs occur. So basically where we have our full debt load in 26 27 28 we're only going to pay interest on the new bonds and we're not going to pay principal until the current large blocks of principal go away. So that's what we're doing here. It allows the lowest upfront millage impact. It allows for the shortest debt structure overall and the lowest total um payback because we're keeping the debt shorter. It's kind of like a mortgage where you have a 15-year rate and that rate is lower than if you took out a 30-year mortgage. Same concept applies here. So, the shorter we can keep the debt, the lower the interest cost overall. So, columns three, four, and five are just based on

138the preliminary timing we had from the administration of how kind of the project's going to lay out in terms of putting a shovel in the ground and kind of building the project because we're not going to borrow all that money at once. That's going to allow us to what we'll talk about further over to the right, phase in the required millage for debt service over a longer period of time. Um, using a little bit of cash or reserves to kind of accomplish that in a nice level phase in over what in this scenario is going to be five years. So, for timing on this, we've just literally, you know, got you some seed money this current fiscal year, a $15 million issuance to get you started on paying costs associated with the project should you

139proceed with it. And then we kind of split up the balance into a 2026 and 2027 issue. That timing can change. That's not set in stone. It's just literally what we have to work with at the moment while we're in the planning stages. Um, and that 2026 issue, if it made sense when we go to do that, we would wrap that refinancing that Ken talked about into that issuance. We also could, you know, use that issuance to, if we wanted to or it made sense to at that time, instead of taking refunding savings, we could kind of use it to what we call restructure to kind of help that millage phase in a little bit more uh, without having to put additional cash towards that. So then in column seven, if we added up columns

1402, three, four, and five, this is the new debt schedule. What it would look like based on on this scenario in this timeline laying out this way where you can see right now the district has roughly 11.1 million in the budget for debt service currently. You'll see that in column 13 uh in that first top box there. That's what we currently have in the in the budgeted line item. And we need to get the debt up to, let's call it, just shy of 15 million to phase in the full $81 million. And again, we're not doing that all in one year. We're going to do that over five separate years. And then you'll notice again in column 7 that this debt pays off in 2035. So we are advertising this debt roughly over 10 years,

141which still leaves you an incredible amount of flexibility. should you need to come back in, you know, five years again, the debt will only be five years long like it is now and you can wrap around it again should you need to do something else uh around the district at that time. It kind of leaves you that nice big drop off again because we've only advertised this debt over 10 years wrapping it on the perfect wrap. Um in column 10 you'll see this is the proposed millage phase in over five years. Again this is just a study we kind of just like to lay it out equally over five years. This can completely be adjusted depending on, you know, other budget pressures, things that are happening and we can kind of shift that around. But

142at the end of the day, we need about 63 total mills to phase in the total debt service requirement for the 81 million. And that looks like roughly a little more than a tenth of a mill year each year for five years. in column 11, that yellow there, we're just trying to relate that for you into what that looks like in terms of a percentage increase because as we all know, we have to live under the I1 index and over the next few years, the independent fiscal office is projecting that number to go down each year. Um, if you look in the bottom right there, you can see that for 2526, the district's index is 4%. And so what this is just saying is you need roughly 08% of that 4% to each year to

143fund this amount of debt service over this time horizon. I'm going to stop there and ask if anybody has any questions about that before I move on to the next structure because that kind of covers the layout. All right. Um the roughly 08%. Yes. Is that a change from the current approximately 10 million we have in debt service? Is that in addition to the 10 we currently have? Yeah. Okay. So going to 11 is the point8. Yep. So if you look in column 13, if you want to equate it to dollars, you have 11.167 currently in the budget. You would have to go up to 11.917. So roughly $800,000 and that number is equivalent to 08% of your index. Yeah. Okay. I just want to make one comment and that is the school district's in

144a very good position to be looking at a substantial project because of what Ally and Ken mentioned in column two. A lot of your debt is being paid off soon. So that enables this kind of a plan and you're in a really good position. Not all of our clients are in the same position who are trying to tackle a project like this, but because you're really been um good at paying down your debt, that puts you in a good position here today. So, does that also assume that the asset base of property value stays the same through the time? Yeah. When you look at column 8, we're pretty conservative. We just keep the value of the mill the same. Obviously, that's going to change. So this is when you look at the footnotes we have

145uh half percent contingency in for footnote two and three 1% contingency in four obviously we can't predict rates but we think it's conservative with respect to you know where rates are today. Okay. Okay. So the next study is the same 81 million for funding the K through1 Early Learning Center, but here instead of doing that perfect wrap, we're going to amortize each one of these borrowings on a 20year basis. So instead of ending the debt in 2035 and having it paid off and then that big kind of cliff that falls off, we're going to advertise these on a longer basis and these are not going to pay off until 2045. So 20 20 years, an additional 10 years of amortization. But what that allows for in column seven, as you see, is that we kind

146of ramp up to that $15 million we talked about before, and then we start to drop off a lot sooner. So we're creating that drop off sooner, but we also then have to get the debt into the budget quicker. So, where we talked about a five-year phase in in the first scenario, now we're talking about a three-year phase in or, you know, roughly in 27 and 28, a 1.68% use of your index to fund this debt because we have to get it in the budget quicker to fully fund where we have the overlapping debt because we're now not taking advantage as much of that drop off currently. The other thing I'll note, and this is really the big point of comparison, is if you look at the bottom of column 7, I have that dark

147highlighted box. This is the total payback of all the debt, principal, and interest. That number on this 20-year scenario is 184, well, it's called $185 million. If you looked at that same box from the prior scenario, that number was $152 million. So, we're talking about $30 million of additional interest repayment over the life because we're stretching the debt out to that 20-year mark instead of paying it off as quickly as possible. There's nothing right or wrong. It's just a choice. And the big decision which act one has really changed how districts look at. Do we wrap around our existing debt? Use some of those, you know, dollars in place when they go away? Do we just do it like, you know, we used to do it pre-act one where we could do a 15, 20

148year mortgage, you know, 25 year mortgage? There's no right or wrong answer. Um, you really have to though plan. Act one is has has made districts planners. So you really when you look at the perfect wrap in either scenario we're going to talk about tonight, the debt comes off shorter. And so 10 12 years down the road, the question is going to be what else needs to be done to our facilities. Okay, the last 20 plus years here, we pretty much have used the wrap. Why? It's it's one the least expensive, but two it now positions you great example as as Brad said, we have 11 million in the budget. We know we need to get to some number north of that depending on what we do, but because our debt's coming off so fast.

149Okay, these are the projects that we thought may happen 15 years ago. So no to right or wrong answer but this was I think a request from someone let's look at 20 years as well and so we have some illustrations. Wow. And then the next slide is just the same study on the perfect wrap basis but uh we had a request to run it for 130 million which encompasses funding the 81 million for the early K31 learning center and future projects that you're considering. So we ran the larger number. You can see here the big difference is that now we have uh five borrowings over a longer term because those projects presumably will happen over a longer span of time. Um and then you'll see here then we did a seven-year phase in of about

1500.15 mills annually for those seven years or using up you know roughly just shy of 1% of the index annually each year for seven years. And then the final study is just the same we just reviewed on the 20-year level basis. So again, the point of comparison here is that you, you know, need to phase this in over a shorter period of time. You're talking about over uh three years. Again, it's actually the same exact phase in as the other uh $81 million study because we really are just having to fund those increases over the overlapping period. And again, that kind of dark blue box at the bottom of column nine, the total uh additional interest expense of amortizing these issuances on a 20-year basis is around $48 million of additional interest in this scenario.

151And probably ultimately what we do will be based off of what projects you're going to do, the timing for those projects, because there actually could be a situation where there's a hybrid here. Maybe we do some rap. Maybe we do some level. We're going to ask you once you make the decisions on the projects. Okay, we'll ask the administration, okay, what's the next shoot to fall? What's five years down the road? What's 10 years down the road? Because that may, you know, give us another view of this, but in a slightly different manner. And that's just how these illustrations evolve. Okay. um based off of trying to look into the future over the next decade and also then saying okay what's my you know what are the projects now so that's really the presentation uh

152love to answer any questions um one question last time you were here you had a couple of really important slides um because I think what is it 20% of residents in the district have kids in the school and the other 80% don't and I think one the most fundamental questions everybody has on their mind is how will it impact my personal annual taxes. So I know you had a really um you had looked at the median assessed value of our homes and you had looked at what the impact would be. Do you have that chart? We don't have it tonight but we can have it tomorrow morning. Okay. Okay. You have the old one with you or anything? Uh yeah actually we do have the old one. Okay. because it was on there and it's

153what you what you presented tonight is not radically different. You've presented some more scenarios that are not wraps, but um I think it's really important for our local community to know what the total impact would be on them personally. All right. So from the last meeting we had on the since February which is February the when we ran the scenario back then so it won't 100% correlate to this but we'll get you the updated numbers tomorrow. The $81 million perfect wrap scenario um equated to roughly a $2441 tax increase on a median assessed value of 385,673. So that was roughly a $40.88 88 cent increase each year annually for five years. On the $130 million perfect wrap scenario, same median assessed value 385673, the total increase was $33,554 or a $47.93 annual increase each year

154for seven years. But I just want to be clear, this is not like in addition to their tax. This is built into our operating budget, right? Paying the debt service is built into our budget. So those numbers you read are not like our taxpayers are going to get an additional bill for that amount every year. It's going to be wrapped into this. We're just going to appropriate that extra amount from other parts of our budget to pay for this additional debt service. Yes, that's correct, Jackie. And the the presentation that Ally was just quoting from is on our website. It's under the board presentations link and it's from the February presentation, but it is on there uh on the website for those that are following along at home. I think I'm interested in hearing from

155sort of Joe and the admin team. the 130 perfect wrap gets us to, you know, 17 million. We have to accommodate that in our budget. Is the administration comfortable with that? So, we've gone back and forth and and talked about it quite a bit. That's the that is ideal, right? That's the ideal scenario to move forward with. Um without having the crystal ball of what do operating costs look like over the next couple of years, right? Is there going to be a new a new normalization of what we're going to have to spend, right? For materials, for supplies, for power, for all those different types of things that are going to come through. Um and then what's the what's the act one index, you know, going to look like? Again, the district has continually been

156conservative and has not used all of the Act One index um you know, over most of the time, you know, since it it's been in effect. As we sit right now, are we comfortable? Yes, we we feel that this is something that is manageable as we build our annual budget. Um and also manageable in terms of of looking at opening up a new school, right? We know that there are um some costs that will be associated with opening a new school as well, annual costs that will then be added in. We we definitely going to have to hire additional staff compared to what we currently have. We don't have a final number about what that looks like and that'll be phased in over a couple of years as well. Um but yes, as as we

157sit tonight in 2025, we feel comfortable that this is the best way to go about it. Again there's a a level of uh financial responsibility uh in terms of our planning and then what the impact is um you know on the taxpayers the return on the expense is absolutely unbelievable you know um Ken talked a little bit about too looking at you know in the in the 130 you look at at the um is it five different sales all right five different sales of bonds right there's a level of fluidity that exists with that too, right? Looking at the projects and where we are and what's going to go on in our buildings. We're fortunate with um you know the the board's support um you know with expending the funds, you know, uh Rose Tree

158and Glennwell will be aironditioned this summer when school opens se in September. We expect that the HVC HVAC systems will be completely done and they'll be air conditioned the the controls and all uh and Mike Nolan will talk I think a little bit about this in the capital projects update. You know at the other two elementary schools we have those projects that are going forward. We have the projects in the classrooms that are taking place over at the high school which will go in over the next couple of years. But those projects will be ongoing at all six of our schools. Um that's just the reality. Toilet rooms that will need to be redone, locker rooms that will need to be redone. all of those different parts that'll build into the life of the borrowed

159money uh and what we spend it on. Anything else from the board? As always, we appreciate it. Thank you very much. We may have some questions from the the community. Um yes. project actually well below what has actually been this report won't even exceed the debt service level which you did in 2020 as a percentage of your local tax. Okay, so I'm hearing that this is great, right? I love that summary. And that was the perfect That was the perfect wrap for the Yes. for theund for the 130 million. The perfect wrap is great. There are positive comments about it. All right. We have something else. Yes, there's a question of if that is the case, why are we proposing a 3.5% increase the act one index? Right. You mean for this year, Miss Will

160for the the 2025 2025 2026 budget? So those are the the budget is in there for the operational cost of of what we believe it's going to cost based on it does not include this. That's correct. So that's the numbers the the previous estimates would be that um what is it the the 130 in the perfect wrap for the median um assessed home which is 385,000 and change would be $47.93 of what the tax bill would be per year to go through. So it's it's going to fit into what the act one index increase is each year. There will not be an act one index uh increase for the budget and then this is a separate assessment. Will there be school taxes and tax increases each year as we go through? So again in aggregate

161the numbers at least we have from the folks are are 600. U if there are a thousand that's those are different numbers than we have. But does this anticipate that there will be tax increases each year? This does anticipate that. That does not that's a this is what that the anticipation is that there is an increase in what we are going to be expending. What the budget looks like on an annual basis is up to the board to make a determination about how the money that is raised is spent. So will there be a tax increase? I can't tell you that. Does this mean that we have to have an additional Mrs. Miss Wolf? I'm I'm I'm Miss Wolf. Miss Wolf, I'm I'm happy to answer your questions when you ask them, but if you

162ask questions, I try to answer. If you're yelling back at the same time, I it doesn't allow me to answer the question. Okay. Um, is there is there another do we have any other questions? Do we have any other questions? Because I I think he did answer it. Maybe it would be better if you contacted uh Dr. Malage um to have further conversation about it. You shut down. Is there another question? I'm sorry. Go ahead. Townships are going to be hit with additional healthare costs for ambulances. So I'm just asking that you be sensitive to that. I understand about the school, but we are in credit. Okay. There is a a comment about the the crisis um with taxes. Delaware County um there was a 20% 20 20 okay 23% increase and there are other

163increases and there is um a desire for us to think about that the board to think about those issues um as we move forward. All right. Um, nothing else from the board. I just like to add in here. Um, the board is very sensitive to the community's needs. We have not raised taxes in accordance with what the act one index says we can for the last five years. And that also means we have not increased taxes that keep pace with inflation. So all of those inflationary pressures that all of our community feels, we also feel here at the school district. Our energy costs go up, our food costs go up, our everybody's salaries have to go up. We have to accommodate the increasing health care expenses as well. So we have to increase taxes every

164year because we have to incre the bud the the cost for us to run the school district also costs money. But if you look back at the last five years, this this school board has not raised taxes that match act one, nor have we even raised taxes that keep pace with inflation. We have anything else from the board? Question from the audience. Remember, I have to repeat it. So, 774. Yep. That's positive. Yeah. That's very conservative obviously. Yeah. Yeah. There are some no there are there are some districts who say increase that by a certain percentage and so on. Column 13 based on today based on a constant value of a mill. Okay, you need roughly 1% of your index for the next seven, eight years. Now that's not counting the 600 homes or the

165thousand homes or or whatever it is. This will change. I guarantee it's going to change. Okay. We also, you know, don't know where rates are going to be. I think we have some conservative numbers built in here. But from a planning tool, from a planning tool, if you're looking at this this option, 130, perfect wrap in your mind, 1% a year. Okay? Now, maybe it ends up only being four years because all the other growth comes into play. All right? But in your mind when the administration comes to you and says, "Hey, you know, we're building our budget and our and our index is 3.5 or whatever the number is, you know, that 1% is going to be of that 3.5 is going to be here." Okay, this this will get better, but I would

166say this is Yes. Mhm. Right. What happens when the increase in resial properties? I just want to make sure that people hear what's going on, right? Um and so I'm not sure I hear it. So there's a question about how this is conservative, right? And that's a good thing. Okay. Okay. The tax base growing this assumes a constant. Okay. So okay the there is also a comment that because of the additional homes and children right that will be an additional tax base and these charge don't account for that. I mean I didn't expect taxes to go up in any dramatic way. If anything, much much cheaper if you build houses and that increase tax. So, we have a comment that we don't that it's not believed that the taxes will go up in any uh

167significant way. They have a comment. All right. Thank you. All right, thank you. Thank you for your presentation. Oh, yes. This will be posted on the website tomorrow. All right. Next up, we have uh capital projects uh status report by uh Mr. Mike Nolan. Mike Nolan. Wow, that's a good welcome. Thank you. Mike, Mike, you got applause at the table. I hope I get that when I go home. I did. I did. Yeah. by the way. Yeah. Well, Dr. Malash is not a good barometer, but I had to ask around the rest of the room. Okay. So, um capital project status report. um mechanical, excuse me, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, um electrical service upgrade at Rose Tree and Glenn will will continue through 2025. Um as along with uh theatrical lighting replacement at Pancress Auditorium will

168take place this summer. Um I just received word they're ready to ship the lights out, so we'll be ready to go with them. Um the window and skylight replacement. Um, so Rose Tree is getting new windows. Skylight replacement at Media Elementary School. Uh, skylight fabrication is happening now scheduled for sum summer 2025. We also had some damage during that storm on our um awning out front there. Um, that's like a 16week lead time, but we're trying to tie that in. It probably won't happen at the same time to to fix that, but we're tying that in with that project. Do we have insurance that pays for that? We do. Yay. We have asked a lot of our insurance company lately for sure. Um, but I'm in talks with Vanessa and Heather about contacting incidents. Great.

169Yeah, we're just waiting on a quote back for that panel. Great. Thank you. At this point, it's only one panel that was damaged. Um, we did receive We are looking at cost to replace everything. Um, but insurance would probably only cover that one panel. Okay. Yeah. But I guess there's some sort of um cost efficiency in doing it all at once if the lifetime of the of the rest of the panels is shortlived. Correct. Um and we're looking at that because the color, you know, fades over time with the sun. So we're looking at different options for that. Okay. But they're about a 16week lead time on those panels. Okay. Thank you. No problem. Um so moving forward, Springton Lake track replacement. Um we're going to install a six lane acrylic track. It's currently under

170review at Upper Providence and Stormwater Management. I'm bidding. We're hoping to go out in June, June of 2025 and construction late summer, fall. Um, hoping to get that done. You know, I don't think it's a very long project. So, um, couple weeks from what I hear. So, um, HVAC upgrades at Glennwood and Rose Tree. Um progress has already begun over spring break. Um we have a total building air conditioning uh existing equipment and piping replacement at Glenwood at Rose Tree. Um also uh Johnson Controls control upgrades so we could be uh standardized throughout the district. Um the ceilings are already down in quarters. I don't know if anybody's been over there, but ceilings are down and I'm sure the kids are having a blast over there with that. But everything's up and safe and you

171know we we walk the buildings daily to make sure everything's tidy and the contractors are doing doing a good job. They're actually there right now. So um sec Yeah. So second shift they're they're in there now. Curious. Do we ever use things like it is cool for kids see oh my god the ceilings are down. Do we ever use these opportunities when construction's being done to it definitely is a source of of discussion and a topic of what's going on? Um yeah, there there so yes there's talking about what it is and what's going to take place. It's definitely on a surface level. Um we're not in a situation right now where um the guys that are doing the work or the folks that are doing the work are never there at the same time

172as when the students are there. You know what I mean? So, it's more just a discussion about what it's going to be. What do you see? And it is fascinating. I walk through uh Rose Tree and Glenwood both to see the tiles down. Normally, we're used to drop ceilings all these places, but to see what is up there and the volume of stuff that's in a you know, covered by a drop ceiling. So, yeah, the kids have been great. But I also can add to that like in a maintenance standpoint. Um, I know when I was a carpenter and and Havford and I know the guys that work now, you know, we go and measure square footage and things and teachers a lot of times will incorporate in the lesson. You know, it's never good

173when I'm using a laser to do it because they want me to do the math. I'm like, "Okay, done." You know, uh, square footage is 225 square feet. See you later. But no, we will uh I know I have and I know the staff that we have now are very you know receptive to working with the children and yeah um so but every all the work right now is pretty much at night time and at and here the cafeteria it's kind of blocked off for for noise and things. So um moving on we have Penrest and Indian Lane renovations. We're going to do um Family Consumer Science is getting a a remodel uh the TV stu studio and five science classrooms. Um also to repair the ephus at Indian Lane. It's actually uh we're going

174to resurface all of it. Um make sure it's nice and bright and fresh. Um, so can I just say thanks for the family and consumer science upgrades because my kids, you know, they always ask me what's going on and I saw them this week and I told them family and consumer science. They're like, "Yeah, cuz I think that was a kitchen from your house back when you were a teenager." So, thank you very much for upgrading that. Yeah, it's going to be uh, you know, commercial ovens now and, you know, new cooktops for everyone. Um, more stations and uh, it's going to turn out really good. So um HVAC upgrades at median Indian lane um total building air conditioning and um so that'll take place um next summer. Um bu bidding will go out in

175the fall of 2025 and construction for next summer 2026. And I think that concludes my any questions or comments from the from the board. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. All right. We will move on. Let me see what we're moving on to. Um what is that? Final budget review. That's all right. So since we last presented on April 10th, there weren't any changes to revenue that we are proposing. There were slight departmental changes in expenditures. So we are looking at um 126,340,746 in revenue and $129,000 or 29,79,799 in expenditures, which gives us a projected use of fund balance of $2,739,53. And again, as we always say every year, this is we we budget for worst case scenario and we often don't have to dip into our fund balance because we are good stewards of the

176money overall, but we do have to budget for worst case scenario. I think I would just add too because I don't want it to look like dipping into the fund balance is necessarily a poor thing and I know Shelley, you have mentioned in the past that we also are required to not have too much in the fund balance. If you have too much, you can also be very much on the hook. And I'm blanking out the name of the school district who got the hot water. What was it? Laura. Laura Marian. All right. So, so it is as always a a fine line. You want to have It's like picking up my daughter. It has to be just the right time. You're too early, you're nerdy. You're too late, you're ashamed. So, it's kind of

177like that with fund balance. You have to have some, you know, in there. It's a late night, but that's just how I think of it. Well, that fund balance relates to our good interest rates and being a good candidate for borrowing money, too. you have to have a certain amount in there, not too much. So, the proposed final general fund budget was made um available for public inspection on Friday and on the 12th, which would be Monday, is when we have to offer notice of intent to adopt and then hopefully we will be passing this budget um on May 22nd at our legislative meeting. And this is the 2028 which is posted will be posted I'm sure you don't want me to go through all this. We've already looked at a lot of it and

178we've certainly gone over this a number of times just so it's clear and from previous meetings posted and this will also be posted with along with everything else for um tomorrow's consumption. Yes. And also will be the homestead farmstead exclusion will be moved to the legislative meeting. We got more money from the state this year in gambling funds as you can see um $2.8 8 million which that's exciting. So we have also more approved homestead properties. I believe um in the previous year we had about $8,59. Now we have 8,200. So it gives a reduction of about $342.78 to each taxpayer who has the exclusion. Is it the same amount that's given to every residence or is it based on assessed value? Nope. It's the same amount because it reduces your assessment. Okay. By an

179amount. It's the 21,52 is what it reduces each assessment on. And you'll notice it on your real estate tax bill. Okay. But so an increase of like 150 homes when there were is given how many new homes we've had in this area is not a horrible thing. And then if we don't have any questions, we can move on to um Miss Jenny Lee. More questions from the board. No, we're good. We have something from the the community. Go ahead. There's a question about what is the projected fund balance at the end of this year? It is actually on a schedule in the 2028 which is posted for your viewing. Right. It's in here all somewhere in the 78 pages. We started the year 19.1 where it's if you email me I will get it to

180you. Will that work? All right. We have uh something else. Go ahead. And again, that will just be a projection. What we had is on our audit report, and we don't know exactly where we're going to end this year yet. Correct. about the 2.9 million that it will be taken out of the current fund balance and the answer is yes. Yes, it's 2.7. All right. It will be an assignment in our audit because we assign it for next year's expenditures. You'll notice it on the financial statements. Page three. We are scrolling through the presentation. The estimated beginning um fund balance. So, we're giving you what we estimate at year end to be the assigned and unassigned. Thank you for that. Okay. Any other Thank you, Heather, for filling in in addition to everything else. I

181know Dr. Scott is out sick, so we do appreciate being a pitcher for a a busy busy meeting tonight. So, thank you. Thank you. All right. Um, next up is the food service budget. Jenny Lee Can everyone hear me? Okay. So, uh my name is Jenny. I am the supervisor of food services and we will be reviewing the 2526 food service operations budget. So, a little overview about our program. So, we have six sites. We have four elementary, one middle, and one high school. We have six full service kitchens, meaning that we prepare all of our food on site for our staff, our our students. Our staff prepare the meals for our students. Um, we have four unit leaders, cafeteria managers that oversee our six kitchens. Uh, we have about 44 employees, that includes five

182substitute employees. We are getting better with staffing, so I'm very excited about that. And this is our fourth school year operating uh independently. So, I'm now going to talk a little bit about our free and reduced uh student data and then um we'll move into average daily participation. So, for the 2020 2021 school year, our district free and reduced p uh percentage was 13% and then the 2122 school year, our free and reduced uh uh percentage was 13%. So, it's important to note that during these two years, we were not collecting free and reduced uh data during the pandemic. So this information may not be as accurate as it could be only because we weren't collecting uh this data from our households. Uh in the 22 23 school year, our percentage actually did increase to

18316% but as I mentioned we weren't collecting data in those two school years. So this might be in line with what it should have been. Uh the 2324 school year we had a increase of 2%. So we are at 18% for the 2324 school year. And then the 24-25 school year, we're at 16% for free and reduced students. Um we actually had a a decline and this had uh to do with COVID funding. Uh PTE said that the funding for um additional uh qualifications for free and reduced students um was exhausted. So a previous requirement was just being on uh state benefits such as like Medicaid or SNAP. However, now you have to qualify for a state benefit and qualify with income guidelines. So, that I believe is the reason why we have that that

184decrease. So, um we do um see some changes with that. And just to be clear, um the lack of collection of data in those first two years was because we still were providing full breakfast and lunch free of charge to all students. That is correct. Who were interested in that. Okay. Yes. And also just because we've had that small decline. What happens with those students? I mean, they're still eating, but they are still eating. Um, we do have students that um are accumulating um debt because of it. So, might be a weird question for now, but but I do notice out in social media world that people will do collection for students. Are we allowed to or are people allowed community people allowed to contribute to student lunch debt? How does that work here? Um

185I believe Pennsylvania Department of Education frowns upon that practice. Um however, donations have been made. So if you know if you have a student who's a senior and you would like to donate those funds to a student who has um you know outstanding debt, that is definitely an option. Um, we've had different organizations uh in the past do that and sorry I just wanted to put a question because I know it's come up in the past. No child is denied a lunch. Correct. Right. I mean there's no I just want to make sure even acrewing debt because Yes. Even acrewing debt um we have students that um have very very high balances. They receive breakfast and lunch if they so want breakfast and lunch um they also get the same options. We've never given them

186a different meal. they get the same options as any other student. Thank you. Um, now going into average daily participation or ADP. So, uh, this is a district-wide comparison of our average daily participation. So, for, uh, the 2122 school year, uh, this is where we're providing universal nocost meals for breakfast and lunch. Our breakfast participation is at 21 a.5%. Our lunch participation is very high at almost 49%. So, 48.73%. The 22 23 school year is when we return back to normal operations. We are not providing universal free meals. Um Governor Wolf did extend universal free breakfast in October of that year. So we were able to provide that uh provision to our students um starting I believe it was like mid-occtober he signed that into legislation. Um our lunch participation did have a decline because

187uh we went back to the national school lunch program. The 2324 school year with the support of Dr. Malash, we were able to implement universal free breakfast at all of our district um sites. So at uh the 22 23 school year, we were only serving breakfast at two elementary schools and middle and high school. Uh 2324 school year, we implemented it at all schools. So we uh were further promoting meal equity and access to all of our district students. So thank you for your support, Dr. Malashsh. Um for the 2425 school year, again, this is just year-todate. Um, our breakfast participation did have a slight decrease. It's at 22.98%. Again, it's a about a one and a half percent decrease. Uh, but lunch participation, as you can see, is in line with the 2324 school

188year. Uh, this is just a Let me go back to that for just one second because I think it's really important. We did extend the free breakfast and there was a there was a concern I know amongst some people that if you do that then everybody's just going to start abusing the system even if you you know and that has not happened and moreover when lunch was free in 2122 49% of people bought it now we're at about 40% again to the whole thing there's definitely a group of an increase in the people who will utilize it we know some people could still utilize it and are really struggling Um, but I think to allay any of the concerns that people will abuse the system or will be overwhelmed with it is shown in these

189numbers to just not pan out at all. Yes, that's correct. And, uh, Governor Shapiro actually signed into Pennsylvania legislation to provide universal free breakfast. Um, so we will be providing universal free breakfast to all students um, moving forward. Um, so that's a very nice uh, direction that we're headed in. Hopefully we can come for lunch soon. Um this is just a breakdown of participation for breakfast and uh I'm sorry this is breakfast. Um so at the elementary level we have a uh combined 25% participating. Uh the breakdown is 70% of students at media, 14% at Rose Tree. We have 35% at Glenwood and 34% at Indian Lane. At the secondary levels we have a combined 22% participation. We have six um 19% of students at Springton Lake participating and 24% of Penrest students participating in

190our uh nocost breakfast program. Um should we ever begin to charge for breakfast, it would be $2.50. However, um we have been providing uh free breakfast since 2122 school year. Uh this is the average daily lunch participation. So combined at the elementary level, we're at 40% 37% of students participating at media, 46% at Rose Tree, 38% at Glenwood, and 40% at Indian Lane. We have a 30 almost 35% combined at the secondary levels, 33% of students at Springton, 36% at Penrest. Um, our current lunch prices at the elementary level is $3.35. At the secondary level, it's $3.85. I do have asterisks next to these prices because the USDA has not released the paid lunch equity tool for the 2526 school year, which is a tool that we utilize to determine whether or not we need

191to increase our meal prices to fall in line with the federal guidelines. And a quick question, um, if you go back to the breakfast slide. Sure. Uh, are there different practices in place at Rose Tree and Media versus Glenwood and Indian Lane that account for some of that increase in breakfast? Yes. So, um, every elementary school with the exception of Roast has a hybrid breakfast program. So, we offer, uh, some classroom breakfast and then we also offer like a kiosk style breakfast where some of the older kids can come up, pick what they would like, um, and then go back to their classroom. Um, with the younger students, we do have the classroom breakfast where breakfast is delivered to them and all they just have to do is order it. And even if they don't

192order it, they're absent the day before, we always have extras and we're willing to, you know, provide that meal for that student if they're absent or if they change their mind, we always have extras. I have a question about how much for the kids who do participate in the who buy lunch, you have the cost per meal, but how much does each kid on average pay? You know, because they would buy a lunch and a snack and a drink and whatever. So, do you have a a number on what it is per kid who participates? Um, I do not have a number uh per individual child. Um, I have some parents that have restrictions on, you know, their child can only purchase one snack per day, one snack per week. Um, I have very specific

193details and and guidance from parents. They can only have one meal per day. So, it's really hard to kind of figure out those numbers especially because parents, you know, we take their feedback and their guidance into So, so, so they contact you and you restrict what the kids can buy. That is correct. Okay. So, if they can only have one snack, one snack, that's what they get. That's correct. Okay. All right. But I also we we keep hearing a lot about um how meals are provided regardless if a a student can pay. I think to some of us it's obvious that that's something that should be done, but to some people it might sound like we're just giving things away for free. And Dr. Malashsh, I wonder if you can comment on why it's important

194to make sure that we provide these meals. Absolutely. So, first and foremost, children need to eat, right? Hungry children don't learn well. Um, hungry children struggle to be successful with their peers or the other people that they are around. Um we just it's you know as as Jenny's sitting here talking about it we met with all the principles yesterday right seems like a long time ago it was yesterday morning um and talked about you know some of the issues with that and there are children and families that we are absolutely concerned about that staff are following up with from the building from the district level home and school visitor and all to have that conversation about what more do you need right we we're we're concerned um there are definitely families that are on the

195list that are probably families of means right we will continue to pursue and to follow it up. Every ch if a child presents himself to get a meal, they're going to get a meal. They're going to pick their meal that they want. They're going to be fed that meal. We will feed them 180 days of the year whether they bring in money or not. It's our responsibility to do that. It's also our responsibility as the adults then to follow up and say, should we be doing more? Are there additional services that need to be provided? Or do we need to have conversation with with family to say what what's happening? Um I think that the other um piece of it though is the impact on the classroom not just on individual learning but the impact

196on the environment in the schools. Absolutely right. The kids have to eat again. Hungry children do not learn well. Hungry children do not get along with their peers. I have four children of my own. That word hangry I think may have been in invented in my house. Um but it it it is kids have to be fed. That's the the the staff that works in our kitchens. the work that Jenny does to run the department and the staff working in each of the buildings are so incredibly dedicated to those children. They know each of them as they come through and the food smells great and the food looks great every single day, right? It's not necessarily what everybody is used to eating at home or the way that they would prepare something at home. There

197are very strict federal guidelines that the team follows. You know, there are very strict guidelines about what a portion looks like, what can be included in the ingredients. You know, there's often questions about breakfast and, you know, the things that are being sold for breakfast and and what it looks like. And I've met with lots of parents and talked with them to explain that, you know, understand the K12 industry is a multi-billion dollar industry for food service for food providers, right? But what you are looking at in muffins or in the Pop-Tarts uh or the cereals is not what we would be able to go into the grocery store and buy off the shelf. There are different ingredients. There are different percentages because there has to be to meet the federal guidelines of what it

198is. It may have the same name, but I guarantee you as an adult, it's not what you're used to tasting or used to eating uh at home. Yes. Thank you. Our Pop-Tarts do not really have icing on them and uh it's like sugar substitutes. It's not real real sugar and they're whole grain. One of the things that came up was that pe some of the kids who receive a a a reduced lunch relaunch that when the cash register pops up it shows a different number that all the kids can see. Have we done have we been able to do anything to change that the stigma of the free and reduced lunch? Uh so when the student enters their PIN number, there isn't a number or anything that changes for students to identify whether or not

199their meal was paid for or not paid for. So they could have a they could have, you know, $20 in their account and maybe it's not drawing down a balance, but they might still have that money in their account, but there is not like a like a number system we have where it identifies specific free or reduced kids. So it would be very challenging. They would have to like do the math to identify like that. Sometimes it would show up as whatever it is 350 or whatever it is at the high school, but a reduced lunch might show up as 175 when it pops up on the register. There was there were people who were discussing that. I just maybe we have different registers now. I don't know. Uh I believe we have different registers

200cuz we just hit a meal key now and it just draws down the balance. So that's very different than it was even five years ago. Okay, great. Thank you. Okay. And now we're moving on. So increased food costs for the 2526 school year. As Dr. Malage mentioned, our K to2 formulated products are projected to increase in price each school year. Uh manufacturers change formulations every year to meet the USDA nutrition guidelines. Additionally, manufacturers face labor shortages just like us. Um so when they have labor shortages, those higher costs for goods and services are passed down to um the consumer. And then as mentioned um the USDA develops uh more stringent food safety and nutrition guidelines um that we adhere to. And it's important to note that all of our breakfast and lunch items including snacks

201that we serve to our students within the Rose Media School District meet the federal USDA nutrition guidelines. So in addition to increased food costs, we are also going to see some increased supply cost for the 2526 school year. One of the efforts that we have been focusing on in the food service department is switching to cardboard eco-friendly paper products. So trying to limit the util uh utilization of single-use plastics when we can trying to switch um from using foam products to using biodegradable cardboard products. They are uh more expensive products to utilize. Uh however we are trying to reduce our carbon footprint and try to make a difference. So it is going to increase costs but we are working on it. Um, add additionally our um manufacturer that provides our paper supplies did mention um

202last month related to tariffs that uh some of our non-domemestic paper products we would be seeing a price increase although the tariffs are on pause uh till I believe July. Um they did let us know that we would see a potential increase. So that has been uh forecasted into the 2526 expenditure budget. So going over the 2526 expenditure uh the 2526 uh overall food service budget will increase 3.42% the contributing areas to the 3.42% uh increase so we have about 7% in supply cost increase approximately 3% in milk cost increase approximately 3 and a half% for food cost increase and then we are also um doing an equipment replacement project. So, for the 2526 school year, we are including uh replacing the Glenwood Elementary School walk-in freezer, which we will be utilizing about $150,000 of

203uh food service department funds to fund that project. The 2526 revenue, um, as I mentioned, the USDA has not released the PLE tool yet. So, uh, lunch prices remain unchanged. However, if the PLE tool does indicate we have to change meal prices, meal prices would be impacted by 5 to 10 cents. It very well could be that we don't have to raise them at all, but if should we, um, the federal requirement would be between 5 to 10 cents. Uh, breakfast price will remain unchanged as we are offering universal free breakfast. Uh, the 2425 uh, school year federal and state subsidy rates uh, are forecasted to remain the same. The 2526 federal and state subsidy rates have not been released. They will be released sometime in July. Um it's important to note that 39% of

204food service revenue um comes from federal and state funding which is a little bit different than like the general fund. We do receive a substantial amount of reimbursement um from the federal and state um departments. And if you guys have any questions, thank you. I just quickly want to say thank you. your job is so complex and I was so impressed when Ken was asked I forgot what question you asked but how you know the students the ones who can only have the one snack etc etc just thank you so much um I love when you give your presentation each year I I just think you're outstanding thank you for your support I have a question about the uh paper supplies I think you said is that something that could be sourced more locally because

205even in terms of global footprint and reducing your carbon footprint sourcing closer than you know internationally would help with that as well. Yes. Um actually Heather and I were talking about looking at local suppliers to try to figure out where we could source some of our paper products to see if maybe we can make a a difference. Um I know one thing that um I didn't mention is that the USDA had um some federal funding set aside for uh purchasing local um food sour like food ingredients. Um but they have pulled back that funding. So, um, we were looking forward to it. It would have been around $50,000 that we could have invested back into our program to purchase from local farms and local purveyors and provide that to our students, but um, we will

206find other ways and other avenues to still continue to accommodate and provide that. I was looking at you also provided the sort of straight budget revenue versus expenses FY26 projected for FY25. It looks like um you have a little bit of a deficit projected for the year uh based on the revenue expenses there and I just wanted to understand what you think that's about and uh how that impacted your proposal for the next year. So for the food service budget when um we uh you know I run the numbers I always uh project break even. I'm not gener I'm not looking to generate a profit. I'm just trying to provide a service and provide meals to our students. Um it is projected that we will have a deficit at the end of the year. Um

207we've had a lot of increases in price um as the economy is just you know not the greatest right now. Um and then also um our meal sales have declined in some of the months. So we are seeing an impact and that is affecting some of our costs right now and our overall budget. So from when you're planning for next year did how did that that deficit change how you planned revenue? So um we are looking at um different avenues. So um as mentioned um Rose Tree has a different uh service model. So uh and Rose Tree uh currently doesn't offer like snacks. So that's something that we are looking to explore for next year offering snacks to our students to just make it equitable across all schools. Um they are also just uh serving

208line breakfast, meaning that all of the kids come to the cafeteria uh to come get breakfast and participate. So we're hoping that changing the model and maybe increasing classroom breakfast over there and having some students come through the serving line will help increase our breakfast participation and increase our revenue. Thank you. We have a question or comment from the community. Thank you. Government bureaus sign off on universal free lunch. Is that a an unfunded mandate or a do you mean universal free breakfast? Okay. There's a question about whether the governor's sign off on universal uh free breakfast is an unfunded mandate. I do not have the answer to that. Um but I I can look into it and and get back to you. The Sabatinia they they reimburse us. How the where where the Commonwealth

209is getting the money, I'm not sure, but we we get it. It's it's the money is comes to us from the state. It's now the um Rose Media School District is not picking up the tab for all of those breakfast that the kids eat. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is that are accommodating deficit that you suffered this year in order that deficit or it merely based on ahead. So, it's a it's a combination. So, I am kind of looking at overall costs and our suppliers have provided some preliminary numbers of what pricing will look like for the next school year. Um, it's not perfect. They're not able to identify perfect numbers for us. Uh, especially when it comes to like produce products. um those um act of god increases that we they just can't control. So

210um it is just a I would say it's a very uh conservative number. Um it's not you know it does account for some inflation some act of god increases because like for example eggs um we have had a substantial increase in price for eggs. Um we don't utilize that many eggs at our school sites but we do offer like hard-boiled eggs uh for our salads. Um and we have seen a price increase but we have not passed that on to our students. Um so that is you know something that was out of our control that we actually just took you know the loss because we didn't want to make the change to our students to offer a salad without an egg or offer you know a sandwich that didn't have like a egg on it.

211We do not wish to raise prices to the students next year. We are hoping to keep them the same unless the government releases the PL toll and makes us raise them. Um the deficit is a projection. We're hoping that we can still break even this school year. Jenny's running several promotions. We're getting the word out there trying to get participation up so that the deficit doesn't happen. All right. Thank you. Thank you, J. Oh, one more thing. Sorry. Oh, yes. I have the proposed alocart pricing for uh the 2526 school year. Let me So, uh can you still see my screen? Oh, sorry. Oh, I can't make it bigger. Oh, okay. Uh, so this is the proposed pricing for the 2526 school year. As I mentioned, um, the meal prices uh may have to increase

212depending on what the PLE tool indicates. So for um so the meal prices uh that would be like cold entre that is considered meal. So at the high school level it's 3.85. So if we do have to increase it may go up 5 to 10 cents. Uh so I just wanted to mention that um because that is something that would be impacted. Otherwise the prices for everything else um is accurate. So again just the meal prices things that are considered a meal would possibly increase 5 to 10 cents or remain the same depending on the PLE tool results. Um, and that is all that I have. I'm so sorry to ask yet another question, but just I'm I see a lot of different things and I you made a comment earlier like the Pop-Tart we

213provide is not the Pop-Tart you can go buy in the store. Is that the same thing for like the Alakart or is there a difference? The Alakart. Alakart, for example, the items there. I see Capri Suns. I see dominoes and I wasn't sure are those are those more like what you might find out in the general or there they are also for our listeners it they sound as appealing to the younger set but they are made differently than what we could purchase out in the Yes, that's correct. So the Domino's pizza that our kids love and they are so excited to see is actually a whole wheat dough. It's it's lowfat mozzarella cheese and the tomato sauce has uh it's nutritionally enhanced. So, um, it's it's great. The kids love it. I'm happy that the

214kids love it. Our staff love it. It comes delivered. It's hot. It's ready. It's sliced. It's great. And everybody likes it. Everybody's happy, but it's healthy. Thank you very much. Because I know that's a general concern in the community is it looks it looks unfortunate if you just saw it, but the way you describe it, I'm hungry again and it's only 9:35. So, thank you. You know, I actually had a parent ask me if I could I could uh you know, they were like, "I have a local Domino's. How can I get this pizza?" And I was like, "They don't sell whole wheat dough to consume like retail. They only sell it to schools." And she's like, "My kids rave about this pizza. They want me to buy it on Fridays at home. They want

215to have it for dinner." And I'm like, "I'm so sorry." Because you mentioned last year, too, the restricted sodium content. It's it's like an average of 200 milligrams of sodium per day or something like that in each meal approximately. So it's an average. So, um I don't know what the number is right now, but um if it's like 800 a meal, that's 800 to include the entree, the fruit, the vegetable. And that's why it's so important to offer fresh fruits and vegetables that don't have a sodium content so that we're able to make the uh main entree taste and um be delicious. No problem. Thank you. Have a good night. is okay. There's a question about whether the food service budget includes the food service employees. The um current um the current budget is actually

216uh because we are in negotiations, we left the labor expenditures the same. So we are once we are past negotiations. No. All right. So, so just so you know, by the way, you can always provide input via emailing, um, reaching out. I know Dr. Malashsh, I mean, you don't have, you can always come to a meeting, but you certainly don't have to wait to come to a meeting to provide input on a budget. That's why we've been going over the budget for three months, something like that, and we we have those postings regularly. So, you know, please come to any of those meetings, send an email followup. You know, you're always encouraged to do that. Um, the next like legislative meeting, right? That's what I'm warning you is that you will be right if you

217don't like start looking because Yeah, yeah, we we understood. I I think there is still a bit of a disconnect because we have been going over the budget quite a bit over the past few months. So I would urge you to really look at the minutes. Wait. Yeah. So with the and I will tell you so the questions about the the food service budget uh and the cost for employees. Um we're in a process the contract as you know expires this year. Right. So we're in in a meet and discuss process. We had the first meeting was yesterday. Um I expect that we'll have the second meeting prior to the legislative meeting which is on May 22nd. So they'll be able to have a final product to go through. No, no, no. Yeah. Right. No.

218Understood. And this session, so this portion, the second, the first meeting of the month, the second Thursday is the work sessions. So there's no the board does not take any action or vote vote on anything at these meetings. So it'll be on the 22nd when we're over at Penrest. Um, and we expect now you will know if there's a a final contract, you will know that before you Yes. Correct. You you and your your peers, your colleagues will all be notified prior to that. Okay. And just as a general comment, there's a special budget meeting in March of every year, I think it is. Is it March? Oh, just food service. Oh, okay. All right. Um, so thank you, Danny. We have some more finance um things. Are there any questions on I through O?

219I don't think there are there questions. Okay. Yes. Student activities is money raised by the students for the students. Heather, do you know is the money from the ticket sales? It's not It is. They usually have a show. They raise money from the ticket sales and then they use it to buy the next year's rights and they are clubs. They're not necessarily part of the curriculum. Okay. Yes, we we will take a look and and see. All right. Well, y'all microphones are not on, so this conversation is not being heard. They have to support it themselves, but we don't require any of our other um activities like sports to do it. And we spend a lot of money supporting them and and no money supporting these folks. think we or maybe we need to get

220some clarity on it, but I don't want to sort of paint a broad brush in terms of what we do and don't do for others because I don't think we know specifically, but there is something that needs to be looked into um if that can be adjusted or if it needs to be. So, I I think that's valid, but we need to get the the facts about Thank you for spending three minutes to ask that question. Yeah, Jackie, you're welcome, Jackie. All right. So, we'll look into that. So, we're good with the finance and operations. Okay. So, we move to education and wellness. I don't know who's left here. Who's here? Mr. Doerty is here. It's up to you. Last man. We're waiting. We are waiting for Mr. Dockerty. Okay. Hello everyone. Education, Education and

221Wellness. Um, yeah. So, all the items tonight, there's no presentation tonight, but all the items here are consent items. You have a question? Yes. I know it's but I ask it every time. Yeah. So, Dr. Singh, is this for students these exams? And does Dr. Singh have a female? Um, I don't know the words. Thank you. It's too late. Um, available for females or anyone who requests, you know, a female physician? I will have to check. I'm not sure if he does, but I will definitely check on that. He did not last year. So, unless something's changed, and I think we need to make sure that in the future we have accommodations for our female students. Well, I I think this was brought up, so we don't know. Maybe he does. Um I just remember

222this conversation, so hopefully there was an adjustment um made and we'll have to see. This is at least the third year that we brought it Well, we have to find out if it is he there is actually someone because I know it was brought up before. So, um if it hasn't been addressed, um clearly it will be now. We're gonna have Mr. Harrison follow up and find out. Could we just have a time frame of when we'll hear back just so that we don't ask this again next year? Well, we'll be prior to the vote on the 22nd. A lot of questions. Um, so yes, we'll be able to get an answer prior to the vote um on the 22nd. Yes. All right. Any anything else about the the items listed? Good questions all even

223though it's almost 10 o'clock. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Zerty. We'll move to human resources. So, uh in human resources, we have some additional retirements which are exciting for the retirees. I will tell you again, sad for us. Uh and as you read through in letter A, the three folks who are retiring are all secretaries here at Springton Lake uh at the middle school. So Anita Anita Garber has been here, she's been here for 19 years in the district. Um Patricia Kelly has been here for 18 years and Mory McCormack who's been here for 20 years. Um we did know we were we were expecting that they were going to be submitting their letters. It was um not just because Dr. Saladino is not gonna be at Springton Lake because okay some

224truth to that. Um we have uh some resignations as we normally do. Uh appointments both classified employee, certificated staff, professional employee, new librarian over at the high school, which is very exciting. The others are just pretty straightforward. Any other questions? Then you want me to jump into Yes, please. policy. Yes. Um, so we we had a a good discussion at our policy committee um late in April as we typically do. We have listed policies for approval um that will come through for the May on the May cycle. And I'm so sorry, I'm a mental beat behind because I'm just a little fatigued. But I wanted to go back to one of the employees and I just want to make sure it's not a typo because it I'm sorry. But I saw that we're we're looking

225to approve 10 days absence for child rearing. Why 10 days? I No, no, I don't want Let me not say 10 days because I I don't want to obviously prime, but I just want to make sure that's not a typo. Correct. It really is 10 days. I I believe that that is not a typo. Okay. So, would be just Yes, I I will confirm that. I just want to make sure that Yeah, that the Y is not that's not my America would be like you really vote on that. So, their FMLA probably runs out and then they wish to just extend it to a certain time. That's all right. I'm like I I hope we're more considerate than that. Like Scott will so back to policy. Good question. Thank you for for positing it. Um,

226so on the approvals for May, student fundraising, intercolastic athletics, attendance, the new nepotism policy we've discussed, uh, and the initial draft of our sustainable practices, which Jenny Lee was already talking about some of those things as we are following, not to mention tied in with what we talked about when the guys presented earlier uh, this evening about the new school. Um so they're on for the approval policies for first read review just 2011 which is admission of students uh and then some ongoing discussions that we are having that we had and we'll continue to have at the next policy committee meeting talking about AI uh artificial intelligence we've been looking at some policies that have recently been adopted in this area we'll talk about what it means for us 26 27 calendar we're waiting information

227to come back from the surveys that uh Mr. Dockerty and his team have put out through the schools 222 tobacco and nicotine. Um again fascinating discussion as we often have at the policy committee about how do you define um what you find the different devices to get nicotine into your body. Um controlled substance and drug awareness 227 and then 832 educational equity. They are not ready yet to move forward in a first read. We'll be having discussion about them again um the end of May for our June cycle meeting. I don't expect that we'll I'm not sure whether we'll be introducing anything in the June cycle for a first read just because of the gap into September. I expect more that it'll be this is what we're going to be looking at and working on

228in the summer which means that there will be a number of first reads most likely in September. Okay, think that's it. All right. Any questions? No. I'll just say if anybody in the board has any suggestions for policies that we that you would like us to review, please send them along. All right, are we good? Okay, thank you. Good night.