Reports to board: use of Moose Park field, draft comprehensive plan / By Martha Knight

The collaboration between the school district and the directors of Moose Park has worked well, according to varsity soccer coach Aaron Clark and superintendent Gary Buchsen, in comments they made at Port Allegany School Board’s monthly committee-of-the-whole meeting Monday night.

Clark said that the field has provided ample size and has been an improvement over conditions encountered at the borrowed space behind the glass container plant now owned by Ardagh. He pointed out that the soccer team has had a very successful year.

The current arrangement has provided ample space, Clark said. He would like to see some areas leveled more, and some areas sodded or grass restored. The past season’s use has inflicted some wear and tear on the surface.

Moose Park field is also used by community baseball teams. It is located just south of Port Allegany on Route 166 South. Its use for the school district’s soccer program was arranged this past spring, as the best of a number of options that had been looked at by the administration and presented to the board.

Board member Dee Buchanan pointed out that anything spent to improve or maintain Moose Park must come from the school district’s general fund budget, because the district does not own the facility. Improvements to school district facilities could come from a Capital Improvements Fund the district built over a period of years. Part was spent in 2013 for stadium improvements at the athletic complex near the junior-senior high school.

Board member Sean Lathrop asked how much the district has spent so far on the Moose Park facility. Buchsen said the total spent so far is $13,882.

Buchsen used a slide presentation to cover the major points of the proposed comprehensive plan that has been prepared in compliance with Chapter 4. He pointed out that the process is similar to what used to be followed to develop what were called strategic plans, but now there was no requirement to include a description of facilities. With an outline provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE), the plan “practically writes itself.

The plan looks at past, present and future operations in the school system, and sets goals and strategies for the district. The voluminous document can be found on the district’s website at www.pasdedu.org. A copy is available in the S.W. Smith Public Library. District residents may request a printed copy.

After a 28-day public comment period, the comprehensive plan will be acted upon by the board at a public board meeting at 7 p.m., Monday, November 24, 2014. Thereafter it will be submitted to PDE. Once approved at the state level, the plan will become effective in mid-2015.

Annin Township resident Phyllis McNeil asked when the Freedom Document display in the high school corridor, in a display area near the auditorium, would be repaired. Some of the documents on display have lost their protective laminated coverings over the years and have a tattered appearance. Some may have been in place since the school was dedicated in 1956; others have been added more recently.

High school principal Marc Budd said teacher George Riley, also the mayor of Port Allegany, is going to have some students make a project of the restoration, researching how to obtain replacement replicas of the historic documents. State Representative Martin Causer had been contacted earlier to point the school to some sources of help with the project.

McNeil had raised the issue some months ago. She said she also would mention the matter to Causer, who lives near her.

She also asked whether the school district has procedures in place for protection of school building occupants in school shooting situations, “just in case.”

Buchsen said that the district does have such a plan, staff are trained and refreshed in how to deal with such a crisis, and police assistance arrangements have been made.

Board president Dave Mensch said it is not in the best interests of the school and community to release detailed descriptions of the security arrangements in a public way. McNeil said she just wanted to make sure that parents could feel confident that all necessary steps are taken to make sure the school is a safe place for their children.

The board voted to authorize district membership in the Pennsylvania Public Entity Energy Consortium. It does not obligate the district in any way, and there is no cost to the district, Buchsen said. The board appointed him to serve as a member of the PPEEC board.

Greg Budd, Adam Greenman, Alan Lovell, Joshua Saltsman and Ryan Kio will continue as volunteer wrestling coaches, the board agreed.

Nick Budd was approved as a volunteer wrestling coach for the 2014-15 season.

Justin Osani and Penny Amacher will be co-directors for a fall one-act play at a supplemental salary of $879 to be shared between them. Buchsen said they had proposed that there be such a production this year. Such plays had been presented as part of the drama program until a lapse in recent years.

Carri Madison was approved as a homebound instructor for the current school year at a supplemental salary of $29.82 per hour. Marc Budd said she has served as a substitute.

The board held an executive session after the public meeting, to discuss negotiations with Act 93 (administrative and supervisory) personnel.

The next public board meeting will be at 7 p.m. Monday, November 10, in the junior-senior high school library.