Boyertown School Board Votes 5-4 for $468K Learning Dome

The Boyertown Area School District board voted 5-4 on Sept. 22 to start turning the planetarium at Middle School East into a "Learning Dome," a project the board's own motion prices at between $379,500 and $467,635 to build and about $112,500 a year to run, per the meeting minutes the board approved Oct. 13. A planetarium is a domed room used for astronomy shows; Boyertown's opened in 1973 and seats up to 75, according to the administration's Aug. 25 presentation. Two nonprofits have offered up to $350,000 toward the construction cost. The yearly operating cost would come out of the General Fund, the district's main operating budget, which taxpayers support through a property tax the board set at 33.31 mills in June.

The vote

The motion, made by Christine Neiman and seconded by Brad Updegrove, "authorizes and directs" the administration "to advance the renovation and modernization of the existing Planetarium facility" at Middle School East, 2020 Big Road in Gilbertsville, into "a state-of-the-art STEM education and community engagement facility to be known as the Learning Dome," with a target opening in the 2027-28 school year, per the minutes.

Voting yes: Wendy Kratz, Neiman, Brad Updegrove, Matthew Weir and Lynne Conner. Voting no: Jason Szczurowski, Roger Updegrove, Michelle Wiley and board president Anthony Panarello, who convened the meeting. Panarello was elected president and Roger Updegrove vice president at the board's Dec. 2, 2025 reorganization. The minutes record no discussion of the item and give no reason for the four no votes; the board-comments section lists four members as having commented, two of them no votes, without saying what they said. "No one spoke" at either public comment period.

What it costs

The five-page motion puts "the total projected capital costs of the Dome Project (estimated at between $379,500 and $467,635, depending on the equipment option selected)" and "the projected recurring annual costs to the District's General Fund (estimated at $112,500, including teacher salary, transportation, and maintenance)."

The Aug. 25 presentation, given by assistant superintendent Michael Stoudt per the Aug. 25 minutes, breaks those figures down. The two equipment options are a $364,135 package from Cosm/Evans & Sutherland/Spitz and a $276,000 package from SSIA Technologies, each with dual 4K projectors, LED cove lighting, a sound system and software. Add $27,500 for 60 stackable seats and $76,000 in facility work: $15,000 for demolition, $40,000 to encapsulate and paint the asbestos dome, $8,000 for flooring, $7,000 for conduit and wiring, and $6,000 to rebuild the lighting trough. Asbestos encapsulation means sealing the material in place rather than removing it. The yearly cost is $90,000 for one full-time teacher, $10,500 for busing (two round trips a day for 150 days at $70 a day) and $12,000 for a maintenance agreement.

For scale, the district's 2026-27 General Fund budget, adopted June 30, totals $158,742,103 and carries a 1.90 percent tax increase, to 33.31 mills in both Berks and Montgomery counties. Where school taxes sit on a Berks property tax bill is explained in our guide to how the bill is split.

Who pays, and what is still unknown

The motion directs the administration and solicitor to negotiate binding agreements with two 501(c)(3) nonprofits. The Foundation for Boyertown Education's "proposed donation" is "$250,000 ($50,000 per year over five consecutive years)." The foundation's website says it "is dedicated to enhancing educational opportunities and enriching the learning experiences of students throughout the Boyertown Area School District." The second group, Stellar Dreams, has a "proposed donation of up to $100,000 (on a payment schedule to be determined)." The motion identifies it only as a 501(c)(3) and spells its name both "Stellar Dreams" and "Stellar Dream's"; the presentation calls it "Stellar Dream" and says it "Will work to acquire donations totaling at least $100,000," where the motion says "up to $100,000." Berks Beat found no website for the group, and a ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer search of IRS filings on Monday listed no organization by that name in Pennsylvania; that database may not yet list a newly formed group.

In return, the agreements would cover naming rights for the facility "proposed at a minimum of ten years," and Stellar Dreams' after-school use of the dome for "programming and visual productions" at a rate "proposed at $150 per hour," with background-check, insurance and clawback terms if either group fails to meet its financial or operational commitments.

Even if both donations arrive in full, they total $350,000 against a construction estimate that tops out at $467,635, and the foundation's money comes in over five years. The motion requires a "funding gap analysis" before the board votes on any contract, identifying "any remaining funding gap to be borne by the District." Neither the motion nor the presentation names a source for that gap, beyond the presentation's note of "Estimated $300/400,000" in "Upfront District Expenditures."

The calendar

The motion sets deadlines, all requiring a public majority vote: funding agreements and bid specifications to the board by Dec. 15, 2026; equipment purchases, with a written justification for any sole-source buy, by Jan. 15, 2027; and all final bids and contracts by Jan. 31, 2027. Construction must be bid under the Public School Code and the Separations Act, a state law that requires separate contracts for general construction, HVAC, plumbing and electrical work. Before any bid goes out, the administration must present an updated asbestos inspection and management plan. The administration must also report progress in writing at every regular meeting. The presentation's timeline has demolition in spring or summer 2027.

The project has a longer history than the fall minutes show. The presentation's timeline slide dates consultant visits, facility reviews and "Revenue Seeking Plans" to October 2024 through December 2025 and lists a board workshop in January 2026. On BoardDocs, the plan was presented Aug. 25 and listed for discussion at the Sept. 8 committee of the whole, where the minutes note one scheduled speaker on "Funding for Planetarium" who "left before the comment period." Neither set of minutes records what board members said. The Oct. 13 committee meeting, the first regular meeting after the vote, has no Learning Dome item on its agenda or in its minutes.

Other votes

Everything else passed 9-0, except as noted.

• Stage rigging. A $73,445 quote from Sapsis Rigging of Primos, Pa., to repair the fire safety curtain and manual counterweight linesets in the high school auditorium, per the quote dated Aug. 28.
• Chiller fan. A $24,200 Johnson Controls quote to replace the variable frequency drive on Chiller 3 at the high school, per the proposal.
• Roof credit. A credit change order on the Boyertown Elementary HVAC and roof project. The minutes describe it as a credit "for disposal costs paid by the District in the amount of $5.450." The attached change order shows a $44,820 credit from EA Roofing Co.: $39,370 for an unused material allowance plus $5,450 for Casella dumpster invoices the district paid directly, taking the roofing contract from $2,411,970 to $2,367,150. The minutes and the attachment do not match, and nothing in the record explains the difference.
• Consent agenda. Second-reading adoption of 15 policy and administrative-regulation items numbered 116 through 123.2, covering tutoring, homebound instruction, independent study, current events, field trips, extracurriculars, athletics, concussions and sudden cardiac arrest, effective Sept. 22; Middle School West's production of "Disney's Aladdin Jr.," March 12-14, 2027; winter and spring athletic bid awards; and "Special Education Settlement Agreements, as presented," with no amounts in the minutes, the agenda, or the Oct. 13 meeting where they were discussed again.
• Minutes. The Sept. 8 committee minutes passed 8-1, with Neiman the lone no. The Oct. 13 vote approving the Sept. 22 minutes was also 8-1, Neiman voting no.
• The August treasurer's report, marked draft, and the personnel list.

The meeting ran from 7:04 to 7:30 p.m.

What comes next

The board meets Tuesday, Oct. 27, at the Education Center, 911 Montgomery Ave., Boyertown: Facilities Committee at 6 p.m., Legislative meeting at 7 p.m., per the Oct. 13 minutes. As of Monday morning no agenda for either meeting was posted on BoardDocs. Under the motion, the administration owes the board a written progress report at every regular meeting. The district's board calendar lists a Nov. 24 Legislative meeting and a Dec. 1 reorganization meeting, then nothing until Jan. 12, 2027, so the nonprofit agreements and bid documents due "on or before December 15" would have to reach the board by Dec. 1 unless a special meeting is called. The Jan. 15 equipment deadline leaves the Jan. 12 committee meeting, and the Jan. 31 contracts deadline the Jan. 26 Legislative meeting.

Berks Beat last covered this board when it appointed Szczurowski to a Region 2 seat in August. For other Berks districts weighing building work this fall, see Muhlenberg's $103,584 asbestos change order and Reading's auditorium renovation.

Sources

• Sept. 22, 2026 Legislative Meeting minutes, BoardDocs (meeting id DUHMVW5D1839; approved 8-1 on Oct. 13)
• Motion on Learning Dome (002).pdf, attached to item 10.A
• BASD Aug 26 Planetarium Learning Dome Presentation.pdf, attached to the Aug. 25 and Sept. 8 agendas
• Aug. 25 Legislative, Sept. 8 Committee of the Whole, Oct. 13 Committee of the Whole, June 30 Special Meeting and Dec. 2, 2025 Reorganization minutes, BoardDocs
• Sapsis Rigging quote, Johnson Controls quote, Change Order RC-CO-001, August treasurer's report and personnel agenda
• Administration & Contacts and School Board pages, boyertownasd.org
• Foundation for Boyertown Education; ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer search for "stellar dreams"
• Board contact: Boyertown Area School District Education Center, 911 Montgomery Ave., Boyertown, PA 19512; 610-367-6031; basdschoolboard@boyertownasd.org