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RVSD Moves Ahead into a New School Year

NEW BETHLEHEM, Pa. by: John Gerow (RVO) – Three Redbank Valley School Board members were honored Tuesday evening for their many years of service to the district. Jim Summerville, of the Pennsylvania School Board Association attended the meeting to present Ann Kopnitsky, Dee Bell, and William Reddinger for their awards. Ms. Kopnitsky received a certificate of recognition for her 8 years of service. Mr. Bell’s certificate acknowledged his 12 years on the Board. Mr. Summerville then presented Mr. Reddinger with a plaque for his 25 years of service to the school district and the community.

Jim Summerville (left) presents Bill Reddinger with a plaque commemorating 25 of service.

Following the presentation of these awards, the Board plunged into the business of the start of a new school year. Primary and Intermediate Principal Cheryl McCauley reported that the start of the school year was amazingly smooth, especially when considering that the elementary school flooded on July 19. She spoke very highly of the cleaning crew and the teacher volunteers who spent 5 weeks of intense labor to get the building ready for students. Mrs. McCauley said that she did not believe that the building could be ready for the start of school.

Mrs. McCauley praised the Redbank Valley Parent Teachers Organization for their single-minded effort to replace all the rugs in the classrooms and libraries. The principal recounted how RMS Furniture in New Bethlehem became a dealer for the manufacturer in order to get the rugs for less. RMS passed the savings on to the PTO. Mrs. McCauley reported that 609 students enrolled in the elementary and middle schools this school year.

Mrs. Amy Rupp, high school principal, reported that the school year started well. She told the Board that there were 12 new students in the high school at the start of the year. Ten of these returned from cyber school and 2 are new to the district. The principal said that the high school staff is implementing new security protocols as the year begins.
Jim Jones, District Maintenance Supervisor reported that even with the extra work at the elementary school, all the buildings and facilities were ready for the start of the year. He told the Board that the floors in the buildings had been stripped and waxed. The maintenance crew also replaced fire extinguishers. He said that the lawns and football field were in good shape.

Cafeteria Manager David Reitz reported that the first few days in the cafeteria went smoothly. He said it was too early to tell anything yet, but breakfast and lunch sales seem like the last week or so of last school year.

District Superintendent John Mastillo gave a lengthy report covering an update on the elementary school heating system and changes to the bus routing. Dr. Mastillo told the Board that there is still disagreement between the two heating contractors as to whether every individual heating unit has shut off valves. Even with a second tour of the heating system, Combustion Services insists that every unit in the building needs to have 2 shut off valves installed. Johnson Controls maintains that there are sufficient individual unit shut offs and zone shut offs that new valves are not needed. In the following discussion, Dee Bell said that the Johnson Control proposal will give the District more BTUs and completely modern control through an update for less money than the Combustion Services’ proposal. The District contracts with Johnson Controls for the other two school building. Director Bain asked that “not to exceed cost” language be included in any contract for the heating system work. Dr. Mastillo assured him that both proposals call for “complete to existing condition” language and that the District would be responsible for any costs that might come from asbestos removal. Considering these, “not to exceed” language isn’t necessary. Mr. Bain also was concerned that work on the heating system was going to be done during the school day. Dr. Mastillo, Dee Bell, and Bill Reddinger that both proposals planned the work for after school hours.

Dr. Mastillo also addressed the issue of long seat times on some of the elementary school buses. He said that his office was working with transportation and that changes in routing would be implemented on Wednesday September 4th. He said that the changes should eliminate the extremely long seat times for students.

The Board recessed into an Executive Session.

Following the Executive Session, the Board voted to approve payment to Service Master by Bell for cleaning the elementary school. This bill is for $57,268.44. The Board also approved paying Rea Jobbers, Inc.$7.328.95 and $6,157.50 for tile, carpet, and trim work at the elementary school. They also voted to purchase playground equipment for the elementary school at a cost of $3,810.00. The Directors voted to contract with Johnson Controls for repair of the heating system at the primary school in the amount of $234,100.00. In a last bit of new business, the Board opted to contract with Armstrong Lock and Security for extra curricular security, rather than the New Bethlehem Police Department.

Following the meeting, and before recessing into another Executive Session, Director Jason Barnett asked that the Administration investigate the feasibility of buying flood insurance for the primary school. Cheryl Motter, District Business Manager, told Mr. Barnett that she contacted both of the district’s insurance carriers to get quotes.

ABOUT:
Redbank Valley School District provides education services for the 165 square mile area of New Bethlehem and Hawthorn boroughs, and the townships of Mahoning, Madison, Porter, and Redbank of both Clarion and Armstrong counties.

MEETINGS:
The Redbank Valley School Board meetings the first Monday of every month at 7pm at the High School Library.

CONTACT:
For more information about the Redbank Valley School District, please call 814.275.2426 or visit RedbankValley.org/pg/biz/redbank-valley-school-district

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