During the public comment period at a recent Montoursville Area School Board meeting, two concerned citizens questioned the lack of grants being awarded to the district.

“There’s school districts all across the state that’s getting that $5 million-plus, depending on what their projects are. It makes me sad that that wasn’t put in for, knowing that we have buildings that could use that money,” said resident and former board member Ron Snell, adding that he recently shared a state database website, which gives a listing of all grants available to school districts.

“I keep reading in the paper that Jersey Shore and a couple other schools are getting all kinds of grants. Why aren’t we getting grants to fix the Loyalsock Valley School,” asked resident Charles Lichter.

“I hope you will look closer. If the grants are out there, they’re out there, so please try to do something about that. Please,” he implored the board.

Superintendent Daniel Taormina explained that while grants were available, the district did not meet the criteria for eligibility on many of them.

“You had to have a project with bids or quotes ready to go, and we weren’t quite there,” he said.

Though he has been assured by district financial advisers that there is money available to the district, it may not be up for grabs this year.

“The issue is, they had so many requests from last year that they may not take any new applicants,” Taormina said.

“I’m working with both Rep. (Joe) Hamm and Sen. (Gene) Yaw to see what funding is available for us to offset any costs of any type of building project that we do here in the district,” he added.

Prior to the meeting, the board was treated to a preview of the high school’s upcoming winter concert, courtesy of the jazz band.

The band performed “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” and “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” the latter of which was learned by the students with only 9 minutes of rehearsal time the day prior, according to band director Christopher Morgan.

The performance is available on the Montoursville Music Department’s Facebook page and those interested in hearing more are invited to the winter concert, which will be held at 7 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 16.

In the business portion of its meeting, the school board approved several agreements and staffing positions.

In financial matters, the board approved an agreement with Raptor Technologies for VisitorSafe and other services with a one-time payment of $6,273 and recurring costs of $5,722; a subscription support agreement with Givebacks Inc., which assists the district, PTOs and booster clubs in managing memberships, fundraising and more, at a cost of $1,200 annually; an agreement with The Education Consortium to file 2025 E-Rate documentation with costs based on student needs; and an agreement with New Story Schools, Selinsgrove, for individualized plan-related services with costs based on student needs.

In staffing issues, the board approved Stephanie Steppe as special education secretary, effective Nov. 13, at an hourly rate of $16.50; Linda Keiser as business/family consumer science department specialist, with a stipend of $500; Shannon Perrotta as a long-term elementary substitute for the period of Aug. 22, 2024, to Jan. 22, 2025; Mary Ann Kilpatrick, of Mu Alpha Theta, as class adviser for the high school for the 2024-2025 school year; and several volunteer athletic positions.

The next board meeting will be a reorganizational meeting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 3.