Two Upper Perkiomen School Board members opposed an action item to spend $29,500 for work at the high school. Monica Oswald and Peg Pennepacker voted against the measure to pay for the installation of lab furniture during last week's regular meeting.

            Oswald cited a failure by district administrators to follow established board procedures and protocols as the reason she and Pennepacker voted against the measure. In an email message from the new member, described as a joint statement, Oswald wrote that the board received an email from administration stating that they, and board President Melanie Cunningham, had approved a $29,500 change order so the work could be scheduled.

            Paige Konopelsky expressed her opposition to the process of approving the installation before voting for the measure on Jan. 8. She said it feels like a "governmental red flag" to vote on something that has already been completed.

            The work – initially planned for completion over the summer as part of the asbestos removal project – was completed by the end of December, according to Oswald's message received Monday. It states that the change order was not included on the Dec. 1 board meeting agenda.

            The business that provided the material and completed the work – Office Environments, of Bristol – submitted an invoice to the district with a Dec. 1, 2025 date. Konopelsky asserted that the decision to approve installation was made outside of a meeting without the proper correspondence to board members.

           "I'm not claiming anything nefarious occurred," she said prior to the vote. "I would like better procedures in the future for similar issues. 

            Konopelsky described the idea of allowing one person to decide on the work as a misrepresentation of authority. She said she would have liked to discuss certain outstanding procedural issues over a Zoom meeting.

            The board would have needed to advertise a special public meeting – with at least one day's notice – in order to vote on the matter, according to Solicitor Bethany L. O'Neill. Cunningham said the timing would have been challenging since it would have occurred around Thanksgiving weekend.

            Superintendent Allyn Roche told the members that, in hindsight, administrators could have decided not to approve the work or communicated better with them. He said district officials waited four months to complete the work.

            "This was a unique situation. [We didn't want to] miss a window to get it done," Roche said. "We'll continue to drive things like this through [the] committee [process]."

            Oswald asked the superintendent why the issue wasn't considered during the Dec. 1 meeting. Roche told her the administrators didn't have the paperwork to present.

            In personnel news, the board voted to accept the retroactive resignations of Lori Vazquez, a food service worker, and Faith Kiefer, a cafeteria/playground aide. It also voted on three professional appointments.
            Two of them – Rachel Raftis, a school counselor and Joshua Goldstein, a long-term substitute Spanish teacher – took effect last week. The other – Adam Dickey, a long-term substitute teacher for middle school science – takes effect on Jan. 19, according to the meeting agenda language.

            The board also voted to appoint support staff employees. They hired Amanda Brandis, a job coach, retroactive to Dec. 17, and Tracy Michalski, an existing employee, as a part-time food service worker, effective Jan. 20.

            The members also approved leaves for four employees: Rachel Schmeckenbecher through March 31, Stacy Sterrett through Jan. 11, Ashley Heckard through Feb. 16 and Sheri Grennille, intermittently, retroactive to Nov. 1, 2025. 

            Member Trina Schaarschmidt participated in the meeting via Zoom.

            The board met in executive session immediately prior to the public meeting to discuss a confidential student matter, according to Solicitor O'Neill.