Public Comment on Grants by Albert Leach February 25th, 2014 Good evening board members and those in attendance

from our community; my name is Albert Leach Pottsgrove resident from the Turnberry Farms development. I want to reiterate what I said on the social media boards about the committee meeting last week. Thank you to the board and to committee members as I believe the discussions were very positive. The discussions were open and honest, and both sides were heard for each item. I also appreciate how the public was included in the discussion phase, and I would recommend everyone to attend a sub-committee meeting if possible. I promise it will be an enlightening experience. However, tonight I wanted to focus my main comment about an issue that came up toward the end of the evening. During the DiLE: one to one computer program discussion, a question or comment was raised asking if there was possibility to apply for and get grant money to help with the cost of the new budget item if approved. This was not fully discussed as the meeting had already been well over two hours and was winding down, but it is a VERY important question. The surprise to me was the answer given by Ms Feola. Her response and I am summarizing here: We would love to get grants for this and many items the district spend money on. However, applying for grants take time and time is just something we dont have in abundance. Ms. Feola alluded that we would need to assign someone to apply for the grants. But to this date, no one has been assigned. I have a rather large issue with this philosophy. Currently, the school district is asking for a budget to be approved that will include up to a 3.6% increase in taxes. Some of expenses in the new budget are unavoidable, but one of the major items will be the DiLE: one to one program. Mr. Wagman has presented during the committee and during previous board meetings the need for our district to incorporate the digital tool of a tablet/laptop within our education system. We have all seen the benefits that this tool can provide to our teachers, and how it may help create a better learning environment for our students. I am in full support of our district going to a properly administered and teacher trained one to one program. I have stated this publicly and to Mr. Wagman. However, the immediate concern becomes is this affordable with our current budget restraints and economy in our district? This brings me back to those final moments of the committee meeting, and the discussion of grants with pertains to the one to one program. Are there grants available to help pay for this purchase? Mr. Wagman in the packet he, himself, handed out during the sub-committee meeting the first page talks about the 16 school districts winners in the Racing to the Top. They were awarded grants ranging from 10 to 40 Million dollars. But the issue still remains: Time needed to apply and who! A few weeks ago we saw a presentation from our new Physics teachers showing the 1950ish equipment our students are using and how inadequate that equipment has become. What was done? The board immediately approved to replace the equipment with updated technology to make sure our students would be able to learn the subject properly. My question, did anyone from the science department ever research if a grant was possible? Did anyone try to apply for ANY grant prior to coming to the board?

I read in the newspaper in January that Spring-Ford was awarded a $35,000 grant for its new STEM program. Are we not also creating new STEM classes and programs currently in our high school? Are you not looking to build two new science labs and an engineering classroom in the high school renovation? But the issue remains: Time and who! I was informed that Pope John Paul high school is currently using a one to one program, but could never have afforded the cost without receiving a grant to help pay for the program. But alas Time and who! In todays world of increased expenses, pension issues and the ever increasing budget why are we not finding the time and assigning people to apply for these grants? You continually ask the public to pay year after year a tax increase to cover the budget increases, but I ask what has the district done to decrease this burden? If the district believes we do not have waste or inefficiencies currently in the budget it is vastly mistaken. I believe that inside the budget already are resources that could be made more efficient and waste that could be eliminated to help the budget issue. There is also 10s of millions of dollars available in grants to help give our teachers and students the best tools, and possibly decrease the strain on our budget. You just need to find the money. It is out there right now. We all understand that any grant applied for and given may not be enough to pay for the entire request. But the benefits of any grant awarded are plentiful. Just some of the benefits are: An awarded grant will show the public that the district understands how important it is to help with restraint on the budget. An awarded grant will boost the public and student moral of our School District. An awarded grant will bring much needed recognition to the Pottsgrove area. And of course, an awarded grant could give the district flexibility with other budgetary programs. During the sub-committee, Mr. Wagman stated he would love to get grants to help our district afford the one to one program. But to this date, has anyone been assigned to search and apply for any grants to help with the costs? I respectfully ask the board to hold the district accountable to either reallocate or use existing resources needed to give someone the time necessary to search, apply and follow up for the grants we so desperately need for our programs. If you really want to improve our STEM program, and incorporate the digital world in our schools, then you also need to do that without raising taxes to pay for the ENTIRE platform. Thank you very much for listening tonight and hopefully you will consider all options available to you.