Jul 29, 2014 4 min read

MAPLETOWN – Southeastern Greene School Board approved a contract Monday with the district’s new acting superintendent, Richard Pekar.

Pekar, a Mapletown High School graduate, worked in the district as assistant principal since September 2012. He is replacing Superintendent William Henderson, who resigned earlier this month to become superintendent of Frazier School District

The board voted to appoint Pekar to the post at a meeting July 7 that was recessed from last month’s regular board meeting. On Monday, the board voted unanimously to approve a one-year contract with him at a salary of $84,000.

Pekar thanked the board for giving him the opportunity to serve as acting superintendent.

“As they say, ‘home is where the heart is,'” Pekar said, noting that in addition to being a Mapletown graduate, he lives in the district and has a child who attends school in the district.

Pekar said he is “passionate” about Southeastern Greene and will work to make sure it provides the best educational opportunities possible for its students.

Pekar is a 1996 graduate of Mapletown and a 2000 graduate of Waynesburg University. Prior to being hired at Southeastern Greene as assistant principal for kindergarten through 12th grade, he was principal of South Stokes High School in Meadow, N.C.

Following the meeting, Pekar said he currently is working to obtain his superintendent’s certification at Edinboro University and hopes to become Southeastern Greene’s next superintendent. “I hope this turns into a full-time position with the district,” he said.

In his first report to the board, Pekar said he would focus on the many good things happening in the district.

He reported the district received a $20,000 grant to introduce a SMALLab classroom at Bobtown Elementary School.

The lab provides an interactive learning environment and focuses on kinesthetic learning, a method in which learning takes place by the student carrying out a physical activity, rather than listening to a lecture.

Elementary Principal Scott Sinn is applying for additional grants for the classroom that will cost about $35,000, Pekar said.

Only a handful of other districts in Southwestern Pennsylvania now have the SMALLab equipment, he said.

The district, in addition, has received a grant from the Community Foundation of Greene County to purchase 60 iPads, one for each student in grades four through six, he said.

The board approved the purchase Monday of the iPads and two carts from Apple Education Inc. at a cost of $34,279.90.

Pekar also noted the district’s website at www.segsd.org has been overhauled, and through grants and work by the district’s maintenance staff, outdoor classrooms are being constructed at each of the schools.

District maintenance employees, who are constructing the outdoor classrooms, are about 90 percent completed with the classroom at Mapletown, business manager Pat Sweeney said. After the employees finish a job to replace the ceiling on the main floor of the high school, they will be constructing the outdoor classroom at Bobtown Elementary.

In other business, the board set the compensation for the final two years of the bus contract with Zalar Busing to include a 3 percent increase each year.

The five-year agreement, which expires at the end of the 2015-16 school year, called for negotiating the compensation for the last two years, Sweeney said.

Board member Tom Howard, the only ‘no’ vote on the motion, said the increase was well above the inflation rate, which is less than 2 percent. The board simply can’t continue providing “automatic” 3-percent increases to contractors, he said.

Howard said he might be willing to offer more than 2 percent because inflation in regard to transportation might be higher, but the compromise the board had been discussing was 2.75 percent.

Board member Gary Moser said he agreed the district should not just offer a standard increase to all contractors, but in this instance, he believed the 3 percent increase was justified because of what Zalar does for the district.

The board also approved the company’s driver’s list. Mosier questioned whether it was possible for the district to ask the company to conduct random drug tests of drivers in addition to the annual drug tests that are required.

The board approved providing lunches for the football, volleyball and band camps that will be held in August at a cost not to exceed $2,000.

The board approved a contract with Jim Elsenheimer to serve as a food service consultant. Elsenheimer is director of food services in West Greene School District. Southeastern Greene previously employed as a consultant Sherry Kottke, food service director in Jefferson-Morgan School District, to assist it with its cafeteria operations.

The board recessed the meeting until 5 p.m. Thursday, at which time it may consider hiring a teacher and possibly other matters.