The State College Area School Board on Monday unanimously approved the appointment of Curtis Johnson as principal of State College Area High School.
“Our district is very fortunate to have Mr. Johnson as our high school principal,’ Superintendent Bob O’Donnell said in a release. ‘His commitment, vision for our future, and his own development over time really evidence his ability to lead our high school both now and into the future. Curtis knows our strengths and weaknesses, and he works with our students, faculty and administrative team daily to keep students at the core of important decisions on our high school campus.”
Johnson has served as interim principal since August and is in his 13th year as a State High administrator. He was previously an assistant principal, counselor and behavior specialist in the Reading School District.
Calendar Change
State College Area’s regular March ‘break-let’ will expand to a full week. Students will have off the entire week of March 6-10, as opposed to previous years when the break was Monday through Wednesday. Administrators reported lower student attendance district-wide on the Thursday and Friday following the days off with an attendance rate of 82 percent compared to the usual 92-95 percent.
The change allows a shift to better use instructional time. The first day of school will move one day earlier to Aug. 29 and the last day will move a day later to June 9. Dec. 22 will be changed from a holiday to a school day.
Proposed Final Budget Approved
The board approved the proposed final budget for 2016-17, which includes a 4.32 percent real estate tax increase — about $130 for the average district taxpayer. From the increase, 1.92 percent is for payment of the second year of debt service on the State High project.
The millage rate increases by 1.799, which Business Administrator Randy Brown previously said would keep State College Area with the lowest rate among school districts in the county.
The budget includes $144,611,162 in revenue and $146,985,032 in expenses. Primary increases in expenses come from Public School Employees’ Retirement System costs, high school referendum debt service, salaries, purchased property services and athletics, food service and contingencies.
Newly budgeted for 2016-17 are three core elementary teachers, a learning enrichment and gifted support teacher, two Delta Program middle school teachers and a part-time Chinese language teacher.
The proposed final budget will be available for public inspection at the May 23 meeting and a public hearing will be held June 6. The board will take action on a final budget on June 13.
‘The 2016-2017 proposed final budget includes both the final phase to fund the State High project, as well as address our annual operation,’ O’Donnell said. ‘Please know that all of our projections for the 2017-2018 budget development process only include a focus on our operational needs and no further State High project-related increases. We are very thankful to the community for its support of the school district as we undertake this historic project and at the same time work to keep our district efforts focused on developing our 7,000 students.”
Updated Master Plan
In a 7-2 vote the Board approved an updated facilities master plan with a focus on elementary schools. The plan is being accelerated to take advantage of state funding opportunities that will lower project costs for the district and taxpayers.
‘This process will analyze our four oldest remaining school buildings,’ O’Donnell said. ‘We have worked closely with our board during the past few years to make adjustments in our financial planning; changes have helped us to prepare to move beyond the high school project and have financial capacity to update two elementary schools.
‘We are aggressively pursuing two avenues to bring significant nonlocal dollars to help with these two projects. Although it appears we are placing the cart before the horse, we are required to make specific submissions to the state in order for the district to qualify for those respective funds prior to deadlines.”
The four oldest school buildings that will be focused on in the planning are Corl Street, Houserville, Lemont and Radio Park elementary schools. The district applied for a Department of Community and Economic Development grant that could reimburse school projects by up to $2 million per project. Houserville and Radio Park were identified in the application as potential projects because they would cost the most to update and would receive the greatest benefit from the grants. The district is not necessarily bound to using the funds for those projects if greater needs are identified.
The funds are contingent on significant construction progress by June 2018, necessitating the accelerated planning.
The board also voted unanimously to submit PlanCon forms Parts A and B, project justifications that make the district eligible for $2.2 million to $2.4 million in state reimbursement for two projects and possible additional funds for remaining projects. PlanCon funding is contingent on construction beginning by 2019. The state will enact a moratorium on PlanCon reimbursements for new projects later this month, and to be eligible for future funding the district is required to submit its PlanCon Parts A and B by May 15.
The PlanCon documents contain maximum project estimates, not including potential state reimbursements of $20 million for Radio Park, $16 million to $19 million for Houserville and $11 million to $12million for Corl Street. The most recent master plan includes an option for merging Lemont Elementary and Houserville at one school in Houserville for kindergarten through fifth grade.
The possible merger of Lemont and Houserville and repurposing of the Lemont Elementary building dates back to 1999. Board Vice President Jim Leous and board member Penni Fishbaine said during the 2009 facilities master plan review there were many public meetings for Lemont community members to offer input and express opinions. Board member Amy Bader said the 2009 review made a strong case for combining the schools.
“Repurposing doesn’t necessarily mean the dismantling of the building itself,” Board President Amber Concepcion said. “It just means it will be used for another purpose than a K2 elementary school.”
Community engagement meetings will begin on May 25 at Corl Street, with meetings following on ay 31 at Radio Park and June 1 at Houserville. Design options will be developed during the summer, with more public meetings to follow in September.
