8-14-06 Board of School Directors Meeting Notes
Susan Werner announced Dennis Younkin, business administrator, has been appointed to the state legislature’s Task Force on School Cost Reduction.
The board appointed Nancy Penland deputy tax collector for Halfmoon Township.
The board approved Senior Video as a new student activity club.
The board appointed Susan Sampsell as a new member of the Citizens Advisory Committee for Finance.
Change orders for Park Forest Elementary were approved using about half of the allocated five percent construction contingency. With these changes, the electrical, plumbing, casework, and food service contracts will all be closed.
Parking reductions in the high school facilities project
Ed Poprik, director of physical plant, and architects presented the plan for reducing the number of parking spaces in the high school construction plan as requested by the State College Borough. The Citizens Advisory Committee is recommending the board separate the North and South sites and continue to debate the use of the South campus and take action on it later. If the south building is separated from the North building project, according to preliminary information from PDE, the South building could then not be used for high school classes but could be used for other district and community activities. The board approved separating the north and south sites and authorized the architects to begin the preliminary land development as depicted by drawing 1B including 576 parking spaces on the north side. Doing so will not affect the state reimbursement on the project, and it presents an opportunity for community input as the board considers options for the South Building. The board then heard comments and answered questions from about twelve members of the audience.
Van Swauger, director of transportation, presented the new regular school bus schedules, which were approved. The bus schedules are available on the Web site and will be published in the Centre Daily Times on August 24. An additional kindergarten bus orientation is scheduled for Saturday, August 19, 10-10:30 a.m. at the Nittany Mall.
Pam Fuller, chair of the Citizens Advisory Committee for Finance, gave a report on the CAC’s activities. The CAC chose to focus on two major issues during 2005-06, the health benefit plan for district employees and a recommendation on changes in the district wide master plan for financing.
Dennis Younkin, business administrator, presented information on the Act 1 Taxpayer Relief Act, which requires a local tax study commission composed of five, seven, or nine members to study and recommend to the board whether to shift tax to either an increased earned income tax or a personal income tax. The district has placed ads seeking volunteers, and an application available on the district Web site. The board will appoint a commission of nine members on September 11.
High School facilities Project
Ed Poprik presented information on the completed Geo Technical analysis for the high school project. As was anticipated in the earlier reports, there are several areas of concern that will need to be addressed. The remedies have financial consequences, but at this juncture we do not believe they preclude proceeding with the project. In addition to a financial analysis of the Geo Technical report, the 60 percent submission, calendar, and full budget analysis will be presented at the board’s work session on August 23.
The board discussed the process for reviewing the Act 34 comments. Two sets of the comments will be shared among board members on a rotating basis. One complete set will be available for public view at Schlow Library on Monday.
The next regular meeting of the board is August 28, 2006.
