The South Williamsport Area School Board took action on a variety of items at its recent August meeting.

The student group highlighted by Superintendent Dr. Eric Briggs this month was the district’s golf team, which currently sits at an impressive 4-1 start to their season, Briggs told the Sun-Gazette.

“I commended them for their great work so far, and look forward to seeing what they can do as they move forward with their season,” he said.

To help alleviate a statewide teacher shortage affecting the district, Briggs recently designed and hosted two guest teacher trainings in order to increase the number of substitutes available to the district, he told the Sun-Gazette.

“I was happy to report to the board that across the two sessions, we’ve trained 10 teachers to be guest teachers,” he said.

During his year-end report for the 2024-25 school year, Briggs highlighted the work done to meet the goals set out for the district a year ago.

The district made tremendous strides in improving students’ academic performance in the area of English language arts in math, according to Briggs’ presentation.

Briggs highlighted the introductions of Raptor and the Zero Eyes AI Gun Detection initiatives, as well as the addition of two school mental health workers via Justice Works as helping to encourage a safe and supportive learning environment.

The final goal of maintaining all aspects of the building renovation project was kept on track by significant communication with both Sitelogic and district families and staff, as well as inspection of the site twice a month, according to the presentation.

The results of a school climate survey, encompassing responses from community stakeholders, parents, staff, elementary school students and high school students, were overwhelmingly positive across the board on a broad range of topics, Briggs’ presentation showed.

The only area of noticeable concern was in the area of safe and respectful behavior, which showed some uneasiness over the amounts of bullying and threats, as well as general mean behaviors and disrespect from students, “suggesting room for improvement in addressing peer conflict and perceived safety,” the presentation said.

In financial matters, the board approved a change order from McKissick Architects for the removal of a coiling door and installation of a double door as part of the Central Elementary project in the amount of $4,937.80; a contract with River Rock Academy for reservations for three secondary students at the Williamsport campus, at a per diem rate of $154, or a total cost of $85,470; a letter of agreement between the district and the Lycoming-Clinton Joinder for a full-time caseworker for the 2025-26 school year, at a cost of 16,500; a Foundations of Teaching contract with BlaST for six face-to-face personal development opportunities and/or online offerings to district teachers and staff, at a cost of $1,305; a proposal from Nittany Learning Services for an elementary support staff for the 2025-26 school year, at a cost off $75,220; and an additional $4,823 for wrestling mat installation, as well as a contingent fee for mat trimming from Resilite Mat Company.

Other actions taken by the board include the approval of the Title I School Plan for Central Elementary for 2025-26; a letter of agreement with River Valley Health to allow the dental van to visit the district and provide free dental care to students who need support; and a letter of agreement for the Student Assistance Program with the Lycoming-Clinton Joinder Board. “This is an agreement, where we work with the Joinder, and they provide us with a county caseworker, at a reduced cost, that helps support families as they look to get connected to various services like behavioral health and mental health services,” Briggs told the Sun-Gazette.

In staffing issues, the board approved Christopher Eiswerth as dean of students, at a yearly salary of $87,000; Ashley Liddic, as a Junior-Senior High School food service worker, at a rate of $16.18 per hour; Louise Campana, Kaitlyn Davenport, Mary Geise, Phyllis McKernan, Brenda Trumble and Marjorie Wonderlich as certified substitutes; Suzanne Bastian, Robin Bernstein, Robin Borick, Lisa Bower, Barth Carson, Lilly Eiswerth, Olivia Fessler, Christopher Kuriga, Pat McCormick, Melissa Mitteer-Bradley, Heidi Mnkandhla, Courtney (Arce) Naugle, Christen Probst and Megan Probst as guest teachers; Avery Eiswerth as Junior High softball assistant coach, with a stipend of $2,142; Lee English as head golf coach, with a stipend of $2,896; several classified substitutes, event security staff athletic volunteers; and a number of gamer workers and managers, at a rate of $30 and $40 per game, respectively.

The next school board meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 8.