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There were only a few items of correspondence at the beginning of the Elk Lake School Board meeting. Among these, a letter of resignation was received from Alexandra Van Derlyke, and a letter of retirement from Linda Phillips. Both were accepted with regret.

Dr. Bush provided an update regarding security measures. He explained that the district was set to add additional entranceways, with the addition of internal security doors prior to entering the school. Educators and staff members would enter the building using some type of recognition system, such as a fob or a swipe card. He said that the district had not made plans to have security personnel on site during the day, though this had been discussed at the board and administrative level. Mr. Tewksbury opined that doing so would make a lot of difference, though he spoke of the possibility of doing more in the future. Dr. Bush explained that there was pending legislation, and that there had been discussion in Harrisburg regarding financial support for districts to utilize security guards, though how this played out was anybody’s guess.

The new watchword for Pennsylvania school districts is “austerity.” While Susquehanna Community School District’s fiscal situation is, by several metrics, far healthier than those of many of the other 500 districts, harbingers of collapse are looming on the horizon. SCSD Directors passed the final 2013-2014 budget by a 6-0 roll call vote, with President Steven Stanford, and board members Amanda Cook, Evelyn Cottrell, Carol Jackson, Martha Stanford, and Clay Weaver all voting “aye.” Board members Lori Canfield, Jason Chamberlain, and Holly Kubus were not in attendance at the Wednesday, June 19 meeting to vote on the $13.7 million budget.

The fiscal year for each school district commences on July 1, and district budgets are mandated to be enacted by June 30 regardless of the status of the state’s progress in passing a budget for its new fiscal year. Whether the state legislature will pass its budget on time, and at what level of funding for school districts, is anyone’s guess.

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