001Good evening. Today is Tuesday, April 22nd. Welcome to the Springboard Area School Board Meeting. 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 meeting, members from
002the 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. All right, welcome everyone. Miss Crew, can we please have a roll call? Yes. In person tonight, we have Mr. Elaki, Mrs. Westwood, Mrs. Herman's, Mrs. Deerdorf, Mr. Jackson, Dr. Wright, Mrs. Goldsmith, and on Zoom, uh, we have Mrs. Westwood. Thank you very much. And Mrs. Westwood, as we go through today's agenda, um, I will do my best to try to
003defer to you as we, uh, have our conversation. Uh, with that said, we'll move on to announcements. So, the first announcement is that the board did meet in executive session over the last month a few times. On March 31st, we met to discuss personnel matters. On March 8th, we met to receive our required annual 55 safety and security update from Chief Boyer. And on April 22nd to discuss personnel matters. Um, likewise, I want to make an announcement that there was an adjustment to the agenda. As we know with sunshine, you are not able to add to the agenda within 24 hours. But we did remove something from the agenda which is well within our right um because uh I will provide some context with regards to it. But it was a policy that was up
004for discussion and vote on section 11 next week and um based on some uh guidance. We uh will provide you some context when we get to our policy committee update shortly. Okay. Any announcements from you, Dr. Murray? No additional announcements. Okay. Thank you very much. So with that said, we will move on to public to be heard on agenda items only. If anyone wishes to speak, please approach a podium with your name, township of residence, as well as the agenda item for which you are referencing. Uh my name is Roland Olsen. Uh I live in the Springford School District and uh like to discuss the uh agenda item uh pertaining to uh the budget in combination with um the the removal of well it's a combination of the the budget item in combination with removing
005the uh uh the metrics data report card for the district. I find it interesting that our while our um budget continues to grow, we have now made the decision to Clinton, you okay, buddy? Yep. I would say that that's good stuff right there. Um, we've we've come into a situation where I'd like to have it explained as to why we've removed uh the district report card for managing, judging, uh, establishing, uh, a line of understanding as to what we're getting good at, what we're not so good at. Uh, how does, uh, how do we how do we manage that? You know, is there a replacement for the district report card? Mr. Olsson, my apologies. Can we stop the clock for one moment? I am getting some feedback and I'm really unable to hear him. Hello.
006Can you hear me? That's much better. Yeah. Thank you. I'm sorry, Mr. Olson. Continue on. Well, so there's two two items. One is one is the removal. Uh I forget what the term you guys eliminate. Mr. Olson, can you hold on a moment? We want to make sure that we reset your clock for you. Sure. Thank you. Okay. Go ahead. So again the trying to get an understanding and maybe somebody could give us a a reason as to why were the metrics the district report card which covers uh all the various components of how the school district is doing from an educational standpoint. Why, you know, why is that on the agenda? Why was that removed as an important element of judging how we're doing as a school district? Okay, thank you. D, are we
007going to discuss that tonight or is that something that uh there is no discussion pursuant to policy 903? Public comment is not a back and forth, but I will make sure that we note it and we bring it up for discussion uh at the appropriate time, which would be the policy committee, which is when it was discussed last month. So, we will make sure to bring that up. Great. So now we, you know, we're at a point now where uh in 2020 uh I believe our budget was at $163 million. I just Hold on. Hold on. I I just need clarification. What agenda item are we speaking to that I I I'd like to get get clarification on that. Well, the first one was on the other business items. It's not specifically spelled out. Okay.
008On there. It's I believe it's the fourth one. And you're going to move on to another topic now. Yes. So what agenda item just so I can follow 3A the budget. 3A the budget. Okay. Thank you. Okay. U 2020 our budget was 163 million and today from what I understand the budget is now estimated to be 215 or more which represents a 30% increase since that day back in 2020. Um you I'm trying to get an understanding again why would we remove our metrics in judging how we're doing and taxpayers as a whole we're going to want to understand what we're getting for our money from that standpoint. Clinton as an engineer um you know I'm hoping to hear from you. you know, we haven't chatted in a while, but um you know, certainly from
009an engineering or business standpoint, how do you run a $215 million business without metrics and an understanding of whether you're going up or down, positive or negative? And, you know, holding yourself as well as uh the administration uh accountable for what's what's occurring. Um lastly I want to discuss one of the other items which I know you said was removed but I'm trying to understand how uh how an agenda item was added discussion which if it was removed then it's not an agenda item. So if it was removed then it's not on the agenda but you are well within your right to speak at the end of uh the meeting and make public comment on non-aggenda items. However, we will be referencing and talking to it tonight. So, hopefully your answer is questioned or your
010question is answered. Excuse me. All right. Thank you. Hello, Roland. Gary Wheaten, Upper Providence Township. I think you guys know who I am. Just to reiterate on Roland's point, he was talking about section 919 which is under C policy rescended. So I just want to provide that clarifying point to the board. Does that help? Any any questions? That's it. All right. Thank you. Anyone else that wishes to make public comment about an agenda item on the meeting agenda for tonight? Okay, seeing as though no one else is approaching the podium, we will move on to our first and only presentation of the night, which is the 202526 proposed final budget presentation. And we welcome Mr. Frink to the podium. Good evening. I hope everybody had a nice holiday weekend. Can Mr. Frink, I'm sorry. It's
011really difficult with this microphone. Is there anything that we Is this microphone going to continue to be like this? Because I can barely hear. I mean, I'm making it out, but if this is going to be a long presentation, I want to make sure we can hear Mr. Frink as clearly as possible. Sorry. Oh, is that better? Much better. That's loud. I'll try to hold it down here or something like that. Unfortunately, not handsfree. So, bear with me. Okay. So, we're going to we're going to talk about our proposed final budget for the 2526 school year. Um obviously, uh some of this is broken record type of stuff from year to year. Um we'll talk about some of the obstacles, um some expenditure changes, revenue changes, and then some impacts at the end. Um, let
012me put this on this side so I can use my free hand for that. Um, so when I look at, you know, some of the obstacles, they're they're similar year-over-year. Uh, a lot of it is because, um, you know, we're still getting traction on the 2425 budget. Um, and there's a number of things that we just don't know. Um, and you know, some of them, uh, are around the state budget. Um, you know, the education subsidies, uh, they're not finalized yet. I know Governor Shapiro of course is it closer? Yeah. And Governor Shapiro of course put forth uh his preliminary budget back in the February March time frame um with some estimates. We don't know where those estimates are going to land. Uh but you know some of the things that we do know uh
013according to the preliminary budget you know regarding the education subsidy there was a scheduled increase year-over-year of about $200,000 for Springford um which represents about a 1.38% increase year-over-year. Special education also about a $100,000 increase year-over-year, which represents about a 3% increase on that line item. The ready tolearn block grant is flat. Uh no changes there, and I frankly haven't seen any changes there uh for quite some time. Um, so I the things that I find interesting about that are the state kind of dictates to us what the act one index is at 4% but yet the increases to our subsidy subsidies are well below that on a percentage basis. Um, federal spending um, you know, it's historically a pretty small part of our budget, but of course there are the title awards that seem
014to be decreasing uh, each year. So those are, you know, some of the obstacles that we have. We don't typically find out those numbers until the later in June/Jy time frame. So those some of those numbers we might not even know at the end uh by the time we we go through this process. So let me quickly walk through where we were and the changes that we've made since the preliminary budget uh that the board adopted back in November as part of the act one timeline. Um, so we made uh obviously some changes as we've gone through the department departmental budgets and building supplies and activities for, you know, about a $1.2 million favorable change. Uh, our Paser's rate decreased from the estimate of 34.72% down to 34%. So that's why that number is less.
015You heard Mr. Levvengood here. uh he was here giving his presentation about the Western Center and um some of the reductions there based on our ADMs or our average ADMs over the past few years. That also applies to our debt payment uh debt service payments that go over to the Western Center. So that accounts for that. Um we decreased uh uh we had an increase built into the preliminary budget of about $800,000 for our debt service line yearover-year. Um, and that's simply because things cost more as you do projects. So, um, we were looking, uh, looking at that as a as a a large increase. I think I wrote, uh, in a board memo some documentation about, um, certainly when we did the Spring City, uh, bid and that project came in about 11% higher
016than uh, was expected. Some of that, of course, had to do with uh, some of those costs that have increased years year-over-year. Uh but we reduced that in we reduced that increase down by about $500,000. Um we made some changes to our meet and discuss plans and uh reduced the number of new hires that we had built into the prelim preliminary budget. Um which equates to that number. Some program changes on spring for cyber learning which uh we've talked about already. Um resignation and backfills. you know, if someone uh resigns at a higher salary, um we we can replace or or uh and bring them in at a lower salary. Um the big the big deal here is health insurance on the expense side of the budget. Um and we've been talking about this for
017months, if not a year or two. Um and our health insurance benefits have been increasing this year almost a 20 plus% um increase year-over-year. So, we had to add uh according to the second look uh by Ruskini, our consultants, we had to add uh a rather large number uh since then to to help cover those costs. Mr. Fank, just to clarify, and I apologize, I I think it's just because of the feedback. You said a 20% increase year-over-year, correct? For how many the past how many years? Uh this is really just for this year. Last year, yeah, I I uh I don't know the percentage off my my top of my head for last year. I do recall remember at the end of budget season last year we had to increase uh also because of
018the second look. So and I know that attuned for somewhere around the $1.2 million but you're just talking about the change from last the delta from last year correct. Um charter schools continue to uh be a strain on our budget. Um, you know, there's a big percentage of of cost that goes there. And, you know, when when uh a student does not attend in our building, but attends at a charter school, it you know, it costs about $15,000 for Excuse me. Can I I'm sorry to interrupt you. I can we take a pause or something because I can't understand anything. Can you guys in the audience hear? Okay. Like, I don't know if we need to all sit over there, but I cannot hear. I can't understand anything you're saying. And this is really important
019for all of us to to work through together, but it's like you're underwater. I cannot hear it. I mean, we could take a recess to try to work out. Can we take a 10-minute recess? Okay, let's do that. Test test. Uh, welcome back. I want to thank Mr. Pvetti. Round of applause for getting our microphones and audio in good order. Mr. Frink, I'm still here. You're here. Okay, let's continue on. All right. Um, I think we were talking about uh charter schools at the time, unless someone who couldn't hear wants me to go backward a little bit. Let's let's start at the with charter schools. Start. All right. We'll start with the charter schools. So, um we had a we had to add about $500,000 onto that line. Uh our numbers keep growing. Um we
020talked about this in finance committee. We're we're watching the enrollment uh we're up a little bit beyond charter school enrollment is uh in definitely on the cyber side as well. uh hop up higher than we were during the the the throws or really I guess it were mostly the beginning period of the COVID pandemic which is interesting to me. Um but that's that's where those uh that's where those numbers are right now. U and then of course u substitute teachers um we still uh we we needed to throw a little money towards that as well. Um on the revenues I almost clicked the wrong button. On the revenue side um there were some things that we could do here too. So, uh, you'll recall, um, the the Fed not long ago, probably over the summer
021of last year, was initially predicting that we would have four or five rate reductions, um, in 2025. Um, well, that that kind of stalled out. Um, we haven't seen any. I think we saw one back in September, October, something like that. And then everybody's they've just been holding steady and not really giving a lot of guidance there. Um, so with that, we we were expecting four or five declines. We're not really expecting a lot at this point. So obviously we're able to jump that number up um with the cash management plan that Mrs. David Heiser and I put together with our friends at Binmar. So we were able Binbar trust we were able to uh increase that number. It's important to note that you know that is a is going to decline at some point
022right um is you know when interest rates start to fall those numbers will fall as well. Um so a a short a shortterm uh fix I would say you know maybe a couple of years that we could sustain numbers that'll trickle down from there. Um the state subsidies uh we increased that almost $1.5 million. That's to bring us back up to where we the numbers that we were collecting at at last year. You'll recall that the state came in with uh at you know after the 11th hour after the 12th hour actually um with some higher numbers in their subsidy lines. So, we matched those numbers and we applied 50% of what Governor Shapiro put forth um in the February March budget. Um and of course now what we do is we we get on
023the phone with our representatives locally and find out how much of this is really going to stick um and what their what their gut feel is there. Um federal subsidies uh have been declining uh especially in the title the title world um and also in the medical medical access world. So that's the reason for that reduction. earned income tax. We based on our trends that you know we've gone through each month at finance um we believe that we're able to up that number by about $500,000 um and still give us a little bit of room. We're actually trending um a little bit maybe maybe a quarter million higher than that right now for this year. We're still waiting for that recession that never came. Uh you know they've been predicting that. Maybe they'll keep saying
024that until it actually happens. I don't know. Um but it still hasn't come yet. So, a little bit of caution there about going farther. Uh, other local taxes and fees, that's that's a bunch of smaller items like, you know, uh, you know, electricity rebates and those types of things that have that have been adding up, use of facilities, those types of things. A big thing that I I do want to discuss, uh, put a little bit more time into is the real estate uh, assessments uh, those appeals. And it's really on the commercial side. Um what we've been seeing over the past couple years is uh a quite a few uh out of the ordinary assessment appeals from the commercial side mostly uh I would say not not so much retail but mostly in office
025space and uh warehouse space. So we've talked about this for a number of months um this year. Um, and what we've seen over the past couple years is, you know, a a property owner on the commercial side would put in an appeal, you know, and then we would negotiate out a settlement, and you've seen those settlements on the board. We do those from time to time. Um, and then a year or two later, they're back again, right? They're back for more. So, and then we negotiate it out. You know, we have an appraiser that goes out and do those things. Um, and and so that's kind of how it's gone. Recently, however, we've had a a big one. Um uh and we've talked about this a number of times at finance as well. Um and
026that is the Wyth property, the campus down on Arcola Road where an assessment peel came in um the property was actually sold um this past August or the August before um uh for an amount considerably lower than the implied market value. Um they appealed the county board honored their appeal which is you know will be starting next year is about a$1.1.2 million revenue hit to our to our line. They've appealed again. Um uh and this time the the hit will likely be somewhere in the $3 billion range. Um we need to plan for that. Um long term we need to plan for that. Are you having trouble hearing? Oh. Oh, yeah. So, you will we'll have to we'll have to look at that on the long term to see how that impacts and what we
027can do. And that's what my team and I are are looking at right now. So, we can discuss that at finance as well, what that might look like. Um, but that's why we did that. So, what we did, we would normally have an assessment growth year-over-year of about 1.3 to 1.5%. We had to backtrack that down to one. Um, which is where this number comes from here. Um because we while we're seeing still seeing growth on the residential side, we're seeing a real retraction on the commercial side. Um and I think a lot of that has to do with you know how co was handled. People couldn't go to work. They started to you know work from home. They kind of like working from home. Um you know the the companies are are saving some
028money by not having to pay the rents and now you have vacant vacant vacant space. Uh and um but our just so you know too our appraiser is working on it with with the help of uh Mr. Mr. Fitzgerald's colleague at Fox to uh uh you know to to help us bring the matter and to guide us through to guide us through that process. So I just hit the wrong button again. on to the next is so if we look at uh a summary there um you can see we started the proposed preliminary budget at just over 11 million which was a 7.99% uh gap if you look at it from a text perspect a tax perspective down to a 7 call it four million which is 536 the uh 536% the uh of course
029the index as you know is 4% so there is still um some work to do and some decisions to be made um along the way. Um I did want to point out that had we not had uh the assessment appeals that we've seen the from the commercial side and had we not had the um unexpected increases in our health insurance uh for the year uh we would be well below the 4% um index right now. So these are the obstacles that we're dealing with going forward. So that was the look at, you know, all the numbers from uh preliminary budget to now. But let's look at the uh budget to budget, right? Last year's final budget versus this year's proposed final. Um again, some broken record stuff. Our our personnel costs still are in the
030around the 80% uh of our overall cost. Not surprised considering we are, you know, we're we're a service business. That's what we do. Um so um oh I'm actually jumping ahead in my thoughts on the revenue side. The local revenue is typically almost around 80%. Um the uh so when I look at the real estate tax just based on organic growth um at that 1% number that I mentioned before is about 1.3 1.36 million. I don't think I have to read these all. I think you I think you understand what we're looking at. Um the EIT over a million higher. Um again uh I talked about earlier about the subsidies from the state about 974 again flat on the learn learned uh ready tolearn grant. Um pasers uh again that goes up but your spend
031on your personnel side also goes up. So it's it's it's a you know it's a 50-50 relationship there. Um uh and transportation subsidy due to some uh uh efficiencies that Mrs. Henry has put together in our in our fleet. Um, we're expecting an increase on that as well. Federal, again, I'm expecting a decrease on that mostly due to the reductions in in title and medical access uh medical access funds. Um, so if you look that on a summary basis, you can see my number my my mind always go to that right hand column where I'm looking at um a 2.7% increase in revenues year-over-year. So, I'm going to ask that you remember that number because there there'll be a quiz a quiz in a little while. Um, see how your memories are working. Did that
032again. I'm going to put this in my hand so I don't forget. Um, wages and benefits I said before again they're normally around that 70% of the total budget. That's that's really nothing new. Um, about $3.75 million increase there. that's in in align with uh the agreements that we've have, you know, with agreements with our union, the agreement with our support staff. Um taxes and benefits also go up. And I'm going to emphasize again on that medical coverage piece. That's where your big jump is there. If you have that $3 million that we that we added or we had to add based on Ruskini's second look in our plans. Um any non rel non-personnel related, you're looking at these numbers here. a little bit of reduction in the special ed year over uh year-over-year budget-to
033budget. Um a decrease in curriculum, but that's because we're in a low a lower spend year than we were in the prior year. So, what you also uh if you didn't notice, we also had an other funding source on uh the bottom of the revenue slide. Let me back up one second so you could see what I'm talking about. There's other sources there at the bottom. Um that's when we fund something from one of our internal uh one of our internal funds. So from our curriculum fund, we would fund that difference in the 1.3. You don't see that coming through this year because those expenditures aren't happening the same way this year. Me go forward back to where I was. Um back up one. Um some other changes that we had in there are um
034I mentioned the curriculum. Some other some other are smaller. The transportation one is about $975,000. That one is still under review. Um I'm going back uh on that one with Mrs. Henry to see uh to make sure that number is good. I think it's a little high. So I'm going to take a peek at that one as well. But when I compare the two uh side by side, what I'm looking at here is overall again my my eyes tend to go all the way to that right hand column all the way down to the bottom. And what you see is a 4.67% increase. Um, and you'll recall that the revenue side increase was 2.7%. So, we're growing on the expense side faster than we're growing on the revenue side. Nothing terribly new. That's that's kind
035of typical. That's why we have rate changes along the way, right? Um, so when I put all the two together, what I see here is again there's your 7.364 uh million dollar gap. You can see your 5.36% uh tax impact. That would be if that's you know if nothing changed from now till final day. Um and the actin index of 4% which is about 1 uh 1.83 million to get from that 73 down that 5.36% down to the 4%. Okay. So these are some items that we still have open that we're still looking at. The one that is not in there I just mentioned is transportation. Uh but but we are going back and looking at that one. Um you know we're monitoring of course the changes in commercial assessments to see especially that big
036one to see where that where that one goes. Um uh so and that's a plus or minus right. So that you know the EIT trend is there's possible um I think we'd be pushing the envelope pretty hard if we went all the way up to the 2425 number. Um but we are looking we are looking that it you know we're going to pass the what I have in the proposed budget for this year. we're going to p for the 25 26 year we're going to pass in the 24 25 year um new positions that of course is ongoing that's going to have to do with uh enrollments and that type of stuff. So as those uh sections are identified that's a little bit later on. Um backfills retirees recommendations that is that is of course
037ongoing as they happen we uh you know we put those into the model all the way up till uh adoption day. Um, so we make sure we get the the the best we can get in there. State budget, again, we're monitoring that, following up with our local reps to see um what they have that's going to stick and what's not. We do have referendum exceptions. Um uh that is almost 1.5, you know, 1.58 million uh that we are approved for uh on the referendum exceptions. If if we needed to go beyond the index, that's a possibility. Um and then of course a debt service base adjustment. Um uh you'll recall uh through many past conversations that um the the end of this year there is a debt service cliff drop off um of about $5
038million that's happening right now. Um I don't advise going completely at that. Um it will diminish the ability for the district to borrow in the future for you know for projects going forward. So we want to be cautious and understand what uh you know what long-term implications some of those things would have. Um but that's something we will do uh and looking forward uh to the next finance committee meeting. We'll start taking we'll start we'll we have been doing it but we'll go over that in a little bit more uh more detail there. So looking at you know options we have to close the gap I think uh I think they're pretty pretty plain. You know, one is and again a lot some of these will have short-term implications, some of them will have long-term
039implications. So, we need to decide uh we will need to decide together which the what the best formula is to go forward. So, utilize the referend referendum exceptions in full uh and then and then fill the remainder with the um you know with a little bit of the debt service gap. Um that's a possibility. Uh don't use the referendum exceptions at all and just fill the whole thing. that will have bigger long-term implications. Um, and or a combination of the both. I mean, I think that's kind of where we are now. There's still some brush up items that we have on that that list that I still am going through. Um, and that will, you know, hopefully bring some of those numbers down a little bit more. I don't know that it brings it down
040all the way. Uh, I I doubt it does, but we'll we'll have to, you know, as we get closer and closer to the next finance meeting, we'll have more conversation about that, I think. Um, of course, here's the Abby Deeroff slide, which is what does this mean, right? So, a 1% change uh to the district means about $1.38 million in revenue. That's what that means. Um, a 1% real estate ch real estate tax change uh is about $32.51 in additional tax per 100,000 assessed to our taxpayers. That's what that means. I put the the next line I put the 5.12%. That is the number that would be applied if we took the referendum exceptions. That's what if we took it all, you know, that's what that would look like and what the imple of that
041would be about $166 uh dollar per $100,000 assessed. And then of course the index at 4% which is the $130 at uh you know per 100,000 uh assessed. Okay. Um so what are the next steps? Well, we have to check the box um and get the proposed final budget done according to uh act one. So tonight is the timeline for that if we are looking to achieve a final budget at the end of May. Um, and there's no reason I don't think there's a reason not to do that, but um or not to adopt today because we can always go longer than the May meeting if we need to. Anyway, um, uh, May 7th, you know, these are the the the tick marks in the act one. We have to make it p make the
042budget public on the form P, uh, P, uh, 2028. We have, uh, to advertise and all and all of that stuff with the with the goal of having a final adoption at May 27th. Okay. And look at that's fancy. And there and that is that is my presentation for this evening. Thank you very much, Mr. Frink. So um before I go to the board um for any questions and or comments. I want to be mindful that our chair of finance, Teresa Westwood, is on the line and so maybe I can start with her on Zoom. Mrs. Westwood, is there any questions or any comments that you would like to make as it relates to the presentation? Uh, yes. Can you hear me? We can. Okay. Go ahead. Um, I just wanted to thank you, Mr.
043Frank, for the presentation. I just wanted to reinforce to the board and I know we've talked about this a lot and to our members of the public that are present this evening or watching online that um, we've been through an interesting environment change in the last several years. Um, so someone commented in the beginning about, you know, the change from 2020 to 2025. I think Mr. Frink has laid out some of the real changes that we are facing. Um, and as a district in the state of Pennsylvania, um, and some of those, just to reiterate, things like our local sources for revenue going up to 70% of our budget because we um, though last year we got more money from the state, that is not a guarantee year-over-year. We also continue to get less money.
044Mr. Frank cited the 18% reduction in federal funding. Um so we continue to see you know things like um federal funds um overall decrease. So remember we all had ESSER years ago. We don't have that anymore. Title funds, medical access. Um we have very real challenges with real estate property taxes. U Mr. Frank mentioned we're we're meeting with state representatives to make them aware of this and the impact to our district and our students um and what that means when you lose a million dollars or more. That's significant um in our budget. Mr. Frank laid out the the impact of, you know, that on our budget. Health care costs also continue to rise. Um, he cited the 20% year-over-year and costing more for just doing business in general. That could be food service, that could
045be projects, etc. Um, and frankly, we have to pay our people. If we want um strong staff to make sure our children are set up for success and have the best possible outcomes, we have to compensate them fairly. So, these are just all things to consider. Um, it's always a difficult decision. It's always very nuanced and complex when you get to the budget. I appreciate Mr. Frank laying out what I hope is a digestible way for the board and for the public. Um, and I just want to, you know, if you're not going to all the finance committee meetings or maybe you're not always coming to the board meetings to state that, um, I'll speak for our finance committee and for Mr. Frink, but they can certainly speak for themselves. Um, you know, we continue
046to look at ways to save money for the district without trying to negatively impact, you know, outcomes, you know, for our students and our staff based on our long-term plan and our goals. Thank you, Mrs. Westwood. Okay. So, I will defer to uh those that are in person. Any questions or comments? Thank you. And and thank you very much, Mr. Frink. I it was a very clear presentation and I know that a lot goes into that. So I appreciate that. Um couple questions though. Um your timeline there for us to have the board approval by the end of May. What is the state's timeline though? Can you explain that? Uh we're the state and the district are required by law to do June 30th. I'm looking at Mr. Fitzgerald and he's nodding yes. So yeah.
047Right. So though I appreciate I just want to make put that out there because I appreciate the the idea that we we want to get this done in May that we do have some leeway into June and um and there is a deadline there and and for those of you that have been involved in this process, you know, in the past, you know that we have to get it so that we can get it to our tax people to get it out there. There's some very little flexibility there. But I also know that we've been in situations before where we've had to go into June and we've had to maybe have other meetings and things. We need that 30 days, but um you know, it's nice to be able to say, let's fit this budget,
048which is a very tricky one this year, as Mrs. Westwood had pointed out, into our schedule of our work session and our voting meeting. you know, we are here to do the hard work and if we need to pull other meetings, I'm I'm in favor of doing that, too. And I I did want to say um and I think I've made this clear to the board, I do come to the the finance meetings over the years. Um I I feel that it should be done handled diff in a different manner. Um but I'm just one board member. Um, and you know, so it's more the process, not that I don't trust the people that are doing the work at all and to believe that the work is being done very fairly and well. It's just
049not the way that I would I would like to see it done. So, just bearing that in in mind that um it's about um my my personal feelings on this. So, yep. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Wright. So, a couple things. Um, number one, I agree with you on the former statement with regards to we do have some flexibility to go into June 30th. I think um, you know, us approving the proposed final budget. Now, again, as you mentioned, this is a checkbox. This is not necessarily where we are landing. In fact, historically, where we what we vote on today is not where we land 30 days later or 60 days later. So, um, you know, I just want to be mindful that by us approving and voting on yes on this action item tonight,
050it does not preclude us from not being able to go to June if we would find benefit in doing so. Um, which I think we'll have more clarity on when we get to the May finance May finance meeting. Um, so I agree with that. Um, but let me go back to the board before I u make my own questions or ask my questions. Any other comments, Mrs. Deerorf? I just um for clarity with the tax assessment appeals, the commercial real estate tax assessment appeals. Um so is there ever a time when these organizations file the appeal with the county and then through the negotiation process that we don't lose out on a funding stream? because I know we have um there's been an agreement, right, which may necessarily not be what they were asking it
051to be, but there's still in that negotiation process, there's still a loss to the district. So, in these appeals, is there ever a time when there isn't any of that negotiation and it stays as what it is, or is there always an accommodation met for these organizations? I think the district uh always has the opportunity to intervene. Um many times when and I Mr. Fitzgerald can talk to this as well. Many times uh when a an entity puts forth an appeal, you know, they're they're not they may not be putting forth a uh an appraisal or you know that type of value of opinion, which makes it more difficult for us to um to to even understand where they're coming from with that. And a lot of times in those cases, uh, the county board
052will will pass on it and say, you know, no change, um, until they make a formal appeal with a court of common please, which sometimes is their intent. Um, and then they start going through that process of doing their own opinion of value where we would get our appraiser engaged, that type of thing. Just to answer your question. Yes. I mean there are there are a number of times where it has gotten to the post um board of assessments level where we have then competing appraisers and appraisal reports and actually comes back more favorable than the status quo. So yeah that that does happen from time to time and it certainly has over the years. What we do see unfortunately is at certain blips in time especially after the great recession. We've seen it after
053the pandemic and we're seeing it kind of continue on after the pandemic is unfortunately commercial properties are now going in with a lot more ammo in terms of saying the value of this property is is bloated. And the perfect example is is a recent sale way below the the market value and then being able to go right to the board of assessments who then automatically reduces the the the appraised value or the assessed value. And I guess what time what type of um timing you know like when this process starts to when it impacts us because it's difficult I would imagine to be able to plan for if at any day I could wake up and say I want to appeal my taxes on this property that I own. So, um, how far out do
054we see that as far as what you're able to then decipher how it's impacting our budget? I I don't know that we have a a very good forward-looking view on that. Um, and it can happen at any time really. Um, it could simply just happen because, you know, the owner of this building, right, they they just do their market research and they say, "Oh, wait a second. I'm paying, you know, $255 a square foot, but the guys I did a, you know, a survey and out in Ka Haken, they're paying 170. let me go talk to my landlord and renegotiate uh or I'm sorry, let me go uh you know into the appeals land and say hey I can I can easily because I have a similar property tell the board uh that you know
055I'm overvalued because you know clearly I I'm not able to earn as much revenue as uh as I could before at least in comparative to a property in another area. We're on notice as late as August 1st of a tax year of the potential of a reduced assessment. So the the deadline to file the appeal is is August 1st with the county. Um and that would then implicate the the the current tax year potentially if there's going to be a reduction. So if you have a big ticket property owner who files the appeal with the county by August 1st, the uh the business office will be on notice of this potential liability because the the truth is is that the the immediate appeal to the board will occur usually in the window of I'd say
056September through late October. And then that's usually I hate to describe that that process as more of a rubber stamp, but that's just a precursor to then if there's going to be a real challenge because the with the bigger properties there would be then a challenge where we would intervene. So yes, by within a month of the start of a new fiscal year, we could know if there could be implications both for that current year and then future years because that money is held in ultimately it's held in escrow if there's a debate as to what the value is that they're paying in taxes. So for that current year we're kind of at a our hands are tied but as far as looking for the towards the future. Yeah that's a very short window you
057know to look at. We've already done our budget for that prior year by the time they put the and you recall you know in finance that's kind of when we started talking about um that Wyth property right so yeah and that's when we would you know as Mr. Fitzgerald put forth. That's when we kind of catch wind of these things. Um, but that budget is already done and and sometimes, you know, it can be an interim adjustment. Sometimes it could be a fiscal year adjustment. So, this adjustment we had just now that the board put forth won't take won't take shape until July 1 of 2025, but they have, you know, that particular property has something else in the hopper at the Court of Common, please. um you know where they want a further repeal,
058but that initial one's done. That's happening. And just to reiterate what you said in your presentation, so it's the one that already went through is approximately a tax percentage point, right? It was about 1.3 million, which is a point in our Yeah, that's about one percentage point in our in our tax world. Yeah. And you feel like they're going for three more million next year? I I I that that complaint or whatever claim has already been put forth into the court of comment. So the answer is yes. Okay. How that turns out again not sure yet. Thank you. Um and then regarding the increase of the healthcare cost so we all know we're all experiencing it. um to clarify cuz I feel like we were having some microphone issues when you were initially saying so
059it's 3 million over what was budgeted and it's 20% year-over-year from 20% from last year increase. Um, is Ruskini saying anything other than just upping that budget as far as how to kind of um fix that issue moving forward or we just have to continually increase how much we're budgeting for that? Well, I because we know the costs aren't going down. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not I'm not sure where where you're where you're looking to go on that one. But, you know, we have discussed in uh finance committee the possibility of a healthcare center to help you know take some of that um um I don't know what do you call it your primary care type needs uh for the for the employees. Um that would take an investment right to actually put that together. Um
060but we as we talked about in finance committee this past uh this past well earlier this month I guess right we talked about um a third party giving us uh uh numbers that concurred with uh the other party that we're looking at potentially going into contract with um if if the board approves it. uh that over time, meaning in the first five years, uh the district could benefit an aggregate of about five uh 6 to7 million in savings. Um when we're talking about savings, so it's savings over future dollars as well. So um and then of course, you know, with with an investment of, you know, 1.2 2 to$ 1.5 million u in a facility in hiring the staff meaning the the company to hire the staff the consulting company that hire the staff then
061the return on investment window is about two and a half years um and then from there we would have uh according to the numbers that were presented some pretty pretty significant savings over time. So that that's one way and and they have presented a couple other ways. I know Mrs. Lisa and I are still talking with them on some stuff. I don't know that it's gotten to the point where we want to discuss it just yet because we we're skeptical on a couple things too. Um and then that just, you know, my last point is because this is a different environment uh that we're in, you know, the different way that we're speaking um to this budget and how we're going to have to change um things moving forward. or you or or Bob um
062able to speak at all about kind of or Teresa even what we're um going to be doing as far as you know next year you know budgeting and and acknowledging these significant changes and how we're going to impact that for next year to kind of get you know I know we're always trying as best we can to stay ahead of it but this you know you guys have recognized that there are some significant changes that need to occur is there anything um you guys can speak to about about what we're doing for that moving forward yet or is that to come kind of finance next month? I think I would just simply say that we tend to like to use the word levers. Um so we've done a lot of work in the last year
063to identify some levers that whenever the board is ready to have conversations we can look at that and see you know where where there is interest and where we could generate some savings uh create some efficiencies uh but you know also talking about the pros and the cons to decide as a board what which ones we support which ones we don't. We're not ready to do that right now, but we certainly have some some um content for conversation for future budgets. Yes. I mean, I think this just underscores the point that when you dealing with external factors as significant and as meaningful as spring forward is um encountering this year, and I shouldn't say spring forward, it's really across the state. And you know, some of our neighboring districts are in a much more significant
064situation. I mean, we have some um good, as we've talked about in finance, we have some tailwinds in our favor, right? Earned income tax, even since going back to the pandemic in this area relative to other areas trends higher than the average. So, we do have some tailwinds in our favor that have certainly aided our budget. But the fact of the matter is when you're dealing with external factors such as health care costs and I'm I'm glad to hear that um miss you know you have certain levers to pull whether it be investigating into the potential of a health care suite to be able to mitigate some of those costs or looking at you know our current plans and deductibles and co-shares and how we can make that really um you know much more manageable
065for the district. I and you know while also balancing the needs of our staff. You know I'm glad to hear that we're doing that. But I also think that as Mrs. Deodorf mentioned when you have personal property and commercial property moving in opposite directions as they have since the pandemic it is just a whole other level of challenge. Right? You have commercial real estate which is very cyclical. Right? Real estate investment trusts which are very prone to downturns in the market which we have had in 2020 2022. Hey, we're in 2025. You know, inflation projections are upticking, growth projections are down, right? I'm not going to use the R word in terms of recession, but who knows where we are come the end of the year. So, like I don't foresee this trend in commercial
066real estate really decreasing um or I should say disappearing, not decreasing, it's decreasing, but disappearing anytime soon. So, you know, I'm glad to hear Mr. Rizzo that we are looking at you know how we need to operate internally like how we may have to operate differently moving forward because um you know unfortunately while I would love to say here that you know barring the commercial real estate reassessments barring the healthcare we you know to pat ourselves in the back and say that we would below index the fact of the matter is that's still that's not our reality right we need to be mindful of these things and if it means that we have to look at doing things differently than precedent or the way other boards or other, you know, the district has operated historically,
067then we're going to have to do that. All right. Any other questions or comments? And by the way, going back to the healthcare suite, you did tour it, correct? You toured the healthcare suite at North Penn, did you not? I did. Yeah. How was that? That was a really nice facility. Uh, Mrs. Deodorf was with us as well, myself, Mr. Rizzo, Mr. Pelgrren, and uh, Beth Lee. We went uh uh we went there what was it uh two Fridays ago I think it was something like that. It's a really nice a really nice facility. They have uh they were closed of course at the time we went there for privacy that has to be that way. Uh but they have two providers uh and two um uh there are are there uh nurse practitioners right
068and medical assistants medical and two medical assistants right uh they have uh four exam rooms I think they said they have a consultation room um you know they they uh can dispense um you're not doing the crazy stuff but certainly dispense common medications um and that type of stuff. So, kind of takes the the the uh primary care off the table for if you wanted to make that your primary care, you could, let's put it that way. Um, some would, some would, some wouldn't, and that's fine. But so long as folks give it a shot, uh, and participation is high, and if we wanted to do it, we could, we'd have to market the heck out of it, um, to get our get our folks there and their families there, you know, folks who were
069on our plan. Um, it it could be a winning model. What was great about it was it was be it was a beautiful facility. Um, and you know, the staff were amazing, but also knowing if you woke up and you have a fever, they have you could you could get in that day, which sometimes with your primary um they do have those sick visits, but because it is that smaller situation and and private kind of just con it's almost like concierge um you know, primary care which is when you're a busy teacher, administrator um you know, you need those conveniences. So that was great. I was very impressed. I look forward to hearing more about that in the future as it continues to materialize. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Frink. Oh, I'm sorry. Teresa is
070on. So, Mr. Franks, come on back. Mrs. Westwood. Yes. Sorry, just one other um quick thing. Um and I I agree with everything that was said. Um but just maybe to reinforce like I do think there's a number of things from a long-term planning um perspective that we are doing that that are within our control. There's many things I know Mrs. Herman you mentioned some that are not within our control. Um but you know we are meeting with state representatives about cyber charter reform and commercial real estate that is ongoing. The healthc care center was talked about um looking at efficiencies. There's also day-to-day um decisions that all of us make um you know as items come in front of us as board members and I do think our board is pretty engaged um on
071the finance side and on the budget and I can and I encourage the board and our public to continue to be engaged and attend finance committee meetings so you can ask questions um and understand things but um I do think we have to continue to be thoughtful about the budget because um expenses do keep coming up um but I think we're doing what we can within our control to try to continue to fulfill our mission as a district um and also provide a great educational experience and keep expenses as reasonable as possible. Thank you, Mrs. Westwood. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Fink. All right. So, moving on to section four, we have action items. Um and we will take them one by one one by one. I'm going to take them one by one. So, we're
072going to look at action item 4 A. This is the adoption of the 202526 proposed final budget. Do I have a motion? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Questions and discussion. Yeah. I would uh like to mention that due to the fact that we don't have um we have to do this 30 days prior to the budget being final finally approved that we have time on doing this. I think that um I would feel more comfortable if we were waiting on this vote until we had a number that was closer to the 4.0. 0 then 5.36. Uh the thought of going to referendum exceptions has no appeal to me. So um I personally that was is my my view on this. I would just I think everyone's doing a hard work at bringing that
073number down. I would just like to be doing this maybe next week when we could be closer to the 4.0. Mr. Frink, are we able to do this next week? because there isn't it. If if we were uh if the board were to adopt the proposed prelib uh proposed final today, you would you would not make the uh May 27th date. Correct. You'll be you'll be a day or two short. But the May 27th date is what date we have after Memorial Day. No, no. I mean, I my understanding is that we have to have this adopted within 30 days of voting on the final budget. The final budget does not have to be voted on until June 30th. But then what you're effectively saying is by not voting on this now, you don't even
074want to vote on it in May. You don't want to have the option to vote on it in May because if we don't do this now, we cannot approve the final budget in May. Period. Right? Whereas by voting on this now, we have both the option to vote on it in May potentially and vote on it in June. So we're actually limiting our ability to move with how we move forward with the voting of the budget if we say no to this now. Is that what you're saying? Correct. Okay. Okay. Fair. Point taken. Any other questions or comments? I have one. All those in favor say I. I Any opposed? No. No. Okay. And Teresa, can you please reinforce your vote? I wanted to make a comment, but I can't chime in unless I'm unmuted.
075So, can you hear me? I can hear you. I can hear you, but at this point, because we are voting, my apologies. I'm going to need your vote. Yes or no? Yes. Okay. So that action item passes 62. Okay. Moving on to option uh 4B, letter of credit for PEDOT. Do I have a motion? Is there a second? Second. Questions and discussion? All those in favor? Oh, wait. Sorry. I Does anybody want to speak to this? Just that this is something that PennDOT is requiring of us for the curbing in Spring City. Correct. Yes. Is requiring a letter a letter of credit um for uh stuff that has happened whenever whenever they make a curb cut to fix the roads and all that type of stuff. Um it's about $115,000 and change. Um and it's
076kind of like an escrow. So it it's a three-year letter of credit. So at the end of three years the work is done and everything's satisfactory. then the money gets returned to us. The in addition to that um there is also we would open a a certificate of deposit as well um for that three-year period to hold those funds as security against that letter of credit. Um so while we'll be putting the money aside, we we'd still be earning and retaining the interest that's earned on that money as well. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Okay. Um, and for those at home, you can see the recommended action uh as stated there in some of the context that Mr. Frink uh had mentioned. So, uh, all those in favor say I. Any opposed? No.
077Mrs. Westwood, what is your vote? Yes. The motion carries 71. Moving on to C. authorization to sign letter of credit which have obviously go hand in hand. I probably could have put those together but do I have a motion? So move a second. Second questions and discussion. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? No. Motion carries 71. Moving on to 4 D, purchase of safety equipment. Do I have a motion? So moved. A second. Second. questions and discussion. Do you want to give clarity on this as well since uh although we have been briefed and it's stated there, but just to hear it from either chief or yourself, Mr. Rizzo? Um, sure. Chief brought to me um last week, excuse me, brought to me last week a concern with the model of um
078of sidearm that they use. Um does have a does now have a history of failing. um and we do not want those in service any longer. So, uh upon discovering that, Mr. um uh I guess Chief Boyer approached Mr. Frink and I and asked what steps we would need to take to replace these to ensure the safety of our students and our and our staff. So, we're recommending approving this motion. Thank you. I appreciate the uh the ex the uh sense of urgency around that because I think it's just of course we don't want to um jeopardize anyone's safety. So, with that said, any other questions or comments? Okay. All those in favor say I. Any opposed? Mrs. Westwood, what's your vote? Yes. Motion carries. 80. Okay. So, moving on to board and committee reports.
079Miss Stein. All right. Thank you. So, this is our April student reporter. Monica is unfortunately not here tonight, so I will be doing the report for you guys. So, these next few months, past and future, are very action-packed for every grade, I would say, at Springford, especially seniors, I would say. But as far as past events goes, we had our March band concert on March th March 18th. We had our college and career fair on March 19th. The indoor garden and percussion senior night was on March 24th. The third quarter ended on March 27th and on that same day we had our string jamboree. Junior prom was on March 29th. I hope that all the juniors and any other individuals that went to that prom had an amazing time. We had our act 80 day
080on March 31st. And then we had our NHS induction ceremony on April 3rd. Congratulations to all of the inductees that were inducted into this amazing society. The ACT was administered here on March on April 5th, excuse me. We had our indoor percussion competition on April 5th as well. The ASFAB test was administered here on April 11th. The district jazz concert was here on April 15th. And then no school for students. We had spring break from April 17th to April 21st. And I know that I really needed that break. So that was very amazing. And I hope that everybody else had an amazing break as well. And now for future events, there is quite a lot, especially in May. That is an action-packed month. We have our PSSAs from April 22nd to May 1st. The middle
081school choir concert will be on April 29th. The tech center will have their NOOCCI performance day on April 30th. Seniors will be coming together for decision day on May 5th. Make sure to wear your school shirts on that day to rep where you're going to school. We have the Festival of the Arts the following day on May 2nd. Senior prom will be on May 3rd. And then that night we also have uh SNAP postp prom. AP exams will be administered for two weeks from May 5th to May 16th. And then we have our middle and high school middle school and high school orchestra concert on May 6th. Seniors will be able to attend impact awards if they chose to impact a teacher or individual in the Springford School District. On May 7th, Special Olympics will
082be held here again on May 8th. We have our spring coral concert on May 9th. The middle school and high school band concert will be on May 14th. We have our senior academic recognition awards on May 15th. And then the rescheduled 5K runwalk is now on May 16th. And as always, make sure to read the weekly update for district-wide news. And students, make sure to keep up with your weekly assignments. And I do have one thing to say before I finish my presentation. I want to advocate for the Special Olympics. I unfortunately will not be able to go to this event this year because I'll be taking AP exam that day. But for those of you that are able to attend the Special Olympics, I went as a sophomore and a junior when it was
083held here and it is held here again. And it is just such an amazing experience to meet with all these different school districts and to see all of these students compete, have a great time, and to interact with your friends, teachers, and it really is such an amazing day. And I really do want as many people as possible to sign up for the Special Olympics. The announcements for this should be in student square, so make sure to keep checking that students. And yeah, please just attend Special Olympics. I really do think it's an amazing opportunity for everyone here. So yeah, that is my April student rep report. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Stein. I love it when the print gets very, very small towards the end of the year. That means a lot of exciting
084things are happening. And I know I checked in with you last month in terms of future plans. Do we have any more clarity on that? Yes, I have chosen where I will be going to school. I'll be going to the University of Pennsylvania in the fall and I'm very excited. So, thank you. Congratulations. You're going to be so happy to have you. All right, moving on to community relations with Mrs. Wearten. Thank you. Uh, community relations met on Tuesday, April 1st. Uh, Mr. Rothermouth started the meeting by sharing an overview from our CTV, including spotlight videos and live streaming events, including the academic showdown. history class debates, March band concerts, string jambbury, just to mention a few. So, you could only imagine how incredibly busy RCTV is. Miss Cruz shared an update from Parent Square
085and is completely pleased to share that we continue to see a significant increase in parent and student app users. And as she has in past meetings, she shared some standout users with a little shout out to Miss Stanton at the high school uh showing some really unique ways uh they're engaging students and parents with the app. So, thank you for that. And as you just saw through Miss Stein's presentation, there is a massive amount of upcoming events on the communications department's plans. and um they're going to be supporting quite a few of these uh between now and the next meeting in June. So, they're going to be um there's probably about a dozen district-wide events that you'll see uh see them at, if not more. And a big you've probably seen this information since then,
086but uh Miss Crew formally announced that the department received 13 Pensspra awards for projects from the past school year and has submitted an additional four of those projects for national recognition. So, we're super always impressed with the work that comes out of our communications group, but it's such an honor to see them recognized with those very special awards. And then finally, the committee discussed the potential of monetizing some of the YouTube content and Mr. Rother will continue researching this topic and we'll have another chat about that in June. Our next meeting is June 11th at 5:00 pm in the district office. Thank you. Any questions? No. Mrs. Westwood, do you have anything just to make sure before we move on? Okay. I do not. Thank you. All right. So, moving on to policy next. As
087uh indicated at the beginning or the start of the meeting, I mentioned that uh there was a policy adjustment to the agenda for which um I will provide some context. But first, let's just go to our standing policy committee meeting. Mrs. Goldsmith. Sure. The policy uh committee meeting met on April 14th. Uh during the policy committee meeting, we discussed policies 105.1, 105.2, 110, 218, and 707. They were reviewed for minor changes and then uh they're going to be sent to solicitor who I believe is reviewing them and will be on the next May board for first reading. The 800 was reviewed and changes were recommended. 919 was reviewed and deemed no longer necessary. And policy 826 was reviewed with no recommended changes. Our next committee meeting is May 12th. All right. Thank you. Any questions
088for Mrs. West? Mrs. Westward, Mrs. Goldsmith prior to uh my stepping in. Yeah. One other uh there was a comment about 919. So pol I love policy. I think it's really important. Part of going through these policies is that there are old policies. This one was from 2004. I hate to get technical, but I think it's important to the discussion. Laws change, right? No Child Left Behind Act was in existence at that point in time. That required districts to create these report cards. We had to have a policy because we were required to do that report card. That law changed to ESSA. I think it's Every Student Succeeds Act. We're no longer required to do that. The state's required. So, there is a report card. It is on our website. It's in existence. We just
089don't do it. The state does it. So, nothing has changed fundamentally, but policy had to change because we're no longer required to do it. That was very succinct and clear. So, Mr. Rizzo, um I know that you had stepped in, but um there was a public comment made about why we were removing our report cards as a district. So, I don't know if you want to add any more context to what Mrs. Goldsmith shared. Sure. Um I heard about that comment. Um uh Miss Miss Crew, can you uh can you have it pulled it up? Show what is on the website. All of our ESSA report cards are available on our website under the curriculum instruction tab. Uh we're going to pull it up so that the uh community can see and the schoolboard can
090see. Yep. As they're pulling that up, um I can talk you through to where to find it. When you go to the Springboard website, spring-forward.net, and go to about Springford, it is under the curriculum and instruction tab uh labeled as a report card. And then we link out to each school from that page, which they just pulled up now. So that's been there or that's active. the policy was updated. So we were just, you know, part part of our refresh process is to get rid of policies that are no longer necessary and update the ones that still are. So this that's the inspiration behind it. So it's still public facing and we are not removing any um ability to evaluate our success and again success in a school district is um measured in multiple ways
091not just one but still available to the public. That is correct. Thank you. All right. Um, if there's no additional questions for Mrs. Goldmith, I want to go back to the announcement that I made at the beginning of the meeting. So, um, there was a, uh, policy that was removed from today's agenda. It was policy 807. And remind me, opening ceremonies, flag salute. What's the additional part of that? Moment of silence. Moment of silence. Uh, this policy came up um to the policy committee. Um, actually it was first on the agenda in January, but we had a slew of other policies that we never got to it. It was the last policy on the agenda. So, it came back in February as old business. Um, for which we discussed it in February. Um, it went
092to the solicitor in March. It was on the agenda for first read in March and per our process, it is up for vote. It was up for vote in April. Um, so the whole reason why this was brought up is because, and Mr. Rizzo, correct me if I'm wrong, we added some language in there to recognize a moment of silence for 9/11. Is that was that the impetus behind bringing it up? That is correct. And in the meantime, when that happens, when we see things that need to change, we also look for PSBA's recommended language for updates because PSBA provides the most recent updates um with case law as well as with uh PA code and tries to give best recommendations for school districts. So, we tend to as we go through our refresh look
093at those recommendations. Yeah. And so the reason why there was an adjustment to the agenda today is because I as I understand it someone from the community had reached they didn't reach out to the board but they did reach out to you Mr. Rizzo questioning why a line in this policy was removed. And specifically, I'm going to read it. Um, quote, "The supervising officer of a school subject to the requising officer of a school subject to the requirements of this subsection shall provide written notification to parents or guardians of any student who declines to recite the pledge of allegiance or who refrains from saluting the flag." So, the question from the committee member was essentially, why was this removed? Um and that spurred a conversation with me and the chair of the policy committee around
094that. So we wanted to make sure that we were being legally sound and in cons in consulting with our solicitor uh what we came to find out is that what was written in PA school code actually is a little bit misleading because there has been a court that has deemed that line unconstitutional, hence why it was removed. Yes. And and admittedly, I was late to the game on this one. My my colleague uh Jenny Hanlin had had um supported the district in this review. So what I did um was I actually went to the school code. And if you look at the school code, that language that you just read is still in the school code. So you would think, well, shouldn't that be part of a a policy? Um you dig a little deeper
095and we have various search engines, Lexus, Nexus, and Weslaw that we work with. and and I went to Weslaw and I and I wanted to see what what was the scrutiny on on this section of school code. Um as as it turns out actually in 2004 um there was a third circuit opinion that scrutinized this section of the school code and it was a section that was written um and that was put forward and passed back in 2002. Um and then a number of private schools challenged the provision under constitutionality grounds. And what the third circuit determined was that particular section is unconstitutional. It is it is essentially viewpoint discrimination against students who choose um not to participate in the exercise of of of saying the pledge in the morning. And that is to this
096day. And and what what we can do is also search the history of that case. um there's no negative history with regard to the the findings of the third circuit surrounding its decision uh under the code. So the strangely the code section still exists but that section has been found by the third circuit to be unconstitutional. And so I think we've talked about this before as we talked about um you know in the past executive orders changes with you know everything that we've seen over the last few months when there is a conflict between what we see whether it be at the federal level, state level or PA school code and the courts like we need to not be hasty in approving or just like make sure that we're doing our due diligence um and
097we have all the facts on the table. So now that we have the facts on the table, this board has an option and I would like to hear from Mrs. Goldsmith to see what your opinion is because I know in talking to you, we are well within our right to vote on this because it is legally sound, right? We don't want anything in our policy that would be deemed unconstitutional. However, I think there is another option which Mr. Fitzgerald you had mentioned which is not all school districts have this policy. So what is your take on that? I I I come from kind of the school of thought with policies that if all the policy is doing is regurgitating the law, I don't know necessarily what the need of the policy is. And and and
098I think it it it probably was born out of PSBA's desire to continue to have um school districts have their their um yearly um um membership with with the organization to get all these updates and keep the policies and increase the number of policies. If you look at a at a policy book circa 2004 um versus a policy book today, it's probably exponentially grown. Not because it has to, but just because I think PSBA has put out policies to reflect what's just in the law anyway. And I and I say all that to say um the law is what it is. You don't need a policy for it. So the obligations that the district has under section uh 771 of the school code will exist regardless of whether you have a policy or not. So
099you could theoretically not have the policy and resend it. So is is this something that should go back to the policy committee to discuss? So that was the thought here which was I didn't want to just move forward you know and again consulting with our chair of policy you know at least we have the option to say like as a board do we just want to refer this back to policy for next month not vote on it next week so we can have a more full discussion on do we feel good about having it as a policy knowing um what we've just talked about or does it make sense to resend and knowing that we are still obliged under law to do what we need to do. Mrs. Goldmith, as chair, what are your thoughts?
100Yeah, and just for clarity sake, I think it's important because oftentimes as a non-legal member in a community, you kind of hear things and you think, well, how come they're choosing to follow this but not this? There are things that are guidance that are guidance to help us decide how to follow the law. Court cases are a different breed. If they rule something, that is interpreting the law. that is a decision maker reviewing the guidance and reviewing what is the law and deciding what the answer is. So if we and the court was incredibly clear that that part of the code was unconstitutional and violated students first amendment rights. If we had that as part of our policy, knowingly putting something unconstitutional in, that opens us to lawsuits for violating students first amendment rights. And
101bluntly, we should not do that. And I don't think any any person would advise saying we should openly violate a court order and do something that's been found to be unconstitutional and is uncontested. So when we're looking at policy, I happen to completely agree with Mark, which is you have a policy if you need a policy, otherwise you're required to follow the law. It becomes voluminous and unproductive to the management of a school district to have policies that are mere regurgitations of the law. So the thought is at this point in time, I think to bring it back to policy, have a discussion of looking at it, looking what the law says and having a a discussion that the community is welcome to be part of as to whether or not we even need this
102policy. And again, that does not mean if we don't have a policy, we're not required to follow the law. You know, the requirements of the flags, the requirement of offering the opportunity to recite the pledge of allegiance, that all still exists. We still all have to do that. But we also cannot put policies into place that contain unconstitutional provisions. It's my opinion. So I support that. Is there anyone that would not feel comfortable bringing this back to policy next month? I just want to clarify it was already addressed though in policy in February and the committee was comfortable with the policy revisions that were recommended. Is that but now with new more conversation about it. Correct. with more information because I guess I feel like the PSBA guidance to add which is why Mr. Rizzo
103said this came up was because Governor Shapiro signed act 25 in June of 2024 that schools had to have this moment of silence. So the intent was to add that to the policy, which we did, which we did, but then I guess continuing to have the conversation discovered that for 20 years there's been language in the current policy that's unconstitutional. Is that accurate? Okay. the the new proposed policy did remove that language because we looked at the new PSBA recommendations which included the redaction of that language you know and we looked at it in terms of what our old policy was didn't think to there was a substantive change in terms of the impact of the policy so the new policy that was going to go forward I think everyone is correct we could vote
104on it and it would be substantively in line with the third circuit but at the same token in really reflecting and digging deep into it and looking at the policy. Does it make sense to even have a policy if all we're doing is regurgitating the law? Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, as I typically can't attend additional committee meetings other than the ones that I'm committed to. Um, but you know, I didn't know that this I guess it's implied that this is something that um, you know, we're planning to do and and and pull the, you know, rug out from under the community on this, but I didn't know, you know, I worked night shift. I woke up at 3:00 this afternoon. I didn't know this was a thing until today. So, I, you
105know, I I look forward to being able to have some sort of actual conversation about this because um just to make it make sense and make sure that we're in line with the law 100%. And I I do think that um in light of the new information that the policy committee, you know, should it should start there. But of course, I think what is also important to make everyone aware of is if we have this conversation in May, it doesn't mean that we have to go back to first and second read, right? Like we can just decide how we want to move forward. Whether it's take what we have that was on the agenda and put it back on the agenda for May. So we could potentially vote on this in May or just, you
106know, have it as a resent rescending rescending um that not necessarily going through the process of having to go through this for three months again. Correct. If it's really just a rescend or approve the version as it is right now, we're just waiting for another month for second read for approval. That's all. Or rescending, which is not a first second reading kind of a thing. It's just rescending. Either way, we can take action in May. So, it it sounds like that we will refer this back to policy unless I'm hearing any other objections. If it goes back to policy, does it change the conversation we just had now or is it going to be the same conversation back in policy? It's the first question. And second question, would we need support from our solicitor for
107this conversation in policy? I always welcome you to attend, Mr. Fitzgerald. Thank you. Um, Clinton, we can certainly talk about whether there's going to be need for support on that one. I I think a lot of the what I'll call the the legal debate has been has been put forward here and it's pretty clear on its face as to what the the kind of the question is. I would say that the only reason that you would have to bring back a completely new approach i.e. new first reading uh would be if you change the policy significantly and then say oh we want a policy but we want to change it significantly which I don't foresee happening. I mean if we look at it it's a pretty short policy in and of itself. So so um
108I'm going to make another comment because I'm not done with this conversation. Um so while I did not get the communication from the community with the question that was posed to Mr. Rizzo, I did get another communication and I just want to be clear because I know sometimes things get muddled and whispered down the lane, but I did get a communication today from a community member who asked if I was removing American flags from the classroom. And I just want to be clear that I am not going into the 580 classrooms in the Springford School District and removing any flags. That is not why this policy was up for vote. So to be clear, it was about the moment of silence and not removing any symbol of our freedom from this school district. No, because
109we're in the middle of a meeting and it is not public back and forth. So talk at the end about you time to talk at your three minutes at the end and we welcome you to do that. There will be there's a there's an open public comment at the end of the meeting. It was and With all due respect, the board has the prerogative to have a conversation about this policy issue and then there will be public comment about the issue coming up hopefully over the next 20 minutes or so. That we can continue with the meeting. So, we're going to continue with the meeting. Moving on to from policy, we're going to go to our Oh, wait. Can I just ask a question? Yes. Go ahead. What um the policy meeting is the Mon
110uh Monday the 12th? Yes. Monday, May 12th. Yes. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. So, moving on to our curriculum and technology report. Mr. Lackey, thank you. Uh, curriculum and technology committee met on Monday, April 14th. I was not in attendance. Thank you, Dr. Ray, for covering in my absence. Uh, a number of items were discussed. The first item was around curriculum resources. Uh, due to increased enrollment in AP statistics, microbiology, biology, and chemistry, additional quantities of previously approved curriculum resources are needed. Dr. Dr. Reinhimr provided the details related to each course. Uh for technology, Dr. Hill provided information regarding assistance and support to align communication and collaboration tools as it pertains to the migration support agreement. Uh Dr. Hill also provided information regarding the e rate agreement and reimbursement for services and equipment. Our next
111meeting is May 12th. Uh and that concludes my update. Thank you, Mr. Lackey. Any questions or comments? And thank you, Dr. Wright, for stepping in. Mrs. Westwood, finance. Yes, bear with me just one second because I'm having some internet troubles in my uh hotel room. Sorry. There we go. Um the finance committee met on Tuesday, April 8th at 6 PM. Um we reviewed ongoing business. Um the numbers that I'll site are through March 31st, 2025, just as a note. So for liquidity, we have 107.5 million cash on hand. Our revenues are on par with plan thus far this year. For expenditures, um everything is in accordance with our plan except for health benefits. We discussed that at length earlier. Um for assessments, we increased our approximate value by 1 million since last meeting. Um, we
112talked about the area of concern um during that meeting, but also earlier today around real estate assessment appeals, so I won't go into that further. Uh, for real estate transfer tax, we're at 63% of the budget. Um, this is slowing, which is typical at this time of year. Um, we're seeing high interest rates as are still a barrier for both buyers and sellers. Um, there was a question raised by Mrs. Goldmith to Mr. Frank if he thought we would make it to the budget. Mr. Frank stated it's about a 50/50 shot in this specific category. Um for earned income tax, it's strong. We're up year to date $370,000. Um we're on pace for estimate of 14.8 million at year end. Um the 2025 2026 budget is um at 14.5 million. Self-funded health insurance mark weekly
113March weekly averages were around 390K, which is up 20k um a week compared to the 2425 average week. Um we have two major high claims that have hit our 475k stop loss ceiling and two more that are halfway there. Um pacing about 1.2 million to 1.4 million over plan um year to date. The 2025 2026 second look came back higher than the first look. So there's a million dollar adjustment made to the budget model and we discussed that earlier. Um for food service um this is a strength for us. We're at 642,000 meals served year to date. Um a driving factor is re reimburseable meals. Um alle cart sales are tightening. Um the airar team has the western center operating around break even point um versus the 15 to 22k loss in prior years with
114former service providers. Um we went pretty deep on the budget update in the status report. So just for time I won't go into that because I think we talked about all that earlier. Um new and other business um renewal of the real estate tax rebate program for 2526 is currently around 120k year to date. Um we have the renewal food services agreement with Aramark for 2526 and then we talked about the health center already. Um we talked about the recommended discussion items. Um we already went through those for PennDOT and the tax rebate program I think or we will for tax rebate. And I think that was about it. Um our next meeting will be May 13th um at 6 PM in the district office. Any questions? No. Thank you, Mrs. Westwood. property. Mr. Jackson.
115Thank you, Madam President. Uh, property committee meeting was held on April 8th. Meeting was called to order. Minutes were accepted as submitted. Um, first item discussed on the old business was Mr. Dan gave a update on the construction renovations at Spring City Elementary. On the school police and safety update, Chief Borer discussed our school police administrative investigated 24 safe to say tips since March 11th. Uh the first draft of the district all hazards plan was completed with Largo Consulting. We're currently working through the review process for that draft. The district is moving forward with sub subcontracting crossing guard service with with all city management service on the new business for FY2526. There was review of the proposed capital project review including access control districtwide and Royy's Ford generator installation. There was an update regarding the
116facilities master plan update that is being provided by GKO, our consultant. And that concludes my report, Madame President. Thank you, Mr. Jackson. Any questions or comments? Okay, Dr. Wright, MCIU. Thank you. The MCIU board of directors met on Wednesday, March 26th. Uh Joe Walsh gave a presentation on the emotional support program provided by the pathways to empowerment. Dr. Speaker, the executive director shared a one-pager on the comprehensive plan and the board approved their 25 to 28 comprehensive plan. I thought of you with that and all that we've gone through here. So they had to do one as well. Several board policies were approved that were brought before the board. Um, the board approved an agreement with Special Olympics of Pennsylvania to support Intercolastic Unified Sports Programs. Coming up, there is the next meeting, the MCIU
117board of directors meeting is this Wednesday, April 23rd. April 25th is the legislative breakfast there that some of us may be attending and our ne Oh, I just said our next meeting. So, pretty much that was it. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Wright. Any questions or comments? Okay, we'll start with Dr. Murray or Dr. G. Dr. G. Good evening. I'm going to piggyback on what Emma was talking about earlier. Just a friendly reminder about the May 8th Special Olympics. Um, there are 357 athletes this year that will showcase their talents, determination, and sportsmanship across a variety of events. We also have an amazing team of 510 student volunteers that will be attending and there to encourage and assist and bring along the energy for the day. So, if you can make it, please plan on
118doing so. Uh, finally, Autism Awareness Month is upon us. Here at Springford, we're proud to celebrate Autism Awareness Month by promoting inclusion, understanding, and the unique strengths of individuals on the spectrum. To highlight this amazing ways our students are getting involved, we sent out we sent out RCTV to create a special spotlight video. From classroom activities and sensory friendly projects to student led initiatives, we're excited to share how Springford is embracing awareness and acceptance all month long. And now we're going to watch a short video. Today in social skills, my students are doing a lesson on April Autism Awareness Month. So, we were reading a book, um, watching a video, and doing an activity to bring more awareness to Autism Acceptance Month. Our activity is a puzzle piece activity. Um, our main aspect of the
119lesson was teaching everyone that everyone is unique for different reasons. And so, each student got to create their own puzzle piece. Um, kind of highlighting the things that make them unique. And then we're going to be able to hang them in the hallway to celebrate our differences. [Music] I think that it's really important to teach inclusion and acceptance throughout all school settings. Um, just to make every student feel like they belong in the classroom that they are in. Um, and to be able to be friends with everyone. Um, no matter what they look like, what they act like, and everything like that. That is the end of my report. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. G. questions or comments? I appreciate the video. I always love it when we can see the visuals that go along
120with it. Solicitor's report. I have no report this evening. Okay, wonderful. So, next we'll move on to the voting portion of our meeting for next week. See if there's any additional questions and comments. Although, you know, we did talk about it at committee and uh had some pretty robust conversations during our readouts just now. So section six minutes questions section seven personnel and I do just want to um remind uh the well the board but also the community that you know when we were looking at Mr. Frink's presentation around things to do differently I think one of the still unknowns is around new positions in backfills. So, um we are going to continue to have executive sessions for personnel related matters as it relates to the budget between now and um well next week. Okay.
121Any questions or comments on personnel? Okay. Section 8 finance section nine property. I have a question about um letter E, the Spring City playground. What I know that this is part of our maintenance plan of and that this I think playground is about 20 years old. Do we know what is the next school playground that we'll be looking at? I don't have that uh readily available. It's it's on our capital plan. and I would have to look at it because I think when we're talking about budget budgeting for next year, I think maybe um having some of those conversations prior to meeting with the principles and picking out equipment and things like that, I think it would be important to um see if we're able to continue to to to follow that plan um with
122some of the budgetary constraints that we're having moving forward. So, I just encourage to keep that dialogue open when we get to the next school. Well, it's just a plan that we put forth trying to budget. That's part of the plan. And if the district or the administration or the board decides like any other expenditure in the district, they can vote no against it. But we try to do our best to assist with the financial planning and that's why that is part of our master plan. My point being is having the conversation ahead of time. We're just looking at the longer term plan, correct? Not just going with the plan. This is what it is and and having our, you know, school community expecting something that we may not have be able to move forward
123with. And I know that we that that is the approach we I think we do with every item in the district. Correct. Okay, we can move on. That's the But we but but we can discuss that at the next property meeting. So do I. Actually, if I if I could also add on to that. Um I and I was at the meeting when we discussed this and the 223,000 brings it align it with the quality of playground that we have at the other schools. It brings it up to the level that we would like it to have. And I was informed um that we do still have the existing playground there, though the school building, you know, went through um renovations, but the playground remained. I would be curious to know what it would cost
124to just um address the safety issues right now on that playground because I was told at that meeting that there really are some things that would need to be should do be done to that as opposed to bringing it up to the level of the other ones. Um, so I don't know if that's available for the next meeting or if that's a big that is something we discuss at the next meeting. But let me be clear about something. The property committee nor Mr. Dan determines what the need is. It's an ask that we address. So it starts with the administration. I've mentioned this before. You come to me and you say what you want and that's what we price up. So maybe that conversation should happen at that level before it comes to us. Then
125we can give you exactly what you want. I think it's um and I think I learned this from you is that board members can ask questions of the administration and that would be my ask just one board member. I don't know if there's any other board members that would agree would be to find out an estimate of what the cost would be just to address the safety issues so that we could bring that as opposed to bringing it to the state of the art that we would love to have it brought to considering the budget costs that we have right now. But the the if I may, Madam President, in order for us to price up, someone has to determine what the want is. So you determine or administration or the principal in most cases
126determines that we want five of the blue, we want three of the red and two of the yellow. That's what we will price up. In conjunction with that, there is a state inspector that comes goes to every school to verify that the items are structurally and the integrity of the unit is in place. So it becomes more of a collaboration with all parties. But at the end of the day, we will go and pursue what has been deemed the ask from administration. So let me try to bridge the gap here. So Dr. Wright has a question with regards to, you know, if we were to look at this and the answer may very well be what is on the agenda right now, right? Because I don't know oftentimes if there are safety issues, it's not
127just like replacing one piece. it is doing something much bigger that needs to be done. So, I'm not discrediting what is on this agenda. Um, it may very well be that that needs to be done, but I think what Dr. Ray is asking is just more context to understand is that truly the case or are there things that um, you know, is there an alternative to what it is that's being proposed? And I know that you don't have the answer to that right now, Mr. Pelgrren. So maybe it's something that we can talk about for board memo like after you do a little more digging. Okay. Claire. And as part of that discussion, if you could also include the safety report that you referenced at property so we can see what the concerns were. Yes,
128I could do that as well. Thank you. Okay. Any other questions with property programming and curriculum? And I know that a lot of these things, correct me if I'm wrong, um, Dr. Wright, uh, or Mr. Lackey, a lot of these things that we're seeing here is as a result, especially for the AP stuff, is as a result of increased enrollment. Is that correct? I'm seeing Miss Dr. Guardy shaking her head. Yes, that is correct. And we are thrilled to hear that. So, there are no there are not new um items uh anything different. They're just an increase in the items. Yes. What are for all of these items under curriculum? It's because there's an increase in need. No. Well, in terms of curriculum in the books, yes, but there was also the e- rates and
129the um mitig uh my So the AP there's more need for the AP. I got it. Can can somebody speak to what the rate is? Right. So we I don't know if Dr. Hill wants to talk about it, but the -ate is an agreement that we have for our internet service that is at a much better rate. And so we do we get this every year. We're fortunate enough that um we are actually able to get this fee that cost locked in through September 26. So the the category one is the connectivity between our buildings so they can speak to one another and the category two is the cabling and hardware. So these are things that that uh were required and said the rate is a much better rate that we can get uh for
130these these necessary items. So just to go because I'm at curriculum. So my understanding is category one is our internet access. So without category one, we lose access to the internet. But I had a question and it's piggybacking off of what you had asked. Category two was about cabling hardware. We discussed that as curriculum is kind of one item. I noticed it's broken down here into two separate items. And I guess my question is is that bec if the board did not move forward with cabling, does that automatically mean we couldn't move forward with hardware? Are these two separate things that are independent of each other? And what impact would that be if cabling didn't go through but hardware did or hardware went through and cabling did not? Dr. Hill, I'm going to ask if
131you can respond to that, please. Sure. They are separate uh because they are separate vendors and one could proceed without the other. However, uh the these are two uh integral parts of our long-term upgrade plan. or fortunate to be eligible for 50% reimbursement. So to answer your question, yes, that one could proceed without the other, but the hardware needs the upgraded cabling to run at an optimal level. And this was this happens every year. Is that what you said, Dr. Wright? So, but it's a but it's a fiveyear term. So, can you clarify that? I beg your pardon. So, I may misspoke. is not maybe not be every year, but it is a contract we continue to renew. And Dr. Hill could probably speak better to that than I do. Yes, the -ray program runs
132for five-year terms. The category one agreement is for five years and that really protects school districts and this is um part of the -ate program that we would be locked into this uh pricing at a 50% discount for five years. the category two, there's a a dollar figure attached per pupil, which I believe is $176 per pupil that can be spent over that five-year period. So, this is the fifth year of five, and this will exhaust all of our eligible -ate funding for that five-year term. So, we're we're spending every penny that we can uh and we've spent every penny that we can during that five-year term. I believe to in the board memo you provided at the end of that five years how much savings. So it looks like an initial investment and this
133is like me pulling it from my brain because it's not here on the agenda of like a hundred some thousand and then a savings of 300,000. Is that so you clarify that because that that's not really clear on the agenda and I think it's helpful information. So that is uh separate that is item A which is migration support. So that's um a completely separate topic outside of that migration support agreement would be a $19,000 uh one-time investment and over the course of a five-year term would save the district um a little over $300,000. Okay. So, sorry. I I apologize for jumping ahead. So, back to the rate. Um, so it was five years ago that we did this. Why? Like, I'm I just I guess I'm just trying to um follow the timeline of why
134this needs to be done now. You are correct. The last time that we entered into a category one agreement was five years ago. And the category 2 is a five-year term. So that uh in general, school districts would need to spread out the amount of money that they're spending. U Springford is no different. So rather than us spending $1.2 2 million in one year. Uh the -ate program allows us to spread that out over five years so that we can make expenditures like we have proposed this evening uh to be more budget conscious and budget friendly during that five years. Thank you. So just want to wrap my head around this sir and to stay with the budget concerns that we the board has. If the district did nothing right now is our system intact.
135All of our buildings currently have connectivity both to each other and to the internet. So my question is if we did nothing now the district is not going to fall apart. The connectivity is going to remain intact. The district would not fall apart if these motions were voted down. Can I ask that question in a different way that's open? I wasn't finished Madam President. No, no, no. I want clarification. I think it's a good question. So what is the implication if nothing was done? Right now we are running uh we have cabling in our buildings that is between 10 and 20 years old is not capable of the speeds that we need uh for curriculum and instruction purposes. This will bring our buildings up to a more modern level which will allow us to fully
136utilize the devices that students and staff are using on a daily basis. And that's that's the implication. And this is also part this would be very similar to a capital improvement project for buildings where we need to absolutely keep our infrastructure up to date to keep pace with uh online textbooks and all the things that we're doing uh in classrooms every single day. So yeah, and I I think the intent behind your question was Mr. Jackson. I just wanted to ask it a slightly different way as opposed to a close-ended question. And I wanted to hear what is like if we did nothing, what would be the the potential downside risk of that? Um, and just I will just speak for myself as a parent of a of a few students uh that have, you
137know, gone through spring forward and are in spring forward. Um, I I know what you say to be true. So, thank you. And just to one add one other piece to that, the wiring that was installed and exists was before we had wireless devices. So that kind of puts in perspective that we went from zero to over 10,000 just wireless devices in the district in the span of time that since that wiring was installed and it uh in my opinion needs to be replaced and this is one way for the district to do it responsibly. So I can have my time back. Madam President, I didn't know your time was still going but go ahead. Go ahead. So very familiar with Crown Council, sir. So, if I look at item agreement category one, the we're
138saying we're going to put fiber optics in their entire district for $157,000. The agreement with Crown Castle and and this is a renewal, but it's a new 5-year agreement. This uh we currently lease the fiber through Crown Castle, and it already exists. So this is the fee in order to use their fiber which is already in the ground and along the utility poles. But if you're saying this fiber is already in existence and we're currently using it, correct? What are we paying for now if we're already using it? We're paying Crown Castle to use their fiber. So this is leased dark fiber. So go ahead. I'm not done. I know and but I think there's a confusion here and that's what I'm trying to do is clear. So there's a difference between category 1 and
139category 2. Okay. Category one though is if my understanding is if we do not renew for us to maintain internet access we would have to pay the double amount. So there would be we would have to pay 100% not the 50%. Otherwise if we pay nothing we lose all internet access. Different than upgrading cabling. Fifth. No you got coax you got fiber. Dr. Murray, I see your Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Den. Continue. Go ahead. Just just to add to that, too. And and Dr. Hill, please correct me if I'm I misspe here, but this is basically like paying your monthly internet bill. So, that's what the the charge is for, not to install the fiber optics for the way this was written. So, back to my original point. So, this fifth percent is based on
140a five-year commitment. What would the discount be if we did a seven-year commitment or is the five-year terminal? The only option is a five-year agreement. Okay. Thank you. Could I also add that that with the the rates that this is federal funding that comes to provide schools and libraries with um funds like for discounted rates for things like internet access for schools and libraries and for communities but and this is funding that if you look in the educational literature right now there is concern that the Supreme Court is going to make the decision that this will not be available going forward. So we don't know. So if we don't take advantage of this now, there is that opport there's that possibility we would have to pay a much higher rate for this kind of connectivity
141in the future. We just don't know. And and I I just want to have clarity for the community and the board because I I think the question that was posed was by Mr. Jackson was what would the implications be if basically these things didn't go forward and they're separate. It it is not as if we would still be in existence if category one did not go through because we would lose internet access or have to pay double amount. I think the answer was more related to categories two which is we would not be able to upgrade this the upgrading or continued upgrading the systems wouldn't occur. So the current existence would be maintained at the level that it currently exists. Am I correct about that Dr. Murray? I believe that's your understanding as well. Yes.
142And I was just going to add this is the funding that you see on your cable bill or your Can you hear me? Sorry. This is the funding that you see that little tax item on your cell phone bill, your cable bill, your internet bill, whatever you're billing. You'll see those little odd taxes. This is where that money goes and comes back to us. Okay. Thank you for the discussion. Let's move on from curriculum technology to other business. Um I am going to make mention on one item which is policy well the way it is reading is policy 931.1 partnerships/sponsorships um actually is should read policy 913.1. So under file attachments you'll see that it is the accurate number but under the policy um the numbers are transposed but we will make sure that is
143reflected accurately come next week. U Mrs. Westwood I apologize I think you may have had a question on curriculum and we are well within our right to go back. Is there still an outstanding question? It was more of a it was more it was a comment and a question. I mean I think I was trying to follow the discussion but I mean I think from being in the curriculum meeting it sounded like and I think Dr. H talked about this that there are savings to the district with some of these different pieces around the rate whether we're looking at category one or two for cabling hardware etc. Um and also gives us uh more modernization and speed. So personally I was in favor of it but there's also I think this is a place and
144Dr. hope can correct me if I'm misstating anything where we're giving money back to the district once the projects are complete across the three that are outlined. I just wanted to confirm that. And the second thing was about Dr. Wright mentioned I also mentioned that um in the meeting last week and Dr. Hill could speak to that or maybe Mark could if he has further details but um that was an open question I had as well about where that was with the um in the courts. So I can I'll take the first part. Uh that is correct. Part of our our strategic plan for technology is to ensure that all of our buildings are uh modernized and have in warranty and sustainable technology. So within our budget is the total cost for both of these
145projects, both cabling and hardware. The -ate program helps us return 50% of that total back to the district which is a value added. I can take the legal side. Um I I think I've said here I I I do think that the -ray program is on thin ice. Um I it didn't go through traditional um legislative or regulatory rulem through the FCC. um it has been scrutinized by um competitors within the field that it it it it should have and because it hasn't um that it ultimately is a illegal federal subsidy. So the Supreme Court is going to render a decision this spring and I think it's it's there's a pro more than 50% probability that they're going to find that the program would need to uh require either rulemaking or legislative action to to
146exist moving forward. Is there anything that guarantees it being honored? I I don't know what they would do in that regard, whether they would say I I could they anything's possible. Um but there's a lot of schools nationwide that and more so than than we do rely on -ate for to to keep the literally to keep the lights on. Mr. Hill, I I believe that was a discussion point though and maybe I'm incorrect. I thought I heard at curriculum that if we signed the contracts now even if it went away that it would be honored for the five years. Am I incorrect about that? So according to the -ate rules we our pricing is locked in. So uh this was through a mini bid process. So we were able to get uh highly competitive pricing
147and discounts for the switches and for the access point. So that price is locked in through September 2026. So yes, that is uh that is accurate. Again, maybe then I can I maybe I need some help because so it's locked in, but Mr. Fitzgerald, you have said if it if the Supreme Court finds against it, it could go away. So I'm not sure. I I I can't speak to whether there's going to be retroactive impact to their decision. I I don't anticipate that's going to be the case. Um but I I I can't speak to that for for absolute certainty because there are there are times where courts will have a retroactive impact to to its decision. I can't I don't see that here in part because of of the impact of what has just
148been discussed. The fact that there were commitments made prior to the decision. Let's look at it from this perspective. Uh Dr. What is the timeline for the completion of these activities which would put us in a stronger position if everything's in place? The the fiber is already here. So, we're just talking about the hardware. So, what's the timeline for this activity to be completed? You're correct. So, the fibers the fibers in the ground that wouldn't change. The uh projected project completion date for category 2 which would be cabling and uh hardware would be August of this year. So technically if it's in place that's leverage. So okay thank you. One question another question. What are we doing with the hardware that we're replacing that's currently in place? What are we doing with that? All equipment,
149including network equipment, is salvaged. So, we put out a list and either it's auctioned or goes to our equipment salvage and those funds are returned to the district. Colleen would be proud. Okay. Thank you. Okay. So, we're going to jump forward two items toformational items. Number 12, we have a tenure uh listed on the agenda for reference and also um the outdoor classroom at Evans Elementary School for which I did meet um actually Mrs. Wearten and I did meet with our home and school association presidents and boards um recently to hear what was going on. And so, um, when Evans did their report, um, they did read out on this. And as I said to them then, I will say publicly, uh, to Evans as well as all of our home schools, thank you for
150the amazing efforts that you put into helping to fund raise and to, um, beautify our district and to provide experiences to our students that are conducive to what we want them to experience at Springford. So, um, thank you for promoting the a positive culture for our students. Okay, that takes us to board comment. Because I wasn't here for the beginning of the meeting, I just want to make sure that you mentioned the executive session for the act 55 requirements and that that's reflected in the minutes. Okay. Thank you. Yes, sir. Okay. I do have a comment that I'd like to make. Um, I had the opportunity to attend the Valley Forge uh five mile race. I did the two-mile walk, but many of my family were in attendance there. And I was so pleased to
151see that um Springford was well represented. Britney Berer, our meteorologist, was there as and discussed um opening procedures there. But also Avery Bitser, I hope I'm saying that correctly. Um which is a jun she's a junior here. She sang the national anthem. She did a beautiful job and so she really represented Springford well. So, I just want to say it was it was a real privilege to to see spring for there and to support our Valley Forge Park, too. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Wright. Mrs. Westwood, is there a comment? Does she have her hand up? I do have my hand up. I do have a comment if if Mrs. Wright is done. Yes, Dr. Right. Sorry. Um just circling back to the to the to the budget. I just want to make sure because
152there was some back and forth um regarding waiting and I know we're not waiting we've we've moved forward but for the I just want to remind the board like one I hope that everyone can come I know schedules are busy to our May finance committee meeting because I think that will be important for the public to do so as well. But I think the second is I just want to make sure there's clarity that we really have to Mrs. Westwood, you're breaking up, so you're going to have to repeat that last sentence. I heard you say that you are uh hoping to see everyone at the May 12th meeting and then it broke up. Yes. What I would Yes. And after that now is okay. Can you hear me now? Yes. Yes. Okay. Great. Um,
153after that I had just said that I just want to be really clear in case there was confusion from anyone um, from a board perspective or the community that there truly are three options for us to get to where we need to be at this point um, to get to index and that one is leveraging referendum exceptions. Um, like Dr. Wright, I am not personally in favor of that. Um, second is debt service. So Mr. think mentioned the debt service that is dropping off this year, the 5 million that we have the ability to take some of that. Um, and the third is a combo of those options. So that that we will discuss more in May and I look forward to, you know, having the board there and hopefully members of the community to
154hear that and share the feedback. Thank you. Any other board comment? Okay, moving on to public to be heard. can be on any topics not isolated to the agenda. If anyone would like to speak, please approach the podium with your name and township of residence. Roland Olsen, Springford School District. Um, for starters, I'd like to commend Mr. Rizzo for continuing with the performance reporting as it remains a key component to showing how great our school district can be. Um, please, if you're eliminating something in the future, let us know where we can find the replacement link for the new info so we don't have to come down to the board meeting to find out. Not that it's not thrilling for all of us involved. Two, uh, that was a pretty robust discussion without allowing public
155comment prior to making an action decision on a removed agenda item. You know, if you were going to discuss it at length and make a decision along those lines, we all should have been allowed to speak on it. Uh I think just the fact that you had to remove it from the agenda is an indicator as to to where that was at. Uh three, the question of whether a student must participate in the pledge was not the only item changed or deleted there. There were multiple changes made to that policy for flag and opening exercises, which was mostly a policy unchanged since 1991. So, it's nice to hear that you don't plan on removing the flag from the classrooms, but you did not mention the proposed policy change which removed displaying the flag and our
156gyms, auditorium, assembly, stadiums, etc. Why was it necessary? Why was it necessary to change the language as to where our flag was displayed if you were just looking to remove the component of a student being forced to participate? I didn't I didn't hear anybody ask or address that. So, I'll I'll look forward to that answer. Additionally, why is the notification to parents if their child is not participating in the pledge removed as well? Again, it wasn't just to address whether or not that student had the right to not participate, but you also changed the language whether or not I should be notified if my child was not participating. This is something which as a parent I would want to know and understand why my my child isn't participating and I'm sure many other parents would
157like to be notified as well as the current policy states. So just to be clear, I do not support the removal of any American flags the border administration is considering as I find it disrespectful to both our veterans and our American patriotism. and I do not support the removal of parental notification when my child does not participate in the opening exercises. Thank you. Is there anyone else that wishes to speak? So Gary Wheaten, Upper Province Township. This is probably for Mr. Fitzgerald and Mr. Frink. So with the welcoming welcoming resolution that was passed recently, do you see any potential impacts to federal funding in terms of the budget? Potential impacts to the budget. Do you have a comment a continued comment or was is that your question and that's that because it is not a
158Q&A as Mr. Fitzgerald will tell you pursuant to policy 9003 which is another issue that there's lack of transparency with this board with having Q&As's. Um Tesid also mentioned that come out to the finance meetings and ask questions. You just said policy 903 contradicts that. So again lack of transparency. Um I second Roland's opinion about 919. If you just put something in there saying it's already been addressed that'd be great. And last thing is in terms of the health clinic, something to think about. I looked up some data. North Penn, they said that their budget's about 30 million a year for health insurance. They're going to save about a million a year over 10 years. So, I would implore the board to kind of relook at those numbers just to ensure that that's factually correct.
159And the other statement I have is do you have the ability to force the faculty of the district to go to that clinic or do they have the option to go somewhere else? In other words, is something going to be put in place that could be 20% utilized? That's all I had for today. Thank you very much. Is there anyone else that wishes to speak? All right. Thank you, Michael Diaz, Limmerch Township. I'd like to touch on something a little bit different that I think could actually alleviate a lot of concerns that we have with the board. If these if these policy meetings and these committee meetings were recorded, we wouldn't have to do the back and forth every meeting of the public having to be reexplained what happened. It's still important that we do
160do a summary, but if I could go back and watch these meetings, I could be better informed as both a student, as a community member, and I also believe that many of the board members could be more well informed because I know a lot of them cannot attend every single committee meeting. The public can't attend every single committee meeting. By recording these meetings, you're opening them up to the public even greater than they already are. It's awesome that you have Zoom. It's awesome that we can attend in person, but if you record them and post them, we can all hear these important discussions which you do have all the time. Listen, I know there's many times where there's three non-board members in the room and then you're going to get questions later on about the
161things you already discussed. If it's being discussed in a committee meeting, put it out there, record it. It will alleviate a lot of the concerns we currently have. That's just what I'd like to propose because honestly, as someone who does attend as many of those meetings as possible, if I don't catch something, it'd be awesome to look back at that recording. It'd be awesome for the community, too. It's just a helpful helpful piece of like information for you guys to have later on and for everybody in this audience and in our district to have. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you. Is there anyone else that wishes to speak? Okay. Um so per um my role as board president there you know of course I will never um tell someone that their opinion
162is valid. You're welcome to come and make any comment that you want at the podium as terms of um you know how you feel. But when it comes to inaccurate information it does need to be corrected. So uh I believe there was a statement that said that this board changed the language with regards to policy 807 as discussed. We did not change the language. The courts change the language. the court's decision change language and we as a result must follow it because that is the law. Um and then secondly as regards to just policy 903 and about this board's lack of transparency policy 903 has been in place long before this board. So uh just want to clarify that. Any questions? No. Okay. Motion to adjurnn. [Music]