Architects create options for upgrades to Canon-Mac elementary schools

The following is a list of options created by Hayes Design Group Architects:
*Option A for seven elementary schools: Renovate all existing elementary schools. Cost estimate between $42-$56 million.
*Option B for seven elementary schools: Build five new elementary schools at the existing locations of Cecil, First Street, Hills-Hendersonville, Muse and Wylandville elementaries. There could be additions aimed at increasing enrollment capacity, along with renovations at Borland Manor and South Center. Cost estimate between $69-$80 million.
Option C for four elementary schools: Build two new elementary schools at existing Muse and Wylandville sites. Renovations at South Central and Hills-Hendersonville and an addition or new elementary school at Hills-Hendersonville. Cost estimate between $64-$72 million.
Option D for five elementary schools: Three new elementary schools at the existing Hills-Hendersonville, Muse and Wylandville sites. Renovations at South Central and Borland Manor. As an alternate, there could be additions and alterations at Hills-Hendersonville instead of new. Cost estimate between $67-$78 million.
Option E for three elementary schools: Two new elementary schools at Muse and Wylandville sites. There could be additions aimed at increasing enrollment capacity, along with renovations, at South Central. Cost estimate between $62-$76 million.
* Not recommended by the architects.
Find out more in Wednesday's Observer-Reporter.

New Trinity superintendent meets with community

Newly hired Trinity Superintendent Paul Kasunich agrees with a consultant’s recommended changes to improve the district.
Kasunich, who will start as superintendent on April 5, spoke after consultant James Manley gave a report called “A Journey Towards High Performance,” which detailed what Trinity does well and how the district can improve.
Kasunich and Manley spoke during a special meeting that several hundred people attended Thursday.
Manley’s report describes the ideal school district in five areas: leadership and governance; curriculum, instruction and achievement; learning climates and culture; accountability for teachers and students; and systems thinking, which includes special education.
“We’re pretty much on the same page,” Kasunich said of Manley’s recommendations.
Kasunich said the district needs to have a clear academic focus. It also needs to have “The Four R’s,” – rigor, relevancy, relationships and reflection, he said.
Trinity needs to have data-driven decision-making, which means making sure that teachers have data so they can change instruction as necessary, he said.
The district needs to use best instructional practices and to make sure that there’s a real-world connection for students, he said.
He said the district needs to have kindergarten through 12th-grade system thinking, which means that teachers at different grade levels need to know what other grade levels are responsible for teaching.
“You can’t have isolation in the buildings,” he said, adding that it needs to be cohesive and coherent.
Kasunich said he wants Trinity to be innovative.
“I don’t want us to be in the middle,” he said. “I want us to be in the front.”
Kasunich, who has a background in business and education, also shared his core beliefs with the audience.
He said the organization can’t stand still, it has to be constantly improving. That’s why he will encourage people to act – and act quickly.
Kasunich said he will also encourage dialogue and feedback.
“I will encourage it because I don’t know all the answers,” he said.
He said he will let actions speak for him, just as he will for everyone else. Every district employee is a role model for children, he said.
He wants to create a performance-based culture and said he will give people the benefit of the doubt. Kasunich said he’d rather have Trinity try new ideas and find out they don’t work exactly as planned than to not try anything new at all.
“The only way you get better is to try to broaden your horizons,” he said. “We are going to do that at Trinity.”
Read Manley’s report at www.observer-reporter.com/OR/sourcedoc/.

Join the Observer-Reporter’s conversation about education at our blog at http://www.observer-reporter.com/or/behinddesk/

Trinity to host reception for new superintendent, meeting with consultant

Trinity School Board will have a reception Thursday for its newly hired superintendent and then have a presentation by a consultant.
The reception for Paul Kasunich, whose first day as superintendent is scheduled for early April, will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the high school cafeteria. The reception is expected to last 45 minutes.
Then, James Manley, a consultant hired by the board to determine what Trinity does well and how the district can improve, will give his report. He already explained his report to the board’s education committee.
Manley’s report describes the ideal school district in five areas: leadership and governance; curriculum, instruction and achievement; learning climates and culture; accountability for teachers and students; and systems thinking, which includes special education.
He details what Trinity does well and how the district can improve in all of those areas. Manley said copies of the report will be available publicly. However, a final copy was not ready Tuesday.
After Manley gives his report, Kasunich will discuss what he thinks of the findings.
The meeting will be open to the public. However, Manley said there will not be a question-and-answer session with the public.

Join the Observer-Reporter’s conversation about education at our blog at http://www.observer-reporter.com/or/behinddesk/.

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Central Greene lunch policy comes under fire

WAYNESBURG - Central Greene School District's policy of refusing lunch to high school students who cannot pay led to a suspension for one teen this month.

At the school board meeting earlier this month, the boy's mother, Angela Marling of Waynesburg, protested the policy and the way her 15-year-old son was treated.

The district uses a debit system for school lunches where parents put money into an account, which the child uses to buy food. Before this year, the district allowed students to charge the cost of their lunches even if their accounts dwindled to zero.

That practice led to a deficit of more than $6,000 in the food service program, so the board instituted a much stricter policy this year. In the middle and senior high schools, cafeteria workers will confiscate students' lunches if they do not have enough money in their accounts to cover the cost of the food.

A worker asked Marling's son for his lunch when his account showed a negative balance. He refused, took his lunch to a table and started eating. A teacher and an assistant principal confronted him, but he still would not relinquish the meal and as a result received a one-day suspension from school.

Marling said her son was accused of stealing.

"Stealing is when you're hiding something. He was very open. He said he would pay later," she said.

Board President Pete Rameas said the boy was disciplined because of insubordination.

"He chose to make a scene," Rameas said. "He should have been able to act in a far more mature manner."

Marling said her child charged lunch on several previous occasions without issue. Her son's account was more than $7 in the red at the time of the incident, indicating that he had been charging lunch for a few days. Marling objected to that inconsistency as well as the district's communication to the parents regarding their children's lunch accounts.

Director Sam McCollum said his son's account was also in arrears, but he only learned of it when he checked online, through Nutrition Group's Web site, mylunchmoney.com. His son was never notified.

Dr. Jerome Bartley, district superintendent, said the policy is to not have charges whatsoever at the middle and senior high school. Workers are supposed to remind a student that his or her account is low whenever the balance drops below $5, and they are to refuse service when it dwindles to zero.

Bartley said he will check with the cafeteria workers to make sure they are following the policy.

Parents of middle school students complained about the policy and the district's communication methods a few months ago. Nutrition Group, the district's food service management company, responded by launching mylunchmoney.com earlier this year.

McGuffey teachers are picketing this morning at McGuffey High School and Middle School, Joe Walker Elementary, Claysville Elementary and union headquarters, the Buffalo Township Municipal Building.

The union and school board have been negotiating for more than a year to reach a contract. The union voted last week to strike if an agreement could not be reached. Both sides met with a mediator for more than five hours Friday night, but could not reach a deal.

The strike will last two days; Classes will resume Wednesday.

Find out more in Tuesday's Observer-Reporter.

Mum's the word at McGuffey

McGuffey School Board President Joyce Knestrick wouldn’t say whether school activities will be canceled next week if teachers strike.
“No comment at this time,” she said when asked about the activities after Thursday’s school board meeting.
The union announced earlier this week that members voted to authorize a strike Monday if it cannot reach an agreement with the board about its contract.
Representatives from both sides will meet with a mediator tonight to try and resolve the remaining issues.
“We’re optimistic, hopeful,” said Andrew MacBeth, a spokesman for the McGuffey union. “It’s a great sign that we have a mediator involved. Maybe they can help us find common ground.”
Knestrick and school board member Doug Teagarden said before the school board meeting they are also hoping the differences can be resolved.
“We are always willing to talk,” Teagarden said.
The two sides have been negotiating for more than a year. At the board’s request, the teachers agreed to bring in a state fact-finder in November. Teachers approved the fact-finder’s recommendations in December, even though it didn’t contain everything they wanted because they wanted the negotiations resolved, MacBeth said.
The board rejected the recommendations, saying the district could not afford the financial obligations imposed by them.
The report by fact-finder Matthew M. Franckiewicz called for starting teachers to get a $1,075 increase this year to $34,096. It calls for the maximum salary to be $73,942 this year, an increase of $960. It calls for the starting salary to be $41,789 in 2013-14, the last year of the contract. That year, it calls for the maximum salary to be $79,243.
The fact-finder’s report also calls for the monthly health insurance premiums to stay the same this year and next year at a cost of $15 per month for single coverage and $30 for any other coverage. It would jump to $20 and $40, respectively, for the next two years of the contract and to $25 and $50 for the last year of the contract.
After rejecting the fact-finder’s report, the board made another offer to the union that included an average 3.5 percent salary increase and requested increased contributions for health care costs and a few additional minutes daily to educate students and train staff, Benjamin Pratt, an attorney working for the board on negotiations, said in a news release.
Teagarden said the board wanted the teachers to pay half the cost of health insurance increases over the life of the contract.
Teachers rejected that offer and offered the fact-finder’s report as a counter-proposal, he said.
MacBeth said the union is trying to come to a fair agreement that teachers can live with and the district can afford.
The board did not discuss the strike or negotiations publicly during Thursday night’s meeting, except to answer questions from a resident about whether the board rejected the fact-finder’s report.
However, the board did discuss the contract negotiations during an 80-minute executive session.

Ringgold won't allow out-of-state photographer for fundraiser

NEW EAGLE – Ringgold School Board voted Wednesday not to allow an out-of-state photographer to take pictures for parent organization fundraisers.
The decision came after local photographer Dave Savarino questioned why Monongahela Elementary was using Minnesota-based Lifetouch School Portraits for pictures next week.
Savarino, who has had a business in the Mon Valley for 38 years, said the district has had a gentleman’s agreement for decades that local photographers would take school pictures. Savarino said he would give the schools a better deal than they are getting from Lifetouch for the fundraiser, which is separate from the regular school pictures he takes in the fall.
None of the board members knew of the Lifetouch fundraiser. Several board members exploded in anger, questioning why students would be pulled out of class for the pictures and whether the Lifetouch photographers had the appropriate clearances. They also questioned why a local photographer wasn’t used.
This is the first year for the fundraiser at Monongahela Elementary, but it’s been at Donora Elementary for several years. Parents said the fundraisers at both schools were approved by the principals. The parents also said they didn’t realize it needed school board approval.
The parent organizations get $2 for each picture that’s taken.
MEC PTO President Tammy Warchol said the fundraiser was brought in because parents requested it. They like the unique options for pictures that Lifetouch offers, she said.
After talking to the district’s solicitor, Warchol said she is trying to find another location for the Lifetouch fundraiser, which will take place after school.
“I have to do some scrambling tonight,” Warchol said after Wednesday’s school board meeting.

Join the Observer-Reporter’s conversation about education at our blog at http://www.observer-reporter.com/or/behinddesk/

McGuffey teachers will strike Monday

McGuffey School District teachers will strike Monday because an agreement on a new contract cannot be reached with the school board.
The two sides have been bargaining for more than a year, efforts that included bringing in an independent fact-finder to make recommendations for a new contract.
The board unanimously voted against the fact-finder’s report twice while the teachers voted for it both times.
“This is the last thing we want to do, but the school board has left us with no other options,” said Andrew MacBeth, spokesman for the McGuffey union.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education will determine how long the teachers can strike, but the district must complete 180 days of instruction by June 30, said spokeswoman Leah Harris. The department will also determine how many days they can strike to complete school by June 15, after which the sides can begin non-binding arbitration, Harris said.
The last student day, as of Tuesday, is June 11.
MacBeth said the board has not been bargaining in good faith.
“They’ve said no at every turn to things that could resolve this dispute,” MacBeth said, adding the union is trying to come to a fair agreement that teachers can live with and the district can afford. He said the total payroll in the fact-finder’s recommendation would have been less than it was last year.
Doug Teagarden, a school board member who is on the negotiating team, said the board has negotiated in good faith. He said all contracts come down to money and benefits and the board’s most recent proposal called for teachers to split the increased costs of health insurance in each year of the contract.
Union representatives told the board negotiating team last week that offer wouldn’t be accepted, Teagarden said.
The union’s counterproposal was the fact-finder’s report. Teagarden said he would take that back to the board if the union wanted, but he suspected the vote would remain the same.
“We said ‘Come back at us with a proposal and we’ll take a look at it’,” he said.
That meeting was an open discussion, Teagarden said. He said the board is still willing to talk and that he has no animosity toward the teachers.
“I’m not sure that striking is going to get us where we need to go,” he said. “I just hope it doesn’t adversely affect the kids.”
MacBeth said the teachers waited until Monday to strike because seniors have graduation projects to present Friday. Teachers didn’t want to stop that from happening as planned, he said.
Teagarden said the union published a full-page advertisement in the Observer-Reporter and sent postcards to residents, asking them to call board members about the contract negotiations.
Teagarden said he received about 10 calls. Only one caller asked him to give in, while the rest told him to stay the course, he said.
MacBeth said many people in the McGuffey community have voiced their support for teachers over the past several months.
“We are very grateful for the community’s support,” he said. “When so many people want this contract resolved, I just don’t understand why the school board won’t work with us.”

Changes to NCLB would affect schools differently

For most public schools, the perceived heavy hand of the federal government would become a lighter touch under President Obama's plan to rewrite the No Child Left Behind law. But for others, the consequences of academic failure would stiffen considerably, the Washington Post reported.
The proposal to update what is formally known as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act divides nearly 100,000 schools into three broad categories: those rewarded for high performance; those challenged and shaken up because they are struggling; and the huge number in the middle that are pushed to improve but given freedom to innovate."For the vast majority of schools, we're going to get rid of prescriptive interventions," Education Secretary Arne Duncan told reporters Monday.
Duncan heads to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to start selling the administration's 41-page blueprint to the House and Senate education committees. The 2002 law, a signature initiative of President George W. Bush's, is overdue for reauthorization. Democratic and Republican lawmakers have launched hearings and bipartisan talks on a new education bill. But there is no certainty that Congress will act before fall elections.
Under the law, public schools are rated every year on their progress toward a goal of 100 percent proficiency in reading and math by 2014 for students tested in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school. Those that fall short of targets for two consecutive years face an escalating series of consequences under certain conditions. The first consequence is a mandate to offer transfers to a better school. The second is a mandate to offer tutoring.
The two mandates would become options under Obama's proposal. And the label of "failing to make adequate yearly progress" would vanish. In the 2008-09 school year, according to the Center on Education Policy, about one-third of schools fell short of what is known as "AYP."
Mike Petrilli, a former Bush administration education official and analyst with the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, called the Obama plan realistic. "It uses federal power to give political cover to reformers at the state and local level, but focuses most of its muscle . . . on a handful of the worst schools," Petrilli wrote in a blog post. He described the No Child law's sanctions as "a bust."
Education Department officials said 5 percent of the lowest-performing schools would face radical interventions, including replacing the principal in nearly all cases. Those are tougher remedies than current law provides. The next-lowest 5 percent would be placed on watch lists and forced to take major steps. Another 5 percent with wide gaps in achievement between disadvantaged and better-off students would face interventions.
High-flying schools, Duncan said, would be rewarded with funding and increased flexibility and autonomy. He said that group would include schools with high test scores and those that make large gains -- at least 10 percent of the schools in each state, officials said.
As for the large middle group, he said, the government would not ignore them but would take a largely hands-off approach. If they started to stagnate, Duncan said, they would get more scrutiny. "Carrots and sticks across the board," he said. "Rewards and consequences."
How this switch would play out in the near future is unclear. Without congressional action this year, Duncan conceivably could take some administrative steps toward flexibility. His predecessor, Margaret Spellings, did that frequently during the Bush years.
Even if Congress revises the law, changing school accountability systems in 50 states and the District would take years. Separately, there is a state-led move to shift academic standards toward a new goal for all students to graduate ready for college and the workforce. That would mean, in turn, new curriculum and new tests.
Obama's plan leapfrogs past the tough question of whether to eliminate entirely the 2014 goal of proficiency for all students. In essence, the administration is leaving that up to Congress. Instead, Obama points toward a new academic goal that would take effect in stages over the next few years: for all students to meet "college- and career-ready" standards by 2020.
Teachers unions have criticized the plan as relying too much on testing to fix schools and not enough on helping educators. David A. Sanchez, president of the California Teachers Association, said Obama had embraced "the same one-size-fits-all and flawed foundation" of the Bush-era law "that has unfairly and unproductively used test scores to label public schools."

Tentative deal gives new life to overhaul of student loans

WASHINGTON — Democratic congressional leaders struck a tentative agreement on Thursday that breathes new life into President Barack Obama’s proposed overhaul of federal student loan programs.
The deal would bundle the bill into an expedited budget package along with the Democratic health care legislation, which would allow for both measures to be passed by the Senate on a simple majority vote. Without the deal, the student loan bill would have been unlikely to pass because it lacked the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.
The bill would end government payments to private, commercial student lenders, leaving the government to lend directly to students. It would also redirect billions of dollars to expand the Pell grant program for low-income students, and to pay for other education initiatives.
The maximum Pell grant is set to rise to $5,550 for the 2010-11 school year and, under the deal struck Thursday, would increase automatically each year in line with inflation. As many as eight million of the nation’s lowest-income students receive Pell grants to help pay for college each year. Under current law, Congress must determine any increases.
Private banks had lobbied fiercely against the bill, which would cut off a longtime stream of revenue. Even on Thursday, lobbyists for the private lenders made a last-ditch effort to stop Democrats from adding it to the budget package.
House Democrats predicted that packaging the two proposals in an expedited budget reconciliation bill would help them secure the needed votes on health care because the financial aid bill is popular. In September, the House adopted that bill, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, by a vote of 253-171.
Senate Democrats said that they could lose some votes as a result of the packaging, but that they did not believe it would swing the outcome.
Some Democrats in the Senate, where the private student loan industry has strong allies, had resisted tying the two bills together. But federal education officials warned on Thursday that if Congress failed to act, millions of students might see their Pell grants cut by 60 percent.
© 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Fort Cherry agreements detailed

Fort Cherry School District released three agreements Monday after a public records request by the Observer-Reporter.
Business Manager Paul Sroka gave the newspaper the newly-passed Act 93 agreement for administrators, his new contract and the teachers’ contract.
He said the board approved his contract and the administrators’ agreement early because it “wanted to get them out of the way.”
Sroka said there are no significant changes to the Act 93 agreement. The plan runs from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2016.
The agreement details the evaluation process of administrators. It also gives them 100 percent tuition reimbursement for the first 18 credits per year at the University of Pittsburgh rate. They must obtain superintendent approval and get at least a B- or P if class is pass/fail. They must work for the district for a full school term following the completion of the course. If they leave before fulfilling the requirement, the reimbursement amount will be withheld from their salary.
An administrator with a doctoral degree from an accredited university will receive an annual stipend of $5,000.
All administrators will receive three personal days per year, cumulative to seven. They will get up to 13 sick days per year and they may be accumulated.
Any additional medical, dental or vision benefits given to professional employees, such as teachers, will be included in the administrative agreement. If professional employees provided co-payment for health insurance, administrators would do the same.
They earn 20 vacation days per year and five can be carried over.
The agreement also includes a $25,000 bonus for retirement and calls for administrators to be paid $75 a day for unused sick leave.
Administrators can’t be paid more than the high average in the Intermediate Unit 1 for that position. They will be awarded 5 percent of any grants they obtain for the district, with the maximum amount not to exceed $5,000, except for someone hired for grant solicitation.
Sroka’s new contract runs for four years and ends June 30, 2015. His salary this year is $81,916. The contract doesn’t list his salaries over the course of the contract but does list the possible raises.
Sroka is also covered under the Act 93 agreement for administrators.
Details of the teachers’ contract were released when it was approved several months ago. The five-year plan runs from Sept. 1, 2009 to Aug. 31, 2014.
The starting salary for 2009-10 is $31,000 and the maximum salary is $70,853. The last year of the contract is $35,000 and the maximum salary is $78,760.
Health insurance monthly co-pays are $15 for single coverage and $30 for all other coverage. The district will provide dental and eye care. However, the district’s cost for eye care can’t exceed $7 per month per employee.
Read all three agreements at
www.observer-reporter.com/OR/sourcedoc/.

City, district support LERTA

Washington School Board and City Council held a joint public hearing Monday to discuss renewing residential property tax breaks in the city.
No one from the public attended the meeting. Both boards voiced support for renewing Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance, which expired in 2005.
LERTA would give residential property owners a 100 percent break on any increase in taxes that would stem from improvements, including roofing, siding and windows. LERTA could also be used for any new structure built on an existing lot in the city. The program would run for five years.
“We want to encourage improvements to property and new construction,” said school board solicitor Ken Baker, who gave the boards most of the details about LERTA.
The LERTA resolution calls for homeowners to apply for building permits for improvements or new construction. They must apply for the LERTA within 60 days of getting the permit, Baker said. If they receive the assistance, the tax breaks for property owners will last three years.
“It does carry forward to new buyers,” he said.
The resolution has a specific formula to determine how much homeowners can spend on improvements or building a new residence. However, the formula is equal to a maximum $100,000, and Baker said it would be easier just to include that dollar figure in the resolution.
Mayor Sonny Spossey and Council member Matt Staniszewski questioned whether the LERTA had to be capped at that amount.
Baker and city solicitor Lane Turturice said they would look into whether that number had to be capped. They are also checking into whether there can be a different maximum dollar figure for improvements than there is for new construction.
Everyone who owns a residence in the city, including landlords, will be eligible for the LERTA, Baker said.
However, to qualify, all taxes, water, sewer and trash must be paid on time, he said.
If any of those is not paid on time during the three years the property owner gets the assistance, then the tax breaks would end, he said.
Both sides anticipate votes on the LERTA within the next 45 days.

Join the Observer-Reporter’s conversation about education at our blog at http://www.observer-reporter.com/or/behinddesk/

Policy revisions a hot topic at Trinity

Trinity Area School District residents asked Thursday how they can find out about proposed revisions to policies so they can comment on them at school board meetings before a vote occurs.
The board discussed revising five policies, including one about public participation in board meetings.
The proposed changes to the public participation policy call for residents to sign in if they want to speak to the board. It also states that board members and administrators will not answer questions during the public comment period, which will be limited to 20 minutes unless extended by the board.
Before the board discussed the policy revisions, a resident asked what the revisions were about. She was told she could come in Friday and get copies of the proposed revisions.
That led to frustration from the audience later in the meeting, who questioned why they couldn’t have those potential revisions before the meeting started.
“How is it we are to know if we want to speak?” said Pattiann Trusler Berton, of South Strabane.
Historically, at Trinity and other districts, policy revisions are not publicly available until they are brought to the board and the board decides to have a first reading, said Acting Superintendent James Dick. That can be changed if it is the wish of the board, he said.
“We should have them available before the meeting,” said school board President Tom Bodnovich, who also suggested the revised policies be placed on the big screens in the board room for the audience to see while they are being discussed.
Assistant Superintendent Yvonne Weaver said there is a two-month process for approving a revised policy.
Thursday night was the first step – showing it to the board at a public meeting, where members discuss changes.
Members will vote on a first reading later this month. Next month, the board again will discuss potential changes. Any other changes will be made before the policy has a second reading and is voted on at the board’s second meeting in April, she said.
After that vote, the changes become official policy, she said.
Board member Tamara Salvatori said she agreed with the residents speaking. She said she was in the same position last year before she was elected, wanting to know what was going on but not permitted to see documents.
She suggested making available a few copies of what residents can legally see for those in attendance to share.
Dick said the intent of not having administrators and board members answering questions is to not get into a debate. He said they will not have answers to all questions that come up at a meeting. He said they can answer simple questions. He said the policy should include language that the questions will be answered by the next board meeting.
Board member Sandy Clutter said the policy is what the Pennsylvania School Board Association recommends about public participation.
The other policy revisions include purchases subject to bid, field trips, relations with special interest groups and subject acceleration.
The field trip policy changes will require only principal approval for trips of one day or less. The board will have to approve trips when students will stay overnight outside the district.
That led to a discussion about whether the school district should pay for field trips. Currently, parent organizations pay the cost of those trips. However, one parent said the organizations can no longer afford them.

New Trinity superintendent's contract detailed

By Dawn Goodman
Staff writer
dgoodman@observer-reporter.com
Pay raises for incoming Trinity Superintendent Paul Kasunich will not be automatic and instead will be based on performance evaluations, according to his new contract.
The school board hired Kasunich, currently the Blackhawk Area School District superintendent, on Feb. 18. He is expected to start in early April and has a five-year contract.
The contract calls for his salary to be $135,000 from his first day until June 30, 2011.
His annual compensation will be determined following that date each succeeding year of employment. However, his salary cannot be decreased.
His fringe benefits include a $200,000 term life insurance policy, along with $200,000 accidental death or dismemberment coverage. The district will pay the premiums.
He will receive medical, dental and vision benefits and will be responsible for 10 percent of the premium costs.
He also has health insurance protection, which means if he exhausts all paid leave provisions of the contract, the district will pay all of his insurances at 100 percent of the cost for six months.
He will receive 22 vacation days, exclusive of holidays. The vacation days must be used in the year they are earned.
He will be entitled to 12 sick days per year and they will accumulate without limit. Upon termination of his employment, he will get the sick days at a rate of $100 per day. However, if he leaves prior to the duration of the contract, he will not be eligible for the sick leave reimbursement.
School board President Tom Bodnovich said the board had no problem getting Kasunich to agree to the terms of the contract.
Read Kasunich’s contract at
www.observer-reporter.com/OR/sourcedoc/.
Join the Observer-Reporter’s conversation about education at our blog at http://www.observer-reporter.com/or/behinddesk/.

Pennsylvania among Race to the top finalists

The U.S. Department of Education announced that 15 states and the District of Columbia, including Pennsylvania, will advance as finalists for Phase 1 of the Race to the Top competition.
Race to the Top is the Department's $4.35 billion effort to re-shape America's educational system to better engage and prepare students for success in a competitive 21st century economy and workplace, according to a DOE news release.
If Pennsylvania is selected as a winner, the state could receive $400 million, according to a Pennsylvania Department of Education news release. Each district had to decide whether to participate in the application process. Superintendents, school board presidents and teachers' unions had to sign the memorandum of understanding for the grant. In Washington and Greene counties, only Central Greene had all three signatures.
States competing for Race to the Top funds were asked to document past education reform successes, as well as outline plans to: extend reforms using college and career-ready standards and assessments; build a workforce of highly effective educators; create educational data
systems to support student achievement; and turn around their lowest-performing schools.
The finalists are:
* Colorado
* Delaware
* District of Columbia
* Florida
* Georgia
* Illinois
* Kentucky
* Louisiana
* Massachusetts
* New York
* North Carolina
* Ohio
* Pennsylvania
* Rhode Island
* South Carolina
* Tennessee

Seuss still stirring readers

Since the end of the last school year, Trinity North Elementary fifth-graders haven’t spent time with Paula Anderson.
Until Tuesday.
The retired teacher was one of 40 guest readers who celebrated Dr. Seuss’ birthday at the elementary school. Across the country, schools are celebrating reading all week to coincide with the birthday of the author known for such children’s classics as “Green Eggs and Ham,” “The Cat in the Hat” and “One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish.”
At Trinity North, teachers and students got into the mood by wearing Dr. Seuss clothing. Some of the guests read Dr. Seuss books.
Anderson, who told the class that she is enjoying her first year of retirement, said there’s no place she’d rather be on Dr. Seuss’ big day.
“I taught reading for 14 years at Trinity North,” she said after reading the book “Skylark.” “Reading was always important to me. I always wanted the kids to enjoy it.”
“Skylark” is the sequel to “Sarah, Plain and Tall,” written by Patricia Maclachlan. The fifth-graders read “Sarah, Plain and Tall” last year. The books are set in the 19th century about a widowed midwestern farmer with two children, who takes a mail-order bride.
Anderson didn’t finish “Skylark” Tuesday.
“I only read parts of the story so you can read the rest,” she told the class.
Several of the fifth-graders said they plan to read the book.
Julia Quarture, 11, said the guest readers are fun. Between two and four came to each Trinity North class.
“It gives us more time to enjoy the story,” she said.
While the students don’t know all of the guest readers before they arrive, sometimes retirees, like Anderson, come back for Dr. Seuss’ birthday.
Caleb Reynolds, 11, said he likes that.
“I like to see them again,” he said.
Matthew Douglas, 11, said that reading is his favorite subject. He was glad that Anderson was one of his class’ guest readers.
“She was a really good reading teacher,” he said.
Guest readers at the school also included nurses, sheriff’s deputies, politicians and the Wild Things mascot.
“I like that we get to meet new people and that guest readers get to come in and see us again,” said 11-year-old Hannah Meyers.
Becky Cardone, teacher of one of the classes in which Anderson read, said students benefit from guest readers.
“It’s a good opportunity to hear others read to them,” she said.
The school will have events all week about reading.
“This is our chance to celebrate reading,” said Linda Oros, a Title I reading specialist who coordinated the events.

17 states to fight dismal college completion rates

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — More than a dozen states have formed an alliance to battle dismal college completion rates and figure out how to get more students to follow through and earn their diplomas.
Stan Jones, Indiana’s former commissioner for higher education, is leading efforts in 17 states, with about $12 million in startup money from several national nonprofits including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Jones founded the nonprofit Complete College America last year and says about one in every two Americans who start colleges don’t finish.
The campaign’s goal: Make sure 60 percent of adults between the ages of 25 and 35 hold an associate or bachelor’s degree by 2020, up from the 38 percent that now claim this status.
States participating include Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont and West Virginia.

Obama seeks money, interventions to stem dropouts

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Monday addressed the nation’s school dropout epidemic, proposing $900 million to states and school districts that agree to drastically change or even shutter their worst performing schools.
Obama’s move comes as many schools continue to struggle to get children to graduation, a profound problem in a rich, powerful nation. Only about 70 percent of entering high school freshmen go on to graduate. The problem affects blacks and Latinos at particularly high rates.
Obama said the crisis hurts individual kids and the nation as a whole, shattering dreams and undermining an already poor economy.
“There’s got to be a sense of accountability,” Obama said in announcing his latest get-tough school proposal at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce during an education event sponsored by the America’s Promise Alliance, the youth organization founded by former Secretary of State Colin Powell and his wife, Alma.
The president’s plan would seek to help 5,000 of the nation’s lowest-performing schools over the next five years.
“In this kind of knowledge economy, giving up on your education and dropping out of school means not only giving up on your future, but it’s also giving up on your family’s future,” Obama said. “It’s giving up on your country.”
Obama has been using federal money as leverage to push schools to raise standards and get more children ready for college or work. It is a task that former President George W. Bush and Congress, along with many leaders before them, have long taken on, but the challenge is steep.
Obama’s 2011 budget proposal includes $900 million for School Turnaround Grants. That money is in addition to $3.5 billion to help low-performing schools that was included in last year’s economic stimulus bill.
To get a share of the new money, states and school districts must adopt one of four approaches to fix their struggling schools:
—Turnaround Model: The school district must replace the principal and at least half of the school staff, adopt a new governance structure for the school, and implement a new or revised instructional program. In his remarks, Obama said a Rhode Island school that recently fired all its teachers is an example of how there needs to be accountability.
—Restart Model: The school district must close and reopen the school under the management of a charter school operator, a charter management organization or an educational management organization. A restarted school would be required to enroll, within the grades it serves, former students who wish to attend.
—School Closure: The school district must close the failing school and enroll the students in other, higher-achieving schools in the district.
—Transformational Model: The school must address four areas, including teacher effectiveness, instruction, learning and teacher planning time, and operational flexibility.
The administration also is putting $50 million into dropout prevention strategies, including personalized and individual instruction and support to keep students engaged in learning, and using data to identify students at risk of failure and help them with the transition to high school and college.
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