Fox Chapel board approves contracts, budget actions and personnel changes; district to advertise multiple bids

The Fox Chapel Area School District Board approved a package of contracts, budget items, personnel actions and procurement authorizations at its Feb. 11, 2025 meeting in Hartwood Elementary School.

Facilities and transportation: Board member Mrs. Lynch moved, and the board approved, five facilities and transportation items. The board accepted a base bid award to Wright Electric Incorporated for the high school panel feeder replacement project with a base bid amount of $40,000; authorized advertisement for bids for Fox Chapel Area High School domestic water line and service replacement and for Fairview Elementary School window replacement; approved an architectural services agreement with Kansian Johnston and Associates LLC for the Fairview window project at a cost of $42,000; and approved a five-year renewal agreement with ABC Transit Incorporated for transportation services covering July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2030. The motion passed on a roll-call vote with eight yes votes.

Finance and resolutions: The board approved routine disbursements and audit filings, including Fund 10 disbursements of $9,180,079.13 and Fund 31 disbursements of $70,893.73, acknowledged the December 2024 finance report and approved 2024–25 budget transfers and second-quarter student activity financial reports for middle and high school. The board also authorized advertisement of bids for athletic supplies for the 2025–26 school year and approved a series of tax-related resolutions: exoneration and turn-over of delinquent 2024 real estate duplicates to PA Deltax for collection; Resolution 2025-2 fixing compensation for certain real estate tax collectors (01/01/2025–12/31/2028); Resolution 2025-3 fixing bond amounts for tax collectors (01/01/2025–settlement of 2028 duplicates); and Resolution 2025-4 adopting fees and charges for tax collection processes. The board approved a renewal with Asset Control Solutions Inc. for fixed-asset management effective Feb. 10, 2025 at an annual cost of $12,700. These finance motions passed by roll call.

Instruction and agreements: The board approved one midyear graduate (final approval by the high school lead principal), the 2025–26 school district calendar, renewal of the PA HELPS participation agreement to support school counseling and nurse interns for 2024–25 and a pilot memorandum of understanding with LinkIt for a data warehousing, assessment and MTSS/RTI solution to run Feb. 11–June 30, 2025. District staff said the LinkIt pilot carries no cost and that student data would be housed on the LinkIt platform; technology staff reviewed cybersecurity measures and determined they met or exceeded district standards.

Policies: The board gave first reading approval to a set of revised policies and approved retiring two outdated policies (7-13 and 7-15). The policy revisions will continue through the board’s governance process.

Personnel: The board accepted multiple resignations, several under the district retirement plan, ratified appointments for educational support and supplemental contracts, approved leave replacements, homebound instruction and extra-inning substitutes, and approved volunteer athletic staff. The actions were approved on roll-call votes.

Operations and services: The board approved two new multi-year agreements for copy and print management services: Precision Copy Products Inc. for equipment leasing and print management from July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2030 at an annual cost of $329,004; and Innovative Service Technology Management Services Inc. for district copy center services over the same period at an annual cost of $191,172. Both motions carried on roll call.

Most motions were approved unanimously by the eight board members present. Where board members discussed items, remarks were largely procedural or expressions of thanks for staff and retiring educators. No motions failed during the meeting.