001pledge allegiance to the flag of the United o bonked into that regular school board meetings are business meetings that are open to the public during which we provide several opportunities for public comment on items before the board the first comment period is reserved for announced additional agenda items and items on the consent agenda only additional public comment will be heard for the actions listed priority discussion the final comment period near the end of the meeting is reserved for all other matters of concern official action or deliberation which are or may be before the tesd board of directors and which are not covered by the other comment periods each public comment period is reserved for residents and taxpayers additionally the board will accept comments from sitting public officials for non- campaigning purposes and by agreement with
002the tea and ten the board will accept comments from the union presidents all comments should be directed to the board as a whole or to the presiding officer no comments or questions should be directed to individual board members all public comments and responses should be in the spirit of civil public discourse also please be aware that intentionally disrupting a lawful meeting or the administration of a government function is a criminal offense in Pennsylvania the board values the opportunity to hear from the community in person and appreciates your cooperation in advance next on the agenda our student reports we'll hear from our student Representatives aan Kumar and Maggie Neri hello everyone hello everyone it's good to see you all again you know in January I talked about how everyone should have a New Year's resolution to
003come to more Schoolboard meetings and I think that message really struck through because I see that we still have a great crowd every time so thank you everyone who's coming and coming to listening to not only our reports but the rest of the messages that the rest of the school board is talking about we really appreciate it so starting off the report I'd first like to talk about our senior prom which is on April 24th at The Foundry in Phoenixville from 8:00 to 11:00 p.m. seniors are allowed to come as as long as they pay all their debts and they just buy a ticket online uh via their parents power school Portal and they just have to basically fill out a form make sure all the debts are paid and then pay the ticket of
004$95 and at the prom at The Foundry there will be snacks and desserts of All Sorts it's a really nice venue and it's always a great success again it's on Thursday April 24th so I encourage everyone who is a senior or maybe friends with a senior who can take them to attend also would like to talk about senior internships as we're planning for our senior experience election a senior experience elective were able to on the last few weeks of may go on some sort of internship experience and this form uh it's starting to be due so throughout the next few couple weeks you got to talk to Mrs Braun so that you can coordinate uh where you might be wanting to do your senior experience and it's definitely a great opportunity for people to get
005real world experience before they head to college and just see which Fields they might be interested in for what major they might want to pursue in the end and overall seniors are having a great end of the year college decisions are starting to come out people are making their commitments we're planning snow day in May which is our last senior day which is on Friday May 2nd and essentially throughout lunch periods people are able to go on the track there's games there's food provided by the PTA and it's overall a great day and you know it's second semester senior year so senioritis is starting the kick in but still all the seniors are doing good doing good in classes and it's overall a great time and then also uh for seniors the senior t-shirt is
006on sale right now and this is basically a t-shirt that every senior can have and just Bond over and remember the times it has a basic coner 2025 uh logo and it's really nice and those sales close on Tuesday so if you know any seniors that haven't bought a t-shirt yet I encourage you to check out schooly and let them know and then also I'd like to talk about the car wash that's coming up on April 6th this is a student council fundraising event and in front of the bus Circle anyone can come it's just a fundraising event we don't charge for the car washes but it is so it's a free car wash you can come we of course accept donations that's what our fundraising is based off of and it's definitely a great
007time we have fun and hopefully you guys need to get your car washed also we like to talk about the school store student council has recently launched a new spring uh sale for the school store and this is a bunch of different clothes uh with Koga gear and a lot of students maybe you're a middle schooler Elementary schooler or even a high schooler you can buy some Koga gear or maybe you're in college or your parent and just want to rep some Koga it's definitely a great option it is made with Nike Adidas and under AR Under Armour gear and it just has the Koga logo and that link is on Virtual stoga Instagram page or on schooly if any of your kids have schooly or your parents can check it out and then also
008would like to talk about career week which is on from April 1st to 4th and this is essentially a week where uh people in Prof Professionals in certain Fields come to Koga and speak about their fields and just letting the students know what they basically do so again like the senior experience people are able to get interest in certain fields and you know start to figure out what they might want to major in and this isn't just open the seniors people of all grades can go in any of their periods if their teacher allows them or maybe they have a free period and it's usually in the auditorium where these speakers come and just talk about it next hack stoga hack stoga was this past Saturday and this is an event where a bunch of
009coders of all levels come together in the atrium actually where we are right now there's food and drinks provided and it's basically in a Set time uh people are tasked to create any sort of coding program and the best and most creative one wins and it's super fun event people are here all day with again food and drinks and people of all levels of coding can come together form a team and it's super fun and I definitely recommend it to people who might be interested in coding or just having a fun time on a Saturday afternoon next robotics our robotics team at Koga is usually doing really great and again this year two teams have qualified for the world uh competition and then lastly before I hand it off to Maggie I would like to
010talk about minithon I'm sure you've all heard me talk about minithon in these past few Schoolboard meetings it's definitely really important event and it is actually next Friday April 4th and again for those who might not know minithon is a fundraising event for Pediatric cancer where we partner with four diamonds and donate all our funds we have a donor Drive Link where we raise funds throughout the year currently we're at roughly $116,000 and our goal by next Friday is around 20 to 25,000 and we continue to raise funds throughout the entire year so I really encourage everyone to take a look at the donor drive maybe you're interested in donating or the company you work at or any sort of friends and families but it's definitely a great cause and I know that was a
011lot of information but thank you for listening and I'll hand it off to Maggie now thank you I and good evening everyone if you cannot tell spring allergies are getting the better of me right now so I appreciate you for taking the bulk of the report um so I can try to save my voice um so bear with me as I give the rest of the report so I did mention the career week which is happening um April 1st to April 4th a notable date is that Friday April 4th is military day so reps from the military will come in and give students information about the military and just provide students with another alternative option post High School um since last school board um the play was Chicago teen Edition and it was a this
012musical was Chicago teen Edition and it was a huge hit great job to everyone involved the very talented actors actresses stage crew props sound crew Orchestra and hair and makeup so many different groups were involved and really just created an awesome an awesome musical I went I thought it was incredible and I will definitely be going to the one next year also in the realm of Arts some spring concerts are upcoming on at 7 pm on April 23rd we have the choir concert on April 29th we have the orchestra and band concerts and on April 30th we have the Jazz ban concert Switching gears over to the Athletics if You' seen some mounds of dirt or some construction sites out by the track um here at Koga there's some athletic Renovations that um are underway
013and they are set to be completed by this September 2025 and those Renovations include two turf fields One softball field and four to six tennis courts and they'll they're plan to be built and ready for as I said September 2025 which is very exciting um so now obviously we are in the spring but looking back on some highlights from the winter sports season which is now all athletes are done competing um boys ice hockey team made it to the Flyers cup which is essentially the district playoffs um both the boys and girls basketball team qualified and competed in the state tournament and they represented kogo well the notably the boys won the district one Championship so congrat congratulations to them both swim teams qualified four states and again represented Koga well in particular D diver
014Avery Hillier won the state championship making her the back-to-back state champion diver so another huge congratulations what a feat um and so spring Sports have kicked off and they are underway no news to report on yet as the season is just beginning but as always looking forward into the future we have the fall Sports meeting which is virt virtual on May 21st so maybe just keep that in mind on your calendar um Good Luck to all the athletes starting their spring Seasons um and that's all from me thank you thank you I and Maggie sounds like a lot of things going on here at Koga and and in the district so thanks for that report before we begin the highlights which is the next our next uh portion of the meeting I'd like to draw
015attention to the student artwork which was supplied by Bowmont elementary school for this evening's meeting and is behind us here at the at the desks first grade students learned about the Japanese art of Koto kotoku and made their own fish rubbings second graders kept in line with the season by designing sweaters with patterns third grade students combined their knowledge of patterns with the contrast of warm and cool colors to make their hearts pop and fourth graders created and painted their own totem poles during Native American American History Month now please join board members Dr Robert Singh and Miss Rachel W and Bowmont Elementary School principal Dr Stephanie Deming in greeting students and staff during highlights the Highlight session of tonight's board meeting special education supervisor Carolyn macrina will be our reader for the evening each
016month the board of school directors invites te students and staff members who have demonstrated outstanding achievement to attend the regular school board meeting to be recognized for their efforts the board invites parents and teachers to accompany their students this evening as the board recognizes them those unable to be here tonight will receive their certificates at their schools so when I call your names please up and you're going to greet the board members and then go over to miss Roy to get your certificate Bowmont Elementary School students are bag helpers for the Veterans Medical Center bont third grade students assembled 75 Valentine's treat bags for veterans at the Coatsville VA Medical Center the third graders organized the bags and wrote Valentine's Day cards for each bag student representatives of this activity are Charlotte pedi Vita sandam
017arlay Hara MGA they comment up okay Nate ganowski Vincent 2 Michael DWI Teresa Rivera figarola Dean Marx Presley Lawler and Henry Zang you guys can come up and get your certificates please come up this way make sure you shake hands over here with the board members and Dr Deming I want to add with this group that bow bont third grade teacher teachers Misty Pennywell and Meredith Waldren helped to facilitate the treat bag activities congratulations bont Elementary School students participate in mindful Mondays videos bont third grade students helped create mindful Monday videos for students and staff that included peaceful inspiring messages and led reflection activities to support positive mindfulness and well-being the helpers include please come up if your name is called Henry Grim Connor High Arya Richards Nanda Gade Parker Walden Brianna burkert Charlotte mcaren
018Melanie Nicholls CeCe Kenza Laura Hoffman Quinn Davis and Lily Flynn bont teachers Melissa mcgi Lisa hosteller and Caitlyn manuso facilitated the mindful Monday activities [Applause] congratulations bont Elementary School students perform at Warrior grave School bont Elementary School chorus students continued the 18-year treasured partnership with Royer grave School for the Blind and peoli the chorus students performed their Winter concert songs for the students and staff at Royer Graves the Royer Graves student choir shared holiday songs with the Bowmont chorus in true partnership representatives of the bow bont chorus include third grade students Dominic D orini Sanjay Cara Jala Kendall giovana and Amita linu Kamar and fourth grade students Lily Clark Corey lesbi Juliet pelli Caroline mcgurren and Damen Richards bont music teacher Katie hedenberg school counselor Judith root and school nurse Diane Carlin support the chorus
019partnership congratulations bont's been busy so one more for bont bont Elementary School fourth grade buddies support younger students bont fourth grade students assisted their first and second grade buddies with various school and classroom activities such as completing the Black History Month scavenger hunt making Valentine's Day bags and cards reading together and making snowflakes during the winter book lessons all fourth grade students have buddies and the following students are representatives of the Buddies program yamming I William Omar Livy Oram Jack Waterman MOA Connell Riley Ferrar Connor Capelli Clara rambert Riley Stein and sop IIA shenberger bont fourth grade teachers Donna green Kristen weinrich Alex Thompson and Phil sorry and Phil Munger supported the Buddies program [Applause] congratulations and one more thing to share um so con stoga High School's the folio wins National recognition congratulations to
020the staff of the folio conestoga's literary and art Magazine on winning the realm first class the highest honor from the National Council of teachers of English schools from 46 States and five countries were included in the 2024 contest and the folio was one of the 125 magazines to receive the contest's highest distinction realm first class the co-editor editors in Chief of the folio are Hannah Gupta and Audrey nuim the folio faculty advisers are Kate Wilson and Ben Smith congratulations to cona stoga folio congratulations to all of you for all of your outstanding efforts and achievements we commend you all on your accomplishments they're really great to see so now as part of our board meeting this is where we take a little break to allow folks who for some reason don't want to stick around
021for the rest of the business section of the board meeting and this gives you all plenty of time to convince your parents to congratulate you by getting ice cream or some other treat before it's time to go home so we'll take a short break and we'll reconvene in in a couple of minutes thank you [Music] d e e okay we will go ahead and reconvene our board meeting moving down on the agenda next item is additional announcement of additional agenda items of which there are none so then next item on the agenda is public participation from District residents and District taxpayers regarding any items on the consent agenda only if you would like to make a comment on the consent agenda please line up when you come to the microphone state your name and Township
022of residence we will end comment with the last person in line all public comments this evening will be limited to 3 minutes again this comment period is limited to the the consent agenda only to help with the timing please make your entire comment and then the board will determine an appropriate response okay seeing no item no uh comments on the consent agenda move to the next item on the agenda which is board action regarding amendment of agenda to include additional agenda items we had none so no action required here and and then our next item is the consent agenda although board action is is required it is generally unnecessary to hold discussion on these items with the consent of all members they are therefore grouped and approval is given in one Motion in the event
023a board member wants to discuss any item the board president will move it to an appropriate place on the agenda a board member may vote nay or abstain with respect to a consent agenda item without the need for removing the item from the consent agenda the action under consideration is that the board of school directors approves the following recommendations on the consent agenda as printed on page seven of the agenda so I will call for a motion so moved have a motion do I have a second second okay I have a proper first and a second so we'll have a vote all those in favor signify by saying I hi any opposed signify by saying nay okay eyes have it 90 we'll now uh turn to our vice president miss suti who will uh have
024a statement about acceptance of gifts thank you uh actually one of the nice roles of the vice president is you get to accept the gifts every month and our community is so uh generous always uh this month we have two gifts uh both of them uh to Devon Elementary School the first is a gift of $1,000 donated by the patient first organization located right in Devon and the second is a new school sign outside of uh Devon Elementary uh if you drive by you'll see it now it's uh replaced one that was showing its wear and this one is a lovely uh red and gold sign that uh was put there by the Devon Elementary PTO in cooperation with approval from the facilities committee its value is $7,995 so we thank both the PTO and
025Patient First for their generosity thank you Miss Titi and yes and thanks to our community and have to look for that new sign over there at at Devon well I keep my eyes on the road though too w absolutely okay so we'll now move on to our priority discussion naming of the new Elementary School the action under consideration is that the board of school directors approves naming the new elementary school at 1200 West swedesford Road Berwin as Bear Hill Elementary School do I have a motion so moved have a first do have a second second okay with the first proper first and a second I will ask Dr simera director of educational programming and Chris Connelly communication specialist to provide further information prior to the discussion of the priority action item Dr simera and Miss
026Connelly take it away last time a school was named in the te School District was 60 years ago when Bowmont Elementary School and Valley Forge Junior High at the time now Middle School opened tonight's presentation will provide an overview of the process used by the ad hoc public information committee to arrive at their recommendation of be Hill Elementary School tonight we will only focus on the school's name we anticipate any decision about the selection of a school mascot to be made by the school students once they are identified it is our hope that tonight's presentation will illustrate the commitment the district district has made to honoring the history of the new school's location we would like to express our appreciation to the representatives from the trader Eastown Historical Society tradan historic preservation trust Tradin Township
027historical commission and Mount Zion am church for their partnership throughout the naming process it is also our hope that tonight's presentation will illustrate the strong level of interest and engagement that our community has demonstrated throughout the naming process the final recommendation of be Hill El school has been shaped by more than 1,300 instances of public input and we are appreciative of the residents staff and especially students Who provided their input along the way finally we would like to thank the first responder representatives from the local and county level for their input to minimize any potential for issues related to the school's name in the future before we review the naming process I would like to take a moment to provide an update to the community on the current status of the construction project the district
028has been working closely with Tradin Township to acquire all necessary approvals culminating in the district receiving approval from the tradition Planning Commission in February February also marked the conclusion of the selective demolition project that began in November during this period most interior walls flooring ceilings Mechanicals and plumbing were removed in preparation for the building's conversion to an elementary school I'm pleased to share that the selective demolition project went very well with no significant unforeseen surprises Behind the Walls as you can see from the picture on this Slide the building is currently gutted with primarily steel and concrete remaining construction bid documents are scheduled to be released to interested contractors on March 28th this Friday and construction is expected to begin on both the existing building and the addition in August overall while it may look
029like nothing is happening as you're driving by on swed hille roads significant planning and interior demolition has already taken place and the timeline remains in place to open school in August of 27 the naming process for the new elementary school was Guided by Schoolboard policy and designed to ensure broad public engagement and participation the process included four phases establishing parameters generating possible names analyzing options and finally selecting the name name the naming process officially began at the November 7th ad hoc public information committee where the committee established parameters for naming the new school you'll see throughout our presentation that each phase of the naming process included opportunities for public feedback and we were pleased to receive in-person input from community members at each committee meeting the criteria for the name parameters were based on board
030policy 7080 naming of buildings and improvements on District property this policy states that a building name should be indicative of the area in which it is located and not named after individuals or groups in addition the committee included considerations for the area's history and geography ease of spelling and pronunciation and that the name be distinct from the names of other schools in the surrounding area First Responders also reviewed potential names to prevent any emergency response to delays or confusion once the public information committee established clear guidelines The Next Step was to invite the community to submit name suggestions this phase was designed to encourage public participation and ensure that everyone had an opportunity to contribute their ideas to collect suggestions we launched an online submission form which was open for four weeks from November 8th
031through December 6th we actively promoted this opportunity through District Communications social media and public meetings the response from the public was enthusiastic by the time submissions closed we had received 424 total form submissions 678 total name suggestions and some people submitted more than one name and 246 unique names the community submitted a wide range of creative and thoughtful suggestions which we used as a comprehensive list for review in the next phase of the process the third phase of the process was to analyze the options that were generated in the prior phase this was primarily done by the administration between November 24 and January 2025 concluding with the public information committee meeting on January 23rd 2025 each suggestion provided by the public in Phase 2 was vetted using the established parameters any names that met the
032established parameters were further researched including consultation with First Responders at the local and county level about any concerns they may have the findings from this analysis were presented to the public information committee for consideration at their January meeting this slide shows a breakdown of the 246 names that Miss Connelly referenced in Phase 2 104 of those names did not meet the criteria and 60 of the names were categorized as Loosely meeting the criteria this meant they could be interpreted as meeting the criteria but not clearly for example Mainline Elementary is not specifically indicative of the area of the new School site on swedesford road but if you zoom out and consider the name from a broader distance it could be 18 of the names clearly met the criteria with 82 more close variants of those
03318 names for example there are 14 variants proposed for swedesford alone such as swedesford Hills West swedesford Etc this slide shows the 60 names that were cast categorized as Loosely meeting the criteria the public information committee was presented with his complete list with the opportunity to elevate any names that they wish to consider further which they did with covered bridge and new diamond rock this slide shows the 18 names that clearly met the established criteria a brief description of each name was presented to the committee including any related suggested names a history of the name any considerations uncovered in our research and any first responder feedback Berwin Cassat Chesterbrook Rosewood South Point swedesford TR East Town West Lakes and Wilson had considerations that resulted in the committee not advancing those names any further and Cassat
034Chesterbrook dupery hille swedesford and Wilson had first responder feedback that also resulted in the committee not advancing those names any further at the conclusion of the January public information committee meeting we had five remaining names Bear Hill Blue Heron blue stone covered bridge and new diamond Rock since covered bridge and new diamond Rock were originally categorized as Loosely fitting the criteria they had not been shared with First Responders yet after that consultation concerns were raised with new diamond Rock because of potential confusion with the existing Diamond Rock Schoolhouse in the northern part of our district and the final four names were established as Bear Hill Blue Heron blue stone Stone and covered bridge the fourth and Final Phase of the process is to select the school's name the initial step was taken by the public
035information committee at their meeting last week when they selected Bear Hill as their recommended name for board consideration and the second step is the action being considered by the full board tonight at the direction of the public information committee we sought additional Community input on the four final names through a second online form the community also had the opportunity to participate at the public information committee meeting in person as well as through public comment at tonight's meeting the next several slides will provide information about each of the four final names that were considered by the committee the first of the four final names was Bear Hill Elementary while it may seem that this is simply a reference to the adjacent Bear Hill Road also known as 252 the name Bear Hill has a deeper historical
036significance the new school sits in the area of historic hille which was one of Trader's earliest villages dating back to the early 1700s The Village was named after the Hal family who owned the in at hille for at least 40 years our new school will not be the first school in this area the first area school was actually built more than 300 years ago when the hille school opened in 1720 this school is often referred to as the Davis School since it was built on land leased from the Davis family hille was an industrial Village most known as home to at least seven quaries and four separate quarrying operations The Village sat at the bottom of a natural Bowl were three hilly roads met to form a triangle the three roads were be Hill Road
037hille road and swedesford road this triangle became a convenient place for horses and wagons to stop and was home to the area's first Tavern in 1745 later called how's Tavern the village of hille developed around this triangle including a Woolen Mill Sawmill Shoemaker wheelright blacksmith and store since both hille road and swedesford road were ruled out as potential school names due to concerns from First Responders Bear Hill is the remaining option to honor the triangle and its history in the village of haleville Bear Hill Road was named after the Black Bear Tavern which sat up the hill in 1785 on the site of the current 71 at the intersection of routes 30 and 252 while all three roads that made up the triangle still exists today the triangle disappeared in 1967 when 252 was widened
038and 202 was built the second of the four final names was blue heron elementary school there's currently a small pond at the rear of the new school's property which is reportedly a location to occasionally Spot Great Blue herand it should be noted that this Pond is a man-made storm water management feature that will not exist once the new school is built there's also a great blue heron Rookery located on the Chester Valley Trail approximately 1,000 ft away from The New School site this Rookery is visible from some points on swedesford road though not from The New School site the third of the final four names was Blue Stone Elementary School as mentioned on a prior slide hille was home to several quarrying operations including the dire quarry on the site of the current dalesford Lake
039Community the Johnson quarry on the site of the current West Lakes Corporate Park the Renys Quarry and the Centerville Quarry in the area of the current Gateway Shopping Center you will see on the screen two newspaper advertisements from the late 1800s about the hille quaries that we came across in our research these quaries produced the type of limestone known as blue stone due to its blue color there is an additional reference to Blue Stone at the Johnson Quarry across the street from the new School site this property was originally owned by luel and David whose name was later changed to Davis this is hopefully a familiar name because this was the property that was provided for the first hille school or the Davis School the property was sold to Samuel and Emily given in 1917
040and eventually to wlis Johnson in 1926 who named the farm adjacent to the Quarry which you see pictured on this slide blue stone Farm because of the blue limestone found in the nearby quaries the fourth and final name considered was Covered Bridge Elementary School there is one Covered Bridge called Knox Covered Bridge within School District boundaries although it is not directly in the area of the new school this covered bridge serves as the logo for True different township and was built in 1865 and has endured floods fire damage from a truck and damage from a tree in its existence its name origin is unclear as there was both a nearby land owner named Knox as well as a general at Valley Forge named KNX as we mentioned earlier the public information committee directed the administration
041to provide an opportunity for the community to share input on the four remaining names which we did through an online form between January 31st and February 12th we received 899 submissions from the public and all feedback was shared with both the public information committee and the full board to help inform their decision as we shared throughout the presentation the community had several in-person and online opportunities to provide input during the naming process and the district is thrilled by the high level of public participation there were opportunities for public comment during the November 7th January 23rd March 18th public information committee meetings and there are opportunities this evening as well the district launched an online form in November to collect name suggestions from the public and then a second online form was launched in January to
042obtain input on the final four names as Mike mentioned overall more than 1300 instances of public input were collected during phases two and four of the naming process the district appreciates the community's enthusiasm and engagement which was CR critical in shaping this important decision this final slide shows a single page summary of how the public information committee arrived at their final recommendation for your consideration this evening we originally began with 20 46 unique names suggested by the community they were each vetted using the established criteria and then considered by the committee this resulted in the four final names which were sent back out for additional Community input prior to being considered by the committee and then the committee made their final recommendation of Bear Hill Elementary for full board consideration tonight this concludes our presentation
043and we would be happy to answer any questions that you may have thank you than you very much uh Dr simera and Miss Connelly for that presentation uh before I turn it over to the board for any questions or comments I think some some thanks are in order first thank you again Dr simera and Miss Kali for uh not just the presentation but for quarterbacking this entire process uh with respect to the administration side of things it's a as you can see there's a lot of information and uh was a really great help for us to be able to get to this point also want to thank uh the public uh information committee chaired by Dr Allen who coordinated this entire process and received and vetted all of the all of the public input to
044get us to where we are and last but not least really want to thank the community for their level of Engagement which has been alluded to and mentioned number of times times uh during this presentation uh I mean this includes Community organizations like the D Historical Society but also includes our individual community members who as you can see were very active in submitting names comments and feedback on the suggestions that we have and so very pleased with the amount of community engagement that we've had on this which is a a very important project for our entire community and we are super excited to see it move forward so with all of those thanks I will now turn to the board and see if the any members of the board have any comments or questions yes
045Mr Hong Yes again I wanted to thank the uh public for their incredible amount of input and and uh contribution to this whole process and thank the administration for organizing it all um I just amazed at the the number of uh submissions that we had and the amount of information that we all really learned through this process um about the history of the area the geography of the area and my hope and and the Administration has indicated in some of the meetings that we will carry forward regardless of what we name the school a lot of that information into the elementary school to incorporate into um you know displays and history um discussions about the area um for the students so that that's very encouraging so there's you know the local Krabby Creek that runs
046along the side of the school there's um the quaries there's the you know the birds in the area um all of those are great things to incorporate into the instruction um in the school thank you Mr Hong yes Miss Pichon well of course I Echo all the other comments I'd also like to add that it's not just 400 it's some of the comments that we've gotten in the community too that uh G gave us suggestions but most especially about the uh mascot once uh the thought of these various uh names were presented that's the comments that I would get personally as an aside so looking forward to that uh uh presentation of how that goes thank you thanks Miss Pon Dr hinski Yes again again thanks to everyone it's great to have so much Community
047input into a decision it makes it a lot easier and I just wanted to you say that in our discussions that the name Bear Hill also had a lot of community support which certainly Bears on on my decision and that we did um really listen to the feedback that we got and we're you know en encouraged that so many people you know were excited about submitting names that so many of them were really good names and you know suggestions and um that you know we we listen to the community and that's how we came to this Choice thank you Miss deie yeah I I just want to add you know schools are all about learning and and I think we all learned a lot as Mr Hong said and uh I think the people from
048the Historical Society uh their president is here uh in the audience tonight and and they came to every public information meeting and uh they were so helpful with Dr simera and Miss Connelly in terms of U bringing us all this background that we'll not just end here but we'll continue and I think this is a a great journey we're on with the community and having a name for the school tonight uh it sort of gives the school an identity and makes it even more real and and I really look forward to that and I'm very supportive of of this name thank you yes Dr alen yes I just wanted to really thank the administration for your support um that you've provided the committee Dr simera and Miss Connelly and Dr gusk you know when we
049set out on this process um one of our major concerns or the thing that we wanted to make sure we had was Community input because this is a community school and the ways in which the administration ensured that you know notices were put out that the community understood that they could participate in the process and they actually did just shows your commitment our commitment to ensuring that this is a community decision the name as mentioned earlier bear heill um when we had the four names I think it was over 40% of the re the respondents not that this was a survey it was just folks saying over the 40% of the folks that responded mentioned Bear Hill as their choice for the school and so that definitely played into I mean I like Bear Hill
050anyway but that played into um sort of my decision to to move in that direction as well so I'm just proud of the committee the administration and the work we've all done thus far to make sure that you know be Hill Elementary or whatever the name is because we haven't voted yet I understand um that it is a bright star in all of our stars of of wonderful schools in tradein East Town so thank you all thank you Dr Allen so now the board invites members of the audience to comment on this item if you have comments or questions please step up to the microphone and identify yourself good evening Rob Williams uh trr resident I'm here in two capacities one as the chair of the historical Commission of the township of Tren and also
051I serve on the um America 250 commission for Chester County and I'll make this point um in a minute first I want to thank Dr sandera and and Connell about inviting the four historical organizations into this dialogue it was magnificent um we were welcomed um we got our taskings we uh delivered on some uh historical information and uh it was a tremendous collaboration and so and I look forward to Future collaborations on whatever the school district needs in the future um our organizations are here to help um besides the the story of hille that Dr sandera mentioned I think I want to just treat this as um it's very hard to see it this intersection which has you know many high-speed roads in it industrial buildings Corporate Park it's very hard to see this as
052the village that it once was and I think that's important for the elementary school to think back about what this was and I hope this Elementary School treats itself as a village which I assume you all make sure that happens but just that surrounding and knowing the place um Dr sandera went through most of the history but the one I just wanted to mention which really never qualified for even a consideration for a naming but it is at that corner that um was the edge of the British troops that were stationed in Tradin for three nights we remember the Battle of Brandy Wine and we remember Valley Forge but smack in the middle of that was 10,000 British troops encamped in Tren for three nights and it's from that exact H Tavern which is right
053where the school is is where 2,000 British troops launched the um the towards uh malver and what became the Battle of Pei otherwise known as the massacre Pei it's kind of hard to name your school there so I just wanted to make sure we have 2027 is our year for uh the 250th anniversary it's the year the school open we're looking forward to working with the school district on any kind of commemoration in that order um and for whatever level of the school certainly this Elementary School is at a very important location and um but again I want to thank us you know for great collaboration over many months and look forward to more thank you seeing no I'm should say seeing no further public comments I'm going to turn back to the board see
054if there are any other comments or questions from the board yes Mr Hong and just just one final comment this is part of the discussion about Bear Hill Elementary School and the history is that the Bear Hill Road was named after the Black Bear Tavern and some people may have uh some concerns about a school being named after a Tavern well we heard from our historical society that uh back in the day when it was a Tavern that the taverns were actually much more of just a community Gathering Spot than what we would think of as a Tavern or a or a pub these days so and and we hope the the school will be that same sort of community um spot that the The Tavern served uh back in the 1700s you Mr Hong
055and I'm sure the menu in the cafeteria will be slightly different however fishing CHS so any other comments or questions from the board seeing no further comments we have a motion has been made and seconded I will now call for a vote from the board all those in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed signify by saying nay seeing none eyes have it 90 thank you everyone now the next item on our agenda will be the committee and Ambassador reports first on my list is policy committee and update from Miss Susan audrain thank you than you president Kent toic the policy committee did not meet in the month of March but our next meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on April the 1st in the administration uh office on Valley for um
056West Valley Road thank you thank you Miss Ain now we'll turn to uh diversity and Dr Robert Singh thank you uh the diversity committee has not met since the last board meeting but will be meeting this Thursday March 27th 700 p.m. at the teao all are invited thank you thank you Dr Singh next on my list is finance committee update and Dr Roberta hinski thank you uh we met on Monday March 10th it was a short meeting before our um budget Workshop um which uh I hope everyone will review the video in a slides for that are online um so as part of our meeting we reviewed the February financials overall revenues are higher this year than last year by $7.8 million um the in the in the areas that are higher are real estate
057tax real estate transfer tax interim real estate tax and investment income also state and local Revenue categories are higher than last year and the total revenue as of February 2025 is a little over $159 million for February expenses the instructional expenses are higher this year as a percentage of budget it's 9 5.5% the increase in this expense category is due to regular and special education programs uh so although they are higher than last year as a percentage of budget we are still in line with um with our budget for this year uh overall expenses and budgets and incumbrances rather compared to budget are almost the same between the two years and the year-to-date expenditures show that 59% of our budget has been expended the total general fund expenses and incumbrances as of the end of
058February 2025 are 166 m228 580 uh we also had a uh an update on the new Elementary School financing plan uh for now we know be Hill Elementary School uh so the current all-in rough order of magnitude budget for the new school is $53 million so that's um the conversion construction cost um that doesn't count the the the land purchase initially uh there's also an $8 million projected annual operating cost once the school is open in addition Mr McDonnell discussed uh how we would be raising funds um for this and our other capital projects with Bond issues um and discussed a scenario at current Mark and conditions the potential new added Debt Service to fund um the total cost of the project would be about $4 million in that scenario um Mr McDonald also reviewed
059a possible funding scenario moving forward we which will be evolving um as we continue to look at our facilities commitments and uh financial situation as we move forward uh with with the elementary school as well as the um athletic fields and other infrastructure projects uh then we discussed strategies to consider while working toward an annual contribution from the general fund for 8 to 12 million to fund the new school one of the strategies discussed was building the operating Surplus in the general fund um over time uh so that we could make increased Capital contributions this year we've uh we have been working toward this and this year we have um built in a cont Capital contribution of $6 million um and we're working on um building up to being able to to afford the 8
060to $8 million for the operating expenses of the new school after the new Elementary School opens we can there could be a shift of because our Capital costs will be reduced once we get through construction of the school and the and the field uh we can shift some some of that funding from the capital contribution over to operational expenses um for the new school so we'll be Revis also continuing to revisit that as we move forward um and see how our uh budget is evolving this spring and over the next couple of years uh he also Mr McDonnell also reviewed the key dates for the 25 to 26 budget through the end of June 2025 and our meeting as I said was followed by our first budget Workshop which um covered revenues primarily um and
061we have a second budget Workshop um coming up on uh Monday April 7th we'll have a finance meeting another short one uh followed by our second budget Workshop which will focus on uh expenses and Staffing so we would invite everyone to attend especially if you have questions um and it's a good place to learn about the basics of our finances and how we're going to move forward in the future thank you thank you thank you Dr hinski next is an update on the facilities committee with Dr Robert sing thank you the faciliity committee did not meet since the last board meeting but we'll be meeting on April 8th at 7.m at the teao where we continuing on this ongoing discussions on significant projects that are ongoing in the district thank you thank you Dr Singh
062our next update will be from the education committee Miss chair Miss suti uh the education committee met on March 13th and there were three topics that evening for discussion first Dr Chris grappy and Miss Nicole Roy gave the annual report on the work of the student services department this department of our district serves all te students by offering intervention services in both the regular education and the special education programs Dr grappy reported on the work of the teams of multi-tiered innovention teachers Behavior special and psychologists and counselors who work to support students in regular education and Who oversee 504 plans when students require accommodations to be successful he reported that there is an 11% increase in the number of psychoeducational evaluations done every year done this year and in the proposed budget for the 2526
063year the there is an inclusion of two additional psychologists and a consequent reduction in the need to contract for psychologists to accomplish the necessary testing to support our students Miss Roy shared information on the types of disabilities being addressed through our special education programs the needs of students with specific learning disabilities are 26% of the district's special programs students with other health impairments make up 24% of the programs following a national Trend the largest area of growth in Te special educ education programs has been in the area of autism where the number of students has increased from 117 in the year in the 2014 15 school year to 214 in this current year given current case loads and state requirements for each type of disability Miss Roy explained that the district will need two additional
064special education teachers at the middle school level and one additional teacher at the elementary level next year Miss Roy also highlighted some of the cciu programs our students attend the cost of special education services and the successes of students with special needs who graduated in June of 2024 Dr Mr cataldi then gave a brief update on the work being done on the middle school schedule for next year when stem will be added to the schedules and the advisory period will be redesigned he outlined the extension courses that will be available to students in grades 5 through 8 and finally Dr tol updated the committee on the dual enrollment program here at conestog High School this year there are 64 students at the high school taking courses at conastoga and yet also earning college credit for
065their work the district has partnered with both immaculada and gwened mercy to offer these this credit and is moving forward to collaborate with additional colleges and offer students even more opportunities for colle college credit while they're here at Conestoga the committee will meet again on April 3rd and all are invited to attend thank you thank you Miss Titi our next report will be from our ad hoc legislative committee and Miss Maryann Pichon there are no updates at this time thank you thank you miss pioni our next report will be on the ad hoc public information committee and Dr Yolanda Allen yes thank you the ad hoc public information committee convened on March 18th to continue discussions on the naming of the new Elementary School the administration provided an overview of the remaining name options for
066the new school along with the historical background information for each Bear Hill blue Haron blue stone and cover bridge the committee also received a summary of the feedback collected from the community via an online form after reviewing the feedback the committee recommended the name be Hill Elementary School which we have just voted on we also the administration also provided an update on the transition of the district's website to the final site platform following the acquisition of the current service provider by final site um to ensure a smooth transition of all stakeholders the district is working with final site to design a new website template that will closely resemble the current site the new website is expected to launch in mid to late June updates on the transition will be posted on the district website with
067additional reminders in the district e newsletter as the lunch Launch date approaches thank you thank you Dr Allen and our last update will be on the Intermediate Unit technical school from our rep Miss maryan Pichon thank you the Chester County Intermediate Unit board of directors held its monthly meeting on Wednesday March the 19th at the Technical College High School Pickering campus uh first item uh the animal science program was highlighted the program provides students with hands-on experience in Animal Care through co-ops internships and participation in the Future Farmers of America FFA currently 36% of students engage in workas based learning and 100% are FFA members with many earning leadership degrees addent Additionally the program recently launched its first year participation in the PA apprenticeship program allowing students to earn six college credits at Delaware Valley
068University second item the dra draft of the 20125 26 Marketplace budget was presented for initial review highlighted was an upcoming increase of 3.87% in the cost of marketplace programs available for purchase by school districts staying below the Act One Statewide index of 4% school districts will only be buil for the services they utilize item three administrators will present the cciu budget to Tradin Easttown at the April 7th finance committee meeting uh the next cciu board of directors meeting will be held on Wednesday April 16th at the Technical College High School Brandy Wine campus thank you thank you Miss Pichon we have no other actions under consideration for this evening so our next item on the agenda is public participation from District residents and District taxpayers regarding non-agenda matters of concern official action or deliberation which
069are or may be before the board if you have a comment please step up to the microphone at this time and please remember to state your name and Township of residents and comments are limited to three minutes it's more of a question my name is Jose Iber I'm a resident taxpayer and proud parent of three con grad um students uh my question is really with regards to department of education and everything that's going on uh what impact if any will funding uh will the revenue stream have on Koga potentially um regarding just all the changes that are going on uh I very uh acknowledgeable about whether we get Federal funding or not in the school school lunches etc etc that's really just more of a question that I have for the board thank you thank
070you do you want to do you want to take that in terms of our federal funding I mean we have we have talked about it in general terms in in our budget Workshop in terms of sheer Mount but I think that um it'd be nice if you could provide a little more context about that it's something that excuse me something that requires uh ongoing monitoring because exactly what the uh Department of Education might look like and whether or not Congress would enact legislation to close the Department of Education these are there are some variables and also it's certainly possible that even if the Department of Education is closed that funding for schools would be taken up as as a separate question so I I particular would be mindful of what the budget looks like for
071Education funding in the Congress as well as what happens uh with the executive branch so for example there was funding that was sent to schools uh for general education through the title programs as well as special education um the idea being passed in 1975 even prior to the creation of the Department of Education in 1979 so one possibility that we'll look for is maybe if the funding levels remain it just may be a different Administration that promulgates those funds out to the states or districts so we do receive some funding from the uh districts uh from from the federal government directly but a lot of it as well is passed through the states and um our governor and Secretary of Education have said to school districts you should be able to rely on the support
072um of the state as well and that they would resist any efforts to reduce that funding to the states to be passed through to us so it is an evolving situation but it's something that we keep an eye on and we are not um we're not planning for the cutting off of any of that funding because we've not been told that specifically but it's certainly something we need to monitor on an ongoing basis thank you Dr gusk any other questions or comments just remember remember to got state your name and Township resident uh hi my name is neam I am a ninth grader at Koga High School um I am on the coniss server robotics team uh I am going to Dallas and I would like to tell you guys about a program that I
073did in middle school that helped me Foster um my passion that is now started for engineering um through a competitive robotics program called Forge robotics um I started it in sixth grade and basically uh it allowed me to do competitive robotics that I could not find or it wasn't at the level that I wanted to at Valley Forge Middle School which I attended in Middle School okay thank you um and uh through these three years at Valley Forge Middle School so this was a private organization and program that I did and it ran through my house actually my parents were my basement and it was a group where me and my friends we met as a team we built a robot that played a sport and we competed and eventually we reached the national championships
074in Dallas in my seventh grade year now this program is something that my friends outside of Robotics have asked me a lot about and I've actually received a lot of people giving me emails asking hey um is this program available for more kids I want to do this can can this happen in our district and I actually talk to Mr Gibson and Mr Rooney a lot when I was in Middle School about like hey can we make this a club and thankfully that did happen in my eth grade year and I've helped to Mentor that club for the past two years as an experienced student but I still felt like these students have still asked me hey neam I I want more of a competitive aspect I want more of a Hands-On learning so I
075started Forge robotics as an official nonprofit and next year I've been working since the past nine months non-stop I have made a official tax exempt um five 1c3 or 3C and I would like to run 20 kids at least next year um a comp five competitive teams at Valley Forge Middle School and I would like to use Valley Forge Middle School as a space where we can run this to allow students to have this opportunity to do competitive robotics that can be in the middle schools and an issue that I faced is getting space at Valley Forge Middle School as under the business office's terms they have classified my organization which is a nonprofit which has no um which does not profit anything sorry it there's no profits involved we've been classified under an organization
076that must pay $100 an hour over $100 an hour for rent of a small Tech Lab now my organization we the budget that we have is very tight and it's enough to get all all these kids in here and teach them this oh sorry I don't want to I don't mean to just completely cut you off so but can you can you wrap up with like like a one sentence or two sentence ask there is a classification that I feel like I fall under that would put me at rentree and I would really like need some support or ask for it to help me get to this because I'm providing a service to the uh schools here and I wanted expand to te and provide this competitive robotics to both districts thank you appreciate appreciate
077your comment sir and first of all very much appreciate the work that you're doing to uh work with the kids over at Valley Forge Middle um and Foster their interest in robotics which is clearly a passion of yours and seems to be a passion of a lot of people in the district as we've done pretty well uh both it sounds like at the middle school and at the high school in terms of those competitions yes um I mean I will turn to the administration and I know that we um have certain policies and regulations regarding the use of our facilities and they are there um so that we can U apply those uniformally throughout throughout the district um it sounds like that you have been in contact with the uh with the business office to
078be able to to discuss that um I just I guess I would encourage you to continue to do to do that if there are questions that you have or thoughts on approaches that may have not been considered um and um just continue to to pers to persevere in that regard um obviously we know about this now so we can have discussions we typically talk about these sorts of things in in facilities in our facilities committee so uh we can you know certainly make sure that um all St stes are you know no no stone is unturned when it comes to these sorts of issues but uh I mean I'll turn to the administration and see if you have if they have anything else to add on that point um yeah we've been talking um and
079I think if you've obtained your 501c3 again it wouldn't be a rentree type of thing you'd still be classified as a c and I think we talked about um you know if you're serving the community group who you're serving but if you're charged ing then it it drops to a different kind of classification so you would go from a c to a g if you're charging an admission I think that's the discussion that we've been having with you in the business office so how would you want me because we need to buy the stuff it costs money okay so so I am I mean we're now now we're starting I mean I I hear you and I don't mean to cut you off but we are getting in a little bit of the Weeds on
080that sort of stuff so what I would suggest is that you have an off we have an offline discussion about this and see what is possible from that regard to see if we can't uh uh somehow meet everybody's needs uh in this regard okay thank you thank you thank you thank you very much for your comment and for again all the work that you're doing with the kids thank you we have any other comments okay seeing none the public comment periods for this evening are now closed this is the point in our meeting while when we make any announcements required by the Pennsylvania Sunshine act our solicitor this evening is Ken Rose and he will make any required announcements thank you this okay thank you the board did hel hold an executive session regarding uh
081Personnel matters on March 19th at 6: p.m. also today March 25th there was executive session to discuss Personnel matters uh threat and litigation and special education matters regarding specific students thank you Mr I think today today was March 24th 2025 yes okay we try to trip you up like that on purpose with the date thank you future meetings of the school board board Monday April 7th 2025 budget Workshop 2 7:30 p.m. here at Conestoga high school next and then uh next meeting Monday April 28th 2025 regular board meeting 7:30 p.m. once again here at Koga Tuesday May 27th uh another uh regular board meeting 7:30 p.m. here at Koga high school and then finally Monday June 9th 2025 another regular board meeting 7:30 p.m. here at Conestoga High School uh I will turn to the
082board and see if we have any other General announcements from the board yes Miss Pichon thank you I would like to uh give a personal Commendation to Dr John mul who I met at a committee meeting and seeing my name he um asked me about my daughter who he taught uh seventh grade math to and um he remembered the date that he taught her the years he had to remind me what years she was in Conestoga and I text her right away I said Dr John mul your math teacher says hello and she said he is one of three teachers I remember vividly he called me Pichon macaroni rigatoni and it made me smile every single time I'm beaming right now if you are with him tell him I try to make my students by
083the way she's a teacher at Springford I try to make my students feel exactly how he did he was such an awesome teacher he always made my day better even on good days really one of those teachers that reinforced my love of the profession so thank you Dr John Mo thank you Miss Pon that's a great story so thank you for sharing that with us uh we have correspondence at the board received on page 167 of our agenda and at this point I will turn to the board and call for a motion to ajour so moved I see a first do I have a second second all those in favor signify by saying I I any opposed you're welcome to stay here meeting is adjourned thank you