Mt. View rates ‘clean audit’

By Tom Fontana
Correspondent

Accountant Brian Kelly, of Carbondale, told the Mt. View school board Monday night, Jan. 19, the results of an audit of the district’s finances.

“I was hired to give an opinion on the financial health of your district,” Kelly said. “I’m here to report a clean audit. My conclusion is the audit is rated ‘unqualified,’ which is the highest rating, meaning there are no problems.”

Kelly said the audit basically examines how the district spends its money, both revenue as well as funds received from the government.

Kelly stated that at the end of June 2014, the district has a fund balance of $6,105,000, and has since added $650,000.

District business manager Joseph Patchcoski related that a government review of the the district’s cafeteria operations was also recently completed.

“As you know, we lost $60,000 on the cafeteria program last school year,” Patchcoski said, “and I predict this year we’ll lose $85,000.”

He said the government wants the district to raise point-of-sale prices because it “doesn’t like to subsidize the free and reduced lunch program.”

Acting superintendent Karen Voigt said a special meeting was held in Harrisburg “just about us,” concerning the district’s pricing.

“Last year, it was recommended that we raise the price of lunch by seven cents,” Voigt stated, “but we chose to hold at $1.60. We have to raise our prices.”

Voigt also announced the receipt of a $25,000 grant from Community Foundation of the Endless Mountains to fund “Project Lead The Way,” which will enable the high school to offer engineering classes.

Maintenance director Robert Taylor reported that there have been some “nit picky” challenges with the new phone system, one being the inability for the system to record voice mail messages from outside calls to classroom phones.

“The new phone installation could have been more organized,” he stated. “They (NEP) had plenty of time to prepare for the change over, and they’ve heard my thoughts.”

Elementary principal Christine Kelly told the board that a competitive internet program, “First In Math,” giving students in kindergarten through 8th grade an opportunity to improve their math skills, has been high successful.

“Each student has a user name and password to use the program at home,” she said, “and the program awards them ‘virtual stickers’ for good work. Even some parents have praised the program.”

The board approved the hiring of Daniel Frost of Factoryville as a K-12 physical education teacher, and Heidi Page of Susquehanna as a K-12 special education teacher.