Montrose Area braces for funding cuts

BY PAT FARNELLI

The Montrose Area School Board adopted a resolution opposing Pennsylvania Senate Bill 1 at its Monday meeting, and discussed state budget cuts for public education with dismay.

Superintendent Michael F. Ognosky said that the school board opposes the bill, which would implement a tuition voucher and/or tax credit program and give incentive to students’ transfers out of the public education system.

He said this would “take financial resources away from traditional public schools and diminishes the great strides that have been made in those schools, and increases the burden on property taxpayers.”

Ognosky said that the vouchers to help parents send their children to private school will only help those who could afford to anyhow, since they will only provide a fraction of the tuition, probably about 50 percent.

He also discussed major cuts in education funds in the new budget proposal, and said that the amounts budgeted for state aid to public education were disastrously lower, like numbers last seen 6-10 years ago.

Ognosky said a letter with the resolution would be sent out Tuesday to all legislators and other state officials.

Later, board member George Gow said he had received a letter from a Western Pennsylvania school district, in which school board members there expressed a feeling that state legislators are interfering.

 He said that the Montrose board should send letters to legislators and urge the public to do the same, to voice concerns over budget cuts for education. He said that taxes will have to increase if funding is cut so severely, and that the quality of education will certainly be negatively affected

A rather lengthy list of resignations was submitted to the board. Ognosky said that the eight resignations follow another accepted at the February meeting, and that the deadline for retirement requests was “tomorrow (Mar. 15).”

“I would not be surprised to see more requests handed in tomorrow,” he said.

The board also accepted several other resignations from personnel and extra curricular staff at the meeting.

Assistant high school principal Russell Canaveri, who was recently hired as head football coach by the district, will be employed as a full-time, contracted social studies teacher at the high school, effective the beginning of 2011-12, at a salary of $62,742, step 12 Masters. Canaveri was a social studies teacher before becoming a principal.

“Will we be replacing Mr. Canaveri as  Assistant Principal? That is a good question.” Ognosky said.

Teachers whose resignations for the purpose of retirement were accepted at the March meeting included: Kathleen Goerlitz, Sharon Donlin, Margaret Baker, Carolyn Morrison, Rita Matos, Wilhelmina Merrick, Sue Kipar, and Elizabeth Wilcox.

The board accepted with regret the resignation for the purpose of retirement of Hector Lopez as district floater custodian.

 The board approved a motion to grant Laurie Andre, an unpaid leave of absence.

The 2010-2011 school calendar was revised to make up a snow day on Friday, Mar. 18, and move the teacher in-service scheduled for that day to June 13. The last day of school will remain Friday, June 10, with graduation on Saturday, June 11.

The school’s 2011-12 calendar was submitted for first reading, and will be put on the website for the public to read and give feedback.

“Next year, the Harford Fair is scheduled late, and it pushes the calendar back a week,” Ognosky said. He also said the regular inservice day for next April will not be held.

PSSA testing began this week, and will continue until Mar. 25.

Montrose students competed at the Pennsylvania Archery Tournament, and the elementary team came in first place, the middle school team came in second, and there were 16 students who received individual awards.

The whole team qualified to go on to the next level, but there is a question on whether the school meets a curriculum requirement for the middle school students to proceed further.

Bob Ide of “The Great Outdoors” TV show filmed the Montrose archers for his program, which will be shown next week.