New lights, resignations and a little cat hiding somewhere were the major topics of discussion at last evening\u2019s meeting of the Tyrone Area School Board of Directors, which was dominated with routine business.
\nDirectors unanimously voted to award a low bid of $41,650 to Krater Electric Services Inc. of Altoona for a new lighting system at the high school auditorium. The bids were awarded in three separate installments: a base bid cost of $10,550; an alternate Bid E-2 of $8,900 and an alternate Bid E-4 of $22,200.
\nAccording to school district Superintendent William Miller, the money will be used to update the entire lighting system in the auditorium. Miller noted that when the building was most recently renovated, there was no work done on the auditorium. However, he did say that a new sound system was installed last year.
\n\u201cThis will be yet another needed improvement that\u2019s being taken care of here in our district,\u201d said Miller.
\nTwo high school teachers will only see the new lighting system if they return to witness a school event.
\nThe board yesterday accepted the resignation of two high school English teachers, Christina Pryor and Laura Massaro-Kauffman. Ms. Pryor cited a hope for change of career and Kauffman cited medical reasons for her resignation.
\nWith the two upcoming resignations and one English teacher on leave, the board stated its worries about the English classes because of upcoming, state-mandated English testing. The board decided to move Middle School Gifted Teacher Kerry Naylor to a high school English classroom, effective the second semester of the 2002-03 school year.
\n\u201cWe felt Kerry Naylor, with his five to six years of experience, would handle the transition well,\u201d said Miller. \u201cHe reluctantly accepted the position, but understands what the district needs.\u201d
\nBoard member Pete Dutrow voted against the transfer.
\nThe board then approved Tracy L. Renor as a full-time substitute assigned the middle school gifted classroom, effective the second semester of the 2002-03 school year. She will be paid a $15,000 salary with full benefits.
\nAs for the little cat hiding somewhere…the Kindergarten class had something to do with that.
\nSix students \u2013 Alayna Roberts, Shelby Harris, Tommy Williams, Garrett Hunter, Joseph Ramsey and Katie Burket \u2013 from kindergarten\u2019s taught by Melissa Russell, Karen Raffetto and Kandi Winters, offered a kindergarten-guided reading lesson, demonstrating word-work, book orientation, reading and follow-up kid writing.
\nThis program readies younger children with word association and gives them a jump on reading, which historically is more concentrated in grades one through three.
\nThe demonstration first showed the students working with the teachers in the classroom via video, then the students read from pictures they had drawn themselves in class. Each student drew and wrote about a little cat hiding somewhere.
\nIn other board business, directors:
\n\u2022approved a request by the wrestling boosters to allow the organization to sell available charter bus tickets to parents and family members wishing to travel with the wrestling team to the New York tournament in January 2003. This bus is solely sponsored by the wrestling boosters.
\n\u2022gave approval for a 30-day expulsion period and a 10-day suspension for a seventh grade student who was found to be in possession of a pen knife in school. The student must forego extra-curricular activities until the expulsion period is completed, must complete 100 hours of community service and must refrain from entering school property for the remainder of the expulsion period.
\nAccording to Miller, The district maintains its \u201cZero Tolerance\u201d policy concerning weapons on school property, but said it would be a \u201cdisservice\u201d to the student if he was expelled for the entire year.
\nMiller said a seventh grade team of teachers examined the situation and noted the student was acting out-of-character and expects no troubles of this magnitude from the student again.
\n\u201cIf we felt there was intent or violence, then we would have come back and recommended the suspension for a whole semester,\u201d said Miller. \u201cBut in this sense, the kid does have a clean record and it seems like an isolated incident. The kid just did a stupid thing.\u201d
\n\u2022approved the Student Activity Procedure Manual, which provides consistency in school related activities, such as ski club and SADD.
\n\u2022approved an English as a Second Language Policy, which provides for students who predominately speak another language. Miller said there are currently two students enrolled in the district who would benefit from the policy.
\n\u2022approved an Automated External Defribilator Policy, which will establish two units for use. One will be placed in the all-purpose room at the elementary school and the other will be placed in the gymnasium lobby at the high school.
\nMiller said specific school faculty and staff will be trained on the equipment, which will only be used if a victim falls unconscious with no pulse and no signs of breathing.
\n\u2022approved an integrated Pest Management Policy and Plan, which outlines procedures the district is required to take when applying pesticides in and around school property.
\n\u2022heard from Matt Wildisin of Boyer & Ritter, Certified Public Accountants and Consultants, who presented the directors with the findings of the financial audit process.
\nThe group said: \u201cTASD received an unqualified opinion.\u201d
\nThis means the TASD\u2019s financial statements are fairly presented in all material respects with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States.
\nTotal assets were quoted at $13,578,496, while governmental fund liabilities equaled $1,651,611. Total revenue equaled $17,562,253, while expenditures totaled $15,586,700.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New lights, resignations and a little cat hiding somewhere were the major topics of discussion at last evening\u2019s meeting of the Tyrone Area School Board of Directors, which was dominated with routine business. Directors unanimously voted to award a low bid of $41,650 to Krater Electric Services Inc. of Altoona for a new lighting system […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47732\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}