New year, new school board members at first KCSD Work Session of ’24

MILL HALL, PA – With the new year comes new school board members hard at work at the first Work Session of the Keystone Central School District Thursday evening.

School board members were lauded for their hard work during the Superintendent’s Report which introduced January as School Director Appreciation Month, a state-wide designation showing the appreciation of school directors throughout the Commonwealth.

“These are unpaid, elected officials who, according to state statistics, donate 10 plus hours of their time a month to their local school district,” said Superintendent Martin. “Well, I know for a fact that this school board devotes many more hours than just 10 hours a month.”

Special items of thanks and praise are being planned for the board later this month.

New this year is the adoption of Student Government for Central Mountain Middle School. With elections being held last month, there will now be a representative of grades 5, 6, 7, and 8 active in student government within the middle school.

Middle School Principal Dave Romanyshyn and Assistant Principals Ryan Carty and Laura Fragassi met with the student advisor and student representatives in December to talk about what student government looks like, the roles of the representatives, and discussing that government at the middle school “is a new and exciting opportunity for the students, and that they can take this in all sorts of different directions.”

“Start to make connections with the students you will represent,” Principal Romanyshyn said to the newly elected student leaders, “we are planning on bringing either all four, or a single representative to the board meeting in February.”

The school board also heard from Bucktail and Central Mountain High School student government officials on the happenings at their respective schools.

Bucktail High School Junior Martin Lewis presented his report, saying that “the students at Bucktail feel that community involvement is important for the students and school,” and that “we want to plan community events to entice involvement with the school sometime in the second semester.”

Lewis also mentioned that the students will be hearing more about block scheduling, and the length of classes in block scheduling, and that the student government is going to be setting up “suggestion boxes” around the school, so the student government can hear suggestions from the student body at large.

Lewis ended his report saying that the student government will be working with the PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) team to plan positive activities within the school, such as March Madness and class competitions.

Central Mountain High School student government representative Claire Bowman of the Junior class, spoke on behalf of the students at the High School.

“Thanks for the long holiday break,” Claire thanked the board at the start of her report. “Drama Club auditions have begun for the spring musical Mamma Mia! running from March 22-24, and we have many CTE students participating at the PA Farm Show in Harrisburg, and with competitions in SkillsUSA.”

“January 25 is the semester switch at the high school, and we are looking forward to the Sadie Hawkins Dance on January 27,” she added.

Claire welcomed the school district officials to come and “walk the halls, talk with the students any day” at the high school. “We will be electing a President, Vice-President, and Cabinet Members for the 24/25 school year very soon, and we are trying to create an avenue for frequent meetings with building administrators about things affecting the students and goals for the upcoming year.”

Policies up for adoption at the Voting Meeting on January 11 were discussed, including one called Therapy Dogs in Schools, a pilot program where students could benefit from working or visiting with a therapy dog to “help reduce stress, improve physical and emotional well-being, lower blood pressure, decrease anxiety, improve self-esteem, and normalization of the environment, increasing the likelihood of successful academic achievement by the student. Examples of activities that students may engage in with a therapy dog include petting the dog, speaking to the dog, giving the dog simple commands that the dog is trained to respond to, and reading to the dog.”

Odessa, the therapy dog, would be with her handler while on school grounds and with students.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Superintendent Martin congratulated Lisa Bolopue, retiring school nurse of 24 years, on her many years with the district. “Students, parents, and staff respect her, and we wish her well with her retirement endeavors,” Martin said.