Exeter School Board Set to Reject Radio Bids Over Grant Gap

The Exeter Township School District wants to replace its two-way radios district-wide, but the money is not there yet. On Tuesday, Oct. 20, the school board is scheduled to vote to "reject all proposals received in response to the Wireless Radio Request for Proposals (RFP), pursuant to District Procurement Policy and applicable state bidding statutes, due to insufficient grant funding and unfavorable pricing that exceeds established state contract standards," according to the Oct. 20 voting meeting agenda (item 9.A).

The agenda does not say how many proposals came in, who submitted them, what they cost, or how big the gap is. An information item on the Oct. 6 Committee of the Whole agenda described the project as "a district-wide two-way radio (walkie-talkie) replacement system," funded "in whole or in part through a Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) School Safety Grant," covering hardware, installation, programming, infrastructure upgrades and FCC licensing. Neither agenda gives the grant amount or says what comes next. Rejecting every proposal would leave the district to rebid, buy off a state contract or wait; the agenda does not say which.

The same meeting would approve a $25,000 pool rental from the Reading School District and promote an English teacher to senior high assistant principal at a prorated $96,500. The district serves Exeter Township and St. Lawrence borough and is a separate government from Exeter Township, whose supervisors put their Emergency Services Center out to bid in September.

The pool deal with Reading, revised

The attached facilities license agreement rents the basement pool at 1700 City Line Ave., Reading, from the Reading School District. Exeter would pay a $25,000 license fee within 30 days of signing for weekday use from 6 to 9:30 p.m., Nov. 9 through no later than March 14, 2027, for practice by the boys and girls swimming and diving teams, about 45 athletes (pp. 1-2); weekend or holiday use would cost extra by the hour. The agreement is dated Sept. 23, 2026, the same date as the Reading board's meeting that approved $3.65 million in auditorium contracts, though nothing in the record shows the Reading board acted on this license; the posted copy is unsigned (p. 5).

It is not the version the board saw two weeks ago. The copy attached to the Oct. 6 Committee of the Whole agenda was dated Sept. 2, covered the boys' and girls' water polo teams as well as swimming and diving, ran from Oct. 14 through both the fall and winter seasons, allowed 6 to 9 p.m., and stated the fee as "Forty Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00)" (pp. 1-2). The Oct. 20 version drops water polo, starts Nov. 9, adds the half hour and prints the fee consistently. Neither agenda explains the changes, including where the water polo team, whose fall season is under way, has been practicing; the payment list on the same agenda includes a $180 "varsity water polo" fee to Wilson School District (p. 5), a $206 annual league fee to PA Scholastic Water Polo Inc. (p. 15) and a $135 water polo tournament fee to Pennridge School District (p. 17).

The teachers union and coaching contracts

A labor agreement from the board's Oct. 6 special voting meeting is now posted in full. Item 4.F on the Oct. 6 agenda recommended approving a memorandum of understanding with the Exeter Township Education Association, the teachers union, "regarding extra duty contracts." The five-page MOU explains the dispute. The district's Athletic Department Employment Contract for coaches took effect in July 2026; with a separate Club Advisor Contract, the MOU calls them the "Extra Duty Contracts." The forms call the job "at-will" and "not subject to or governed by any collective bargaining agreement," and tie pay to a "Board-approved Athletics Stipend Guide." The union president objected on behalf of teachers who coach (pp. 1-2).

The MOU settles it in the union's favor for its members, without the district admitting wrongdoing. For teachers in the bargaining unit, the contract running July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2029, controls: coaching pay follows the contract's Extracurricular Salary Schedule, not the stipend guide; the at-will language does not apply; and removal follows the contract's progressive framework, under which a coach with an unsatisfactory evaluation can be frozen on the pay scale for a year and a second one is cause for non-renewal (pp. 2-3). Coaches outside the teachers union's bargaining unit stay at-will under the stipend guide (p. 3). The district says it intends to revise the forms and will give the union a chance to review them first, and both sides agreed the MOU "shall not serve as precedent" (p. 4). The posted copy, with signature lines for Superintendent Dr. Christy Haller and ETEA President Mark A. Ricketts, is unsigned (pp. 4-5).

Whether the board approved the MOU on Oct. 6 is not yet in the written record. The district posts minutes as attachments to the next voting agenda (the Sept. 15 minutes are on this one), so the Oct. 6 minutes are not expected before the Nov. 17 meeting; BoardDocs has video of Oct. 6. The draft Sept. 15 minutes, up for approval Oct. 20, record an 8-0 vote on a separate "Grievance Settlement Agreement" with the union, with no details (p. 11).

The money at stake is on the same agenda: the attached winter coaches list totals $126,301 in stipends for 2026-27 (pp. 1-2).

A new assistant principal

The personnel consent agenda (item 8.A) would move Kaleigh Stewart from English teacher to assistant principal at the senior high school at a prorated salary of $96,500, start date to be determined. She would fill the job Heather Mills is leaving; Mills' resignation, effective Nov. 13, was on the Oct. 6 agenda alongside a "Separation and Release Agreement for Employee #202599." The agenda does not say whether the two are related.

Also up for approval: a long-term substitute art teacher at Reiffton at a prorated $57,935 from Nov. 16 through the end of the school year, and a confidential secretary for payroll at $22.75 an hour.

Also on the agenda

• A special education tuition agreement with Weiser Decisions for one student at $342.98 a day, $61,736.40 for the year (item 7.C).
• A PowerSchool amendment adding Schoology / PowerBuddy for students "at zero cost," and a senior high music trip to Walt Disney World in December 2027 at about $2,000 per student, paid by families (item 7.C).
• A one-year GenServe maintenance agreement for the district's standby generators at $8,470 plus fuel surcharges (p. 2), and disposal of unused senior high science textbooks (item 10.A).
• Cooperative sponsorships with Berks Catholic High School for boys and girls bowling this winter and boys volleyball in spring 2027 (items 12.A and 12.B).
• The September treasurer's report and general fund payments of $2,950,599.75 (p. 1).
• The Sept. 15 minutes, which also record a 7-1 vote, Jason Mell opposed, for a $29.50-an-hour contract with Security Care, Inc. for security at sporting events, after a 6-2 straw poll against requiring background checks and clearances for the agents (pp. 13-14); a revised statement of work at $31.50 an hour per agent, which says clearances will be provided before an agent is posted, was on the Oct. 6 agenda.

How to attend

The voting meeting is Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 7 p.m. in the Administration Boardroom, per the agenda header; the district's board page says meetings are held at the Lausch Administration Building, 200 Elm St., Reading. Among the items the agenda prints in bold are the radio rejection, Stewart's promotion and the GenServe contract; its legend defines bold as items added or changed since the Oct. 6 workshop. The agenda sets two public comment periods: item 4, for agenda items only, before any votes, and item 18, for any topic, at the end. It prints no time limit. The district office is 610-779-0700; the district's board page lists the nine directors, and meeting video is posted on the district's YouTube channel. Most items sit on consent agendas, so one vote covers each list unless a member pulls an item.

Agendas and minutes are on the district's BoardDocs portal; the board normally meets the first Tuesday of the month at 6 p.m. as a Committee of the Whole and the third Tuesday at 7 p.m. to vote. Budget season follows: under the state Act 1 timeline reviewed Oct. 6, the district must publish a 2027-28 preliminary budget or pass a resolution promising not to raise taxes above its state index by Jan. 28, 2027 (p. 1). Exeter's 2026 school tax rate is 38.298 mills, per our guide to property tax rates by municipality.