001We will open. Welcome to the Watsburg Area School District where we are student centered and future focused for a world-class education. This is the Monday, January 19th regular board meeting. Would you all please stand for the pledge of allegiance? >> He's already standing. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. May I have a roll call, please? >> Mr. Blazer, >> here. >> Mr. Brumagen, >> present. >> Mrs. Heatherington. >> Mr. Morve, >> here. >> Dr. Pushchek >> here. >> Mr. Snippert >> here, >> Mrs. Will >> here, >> Dr. Williams >> here, >> Mr. Young. >> Present. Uh, I'd like to just respect your time, Mr. Whitman. Um and rather
002than waiting till correspondence and dialogue, we'll just continue now if there's any other comments or questions uh from the board based on the presentation. Um ultimately what we'll need to decide is what the next steps are. Um just so you're aware, Mr. Whitman, our our uh superintendent search committee consists of myself, uh Mr. Blazer's vice president, also a former board chair, and uh Dr. Pushchack, uh finance chair, also a former board chair. Um, so we're very fortunate to have uh the the knowledge, the institutional knowledge and the time and experience of of two former board presidents. Um, so we're excited about this. Uh, but we also want to make sure that everyone feels that that their voice has been heard and that we do have true consensus going into the search process. So, um, I
003would just encourage anyone to and even Mr. Morve, if you have additional comments, um if there's something we'd like to see in writing, maybe as a as a proposal from PSBA, um we can do that. Um because we're just looking for board consensus, you know, we can do that with a written proposal. Um this isn't something that's going to be voted on until February. Uh but if we do want to at least uh have consensus to uh present this offer on the work session, um we can do some leg work between now and then as well for some comparative data. Um if that's what what the will of the board is. I guess I'll just add uh you know, never gone through this process as all the rest of the board members up here, but
004just seeing what we saw in the media uh with what happened with Mil Creek's two times ago search and that same firm that did Eeries, you know, they were sued and had to pay back in the range of 25 $30,000. So clearly those third parties get very expensive and clearly they're flawed. They still led to a candidate that had a lot of issues. So, uh, I look at that. I guess I would not mind seeing the cost on other options, uh, such as PSBA, but, uh, knowing, uh, everything that, uh, Mr. Whitman shared and and seeing who they did recent because Dr. Bush probably knows better than I, but I mean, I remember Fair View had a had an ugly loss of their previous superintendent and had to find one and that's the one that
005currently serves uh, and Mil Creek's current uh, obviously situation uh, changed and they had to do a search. So, you know, being comfortable and confident that they were able to find a good candidate in both those scenarios, both those people still serve there, um, is all, I guess, not a reason to not look at another option, but at least makes me feel very comfortable and confident with what the IU can provide us. >> Any others? >> Following that, you know, the other schools on the list are similar to our nature. So, I I agree with those comments. If we could get a a written proposal from PSBA, I don't think there's anything wrong with seeing a side by side and go from there would be my what I would appreciate. Thank you, >> Mr. President.
006>> Dr. the committee could do that and get it out for dissemination for the work session in February and if we would need another personnel committee meeting then to discuss further um >> we could do that. >> Absolutely. >> Suggestion >> sounds good. >> Does that sound Mr. >> President? Yeah, I I appreciate the efforts then of the search committee. Um I think that is uh in the best interest of our taxpayers to say that we've done you know the diligence of you know options. Um and uh you know certainly uh yeah the the history of the IU5 and the and the the localess of the IU5 I mean those are all positives. I mean, uh, you know, perhaps there's positives in the, uh, uh, PTE, you know, proposal that we're just not aware of
007that we would then maybe have to weigh and and compare, um, or not. Um, but I think it's it's worth having that option for us and appreciated, you know, by the next work section work session, I think, would be uh would be the best course >> or before or before. Any others? All right. Thank you everyone for bringing your questions. Thank you Mr. Whitman for bringing your presentation. Um yeah, so we'll let you go for the evening. We appreciate your time. Please be safe on the roads. >> Thank you, Mr. Whitman. >> Again, it's very exciting times and again congratulations Dr. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. >> All right, moving on. I'll now uh entertain a motion to approve the agenda as presented or amended. >> So move push check. >> Second, Blazer. >> Any
008questions? All in favor please say I. I opposed. Nay. Motion carries. Uh now I entertain a motion to approve the minutes from the board or and the regular board meeting. Uh so approve the minutes from the December 1st board organization and regular board meeting. And also if I can move them as one motion uh to approve the minutes from the work session on January 12th. >> More second. Blazer. >> Any questions, comments? Hearing none. All in favor, please say I. I oppose. Nay. Those motions carry. All right. We now turn to school reports. >> Uh we do not have a school report this evening, Mr. President. >> All right. Thank you, Dr. Berlin. It's now time for guest and citizen comments. Do we have anyone signed up to speak this evening? >> We do not.
009>> Thank you very much. We will now turn back to Dr. Ken Berlin for the superintendent report. Uh >> thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh just a quick housekeeping thing. I I had sent out uh with the weekly update some instructions about Outlook email if you've never used it. And one thing I know from sending out these types of instructions is uh they never work. So you inevitably have to call somebody at it. So, uh, if if you're having trouble, uh, you you could you can email, um, Josh the directly. Uh, I I had put Matt Harmon's email in the weekly update. U, unfortunately, his mother passed away last night, so he's not going to be around this week. Um, but we have certainly have other um other capable um personnel to
010help you out. So, what what's the scope of the problem? Is there just a few people and I I could go maybe chase down it and have them reach out to you or is everyone able to get into the web mail? Okay. >> I I forgot my password, but I was able to find it, but then it wouldn't let me reset. >> So, you probably need a reset. >> No, I I found it. I was able to find mine, but do it the old fashioned way, but >> he could probably still use a reset, though. said Mr. Morphy could probably still use a reset if not for his password. [laughter] >> Okay. So, it it actually worked. That's good news. Um, and uh, of course, January is a special month for school boards across uh,
011the state, the Commonwealth. So, I'll turn things over to Mr. Angler uh, to talk about that. >> Yes. So, um, we've got a gift for you. I'll pass it out and then I'll explain a little bit here. You almost >> That was close. Sorry. >> Thank you. So, uh, not only do we we want to thank you all because we know this is often a thankless job, um, but also we wanted to highlight a program in the district here, um, that you all or many of you that are still here uh, voted to fund and that was, um, a laser engraver that we now have uh, in our wood shop. And so a couple things about this program that you know as a as a former teacher excite me you know at a time when
012I saw a lot of districts my former district included cutting wood shop uh with the the argument that well we have the tech school and and that kind of fills that role you know this district made the the commitment to their wood shop and not replacing it with STEM but expanding it with STEM ideas. And so now, um, our teched teacher teaches wood shop classes one and two, um, and then teaches some pre-engineering courses. And we were fortunate to get that teacher because we had bought this piece of equipment and trained the previous teacher. Um, and the current teacher, Mr. Bible, had some training on that that laser engraver already. Uh, and it's an extensive training to really understand how to to utilize it properly. It's not just this small piece of equipment. It's about
013a $40,000 piece of equipment um with installation and it can engrave metal, wood, plastic, glass. Um I see kids all the time, you know, putting photographs engraved into wood and uh and so we actually engrave these on that laser engraver. So it just gives you kind of a a small taste of really the professional finish that these kids can put into projects now. Um and using a piece of equipment, you know, that transcends just their educational lives. you know, this is a piece of equipment they can go out um and have a little bit of training uh in a career in manufacturing or something after this. So, thank you for your service. Um we appreciate it. Again, we know it's a thankless job. >> Well, I would echo Mr. I would echo Mr. uh Angler's
014comments. Thank you very much to the board for all of your uh hours, volunteer hours uh that you put into our students, our community. And and I want to thank Mr. Angler, too, uh for highlighting one of our programs here. Uh it's a great way to celebrate what we do here at Wasp Area School District. That's all I have this evening. >> Thank you, Dr. Berlin. We will now turn to Mrs. Vicki Bindig for our business administrator's report. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh for tonight, uh first I have the treasures reports. Uh treasures reports as presented last week, general fund for November and December. As of December 31st, 15,281,7.76. I also have the year-to-ate date budget versus actual report. And since we didn't have a presentation in December, um this report in the current column
015in the report includes two months of activity. Um so as of December 31st, 2025, we are 50% of the fiscal year completed and we have used 42.97% of our total budgeted expenditures and we've received 59.42% 42% of our total budgeted revenues. Um, and so we have about $19 million left to spend in our expense budget. Um, so we are in a good position as of the end of December. Uh, capital projects reports were presented last um, week. No change there. And the cafeteria as of December 31st, $823,5241. I have the cafeteria profit and loss reports from both November and December. In November, we had a loss of $2,66721. Um, and in November, that had our year-to-ate loss at $12,27.91. In December, we actually had a profit of $9,349.30, 30, which then brings our year-to- date
016loss up to a negative $2,678.61. Also wanted to add that due to the power outage, um we did get a list of the loss inventory from the cafeteria. It was about $1,600, give or take a few. And we had um two ladies from the cafeteria that uh volunteered to come in to receive overtime to um help Janine get rid of to inventory that and send it out. So, there is some um added cost for staff members, but um all in all, pretty minimal loss there um based on that. And then the student activities balance um as of the end of December total collectively in all of those student activity accounts 59,214.34. Um moving on to the bill lists. Uh so checks already written presented last week and then checks all checks written um between the
017work session and this evening for general fund $38,5854. and for the cafeteria $41,860.94. That's the bill from December um that we're paying we paid early to take care of take advantage of the discount. The bill list for the board approval for tonight general fund 1 million443,89543. I know that that is um almost double what it normally is. Um about $55,000 worth of that bill list is from our facility improvement grant project um that took place and that was finished up and so we're paying that bill this month. And then um nothing for capital projects and cafeteria. And that is all I have. >> Thank you, Mrs. Bendig. Are there any questions for Mrs. Bendig? >> Hearing none. >> Oh yes. >> Is that Stark Tech bill? Is that the one that has that guaranteed energy
018savings part of that? Wasn't that part of that facilities improvement deal? >> Yes. >> Okay. So, do they always give us like a report at the end of the year or that says we're we're approving? Okay. >> We Yeah. I just had I don't remember the last time we've had one of those. >> Yeah. I I typically stick it in a weekly update when we >> Okay. >> I I did just get it because in December because I needed it for our end of the year bond um reporting through Emma. So, I will make sure that we get that sent out to you all. Good you. Thank you. >> All right. And I'll entertain a motion to approve the business reports, payments, and invoices as presented. >> So move push check. >> Second will. >>
019Any questions, comments, or concerns? Hearing none. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Oppos? Nay. Motion carries. Thank you, Mrs. Bendig. There are no items under legal advisement for this evening. So the chair will now recognize Dr. Andrew Pushjack for finance. >> Thank you, Mr. President. We have five items on the agenda tonight. Without objection, I would like to move them as one motion. And those would be 7A, budget transfers as presented. 7B, budgetary amendment as presented. 7 C district business travel mileage rate as presented. 7D the act 1311 resolution. And there is a local audit which is 7E that we had the presentation on last week. Those five items without objection. So moved. >> Second. laser. >> Any questions on those five? Hearing none. All in favor, please say I. >> I.
020>> Oppos? Nay. Those five motions carry. Thank you, Dr. Pushche. >> Thank you. Uh the chair will now recognize Dr. Jesse Williams for buildings and grounds. >> Thank you, Mr. President. There is only Well, there's two things under a the facility use request. Uh the first one is the Autism Society of Northwestern Pennsylvania, the use of the uh elementary school auditorium on the 20th. It's a magic show estimated at 590 bucks. And then the second one is the use of the auditorium, cafeteria, classrooms, band, and chorus uh as we host the PMEA All-Star wind assembly on April 14th and 17th. That is all I have. So moved. Williams >> second. Snippert. >> Any questions on the facility use requests? Hearing none. All in favor, please say I. I. Opposed. Name. >> That motion carries. Thank
021you, Dr. Williams. Chair will now recognize Mr. Jeremy Blazer for personnel. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I have eight items under personnel. Without objection, I'll move all eight as one motion. Uh A is appointments as listed below. Uh B is resignations as listed below. Uh C is conference requests as listed below. Uh D is the tuition reimbursements as seen in the attachment. Uh E is the job description to approve the school counselor job description as attached. F is leave request as seen below. G is service substitute list additions as listed below. And H is ESS substitute list additions as seen below. So moved. Second push check. Any questions or comments on any of the eight items under personnel? I would like to say I'm definitely sad to see Miss Pow go. uh she's been great
022in our middle school and uh approving this is um it's great for her to move on and the opportunity that she has to continue to uh serve the students of our region. Uh but we will definitely be sad to miss her. >> Any others? All right. All in favor please say I. >> Opposed nay. And those eight motions do carry. Thank you Mr. Blazer. Chair will now recognize Mr. Steven Morve for policy. >> Mr. President, there are no items under policy for this evening. >> Thank you, Mr. Morve. Chair will now recognize Mr. Aaron Snippert for curriculum. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I have no items under curriculum this evening. >> Thank you, Mr. Snippet. Chair will now recognize Mr. Greg Breumin for technology. >> Likewise, Mr. President, no items under any technology tonight. >>
023Thank you, Mr. Bremagen. Chair will now recognize Mrs. Veronica Will for transportation. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I have two items under transportation that I'd like to move um in one motion if there are no objections. The first one a transportation requests as listed and the second one B Durham bus drivers as listed. Um if there are no questions so moved. >> Any questions? Hearing none. All in favor please say I. >> I oppose. Nay. And those motions carry. Thank you Mrs. Will. Um the chair will now ask Dr. Pushack to pinch from Mrs. Heatherington for athletic and extracurricular. >> Thank you Mr. President. My pleasure. uh three items under athletic and extracurricular. Uh 14A is athletic appointments as listed. 14B is the volunteer list as listed. And we did have an addendum uh of
024a resignation as listed. Uh those three items. So moved. >> Laser. Second. Any questions on those three items? >> Mr. President. >> Yes. Dr. Jack. >> The surprise resignation of Richard Durko. I was doing some quick math. He definitely served our track and field team for over 40 years. >> 40 years at least. >> Um so I was I was excited my daughter got to experience him as a jumping coach these last three years. And um I just wish him the best. He to to serve the district that long even after you've retired is a testament to the dedication he has to those student athletes. So uh with regret with regret on Mr. Durko there. >> I'll add he was one of the reasons I went into education. before I got out of education. [laughter]
025>> Thank you for those comments. We have uh no items that are miscellaneous for this evening. So the vote on that Sorry. Yeah, you skipped. All right. Any other questions or comments? >> I don't know if we had a second. Did we? If so, >> yes, we did. >> All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Postname. Those motions carry. Thank goodness for solicitors. We have no items that are miscellaneous for this evening. Thank you, Mrs. Kennedy. Um, we now recognize Mr. Steven Morvy for the Erie County Technical School joint operating committee report. >> Mr. President, this is the report of the uh December joint operating committee. Uh, our next board meeting is actually this Thursday. So, I'll have a report again in February uh for the January meeting. A couple of items that
026I always like to uh highlight is uh some students uh that are uh go to our district and also go to the tech school that are uh noted as part of the uh employee or employees students of the month. Uh and we have Kylie Bednar. She is in arts and design for business as well as Dominique Olmstead. She is a health assistant and they were both deemed uh as employable uh for the uh tech school folks. Uh a couple of other items to note uh that were uh uh dates of importance to the uh tech school. The first one is uh actually happened last week which was the Skills USA district competition. Uh unfortunately I haven't heard any results or reports of that. Um so I just don't know if I have any >> surprisingly.
027So my my student competed in the advanced manufacturing precision machining. Um they don't tabulate results anymore. I you know I competed in VICA. Whoa. Gosh, it's going to be close to 30 years ago now. >> I I I want instant gratification to know where >> we had medals and ceremonies and he got back and he got off the bus. I said, "How'd it go?" And he goes, "I don't know." >> Yeah. I Yeah, there there's a there's a review process. I I do know that. And uh Dr. Pushak, I assume that uh your daughter was part of that presentation. >> Two daughters were part of that and no results either. >> No results either. So, we're we're waiting to hear. >> Fingers crossed. >> So, uh maybe this this week I may hear some things.
028If so, I'll report uh please pass along. Yes, absolutely. >> Um in addition, uh on the 15th of February, that is when priority enrollment uh notifications will be sent out. So, folks that have already gone through priority enrollment, their uh invitations will be uh sent out on the 15th. Uh a couple of other uh housekeeping items that we did do. Uh they just noted that there are some various fundraising programs that the tech school is going through as well as uh we also uh were presented our audit for the last uh school year. Uh that also came through as a clean and unqualified report very similar to to our district here. So that was presented to us uh for the tech school finances. Um couple of other items uh the um there was discussion about
029the consolidation of the two parcels uh that consist of the tech school campus. Uh currently there's two individual parcels. Uh one that holds the skills building and the other one which is the much larger parcel that owns that has the land and the major um uh build building or facility on it. And the reason for the deed consolidation had to do with the um the solar project uh in that the solar field is was going to be placed on the larger parcel and the connections and the power work was going to be connected to the smaller parcel. And so in order to get through the township process much simpler and faster, it was recommended to us that we consolidate the deed uh for those two parcels. So I believe uh our solicitor uh attorney Kennedy
030is working through that process and uh is going to present that I believe at the next board meeting should be done tomorrow. So that that'll be uh then voted on uh therefore uh at that point. Um, one of the other couple of items that I always like to try to bring up is some statistics. And again, at the end of December, uh, the enrollment of the tech school is 969 students out of a total aotment of 1,144. And, uh, Watsburg Area School District, we have 74 students out of our allotment of 96. Which then rolls us into a little bit which Dr. Dr. Berlin had shared in his uh previous um uh weekly report which was the 2026 budget proposal which was uh has been fully presented to us as a joint operating committee but
031has was presented to the superintendent. Um so just some little some highlights and whatnot there uh showing that there is a uh an increase of about 10.7% um in overall revenue and expenses. Um but the per student uh cost has actually gone down by just a very smidgen. Um and that's frankly based upon because of the average daily attendance uh has gone from 759 to 844. And there always is a three-year look back uh through the through the process of the uh of the budgeting. And that's actually also how our allocation then is um kind of noted. Um, you may look in that packet as it looks like it's almost a 22% increase for what Watsburg is paying from year-over-year. Well, that's because our census has also gone up to the tune of about 17
032in that same kind of time period. And actually, last year to the year prior, we actually went down. So, we're kind of we went down, then we're going way back up. Uh, but again, it's just it's a functionality of the uh participate participation of our students, you know, and the uh offerings that the tech school has. So, uh, that's that's a good thing and, uh, I certainly think that's something that can be reviewed further if anybody has any questions or comments for me. So, that's my report, Mr. President. >> Thank you, Mr. Morphe. I was just noting the average daily attendance really, you know, not going up at the same pace as the uh, enrollment number. So, that means we've got more students on cooperative agreements uh, out in the workforce. So, >> that means
033it's working. >> Correct. Correct. >> Yeah. Excellent. And we still have uh you know we have 22 spots available to us we could uh we could fill. >> So encourage those students. >> I have not heard any sort of statistics on Wattsburg area um school um applications. I just I haven't heard that sort of data but I suppose I could get that if need be. But >> any questions for Mr. Morbay? >> All right hearing none. Thank you very much. We appreciate uh your service to the joint operating committee and your report. >> Thank you Mr. President. Chair will now recognize Dr. Andy Pushchack for the Northwest Tri County Intermediate Unit report. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Uh we had our uh local audit presentation at our December meeting. So um in addition to the
034board report that Mr. Berlin sent out with his weekly update, I just took a few notes uh reflecting that audit report. It was an unmodified opinion with no findings uh no significant changes in accounting policies uh no significant estimates in accounting estimates and no material audit adjustments proposed. So all in all a good uh report for the IU. Um and that's all that I have Mr. President. Thank you. Thank you Dr. Pushchack. U we will now turn to board correspondence and dialogue. Um I just wanted to reiterate from previous discussion then uh the superintendent search committee will reach out um and get some information from PSBA. Um we will see what we can get and how soon we can get it. Uh so we can still timeline for a February work session um and potentially
035another personnel meeting if needed. Um and we'll get that information um in short order hopefully. We'll see how PSBA does with responding. Is there any others for board correspondents and dialogue, >> Mr. President? >> Yes, Dr. >> Thank you to the administration for our nice little uh board recognition month. Little chachkis here. Kind of nice. >> Thank you. Very nice, >> Mr. President. >> Yes, Dr. Williams. >> So, I after tonight's uh conversation about um superintendent search, I I reminisce on a conversation I just recently had with uh someone down in the Erie public schools. And what they were talking about is they are looking to build a house and they asked me about the Senica uh school district and I they know it all as Senica. We I know we say Watsburg and I
036said to him I said um you know I've been in five different uh districts in three different states and there is definitely a formula to school districts and it is one that the inside people kind of know about. You know, too big and your kid walks across the stage and nobody even knows who they are. Too small and you're competing against your cl, you know, your cousins out climber. No offense there, Steve. And so, and so, um, I often say that you can't be too city, you can't be too country, can't be too suburbs. And I said that this place has the most appropriate mix that I've ever seen in the different places I have been at. And I said to him, I said, "Don't take my word for it." I said, "Uh, kind of
037like reading rainbow." I said, "If you look around the district and we'll hear Williams, Pushek, Crabels, Zjax, um, um, uh, Pledo, Law, all principles, superintendent from different areas that have their kids that came into the school or once had their children into school." And I told him, I said, "It's not just above that. Then you have teachers that come to the school and bring their children that come here." Um, some of my good friends have their children in the school as educators. I said, "But there's two parts of that." And the second part is family is what I like to say. The kids here, I had the opportunity this year to teach uh to coach uh fifth and sixth grade football. And at the onset of every break of a huddle, we would say family.
038Uh if you ever watch a basketball team, when they break, they say family. And that's not a lie in what you see in this district. There are people that I can call in two seconds that could get my kid back and forth to practice. I you know there are if the Steelers were playing in the AFC Championship game tomorrow and the the girls basketball team was playing, I would be at the girls basketball team because I've watched them since they were in third grade. In fact, Greg helped coach some of that team back in the day. Um, and I have built such an interest in watching them that I I would throw my Steelers jersey away tomorrow if someone could get me a a basketball jersey that I don't I don't know too much about
039basketball, but it's just I I cheer on that that team like there's no tomorrow to it. And so, um, the opportunity of this golden place, uh, with the family that's here, I would be a fool if I did not try to put my name in, uh, for the superintendent search here. And so, because of that, um, I am looking to stay on the board because I think it would be very hard right now for you guys to just also try to find another board member and go through a superintendent search. Uh but I will be recusing myself um from pretty much any kind of the voting uh or the search itself. So if there's any kind of votes that come up or committees that come up um I would be not part of that moving
040forward. But I did want to let you guys know that I will be throwing my hat into the ring for that. Uh because I would be a fool again if I did not go for the opportunity and the family that's here for me. So I wanted to let you uh Mr. President know that. And then if any uh legal advisement uh would want to tell me any different, I would entertain that conversation. Thank you, sir. >> Thank you, Mr. Williams. And echoed all your notes on the positivities of the district, obviously. Um and as we go through this process, I think that's something, you know, I I would I would really like to just cheer for us and the fact and and actually throw a huge compliment uh the way of Dr. Berlin. Um we're
041in an excellent position right now as a district. Um and and I know that you know we can say generally across the board that that school boards um in the United States the most important thing they do is hire a superintendent, evaluate a superintendent. I mean that is our primary purpose and our primary position. But I my contention would be that it is especially important uh for us at this juncture because of the position we sit in with infrastructure um the condition of our buildings, our facilities here um the upkeep, the lack of debt uh which is absolutely awesome uh for where we sit right now. uh and and really the path that our education's been going in each of our buildings, uh the improvements that are being made, um and how we serve our
042students. Um and we could we could go on about that all day. Um so, you know, the the longevity of of someone leading this district is a huge piece of that. Um the amount of experience and and talent it takes uh to be able to juggle and balance all that. And that's what we really have to consider going into this search. um is just remind ourselves how truly important it is for this district um and and for all of the reasons that that you've stated, Mr. Williams. So, I appreciate those comments. Are there any others? Hearing none, I'll now entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> So, move snipper. >> Second. >> All in favor, please say I. >> Post nay. Motion carries. We are adjourned. Thank you all.