Moon School Board Discusses Budget Hardships, Elementary School Repairs

 Chairman Mark Scappe said it all boils down to the district's tight budget. 

The board invited Jack Highfield, director of the Parkway West Career and Technical Center, to its monthly workshop meeting last night. Board members asked Highfield to urge the center's executive board to reconsider its 2011-2012 budget. 

"It's a $670,00 bill that we are paying Parkway West," Scappe said. "So if we're watching our budget, we're expecting the same thing from your organization." 

Moon schools pay a yearly fee for its students to participate in the Parkway West Career and Technical Center, and that cost must be accounted for in the district's annual budget.  Board members have expressed concern that the center's budget increased this year, despite major cutbacks in state funding for public schools. 

The Parkway West Career and Technical Center provides vocational training for several school districts in Allegheny County. According to Highfield, 57 students in the Moon Area School District attend Parkway. 

"Cutting to the chase, it's the finances that we're worried about," Scappe said. "We're very disappointed to see that your budget came in higher this year." 

Board member Jerry Testa asked Highfield to recommend a cost-containment plan to Parkway's board of directors. He also asked that the center consider eliminating programs with low enrollment. 

"I don't take your comments lightly," Highfield said. "I'll go back to our board and make a recommendation accordingly, but I answer to our board. I'll take it to my board, but we operate on a rule of seven -- seven out of 12 votes makes a decision." 

Testa said he hoped that Highfield would be more responsive to the board's recommendations. 

"To me this is ludicrous," Testa said to Highfield. "You have no plan or desire to make a change. In the business world, that would be a terrible, terrible answer." 

Also at the meeting: 

The board hired architectural and construction firm J.C. Pierce to submit bid documents and drawings for a soffit-repair project at Brooks Elementary School, at a cost not to exceed $3,500. 

Jim Heck, director of operations at the district, said the large cement board fastening system near the school's entrance is beginning to fail and could pose a safety risk if it is not repaired. The district will soon undertake several large-scale renovation projects in the district's elementary schools, Heck said. 

The final cost of renovating the school's soffit system could exceed $10,000, Heck said. 

The board also approved $3,732 in change orders for the recently completed $76 million high school and $3,682  in change orders for renovation of the former high school.