Jan 30, 2014 3 min read

MAPLETOWN – Members of Southeastern Greene School Board would like to see the state reschedule the Pennsylvania System of Schools Assessment tests this year because of the many days districts have faced weather-related school cancellations and delays.

Board members asked the administration Thursday to contact the state Department of Education to see if the PSSAs, now scheduled for March, can be moved to May.

“All the days students have missed, it’s got to have an effect on their scores,” said board member Janet Pennington. Pennington, a former teacher, said she always believed the tests should be given at the end of the school year when students have had a full year of instruction.

Moving the test dates would also benefit other districts that are in the same situation as Southeastern Greene with days missed because of weather, she said.

Other board members suggested administrators also contact other school districts to try to gain more support for rescheduling the tests.

So far this year, Southeastern Greene canceled classes seven days, but it also has had a number of two-hour delays, all of which have cut into instructional time, Superintendent William Henderson said.

He, too, said he believed the additional instructional time that would be had by presenting the tests closer to the end of the year would be beneficial. Henderson said he would contact the state and other superintendents about the matter but he had doubts the request would be granted.

In other business, the board approved a resolution agreeing not to increase taxes this year by more than what is permitted by the index established under the Taxpayers Relief Act.

The maximum the district is permitted to raise property taxes without exceeding the index is 3.1 percent, which equates to 0.71 of a mill, said business manager Pat Sweeney.

Approval of the resolution does not mean the district will raise taxes this year; however, if a board intended to increase taxes in excess of the index, it would have to prepare an early budget and obtain approval from the state, the local court or voters through a referendum question on the primary ballot.

The board voted to recess Thursday’s meeting until 5 p.m. Feb. 10, at which time it hopes to approve a new contract with the district’s non-professional employees.

The board accepted the resignation of Bryan Smith as school police officer, effective Jan. 6, and hired Donald Alston as his replacement at $17 an hour. The board also approved a leave for physical education teacher Lou Folino until March 7.

The board tabled a motion to send about 70 members of the Spanish Club to lunch at the Rio Grande Restaurant in Morgantown, W.Va., May 9 as a cultural experience and to allow them to apply their skills in speaking Spanish.

The costs of the trip was $354.72 for transportation. The board, however, wanted to know whether the district also should help cover the costs of the students’ lunches. For a previous similar trip, the district also had paid a certain amount for each student’s lunch.

The board approved students’ participation in the Greene County band and chorus concert Feb. 18 and 19 and April 14 and 15 at Waynesburg Central High School. It also approved students’ attendance at a college fair at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh Feb. 7.

The board approved the football coaching staff’s attendance at the Nike Coach of the Year clinic Feb. 21 through 23 at the Green Tree Doubletree Hilton at a cost of about $1,000. Board President Joe Spiker and board member Virginia Eberhart abstained on the motion.