[Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Hey. Hey. Hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] Yeah, I appreciate the big How long did it take you to do all this? You just did it. Yep. We call to order the Centennial School District School Board Committee of the Hall meeting, Tuesday, April 22nd, 2025. And we have a roll call, please. Miss Mrs. Prancado, here. Mrs. Crossen, present. Mr. Ghart, here. Mr. Godson, present. Mr. Hartline, present. Mrs. Lynch, present. Dr. Magcguire, present. Mr. Martin, I'm here. Oh, hey. A and Mr. Saddowski, nine members present. And can we um stand for the pledge of allegiance? And if you don't mind, if we could just stand for an extra minute or two, a moment of silence for the uh passing of the the pope. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. God bless America. Thank you. Announcements. I don't I don't have any. Um public comments by residents. Um, these don't say what they're for, so let's just go through these. Um, Samantha Price, hi. You have you go up to the podium. You have three minutes. Good evening. Um, this was forwarded to a board member, so it could be forwarded to Dr. Bon. um thinking it would be quicker. Um it was brought to my attention. This is a this happened April 16th. It's uh it says good morning. It was brought to my attention yesterday from another parent at the bus stop that my son was being bullied. Don't cry, honey. Don't cry. I just call you again. Hey, listen. Take a breath. Take a breath. Take a minute. We can wait. Can we stop the clock, please? I apologize. No, it's all right. Got it. Got it. Take a breath. Okay. You good? Yeah. Okay. Listen, you're a mom. You're a mom and you're here for the for your child. So, just take a breath and you can do anything you need to do. Okay. All of us are parents. Please. Such as calling him gay, shoving him in line when he getting onto the bus, and also taking his school bag. As an as any normal parent, I was extremely upset. So, I called to speak to Dr. Kelly at 8:45 a.m. She returned my call at 12 p.m. She said she understood and would do some investigating along with the school guidance counselor. My phone, my return phone call with Dr. Kelly was less than helpful or professional. She had my son in her office and had me on speaker phone asking my son these uncomfortable questions. My son didn't want to tell her the truth about the situation. Her response to me was there was nothing that she could do by what by what Mason said that she personally didn't speak to the other parent and maybe they misinterpreted the situation. My son is currently in therapy for anxiety due to school and Dr. Kell and had Dr. Kelly followed up with the guidance counselor like she said like she said she would have known that him being called gay in school has been happening for 2 years now. I have I have his second grade teacher as a witness. Why would a parent that I've never met before approach me to tell me that? Also, when Mason had tried to advocate for himself this year be before he could even finish his thought, his teacher, Mrs. Richie, told him to stop tattling. My son is uncomfortable with conflict, so why would he tell Dr. Kelly he's being bullied by kids that live only blocks away, so the bullying gets worse? My son is asked to have his seat move on the bus and has been denied. and the little girl that's bullying him happens to be the safety on bus 87. It's ridiculous that there's a sign seating on the bus. My son struggles in school as he has an IEP and is currently being tested for autism. Again, Dr. Kelly really invest if she really investigated anything, she would have known these things. Your administration and staff, even down to the bus driver, is failing my son. I I will be his voice though. The s situation needs to stop immediately. If my voice will not If not, my voice will get louder and I will have no problem calling the news stations to make them aware how the how little this school administration cares about the children. This isn't my first rodeo. I have a 24year-old that was also relentlessly bullied to the point where he was removed from high school and put into lakeside with juvenile delinquents. And because of that, he received a subpar education instead of correcting and stopping in the bullying. So both of my children h children have suffered at the hands of this school district. And I will not tolerate it anymore. And I'm sure my oldest would have no problem giving his testimony about the school district. I have no problem taking it outside of the school district and telling our story since no one in the administration seems to care about it. Thank you for your time. And I left my contact number and I have not heard from him. And I al I also just want to What number was the bus? Just so 87. Okay. Can you make sure that happens tomorrow, Mr. Wartman? Please just let him move his seat. And I just also want to mention that I just don't know what the agenda is that Dr. Ben has. Um I spoke to Dr. Kelly this morning and asked her if she was going to attend the meeting. She said no. She had prior engagements. Obviously, he does, too. But I can hold him accountable for my oldest son, but I can hold him accountable for promoting Melissa Balden, who was who now the special education. Nobody removed her. She left on her own accord. Yes, finally. Okay. Thank you. She left on her own accord. But um it's just I've had enough. Did any So, all I want to ask you if anybody replied to you besides Dr. Kelly. No, Dr. Bettton did not. He is he is on vacation right now. Um, but I'm sure Excuse me, Mr. Wilson. Dr. Wilson. Schools and principles. I will be more than happy to follow up. Sure. Dr. Wilson's going to follow up for you. Okay. Um, I am sorry. Um, can I ask what grade he's in? Fourth. Okay. and his special is he's in special education and there's no communication with his teacher. Does he go to the bus stop by himself? No, I he No, I would drop him off cuz he's 10 and he wanted to be left dropped off and left there. He wants to be like the other kids. Yeah, sure. But now I sit with him in the morning. You know what? You could just kind of sit lurk in the background. I've had to do that myself. Um I'm sorry. I really am sorry. And and I hope you know I hope I hope we can get this resolved quickly cuz nobody needs to feel like that. Yeah. Thank you. May not be able to learn the fact that he has special needs. No. No. When I say special like you can't tell that he has special needs. He's very outgoing like he's you can't tell. He's just in special education. We appreciate you coming. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Hopefully we'll get a resolution. Thank you, Mr. Wilson. You did good. Mom. Thank you, John. Mom. All right. I'm sorry, Miss Saman. Uh, Valerie Johnson, you have three minutes. Thank you. Hi everyone. I just wanted to say um something positive first. Um, we have had a great experience at Davis Elementary School. My son's in um special education. He was in the special education program there. He's now on to Clinger. Um, every meeting that we would have there, I would just cry with tears of gratitude. Um, that my son was being very well loved and taken care of day after day after day because it is a mother's greatest want that people would love on their kids while they're not in their care. And that's what I felt and we're feeling that for him at Clinger as well. So, I did want to start off with something positive before I go into the negative. Thank you. Um, my name is Valerie Johnson. My daughter is an eighth grader at Klinger Middle School and my son is in sixth grade at Klinger Middle School. I wanted to bring to your attention the conversation that my husband had with Mr. Hayes, the principal at Clinger. It was a respectful conversation and I want to thank Mr. Hayes for listening to my husband's concerns. My daughter made us aware of the day of silence a few weeks before it was to happen. She felt a little uncomfortable with the signs that were going up um and the fact that they were making this a schoolwide event. She was concerned that she might be pressured into participating um by her friends. We talked to her about how she did not have to participate and just continue to encourage her to be respectful and if anybody asks her what her thoughts or beliefs were on it, she could just be truthful. But of course, remain respectful. My husband and I do not have an issue with a small group carrying out an event out like this for just them. But we do not agree with this becoming a schoolwide event. We believe that a schoolwide day of silence for someone's sexual preferences are extremely inappropriate, especially for this age group. We do not believe it should be encouraged in school to display your sexual preferences publicly. Many of these kids witnessing this are kids who have not even gone through puberty yet and their parents have not gotten the opportunity to educate them on these topics. The matter of sexual preference and identity should be a topic of conversation between children and parents. If the subject comes up between friends, that is fine as well, but it should not be on display in their school as a primary way to identify someone. Someone should be identified by their character, by their personality. It should not their their sexual preferences should not be something that identifies them. The school environment should be focused on educating the children and should avoid controversial social and political issues. This is a public school environment and it's clear that there are going to be many different thoughts and opinions and belief systems and that's okay. We need to stick to the things that unite us and stay away from the things that divide us. I believe that it caused unnecessary division and drama amongst the students and it was a total distraction from education. My daughter mentioned that many of her friends felt awkward and confused about the whole thing. My daughter had a mock trial that Friday and one of her friends was supposed to participate in it, but she was participating in the day of silence, so she couldn't speak. I'm sorry. You're just going to have to wrap it up. I'm sorry. It's fine. It was mentioned that the staff had pride flags pins that they were wearing. Apparently, the pins were to indicate they were an ally. In an effort to make one group of people feel that they have allies, you're making another group that disagrees feel like they don't have an ally. These are the kids authority figures. So, I fear the very thing that you're trying to avoid for one group is something that you're inadvertently doing to another group. Thank you for your comment. I'm sorry. Thank you. Mhm. Thank you, Samantha Moser. You have three minutes. Thank you. Good evening. Good evening. I'm here today not out of intolerance, but out of genuine concern for the well-being of my son and the broader environment of the school. Recently, my son and other students have been subjected to threats and bullying which appear to be linked to activities surrounding the gender sexuality alliance club. This raises several important questions. Are students within the GSA going by their birth names? Which restrooms are they using? These may seem like personal matters, but they have direct implications for safety, clarity, and policy enforcement within the school. I'm also concerned about how school endorsed activities are being managed, particularly the recent day of silence. 37 students participated and were rewarded with a pizza party. Why were teachers notified of student participation while families were kept out of the loop. Transparency is essential, especially when schoolwide activities are involved. On that day, students wore black and remained silent by communicating with writing notes while others wore white. Some students even stayed home to avoid the tension. This is a clim This created a climate of division and distraction ultimately taken away from instructional time. Another area concern is the equity pledge. Students are told to stand and those who choose not to. Um this does not foster a truly inclusive environment. Instead, it creates fear and discomfort for those with differing perspectives. There then there are pride and transgender flags and posters displayed around the school. While I support equality and believe in respect for every individual, I question what these symbols play in a middle school academic setting. When I asked the principal and assistant principal about the specific meanings behind these flags, no one could provide an answer. If educators don't fully understand what these symbols mean and represent, why should they be displayed on middle school walls? Promoting sexual identity, something deeply personal, should not overshadow the school's core mission of education and development. As for the GSA, its role and purpose must be clearly defined. What is the educational plan behind this group? What topics are being discussed? A club that centers around identity and attraction, even in the name of inclusion, should not take precedence in a middle school environment. Furthermore, some GSA related posters, such as those reading, "No ant ties allowed," seem to promote exclusion rather than unity, which is deeply concerning. In closing, our school must focus on safety, clarity, and academic excellence. We need transparency in activities like the day of silence and a clear understanding of the equity pledge and a re-evaluation of the pride and transgender flags being displayed without full understanding. I'm sorry your time your time is up so if you could just wrap it up. Okay. Thank you. Um I'll be quick. The GSA's perfect should be defined and material should not should promote unity not division. Policies on bathroom use and birth names should be clear. It's time for the board to prioritize education over political agendas and ensure a safe, inclusive environment for all students. Ultimately, schools should focus on creativity, academics, and character development. Social and identity issues belong in the hands of families, not in the classroom. I support everyone's right to live freely, but I oppose using public middle schools to advance ideologies that cause division and silence and differing views. This isn't the first time I've brought these concerns forward. It feels like a calculated effort to keep parents in the dark and that is unacceptable. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your comment. Is there anybody else with a green paper to speak? Okay. Thank you. Um Mr. Mr. Gabriel. Okay. Um I'm sorry. I I skipped right over you. I'm sorry. Um Fleming. Nothing for Mr. Gabriel. No. Okay. Um moving forward then to the approval of the agenda. It resolved that the Centennial School District Board of School Directors 2.1 approves the April 22nd, 2025 committee of the whole agenda as per attached. Are there any corrections that need to be made that are allowed by PA Law? So moved. Seconded by Mr. Hardline. All in favor? I I I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? Passes 9 nothing. We have six items on the new business. Do we want to pull any of them? Seeing none. Hold on one second. Oh. Um, I'm good. All right. We're moving all six items in unison. Be it resolved that the Centennial School District Board of School Directors 3.1 approves the personnel agenda including retirements, resignations, authorization to employ, leaves of absence, change of status, mentor, and co-curriculars, clubs, activities as per attached. 3.2 two approves the request for two William Tennant High School speech and debate students to compete in the 53rd annual tournament of champions at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky, April 25th to the 29th, 2025. District cost for students and chaperoons not to exceed $3,822. 3.3 approves the overnight conference request for Dr. Dana T. Bettton to attend the National Alliance of Black School Educators 2025 summer superintendent summit in Atlanta, Georgia, June 19th to the 21st, 2025. District cost not to exceed $700. 3.4 Four approves the professional service agreement with Matthew McCarthy effective May 1st through September 9th, 2025 to update and enhance the district's English language development systems to ensure cost efficiency and long-term sustainability to meet EL data needs and improve students outcomes. district cost not to exceed $120 per hour for not more than 40 hours. 3.5 approves retroactively the service agreement between the Bucks County Intermediate Unit and the district to provide Pennsylvania information management systems pimps support for the 2425 school year cost is $400 per day. 3.6 Six adopts policy [Music] 237 electronic devices and administrative registration as per attached. Second second by Mr. Ginhard. Any discussion? Seeing none. All in favor? I. No. Okay. Um any abstensions? So we have five items passing. Uh, we had a 900 and 3.68 1. I don't think there's a 3.6. There is a 3.6. I don't see 3.5. Excuse me. Am I on the wrong one? My apologies. 3.6. You got updated. Okay. Over here, Mr. May. Short comment. It's all passed. I understand that. Yes. But I didn't call because I didn't think there was a need. Turn your microphone on. Turn your microphone on. Oh, thank you. My voice isn't loud. Okay. Um, this is after the fact, I grant you. of the part-time employee that will be getting a certain amount of money, $400 a day. It is stated in that it is on request. So, it doesn't mean how long the term will be for that employee. I was curious if anyone in the room has any idea the length of this person. It's the pins contract. that how many hours a year are we anticipating needing them to help fulfill the project? So, how many months is that? I don't know. I'm clarifying your question, Mrs. It states the full year. You know, how many is it right? We have her contracted for the full year on an as needed basis right now. So, I can get how much we've spent if you'd like and I can put it in the weekly for you. This is onboarding our new folks to the PIM system. Remember, we had a lot of turnover last summer in really critical areas when it comes to data management, both child accounting and registration and PIMS. So, we've been using um the IU to help support that learning and help with some of those reporting in the first year. And thank you for So, and I can get you I can get you how much we've used her this year. Angelo, Mrs. How many hours it could work. I was just curious how many months they would be employed for public. It it says through the contract reach through June 30th. So it's for the year but on an as needed basis but I can get you a report in the weekly on how much we've used so far this year if that would be helpful. Thank you. Welcome. Thank you. You're welcome. Moving on to Mr. Hardline. All right. Moving on to uh Mr. Greenwood. I want to thank you for the large print again on the the PowerPoint here. Um, a board member has asked me if you could put extra emphasis on the changes from the last time we have met to what's changing in the the current PowerPoint. Sure. They would be appreciative. I'll try to capture all of that. Thank you. Um, so thank you all very much. Uh, I appreciate the opportunity to review again where we stand with the budget. Um, and uh appreciate u Mrs. Brinkado uh allowing us to do that today. Um there we go. Um we'll just jump through our our standard slides with our mission, vision, and belief statements, our focus on uh high levels of collaboration, and communication with certainly with regard to the budget. Um, and if I can for a second, I just want to make sort of a public service announcement with regard to the uh PA property tax rent rebate program that we have instituted here at Centennial School District. if you filed a PA 1000 as part of a PA property tax rent rebate program for the calendar year 2023 which would have been filed in 2024. You may be eligible for an additional rebate from the school district. Um the form can be found on our website or it can be picked up the application form can be found on our website along with additional information uh as well as can be picked up at the administration building. The deadline is coming. It is due uh the deadline to file is June 30th. So that is the PA1000. Uh that was for the calendar year 2023. So that program as we've talked about lags um and that would have been filed in 2024. Uh a quick shot at our website. This slide uh just as as a reference, I know Mrs. Lynch had inquired earlier is also on our cable channel. I believe it comes up and on our website there's a button specifically for it down on that bottom left hand corner the second one in with a circle around it. You can click on that and you'll find any of the information that you uh that you need. All right. So yes, Mrs. punch. Um, I would not want people who listening to this or watching this to think that every senior on a fixed income is going to get replaced. So, we know they know that everyone knows the restrictions and the amount of income they're allowed to have. Not allowed to have. Just a simple explanation. and fall and get another rebate. No. Um I'd have I can I can share out I don't know the the specific number off of the top of my head. My apologies. Uh but it is, you know, eligible for uh income eligible residents. I think they're making uh I I don't even want to guess um what that number is, but I can look that up for you. uh widows, widowers age u 50 and older and people with disabilities 18 years of age and older have an opportunity uh to to collect on that refund. What's important is to recognize people would have to have filled out that PA 10000 correct in order to qualify. Yes, the PA 10000 is the governor to that to that plan. Would you just throw out a couple numbers? Um, so that people would think I know you don't have this, right? A quick look on the website. So the the income eligibility is between is up to under $45,000, right? And there's different levels of rebate available. 45,000. What's that? It's it's still um Is this the state rebate or is this Centennial School District's rebate? We the Centennial is offering 15% additional rebate to whatever those employees to whatever that not those employees, excuse me, whatever those community members received. That's how that the program works. So if you hypothetically I'm in 45,000. What's my Centennial? I I don't have that in front of me. Okay. And I don't I No, no. I appreciate I appreciate the question. Um and they don't get money, right? It is it is a it is a great question. My apologies for not being able to answer it. Uh districts um rebate is 15% of what they whatever they got and that number is tiered based on the earnings they received. I will include that on the uh on the weekly update for the board as well as I will uh I will make sure that that gets posted and and better equipped the next meeting. My apologies. Don't we have to have a positive budget in order for this to happen? It's not automatic. That is that is that is what was approved by the board. Correct. So most people have to know that that's not automatic. It depends whether there's a budget surplus or not. If there's no budget surplus, you're not going to get any money. Correct. And and that was approved, right? So we approved that surplus um and and moved that plan forward this year. Yeah. And that is something that needs to be done on an annual basis. Annual basis. Correct. This is last year. So this is just the first year it's been implemented. Well, this is the second year. This is our second year of doing this. This is the first year. First complete cycle. This is the first year we're in. Right. So we're we had a surplus at the end of last year. We're running the program this year. It the program itself lags a year from your filing. So that aspect of it will forever be behind, but this is the first year it has been implemented. Um and so we wanted to make sure uh as Mrs. Lynch said when we approved it that she wanted to make sure that people were aware of it and where they could see that information. So I think it is on the cable channel. I think it is on it is definitely on our website uh on that front page uh as well as in the business office uh page um that you can see it and all that information is there. So when I sit down I will look it up for you and get it to you. Has any of our community members um reached out and filled out the information? I have not gotten one. I've not gotten a one. So uh hence the public service announcement. Thank you. And I did click the link on the website. right to downloading two PDF documents that you can print out and fill out. Piece of cake, right? One is just the application, the other is the instructional. Yes. What's that? We don't know people. No. Yep. Understood. I'm trying to get the word out. All right. So, we'll we'll jump in. Mr. Greenwood, could could we put it on the um uh Centennial School District Facebook page so that people can share it in the community? Uh I'm not on the Centennial School District Facebook page. So if administration could have anybody who is is handling that put the information up. Yep. We can have administration alert. Mrs. Lynch, your microphone. We'll also put an E alert. As Mrs. Lynch, can we please put an E alert out? Greenwood said he's going to be doing that. All right. Wonderful. Thank you, brother. Thank you for the idea. Thank you. All right. Anything else on the rent rebate program? Going once, going twice. All right. Uh as we jump into our budget, our focus on on, you know, continued focus on our values and our plans. Uh this first slide is is is been here before. just highlights our timeline. These are sort of the state's timeline uh as it uh shares as it plays out. This is the board adopted uh budget development calendar that was approved in November uh by unanimously by all the board members who were in attendance at that November 26th meeting. Uh that that calendar targets a June 10th meeting to adopt the budget. So, you know, my goal when we put that together is to get this budget done and over the line uh by the 10th. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and maintaining some optimistic ju guju to make sure that that happens. Uh but um that's the date. Um Dr. Bettton and I both received in April uh on April 10th from PTE. just a reminder of those key dates. Um, and the uh and what what is important in each one of those with regard to uh the sign off by the board president uh public notices that need to be given and the timing um as they lay it down uh between now and June 30th when that budget must be adopted. um failure to do so uh risks uh possible um withholding of federal of uh state funding. So it is an important aspect. Our budget last year got approved on the 26th that delayed actually the tax reporting that went out. So we sort of had a lag um of 7 days in terms of when those tax uh receipts were due. It didn't fall on on a full month. Um so those are important aspects. Um Greenwood they recommend that you know the PD recommend that the state also have a budget by June 30th. That would help as well. You know Mr. Godson I wish that would come true. Right. Uh and the only thing I can tell you I think for certain is that that's not going to happen uh this year. It hasn't happened in the past three years. um and and certainly remains uh to me to be a a challenge in the process. Um so no, PTE didn't send them the letter. Maybe I will forward my letter to them. Uh I'll see if that works. So I have 258 people you can send it to. Um so back as you know following our first work session, it was in January. um we had these four takeaways and sort of goals. So I just wanted to reshare this uh to sort of orient ourselves and to sort of focus what our goals are uh with the budget. Right? I think that we should have as a part of the plan. We should, you know, it it should be following and supporting the goals that the board spoke to. Really a focus on continued improvement, a focus on student achievement, cost reductions, uh, and taking advant taking advantage of grant opportunities, which which we do every day. Um the slide on the the picture to the right just shows the district scores um in in the state assessments uh combined and where the dis where Centennial is across that board. So you can see that Teline is is Centennial School District. Uh this information was pulled uh courtesy of Mutrenics which is a data uh operating company. they provide this level of data uh for school districts. I mean, it just shows where we compare to uh Pennsylvania, which is the dark blue line, the southeastern region um as well as the the Bucks IU that uh all schools in in the intermediate unit 22. So, you can certainly see the the drastic increase over the past year, which has been phenomenal. uh you know, our students are really uh are really excelling and improving um certainly on this uh on these tests. Um so what what have we done over over the past month or so? Uh to Mr. Hartline's question, um I've continued to work with Dr. Ross and her team to monitor special education costs. Uh and Mrs. Mrs. Brinkado was kind enough to allow us to to do it today and not have uh not add another meeting to your uh to your very busy schedules. Um I've been meeting with school leaders as well as department leaders uh to review their internal budgets and continuing to work to manage those, identify where cost savings are, sort of set thresholds at 5% right now that we're looking for reductions sort of across the board uh from each one of them. um debt refinancing. As you may recall, last year we had a fairly sizable uh debt refinancing that will save the district, you know, millions of dollars over the term of that debt. Um there is a smaller potential opportunity uh right now uh to do that again and I'm working with PNC and our folks at PFM to analyze that transaction. Um you know when we spoke uh last week you know the the markets have been uh crazy to to say the least. Um so it is a very volatile uh you know stock market's a very volatile bond market which is the bond market is really our niche. Um so we'll uh we'll see how that all plays out and see if we cannot uh gather some savings from that effort. Um and I think it was just also important in you know the the the the country at at its t current time no political me notion aside right there just decisions are sort of coming and going right there's one minute the tariff questions were there were tariffs there weren't tariffs um there double down on the tariffs tariffs are going to be this amount they're going to be that amount now they're not going to be um so I think it's important to understand that because that does have impacts to the district, right? When when we put this on the slide uh and reviewed it with the finance committee back on April 10th, there was a uh going to be a fairly large tax, 28% on on uh information on on imports from China, which at that point in time included computers and technology, right? That would have had a monumental impact to the district, right? That would have increased our RFP by almost a million dollars, right? Almost a million dollars. We had a vendor with whom we had projectors was trying to figure out called us proactively, which was wonderful to see how quickly we can identify and and issue that purchase order so that he can go around in the country and try to round up the equipment that's already in country that he won't have to b uh include that tariff. a tariff on that would be another $75,000 $73,000 uh to his quote. So those things do matter and and you know they they could be significantly impactful. I think the next day this was old news and they all went away. Uh but I think it is important that we keep keep that in mind. You know much of this control was he able to round up round up enough? I believe he did. I believe he did. And the and the tariff was disbanded for technology. Right. Ultimately, right? It's not been enacted. Right. Right. Also keeping in mind that the nearly million dollars is over four years too for the IT equipment, but the projector the projectors is immediate, but the contract's $3.4 million still increase by a million dollar, right? But it would be 200. What I'm saying it's not adding it would not be adding a million dollars to this year's budget. It would be adding $250,000 to this year budget. It's a null point because well for the time being got them all for the time being. For the time being in other words like so the projectors yes but the computers for the time being. Now once we implement the contract assuming there's not a tariff clause in the contract has to stick to whatever the tariff hasn't been enacted yet right. So hopefully we'll be we should be okay with it. Right. Well, tariffs have been enacted, I believe. Right. Your tariffs have, but this has been 28% searchcharge tax on imports from China uh has been but enacted as well, I believe. I could be mistaken, but technology and telephones and equipment was uh was uh excluded from the additional tariff. It was my understanding. It's more likely going to affect parts coming in for repairs. Yeah. Because a lot of the Chromebooks are coming from Mexico. I didn't think it was enacted yet, but it has not it's it's there's a stay on it. So, we are getting the contract in, but that doesn't mean that political winds next year can't do it again, right? And then something take place. It's something we have to be cognitive of and and keep working on. I It's just more a point of understanding, right? It's certainly a topic to us all and and understanding how that that uh that has the opportunity, you know, big country to costs and expenses here uh in Warinster and upper Southampton and Ivy Ivy Land Burrow. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Uh I have uh made a modification to to the the format that we have shown uh before relative to our 5-year plan. Uh and that is I have removed from the other funding sources which is that fourth line in the revenue column. I've removed from that the money that we utilized to balance the budget. So, if you recall last year, uh, the budget had a was a deficit. The board approved removing from the debt service fund to the general fund a sum of $2.7 million in order to make it a break even budget. um when we begin to look at revenue streams and we begin to look at that fully year, five-year picture, which I think we've talked about, I believe is very important for us as we make decisions to understand the long-term impact of those. That number sort of makes everything else look a little goofy, right? If I have an extra $2 million in revenue, I'm comparing uh a million $150 million to 150 million and it's not the same dollars and cents. So, what I've done is I've pulled that down below. It's part of that circle. Um, and what I've been working on uh most recently over this past holiday break was really trueing up our forecast which is that first column uh on the left. Right. So, we have throughout through most of our finance committee meetings, we've shared uh not just where we are uh but we have shared what what our forecast is for the remaining period of time. Um that is now captured in that first column. and we're can then comparing where we are today to that finan uh to the budget column for 2026. Um there's two other items that are uh called out in there. So one is that debt service transfer the $2.7 million which came down from that line four to show below uh as a positive number. Uh the other is the uh BCIU I'll bring it down here. I'm sorry. The other is the BCIU um midyear estimate as I've shared um in the weekly update uh with all of you. Uh we are anticipating roughly a $2.7 million um refund on the BCIU contract um and based on the current midyear. So that's our best estimate at what that number will be. um in talking with the special education team and Dr. Ross in particular, the reasons for that uh were students who took their diplomas early that we had registered to plan on going that that left the district. Uh students who actually moved out of the district, students re um that returned to inschool district programming, which is wonderful. uh and early intervention students originally slated for out of district placements were able to be served in district. So those changes as we've been watching uh and discussing at the finance committee meeting uh fairly regularly have a lower um lower level of students enrolled at the ID IU which produces this $2.7 million credit um that based estimated credit make sure I say estimated credit um for the full year. Um, and the last bullet on that is the as talked about last year, last year we didn't have a credit. We actually overspent at the IU the tune to to the tune of $934,600. Um, I'd like to take advantage of of this position that we're in and make sure we pay that off in advance as opposed to having it roll over into the next contract period, which has historically been the IU's process. They've taken the either the the deficit or the surplus and they've rolled it into the next year's contract and redo the math. That process is going away as of this year. So, that will end. That's why the $27 million U midyear estimate needs to be accounted for in this current 2025 school year. Uh but will help us going forward with that. um based on on the most recent forecast. So, all of the numbers have changed a little bit, but uh not dramatically um since our last uh last statement. Um you can see that the 5-year window projects a deficit every year uh of the plan as expense growth outpaces revenue growth, which in the last meeting we talked about is is sort of the definition of a structurally deficient model. uh deficient budget. Um local revenue in all of these scenarios uh increases at the act one limit. One suggestion that based on the the accounting uh and the ability to recover that uh money from the IU this year, we've considered uh the board could consider uh not making that transfer from debt service. um in 2024 and postponing it until 202526 year. Uh since we've recovered that money from the IU, we're simply just moving that. It's a timing difference uh which would reduce the overall deficit uh by to $1.6 million uh from where we are today, which still is is a lot of work to get through uh but gets us uh gets us started. I think the key to the separation is also, as I've sort of highlighted to the side there, an operating margin, right? I think that needs to become a focus of how we look at at things. Uh because that's truly where we're at, right? If if we have a negative operating margin, we are we are in a deficit mode, right? We have uh we're not operating where we need to be. We need to make sure we're not spending more than uh than we're taking in and trying to figure out ways to make sure that that happens cuz even with that $2.7 million, our margin deficit, that operating margin is still $4.3 million deficit. Does that all make sense to everybody? Good. Good. Thank you. Um this next slide looks at um the forecast um shared uh or the forecast for revenue for the 2026 year uh 2026 school year um and how we came across that budget. It's broken down into the local revenue. The local revenue is projected to grow by 2.73% uh driven largely by real estate tax uh revenue as is always the case, right? Real estate tax revenue makes up the overwhelming majority of our total revenue, right? 92 million out of 150 million uh dollar budget comes from local real estate uh taxes. um the act 511 taxes which are shown in that blue color. I've utilized a three-year average to set those forecasted budget numbers in into the budget. So uh looking at the 23 24 and our 25 projected uh act 511 taxes. I'm using that average to uh to plot our budget number for that 2026 year. You can see they do vary a little bit from uh from year to year. Sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. Um I've also used that in calculating the delinquent tax uh estimate as well. The projection for delinquent uh taxes. Um interest revenue, interest earnings rather, um have been phenomenal over uh this period of time. Um, it is worth wild noting that in 2022 it was $65,000, right? So, it went from $65,000 to $2.2 million in interest earnings really based on the marketplace um as interest rates are driven down at the federal level. uh reduces the district's earning on those bonds uh which reduces uh our ability to to gain true investment income. Um for the 2026 year I have included a $2 million number. Um for 2025 I the budget I had was $2.2 million. We're actually projecting that we're going to be at $2.6 uh million right now. uh that is a conservative 2 million but again I think it's it's one that is part of the volatility uh that we're currently living in. On the state side um we are anticipating an increase in state funding of $14 million. the basic ed, special ed, and um uh basic ed, special ed, um together combined for an increase of 1%. Um it's under, you know, just over $200,000 in increased funding from the state on those two line items between basic education, uh special education, and the ready to learn grant. Um most of the state funding um as it says there the large part of the state funding increase is going towards adequacy um uh and tax equity supplements uh that impact 348 of the 500 LEAs. We just don't happen to be one of those LEAs. Um, and on the federal side with the closing of the ESSER grants, the districts, as you saw in the paper the other day, we've successfully closed all of those out. Um, is returning really just to title funding and Medicaid assistant funding. Um, and those numbers, as you can see, those numbers in the in this red rectangle are what we are anticipating uh and forecasting for those uh events as well. Um there is some concern uh I think I voiced this earlier when I was at the Pasbo conference relative to title funding uh part of title funding is is sort of guaranteed to some extent uh within 90% of what you would receive the prior year. Uh there is still some concern that there could be uh you know on you know if there will continue to be ongoing support for title funding uh as we move forward. The overall revenue growth then is a million and 1.5%. Okay. Can you explain as well the decrease in the medical assistance while we went from 1 million to 400 and some the medical assistance we had the extra money that we were we pulled forward um last in the prior year, right? So we'll certainly see instances where this year that we're in the 2025 year we made decisions to pull things forward. Uh that's that difference. Uh similarly when we look at technologies budget right we pul we we passed on equipment refreshes that number takes a jump when we look at the property line on expenses because now we're doubling down we're buying them now. So the changes that were made last year really were delaying uh somewhat of the inevitable, right? We were taking, you know, we were changing our plan. We weren't necessarily uh making making cuts that go with that. Yep. This chart just looks at our uh at the history of one the act one index uh as well as the district's uh annual increase to that. Um as we look out over the planning window you can see that PTE is also uh forecasting a declining act one index right uh from 5.3% which is the act one index for 20 uh for the current year 2025 school year to uh 3.2 two in the 2829 school year, right? Uh and the most drastic of that is is this year, right? Where it goes from uh 5.3 to 4%, right? Which is almost a 25% reduction in the act one increase, the act available act one increase, uh which is significant, right? It it sort of trails off after that. But again, as we look at what's going on today, what are causing some of the challenges we're having here are moves just like that. um as we sort of get towards the end um looking at uh the relative act one index and and the impact uh to the budget uh as well as the impact on the median home uh value um the a 1% change in the act one index if we went from a 3 4% act one to a 3% we would add $911,928 8 to our overall budget or detract from that budget, you'd subtract that. Um the change for a uh that so that's shown there. Uh the median home impact at 4% is $168 uh additional tax to what they paid last year. This is an incremental tax uh or $14 a month. And you can see down that right hand column the impact at each one of those steps right from the 4% down to a 0% and and how that impacts us. Uh the median home values uh were pulled from um the niche uh website that we looked at and have used in the past. Uh, and while I was looking, I did find it interesting that the home median home value from when we did this exercise last year uh to doing it again increased uh for Warminster 7.3% or $26,000 over the past year. So, that was uh that was good news. Uh, and as noted on the right, um these are before any homestead rebates. So, the homestead rebates should be published uh by the end of the month and we'll see how that impacts uh that savings as well. Any questions? Yeah, Mr. Gr. Yes, Mrs. Lynch. Thank you. When I look at this chart every year, I think I'm looking to buy a used car. Uh you only have to pay $142. But if we look over the climate of our increases, 2022, $500, $500,000. 23 $500,000. These are monies we've taken from the reserve. In 23, we received two million one or $2 million unexpected monies for interest. Mhm. 2024 2.7 million sure from reserves possibly this year possibly 2 million. So we're not living in our means even if it's only $142. The only thing that I keep talking about and asking for and being told it can't happen. We on this board know what mandates are. We on this board know where fixed costs are. I try to get the budget line by line. Mhm. I've been told we don't do it that way. We do it by buildings. Uh I don't want to embarrass anybody with some items that are for one building and not the other building. Why can't we get line by line? Why can't we get I've been asking for all year 5% reduction or 10% reduction. Mhm. I know we have mandates. I know we have fixed cost. Sure. But we are overspending every year. Correct. Something has to give. Mhm. So Mr. Greenwood, is there any way we could get a bills list for each school for the past 3 months? Is that something we could get? Uh what we are working on to your point and to your earlier question Mrs. Lynch right we are as I said in the beginning working with the schools to to fine-tune their budget so that we can produce just what you're asking for right at a 5% reduction. Um I could probably double that and and do the math on a 10% reduction. But I've asked each one of those schools to share with me because I don't know necessarily the details of their budget as well as department heads across the district uh to do just that. Right. But what I've also asked them to do is to identify if there are pain points that that will cause right if the school says you know what I can do 5% and I'm fairly comfortable 10% is going to mean this right because it wouldn't be useful if perhaps at least not for me if I don't know the impact of those cuts right so that's what I've asked them to get and that's what I will be consolidating and being able to share with you I appreciate I'll just give one example if you don't mind please I Just I'm just kind of curious why you just blew me off, Mr. Greymont. I was I was answering Mrs. Lynch's question when you asked your question. Well, she she has she has said, "Can we get a bills list?" The bills list is is sent out every month. The bills list is sent out every week. Yeah. And you need send the bills list to How are we supposed to see it? Right. It's a It's part of the weekly update. No. How are we supposed to see it? Line by line. How are you supposed to see it? Yeah. It's line by line. You have to have a mic a magnifying glass to read it. Right. Hitting it right now. I've got this magnified 150% because I can't see this or I say that's the same thing. It's it's I have a a big monitor and I blow it up 200%. So like a TV Mike. Well, it's share that as well as it's as well as it's in the board agenda. So it's online. We have a bills list for every single school. We have a bills list for every entity that the board gets and reviews. But those bill list it's also part of the agenda, right, that gets approved, right? the finance committee, right? It's all the schools together. Yes. Right. So, has any I'm sorry. There will be a designation next to it as well. Right. Right. Right. True. So then that could be broken down um adjust it according if it's an Excel spreadsheet, whatever. Well, whatever. Possibly. Possibly. Not an Excel spreadsheet, right? It comes right out of the system. So, I'm sure I can recirculate it, right? It runs um as it does, but I can I can evaluate that and see if it does. The bill's list is certainly published uh every week uh on a weekly basis. This is you struggle to read that bill's list on uh I can't I try to read it. It's terrible. But I I I see it. Well, you know what? Like 150% and raers. That's that works. We get a chance. But the other thing is Mr. Ger, thank you so much for taking our questions. And the other thing is has anybody else done a a line item analysis? taken the time to do do that. Like if they're putting these bills in from the schools. Yeah. Who's approving those um charges? Who's approving the charges on the bills list? We are. We are. We mean ultimately because obviously certainly every school is approving their own, right? There is a automated system that routes uh bills. So uh Mr. Gabriel is approving, Mr. Wilson, Dr. Wilson, uh Dr. Ross, they're approving uh charges that are part of their budget and a part of their sphere of responsibility. So, they do all of that approving uh as a matter of the practice. The Skyward financial system tracks that against the budget to make sure that people do not exceed the budget. Um so, all of those sort of uh safeties and and securities and controls are in place. Okay. Thank you so much. I appreciate Mr. Lynch was not done asking a question. You were. I'm sorry. No, that's okay. I I enjoyed it. She's never finished. Whatever. Say she's finished. I didn't like that. Yes, cuz her brain is always working. I know. Um, okay. I I'll finish my remarks I wanted to make earlier. Uh, let's just take this one as for instance. We have a solicitor that handles internal things for the Mr. You have to sit up closer or pull that microphone closer cuz you just got so much quieter. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. The solicitor. We have the solicitor who does internal things for the board, etc. We have special lawyers. What categories are they both in or are they in one category by themselves as legal fees? That's one question. Legal fees. Same category. One category. One category. Yes. So you don't have any legal fees are one. The only thing we break out are the right to know that in a separate category. You have it all lumped together. Correct. All right. We have an employee who's a subcontractor in one of our departments. I believe it's transportation. What category do they fit into? Do they fit into the budget of transportation or overall employees? Right. I don't know of an employee subcontracted in transportation, but uh if if there was it would be within the transportation department. I know the finance department has has a subcontracted employee and that employees cost is is a part of the business office expense. Okay. What I was trying to get at earlier was this. We have things in the budget that we don't know where they are. Nobody on this board, well, no, maybe somebody can tell us where all this information is that we physically can go in and look. That's why we need line by line and we need reductions. Thank you. I have concluded this moment. Thank Thank you, Mrs. Lynch, last year we we I mean we did provide that last year relative to every employee uh right we went I walked through with Mr. Gabriel and Dr. Bettton uh and Dr. Wilson uh and and provided a a list of every employee um and their and their pay and where they are. Uh so we've provided uh detail one asks right I your your question uh relative to um I'm not sure what report I mean I could print out a general ledger report if you want to be able to look at uh the solicitor's monthly bill versus the the attorney for real estate's monthly bill. And I don't mean to exaggerate so I please forgive me. Right? if you're or if you're looking at legal expenses in general, right? Legal expenses in general is different than a solicitor uh individual, right? Versus a subcontractor versus to spare you. I use that as an example. No, I I understood that's what I'm trying to I'm trying to use your example and trying in my mind trying to figure out how we can provide that level. Right. the reports that I would look at doing is is the budget report that shows category by category to each individual, right? And to each one of them, it's going to be summarized. So, it'll be legal. It'll have one number and it'll and I'll show you what that number is. I'll show you what we spent in prior years. Um, but if you want to get inside of that and say, "Okay, well, how many what charges are in that make up that legal number?" That's a little more complicated. And so you can't tell me, excuse me, I know you work hard. You can't tell me how much it costs to operate this building with all its allocations. This building alone um this building alone probably not right. Certainly I can tell you the certainly aspects of this building, right? This building is is a diverse building, right? It includes the classroom. the Cisco classroom is actually budgeted and and run by the high school, right? So, that aspect is is a little bit different, but I certainly can tell you what costs uh make up Swan Way. Yes. So, Mr. Greenwood, if you could get if you could get that to Mrs. Lynch and the rest of the board at when you have time, and I know you're busy, so um we would appreciate that. Sure. So, now could we move on, please? One question. Oh, sure. Sure you do. Sure. Just one more. Just one more. One more. Just one more. Um, Mr. Grimmer, just to make it easier for families to get their head around these numbers, what is the actual dollar amount of the median home value? Um, will we be able to so people can know how these numbers home value? Um, was 300. Um, I mean, it doesn't have to be high 300s. I want to say 386 rings a bell. Can you tell me where those are located? Because I don't know any I think it's much higher than that. That's medium average, right? That's being funny, Mike. But yes, if I could buy one and flip it for that. Yes, absolutely. Beautiful. I say you got to keep in mind that, you know, Warster Southampton and I land, we are a relatively affluent area. We have been blessed. Um, but it's the assessed value that obviously determines the the annual expense or the annual increase. Yes. Thank you. Is that I I will make sure you get the the actual number and I can show you the reference uh on the on the niche site. You can go online on niche and and pull it up easily now. People can compare this to their home value so you have what these numbers mean to them. Thank you. Okay. I mean it's the only number that's usable quite honestly unless you guys have like pulling teeth. Okay. Did you say if you'd like to move on? Yes. Okay. [Music] Um, so while while Mrs. Lynch did comment on this, right, I I do, you know, the world may not know, the community may not know what what expenses are actually controllable uh by by the board quite honestly and and by the uh by administration, right? So I put together these quick couple of slides that look at uh look at that very question right so things that we aren't in control of right are one special education special education is mandated uh classroom sizes are mandated levels of care are mandated whether those uh whether that uh student can uh can effectively uh get reasonable education inside of the school district or they need to be sent out right all of those are mandated costs Uh the pension expense, the pasers, uh is a mandated cost. We can't say this employee gets peezers, this employee doesn't. Um nor do we get to choose what investment funds they're they they're investing in uh to make sure they get their returns. Charter school tuition is another mandated expense, right? Uh and last is debt service. So those all those those four charges um make up uh 44% of our overall budget right 44%. Which really leaves the balance of those that 56% is you know sort of what is truly uh manageable. Okay that makes sense that that idea. Okay. uh those costs, those mandated costs in this 10-year picture have grown 59%. Right? On a 10-year average, right, that's 5.9% those costs are growing at. Um and costs like debt service, debt service grew um in 2018. It took a jump because we we borrowed and we issued bonds. So, it jumped then actually dropped down this current year based on our refinancing. But other than that, it has been it was $10 million a year. You could take it to the bank. Um it went from nine and change to that 10. It went from that 10 to 9 and change uh coming back down uh because of the refinancing. Um so all of those costs, right, that um 60 $68 million is is uncont, you know, to some extent uncontrollable, right? Um and you can see the difference. You can see that chart and what percentage uh that makes of our total general fund budget this year that represents 44%. Costs have gone um from uh from special education $12 million to $23 million. Right? It's an 85% increase in expenses. Uh just to name a few. The controllable costs then are captured in that chart on the on the right under controllable expenditures. Right. And to uh Mrs. Lynch earlier question trying to identify quote what a department is right as we look at departments and where their their funds are. I sort of utilize the function code which is a part of the PTE chart of accounts showing regular education, support services by category, operations, transportation, business office, uh support services uh and student activities and identified each one of those uh costs and then broke each one of them up into salary costs, benefit costs, and all other expenses. Right? That total is the balance, right? That's the $87 million identified as quote controllable costs, right? And so that's that to some extent that's what we can really manage too, right? And even within controllable costs, right? Inside of those details are are are real life questions, right? Transportation, you know, it's in that controllable cost as as been shared, right? The district isn't responsible to provide everyone transportation. We certainly do that. certainly be a backlash if we didn't do that. Right? So, that is more or less committed to, right? We need to be able to provide uh provide that transportation. Uh much like insurance, right? We have um school board liability insurance that that's real insurance. We have building insurance for all of our buildings. Um that is a cost that we we we best not go without, right? So, again, there are costs that are increasing, those costs are escalating. There is a lot going on in that picture. Uh but what it does is is simply break that down, right? To cover that $4.6 million deficit at that operating level, we would need a 3% reduction across all of those uh uncontrollable expenses, right? That's that's what we're we are calculating. Um so that's that's what the chart shows. Um again, I think some people believe, hey, you know what? we we sort of control it all and they don't realize how much out of every dollar 44 cents out of every dollar really goes to those four categories uh that that we don't have that same level of control. Um if you began to take out and in that same number includes regular education we obviously have to provide regular education. So it is it is uh somewhat of a you know dubious sort of puzzle that we get ourselves into. Uh but I did want to share it. I know I shared it to the board. Um we sh talked about this shot uh this slide with the finance committee uh and both Mr. Godson and and Mr. Hartline uh were supportive of sort of sharing it to all of you as well. Um so I have that just one last slide as I was looking um and planning out our sort of five-year window taking a single expense um and that was the peaser's retirement um charge right the pasers shows its incremental increases so you can go online we googled uh what is the projected increase in the employer Paser rate so that's a what we pay on every employee um And then what does that rate change look like? Right? So as you can see um every year uh projected we could add as much as $800,000 in a single year uh based on the change in pasers right $800,000. That's almost a full act one point uh by itself. Um, and I think understanding that and looking at those numbers and saying, "Wow, there's some pretty solid swings, right, between $400 and $800,000 of expenses that we we can't say yes or no to really requires that long-term vision, right? And really emphasizes to me the critical nature of that five-year planning, right? Not just looking at next year, not just trying to get the budget done, but really understand the impact uh to the district." um from a long-term budget perspective, from a long-term uh commitments that are made that we take that into account uh as we move forward. And and that that I think is it um short of uh questions or feedback I have uh your note, Mrs. Lynch, I will look to try to uh pull together something that is a a mix of summary and and usable that is somewhat under 300 or 500 pages. I think if we look at the detail, it's going to be a quite a quite a quite a novel. Um, but I will do my best to share it with you. I'll send you a sample and we'll see if we're on target. Uh, Mrs. Brinkado will look at the paid bills. as you as we noted uh those documents are on board docs. Those documents are shared on the weekly um at at that level and as Mr. Hartline said each one of those bills are tied to a school um uh by code and by tracking. Okay. Yes. Excuse me. Guess why the paper is green? Why is the paper green? Is that a joke? Mrs. Lynch would like to know why the paper is green. like paper is green. Oh. Oh, the view is green, right? Um it it helps us separate funds and it helps us separate the the paid bills list uh from the um the uh pre-approved bills list. Right. So, yes, it is. Some are green, some are yellow, some are white. Yes. Right. Sorry. No, you're correct. Right. We don't we don't we don't we don't physically print them, right? We we apply we apply the color for our own use. All right. Thank you. If we could move on, Mr. Ruts, please have mercy on our souls. If you could make it brief, if you could make it brief, we would be most appreciative. Well, lucky for you. Yeah. It's actually going to be Miss Mey doing the presentation and we're maybe going long saying. And the slide deck's only 28 pages, right? And it's not in green. The slide deck is much longer, but we have an abbreviated version for you tonight. So, uh, we will get it moving. It is year four of the summer take-home book pack, so you are familiar with the process. And so we provided to you again the full slide deck as well as the exe executive summary with this introduction that reads the Centennial School District proposes to continue the K5 summer reading take-home book packs to support literacy, prevent summer learning loss, and increase family engagement. Building on the success of the 2024 program with less than 1% of students opting out, the 2025 plan includes collaborative book selection by students, parents, and educators, emphasizing engaging grade appropriate grade appropriate texts to build home libraries. The initiative aligns with the district's mission to prepare students for success and expand access to literature. Highlighted in our mission and vision are a few of the things that relate directly to our summer take-home book packs. Uh our commitment to building intellect and forging partnerships and also engaging our students to be future ready as well as ensuring that our parents are prepared for post-secary education, career and life readiness with strong literacy skills. The results of the opt out survey that was given for last year's summer book pack. We like to just put that in front of you so that you know uh the percentage and the reach that this program has had. So this chart is showing that only 22 of the about the survey was sent to the parents of about 23 2400 students and 22 students were opted out which is about less than 1% of the kindergarten through fifth grade students that were choosing not to receive the summer book pack. And then we also in the fall after the book packs have been distributed and summer has passed, we send a thought exchange to gather uh input for from our stakeholders. And that thought exchange is used our thought exchange is used uh not to determine whether or not we continue with the initiative but to provide impact uh feedback for how we strengthen and improve how we provide the book packs. So there were 52 total participants 39 of whom took home the book packs. of those participants 83% were very or somewhat satisfied 18% were somewhat or very dissatisfied and that serve that thought exchange allows us to collect then the top three areas for strengths and then areas for improvement. So the top three strengths the book packs provided new grade appropriate reading material that engaged children. They help to prevent summer learning loss and inspired excitement as well as goal setting opportunity areas for the future. And you'll see noted in blue that some of these are things that are already in place and they include that some parents suggested polling children to choose books and following up in the fall. We do pull and you'll see a slide uh in a couple seconds here. We do pull students to select those books. Uh the use of an opt-out survey was also recommended to prevent undue restrictions on providing those free books to students. We also provide the opt-out survey, the results of which you just saw. And then two additional opportunity areas include more genderneutral books and include a variety of topics, not just sports. Uh and a note there that in this year's selection, which you'll see soon, we have six of the 30 that are sports related. Again, these books are not chosen by Mr. Rutz and I. uh they are chosen by a a group of stakeholders. And so a summary of the why, there is a summary of the why on your sheet as well as in the slides. Uh these do support and expand the literacy of our earliest readers. They help to build that library at home. I highly recommend linked in your executive summary was an article uh why or the power the magic of home libraries and why every child needs one. I highly re recommend reading it. It's a short read, but it really helps to level the playing field and increase literacy for our students. This is that didn't come out super nice. This is the who those stu those leadership groups who is involved in selecting the books for the summer book pack. So, we have four student leadership groups, one from each school as well as the student advisory committee. We have one parent leadership group, three teacher leadership groups, one board uh leadership group, and then one administration group. And I think, let's see here, our drum roll for our 2025 survey results. This is what was selected in this year's survey for 2025. Again, noting that six of the 30 are sports related. There's no more than two sports related in any one grade level. And these were chosen by those various stakeholders. End the quote. I do want to take uh a special just minute to thank Learner, who is the company that provides these books. They were gracious enough to reduce the original quote from what was presented on April 9th at the education committee. They were able to get that right underneath $50,000, making the per pupil cost between 20 and $22. instead of between 23 and 25. So the total there is $49,98621. Questions? Any question here? No, in the past we've gotten the funding through the ESSER funding. We are not having any more ESS funding for this year. So where's the money coming from? It is already in the board approved budget for this year in teaching and learning. When you approved this year's budget back in June, the money was built in to that budget. So it's already in this year's board approved budget. Has no impact on next year. Mr. If I might. Yeah, Mr. Martin. If I and I didn't do the math totally, but it looks like you're buying 2300 books if I did approximately. We're buying more than that. Each student gets more than 2,300. All right. Good. Correct. Yeah. So about $4 per book. the in the survey you've done about whether people like them or don't like them or read them or whatever. Out of 2,300 books, which may equate to 1,000 or 8 900 individual customers, you got back like 30 something. That's that's like a return of about 2%. that that I I've never done a survey in my life where a return is 2% and said this is a wonderful thing to me our budget is not good $50,000 could be saved very easily if kids want books they could go to library so if I could just clarify that the survey is sent to 23 the parents of 23 to 2400 students so knowing that some parents have more than one child if we even cut that in half and say about 1,200 families maybe we're looking at 52 respondents out of 1,200 which is around 5% which is what we typically can get back from surveys it is uh less respondents than our first year I'm sorry more than our first year not as many as last year um and we also know that feedback from surveys generally does tend to trend towards those that are concerned or uh those maybe that are uh voicing strong opinions and in this case the majority of our responses that we received were really positive. So it kind of just goes to the point that this is an initiative that has been supported by a lot of families and it also gives us a promising foundation to build on highlighting the need to capture that broader out outreach in the future. 19 people were very satisfied out of a thousand. That's that's a pretty poor for $50,000. In the past, it was always justified by we have a grant, we could pay this. Uh now it's not a grant anymore. As Mr. Godson said, it's taxpayers paying for these books which are going to be in the back of a mascara truck and in a landfill somewhere at the end of the summer. So I just think it's a better use. I would I would I respectfully, Miss Mr. Martin, I I I think that's an assumption. to to make a comment like that. This is using OTL money that's been already budgeted to purchase books for earliest readers for our taxpayers. This is going back to families. This gives them ownership of books. Somebody's pet project, I think. But that's all right. I I again I I don't think it's a pet project of the office of teaching and learning to build support literacy in our youngest readers and support families in trying to build a community of readers in the Centennial School District. Actually, there's no evidence of that. There's no evidence of what? how successful this program has been and what the children who receive these books get out of it except for the 19 that said they're very s I will speak to the fact that our data at the beginning of the year presented by Mr. Rutz has shown that our students incoming students have retained their learning from the previous year in our fall assessments. So that is indicating that this is something that is helping. It's something that we're doing to prevent that learning loss over the summer. one of the reasons without any data to support that. Okay, the hard one. So, okay. So, that actually kind of plays into to what I have two questions. Um, one, do we have any data or is there any matrix that we use to figure out of the 2,000 students that take these books home, how many of them actually read them over the summer? So, do we have any, you know, and if that is something that maybe we can add to our next set of surveys to the parents to find out how many of them are actually participating in this and are not just taking the books home and leaving them sit on the couch until September 3rd when they read all five of them to say they can read them before they came back to school. So, I will like my son did with his AP classes. So this is the question that goes into the thought exchange reflecting on the book packs circulated this past summer. What are the some of the ways they added to your child's summer experience and if we were to write provide them to students again in the future what would you like for us to consider? So that's an opportunity and a thought exchange as you're familiar the parent parents can and and respondents can put up a thought and then others go through and rate it. So in the full slide here you can see there were 30 thoughts with 271 ratings of those thoughts and then our participants who took it home where our breakdown was of each building. Um and then overall 83% of the respondents were satisfied somewhat or very with the book packs. And the other question is because we speak so many different languages in this district, are we providing these multil- language books as well? We sure are. And it's up our uh language use or our language use for the translation that's built into the thought exchange was up, I believe it was from 3% um that was other than English up to 6% this year. So we are reaching a a wider population as well. question. So, we did this program last year and we had such great achievement with their learning. I don't see why we It's $20 per student or $22 I think you said it went down to. So, even if we can capture some of that that great achievement we had last year and if this helped, I mean, I'm all for this is going right back to the student. This is going right back into our community. It's not like we're the student's not getting it. This is this is a direct line for the student to have something during the summer and we could say go to the library but let's be real not all children have access to libraries. So this is for the children who don't have that access who act absolutely need it and we want to make sure that they don't have any learning loss during the summer. May I? This is also an opportunity. Um, it's already in the budget for this year, but this is the perfect opportunity now to start looking for grants to possibly fund this next year because we've already funded it in the budget this year. Not that $50,000 is not a substantial amount of money, Mr. Or. Um, but it is again a perfect opportunity for us to start looking for grants to fund these type of programs. I mean I can remember you riff as a child you know reading is fundamental and all the stuff that was you know was tied to that and I do want to assure you Mr. Hartline we have started this started last year after a conversation that we had um it is very difficult to find funding grant funding for something like this that is going to support RIFF or Scholastic or Mackin or Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. It's uh we've started to kick the can on that um last year but we will continue Mr. Go ahead. All right. If I remember from our conversation that um this act coincided with your big book giveaway and there was many verbal not the survey but verbal comments about how people had appreciated it. Unfortunately, they didn't do the survey and people get tired of doing surveys. And what when did you say it was done? Beginning of the year. October. October, they're done with that busy time, right? But we've heard many different good things um from your nice little booka away giveaways, etc., and from that and this program at the same time. So, but thank you. And I understand Mr. Martin's concern too, but that's the nature of the beast with the surveys. Thank you, Mr. Godson. So if if you remembered, you know, during our education committee meeting, it was the one that we spent most of our time on. Um I had suggested and talked about using the libraries. The books are sitting idle in all the elementary school buildings. If we just open it one or two days a week during the summer, it would not be close to um 50,000 to run those libraries on a two-day basis. How would the children get there? Students would get the books that they truly would like to get. How would the children get there? A lot of them are in see I look at there a lot of them are in camps because parents are working as well and we you talk about transportation. who who was um talking about trans Mr. Greenwood. Um transporting people everywhere and how they that's what I look at. How are they going to get to where they're going? Um I know I know you're I'm a library person as well, but you know it's easier for me when I lived in the city. I could walk everywhere, but here how are they going to get there? Well, m Mr. again, you know, proposed something during that meeting as well about taking books home at the end of the school year and then returning the books at the beginning of the school year. And then we said that you may not get them back or my dog chewed it and there's that policy on that. Yeah. Well, if they can't afford I understand what you're saying, Mr. Martin, too. Then if they can't afford their school lunches and know they're free, then how are they going to pay for a library book? Want to give it to the kids that can't afford it. There's many people that can afford things in the school district, believe it or not. Okay, thank you, Mrs. Lynch. Mr. Martin, take a deep breath. Your little your little face is turning red. Mrs. Lynch, I'm just worried. Thank you. Oh, I was worried. This was done through initially. This was done initially through Esser funding. Correct. Which was a wonderful gift. We're now hearing it's in the budget. Interesting. The thing with it is we're buying books for the middle school and different schools in this pocket. I understand transportation. But this now is a budget item that is in addition which changes its position from er funding to a budget. Um we don't know everything that's in the budget. No one on this board is against anyone learning. Um I'm sorry but your comments to Mr. Martin were not according to someone to speaking to a school board member. But on the other hand, we have to make decision. Are we going to spend the money from the budget or could we put them in the library where the utilization would be much greater? It's already That's up to That's up to these books are already in the library. They're already in the budget. The money's already in the budget. She said they're it's already in the budget, but Mrs. Lynch already said that. I did say that. Thank you, Miss Mado. So, that's a decision. If we're trying to cut back, nobody's trying to hurt a child. No. My god, we sit here for nothing because we care deeply. So, I think it's our decision. This is an additional amount of money. Does it have pro productivity? Does it meet the scores of how it should be? or is it jump something that we want to do to help people who need more help? That's the decision. Yeah. So, so I am a big fan of of libraries. I huge fan. Um we have a huge library in Warster, an even bigger one in Southampton. Smaller schools have libraries. I think the books are already purchased. Am I correct? No. Oh, they're not already purchased. Um, they are on tonight's agenda for approval tomorrow. Yeah, hopefully we can do that tomorrow. Um, wait, they're on their agenda today, aren't they? Yeah, they're on they're on tonight's agenda for and they were budgeted last year for this purchase. Yeah, but if this is the type of thing that you know, if the board's wish to remove this from next year's budget, obviously it would be a $50,000 savings with the guidance of we will only do it if we can get grant funding for it. I mean, I mean, that's a something that can be directed towards the finance office for next year's budget. I mean, I'm okay with I'm okay with that, but maybe we could get $50,000 worth of books to actually just keep in our libraries. Right. That is something that we also do throughout the year as we have rotating purchases of new books. But it's just they're diverting it from one basis to another. How many books do they get each? Each get five books. Okay. So when I had 10 children in the school at one time, 50 books would have entered my house. And I'm going to tell you 50 books would not have been read. Now, that's just my kids and I have readers, but they're not all going to appeal to the same kids. Like, rugby is not everybody's thing or and that's okay. I just think we my own opinion is we should just take care of this for this year and look for options for next year. Does that make sense? Anybody else with comments? Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Moving on. Moving on to the committee reports. Okay. Quickly, can we make the committee reports extremely brief? Um and talk fast. Okay. I I will start withation since this is my room. Um and this was the major topic. The other major topic that we discussed uh on the education committee was the um science uh book programs and and programs which means that we are well in the process of using uh open science you know for the trial period but we have not at this point excluded the f um science program and the other pieces that we talked about was um the special education plan and the remaining seven items that is on the agenda for tonight. All right. Quickly for finance, obviously budget was the primary focus of our meeting um which we've already gone over tonight. the two items for approval tonight. One is for some um kitchen equipment which is coming out of the um food services budget and then the other item is for a postage machine that obviously we need to process postage in the district. Thank you. Operations met uh April 11th. Mr. Wardman runs a tight meeting so fortunately it was quick and very very efficient. Um he laid out a uh capital project summary for us which I really appreciate. He put a lot of work into it, extended it out over numerous years. Um planning out uh some significant capital projects that need to be done, but doing it in a way that is the most cost effective. A lot of work put into it. So I appreciate you laying that out for us. And our next meeting is May 16th and we discussed a couple of items that will be coming up in a few minutes to be voted on. Thank you. Um Mr. Goodixson, education, student services committee. um one item for presentation and information uh the K science curriculum update and we have uh I don't know do we have any information other than that it's linked to the there's a one pager link to the board for people we're not speaking to it's just the information we share the committee y Mr. Goodson 7.2. We have uh the remaining uh items that were um moved forward from the education committee. Can we move them all together? Can we please pull 7.2 I thank you. And F and F. And what did Mrs. Z say? Same one that Mr. Martin said. Okay. F 2 A. Which one do you want pulled? 7.2 A. A A A. Oh, Mr. Martin, you said F, correct? F. Yes, ma'am. A, F and I, correct as separate items, correct? We just So, we will uh start with uh 7.2B. Be it resolved that the Centennial School District Board of School Directors 7.2B 2B approves the service uh continuation modification agreement with belief learning for the 2526 school year cost not to exceed 48,000 and to be paid with a grant from the PA of crime and delinquency 7.2C 2C approves the purchase of a data database licenses and software renewals for the 2526 school year cost not to exceed $400,684.71 as per attached 7.2D 2D approves the adoption and purchase of world language textbooks and instructional resources from Vista Learning District cost not to exceed $148,9885. 7.2E approves the purchase of library books for Davis Elementary School District cost not to exceed $751.83 7.2G 2G approves the purchase of books valued of $150 from donation provided to the McDonald's Elementary School library by a generous unknown donors. 7.2 2 approve approves the affiliation agreement between Millisville University and Centennial School District to provide an educational experience to students enrolled in the Bachelor's and Master of Science in Nursing program. No cost to the district. Second by Mrs. Maguire. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor? I I any opposed? Any abstensions? Passes 9 nothing. Moving back to 7.2A. Approves the purchase of the summer book reading take-home book packs for grades K through n K through five district cost not to exceed $49,98621. Second. Second by Mrs. Crossen. Any further discussion? See none. Mrs. Lynch, you wanted this one pulled. I'm sorry. You asked for this one to be pulled, correct? I think your microphone. Yep. Yes. Thank you. I think there's a better way. No one is against reading. So my vote will be no and I'm sorry but it is a budget item without any grant funding. It falls on the taxpayers. Thank you. Well, I can only agree with you, Mrs. Lynch, in this case. Any further? If not, we're voting. All in favor? I uh any opposed? Post. No as well. No four. One. So it's passing five to four. Who's four? One, two, three. Alice, Mr. Alex and Mr. Mark. Okay. Thank you. And like Mr. said, it's not because we don't want kids to read, right? We There just needs to be a more There needs to be a better way. Yeah. Okay. 7.2F. 2F approve approves the purchase of library books for William Tennant High School District cost not to exceed $4,636.33. Second by Mrs. Saddowski. Mr. Martin, I am in favor of buying the books. I'm not in favor of banning any books. However, I looked over the title of every book that's on the list. There's one or two that raise a question and my point is if we buy a book that expresses one particular point of view, I don't have a problem with that. We should be looking to buy an alternative book that expresses a different point of view so the children have the opportunity to get both sides of an issue if they choose to do that. I have two examples. I'll be brief and I'm done. There's one book called Jane Against the World. What that book is is Row versus Wade and a fight for reproductive rights. That's fine if they want to have that book. But we should also make sure that we have a book that expresses the alternative viewpoint on that issue and the students can pick and be able to read both. The other one which is even more interesting is called one person no vote. How not all votes are treated equally. Well, I would like to know how the hell that happens and all votes aren't treated equally. I I but I can't see that because that book's not available right now. So, I think we ought to take that one off the list. But I'm in favor of books. I'm not in favor of banning books. I just think we need Mr. Martin. What was the name of that book? What did the last one person one person one person no vote? How not all votes are treated equally and you couldn't see the description of it? No, because it's not available right now, but it's on the list for $2241. Do we have a description of it? And Mr. Gabriel publisher postponed the publication probably for good reason, but I don't know. So the question is is it even in the purchase list right now? Yes, there was two books. There are two books that we recommend we right when we had talked at so just so you were all aware a couple years ago we put a process in place that all these books go to education student services first and so Mr. Kenhard Mr. Godson and Dr. require kind of take a look at everything. We have a good conversation. Some books cuz mostly because of age discrepancies I think was a lot of it have been sort of moved around and or taken out. I know there was two books this time that were removed um based off of some concerns of the education committee. Um that's what I can tell you right now. Question. So we don't know. Yeah. No, it was two different ones cuz they're not on there. So we don't know that there's a description of this book. What page does anyone have a pageical? They just listed under the books you're going to buy at William Tennant. Here's a summary. They're alphabetical, so it comes about this control. Um, a riveting look at the extraordinary and tumultuous history of abortion rights in the United States. This is one person, one vote. No, this is this is Jane against the world. Jane book. Um, tumultuous history of abortion rights in the United States from the 19th century to the landmark case of Row versus Wade. That's all it is, is it? That's what it says. It hasn't. And it was published, I guess, in 2020 before. Let's see. Tracing the path. Um, the pivotal decision and the continuing battle for women's rights. Uh, straightforward of current debate around abortion and repercussions that have rippled through generations of American women. So, I I just wanted to make the point that we're looking at this list in isolation. I don't want us to assume that other titles that offer carrying viewpoints are aren't already in the library. I want to make sure that's the case. Thank you. The one that's up, the one person no vote is the young adult edition. It's the YA version. Yeah. So, it's the young adult adaptation that brings to light the truth about how not every voter is treated equally. And it sounds like an important topic. Oh, aren't they? It looks like it discussed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It's five above the Jane Against the World. Yes. On your list. Are we in agreement to keep these two books in the list? Yes. Yeah. One is not available, so it can't be obtained. Mr. Mr. Rutz, is it available or not available? Uh, according to the publisher, right now it's not available, but that does not preclude us approving it so that when it becomes available, it can be purchased. We we back order a lot when we're ordering from Amazon especially or full if doesn't have it. Any further discussion on this? Let us look at that one before you put it in the library. Is it on Amazon? Okay, then we can purchase off Amazon as long as the title is approved um from the list that passed uh move forward from egg committee. Could you repeat that again, Mr. I was going to say it looks like it's available uh via Amazon. So as long as the title is approved as is policy, then we can the librarian will be able to order it from Amazon rather than Flet. So Mr. Martin, would you like for this to be pulled? No. And if so, if if not, if you're okay with it, when and if they get the book, I would just like the opportunity to look at it before it goes in the library. That's I think that's going to be made myself how there's be voters that aren't treated equally. I want to see how that works. All right, that sounds like we should find the opposing view that voters should be treated unequally. Mr. Does it say how much how much the That's what I'm saying. It's a stupid opposing point. Can we just call a vote? I have it on Amazon. Can we approve the book? 1958. One person, one vote. Yeah, but that Yes. I'm sorry. I'm going to order it, Mr. Martin for you. That's the hard cover. There might be a paperback, but I'm not sure the price. I'll give you the paperback. All right. We We're going to move. We got to move forward. There is a There is an audio book version for 99 cents. Stop it. We're not doing that. Oh, come on. Maybe it's at the Southampton Library. You look We're moving forward with the vote. Yes. Everybody in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? It's passing. 9 nothing. [Music] What did you say? 7.2. I No, it is available now. approves the overnight conference request for the manager of technology to attend the 2025 annual information sharing and analysis center ISAC conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, June 22nd to the 25th, 2025. District cost not to exceed 1,900. Second. Second by Mrs. Crossen. Any discussion? No. So, I would I would really like to cut down on the amount of conferences outside the state of Pennsylvania. I know it says $1,900, but I do believe that this is uh the manager of technology has gone on multiple conferences and I'm not saying that in any negative way about the manager of technology. I just think if we're trying to watch our money, um, unless it's in the state of Pennsylvania or something like something extreme, we need to curb it for a little while because we are facing a huge increase. That's just my That's just my feeling. And I I realize I'm only one person. How many conferences has this gentleman gone on this year? It's going to hurt or woman. I don't know. Do you know anybody? Two or three. Okay. Um, this is a cyber this is the national cyber security conference. We don't control where they are. I think this is the fourth one this year. It's already in this I can look that up and get you actual numbers. I'll put it in the board weekly. Um, this is already in this year's board approved budget. So, it's not extra for next year. We can certainly look at next year. My concern obviously as always with cutting back on conferences is this district did that for a very long time. We had to pay the state back close to 400 sorry $350,000 when I first got here for a mismanagement of data from 2013 to 2018 before any of us got here. Um not having our people understand what is happening with data systems cyber security and technology is a problem. It's how we report state um data. It's how we get funded. Uh we've been on corrective action in multiple areas over the past few years. Most information is available through Zoom. We're on the internet. If those are options, Mrs. Broncado, we've taken uh advantage of those. This is already in this year's board approved budget. Cyber security is important. Just because something is in this year's budget, if we don't spend the money, the money doesn't evaporate. We have it for next year. It just goes down the line. So just because something's in this year's budget doesn't mean doesn't mean we have to spend it. We can hold on to it and then have a Rita's water ice party with it. I don't know but we can move it down the line. I I'm pretty sure that director of the manager of technology this will be the fourth conference. I'm pretty sure I will get you accurate numbers and put them in the week at least the third or fourth and I think anything outside that's just my opinion. anything outside the state of Pennsylvania, we need to not do. Thank you. Mrs. Cross had a comment. Yeah, I I I view this differently. I think it's imperative that we um continue to educate our staff and regardless of where it is, we need to have that information so it can be shared throughout our Zoom. Everything is available. Everything is not available through Zoom. This is this is the we must educate 25. Everything is available through Zoom. Everything is on the internet. I think we talked about I know. Dear God, you can buy Pride Pods from China right now on the internet. You could just our staff should be able to go to conferences and be educated with their peers. They absolutely should be able to do that. It benefits online. It benefits our students for our staff to be educated. They can get that same information online. I'm not saying don't educate them. It is important for people to attend conference. I do agree with that piece. Do health services people go on conferences? I don't know, Kathleen. I think you should. Absolutely. I mean, schoolboard members used to conferences. Is that going to be next because you all need to be educated? Yeah, we went to a couple, Mrs. Mrs. Lynch, I wasn't even talking about you. Room. She's beat me up today. I don't sure did. Can we move forward? Sure. You can vote. Sure. Thank you. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Me. Any abstensions? Passes. 81. Moving on to finance. Mr. Hardline. All right. There are no items for presentation tonight. We've already gone through the budget book. There are two items for approval. Does anybody wish to have them read separately? Seeing not, be it resolved that the Centennial School Board Be it resolved that the Centennial School District Board of School Directors approves the award of bid 20125-16 for four double combine ovens to Singer Equipment District cost not to exceed $163,734.80 8.2B 2B awards the postage machine lease and service RFP205-18 to Key Business Solutions for 5 years beginning beginning in August 2025. District cost not to district cost is $1,980 per year. Seconded by Mr. Saddowski. Seeing no discussion, all in favor? I opposed. Motion passes 900. Thank you. 9.1 um items presented for information. None. 9.2. Does anybody want anything pulled? I would like us to bid I mean to I would like to pull 9.2B. Anybody else? And I want to make a comment. So my 9.2A I just want to make a comment about. So can we excuse me? Yeah. Can we vote on these things separately, please? Okay. Three of them separately. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So 9.2C awards the quote Q25-00001 projector and speakers to Bloom to replace classroom projectors and speakers for Clinger and Log College Middle Schools. District cost not to exceed $265,700.86. All in favor? I I Any opposed? Okay. Um 9.2A approves the use of 15 Centennial school buses, 15 drivers, one truck, and one mechanic to provide shuttle busing for Southampton days on July 4th, 2025. district costs not to exceed $4,350. Sort of. Okay. The only the only comment I wanted to make is this is something we've been doing for years. Um and they also make a donation to us. What was the donation amount amount, Mr. Greenwood? $3,000. So, it's really not costing us $4,350 and the foundation. Yeah. It goes to CF. Excuse me. The donation is made to the ed foundation. CF CF is where the donation donation is made to CEF. So, it all comes back around. Um, and this is something we've been doing for years and it really is a nice thing for both the community in Warster and Southampton. I just wanted to make that comment. So, all in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion pass. 9.2B. awards bid 2025-17 for one used 2018 Kbaco to Eagle Power and Equipment in the amount of $75,800 inclusive of inclusive of a $12,000 tradein value for one 1998 case backo. All those in favor I. Any opposed? I I am too. So I just want to point out I asked two questions. I asked previously how much does it cost to rent a backhoe and how many times we use it per year and nobody got back to me and I asked it twice so maybe somebody forgot and that's perfectly well you know what Mr. agreement. It was in It was in the board week. Today's Tuesday. I'm lucky if I get to read the update by Thursday. A separate email. I sent a separate email to the board. You sent a separate email to the board about Did I not see it, Mr. Greenwood? I didn't see it. So, I will go home. Yeah, that was Thursday. I will go home and look. So, can you tell me how much it cost to rent a backo? It's on average. I looked at a couple. I called a different place. $600 a day. Yeah. If they're available. Yeah. Um and and how many times use them on average anywhere from depending on the months they vary obviously in amount of snow probably an average to 30 or 40 hours a month and it's not always we I call bub kiss but that's okay. There's no way we do 30 to 40 hours a week for a backup when we like this year when we plowed we use it to plow the larger parking lots because our trucks won't do it. We don't get that much. No, we don't live in Denver. We live in Warman. If you remember, they had a hard time. I'm sorry. I'm just, you know, remember we talked about how bad that parking lot was and all the emails and everything else. So, if they did, it's not just about one parking lot. I appreciate that, but it was something that doesn't shovel. Echo doesn't shovel. It doesn't shovel. Snow removal and salt loading, athletic field preparation, landscaping and trenching, water mane repairs, general heavy lifting and material transport. You know how how many water main repairs are there? Come on, it was two. I I will however add in here that you know the last time we bought one was 27 years ago. Yeah. So, if this lasts 27 years at a cost of $75,000 plus maintenance, I think I said the same thing at a VOPS meeting about it. It's a good investment. 27 years. Wow. I'm not your own yet. Okay. Can we all We already did it. Yeah, we already voted, so we're good. Okay. All right. Board comments. I have one quick one. Oh, dear God. Go. I have one quick one. Okay. Friday, May 2nd, fine arts showcase night, 7 to 10 to to 9:00 at the high school. Thank you. Hundreds and hundreds of pieces of artwork. Please show up. Well, Kathleen, it's it's fast. No discussion. Um, first I want to thank the the community members who came out to speak today. Also, I want to extend our appreciation. Today is National School Bus Driver Day. Tomorrow is National Administrative Professionals Day. So, um, our gratitude goes to them. And also, um, if we don't see anybody before May 7th, it that's National School Nurse Day on May 7th. Thank you, Mr. Sidowski. Wednesday, April 30 at 6:30 p.m. the Behind the Lens Film Festival. Attend it. Go see it. It's great. Thank you. Yep. All right. We're joined. Thank you everybody.