BROOKVILLE — Good news and not-so-good news was presented to the Brookville Area School Board Monday night by Superintendent Erich May.
School officer
The good news is that an agreement has been reached with the borough to continue providing a school resource officer for the coming year.
“I did meet with borough manager Dana Rooney and Police Chief Vince Markle, and we did agree to terms for continuing the same services that we’ve been doing these last six years. We will have full-time coverage at the high school and Hickory Grove, and spot coverage at Northside and Pinecreek. We’re going to continue the program with the staffing we’ve had the last six years.”
May said “there will be a slight increase in the price, but that’s the world we’re living in now.”
Bus routes
The not-so-good news related to necessary changes for transportation for students, since the Northfork Bridge project is slated to begin next week, closing down Jenks Street for the remainder of this year and most of next year.
While Jenks Street is closed, “we’re not going to be able to get any buses or vans through there, we’re not going to get any pedestrians through there. There are going to be more kids taking district transportation because they won’t be able to walk from that neighborhood,” he said.
May said the transportation committee has been meeting about changing the routes. “There’s a lot of logistics going into that,” he said. He has asked each of the four bus contractors to hire another driver, if possible. “I would take four more routes, if I could, to try to shorten the existing routes” which “are going to be 10 or15 minutes longer on account of having to go around on the boulevard.”
“Realistically, we probably won’t have” more routes, “so we are making changes to the routes we’ve got. We expect the first week or two of school is going to be a little bit of a mess because of the detours, and we expect to see more parent drivers,” he said.
Budget
Business administrator Ellen Newman briefly reviewed the proposed 2024-2025 budget, which is now on public display.
“I am happy to report that this week we received our federal allocations, and we were projecting about the same amount we got, so I am feeling pretty good about that,” she said.
The proposed budget carries no tax increase, nor are any programs being cut. Had a tax increase been included in the budget, the cost to a median homeowner would have been $75.
The board will vote to accept or reject the budget at next week’s meeting.
Stadium
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More good news reported by May is “it’s really happening,” with reference to the stadium project.
“It was really great news last week that DEP approved a minor amendment to the NPDES permit and allowed the field house work to begin in earnest,” May said. “That project is fully green-lighted now. They have pretty much completed demolition of the field house and now they are working on the under-slab plumbing. The project is roughly two weeks behind schedule.”
On the track, the surface was removed, the curb was excavated and prepped, and they started pouring curb last week, May said. “This week they are installing a big construction entrance. They will pull the goal posts this week.”
Board member Erin Schiafone said, “If anybody has any doubts about how important this renovation is, get on social media or drive around town and see just how many people have taken a portion of the track or field and put it in a planter. There are a lot of people who have serious emotional attachments to that field and that track. It matters.”
Driver’s ed
May reported that the school’s new summer school class for driver education was a great success.
The class, using textbook only, was held last week, with more than 20 students attending.
High school teacher Cody Wells taught the class. May offered “a shout out” to Wells “for coming in over the summer and making happen. We really appreciate him going the extra mile.”
“He gave a lot of hands on experience, too, like taking the kids out to look at a car and look at blind spots. He was really good,” said Kaytie Straw, assistant principal at the high school.
May said students taking the class “seemed to enjoy it” and “presumably families will benefit financially and get some credit on the car insurance.”
Triangle Tech
May said it was announced that Triangle Tech is closing its doors at all six of its locations, including the facility in Falls Creek.
He said he has received a report that Jeff Tech has reached out to Triangle Tech, “attempting to engage displayed students and staff, and see what solutions Jeff Tech can offer through its adult ed programs.
Following the meeting an executive session was held to discuss safety and security issues.
The next regular meeting of the school board will be held at 7 p.m. Monday, June 17, in the LGI room at Hickory Grove.
