LANSDALE- On Thursday evening, The North Penn School District Board of School Directors met for their regularly scheduled action meeting, where four members of the audience stepped up to the podium and all of the items under the Superintendent’s report were approved.

Rising to address the Board first, a father explained that his son, a ninth grade student in the district, who accompanied him at the podium and spoke briefly, has experienced incidents of aggression and violence on the bus. Despite reporting the incidents to the transportation department and the school, the father claimed that the situation has continued to persist.

“We are here out of sheer frustration in that we do not know what to do. We have tried all year to get this to stop, and it’s not. We’re asking for your help. We’re also asking you to examine the North Penn policies and procedures and the discipline code, so that this type of situation can be formalized,” explained the father while addressing the Board.

The ninth grade student also requested the help of the Board, and Dr. Dietrich, Superintendent of NPSD, assured that he would be available to help address the situation.

A senior from NPHS also rose to address the Board. Due to a sports related injury, he had to use a wheelchair and ride to school on a bus with students with special needs throughout his recovery. The senior commended the bus drivers for their outstanding dedication to the students and expressed his disapproval with the district’s outsourcing of bus drivers from charter companies. Explaining that students form a bond with their bus drivers, the student argued that it provides a stable environment and benefits their education.

Board President Vincent Sherpinsky commented and explained that the process of outsourcing was started about a decade ago due to cost factors. Sherpinsky also stated that the Governor is encouraging school districts to get rid of transportation departs, but they have never outsourced all of their bus drivers.

In addition, a mother of three children who attend Gwynedd Square Elementary School spoke to convey her appreciation and approval of the district’s support of creating an inclusive community.

“I’ve watched inclusion evolve over the years, and I know it’s not an easy process for both the school district, the staff, and parents, but I’m here to tell you I see great things coming out of that,” explained the parent.

The mother is also on the board of The Montgomery County Down Syndrome Interest Group.

Transitioning to the committee reports, Mr. John Schilling requested that Mr. Steve Skrocki speak on behalf of the air conditioning project’s bidding update to inform the public. Of the four necessary contracts (plumbing, HVAC, general construction, and electrical), the district did not receive an electrical bid, and the other bids that were made in the three other areas were about $1.6 million over the estimated budget. If the Board were to consider a rebid of the project, Skrocki explained that the long delivery time of the actual units would pose the problem of a possibly impossible schedule to have everything installed for the start of school, or even delay the start of school.

“Our administrative recommendation to the Board is basically to reject the bids and regroup and advertise the bid maybe sometime in November of 2017 with the project to commence summer and completion of 2018,” stated Skrocki while explaining the delay to the public.

All of the items on the superintendent’s report were approved. Items on the report included an amended board policy concerning school nutrition service and family fiscal responsibility, Extended School Care program fees for the 2016-2017 school year as well as their summer camp program prices for the 2017 year.

In addition, several items regarding construction, architectural, and engineering services were approved. Two of the items were proposed agreements with Bonnett Associates Inc. One was an agreement to provide services for the air conditioning projects at Knapp, Oak Park, and Gwyn Nor Elementary, and another was an agreement to provide services for the roofing projects at Gwynedd Square Elementary, Walton Farm Elementary, Northbridge School, Penndale Middle School, and the Support Services Center.

Before approving these projects, one Board member raised a concern over determining that the school district and community are receiving the best benefits they can from the company’s projects.

“The school district has paid over $2.5 million to this one company and they get a lot of our work, so I just want to make sure that we’re getting the most for our money and the best value for our entire community,” expressed board member Edward Diasio.

Diasio suggested to look at Bonnett’s work as they move forward with additional projects, and that will be reported back to the Board at a point in the near future.

The 2016-2017 amended school calendar was approved with April 12th being assigned as a snow make up day and with a change of the order of snow make up days on the calendar to accommodate. All items under personnel and student travel were approved.

The next meeting of the Board of School Directors is scheduled as a work session for March 7th at 7:30pm at the Educational Services Center.