Embrace change.  At its November business meeting on the 6th, the Blue Ridge School Board approved a contract with Sapphire Software of Allentown initially worth over $38,000 to replace its primary digital management system with a package called SapphireK12.  Recognizing that the aging MMS platform (Modular Management System from Computer Resources of New Hampshire) was no longer meeting the needs of the district, the transition is expected to take nearly a year to implement.

The detailed contract calls for additional annual subscription and support fees totaling almost $25,000, gradually increasing over 4 years to nearly $27,000.  The software will be hosted on Sapphire’s systems and will include a broad range of services from enrollment, grading and athletic eligibility to curriculum, scheduling, reporting and document management.  The contract covers conversion of data from MMS and staff training at $900 per day, plus travel-related expenses for Sapphire visits to Blue Ridge.

The meeting actually started off with a presentation by Information Technology Support Specialist Dawn Crook introducing the Board to the spiffy new look of the District’s website (http://www.brsd.org).  Ms. Crook said that the purpose of the major redesign was to bring a focus to the elements of most interest to members of the Blue Ridge community.  Several members asked that the site prominently display the current “day” within the 6-day special-class schedule.  Ms. Crook and Information Systems Network Administrator Mike Stewart promised to try to implement this feature.

Board President Chris Lewis next invited Gerald Welstead to describe his experience at the Crescendo summer music enrichment program at Marywood University.  A tuba player, Mr. Welstead wasn’t enthusiastic about having to sing in a choir.

Tuba Player Gerald Welstead

High School Principal Peter Supko’s choices for senior recognition were Sequoia Marriott and Melvin Sanchez.  Mr. Sanchez, a soccer player with at least one score to his credit, was not able to attend.  Ms. Marriott, an Honor Society member and singer, expects to study chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh next year.

Outstanding Senior Sequoia Marriott

Elementary School Principal Danelle Decker wasn’t able to introduce her 5th-grade selections for the month, Emma Davis and Owen Martin, in person, but described their activities and interests.

The 22-item agenda was mostly passed in one swell foop, excepting only those of special interest (the Sapphire contract) or those that members might wish to abstain from (transportation issues).

Some of the personnel items identified individual staff members only by their employee numbers.  Retirements and resignations in the past identified people by name, but Superintendent Matthew Button said that Administrative Assistant and Accounts Manager Deborah Bennett had attended a conference where she learned that, for privacy reasons, names be kept from public documents.  This time there were two retirements and one resignation.

The Board approved a request by Vincent LoRusso for a senior class trip next year from May 28 to June 2 to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  Members also approved a request from Blue Ridge Recreation for its Summer Adventures program for next year.  The program will use school facilities, and the Board will make a token donation to support the program’s costs of about $3 per day per child.

The Board gave formal approval to the District’s Comprehensive Plan for 2017-2020.  The old plan numbered some 86 pages (available on the District’s website), and is a detailed description of what the District hopes to accomplish and what it claims to have achieved.  The plan must be updated every 3 years under Chapter 4 of Title 22 of the Pennsylvania code, as implemented by the state Department of Education.  Look for the new one real soon now.

The Board granted permission for the District to participate in the Keystone Purchasing Network (KPN), a national program that allows schools to purchase from approved vendors without going through a lengthy bid process in many cases.  KPN is administered under state law through the Central Susquehanna Instructional Unit #16 based in Milton, PA.

The Board gave formal approval to a brief list of policy amendments that were offered for public review last month.  They then offered a new and much longer list of changes to the District’s policy manual, 43 altogether.  Most such changes are minor edits to the text, or slight modifications recommended by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA, the lobbying organization for public schools in the state), generally to conform policies to recent legislation, regulations, or collective bargaining agreements.   Among the highlights:

• Policies promoting non-discrimination and prevention and disciplinary actions related to virtually all forms of discrimination are clarified and expanded, particularly with regard to complaint procedures and reporting.
  
  
• Employee evaluation procedures are enhanced, in particular for professional employees (teachers, mostly) establishing a 4-level performance rating (Distinguished, Proficient, Needs improvement and Failing) in conformance with a Department of Education tool that purports to evaluate “educator effectiveness” based on classroom observation and student performance on standardized tests.
  
  
• A vague policy defining tenure policy for non-tenured employees is scrapped.
  
  
• The policy covering “Suicide Awareness, Prevention and Response” is modified to remove provisions regarding classroom lessons that might discuss suicide.  It also requires that the District employ “a trained school crisis response/crisis intervention team” and describes the District’s response in the event of a suicide in the school community.

The Board’s voluminous policy manual is available from the District website. 

Business Manager Brian Dolan reported that he has begun to bug administrators in advance of the budgeting cycle that will begin in January.  He also announced a site tour for Board members to be conducted by representatives of Quad3, the company that has been hired to survey the entire property and make recommendations for its future configuration and development.  And he said that his office is expecting a detailed breakdown of the costs for the digital sign ordered from the Widmer Sign Company earlier this fall.  There is some question about the prices the District is being charged for the installation.

Mr. Button announced that Byron and Renee Sands, proprietors of Endless Mountains Studios, the District’s official photographers, have made a large donation to the District’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) programs.  Their long relationships with HP Inc. promise an even larger donation from that company.

Mr. Button announced that the staff and the champion High School girls’ volleyball team collected a total of over $1,500 from Pink Out events during the Breast Cancer Awareness month of October.

The Board welcomed Senior Class President Luke Updyke to the table as its Student Representative.  Mr. Updyke pledged to attend each of the Board’s monthly business meetings.

Board Student Representative and Senior Class President Luke Updyke

Mr. Lewis said that the Board would adjourn to an executive session following the business meeting to further discuss Act 93 matters.  Act 93 governs school administrator compensation.

The Board will next meet for a workshop on Tuesday, November 28, 2017, and will reorganize itself on Monday, December 4, 2017.  Both meetings will begin at 7:00pm in the cafeteria in the Elementary School.

The Great Bend Borough Council got together on November 8th to decide on a budget for 2018.  Residents and taxpayers will have a month to review and comment on the spending plan that calls for no change at all, and no tax rate increase.  But that doesn’t mean that there was no room for debate, particularly about the cost of the little town’s police department.

Council members had more detailed schedules to review during their deliberations – in particular, a separate breakdown of expenses for the police.  Only the simpler budget summary was made available, however, so the details had to be gleaned from the discussion.  And, while Mayor Jim Riecke once remarked, “You’ve got to get more money,” and Council chair Rick Franks said that there was no money to increase the budget, there was not even the slightest mention of boosting taxes.

The plan anticipates spending $234,500 next year, of which the police department accounts for the largest single share, $42,500 (“Miscellaneous Expenses” accounts for the next largest share, at $38,000).  On the other hand, while overall revenues are not expected to increase, the largest single share on that side of the balance, $90,000, comes from “Intergovernmental Revenue,” mostly payments from New Milford Borough for sharing the same police.

The core of the debate over the police grew out of Police Chief Jon Record’s request for an increase in the starting pay rate for his officers.  The police have experienced high turnover, with officers starting out with Great Bend, only to be trained, and gain experience and certification that they can then take elsewhere for higher pay.  Mr. Franks didn’t see a major problem with that trend, and he and his colleagues couldn’t see a way to raise starting salaries within the already tight budget.

Six years ago the Borough increased tax rates by 1 mill and allocated about $40,000 to set up its part-time police department, and then gave it an annual operating budget of about $20,000.  While it now appears that the department has overspent its 2017 budget of $42,500, Mr. Record said that some of those expenditures – ammunition, education, etc. – would probably not be repeated next year.  He also noted that he tries to get funds “from the community” where possible.  (For example, New Milford Borough recently donated $1,000 for a video camera for one of the cars.)

Nevertheless, he said the current starting rate of $12 per hour for officers in Great Bend is not competitive.  He noted that the pool of potential candidates is small, and that Great Bend’s pay scale is only average.  For example, Hop Bottom, comparable in size and population, offers starting officers $16 per hour.  While officers do get raises if they perform well and stick around for a while, he recommended increasing starting pay to $15 per hour in order to attract more and better candidates; clearly frustrated, he even characterized the current rate as “insulting.”

Council left the police budget without an increase, but members did consider lifting starting pay by $1 per hour.  However, any increase would require discussion with New Milford Borough, which now pays Great Bend $33 per hour for the service.  That fee is supposed to cover a share of all expenses allocated to the police department, which now has 2 cars, one of which will require payments for 3 more years.

Other items in the budget did come up briefly.  The town’s single part-time maintenance employee, Cliff MacKenzie wasn’t considered for a raise; his hours depend heavily on winter weather and the need for plowing snow.  Borough Secretary Sheila Guinan happened to remark that she had had an increase of only 50 cents per hour in her 14 years with the Borough.  Councilman Mike VanGorden, who oversees maintenance, said that the storage shed for salt and cinders is deteriorating, but there was clearly no money to repair or replace it.  And to a recent suggestion that the Borough consider a radar-equipped speed limit sign be purchased or leased, Ms. Guinan reported that the lowest price she could find was $2,000.

Should the budget prove inadequate, it could be reopened next year, but, according to Ms. Guinan (who is also a Supervisor in New Milford Township), only the just-elected new Council member can make such a request.

The public will have a month to look over the budget before it comes up for formal adoption at the December meeting on the 7th.  Meetings begin at 7:00pm at the Borough Building at Elizabeth and Franklin Streets.