Susquehanna Community School District is upping its game-not merely to save money, though that is important-but to access the multiple advantages afforded by specialization of services and division of labor. The District's schools exist first and foremost, of course, to educate students. In the quest to achieve that goal the District utilizes the best teaching staff it can recruit. Every other service, though perhaps mandated, is secondary or tertiary to the main mission. Among them are food services, transportation, substitute staffing, EMT services, and tax collection.

Reviewing these aforementioned subsidiary services were President Steven Stanford, and Directors Lori Canfield, Amanda Cook, Evelyn Cottrell, Ashley Depew, Carol Jackson, Jamie Koziol, and Martha Stanford at the SCSD work session and regular meeting on Tuesday, March 21, 2017. The work session and regular meeting were conducted back-to-back at 6 p.m. and 7 p.m., respectively. Those meetings were to have been held on Tuesday and Wednesday of the week preceding, but had been postponed due to the days-long blizzard and its aftermath.

In the work session, District Superintendent Bronson Stone briefed board members on 2017-18 budget issues; proposed policy changes; features of the District's 2017-18 calendar; results of the District's transportation data analysis; substitute staffing innovation; food service history and future; EMT contract issues; and tax collection software.

During the District's 30-minute official meeting Directors approved the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the SCSD and Susquehanna County Assessment office for the cost-sharing of tax collector software at the rate of 2/3rd paid by the county and 1/3rd paid by SCSD. Business Manager Gary Kiernan briefly explained the benefits of putting all tax collectors on a uniform system of tax collection. And since he is also Tax Collector for Harmony Township his recommendation carried additional authority, per his familiarity with the system's ease of use. By approving the MOU, SCSD will incur a recurring cost of approximately $1,100 per year.

At the February 2017 meeting Directors approved putting the EMT contract out to bid. The contract provides for an on-site EMT at all home Saber athletic events beginning with the start of the 2017-18 school year. Parties interested in bidding have noted a problematic issue with the proposed wording of one passage in the contract. A clarifying change is to be made. This change will allow contract bidding to go forward in a timely fashion to meet the District's time-line.

SCSD, like most districts in the state, does not own its own buses or vans, and drivers are not school district employees. Mr. Kiernan's analysis of transportation data provided good news for School Directors. His two Comments/Recommendations were these: (1) "No need to bid, spending less than formula OVERALL;" and (2) "Limit how much above formula we pay bus routes before offering to other contractors." Mr. Kiernan is continuing to closely monitor transportation costs, especially in the face of the State's budget environment which may impose a $70,000 reduction in revenue to the District.

School Directors approved granting the Business Office permission to create and advertise a Request For Proposal (RFP) for food service management services. In doing so, the School Board laid the groundwork for outsourcing to a Food Service Management Company (FSMC). The basis for this action is that the District has consistently lost money on food service over the years. Just over the five-year period from July 2011 through June 2016, the District lost $320,000 on food services.

In addition to being a losing proposition financially, the District is concerned about serving meals which students will actually eat. SCHS alumni well remember frizzled beef on the school's menu in the 1960's. It continues to live on in the school's cafeteria 50 years later. Outsourcing to an FSMC may actually end its long run, as well as that of beets and stewed tomatoes. Superintendent Stone noted that current food service workers could remain district employees or work for the FSMC. Mr. Stone clarified also that an RFP, unlike a standard low-bid contract, allows the District to consider quality metrics in awarding any contract. Bringing in an FSMC to provide on-campus meals would, in Mr. Stone's words, "Allow us to concentrate on our primary focus-education-and get us out of the food service business."

Finally, the District has been studying the possibility of outsourcing Substitute Staffing. Kelly Educational Staffing personnel have met with District personnel. Kelly has a proven track record with other school districts in the state, and the firm offers several attractive advantages: a greater substitute pool, lessened administrative burden for the District, and cost effectiveness overall. SCSD's $95 sub actually has an all-in cost of $135.60. Kelly's $95 sub has an all-in cost to the District of $129.58. In the work session Mr. Stone went into depth explaining how Kelly's system operates, as well as how their system would work locally. Moreover, their system guarantees the most qualified substitute available fills any given position, and it virtually eliminates crisis management. Firm action to move forward on outsourcing Substitute Staffing could be forthcoming as soon as next month.

Finally, current budget projections indicate that the District will have a $323,000 hole in the budget for 2017-18. The elementary school's budget will be smaller than the current year, but the high school's will be larger. April's meeting will bring forward a recommendation for how best to patch that deficit hole. A property tax increase recommendation is possible, even likely. District taxpayers may be pleased that at least the District is doing its utmost to turn over subsidiary functions to specialists in the private sector and achieve economies of scale wherever possible.

At meeting's close Mr. Kiernan served up chocolate-drizzled pound cakes baked by students in the high school's Life Skills course. The students responsible for these gastronomic delights are more than deserving of an "A" for their work products. Well done!

April's District meeting is scheduled for the third Wednesday, work session on the preceding Tuesday.

Susquehanna Community School District Board Directors took the following personnel actions during their regular meeting on Tuesday, March 21, 2017.

Approved accepting Intent-to-Retire requests for the end of the 2016-17 school year for the following personnel: Debra Benson – Food Service Manager, and Jeanne Gordon – Kindergarten Teacher.

Approved hiring the following: Alice Rhone – Track & Field Assistant Coach for the 2017 season only; and Melissa Dubas – Varsity Football Cheerleader Advisor for 2017-18 and 2018-19 school years. 

Approved the following Volunteer: Jan DeWitt – Varsity Football Cheerleader for the 2017 season. 

Approved, pending all appropriate clearances, the following: Christi Albert, Bobbi Madigan, and Chrissy Ayres – K-4 Chaperones; James Paynter – Grade 2 Field Trip Chaperone; Brian Bullick – J.H. Baseball Volunteer for the 2017 season: Judith Herschel – Substitute Teacher. 

Approved, pending all appropriate clearances, hiring the following: Matthew Orner – Head J.H. Baseball Coach for the 2017 season; David Cottrell – Assistant J.H. Baseball Coach for the 2017 season; and Robert Goodrich – Track Helper for the 2017 season. 

NOTE TO READERS: The phrase “pending all appropriate clearances” is directly linked to state law, effective January 1, 2015, requiring a heightened level of investigative background checks for all volunteers, district employees, and contractors.

The Harford Township Supervisors opened a pile of bids at their meeting on March 21st, bids covering nearly all the supplies the township will need for the year.  And they made their auditors sit through it all before they could give their report; they promised to do better on that next time.

But first the Supervisors had to approve 4 sets of minutes.  Doug Phelps was absent last month, and the newest member of the board, Dustin Walker, wasn’t even a Supervisor yet, so the minutes had to be tabled until now.

Roadmaster Jim Phelps’s road report began with a discussion of the transition to direct deposit for the employee’s paychecks.  Supervisor Sue Furney wasn’t wild about the idea, saying she was “old-school” on such things, but she voted to go ahead anyway, and Township Secretary Carolyn Jennings said she expected to have it all arranged by the middle of April.

The Roadmaster also asked the Supervisors to consider quotes for renting a roller for the upcoming road maintenance season.  Both quotes were equivalent, but the Supervisors were inclined to go with Cleveland Brothers, a Caterpillar dealer, at $3,500 per month, plus a $300 delivery charge.  They will await word on maintenance support before making a final decision.

On the Roadmaster’s recommendation, the Supervisors agreed to pay Dayle Payne $9,600 to apply quarry fill to Still Hill Road to at least make it passable for the 2 seasonal homes thereon.

And Mr. Phelps reported that the state Department of Transportation (PennDOT) will allow Jeffers Road to slide for another year.  A permit for the road’s junction with a state road is pending remediation of sight lines.

The Supervisors then proceeded to open and accept bids as follows:

• Ace-Robbins’s bid on diesel and gasoline was slightly higher than the one from Mirabito, but the Supervisors were happy with Ace-Robbins’s service over the past few years, so the township will pay 15 cents over the “rack” price for both fuels (Mirabito bid 14 cents).
  
  
• The Supervisors selected Barhite Excavating for paving services at $1,850 per day, plus $125 for each move.  Although the hourly bid was slightly higher than the one from Suit-Kote, for 20-25 days of work and at least 4 moves, the overall cost will be lower with Barhite.
  
  
• They chose Suit-Kote to supply calcium chloride at the low bid of $1.03 per gallon, and Vestal Asphalt to provide AEP oil at $1.218 per gallon, both for dust control.  Bob O’Reilly & Sons of Friendsville will supply brine solution (the sole bid for this product) at $950 per load.
  
  
• The Supervisors accepted the bids from both Lopke and New Enterprise for a wide variety of stone materials.  The Roadmaster will choose the supplier based on experience with service and product quality for each category.
  
  
• They accepted all 7 bids for trucking services.  All were in the range of $70-$75 per hour, and will use them as available, selecting from lowest bid to highest.  The bidders were Tompkins, Stony Mountain, Young Transporting, Diaz, Keifer Trucking, Barhite and William Lawrence.
  
  
• The Supervisors chose the low bid of $29,500 for 2000 cubic yards of cinders from Keifer Trucking.

The Supervisors went on to approve spending $8,400 for “emergency” repairs to Stearns (Estabrook) and Lower Podunk Roads (Payne).  They then agreed to allocate another $15,000 for any further emergency road repairs that might arise as the Spring mud season approaches.

That latter measure may have been prompted by the report of the township’s auditors for the 2016 fiscal years.  Auditors Bob DeLuca and Connie Breese made only 2 recommendations: that there were too many hand-written entries on the workers’ time cards, and the Supervisors exceeded their budgeted expenditures in some instances without appropriate action as a board and recorded in the minutes.  Otherwise, the auditors seemed happy with the township’s records and finances, and said that the township’s “Secretary-Treasurer [Ms. Jennings] is to be commended” for her record-keeping and attendance on the auditors’ requirements.

With a record snowstorm successfully weathered and behind it, Harford Township prepares for Spring, and will meet again on Tuesday, April 18th, beginning at 7:00pm at the Township office on Route 547.