Jersey Shore Area School Board in ‘cooling off’ period before final decision on Salladasburg Elementary closure
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JERSEY SHORE -- Although the district is in the midst of a "cooling off" period following the hearing earlier this month on the possible closure of Salladasburg Elementary School, Jersey Shore Area School District residents still took the opportunity during the public comment portion of this week's meeting to urge the school board not to close the school.
For almost an hour several community members spoke in favor of keeping the school open with only a few voicing opposition to doing that.
As part of his presentation, Superintendent Dr. Brian Ulmer had compiled a list of questions that had emerged from the hearing and the answers to them.
However, the people commenting did not seem satisfied with the information provided and called for more transparency on the part of the board and the administration as they navigate this controversial issue.
Even board member Kayla Calhoun seemed unsure of how the board should be proceeding when Ulmer said that the board is in the 90-day cooling off period which began after the hearing on Aug. 5.
"So if we can't talk to the financial people and then we can't talk to Sitelogic, for the next 90 days we pretty much can't get our questions answered -- like we're just hanging out," Calhoun asked.
Ulmer questioned if she was asking for the financial people and those who had done the feasibility study to come to meetings to provide information.
"Yeah...we don't have an actual scope of work that I have seen. We have lists that we've looked at for the last four years and not really anything has changed on them except for crossing things off that we did at Avis," Calhoun said.
"We have numbers from PFM (Public Financial Management Group) from years ago...so they're outdated," she added.
She noted that the financials have changed as interest rates have changed and even enrollment rates are not the same as when the statistics were compiled a year ago.
"We have binders full of facts that some of us had a few years ago when we looked at this and had our hearing and so there's nothing really updated there," Calhoun said.
"I'm just trying to grasp myself. What am I supposed to be doing? What am I supposed to be looking at? Because I can look at these papers front and back and sideways and they're not going to change," she added.
After questioning what the actual scenario would be moving forward, particularly in respect to the finances involved, Calhoun said, "There just doesn't seem like a path besides sit here for the next month and wait for a vote."
During the business portion of the meeting, the board approved an invoice for an emergency repair to a boiler at Salladasburg Elementary in the amount of $6,700 to CCSI Inc. Because this was an emergency, the funds were not budgeted and will come from the district's fund balance.
Other actions taken by the board included the approval of: renewal of the agreement between the district's Pre-K Counts partnership with All Things Bright and Beautiful DayCare; a renewal of the agreement between the district's Pre-K Counts partnership with Your Guardian Angel Preschool and Childcare; an amendment to a service agreement with Bayada Home Health Care to provide nursing services for a student from June 2, 2024 through Aug. 31, 2025; a letter of agreement for services between the district and River Rock Academy LLC for alternative education for disruptive youth for the current school year; and a contract for purchase of secondary student services and elementary services with River Rock Academy, also for the current school year.
Under personnel, the board approved filling the following positions at the rates of pay listed, if applicable; Adam Wrench, volunteer softball coach; Alexis Cole, volunteer girls' soccer coach; Caitlyn Shrodo, business office department intern, $12.36 per hour to be reimbursed by the Jersey Shore Area Foundation; Jared Kowalchick, head middle school girls' basketball coach,$3,791 stipend; Seth Hensler, head boys' tennis coach, $4,407 stipend; Shawn Washington, 3rd grade teacher at Avis Elementary, $51,000 per year; Tara Neff, 4th grade teacher at Avis, $51,000 per year; Wendy Collings, administrative assistant in the Business Office, $40,579 per year; Anna Ayers, special education-life skills paraprofessional at Jersey Shore Elementary School (JSE), $20,369; and Matthew Hartman, middle school SAP (Student Assistance Program) team member, $408 stipend.
The board also accepted letters of resignation from: Courtney Connolly, special education-life skills paraprofessional at JSE; Anthony Owens, SAP team member; and Andrew Magyar, full-time custodian.
The next board meeting will be at 7 p.m. Sept. 9 at the District Administration Building, 175 A&P Drive.