EL board gives green light to summer projects

The Elk Lake School Board on Wednesday opened the door to a pair of maintenance projects in the weeks ahead.

It awarded to A.R. Popple Construction of Wilkes-Barre a $42,000 bid for the removal and demolition of a boiler.

Board members also granted permission to send out for bids a window replacement project which will replace all of the windows in the high school with new windows that meet or exceed energy codes.

Energy manager Kim Guiton who oversees an energy efficiency plan for the school district will be taking bids as soon as the plans can be drawn up and sent out with a pre-bid and walk-thru meeting on June 14.

Work is to be completed by Aug. 18.

In other business, the board entered into a Memorandum of Understanding for 2017-18 with the Northeastern Intermediate Unit which prescribes courses of action which the body undertakes on behalf of its 19 member school districts.

The board also approved a new school policy on student wellness.

It gave a first reading for new policies dealing with immunizations and communicable diseases, and another with attendance.

The board also looked into proposals for health care benefits for employees and recommended the one with Highmark with rates essentially the same as last year.

The board approved hiring Laura Mitchell to a 12-month business office secretary position; also a special education teacher for summer position to Jon Sova; and two special education summer associate positions with Terri Bennett working with elementary students and Tammy Conrad working with secondary students.
The board also approved adding returning college student Megyn Stevens to the summer student worker list.

At the beginning of the meeting, business secretary Jeanie Rogers read letters of resignation by Iris Hoffman and Denise Churchill, two associates in the special education program which the board accepted with regret.

There was little discussion about the 2017-18 budget with a notation that it would be voted on at the next regular board meeting June 22.

In its role as school board for the Susquehanna County Career and Technology Center, members heard from director Alice Davis who shared TV news clips from WNEP Channel 16 and WBRE Channel 28 about Mountain View High School senior Darion Brodeur who received a car that had been rehabbed by automotive students so when Brodeur graduates from high school she’ll have a vehicle to get her to and from Lackawanna College where she plans to further her education.

Davis also talked about a 1250-hour barbering course, SCCTC is considering offering; along with community service projects of building dog houses for a local shelter and free libraries at fire houses in Susquehanna County with funds provided by Southwestern Energy; as well as a nutrition program with Elk Lake elementary grades.

The board also was apprised of talks which might lead to an out-of-state articulation agreement with the State University of New York at Cobleskill, with visitors on the SCCTC campus May 23.

Davis noted on Wednesday that 145 SCCTC students were eligible to graduate the next night.

She also said that a health careers day camp would be held July 10-13; and on July 13, Claverack REC would be having its annual picnic at Elk Lake with 1,300 chicken dinners expected to be served utilizing resources of the SCCTC culinary arts program.

Board members also approved Jeannie Rogers to continue to serve as board secretary for the next 12 months at $3,800 for the year, no increase.

They also okayed renewal of clinical nurse supervisor contracts with Christopher Drake on a month-to-month basis and to Chelsea Lunger as a part-timer three days a week.

The board also accepted a $2,500 grant from the Tulsa Foundation for its welding program, and granted approval to the administration to apply for a Perkins grant which could add $139,039 to the budget.

The board noted that SCCTC was also looking for a substantial Plan Con J reimbursement from the state.