School Board Approves New Calendar, Furloughs

The voted to amend the district's to include two Saturday graduation practices for seniors.

District Superintendent Donna Milanovich said the seniors would attend graduation practices on May 14 and May 28 to accommodate a June 10 commencement ceremony.

School spokeswoman Megan Gallagher announced practices last week.

Students must attend 180 days of course work in Pennsylvania. The district closed for 15 days this year, 13 of which were due to a November teachers strike. Underclassmen in the district will finish the school year June 14.

"There were different options that we were looking at," Milanovich said. "We had moved graduation to June 10 following the teachers strike. We were asked by parents not to change it again. We talked about moving it to midweek [in June], but we have a tradition of holding the ceremony on a Friday."

Milanovich said the district requested a waiver of the mandated 180 class days through the Pennsylvania Department of Education but was denied.

FIVE TEACHERS RECEIVE FURLOUGHS

The board voted to place five teachers in the district on indefinite furloughs at the meeting.

The teachers, who weren’t identified, include three elementary and developmental staff members as well as a counselor and special education teacher.

The teachers will be placed on leave until another position becomes available, said Milanovich. Two of the positions were part time.

Milanovich said the special education positions were cut because of low student enrollment but that threats of state-wide public education cuts also were a factor.

Butch Santicola, spokesman for the Moon Area Education Association, said the teachers union had no comment on the furloughs but said, "We would only hope that furloughs in the district will apply to administrators as well."

OTHER MEETING ITEMS:

• The board increased the price of printed public documents from the district to 25 cents per copy, which is the maximum that state law allows.

• The board approved the purchase of art supplies at a cost of $19,670 through the Pennsylvania Education Joint Purchasing Council. The board also approved the purchase of $54,121.74 in miscellaneous items through the council.

• The board approved  the purchase of a gymnasium floor-covering system for the district’s new high school from Covermaster Inc. at a cost of $9,992. The system is a vinyl floor protectant meant to seal the floor from scratches and comes with an 11-year warranty.