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Harmony discusses new superintendent
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
By Terry WhetstoneStaff Writer
WESTOVER - The Harmony School Board met at a work session last night and discussed a new superintendent for the district.
As the meeting was about to end, board president Norm Fry said he had one more addendum item to add for voting purposes at next week's meeting.
Fry said the board is planning to vote on a motion to hire Jill M. Dillon from Hanover. He said Dillon was the superintendent at that school district but she is originally from the area and has moved back.
Dillon will be given a three-year contract with a starting salary of $100,000. Her contract will run from July 1, 2012-June 30, 2015. If she can, the board would like her to begin June 11 to work with Dr. Gunter Moritz, acting superintendent, for the transition.
The board also discussed a couple of grants, including a "Race to the Top" grant. The original amount obtained was $7,000 but the district recently heard it would receive $11,344. It should be used for teacher and principal evaluations.
The other grant making waves was the K2O grant. The district was originally going to receive about $118,818, but Moritz said he was asked if the district could use another $65,000 and he said "yes." The district will now receive $183,818. That money will have to be used for specific items and it's to benefit students.
"That's what we want," Moritz said. "The amount went up $65,000 because another school dropped out."
He said as part of the grant, the district would have to advertise to hire some staff. It was noted the money would be used to build up the library and to bring Cen-Clear Child Services into the district.
The grant is for grades 1-5 and the board hopes to have additional information on what to do with the money at Wednesday's meeting.
The board also heard a music grant was obtained for $2,000 to help replace the risers. The existing ones are unsafe. Moritz said he has spoken with the boosters to see if they can help cover the rest of the costs. He said the district applied for $5,000 but was only awarded $2,000. The grant is from Walmart.
The board heard from Robin Kitchen, business manager, who noted the 2012-13 budget is balanced at $5,516,477. She recommended to the board not to use the fund balance funding because once it is gone, it can't be retrieved.
She said the health care is going up five percent over last year and she's building in a five percent increase for the next couple of years, but she isn't sure how much it really will go up, noting it could be more.
Kitchen said the taxes are not increasing. It was noted property owners would be allowed to arrange payments as follows: first payment will be 50 percent by Aug. 24, second payment by is 30 percent paid by Oct. 26 and the final 20 percent paid by Dec. 15.
The board will also look at approving district insurances with Helmbold & Stewart with John Mulcahy the consultant for a total of $35,941.
The board plans to approve the 2012-13 Clearfield County Career and Technology Center budget in the amount of $133,972. The athletic budget may also be approved in the amount of $39,020.
In other matters, the board intends to:
• advertise for bids for coal, milk and bread.
• advertise for bids to renovate the paint room/storage room beside the library for the superintendent and secretary.
• hold a silent auction to take place during the summer for discarded school items.
• recommend the removal of approximately 20 old computer monitors, 20 unusable computer desktops and five inoperable printers through a recycling company.
• read policy No. 815 - Acceptable use of Internet.
• approve obtaining a driver education car from Lacues Chevrolet in Patton. A cost will be known for the Wednesday meeting.
• name Chelsey Heilman-Houser and Ralph Butterworth as chaperones for the senior trip to Florida.
• approving Donna Breth to attend the new school meal planning conference in State College on July 24 and 25. The cost is being paid for from the cafeteria fund.
• approving a salary increase for the secretaries at .52 per hour, custodians at 54 cents per hour and para-educators at 30 cents per hour.
lapprove the Act 93 Agreements for Terri Butterworth, Teresa Young, Doug Martz, Donna Breth and Walter Davis.
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