BOARD NOTES: May 2020

Special Board Meeting

The Spring-Ford Area School District Board of Directors will hold a Special Meeting on Monday, June 8, 2020 at 7:30 p.m. to discuss the 2020-2021 School Budget. The meeting will be available to the public via Zoom.

Student Athletic Recognition

The Board approved resolutions and Mr. Mickey McDaniel, Athletic Director, virtually acknowledged the following Student Athletes and Teams on their outstanding accomplishments this past year. The video in recognition of these individual and team achievements will be made available to view online.

• Resolution 2020-02: Spring-Ford High School Wrestling Team and Coaches
• Resolution 2020-03: Cole Smith – Wrestling
• Resolution 2020-04: Quinn Tobin – Wrestling
• Resolution 2020-05: Zachary Needles – Wrestling
• Resolution 2020-06: Jack McGill – Wrestling
• Resolution 2020-07: Xavier Cushman – Wrestling
• Resolution 2020-08: Guiseppe (Joey) Milano – Wrestling
• Resolution 2020-09: Louis Carbajal – Wrestling
• Resolution 2020-10: Dominic Ortlip – Wrestling
• Resolution 2020-11: Sean Brogan – Wrestling
• Resolution 2020-12: Ashley Gutshall – Swimming
• Resolution 2020-13: Emma Thomas – Swimming
• Resolution 2020-14: Anna Curran, Ashley Gutshall, Maris Sadowski, and Emma Thomas – Swimming (200 Meter Relay)
• Resolution 2020-15: Anna Curran, Ashley Gutshall, Maris Sadowski, and Emma Thomas – Swimming (400 Meter Relay)
• Resolution 2020-16: Brendan Baganski – Swimming
• Resolution 2020-17: Brendan Baganski, Andrew Cubbler, Cory Liang and Sean Liang – Swimming
• Resolution 2020-18: Luke McKenna – Swimming
• Resolution 2020-19: Samuel Ricci – Diving
• Resolution 2020-20: Matthew Hanson – Bowling
• Resolution 2020-21: Spring-Ford High School Girls' Basketball Team and Coaches

In addition, Mr. McDaniel on behalf of the Board recognized the 8th Grade Girls' Basketball Team and

their Coach John Murtin on their Undefeated Season, as well as the 8th Grade Boys' Basketball Team and

their Coach Rick Harrison on their Undefeated Season.

TAKE NOTE: COMMITTEE UPDATES

Finance Committee Update

The Finance Committee met on Tuesday, May 12, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. on Zoom.

 

Over the past two months, the Finance Committee has focused on the 2020-2021 budget by evaluating potential expense increases and revenue losses due to the COVID-19 crisis. The Finance Committee held a regular committee meeting on April 14, 2020, a Special Finance Committee Meeting on April 23, 2020, and a regular committee meeting on May 12, 2020 to continue discussing the 2020-2021 budget. During these meetings, the committee, as well as the full School Board and administration, reviewed possible reductions that could be made to the 2020-2021 budget to reduce the overall tax increase. The goal of these meetings was to identify possible reductions, consider recommendations, and understand how those reductions would impact the 2020-2021 budget as well as the 2021-2022 school year budget.

 

Mr. Tom DiBello, Finance Committee Chairperson and Vice President, "The School Board is considering all options to reduce expenses during this pandemic. Other than what has already been stated publicly, no further conversation related to personnel will be disclosed until the board votes in public as conversations related to specific personnel are done in Executive Session."

 

Point to Understand:

• District revenue estimates for the 2020-2021 school year were lowered by over $2 million from the Preliminary Budget presented to the School Board in November primarily as a direct result of the COVID-19 crisis. As a result, a budget deficit of $3.6 million was presented to the Board at the April 27, 2020 Board Meeting.
• The Finance Committee and the Business Office will continue to meet regularly with the overall goal of presenting a 2020-2021 budget as close to zero percent as possible.
• Under School Code 687, Spring-Ford is required to present a Proposed Final Budget for at least thirty (30) days prior to the adoption of the final budget.
• The Board voted to post and advertise a draft of the Proposed Final Budget on April 27, 2020 with the intent of following state guidelines as outlined in School Code 687 while actively working to reduce the overall budget deficit gap further. Voting to approve the draft, simply put, was a vote to post and advertise the draft budget so that Spring-Ford meets the state requirement to post a budget.
• The current draft Proposed Final Budget is not the Final Budget. The current Proposed Final Budget is likely to change over the next few weeks.
• The Spring-Ford Area School District Board of Directors will hold a Special Meeting on Monday, June 8, 2020 at 7:30 p.m. to further discuss the 2020-2021 School Budget.

 

Curriculum and Technology Committee Meeting

The Curriculum and Technology Committee met on May 11, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. on Zoom. Dr. Kelly Murray, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, provided an Instructional Continuation Plan and Online Learning overview. Dr. Murray shared the updated curriculum cycle which includes projections of curriculum adoptions through 2029. Dr. Murray shared information regarding how the district is engaging in research and discussions to prepare for the potential directives regarding school closures in the fall due to COVID-19 and discussed Asynchronous and Synchronous models of online learning.

 

Mr. Robert Catalano, Director of Technology, provided updates regarding the distribution of Chromebooks as a result of COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, Mr. Catalano shared information regarding SMART board installation and updating teacher laptops

 

The next meeting will be June 9, 2020 at 7 p.m. on Zoom.

 

Property Committee Meeting

The Property Committee met on May 12, 2020 at 7:30 p.m. on Zoom. Mr. Robert Hunter, Director of Planning, Operations and Facilities, gave an update on the ICS Consultation Facilities Report, which was a follow up to March's Property meeting demographic and enrollment presentation by ICS Consulting. Administration discussed the following projects, which were recommended for Board Approval:

• Royersford Capital paving project on Board Agenda for approval.
• 9th Grade Capital paving project on Board Agenda for approval.
• ICS Consulting to provide professional services for design and bid specifications on Board Agenda for approval.
• Essential project list on Board Agenda for approval.
• ICS Consulting to provide Facilities Master Plan on Board Agenda for approval.

 

The committee also discussed the summer project list that will require contractor services which administration has deemed essential related to COVID-19 and request Board approval to deem as essential.

 

Chief David Boyer, Coordinator of Safety, Security, and Emergency Preparedness, provided an update on projects and initiatives including:

• Patrolling during the COVID-19 Shutdown
• Assisting with Virtual Graduation, cap and gown pick up, teacher classroom close-out, student property pick up
• Ongoing police training
• Planning for the return back-to-school as far as protocols and PPE uses.

 

Policy Committee Meeting

The Policy Committee met on May 11, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. on Zoom. Committee discussed the plan to review approximately 130 policies that are 20+ years old and approve as a batch. Administration will review and prepare a list of policies to be considered throughout the summer. Policies will be recommended for review based on a need to be updated rather than age alone. Policies sent to solicitor for a final review and brought forward for a first reading:

• Policy 128 - Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Policy
• Policy 204 - Attendance
• Policy 816 - Use of Audio and Video Monitoring Equipment

 

The committee made a motion to update legal references in policies 123, 218, 247, 249, and 819. This update would remove reference to retired policy 248 and add policy 103. The committee mad a motion to update legal references in policy 815. This update would remove reference to policies 248, 348, 448, 548 and add policies 103 and 104. Mr. Robert Rizzo, Assistant Superintendent, made note that all policies have been migrated to BoardDocs.

 

The next meeting will be June 9, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. on Zoom.

SFASD NEWS AND CALENDAR

The Spring-Ford Area School District affirms that no person shall, on the basis of sex, disability, race, color, age, creed, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, veteran's status or genetic information be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination in any educational program or activity. In addition, no person shall, on any of these bases, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination in employment, or recruitment, or consideration, or selection therefore, whether full-time or part-time, under any educational program or activity operated by the school district. The district shall make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities upon request. Please contact the Title IX Coordinator (Director of Human Resources) 857 S. Lewis Road, Royersford, PA, or at 610-705-6000 ext. 6124. Refer to Board Policy No. 103 for further information about the district's Nondiscrimination in Participation, Employment, Contract Practices.

SPRING-FORD AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT

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