001e e call this meeting to order would everyone please rise for a moment of silence Allegiance I to the United States of America and to stands na indivisible like to thank everyone for coming this evening uh there is a log in the front if you haven't done so please sign in if you have anything in particular you would like to bring to the board's attention please also write that down if at any time during the meeting you would like to mention something on an agenda item please raise your hand to be recognized and after the normal business there's also time for public comment where you can bring up additional issues uh this meeting is being reported there was an executive session conducted prior to the meeting to discuss Personnel matters with that uh Mr we
002have a r Aaron angle here Michael H here re hofman here Cecilia hle here Jason C here Jemiah light here Dennis dishes here Daniel Wismer here Laurel Ziggler here Lucas Hoffman here Joselyn dball here thank you the first thing on the agenda this evening is the approval of minutes uh for March the March 3rd 2025 school board meeting I'd be looking for a motion to approve those minutes pass motion a second does anybody have any questions or comments on those meeting minutes all right then Mr R could we please have a roll call to approvement Aaron angle yes Michael H yes Rea Hoffman yes Cecilia H yes Jeremiah light yes denisy dish yes Daniel Wismer yes Laurel Zigler yes Jason C yes motion carries we can take items four and five together we have the
003treasur report is four a through H is listed out and five is the approval of bills for payment a through G is listed out uh do we have a motion to approve both the treasures report and the bills for payment so moved light second any questions or comments all right Mr ask we please have a roll call to approve both of those Michael H yes re man yes Cecilia hul yes Jeremiah light yes Dennis udicious yes Daniel whis yes Laurel Ziggler yes Aon angle yes Jason cup yes motion carries six is Communications and reports uh we can start Mr con with the superintendent's report thank you Mr cck um I'm gonna hand over my spot this evening to Mr YF subba to share some fantastic achievements with guests Suga thank you very much so that
004note I'm going to turn it over to our head rifle coach Michelle B and our assistant coach Scott buer like to welcome them up here they have uh they would like to recognize one of our student athletes from our Rifle Team for a great accomplishment this past winter season this is Will Hugo and he is a fouryear letter winner and has been always giving 110% on our team and not only to his shooting but also to the team he pitches in he helps us with tech support which need and um so last year he um had was on the all League team and this year uh our second year in the PIAA League um he placed fourth overall so he's our fourth place shooter will um so I just want to thank you for all
005your help this year uh to coach and I and for doing just a wonderful job really proud of you thank you coach Michelle thank you coach Scott so now I would like to uh recognize and introduce uh junior here here at kown high school you can go on stand she's here with her parents this is Haven fley a couple weekends ago at the District 3 Championship swim meet at Cumberland Valley High School uh Haven finished in third place in the 200 IM and she finished as a district three champion in the 100 breast stroke so congratulations to Haven that also qualified her for the PIAA championships last week up at Bucknell University where she qualified in both events both the 200 IM and the 100 breast and just to kind of give you um a
006little bit of backstory here so last year in 2024 at the same meet the district 3 Championship meet in the 200 IM she finished in fifth place and the 100 breast stroke she finished in third place and I was at that meet I had just told him the story a few minutes ago and after her races after her events were done I went up and congratulated her told her she did a great job today and she gave you that look that only an athlete who knew that she was capable of so much more and knew that she was not there just to finish and compete in the in the championship meet but knew that she was going to be back and be better and she was very polite when and she said thank you to
007me after I congratulated her but you know after seeing so many faces of so many student athletes you just knew that something something else was on the horiz and this year she came back went back to Cumberland Valley and she brought home the gold in 100 restro and did a great job representing kown at the state championship meetting up at Bucknell so when you're in sports you always look in patterns and tell her parents as well her younger sister Nora placed fifth and third in two events at the District 3 Championship meet this year so I have no doubt that haven is going to make a strong run again next year to get back up to Bucknell and bring home some more gold and she might have uh you know a teammate joining her Buck
008now next year but the same pattern kind of holds true but tonight is all about Haven and her swimming accomplishments right now so congratulations Haven and we look forward to what you can do next year as well thank you Mr Yap I'd like to say congratulations The Haven um District championships are hard to come by that does earn you a banner in the gym when when you graduate no no you can you can add to what's on that Banner next year but right now that earns you a banner when you graduate so congratulations and uh credit to your hard work and thank you for representing kown the way that you do uh also like congratulate will um you know for performance and from listening to your coaches from just leadership leadership means so much more
009than performance it's only that's only one part of it and um you know to hear coach Fister talk about the leader that you are is is just as per as just as impressive as the performance so congratulations to you again thank you for representing cookan the way that you do congratulations to both of you thanks for coming out this evening thank you did I hand it over the superintendent report so that is that is it that is it all right well then we can move into the board committee reports starting with BCTC U Miss sofman um I mean the briefs are in there and the minutes are in there but um like I always say I like to get the really cool things that are happening um they're having career camp this year um I
010guess they have it every year but they very from one campus to the next uh by the time we had our meeting 95 of the 100 spots were all full um so that's kind of exciting um they are getting rid of a couple of different courses that have not been very popular um they had 110 students going to their hosha competition state competition and 43 students going to Nationals or um skills so we have a lot of we have a lot of good stuff happening so how hear there so much success bciu is next Mr wman thank you um I just have two items that I'm gonna circulate around there is uh one it's a digital analytics report year inter rview and they've done a lot of changes to their their online presence to kind
011of ramp up their communication and the analytics include basically how they were successful or not or what was most successful in some of those uh Endeavors in that area and then um they also published a midyear state of the unit which also it's it's there's a lot of information here that's um you know relevant as far as big overview numbers and I'm GNA send that around too and then that's it right thank you uh burk's tax collection committee there was no there was no meeting all right uh let's jump to the p PBA M thank you um there I just have the one thing that is the psba is adding their voice to the call for Cyber Charter funding reform to be a more fair uh amount and more closely represent what it actually costs
012them to educate children via Cyber Charter and as Mr temp chat has been presenting with budget presentations that could have a huge positive impact on our bottom line for the budget here in the district um so for board members there are advocacy tools on the psba website and for the public the message is basically contact your legislators about if you are in favor of um a more fair laor funding formula great for thank you for filling Us in on out that is very important I'm going to pck you back on that is that you know I will be open next two weeks make some resources available to public if they were to use that in reaching out to you know we we can say it here a meeting um but to carry that message through
013to contact your legislators can use if you choose to do that you know there's just many it's a really complex issue um Pennsylvania school choice in Pennsylvania it you know is something that has grown and understandably so but the funding formula for cyber Charters just isn't working and uh some reform could save us as much as half a million to three4 of a million dollars in our budget in the expenditures and I remind people you know and this is very I think uh I think it's really important even tonight you look at our agenda we have the question of a referendum on on the agenda and essential to that question is that the authority that this board has comes from the electorate right that's you know it's the representative democracy that we have you know
014where our the charter school expenditures are expenditures that are a subversion of that local control where this board who is elected has no supervision of those dollars they they they are just sent to those schools where any money that's spent here we review that in budget you know and uh with the and with the monthly report you see so it's a very complex issue and uh the the focus is not about preventing choice in Pennsylvania but creating a a more fair funding to thank you for time uh extra curric and faciliity Comm committee Mr thank you um we started off the meeting with winter sports wrap up and then we discussed uh it had been brought to our attention about the waight room availability I believe the high school administration is going to be working
015on looking at doing that and then uh for facilities we talked about the high school gym floor which is in need of a complete sand down at Bearwood and Reco and that is on tonight's agenda for approval whoose my report all right thank you then the last committee report uh Mr Wimer back to you for policy and quick thank you Mr cuck uh there are two items that are going to be on the agenda tonight first is the the school counseling 339 plan and we'll discuss that more when that comes up and then um policy maintenance we have a 201 um just a little commentary or side note on that one um this was involving uh removing the early enr option for kindergarten and uh we basically looked at that in light of um uh
016the the amount of work that was involved in time and resources versus the limited amount of utilization that um has taken place with that over the years and don't think we came down really hard one way or the other but um we did end up nonetheless recommending to uh bring that to the board um to remove that that language for the early enrollment that'll be something that we'll be again discussing and voting on all right thank you for the report next we have public comment on agenda item I don't believe anybody signed up oh I'm sorry I apologize both of you next time throw something at me please uh yeah uh Spring sport are going well pretty much just started up but going for team on that uh I know for debate we're I think
017we're in third place right now semi-finals and we're continuing on with semi-finals so that's pretty good um yeah and then um last week was the Odyssey the M competition so there's five teams for that I believe two Elementary two middle school and one high school and four out of five teams got bow during that competition and we'll be advancing to states which is just insane because you know C's been a bit of an underdog in that competition so to see so many teams succeed in advanced with Stace it's just really great to see how that um program's grown so shout out that program because I mean I've been in it and when we when we started the program you know it was it was rare for K to get in medal but I feel like
018we've really found our Niche now in the classics problem which is based off of literature and history so it's great to see how it's grown I mean if any of you guys ever seen the Odyssey the my room it's always very messy but you know where the creativity is being ground but I just wanted to shout that out that's the most successful I've seen that comptition so hopefully um one of the teams will advance from States and then represent could stand at Worlds which is an international level competition so hopefully you know add another little things but it could sound on the map excellent thank you do you know where states are off chance um States I believe is Pocono it's in Pocono high it's like the east or west one water and then if
019a team W to advance worlds that I believe is at Michigan University so they alternate between Iowa and Michigan know they submitted anything they had been discussing I had received it receivers okay I know that they have been discussing um starting to go fundme GoFundMe to to to start a fundraiser so if they do get around and do that we should make sure that people are aware that it's out there so we can support them thank you i' just like to add that I had the opportunity to lead in odyy the M Class once and I failed miserably the amount of creatively involved in that is a very high level and so hat talk to you guys for being able to capture both the intellectual and creative side of things it's very impressive and I
020think you know what what's exciting is that to see all those teams performing because it tends to be like a culture of Odyssey you know because it it takes some time to figure out how to master a question as you said so it's it's not that it's something you can hand down but it is a little bit there's a culture you can create so you know the the younger Student Success is a little bit your success as well yeah it's just great to see all those team up around soon cheer them on thank you both of you okay now we can move to the public comment on agenda items again there's nobody signed up here um do we have anyone online Dr Mar no there right thank you we'll move into new business uh item
021a is Personnel so I would be uh looking for a motion to approve Personnel it is the recommendation of the administration the board of school directors approve the following Personnel items 1 through seven are listed out do we have a motion Zig any questions or comments on the Personnel members I would just like to speak on the two retirees uh we have both Mrs warning uh Transportation congratulations to her on her retirement uh Mrs warning is a invaluable resource here in the district um routing our students solving problems every morning every afternoon um you know there's a ton of institutional knowledge that she takes with her but um very excited for her for that next phase of life and grateful to her for her service to the district and the same can be sent for
022Mr borach um Jane you know is a true um classic gatekeeper of the high school you know those those people you know the the job that she does every day in working with students and families around attendance issues and lates and insurance the general safety and organization of a school as that first face you see um again you know can't can't say enough about the institutional knowledge but also just for both of them the care and concern for our students in our community so uh thank you for the many years of service both Mrs warning and Mr to both of to both of them I'd imagine that we will miss them but they looking for to retirement yes very next yes okay Mr ask we have a roll call please Rea Hoffman yes Cecilia hle
023yes Jeremiah Lake yes Dennis udicious yes Daniel whis yes Laurel Zig yes Aon yes Michael Hess yes Jason cck yes motion carries all Personnel are approved pending receipt of all mandated credentials B is policy maintenance it is recommendation of the policy and curriculum committee that the board of school directors approved the first reading of policy 2011 admission of students do we have a motion we have any questions or comments yeah again the only change you know the change here was about this early admission um what it does is extends the age you know so all students needing to be five by September 1st extends it out to October um and then they can families can apply and uh work the school psychologist to do some educational testing to see if the student was ready um
024it has not been widely used uh there's been to 20 total applicants since 201617 um 30% have qualified so there's just a couple factors for that and you know it really only extends that line by one month and it's not very heavily used or not you know so developmentally isn't really you know that valuable to have in the policy it doesn't take a lot of time for our school psychologists that which we okay okay any questions all right here none a ro Cecilia H yes Jeremiah light yes Dennis udicious yes Daniel Wismer yes Laurel Ziggler yes Aaron angle yes Michael H yes Rea hofman yes Jason C yes motion carries C his donations there's two of them here this evening is the recommendation of the administration that the board of school directors to accept with
025GR to the following generous donations one is a donation from East spend Association of school retirees in the amount of $300 to be used a teacher grants the second one is a donation from kown American Legion Baseball in the amount of $818 for the purchase of a big league bomber All-Star batting gauge for use by the cown baseball program be looking for a motion to approve post both donations so move light second dis all right great we have a motion and a second thank you thank you to both uh groups the American Legion as well as the East Ben Association of school retirees um I I imagine is that big Le bomber Allstar B cage going into the field house so you have sug no yes it's home right now is down at the uh
026Legion baseball field in the park okay yeah it will it will stay there I gotcha okay excellent I'm glad that uh appreciate the donation um do does anybody have any comments or questions it is a donation but will be used by cown students essentially you K through 12 yeah excellent all right Mr s w please Jeremiah light yes Dennis dises yes Daniel whisman yes Laurel Ziggler yes Aaron angle yes Michael Hess yes Rea Hoffman yes Cecilia H yes Jason cup yes motion carries D is visual sound it is the recommendation of the administration that the board of school directors approve the agreement with visual sound Inc for phone support services under the pre-existing service agreement uh be looking for a motion to approve visual sound some move test second hold we have a motion any
027second any questions or comments this supports our voice over IP program some of the technology required to have phone systems any anybody have any questions Mr H please deny dises yes Daniel whisper yes AR Ziggler yes Aaron angle yes Michael Hess yes Reba Hoffman yes Cecilia Hol yes Jeremiah light yes Jason C yes motion carries e is Apple least to own it is the recommendation of the administration that the board of school directors approve the purchase of Apple MacBooks in the amount of$ 42,68419 for four years at 0% APR per the attached we have a motion to approve the Apple leas though so move second motion second questions or comments on this agenda yeah this is I mean this is the fouryear refresh of the Mac devices for students and staff uh it's built into
028the technology Budget on that rotating basis to ensure that we have quality devices in those high school students and Dr Meers is there anything else to share on that the uh yeah the current the current faculty and staff not they're five years old during their last Liv so to we would really recommend refreshing this this this is a higher amount normal because ites te stents that was something that we this time of the year last year decided to push off one more year and we're seeing you know we're seeing the wear and Care staff this student and staff don't understand the amount of computers that's a lot of computers that's 500 Plus Computers that we're talking about when we don't even have that many I mean we do have that many students but you're not
029going to be giving new computers to the seniors aren't getting new computers right like who gets the new computers we have we have a number build in as far as R rates and rer rates and then also one The Faculty staff staff in addition to faculty so it's not always faculty it's it's Al not all staff excuse me but support staff the administrative assistance um other personnel and then once again with loers that are built in and that number goes across four years so we lose certain amount as we so it's not just one and done that's the number that we would use it's building that number in across the next four possibly five years hesitant to be buying 500 and some computers when we're talking about budgets and that stuff we're talking about half
030a million dollars but I guess only 11 I mean 113 gets paid this year is that right that the idea I would really like us to look into buyouts then for if we're getting all these new computers for the kids that would want to buy their computers or just and we did talk about the staff doing that correct yes yeah and and the staff devices are not worth much at all at this point value to to a third party after four years they're much worth much more than they are now after five years so yeah we'll talk to um talk with Mr hon about that process and what he envisions for it but I don't I don't as far as senors at this point thees for the new ones when how that works is we
031calculate like a depreciation value we don't know exactly what a third part is going to so say we don't offer a buyback we sell them to a third party who comes in and you know gives us what they determine the value is based off of the depreciation value you know just much like a used vehicle right um we don't know that until we go out to quote for it but his we could use historical numbers to get pretty close so they can calculate depreciation value and then offer it um to staff and students like say we've done in the past we could put those letters together like to see us get as much money as we can and at the same time may help our help our students questions I just would like to go
032maybe a Step Beyond that so I understand that we use Apple Mac books but High School use different books for the younger books um I've had a lot quite a few parents ask me why we why we do it for as young of a student as we do um devices in general devices in general um I think it's something that should be considered going forward is do we need to be offering them to as young of a student as we are now what what grades are we now getting so there's a device available for students of all grades um but this and there's a different device by grade level K1 have iPads or do K12 just K1 just K1 have iPads and then we have Chromebooks available for essentially two through eight um this year
033the Elementary uh students began not bringing them home every day um they bring them home you know when necessary determined by the classroom teacher or potentially have you know we had the one M day but um so that was kind of a step back from the day-to-day bringing those devices home uh for that same purpose I mean there speak speaking with our elementary principles speaking with families and teachers determined that sending the device home every day was maybe not the best thing for all students young ages so we have them available in the classrooms you know um they use them you know it's there's so many programs that reviews in the classroom that are web based that they've become kind of an essential part of the curriculum it's not to say you know you can
034you designed a curriculum without it but they've become essential over time to have as resources but they don't go home every day they do starting sixth grade maybe a topic we're discussing in the future no it is what changed all that before Co none of the the elementary did not have their own computers yeah we still had we were really close to Ono one devices in the building at the elementary in you know 2019 we were just under that but yeah then then it became everybody we did have them for everyone um and still do today we do have one we've been one to one at the high school for 15 years um but uh that you're correct that it did grow out of that c I think it also enables us is it's true
035to do this the days the flexible instruction days because we do have it does yes yes U because we don't send them home every day we have to have a little bit of the heads up but it doesn't able that Poss questions I'm just wondering if we might not be at the point where we look at books you know 5 through 12 rather than spending the amount of money that a a Macbook costs half the half $500,000 can I can I say something I absolutely would like to see MacBooks continue to be what we use because like I go to BCTC so I'm with students that use MacBooks I mean Chromebooks and Chromebooks are always failing they don't work well and I never have an issue with my MacBook like it just works you know
036and like students that use like Chromebooks at BC they're like so jealous of me because the MacBook looks so much better and honestly I I don't think go into a gr book would be good at all especially for how much we use computers I also think just in preparing our students for future career opportunities it's actually important for my perspective for them to understand both how to use a windows-based as well as an apple based product depending on the type of career that you headed into you know something like a graphic design like a data and analytics or engineering those are very um MacBook and and apple intensive uh programs of study and and so I I also am a strong advocate of of keeping the MacBooks for those older you know students yeah and
037to add on to that I don't think Chromebooks are really used in the professional field like at all you know it's it's all Windows and Mac based stuff yeah and that's just the the Chromebook is neither Windows based or Mac it's essentially a device with very very very minimal storage that allows you to access the internet from a laptop structure um they are pretty cheap I mean you know as well as anybody that they break frequently Mr Huffer because there's constantly a stream of students bringing them to your your uh Library um you know and they they do provide an opportunity for our students they're certainly you know costly compared to Chromebook the difference in cost is not as significant as we always think when we do the evaluation because what has happened um with
038the Chromebook because everything is in is online and nothing is actually on the device you have to pay more for some of the services and protections for those it's still cheaper don't get me wrong I mean but it's a cheaper device for our students at that point now the other thing is the resale value so when we do sell back the uh the MacBooks to a third party after four years historically we've gotten around 40% from the purchase price of a m where a Chromebook often do not get four years out of the Chromebook uh you're replacing those at around a 30% rate in any given year so it doesn't add additional cost you're you're getting 40% back in purchase with the student device on a regular basis now again because the faculty and staff
039kept there for five years that extra fifth year really puts a dent that U that sell back price that um but that's something to keep my um I'd be interested to know if we truly save money by holding on to O 5th Year you have time to look at that at some point once we know where we get back for the furth um was it worthwh to make that decision yeah we can look at that just a little side note when I was at career day at the middle school last week um my my co-presenters were the Apple education people and they did say that their iPads are um going to be like cost equivalent to Chromebooks um did I say iPad said if I said MacBook I meant iPad their iPads are cost equivalent
040to the chomebook so that might actually get us to be able to use a device maybe like in the middle school that actually would tend to last longer and since everything we do is cloud-based any way might be worth looking at we we have looked at that in the past we' looked at a package to where a keyboard is included with an iPad so that's something that be historically looked at uh decided not to do it for a couple different reasons but we're going to continue we'll continue to look at that as an option other comments before we take the all right Mr house I think we're ready Daniel whisner yes Laurel Ziggler yes Aaron angle yes Michael H yes Rea Hoffman yes Cecilia Hol yes Jeremiah light yes Dennis dishes yes Jason C yes
041motions carries f is the cuts senary high school gym FL repairs it is the recommendation of the facilities committee that the board of school directors approve agreement with Chambers flooring LLC to sand and repair the high school gymnasium floor for the attached we have a motion so move second ous any questions or comments on the gym FL repairs okay hear none then Mr h r Marl Ziggler yes Aaron angle yes Michael hes yes Rea Hoffman yes Cecilia H yes Jeremiah light yes Dennis dishes yes Daniel Wismer yes yes Jason C yes carries G is the KD job core partnership agreement is the recommendation of the administration that the board of school directors approve the agreement with Keystone javore per the attached we have a motion Move Motion seconds uh C chall you mind people not
042familiar with job core um there's there's job core locations throughout Pennsylvania uh it's a Fally and state funded program that provides really fantastic uh trades training to students um every few years we'll have a student that that's the right fit for it's a residential program you know so it really requires the right series of conditions for it to be a student that that it's ideal uh students I think have to be 16 typically for us when a student goes it's usually that senior year and they're 17 or 18 um but traditionally uh for a student to go to job corp they had to technically kind of drop out even though they were going into a trades program that does have a curriculum component uh so the um Department of Education and some other organizations in
043the state of Pennsylvania created um anou where we can partner the job corp for that again it's it's really like a student every couple years that we can not list them as a Dropout if we wish to and um once they successfully complete the program they would be a qu Center High school graduate with the training that they received there so it's um it's a beneficial thing for that student you know it it they would then be doing online curriculum through a program that they have but their trade training is very impressive you've never you know I think there's an old kind of idea of what the job cour was you know in terms of um a second last chance sometimes but it is is they do phenomenal things and have great Partnerships across the
044state with companies with very very high paying jobs so um when it's the right fit it's a great opportunity here for us great thank you good opportunity any other questions or comments so this is just a general partnership it doesn't have to do with any specific child that we have now that's no it's just a general partnership yeah this this is new this year um prior to this year that we had to code them code the students as a Dropout which was always kind of odd because there's sometimes a program like this where we our high school office and guide helping to facilitate that because we're all mutually seeing it's the right thing which is not typically think to drop EXC okay sounds like we're ready for a roll call Mr Aaron angle yes Michael
045H yes Rea Hoffman yes cilia hle yes Jeremiah L yes Dennis udicious yes Daniel whisper yes yes Jason C yes motion carries H is the school counselor 339 plan it is the recommendation of the curriculum committee that the board of school directors approve the chapter 339 School counseling plan for years 2026 through 2030 per the attached as required by the Pennsylvania Department of Education do we have a motion second next second any questions or comments on the school counselor 339 plan the the 339 plan uh details the opportunity students will have from grades K through 12 to do career exploration or career interest uh it's it's a like to thank our school counselors along with Mr Devin for uh continuing to develop the plan it's something that is while we have to approve a plan
046on these um several years Cycles it it's something that's always developing because you know we feel that Career Development Career exploration is just a core part of our jobs so um while we hope that the plan uh is approved tonight we'll submit it to the state it is a living breathing document where you know anytime we can improve career opportunities for students for all right thank you any other questions or comments all right then here then Mr Pres person Michael H yes Rea Hoffman yes Cecilia H yes Jeremiah light yes Dennis judicious yes Daniel Wismer yes Lael Ziggler yes Aaron angle yes Jason C yes motion carries I is the tax referendum question be resolved the csan Area School District Board of Directors approves the referendum question in non-legal statement that seeks approval for a
047tax increase above the pde Act One index VI further resolved that the cstown Area School District Board of Directors authorizes and directs the administration and solicitor to take any action required in order to submit this resolution to Brooks County election officials for placement on the ballot for the May 20th 2025 election the proposed question uh will be as follows shall the Pittstown Area School District increase local property taxes up to 34.2982 Ms which represents a 10. 63 increase for the 2025 2026 school year the plain English explanation I will go ahead and read it um the ctown area school district is proposing to increase local property taxes up to 34.2982 Ms which represents a 10.63 increase for the 2025 2026 school year since this proposed property tax increase is above the current Act One index
048of 4% the proposed tax increase must be submitted to the electors of the school district for approval proposed tax increase the additional tax revenue would prevent the need to eliminate teaching Administration or support positions the proposed tax increase and additional Revenue tax revenue is being sought due to increasing contractual obligations on certainty in state and federal funding and Rising Cyber Charter tuition School tuition costs the proposed tax increase would equate to an additional $397 74 tax for a property assessed at 12,700 which is the average assessed property in the kown area school district a yes vote means that you're in favor of increasing local property taxes up to 34.2982 Ms which represents a 10.63 increase for the 2025 2026 school year a no vote means you are not in favor of increasing property taxes up
049to 3 34.2982 Ms which represents a 10.63 increase for the 2025 2026 school year if a majority of the school direct District electors voting in this election vote Yes then the pro proposed tax increase would take effect for the 2025 2026 school year if a majority of the school district electors voting in this election vote no then the proposed tax increase would not take effect for the 2025 2026 school year if the proposed increase is not approved by a majority of the school district collectors the school district would only have the ability to approve a tax increase of not more than the current Act One index of 4% or 5108 if granted granted in exception for special education cost by the Pennsylvania Department of Education which does not require submission uh to the school district
050electors so again we would I would be looking for a motion um to approve the tax referend question um propos question on the ballot would be shall the pitson area school district increase local property taxes up to 34.2982 Ms which represents a 10.63 increase for the 2025 2026 school year so Mo test second all right we have a motion in a second um I will start um you all don't mind um I uh fully support placing the referendum on the ballot as I believe is important for our community to have their opportunity to voice their opinion however I'm going to be transparent and upfront should the referendum appear on the ballot I will personally vote no on May 20th plain English question does a reasonable job of outlining our options to provide further Clarity and
051transparency I'd like to highlight three key options we face as a community the first is approval of the referendum if the motion passes tonight Community would face a potential increase of nearly 11% if approved on May 20th at the Box by voters I opposed to this because I do not believe our community can afford such an increase nor do I think it's appropriate the second option is continued Cuts uh continued Cuts if the referendum does not pass and we do not find another solution we may see further cuts to teaching staff which could result in fewer opportunities for our students the third option is negotiating a more sustainable contract alternatively the district couldn't negotiate a new contract with the teachers union that is more in line with what our community can afford the primary financial
052concern tied to this referendum is the increasing contractual obligations particularly with the teachers union whose contract current current contract expires at the end of this school year the union is seeking significant salary increases which is one of the driving factors behind placing this bot this question on the ballot while I am deeply grateful for the hard work and dedication of our teachers I believe our community has been very generous in supporting them for example in the current contract the top pay rate for a teacher with 14 years of service in our district for 2024 2025 school year is $10,774 of our teachers fall into this category to put this in context here are the top salaries for teachers in nebor in districts with 14 years experience Fleetwood is at $953 185 mberg 96,3 oie Valley
053$882,500 buba Hawkin is at 93330 Hamburg is 88477454400 when Valley is at 91250 reading 96,3 48 skookul Valley is at 9,700 y missing is 9646 4 honored Weiser 85,3 Wilson 85322 and exer 98856 it is an average of 91,4 163 versus cstown salary of $10,774 increase or significant cuts to our students opportunities I remain committed to finding a solution that supports both our Educators and our community's long-term Financial Health ultimately if the ballot question is approved it is up to the community to decide whether an in 11% tax increase is something we can afford regardless of the outcome of the vote on the ballot question this evening I encourage everyone who can to who can to attend our upcoming budget meetings the next one will be held on Monday March 24th at 700m in the
054middle school or you can join via Zoom your parti participation is valuable as we discuss important budgetary matters affecting our school district thank you who um I am sure there's other comments so please don't be shy I'll just say that you know I will also uh vote Yes on the referendum quite frankly if the board had the right and or opportunity to put any tax increase on a referendum I would do such a thing um I believe last year we passed a tax increase as a board that if we put on a referendum may have failed so we are not serving our cons constituents when we vote for things that they don't want I as I said last year I don't believe that our deficits are due to a lack of tax money um our
055taxes in Kutztown School District are as high or higher than many other surrounding school districts we are not on the low end um it's really just a matter of spending beyond what our enrollment will allow for um and then lastly um we had a comment from our previous budget meeting that we'd like to see a range of taxes I don't like the fact that we start at a 4% Baseline I think we should start at a 0% Baseline and see what that would need happen as well thank you Mr thank you for your comment that's exactly how I feel um I want to leave it up to the voters like to just make a short comment I fully agree um with your statements early earlier um I I don't I don't fault any group of
056people um for advocating for themselves no matter what the situation is but I think that uh there reaches a point which we are most clearly at where um the salaries are not sustainable in the size of our school district it's it's something that um was a contract that was set up before and seems like the long-term consequences of that contract were not necessarily fall out all the way through and we're seeing the the negative consequences of that in very real and immediate uh ways that that need so um I I agree with the statements that Mr Cup made earlier and um I think that that summarizes my comments for now I also am going to support putting the referendum out to voters because voices are important um I think that there are a variety of
057issues that are affecting our current budget deficit um and some of them have been spoken about of course we talked about the charter of school expense which is another big item on that that affects our our budget um and of course um not raising taxes for nine years in smaller amounts uh did not help where we find ourselves now pleas re Hoffman yes Cecilia hle yes Jeremiah light yes Dennis dious yes Daniel whis yes Laurel Ziggler yes Aon anle yes Michael H yes Jas C yes motion carries Jay is Introduction of new business by board members you have any new business be introduced tonight Mr C I just make a comment following up on yours just uh Mr cck encourage um you know any any of our um residents to come out to the budget
058meetings if you have any questions you know that you would like to uh discuss or be addressed we do run those kind of into more of a town hall style well there is is a presentation you know it's not this sign up public comment for only specific times I mean I do try to get through parts of the presentation but then ask for questions if there's any questions in advance that someone would like to see us address you know please send them my way um and I'd be happy to try to address them at a meeting um the funding system in Pennsylvania is really challenging I'll just say in that you know it is set up where if your assessed value does not increase there's little to no mechanism to get you know funding outside
059of tax increases you know it it is it is designed assuming that assessed value will increase I believe I think that's fair to say um for most communities I mean there are some that state funding increases very significantly annually we are like many districts cross that's not the case so that Assumption of assessed value increasing U which may have been logical at one time it's just not the case for us and a lot of communities like us and that's that's just another piece of challenge that's the way the system was designed and now we're thank you um is there any new business by board members I did have one topic I'd like to bring up sure so um I wanted to bring to uh the attention of the board a laboring district annual boom um
060that I believe has been very creative in how they've approached their own Virtual Academy um so I think as we know with a cyber uh Charter funding challenges uh we are I'll say most hurt as a district when a student and family chooses to go to a Cyber Charter School that is not our Kutztown Virtual Academy um so I I would ask Mr tinhat and the reach out to um Mr buker yeah to talk about that in in detail I think they this is year one or two of them taking a new approach yeah so I think that they've hired uh someone to really be that coordinator for their Blazer Virtual Academy um they've got a nice website that talks about the benefits of actually having a more Blended virtual as well as in-person uh
061ability to attend events and activities um and get some more support locally so um I'd really like like us to pursue and think about what are ways in which we can look to bolster up our Kutztown Virtual Academy um and and really attract some of those families uh back into the district in that virtual format if that's what is their prefence needs their family's needs absolutely I mean and I we are constantly um attempting those to reach out see how we can meet those needs but Dani Bo I'll reach out Mr I think they've had a lot of positive impact in just one year so thank you good suggest thank you Mr C by name yes another item um I was wondering with uh some feedback from constituents if we wouldn't be able to uh
062look at ways to kind of refine our publishing of data um some of the feedback that I've been getting is that it's it's challenging for people who are are not you know seeing the big picture and seeing all these meetings to distinguish um different projects and issues that are happening so to kind of find a way that um it would be uh uh separate to the viewers in light of them not already seeing all of that and um I had some suggestions that I sent out to the board there as far as what that might look like uh based upon some feedback that I got yeah I'd like to continue that dialogue I think we created one folder you know that's publicly accessible with the uh presentations related to the the feasibility study school configuration
063piece where previously they were linked they had been linked like with that agenda but you're right it's not one location um necessarily if it's over years sometimes um but look forward to kind of working together on how we do that these are all it's all public information we share it publicly to make it easier to find on the website it's only evaluate thank you m okay anybody else all right then we can move to public comment on non-agenda items yeah I'm I'd like to know where the school stands with bull and my granddaughter first it was racist then it went to the bulling bulling they took it to the social media social media the state police found out came to our home there were there there are three people that I want I do want
064to thank I think she spoke to you gentleman over there thank you for believing in her her IEP teacher Mr anad he's awesome and Miss lenhard is it Miss lenhard I'm her therapist those three believe in her I asked her when it started what are you doing what are you saying you know I know there's two sides do I have to take it to the police get a restraining order or go to or take it that a lawyer involved that it has to stop it affected her health she gets up in the morning she's sick I know it's her nerves it's a stress not knowing when they get in her face what are they going to do to her you know and well so I said can't they suspended and right right now it's two
065first it was the whole table at lunch I told her mood she did then another then one of the kids came over they also admitted they were bullying her from the start they went to her mother and said they're bullying her the two the two that went and reported the other kids they were also involved and now it it has affected all of us you know when the safe place come to your door at N9 o'clock at night and want to see her because of what they put on social media it it has to stop it seems to me like the bullies are being protected not the victims you know she did one thing one time and it was she reported a drug deal that they were dealing now my daughter got a phone call
066that night stating she should stay in her own Wayan and mind her own business he said she said and then I was told in the beginning that is drama drama and bulling are not the same I know the difference and I want to know what you know what what is your policy what do you do why the buling it just it keeps going on and on it really has affected all of us what the what building are you in pardon what building what school building school right here um can we arrange for Mr clicker to yeah just I mean we we can't talk too much about student situations here but you know there's it's each situation needs to be handled on individual basis based on the circumstances so I'll I'll reach out to you you
067know tomorrow so we can set up a meeting so I can really understand the details of yours okay sure yeah I'll be and um Dr Mars can join me as well just you know since he already has a little bit of the background there get up but I'll get up before before you leave make sure you give them your best contact information please thank you thank you Dr Myers is there anyone online there is not all right 10 is the informational items they're listed there a through C uh to be viewed 11 has our upcoming public meetings and informative dates March 24th I stated earlier is our next budget and finance committee meeting it is the in the Middle School Commons and by Zoom at 7:00 April 7th is the school board Workshop meeting at
0687:30 in the high school in by zoom and then April 14th we will have our PNC committee meetings as well of as our facilities and ECC committee meeting at 6 o'clock and 7 o'clock respectively here in the high school and by Zoom um I would be looking forour a motion for adjournment all in favor I