Connellsville Area School Board increases wages for subs, some staff
CONNELLSVILLE — Connellsville Area school directors on Wednesday voted to give a financial boost to some staff in district schools.
The board moved to increase hourly wages for support professionals and cafeteria workers from the state minimum wage of $7.25 to $8.25.
School director Kevin Lape said the move is an effort to attract workers — including custodians, aides and monitors — by offering better wages than those available at some jobs in the community.
The board also voted to raise the daily rate for substitute teachers from $80 to $85 for substitutes’ first 50 days of the school year, and from $90 to $95 for each subsequent day.
The action was met with applause by several members in the audience.
“We’re having a hard time filling the sub list,” Lape said, adding that the new rates are comparative to those offered by other school districts in the county.
The moves will hopefully persuade people to come work in the district, said Lape.
In other matters, the board passed a resolution to authorize approval of the district’s preliminary general fund budget for the 2016-17 school year.
Board director of finance Bryan Kisiel reported that the proposed preliminary budget contained expected revenue totaling $69.7 million and expenses of $70.2 million.
The proposal, said Kisiel, “leaves us a gap of $466,357 that we still need to work to close before we adopt a final budget.”
The proposed budget will be available for public inspection on the school district website, Kisiel said.
School directors also approved the filing of the 2014-15 annual financial report, which reported revenue of $68.8 million and expenses of $71.3, said Kisiel, adding that the resulting deficit was covered by a $2.5 million fund balance.
Kisiel told the board that after looking over the district’s finances, he feels the district might be paying too much in legal fees.
“I’m starting to dig into the finances of the school district and one of the areas that is concerning to me, and I asked (Acting Superintendent Phil) Martell to pull documentation on, is the amount of legal fees that we paid this year compared to the three years prior,” Kisiel said.
The district is on pace to spend more than $50,000 on legal fees this fiscal year, Kisiel said, which in some cases is double and quadruple the amounts paid in recent years.
Kisiel noted that the district appointed Gary J. Matta, of Dodaro, Matta and Cambest, as legal counsel for labor relations at an hourly rate of $100 at the beginning of the fiscal year, replacing Andrews and Price.
“I would propose that our administration review the scope of engagement that we have with the firm to determine whether or not we’re appropriately using our in-house counsel versus using our external counsel to control these costs,” Kisiel said.
Also Wednesday, the board:
n named Tim Karpiak head coach of the senior high school football team at a salary to be determined.
n entered into an agreement with California University of Pennsylvania to participate in a graduate student athletic trainer internship program for the 2016-17 school year.
n set a special voting meeting for 7 p.m. Jan. 27 in the high school auditorium.
n hired Kevin Ghost as director of technology at an annual salary of $65,000.
n voted to operat an extended school year (ESY) program at Dunbar Township Elementary School with tentative dates of June 21 to July 21.