Thursday, March 14, 2013
'We sink thousands and thousands of dollars into these buildings and into the grounds, and if they're not maintained, in 10 years, you're going to be sinking thousands again and again and again.' - board President Nancy Sciulli DiNardo
Baldwin-Whitehall's school board members were split almost exactly down the middle over whether or not to bring a new groundskeeper into the B-W School District. Ultimately, the position was approved by a 5-4 vote; though, no one has yet been hired to fill that position. Dissenting were Martin Michael Schmotzer, Ray Rosing, Nancy Lee Crowder and Diana Kazour. "We already have two maintenance men," Schmotzer said during Wednesday night's school board meeting, "and if you add the salaries and the benefits, it's around $170,000. If you add this position with benefits, you're looking at a first-year $76,000 job. I just cannot justify that. "I think the work should be subbed out to the two maintenance men and/or some custodians around the …
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Wednesday, February 13, 2013
School board chooses Wagner by a 6-3 vote after rejecting Seton-La Salle Coach Greg Perry, 5-4.
Peter Wagner Jr. is the newest head coach of the Baldwin High School football program, the Baldwin-Whitehall School Board decided by a 6-3 vote on Wednesday night. Wagner, the dean of students at Baldwin High, has served as the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator for the high school's varsity team for the past two seasons. He has been an overall assistant in the program for the past four seasons. School board member Tracy Macek motioned for Wagner to be the new head coach after board member George L. Pry's motion to hire Greg Perry failed by a 5-4 vote. (Pry was acting on a recommendation made by B-W School District administration.) Voting for Perry were Nancy Lee Crowder, Nancy Sciulli DiNardo, Pry and Martin Michael Schmotzer…
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Friday, February 8, 2013
And other notes from Wednesday night's Baldwin-Whitehall School Board meeting.
School Safety Expert Dr. Randal A. Lutz provided an update during Wednesday night's Baldwin-Whitehall School Board meeting regarding school safety-improvement efforts in the B-W School District. Lutz said that district administration has been focusing recently on three main areas that pertain to school safety: education/professional development, communication and "the hardening of structures, or hardening of exteriors." In the area of education/professional development, Lutz said that, during an in-service event on Jan. 21, local school safety expert Mary Margaret Kerr made a presentation to Baldwin-Whitehall educators on the topic of "owning spaces." Said Lutz, "The topic was really ... How do we go through our facilities and 'own' the …
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Thursday, January 17, 2013
And other notes from Wednesday night's school board meeting.
'A+' Rating Turns out that an "A+" rating in school is good for book reports and bonds. Baldwin-Whitehall School Board member Martin Michael Schmotzer commended his colleagues and B-W School District administrators at their meeting on Wednesday night for helping the district to achieve an A+ rating on its general obligation bonds from Standard & Poor's Ratings Services. Standard & Poor's (S&P's) rating scale goes from "D" (lowest grade) to "AAA" (highest), with optional "+" and "-" modifications given from "CCC" to "AA." S&P's gave Baldwin-Whitehall an "A+" for its school issuer credit, long-term and underlying ratings. According to S&P's official analysis, the ratings reflect S&P's view of B-W's "participation in the Pittsburgh …
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The board voted, 8-1, on Wednesday to, at the very least, not exceed the school district's allowable 2.2-percent millage increase for the 2013-14 school year.
For the second straight year, Baldwin-Whitehall School District officials have gotten word from the Pennsylvania Department of Education that they cannot raise their district's millage rate, without voter approval, by more than 2.2 percent. But unlike this past year, the board's members voted, 8-1, at their meeting on Wednesday night to not apply for referendum exceptions that would have allowed them to raise the district millage rate, without voter approval, by more than that percentage. In other words, although the B-W School Board is far from setting its final millage rate for next year—it will have to do so before the end of June—the rate will not rise more than 2.2 percent above the district's current rate of 23.40 mills. In fact, …
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Thursday, December 13, 2012
School board members are concerned over students possibly taking study halls instead of physical education classes.
A motion to cut Baldwin High School's physical education requirements in half was shot down by the Baldwin-Whitehall School Board on Wednesday night by a 6-3 vote. B-W School District administration had argued that reducing the high school graduation requirement for physical education, or "gym class," from four semesters to two would give students the opportunity to take other classes that interest them or that could help their careers. They could elect to spend more time at Steel Center Area Vocational Technical School, for example. Also, students could still choose to take physical education classes as electives after fulfilling their two-semester gym requirement. But board members Nancy Sciulli DiNardo, Diana Kazour, Larry Pantuso, …
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Wednesday, December 12, 2012
... but not before a brief shouting match.
Schmotzer Back on Board The Baldwin-Whitehall School Board chose a familiar face on Wednesday night as its newest member—Martin Michael Schmotzer of Whitehall Borough. Schmotzer, whose term in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives ended on Nov. 30, replaces his brother, John B. Schmotzer, who resigned from the school board in November for personal reasons. The board voted, 5-3, to select Martin Schmotzer after board Second Vice President Diana Kazour motioned to appoint him. First Vice President Kevin J. Fischer seconded that motion. Board members Larry Pantuso, Nancy Lee Crowder and Tracy Macek cast the "no" votes, but they weren't enough to offset "yes" votes from board President Nancy Sciulli DiNardo and fellow board members Ray …
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Thursday, November 15, 2012
College in the high school, ambulances at football games, parting words from John Schmotzer, and more.
College in the High School The cost for students to take "college in the high school", or CHS, courses at Baldwin High School may fall onto the students themselves if the Baldwin-Whitehall School Board approves a recommendation in December made by school district administration. Andrea Huffman, the B-W School District's director of curriculum, made that recommendation to the school board at its meeting on Wednesday night while, at the same time, recommending that Baldwin High's CHS courses be weighted at 5.0 on the school's GPA scale, rather than their current 4.5 weight. The school's Advanced Placement, or AP, courses are currently the only ones weighted at 5.0. "Students can receive college credits for both a CHS course and an AP course…
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The B-W School Board can't agree on revisions to a school facilities use policy.
Are Baldwin-Whitehall's PTA and PTO "booster groups"? The question of whether or not those parent-teacher groups qualify as such has contributed to a disagreement among B-W School Board members regarding how much certain groups should be charged to use district facilities and services. School board member Nancy Lee Crowder, with substantial PTA/PTO experience, doesn't see those parent-teacher groups as "boosters," and at Wednesday night's board meeting, she struck down a motion that would classify them that way, arguing that it would do harm to those groups. The school board has been debating revisions to the B-W School District's Policy 707, which details what kinds of groups can use district facilities and what costs those groups will …
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Thursday, November 8, 2012
Kevin Rice wants to help students to prepare for careers, not debt.
The measure of a school district's success has long been how well it prepares its students for college. But with the rising costs of higher education and the emergence of new, domestic energy jobs, perhaps that measurement is changing. Such was the theme of Kevin E. Rice's presentation to the Baldwin-Whitehall School Board on Wednesday night. Rice has been the director of the Steel Center Area Vocational Technical School in Jefferson Hills Borough since January, and as the school's director, Rice oversees the career/technical education (CTE) of students from 11 nearby school districts, including Baldwin-Whitehall's, by using those districts' public tax dollars. Rice said on Wednesday that he takes those public tax dollars to heart and …
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565 N Lewis Run Rd, Jefferson Hills, PA
Steel Center Area Vocational Technical School
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Grim Reaper
1:39 pm on Sunday, May 5, 2013
Depends on who gets the job and their relationship to any board member. I.m not sure but by hiring a person under a particular title allows management to circumvent union rule and people already on the job with seniority. Just food for thought. more ›