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The main objective of CC is to provide a forum for parents of the North Penn School District to exchange ideas and to promote an ongoing relationship between the schools, administration, board and community.
Location: Inglewood Elementary
Member Organizations: A.M. Kulp; Bridle Path; General Nash; Gwynedd Square; Gwyn-Nor; Hatfield; Inglewood; Knapp;
Montgomery; North Wales; Oak Park; Walton Farm; York Avenue; Pennbrook; Penndale; Pennfield; North Penn HS; NP
Assoc. for Gifted Education; NP Athletic Alumni Assoc.; NP Booster Club; NPHS JROTC Squires; NP Music Aides; NP Special
Education Council; Students With Aspiring and Achievable Goals; Wrestling Parents.
Member Organizations represented: A.M. Kulp; Bridle Path; General Nash; Gwynedd Square; Gwyn-Nor; Hatfield;
Inglewood; Montgomery; North Wales; Oak Park; Walton Farm; York Avenue; Pennbrook; Penndale; Pennfield; North Penn
HS; NP Music Aides; NP Special Education Council; Students With Aspiring and Achievable Goals;
Welcome –President Kathy Stella
Inglewood Elementary School Highlights – Principal Orlando Taylor

Second year as principal at Inglewood

Current enrollment is 426 students. Most grades have three classes.

Goals o Move from good to great o Provide best education possible o Teach good citizenship

Chart course for success o Discipline in thought o Discipline in action o Discipline in people

Philosophy: All things are possible. All children can learn.
– Dr. Curtis Dietrich, Superintendent of Schools

Summary: All North Penn schools and subgroups met Annual Yearly Progress last year. This was achieved despite
$11 million in budget cuts for this fiscal year. The school district again faces the challenge of balancing the 2012-
2013 budget in difficult economic times that are accompanied by flat revenues and increasing costs. An Alternate
Revenue Committee has begun to review possible new sources of revenue. The preliminary budget calls for a 2.9% increase in property taxes and spending cuts. Possible budget cuts under consideration are available on npenn.org
. Parents are encouraged to submit any comments and suggestions to budgetinput@npenn.org
.
 Please see specific speaker notes attached below as an addendum following the Business Meeting minutes.
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Meeting items
1.
Approval of Minutes –
 Minutes of the November 16, 2011 meeting were approved.

Minutes can be found on www.npenn.org
under For Families/Coordinating Council/CC Meeting Minutes.
2.
Treasurer’s Report – Becky Ellstrom, Treasurer

Current balance – $2876.65

Income: Dues

State sales tax exemption - New extension through April was granted. Our exemption application is still in processing backlog.
3.
Correspondence – Wendy Beatty-Burg, Corresponding Secretary

Please notify Wendy with Coordinating Council representative contact information if you did not receive an email.

Received extension of sales tax exemption.
4.
Old Business

Louse Buster o The Louse Buster machine is stored at the High School under the supervision of NPHS nurse Sally
Kauffman. Machine is transferred to student’s school by next morning if student cannot come to the High School for treatment. Students have received treatments this year. o Current North Penn lice information for parents does not mention Louse Buster.

Alternate Revenue Committee o New committee has held 2 meetings. o District was looking for another member.

Service Fees for My School Bucks o $2 fee for each online transfer to a student account took effect on January 1.

Young Authors Conference o Scheduled to be held at Walton Farm Elementary on May 12, 2012 o Features author David Lubar (Nathan Abercrombie and Tasty Tales series)

North Montco Technical Career Center Open House o Public is invited to tour renovated facility on Thursday, January 19, 6-8 pm
5.
New Business

Keystone Exams o District update stated that Pennsylvania intended to implement Keystone Exams during 2012-
2013 school year after a one-year postponement. o Dr. Dietrich mentioned this evening that meetings with Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Ron
Tomalis and his deputies left him with the impression that Governor Colbert’s administration may not be as committed to the exams as the previous administration.

Sixth Grade Parent Math Placement Session o Knapp Elementary School on Wednesday, January 25, from 6 to 7 pm. o Math Curriculum Supervisor Stephanie Schwab will present process to determine 7 th grade math placement. Several math teachers will participate in a panel discussion. o Parents of 6 th grade students are invited to register at elemmathinput@npenn.org.
NPCC minutes 01-18-2012 Final.doc 2

6.
Level Reports

Knapp Elementary – Annual Math Night on January 12, was attended by 150 students and their parents.

Penndale – Home and School had good experience using Jabberwocky for the first time to run Fall Book
Sale.
7.
Ideas, Concerns, Comments and Announcements

District student “Back to School” supply lists o Presidents’ meeting discussed why lists of needed items could not be created by school. The district responded that a number of transient students who move within district over summer would be adversely affected. o Administrators were surprised to hear parents reporting that teachers were telling students that they did not need certain items on the district “Back to School” lists. o Some Home and Schools would like to use “School Toolbox” fundraiser.

Kits are school and grade specific.

Students receive kits on first day of school.

Discounts for early orders would require earlier development of “Back to School” lists.

Sharing of special teachers o Example: Inglewood shares with Nash o Teachers must split focus and attention between the two schools. Experience for students is not the same as last year. o Resources are not same at both sites, challenging teaching plans and methods. o Recommend that administration consider risks of teachers shared between schools as part of budget analysis.

Race for Education fundraiser questions raised by Gwynedd Square Elementary o Why cannot North Penn Home and School organizations use this fundraiser? Other non-North
Penn schools raise large sums of money by holding a Race for Education. o Race for Education assists the first year and receives 20% of money raised and then transfers all materials and rights to materials for future years. No other fundraiser can be held 6 weeks before or after the Race for Education event. o North Penn controller recommended that Coordinating Council avoid the Race for Education since it may violate 501(c)(3) rules as a paid fundraiser. o Race for Education requires the event be held during the school day. Current district policy bans schools from holding “thons” during school hours. o Continuing the 501(c)(3) exemption questioned if more money can be raised using programs such as Race for Education. o Kathy will set up meeting with district to discuss whether Race for Education should be pursued further.
8.
Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned.
NPCC minutes 01-18-2012 Final.doc 3

Addendum:
Dr. Curtis Dietrich, Superintendent of Schools

Student achievement o All buildings and sub-groups reached their Annual Yearly Progress goals. Student Advanced
Placement exam scores increased.

Keystone Exams o State budget cuts led postponement of implementation until 2012-13 school year. The Budget of Department of Education Assessment Division has been frozen again. o In a meeting with Montgomery County school superintendents last week, Secretary of Education Ron
Tomalis expressed his belief that the current proposal for 11 Keystone Exams may be too many.

Montgomery Flex Charter School application o School board has 75 days to approve or deny the submitted application. A denied application can be appealed to a state review board. o Charter school is looking to lease former Superfresh store next to North Penn YMCA. o For each North Penn student who enrolls in the charter school, the school district must transfer approximately $10,000 to the charter school. This could cost district $2-4 million, depending on the number of students. o The administration continues to study the proposal. The charter school proponents must demonstrate true community support, a viable financial plan and a sound educational curriculum. Dr. Dietrich is concerned that the proposed school is more cyber charter school than charter school. Students would receive most of their learning from online sources with teachers available to provide local support.

State budget o In the best case North Penn can expect funding to remain the same. o State reimbursement of school districts’ Social Security taxes may be in jeopardy. A proposal last year to decrease 50% reimbursement to 15% was removed by legislature before budget was passed. A reduction to 15% would cost North Penn $2 million. Most states no longer provide
Social Security reimbursement.

Closure of Catholic schools o St. Rosa of Lima (North Wales) and St. Maria Goretti (Hatfield) will be closed next year and merged with St. Stanislaus (Lansdale) and Corpus Christi (Upper Gwynedd), respectively. o Impact on North Penn is unknown. Students may transfer to district schools rather than attend new Catholic school. Non-district transportation routes will need realignment.

Transportation issues o Transportation consortium did not adequately account for traffic congestion when bus routes were developed. More work is needed to improve routes. Opportunities for improved efficiency remain.
NPCC minutes 01-18-2012 Final.doc 4


Alternate Revenue Committee o Committee has met twice to review new opportunities to produce revenue. o Advertisements
 Pennsbury School District assistant superintendent provided a presentation on their contract with School Media to place ad banners in school buildings. Advertisements by the Ad Council and Dick’s Sporting Goods promoted reading, nutrition, hygiene, safety, fitness, etc. The district has final approval of all ads.
 Parkland School District runs advertisements inside its buses.
 PIAA playoff finals featured advertising. o Naming rights have been sold by the Centennial School District. o Pay-to-play athletics were considered but rejected last year. Unionville-Chadds Ford School
District has been the local leader in implementing pay-to-play. Some districts across nation require athletic teams to be self-supporting financially.

Preliminary 2012-2013 budget proposal o Revenue assumptions
 Revenue from earned income and realty transfer taxes will remain unchanged.
 2.9% increase in property tax

Act I index allows North Penn to increase property tax 1.7% without holding voter referendum.

North Penn can apply for an exemption to allow up to a 2.9% increase without referendum if the extra tax is directed to pension payments.

North Penn has never invoked the Act I referendum exemption but will apply for it again this year. Application is not a commitment.
 State funding will remain the same. o Fund balance is not reduced to help balance budget
 State recommends school districts maintain an available fund balance equal to 6-8% of the budget.
 North Penn fund balance has 3 parts

Unassigned funds

Pension fund

Self-funded health care reserve ($2.5 million) to cover any delayed claims from district employees if North Penn stops self-funding its health care insurance. o Expenditure assumptions
 District is living with administration, teacher and staff vacancies.
 Decline in overall enrollment

Senior class peaked at 1,100 students and now averaging 1,000 students.
 Energy costs will not change and consumption will decrease.
 Allocations to buildings will remain at 75% of 2010-2011 levels.
 Healthcare costs will increase 3%.
 Cost of charter school is not included.
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o Increased costs
 Teacher salaries will increase $3 million.
 Administration and support staff will get increases after 18-month freezes.
 Pennsylvania State Employment Retirement System payments will increase to 12%.
 Increases in debt service
 Inglewood Elementary School renovation o Cuts
 Maximum 2.9% property tax increase requires $2.8 million reduction in current expenditures. Worst-case scenarios will require $7.2 million in cuts.

Questions o Self-funded healthcare
 Implementation of self-funded healthcare insurance has been a success due to low average age of employees. Third party administers plan. District maintains stop/loss insurance to cover catastrophic claims. o Inglewood Elementary School renovation, postponed one year, is currently planned to begin this summer.
 Renovations must soon be put to bid to keep project on schedule.
 Services committee is currently meeting with architect to update renovation.
 Renovations paid with “wrap-around” funding. District pays only interest on financing for 9 years and then pays off entire renovation debt service by year 11.
 Further postponement of construction would lead to layoff of district construction management position. o List of proposed cuts is in no particular order. Everything is on table. School board will make the final decision on all cuts. Administration has briefed faculty and staff and asked for their input.
 Items such as closing an elementary school or creating a 9 th grade school would not be decided for this budget but could be considered over future years.
 Cuts are balanced across all areas. The district cut $11 million last year. Most of the
“fluff” is gone. Cuts will now affect core programs. o Class size
 No state law mandates the number of student that can be assigned to a classroom except in the case of specialty and gifted classes.
 Fire codes and practical concerns are followed. o Delay in purchase of new textbooks
 District textbook replacement program schedules costs over the years.
 Proposed cuts include textbook replacements for all classes.
 On-line textbooks are offered by publishers at 40% of the cost.
 Postponement of textbook replacement could threaten alignment of curriculum with
Keystone Exams. o Technology
 A possible cut would be a freeze on any technology purchases.
NPCC minutes 01-18-2012 Final.doc 6

o Teaming could be threatened.
 Dr. Dietrich supports use of teacher teams.
 Child status meetings may need to be moved online. o Physical Education
 Should competent swimmers need to take sophomore swimming instruction?
 Proposal to excuse athletes from physical education class during the season of their sport mirrors a program instituted at Abington.
 Physical education currently exceeds state requirements.
 Proposed elimination of senior year physical education is tied to PA Department of
Education concern that school districts are providing enough education opportunities during the student’s senior year. o Co-current enrollment program with Penn State and Arcadia Universities is about to be announced. This will allow North Penn students to earn college credits.
 Advanced Placement classes should not be affected by this program.
 Available next year to current juniors. o Redistricting
 Not currently under study due to vacancies in administration.
 Redistricting most likely will occur in future for some of the elementary schools.
General Nash’s enrollment is down to approximately 400 students. York Avenue classrooms are at maximums with 465 total students, and a decision must be made if school can wait another year.
 Change of middle school feeder schools is not under consideration at this time. o Idea of 9 th grade center
 Reduces number of faculty and staff
 Improves team teaching
 North Penn experimented for 2 years with 8 th and 9 th grades together at Penndale and for 1 year with Penndale as 9 th grade only. o Full-day kindergarten
 Not anywhere on the horizon o Northbridge Alternative School
 School is a success but underutilized (45 students).
 No plans to close
 Proposed to hire mental support staff to allow district to bring back students currently sent to non-district schools. o Teacher salary freeze
 Administration has not approached teacher union again about a salary freeze
 Dr. Dietrich stated, “Perhaps the teachers would step forward.”

Conclusion o School district needs input on proposed budget from all affected parties: faculty, staff, parents, students and community. Email comments and suggestions to budgetinput@npenn.org
.
NPCC minutes 01-18-2012 Final.doc 7

o Administration, faculty and staff work hard each day to provide the best education possible for the students.
Next meeting of Coordinating Council will be held on Wednesday, February 15, 2012, at the North Penn High School in the
IMC. Bob Gilmer, Communications Media Coordinator, will be the guest speaker and lead a tour of the NPTV studios.
Please forward to Wendy Beatty-Burg (beattyburg@aol.com), Corresponding Secretary, any business items or questions your organization would like to have placed on future agendas.
Respectfully submitted,
Donald Mackowiak
Recording Secretary
NPCC minutes 01-18-2012 Final.doc 8