Performance Profiles show good growth / By Martha Knight

Port Allegany schools received scores of 79.9 and 75.6, in the elementary and junior-senior high school respectively, in the first year of School Performance Profile evaluations, interim superintendent Tony Flint told the Port Allegany School Board Monday night.

He explained that these are satisfactory ratings that exceed the requirements. There is no correlation to percentage grades associated with report cards.

The profiles are considered a better way of evaluating school performance than the Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, ratings used in No Child Left Behind tests of recent years. Academic growth for each student, and not just groups, will be measured.

Asked by board member Scott Moses whether the change has anything to do with Pennsylvania’s waiver from using the NCLB assessments, Flint said that is part of the reason for the change. Also, Keystone exams in the secondary school are being implemented.

High school principal Marc Budd and elementary principal Tracy Kio praised the efforts of administrators, teachers and parents in strengthening curricula, undergoing much retraining, working on revisions and utilizing a grant the district had received, in bringing about academic improvement. Kio remarked that “students also stepped up” working to improve.

Shea McKnight of Ridgway was hired as an extended term substitute to serve the remainder of the school year following the retirement of an elementary teacher. She will receive a salary of $39,831, prorated to reflect a start date of October 11.

The board also approved assigning Lisa VanGorden and Dally Smock to provide homebound instruction as needed this school year, at a supplemental rate of $29.82.

A number of supplemental salary positions were filled  by naming Ken Myers dramatics director for musicals, for $1,819; Nathan Zitnik, head baseball coach, $3,298; George Riley, head track coach, $4,405; Aaron Clark, assistant track coach, $2,122; Dan Eskesen, assistant track coach, $2,820; and Clark, National Honor Society advisor, $879.

Greg Budd, Adam Greenman, Alan Lovell, Mark Goodreau, Joshua Saltsman, Nathan Zitnik and Dan Kysor were approved as volunteer wrestling coaches.

Moses asked how the number of students in each sport impacts the number of coaching positions, and board member Sean Lathrop commented on the continuing need for baseball and coaching coaches.

Flint explained that coaching staff level is adjusted according to participation.

Approved for addition to the substitute list were John Parker, English certification and Jennifer Barnes, primary and special education.

Budd mentioned a mixer for parents and teachers to be held in the junior-senior high school cafeteria at 6 p.m. Wednesday, and urged that parents attend the “kid friendly” event. There was a reference to “awards.”

Flint presented milestone certificates to three school board members: Mensch, eight years; Rod Howard, 12; and (in absentia) Dan Kysor, eight. The recognition is part of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association “Honor Roll” program.

Flint updated the board on the renovation projects undertaken earlier this year. He said contractors are working through a punch list, and that there are about a dozen items outstanding.

Reporting for the Academic Improvement Committee, Moses said that it is launching a project called EPIC, an acronym for Every Parent (Person, guardian) Is/Important to s Child. He credited board member Dee Buchanan with leadership in organizing the effort, which aims to help develop stronger partnerships among school, home and community.

A new Teacher Effectiveness Supervision Plan has undergone further development, Flint said. The board had been provided with the latest draft, which some said was much more straightforward than the one they had seen last month. It was not made available to the press.

Under general board comments Howard said he had had a conversation with Port Allegany borough manager Richard Kallenborn, in which Kallenborn said the flood control project is still in the works, and it will require a large amount of fill for dike construction. Howard suggested that some soil could be removed from land behind the elementary school, reducing the grade there and making it more suitable for development, while helping the borough. “It would be a win-win,” Howard said.

Moses asked about a $9,200 “emergency field work” item on the bill list and was told it included a drainage correction project where water had been pooling at the right side of the athletic field area, and addition of crushed limestone to stabilize a pathway.

Mensch said newly hired superintendent Gary Buchsen is still serving under his contract with Conemaugh Township School District. He thought that district’s board might decide Tuesday night when Buchsen’s service there would end.

The regular meeting was followed by an executive session. The next scheduled public meeting will be a committee-of-the-whole session at 7 p.m. Monday, October 28, in the Elementary School large group instruction room.