Wednesday, May 15, 2013
John Reinhart, retired Bangor Area superintendent, hired as temporary superintendent.
The Easton Area School District has chosen a retired school administrator to serve as its interim superintendent. John Reinhart, former superintendent of the Bangor Area School District, was hired by the school board Tuesday night. District employees were notified of the hiring after the vote, board President Robert Fehnel said. He noted that Reinhart began his education career as a teacher in Easton, spending 13 years with the district before going to Bangor. “I’m very happy to be back here in Easton…to help the distrct out," Reinhart said after the vote to hire him. Reinhart's employment begins July 1, the day current Superitendent Susan McGinley's current contract ends. He'll get a monthly salary of $12,500, according to his contract—…
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
School board approves 1.7 percent tax increase. Job cuts ahead for district employees.
The Easton Area School Board has approved the district's 2013-2014 budget, which was balanced by a 1.7 percent tax increase, $750,000 from the district fund balance and an undetermined number of job cuts. The board approved the budget Tuesday night after several unsuccessful attempts to decide on a tax rate and how much to take from the fund balance. The final vote was 6-3, with board members saying they had no good options for balancing the $134.3 million budget. “This is a terrible situation for all of us to be in," board member Janet Matthews said. “My father always told me in a compromise nobody’s happy, and I guess he’s right.” Under the budget, the average district property tax bill will go up $56 a year, Chief Operating Officer …
Easton Area School Board set to vote to name John Reinhart the interim superintendent.
The former head of the Bangor Area School District could lead Easton's schools, at least for a little while. The school board will vote Tuesday night on whether to hire John Reinhart, Bangor's former superintendent, to serve as Easton Area's interim superintendent, according to the meeting agenda. The interim superintendent position became necessary last month when two finalists for the job withdrew their names from consideration. Reinhart became superintendnent in 1999 and retired from education in 2010. Before working in school administration, he was a teacher in both the Easton and Bangor school districts. Also on Tuesday's agenda: the approval of the 2013-2014 budget.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
The Easton Area School Board meets this week to decide on how much of a tax hike and staff cuts should be made in passing its 2013-2014 preliminary school budget.
This week, the Easton Area School Board is scheduled to vote on the school district's 2013-2014 budget. It's just not clear yet which of three tax plans the board will choose, although all of them involve some district employees losing their jobs: “None of the scenarios are going to improve the quality of education in the district," board member Robert Moskaitis said. His colleague, William Rider, said that if the district cuts jobs, he'd rather them not cut teachers. “If you go to zero and cut additional teachers, yes, you are cutting education," he said. "Teachers teach kids. Kids learn. That’s our business." The district cut hundreds of jobs in 2012 and 2010. Complicating matters is the money the board wants to take from district …
Thursday, May 9, 2013
'The Music Man' scores lead actor/actress nominations, while 'Fiddler' is up for best production by a smaller school.
Easton Area High School and Wilson Area High School both scored six Freddy Award nominations Thursday for their school plays. Easton's The Music Man's nominations include the awards for lead actress and actor, while Wilson's Fiddler on the Roof is in the running for the award for outstanding production by a smaller school. Easton's nominations are: Wilson's nominations are: The awards will air on WFMZ-TV May 23. They are held each year at the State Theatre in Easton.
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Upgrades to Easton school buildings will cost nearly three times more than expected.
The first phase of security upgrades at Easton Area schools could cost $1.4 million, the school board learned Tuesday night. That figure—provided to the board by D'Huy Engineering—is nearly three times larger than the $500,000 district officials projected two months ago. D'Huy's proposal shows the construction for the security upgrades—assuming the board started looking for bids right away—happening between October 2013 and February 2014. But the board came to no consensus on the work Tuesday, with D'Huy planning to return in June with an updated proposal. "To me this is a good start," said district chief operating officer Michael Simonetta. "I don’t think this is something we should hurry into." In March, Simonetta proposed a five-point…
Monday, May 6, 2013
Lafayette students pay tribute to classmate one year after his death.
Bridget Greeley and Everett Glenn were a few years apart at Lafayette College. But that didn't stop them from becoming friends, because that's just how it was with Everett. "For Everett, there were no strangers on campus," Greeley said Sunday, speaking to a few hundred of her classmates on the college quad at a service for Glenn on the one-year anniversary of his death. "Whenever he walked through a doorway, he'd have a crowd behind him." He'd be inspired, she said, to see his dream fullfilled: all his disparate groups of friends becoming a united group. They were there to remember Glenn, and for the dedication of a new bench and tree that will serve as a memorial to a student remembered as a talented member of the college fencing team, …
Monday, April 29, 2013
Easton Area superintendent candidates are bailing, taxes are rising, school board members are bickering and the teaching staff is getting shredded.
The Easton Area School District is a mess. There's no easy way to say it. It's the case. And anyone who would just look at the information coming out of the school district these days would be able to make that same objective observation easily. While most school boards have already finalized their 2013-2014 preliminary budgets, our school board is still deciding what kind of tax hikes and staffing cuts should be attached to it. And, by the way, let's offer a zero percent tax option—Read My Lips: No New Taxes—but threaten to cut music and sports programs in the process. Scare tactics. The kind of scare tactics that forced my 13-year-old nephew to have to go before the school board and plead that music programs stay safe. No child should …
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Roof work is slated for Easton Area High School, along with masonry work at Paxinosa Elementary this summer.
The third phase of work to replace the 30-plus-year-old roof at Easton Area High School will begin this summer. Easton Area Schools Business Administrator Michael Simonetta announced that phase three of the project for asbestos abatement on the roof has been awarded to Sergeant Enterprises, which came in with a low bid of $10,224. The roof work started in 2011 with the first phase replacing 50,000 square feet. The entire 110,000-square-foot roof replacement project is expected to cost $1.4 million. The project is expected to replace the roof and flashing, demolish two abandoned chimneys and include other repairs. Replacement of the roof has been in the works since 2010. A facilities study performed on district schools in 2009 suggested …
Northampton Community College will hold a free Earth Day festival with live music on Thursday.
The event is free and open to the public, and will run from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Also at 11:30 a.m., the College will hold a dedication ceremony for Phase 3 of the Susan K. Kubik Tribute Garden, which recognizes contributors to NCC’s success and provides a space for quiet reflection, student gatherings, and special events, and enhances the beautification of the campus. This year’s dedication includes a scarlet oak in honor of Sue Kubik, a flowering dogwood from Sen. Lisa Boscola in honor of her mother, and a groundbreaking on the second phase of the Butterfly Garden. Dr. Mark Erickson will also be added to the Presidents wall in the tribute garden’s Alumni Plaza. For more information call 610-861-5300.
Rasterone
3:31 pm on Friday, May 17, 2013
If replacing one special ed administrator with another at a mere $92,000 yr + 25 payable days vacation, plus 14/15 holidays, plus 12 bankable sick days is any measure of how to tighten a belt--boy are we in for money trouble, again? more ›