Feb 23, 2005 By Amy Karpinsky 3 min read

BROWNSVILLE – The Brownsville Area School Board Tuesday took a step toward sending the district’s vocational-technical students to the Mon Valley Career and Technology Center in Speers next school year. Despite protests from a roomful of vocational-technical students, parents and teachers, the board voted to enroll the district’s vo-tech students at the MVCTC for the 2005-06 school term, with the cost based on tuition charges as per membership set by MVCTC and contingent upon an agreement with the school.

Currently, the district’s vo-tech students attend the Fayette County Area Vocational-Technical School in Georges Township along with students from Uniontown, Laurel Highlands and Albert Gallatin school districts.

Voting in favor of the motion were board president Rocky Brashear and members Sandra Chan, Andy Dorsey, John Evans and Francine Pavone. Voting against the motion were Stella Broadwater, Nena Kaminsky and Ellen Rohrer. Roseanne Markovich was absent.

In explaining his vote, Brashear said when 22 students were turned away from the FCAVTS last summer, he “couldn’t let it go.” He said he vote was for the best interest of the children in the district.

Chan pointed out that Speers is only 12 minutes away and students will spend mornings learning academic subjects at Brownsville and afternoons at the shop. Currently, students spend a half a year at the vo-tech and the second half of the school year learning academic subjects.

Regarding concern about the current situation, Dorsey said all the motion will do is start a process and they will continue to maintain the agreement with the FCAVTS. Chan added that on the advice of the solicitor, next year’s seniors will not have to change schools.

Prior to the vote, the board met in executive session for 45 minutes to discuss legal issues surrounding the vote. Superintendent Larry Golembiewski explained to a packed audience that the school district is still indebted to the FCAVTS for three more years due to a building project regardless if students attend the school or not. However, Golembiewski said sending the students to MVCTC instead of FCAVTS will mean a savings of $800 per student, or $40,000 for 50 students.

When Edward Hazelwood held up a 1970 memorandum of agreement saying there has always been a quota system at the FCAVTS, he said he was looking from a taxpayer’s point of view and urged the directors to get Mon Valley out of their vocabulary. Dorsey said the district is not breaking the document and is still remaining a member of the FCAVTC. Two current students and two FCAVTS teachers also spoke out against the change.

Kaminsky said she was concerned that the MVCTC hasn’t voted to let Brownsville in and FCAVTC hasn’t voted to let Brownsville out. She said there is no guarantee that the Mon Valley center will not turn students away.

Brashear said various scenarios could happen next year, such as 100 percent of students going to the Mon Valley or 50/50 to Fayette County and the Mon Valley.

Golembiewski said he was told that the Mon Valley center could accommodate twice as many as are currently attending.

The district began looking into changing schools months ago after learning that students had been turned away from the school. The 12-minute ride to Speers compared to the 40-minute ride to the FCAVTS and low scores on the state assessment all contributed to the decision.