Mar 27, 2015 4 min read

West Greene School Board agreed Thursday to implement a pilot program addressing academic eligibility requirements for students to participate in extracurricular activities, including tutoring.

The board in August discussed several proposals to increase academic requirements for students participating in extracurricular activities, including one that would require students to maintain a C average in all subjects.

Parents attending that meeting, however, asked the board to give the idea more thought and to consider a program that would also include tutoring or assistance for students having trouble meeting the requirement.

Since that time, the district’s educational planning committee had “significant” discussion regarding the matter, said Chad Scott, committee chairman.

Requirements included in the pilot program are not “a whole lot different” from the current standards, Scott said.

“The intent (of the program) is not to increase the academic eligibility requirements, but to get the at-risk kids the help they need,” he said.

The requirements cover all extracurricular activities, including athletics and field trips.

The district, only for athletics, follows the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association standard that requires students pass at least four full-credit courses with a D grade.

Under the pilot program, students who receive a D in any of the core subjects or an F in a core subject will be permitted to participate in extracurricular activities but will have to receive tutoring or academic assistance.

Students who receive an F in two core subjects will be ineligible for extracurricular activities until they improve their grades.

The core subjects are math, science, language arts and social studies.

The pilot program will begin in the fourth nine-week grading period. Scott Sakai, middle-senior high school principal, said the district is now identifying students who may be affected by the new requirements. Those who don’t meet the requirements will be notified in April.

In other business, the board hired Pennsylvania Soil and Rock Inc. as the construction manager and inspector on the project to reconstruct the retaining wall behind the new elementary school.

The company will be paid $178,000.

The board, at a committee meeting March 12, voted to award a contract to Burchick Construction Co. of Pittsburgh to rebuild the retaining wall, which collapsed the night of Nov. 6-7.

Burchick will provide the district with a guaranteed maximum price for the work after the design of the new wall is completed.

The company will be paid based on its labor, material and equipment costs plus a 15 percent profit on its labor and a 10 percent profit on materials and equipment, said Ron Miller of Aecom, formerly URS, the district’s project manager.

The contract was awarded on a “best value” method of bidding, under which proposals were evaluated on factors including the companies’ qualifications, their approach to the project, their experience and fees, Miller said.

In addition to other qualifications, Burchick also proposed the lowest fee, he said. One other company submitted a proposal.

Donald R. Green, a geotechnical specialist with Michael Baker International, the company preparing the wall design, told the board Thursday that the team developing the wall design, which now includes representatives from Burchick, are discussing an alternative plan.

The board earlier approved construction of a reinforced concrete cantilever wall with a buried anchor wall upslope from the cantilever wall to maintain the landslide-prone hill.

The alternative will involve using concrete-cast pilings and though it will require more excavation and finding a place to dump excavated soil, it may reduce costs and allow some flexibility is scheduling, Green said.

Both plans for the cantilever wall and the alternative wall will be presented to the board by Wednesday for the board’s consideration.

Motions to pay the bills for the month from the general fund failed to receive enough votes to pass after board members Regina MacDowell and Joe Coss voted no on the motions. Three board members were absent.

MacDowell and Coss each month vote no on the two motions to approve the paid list and unpaid list of bills.

The board votes at committee meetings and could, with more members present, approve them at its next meeting, but business manager Shannon Rutan said if the bills aren’t paid the district eventually could face late fees.

MacDowell said after the meeting said she never votes for the budget motions. It’s “not the way I choose to disburse funds,” she said, declining further comment.

The board voted to approve the purchase of a new telephone system for the district through the state bid list for $91,490.

The system will be purchased from CCL Technology of Greensburg.