001Good evening. I'd like to call the Monday, March 23rd, 2026 Springford School District board meeting to order. Please rise for the pledge. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The Springford Board of School Directors believes the community has the right to bring before the board issues and concerns they may have about items on the agenda or about items in general which affect the district or their children. Because of this belief and philosophy, the board will schedule a time at the beginning and conclusion of every meeting to have an opportunity for community members to share their concerns with the board. At the start of the
002meeting, members from the public may comment on agenda items only. The school board will move through the meeting agenda. Then at the end, when prompted, there will be a time for public comment. This meeting is being filmed to be broadcast on community cable channels and online. Individuals intending to make public comments should be aware that they are being filmed. Speakers will be asked to state their name in the area in which you reside before your comment. Good evening everyone. Thank you for being with us today. Mrs. Schmidt, could I please have a roll call? In person tonight, we have Dr. Chararma, Mrs. Herman's, Mrs. Deerorf, Dr. Wright, Mrs. Westwood, Mrs. Yut, Mr. Lackey, Mrs. Wine Garden, and online via Zoom, we have Mrs. Goldsmith. Thank you so much. Um, I do have an announcement that
003the board held an executive session today at six o'clock to discuss personnel. Um, and then before we proceed with our first item of business, I would like to request an amendment to today's agenda. Due to administrative oversight, the reports for the community relations personnel, Western Center Joint Commission, Montgomery County Legislative Committee, Pennsylvania Schoolboard Association, Spring City American Legion, and the Superintendent reports were inadvertently omitted from the printed agenda. At this time, I would like to entertain a motion to amend the agenda to include these committee reports so that they may be read and entered into the record. Do I have a motion? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Any oppose? Okay. So, that motion passes. I think we need to vote on it. I think we had a motion and a second. I
004don't think we have a All those in favor say I. I. I. I. I. Any opposed? Thank you. Mrs. Goldsmith, what is your vote? I. Thank you. Motion passes 90. Next up, we have public to be heard. This is on agenda items only. Um, at this part of the meeting, the public may comment on these agenda items only. The school board will move through the meeting agenda and then at the end, when prompted, there will be a time for public comment. In order to meet the requirements of Pennsylvania's Sunshine Law, it's necessary to record the names of all citizens who speak to the board during the meeting and the township in which they reside. Public comment is limited to the residents of Springford Area School District. Those who are making a comment are asked to
005limit their comments to three minutes to allow time for all those who wish to speak to the board. The board president, myself, may ask an individual to yield the microphone to the next speaker. So, if anyone would like to make um public comment on agenda items tonight, you can step to the podium. if you could just hit the button and then it'll Good evening. My name is Kathy Tumulty and I live in Limmerch Township. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you. For the past 29 years, I have been proud to call myself a member of the Springford community. My four children all graduated from Springford. And for the last 15 years, I have also been proud to serve this district as a Custer's garage school bus driver. I understand that the recent decision
006regarding the transportation provider was ultimately a business decision. However, I was deeply disappointed by the manner in which this information was shared with the Springford community. The announcement was made publicly before Mr. Warren Ley Jr., the owner of Kuster's Garage, was given the opportunity to speak directly to his 160 plus employees. That lack of consideration was disheartening. After nearly third or three decades of pride of being in this community, I now find myself simply a disappointed member instead. This could have and should have been handled more decency and respect. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Is there anyone else that would like to give public comment tonight? Okay, seeing none, we'll move on to presentations. Tonight we have two presentations. Uh the first being our 71st annual National Merit Scholarship Competition recognition and then
007we will do our student athlete proclamation. So I'll bring up Mr. Jones, um, 12th grade house principal to recognize the following students. Hi, good evening everyone. Um, so I'm Mr. Jones. I'm the house principal for the class of 2026 and we are very soon going to be graduating here from Springford. But before we do that, back in October, I was here uh with 11 of our students who were named National Merit Semi-finalist. Uh, they're in the National Merit program. They were semi- finalists. So, we're back tonight to recognize our finalists. All 11 of our semi-finalists were chosen as finalists. So, uh we're here to recognize them tonight. Um they were chosen in the National Merit Program based upon their preliminary, uh SAT score that they took in either 10th or 11th grade. Um and they
008are among uh only 15,000 high school seniors in the nation to receive this honor. That's less than 1% of the population. and um they are the ones that were deemed the highest scoring in the state. Of the 15,000 finalists, approximately 60 uh 6,870 will be selected as monetary scholarship winners. So, our students, the 11 that we have here from Spring Forward uh have the opportunity to get scholarships for college. I do know of one of our students that was awarded a scholarship. We were notified about that, which is exciting. uh the scholarships roll out over time so it's not like it's just like one day and everyone's announced they're announced and over that so uh we're really proud of these students some of them are here tonight so I would like to call all of
009our national merits finalists that are here in the audience to come up so we can kind of recognize them and uh get a picture and everything so um I know I've seen a few of them here I'm going to read all of their names if I read your name come on up first is Ni Fataher Uh, second is Prenal Atilli. Third is Khloe Chen. Fourth is our board rep, Anukica Gupta. Um, Max Lebara, uh, Alina Lee, Bargav Medisani, Namya Pathamarum, Benjamin Raichel, Arouche Sha, and Andrew Yu. [applause] So, here tonight we have Alina, Anukica, Namya, Arouch, and Andrew. Uh, we were supposed to do this presentation last week, but like the tornadoes and everything intervened. So, I'm grateful that they were able to be here tonight after we had to reschedule everything. So, congratulations to
010all of them, and uh we'll be keeping the community involved once we know uh which of our students were awarded money through the program. Great. Congratulations, Thank you so much. Congratulations. We're so proud of you. So, next up, uh, we'll have Dr. Kelly DPRO Edwards, uh, to commend the following winter sports teams. And oh, Dan, we'll have Mr. Muscavage, the athletic director, do it. I wasn't here last week, so Dr. Edwards was filling in for me, so I'm here now. So, thank you very much for having us. Thank you. wrestlers, come on up. Um, we are honoring our winter pack district and state finalists for the winter season. We had a very successful season. We're starting off with our boys wrestling team. Head coach Doug Landis, assistant Mike Boo, Jack McIll. We had Crew Jackson
011who was a pack champion at 121 lbs and Mason Richards who was a pack champion, a district 1 champion at 189 lbs and a PIAA state qualifier who ended his spring forward career with 111 wins. Congratulations crew and Mason. Next we have boys swimming. Boy swimming had a very successful season both individual relay as well as the team. Head coaches AJ Krupa, assistants Logan Washburn and Kristen Callahan. First off, we had our boys 200 medley relay pack champions Jake Comp, Jack Herple, Justin Delp, and Connor Hood. Some of these guys are going to be in a couple of these, so I'll just keep on going. Boys 400 freestyle relay, Justin Delp, Jake Comp, Dylan Morlock, and Connor Hood. Also pack champions, the boys 50 freestyle, Justin Delp, pack champion. And the boys swimming and diving
012team, the swimming and diving team or pack tri champions with a record of nine and one. The members that are not up here that are still over here. Kashave Shudari, Ashton Heinesman, Connor Hood, Brandon Burgess, Ryan Tai, Justin Delp, Nathan Feto, Clayton Heinesman, Jack Herple, Dylan Morlock, Connor Stfler, Jacob Comp, and Trevor Comp. Congratulations to our boys swimming and diving team. While they're going through, we had some additional uh statistics and information. Six members of this year's boys team competed at the state championship meet in which junior Justin Delp earned all state honors with an eighth place and a 14th place finish and the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle. During the championship meet, Justin broke a total of five spring forge school records. Also during the meet, the relay team of senior Jake Comp, juniors
013Dylan Morlock and Justin Delp, and freshman Connor Hood earned 11th place in the 400 freestyle relay and broke the school record by two seconds. So, congratulations. And last but not least, we have our boys basketball team coached by Joe Dempsey, assistant coach Dan Core, Todd Llewellis, Fran Quinn, Andrew Swanson, and GT Puffco. Boys finished the regular season with a 9 and4 record. Won they had to go the hard way, win the quarterfinals, semi-finals, and the championship game to be pack champs. So members of our team are freshman Noah Alustin, freshman Flynn Mullins, sophomores Preston Chen, Braden Dixon, Michael Gabber, Leonard Jackson III, Christian Thomas, Carter Wickerssham. Juniors Finn Heler, Chase Kner, Matteo Magazolo, Declan Plate, Bryce Robinson, Jackson Wickersam, and seniors Sai Barnes, Jack Kennedy, Ethan Jacovo, and Blake Turner. Guys, just make a row
014right here in front. We'll just get that big quick picture. Oh, and the managers, my apologies. Managers, come on up, ladies. Sophie McCambell, Aaron Kelly, and Cheyenne Roberts, the unsung people that do all the work every day at practice. Okay, thank you very much and congratulations to the boys basketball team and thank you all for your time. Hopefully we'll be seeing you in the spring. Have a great night. Thank you so much, Mr. Muscavage. So, next we're going to move on to section five, board and committee reports. First up, we'll have community relations with Mrs. Wearten. Thank you, Mrs. President. The community relations committee met on March 3rd in the district office conference room. Andrew Rothermo, coordinator of media communications, opened the meeting with a recap of RCTV's winter coverage, highlighting both spotlight videos and
015live event productions. He also provided an update on the cablecast project, which will restore RCTV's availability on Verizon and Comcast while also expanding access through smart TV platforms such as Apple TV and Roku. So, there will be no excuses for you to miss uh all of these programs on your TV soon. Looking ahead to this summer, Andrew shared that he and Rich will lead AV upgrades in the Herda Learning Center and the 567th building gymnasium along with minor updates in the cafeteria. These projects will be funded through the communications budget as well as the EITC funds. Miss Crew provided an update on the parent square platform. She noted that spring forward still ranks first out of 101 similarly similarly that's a hardware sized sized school districts in their in their benchmark measurements. She also shared
016that parent square has the capability to support a family communication plan in the event that Senate bill uh 1014 proposing a statewide ban on cell phones in schools is enacted. While this feature is not currently active, it can be implemented fairly quickly if it is needed. And that's if it's needed. The committee also spent a significant portion of the meeting reviewing uh the WCAG2.1 level doubleA standards. It's also referred to as ADA compliance in digital. Districts serving more than 50,000 residents must comply by April 24th, 2026, with smaller districts required to meet the standard by April 2027. These requirements apply to all digital content, including learning management systems, PDFs, third-party vendor tools, and Springford is actively working toward the earlier 2026 deadline to prepare for this. And it is a ton of work. They have
017completed the WCAG certification, conducted multiple trainings for staff across grade levels and support roles. They participated in monthly Montgomery County digital accessibility leaders workshops. They launched the audio eye tool on the district's public website and continues to coordinate ongoing cross demi, excuse [clears throat] me, ongoing cross departmental compliance trainings. We concluded the meeting with some exciting news as spring for received statewide recognition from the Pennsylvania School Public Relations Association with 13 projects recognized. That's amazing. So, congratulations to the entire communications team on this fantastic achievement. Notably, this marks the first year that every submitted project received an award, bringing Springford's total recognitions from Pensburgh to 68 since 2015, which is super super incredible. And we are all very lucky to be the recipients of such communications. Uh, this next meeting for community relations will be
018May 5th. Thank you very much. Any questions? I don't have a question, but I wanted to do a round of applause for the communication and their awards. Uh, does anyone else have any questions for Mrs. Wearten? I did want to make an announcement back up. I got ahead of myself. There on your agenda, you'll see item four, action items. Um, we voted on those items last week, so we don't need to vote on them again. Uh, so then we will move back into section five, the board and committee reports, and have the Western Montgomery Career and Technical Center update with Mrs. Herman's. Thank you very much. So, the JOC met on Monday, March 2nd. Uh we had a presentation from our partners at GKO who happen to be here tonight for our own um capital
019plan uh update and vote but GKO was approved to uh facilitate a feasibility study for the western center. So for those that attend that school, uh the board from the three setting districts, Upper Perk, Potts Grove, and Springford, we are starting the conversations uh very similar to what we did here at Springford, trying to reimagine what that building and what those programs there can look like, how we're able to align to some goals. And that was really the conversation was like what as a JOC, as a board do we want the future of the Western Center to look like? Um and so the board members agreed to prioritize infrastructure improvements, program expansion, and particularly in the areas of looking at some, you know, potential new programs. We talked a lot about what um is kind
020of in market right now, like heavy equipment operation, aviation, mechanics. Again, all just kind of um spitballing, what uh could be, but um it was a great conversation. So that takes us to this board. So on May 4th, I mentioned this last week, there will be a full board meeting of the three sending schools. So all 27 board members will be invited to the May 4th Joocc meeting. This will start at 6:00. As always, dinner will be provided, which is a nice perk when you have um a great program, a culinary program at uh the Western Center. But the agenda will be um hearing from our partners at GKO on the feasibility study for the Western Center. We'll get an update on student application and acceptance data for the upcoming school year. We'll have a
021discussion on articles of agreement and capital reserve just introducing the board members to how funding at the Western Center may be different from what we know in terms of funding here at Springford. Um so if you haven't make sure you RSVP for your tours it was in board memo. I know Mr. Living good is looking forward to meeting with everybody. So, the next thing we talked about was we got an update on where applications for the 2627 school year stand. Um, the I believe the closing date was March 15th, but at the time of this meeting, we had 398 applications to date with approximately 60 pending signatures. So, people who are ready to uh to submit that. The highest demand programs were cosmetology, intro to medical careers, and electrical occupations. Uh so again just a
022lot of great work. Um there is no lack of demand for uh you know attending that school. I in my opinion I think it's one of the best if not the best uh career and technology centers in the area. Um and then of course the districts will be notified of acceptance students prior to the student notifications which may have already happened at this point. Um and then lastly we had two updates. So, I mentioned in February we interviewed and brought on board student representatives much like we have here at Springford. So, uh we had uh Miss Ruby Howard, one of our student reps, talking about the February 26 skills over stereotype event. We had 147 middle school participants again just speaking and and demonstrating the demand uh for you know what that school offers. And
023then Mr. Jacob Luchi who uh is really taking the charge with a student survey to understand school climate and he got some great feedback from the board. So again just a lot of good work. Any questions? No. No. Thank you. And uh Mrs. Hermans, would you like to do personnel as well? Sorry. Sure. No worries. Um so uh the personnel committee has not met since we last met in February, but I will say that um we will likely be meeting in April. Um, this time of year we meet with our support groups. And so, as I mentioned in February, we've met with our administrators, our act 93. We've met with food service, we've met with our secretaries, we've met with tech support, we've met with custodians, and I might be missing one, Mrs. Lee, so
024I apologize. Am I missing one? No, I'm good. Okay, good. So we've met with a lot of groups and um although a lot of what we discuss in personnel is covered under executive session privilege which means we don't make those conversations public what you will see public next month likely next month are the um benefit summaries for those groups. So in having the conversations with these groups we oftentimes hear some asks that need to come to the forefront and I know Mrs. Lee and her team and Mr. Frink and his team have been doing a lot of work about how we can support that. So, the one thing I will say um as it relates to personnel because I've been chairing this committee for a long time and Mrs. Deerorf and uh Dr. Wright, you've
025been on this committee for uh quite a while is that um there are some goals that we've set out for ourselves as it relates to creating consistent language among all of our groups as it um relates to making sure that our groups um have competitive salaries relative to other areas, you know, in the county. So, um, a lot of good work is being done and I look forward to talking more about that next month. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any questions for Mrs. Herman's? Okay. Next, we have our legislative update with Mrs. Yut. Thank you, Madam President. Um, good evening everyone. I just want to take a few minutes to update you on the recent school board legislative committee that was held on March 4th via Zoom. Um this meeting brought together representatives from
026several neighboring districts along with Montgomery County Intermediate Unit unit. So um and that is to stay informed and coordinated on key education issues impacting schools in our area. As Dr. Wright reported last week, one of the highlight of the meetings or one of the highlights of the meeting was to present um on the voices for education program. This is a partnership with the organization Children's First and is designed to help students learn how to effectively advocate for issues that they care about. Students in the program meet throughout the year to build skills in civil discourse and civic engagement. They even get hands-on experience like participating in a mock legislative meeting this week with county commissioners. And later this year they will be traveling to Harrisburg to meet with lawmakers. This year's program will also include
027a student led press conference at the capitol, which is a great opportunity for the student voice and for them to practice leadership skills. We also discussed plans for the upcoming legislative breakfast on March 27th. So, that's coming up this week. The event takes place and brings student um together educators and legislators to focus on important topics like school facilities. This year, in addition to district leaders, students will also be part of the conversation, including serving as moderators on a legislative panel, which is a great step toward student engagement. Another important topic discussed was the proposed state legislation, often referred to as the f um cell phone ban, which Miss Swingarten mentioned. Um, this would restrict students phone use throughout the entire school day. While the intent is to reduce distractions, there are still practical questions
028like where are the devices going to be stored and how will policies be enforced? There's strong advocacy for allowing local school districts to make these decisions in a way that best fits their communities. We also talked about efforts to modernize requirements for public notices. Currently, schools are required to adv advertise things like meetings and bids in newspapers. And there are grow there is growing support for allowing more cost-effective and timely digital options. And local superintendent have already voiced support for that change to state legislators. In terms of the state budget, there are several keys key issues to keep an eye on. The governor's proposal includes using a significant amount of one-time reser reserve funds which raises concerns about long-term sustainability. There are also questions about whether projected new revenues will f fully materialize. During the
029meeting, we also discussed funding for early childhood programs. Um there's a proposal for an increase for the ages of 3 to five, but a decrease for infants and toddlers. Both are critical stages of development and there is consensus that both should be supported. This is really important. Um the ongoing concerns including rising pension costs, the impact of property assessment appeals on school funding and uncertainty around the potential federal and state programs that could affect education funding in the future. Overall, legislators appear to be focusing more on the reducing costs rather than introducing new revenue streams. So, we expect continued discussions and adjustments as the budget process moves forward. Um, again, the legislative breakfast takes place on March 27th. The next legislative committee meeting is scheduled for April 15th at 6:00 pm via Zoom. And that
030concludes my update. Thank you so much. Are there any questions for Mrs. Y? Okay, seeing none, next up is the PSBA update, uh, which I will provide for Mrs. Goldsmith. On April 11th, PSBA is offering a virtual program called New and Advanced Required School Director Training. This training is designed to meet the PA state training requirements for all school directors. Additionally, on April 29th at noon, PSBA is offering a free webinar, the latest developments in the right to know law. This will provide an essential update on Pennsylvania's right to know law with Liz Wagenellar who is the executive director of the office of open records. And lastly, a reminder that May 4th is advocacy day. Any questions? I'm okay. Uh next up, we have the Spring City American Legion update with Mr. Lackey. Thank you.
031I've got a quick update today. Just two things to bring back to the board. The first is this past Saturday, Legion volunteers gathered at Ram Stadium to install the updated outfield signage. And coming up soon, uh the fence top safety covering will be replaced at Ram Stadium. This is the first time the covering has been replaced since its original installation, and the Legion is fully funding the project at $4,100. Our next meeting is this Thursday, and that's all I've got. Thank you so much. Uh next, we'll have our superintendence report with Dr. Scammer. Sure. Thank you very much. Uh this is my last meeting en role as interim superintendent here in Springford and I would be remiss if I didn't thank the school board uh the staff, the parents, the community and the students for
032all that they've been doing to move spring forward uh ahead all year long. Every week I received invitations from teachers about the creative things that were happening in the classrooms. uh in my very first day in August, I had the pleasure to work with the entire administrative team as part of a summer planning session uh and a professional development session. Uh I knew that this was a strong and collaborative team uh based on the high level discussions and all the laughter that took place that day was a very good start. The parents here are very supportive of the schools and the programs and they aren't afraid to express their opinion on several topics. I think that's a good thing because those discussions often led to growth and will lead to growth in a system. I
033spent a lot of time with the central office cabinet members and they too provided some needed laughter especially at 4:00 in the morning when we're deciding whether or not to have school because of inclement weather. Uh it's a team of people that's not afraid of hard work and they always bring the discussion back to what is best for students as was evidenced by the development of the capital plan that was generated and based on uh program programs for students. Our students are so involved in many activities with more than 100 clubs that that take place uh the academic competitions, the sporting events. Was an honor to see some students out here tonight. Our 11 National Merit finalists, congratulations to all of them. Uh thanks to M Mr. Jones and Dr. Edwards for coming out tonight
034and presenting and sharing their stories with us. To the members of our wrestling, swim, dive teams, and basketball teams, congratulations on an outstanding team and also individual performances. Uh thank you to Mr. Mscavage for for bringing them out tonight. Our school board has really come together as work as one voice. We didn't always agree and everyone has voiced varying opinions during discussions. But at the end of those discussions, decisions are always made in the best interest of students. It's been my pleasure to work alongside all of you for these past seven months. Healthy discussions will almost always lead to better outcomes. It was especially impressive to hear all the great things happening around the district from the student lens with reports from Anakah and Jason this year. Thanks so much for your voice at the
035at the board table. Uh it's very important to have student voice and again thanks for being part of those discussions. I look forward to working with Dr. Burkhart during the transition time as he begins his tenure as superintendent on April 1st. He's excited to get started and he will serve as a collaborative leader for the school district. With a school board administrative team staff uh and a new leader in place, Springford is poised to continue its success for preparing students for life beyond the school district. So, congratulations to all the work that all of you have done uh to our community for supporting the schools and the students. Uh and again, it's been my pleasure to to be here for the past seven months. Thank you. There's there's more planned later, but wait. So, I
036have a proper proper um thank you for you coming up. So be prepared, but thank you so much. Is there anything else that you have? Okay. Uh next is our solicitor report with Mr. Fitzgerald. I have no report this evening. Okay. Thank you. Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. Okay. Next, we're going to move on to the voting portion of our meeting. So, starting with section six, minutes, items A and B. Do I have a motion? So, moved. Do I have a second? Second. Questions and discussion? All those in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? Mrs. Goldmith, what is your vote? I. Thank you. That motion carries 90. Moving to section seven, personnel items A through V. Do I have a motion? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Questions and discussion for
037personnel. Yes. Sure. Yeah. I just want to bring everybody's attention to uh four retirements this month and seems like every month we're getting more and more. Uh we have 67 years of experience uh leaving us here in the school district with Diane Allen with 22 years. Michelle Coocher seven years, Adriana Segline has 12 and a half years and and Julie Sigornovich 26 years. So a lot of experience going out the door and we thank them for all the service they provided to students. Do that. So all those in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? Mrs. Goldsmith, what is your vote? I. That motion carries 90. So, moving to section 8, finance. Separate G, please. Separate G. So, it's sections A through G. Is there anything A through F or separate G? Got it. Is
038there any other ones that you guys would like separated? Okay. So sections A through F. Do I have a motion? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Questions and discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Mrs. Goldsmith, what is your vote? I. So that motion passes. 90. Uh, next. Do I have a motion for item G? So moved. Do I have a second? Second questions and discussion. So I just asked for this to be separated because I know that there has been uh you know commentary on the note that went out this weekend, Dr. Scanland, and I wanted to give you an opportunity to to clarify. Sure. Uh this this is a recommendation for uh changing the transportation carrier and transportation agreement uh here in the district. Uh this process began
039um several months ago as as starting to look at uh renegotiating the existing contract uh and then actually sending out some requests from from other vendors to see what the market was for uh transportation services. We received four of those. Um and one was was a little bit higher than the other three and uh the three remaining were asked to provide at at that point their their best last and best uh proposal. Uh when we um looked at those three proposals, uh we were recommending first student or student over the seven years of this contract was about $1.7 million less uh than than the other uh proposals. Um, also in the contract with First Student, uh, there's some information that that that is is part of that. Uh, First Student will offer positions to all
040current drivers and monitors. That's in Custer's garage and Transnet. We do have a a second carrier also that uh will not be renewed. Um, we also offer they're going to offer positions to the current mechanics, dispatchers, and management staff of the of the current contractor uh that are in good standing with the school district. All drivers and monitors will be guaranteed five hours per day of work. Uh, first student will honor seniority of the incumbent drivers and monitors. Uh, all incumbent drivers will receive a $1,500 sign on bonus and the and the uh the bus monitors receive a $500 sign on bonus. All incumbent CDL bus drivers with two or more years experience will begin the 2627 school year at $31 per hour. All incumbent nonCDL van drivers will begin the school year at 21
041per hour and all incumbent monitors will begin at 1750 per hour. This is all part of the uh the proposal that we received. All pay rates will increase uh by a minimum of 3% for each of the uh subsequent years of the contract and all CDL uh drivers will be able to earn additional income uh through through uh some other other work with first student. So that is that was part of the proposal. Um, and again, um, we, you know, we sent something out, uh, LA, I sent a note out last night when the agenda was published, um, so that people were aware that this was going to be on the agenda tonight. Mrs. Mrs. D, I just want to add just based on what the motion says. So, right now, we we submitted on
042our end from our office some language changes to the the base contract. So that's why the contract or or the the um the motion as presented to the board is subject to final review and approval of the administration and my office. We're we're working on some some language to to ensure that we're all on the same page. Thank you. Are there any other questions and discussion on item G? I have a a clarifying question. Dr. S, I think I recall there also being some added benefits. So I go back to some of the conversations we've heard from feedback in the community. So GPS I think was one of them that was enhanced. Can you just talk about a couple of those benefits please? Yeah the uh um and one of the one of the um
043areas now is is the the actual equipment on the buses uh GPS systems following buses. Uh there are some other other pieces that were that were part of that as well with more updated equipment. Yes. Any other Yeah. Uh just to follow up on that. I think uh Mrs. Westwood, I'm I'm glad that you brought up that point there. I I guess I have two comments. Number one is I want to thank you for the proactive communication because much like I said last week, any emotion is good emotion because it shows you that the community cares and we know that our community cares about our bus. Yeah. Our students care about their drivers and that experience of getting them home to and from school is very important. So, I love the fact that you outlined
044what this will mean for the drivers and monitors and ultimately what this means. You know, you you heard it right. It it's talking about sign on bonuses. We're talking about increases in hours. So, I know that there was I think when that that communication came out some questions on like, hey, when is this going to start? It can't start until this board approves, right, the action items. So, um with that said, I just want to again thank you for the proactive communication because I think it it helps to um get ahead of that. I think it's much better to send something out like that versus having someone just pull up a public agenda and say, "Oh, well, I guess this is up for vote." So, um, again, that's one of the things I I love
045about your leadership style. I know I'm saying this on your last meeting here, so thank you very much for that. Um, and then the second thing I just want to reinforce is what I said before about personnel. You know, this board has done a lot over the years, and it's it's hard because we are in a public education field. We're not in the private sector, right? So, we're not a company who sells a product that can, you know, charge as much as a market can bear to be able to do things internally like making sure that people are fairly compensated, making sure that we are competitive, making sure that, you know, they have the resources they need to do their job effectively. But this again um really just is very much in line with what
046I was saying before which is I you know I don't like to speak for the board but I truly do feel that when it comes to um decisions like these it's not just the lowest dollar amount. It's about the student experience as Mrs. Westwood said some of those technology and GPS it's a better experience for students families and from a monetary standpoint it will be a better experience for our bus drivers. So thank you Okay. So, all those in favor for finance item G say I. I. Any opposed? I support it. I didn't vote when we did the eyes. Um, I'm getting there. Thank you. Mrs. Goldsmith, what is your vote? I. So, that motion passes 90. Moving on to section 9, programming and curriculum, sections A through C. Do I have a motion? So
047moved. Do I have a second? Second. Questions and discussion. All those in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? Mrs. Goldsmith, what is your vote? I. That motion carries 90. Uh section 10, conferences and workshops. There are none. Moving to section 11, property sections A through C. Do I have a motion? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Questions and discussion. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Mrs. Goldsmith, what is your vote? I Motion carries 90. Moving to section 12, other business. Item A is a first read. Uh, next we have items B through F. Does anybody want to separate anything? No. Okay. Do I have a motion? So move. Do I have a second? Second. Questions and discussion. Can I just ask because my connection here is not working. When
048I click on letter D, is Dr. Wright's name included in that action item. Yes, it is. Thank you very much. Um, yeah, part of these uh these motions here, the resolutions is approval of the capital plan, the 10-year capital plan. We did a uh review at the work session last week. Uh we've had several several community meetings and staff meetings uh in this process. Uh and that would that would recommend uh beginning a 10-year renovation of uh existing buildings uh as well as some additions to elementary schools that would bring on full day kindergarten uh create a 6 to8 middle school model closing or closing the eighth grade center uh in fall of 2030 uh and also uh establishing processes for for some of those that is all outlined in the plan that we provided
049last week. Uh the second resolution is uh resolution F is recommendation for GKO architects to begin that design phase uh of the first part of of the renovations that we need to do is uh it takes about a year to a year and a half to get through design and land development. So we recommend uh bringing them on. Uh they have been part of this process and they they were part of the the planning process and and analysis of our schools uh as far back as about 18 months ago. So we recommend that as well. Thank you, Dr. Scanland. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Mrs. Goldsmith, what is your vote? I. That motion carries 90. Section 13,formational items. There's one item uh for your review around tenure. Uh which brings us
050to section 14 board comment. I have two comments tonight and then I will um go around to each of you. Um the first I wanted to say is I know I shared a lot of thanks throughout this process but tonight I want to take a moment to recognize us as a team. Uh the capital plan didn't come together because of any one person. It came together through collaboration, thoughtful input, and a shared vision for our students, our staff, and our community. This is what this work is about. It's not about one voice or authoritarian decision-making. It's about true shared governance and doing this work together. The work doesn't stop here. As we look ahead to decisions around the future of the ETH grade center and beyond, as a board, we still need to keep our
051foot on the gas. we can't sit back because there's always more to do in service of our students and this community. So, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you and I appreciate each and every one of you. So, thank you guys very much. Um, moving on, tonight marks Dr. Scandlin's final meeting with us as interim superintendent. I want to take a moment to recognize your leadership and thank you for your service to Springford. From the very beginning, you stepped in with purpose and commitment. Your time with us never felt interim. You immersed yourself in our district, our people, and our work. And you led us in a way that allowed others to grow, contribute, and shine. And that kind of leadership leaves a lasting impact. You also helped carry forward the longstanding work
052of our administrative team, bringing it to an important port point of progress, including where we stand today with our capital plan. As we prepare to welcome Dr. Burkhart on April 1st, we are especially grateful that you will remain with us a little bit longer um to support a thoughtful and seamless transition. On behalf of the board, thank you, Dr. Scanland for your steady leadership, your professionalism, and your genuine investment to this community. So, we have a little something for me. No one leaves. without a great Dr. Scanland, can you can you read to me what is 3D printed on the front of that for us? Sure. Uh Dr. Jim Scanland, once a RAM, always a Ram. Springford Area School District. uh 3D printer is great because uh that is there's a lot of that happening
053here and it's part of the the STEM education that students receive and um I will I will put this proudly uh on my desk at home. Number 32. Number 32 is is the number. So that's great. Yeah. Thank you very much. That's my age by the way. [laughter] Me too. Me too. Thank you very much. To usher you out if you all want to lead me in in one. Uh we are spring for come on. Rams. Rams. Rams. So, thank you. Uh, thank you, Dr. Scandan. Do you guys want to try it again? No. No. No. No. Okay. All right. Moving on with board comment. I will start on that side of the room if anybody has anything they'd like to add. Sure. Just echo your words. Uh, Mrs. Sterdorf. Uh, Dr. Scan, I will
054highly encourage you that you come back and visit us as we progress through our capital projects because, uh, man, you did a lot in seven months. I don't think that capabilities or capacities can be really measured or looked at through the resume. Um, I'm highly encouraged and uh really happy that you came through and really helped us with this chapter. Appreciate it. Dr. Scandlin, I don't know you very well. I just started. Um, you started more recently or before I did anyway. And um you know I I really enjoyed your presence. You have a soothe, calming presence, kind presence, and you're super engaged with the community and with us. Um which um I appreciate. Thank you for the opportunity to work with you. [laughter] Um Dr. Understand I did have the opportunity to meet you
055from your very first interview. And if the comedian does not know me, I am not a warm and fuzzy person. I am not. He just said I am not. However, I got the warm and fuzzy when I interviewed you and I was lucky enough lucky enough to have that same feeling when we interviewed Dr. Bhart. So, I'm very excited for it. And if that is any indication, Springford is going to be in great hands. I just want to thank you so much because um you know being board president when you first came on you really challenged my thinking. I am someone who likes to just put the foot to the gas pedal and go go go. And even with things like the capital plan you're like Erica I really think this is going to take
056longer than October or whatever the month. Erica I really think we need to like engage the community and you challenge my thinking in such a professional way and um you've left me better for it. So, thank you so much. Um, I mean, words don't do it justice. I just want to thank you for your time, your effort, your steady hand, your leadership, your professionalism. I want to thank you for the path that you've set us on, and I just want you to know we're going to follow through with it. So, thank you for everything. Good luck. Thank you. So, a lot of my long-term college friends are teachers, administrators, principles, and I can't tell you how many of them were like, "Oh, you get to work with Jim." And it kind of leveled me up
057on a on a social level. So, it was an honor to work with you, and I'm so glad you're staying around. Um, I really feel like in this short time I've learned so much and genuinely can I've heard from teachers how much they enjoyed having you visit their classrooms and instantly feel part of our community. So that's really special and I'm grateful. Thank you. So, uh, two quick comments. It's hard to see you. H Dr. Scandlin. First, thank you for everything. I also had the privilege of interviewing you and I immediately know that you were the right right one and I agree with what everyone said. There was nothing about the last seven months that felt temporary. You were fully invested in us and our community and our students and everyone that I spoke to
058that um got to work with you said the same thing. So, thank you so much and uh it'll be sorry to see you go, but I'm so glad that you set us up for success among many other people at this capital plan and you'll be here to help see it through. Um, secondly, just on on something we voted on tonight, um, before I joined the board, I remember sitting in the audience during a Saturday special meeting. Some of you might have been there, um, for early conversations about how we can make full day kindergarten a reality. And it's exciting to bring that full circle three years later and having the privilege to get to vote to make this along with other exciting enhancements. So, reducing transitions for students, aligning to a middle school model, moving
059fifth grade back into kindergarten, and renovating our buildings, um, and getting to see those to be a reality. I'm excited to be a part of this important work in partnership with our community, our staff, and my fellow board members. So, thank you to all of you that voted yes on that tonight. Mrs. Wearten, did you want to add something? Yes. I just wanted to add something to um thank uh Jess McCclary. She is was my son's kindergarten teacher. So my son is graduating in June. And Jess and I have talked about all day kindergarten since probably the first day I met her. And we talked about all the little aspects and we would check in with each other, see how this is going. and I joined I I decided to join the board when we
060were talking about um healthy start times which is part of this plan too. So I'm incredibly proud of all of the work that went into um this project. But I am especially excited for Mrs. McCclary and grateful for her help along the way. So I just needed to do a little shout out for that. She's awesome. She's at UPE for those who don't know her. Thanks, Jess. She's gonna be mortified. Thank you. Um, Mrs. Goldsmith, would you like to make comment? Sure. I just like to say briefly that it takes a rare person of talent who can come into an organization in such a short period of time and make such an incredible difference. And I will just say this, it is no question in my opinion that springford is better off having had you
061had be the interimm superintendent and we will at least I will be and I'm sure I try not to speak for everyone but we are all eternally grateful for your your willingness to take this on and the excellence that you performed at. Dr. Wright, thank you. And yes, thank you Dr. Scandlin um for your servant leadership. you truly embody what uh we look for in servant leader. Um you have enacted real change in this district and you have raised the bar um for all of us, not just for uh Dr. Burkhard. So thank you. All right. Thank you very much. Um I did want to also make another board comment. Um so um first of all I'd like to thank the board for entrusting me again for another year continuing as the MCIU representative. The
062continuity at the IU because there are 21 board members on that executive board there. It truly is helped by um having us continue on. So, um, and speaking to you as the MCIU rep, but also as the current president of the MCIU executive board, you may be aware that there was an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer this past week. Um, I want you to know that the IU board has not yet had the opportunity uh to confer about the alleged travel practices as we are gathering more information. The IU leadership team has been working with the solicitor and the MCIU board leadership, myself included, to formulate a process to conduct a thorough review. Although less than 1% of the IU board approved budget comes from school districts, the IU board will make will most assuredly
063develop methodologies to employ best practices and auditor recommendations to address and strengthen existing administrative employee travel controls on taking organizational sponsored trips. So, we have a lot of work ahead of us. Um, we're going to take advantage of this opportunity to move forward and to to um instill better or best practices. Our next meeting will be Wednesday and that's when our work will begin with that. So, if you have any questions at all, if anybody in the community does, please reach out to me. I would certainly be happy to talk to anyone about it. Thank you. Um, and and I want to I give uh Dr. Wright some kudos. I've had the uh privilege of of speaking with her several times since since last Thursday when all that broke and as the president of that
064board, you have done uh an amazing job leading them through some difficult discussions and some uh couple of couple things they got to address moving forward. So, thank you for that. Just thank you, Dr. Wright, for um addressing that head-on and your transparency in that process. I I appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you. Is there any other board comment tonight? Can I just ask a follow-up question because again I'm putting my foot to the gas pedal here. I'm curious now that we approved the capital plan like what's the next steps in terms of like I know we talked about um the design phase and you know will there be a need for board uh project oversight committee and board oversight like we had with Spring City Elementary? I'm just curious if that conversation is premature
065um or what your thoughts are there. Yeah, I think I think that's a little premature, but uh that doesn't mean that that won't happen. I think the first part is uh organizing with the architects uh to start looking at the uh the projects that are going to need to go out to bid roughly about a year from now. Uh and beginning that design piece, making sure that we are um putting all the bathrooms that we need in the schools uh in in you know, kindergarten classrooms. The whole goal is to prepare for K to five with full day kindergarten in fall 2029. And the first step is to build the space. So I think we start that design piece. Uh we certainly want to involve a staff in that design piece as to what what
066we might need in the buildings. Uh and then uh once we get that underway and see what you know what the architects are going to need uh at that point we uh we may want to consider an oversight committee as as part of that process. Thank you. I just uh wanted to end on a a warm and fuzzy note because now we can officially say that there are how many school districts in Pennsylvania without full day kindergarten. We're not going to be one of them anymore. Don't count us. All of Montgomery County will now have full day kindergarten since we're and across the state. I think it's only state I think there's 26 that did not. Now there will be 25. It'll be 25 joining the the ranks of uh of most everybody else of
067the 500 school districts in Pennsylvania. Thank you. Okay, thank you guys very much. Uh, next we're going to move to section 15, which is public to be heard. Uh, this portion of the meeting is open for comments on any topic and does not need to be related to tonight's agenda. Anyone wishing to speak should approach the podium, state your name and township of residence. As a reminder, in accordance with policy 903, speakers are limited to three minutes. Board comment is provided as an opportunity for public input and is not a question and answer session. Is there anyone who wishes to speak? Seeing none, do I have a motion to adjurnn? So moved. Second. I don't know. Second. A meeting ajourned.