The Mountain View School Board heard from 3 of 4 administrators on their budget requests for the next fiscal year at its meeting on April 23rd. Elementary School Principal Dr. Chris Lake, High School Principal Robert Presley, and Food Service Manager Melissa Hatala presented some figures and recommendations to the board to consider. Maintenance Supervisor Bob Taylor asked for a reprieve until the next meeting.
But first the Board heard a report prepared by its student representative, Matt Dougherty (who was not able to attend this month), read by Superintendent Karen Voigt. The high points included the senior picnic at the Green Gables on June 14, and the Mini-Thon scheduled for May 25th. The Mini-Thon is a fun fund-raising event to conquer cancer in children, and is promoted by something called "Four Diamonds," a program of Penn State Health's Children's Hospital.
The Board also heard a presentation from Veronica Thompson, who runs the Kindergarten Vision Workshop. She recently received an award of $150 from the local chapter of the Pennsylvania Association of School Retirees, of which she spent $80 on special spectacles that allow sighted children to experience the various types and gradations of blindness. Some of the rest of the money she spent on books of various kinds for blind children.
And the meeting heard from first grader Ada Chamberlain, who presented the Board with a painting of the Mountain View Eagle. She and her family use art to support aid to African children, particularly in Uganda.
First Grade Student Ada Chamberlain presents her painting to (l-r): Elementary School Principal Dr. Chris Lake, Mountain View Superintendent Karen Voigt, School Board President Michael Barhite
Once the budget deliberations got under way, Dr. Lake announced that he would like to add an after-school tutoring program for grades 4 through 6, 3 days a week, with 2 teachers. He said that an additional $28,000 would be needed to upgrade science kits, and requested another $17,000 for guidance programs. On the other hand, his budget requests total over $8,600 less than last year. He said that the pre-kindergarten program is paid for almost entirely from grant money.
Similarly, Mr. Presley is requesting about $38,000 less than last year overall; a need for fewer new textbooks accounts for some $29,000 of that savings. He did request another $80,000-$100,000 for charter school tuitions. The District cannot predict how much this might be, but over the past 4 years the costs have consistently been between $560,000 and over $600,000. He said the District had already expended over $475,000 this year, with another quarter to go. Charter school funding is actually a district-wide responsibility, but for some unknown reason falls in the High School budget. Mr. Presley said that he thought some of the additional money could be taken from the budget for students attending the Susquehanna County Career and Technology Center (SCCTC) at Elk Lake, which has not expended all of its budget allocation his year.
Mr. Presley also thought that spending on the Northeast On-Line Learning Academy, the Instructional Unit's version of a cyber-charter school, could be cut back as well. NOLA provides some enhanced learning opportunities as well as "credit recovery" options, but does serve some full-time students.
The Board decided to give the High School an additional $1,500 to cover licensing fees for its plays and musicals.
Cafeteria service at Mountain View is "outsourced" to the Nutrition Group, a food and facilities management company. Manager Melissa Hatala told the Board that she expects the food service program to increase its deficit to $211,000 next year (from about $193,000 this year). She is trying to recover revenue from a variety of sources, including increased purchases from U.S. Department of Agriculture surplus programs. New vending machines have proven popular and are also generating additional revenue. But the trend is toward lower "participation," primarily due to lower enrollment. She has managed to cut labor expenses by about $5,000 (about 78% of her budget), but regulations with requirements for balanced meals of certain types of foods make managing costs difficult. On the other hand, while "price equity" guidelines have not yet been issued for the coming year but would seem to require an increase of about 10 cents for a meal, she thinks that prices can be kept level with the current year.
For reference, Mountain View's budget for the fiscal year that will end this summer called for revenue of about $19.5 million, and expenditures for all purposes of about $21.6 million. The difference was made up from an accumulated fund balance of some $2.5 million, leaving about $600,000 in the bank at the end of the fiscal year. The District has only about $2.3 million in outstanding debt so far. (Mr. Napierkowski's monthly Treasurer's report does not show year-to-date figures.)
Kenny Decker and Steve Farrell came up with a new request against the District's budget. They would like to replace the wrestling mats, which are so old that the cushion has worn out of them making them hard enough to threaten injury. The total cost could be in the neighborhood of $20,000, for floor mats, wall mats, and labor to install them. An extended discussion ensued over where to find storage for the mats along with other assorted equipment.
It seems that a couple of storage areas contain all manner of old detritus, much of which is of unknown provenance or application. Administrators will have to determine what can be discarded to make room for new, and how to shift things around to make space available.
Messrs. Decker and Farrell were asked to come up with a plan and detailed costs. They said that the new mats should last 45-50 years, properly maintained. But they would have to be ordered by late summer at the latest, to allow for shipment, installation, and airing out before the wrestling season begins in the fall.
In other business, Board member Edward Napierkowski read out his treasurer's report for the District's various funds for March 2018. The general fund balance went down in the month by a net amount of about $1 million, to $4,550,994. Debt service dropped marginally, while capital reserves increased slightly. The food service accounts started the month of March with $53,488 in the bank, and closed the month with $23,430. Food service has so far "borrowed" $100,000 from the District's general fund, leaving it with a net account balance of -$76,569. (In fact, the Board approved another transfer of $30,000 from the general fund to food service for April.) The Board approved disbursements of $3.29 million in March overall, and another $117,000 in bills for the month of April.
Among other items, the Board approved the following:
- A list of tax exonerations offered by the county courthouse and the District's tax collectors;
- A driver education program privately offered by Mark Beach;
- Policy amendments covering student activity funds, petty cash and budgeted purchases; a new policy covering fraud was included in the package; District policies are generally available from the District's website, although updates may not be posted immediately (the new fraud policy was not there as of this writing);
- A memorandum of understanding with the Scranton Counseling Center;The summer "21st Century" program, including teachers MaryAnn Tranovich and Jacqueline Ferenczi.
There was an extended debate on a new policy governing school-related and "booster" organizations that was given its first reading by Board member Dr. Christine Plonski-Sezer. There was some consternation that the policy's requirements would put an undue – and unnecessary – burden on small groups of volunteers who are just trying to help out the schools, and its athletes in particular. The policy would require various types of documentation and reporting, characterized by one Board member as "red tape." One observer, a member of a 2-person booster club, said, "Everything you've said here is … a pain." Mr. Barhite sent it back to committee for reconsideration saying, "This is one of them we have to work on." Ms. Plonski-Sezer said the next meeting of the Board's Policy Committee would be on May 2, 2018 beginning at 6:00pm in the District's conference room. The proposed policy is currently available on the District's website.
Mr. Taylor reported the second highest consumption of wood chips on record this winter, some 1,517 tons, estimated to be the equivalent of about $197,000 gallons of fuel oil. He said the boilers operated normally all winter.
Mr. Taylor also reported that a kickoff meeting was scheduled for later in the week for the major project to be undertaken to renovate some of the school infrastructure that will bring together all of the project's contractors – as well as the students who have been following the project's progress all along.
During the administrators' reports, Mr. Presley recognized Emotional Support teacher Brion Stone, who gave a detailed description of the trap shooting program he and Mr. Presley got the Board to recognize as an alternative for students who otherwise might not participate in athletics. The program costs the District nothing but the use of its name to establish a team in the Pennsylvania State High School Clay Target League. Events are held at the Factoryville Sportsmen's Club facility.
According to Mr. Stone, there are 18 teams in the league, with Mountain View's the easternmost. Since the nearest other team is 300 miles west, the state tournament will be held in Clarion, near Pittsburgh, on June 2. Nine Mountain View students have signed up, of about 400 statewide. The program, for grades 6-12 (although Mr. Stone is allowing only grades 7-12 this year), is rigorously supervised and regulated, and has an unblemished record for safety. Mr. Stone thanked and commended local individuals and business for their support, including financial help, for the team's participation, which requires a registration fee, as well as the cost of ammunition.
The Mountain View Board kept at it for 2 and a half hours, covering a broad range of issues. To hear more – particularly about the budget – plan to attend the Board's next public meeting on May 7, 2018 beginning at 7:00pm in the conference room in the Elementary School.
