I think to call the
August 22nd, 2022 meeting of the Derry Township School
District Board of Directors to order and announce that this meeting
is being both live streamed and audio recorded.
This meeting is also being conducted both in-person and virtually so.
Board members, please state your name when speaking.
Mrs. Agee. Roll call, please.
Mr. Bennett.
Dr. Cronan. Here.
Ms.. Drew Here.
Dr. Cook. Here.
This is many here. Mr. RIZZO. Here.
Mrs. Schmidt.
Here. Mr..
Mrs.. Singer. Sicker here.
Mr. Singer.
Here. A present. One absent.
Thank you.
Please rise and join me if you are able for the Pledge of Allegiance.
Senate,
the United States of America.
And it is a very serious condition,
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Ma'am, please have a motion to approve
the August 22nd, 2022 Board of Directors meeting agenda.
So moved Maria My second. Mike Rizzo.
Is there any discussion?
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please say I oppose the no
agenda is approved.
Moving on to information and proposals this evening, we do have a presentation
and I would like to welcome Dauphin County Treasurer Janice Christian
to our meeting, as well as to the podium
as she is here to further our discussion and present on the county
tax collection services that we've spoken about in previous meetings.
So, Miss Risen, thank you for being here with us.
Thank you.
Thank you. I'm here this evening also with Vince.
Peace is on and he is deputy treasurer and the brains behind
a lot of what we do in the county tax our treasurer's office.
So this conversation started probably with little pilot
who is currently serving as your elected tax collector in name only.
We are governed by the local tax collection Act.
All of the processes of tax collection
are derived from that legislation, from that act.
Unfortunately, that law was written before there was a ballpoint pen,
so and it has not had a lot of amendments to it.
So some of it can seem rather antiquated.
A lot of tax collectors are still collecting from their homes.
They are individuals who are just,
you know, making it a part time job.
And yet our tax revenue has increased significantly.
We have in my tenure and I've been with the county for 15 years,
we have had some nefarious conduct by tax collectors.
And through the course of that,
there was some interest in having the county step in and take over.
In 2011, I worked with someone who you probably are familiar with
is Representative Dave now, and we did get an amendment to the Local
Tax Collection Act that allowed county treasurers to collect taxes
if there is a vacancy in the office in lieu of a tax collector.
And that was kind of the catalyst that got us started in the Treasurer's
office of collecting taxes for municipalities
in addition to the county and also collecting for school districts.
So that kind of just came into being because we have software
that was developed in 2009 for tax collection.
We have provided that to all of our elected tax collectors
and we to make certain that they could do the best job possible
in the most efficient job,
we incorporated into that software, not just county tax collection,
but also municipal and school tax collection in addition to per capita.
So our tax collectors and in my office
can collect all of those taxes very efficiently.
All that information pours into that system.
Unfortunately, in Derry Township,
because they are on a separate system for school collection,
they are using software to collect school, but then they have to kind of
do a double entry and put the municipal and county into our system.
So we have, since 2009,
taken over collection for 11 different municipalities
and several municipalities that are in upper Dauphin and central Dauphin.
We collect for as well.
That has worked out very, very well.
It has been very efficient, very cost effective.
There's no cost to the municipalities because we are on the same bill.
But then that brings us to the school district
because that leaves them in the lurch when,
you know, we've taken over and in some cases
it's a name only tax collector like Lew, and we are deputized.
In other cases, there is no tax collector
and we are appointed to fill that vacant position. So
Lew had
expressed an interest and the board had expressed expressed an interest in
exploring the opportunity for the county to be collecting Derry Township taxes.
And we offer that service
to the school district to provide continuity and efficiency.
Often the taxpayers will make one check out
for county, township and school district taxes.
They want a tax certificate
and for refinance or for mortgage purposes.
And we're able to provide that all on one document.
So it's some kind of a turnkey, one stop shopping
type event and you are dealing with the same taxpayers.
It's the same assessed database of properties,
whether it is for county, municipal or school.
So we that has become kind of a hallmark for us.
We pride ourselves on the job that we do there.
Nothing much changes in regard to billing
collection, bonding of the tax collector that still takes place.
It's a it's something that you are participating in
and the payment of a premium for a bond on a four year term.
Pretty much
just to make sure I didn't miss anything before,
I let Vince tell you a little bit about the background,
the appointment of the deputy again, is done by the tax sector.
The one thing I really like to impress upon anyone I speak to and I,
I teach the statewide tax certification
or qualification program for the Pennsylvania Municipal League.
They passed that legislation several years ago
that tax cutters must have continuing.
Add the one thing I impress upon
them as tax collectors and upon any board
is that the tax collector maintains the authority here.
The tax collector needs to
to authorize a deputy to act on their behalf.
Without that, none of us in this room have any power.
We we cannot make a decision in that regard.
We can't we don't hire him.
We can't fire him.
We can't make that decision.
So I think it's always important to know, as you're making the decision,
that you're doing that in cooperation with the elected tax collector,
as long as you have that tax collector, that who is has the elected authority
that is vested in that person, as long as they are serving in that capacity.
So I always like to point that out
that we are not inventing a wheel here without that person's cooperation,
but we are very
happy to cooperate and offer our services.
I'm not here as a vendor selling something.
We can't do that.
What we're here is offering a service that we provide
if we are able to help in that regard.
The commissioners have endorsed our willingness to do that on your behalf.
So if I don't have any questions at that point, if I do, please
jump in there and ask any questions that I didn't make clear
from what I've spoken so far, But I'm going to have Vince
just kind of give you a little overview of how the collection process works
and what happens in our office and about our staff.
And then if you have questions for us, we'd be happy to entertain. Now.
Good evening, everybody.
So as Janice mentioned, we collect for 11 different municipalities
and then with that we collect for Upper Dauphin School District
for pillow borough grants.
Borough Likens Borough and Barry's work as well
for Central Dauphin, for Pembroke Borough and Dauphin Borough.
So right now in our office,
obviously we're coming up at the end of discount for the school bells.
So it's starting to pick up a little bit, but we really pride ourselves
on getting those bills in and then the money to you guys.
So on a weekly basis, we remit to all the school districts and municipalities.
Thursday is our cutoff.
At that point, I would send whoever would be in charge of that.
Maybe we
to share an email of what we're going to be sending you guys for that week.
We then do a direct deposit
into your account on Friday, and that hits usually Monday.
That is a weekly thing.
So no matter when bills come out in July, we start receiving them.
We will keep that up through the end of the year.
Right now in the office, everything
that we have received the last few days will be in by this Thursday.
So there's no lag right now.
And really with school, I don't we will never gets to that in our office
at the peak of county Municipal
back at the like at the end of March
maybe things are held for a week, week and a half or so.
But tax collection is our priority in our office.
We've made it that way so we don't let them sit.
We want to get you guys your money as you're used to getting it on time.
Right now we have a staff of five that's including Janice and Janice.
Desperate but in payments, not just a figurehead.
She's working every day with us.
So it's a full diversion of that.
We do have other tasks.
We do.
But again, tax collection and getting that money to you guys is our main goal
because, I mean, that's for the county.
Our county real estate is a large portion of all the money
we're bringing in for the year. So it's made a priority for us.
And kind of as Janice was saying,
it's a service we're already doing and can offer to you guys.
As far as what we're charging,
it's a dollar 85, same as we do for Upper Dauphin School District for bills.
Then if you guys would want access to our DEBONIS system
that Janice mentioned, that is $3 a quarter
and then there's just an annual stipend for the services of $500.
So that's how that would go for you guys.
John I
think as far as just the day to day goes,
we always have someone answering phones.
Our phone line technically is 9 to 330, But Janice,
her phone rings at all hours of the day and she does pick it up.
So we have all staff answering phones all the time.
So 9 to 330, Monday through Friday,
all answering emails, any tax requests we get from owners as taxpayers,
as well as any mortgage companies that are looking for them,
we do predators of ourselves on our customer service.
I haven't really don't get too many complaints.
Obviously, every now and then people are upset
about the amount on their tax bill, but that's not really our
we didn't put that number there, but
we try to do the best service we can for everyone.
I think I miss you.
Know,
I just think that the definite software that we've developed is very valuable.
I think they'll be valuable to the school district, to
and that that gives you access to in your business
office, access to all assessment records, homes to see the homestead
clean and green, all those types of things addresses, sales, dates,
all the reporting that we have access to you and have access to.
I think that is a really nice feature to be able to have that
there's no charge for that for the first year,
but then we do ask for that maintenance
fee going forward just to help us in our continuing development of that.
But that is a great feature.
You can see the payments going into the system as we're entering them.
So it's in real time.
So when you're looking at that, you know you have a complete handle
on what has been collected so far, what remains outstanding.
But I think in a nutshell, that's pretty much it.
I don't want to I could I teach a course that last two days so I could talk to you
about tax collection for, you know, 16 hours without stopping.
We won't do that.
But if you have any questions, I would be happy to entertain them while we're here.
Thank you.
This is Lindsay Drew. I just have a couple of questions.
And I had the obviously, we're having this conversation again
because of the township was also looking
at that and understanding that if the township were to make a move,
we would need to look at that through the tax collection association.
So I had the opportunity at the township meeting earlier in the summer
to hear your presentation and just wanted to reiterate a couple of things
for the benefit of folks listening to our meeting tonight,
really the biggest change would be the in-person,
you know, the ability in-person in Derry Township to go in to pay taxes.
But I understand through the conversation at the township that you often
will have someone locally, you know, through
that first year or two of transition to make sure that there's someone there
and help, you know, move that through.
But benefits really is credit card payments would then be accepted for
for tax collection.
And the only other change impact for taxpayers
is that there would now be a fee for tax certifications, correct?
Correct.
That is that is a source of revenue
that is probably being overlooked at this point.
It is unique.
I was somewhat surprised to hear that there wasn't a fee.
It does help us to subsidize the additional manpower that we may need
and that the indirect costs, direct and indirect costs that we have.
So we do promote capturing that fee.
The mortgage companies
are more than willing, and in fact, the $10 is kind of low as some have gone.
I think.
I can't tell them what to make it, but I think it's gotten a little high.
But the municipality has to approve that and they do.
Do you would have access to credit card payments?
That's an online portal that they can go to Dauphin County dot
org forward slash payments.
You could go and look at that
they can make their payment through all the major credit cards and
I don't
there's any credit card they don't accept on school.
I think they accept all of them including American Express.
I think on that fee side now.
Again, I believe all of them.
Should have the e check.
They the nice thing is if you have a lot of properties
in Derry Township and you go through e check,
you can select as many properties as you want to pay at that time.
And there's just one charge, which I think is a dollar $75, 95 four.
So that's kind of worth it.
What we did in Susquehanna Township and we've done
in lower Swatara and
trying to think was up in Millersburg and we stopped that.
And in the pandemic
we kind of really shut that down because the buildings were closed.
But we went out there for a period of time and people paid in person
As time has gone by.
And I'm thinking we still need to have
that conversation of what what makes a really great transition.
Some municipalities have said, no, we don't want it, we don't need it.
Sometimes we've gone like just two days at the end a discount.
Other times we've gone, you know, two or three days.
And in any given week, over time, what we found is
we kind of went gangbusters and added a lot of days
and then no one came or very few people came,
especially in the evening,
which that was a learning experience for me
because I felt like more people would stop by in the evening and appreciate it.
That was not the case.
Very few people came by.
Most work people are have stamps and or computers
available to them and they find online or mailing it to be better.
There are very few places you go anymore and pay a payment in person.
But we are at the courthouse.
And one thing I will tell you from an educational standpoint is that the law
says the tax collector must be available in person to receive payments
for the last two weeks of the discount period for three days.
In those two weeks, we do fulfill that because we are available
five days a week at the courthouse,
and we may want to discuss what that looks like in a transitional.
I don't you know,
I think that's something that we all need to come to the table after,
you know, there's been some
decisions made.
And online payments have definitely increased in popularity.
Even with just the past year,
we have been getting more and more of those.
So I think a lot of them what taxpayers should probably utilize that service
like their. Points on the credit.
So thank you.
This is Maria Mimi.
I'm on the Tax Association Committee collection Association with Donna Cronan.
I think this is and this isn't a question
I am very concerned about, the just a certain demographic of people
and how that transition is is going to go, which I'm sure you've done this
several times before.
So you you understand it.
I don't understand it.
So that is that's probably my number.
That is my number one concern with mine.
I know our tax office is busy with people walking in.
I think that's
going I think that's going to be hard for for a lot of people.
I think communication and I preach this
all the time, is communication, communication, communication.
I think communication is key.
You have to be upfront about what is happening, what the benefits are.
And you know what may one, some folks may not see as a benefit.
You know, sometimes the tax office
is a a social study for them.
And I collected taxes that says Gahanna in person.
In fact,
every in-person event that happened, I was the person collecting the taxes.
So, yes, firsthand, it is beneficial to be able
to be in front of someone.
And there is a social aspect and the security aspect.
I believe that as time went on, like I said, that became they developed
a confidence in our ability Vince jotted down here and he was good to say.
So that that certainly is only for we only charge out two mortgage companies.
And settlements and.
Settlement and settlement companies that are going through.
If you are a homeowner, there is no fee.
We'll send you a receipt.
You can call
Vincent Iverson over at Starbucks while we were waiting to come here
and we are laptops open and someone emailed
and asked for a copy of some bills and we got
they have them, you know, we got them off to them right away.
So we're able to provide
just about 24 seven service.
We now have our offices on our phones thanks to the CARES Act money.
Now we have all kinds of technology, so we are kind of at 24 seven operation.
You know, I answered calls yesterday
of people who had questions about their tax bill.
They were new from Florida. They didn't understand.
So I think when you communicate that
you you give them excellent customer service, you offer them
some features that perhaps they did not have before.
That's all we can offer.
You know, we cannot do
cannot
propose more than what we are able to do.
All I can say is that over the last 12 years
that I've been doing this, it has been very successful.
And we have we have not had any complaints.
I think that's something that, you know, you'd want to maybe talk to the other
taxing districts and get that first chance from now.
Okay.
Well, thank you so much for taking the time
to come and present this in person and answer the questions,
obviously, for clarification,
this is for the school real estate tax collection services.
There are other taxes that the tax association currently
collects, which the county does not have the ability to do that for.
So there will be another conversation about that component
of it as well, correct? Ms.. Purcell
Yes. This is specifically for real estate tax collections.
The other component that we need to consider that are o-pee-chee
and the LST taxes, amusement tax.
We can work out a way to get that with H&R, but it's the least
that we will need to look to an RFP
for services and see who is out there that would
put in a proposal to collect those for us.
And the county.
The school real estate taxes would not go to an RFP
because of the relationship with the tax collector needing to deputize the county
and him having expressed that the county really was
the only entity
he would feel comfortable deputizing outside of the Tax collection association.
So that's what brings us here.
The other thing I might mention is that one of the requirements
for us doing the billing, if we would,
if you would want to entertain that idea, is that we would produce the bills.
We produce the bills because they're calculated in our system
and that's what makes them available.
So it's a standard bill format that we would then be able to provide
to the taxpayer or anyone else that calls.
We send out the original to the tax to the homeowner.
However, if their mortgage company has requested their bills
because they're escrowed, then the homeowner gets a bill that is marked
and some of you might have seen, well, you're not using so you're not obviously
marked copy across it.
And it will indicate this bill has been sent to your mortgage company
if they have paid off their mortgage in that period of time,
then they can still use that same bill on the coupon and mail it to us.
But that is one of the requirements that the printing
and the mailing of the bills that's done through the county.
So it's coordinated with our online system.
And I can share they have shared a quote with us for that
and it is substantially less than what we're currently paying
under the arrangements we have.
And I also want to I know they've talked about the debt of that system.
I'm familiar with it from Lancaster County Schools.
It is it gives it will give us give me the ability to log in
and get read only access to read only access though, to the information
our information
that's in the system, information that I currently cannot get access to.
So will we be able to see reporting and information in a little bit
different way, which I think is a really great thing.
Reading we can see you will be able to see.
So it's yeah, there's nothing, nothing missing from that.
So if you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to call me.
You can give out my cell phone number and I will be happy
to call you and discuss any questions outside of this meeting.
So thank you.
Thank you very much.
Thanks for being here. Have a nice. Evening. Thank you to.
Okay.
I would like to announce that the board met
in executive session prior to this meeting to discuss informational items
and also that the board met for an informational board retreat on Wednesday,
August 17th, from 530 to 7:00 pm here, The district office
will now begin the first recognition of citizens for items related to the agenda.
This is an opportunity for taxpayers and residents to address the board
again, only on matters related to the agenda.
Citizens wishing to speak should come to the microphone
or raise their virtual hand once recognized or unmuted.
Please state your full name and address.
For the record, this is a reminder that public comment is not a forum
for personal attacks, antagonistic behavior or harassment.
Please be advised that you are accountable for any legal ramifications
and liability which may result from statements
misrepresenting the truth, defaming individuals or disclosing
personal information, not of public concern.
To provide other residents
with an opportunity to speak each speaker during the public comment portion
is limited to 5 minutes of speaking time once recognized and limited
to one opportunity to address the board during each of the public comment periods.
If necessary,
the board may set a maximum time for public comment portion of any meeting.
I will ask Board Treasurer, Mrs.
Decker to please keep time.
Are there any residents or taxpayers who would like to comment?
We do have some individuals here in person this evening, so I will start
with those in the audience. Mr.
Miller, you're up first and then we'll move to those who are attending virtually.
Hello, John Miller 329 Cocoa Avenue.
Hope everybody had a nice summer.
Our fourth grader was thrilled to start today
and had nothing but good things to say about her,
her teacher and the whole environment. So
her energy was through the roof and it was
sad to see and was sad to see her go back.
But she was ready to go back and see her friends. So.
So that's great.
But what I wanted to talk about would be the reference
to our capital plan in Grenada and
how that ties in to my valuation of some information, the social emotional
learning information that was obtained from the surveys
in 2021 and 2022.
With regard to the question, how is the energy at the school?
And if you don't mind, I did make a chart
and it does tie in to Grenada, so I'll just do this very quickly.
It shows some interesting trends in the data.
You think that seems kind of like a strange question to ask a kid, but
think
about the energy of of when someone gets a new puppy there.
It's exciting or contrasting.
When the energy, when somebody calls you
and says that your grandmother passed away, it's completely different energy.
And as quantum physics continues
to expand its understanding of the
the subatomic realm, we are particles
and we are subject
to certain frequencies and and this was just interesting.
I was honestly to see linear trends
and I can I can provide this.
It might be kind of hard to see, but you see the linear trends in the data
and that's a, that's so from fourth grade to 12th grade,
I think there's R squared value, which is the best
fit on trend line of 0.97.
I think I can send it to.
It's fascinating that it follows the grades.
So I believe
there's only 3% of fourth graders that
feel it's negative.
I think it is a senior
now. Actually, Junior was the highest.
I think it was 29%.
But it's a trend from from fourth grade,
which the grade my daughter's in directly at 12th grade.
You basically could write a linear program to project
where your child's energy level is going to be.
And there's two distinct groups that in
indifferent and negative
were actually when they were combined.
The best fit line was improved to 0.966
and the positive group was best fit on a 0.97, but
completely different slopes on the chart, and that's the one in the middle there.
So what can we do in Grenada
to raise the vibrational frequency of children in this district?
And I believe that it involves getting their hands dirty, building stuff
and working, getting children that are gifted academically
with kids that just want to pick up a welder.
Because I can tell you it's going to benefit
both of them in ways that we can't even imagine.
And I was just
kind of shocked to see that that
the answers to a question were that
precise across all the kids,
all the ages.
I don't know.
It's that's the way it trended out to me are if you want to check me on that.
But it was just fascinating.
I wanted to share it with everybody.
So if there is anything that
we could do with Grenada looking forward to somehow
make that happen, I mean, we've got a lot of societal problems
and we're not going to be able to solve them when when we have a
pattern of
low frequency vibrations and low energy,
because that is hard
to expand.
Your consciousness is hard to create.
It's hard to be empathetic.
And that's all I want for
my kids is just and everybody also.
Thank you.
Mr. Miller, is there anyone in person in the audience
who would like to speak at this time?
Okay, I do not see anyone in person,
so I will open up to anyone who is attending virtually.
If you would like to speak on any agenda related item, please
go ahead and raise your virtual hand.
Okay.
I do not see anyone, so we will go ahead and close this first public comment period
and move on to standing committee meeting reports.
The General Services and Finance Standing Committees met today.
Mr. Rizzo, do you have a General Services report, please?
Yes, I do.
So the General Services Committee met today.
It has been the first time
in a couple of months that we've met from the general services.
So it's kind of a brief meeting today
really to to get an assessment of where some of these things stand.
So with unfinished business, we did talk about the parking lot
projects, both Memorial Field and also the
the Little League softball fields looking at the
the parking situation and, you know, getting
getting ready to put a base down, a base
playing down for the cost to McAdam.
So this was part of the gaming grant
that came through that will pay for some of these activities.
Unfortunately, with with the Parking lot project
and the retention base business base in assessment, the individual
that is the estimate her from Rita was out for the last week or two.
So we're waiting for him to come back to lay out the plan.
But Mr.
Anderson did did provide some assessment
or some updates on where that stands.
We also had Mr.
Purcell provide us with the capital plan,
capital plan review, which was attached to the general services agenda.
So if anyone wants to to review that plan, they can
they can go to the general services.
One thing to note, they did finish their Dave Dehumidification
project in the middle school and things are looking rather well
for that project with new business.
We did have an update on the elementary
building assessment.
So with that, with that assessment, Mr.
Anderson and Dr.
Winslow did talk about the fact that they spent two days
with the
who who.
Are LPA.
Architects.
Okay. RPF Yeah. Architect Sorry about that.
I forgot to write it down
in basically with that two days, there was a lot of eye
opening scenarios with the assessment of the current elementary school.
So, you know, the building was built 1952.
It is not ADA compliant in current standards.
Need to go through and look at that building
and try and do an upgrade to the building itself.
Could be more expensive than than a building, you know, in a greenfield.
But what we will what they'll be doing is that there's an assessment that they're
they're providing the grade in a lot of different things.
The building has been upgraded over those, you know,
whatever, 50 to 60 years worth of of school.
Go ahead documents.
The building. Is 50.
Two years. Old. 52.
I thought it was 1952. No.
52 years.
Old. Sorry.
SKELTON 70. Yeah, 1970.
Yeah, I wrote that incorrectly.
So 52 years old.
And over that 52 years, the building itself had been upgraded many times.
Therefore, there's a lot of inefficiencies in wastewater
pumps, systems and things that, you know, really should be upgraded.
So they're going to be putting out the the assessment
at the end of November to be able to provide us with an understanding
of what that that option or the options may be for the elementary school.
Right now the SCC is is an upgraded school
or a newer school and is in it in good condition.
It's just about what to do with the elementary school.
And this doesn't mean that necessarily mean that something is going to be built
from greenfield it's just really saying that
hey we have to start thinking about the options of what
we're going to do with that elementary school right there.
There's multiple options there.
We have a lot of building here, moving, you know, departments around.
But really, it's it's open.
It's at the very beginning.
There's no there's no set plan at this point in time until that report comes out.
And then the final the final key here is on
the grant of building Repointing for the bricks.
We do have some water leaks and some water penetration into the Granata Building.
We did have two companies
provide us with beds to do an assessment on what that cost may be,
and we will be bringing that to the board for a vote on the September 12th
meeting to vote on just the assessment alone.
And when you look at the two assessments,
the Hamilton Associates came in at about $23,000 to do the assessment
and warehouse, came in at about $125,000 to do the assessment.
And again, those are rough terms or rough values,
but $400,000 extra, I think we've
we have chosen to
bring Hamilton Associates to the next board meeting.
And some of their work includes doing the theater across across the street
here, the parking lot and some other historic buildings in the area.
But again, it's really about making this facility
good again so that we don't have further deterioration.
Okay. That's all I have.
Thank you so much.
Lots of things going on the Finance Committee.
Mrs. Decker, do you have a finance report?
I do.
We had a quarterly update
on the Milton Hershey Trust Fund by Fulton Financial Advisors.
The trust at the end of July was 48 million.
We are down right now 9.8%.
Our highest was 55 million.
But if you look at the ten year return, we are at a 7.61%
return over ten years and our annual goal of return is 6.5%.
We do have an average
withdraw of four and a quarter percent each year.
We also got an update on food services by Food Director Greg Hummel.
He did a history of
when we were on the nutritional
the federal nutritional program and off of it and then back on it again.
We are back on the federal program for all of our buildings.
He broke down the cost
of the meals and the free and reduced lunch
issues.
He is down with staffing right now.
He's down overall six people in the district.
So he does need food service workers.
We also added to our one of our goals
to review cyber school enrollment in 2122.
You may have heard these numbers already.
We had 109 students go to cyber school, which was $1.7 million last year.
We will be reviewing those numbers as a finance committee quarterly
to see if they are going to go down for this year.
That was one of our highest numbers.
We also reviewed the general fund revenues and expenses
and Pennsylvania state subsidies and depositories.
We passed our budget on June 13th
and the state passed their budget on July 8th.
We did unexpectedly receive $1 million
more than usual in state subsidies,
which is actually very good news for us with future
capital planning and future building needs at General Services is reviewing
and the deficits we've experienced due to the pandemic
and also possibly returning back to staffing levels where we have
did an early retirement incentive program.
We reviewed the Capital Reserve plan
that General Services also reviewed.
We had a review of our depositories and Mrs.
Purcell is doing a great job of looking over our investment plan
and getting us the highest yield interest rates in all of our accounts
by thoroughly reviewing all of those where our money sits.
And then we did a final review of the contracts
that we are approving tonight.
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
The listed items are on the anticipated September
12th, 2022 Board of Directors meeting agenda.
There's no unfinished business this evening,
so we will go right into consent agenda items.
The consent agenda contains routinely adopted items and items
which normally do not require public deliberation on the part of the board.
A board member may pull items which will then be discussed and voted on separately.
May I please have a motion to approve the consent agenda items as listed.
So moved Maria Mimi Session sticker.
Is there any discussion?
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please say I oppose.
Say no consent agenda is approved
in regard to new business.
First item is approval of depositories.
Dr. Winslow.
The administration recommends
the board approve the list of depositories for the 2022 23 school year.
Thank you.
May I please have a motion to approve the list of depositories for the 2022 2023
school year?
Some of Cathy sicker. Second. Maria. Mimi.
Is there any discussion?
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please say I say no.
Next item is the approval of the capital plan.
Dr. Windsor.
The administration recommends the board approve the 2022 23 capital plan.
Thank you.
May I please have a motion to approve the capital plan?
So moves.
Maria Miami second. Cathy Zika.
Is there any discussion?
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please say I oppose. Say no.
The plan is approved.
The next item is the Harrisburg Area Community College and Hershey High School.
Dual Enrollment.
Dr. Winslow The administration.
Recommends the approval of the memorandum of Understanding with Harrisburg
Area Community College to offer dual enrollment course options through the.
Community college.
Thank you.
May I please have a motion to approve the hack?
Hershey High School Dual Enrollment Agreement.
So move. Donna Cronin.
Second. Maria. Mimi. Dani. Discussion.
Madam President, I will abstain from this vote as this is my employer.
Thank you, Mrs.
Sikka.
So, any other discussion?
With the exception of Mrs.
Segers. Abstention.
All those in favor, please say I opposed.
Say no.
For the record, this was approved 7 to 0.
Next item is the Pennsylvania educator contract.
Dr. Winslow, The administration recommends the board approve the contract
of services for educator in the amount of $2,375.
The 2000 sorry, The 2022 23 school year.
Thank you.
May I please have a motion to approve the educator contract?
So moved Miami second.
Donna Cronan, is there any discussion?
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please say I oppose.
Say no.
Next item of business is the SIU Preschool Classroom Agreement.
Dr. Windsor The administration recommends the approval of the SIU.
Preschool.
Agreement for the 2022 23 school year.
May I please have a motion to approve the SIU preschool agreement?
So moves Mommy.
Second, Mike Rizzo.
Is there any discussion?
Is this a standard voice vote?
All those in favor, please say I any Pacino.
Approval of school Position of record.
Dr. Winslow.
The administration recommends the approval of the agreement
with Pinnacle Health Medical Services and Dr.
Denise Dewan to serve as the school districts physician of record.
For the 2022 23 school year.
Thank you.
May I please have a motion to approve this school position of record
for 2020 to 2023 Agreement.
So moved on to Cronin's second. Miriam Amie.
Is there any discussion?
Just like to thank Dr.
Dawn for continuing.
I know it has been probably a little bit more work than it
normally is over the past couple of years with her involvement
through the pandemic team and everything else.
So thank you for continuing to help the district in this way.
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please say I am the opposed.
Say no.
Next, we have an acceptance of a gift. Dr.
Winslow, the. Administration recommends.
Accepting a check for 30 $400 from the Joyce Sports.
Foundation, which is presented by Andy.
For the Positive Coaching Alliance Partnership.
Thank you.
May I please have a motion to accept the Positive
Coaching Alliance Partnership Check from Joy of Sport.
So moved Cathy Decker Second Marami.
And is there any discussion
I would like at this time
before we move to the vote to invite Mr.
Andy Billingsley to the podium on behalf of Truth Sports?
Awesome.
I didn't know this was getting voted on, but thanks for having me.
I'm Andy.
Andy Billingsley.
I live to do Java right over there.
I'm here on behalf of Joy Sports to present a check for 30 $400.
I'm really pleased able to do this.
So, Joy, Sports is about keeping kids active,
making sure we got the opportunities for kids to be active.
One of the tenets of what we do
is to also provide education about sporting activities
to kids, parents, coaches, teachers, administrators.
And so this check for 30 $400 is going to go towards supporting
or underwriting the partnership
between the school district and the positive coaching Alliance.
So just really pleased to give this to the district for 30 $400.
And I will go to Mike.
So it was a photo opportunity, but.
Our athletic director, Mr.
Montoro, is also here with us this evening.
Mr. Montessori, did you want to add anything?
Yes, we are very fortunate to have the joy of sports in our community
and the things that they do for us and for children is outstanding.
And this partnership I inherited last year and it was outstanding.
So looking forward to providing workshops for athletes and coaches
as we move forward. So I'm thrilled about this tonight.
I'm thrilled that the joy of sports jumped back on board.
So thank you very much. And thanks a lot, Jamie.
Thank you both very much.
Is there any other discussion?
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please say I.
I. Any a person now
acceptance of gift is approved.
Personnel, resignations. Dr.
Windsor, the administration recommends the approval of the personnel resignations.
Thank you.
May I please have a motion to approve the personnel resignations?
So much more.
I am Amy Lindsay Cook.
Is there any discussion?
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please say I, I any person know
that I'm president.
I did just want to acknowledge Mrs.
KURTZ, who has extended her retirement yet again in order to help.
Us make.
Transitions in the business office as we do get some new folks in place.
Wow. Thank you.
It's very nice of her.
Very, very nice
personnel.
General documents of the administration recommends the approval of the list
of personnel and recognition of any list of transfers
may please have a motion, approve
of enlisted personnel and recognition of any listed transfers.
So move.
Donna Cronan, Second Cathy Shaker.
Is there any discussion?
I would just like to
welcome the new employees that are joining us,
especially in the business office, with Mrs.
Purcell being still relatively new, I know that Ms..
White will be a welcome addition to the business office.
I believe she's here with us this evening.
So thank you for being here for our meeting and welcome.
We look forward to having you.
And thank you again to Mrs.
KURTZ for staying to help facilitate those transitions
there.
Any other discussion?
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor, please.
They ain't any personnel.
Personnel.
General, as approved.
That concludes new business.
Moving on to delegate reports, the SIU report is attached.
Mrs. Schmitt, do you have anything that you would like to add?
I do not.
Think you
board member reports.
Are there any board members who would like to give a report this evening?
Dr. Winslow.
Do you have a superintendents report?
I do have a brief celebration.
Today was the first day of. School for students.
It was a wonderful day.
And it was,
quite frankly, it was our most normal opening since 2019.
And there was a lot of energy.
The kids seem pretty excited.
The teachers are very excited.
I know it was just a little bit.
Of a short summer with that extra.
Week in there,
but everybody was very happy to be back in the buildings today
and we are looking forward to a really great year.
Thank you.
Board President Report just kind of reiterate the welcome back
we are looking forward to welcoming our student represen.
And it is from the high school at our next meeting starting in september.
So we will have two more
attendees here at the desks
and then also just for the public citizen advisor.
Applications will be opening soon.
So i'm sure, as Ms..
Carpel does a great job with all things social media
and website and email, that notifications will be coming out for that.
So we welcome and encourage
all residents to consider applying
for one of those citizen advisor positions on one of our standing committees,
as there will be a number of vacancies this year to fill
and just wishing everyone best of luck as we move on.
It's hard to believe we're back to school. So
thank you again to Dr.
Winslow.
The administration and the entire faculty and staff for making it smooth
for kids, coming back and getting to enjoy all that
Derry Township has to offer, and for it to feel normal.
Finally.
Okay, final recognition as citizens, period.
This is an opportunity
for residents and taxpayers to address the board on matters related to the agenda
or matters of district governance, which were not on the agenda this evening.
Those who speak are asked to follow the same guidelines as outlined
at the initial public comment portion of our meeting, and I'll ask Mrs.
Seger, the board Treasurer, once again to please keep time.
Are there any residents or taxpayers who would like to comment at this time?
I'll once again start with those in the audience.
Walter Zelinski, 62, Boxwood Drive.
I'd like to read an email
that was sent to my 15 year old son last school year
when he requested to be the manager
on the freshman basketball team.
Sorry for the late reply,
but we decided as a coaching staff and team
that it is not a good fit for the team this year.
This was a message that was sent to a 15 year old child.
We just wanted to support his friends
as a general policy.
I think that we all know what what a team manager does and it's my opinion.
I think that would be most of your opinions too,
that if a student, if a child wants to be a manager
on a athletic team,
that the answer almost universally, with very few exceptions, should be yes.
And what was conveyed to my son here was that one,
the coaching staff doesn't want you.
And not only that, but all the people that you think that are
that you think are your friends.
They don't want you either.
That was what was conveyed to my 15 year old son.
I brought this to the attention of the principal.
I brought this to the attention of Mr. Monte Darryl.
It's unfortunate that he laughed.
I was actually like, Wow, this is kismet that he's here.
But he left and I could not even get so much as a half
hearted apology, could not get a phone call, could not get anything.
And I thought that the response was unacceptable.
Next, throughout this school year, on multiple occasions,
I think two, maybe three on at least one, I was called to the school
because students tried to assault my son
inside of the bathroom.
I got to the point where he said, Look, I'm just not going to go to the bathroom
in school.
That's not that's
that's not what a school any school should be.
That's how it should be.
That's how it is in a prison.
That's not how it should be in a school, though.
And what was also conveyed to me, not only by my son, but also by
his friends too, was the rampant drug use, at least in the boys bathroom.
I know about the girls bathroom, but but at least in the boys bathroom,
this drug use, this just unacceptable.
Completely and totally unacceptable.
And I think that last year
I don't know about this year, but last year
and maybe the year before that, I think that the school
and the administration was completely focused on these masks.
That was really what was important.
These other issues, which I mean, it's my belief that these are issues
that these just didn't
this didn't start last year or the year before that or the year before that.
I and I don't want to hear that.
Well, that's how all schools are.
That's not acceptable.
That's not acceptable for this community.
And I think that you should hold your I think that you should hold yourselves
to a higher standard.
And frankly, 2019, my family moved from New Jersey to Pennsylvania
and we want to go to Pennsylvania so that, you know, we could still be close
to my my place of employment back in New Jersey.
And out of all the places in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
we came to Hershey and won the deciding factors was the school system.
And in three short years, this board has completely and totally lost my confidence.
It all started with the math
and that was where I really start to scratch my head and said, Why on earth
would anyone think that it was a good idea to put masks on children?
And what's also kind of interesting is that the last time I was here,
you were talking about raising taxes.
I thought to myself, wait,
I was someone I know very closely, was offering them money.
All they had to do was provide me with a study that show that masks work.
And guess none of you did it.
You know why you didn't do it? Because of mass don't work.
But yet you
impose this on children for the better part of a school year.
You didn't have a problem doing that even though that they don't work.
So it came in really I started to think, is this really malignancies?
Is this incompetence?
I don't know the answer to that question, quite frankly.
I don't think I'm ever going to figure out the answer to that question.
So at great personal expense, I made the decision
I have to take my son out of this school district.
There is just no other way around it.
And it's unfortunate that that that it's come to this.
I am convinced that there are many of you on the board that are waiting
for the opportunity to reimpose the mask on these children.
And I think that's unfortunate.
But the bottom line is, and I'm not speaking about Mr.
Bennett and Mrs. Schmidt. Dr..
Like I mentioned, I do not you're you're new to the board,
but the rest of you, I'm I'm convinced that you want to bring these mass back
and who knows what else do you want to bring back?
But like I said I had to pull my son out of the school district.
It's very unfortunate, but I felt no other choice.
And that was that. And that was the only way I could vote.
Thank you so much. Have a great day.
Thank you.
Is there anyone else in the audience who would like to comment at this time?
Seeman
I will invite anyone who is participating electronically on Zoom to please
go ahead and raise your virtual hand if you would like to participate.
Public comment.
Okay.
I do not see any virtual hands raised at this time.
Is there anything else for the good in the order
The next public Board of Directors meeting will be held on September
12th, 2022, beginning at 7:00 PM here at the District Office.
Please refer to the District website
to register for virtual attendance as the meeting draws closer.
May I please have a motion to adjourn this meeting?
So move to Kathy Secours. I can't remember me.
All in favor.
Say I opposed.
Now your meeting is adjourned at 7:58 p.m..
Thank you and have a great night.