Oct 19, 2004 By Angie Santello 2 min read

The public will now be able to access the Uniontown Area School District’s meeting agenda on the school’s Web site with the introduction of “paperless school boards.” Director Ronald Machesky said he received the idea from a seminar he attended through the state’s school board association.

“I think that it will be a real plus for us,” Machesky said. “We’ll be the pioneers of that. At the forefront.”

The school district’s technology coordinator, Todd Hamel, said people can access the agenda by logging onto the school district’s official Web site at www.uniontown.k12.pa.us

, clicking on “district information” that appears as a menu item across the top, then scrolling down to “board information.” There, he said, people will be able to gain access to the non-confidential information regarding meetings.

School board directors will take advantage of the new technology as well. If a trial run to take place at the next work session works out, each director will use a laptop to access the agenda as well as confidential information pertaining to the meetings.

Achieving paperless meetings is at no additional cost to the school district, according to Hamel.

Eliminating the sheets of paper and additional copies required to provide agendas to meeting attendants and to the directors may actually save the district money.

Hamel said each board member will have an e-mail account and folders to store their information.

In other business, the school board announced that students will no longer be able to solicit donations from drivers on the streets of Uniontown.

The city decided to ban the practice after deciding it posed a risk to students.

Dr. Charles Machesky read a letter received from the city’s chief of police informing the board of the decision, and noting that violators will be cited.

Director Dorothy Grahek said she used to stand with her daughter on the street corner soliciting donations for the swim team. She said one Saturday could easily pull in $2,000.

Although it was a big fund-raiser, the practice was dangerous, she said.

“It is definitely a safety issue. No doubt about it,” Grahek said. “These kids will just have to find other alternatives to recoup the losses.”