Feb 28, 2014 4 min read

ROGERSVILLE – The West Greene School Board voted Thursday to start a three-week, after-school tutoring program to help students prepare for the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment and Keystone algebra exams.

Six teachers volunteered to provide tutoring, which will start Monday and be held from 3:30 to 5 p.m. each day, Monday through Thursday.

One of the tutoring programs will be for grades six through eight and focus on PSSA preparation in reading and math. The other will focus on preparing students for the Keystone algebra exam.

The district’s activity bus will be running to take students home after the tutoring sessions for the first two weeks. If enough students need transportation the third week, the bus service will be continued that week, Superintendent Thelma Szarell said.

The district has not had after-school tutoring for many years. “I give a lot of the credit to the teachers, who have been highly motivated to help the students be successful on the assessments,” Szarell said.

Board member Chad Scott also noted that starting a tutoring program had been discussed at an academic improvement group meeting last month. The group of parents, board members and administrators met to discuss improving the district’s academic offerings.

The board approved two motions setting stipends for the teachers who will participate in the tutoring program, as provided under the teachers’ contract, totaling $2,000.

Scott announced another academic improvement meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. March 11 in the middle-senior high school. All parents are invited to attend the meeting, which runs until 7:30 p.m.

In other business, Szarell announced graduation will be moved back one week because of the number of days missed so far this year as a result of winter weather. It will be held at 7 p.m. June 6 in the high school gymnasium.

She also spoke of the importance of seniors attending classes through the end of the school year. In the past, seniors would often miss most of the last two weeks; however, times have changed, she said, and the district needs those students to be in class for attendance reimbursements from the state.

The board paid a number of bills related to construction of the elementary school center. Work on the center is progressing well, Szarell said, though it is behind schedule because of the weather.

The board approved a motion paying $935,063.11 to four contractors on the elementary project. Board members questioned URS, the district’s construction manager, about how it verifies whether work that is reported to be done under the invoices, is completed.

The board approved payment of two invoices for The Hayes Design Group, district architect, for services related to the elementary project and for additional services related to change orders. The invoices total $42.908.05.

The board also approved payments of two invoices from URS, construction manager, totaling $45,831.31 One was for the period Nov. 30 through Jan. 3 and the other from Jan. 4 through Jan. 30.

The board accepted a second donation of $25,000 from Vantage Energy for the district’s Pioneer Program, a fundraising effort for the middle-senior high renovation and elementary school addition projects.

The board agreed to hold its building and site committee meeting at 6 p.m. the first Thursday of each month in the middle-senior high school cafeteria. No meeting will be held in December.

The board approved Stephanie Lampe as drama sponsor. It accepted the resignation of Seth Courtwright as an assistant varsity track coach; and voted to post the position. It also approved Cullen Piatt as an unpaid volunteer assistant varsity track coach.

The board voted to solicit bids for athletic training services, a school physician, dental services, board solicitor and ambulance services.