School Board Meeting Highlights
9-23-14
Agenda:
For a complete agenda, please visit us at:http://www.boarddocs.com/pa/parkland/Board.nsf/Public
All motions were approved.
Business Meeting
New Professional Staff Welcome Reception
The School Board was introduced to 64 newly hired professional staff and 10 new administrators who have been hired since the start of the last school year. All were welcomed with warm introductions by their principals and Mr. Sniscak. Mrs. Pamela Kelly, Director of Human Resources, stated that 800 applications were received last year and more than 400 interviews were conducted for the positions which included nearly 30 contracts, about 30 leave of absences and represent 23 subject areas. The diverse group attended more than 30 colleges and about half have masters degrees.
Collective Bargaining Agreement Recognition
The School Board heard from teacher's union president Sandi Gackenbach who thanked the negotiations team for working collaboratively to come to a newly formed teacher's union agreement. The professional staff team included Kerin Steigerwalt, Catherine Ettinger, Andrew Reaman, Lisa Pany, and Elaine Ruttle.
Celebrate My Drive
Deborah Andreoli, the PHS Driver's Education teacher, made a presentation about an upcoming pledge campaign that promotes a safe driving community. Under the contest, the school who gets the most votes from October 15-24, 2014 on the www.celebratemydrive.com web site will win $100,000. During the month of October, Ms. Andreoli will promote the event and invite the Walmark Tractor Trailers in to teach about blind spots and State Farm will be bringing in driving simulators that show a 3-dimensional view of driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol so that students can fully be aware of how driving while impaired can have terrible consequences. Everyone was asked to vote once per day during the campaign and if any employers in the community would be interested in helping Parkland win the prize by encouraging their employees to vote, they can contact Ms. Andreoli at andreolid@parklandsd.org.
Roundtable
Everyone congratulated and welcomed the new hires for the 2014-15 school year. Mrs. Marcus noted that many new hires included teachers of the visual and performing arts and stated that Parkland is a proud supporter of the arts and believes they are an important and integral part of a child's educational experience. Everyone also congratulated John Vignone, Director of Business Administration, whose contract was extended for the next five years. The School Board congratulated the principal staff for a wonderful opening of the school year and encouraged them to keep the energy and positive attitudes going for the upcoming year.
The School Board recognized our school resource officer and made mention that our thoughts and prayers are with the police who are battling the manhunt situation in the Poconos. It was noted that Jeff Geisel and the whole athletic/grounds department did a great job in adjusting the sports schedules for the weekend due to school closures in Monroe County this past week. They thanked everyone for being flexible.
Lisa Adams mentioned that the Community Advisory Council meets on Thursday, October 16th and will discuss the new Elementary Report Card and Transcripts at PHS. The public is invited to attend.
Bob Bold announced that September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month and encouraged people to get a simple PSA test to screen for the disease.