Brownsville schools won’t have 4-day school week
BROWNSVILLE – The Brownsville Area School District’s administration put an end to rumors that the district could possibly go to a four-day school week. Superintendent Larry Golembiewski said that it was something he looked into as a way of saving the district money, but the state would have to agree to change the laws before the board could even consider approving such a change.
“It was an effort on my part to save money because I have heard reports that we could be looking at gas prices exceeding $5 a gallon before Christmas,” said Golembiewski at a school board meeting Thursday night. “Everything that comes to us comes by truck. Since about 20 percent of our fuel comes from refineries that were hit hard by the hurricane, I expected all of our costs to go up. I looked at the four-day week as a way to save money because I don’t like to wait until things happen to take action. But we cannot discuss this as a district or a board because it is a moot point until the state says, ‘Yes you can do that. We will change the laws.'”
Golembiewski also addressed the concerns of parents who said they had heard that bullets were found in a middle school restroom.
He confirmed that casings had been found in the restroom, and said an investigation is being conducted. He said he understood the concerns of the parents, but assured them that security measures are being taken.
“Security precautions are taken every day in the schools,” said Golembiewski. “Of course people can walk in with something in their pockets that is unwarranted. It happens everywhere in America. But we are doing our best to make sure nothing like this happens again.”
Aside from this incident, Golembiewski said that the opening of this school year was the best he had seen in 32 years of working in school districts.
“Everything went very smoothly,” said Golembiewski. “It was like we had already been here for two months and it was the middle of October.”
In other business, the board voted to approve the attendance of Richard Gates, high school principal, at the School Career Connection at Penn State University, Nov. 7-9, at an estimated cost of $950.
The board also set the pay rate for substitute teachers at $90 per day, voted to keep Edith Fudala as the substitute caller at a yearly pay rate of $3,750, and agreed to increase the library aid position to seven hours a day, due to a need to facilitate both libraries at the high school/middle school building.
The board voted to hire Charles Brady as a custodian, Karen Holland as a cook at Cox-Donahey Elementary School, Roxie Furlong as a temporary special education teacher, and Marci Eperjesi and Gina Orbash as cooks at Brownsville High School.
In another matter, the board also agreed to utilize the specifications by Molnar Associates Inc. for the demolition of Redstone Middle School that is being planned.