President

Vincent Sherpinsky

Vice President

Timothy Kerr

Members

Josie Charnock

Steve Hladik

Suzan Leonard

Rick Miniscalco

Carolyn Murphy

Frank O'Donnell 

John T. Schilling  

On Monday, April 7, the Education/Community/Policy (ECP) Committee held their monthly meeting. The agenda for the meeting consisted of several items, including permission to apply for the continuation of the Keystone to Opportunity Grant (KtO), permission to apply for an additional Act 80 day, approval of the 2014 Summer programs, extra duty position changes and textbook and novel adoptions.

If the district's application for KtO funding is approved, this will be the third consecutive year that the district has benefited from the grant. This grant gives the district the means to provide resources that address the literacy needs of children in the district including professional development to support teachers in these efforts.

The committee also reviewed the summer programs that will be conducted this year. Included in these programs are summer school remedial and enrichment programs, Keystone intervention classes, reading/language arts program for students completing Kindergarten through second grade, English Language Learners (ELL) program for elementary and secondary students, and Summer Library which will be held at Inglewood and Gwyn Nor elementary schools.

Also, adoption of textbooks for grades 7 and 8 strategic math classes, grades 8 and 9 American history classes, textbooks for grades 10 through 12 accounting and grades 7 through 9 computer applications were reviewed. A novel to be added to the summer reading list for incoming 7th grade students was discussed as well.

In addition, the committee also reviewed a request to move three clubs at the high school to official status. These clubs, Academic Discussion and Peer Tutoring, Engineering Projects in Community Service, and Science Olympiad, are directly aligned with NPHS curriculum. Two of the clubs also combine a service component. The cost of adding these three clubs will be offset by restructuring the Middle School Color Guard program by reducing the number of positions from five to two positions.

The committee also reviewed a proposal to modify the kindergarten schedule on delayed start days so that both morning and afternoon sessions would attend. Other items that the committee reviewed were student travel expenses, curriculum cycle updates and a student travel request.

The next ECP Committee meeting will be Monday, May 12 at 6:30 p.m. at the Educational Services Center.

The Support Services Committee met on Monday, March 31, and discussed several project updates.

Inglewood Elementary School additions and renovations are substantially complete. Remaining items are being completed by all contractors.

The Hatfield Elementary School additions and renovations project has been put out to bid. Bids were opened on April 2 and a recommendation to award to the lowest bidders was on the agenda for the April 10 Action Meeting.

The Energy Performance Contacting Requests for Proposals results were reviewed along with a discussion on whether or not to look at some needed renovations at North Penn High School. The committee members asked the administration to look into a phasing plan for the potential renovations. Additional work on gas regulators for the natural gas conversion project was discussed.

The administration reported on the status of the NPHS Camera upgrade and the Security Fencing project.

Tom Schneider, Manager of Energy and Operational Efficiency, detailed the electricity procurements for the year so far. NPSD did quite favorably on the electric rates in the buildings served by PECO and PPL. He also noted that in the buildings served by Lansdale Borough Electric charges were increased by $0.018/ kWh for the months of January and possibly February. That equates to an estimated $4,290 a month.

John Strobel, Manager of Support Services gave the committee an overview of summer projects and added a proposal for secure vestibules, which was previously discussed by the Safe Schools Committee. Approval of the secure vestibule projects also appeared on the agenda for the April 10 Action Meeting.

The next Meeting of the Committee will be held on Monday, April 28 at 6 p.m.at the Educational Services Center.

Director of Business Administration Steve Skrocki reviewed several informational items and updated committee members on several issues.

There is a new format for the Revenues/Expenses and Balance Sheet, which shows the projected ending fund balance for 2013-2014. At this point it appears revenues will come in over budget by roughly $3 million and expenditures will come in under budget by about $2.8 million. The projected increase to the fund balance is $3,165,601.

In the general fund financial reports, the year-to-dates (YTD)  revenues versus budget are trending higher than last fiscal year; while YTD expenditures verse budget are trending lower. Both are positive financial indicators.

The financial pressure that the School Nutrition Services and extended school care funds are under was noted during the Enterprise Fund Statements. 

The Capital Project Cash Flow Forecast was reviewed with the committee. The report highlights pending capital and construction projects as compared to funds available via the bond funds and capital reserve fund.

Options for the Hatfield Elementary School renovations bond issue were reviewed with the committee. The committee supported the recommendation to issue bank-qualified bonds (under $10 million) in calendar years 2014 and 2015 for the project. Further, due to interest rate risk, the process for the 2014 borrowing will commence now with Public Financial Market as opposed to waiting later in the calendar year.

The United States Department of Agriculture's  Farm to School proposed grant application was also reviewed. Hatfield Elementary School, which has the biggest need in the district  with 52% of students on free/reduced lunch, would serve as the pilot school.