001your 2021A notes and your 2022 notes. Okay, so we made another payment, right? Cuz this says 16537 and I just got this. It says for 2025, what are you comparing that to? Total debt outstanding balance 16,537,000. Okay, that right? Yes. Okay, that money is not paid off yet. We own that. Correct. Okay, so tonight we thought, and of course I've been working with these numbers until I got the agenda. I thought you were we were borrowing 135 because if you look at the document that I got from the business manager, it says the amount borrowed is 13350. Okay. The agenda says we're going to borrow 19 million. That's what the not to exceed resolution states. That's not what you're going to borrow. That's what's on the agenda. So again, the resolution creates a maximum. Yeah,
002I have a lot of trouble understanding what you're saying. I I'm sorry. Not loud enough. Is that it? The resolution is a not to exceed amount of 19 million, but there are protections within the document that will limit you to 13,350,000 as a project fund deposit after the bonds are sold. That is in the document section 11.01. Could it go up to $19 million? No, it cannot. No. Why are we borrowing that money? We have to by state law. Again, we're not borrowing $19 million. We're authorizing a not to exceed amount of 19 million to accommodate state law to allow you to do the bond issue that you want within those parameters. Okay. Did you do are you familiar with exhibit A and exhibit B? One is called maximum wrap schedule and the other one
003is called maximum debt service and principal amortization schedule. I am familiar. Okay. On exhibit B, it says that our original debt would be 41,3260. It's real little print two 40 41,38 some dollars. Okay. But then apparently we got some money from the state. So then you you have another one called local effort. Local effort is us the taxpayers, right? So that takes that down to 38,61 12,976. Is this document not correct? This document shows what your existing debt is plus the maximum schedule. That's exhibit A. But that is again not what we'll borrow. It's just to create the box that your new bond issue will fit in. Sir, you understand this is what I've been given. I do. Okay. Now, let's look at exhibit A. And this one really shocked me because it is for
004$19 million. Again, given to me by the business manager, but I had a very interesting uh note on this. In the years 25,26, 26, and 27, and 2728, each year we're going to pay $15,000 on the principal. Is that correct? That is part of the not to exceed schedule. But it is that correct? Just give me a yes or no. No, it is not correct. This is a schedule that shows a I see that I see what you're looking at. This is a schedule that shows the maximum amounts, but it does not reflect what you will actually borrow. So, these documents are incorrect. They create a maximum amount to accommodate state law. And the agenda says we're going to float a bond for $19 million. And that is correct. It's an amount not to exceed
005$19 million. Okay? Because according to exhibit A, for the first three years, we pay $15,000. And during that same period of time, the interest that you list is 1,743,200. Then the the payments balloon. They get real big. They get almost up to $3 million on that. And that's the $19 million one. That's the $19 million. Dr. Fight, can I see the um the documents that you're referring? You have them in your agenda. They came in your agenda. You have them. But can I I don't know what you're referring to. Can I just see it? There it is. It's in your agenda. Yeah. Those came from those guys, not our business man. I know. That's why I'm asking him the question. Well, well, you were claiming this was from the business manager. Okay. Yes. All right.
006Thank you. This was from the business manager, right? Well, no, that did not come for the other one did not come for me, but that's okay. Dr. Fe, I if I may, we're looking to to get new money of $13,350,000. We're in addition looking to refinance the money that we took out in 2022 for the for the roofs and for the field and that type thing in order to save $17,000. So that's why it is the the that's why it is inflated. And now as um attorney DKA had said by the state laws we have to put a we have to put this in a box of a larger amount. That's not the amount that we intend to borrow. We intend to borrow the 13350 the four the 4,ion50,000 plus then obviously closing costs just
007like you would on a house. This is this is a debt organism type thing. You would have closing costs on that as well. Okay, this came from the superintendent this week. I just got it. Let me read it to you. Item number four is the bond resolution for the Giza project that was discussed at the last meeting. Please keep in mind the maximum amount $19 million consists of the amount needed for the Giza project and overage ov for the Giza project that was discussed at the last meeting and refinancing that 22 bond. It says that's what it says. What I mean by that is the amount that we need to put in that resolution by law. So, all of these documents that I was provided as a board member and including the agenda are incorrect.
008I'm just going to just say real quick, they're not incorrect. They include a sum not to exceed as attorney Dick has explained in compliance with state law, which requires that you essentially have a resolution that sets parameters that exceed the amount that you actually intend to borrow. We have 35 school clients. They all do bond issues exactly the same way. And I have yet to see one that borrowed more money than that than than they intended to borrow. So I understand what you're saying. And yet it does not in my view have any validity to it because the sum not to exceed resolution is not a commitment to borrow that amount. Mr. Lucas, do you know how serious this is? Of course I do. We're talking $30ome million dollar going on our taxpayers. But you're
009misrepresenting the Why am I misrepresenting? You gave me this. Because there isn't a single person in this room who in good faith believes that the the board is looking to borrow $19 million in new money. It's been explained to you multiple times and yet you continue to misrepresent this so that people have incorrect information. Will you read the agenda item and what it says? Can I ask a question if I may? Certainly. So, the 4,50,000 um that we had originally had in bonds from 2022. Now, does that come from several different bonds? No, actually, it was a it wasn't even a bond. It was a loan that we that we took through through Truist Bank. Okay. And we borrowed that money for for the roof at the high school and for the field. We those
010type things. That's what that was all about. The masonry work. Masonry work. Yes. And so with that being said, you know, obviously interest rates were hoping to save some additional money. Unfortunately, interest rates are very fluid and fluctuating right now. But if we can when it comes time to sell the bonds, if the favor if the interest rate is indeed favorable, then Alicia will say, "Okay, then I want to cover this this loan as well so that the district can save some money." That's what that is about. That's why, you know, um, attorney did had talked about $15 million LA in last board meeting in that box because from the 13350, but now we went up to the 19 because we added the additional refinance. Gotcha. Okay. And that's what you were saying about like
011moving around the principle of the loan. Okay. So, that was a perfect explanation by Pam, but yes. Okay. and we're only going to move forward with the refinancing if we can save if it's favorable, right? So, we're going to tee it up and it's going to be available to us. We're planning to lock in interest rates in early April around April 9th. So, depending what what rates do between now and then, if we can save, you know, 85 or $100,000 after costs, we'll go forward with it. If we can't save it because rates go higher, then we'll just kind of leave that on the shelf and it's no harm, no foul that you had it set up to to happen. Okay. So the the 13,350 that's that is our that's our new debt. Correct. That
012would be the new debt. You can say once that's voted on if it's a yes or no. Now that the 4,50 that's previous debt that we are rolling into this, correct? It's not new debt. Correct. Okay. So that will close out any other that other loan that we have once we roll it into this. That's correct. Okay. So the only new debt that we would have then is that 13,350. Correct. But by state law, we have to open it to a 19 million due to variables of rates and everything else. And it is a confusing process. So we have the same conversation with boards across the state. And again, I'm Zach Willard. I work at public financial management. Okay? We're the district's independent financial adviser. So, our role is to have a fiduciary duty to
013the district to make sure that the interest rates are fair market to make sure that you're not over borrowing money. I'm registered to do specifically this. We've worked for the district for a while and we work with about 240 schools across the state. That's what I was going to ask. And as your solicitor said, this again, this is a confusing process, but this is the process and there's, you know, nothing about this that's different than what we would use at uh other school districts in Pennsylvania. There's a statement in here from Mrs. Mondock. It reads as this. It says, "The payment of all costs and expenses incurred by the school district in connection with the issuance and sale of the bonds." Can you tell me what that is? you have that in here, but yes,
014you're correct. So, the the way these work is when you do the borrowing, the issuance costs are paid out of the borrowing, meaning that you don't have to come separately out of the general fund to pay for them. Um, they're estimated at $132,000. $132,000 to prepare this document. Well, to do all of the things that happen to execute the borrowing, to go out and sell the bonds, borrow the money, um, yeah, bond insurance, bond rating. There's a lot of things that go into this, but those are the costs associated and folded into the debt. I I have one question, and maybe I misunderstood you. I apologize if I did. You said if you do not get the rate you want, then you will pull the bond. You won't go through through with it. We would
015pull the refinancing portion of this. So, you're not locked into doing the refinancing by approving this tonight. We only want to do the refinancing is if we can take that old higher interest rate from the 22s and replace it with a new lower rate that generates positive savings somewhere between 75 and 100 or even higher. If rates go down a bunch and we can save 135,000, then that would be great. Um, but I think as long as we can save, you know, something like $75 to $100,000 after you net out the cost associated with that, then we consider that a win. This is kind of like the last bite of the apple for the 22 refinancing. Is that 132,000 added to this amount? That's all included in in these included. Um, so as a school
016board member, I'm supposed to sit here, look at the information I'm given, and vote, right? And yet you're saying that this information is does not reflect what is really happening. Right. Well, so again, the information is a box. What what's really happening is this one page that has the PNC. I got that about 5 minutes ago, right? Come on. That's what we expect to happen based on today's market. The documents that we gave you about two two or three weeks ago, that's what we expected, you know, at that time. Um interest rates will again change between now and April 9th when we expect to price it. Rates could be higher. Did I get exhibit A and B lower? I'm sorry. Why did I get exhibit A and B? Because those are the legal documents that
017Anthony has to file with the state of Pennsylvania. But they don't reflect what I'm supposed to vote on. Well, that's that's how the state process works. And again, I said it is confusing. Yeah. Well, I'm certainly not be a part of this. Whe when when we file with the state, we send this resolution, but we will also send the final bond purchase agreement that has the actual terms of your bonds and all of the debt service that is locked in for the full maturity. So when it goes to the state, they will only approve exactly what was borrowed. Do you happen to have the specific state law that we could look up and reference? And if not, you can get it to us. It's the local government unit debt act. Okay. Sorry, say that one
018more time. Local government unit debt act. I'm not telling the truth. I'm telling you. Are we able to ask PM questions? Is it still her time or It's her report. Mhm. Yeah, it's it's her time. Um, just see if I'm correct here. Our debt service is going to go up 762,000 year 2026. Correct. So, so again, I would go back to the to the one. That's what I'm going by that paper. Our debt service is going to go up 762,000 in the year 2026. It's going to go up $584,000. $584,000. And then it says here total projected debt service now is 2,13,000. It says it's going to go up to 2,775,000. So the first the first column where it says new money and the first number is 584,000. That's the new debt associated. Why is
019the debt service total going up so much at the end? Because then we're showing you in the second column the refinancing that we're that we've been talking about. That's debt that you already have, right? But we're going to refinance. So, we're going to get rid of the 2022s and we're going to replace it with the new refinancing that's going to save right now 117,000. That means this paper's wrong because why does it say our debt service for 2026 is going to be 2,775,000? Right? So, Alicia just pointed out that the if you look at footnote number two, it says that the debt service under local debt service excludes the 2022 being refinanced. So again, the numbers you're reading are correct, but I'm trying to differentiate between the debt service that's new to the district that's
020associated with the project, the 13,350 that we're borrowing. That's in that first column. Our debt service is going to go up 640,000 then. Yeah. After all the dust settles for the new project, your debt service will have gone up 600. Well, I'm just getting I'm just trying to get right now. We don't have Act 93 done and with our increased payroll, that's what probably going to be around 6 mills in our district. We add this increased debt service, it's another six mills. I'm just looking out for the taxpayers because we're going to be raising taxes for the next four or five years to accommodate this and all our other obligations. That's why I'm just trying to get straight of what exactly that's not necessarily true. Why isn't it true? Well, it has to be voted
021on and it doesn't get voted on. I'm just talking about why isn't my millage why isn't it correct? We got a payroll increase for the next 5 years of at least 6 to700,000. The one thing that this doesn't keep um factor into is the amount that we are to realize with the Giza savings. We what the amount that we are to realize as a district as the Giza savings. But you have $347,000 there and that number is a zero because they don't give you anything during the construction year. You you said there's a deduction of $375,000 and that number is a zero, Pam, for the first year. Well, actually um one of the first things in talking with Constellation that they're looking to do is to replace the lighting and I believe that is where
022they projected a lot of our savings as well. So that would is something that we would when the price of energy now if energy goes down we'll save less. When has energy ever gone down? You you keep harping on this. It could go down. No none never in my life have I seen energy costs go down. Okay. When did it happen? When has it happened? Let's say it goes down. You obviously have seen it before. We are backing into we're going to need 7 8 10 mills. Okay. To balance this district's budget. That's not true. Oh okay. Well, you Okay, it's not true. You're going to say that right now. Tell the public. Yeah, tell the public. Tell the public. I just did. Yeah. What you saying? Our budget is not going up. We need
023no millage increase. I didn't hear it. What you were saying is not true. No budget. We no millage increase. That's not said. That's not what he said. That's not what I said. All right. Anything else for these? I have one more question. Okay. So, according to what's on this sheet, um, as of 2023, our old debt will be paid in full or what we're we're bringing into it if we if we choose that. So, the old debt you're talking about, the existing debt service or the one that we're refinancing? Oh, the one that we're refinancing. Yeah. So, so the one that we're refinancing, if we do nothing with that, if we do not refinance it, it would be paid off in 2031. Okay. Okay. By refinancing, we are not stretching out the debt. We're not
024doing anything artificial to create the savings. We're just simply lowering the old higher rate to a new lower rate. The new piece will still be paid off in 2031 in the same amount of time. It's just going to have a lower rate on it. So, more will go to the principle of it then. Correct. Okay. So, Nicole, we keep paying the 2 million 2.3 million now on the old loan. Isn't that what he said? Do you keep paying the same rate to pay off the old loan on on the two old ones that we're not refinancing the the 2021 loan? That's 2.2 million. There's 2.2 two about $2 million of debt service on a net basis. Those will stay there. We're not touching those. Those have interest rates on them in the 1%. So, it
025doesn't make sense to try to refinance those because we take a 1% rate and we'd make it 4%. So, those leaving alone. That goes to 2031. That goes till 2029. And again, I'm looking at the one page 2029. 2029. That's correct. For for the ones in 2020 that were um borrowed in 2021 for the year. So that's another $10 million, but that the old debt is 16500. So I I get I can't add that up in my head. Those payments we owe 16,500,000 from the old from the loans that were made a long time ago. Okay? And they've been refinanced and rebonded and all that stuff over and over and over and over. So if you add up those those five numbers, you get approximately $910 million. But we owe 16,500. So So that's in
026the third column, which is what the new refinanced debt would look like, the 4,851. Do you see that total at the bottom? That's your That's your 2022A note that we're refinancing into the new 2025. Okay. Re re this refunding thing was money we got from the state. Is that right? The the refinancing is not new money from the state. The refinancing is taking the old loan and the old higher interest rate and taking and putting a new lower interest rate on into save money. This is all banking on you get a lower interest rate. Correct. Correct. So if you can't get a lower interest rate then that goes off that goes off the sheet. Then we're going to take that off of the transaction. So then we would end up with a 2,775,000 debt service
027in 2026. Correct. Correct. Okay. Approximate. How sure that we're going to we're going to get the lower interest rate. If we were doing it today, we would get that lower interest rate. We have about 3 weeks until we're locking in the rates on this transaction. Exhibit A says the interest rate. Is that a coupon? Is that what a coupon is? An interest. Exhibit A. That's That's It says 6% straight down the line. Yes. So that's So going back to building the box. So if you look at again the one pager, we expect to borrow this at something like 4%. And change. Okay. When you go back to building the box, the 6% rate again is not what we would do. We don't expect to get that. Why did we get that then? Because again, because
028the state requires you to build this box and it has certain assumptions in it, and I know it's confusing. It's just unfortunately what the process No offense, Sam, but I feel like I'm talking to a used car salesman. I I just don't understand this. And I don't know why I got it. That was rude. That was I don't know why I got it. All right. Anything else? Thank you folks. Thank all three of you very much. Thank you. Uh Pam, business manager, um if you want to go ahead and go through your items and then we'll go. Um solicitor then superintendent. Okay. Um, as we talked about earlier, the um budget meeting will be on the 24th of this month due to um due to bud due to time constraints with um the PASBO conference.
029Um I will say I did go to the Pasbbo conference last week. I am very appreciative that I was able to do that. I can tell you that um met with a lot of my my cohorts there as well as Pasbbo me as PasBo team members. Um we talked about what the revenues would look like with the state this year. There is a lot of uncertainty obviously with the federal uh department of education possibly going away um without any plans in place as to how the states would handle those funds coming into them. Um I can tell you however one of the bright spots was um and we won't find this out until the beginning of May is our homestead farmstead relief. It is my understanding that that will increase quite dramatically for all school
030districts which will help our taxpayers which that always makes me happy if there's something that we can give them. Um, but like I said, unfortunately, I we don't receive that until May the 1st. So, right now, I don't know what that is. I'll be working on the revenues. I have started to work on that as far as the budget goes, and I'll have a better idea um on the 24th. We should have some additional information uh within the next month regarding our health care costs and um we should have a better idea. But like I said, as time goes on, we'll we'll gather some more information from the state as well as from the healthcare consortium, and that'll get us to give us a better idea of where we're truly going to stand. And that's
031all I have. All right. Thank you. I do have a quick question. has has ever in the history of South Morland have we ever been in a debt situation of maybe not the 32 million but somewhere that's like a big heap of debt. Have you ever have you had the chance to research that? I haven't researched that. I could look into that for you. Sure. Um to my knowledge like I said whenever I came here I looked at the outstanding debt that we had. I was able to negotiate extremely favorable rates for us with First National Bank. Uh we refinanced two loans at that point in time, general, well, they were general fund bonds, but they're now loans because they're a lower dollar amount. And one of them is actually even below 1%. So, like
032I said, we were able to save, I believe, in that refinance $360,000 for the district. Okay. I would guess that when that high school project was done, that was a pretty major project or the middle school. My guess is it's probably the middle school. It would be the highest one. I'd have to look into that information for Okay. Okay. Thank you. Good question. Yeah. And what time is that meeting on the 24th? What time is the meeting on the 24th? Finance 5:00. Is it 6 or 5? Dr. Boon's looking at that. I'm looking at it right now. Give me one second. It is 6 pm Eastern Standard Time. 6 p.m. High School. Yep. Great. You going solicitor next? Yep. Uh solicitor's information. I have no report tonight, Mr. President. Thank you. Uh superintendent's information. Yep.
033Thank you, Mr. Front. I have a couple things tonight. Um first and foremost, uh that was a pretty heavy start to the meeting. I kind of want to lighten it up a little bit. Um, I always like to try to bring in the the light side of what happens in the district and what's actually good. That's what's going on with what our kids and what what our teachers are doing in the district. Um, so first and foremost, I wanted to highlight uh an event we had and I know Mr. Bistol had spoke about it the other um during his comment about an event at SPC. Uh, Friday, March 7th, we had read with me at SPC. And what read with me at SPC is, we have a bunch of volunteers that come in and read
034to our students at SPC and do certain craft uh and activities with the books that they read. Uh yes, you do see a picture of me reading Skippy John Jones there in the bottom righthand corner. Um which is one of my daughter's favorite books. Um and it was a little warm in there that night, but but you know, that's what we do. Uh however, we had um I I can't tell you the exact number of students we had. Uh, I want to say there were probably just shy of um a hundred or so um students with um their family members with them that went through certain stations. I want to say I had four or five groups of students that came through that night. Um it's a great night. The kids had a good time.
035Parents had a good time. Uh the parents actually had a good time asking me questions after I was done reading because they uh got to realize that I was the person behind the phone calls in the morning whenever I called delays or cancellations. So um all in all it was a good night. I know a couple of you were here uh were there that night and those of you who volunteered that night, thank you very much. And to our SPC staff who organized it, they were rock stars because it was a pretty smooth night. Um it was one of those nights where I'm proud to say that uh I'm I'm here at South Morland. So the next thing we do have one of our own. Um Mr. Miles Kuhar came in to SPC I want
036to say last week, maybe the week before and spoke to a group of students. You'll see in the pictures that some of them actually have their shirts tucked in because that was one of the bigger things that they learned in that session is that our military personnel have to have their shirts tucked in. So whenever they went home that day, they made sure uh whenever they spoke to their parents during dinner or afterwards and their parents asked, "Why is your shirt still tucked in?" uh that they continue to wear their shirts tucked in that night. Um but anyways, um Miles read a children's book and uh if you look at the description there, one of the copies um that one of the students were able to take home um a mini stuffed chesty to take
037home which was part of the book. So this was something near and dear to our heart. I always like it when one of our graduates comes back and gives back to our community. Um especially uh one that um serves our country. So hats off to to Mr. Miles there. And the last two things I got um happy to say that Mr. Clue, our middle school principal, uh was published in the most recent Pennsylvania Administrator magazine. So hats off to Mr. Clue who's in the audience. It's not every day one of our own gets published. Um, and I think it's important for us to recognize when that happens, especially with all the the great things that are happening here at South Morland Middle School. Um, in a time whenever there's a lot of stuff going online
038about some misinformation about how poorly public education is doing, I feel like it's very important to show um, our pockets of excellence, which is exactly what's happening here at South Morland. So, Mr. Clue, kudos to you uh, in getting published in this uh, magazine. And last but not least, um I also like to highlight certain pieces of research that happened that highlight the great work that happens here at South Morland. Um one of the things is the education recovery scorecard. Uh once again, I know there's a lot of information out there saying how poorly South Morland does on certain things. Um with no context. However, uh in this case, I'm happy to report that out of 17 districts in West Morland County, we were ranked fourth in math and fifth in reading in terms of
039how well our um our teachers and our students are doing recovering from the effects of the pandemic in terms of the trend line of what is happening in our classrooms here at South Morland. So, once again, um I wouldn't be doing my job if I I gave my hats off to the hard work that's happening here in our buildings by our teachers and our students uh and our parents in the community. So, thank you. That's awesome. Um, and then the last thing I have and and I'll I'll hand it off to Mr. Friend here to talk about the musical before we move on. But, um, I will say that I participated on Friday at CWCTC for a countywide CS computer science scripting training um, with representatives from districts across the county to really take a
040look at how computer science uh, instruction is happening within our buildings. I it it's easy for us to to sit and talk about I just gave you a slide on reading and math and that's the only thing I talked about. Uh but in in 2025 uh we're not doing our jobs here if we are not instructing our students to be proficient in technology specifically computer science initiatives. So um what this initiative is to make sure that we are aligned K to2 with computer science standards specifically the computer science teachers of America standards that um PTE uh didn't adopt but they recommend as far as how school districts handle the business that they do in terms of computer science. Uh I'm happy to report that we started to do an analysis of those standards to see
041what we cover, what we don't cover, what we need to do better at. I I will tell you that there is a lot we need to do better at in terms of computer science. Um, and we've identified those things and over the course of the next couple years, we have a a couple um changes you may see in terms of our curriculum to to highlight uh what's going on in computer science. And actually, one of the things that came out of it, which I never really thought of, um, we have neighboring districts already that are looking at their curriculum maps and adding components into their curriculum maps that show, um, how computer science standards are applied in other content areas uh, aside from just computer science classrooms. So, when you're talking about a fully aligned
042system to prepare our students to be successful once they leave South Morland, um that's a place where we want to get to and we're not um we're not there yet, but we're progressing. So, and that'll be all good. Um I just want to give a shout out to um everybody that had anything to do with the musical. I went Saturday. It was phenomenal. What a production. Um you know, that's definitely something that we can be proud of. So, thanks everybody that was a part of that. Uh CWCTC report. I was unfortunately out sick for the last meeting, so I've got nothing to report. All right. Uh Wu report. Well, the IU meeting that I was to attend was scheduled for March 24th and South Morton changed the meetings to March 24th. So I will have
043no idea what the IU is doing there. And then in April, um, we meet on the 15th. The IU meets on the 26th. So, as far as I know, the earliest report I can give on the IU may be in May. Okay. That's unfortunate. Committee reports. Uh, we'll start with buildings and grounds. Uh, Mrs. Oier, that's a lot to unpack. Um it was nice to see that we had a public turnout at our last meeting which was um March 10th, so just last week. Um we don't get very we don't get any people at at our committee meetings whatsoever. So it was kind of nice to actually have some some people come in and and give their opinions and have, you know, discussion. Sure, discussion got heated, but it's it's still nice to know um
044you know, opinions of the public. Um talked a lot about different things um some of the things that's going to go on with our Giza project um especially the field um because that needs to be replaced very soon and I think that's going to be coming up. I thought I wrote it down. Do you have a date of Do you have a date of when they're for field for the turf? Um I'm sorry. I I had something sent to me. Can you ask me again? Field for possibly when the turf would be laid once it's Yeah, absolutely. They are waiting until um school's out. So the first week of June, they are going to start that work and they said it would take um 16 to 18 business days in order to get that project
045done. Okay. Okay. I did write 16 days. June. Okay. Sorry about that. Um, we spoke about the rock wall and how it was supposed to begin. Um, you know, it would take probably like 3 weeks to a month to finish, but unfortunately there was some issues once they got down there. Um, it's not all limestone or it's it's a mess. Um, I don't know if if Calvin wants to speak a little bit on that. They've come back. Yeah, sure. As Mr. traders coming up to the um to the podium basically. Uh hi. Yeah. So the rock wall was originally thought to be all limestone, right? It has been reordered before, you know, pointed and the last time it was done, it was basically slathered with mortar. So as they took the concrete cap off of
046the rock wall, we started uncovering a lot of shale. The shell is breaking apart as it's uncovered. So, the fear at this point is it's going to continue crumbling. Uh, we're looking at a couple different options to fixing it. One would be a block wall in front, one would be a poured concrete wall. You could also take and remove the busted stone, of which there are many, and try and replace him. That would be cost exorbitant. So, that's where we're at with that at this point. So, we do have three different options to proceed with. Okay. So what we're doing is we're getting a couple quotes to present to the board. Is that That's correct. Okay. Yeah. So we were waiting on quotes. Okay. So what happens with the company that started work? Well, they
047took they took the cap off and then that's when they noticed everything and they're like, "Okay, this is a little bit more in depth than what we thought it was going to be." Yeah. Yeah. So, they're pretty much going to be in a holding pattern until decides exactly what they want to do. Okay. For from a safety standpoint, is the wall still safe for folks to be on the field and around the Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Um and in all of the options presented, um the thought is any new structure, if they would put a new structure in front of that stone that's there, is that they would tie into that wall for more support because that's how um structurally sound the wall still is. Yeah. All right. Um trying to think there there was massive
048flooding in our boiler room um up at the high school and I'll I'll let Calvin talk about that. Mr. Trader talk about that as well. But um thankfully it we have it under control but there's some things that we're going to have to do in order to make sure that that doesn't happen again. Right. So twice in the last 3 years, the boiler room has flooded. And I'm talking 8 to 12 in of water in the boiler room. What's normally happening is the outside area of the boiler room. There's drains. Those drains do not lead down to the bottom of the parking lot. They lead back inside the boiler room. Then they go underneath the hallway, empty out in the front of the school. Just by chance, we caught those backed up. the water was
049up 10 in inside the boiler room in the outside area. Our switch gear is in that boiler room. If water gets to the bottom of the switch gear, we're going to have a real problem. So, my thought is to go in and actually cut a sump pump into the boiler room floor to get that water out. That will be a permanent solution. We're also going to have the entire road going down to the front of the school. We're going to have a ditch dug there that'll be at no charge through constellation. They'll take care of that and fill it in with rip wrap. Also, we want to take and put water sensors in that boiler room so in case it ever does start to come up because this can happen anytime, you know, day, night,
050whenever, we'll at least have a heads up that, hey, it's starting to come up. But I think we have an answer for, you know, a long-term fix. Remind me, is that switch gear on a a curb or is that actually on the floor? It's actually on the ground. Okay. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. That would have been scary for sure. Um and and we're looking at a cost to stay somewhere what under 10,000 correct for all of that. Yeah. The cost that I've gotten so far is going to be in that neighborhood. And we'll have it done of course as cheaply as we can. But it just has to be fixed because you know my guys have been in that water and I've been in it and that's horrible. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, thank you
051very much. Um, I'm trying to think the the other thing we were looking at is well, no, we we have the um insurance and covering the leak and everything that happened here. Thank gosh, because that's a mess as well. Other than that, I think that's pretty much it. Our next meeting will be June 16th. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Finance, District, Operations, and Transportation. Uh, Mrs. Guyire's not here. Um, there are no updates, but the next meeting will be March 24th at 6 p.m. Uh, personnel policy and academics. Dr. Fe, by the way, there were no meetings. I'm not aware of any. Okay. Uh, the next meeting is April 29th. Um, non-academics, athletics, and extracurricular. Mr. Shipley, we didn't have a meeting and the next meeting will be to be determined. PSBA liaison, Mr. Any
052updates? Hey, I made the list. Okay. Uh, so the PSBA did send out the state of education report. Um, if anyone would like to view that, it's on psba.org. Um, but just some highlights, I'll I'll jump through. Um, for the third year in a row, the biggest challenge faced by school leaders continue to be the student mental health needs, um, budget pressures and staffing shortage, which I know we've probably felt two of the three here. Um, on the budget pressure side, which we're talking a lot on budgets and spending right now, um, the top five uh, pressures on that, uh, 73% of schools reported uh, charter school tuition payments. Um, 53% of schools did special education costs. 38% of schools inadequate state funding, 32% healthcare increases as Pam uh has talked on before and 28%
053is facility maintenance and construction. Um so I know we got a lot of issues here, but uh we're we're not alone as we look across the state. Um a few other highlights out of that report. Mandatory charter school tuition payments um still the the top uh source of budget uh pressure and this is the sixth straight year for that. Um 77% of schools, so more than 3/4 of uh districts reported having at least one building in need of major repair or replacement. And 81% of schools uh continue to postpone renovation projects due to lack of state reimbursement. And then the uh final one I'll throw out is more than 80% of school districts reported experiencing a scarcity of qualified mental health care providers. Um which is a biggest uh challenge in connecting students with the
054care they need. as we've talked a few times here before. Um, so all that's available in more detail as well as they published a very nice video to kind of give you a brief overview of it on psba.org. Mr. I'll add to that that um at the end of February, the auditor general released a report on cybercharter funding. Well, actually, um, cyber charter um, tuition and misuse of funds, um, which shed a lot of light as to where everyone's taxpayer dollars are going, uh, in a, um, system that is not accountable to anything. So, um, I was in a PARS meeting with other superintendent on it. Uh, and I actually organized a meeting with the other superintendents with, uh, Senator Stfano's, uh, district, which encompasses a couple of our districts here in West Morland, uh,
055all of FET, all of Somerset County, and all of Bedford County. Uh I plan on having a meeting with all the superintendents with Senator uh Senator Stfano to talk about that auditor general's report um to advocate for cider cherbor uh cyber charter um reform in the state budget because it is um it is an issue in terms of not only where do our funds go but in terms of uh improper invoicing of school districts that we need to uh we need to get some relief fund here at the at the local level. So, if we're talking about advocacy at all, um if you could advocate for anything with any of um representatives or senators, advocate for that cyber charter reform because if we would fix the cyber charter reform here at South Morland, um your
056concerns, Mr. Reiper, of what our budget would be would go away. There's an interesting page in here. There are 50 states in the union. Pennsylvania is the fifth from the highest, the fifth highest state where the bulk of the money comes from local revenue, not from state revenue. Our revenue comes from our people, our taxpayers. We're the fifth in highest in the nation depending on local revenue. I I would like to say I'm glad you brought that up. Um, as far as our per people expenditures go here at South Morland, our per people expenditures are lower. Um, once again, I like to highlight the good stuff we do here. Our per people expenditures here are lower than the state average by far. Yeah. Speaking of Pam, if you don't mind, um, what do we pay
057in tuition for one student for say cyber charter versus one student to go to just a private school? I'll have to look at that because there there are several different rates. Unfortunately, you would think typically there should be one rate, but that's part of what Dr. Boon was talking about in the audit. They have found that there are variable rates at this point in time. And a matter of fact, we are currently working on um several right to knows asking for our PTE 363 which gives us that information on what it should be um throughout the state. So yeah, I will get that information for you. Okay, great. Thank you. I will say that the amount we play uh we pay for every special education child um is exorbitant. Yes. Yeah. Don't we have kids
058in like 11 charter schools? 10 or 11? No. Oh, there there's possibly more than that now. And one of the things they talked about at Pasbo was the fact that um whenever kids are now going and we've noticed this in our own bills because we've looked at that. We did an analysis of our cyber charter expenses maybe about a month or so ago and they had talked at Pasbo about the cyber charter basically assigning the kids to special as a special needs student when we didn't have an IEP for them whenever they were here in house. So, so therefore if they do that then obviously they can charge us more. So that's part that's part of the problem that we were talking about whenever I was out at Hershey last week. I thought you averaged
059that out one time, Pam. It was like 24,000 or something. I believe that is correct. But it but each year it goes. You said that. I know you just said it once. Yeah. Excuse me. Each year it's been steadily going up. And like I said, we we looked at that most recently. In fact, we most recently even did an analysis of our special needs kiddos just to see, you know, what we're we're paying for that in-house. We we looked at um their tuition rates. We looked at their um their rates for their OTP. We looked at all of that type information as even as well as their just to see where we were in comparison to the cyber charter. So, I can get that for you. Okay. Pam, have you talked about what the impact
060of school choice would be should it come to pass? Actually, we did not talk about that at Pasbo. That did not come up. Okay. All right. Uh, school safety and security, Mr. Yutzy. Um, we didn't have a meeting. The next meeting will be April 22nd. Student reports. March spirit and scholar winners will be announced at the next board meeting. Um, senator for a day. Sophomore students participated with other school districts in the Senate for the day. Seminar for future leaders hosted by Senator Pasano. The seminar gives students an opportunity to take on the role of senators to see how the legislative process works. Students are divided into Senate committees to discuss bills, take positions on legislation, draft laws, and meet in full session to present, debate, and vote on the legislation drafted by the various
061committees. Rather than reading about the process, they get to be a part of it, helping shape the policies and laws that affect their own lives. Thank you to all the panelists and Senator Sander for hosting this event. World Affairs Institute Youth Changemakers sophomores and students Elizabeth Boon and Alexis Older participated in the 54th annual World Affairs Institute's Youth Changemakers event at Carnegie Melon University. Designed to engage young minds in critical thinking about global and local issues. The event featured interactive sessions, workshops, and discussed panels. Students explore topics of global significance, examined Pittsburgh's role in the international economy, and discuss what the city has to offer on a global stage. They also consider how youth can shape the region's future. A special thank you to the Scottdale Rotary for sponsoring this event. Interact Club community support.
062Over the past month, the Interlac Club has collected nearly 300 pounds of spaghetti noodles to support the Roads Cancer Foundation Spaghetti Benefit and the Williams Spaghetti Benefit. The initiative brought together students and teachers in a meaningful event to support former South Morland alumni facing health challenges. Gifted Coalition Vocal and Dance Competition winners. Congratulations to Renee Bersford for earning first and Caitlin Raymond for earning second place in the annual gift coalition vocal and dance competition held on Friday, March 14th. Their hard work and talent shined in the prestigious event. Student council is in the process of planning the American Red Cross pledge ride which will take place April 15th at the high school. This is open to uh students aed 16 and older and staff within the school district. That's all I have. Thank you. Thank
063you. As always, if you'd like to go, you you may. Thank you. Thank you. Our next section is school board meeting minutes. The board has asked to approve the following meeting minutes. February 18th, 2025 discussion voting meeting. I need a motion. So moved. Need a second. Second discussion. All those in favor? I I I opposed. Next section is policies. The board has asked to approve the following policies that have been posted for over 30 days. So moved. Second. Discussion. All those in favor? I I opposed. No. Next section is personnel. Personnel log. The board has asked to approve the personnel love for March 18th, 2025 as attached. All salaries are included and all clearances are current and on file with the administration. So do second discussion. Yes. Um can I can I ask why we
064put the leave on there for people who are taking FMLA? Like is that necessary? I I just I don't feel that that's anyone's business. Well, so um it it tends to be pretty typical for boards for it to be board approved so that it can be tracked and some places will acknowledge it. Other places approve it. So it's already gone through administrative approval by the time it gets to the board. What was her question? What did you ask? Yeah. Why are FMLA leaves um based on the agenda? I just think that that's something that can be discussed in like executive but I just don't feel that that's the public knowledge for anybody. I mean I understand no names are done there nothing like that but right I just don't see where it's anybody's business of
065anybody who takes FMLA leave. Typically, any leaves of absence that are uh that relate to your employees end up on the board's agenda so that there's some method to track those leaves and to make sure that the board's aware of them and approves them. Are you saying that should be kept a secret from us? We should not know that. No, I didn't say that at all. I said that I don't believe that it should be the public public knowledge. But as you noted, there's no we don't attach names. It's employee numbers and we don't put put the condition on. So it's it's really just the granting of the leave. That's all. All right. Thank you. Welcome. Uh musical staff. Oh, we didn't I don't think we Oh, I'm sorry. Voting. All those in favor? Opposed?
066Musical staff and compensation. The board will be asked to approve the following additional 2024 2025 staff for the SHS musical All Shook Up. So moved. Second. Discussion. All those in favor? I opposed. Create teaching positions. The board has asked to approve the creation of new professional teaching positions starting in the 2025 2026 school year per the SEAC CBA agreement pending adequacy grant funding. Uh one is family and consumer sciences. Two is media and communications. So do second discussion. Yeah, I have that. Go ahead, sir. That grant is that revolving grant every year or is it a one-time once we hire? That's supposed to be happening every year, but it's written in the in the job description as pending um continued adequacy funding grant. If the grant goes away, those positions go away. Correct. And that's
067what's written in the job description. Okay. Just trying to Is that for any particular building? These are both for the high school. Both for the high school. Okay. I have some questions, but they're I think they're related to G education, the new courses, and they they relate to this. So, I I guess I'll just wait and talk about it later then because I don't I don't know which one this includes. Yeah, there's there's nothing else in this agenda that has anything to do with these two positions. So, would those be would they be considered electives? Yeah, they are electives. Yeah, they're electives. Okay. Okay. And the the course requests for both positions are very high. Okay. Gotcha. It's amazing whenever you ask kids what they want. Imagine that. And they actually choose it how that
068works. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um all those in favor? I opposed. Next section is education student discipline agreements. The board has asked to approve the following student discipline agreements number 2024 202504. So do second discussion. Quick quick question and for the next board meeting would be fine, but can we get a breakdown of possible um drug use and that type of related um things like this that we've had in statistics? Yeah. Statistics um over the last year or two just to understand how much this is actually impacting the school. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I know that every I think June, every June we do a school safety and security report that we're required to do by That's right. by law and we'll do that in executive. Is is that okay? Yeah. Okay. Yep. Thank you. Do we
069get a copy of those results? Well, so I I mean I will say that that many of my clients that report is provided verbally or it's provided in a a paper form but then collected back because there is confidential student information on it. So we will get it yes in some form. um is this is something I had brought up I think maybe my first year or second year on the board about possibly bringing in different I guess organizations to come and speak. Sure. Um we're still working with um Trooper Allen I can't remember if state police um or not. I think it's out of state police in order to come in and work with our um our teachers and our students on a a a new type of drug program. Uh it's something we've
070had in the hopper all year long. We haven't been able to get it off the off the ground yet, but it's still something we're working with um the West Willing County Department of Human Services to make happen. Okay. I truly believe cuz with that and I mean I don't know about anybody else but there's been plenty you know recovering addicts and addicts but the main component of it is mental health. That's the main component. So is there something that we can moving forward whether it's soon or later like you know integrate those two together? That's a great idea. Um, I will tell you that we still have one more year of our uh, building stronger connections grant which funds our mental health suites here in the district. Um, so after next year, we're going to
071need to try to find a space in the budget to to pay for those services that our students are taking advantage of right now. But, um, tying those two things together is a great idea. Okay. Yeah. When you have those drug programs, is there any way that you can determine whether they work or can you evaluate them or do we never know what the deal is? Um I am all about measuring how well we do things. Um I have a hard time thinking about how you would measure the successfulness of one program versus another. I'd have to think on that one a little bit. you could ask for student if I can add it's just like recovery you either want it or you don't and no matter what program but I think any program is
072useful no matter what any program will reach someone so I I mean it's it's all about what you you put into it too I will add it may not be a bad idea once we we do partner with some new resources to ask those students who have lived through what we had here for years versus what's something new look like? What is more what they feel was more effective? I don't I don't think it would be hard to do that kind of survey. Have we ever thought about having anybody who's in recovery or who's ever been in recovery to come and talk about their own personal life? I can't that's something that I haven't been in a conversation with. I don't know administratively if they have had or not, but it's something this might be
073something to think about. Yeah, our um we had a student group in previous districts. Um your mother's against drunk driving or in our case it was students against drunk driving that would always bring in every they did it every fall before the prom. I mean every spring before the prom. I'm so happy that they so they would they would bring it in and then uh two weeks later they would do the the mock disaster drill and it would all be part of it. So um but I I know that we don't necessarily have those student groups here. So, um, listen, what's the name of that test that, um, they give the kids? They ask them if their parents drink and all that stuff. You know, it's, uh, some people don't want their kids to take
074it. What's the name of that survey? That would be the pay survey, I think, is what you're talking about, but I'm not sure. What is it? I would say it's the pays survey. Do we do that every year? We do not do that here. No, we have done it here, though. I mean, I know that I I know that in the past, prior to me being hired here, um it was something that was argued at board sessions about. Well, I just wondered if that's a source of information. It was I think it's a HEPA violation. It's not a lot of people, but it was brought up and it was very heated at the time uh to not do so. Okay. All right. I I I know that there was I I can't remember the exact
075board member that brought it up about we can't be asking parents or students these questions. Yeah. But they as the kids, do you drink? Do you take I'm fairly certain that that the conversation that happened at the board level whenever I was working at the IU at that time from this board was there were one or two of you that said absolutely not. We should not be asking our students or our parents to do the survey. And like I said, a lot of parents did not want their kids to take it because they felt it was very intrusive, you know. All right, back to the agenda item. Um, student discipline agreements. The board has asked to approve the following student discipline agreements 2024 202504. I have a motion and a second. Correct? Great. Okay. All
076those in favor? I opposed student service agreements. The board has asked to approve the following annual student service agreements. The Meadows Psychiatric Center effective 2025 26 26 27 27 28 So do second discussion. All those in favor are the are those stable rates for all three years or are they subject to increase? Cuz usually I thought we did this by the year. This is three years. Yeah, they gave us three years worth of rates if I'm not mistaken in that agreement. Oh, three years of rates. Okay. So we know what we're voting on. Yeah. Yeah. All those in favor? I opposed. Private industry council prek counts. The board has asked to approve the 2526 agreement with private industry council prek counts. So moved. Second. Discussion. Are they is that where they use our classrooms? Correct.
077They use one of our classrooms at SCES. At SCES. Yes. Thank you. All those in favor? I opposed. Approval, excuse me, approval of new courses. South Morland Middle School. The board has asked to approve the following new courses. Descriptions are attached. So moved. Second. Discussion. Yeah, I went back and looked at the PEOS scores at the high school and if I remember them correctly last time I saw them, we haven't had growth PEOS growth at the high school for years, number of years. I don't think that's entirely accurate. Um, again, it's just I'm just looking at the documents that I had. Sure. Probably last year. But, you know, I'm very concerned about education and academics and um I was very surprised when I saw this list of new courses. Um, Confident Voices, Exploring Drama, Pagetocreen,
078Music Technology, On Broadway, Scotty News Network, Scotty Town, Pianoiana Studio, Singing Sensations. I only saw three academic. Human Anatomy, Exploring Science, and Current Events. It looks like to me one through 22 are all academic. What did you say? It looks to me all one through all 22 are all academic. I I will add that these courses are all for the middle school. All for the middle school. And these are elective. These have nothing to do with the high school. On Broadway is academic. Yeah. Why can't that be educational? Okay. I'm sorry. I have a different concept of what academics consist of. That's fine. And that's okay. Yeah. Yeah. These are everybody else. These are all um courses at the middle school to be offered during the students elective blocks. This has nothing to do with
079the high school and this won't interfere with you know the four main subjects. Correct. Absolutely not. Lovely. I I will say that there is no secret that we are fighting an attendance epidemic not just here but everywhere. Um yeah when you can go to cyber charter and there there is a reason why we are trying to do things differently to try to inspire students to want to come to school more to take stuff that they want to take and this is another um this is another way where we are trying to reach out to to students and to families uh at their interest level to make them want to come. Um, specifically, it was brought up in our comprehensive plan that we need to do better with attendance. Um, and if we continue to do
080the same thing we've always done, we're going to continue to get the same results. Okay. Uh, what are we on the vote? Yep. Yes. All right. All those in favor? I I opposed. No. Next section is finance monthly board treasures report. The board has asked to approve the treasurer's report as attached. So moved. Second. Second. Discussion. All those in favor? I opposed. General fund board summary report. The board has asked to approve the general fund board summary report as attached. So do second. Discussion. All those in favor? I opposed. Fund accounting, capital fund, and food service check summary listing. The board has asked to approve the fund accounting, capital fund, and food service check summary listing as attached. So moved. Second. Discussion. All those in favor? I opposed. General obligation bonds. The board has asked
081to adopt a resolution as presented by bond council authorizing the issuance of general obligation bonds in an amount not to exceed $19 million in accordance with the provisions of the local government unit debt act for the purpose of providing funds for capital improvements under a guaranteed energy savings agreement with constellation energy corporation. So do second discussion. I'd like a roll call on this. Roll call, please. So it's on record. Roll call that I have some concern. Am I allowed to discuss? Yeah, it's the discussion portion. Mhm. I went through the list of things provided by constellation and nothing on that list pertains to e education or academics. Nothing. Yes. So this is $19 million and there's no education component. We generally don't borrow money to pay for education. We have that set aside already in
082the budget. These items are just too large for our yearly budget. So that's why it's not going so well, Dwayne. It's not going so well. And I think if we're going to borrow money, first of all, it should be for educational purposes. But secondly, we are kicking our taxpayers teeth in. We're already a state that has the highest levels of local taxes. And I guess we just skim this over $32.5 million. Oh, that's chump change. Well, it's not to me. And I have tremendous sympathy for people. Somebody's going to lose their house out there. And it won't be more. It will be more than one. We constantly have people wanting to uh take the assessment appeals. Less money. Less money. There is these are 100% local effort. Not one dime is given to help any
083of any of this money that you're voting on tonight. And like I said, we're uh $16,500,000 in debt from debt from bills, I'm sorry, from loans that were made years ago that are still not paid. And it's just a broken down building. It's computed. It just it's a snowball. And and if and in a few years, if you need something, you're just going to borrow it again and it'll just keep getting bigger and bigger. When we went to that meeting, uh Sam and I came, we had a list of those those things that were on that constellation thing and we had a plan where you could look at it over a long range period of time, pay as you go, do them in order of of what was absolutely necessary now and down to where
084it's uh just aesthetic stuff that wasn't even discussed. It was uh not even discussed. Yeah. Uh you I like I said in that meeting, I'll say it in this meeting, you're about 20 years too late with that plan. So 20 years ago, great idea. Now it's it's too late. 20 years ago, they borrowed down the road too long. We're paying on a loan from 20 years ago. We kicked the can down the road too long. And now this board has to pay the piper. Dwayne, we're still paying when they they borrowed this money years ago. I think some of this debt goes back to 2009 when they opened these schools. Okay. We're not even paying these bill these debts off and we're borrowing more and more and more and more. And there's only so many
085places you can get money. The the the contribution rate from the state is 0.0000.0000. It's all across the page. We are saddling people with this 30 32.5 million debt in in a in a relatively poor community. We are not considered a wealthy community. Okay. What do we got? Motion in the second. Roll call. Roll call, please. Mr. Zippeter, no. Mr. Yutsy, yes. Dr. F. No. No. And I do want it recorded in there that the reason I am voting no is primarily because I was given false information. And as a board member, I had the right to more accurate information. I found out about the $19 million whenever the agenda uh picked up my agenda. It was supposed to be 135. Mr. Whoa, whoa, wait. That That's That's false. What you said is false. What
086you said is false. It is 135. Actually, no, it's not 135. It's 13,350. Can we amend this item then to say 135? Nicole, you said 19 million. This 19. You said 135. We're in the middle of a vote. We are in the middle of a vote. Well, why lie to people? Why Why continue to allow a lie? Understand? I I see the narcissism. It's It's horrible. All right. Um Mr. Friend. Uh yes. Mr. Graiac. Absolutely. Mrs. Oier. Yes. Mr. Olsen? No. Mr. Shipley? Yes. And 5 to8 or sorry 5 to three. Thank you. Next section is building grounds and security wireless districtwide radios. The board has asked to approve the purchase of district-wide radios from Westcom wireless budgeted and paid for by the 2024 2025 PCCD grant. So moved. I'll second it. Discussion. What's PCC?
087Um PCCD is the statewide grant for um health and physical safety that happens every year. Um Pennsylvania crime Pennsylvania Commission on Crimes and Delinquency. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you. But yes, the these are four radios that could work across our campus. So if we have something that's happening at the high school, our security staff, administrative staff, counseling staff um has uh can hear it over here on this campus and vice versa. as well as we have um areas of our buildings that even if we're in the same building, our current radios uh you can't hear on opposite sides of the building. You know, years ago um we had a a board president who brought up the issue of we had like 35 cell phones out there. I would think that these radios would
088be more efficient to communicate from building to building, especially in an emergency. Yeah, in an emergency, these are they will tell you that these are 10 times better than more so than cell phones. Yes. So, I think this is a good thing. So, quick question. Um I know that we were given or um gifted, I guess you could say, radios from East Huntington Fire Department. I don't know if it was East Huntington or Scott. I can't remember which one, but yes. Yeah. So, is is there what's what happened to those? Uh we still have them. They just don't function how we need them to function. How we need them to. Okay. So, this this includes like the whole system basically. Everything. Repeaters, everything. Yeah. Um, Mr. Kefir, you want to Yes, Mr. Come on up
089and explain it to us, please. Actually, the radios that were uh donated by the Scottdale uh fire department and also Norvelt at one time, okay, they're actually antiquated. These new radios, six of them will also connect directly to West Morland County 911. However, those radios are only to be used by school police officers. Gotcha. Okay. All right. Thank you, Mr. Keeper. All right. I got the second. We're ready for the vote. All those in favor? I opposed. Next section is athletics activities. No items for this month. Final section is closing exercise. I apologize when it says about athletics and activities. I think maybe something we should add in or if we can at least discuss it would be the field this we discussed it in our buildings and grounds at our last meeting and we
090had already established that we have the money for that. Yes. That's already been that's not new money. No. Correct. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What did you say? That's it. I couldn't hear what did you say the money was for what? For the field. Yeah. 395,000's borrowed. What? 395,000 of that we're still paying interest on. Actually, that that the amount of that that money left over is still part of the the bond. We're actually talking about refinancing tonight or we talked about refinancing for that 4. So, we're still paying interest. Still paying interest. Okay. Okay. Let's do this. Sure. Last section is closing exercises. I apologize. Yep. Citizens comments. Can I ask a question? Can you go to the microphone? Yeah. Thank you. Well, so just to be clear, it's comment, so it's not I can't
091guarantee you're going to get an answer question. You can ask a question, but you may not get an answer tonight. I mean, if people need to do research or look at things, but you will get an answer at some point. How much is a millage increase going to be? You're going talking all this money. Do you have any idea what it might be that you're going to raise the mills and taxes because the biggest part of this school district are farmers and older people and it's very understanding how why people are interested in the millage rate. It might go up. I know it's got to go up, but what is it? Since you're they're talking about borrowing this money and everything else, do you have an idea? According to Mr. Fund, it doesn't have to
092go up. Hey, what? According to Mr. Fund, it doesn't have to go up. That's not what I said, but thank you for misquing me. It seems to be along the lines of the only information you have. Oh, hi. Can you go with the board has to pre pass a preliminary budget um in all likelihood at its April meeting and so the board is still working on its budget. I will have a I will have a better idea on the 24th, Mr. Bisel. Um I can tell you that we did vote in January not to go above the index. Okay. What's the MA? Do you remember what the max of that index is? Just I wish I wish to God I did cuz I know you and I both looked at it. I feel like it
093was 5.7 max was five or something. 5.7.6 was the max you said under act one under act one. Yes. 5.7 mills. What is the index? You know 5.7 5.7. Okay. Thank you. Yep. Thank you. Any other citizens comments? So, I'm just going to touch upon a couple things that happened throughout the meeting. Um, I came up at the beginning and just asked if please make sure you make an educated vote. Um, I saw a bunch of you write down when they said about the local government unit debt act. So, if that's something you want to research, don't you think you should have done it before you cast your vote? Because I know that not all of your questions were answered. So, now you're locked in, but you still have questions. That's all I asked for
094that. Um, as for Dr. Boon brought up that the turf was going to start at the beginning of June. It was going to be 16 to 18 days. Um the buildings and grounds meeting discussed that everything was necessary between the lighting, the scoreboard. Is that going to be complete before the turf is done? Because you said that needed done so you don't disrupt the turf. So we have a timeline for all of that stuff before June. We do. Okay. Um the solicitor said if we ask questions, they might not be answered because they need researched. Well, clearly we don't research everything we vote on. So, I don't know why you can't answer questions. And then about the attendance thing, this is old news, but I need to bring it up because it did um affect
095a lot of local or a lot of our students. The board chose to change the schedule where we are now coming midweek of our West Morland fair. Um Stephanie Guyire made a post on Facebook that Dr. Boon pulled 4 families and that's why that decision was made because most of our students go to FET. I want to tell you that I had four of four students in 4 at West Morland County. I was never called, never pulled. The correct way to have addressed that would have been to call the extension office because when we sign up um they ask us what school district we are in. So I would have called West Morland or I would have called FET and they could have gave you historical data data from last year because this year is
096still open enrollment. Correct. I did. You did? Okay. Well, that's false information that one of your board directors put on Facebook. So, just to let you know, but she also said that you had talked to a couple 4 families and I know quite a few that weren't addressed. So for your attendance issue, it's probably going to be down the first week because a lot of students, they put blood, sweat, tears, a lot of money. It it is a costly project. So I would expect that there's going to be quite a few missing that first week. Those absences will be excused. Correct. That is correct. Yes, they're absolutely excused through the state because it's a 4 thing. However, you're still not going to have the seats and or the attendance because they probably will miss And
097that's all I have. Thank you. And I've got a general question and it's fine if we uh discuss it next meeting, but um the gentleman brought up a good point about the air conditioning at the primary center. Have we evaluated that previously? Sorry. Um in terms of cost for air conditioning in that building, not in my time here. Um it's something we can certainly look at. Okay. I mean it's the the board at some point will need to make a decision on SPC for sure. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Yep. I need a motion to adjurnn. Motion second. All those in favor? I I opposed. Mr. did attorney did going to bring up some your wife's going to kill you or your knees are going to Oh.