Boyertown School Study Lists $21M-$24M in Critical Repairs

An architect's study going before the Boyertown Area School District board tonight prices the district's most urgent building needs at $21,385,000 to $24,025,000, with another $70.1 million to $80.4 million in work it says the board should consider, according to the study posted to BoardDocs for the 7 p.m. Committee of the Whole meeting. The study is listed for discussion only. The main votes are personnel: a new assistant superintendent and a new director's job with a $155,000 to $165,000 salary range. A consent agenda adds $35,129.35 in classroom door lockdown shades and two confidential special-education settlements.

The Finance Committee meets first, at 6 p.m., for a budget update that shows the district closed 2025-26 with $164.2 million in revenue against a $149.8 million budget and a $38.5 million fund balance before the audit, per its presentation. Both meetings are at the Education Center, 911 Montgomery Ave., Boyertown.

The building bill

KCBA Architects, whose principal Mike Kelly presents item 4.B, scored all nine schools on a Facility Condition Index, a 0-to-100 scale where a low score means fewer needs. New Hanover-Upper Frederick Elementary scored worst at 55 and the high school best at 23, per the study's School Survey Summary.

The financial summary splits the work into "Critical Projects" and "Items to Consider." The critical column is dominated by New Hanover-Upper Frederick, at $13 million to $14 million, for mechanical, lighting, boiler and generator replacement and a fire alarm the study calls "discontinued and not code compliant." Gilbertsville follows at $4,565,000 to $5,160,000, Washington at $1.9 million to $2.3 million for Life Skills rooms, boilers and controls, Earl at $700,000 to $950,000, Colebrookdale at $550,000 to $700,000, Middle School East at $405,000 to $510,000 for boilers and a drop-off study, and Boyertown Elementary at $265,000 to $405,000. Middle School West's only critical item is sidewalks the study suggests funding by grant, and the high school has none.

The larger "Items to Consider" column gives every elementary school except Boyertown a second tier of its own: Earl $12.5 million to $13.6 million, New Hanover-Upper Frederick $12.3 million to $13.3 million, Washington $8.6 million to $9.6 million, Gilbertsville $5.7 million to $6.7 million, and three pieces at Colebrookdale, a $10 million to $12 million renovation, a $12 million to $14 million addition and an $8 million to $10 million classroom expansion. Middle School West's second tier is $1 million to $1.2 million. The study says "Most elementary schools are close to full student capacity," and that the district's class-size caps, 25 students in grades K-2 and 30 in grades 3-6, "are relatively large compared to other school districts in this area." Colebrookdale sits "near geographic center of district" with only two sections per grade. The study also finds that Middle School East, at 841 students in 2024-25 in a 1,000-seat building, "has significantly more students" than Middle School West, at 668 in 1,050 seats, and suggests an addition at East or moving some students to West.

"All costs are based on the Fall 2026 construction market," the study says, and "an inflation factor due to price increases should be assumed for each year until projects are bid." The $21.4 million to $24 million floor also leaves out construction for the moisture, drainage, plumbing, floor-settlement and traffic problems at four elementary schools (New Hanover-Upper Frederick, Earl, Gilbertsville and Boyertown), which the study budgets only for investigation or a study; the summary table flags a "Potential add for drainage" at New Hanover and "Potential add for plumbing" at Boyertown. The timeline slide runs from Boyertown Elementary's public-address system and Middle School East's boilers in August 2027 to a Colebrookdale renovation finished in August 2031.

Nothing on tonight's agenda commits money to any of it.

The money

The Finance Committee's pre-audit figures show spending and transfers of $157.5 million in 2025-26, including $15 million moved to other funds, for a net result of $6.7 million. Revenue beat budget by $14.4 million and operating spending came in $7.8 million, or 5.2 percent, under budget. The fund balance "could move with open items," and the administration plans to recommend assigning part of it to the Boyertown Elementary modulars after the audit.

The 2026-27 budget is balanced at $158.7 million with a new $1.5 million budgetary reserve. Through Oct. 31 the district had spent 20.8 percent of the budget and collected 95 percent of its property tax. The board adopted that budget June 30 at $158,742,103 with a 1.90 percent tax increase, to 33.31 mills in both Berks and Montgomery counties, per the minutes. How school millage fits into a Berks tax bill is covered in our property tax guide. Neither agenda lists a resolution on the 2027-28 Act 1 tax cap.

The committee will also review the $20 student technology fee, charged in grades 2 through 12, cut to $10 for reduced-lunch students and waived for free-lunch students. The presentation calls it "the lowest of the districts that charge a fee" (peers charge $25 to $35) and floats budgeting its roughly $100,000 a year against device repairs.

Tonight's votes

Item 9.A is a "Motion to appoint Stephanie A. Petri as District Assistant Superintendent for the time period of January 5, 2027 until June 30, 2030, and to approve her Employment Agreement pursuant to Sections 5-508, 10-1076, and 10-1077 of the Public School Code of 1949, as presented," per the agenda. No agreement is attached and no salary is stated. Petri moved from principal of Gilbertsville Elementary to director of teaching and learning on July 1, 2025, per that year's personnel agenda. The district's administration page lists Michael Stoudt as assistant superintendent; the agenda does not address his post.

Items 9.B and 9.C create a Director of Education and Operation Services and add it to the district's Act 93 plan. Act 93 is the section of the state school code, 24 P.S. § 11-1164, that requires a school board to adopt a written compensation plan for its administrators, and to meet and discuss it with them if a majority of administrators ask in writing. The Second Amendment places the job in "Group 1/Certified Administrators of the Plan, with a salary range of $155,000 to $165,000," as a "full-time, twelve-month, 260-day administrative position," effective on board approval tonight. The job description has the director report to the superintendent, assistant superintendent, CFO and chief human resource officer, "Supervise School Police" and oversee district and non-public transportation.

Learning Dome, again

Item 4.L, "Learning Dome Discussion - Dr. Davidheiser," is information only, with Policy 702.1 on naming rights as its only attachment. The board voted 5-4 on Sept. 22 to turn the Middle School East planetarium into a Learning Dome, a project its motion estimates "at between $379,500 and $467,635" to build and "$112,500" a year to run, counting on $250,000 over five years from the Foundation for Boyertown Education and "up to $100,000" from Stellar Dreams. The motion requires signed agreements and bid specifications before the board by Dec. 15, 2026. An Oct. 27 donor-agreements item carried the same policy and no action, per the unapproved minutes.

What the board did Oct. 27

Those minutes, up for approval tonight, record a 7-2 vote for the Boyertown Elementary modular classroom design contract, with Roger Updegrove and Christine Neiman opposed, and a consent agenda sending 24 policy first readings to the Nov. 24 Legislative Meeting. The board held an Oct. 20 executive session that "lasted approximately 240 minutes."

Also on the agenda

• Consent item 8.B: 801 classroom door lockdown shades from Blackout EZ Window Covers for all nine buildings, "not to exceed $35,129.35." Also two confidential special-education settlements, no amounts given (8.A).
• Discussion of 2026-27 special-education contracts: added slots at the Lincoln Center and Buxmont Academy, a Soliant speech therapist and aides for three Vanguard students.
• A Reading Area Community College dual-enrollment agreement the agenda labels 27-28; the attached agreement is titled 2026-2027 and sets tuition at $99 per credit.
• Overnight trips, including a $4,739-per-student Costa Rica trip in April 2028; the 2027-28 high school and middle school programs of studies (4.F); donations; and a personnel list.

The board next meets Nov. 24, Policy Committee at 6 p.m. and Legislative Meeting at 7 p.m. The next Finance Committee meeting is Feb. 9, 2027.

How to attend or comment

To speak at either meeting, register with the board secretary through Sandy Kramer, an executive administrative assistant, by 1 p.m. today at 610-369-7548 or skramer@boyertownasd.org with your name, address and topic, per the meeting notices. Comments are limited to three minutes. Both meetings stream on the district's BASD-TV BearVision YouTube channel. The board, per the district, is Anthony Panarello, president; Roger Updegrove, vice president; Lynne Conner, Wendy Kratz, Neiman, Jason Szczurowski, Brad Updegrove, Matt Weir and Michelle Wiley.