COAL TOWNSHIP - The Shamokin Area School Board adopted a balanced budget Tuesday night and announced the return of a dozen employees who had been marked for furlough.
It also voted to eliminate the district's K-4 program.
The 2012-13 budget totals $28,812,428.
Gone is the $5.6 million deficit that had loomed large over board meetings since last year.
That deficit was erased with staff furloughs and coupled by retirements and resignations along with cuts in spending on equipment and materials and the approval of a controversial employment contract with Northwestern Academy, among other measures.
Shamokin Area had reduced the deficit to an estimated $1.4 million last week. That gap was made up with unexpected increases in grant funding coupled with the use of about $1 million in reserve funding.
The return of 12 furloughed staff members means of the 21 tabbed to be laid off next school year, nine continue to face the prospect of finding new work.
Those brought back, the majority of whom are teachers, are Inga Hinterliter, Cara Burns, Nancy Shuey, Sarah Krieger, Joelle Reed, Nina Varney, Shawn McGugan, Lindsay Venn, Jessica Wolfgang, Jennifer Neary, Kristy Hoffman and Lindsey Davies.
James Zack, superintendent, said that list could change if a staff member with more seniority and who also is facing furlough would decide to "bump" those with less seniority, or with the result of legal issues, alluding to a lawsuit between the district and Ruby Michetti.
Michetti was demoted from curriculum coordinator to middle school English teacher but is fighting in court to keep an administrative position.
The new budget brings a slight tax increase of 0.6695 mills. The proposed new rate would be 26.4195 mills and create $63,920 in new revenue.
Real estate taxes are levied against a property's fully assessed value. Each mill equals $1 for every $1,000 of the assessment.
A property within Shamokin Area assessed at $20,000 would be taxed $528.39 under the new rate.
K-4 cut
The move to eliminate K-4 marks two straight school years in which the program was cut.
However, prior to the start of the 2011-12 school year, the board shifted that program's budget from the district's general fund into a budget for Title 1 federal funding.
The same move was made in April for the district's kindergarten program.
It remains to be seen if the board will work to save K-4 again ahead of next school year.
'Step down'
The meeting may have settled the matter of the 2012-13 spending plan, but not without the contention, accusations and labored decisions that often accompanied the run-up to Tuesday's final decision.
Joe Dudeck, a social studies teacher employed 21 years at Shamokin Area, called for the resignations of two board members.
"I believe if they really want to do good for our district, Mr. (Brian) Persing and Mr. (Bob) Getchey should step down," he said during the public comment period at the meeting's start. His comment was met with some applause from audience members.
About 70 people attended the meeting, held in the high school auditorium. It was a lighter crowd than what had been drawn to the meetings since March.
Dudeck railed against Persing and Getchey, accusing each of having a vendetta and preventing him from getting the position of head coach of the varsity and junior high girls basketball programs.
He demanded an answer publicly as to why he didn't get the coaching job but was not given one.
William Callahan was tabbed to return as head girls coach despite having submitted a resignation in March. His resignation was rescinded Tuesday and the board installed him as head coach.
Chris Zimmerman was subsequently hired to succeed Joe Klebon as head coach of the boys basketball program. (For more on the moves, see Page 11.)
Dudeck also claimed Persing colluded to furlough more staff members than necessary in order to force the teachers union to accept a pay freeze.
"It's a tactic that messes with people's lives. ... It hurts," Dudeck said, adding that the threats, lies and insults spread about have done nothing but to damage Shamokin Area.
Of Dudeck's qualms with the matter of the coaching positions, board President Tracey Witmer grew frustrated.
"I really wish there was this much fighting and bickering over education. I'm sick of athletics. ... Why not fight for education? Why not fight for our kids?" She said.
A rebuttal
Persing stayed out of the fray during the meeting. Getchey relented too, at least at first.
While he remained silent as Dudeck spoke, on one occasion hanging his head in his hand in frustration with the accusations, Getchey spoke his mind at meeting's end when members provide board reports.
He passionately denied having ever spoken to Callahan or Zimmerman to take their positions as coaches, saying that he also never sought to block Dudeck from getting the job.
Further, Getchey denied Dudeck's assertion that he sought to be a volunteer coach on his staff.
"I put in for that job because two Mount Carmel guys put in for it. I wasn't gonna let a Mount Carmel guy take over the program," Getchey said.
Also, he said he sought the position because he coached many of the players in youth leagues and he wished to continue on in high school.
Cafeteria services
Board members struggled to decide whether or not to privatize district cafeteria services.
An initial vote on the matter failed and was followed by an executive session. When the board adjourned, a split vote was cast approving a plan that several in the crowd audibly panned as the wrong decision.
The board voted 5-4 to allow a district consultant, The Nutrition Group, to take over management of its food services.
The one-year plan approved by the board is for the private company to retain any current employee seeking to stay put at their current wages, according board President Tracey Witmer. They'd also be eligible to file for unemployment in the summer months, which they currently can not do as district employees.
In turn, Nutrition Group will provide $175,000 savings to the district.
That plan trumped a move favored by the minority to keep the cafeteria employees on the district payroll. The savings estimated by the company, in turn, would drop to $32,290 but, according to McElwee and Shuey, provide job security to the workers.
On an initial vote, Directors LaRue Beck, Ed Griffiths, Jeff Kashner and Persing voted in favor of the former plan. Directors Ron McElwee, Charlie Shuey, Bernie Sosnoskie and Witmer were in favor of the latter. Getchey abstained, saying he didn't know enough on the matter to cast a vote.
That meant that the vote on both plans failed.
A 10-minute private powwow was held among the board members. When they returned, Getchey changed his mind and opted to vote in favor of the plan that would save the district an estimated $175,000, at least according to Nutrition Group, and fully privatize the cafeteria. That meant the vote was swung 5-4.
"I am going to give you my word," Getchey told the crowd prior to the passing of the second vote, "If it doesn't work out, I won't vote for it again."
That comment was met with much derision from the audience, many of whom hemmed and hawed about the board member's promise. Shuey, too, mocked Getchey's statement, nodding his head skyward and saying "blah, blah, blah," as Getchey defended his vote, saying he'd "watch" over the company.
McElwee responded by saying that the move eventually passed would neuter the board powerless, preventing the district from having any say regarding what Nutrition Group would do with respect to the employees since they would no longer be employed by the district.
Shuey and McElwee both believe the move to fully privatize cafeteria services would put the now former district employees in jeopardy of losing their jobs, despite the company's promise to keep any on who seeks employment.
The plan passed by the board was one used when calculating the outcome of the final budget. When it wasn't passed initially, that threw the budget in flux. It also presented the possibility of laying off a mathematics teacher who prepares students for state assessment testing. The layoff was avoided with the second vote.
The contract with Nutrition Group expires June 30, at which time the board will be tasked to readdress the matter.