001Good evening. Welcome to Springford Area School District board meeting. Today is Monday, September 15th. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. >> Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge alce 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 attending. Mishm, can we have a roll call? >> In person, we have Mr. Lackey, Mrs. Westwood, Mrs. Goldsmith, Mrs. Wearten, Mrs. Herman's, Mrs. Deerdorf, Mr. Jackson, and Dr. Wright. Online on Zoom, we have Dr. Chararma. >> Thank you very much. And Dr. Chararma, I will do my best to defer to
003you, but of course um if you just want to uh interject or speak, raise your hand, and I'm sure uh Mr. Pvetti will make me aware. >> Mr. I'm sorry, Dr. Scandlin, do you have any announcements for today? Uh just a couple announcements about upcoming meetings. Uh we are uh moving our our school board meeting from the 22nd of September to the 29th. Uh that's due to the Russia Shana holiday that begins at sundown uh that evening. Uh so we are advertising for that change in October. We also have a meeting scheduled on October 20th. We're moving that to October 21st. That is a work session. Uh and that is because of the Dewali holiday. And I'm also told there was a a big Halloween parade in town that evening as well. So for for
004two reasons, we will we will move that work session to the 21st and we will advertise those meetings accordingly. >> Thank you. Okay, moving on to public to be heard. This can be on uh agenda items only. So if you wish to speak, please approach a podium with your name and township of residence as well as the agenda item for which you're referencing. Seeing as that no one is approaching the podium, we will move on to our board and committee reports. And we will start with Miss Gupta and Mr. Drover with our student representative report. All right. Thank you everyone. Hope everyone has is having a wonderful beginning to their school year. Um this is our September student rep report. So starting off with our past events, we had a special board meeting on August
00520th to talk about some restructuring in the district. um some bigger decisions to be made. Um and then on August 25th, we had our first day of school for all students. Um so everybody got to come in and have their first day. Um and the district has been open ever since. And then our district was actually closed on September 1st for Labor Day. So I hope everyone had a safe travels if they were traveling or just a wonderful Labor Day weekend. Um and then we had the class of 2026 parent FPC presentation on September 3rd. There was picture day for grades 9 to 12 on September 5th. And for 12th grade, that was their ID day. And then we had ACT testing being administered here on September 6th, which was a Saturday. And then on
006September 9th, we had both the class of 2025 graduation assembly and the class of 2027 class ring assembly. Um I just realized that those dates are wrong. So there was class of 2026 graduation and then class of 2020 um 8 should have had their class ring assembly. Um, I was definitely there. It was a little scary because graduation is coming soon. Um, but yeah, it was really amazing to see the end finally. Um, we also had se we also had SAT testing on September 13th and then back to school nights for K to 12. Um, just scattered throughout the week for different elementary schools and different grades. So now I'm going to hand it off to Jason for our future events. Hello everybody. For our uh future events, on Wednesday, September 17th, we have the
007college career fair. Um on September 18th, we have the open house for grades 10 through 12. Um marching band home show will be on September 20th and there is no school for students on September 23rd for Rashashana. Um the district will also be closed on October 2nd for Yam Kapoor and on September no sorry uh October 4th the SAT testing will be happening and October 8th we will have PSAT testing. Uh from October 6th to the 6th to the 10th uh homecoming spirit week will be going on. Um the powderpuff football game will also be going on on October 10th. Um the ninth and tth grade homecoming dance will be on Friday, October 10th, as well as the homecoming parade and football game on Saturday, October 11th. Um the 11th and 12th grade homecoming dance
008will be on October 11th as well. Um Spring City Elementary School ribbon cutting will be on October 14th and there is also no school no school for students on October 20th for DeWalt. >> All right, thank you Jason. And then just a few quick reminders. Continue to read the weekly update for districtwide news. And then for all students, keep up with your weekly assignments. Thank you so much and I hope everyone has a great day. >> Thank you both. It's always exciting. Lots going on the first the first couple months of the year. >> Dr. Let me ask a question. You first. How many colleges do we have come for that college uh career fair? Do we know? >> I'm not sure exactly like the number, but I know there's a lot of colleges from
009over the country coming to um speak to students. So, um I believe you sign up um through a link sent on the weekly update for um like the districtwide news. Um and yeah, there will there will just be a lot of like representatives from different colleges across the country for students to ask questions. >> And more importantly, not more importantly, but uh as important, who's the defending champ on the powderpuff football game? Is there a defending champ coming into that game for for homecoming? >> I'm not sure. Um >> it's a lot of fun. >> Yeah, I'm not sure. >> Thank you. that's I am going to be in attendance at that college and career fair and I will say that you know everything I've seen it looks like it's a really easy process for
010those 10th grade parents 11th grade parents and so forth that are still deciding you can sign up get your QR code and you know just go from table to table and get information so thank you >> um I just want to say I know last year there were probably more than 30 colleges there um But um the the FBC said that their list of colleges will be finalized and they'll send out a list prior to the meeting. >> Miss Miss Crew, I see you jumping in back there. >> Yep. As of uh 3:30 this afternoon, they're at a hundred, but they anticipate adding about 15 more by Wednesday. >> Thank you. >> I'll see you there. >> Okay, moving on to extracurricular. Mrs. Steorf, >> the extracurricular committee met on Tuesday, September 2nd. Uh we
011had a presentation from the National Honor Society students as well as Miss Coleman um who was in attendance uh who was their adviser kind of explained to the board um the rigorous steps that students have to take starting in their freshman year um to get into NHS and the various ways that they contribute back to our community and our schools um with their volunte volunteerism. So as a as a parent um and as a board member is really interesting to hear that because my kids are younger, they're in oldest is in sixth grade. Um so again, always a point of pride whenever we get to hear from our students at extracurricular um and about the amazing things that they're doing here at Springford. Um we also had a presentation from Mr. Mscavage about um fall
012sports. We have about 459 students um in fall sports this year. Um, the district also received a grant from the Springboard Youth Basketball Association um in the amount of $12,500 to get a new scoreboard um for the 9th grade gym that they use for so many of our games. So, thank you so much to youth basketball for that donation and uh look forward to getting that new school scoreboard installed, which I know has been uh very much needed. So, we're always appreciative of our community partners um for that. And then Mr. Jones uh did a comprehensive list of upcoming events here in the fall, just like Mr. Drover did as well. Um the only thing that I think I have to add to the your list is the um fall play November 14th and 15th,
013uh the Wizard of Oz. Am I allowed to say that? I hope so. I hope I didn't just blow that up for everyone, but very much looking forward to that. Um, and that was it. Any questions? >> No. Thank you, Mrs. Dearorf. Mrs. Goldmith. Policy. The policy meeting uh committee meeting met on September 8th, 2005. We discussed policy 240, which was scholarships. It will be going for a first read in October. We also discussed policy 831 and admin did a great job of finding the impetus for this report, which involved a discrete technical report issued by medical assistants. I think many many many many years ago um and was recommended for retirement. That will be going to the solicitor just to double check that recommendation. We also discussed policy 223 which is the use of
014bicycles, motor vehicles and skateboards. Uh there were some recommendations made to that. In addition, that's going to be reviewed by the solicitor for um some issues in terms of the fact that we have on-site uh police department as well. Uh so it'll come back for a second review to committee in October. The next committee meeting will be meeting on October 13, 2025. >> Thank you, Mrs. Goldsmith. Any questions or comments? >> Okay, moving on to curriculum and technology. Mr. Lackey, >> thank you. Curriculum and technology met on Monday, September 8th. Um, a number of items were discussed for curriculum. Dr. Gardy provided information related to the curriculum review schedule for 2526. Additional information will be provided at UC up upcoming curriculum and technology committee meetings. Dr. Reinheimer provided 2025 results for the civics assessment. The
015result the results can be found on the district's website. The results are also reported to the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Dr. provide uh Dr. Gardy also provided information on the requested supplemental reading resources for high school EL programming. And Dr. Murray provided committee the committee information related to the cost of the AP exams over the last 5 years. Um the administration will provide additional information to the committee once the enrollment for the 2526 AP testing is completed later this school year. For technology, Dr. Hill provided department updates for work that was completed related to systems devices and trainings. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, October 13th at 7 in the district office. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions or comments? >> Just just one I was on Zoom. We did that. I did Dr.
016Halt mention the -ate funding in that meeting? I thought he did. >> He did and we are being reimbursed for that. We have actually Yes. was uh was approved. We did submit and we were uh being reimbursed for $149,000 worth of expenses that areable. Yes. Thank you. And um I also just want to thank Dr. Hilt and his team because I know that the start of the school year and and even leading up to the start of the school years, especially busy for technology, but if I heard correctly, I think that like as far as like the staff, they were all set with their devices, all set with everything. And it it seemed like it was very smooth sailing. I know even Chromebook distribution at the fifth and 9th grade oftentimes can be chaotic. So
017I've seen that, you know, in the past. I I actually attended two of them last year. So, uh thank you to you and your team, Dr. Hilt. >> Thank you. Yeah, it was uh always a team effort and the efforts of the tech team are appreciated. >> Thank you. All right. If there's no other comments, moving on to finance, Mrs. Westwood. >> Yeah. Good evening. The finance committee met on Wednesday, September 10th in the district office. We went over um old business, so executive monthly reports. These numbers are through the end of August 2025. We have 145.5 million cash on hand. State revenue shortages resulting from the state budget not yet being approved and local tax collection collections were $27 million higher than the prior year during the discount period. Um expenditures for the first
018two months are in line with expectations. Assessments are down for the start of the year due to commercial property appeals as discussed previously. Uh for transfer taxes, we received 29.1% of the budget in two months. Um earned income tax is an increase of 150k from the prior year to date. So a 6.25% increase for self-funded health insurance, which I know we've talked a lot about in the past. First two months of the year, um so far is looking good. Um, food service when we met was only five days in, so it's a little too soon to report trends. I imagine we'll have more to say next month when I do the report. Um, for new business, what we discussed, we discussed the 2026 2027 budget timeline. Um, in case folks were not at the meeting,
019the act one index for this year is set at 3.5%. Um, Dr. Scandler reviewed the draft capital plan timeline and related work and analyses to be performed to make an informed decision. The target is March 2026 to make that decision. Um we have a newer assessment appeal at 410 Lynfield Trap Road. Um that is on the board agenda this evening. It's 6.92 million settlement with a tax impact of 11K decrease per year. Um there's also this is also on for tonight um to discuss food service worker hours. There's changes in staff for a couple of workers based on operating needs. They are minimal, I'd say, at high level. Um I think I went over the items that are going to be discussed at the next um board meeting, but just real quick, a couple I
020didn't mention. Um we did decide as a committee to recommend moving forward by readressing the accounting manager position at the work session today. You will see that on the agenda for conversation, talked about the assessment appeal, and then just the food service work hour changes. The next meeting will be October 14th at 6 PM in the district office. Any questions? >> Thank you, Mrs. Westwood. And we will absolutely get to that conversation uh that action item which actually falls under personnel, not finance, but um as promised in committee, we will make sure we dedicate some time to discussion. Okay, moving on. Mr. Jackson, finance property >> present at the next meeting. I will present at the next meeting. >> Oh, okay. We are presenting at the next meeting. My apologies. Did not hear you. Moving
021on to Dr. Wright, MCIU. >> Thank you very much. Just a moment. Uh the MCIU executive board meeting was on August 27th. Uh there are um couple of events that were occurring. The Education Foundation for the MCIU is uh doing a Boscoff shopping night with a special discount. So that's October 22nd. If anyone is familiar with those, you pay $5, it goes to the MCIU. You can shop all day on October 22nd and get 25% off your entire purchase. So great time to get your Christmas shopping there. So I'll have that information available. I'll get that to Mrs. Crew to maybe put out for us. Um, and also the MCIU is doing a trivia night on November 7th. So, if the board would like to do that, have some fun and raise money for the
022education foundation for the MCIU, I will gladly support you be there. Uh, the director of human resources did a presentation which included information on staffing. Uh they have 200 new hires, 65 status changes, 130 staff that have either left or retired, 100 leave of absences, seven uh uh wellund I'll just leave it at that. I really one of the reasons I bring that up is because um we are continuing concern about funding for the MCIU and I want you to understand what a vital um program it is. Uh the Dr. Speaker did a presentation on the goals. Uh we also as an IU uh we we approved a $15 million revenue anticipation not to ran uh resolution. Um the funds are for the sole purpose of continuing MCIU operations until the state budget and pass
023um ends and the funds currently being withheld from the state are released. So basically what that means is that the MCIU uh get is you know funded the if the funding doesn't come through the state budget does not pass we are prepared to borrow that money so that we can continue operations. Um we're prepared to pull that trigger probably we're looking at the end of November or into December. We at the MCIU are in much better shape than many of the other intermediate units across the state. So um just to kind of give you a heads up about the fact that how this budget does also impact that there was also and not to step on legislative um committee but there are have been um hearing impaired and blind education resources at the federal level
024that have been pulled um threatened to be pulled from other states. So we are concerned because all of that comes through our MCIU. So there are some concerns about that. Um we did send out the MCIU a letter to Governor Shapiro um on behalf of all of the IUs in the state about the um the budget the growing crises of the budget being delayed. also cyber charter reformed reform um in Montgomery County districts are um are paying to cyber charter schools um 11,865 to $24,327 per regular ed student. Meanwhile, um the locally operated s cyber schools, specifically the one that comes through the MCIU, it costs approximately 5,700 to educate a cyber uh student. So, the Commonwealth, we are what we are asking the IUs and the districts to is that there be a flat
025$8,000 per cyber tuition rate for regular ed students. This would save schools in Pennsylvania $ 122.45 million. Specifically, it would save Springford if we went to an 8,000 flat, which is remember over 2,000 more than it costs to educate a cyber charter student in a cyber charter school. It would save us approximately $634,192.92. So, that is money that could be used to invest in highquality education here in our schools. that I just wanted to make you aware of that. So that was our request that was sent on behalf of all the IUs and um we continue to go and speak at Harrisburg. Uh our next meeting is September 24th. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Ray. Any questions or comments? >> Okay, moving on to our assistant superintendent report. >> Good evening. The Spring Ford
026girls volleyball team pulled off an epic five set thriller last week, taking down three-time defending champ Pope John Paul II and snapping their 80 match winning streak that stretched all the way back to 2021. So, let's hear it for our Rams. Secondly, the community is invited to support the Springford Booster Club on Thursday, September 25th from 12 to 8:00 p.m. with a dine and donate event hosted at Lock 29 in Montlair. Mention the booster club and funds from your funds from your meal will benefit the booster club. The booster club supports all students, athletes, and sports through grades 7 through 12 with the athletic awards night, scholarships, championship recognition, and more. That is the end of my report. >> Thank you, Dr. G. Good evening. Families with students in grades 5 through 12 are reminded
027to pay their device insurance fee through school pay for their schoolisssued devices. Families who pay the annual $25 device insurance fee will be covered for all necessary repairs, of course, unless it's been deemed by the technology department that the damages were caused intentionally or by extreme negligence. Families who do not pay the $25 insurance fee may be required to pay for any repairs that are deemed necessary. So, this is definitely a great service that's offered to help anticipate any of the needs that arise and keep our devices in good shape. We are also excited to share that for anyone who may be attending the PSBA conference in October, you'll get the opportunity to hear our high school select strings as they've been selected to play at this conference. Under the leadership of Emily McGran, we
028know that our students will continue to make spring forward proud. Finally, a few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to be a guest on Ram Ramcast where we discussed the upcoming social emotional learning or SEAL universal screener. The SEAL universal screener is something that we've been planning for for over a year now. This is a brief questionnaire that students in grades two through eight will take. And when I say brief, it is very brief, meaning that it will take about 10 minutes or less for students to complete. Similar to how academic assessments are used to determine instructional needs, the screener will help schools identify ways to support students social, emotional, and behavioral needs that may impact um assessment success. The 20 questions are broken into three categories. social behavior, academic behavior, and emotional behaviors, and
029will be answered by selecting sometimes, often, almost always, or never. Students will see questions such as, "I argue with others. I get along with peers, I have trouble working alone, or I feel nervous." We're working on being transparent and informative to our families on this. So, families are encouraged to go to the district website and review all of the information that's posted here. They can see a complete list of the questions that are being asked as well as information such as how the data will be used, the importance of the partnership with families and what to do if they do not want their child to take this this questionnaire. The information is being posted also regularly in the weekly update and there's a parent letter as well as the RAMcast that I encourage all families
030to view or listen to. I'd like to thank Aaron Crew and Andrew Rothl for their opportunity to be guests on the podcast so we can share this important information out to families. And that is my report. >> Thank you, Dr. Murray. Thank you, Dr. G. I'll just say um you know, the seal screener, I did get a chance to to watch your podcast, I guess, or Ram Country TV episode. Um, but I I just want to say how pleased I am personally and I'm sure you know I don't like to speak for the board. I'm sure it's felt broadly um that you know this is kind of like steps that the administration is taking to support those comprehensive plan goals that we you brought forward the administration brought forward and that we approved last September.
031So, thank you for that. Okay. Any other questions or comments? >> I just want to thank you for the reminder. I just paid my um tech fee as you were talking so I got it done. >> See, it's super easy and quick to do. >> All right. And today we have Miss Shore with us uh from Fox Rothschild as uh Mr. Fitzgerald is not able to attend. So, welcome Miss Short. >> Thank you. I always love coming to see you guys and I do not have a report tonight. >> All right. Well, we still love seeing you and I will see you at the Western Center in a couple weeks. So, uh, with that said, we're going to move on to what will be the voting portion of our meeting in two weeks, uh, to
032go through to see if there are any questions and discussion. So, we'll start with section 5 minutes A through C. Section six, personnel. Of course, we will pull out the job description letter J. But before we do that, um I wanted to see if there were any other questions about anything else on personnel. And I guess we will also probably pull out letter K2 to talk about next steps with the superintendent search. But um in this case, I'll turn it over to Dr. Scanland to see which would you like to start with. >> Sure. We can we can start with uh the job description. Let's let's begin with that one since that's next on there. Before we move on, there is an administrative recommendation that Michael Zendeck is uh supervisor of operations facilities. We're recommending
033him. So, he will I believe he is going to be here for the for the public meeting. So, we'll get a chance to uh to meet him when on the 29th. Uh so, the the job description and this is uh as Miss Westwood said was something that we talked about in the finance committee meeting. Um and it and it came back. There was a a time I guess a couple of months ago the board was looking to uh take a recommendation from the administration about reorganizing the business office. Uh that did not have enough support to go through for the board. Uh and we currently still have uh two open positions in the business office. So, um I have had an opportunity to to work with uh the business office and and look at um
034I mean the amount of work we have people doing just because we're we're short-handed with a couple of um clerical positions in there. We we've either got to fill them or or take an opportunity here to to reorganize the department. Uh the business office has not been reorganized uh in about 10 years. So, we're going back to about 2015 16. uh there has been um many many more demands placed on on the business office the size of the budget the um the the the reports that are due with with PTE um and and it's really requiring a different set of skills uh for for people to manage that. So there's there's and again just kind of looking at all this it's it's an opportunity to to reorganize positions and based on some of the demands
035right now. Also uh we're looking at uh some internal promotions for that where where you might have some succession planning opportunities down the road. Uh but but it's something that that again I've I've had an opportunity to take a look at that. I think it's wise when you have positions that are open uh and they've had those positions for several years. are they still the ones that you need to meet the demands of a school system uh in in its current state today? Um and and it can happen in many many departments whether it's the business office, whether it's the communications office, whether it's the curriculum office. I think all of us we should we should be looking at opportunities to to restructure uh based on some of the skill sets that that we need.
036Um the the position is an accounting manager position. Uh the the difference in salary is about $27,000. It does not include uh I mean it doesn't add another body into the into the health you know health care mix but it it's the same number of positions. We're just going to um the accounting manager is going to be one that's going to be a higher level position. Different skill sets I think are are part of today's demand on on the business office. Uh because we have had uh openings we have some cost uh avoidance savings here of about $37,000. Uh so and and since we're probably by the time we get this person in position, assuming this uh is voted on by the board at the at the September 29th meeting, we're probably looking at November,
037about 25% of the year has gone by. So we have an additional almost $7,000 in savings. So out of the current budget, it is still um about a $17,000 cost avoidance even with that reorganization. Now, we we have to we have to adjust the budget for next year. uh every every week we send the board or every every board every month with the with the personnel report we send the board positions that we have budgeted and some are a little higher some a little lower and typically we get some attritional savings uh throughout all all of the the personnel items in there. So um that I would recommend the board approve that position and those changes so that we can we can uh continue on our way with with doing the business that we need
038to do in the business office. Um Mr. think have I missed anything on that summary? I know you and I have spent an awful lot of time talking about this. >> No, I think you I think you covered it very well. I um you know, the details of that plan of course have been in the memo uh three times now. Uh once back in May, once back in June, and then of course again uh this past weekend. Um and I think you know if if assuming of course everybody read that memo, I think the details are in there. Um I did have the opportunity to talk to Dr. Scanland very detailed about this and it seemed to me that you know come some of the questions that we had back in June which which may
039not have been satisfied. I think we're kind of there at this point now. Um you know one of the questions that came up as I reviewed that meeting uh just this past week uh one of the questions was is it an administrative position? The answer is no. Um is uh you know how does this impact the 2526 uh budget? I think that was a probably the bigger concern because it was actually an ad to a budget that we had just uh we had just approved. Um but as Dr. Scandan pointed out with the you know with the open positions that we have uh currently uh the savings that we have from obviously not doing that um now that's increased workload on the staff that's there which we need to alleviate um and uh but I
040think that that gets uh you know for this year's budget I think that gets settled um for next year. Of course, we would have to account for that 27, which would probably be more like 28,000 next year if you if you had increases and that type of thing. Um, but still again, we're talking, you know, about 0.02 of our current budget, % of our current budget. Um, and then I think the last thing that was brought up in June was uh maybe we should wait for the next superintendent to come in to to opine. Um, and I think Dr. Scandlin uh in conversations we've had, he just said he supports it, he recommends it and uh I think uh I think it's a good time to move forward uh with the restructuring plan considering the
041budget has increased 40% over the past 10 years. Um that has had increased workload just in and of itself and then you throw in um all the reporting requirements that have changed since that time for PTE uh department of agriculture department you know uh the the US department of education so on and so on. Not to mention uh audit requirements that have changed over that time. It's a more professional mix now than it is a clerical mix. That's the problem that we're trying to solve. We're not trying to add bodies. We're trying to get more professional bodies in the role so that Mrs. David Heiser and our Mrs. David Heiser and I can can offload some of that higher level work to higher level people so that we can do the strategic planning that needs
042to happen. We've talked about that strategic planning endlessly, you know, at the beginning of last year, plus a a possible capital redesign as well that we're talking about and in the analysis that needs to go there. So, that said, um I appreciate the board's consideration. >> Thank you. I'll turn it over to the board for questions and or comments. Uh Mrs. Warten. >> Yes. Thank you. I think one of the more impactful points that was made at the finance meeting was reminding us about the strategic work that comes from your department in terms of now we have a 10-year plan for athletics. Now we have this 10 this big broader 10-year plan that takes a look at the entire campus and community and what has to be done in order to maintain those facilities and
043staff and everything. And I think this position allows our experts to focus on those big picture things while getting that day-to-day done. So I thought that conversation on Tuesday was really impactful. I appreciate that. >> Thank you, Mrs. Wearten. M Dr. Wright, >> thank you very much and thank you for all the information that has been provided. I did attend virtually the finance meeting and of course I always read the board memo and look at that information. Uh just a couple of questions though. Um is was there a reorganization or restructuring of the department done or is this we're just taking opportunity right now to um change the job of the description of this one position or is it two positions now? Because originally I think don't I think at the June meeting there was
044just one. So I'm just curious for for information. >> Uh thank you. What we're looking to do is we're looking to add a position called an accounting manager which is a higher level professional to to handle you know a lot of the analysis. There's a lot of financial reporting and analysis that goes there. Um the the position that we're not looking to fill is called a child accounting position which is more attendance related. It's not really a financial accounting uh position. Does that does that answer your question Dr. Wright? >> Uh part of it I so that that part I did understand from before. So, we're taking the child accounting position and we are um rewriting that job description and that's going to increase the the pay and the requirements. But there had been a
045I guess I had two questions then. Um is there is a second position now to two I think. Oh, there is not a second position. Did you want to take that? Uh >> there's one there's one. So, to answer the first part of your question that Jim didn't answer, the reorg did not take place yet. That is the recommendation is to do this reorganization. And part of the reorganization, Jim, you can correct me if I miss anything. One is not backfilling the child accounting position. Two is elevating this accounting manager role, which is a new role. So, it's just one new role, non-admin. Did I get that right, Mr. Frank? >> Um, yeah, you did. Um so like if you look at the those four positions right now what you're talking about currently we have
046an child accounting position which we don't feel we need. Um we have two staff accountant positions and we have a senior accountant position. So what we're talking about doing is keeping the two staff accountant positions as they are keeping the senior accountant position as it is and adding a accounting matter position while not backfilling or filling the child accounting position. Great. Thank you. Um so the um and that was based I mean pretty much the same information that we had had before. So I appreciate just more involved. So the reorganization or restructuring uh part of that that you've been asked now I'm looking at you Mrs. Westwood because you chair that committee that you've asked the finance department now to do. Is this something that we're looking to have in place for consideration prior to
047the next budget as we know as we move through with our budgeting? Because I I you know, historically anytime we reorganize, it's not going to save us money. It's going to cost us money. So, I'd like to see I just like to know if that's something that's going to be presented in as part of the budget for next year. >> The answer is the answer is yes and yes. So the idea is to put this in place this year. So as um Dr. Scanland had said um originally we saw this in June. Now the numbers were different because the position wasn't open as long with the child accounting but we haven't done some back filling as Mr. Frink had also shared. So now we're in a position where it is not negatively impacting this year's
048budget. So and I know there's a lot of different numbers in here but um the net savings is $17,000 for this budget year. next budget budget year which we're also planning for at the same time. So this is where it gets complicated. We would have to budget for this position. Does that make sense or >> that does and I understand that from when Dr. Scanland had explained that. My question is are where we're doing this now because the administration has assessed and determined that this is what we need to do to for the finance department and I I understand that completely. But I thought that I heard in there somewhere that we're also going to look at the entire finance department and do some restructuring or reorganizing of that. Was that something? >> No. And
049and Jim, you can you can elaborate. This this was the broader look from my understanding in the restructuring. So there's not another restructuring planned for next year. There's just the one for this year. Is that correct, Mr. Frink? >> Yeah, that's correct. I mean typ typically like with any organization, any department, you look at the structure of that department. uh you know uh for example we did it 10 years ago right? So now you continue to monitor that department the effectiveness the changes that have been made the new requirements that are put on it over that time frame and any growth of course that's going to or or decline for that for for that matter uh may have an opposite impact but so the idea here Dr. to write is that we're looking to do
050this uh reorganization now. Um we'll of course budget for it as as uh Miss Westwood just said for the coming years. Um and of course like any department we're going to monitor it going forward to make sure that you know the that we're still running smoothly and I would say you know likely uh another organiza reorganization wouldn't happen probably for another you know five seven or 10 years down the road uh as needs change. >> Thank you so much. >> You're welcome. Thank you. Are there any other questions or comments? I >> I just had a question just because as I always tell people, I went to law school to avoid math and unfortunately I have not been able to accomplish that in my life. Um so I I in anticipation of this reread the
051June 12 memo. I actually rewatched the finance committee in June. Read the current memo. And here is my question because again I'm trying to wrap my math non-existent brain around it. What I heard is at in June is it was going to have an impact of the budget of $27,000. What I heard at the most recent finance committee and in the memo is that we have saved approximately $37,000. And again, I'm going to use round figures here because again, we're going to simplify this for for me. So, if I'm saying we've saved 375 and it cost us 27, in my head that's a net savings of 10, but the memo says we have a net savings of 17. So, I'm trying to figure out how we go from a net savings of 10 to a
052net savings of 17. >> Uh, and that's because um the 27,000 contemplated putting that plan into place on July 1st and that did not happen. So, we're already a quarter into the year. So, a quarter of the 27,000 that would have happened did not. And that would be approximately what is it 62 63 6500. So, there's where your other saving goes. So on top of the $10,000, you add that up and you and again round numbers, you're at about $17,000. >> Okay? And and again, just so I understand too, because I did reread everything. My understanding of the redesign is that you are eliminating a title of a position, but not the person, changing that title person, and compensating them in line with their new responsibilities. But we still have open that you plan to
053fill the two other accounting positions that still need to be filled. or is that okay? >> We Yeah, we have we currently have two open positions in the business office. We are re reorganizing one of those positions to be a a more highly paid position with different sets of skills and we have a second position that that that we we will also need to backfill. the um if we hired that person tomorrow, we we we anticipate about a $10,000 savings, but we don't expect to have that all done until board approval um go through the you know the formal process by about November 1. That's about another $6,500 in in nutritional and cost avoidance savings. That's where the 17 comes from. >> So So just so I understand in terms of the overall department in
054terms of positions and people, we're eliminating a position and changing a title of position. So there will be less people in that department. Am am I correct about that? >> No, it'll be the same number of people in the department. >> It's the same number but different roles. So I I see where it's a little confusing. And Jim, you can maybe clarify. So we had a child accounting position. We are not backfilling that one. >> Correct. >> Right. Then we have a new accounting manager position. That's the restructuring role that's on here. That's the one where we're talking about the 17,000 net savings now because of the timing issue. So between June and November that delta why it doesn't add up to Dr. Scan. Oh no, Dr. F. No, Mr. There's too many people here.
055There's like Mr. Fang's point is because of the um time frame with those couple of months. So that 27,000 becomes a smaller number because we didn't actually pay someone because there wasn't in the seat for that period of time. So that's why the number is different. But there's also one other open position to your point. It's not a restructured position. It's just a position that is open that we need to backfill in the department. >> Normal >> just normal like somebody left. We need to fill the position. >> Right. I guess I'm just trying to get just at the end of the day just for simple purposes. How many how are we having less people or more people? The same amount of people. Okay. >> It's it's the same amount of people. It's just one
056of the jobs is changing responsibility and therefore also changing in compensation. >> Okay. Any other questions or comments? Okay. Yes. Thank you. I just want to make sure Dr. Dr. Chararma looks like Dr. Chararma has a comment or question. >> Yes. Um so so I get everything that that's going to be happening this year. uh the impact on the budget for next year given the index uh that Mrs. Westwood mentioned is 3.5. I think initially we were anticipating will be 3.7 uh with the delta of of real estate uh taxes um the gap that's creating for us the health insurance going up uh this $27,000 is going to be a big factor that we need to think uh for the next year. Um so not sure if if there is a plan for that. Uh
057I know there is $17,000 that we will save that could compensate for the next year but however the following year um you know it's something that we need to holistically look at all the departments not just specifically for finance department because the memo states that you know um since uh 2015 uh the district has increased 40% overall the budget and everything else. So we need to factor other departments as well that you know how are we managing every everything in the district. >> So Dr. Oh no. So Dr. Chararma is it's uh Mrs. Westwood agreed and I think um we're going to talk about that more because there's a this is the holistic review that we're doing and a big bucket I think we've talked about in a couple different meetings is digging deeper into
058personnel. I mean we look at that every year and we're looking at our other buckets. We have our three Ps. Um but yes, agreed with you. So there's a a net savings of $17,000 this year. There is an added cost when you add a position. So again, that will have to be budgeted and looked at and holistically we will continue to dig into personnel. I don't know Dr. Scandan if you want to comment on that. >> Refer to Dr. Scandlin. I know you talk a lot about trade-offs. Dr. Scandlin. >> Yeah, there I mean there there's always there's always trade-offs. I know we have some immediate needs. We have some big demands right now uh in our school district and and with our with our finance department. And yes, we will have to put another
059an expense side of our budget. We'll have to go up $27,000 for that. We have some money to offset some of that for next year. To Dr. Chararma's point, yes, we have to plan for that multiple years out. Um, we are looking at all of our staffing needs. We've started that process as well because it's it's a much it's a it's a bigger uh, you know, bigger concern that we've got to we've got to address. I think we can do that, but we also have some immediate needs right now uh that that we need to address. Dr. Chararma, do you have anything else? >> Uh, just one comment. Uh, you know, this was uh in in our last uh meeting when we were about to approve this this line item, we at least I from
060speaking from my side, we discovered this was not budgeted. So in future if anything is not budgeted in that current budget or the next budget, however we look at things, we need to highlight that. Uh so at least the board and the audience is aware that it is this is not factored into the budget and we need to carefully look at look into that particular item. If it's $27 or $27,000 that needs to really looked at with a fine lens so we can make sure that we are prepared to take that action. Thank you. >> I I agree wholeheartedly with that with that comment, Dr. Chararma. uh and if you know we we need to look at our budget when we're putting our budget together and make sure we have money budgeted. I know that
061uh in the five weeks that I've been here, we've had some people ask for some things that were not in the budget and my first question is okay, what are you willing to reallocate in your existing budget if if that becomes now a priority and that happens. I mean sometimes things come up you're not aware of and you have to shift shift your priorities. That's okay. But um I don't know that we can continue I don't know I wouldn't recommend anybody continue to finance things that you don't budget unless you can reallocate existing dollars. So so we've already started that process. Uh and this is this is another example of that. >> Thank you. Okay. Um so again thank you everyone for the conversation discussion. I really appreciate it and thank you Dr. Skulling and
062Mr. Fing for you know once again communicating the uh immediate need that exists within within the finance department. But I will also say there was one thing that we didn't really touch on in finance, but I heard you say it here tonight, which is succession. Um, the longer term implication of doing this, cuz Mr. Frink, as soon as I heard succession, I got a little like pain in my heart there. How many more years do you have on your contract? Is it four, five? >> There's uh five >> five years on your contract. So, um, we know that uh time is closing in on us. So, you know, uh, as much as the immediate need is important, it's also important to think about the long term setting up for success. >> Um, sorry, Mr. Herman,
063can I also kind of reiterate what, um, uh, Dr. Sharma had said about in the other parts of the agenda. It does will state specifically where that funding is coming from. And I don't know if we we we had kind of talked about this making sure that it always is there. And that's is that something that kind of falls under the like do we have the will of the board that anytime there are costs that it states where they come from? You know, that could be something that we'd add to make sure it was in the agenda because I know like with the curriculum and technology, it's always there. And I'm looking under another one here and it says specifically it's coming out of the special ed fund. >> Yeah, we we can certainly do
064that. This is really coming out of benefits and salary budget line uh targeted for the business office. So for the next memo, we we'll put that in there. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you everyone. Okay. Um if there are no other questions on personnel, we'll move on to section seven finance. See if there are any questions. >> Miss Herman, I think you we had also >> Oh, I'm sorry. Let's go back to the superintendent. Yes, there was another item that we wanted to talk about the superintendent search. We had such good robust conversation. I was ready to move on. >> So let's talk about next steps with the superintendent search. Um there there is a a a proposal that the uh Montgomery County Intermediate Unit initially sent to the board
065over the summer. Uh and uh as as much as I would I would love to stay here with with Springford for as many many years as you'll let me stay, uh you do need to get started with the process to find a permanent superintendent here. And we have not officially taken action. Some people have said, "Yeah, we think the IU the IU came in and talked about it." So, there is a a new timeline in there uh that the board should approve officially so that the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit can go do its search. They've done many many searches. There's no cost to school districts in Montgomery County with the exception of whatever advertising fees that are in there. I think it's up to $3,500, but it's it if they even have that many for
066advertising. uh a lot of the connections that they have are online advertisements and certainly word of mouth which won't cost us anything, but if there is some expenses there there's a little bit in there, but it is not a uh not a not a full-blown 30 or $40,000 search firm contract that you would see with some of the um some of the other outside consultants that are doing this. So, that will be on for the board agenda for September 29th. Once that is officially approved, we will reach out to the Montgomery IU. They will start the process. They're going to they're going to need to talk with the board about some dates um to to get that started in October because it's going to take a while to get get resumes collected, get interviews set
067up, coordinate with the board on on interview times for candidates, uh which should bring you to February or March. I think they have a February tenative uh date for announcement of a superintendent. If you have a sitting superintendent from somewhere, there's a good chance they're going to have 90 to 120day hold in their contract. So you need to you need to have that done. If you want a July 1 start, you got to kind of work back from there. So that that new timeline is is is laid out in there. Um and that will be for the board agenda for September 29th. >> So Dr. Scalin, there was a question. I think it was Mrs. Westwood brought this up in finance. And I just want to clarify when we talk about approving and having this
068on as an action item for next week. If we're approving a timeline, I guess my question is are we approving a timeline or are we approving the process and the agreement? because I worry that if we're approving dates, you know, as we know that there might need to be some flexibility. Are we tying our hands by approving a timeline versus approving the MCIU and the overall process? >> It it's really the approving the IU for that. But in their proposal, they have outlined a a tenative timeline that they want to follow. Yes. I mean certainly uh it it can change. You may you get through the process, you don't like any candidates, you go out again. >> Okay. >> Uh and you have to push it back. You have to adjust the timeline. So it
069would not require us to come back to the board vote if we for whatever reason decided not to follow that. Okay. Thank you. >> That comment was sorry that comment was actually related to the capital plan. >> Okay. Well, it app it applies to this too. Applies to both. Yeah, it applies to both. Absolutely. >> Mrs. Herman, we could remove from that item the part that says timeline and just say MCIU agreement for superintendent search if that we felt that that you might be better. >> Yeah, I think so. That's good. Dr. Wright. >> Yeah. Yeah, I think that's a good plan because then you're just approving the agreement itself and that that can change uh as needed without you having to bring it back to the board. >> Okay, wonderful. Thank you. Another comment
070>> about that. Did I don't have the timeline in front of me, but did not did this include the opportunity for community to provide input to the MCIU as to what they would like to see in a superintendent. Great. Thank you very much for that. There's an online community survey that is mentioned in here that's slated for October, but yes, it's >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. Any other questions with personnel? >> Okay, then we'll move on to section 7 finance. I'm not hearing any questions. So, we'll move on to uh programming and curriculum section 8. Okay. Uh seeing as that we don't have any conference or property action items, uh there is other business letter A. Uh yes, this is an overnight trip for um high school girls volleyball. This this came up. This
071sometimes happens. This trip is actually going to take place before our board meeting. Uh so we can either approve it u tonight or we can we can uh put it on the the September 29th meeting retroactive to the date. I believe it's September 19th this is taking place. So, I would I mean like to hear from the like I have an opinion on this. I mean I think my opinion is given that it wasn't listed as an action item like I I don't know that we would be able to adjust the agenda to allow for an action item tonight. Yeah. So, Miss Shore, >> I I think it's going to have to wait unfortunately. >> Okay. Okay. All right, moving on to section 12formational item. We have tenure as usual and then of course the
072capital plan timeline which was mentioned in finance. Dr. Scandan. >> Yes. And and this just information item. We did talk about this in the finance committee meeting. U the capital planning timeline. We have uh started to build our website with information out there similar to what uh what we did with the the Spring City project so that the public can follow along. Uh this timeline uh has us doing an awful lot of work. We started uh already started that process uh with looking at the the four scenarios that were presented back on August 20th to the board from GKO architects. Uh start costing those out. We're also looking at cost benefits of a full day kindergarten and some other uh other revenue possible revenue enhancers there. Dr. Wright, you mentioned cyber charter schools. I hope
073that bill goes through. $600,000 can go a long way in this district. Uh and but there's also uh full day kindergarten opportunities to bring back charter school students. We currently have 31 students attending the Renaissance Academy Charter School and full day kindergarten. We are paying almost $600,000 for those children. Uh we have some uh special 12 special needs children uh in that uh school. That is that is about almost $50,000 per kid for the for the charter enrollment. That's another $600,000. So there's opportunities here. I think that that we didn't cost that out. We need to cost that out and make some estimates. We're working on that. Uh we're also working on um and we met I had a meeting today with uh with Dr. Kelly and Dr. Gardy about some assessment data and some
074uh transition. We we're also we're starting to build our internal sites for the benefits of uh keeping kids longer in your buildings and looking at some you know historical data and some data trends on on when you do that. uh in addition to that that whole middle school because I know the board is concerned once uh wants to try to reduce transitions in this process. So there's a lot to this plan. Uh we will we will schedule a community meeting. We have that scheduled for November 12th. That will be at 6:00 to give an update, a progress report, an opportunity for the the community to give us some feedback on where we are with that. Uh we will present information to the board at probably a committee meeting prior to that meeting so that we
075have some feedback from the board. Uh we can also get once we get the the feedback from the community, we can bring that back to the board as well. So we have and that that 6 pm uh November 12th that will be at the eighth grade center in that auditorium. And then we have one other meeting scheduled for Wednesday, February 11th for community input. Uh and that will be held at the senior high school building. >> Just um one note similar to Dr. Wright's comment for this because this was my comment from last week. Can we consider taking off timeline from this too because it's a similar type of concern? So it doesn't matter. Okay. All right. Just curious. >> I'm sorry I wasn't using my microphone. So for the community, what I said to
076Mrs. Westwood was it's anformational item. We're not technically voting on this. So it's really uh mute. >> Okay. Any other questions or comments? Okay. That takes us to board comment. Okay. Public to be heard. If anyone wishes to speak, please approach a podium with your name and township of residence. >> Good evening. Gary Wheaten, Upper Providence Township. Um, couple things. So, Dr. Scan, I credit you with putting this uh plan together to get the committee involved in terms of the rebalancing, redistricting. Is policy 903 going to be impacted at those particular meetings? Is there going to be open dialogue, open Q&A? >> You can continue on your comment and then I'll have him address at the end. >> Okay. And then the other thing I I do want to address is I know GKO was
077in here a month ago talking about the eighth grade center mentioned HVAC issues, humidity, ventilation. Dr. Scanland's been working with me on the back end just to to determine did they actually do a mold study? The answer is no. So my request would be can we do an independent mold study in the eighth grade center because the last one that was done is in 2019. I know that there are some some issues within that particular building. Is that is that the end of your comment before I turn it over? That >> that that's a question. I know I know you won't answer it because of 903, but I >> No, as I mentioned, you have three minutes, so get it all out and I will have him respond at the end if we need to
078clarify or respond to some. >> Okay, that's it. >> Okay, thank you. You can take a seat. >> Yeah. And and Gary, I'm happy to talk to you after the meeting about about uh any of those questions. uh as you know as you know a separate topic. Um I will clarify and I did mention this in the finance committee meeting for the open community meetings for this process. Uh they will they will not be subject to it's not official schoolboard meetings. So they're not subject to policy 903 public comment. They will be times where we will uh set up some dialogue with to get question and answers from the community. >> Thank you. Okay. Motion to adjurnn. >> Thank you.