The Franklin Regional School Board on April 22 approved a bundle of contracts, capital purchases and program agreements that district administrators said are budgeted or previously authorized in the district’s five‑year capital plan.

Custodial and facilities: The board approved a five‑year agreement with Fagan for custodial supplies and related consultation, a buffered deal the district says yields recurring savings (an estimated 10% annual savings on liners and ~20% on hand soap/sanitizer) and provides universal dispensers, staff training and software‑based Envirologics asset management services at no additional recurring software cost. The board also approved purchases already included in the 2025–26 capital plan: eight upright cordless vacuums, eight backpack vacuums (with replacement batteries), a replacement Bobcat for grounds work, selected furniture for libraries and schools, one new wrestling mat for the middle school, and district‑wide paving and sidewalk work focused on the high‑school/middle‑school campus.

Technology and safety: The board approved replacement uninterruptible power supplies for servers and switches, the purchase of district digital signage to complete an in‑building signage rollout (administrators said the signage will tie into the security system and ultimately allow district‑wide emergency messaging), and replacement Chromebooks as part of the one‑to‑one fleet (administration said they are switching to a new Lenovo model expected to be more durable and more readily available).

Special‑education and student services: The board approved continuing the annual agreement with the Children’s Institute and new agreements to obtain deaf/hard‑of‑hearing services ($125/hour) and audiological services ($160/hour) through an alternate provider after the intermediate unit announced large rate increases. Administrators said the new provider offers a large substitute pool and supervised services similar to prior vendors.

Staffing and partnerships: The board approved a memorandum of agreement with Penn State to accept field students and student teachers through June 30, 2029, and approved an additional medical staffing agreement with Dedicated Nurses Associates (DNA) to expand the district’s pool of substitute nurses and health‑room assistants.

Procurement and fuel: As part of the Westmoreland Intermediate Unit (WIU) and Joint Purchasing Consortium, the board approved the WIU general operating budget (Franklin Regional’s share: $27,391) and accepted low bids for unleaded gasoline ($2.062/gal) and diesel fuel ($2.3295/gal) from Guttman Energy for the coming school year.

Board members and administrators repeatedly noted that many of the purchases were preapproved in the district’s capital plan. During public comment, a resident asked about the cumulative total of capital‑reserve and technology items; administrators said the cordless vacuums and many purchases were budgeted and would not increase the capital plan beyond what the board had previously approved.

Votes at a glance: Consent agenda items 1–32 were approved by voice vote (aye). Consent agenda item 33 was approved with one abstention (recorded as one abstention in the minutes; individual abstainer not specified in the public transcript). The WIU general operating budget was approved by roll call (Franklin Regional share $27,391); the roll call in the transcript recorded “Yes” votes from board members in attendance. The Joint Purchasing Consortium fuel awards were approved by roll call; recorded votes in the transcript were unanimous among voters present.

Administrators said many contracts and purchases will be implemented this summer; staff noted timelines for digital signage installation (targeted for completion in June) and for the paving and signage projects. Several board members thanked staff for packaging preapproved capital items in the recommended procurement schedule.