Feb. 9 Baldwin-Whitehall School Board Meeting Notes

The Baldwin-Whitehall school board held a regular meeting at the  on Feb. 9.

Some of the highlights from the meeting are as follows.

Board President George L. Pry opened the meeting by calling for public comment, but no one accepted the offer.

Superintendent Dr. Lawrence C. Korchnak then congratulated teachers Keith Harrison and Nicky Kenline Lewis, who were .

A video (available to the right of this page) was then shown to the school board and to audience members detailing Harrison and Kenline Lewis' experience.

Korchnak also congratulated a number of Baldwin-Whitehall students who were honored with different scholastic awards, including the arts: Heather Johnson, Gold Key in Drawing (charcoal on paper); Bridgette Mekkelsen, Silver Key in Painting (Acrylic on Canvas); Candace Stone, Silver Key in Comic Art (Pen and Ink on Paper); Patrick Sites, Silver Key in Jewelry (Brass, Copper, Nickel Silver, and Polymer Clay); Lauryn Suchy in Printmaking (Block Print); and Masha Gregory, Honorable Mention in Painting (Oil on Canvas).

Korchnak also recognized Baldwin-Whitehall students who received "Top of the Shop" awards from Steel Center Area Vocational Technical School, including Amanda Holzworth and Chelsea Kowarski in cosmetology, Zach Kowalski in commercial baking, Tyler Price in carpentry and Evan Wood in building trades.

Korchnak recognized Steel Center second-quarter Extra Effort award winners as well: Marissa Catanzaro in baking, Anthony Noone in collision repair and refinishing, Rebecca Sayenga in cosmetology and Kowalski once again in baking.

Next up were winners of the Carnegie Science Center Science Bowl. B-W's eighth-grade girls team of Jacqueline Lewis, Julia Koltas, Delaney Kelly and Chelsea Elias took first place-honors at the bowl, while the B-W seventh-grade girls team of Hailey Treloar, Marisa Dimperio and Rachel Ferrari took home a third-place award.

Korchnak called-out three schools in the district for receiving Keystone Achievement Awards by attaining adequate yearly progress for the second consecutive school year (2008-09 and 2009-10): , and .

In the last of his congratulations, Korchnak recognized Paynter Elementary again, this time for receiving a 2010-11 Distinguished Title I School Award from the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

The school board then moved on to that meeting's agenda items.

The first nine items passed without any conflict or discussion, though, curiously, new board member Sam DiNardo Jr. abstained from voting on any of the first eight. The board's other new member, Laurencine Romack, voted on every item.

The 10th agenda item, titled "Contract between the Baldwin-Whitehall School District and Hartman & Associates" and written as, "The Administration recommends that the Board approve the Contract between the Baldwin-Whitehall School District and Hartman & Associates Enterprise Network Consulting Services, 234 Blue Spruce Court, Seville, OH 44273 for district-wide phone system consulting, project management, and strategic planning services at a cost not to exceed $14,450.00," started the first debate of the evening.

Board member John Schmotzer wished to amend the motion to roll out payments to the consultant in a segmented way and to insert wording into the motion for penalties against the consultant should it not fulfill its end of the contract. Those amendments were accepted by the board, and the motion eventually passed, 7-2, with only Martin Michael Schmotzer and DiNardo voting nay.

"I don't think it's very smart," Martin Schmotzer said. "I think it's poor judgment to go with someone from Ohio when the other two bidders are from [Allegheny County]."

When asked about the school district's current phone system by DiNardo, Baldwin-Whitehall's Director of Technology Tim Winner insisted that an upgrade to the school district's telephone system is necessary.

After the meeting's voting was complete, B-W Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education Dr. Randal A. Lutz made a presentation detailing the Pennsylvania Value Added Assessment System, which the B-W school district has employed to gather data on the progress of its schools. The PVAAS is not a test; it is a statistical analysis of existing assessment data.

Lutz's presentation showed positive results for the district, yet it sparked a few long comments from board members about raising expectations in the district.

"We got more data than we know what to do with," board First Vice President Kevin J. Fischer said. "For me, just the average joe on the street, a lot of that gets lost. This [data] probably wouldn't mean a hill of beans to me, but some simple things do."

Fischer pointed to awards that the school district could "hang its hat on" as more meaningful to potential residents of the district than raw data. Though he recognized the academic progress of B-W schools that Lutz detailed in his presentation, Fischer also pointed out that only three of the five schools in the district were recognized for "adequate" progress at the beginning of the night's meeting. Fischer believes that the district's standards should be for all five schools to be honored every year.

After Lutz's presentation and subsequent discussions, Baldwin High School Principal Kevin J. O'Toole made a presentation of his own.

O'Toole reported on a number of items from the high school, such as the school's effort to increase guidance counselors' interaction with students, the opening of a school bookstore on Feb. 11, an upcoming spirit rally, the addition a pep band, recognition of varsity sports captains, installation of athletics displays, an attempt to start a bagpipe band and the design of an area of the school that will have a new "college student-union feel."

O'Toole's presentation was met with mostly positive reactions, though Fischer again stressed academic performance.

"It does disturb me to some degree," he said, "that the high school is one of our buildings that does not obtain AYP [adequate yearly progress] – the flagship of this district.

"With all due respect to all of the other buildings, what sets the tone is Baldwin High School."

Some time later, B-W's Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education Dr. John D. Wilkinson assured Fischer that the high school is on the right path to improving its academics.

"We are doing great things [at the high school]," Wilkinson said. "The high school is achieving." 

Toward the end of the night's meeting, Pry opened the floor once again for public comment, and this time, Dave and Donna Szymanski of 4356 East Brightview Drive in the accepted the offer.

Donna Szymanski stated to the board that she felt that her son, a senior on Baldwin High School's varsity boys basketball team, was being treated unfairly by the team's Head Coach Kyle DeGregorio in the wake of a conflict that her son and DeGregorio had after a recent game.

Pry stopped Szymanski before she could speak any further on the matter, saying that the board typically does not hear personal matters during public speaking time. Pry and a number of other board members referred Szymanski to B-W's Athletics Director Vince Sortino, as well as O'Toole.

The last major topic of the night centered around Baldwin High School's ongoing parking troubles, particularly during well-attended events.

Most members of the board were against any parking on Baldwin's varsity softball field, such as Martin Schmotzer, who tried to put the topic to rest early in the discussion.

"Let's put it to bed early and not make a donnybrook out of it," Martin Schmotzer said. "By an 8-1 vote last August, the board voted not to rip up an $800,000 field with parking.

"Since then, some football people complained; we didn't take it. We're not going to take it."

The board then considered other parking options for high-profile events, such as football games. Martin Schmotzer asked for O'Toole's opinion on the matter, and O'Toole mentioned shuttle, or off-campus, parking as an option.

Fischer suggested charging a fee for parking on the softball field to cover any damages that would be caused to it. Fischer did not feel that free-of-charge parking should be a given and that, since spots on the softball field are at a premium, charging for those spots should be an option for the district.

The meeting adjourned at 10:34 p.m.

The next regular school-board meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 9, at the school-district office at 7:30 p.m., but an agenda meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 2, also at the school-district office at 7:30 p.m.