College-minded students in Northern Blair County no longer have to worry about those long trips to the SAT tests on Saturday mornings. Beginning later this year, they’ll be available right here in the back yard.
Last evening, the Curriculum Committee Chairperson Rhonda Hocutt moved to approve a recommendation from Donald Wagner to approve the Bellwood-Antis High School as a test site for the Scholastic Aptitude Test.
Wagner, the Test Center supervisor, said the program is probationary and will be structured for 50 or 100 students. The test will be offered on Dec. 6 and March 27, 2004.
“Having a testing center here will be more convenient for our students,” said Wagner. “It will also be a little less intimidating. It’s easier to take a test like this in a smaller place rather than in a larger place like Altoona.
“We’ll also get the students from the surrounding areas who don’t want to drive so far for the test.”
The board also approved the hiring of a secondary Social Studies teacher. Prior to the meeting, the school board interviewed three perspective candidates for the position. Directors said all three candidates had good interviews.
The board gave the nod to Stephanie Bruner at a salary of $29,400. She’ll begin on Aug. 25.
In other business, the board:
• approved Dr. Jason Henninger hiring as the athletic physician for the 2003-04 school year. This includes the charge of $6 per physical and $100 per home varsity football game;
• awarded the bid for the demolition of the Myers house, Myers garage and the Beam house to Earthmovers Unlimited in the amount of $6,345;
• approved the list of accredited seniors for graduation with the stipulation that all requirements are met, as presented by the administration;
• approved the Alternative Education Purchase of Service Agreement with Adelphoi Village;
• approved joining an alternative education consortium with Tyrone Area School District to seek grants for alternative education;
• approved the rates for Highmark-Blue Cross/Blue Shield, major medical and prescription drug coverage. The average rate increase for all the various groups is 25 percent over the 2002-03 rates;
• approved that M&T Bank, First Commonwealth Bank and Pennsylvania Local Government Investment Trust be appointed as depositories for the Bellwood-Antis School District for the 2003-04 fiscal year and that collateral be established on a pooled basis in accordance with Act 73 of 1971;
• accepted the low bids, as specified, for general supplies, custodial supplies, art supplies and instructional equipment in the amount of $67,517.57 for the 2003-04 school year;
• approved the lowest responsible bid of $54,950 from Allegheny Trucks Inc. for a new 2003, 72-passenger school bus;
• approved the 2003-04 Greater Altoona Career and Technology Center budget in the amount of $6,989,783. The district share of the budget includes: education, $170,764; Capital Lease I, $4,756.85; Capital Lease II, $9,435.07; and Computer Network for student management software, $42,153.78;
• tabled the awarding of a track resurfacing bid until the June meeting;
• appointed Faith Riling as school board treasurer for the 2003-04 school year at a stipend of $532.77;
• appointed Dave Andrews of Andrews, Wagner and Beard as the district solicitor and labor attorney at the rate of $95 hour;
• approved the following additional volunteers for the Camp Blue Diamond Environmental Trip: Sandy Beech, Laura Shawley, Angie Yasultis and Pamela O’Shea;
• approved a sabbatical leave for medical reasons for John Gohol III beginning Feb. 7, 2003 (1/2 day) and continuing for the remainder of the 2002-03 school year;
• approved Janice Cook to provide five hours of homebound instruction for a fourth grade student for the remainder of the school year at a rate of $24.18 per hour;
• approved Gail Reitz for two hours, Sally Padula for two hours and Brandon Hescox for one hour per week to provide homebound instruction for a 12th grade student for the remainder of the school year at a rate of $24.18 per hour;
• approved the resignation of Ron Miller, bus driver, for purposes of retirement effective June 6;
• approved Jamie Lewis as a substitute teacher for the 2002-03 school year. Jamie’s certification is special education. She has all necessary clearances;
• approved the request from Janice Stehley for unpaid family medical leave for 20 (intermittent) days during the period from Nov. 2002 to April 2003 and additional days as needed during May and June 2003 as per her physician’s statement;
• approved 36 days unpaid leave for Amy Zettle from April 3 through May 23 as per her physician’s statement;
• approved 32 days unpaid leave for Christine Diehl from March 25 through May 8 as per her physician’s statement;
• authorized the Webmaster, Jamie Forshey, an additional 144 hours or an annual total of 360 hours for the 2002-03 school year and thereafter place the Webmaster on a salary based on the calculation of 1.2 times annual salary;
• approved Cathy Dixon as a personal care aide for a seventh grade student beginning May 12 and for the remainder of the 2002-03 school year;
• announced Yun Gority has successfully bid into a full-time custodial position effective May 6;
• announced Susan Kovensky and 17 students attended a field trip to visit The Daily Herald in Tyrone and then the Huntingdon office where they had a chance to witness the actual printing of a newspaper. The trip was held April 9;
• announced Judy Dorezas attended the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in Washington, DC on April 11 and 12;
• received correspondence from William Miller, Tyrone Area School District superintendent, on the varsity boy’s basketball team winning the District VI Championship and its PIAA playoff success;
•received a letter of praise for the Read to Succeed program from a parent with a child that has greatly benefited from the programs.
