Tulpehocken Board Votes on Police Deal, Ending Grad Project

The Tulpehocken Area School Board votes Tuesday on a new contract to buy police services from Tulpehocken Township starting Jan. 1, 2027, and on dropping the graduation project that students have had to complete to earn a diploma. The Nov. 17 agenda, a four-page PDF posted Friday in the district's agendas folder, prints no price for the police contract and attaches no document. The meeting is at 7 p.m. in the District Office Board Room.

The same agenda gives final approval to ten board policies, including one on school security personnel, splits the high school wrestling program into boys' and girls' teams, approves a $4,103.14 roofing change order and accepts two retirements.

A police contract with no posted price

Item 9.0.1.B reads, in full: "Approve the contract between Tulpehocken Area School District and Tulpehocken Township Police Department for Police Services, effective January 01, 2027." That is the whole record on the district's side. No contract, term, hourly rate or yearly total is attached or posted anywhere in the agendas folder.

The item is not new to this agenda. The Nov. 3 work-session agenda carried the same sentence as item 9.B under "Items for Board Action." The district's meeting dates page says every scheduled meeting, work sessions included, "shall be voting meetings to conduct any business that comes before the board," so the board could have acted on Nov. 3. Whether it did is not on the record: the Nov. 3 minutes are up for approval Tuesday (item 3.2) and are not posted, and the district's minutes folder ends at the Oct. 6 work session.

The township's own minutes fill in some of what the district's agenda leaves out. Tulpehocken Township's police department already bills the district by the hour. The supervisors' Nov. 12, 2025 minutes record that "The current hourly rate being charged to Marion Township and Tulpehocken Area School District for Police Services is $85.50," and that after reviewing "a new reporting system and cruiser" and other costs the board passed a motion "to increase the hourly rate for police services to $91.00 effective January 1, 2026" unanimously, then voted 3-0 to send letters to both customers "for their acceptance" (p. 3). On June 10, 2026, the supervisors authorized their chairman to sign a "Memorandum of Understanding between the Tulpehocken Police and Tulpehocken Area School District for the 2026/2027 School Year," per those minutes (p. 2). The district's agenda calls Tuesday's document a contract, not a memorandum, and does not say how it relates to the school-year arrangement.

A rate increase for 2027 has been under discussion on the township side. The supervisors' Sept. 16 budget minutes list "Increasing the rate to charge for Police Services" among the changes discussed for the 2027 general fund (p. 1), and their Oct. 14 agenda carried "2027 Rates for Police Services," as our Nov. 11 preview reported. What the township decided is unposted: its minutes page still ends at Sept. 16, and the Nov. 11 agenda lists, under staff reports, a "Police Department Report" with one sub-item, "Equipment Repairs and purchases," and no school-district item. The township's other police customer, Marion Township, saw its yearly fee set to rise from $65,520 to $70,560 on Jan. 1, per our Marion preview. The scale of the district's bill can be read from the township's monthly police reports, which print the district's hours in a table. The May 2026 report in the June 10 minutes lists "TULPEHOCKEN AREA SCHOOL DIST. 41.5" hours (p. 2); the October 2025 report in the Nov. 12, 2025 minutes lists 48.25 (p. 2). By our arithmetic, assuming the $91 hourly rate applied to every one of those hours, 41.5 hours in May 2026 would have billed $3,776.50; at the old $85.50 rate, 48.25 hours in October 2025 would have billed about $4,125.38. Marion's new fee works out to $5,880 a month, by our arithmetic from the yearly figure in our Marion story. Hours vary by month, and school is out for part of the year, so neither month stands for a yearly total. What is missing is the 2027 rate and the yearly cost, and the contract itself is a public record that residents can request from either government under the Right-to-Know Law; our guide explains how.

Ending the graduation project

Item 9.0.1.C reads: "Approve the elimination of the Graduation Project as a graduation requirement for students of the Tulpehocken Area School District, as presented to the board. Students will have the option to continue the Graduation Project for credit through the end of the 2027-2028 school year. The number of credits required for graduation will now be 25."

The proposal grew out of a discussion the board held Oct. 6. Those minutes record that Superintendent Dr. Andrew Netznik "asked the Board for feedback regarding whether the District should continue requiring graduation projects. He noted that graduation projects are not a state requirement and require additional District resources, including teacher compensation and staffing for Saturday morning presentations." Board member Jennifer Kester, the minutes say, expressed interest in "a more meaningful experience for students, noting that the current graduation project has moved away from its original intended purpose," and Harry Fox "questioned how the current requirement benefits students and suggested placing greater emphasis on practical skills, including financial literacy and everyday life skills." Director of Teaching and Learning Kylene Sanders "shared that Personal Finance is now a required course for graduates beginning this school year." The board asked the administration to "explore options for restructuring the current graduation project requirement, including the possibility of incorporating components of a graduation project and/or community service" and bring back a proposal (p. 2). The agenda says the proposal was "presented to the board"; the Nov. 3 agenda listed a "Graduation Project Update" under the superintendent's report, and no written proposal is posted.

On the cost side, the July 21 minutes list a supplemental contract for a "Graduation Project Coordinator" at $2,692 for 2026-27 (p. 10). The agenda does not say how many credits graduation requires today, so the size of the change to 25 cannot be read from it.

The state's rule matches what the superintendent said. Pennsylvania's graduation regulation, 22 Pa. Code § 4.24, says requirements "through the 2021-2022 school year must include course completion and grades, completion of a culminating project," local assessments and a proficiency showing. The requirements it sets "beginning in the 2022-2023 school year" list course completion and grades and demonstrations of proficiency in the state standards, and the culminating project does not appear in that list. The regulation sets a floor ("at minimum, include"), so a district may keep a project if it chooses. It also sets the next step if the board votes yes: under § 4.24(a), "Changes to high school graduation requirements shall be published and distributed to students, parents and guardians and made available in each school building or on each school entity's publicly accessible web site immediately following approval by the governing board."

The timing is tight for this year's seniors. The agenda's calendar lists "Saturday, November 21, 2026 - Graduation Project Presentations," four days after the vote; the Oct. 20 agenda listed presentations on Oct. 17 as well. The agenda does not say what happens to students scheduled to present Nov. 21 if the requirement ends Nov. 17, beyond the line that students "will have the option to continue the Graduation Project for credit" through 2027-28.

Ten policies up for final approval

Item 9.4.1 gives "the second reading and final approval" to these policies, listed as printed: #102 Academic Standard; #105 Curriculum; #204.1 Virtual Attendance and Wellness Checks; #209 Health Examinations/Screenings; #246 School Wellness; #249 Bullying/Cyberbullying; #704 Maintenance; #803 School Calendar; #805.2 School Security Personnel; and #822 Automated External Defibrillator (AED)/Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR). This board's agendas show it handling policies in two readings at separate meetings, with the second reading carrying the final approval.

The list was first presented Oct. 6, when the minutes say the first-reading motion "was recognized and will be voted on at the October 20, 2026, meeting" (p. 4). The first reading came Oct. 20, when the agenda said the board intended "to give second reading and final approval on November 17, 2026." The Nov. 3 work-session agenda listed the second reading too, under item 7.A. The policy texts are not attached to any of the three agendas, so what changes in #805.2, the policy governing school security personnel, cannot be read from the public record.

Roofing, wrestling and personnel

Item 9.2.1 approves a change order to Lobar Construction Services Inc. "for COR -117: Costs associated with the replacement of wet ½" HD board and installation of new tapered insulation & TPO on 12 ft. x 12 ft. section of reroof area in the amount of $4,103.14." The agenda does not name the building. The Nov. 3 work-session agenda carried the identical change order as item 3.A, so, as with the police contract, the board could have acted on it then; no Nov. 3 minutes are posted. The next line is also numbered 9.2.1: "Bethel Roofing Discussion – Mr. Matthew Shirk," the district's chief operating officer per the Oct. 6 minutes. The agenda gives no detail of that discussion. The board approved three earlier Lobar change orders July 21, for $3,014.75, $6,607.65 and $2,238.08 (p. 4 of those minutes).

Item 9.7.1 would "Approve the separation of the High School Wrestling Program into two distinct teams, designated as the Boys High School Wrestling Team and the Girls High School Wrestling Team, with both teams continuing under the leadership of the same Head Coach."

Under personnel (9.8.1), the board accepts the retirements of Suzanne Hamrick, a seventh-grade English language arts teacher at the middle school, effective at the end of the 2026-27 school year, and Sherry Wessner, "Human Resources Specialist – Payroll & Benefits," effective Jan. 15, 2027, and the resignation of Corbie Boltz, an autistic support paraeducator at Bethel Elementary, effective Nov. 18. It hires Randa Parmer as a long-term substitute third-grade teacher at Penn-Bernville Elementary at a salary of $60,568, Step B1, and Patty Daley as Coordinator of Food Services Operations at $30 an hour, effective Nov. 18; the agenda says that "employment will be through ESS." A third line gives Andrea Kreiser, as "Coordinator of Food Services Programming and Innovation," an "additional hourly rate of $7.69, effective November 18, 2027." That is the year as printed, on the first line of the agenda's fourth page; the only other food-service date on the agenda, Daley's, is Nov. 18, 2026, on page 3. The Nov. 3 agenda and the district's homepage list Kreiser as executive assistant to the superintendent. Two substitutes and two volunteers round out the list.

Elsewhere: item 7.A is a "Central Office Goal Presentation" by the superintendent; item 9.0.1.A approves "the Sophomore Class trip to Washington D.C. as presented at the November 03, 2026, board meeting," where it was a discussion item with no cost listed; item 3.0 approves the Oct. 20 and Nov. 3 minutes, neither posted; and item 4.0 approves October's financial reports, none attached. There is no Act 1 tax-cap resolution and no electricity contract on this agenda, two items that have filled other Berks school agendas this month, including Governor Mifflin's Monday meeting.

How to attend

The meeting is Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 7 p.m. in the District Office Board Room; the agenda prints no street address, and the district's homepage lists its office at 27 Rehrersburg Road, Bethel, PA 19507, phone 717-933-4611. Under Board Policy #006, printed on the agenda, members of the public may speak for up to five minutes each; item 6.0 takes comment on agenda items and item 12.0 takes general comment near the end. Anyone recording the meeting must say so before it starts. The board's next meeting is its Dec. 1 reorganization at 7 p.m. The district serves Bethel, Jefferson, Penn and Tulpehocken townships and Bernville; our guide explains how to confirm which district a home is in.