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North Penn presents community education budget; program highlights summer camps, senior "gold card" participation
Summary
School district staff reviewed the Community Education enterprise fund budget, reporting rising participation in camps and adult education, a 2,700-member senior "gold card" program and continuing efforts to contain costs through contract changes and digital outreach.
The North Penn School District presented its Community Education enterprise-fund budget at the finance committee’s special meeting on May 21, 2025, highlighting summer camps, adult English-language learning and a large senior membership program.
The program’s presenter, Christine Liberoski, told the committee: "So this summer and every summer, we offer summer camps for our our our children, our students." She said summer-camp registration had been 581 students as of May 6 and had increased "a couple hundred" since then. Liberoski said most class fees fall in the $50 to $60 range, with some specialty classes up to $180 and some offerings free.
The budget supports staffing and contractor instructors, printing and postage for brochures and merchant fees for electronic payments. Liberoski said the district pays half the salary of one registrar (who serves multiple district functions) and uses contract instructors for classes. She said the program reaches about 80,000 community members through its brochure and has used prior surpluses to support districtwide items such as North Penn Television.
Liberoski also described the program’s "gold card" for residents 60 and older: "More than 2,700 members of our community belong to the club," she said, and about 300 free classes were offered to gold-card members last year. She highlighted adult English-language (ELL) classes run by Ambie Murphy at NAPA Elementary and said a recent grant allowed each adult student in that class to take home a laptop.
Board members and attendees asked about payment options and class content. One board member asked whether an ACH option to avoid credit-card user fees was available; Liberoski confirmed that parents may pay by check or cash to avoid the fee and still reserve a spot online. A community member who helped in the ELL class praised the laptop distribution and the program’s benefit to adult learners.
The committee did not take formal action on the Community Education budget at the May 21 meeting; Liberoski’s presentation served as an informational review ahead of upcoming budget work sessions.
Less-critical details: Liberoski noted cost-cutting steps taken during and after the pandemic, including operating with a single registrar and heavier reliance on email and social media to reduce printing costs. She said the district renegotiated its merchant contract so the credit-card processing fee is charged to the user rather than absorbed by the program.
