Board OKs roof repairs, gift from McManus

District also adds solicitor report to monthly agenda

LANSDALE >> As the North Penn School Board continues to debate several large building renovation projects, a smaller project has gotten the go-ahead.

The school board voted unanimously April 11 to award a roughly $833,000 contract for a roof replacement project at General Nash Elementary School.

“The base bid is a 20year warranty — a lot of flat roofs are 20 years — and we bid the 30-year option, just to see what the cost would be,” said Director of Facilities and Operations Scott Kennedy.

According to Kennedy and to bid results provided by the district, contractor Pro Com Roofing produced the lowest of five bids received for both the base bid and an alternative, which he said would produce a longer life span.

“You get a thicker membrane, you get improved seams, improved flashings, just a better quality of roof. For that amount of money, it’s worth it,” he said.

The base bid from Pro Com came in at $779,000 with the alternative adding an extra $54,000 to, and all four other bidders submitted prices of at least $962,000, according to the bid documents. The project was vetted by the board’s facilities and operations committee, according to committee chairman Jonathan Kassa, and will be funded by the district’s capital reserve fund.

Solicitor report added

The board’s April 11 meeting contained a new addition: a line item leaving time for a monthly report from district Solicitor Kyle Somers.

“There’s a couple of reasons: one is to update the board on any legal developments, cases of importance that have been decided, new legislation that’s going to impact the school district,” Somers said.

“Also, to note any items on the agenda that may be there for a legal purpose, such as a piece of legislation requiring a particular policy to be adopted,” he said.

The solicitor’s report will also allow Somers, or anyone else attending in his place, to announce if and when the board has met in executive sessions. Somers said during the April 11 meeting that he had no cases or updates, but announced an executive session was held for the halfhour before that meeting.

“The board met in executive session, immediately prior to tonight’s meeting, for the purposes of discussing a matter of personnel, involving an administrative employee, discussing a collective bargaining matter regarding the Educational Support Professionals Association, and to receive information on, but not deliberate, three additional items,” he said.

Gifts accepted

The school board also voted unanimously to accept several gifts to the district, including $25,000 from North Penn alumni and current Denver Broncos kicker Brandon McManus that will be used to fund a “Kick Start” grant program.

“It’s a very generous gift it’s making to the district,” said board President Tina Stoll, who said McManus is a personal family friend.

Other gifts included $500 from WTXF Fox 29 to North Penn High School for a “Mini-Thon” game

show; $500 from Walton Farm Elementary’s home and school association for a new TV in the school lobby; $200 from the Athletes with Disabilities Network for books about disabilities

for General Nash Elementary; and $180 donation for playground stencils from the home and school associations to the schools at Nash, Walton Farm, York Avenue, Oak Park, Inglewood, Gwynedd Square, Knapp, and A.M. Kulp Elementaries.

Several other action items were also approved by the board, including a school nutrition services budget for 2019-20 that includes no changes to student meal prices, a new textbook and classroom resource list for social studies, science, language, and Spanish curricula, and an update to board policies for initiating real estate tax assessment appeals. Details on each can be found in the board’s meeting materials packet for April 11. The North Penn School Board next meets at 7:30 p.m. on May 7 at the district Educational Service Center, 401 E. Hancock St.

DAN SOKIL — MEDIANEWS GROUP North Penn High School swim coach Selma Robinson, at podium, introduces members of the high school girls and boys swimming and diving teams to be recognized by the district school board on April 11. Girls team members recognized by the board include Maureen Boland Bintner, Abigail Broadhead, Paige Burrell, Nicole Chiappa, Kaelan Daly, Julia Davis, Caroline Dunigan, Madalyn Freece, Madison Fritz, Katelyn Harkrader, Luna Hutchinson, Elizabeth Koerper, Haley Muth, Abigail Peters, Parker Schulz, Julia Stephens, Charlotte Thamm, Claudia Thamm, Olivia Toussaint, Madeleine Voss, Meghan Wenzel, Kianna Yancey, and Madeline Zartman.Boys team members recognized include Max Bachman, Paul Greyson Campbell, Nicholas Clark, Eric Degodny, Micah Detweiler, Luke Engel, Ryan Faikish, Sean Faikish, Ryley Fein, Robert Freece, Tyler Hall, Matthew Harkrader, Scott Klein, William Klein, Evan Mancini, Evan Meiers, Luke Schwar, Kyle Stressman, Sage Trautz, Nathan Wauls and Ryan Woolaver.

DAN SOKIL — MEDIANEWS GROUP North Penn High School teachers Dan Mullarkey and Alexandra Hauser, at podium, introduce members of the high school’s Academic Decathlon team to be recognized by the school board on April 11. Students recognized included Connie Jiang, Jacob Halpern, Srikrishna Chakravarthi, Yashita Thota, Jessica Zhao, Kyle Voron, Colin Drennan, Annalise Sirjoo, Aakash Patil, Janyssah Figueroa, Maggie Zong and Aiden Guo.

DAN SOKIL — MEDIANEWS GROUP North Penn High School teachers Andrew Baker and Noriko Coyle, at podium, recognize students at the district school board meeting on April 11. Students honored were Japanese language students Brittney Do, Samantha Kendikian, Samuel Fogel, Ah Lam Cho, Tommy Pett, Kevin Wang, and Steven Carroll, and German language student Jay Bhavik Patel.