Aug 15, 2013 3 min read

CARMICHAELS – Anticipating the upcoming renovations to Carmichaels Area Junior High School, Carmichaels Area School Board approved Accelerated Construction Services LLC, of Morgantown, to serve as construction managers for the project at a rate not to exceed 4.25 percent of the actual construction costs.

The motion passed by a vote of 7-2 with Melodie Berardi and Jason Voithofer casting the dissenting votes.

The building and grounds committee will meet at 6 p.m. Sept. 19 to continue discussions regarding the plans for the renovation. The monthly school board meeting will follow immediately after.

Dave Franks, district maintenance manager, said things are moving along nicely in preparation for the upcoming school year. A leak in the roof of the high school gymnasium was recently repaired. Two-way radios within the district are being upgraded or replaced, as necessary, to address Federal Communication Commission bandwidth requirements.

Personnel moves in the district will result in the transfer of David Bates, assistant high school principal, to the assistant elementary school principal position. Felix Verace was hired to fill Bates’ open position at $65,000 per year. A disability retirement was approved for special education instructor Dorothy Katusa. Laura Kifer was hired as her replacement.

An increase was approved for the personal care aides and office aides to $12.64 per hour, which reflects a .25 cent increase. An agreement with EMS Southwest Inc. for ambulance services at sporting events are reached at $75 per hour per event.

Enrollment at the elementary school is near an all-time high with 619 students, according to Elementary Principal Rob Cole. Cole said there are 10 new student packets still pending at this time.

Technology coordinator Mark Batis told the board he was able to purchase 173 ThinkPad Tablets for the district by shopping around. Batis said the original number of tablets he thought he would be able to purchase was 60. The tablets should be here by next week, he added.

They were purchased utilizing funds received through the Rural School Grant program and Greene County Community Foundation. Two additional grants from the foundation of $27,000 and $10,000 will be used for the district television studio and EMT Program, respectively.

Noting rapidly changing technology and increasing number of students that have iPads, iPhones and other smart devices, Batis said there is a movement toward BYOD, bring your own device, capabilities among schools.

In response to this, Batis has worked to set up the Carmichaels Area School District Cloud that will enable any device, utilizing district specific apps, access to the cloud. Students will enter a universal password to log on to all district software at once.

Open houses in the district will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Sept. 9 for the elementary center and Sept. 10 for the junior/senior high school. Early dismissal will take place Sept. 13.