Sep 17, 2004 By Amy Karpinsky 4 min read

BROWNSVILLE – Although some of the votes were made under protest, the Brownsville Area School Board Thursday approved a contract to remove asbestos in the floor of the old high school gymnasium. With a vote of 5-2, the board voted to approve a contract with Canfield Development Inc. at a cost of $69,000. The two negative votes came from Stella Broadwater and Sandra Chan. Voting in favor of the contract were Andy Dorsey, John Evans, Nena Kaminsky, Francine Pavone and Ellen Rohrer. Rocky Brashear and Roseanne Markovich were absent.

Kaminsky, who voted for the contract to move the project forward, said the district shouldn’t have to pay for the removal because it is the contractor’s fault the removal wasn’t previously included in the contract. The district is undergoing a $21 million renovation project for the high/middle school.

Superintendent Larry Golembiewski told the board members during the roll call vote that the removal contract is necessary, because no work can be done until the asbestos is removed. He said by not approving the contract, the board would essentially be “shooting itself in the foot.”

Although he voted in favor of the contract, Dorsey said he believes the issue needs to be looked into to see if the district can be reimbursed. “I’ll vote yes, but we need to look into it,” Dorsey said.

Broadwater said the district should have been informed about the issue, and she didn’t mean by the superintendent.

When Dorsey asked if there is any recourse to recover the money spent to remove the asbestos, Golembiewski said to do that, the district must establish who is at fault. Chan said she was voting against the action because she didn’t know enough about it. Golembiewski said the action wasn’t included on Tuesday’s work session agenda because he only received it Thursday afternoon.

On another matter related to the renovation, Golembiewski said the construction manager and general contractor have assured him that the renovations will be back on schedule on Oct. 4 and a date of Dec. 7 is being given as the completion of the new gymnasium. A prior date of Oct. 29 had been given.

In voting to approve the payments for the renovations and additions to the high school/middle school complex, several board members, including Dorsey, Evans and Rohrer commented that the district’s payments are always on time and they hope the gym is completed on time. That motion was approved with a 5-2 vote, with Broadwater and Kaminsky voting against it.

Just one month after the board narrowly approved a food service contract for the 2004-05 school year with Nutrition Inc., a motion was made to accept the resignation/retirement of food service director Tammy Ross, effective Feb. 5, 2005. In accepting Ross’s retirement, Broadwater, Pavone, Evans and Rohrer all thanked Ross for her 25 years of service to the district. Broadwater said Ross did an excellent job and she was disappointed that Ross was leaving.

Ironically, the board began the search for an outside food service company after Ross gave her verbal resignation earlier this year. Although Ross later said she would stay, the action to hire Nutrition Inc. was taken.

The board approved a motion to authorize RBA Professional Data Systems Inc. to perform the two district-wide notification mailings for Act 72 at a cost not to exceed $11,834.20. Golembiewski explained that Act 72 is the Homeowners Tax Relief Act detailing potential property tax relief for taxpayers and by law, the mailings have to be completed in every school district. Business manager Michael Huth said the price of the mailing is based on the number of parcels in the district, which number approximately 5,500.

The 2004-05 school calendar was revised, with a beginning date of Sept. 7 and an ending date of June 8, 2005. Golembiewski said the start of school went off without a hitch. He said the current district enrollment stands at 1,975.

Rachel Baxter was hired as middle school head girls basketball coach and Craig Thomas Rechichar was hired as an assistant football coach for the 2004 season to replace Ronald Smith, who resigned.