The Bellwood-Antis School Board met Tuesday evening and held a reorganization meeting called to order by current president Kenneth Loucks who stated that the board was meeting for the purposes of reorganization under appropriate sections of Article IV of the Schools Laws of Pennsylvania as amended.
During the brief meeting, Kenneth Loucks was voted to remain president of the B-A School Board, and Donna Tyler was elected to remain as vice president.
The 2003 meeting dates were set, along with a review of committee assignments. Board member Dave Worthing was placed on the Legislation committee by the board.
Following the reorganization meeting, the B-A School Board went directly into its monthly board meeting. The board accepted the resignation, with regret, of Pat Detterbeck as Federal Programs Supervisors, Curriculum Coordinator and Grant Writer effective January 2, 2003 with the understanding that he will return for at least five days if needed.
“Pat’s been with the district for 30 years and he has provided invaluable service to us in the areas of testing and testing coordination, as well as Title I, federal programs and grant writing,” said B-A Middle School Principal Robert Fisher. “He’s worn many hats for us and he’s going to be difficult to replace.”
Fisher continued, “We certainly wish him the best, but it is a big loss for us.”
At present, Detterbeck’s position has not yet been advertised, but Fisher stated that it will be in the near future. The board approved to increase Steve Conlon’s day for one period, which is 1/5 at a salary of $5,880 prorated effective January 2, 2003. This time, effective until the end of the present school year, will cover the Title I math support for fifth grade currently being taught by Detterbeck.
The school board approved Philip Reigh as an auditorium consultant for the renovation of the auditorium at the high school. The agreement with Reigh is at a rate of $50 per hour not to exceed $2000 to provide professional services necessary to provide L.R. Kimball with a layout of the sound, lighting, and electrical requirements.
“That was a recommendation from the administration and Choral Director Dick Bowers since Dick has worked with Phil Reigh before,” said board member Dennis Minori. “We were either having Kimball do it in house or have us do it out of house, and we decided since he’s worked with him and Dick feels comfortable with Phil that would be the best way to go.”
Minori continued, “I think it’s a good thing because it puts Dick and the ones who are going to be using the auditorium connected to the decision making process, rather than just putting it into the hands of the architect.”
The school board also approved L.R. Kimball & Associates to provide asbestos consulting services for materials that may be impacted by the planned renovation to the B-A High School auditorium at an estimated cost of $2150.
Board members amended Policy #405 and increased the amount paid to long-term substitutes from 70 percent to 80 percent of the beginning teacher’s salary for those working less than 90 days, and from 80 percent to 90 percent for those working more than 90 days. This goes into effect December 9, 2002.
“It’s difficult to get qualified long-term subs in some areas and we expect long-term subs to perform all the duties of a regular teacher,” said Fisher. “So increasing that will hopefully help us grow better and more qualified candidates.”
Technology Coordinator Mike Lingenfelter presented to the board the newly updated and designed website for the B-A School District. Webmaster Jamie Forshey designed the site and Lingenfelter and an intern from this past summer collaborated on ideas.
“Jaime Forshey did a lot of the leg work, background work, and she obviously did all the production work on the website,” said Lingenfelter. “We’re trying to address the needs of the people who visit our site and trying to get all those together is quite an undertaking, but I think the results speak for themselves.”
The new website is very inviting and it is designed to make a visitor stay and explore and look at Bellwood-Antis. Lingenfelter said that they’ve always been trying to put out more information out to the parents, such as the ParentLink program that has been successful, and he sees this as an extension to that.
“In the future I want a web portal where parents can log in and be able to see past report cards or compare reading scores and things like that so parents can become more involved in the educational process,” said Lingenfelter.
He added, “I want the parents to have the information that they obviously have available to them, but make it much more convenient, and maybe there will be some input they can give us to help their student achieve greater success.”
A person can log in to the new site by typing in Bellwood-Antis School District in mostly all search engines.
In other business:
• Certificates were handed out to honor the B-A boy’s Cross Country team who were Mountain Conference champions this year for the first time since the program was established 10 years ago. The team’s record was 11-1.
• The board approved Crystal Orsino as the bus driver for D6P at a rate of $10.65 per hour effective December 4, 2002. Orsino is also a full time van driver and will continue in that capacity.
• Job descriptions were set by the board for Musical Stage Manager, Set Construction & Lighting Engineer, as well as Assistant Stage Crew and Advisor. The board can now advertise for these jobs.
