Derry Area School Board approves capital purchases, tax resolution and accepts director resignation

The Derry Area School District Board of School Directors on an evening vote approved a set of routine motions covering capital projects, insurance renewals, tax resolutions, personnel actions and accepted the resignation of school director Kevin Liberoni effective June 3, 2025.

The board approved insurance renewals handled this year by a new broker, Gallagher Insurance; administrators told the board the changes represent an estimated savings of about $25,000 relative to last year. The board also approved a number of capital project purchases and bid actions: replacement gym scoreboards for the high school (low bid $16,540; budgeted $20,000), middle-school basketball-hoop replacement (low bid $20,550; budgeted $25,000), a basketball shooting machine (bids about $8,800; budgeted $9,000), and a recommended $35,900 purchase to restore full operation of a Grandview paging/intercom system (the capital budget had included $125,000 for an intercom system at the Middle School/High School). The board authorized advertising for bids to evaluate replacement options for the Grandview trash compactor, which administrators said requires extensive repairs.

Administrators reviewed the district's property-tax installment resolution and cited the payment schedule: a 2% discount for taxes paid by Sept. 30, face value if paid by Nov. 30, and a 10% penalty and delinquent referral after Dec. 31. The board also confirmed per-capita and Act 511 tax settings remain unchanged for the 2025-26 school year.

Personnel actions on the consent agenda included a 12-week FMLA leave approval (effective Oct. 28, 2025, or date of disability as determined by physician), multiple hires and appointments listed as items A–J and athletics items A–D. The board approved the treasurer's report showing an ending balance of $268,243.26 as of April 30, 2025 (beginning balance 03/31/2025: $162,199.66; total receipts: $2,421,833.56; total disbursements: $2,655,306.63; total investments reported $2,086,941.03).

A motion to reappoint the district's school physician (listed on the agenda as Chestnut Ridge Dairy Family Medicine under Independence Health System) at the same $20,000 contract figure was approved; board members noted that amount has been stable in recent years. Several capital items approved were taken at or under budget, the district said.

The board approved an addendum to the agenda and voted to accept the resignation of Kevin Liberoni as school director effective June 3, 2025, and authorized administration, the solicitor and the board to proceed with steps to fill the vacancy.

Votes at a glance: the meeting record shows routine motions for minutes, special meeting minutes, payment of bills, treasurer's report, personnel consent items, conferences and athletics items were approved by voice vote. Business-affairs items A–K (insurance renewals, capital purchases and bidding authorizations, tax and installment resolutions, and contract renewals listed on the agenda) were approved. The agenda addendum to accept the resignation of Kevin Liberoni also carried.

The board did not make additional substantive policy changes during these motions; some items (for example the Grandview intercom/paging and special-education contracts) were identified as votes arising from matters discussed in executive session earlier in the evening.

The board president opened the meeting and facilitated roll call; votes reported in the transcript were carried by voice and recorded as "motion carries." The record does not include a roll-call tally for each item.