Attempt to stop building project voted down
With the momentum constantly changing behind a future high school renovation project, over half of the Uniontown Area School Board again voted down a motion to stop the project. On Tuesday, board member William Rittenhouse Jr. again called for an immediate end to the high school project through a motion that called for current and newly nominated board members to work together on a new project. The motion failed 5-2.
Harry “Dutch” Kaufman, Susan Clay, Nancy Herring, Dorothy Grahek and Charles Castor, by voting no to Rittenhouse’s motion, indicated their intention to move forward with the $35 million project the district is accepting bids for.
Rittenhouse and Lloyd Williams voted to stop the project.
Kenneth Meadows and Tammy Boyle were absent from Tuesday’s meeting. Boyle, who voted to stop the project in June, did not attend the last two board meetings where subsequent votes to cease the project were taken.
Rittenhouse, Williams and Meadows each have made a motion to stop the project, with one motion made in June succeeding in halting the project.
The project was reinstated a week later, and Rittenhouse questioned why the high school architect, Altman & Altman of Uniontown, billed the district for work during that time period.
On Tuesday, Rittenhouse said three of the current and three newly nominated school board members, who continue with attempts to stop the high school project, will attend a pre-bid conference meeting to warn contractors that the project will be stopped when new board members take their seats in December.
Related to the project, the board approved a $125,839.51 revised bill from Altman & Altman that did not bill the district for work from June 22 through 27 when the project was suspended.
The board approved to pay the bill 5-2, with Grahek, Clay, Castor, Herring and Kaufman voting to pay it and Rittenhouse and Williams voting to not pay it.
Rittenhouse said there were “pages and pages of no detail” and compared the architect’s bill with those received from the district solicitor and Fairchance Construction, construction manager for the high school project.
In those bills, “there are no questions as to what was done,” Rittenhouse said. “It shows the day, the time, the time spent and who was spoken to. …It’s no funny matter we approve a bill that clearly does not have the detail we asked for.”
Rittenhouse said the district has paid Altman & Altman $480,000 since the board approved to send the project out to bid in April. “The board can stop wasting money because this project will be stopped,” said Rittenhouse.
Speaking from the audience Tuesday, Philip Holt, Vincent Winfrey, Paul Bortz Jr. and Alan George, whose names will appear on the November general election ballot, again asked the board to stop the project.
“It’s going to stop, and if we’re in mud for 10 years, I don’t care,” said Holt.
The nominated board members also asked that district architect Mark Altman be present at future board meetings to answer questions.
Kaufman said he thinks that is a good suggestion since the district is getting into the project’s bidding phase.
The board also:
– Hired Christine Beecher, speech/language teacher; Megan Cerullo, band/music teacher; Shelby Svokos, high school language arts teacher; Theodore Czekaj, Lafayette School guidance counselor, following the resignation of Molly Harbst; Karen Wade, art teacher; Megan Cerullo, high school band director, at $3,080; Sherry Fairfax, a full-time security/community resource officer at Lafayette School, and at the high school and Ben Franklin School as needed at a $21,000 salary.
– Named the following seven special education teachers: Brad Nepa, Tamara Guerrieri, Lori Kuhns, Ryan Satovich, Heather Lowther, Jessie Karpiak and Paul Zungri and tabled hiring an eighth special education teacher.
– Accepted the resignations of Melissa Stoots as special education teacher at Franklin and Marclay schools Patricia A. Thomas as Benjamin Franklin science teacher due to retirement and Julie A. Bohna and Janelle Vicinelly as special education teachers at Benjamin Franklin School.
– Added April Dowling to the professional substitute list at $70 per day and hired her as head boys soccer coach for grades seven and eight at A.J. McMullen, Benjamin Franklin and Lafayette schools at $1,575.
– Hired Jonathan Gallo as high school assistant girls soccer coach at $1,434, Jason R. Winfrey as high school head girls varsity basketball coach at $4,727 and Vincent Winfrey Jr. as high school assistant girls varsity basketball coach at $2,626. District officials noted the assignments are the same as last year.
Also during the meeting, Superintendent Dr. Charles Machesky recommended that the board not approve the Educational Leadership Initiative (ELI) presented earlier this month.