News

Board told work will ‘absolutely’ be done at construction site

With school set to open later this month, members of the Williamsport Area School Board and administration were assured by Ben Mike, of Fidevia LLC, the construction management and consulting firm for the Lycoming Valley Intermediate School Construction project, that everything will "absolutely" be ready.

Classes are set to begin for grades 1 through 12 throughout the district on Monday, Aug. 28.

When one board member reminded Mike that at "the end of the month, our kiddos are going to be coming," Mike reiterated his claim that the school would absolutely be ready.

There have been delays in paving at the project due to rain, but Mike said that is moving forward now. The project also included the construction of modular teaching units, which Superintendent Dr. Timothy S. Bowers said that he had visited earlier in the day.

"I think as a teacher it's a very comfortable teaching space -- a comfortable space for kids," Bowers said.

"I like how the modulars turned out, so that's a good thing. We're always worried about, when you displace kids off to a different location, what it's going to be like," he added.

The board approved a change order for the Cochran Primary School window project from Hepco Construction Inc., for $36,300. Two change orders from the same company provided cost credit for the district in the amount of $31,304.

For the Lycoming Valley renovation and field projects, there were four change orders from Lobar Inc. totaling $21,882 and three from Myco Mechanical in the amount of $7,708.

Bowers told the board that the total amount of change orders for all the projects has not exceeded the amount the district had budgeted.

Following approval of their hiring, Bowers introduced two new principals joining the administration. John C. Fetterman will serve as the full-time principal at Jackson Primary School at a salary of $107,000 and Kimberly S. Williamson will be a full-time grade level principal at the high school at a salary of $75,000 per year.

Under personnel, the following people were hired: Caitlin S. Eddinger, 3rd grade teacher at Cochran, $57,893; Ryan N. Fair, full-time mathematics teacher at the high school, $70,640; Shelby C. Folk, full-time 5th grade teacher at Curtin Intermediate School, $54,706; Megan E. Hughes, full-time school nurse, primarily at Jackson Primary and Curtin Intermediate, $54,706; Marissa J. Patynski, 4th grade teacher at Lycoming Valley, $54,705; Lisa Winter, full-time mathematics teacher at the high school, $67,453; Nicole R. Cooley, long-term substitute primarily at Hepburn-Lycoming, $54,706; McKenna G. Woodley, long-term substitute primarily at Lycoming Valley, $54,706; Kelli L. Travis, full-time aid at the Middle School, $24,456 annually; Kathy Bates, part-time aide at Cochran, $16.25 per hour; Micaella Blas, part-time library aide at the high school, $16.25 per hour; Gregory A. Brown, Madison L. Kiessling and Rebecca S. Corter, part- time aides at Cochran, $16.25 per hour; Erin J. Gottschall, part-time aide at the high school, $17.53 per hour; Brieanna M. Robertson, part-time aide at the high school, $16.25 per hour; and a number of substitutes.

The following fall sport staff were approved: High school girls tennis assistant coach, Hannah R. Summerson, $1,360; Karen Hooker, volunteer; Middle school football assistant coach -- cherry, Joshua D. Aarons, $2,380 and assistant coach -- white,Todd M. Nagy, $2,240.

The board accepted the following resignations: Charles D. Crews, full-time learning center coordinator; Taron D. Dinkins, part-time floater; Brice E. Hoffman, 4th grade teacher at Cochran; Julie E. Kepler, full-time special education teacher at Cochran; Joshua M. King, part-time food service worker at the high school; Cole B. Lesher, 4th grade teacher at Lycoming Valley Intermediate; Lily R. Meixel, full-time mathematics teacher at the high school, $65,445; Elizabeth M. Hower, full-time 5th grade teacher at Lycoming Valley, $54,706; Olivia E. Long, full-time 2nd grade teacher at Jackson Primary, $54,706; and Emily B. Linn, full-time school nurse at the middle school.

Resignations for retirement from Robyn L. Hannan, 8th grade English language arts teacher at the middle school, and Timothy T. Thompson, 7th grade science teacher at the middle school, were also accepted.

Several agreements were approved by the board under curriculum items. They are with: Lycoming-Clinton Joinder Board for school-based outreach and student assistance services for $45,000 for the salary of three Joinder employees; STEP Inc. to host six AmeriCorps participants in the district during the upcoming school year. Each participant is sponsored by the district at a cost of $9,375 with other costs paid by the AmeriCorps grant through STEP; and Forerunner Technology for a 36-month renewal for Mitel Phone system service and maintenance at a cost of $19,651 per year.

Other items approved were: offering 1.0 high school social studies credit for the Pennsylvania College of Technology PSY 111: Distance Introduction to Psychology and SOC 111: Introduction to Sociology; the fall 2023 sports schedule; the purchase of 1,250 Math and 75 Math/ELA licenses from IXL Learning at a cost of $15,650; the purchase of PowerSchool licenses and support from CAIU for $58,555; and the purchase of 500 Adobe Creative Cloud licenses from GovConnection at a cost of $13,432.

Following a presentation about starting a girls' wrestling program in the district, the board agreed that the idea should be explored and brought back for a formal vote.

The next board meeting will be at 6 p.m. Sept. 12 at the District Center, 2780 W. Fourth St.