Or did Mr. Friends rollcall.
Mr. Abel here.
Dr. CRONIN. Here is Drew.
Mr. Abbott, stick.
Here. In his memory.
Here. Dr. Show here.
Miss Here.
Mr. Singer. Here.
Mr. Owner. Here. Nine present. Zero. Absent.
Please rise, if able, and join me for the pledge of Allegiance.
Allegiance
to the flag of the United States of America.
To which it says one nation, under God.
Indivisible, with liberty and justice.
May I have a motion to approve the December 17th,
2018 Board of Directors agenda?
So moved second.
Okay.
Is there any discussion?
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor say I and all those opposed say no.
Okay. The motion carries.
Tonight we have the honor to have the 2018 field
hockey state champions in the house, the Hershey High School field hockey team.
Mr. Govern.
Good evening.
First of all, I want to thank the girls for coming out tonight
and the coaching staff.
What a season this is for myself ish reasons.
This is my first state championship team, so I couldn't be
prouder of these individuals.
But what they have accomplished throughout this season,
the seniors have won the Keystone Division championship three years in a row.
This team has won the Mid-penn championship two years in a row.
And had we played it this year, we have probably won it for three years in a row.
We qualify for districts again as a four seed
and then finished in the fourth seed.
So that gave us the hardest road to go to to get to the state championship.
So we went to District one first and played
on Jay Robert's number one
seed from District one, beat them in overtime.
Great conversation with Jeff Smith, our principal
and two parents from Jay Roberts leaning on the fence.
They came up to Mr.
Smith and said we should be in good shape today.
You guys are the fourth seed.
We should put about three or four goals on our girls
and everyone will get it and it will be a banner day.
5 minutes into the game, silence
and end of game regulation overtime.
Jeff started off with a nice smile on his face.
Victory.
Next, we hit Penn Manor defending state champion.
We've played them twice this year, and every time we've gotten closer and closer,
I knocked them off.
One nothing
put the I won't even say when I think of their program, but we put them to bed.
Okay, great. Victory for us.
Then we move on to Amos 176 and 176 and one.
No one gave us a chance.
We put five goals on before they knew what happened.
Because I was texting and tweeting everyone.
They got a little scary with us.
Made it five three.
But I knew we were in control and I knew on warm ups that we were actually better.
And the attitudes and the determination of our girls
was something I hadn't seen up to this point.
I could tell
they actually believed that they could win the state championship at this point,
so we dominated them.
The first person I texted was they beating Addie, lowered often
to say, We'll see you in the championship.
Now we moved to Whitehall.
Great environment, great venue for season four of the schools
in the double and triple state championship are all from District three.
Three of the schools were from the same division in the same conference.
So what does that say about us?
We have the best division in the state,
if not one of the best divisions in the country.
These guys defeated, lowered often in overtime,
and I knew when we were going overtime, if they came to that,
we would win just because of our speed and our athleticism,
the players that we had.
Kid Olmsted's
shot down goal on the penalty stroke
and away kit through the stick, which I thought we were going to get carded,
but it was raw emotion
and it was one of the best experience I had in the athletic field.
And for our girls to come away with that victory
and it's the first time I seen the lowered dolphin coach thrower clipboard.
It was the last 2 minutes last night picking on Linda.
She's a great coach, but wow, that was impressive.
Okay, so we're in overtime, and then I got to reflect
when the game was over and everyone was taking pictures
of all the standouts, because every one of these girls were contributors.
Every one of them put us in this place.
Every one of them stepped up some time or another during that season.
But here's some stats for you.
19 five and one.
First ever field hockey State championship hundred hundred and 71.
Goal score 117 goals scored to our opponents. 29.
That's pretty impressive.
So we dominated in this group.
I can't say enough for their leadership,
their
care for one another in his coaching staff.
It also managed this group with great girls and I couldn't be prouder.
So the tour begins.
We got a fire truck escort to the go to state championship.
We got a fire truck escort to come back into town, which was unbelievable.
We recognize them at the tip off tournament.
We're going to the Hershey
Bears on December 22nd for intermission.
They're getting recognized. Don't fall on the ice.
Then we're going to the county commissioner's office on January 16th.
And we just received information that we're going to the state capital.
So I couldn't say enough about these girls a much deserving
reward for what they have done.
And I can say this because I'm your athletic director
and I'm on the Hall of Fame Committee,
your team will be most likely in the Hall of Fame.
So you guys will be enshrined for the rest of your lives.
It takes ten years, so we'll be coming back
ten years to bring you guys all together to nominate you.
And what an experience and what this is.
Something you'll share for the rest of your lives. And
Coach Brie.
Coach Megan. Coach Rachel. Coach Harsh.
I can't say enough for you guys for what you have brought to this town,
what you have brought to this school district and community.
And we couldn't be prouder of the job that you guys have done.
This isn't stopping here.
Our tradition is rolling.
Hershey High School was a factory for field hockey.
And we're not only sending great athletes, but we're sending great people
out into the world. Thank you, guys enough.
And at this time, the school board is going to award you. Yes.
Thank you.
I just wanted to congratulate all the players, coaches, trainers
and the parents for this honor that you're bestowing
on our school district and our community and our town.
I'm a huge field hockey fan.
I was able to tape the game and watch it back.
Incredibly high skilled players played it as a team.
I enjoyed watching the assistant and the goals and kept save.
I think I watched at about 100 times on Twitter.
But thank you very much.
And we do have a proclamation to give you tonight.
So I'm going to read it and then we're going to get together for a picture.
This is from the administration and the school board.
Whereas participation in scholastic athletics enhances
the educational experience by providing invaluable lessons in teamwork
and collaboration, communication, leadership, dedication,
resilience, time management and sportsmanship.
And. WHEREAS, High school sports teams are often seen as representatives
of their respective schools, and the athletes who comprise those teams
are ambassadors of the student body, as well as role models for younger pupils,
athletic teams are a source of hometown pride, and their games provide
an opportunity for community members, alumni, staff and students to unify
and rally together in a common desire to show support and allegiance.
And. WHEREAS, winning a Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association
State Championship ST Championship is the highest distinction, distinction
and demonstration of excellence in high school sports teams
can achieve on a playing field in the Commonwealth.
Given that Pennsylvania is recognized as the home of field hockey
in the United States and the degree of competition at the high school
level is widely regarded as unrivaled across the entire nation.
Therefore, to be resolved
at the Derry Township Board of Directors and Administration hereby recognize, honor
and commend the 2018 Hershey High School Varsity Field Hockey Team
for becoming the very first squad in the storied history of Hershey
High School to win a state field hockey championship.
Where would you like us to stand
today? The trophy notes.
Young ladies.
It's not for.
Me to discuss that for pleasure.
Another side
and the of the feeling.
Around Mr. Governor, don't point or anything.
I'll probably in fact
hit him.
He gets here and we need you here. Yes,
I'm going to try to hold you
to What are you?
You know,
we are the three captains
and the other guys, captains here.
Where's
Elizabeth Sweet, the captain
Elizabeth.
Elizabeth,
I promise you, one of you is going to.
Get in the front. You're one of the captains. Sorry.
Do you mind switching with Elizabeth to here?
That's the three seniors.
That's for the three seniors.
Thank you.
Yes, we'd
rather we just want the three seniors, but that's for three. So
two, three, two. One,
three, two and one.
Here.
Two, three.
All right,
It's.
Your birthday today. Oh,
well, Mr.
Governor, I think you should know
that a good friend of mine, her niece, plays for Penn Manor.
She has been eerily silent since November.
Her about the field hockey.
Wait a minute.
Call him back.
The officers don't stand in lane.
Scott.
Oh, would you.
Move the podium now?
All right,
now we have a presentation on the mental health
mood screening. Yes.
We have.
We now have a presentation on mental health.
Mood screening.
Is it Doctor Sarkar?
You got it.
All right, great.
I don't know that you pass those around.
Okay.
So I thought I'd start out.
I just put together a few slides, sort of to preempt some of the questions
I thought might come out.
Based on what we've learned so far in working with
some of our partnering schools on this project.
So my name is Deepa Sarkar.
I'm a general pediatrician at Penn State and have been here for ten years now.
It's I can hardly believe
and we are working on
a project for a school based screening of adolescent depression.
The project is actually funded by the Health Resources and Services
Administration, so we got a grant to work on this project that started in July.
Go ahead and advance.
So I think many of you probably know
the answers or that the stats I'm about to give you below.
But one in five children is affected by mental illness.
I think we can all attest to the fact that we've seen an increased number
of reports on the rising prevalence rates of mental illness, specifically
depression, which has increased by 50% between 2008 and 2015 among U.S.
youth.
And paralleling this rise, suicide is now the second
leading cause of death among U.S.
adolescents, which is really rather alarming.
So you
may be asking, why am I talking to the school board?
Because aren't you doing this in your office?
So you're right in back in 2009, the U.S.
Preventive Services Task Force endorsed universal screening
for adolescent depression in primary care.
Unfortunately, it turns out that less than half of U.S.
teens actually come in for routine primary care.
And even when they do, less than 2% of primary office
primary care officers actually conduct the depression screening.
So we're probably missing the majority of kids who would benefit
from something like this.
And so I kind of hedged here, Why not?
So we currently conduct vision and hearing screens on a similar premise, right?
We're trying to pick up kids whose academic success might be impaired
because maybe they're not going into their primary care office.
And I think we would agree that being depressed could impair your academic
success.
You might say depression is controversial and stigmatizing.
I can't imagine it any more so than the BMI screening.
And I get lots of comments about that one in my office from parents.
And I want to tell you again, this is this is a study, right?
So while screening as part of the study, the question I really want to answer
is, does it work?
There's certainly many school districts
who have jumped in full force, but I really don't know the answer.
We don't really know the answer about whether it would be effective.
And that's what I'm really looking to find out.
Okay, so what's the actual plan?
So what we would so we have already screened actually
three school districts this academic year and are now following them,
following them out.
So if Hershey were to be interested in participating,
what this would look like is we would be gearing up
to do the screenings not until the fall of 2019.
And within an individual high school, we're actually randomizing students
by grade.
So that means
two of the four high school grades would actually receive the screening.
So let's imagine it's ninth and 11th grade that got the screening,
10th and 12th grade go through the school year as usual.
So well.
So you can see I've got it
there are two grades would actually take the Q nine screener.
So let's say in Hershey, that's ninth and 11th.
I'm just making that up and this is a nine item screening tool.
If you guys
flip over the letter that I gave you there, you'll see it on the back there
and you can see exactly what it looks like and what the questions entail.
A score greater than ten is considered a positive, quote unquote positive.
Again, I'm going to remind you, it's a screening tool.
We are not diagnosing anything. Okay.
So if it's positive, they would go to SAP.
So same way if you had a kid of flunking out of classes and you were concerned,
you might refer them for a sap interview to see what's going on.
So it's possible after the SAP trip
to interview, we found we find out, you know, their dog past two weeks ago.
They're just having a hard time, but they're fine.
And that's the end of the story. And so that's where it ends.
It's possible
we find out that we are dealing with maybe a case of actual depression
and the student in question needs recommendations for follow up services.
And they would do that just the way SAP would do that for any other referral.
Okay.
You will note item number nine, there is the only question on that SAT
that requires an emergency sort of response,
and I'll talk to you about how we'll do that.
But basically it would go through the schools
crisis plan at the time that that's discovered.
If your score is less than ten, that's it.
We leave you alone.
If during the school year you have concerning behavior
that prompts a SAP referral, you would just go through SAP as usual.
And then the 10th and 12th graders in
this example would just go through the school year as usual.
At the end of the year, I'm comparing the 10th and 12th graders
to the ninth and 11th graders based on the metrics that the school
already reports to the state for the state report from SAP.
So number referrals and what they were for and that sort of stuff
right up to the next slide.
So I wanted to take a minute to address why I picked this particular
screening tool.
Its brief takes students less than 2 minutes to fill it out.
I would say that's consistent with what we find in our office as well.
We use this one in our office. We're very familiar with it.
There's only one question to trigger an emergent response,
which I thought was manageable for a school system.
I know there are longer instruments out there,
but I don't want there to be five possible questions that could contradict
each other that could cause us problems.
The score is quick and easy to calculate.
It's available on multiple languages, so we've had some students already
taken Spanish.
That's their primary language and preferable for them.
It's already mentioned in the U.S.
Preventative Services Task Force statement.
So I was trying to stick with things that were recommended and evidence based.
We can mail it out with the opt out form and I'll come to that.
But it would go out to all the parents in advance of the screening
so they could see exactly what questions were going to be asked.
And again, it's a starting point.
So as I mentioned before, we're really looking to see is this effective?
And, you know, if it is effective, then yes, you could springboard
to all different kinds of screening tools, but I think it's a good starting place.
Okay.
So some of the last pieces you guys will see
on the flip side of that page Q nine there that I have a letter.
So we used an opt out consent for this process.
And the reason we did that is because it has been demonstrated.
So this has been done in Seattle
that when they went with an active opt in consent,
the people who consented were the people whose kids were fine
and they really missed the kids who would have benefited from this screening again.
So the way the opt out looks is it would go with that letter.
You guys could tweak it.
However, Hershey felt like they wanted to tweak it.
We've had individual school districts adjusted as they see fit
and parents would be asked to return the bottom form.
It would go along again with a copy of the screening tool
so they could see exactly what questions were going to be asked.
In addition to this, on the day of the screening,
students will open up the screening.
It's done on an iPad,
and I'm going to come to that in the next point.
But basically they have the option themselves to opt out.
And we haven't had many students, but we've had some decide to opt out
on the actual day of the screening.
So we felt like we've given them ample opportunity
to not have to take the screener if they didn't want to.
And this was approved by the Penn State Institutional Review
Board with the opt out consent as you're seeing it.
So the other big piece that I get question about is identifiable information.
So we will take absolutely no identifiable student information from the school.
So how does this work?
So what happens is we have students
identified by a study ID number, and that's all I ever have.
We have given the schools a spreadsheet that has all the data points
that you report to the state for SAP and basically your list has the student,
the student like school ID number, their name, all their identifiable information.
So on the day of the screening and I have brought someone with me
who can talk to this more a little bit about you, Krista patents
and actually the project manager on this and I was going to introduce you
at the end, but it seems like a good time now as you have logistical questions.
She's done this three times now so she can tell you all about it.
But the students basically bring their study ID number
to the research analyst who has an iPad, who pulls up their survey for them.
By their study number. They put in their responses.
It feeds into Redcap, which is the secured database.
They get an automatic real time flag as anybody suicidal.
And we would have pre identified with your SAP team and the school district
who they are to go to in the event that that happens.
But then otherwise the scores are calculated
and they'll come back to you with a list.
Students ten, 12, 14, 25 whatever it is had elevated scores on the Q nine
screener.
You can triaged them through your SAP program.
And then same thing at the end of the year when we ask you for the follow up data,
all you were sending us is a spreadsheet with all those identifiers pulled out
the study ID number and then the follow up metrics.
So again, we don't take anything out of the school ourselves.
So the other thing that comes
up is exactly how many positive students are we talking about here?
So we have found that it's roughly between
10 to 20% of students in a given grade.
So Hershey, just looking at what's available
online, has about 1174 students is what I found.
So if we're talking two of the high school grades, that's about 600 kiddos.
So if that's 10 to 20%, it's about 60 to 117.
Total kids are roughly 30 to 60
per the two grades that are being screened
is what I would estimate would be your your positives.
And again, not all of the kids who screen positive are going to need something.
So just a couple things.
We will.
So the reason we're identifying schools early on is to really be able to work
with your SAP team to make sure we can lay out
what resources are available because you don't want to identify kids
and not have any place to send them to school.
Districts we've worked with so far have been very comfortable about what
they have resource availability wise to plug kids into services.
But we would sit down with you and work through that with you.
I should also mention to you just anecdotally, again, we're questioning
whether this works, but at least in some of the school
districts we've worked with, her added, we have picked up suicidal kids.
I will tell you that the school districts, by and large were very, very grateful
for the information.
And the feedback we actually got was, gosh,
we were really worried about these kids and we were so glad
that you gave them a way to tell us we didn't know how to ask.
So that's been really nice.
Krista can comment more directly, but they felt that, you know, the students
by and large have been very respectful and have taken the screening seriously
and had the opportunity to present this to the We Matter group last week.
And a couple of the students were there
and also gave me just some good logistical feedback,
which I'd be happy to share with you
if we were to move forward about how they thought
they would feel most comfortable taking the screenings.
And we can make all those tweaks to do it in whatever way you think would be best.
So that's what I have for you.
I'm going to have Krista come up here, too.
And you guys can ask whatever questions you might have.
I just wanted to thank you for coming to our school district.
When I first heard about this, I personally thought it was a no brainer
because I want to screen and identify any kid who needs help and get some mental
health services as early as possible because it is life changing.
And, you know, for somebody to get care and access to resources
early on in life and to, you know, fix their mindset or go through therapy
or it's life changing and I don't want any of our students to struggle.
And this to me,
as part of safe and supportive schools, this is that we want to identify
these kids who are suicidal, perhaps suicidal and homicidal.
And so this is the culture we live in, and these are the kids
that we want to identify, to give them the resources as much as possible.
So I didn't have any reservations about it, but I know the board
probably has some questions.
I just wanted to also comment and say thank you for doing this,
first and foremost, for considering and asking Derry Township to participate,
but also just as a pediatrician and researchers
for caring enough to want
to bring light to what's going on and to find an avenue.
Because one of the things for me as a parent that has been so frustrating
is just the lack of awareness and the lack of openness
about talking about mental health disorders and suicide.
And I think the more that we shine a light on it, the more that it becomes
a comfortable space for for students to be able to talk.
And if this is the tool for them to be able to share
that information, then it will be so invaluable.
And if we can help students along the way, then that's even better.
What are the questions as you were presenting that came to my mind
was how you review ahead of time when coming to schools
and seeking their participation.
Do you review their current crisis plans and and identify
any potential pitfalls or shortcomings that may be there
so that we don't opt into this and
and get down a certain road and then say, oh, I'm not sure
we're going to be able to if we have one 115 students
that we identify, that we won't be able to do enough on on our end.
And then my other question would be from the administration's perspective is
how can we use this as a resource to be able
to enhance and improve what we're currently doing
and be able to take any of the
the data that comes back or any of the students that are identified
and make sure that,
you know, we're getting out in front of it and providing the resources.
Okay.
So I am going to answer your last question first, then backtrack.
So in terms of using this as a resource, we actually did put dollars into the grant
to sort of advertise is not the word I want, but sort of share what we signed.
And that could take many different forms.
I'd love to see your students sort of way and about how they would like that
information shared, because the intent in this first year to grant is to go back
and share what the district has done with the community.
And that could be an assembly, it could be a newsletter,
it could take many different shapes, forms, but it would really be
driven by what you guys thought would be most effective
to share the messaging regarding the school crisis plan.
Yes. So again, we've got this lead time because we need to sit down
with your staff
team, find out who's on the team, find out who our contact person is,
figure out how functional the SAP team is and how functional
the school crisis plan is.
We are not anticipating.
So the 10 to 20% is kids who are screening with a score greater than ten.
We're not anticipating like a small fraction of those I'm anticipating
are going to be truly suicidal, and for that I need them.
Number nine, even if your score is a one, if you you're one
is because you've indicated anything other than zero on item
number nine, you're being flagged for immediate follow up.
So, yes, all of those pieces would need to be laid out before.
And they will also tell you if we get to July
and you guys are coming back saying we don't think we can handle it,
then we should put the brakes on it and not do it
because we don't want to do it if we're not well prepared at the front end.
But you have best practices or anything that has things that have been identified
with other districts that have proven to be helpful,
that you'll work with our team to to make sure are implemented in suggested.
Yep. So I mean some of the stuff that came up already was
so in my mind when I wrote the grant, we were pairing this
with the other screenings that were done right, like vision hearing,
because that felt to me that that would make it just like,
okay, we screen for these things and we screen for how you're feeling too.
I get like it's flows.
There's some one of the schools opted to do it instead
in a classroom setting and pros and cons to that.
And we could talk to you guys about that.
But we can be flexible on all those those pieces.
I should also mention to you,
because this came up at the We Matter meeting, we bring the iPads.
We're not asking the students to do this on their own iPad.
We bring the iPads.
We are on the iPads switching them.
We're closing down the screens.
We had this it security guy who was like,
you have to make sure if there's a fire drill that the screen goes blank
and make sure the screen locks out after a certain amount of time.
If there's a fire drill and we have to, like,
run out of the building, no one could see anybody else's response.
So all of that is penalties already where they.
Have those.
Issues.
Thank you.
Anyone else have questions or comments? I'm just curious.
Why is it just to grades that are chosen and not all the grades?
And then at what point do you decide what to grades
are chosen for the screening and how you decide that exactly.
Just to clarify that,
so I'll let you talk about the how and then I'll tell her how they're that.
Yes. So it's actually comes down to our biostatistics statistician
who once we enroll all the schools,
he goes in and picks he
how I don't know necessarily the process.
It's his process.
But yes there's there's a mathematical statistical reason of how he decides.
Yeah.
So and there are two grades because again it's a study, right?
So it goes back to me saying I'm
not I hope I think we all hope that screening will help us, too.
But I really want to know the answer because there is a possibility, right,
that like we screen all these kids and neither than are their
parents are interested, engaging in engaging with any services.
And that's the question we want to answer.
And if that's really the case, then we need to approach this differently.
I have a
question is I'm assuming your your primary endpoint is comparing
the number of identified, depressed, potentially
depressed students in the two grades that are used with the control group.
They're not being tested and just sort the numbers are for just identification.
Is that your primary?
Actually, it's screening, identification
and treatment engagement, all of which yeah.
Again are are on the SNAP report in some way, shape or form
so not just ID it's how many actual engage in trigger between the two groups.
Thank you.
And I should say to the spreadsheet that Dr.
Sekar was talking about, we've really tried to work
with our three school districts who have participated the first round
to make sure that that spreadsheet is everything that the school is already
collecting and reporting.
So we're trying to make the process easier
or not add work to the school districts.
Is there anything else you're
looking at, any secondary endpoints that you're looking at?
Yes. So by grade level as a whole, again,
not individual, we're looking at absentee rates by grade.
We are looking at some standardized test metrics.
We're looking at decent school disciplinary action.
But again, that would be aggregate by grade level only.
Excellent.
Try. My final question.
I'm sorry, this is going to be done the same time their vision screening
and their BMI screening is all part of the same screening.
So separate time, as Dr.
Sekhar mentioned.
So that was her thought going into it.
The feedback that we've gotten from the schools that we've worked with is
that wasn't necessarily the best time to conduct a
screening like this,
at least with the schools that we worked with.
And we didn't do the screenings this year until mid-November.
So a lot of their school screenings had already been completed
there, hearing vision had already been completed.
So we completed
in one school district.
We pulled all the students out
during class because it was a smaller school
that wouldn't necessarily work here in Steelton High Sparrow,
which we worked with, I we sat in on the same grade classroom
all day, screened every single child in ninth and 11th grade.
So we really kind of work with the school to find out which process works better.
Okay, Thank you.
So you pull the students out of the classroom
and then how much privacy do they have when they're filling it out?
Yeah.
So I should mention that the school
that we pulled the kids out of, we only screened 20 kids.
It was a very small school district in Clarion, so that works best for them.
How would it work otherwise?
How would it work otherwise artistically?
Like because you said you divide the iPad.
Yeah, exactly.
So logistically I'm thinking in a larger school
setting such as this, we would come into the classroom
similar to what we did at Steelton High Fire.
I there's probably going to be about 2 to 3
of our own staff members with the iPads secure iPads,
the students are given their random identification number.
We are then given that we plug it into the iPad, hand that iPad to them
while they're sitting at their seat while they
and then they complete it and hand it back to us.
We close out of everything, so no other student will ever see their test scores.
And then what's the turnaround time for the data like?
So what at what point do you determine that, you know, if someone
if someone filled out a positive for number nine, how quickly
they might get back to this immediately?
So for that question, what happens is it's in a secure database,
but we are our study coordinator receives an email directly with the student
ID number of every student who screened positive on number nine.
Before we leave the school that day, we give whoever our sap
or whoever our contact would be that day.
Typically member of the SAP team,
we give them those numbers so those students can be triaged immediately.
The other school or the other students who are screen positive.
I'm they are those numbers are get in by the end of the week.
We just go back to an easy score on our end
and then we send those numbers along.
Thank you.
And are you looking to just do this
for the next school year or do you are into the future other years too,
so you get overlapping grades or so I'm going to backtrack
the question you asked about how we would do it
only because it's been mentioned I got to present this
to in matters of the suggestion of a couple of your students, was actually
that they would prefer to I guess they do some of their health screenings
in gym class now and they move around to stations, their feedback.
They spend a couple students was that they thought it would be best
received by them just rotating to another station
because they thought if they were sitting in the classroom,
they'd be apt to tap their body on the shoulder and see what they put for.
Question number this.
Yeah, that's
that's my concern too, is the privacy and the authenticity of the answers.
So I can say just anecdotally,
being in the classroom with the kids, I'm,
I would say that for the most part the
it works.
I'm we have challenges with some of the schools
that we had worked with one of the grades on just the classroom setting itself
but that was also the feedback that we have
and the information that we've kind of learned as a study team
and some of the pushback or some of the information that we got
from working with the school is that that wasn't necessarily the best setting.
Sitting in the same classroom.
There is the
there was a little bit of concern that the students would come back
to the one teacher in particular because the students
were in her classroom all day.
But so it really comes down to what what works best for the school.
Thank you.
And then you asked about screening multiple years.
So the study is set up just to look at it in a single year.
Part of what I also am looking for feedback on from school districts is
was this because the screening tool is freely available online?
So again, we tried to use nothing that you couldn't
replicate yourselves very easily the following year.
So if it worked and you feel like you can do it again,
you can absolutely do it again.
I feel like one of the big complaints that researchers
get from schools is that you showed up with this program and it was great.
And then you left and then we couldn't do it again.
And I didn't want to do anything or use anything that wouldn't be sustainable.
But we'd also love to know from you guys, like, you know, was that, oh my gosh,
this was unmanageable. We can't do again.
I really hope it won't be the case, but that's part of the feedback
we're looking for, and I would really hope that it's set up
to be sustainable by you long term if you choose to.
I also want to applaud your your research efforts.
I, I had a question, two questions.
And you folks are the experts on this.
But when would it be would it be advisable to have
an open ended question at the end of the survey?
And think about that.
I mean, you make that call and all that's I don't that's doable.
Or an iPad, but something that maybe perhaps the student could could, you know,
write their own thoughts on their moods.
And then the other the other question or observation
I had in terms of the letter, I know this is still a draft.
I think it might be a good idea.
It looks like the parents are getting a letter being asked to call
folks for questions.
We probably want to contact their from somebody, the administration as well.
So if you have any questions about this program,
feel free to contact the administration.
A blankety blank phone number and that's it.
You're going to steer them in the wrong direction.
But if somebody want to talk to somebody at the school district,
they should have a person to talk to about. Yes.
But otherwise, I thank you so much.
Yeah. Yeah.
To address your open ended question,
I think that's part of having this follow up.
So again, it's a screening tool and my worry and that open ended question.
And even so there's like a Q adolescent version
that has three additional questions on the bottom that are not scored
that asks about additional suicidal thoughts in the past month.
I can tell you being in a busy clinic, I've almost glossed over them
because you're trying to quick look at it and pull it together.
I just worry about the logistics and again
the sustainability of having someone have to manually go through
and then sort of be like, What do they mean when they said this?
Yeah, I think it could be.
I think it's easier to if they could just sit down with someone.
Okay. Yeah. That's.
Any other questions?
All right. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
Thank you.
Obviously.
Next, we have a Granada property
update by warehouse architects.
Craig
Campbell with Warehouse is with us today with some other individuals.
Just update on where we are with the process of the Granada Avenue
building project.
Good evening.
Hi. Hi.
I did provide
just a brief kind of bullet point in kind of schedule so that everyone would
at least get to understand the future, what we're doing.
So we're here tonight on the 17th.
The next time that you would expect to see us
will be February 11th,
and that would be for a final presentation
for the project.
Then two weeks after that, which would be the 26th,
we would be looking for the approval to move forward,
which essentially means issue for bid and issue for permit.
That process then would start the next day
for bid advertisement and bidding period.
We would then have a pre-bid meeting
that would be mandatory on three four.
That also would be that, you know,
additional contractor site visits that we're not going to accommodate that.
So they do need to show up on the fourth.
That way it doesn't tax on
you guys to be in attendance, to have to deal
with additional contractors and such coming through
on three four.
The packages will be submitted back to Derry Township.
We are looking to use a program.
It's a Web based public bid
program that's called PAN Bid
through Plan Bid Who does lots of public bidding for
your county commissioners,
Use it for materials and products and things that they buy.
Plus also other school districts uses as well.
I did provide a couple of different
schools that do use this program as well.
So the bids are do bid
opening would be on 326.
And at that point the bids are going to be set up
so that you all will have multiple
options to look at.
It'll be broken down for each of the three buildings
we're working with, which is we're in building C right now.
Building A is the Penn State building that they're in,
and then building B is the one that kind of ties in between.
The project consists of an exterior envelope, which includes the exterior
facade treatment for the brick, looking at the stairs,
looking at new windows, new doors.
It also includes the roof and dealing with a lot of the existing
historical items like the terracotta that's on Building A and B,
both on the facade and the coatings
we are dealing with.
The coatings is is probably one of the
the biggest issues that the buildings currently have.
So we are going to address
changing those systems a little bit when we do the roof
to put a metal coping on that will actually have a profile
that will be very similar to the terracotta that is currently there.
And from ground you won't really be able to tell anything different.
It will be the same color and everything else.
We are
going to restore
a lot like the tower piece, for instance, that's on building a
that tower will be restored and all of the terracotta
will be restored in place and resealed and coated.
So it'll look brand new.
We aren't taking any of those pieces off or changing that design.
I did also speak with
Nikki Salida at the Hershey
Historical Society and did send her
some preliminary package similar to what you guys had received
and spoke to her kind of walk through what that process will be.
She's on board with what we're presenting and feels that that's
a good way to handle with this project.
That's so I really have a question on the bidding network.
Sure.
Is that open to the universe
of potential eligible bidders or is that a co-op that's been established?
And if you're in there, you're prescreened and approved?
There's it's open to the public.
So if when we advertise, both
you guys will advertise through the paper as what's required.
It'll also be sent out with an email from the website
to everyone that is currently on that website.
So if you're not, it's an easy
scenario.
It's free to all the bidders.
The way that it's handled is when if you're awarded the contract
for whatever piece, then there's a fee that would be paid based on
what their scope of that work is.
So essentially, yes, everyone has access to it.
You can sign up if you do not that it's free.
So that I think saves a lot of time and effort
and lots of documents being printed and so on.
Okay, Thanks.
Yeah.
I wanted to ask about the bidding as well,
because there was an article that I think we all read.
It was our taxpayers paying extra for costly school construction projects.
So you would consider this a competitive, competitive bidding process,
this open bid? Okay.
Can I just want to clarify, this is really just the repository for the information
that's this is the place to go to get it and then a place
to go to provide the answer.
Under our normal process, what would happen is either the architect
or the district would serve as that between where somebody
and we will still advertise in the paper by the way, that this is.
But that advertisement will say, if you want more information, go here
to get that.
So it is really just placing that so we have a place to go and also helps
from the standpoint of at times you have changes in a bid structure.
Maybe some of the information that was sent out needs an addendum.
It's a little bit cumbersome sometimes to make sure everybody sees
exactly the same thing.
In this instance, they'll be able to post it.
Whoever is attach themselves to this will get the email.
The change has happened.
So it's consistent for for everyone in terms of the cost that is there.
There is usually a fee for contractors
to get Prince information or such from the architect.
That is usually never a free process where you say,
Hey, I'm interested in bidding on this, can I get this?
There are resources that go into that, so there's usually a deposit essentially
that is required to make sure that you're serious about getting that and just not
fishing around for items.
So that's in place.
This Provides to just charge the winning bidder the amount that's necessary.
If you were in there
and did not win the bid, you essentially have no cost,
which I think is helpful to the contractors as well.
The other thing I would add is that so it is a digital format.
So they can if if a particular bidder feels that they want a hard copy,
there's a process through that website that they can order
and or send to local printers that wherever they are, and they can
then go and pick it up and pay for it at that spot.
Mike You know, sometimes during the bidding process
there's a window of opportunity for, potential bidders to ask questions.
Well, the open bid website be used for that as well. Yes.
Thank you.
Are there any other questions?
Just real quickly, this is drawing
is is pretty much outlining the scope of the work.
The attachment that we have is pretty much Mike.
I mean, there was other documents that came with that.
There were drawings kind of showing.
On my glasses on.
I guess it's pretty small, I'm sure, looking at a piece of paper.
But yeah. It's very small.
Okay. Yeah, Yeah.
I mean, we've been we've been meeting with myself and think
design with the school district, with Mike and Mark
periodically over this whole process to make sure that everyone's
on the same page and everyone knows what's happening.
I think one of the main things I want to make sure that just might be
a change is the last page of of what was put on there.
And as Craig noted about the coping, because that is a change
from what we've been presenting before where we didn't intended
or thought we had to restore that and replace it as like kind
warehouse
has developed a much more efficient process that is also
more long term, as Craig was referring to some of the coping and other things.
So if board members are interested in looking at
I don't want to spend much time, but just note that
that information is here, should you want to go take a look back?
And as Craig noted, this was reviewed with our Derry Township historical Society
and they are approving of of that concept if we would move forward.
They see no issue from from their standpoint with it.
And, you know, as we were talking about bidding,
I just want to emphasize that, you know, the way that we're looking at it
is that there be a and I said an outline also included an outline
as to kind of the at least a a bid form of what that might look like.
So, you know, building a there will be roofing work.
So that'll be a line item.
You know, with that there will be some roofing it,
so it's all broken down per building so that you guys can pick and choose.
You know, that way if money's not there, you have some money,
but you know that some of the important things like the roof are important,
then you can move forward with something along those lines.
It'll just give you guys a better idea of what's happening.
And in your experience, this timeline is good
for us to get quality beds, because I know in the one time in the past
we had a delayed bidding process and ended up paying more
because there weren't as many
jobs were already out some their summers were already booked.
So I would imagine if we're going out in March, that's good
because they're just booking their summers or maybe their falls.
Yeah, I mean, you're going out the end of February.
Some of that is, you know, now is not the good time
to put something out there because no one's going to look at it.
And theoretically, no one looks at it until a week before it's do so.
But no, I think,
you know, four weeks, I think is is about the timeline,
which I think that'll be sufficient for the way that it will be set up.
From the document standpoint, the information,
it'll be enough time for people to bid on it.
It's not a complex project.
So it's, you know, it's pretty much all exterior.
Okay.
Are there any other questions?
Thank you very much for coming.
Sure.
Recognition of new extracurricular activities.
School club. Mr. McFarland.
Thank you.
In compliance
with Policy 122 extracurricular activities listed edition of the Middle School
Student Club is being recognized tonight, which is the weight and cardio clubs.
Okay. Thank you.
Now, we would like to recognize and appreciate our solicitor, Kim Smith.
This is her last meeting with us.
So we would like to thank her for her years of experience
from 2014 to 2018.
We have a few gifts for you where I hide them.
Okay. And they're hidden every year.
But this is for you from the district and the board.
And this is from the board.
Thank you.
And this pretty flower back here.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
I ought to be able to.
Fill this in about a week.
Yeah. Thanks.
Thank you. We.
We're going to miss you.
I know we said that many times,
and we've appreciated all your wisdom and advice over the years.
Thank you. So good luck in your future.
We know it's bright.
Whatever you decide you're going to do, which is exciting for you
because it's going to be a decision that you make on your own.
It is.
Thank you. I express to all of you.
Patrick, you weren't here, but I got to express to all of you
my appreciation at the November 26 meeting.
And Brad got to hear all of that.
So if you want to hear it again, it's on the recording.
So I won't I won't bore you with the details,
but it has truly been a privilege.
So I thank you very much.
You have grown tremendously as a board and as a district during my short tenure.
Not, not thanks to me.
I know that leadership kind of is thanks to you
and thank you very much.
Kim, I just want to say, because I wasn't here
for the November 26, how much I've appreciated your guidance
and your patience and willingness to work with us.
Becoming a school board director and the whole onboarding process
and learning the role was a much greater curve than I ever would have imagined.
And I cannot fathom
how how smoothly it could have gone without
or how not smoothly it could have gone without you.
And I just really want to publicly appreciate you for that,
because you have just been such an asset to this board.
We're going to miss you.
So if you've ever if you decide that you've made a mistake,
you're welcome to come back. You don't have to retire
unless you know
it's a snow at another district.
They're involved in a lawsuit.
And the of the litigators the plaintiffs have said they want to depose me.
And I said, good luck.
I think you'll be a name.
I know.
You go to me and I'll tell them that.
Thank you.
Hey, I would like to announce the board met in executive session prior
to this meeting and will meet in Post Exec as well to discuss
matters of personnel
recognition of citizens.
This is an opportunity for residents and taxpayers
to address the board on matters related to the agenda.
Those who speak are asked to come to the microphone
and state your name and address for the record.
To provide other residents 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 during
the meeting.
Speakers are asked to review the protocol for addressing the board,
which can be found at the sign in table prior to speaking.
Those wishing to present private concerns or questions needing follow up
outside the board meeting are asked to fill out a comment card
which can be found at the podium.
Completed cards may be turned into members of the administration to facilitate
a reply.
Are there any citizens or taxpayers who would like to come forward
at this time?
Okay.
I don't see any soul standing committee reports today.
We had a curriculum council meeting.
We had a presentation
about the elementary iPad refresh program
and the idea is that
we want to reinstate the elementary school with new iPads next year.
Hopefully if it fits into the budget.
And each classroom would have about 15 new iPads.
Right now, the elementary school has been kind of getting
all the hand-me-downs from the older kids, from the high school
to the middle school, and a lot of their iPads don't work well.
So they came to curriculum council
to tell us about the teachers, to talk about the benefits to the curriculum.
And they had also come to the finance Committee last month.
So it was a similar presentation.
We also had an update on the high school grading scale.
They started their discussions August 9th
about possibly changing the high school grading scale,
and they have been investigating it throughout the fall.
They do plan to come to curriculum in February with a final recommendation
on what to do with the with the grading scale.
We also had a brief
follow up on the sex education.
Tricia Stacy went and I met to discuss
and more from the last meeting about the sex education program.
And the goal right now is that it's under curriculum review
as it stands from seventh, eighth,
ninth and 11th hour curriculum with the health department are the health
teachers.
And what they are going to do is review different curriculum over the summer
and possibly come to the curriculum council with a
a standardized program.
They want to purchase curriculum
or find better curriculum online and have it board approved.
And I think that would be good with our new Rubicon Atlas
because the curriculum would be publicly posted and board approved.
So if there ever any pieces that parent, one of their students, opted out,
they could they could read about it online before it went.
Before it was would be taught to the students.
And but the teachers are looking for more of a structured curriculum right now.
They just piece it all together. They don't really have a booklet.
They use a textbook or or a standardized curriculum
so that it's good that it was good timing, that it's also under review.
Anyway.
And then we did
approve two course additions for a second read, three course revisions and one
course elimination, and that will come to the board in January.
Are there any questions?
Okay.
And there was a communications and community engagement standing committee.
Miss Drew, do you have a report?
I do. Thank you.
The communications and community committee met
today, and items on our agenda involved are included the Meet the School
Board director event that the committee is talking about trying to put together
will be coming to the board
in a future meeting to discuss this
and find out the
willingness to be participants for that.
But the premise of it is to offer a meet the school board director
a component, an event that we identified for the 2019 2020 school year,
connected to the back to school nights where community
members and parents would have the opportunity to meet
with board members in a
very informal conversation style way
just to get to know each one of us and also better understand
the role of a school director and what we do and don't do.
So we'll be further developing that.
We also discussed one of our goals this year was just to give review
to the district website and provide any feedback that we may have
to try and help Diane and the team that manage the website to
receive feedback in that way.
So we looked at the community tab today
and had a really great discussion around some ideas and hopefully
gave some feedback that will be constructive for them.
And then finally we went through the Citizen Advisor program documents.
There are several documents
that are in existence in draft form that have been around
throughout the
history of the Citizen Advisor program.
As a committee.
We're looking at those through Google Docs and putting together
what we hope to make the Citizen Advisor Program Resource Guide
going forward so that the Citizen Advisor process
is better understood in the community as we're receiving applications each year
for citizen advisors to participate with the board standing committees
and then putting together an orientation so that we make sure
that all citizen advisors receive the information,
feel well-versed on what the role and or,
you know, position responsibility is, and that we provide some consistency.
But we also talked about it from the customer service perspective and how from
the building levels and administration forward
to the community, you know, we as a board hold
those folks to a
certain level of customer service
to constituents, and that we as a board
want to make sure that we're doing that consistently with citizen advisors,
that we write to provide feedback to us on a committee level.
So we'll be continuing to work on that throughout the course of the year.
And then finally, Dan provided a district communications update
in regarding the new entrance survey.
We're going to be conducting new entrance survey in January
for all new entrants to the school year over the summer and fall
for this school year, and they will be providing some feedback to us in
most likely our March meeting.
Okay.
Thank you.
Student Representatives report, I think.
Yes, we all have.
We have all three of you here tonight.
Mr. Gove aussi, Mr.
Mangia and Ms.. Carrasco.
So good evening, Madam President,
Derry Township board members and public with only a few short weeks left.
Or if you actually just one week left until winter break,
we are really happy to finally almost be at the halfway point.
With that being said, many students are still very hard at work on
to get all their tests and all their assignments finished before a break
so they won't be doing anything over break.
We'd also like to say that hopefully when the students come back from break
will have two new refill water bottle stations in the high school.
They just ordered those and this might be done over this break.
They might be done over Easter break.
It's still up in the air.
We also wanted to announce that student
council also decided that the high school will be holding a CD.
Hawkins Which is a girls Ask guys Winter formal this February 23rd.
So there were more details about that in the coming months.
I'll highlight that.
Yes, sorry.
Excuse me.
Sorry. Okay.
Also, I also just wanted to add that last Friday we had Star,
which is girls like mentoring stuff with the middle school and high schoolers.
You can start with your freshman all the way to senior year
but can't and won't let you do a lot when you're a senior, sadly.
But because if they don't see us next year.
But anyways, we had a great time.
We were
we played games to teach different lessons and we talked about cherishing
eighth grade
and not like worrying about high school yet
because there's more events later in the year that we're going to continue.
But that was really fun. So
and that was an amazing experience.
So just want to share us.
The high
school's FBO, which is the future business Leaders of America.
The club went to the regional conference thank you.
To participate in their respective events.
So many of them took test beforehand or they had to present on their projects
that they created to the judges and so the conference was pretty successful.
A lot of the students came back placing top three
or four, depending on their event, and then the students
also get to go to the state conference, which will be in April in Hershey.
So it'd be pretty nice to see what they do there too.
We also had a lot of concerts
in all three schools in that district over the past couple of weeks
and even our high school choir got to go perform with Pomeroy's High School Choir
and the Hershey Symphony over 30 Theater, which was a wonderful experience.
We got to meet lots of people
personally, being part of the choir, I got to meet lots of people from Palmyra
and we got to hear about a lot of or drama.
They got to hear about Hershey drama. It was really fun,
I should say.
The program.
Yeah.
But it was a really it was a really interesting experience
getting to have this professional level,
you know, concert when we were in high school.
And it was really we had two concerts a day.
Everyone was wiped out.
But it was really fun, a really great experience.
On a smaller scale of singing,
there were ten students that are part of Eight Serve,
which is a health care career exploration program.
We went down to traditions of Hershey and Palmyra, and all ten of us
try to bring the residents to a festive mood.
We tried to sing as best as we could
and may not have been as successful as the choir,
but we tried to get them in the uplifting mood of the holidays coming around.
Also this coming
Thursday, the high school will be having their annual volleyball tournament.
And what that is, is a bunch of students form teams
and they get to compete against each other and then the top four teams of the day
get to have a whole
we have a whole assembly at the end of the day,
and they get to play each other in front of the whole school and pretty intense.
This year.
We actually are supporting a lot of great charities along with it.
All the teams had to donate money when they signed up
and they also had to bring in items that go to Ronald McDonald House
and also all the money that is being donated to many science
Student council is also matching.
So we're almost doubling the money.
We're donating off of this tournament.
And I just want to wish good luck to all the teams
participating and hope they don't set themselves up for failure.
And before
the tournament we have our musical concert for the students to see.
So all three ensembles of the music department
playing their concert and the middle school
and the elementary school will also get to see that.
So it's pretty nice to spread the cheer in that sense as well.
And it's a great day to
just showcase the musical and athletic talents that we have in school.
And we also wanted to mention that we brought cookies in little Ziploc bags
that we made, as are yours, which
is and as always, if you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Thank you. Yeah.
Thank you very much for the report and the cookies, especially.
Mr. Allergenic.
Do you have a community correspondent's report?
I have a report only to say that there were no submissions
during the month of November. And that concludes my report.
Okay. The listed items are on the proposed
January 14th, 2018 Board of Directors Agenda.
Okay.
There's no unfinished business.
The content agenda.
This is adoption of items of routine nature
and those that normally do not require public deliberations on.
The part of the governing board,
a board member may pull items off to be discussed and voted on separately.
May I have a motion to approve the consent agenda items as listed so moved?
Second.
Okay.
Is there any discussion second?
Kimberly, I think that was Maria and Kemp. Yes.
Cathy I don't know if there was one you wanted to explain.
Yeah.
So we have a request for the use of school facilities with a waiver.
The men's senior basketball is back on.
We had approved them through December 31st at one of the prior meetings.
They're back on tonight to be approved January through.
I guess I should say, June 30th.
Yeah, it does on the screen.
Oh, it does okay with a waiver, because what we discussed
is that since we're proving it in December, will give them six months
to comply with the policy
and the policy states that they would have to fall into three groups
and they would most likely be either number two or number three,
which number two is a nonprofit group.
And number three as a profit group.
If they do get their nonprofit status,
then we can they can come back and apply for a waiver.
If they do not,
they will be considered a for profit group and they will be charged the fee.
So really, this is a six month extension that we're approving now
at the end of 2018 and they are aware of this
and they
do know and we did
also talk to Terry Singer and the Joy Sports Foundation that they
the Joy
Sports have been working with organizations
to get their nonprofit status and they understand how to do that
with the state. So we did offer them that.
If they want to talk to Terry Singer on the Joy
Sports Foundation, that they can get that through them.
Does any of us know is there an X?
Does is it expensive to get a non.
It's not okay, no, this isn't my final one.
So three it's is different with that
IRS designation than filing as a non
for not for profit corporation entity within the state of Pennsylvania.
It's a different classification and they only need the state
of Pennsylvania classification to comply with the policy as it's written.
Okay.
So it's not it's not a burden.
Okay. Okay. Thank you,
Cathy.
I just also wanted to add that they are complying with all other policy
and use of facility requirements such as providing insurance as a group.
And so is just strictly for the the fee waiver.
And because of the change to the policy
that we're granting the six months right.
Right.
I feel like I feel bad like they were caught
in the crossfire of us trying to clean up the policy.
And kind of.
So I hope that I don't know if we've communique to that to them or them.
Okay.
Thank you.
Okay.
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor say I.
Want all. Those opposed.
Say no to the motion carries
on to New Business
Act one Budget resolution.
Mr. MacFarland, Thank you.
The administration recommends the board
approve the resolution to, limit the increase of real estate taxes
for the 2019 2020 fiscal year to no more than 2.3%.
So moved second,
its cap and Maria funds England's
let's see let's because you're sitting there
I'm used to Maria being there is there any discussion.
Yeah I just have a question please.
In the resolution it indicates
one of the conditions is that we'll be submitting a balanced budget
In terms of the discussions we've had, there's been
some showing of a deficit in our budget.
So I take it
that whatever budget gets submitted to the state will not show in deficit.
The budget includes actually three parts.
Mr. Singer. It's the revenues, expenses and fund balance.
So when you include the fund balance, it will not have a deficit.
Thank you.
Okay.
Any other discussion?
This is the standard voice vote.
All those in favor say.
I. Was opposed. Say no here.
The motion carries approval of the non boundary school resolution.
Mr. McFarland.
Thank you.
The administration recommends
the board approve the attached p non boundary school resolution.
May I have a motion to approve the non boundary School resolution so moved.
Second, Maria and Tricia, is there any discussion?
Yeah, I just have a question.
I think it's the fourth or fifth paragraph
of this resolution
indicates that whereas data from the last three years
show that non-maori schools who constitute a small portion of their membership,
have won a disproportionate number of championships
in basketball and football,
I don't think that's the reason that
this resolution has been passed to complain about
who's who's won championships and who hasn't.
I think it's got to do with
the non boundary schools being able to recruit from anywhere,
not just within their boundaries.
So I guess if this is the one that's being signed by everyone across the state,
so be it.
But I personally wouldn't feel comfortable signing on to something that same
because the non boundary schools are winning all the championships that
well and it's an outcome of the recruiting right.
Okay a question informational point
the PI was formed in Pittsburgh on December 29th, 2013.
Pineville has been around longer now, hasn't it?
Yeah. Why 13?
That's wrong.
Yeah, that would not be correct. Yeah.
Yeah.
To take out.
And all the early, all the early feedback from the,
from the players, they're not going to, they're not going to look at this.
Well no I'm, sure that,
but that would be astonishing if they actually looked at this.
But nonetheless we're. Yeah.
All right Well not have something laughable in 2013.
What we've organizations that I mean yeah
I think we need to amend that too.
Yeah we can correct that.
Or even as as Terry stated that they want that one paragraph to say
want a disproportionate membership to basketball football due to
the ability to recruit or whatever, something like that.
So it doesn't sound like sour grapes.
That's an actual fact that we're comparing apples to oranges here.
If you're allowed to recruit, you should not be in the same league.
It's legal to write.
Me the whole resolution.
No, no.
That particular part of the Terry's talking about to strike that
and then get the correct date in the first paragraph.
Correctly is 1939.
1913. Makes more sense.
So I'm only a century.
Off my.
So I move.
We amend the resolution by including the correct date
and striking that paragraph that references the data.
Is there a second I second.
Okay.
Any discussion?
Okay.
So the motion on the table is to amend it, strike that paragraph
and amend the date.
Hey, there's a standard voice vote.
All those in favor say I was opposed.
Say no.
Here.
The motion carries
the same parameters
of resolution financing the Grenada Property project.
Mr. McFarland.
Thank you.
The administration recommends the board approve the parameters resolution
approving the parameters for the issuance of new money for the Grenada Property
Project and refinance Refinancing of General Obligation bonds.
Series 2012 and 2012.
A May I have a motion to approve financing of the Grenada Property
Project Resolution so moved second to Maria and Lindsay.
Is there any discussion is this where we can ask questions?
We are okay.
Just in reviewing the information that we received on these,
I just had a couple of questions.
One was around the bank loan versus the bond.
And I just want to make sure that the parameters resolution includes
the option of bank financing as well.
As I was reading through it, it didn't seem to specifically spell it out.
The resolution set up so that
it will accommodate and that's what you may have selected.
Okay.
And then also, just on the document that we were provided, the bond issue
versus bank loan analysis, I just wanted to
clarify differences in the estimated
the bank loan, the results of the bank loan versus estimated bond issue,
the total estimated debt service is that inclusive of fees?
Okay.
Is there anywhere that I'm missing to see where the bond issuance
or sale fees for the underwriter?
I only saw it on the new money
for the 2092 bonds.
That would be issued for 2019.
No, the underwriters fee would be on all the bonds.
I think maybe when all the packets we've given you broke it down piece by piece.
There are three columns in.
Which one are you. Yeah, I'm.
I'm the one. Page.
Of the
I think it was the parameters.
Sorry. There's like they all look the same.
So I'm just trying to make sure I'm referencing the right one.
But where it gives the breakdown of the use of funds
larger pool. One of them are page two.
It's page 24 of 24.
It says estimated sources
and uses of funds is referencing notes the series of 2018.
So that's all of the money in correct the five
the $3.4 million series and then the 1.5.
Page number, the very last page handout that had banks.
Doing everything. That assumed the bank loan.
Look, those are the.
Okay, I'm sorry, I'm talking about the bond issue versus bank run analysis.
Right.
That's referencing the bonds.
So the the last page noted, Lindsay is the one
that I have on the screen, and that's just for the bank.
If we went through the bank loans, the same document is further up.
I think.
Is that.
In this show.
So this shows now if we to float the bond.
And what pages that.
Is page 12.
And we just.
Scroll age number 12 or page 13 of your PDF,
what we did on this handout was this to answer your question, was,
was it inclusive of fees?
That was the way we were kind demonstrate it.
We, the first ten or so pages, assumed that the bond, including the fees
and the last ten or so pages assume you did the bank loan, but
you would not have underwriter if you did a bank loan.
So it nets it all out to it factors that all in.
Okay.
So when we're looking at the the difference in the bank first book bond
it was about $97,000 to the favor of issuing bonds.
Right.
But that's not noting that there's about $40,000 in underwriters fees.
That factored all that in.
Versus the five the 2 to 5000 in bank fees.
Now, what when we ran the analysis, we did include the fact that those fees
would be payable with this 97,000 nets, those additional.
Okay.
I just want to make sure that it wasn't
really like a 50 some thousand dollar difference versus a quick question.
And the one thing I also did want to note from the last meeting is we did actually
we canvased a dozen or so banks for quotations, so we got proposals back.
That was my other question.
So the ones that are shown here were just.
Ones that proposed the premise.
I had a couple other emails from people saying thank you for the opportunity, but
they wanted to tie deposits to it and things like that.
We couldn't promise them that because we didn't necessarily know
how the board would react to that.
The other thing that once we also got a formal quote
on an interest rate from RBC Capital Markets,
which is where we got the bond rates from, those bond rates are indications.
Okay.
Now, if you decide that you want to proceed with a bond which
I think is the recommendation of the group,
we will begin the process to get the credit rating.
We'll begin the process to put the disclosure documents together,
and then we'll get ready to enter the market
and get actual locked interest rates after the first of the year.
We will keep a close eye on making sure that this bond is still better.
Okay throughout the process.
But we didn't want to advise the district to go ahead
and spend money for a rating, spend money on developing documents.
Unless we had,
you know, numbers that justified it.
And so we went through that process
to do that, to arrive at that set, we knew we kind of thought this all along.
And part of the reason is,
as I think I mentioned before, the capital markets of the bond market
really valuers and triple-A rating, the highest rating and we.
Don't really receive the credit on that.
You don't get as. Much credit for that here.
Obviously we sent your last three years audits to the bank, We sent your budget,
so we sent them a lot of financial information.
So I obviously know you're a very strong credit,
but when it comes to the capital markets, as we expected,
and now we have again, the data to support it,
the triple-A rating really gets a lot of value
when you look at those numbers, the numbers at two that RBC sent me,
I compare to where you had to have historically placed in the capital markets
and their consistent with what we've seen historically for the district.
So I had confidence in what I received from RBC was in fact,
although an indication it was, you know,
it had a a basis for where those numbers came.
Can you speak at all to
the idea of it being all bank or all bond?
Because I think originally when I had
when we were in the discussion, I think in the October meeting
and we added in the inclusion of receiving quotes from
for this you know looking at the tax exempt versus taxable.
And obviously when I was reviewing this, you can see, you know,
the rates on the taxable part are a lot similar
or a lot more similar than on the nontaxable portion.
Is there any reason that we wouldn't look at doing the taxable portion
as a bank note to save on the underwriting discount
fees and, you know, all of the other related costs associated with that?
And then take the out for the nontaxable.
I'm glad you asked that.
We actually did random individually as well,
and it's still is doing it all from the bond side
was made more sense to you actually I think the the taxable bank
loan rate the lowest I saw from Bryn Mawr was a 4.02%.
And actually the indication I got the bond rate taxable was 3.6.
So when we did the math and even factored in the additional fee
associated with the underwriter to sell the bond still came out lower than 4%.
So we still thought that even you could split it up to answer your question.
And I think again, the resolution provides for that.
But we did run the numbers, you know, as they
stood on their own and so confident.
That's the route right now.
And you don't think that it would be limiting at all that if with
a increase in revenue and,
you know, taking a look at fund balances and where we could be
several years from now with an increase in revenue
and if we would want to pay off any of the debt, that we wouldn't be limited
in using funds for that because we'd still be within a call period.
Right.
Well, if you sold these new loans, you'd have a five year call period.
Some of the banks, to your point, offered a prepayment option. Right.
And it seemed like on the taxable portion, well, on
almost all of them, they were pre payable without penalty at any time.
So wouldn't that give us some flexibility? You wanted to do that.
We do have other debt that we could use at use to pay down those moneys with too.
So some of the other debt that you have is able to be prepaid as well.
So we have some options for that.
But to and not to use bonds, Right.
The ones that will be coming up.
Some existing debt.
Okay. Correct.
We did we did. Think about that. Yeah. Okay.
That that would result in to close it.
However, the closing of the bank in addition to the public bond closing.
So there would be some additional fees probably if you did
two separate closings has now been set setup for one closing either more.
From the PFM side.
From your bond council side.
Okay.
We're charge of the same
no matter what we do and we want to take that equation,
but maybe you just address this, but we still reserve
right to possibly pay the the fees out of our fund balance.
Yes, sir.
We don't have to make that decision. No, you don't have to decide that.
Again, the resolution provides for that.
The parameters resolution, numbers.
That's totally up to you. I'm indifferent.
You just let me know how you want to handle that
and each your option completely as to how you would do that.
We just need to know before we sell the bonds
because we don't want to issue
more bonds to pay fees if you're not intend to do that.
So if you can just let us know what the deadline for making that decision is.
I guess
when I think it's right now.
So ones we're not going to be back together until the 14th.
And I think we planned on
trying to to be to move forward by that time.
But that's the plan.
But, you know, okay, so we'll have to do that, I guess, at some point then.
But I did
have one other one other question that.
Oh, so in going out to the banks,
I think you said you issued an RFP.
When's the last time that we checked with banks on
and competing to lend money when we were looking?
I think we have not run a process like this extensive
and in a little bit of time, I know when we did some stuff,
we contacted Fulton in the past and things like that, but this was probably
a more extensive process than we've used them,
so they haven't had a chance for a while to see something like this.
Would there be any value in going back to them
and giving them a week to give a best and final say?
Look, you know, in some of your case and lottery.
But the fees they gave us are low.
I mean, for the amount of money for what it is, it
they're low.
You never know how many people want the business.
Right.
And the one thing I'll tell you too, as well is that these loans
I asked them to give us up to 60 days to close.
So if something happens and we go through this process
and interest rates really go up and the bond is no longer fit,
you know, favorable, but we still have time to close on a bank loan,
if you follow what I'm saying.
You know, I try to ask for give me give me a little bit time here.
So now now that we think that the bond issue is going to be better,
we're going to spend the money to get the rating and so forth.
But if January 1st comes around and something happened and I
Bryn Mawr, they sent me a proposal saying, if you close by February 12th,
we'll do the deal.
So they've essentially issued some type of commitment
letter saying they would honor these terms through that date.
Yeah, I have a proposal.
I'm not sure I have a commitment letter
what maybe Bill would define as a commitment letter.
But we have. A. There's a pretty vague.
But these are all things usually your.
Commitment letter.
That sent you these proposals.
There are people we wanted to canvass.
The community gets BBN, t, Bryn Mawr, Fulton
and FNB, all people that have good relationships with the school district.
So I would be very hard pressed to believe that if we came to them
on January 1st and said, Hey, changed our mind,
we've tried to go the bond route, doesn't it's not as good.
Will you, you know, you honor your proposal.
I think they would do that.
Well, let me ask you this. When it
when it hurt our relationship with them, would it cost us any more money?
Would it delay our project in any way if we went back and said, hey,
you know, you guys haven't had an opportunity to do this in a while
or however you say it, we like we'd like give us a best and final.
If you're still interested, I can ask them whatever is the pleasure of the.
But I'm just wondering, we had talked about that.
I don't think that's a good you know, we had talked about before.
When we go ask for proposals, we expect their best to be provided.
So going in consistently providing additional opportunities as well as
the bond
rate we're looking at is is is an estimate at this point.
So if we go back to them and say they can say, well, they they'll
they'll go to three to instead of 3 to 9, we say we want to go that route.
But the bonds at the day of the sale can get us a lower rate.
I think we're not we're not providing the best possible scenario for us.
As Brad noted, he will he will do whatever the board instructs him to do.
But it wouldn't be my recommendation to continue to go back to two companies,
because I think it sends the wrong message.
And I want you to go back to companies.
I said one time I didn't say continue to go back to companies.
Terry, with all respect, as a former commercial lender myself,
what they're giving
right now is going to be their best deal.
And if we were to go back and start playing,
you know, that negotiation game, I think that we would lose
some of the goodwill that's put forward in the 60 days.
Well, that's the quote terms.
And that we would probably then have some expectation
of signing into some type of lock
on the deal that would like reduce our
are and limit us on what we would be able to do.
So just looking in these from, you know, my past experience
and that's not anything current.
You know, the rates all seem extremely appropriate and the bank fees do as well.
So for it looking like the bank route is not the best way to go,
my recommendation would
not be to go back to the banks and ask them to,
you know, get us another round.
And just for your just future, you know, we didn't
I mean, obviously this all the information came to Mike and I, nobody else.
We didn't share anything. We didn't share anything with RBC.
This was a process whereby nobody was giving looks at along the way.
Just so you know, I thought I should mention that.
The one question that I did have was just from the draw down
period that they were looking for,
because this is going to be multi-phase with the new money.
Was the difference in any calculation of funding the entire
an entire bond now versus the drawdown period taking into consideration.
I didn't have a draw schedule to run those numbers.
I didn't make the assumption that I know Mike's
getting a little bit better on his investment rates,
so there would probably be a little bit of a value to that
to your point, because for the tax free 3.16, you're probably not
earning 3.16, but we're going to be getting somewhat close to that rate.
But I didn't have a draw scheduled actually run those numbers.
It might have narrowed that $97,000 gap that you're mentioning,
but I'm not sure it would have made up the difference.
Mike, have you is it just It's probably not a significant enough amount of money.
But it's extremely small. What I did is
read through the calculations, looking for the cash versus non-cash.
And it was about $130,000 that over seven years invested it
where about one quarter now is about 1500 dollars per year.
Okay. In interest.
So this is even a different of that depending how it would go.
Since, I. Mean, thought about that.
I'm glad that's a good thank you.
I just was I value the experience that you guys bring.
But I also really Terry's point because
they might be giving
a great rate for a private person or a business.
I think we're different. We're special.
We're a school district.
We're not we're we're nonprofit and we are dealing with other people's money.
So I never think twice about saying, Can you do any better for myself?
I won't.
But for anything for the school, whether it be a business or anyone,
I'm like, you know what?
This is for our kids as a district.
I never apologize for asking for a better rate
or worse, anything and just for anything to comment.
I'm not I'm not saying we shouldn't do it for the purpose of,
you know, taxpayer money.
That that's not what I'm saying is not to indicate that.
But there's a standard of ethics involved, you know, to some degree in this.
And they're viewing us as a public entity, government, you know, financing
and understanding that it's under, you know,
a very greater microscope
than a typical, you know, commercial loan would be.
So that's why I'm saying I think at some level you have to get to a place
where we're saying that we're trusting the entities that we do business with,
you know, on other things,
you know, and the bond market and the relationships that we have
and be
able to move forward, especially because as we've seen the
the bond rate market is continuing to fluctuate.
And the longer that we postpone this, the further we go.
And so I think if we were to go back around
now at this time of year, at the end of year,
we would be delaying the process,
you know, of getting started and could then, you know, take a knock
on on what rate we could get on the bonds because we delayed by two weeks.
Now, that's why I said to Brad when I asked him the question,
if it's not going to with our relationship
and put us in a bad spot in terms of our standing
in the community as somebody who's seeking bids,
if it's not going to cost
us any more money and it's not going to delay the project,
those are the specifications that I laid out.
And so I would
leave the question for you to ask to answer those three questions What?
It hurt our standing to go to the bank and say,
you know, you haven't done this in a while or however you put it
yet again, know that's not normally what we've been asked to do.
But again, I will follow your direction.
No, but I'm saying do you feel that any one of them would view that as well?
Now you owe us something or the only thing that concerns me is now
this is a public document and now they've seen the bidding, you know, the bids.
Do you know what I mean?
If what everybody else has done through that process?
So to I guess, Lindsay's point, know there is some kind of ethics to this
and so forth, but I'm unaware of anything that would not allow me to do that.
Okay.
So these weren't public, obviously,
when when they put it out, it's on your website, I believe.
I guess it's been out there for quite a while.
Friday, I think we put it up there
and I don't know whether any of the banks have gone there to look or whatever.
I have not contacted any of them because I did not want to contact them as.
It relates to this discussion this evening until we had it with the board.
So, you know, well, I guess I'm going to ask them
to all kind of stay put based on this discussion.
Stay put.
Hang in there. We're running a process.
Stay in touch.
I don't want to
I do not want to cut any ties with them, I guess is what I'm saying.
I Want to kind of keep it open.
So a second question is, would it delay anything if we asked them to?
And I would do it pretty quickly if this is what
it would have cost us any money.
I'm not going to charge you any more money. Okay.
I think we're.
Bordering on micromanaging
the professionals that we trust.
I'm uncomfortable with it.
I appreciate your due diligence on what you're doing,
but I think I mean, personally, I'm.
I'm getting to an uncomfortable place.
And it's also not what's on the motion on the table.
So we're voting on the finance and the the Granada Project resolution.
We're not going into the weeds here on what you're doing.
We have a process here.
We have a timeline, and it's not we would have to bring that up
and vote on it as a board because one person can't speak on that.
But it would have to be five of us to agree to this.
But that's not the motion on the table.
Why did you want to say something?
May I say so? Yeah, Yeah.
On that point
the resolution is set up so we can take the next step.
If it's adopted
and filed with the State Department, give me that economic development.
We'll do a second notice, which we're required to do,
and you've done for every one of your other financings.
Well, then filed with the state.
They have 20 days to review in that time
period or after that time period, this pricing of this project
or the pricing of the bonds and or or the bank placement is going to happen.
This just gets by adopting the resolution, gets that process started,
doesn't commit you to one or the other, and the resolution allows you to do both.
And the bond purchase agreement from RBC allows you to do
so. That's what
you're currently considering and why you're considering it.
There will be one
change to the resolution, which we will note in our second notice.
It currently is up so that your findings are done
for debt service settings and the change to category of what you're refunding
from bonds to refunding bonds to notes.
And we're doing that because under the State Debt Act,
that allows us to change the maturity of the thing that you are refunding.
We can go beyond the original maturity date.
That's the option.
As I understand it, you've selected to restructure the debt you are refunding.
So the only purpose for this refunding which will fit under the Debt
Act is to replace those bonds with refunding notes.
So the two references to the both categories will be changed to one
that clear as mud.
No words. Okay.
And that was very helpful.
But then when do those other decisions get made Then
in of this?
Well, we're going to we're going to get this started, as Mr.
McCarty mentioned.
Well, then run the process for the rating and things of the like.
Then we will then obviously stay in touch with Mike throughout the whole process.
Okay.
And kind of provide him the data such as to make this decision.
I do believe that the parameters resolution, if approved tonight,
we would discuss with Mike and then the board president
would have authorization to execute what we call the addendum,
which is the official contract with whichever financing entity
is entered into.
Is that if it happens before the next meeting.
Whenever it happens, I go whenever it happens.
I think if there's still
the board approving this, as noted, is the debt,
not necessarily how we go about incurring that debt.
If there's still reservations or the board does not believe that
what the financing team has presented,
then our next option would be
to have this on the agenda for our January 14th meeting.
What that means, though, is this, gentlemen,
as Brad noted he did not want to have
the cost incurred for the rating analysis and for all of those things.
If we were going to go to the bank loan,
the board has to instruct us
how you
want us to move forward in this decision because we've made our recommendation
on how we would would want to move forward.
If you want to change that,
then you can approve this resolution tonight.
But it holds us in doing nothing more than some of the filings
maybe Bill has noted until we come back January
the 14th with the decision of
is it is it
are you instructing us to go out and get other information?
Are you instructing us to to.
So the way I do see it, I respect Brad's answer,
but I think that was absent understanding our process.
And so if there are still reservations after tonight, yes, it will be delayed.
What that means,
the projects
can still move forward.
We're not incurring any or wouldn't be awarding
any contracts, as Craig noted, until
until early April.
So we wouldn't be incurring any costs
for those.
The intent to get out to the market at this point in time
is it's probably one of the more advantageous times to do that.
Market conditions are favorable.
I don't think either.
These gentlemen can note how long that favourability will last.
And so delaying this does
affect the timing of how we may do this
with the understanding
that, as Brad noted, we're holding off on some of the process until we understand
if the board is committed to a bank versus a bond loan,
if the board wants to instruct Brad and myself to go through the process
of the ratings and increase those expenses and still make
the decision later
that they may want to go through the bank loan, which we don't need, that
you're obviously able to do that once again, not something
that I would recommend moving forward.
But to that note, the next time we meet is January 14th.
So that would be the next time that I would see that decision can be made
if it's changed from what we've presented this evening.
But now, Mike, can you just clarify I know you said something
that we should decide on tonight to not delay the process.
So that's not in here.
Exactly.
What was that? That wouldn't hold it up.
That wouldn't jeopardize the if we continue with the process
and not change anything, it continues forward.
You're just asking to find out if there is a majority who want to,
at our January 14th meeting, manage it
and decide what where every portion is financed.
But at this point, this resolution allows you to do it
and then bring it to me and I sign it and we move forward with the project.
It does.
So at this point,
that would be the board's those that are not in favor of moving forward with it.
Your only recourse at this point would be to vote no on this resolution,
because as is the way it's noted now, we will not be meeting again by the time
we are going to tell these gentlemen that it's okay to enter the market.
And so
there would be something that's changed for that.
We should know that before we are telling them that it's okay to.
Enter the market.
So the motion on the table
is to approve this resolution and move forward with the process,
which gives me the authority to sign once we get to that point
and not come back to the January 14th meeting to decide everything.
And I guess for me, just looking the last two years with this project,
this project has never received a unanimous vote.
No matter what the stage we've been in, we've been through a feasibility
study and a business study
to find out what to do with building before we demolish it or not demolish it.
That didn't get an anonymous approval.
Then we unanimous.
Then we are sorry.
Then we talk about how to finance it.
Do we refinance it to where?
And to me, this is just one more way of stalling it, and I would like to see it
move forward with the recommended plan that we've been with.
So if you don't agree with that, you can vote no tonight on this resolution.
But if you want to continue forward, you vote yes on it.
Okay.
In voting yes would not hold up anything and would allow you guys to move forward
and get the best possible continue.
Right. Okay.
We're going to file with the rating agency,
I believe, tomorrow or early next week.
We're going to try and get a rating call schedule, coordinate people's schedules.
If we can get that rating shortly after the first of the year, we wouldn't
be in a position to go prior to the 14th
if for some reason we can't meet that some of the rating agency can't get us.
There's a chance this goes to after the 14th anyway.
I mean,
depending on the timing of the rating, I just want to be clear with that.
But we have to do this kind of this kind of gives us the okay,
the board of the district wants to move forward, file for the rating
we're going to spend.
I forget what the cost is to get that credit rating.
We're going to start doing statements spending time on that.
And that's what we're going to do if you approve the resolution.
I just wanted to clarify that because I started all of this.
I'm asking questions is that my questions about the bank
loans are simply for my own understanding
and due diligence that we looked at the bank financing options.
And this was the opportunity in this discussion period to ask questions
about the bank financing, because by approving the parameters resolution,
we're starting the ball rolling with taking the bond route.
And we're doing that because the analysis that has been provided
shows that it is not in our best interest to take the bank rate.
So now that I've asked these questions about the bank loan part of it
and would just like to say thank you for getting these
thank you for engaging the banks and to the banks that provided these,
thank you for their time and effort based on these numbers and the difference in
costs.
If we were to take the bank loan route, I couldn't in good faith support
stopping anything this moment
to continue to pursue the bank loan rate because the numbers don't support it.
And that's why I was asking these questions
so that I can now vote for the parameters resolution to
be approved and move forward so that we can continue.
And also, I just wanted to note two things.
One, if we were to to start the process and then backtrack towards the bank loan,
again, the credit rating fee is $15,000, so would be wasting $15,000.
And that's why I wanted to ask questions because we shouldn't be wasting $15,000.
The other thing I just wanted to make note for public purposes
is because
this can all be really confusing when you read and digest the information
while we're approving a parameters
resolution for funding of $5 million, it is only 3 million.
It is the $3 million of new money and over $1.9 million of re fund
refinancing of debt that we currently have.
So we're not taking on $5 million.
We're taking on $3 million for the project that's been discussed now for two years.
Correct?
Okay. Thank you, sir.
Any further discussion? Yeah.
My understanding a little bit different than what Lindsay said.
It sounds like when you said
if we approve the parameters resolution, we are going down the bond the bond route.
I didn't think that's what said earlier. Brad Correct.
I think the resolution provides for both.
Okay.
So we're not voting for the bond if we vote for the resolution tonight.
The the decision between now and our next meeting would be in the hands
of Kathy based on the parameters resolution,
What we would assume as the financing team is the district
want to take the route that ends in US spending the least amount of money
based on the information that's been run through by Brad.
That would be the bond route.
Here's noting that we have the ability
should something happen in the market, that those bonds rates change
and thus then would be
a higher total cost than the the bank loan.
We still would have the ability to go back to the bank loan.
But once again, we're talking about
setting that up or that only if market
conditions change, that would change the analysis.
So we are
with approving the bond resolution, the borders
instructing us to go with the least costly approach to get the money
as needed for the project and the refinancing.
Based on this analysis indicates will be the bond draft.
That's correct. Right.
So if
if I wanted to suggest
and maybe it's not possible
that we go back to the banks and ask
them for your best and final,
what would that have to come
in the form of or is it just not possible to even discuss a.
Separate motion outside of this?
You would have to vote no on this and.
Then a separate motion
to have a separate motion.
And then to have support for a separate motion.
Okay, that's fine.
But I, I want to briefly out the discussion
that I think I think the president did a good job summarizing where we are.
And I was one of the people
in the minority that voted against the project initially.
And in my view, the board collectively voted to move forward.
It seems to me that my perspective now we should be seeking to execute
that will board when it voted the way it did initially.
So for that reason, I'm going to vote in favor of this parameters resolution.
And I just want to thank Mrs.
Sikora, Mrs. Drew, for Ms..
Drew for their questions to Mike and to you
gentlemen, too, and all the updates and the way you explained everything.
It was really helpful walking through
all those questions and walking us through all the details.
So I appreciate that.
Thank you.
I second those comments
because that was via email prior to the meeting
that they could just add as a final note that because I was absent for the
November 26 meeting and was not able to vote on the vote
to proceed with this, that
I just want it on record before voting for the parameters Resolution Resolution
that I am in favor of the project moving forward
and would have been a yes vote had I been able to be here.
Okay. Is there any further discussion?
Okay, this is a standard.
Let's do a roll call vote.
Mr. Friend.
Mr. Abell. Yes.
Dr. Cronan. Yes.
Ms.. Drew. Yes.
Yes. Have a. Stick. Yes.
Miss Memory? Yes.
Dr. Show.
No Seeker. Yes.
Mr. Singer? Yes.
Miss Steiner? Yes.
Eight. Yes.
One. No.
Okay.
That motion carries
approval of your breath.
Do you think you
have.
Okay, you can go ahead.
Okay.
Mr. Singer, do you have a motion?
I'd like to put motion on the table for consideration.
I don't know the proper.
When you would make a motion.
And the second is that you would discuss it and vote on it.
If it's not seconded, it dies. Lack of.
Okay.
We're saying it for the fifth time, I guess.
But I'll say it again.
My understanding from
from our financial manager is that we would have no loss goodwill,
no extra cost, no delay in the program
for a fiduciary agent responsible
for administering and utilizing our resources in the most effective way.
On behalf of the students of Derry Township,
I find it difficult to believe
that the board would not be interested in
soliciting yet
another round of best and finals from banks.
So for that reason, I guess I just want to get everybody on record
saying that they just don't think that's a good idea to.
You have to make them
talk.
Okay.
So I would make a motion then
that our financial
management team
go back to the banks that responded and
with some indication that they haven't had an opportunity to do this in a while.
So they might not be
right on their game with this in terms of
what what they're doing that they'd be given
as to provide a best and final
if they're interested within five days.
Is there a second, second.
Okay.
Is there any discussion?
I would just like to say
that I personally think that it is a very large statement to make,
that it's to say for us to go on the record
of stating that we're not going to take fiduciary responsibility.
What we're doing is saying that we're entrusting our financial managers
and our businessmen major and all of the data and analysis
that we've had and all of the discussion and months worth of these presentations.
And it is not the recommendation of the financial manager
that we would go back and ask that because they believe
that they have received the best deals that are available currently.
And so then our business manager has stated
that it would in essence delay some of the process, that
while it may not delay it specifically for where PFM is concerned,
it does a process for how internally our business manager and administration
can move forward in in their process based on their understanding
of the desire of the board, the direction that we're going.
So for that, I will be a no vote, because
at some point we have to take stock and give
trust and
and please trust and know that that is the best thing.
That is because we're all taxpayers.
So we're voting for our own interests as well.
Yeah, I would agree.
I think it's a bold statement to say that if I vote no on this, I don't care about
saving the taxpayers money, are getting the lowest rate possible.
This is a process that's been in motion for many months.
And I'm starting to think that this is just another stall tactic
because the people who are voting or raising their support voted
no on this, refinancing the other bonds.
So we have a we we are going to sign for the lowest interest rate possible.
We went out to the banks, which was an extra step that we normally don't do.
We're
we're going to sign at the lowest interest rate possible.
So to say that I'm not that I'm not acting responsibly.
I don't think it's fair.
Madam Chairwoman,
I don't feel that it's an accurate characterization
to say that a no vote is a stall tactic,
a no vote can simply mean that the facts have not changed
with regard to the building or to the wisdom of spending
a quarter of $1,000,000 to refinance at a slightly higher interest rate
just to even out the payments of our debt.
So it's not my no vote is not a stall tactic.
It's based on the facts related to the matter.
And I will be voting no on the current motion.
Perhaps I went too far with my hyperbole,
so if I did, I apologize but I my sense from Brad,
while he wasn't jumping up and down
as a cheerleader for the notion that going back to the banks
set of taxes the board would like to do, he would do it.
So it's a board decision whether we do it or not.
And he said it's not going to cost any more money.
It's not going to cost us any more time.
It's not going to it's not going to damage goodwill.
That's what he said.
But then Mike spoke
and said that it would actually create a delay.
It was just a branch off of what
Brad had answered to.
I just say, whatever anybody votes, I trust that
you're all voting your conscience and we all have our different opinions.
And I feel that I'm not stalling
and I will never apologize for asking somebody to to try something again.
So it's not a delay. Hi, mother. Jellyfish.
And I feel like we have discussed this enough.
I'd like to call roll call vote, Mr. Friends.
Thank you. Dr. Carter.
Can you just clarify?
So we're voting yes on Terry's motion that they go out
and ask the banks again for their best and final offer
within five business days?
Okay. So if you're in support of that, you say, yes.
If you're not, then you just want to clarify, since banking.
In five business days puts us into next
Wednesday.
The day after Christmas.
So roll call vote.
Dr. Cronin. Yes.
Miss Drew? No.
Just have a stick.
No memory. No.
Dr. Show?
No Miss Singer? No.
Mr. Singer?
Yes, Miss Stoner? No.
Mr. Able.
No. Two. Yes. Eight. No.
I'm sorry.
Seven. No.
Do make. The motion does not carry.
Moving on.
Approval of the Derry Township Tax Collection Association 2019 budget.
Mr. McFarland.
Thank you.
The administration recommends the board approve the 2019 budget for the Derry
Township Tax Collection Association with $337,675 in total expenses
and $165,600 in contributions from the district.
May I have a motion to Approve the 2019 Derry Township Tax Collection
Association budget so moved Second, Maria and Donna, is there any discussion?
Kate is a standard voice vote all in favor.
Say I and all those opposed say no
to the motion carries approval of transit school student then.
Mr. McFarland.
Thank you.
The administration recommends Whittemore your auto group be awarded bid number 2019
zero one for one new 2019 Ford Transit School
student van for $28,525.
Whitmore Auto Group was the lowest bidder that met specifications.
May I have a motion to approve the Whittemore auto group be fitted
bid 20 1901 for the new 2019 Ford Transit
School Student Van Select second Maria and Donna.
Is there any discussion?
Kate There's a standard voice vote.
All those in favor say I was opposed.
Say no.
In Motion carries approval of the Mental Health Mood Screening
Partnership with Hershey Medical Center. Mr. McFarland, thank you.
The administration recommends
the board approve the partnership with Penn State Hershey Medical Center
to participate in a grant based project to administer mental health
mood screening to high school students beginning the fall of 2019.
So move. Second,
is there any discussion?
It is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor say I was opposed.
Say no in the motion carries
acceptance of gifts dictionaries.
Mr. McFarland.
The administration recommends accepting the listed gift.
May I have a motion to accept 250 dictionaries?
So move Maggie and Donna, is there any discussion?
Thank you to the Hershey Rotary Club.
This is the standard voice vote.
All those in favor say I was opposed.
They know it.
May I have a motion to approve the listed resignation?
So moved.
Second, Donna and Tricia, this is standard voice vote.
All those in favor say I am opposed.
Say no.
Okay.
The motion carries
personnel. General.
Mr. McFarland.
Thank you.
The administration recommends the approval of the listed personnel.
May I have a motion to approve personnel? General?
So move to second.
Maria and Lindsay. Is there any discussion?
This is a standard voice vote.
All those in favor say I always opposed.
Say no.
Mrs. Motion carries Mrs..
Have her six.
Do you have a Dauphin County Technical School report?
Yes, I do.
The meeting that we just had involved also a JSC meeting
where all the members of all the districts were invited to attend.
And normally no one shows up, but this time it was very nice to see
two representatives from Derry Township that also came Tricia and John.
So thank you for coming to the meeting.
At the meeting, a chairman was a vote.
They couldn't be voted on because there was no quorum, so
but they were nominated.
So I think by December 20th you will receive a ballot
that has to be turned in or before December 20th, you'll get that ballot
that needs to be turned in so you can record your vote here.
I don't know if it gets mailed or if,
but you'll be seeing that shortly.
So just please return it by December 20th so that you can vote for the chairman and
vice chairman that was recommended at the meeting or nominated.
During that meeting, a budget was discussed.
How it impacts Derry Township is
there's going to be Derry townships and there's nine districts
and Derry Town Mints.
Enrollment accounts for about 3.3% of their students.
There is an average of about 32 students, and next year there will be an increase
to our contribution of 15 point percent, which is about $68,000.
And I'm sure, Mike, you probably received all that information from Maria.
Okay.
I figured so so that will just go up slightly and I'm sure he'll factor
into that budget for us so that we'll know how that plays out.
And also at the after that meeting concluded, we had our regular meetings.
They've been working on a virtual tour.
So were you able to see the first cut of that?
The virtual tours are for each program, and I know it was
rolled out to the superintendents, so they were able to preview.
But the virtual tours will be available on their website of each program that
they offer so that the different districts can show those in the classrooms
as part of the career readiness
initiative that's mandated by the state.
So that will be help for all the districts to be able to show those
so that the students can see what Dauphin County programs are about
and what they offer.
And then it also will give us a career readiness that is required by the state.
And Dauphin County is interested in doing a safe
employability study that safe schools and vulnerability study, which we did.
So we'll be passing along the information to them of who we had
because they were very interested in finding out
about that person and following up with them.
And Frank Flamini is the new assistant director at Dauphin County School.
He's a graduate of CD East and also Penn State University.
He's been in education for 29 years,
and most recently he came from Adams County Tech program.
Already, the students have really
they're very receptive to him and says he's like out there
greeting them, talking with them.
So it seems like it's been a very positive transition so far.
Having him come on board.
Lastly, they had some tours for eighth grade students
and they had 2200 students come through to tour.
So yeah.
Nice.
Thank you very much.
Mrs. Mamie, Do you have a downtown Hershey report?
Kind of.
I didn't go prepared to take notes to report back,
but on a personal side, it was a great meeting.
It was a great committee.
There was a lot of wonderful people there.
I encourage anybody to go to the downtown Hershey Association
meeting or sign for the wrapper.
They were promoting the wrapper.
It's just it's just a great little committee meeting, a lot of information.
I don't have any dates there.
They're all kind of past now.
The and October fest and all of that.
So and I'm anything to report it It's just a great it's a great community.
It seems like a real grassroots community They meet in a basement.
It's it's a really cool little
it's a really cool group of people.
So that's all I have to say. I'm sorry.
I wasn't more diligent with my notes.
Thank you.
Are there any board members who would like to give a report?
I'd actually like to give a report.
I was fortunate enough to serve as a chaperon on Saturday
to hack Hershey, which was Hershey's first ever hackathon.
There were over over 71 students from 25 schools across the state,
and they spent 12 hours apps and websites to solve real world problems.
Their the categories that they had to solve problems
in were mobile app safety and data security.
And they they also were able to engage in lots of
good donations and
freebies from the community.
For example, they had a duck donor's breakfast
and they had a Chipotle lunch and they had a Phenix dinner.
They had a Smash Brothers competition.
24 students walked away with
wonderful prizes from from big screen TVs to eggos
to earbuds, etc.
There were
three categories, as I said, as well as an overall first,
second and third place winner. So it was a really fun thing.
I didn't know what a hackathon was and I'm glad that I got to.
It was way over my head when they were presenting their their findings.
But it was really encouraging to see how amazingly creative our youth are
and how many students attended 71 students, they won it 50.
They had their room,
they thought they had room for 50, but they accommodated 71 in the library.
And I must say 730 in the morning.
Dr. Kirby was there, Allison Mackley was there,
Mrs. Reddish was there, and Laurie Wade was there.
And she brought jam later on in the day.
So and there were other teachers and also Mr.
Epperly. So the staff was amazing at
helping out with this.
But I got to say, the group was one of the easiest groups to chaperon ever.
There was they were so focused on their there was no issues,
no behavior, no drama.
It was just pure, pure computing.
I think we'll be doing it again next year,
and they're already planning on next year.
And not to say anything negative it because I heard it was amazing.
But if somehow we could maybe figure out to recruit more girls to say that
because I think that's already yeah there were there were three girls there.
And then of course when they when they promoted it,
it was promoted generically to all the schools,
all the computer clubs, all of the computer science teachers.
And after seeing
the the the lack of females,
they're going to definitely do something to promote more more girls attending.
Yeah. Okay, good.
And actually, one of the girls, one of the seventh grade girls
from Hershey Middle School, she was one of the winners.
I was so happy.
Oh, really? Yeah.
I would also just ask if they could
reach out to Chaperon Center because I was asked this year to chaperon.
Unfortunately, it was just the timing was so close that I couldn't.
Yeah, there was a miscommunication.
They they were under the misconception that only teachers could chaperon.
And then when they found out that that was have it was the last minute.
Yeah. We will get you next year.
Thank you.
Any other board members?
Okay. Mr.
McFarland, do you have a superintendents report?
Just a brief one.
First, I want to congratulate coach
Alf, Ricky and the boys cross-country team for being awarded the Mid-penn snowfall.
Sportsmanship award.
And then I just personally want to thank Kim.
Kim and I started I started in this position about the same time
Kim came on board and Kim helped me in many ways
grow in this role and I appreciated her tutoring and mentoring along the way
and helped us through some really difficult times that
I think it took a very special person to help us to get where we are today.
So I just want to thank you.
And board Presidents report.
I don't have anything to report,
but I wish you all happy holidays and a Happy New Year
Recognition of citizens.
It looks like the place has cleared out
something you said since Monica.
The next public Board of Directors meeting will be held
January 14th,
2019, starting at 7:00 in the District Office Board of Directors.
May I have a motion to this meeting?
So move. Second, we are adjourning to exact.