Thursday, March 7, 2013
And other notes from Wednesday night's B-W School Board meeting.
2013-14 Calendar Debated Baldwin-Whitehall School District administration presented its preliminary 2013-14 academic year calendar at a B-W School Board meeting on Wednesday night, and board members had some concerns. District Superintendent Dr. Randal A. Lutz said that the calendar—not yet approved by the board—shows a starting date for students of Tuesday, Sept. 3, the day after Labor Day. And the graduation ceremony for Baldwin High School seniors is proposed for Tuesday, June 10. The calendar also proposes six scheduled two-hour delays—regardless of weather. Lutz said that those two-hour periods would be used for educators' clerical work and professional development. Board member Larry Pantuso is not a fan of the two-hour delay days, …
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School board member Larry Pantuso wants public feedback.
The Baldwin-Whitehall School Board is considering the adoption of a policy that would require substantial background checks for some B-W School District volunteers. The proposed policy would place district volunteers into two categories—limited contact and substantial contact—with satisfactory, or clear, background checks being required only for the substantial contact volunteers. Those background checks are an Act 34 Criminal History Report, an Act 151 Child Abuse Clearance Statement and an Act 114 FBI Clearance. Substantial contact volunteers would also be required to renew their Act 34 reports and Act 151 statements if there are significant breaks in their continuous service to the district. The cost to complete the background checks is…
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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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Thursday, January 17, 2013
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, January 10, 2013
Is there a need for armed guards at local schools?
In Case of Emergency ... The topic of school safety dominated discussions on Wednesday night at the first Baldwin-Whitehall School Board meeting since a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at an elementary school in Newtown, CT, in mid-December. Multiple school board members, the district superintendent, a student board representative and a vocal member of the public each spoke on the issue, and the theme was constant: Baldwin-Whitehall, like all school districts, is vulnerable to attack. "I don't know how anybody can fight against a military assault rifle," school board President Nancy Sciulli DiNardo said toward the end of Wednesday's meeting before also saying that school district officials "need to do everything we can within the…
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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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The suggested measure was debated at a school board meeting on Wednesday night.
Citing a 17-percent obesity rate among U.S. children, Larry Pantuso of the Baldwin-Whitehall School Board objected to a recommendation made by school administrators on Wednesday night to cut Baldwin High School's physical education requirements in half. At Wednesday's school board meeting, B-W School District Director of Curriculum Andrea Huffman laid out an idea for board members to consider: Require students to complete only two semesters of physical education in order to graduate from Baldwin High, down from the current requirement of four semesters. Administration says that it can do this while not upsetting the amount of credits that students need to graduate. Right now, one semester of physical education, or "gym class," is worth one…
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morell
11:07 am on Monday, March 11, 2013
I think 2 hr delays scheduled is a good idea more ›