Disclosure of Salary Information, Tax Collection, Topics of Thursdays KCSD Work Session
By Christopher Miller
BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP – Keystone Central Board Members met Thursday for their August Work Session meeting.
Board members discussed disclosing salary information for all district employees regardless of new hires and voluntary or involuntary position transfers.
Currently, the salary or hourly wage for employees is included in the district agenda for new hires. The district is considering changing this to include all salaries regardless of new hires and voluntary or involuntary transfers.
“The practice for our district and others has always been that when you change jobs but don’t change salary, that information isn’t typically put on the agenda Personnel attachment,” Superintendent Dr. Frank Redmon said.
Board member Chris Scaff mentioned that since the salaries are public anyway, he doesn’t see a reason why they should not be listed.
Dr. Baldino echoed Chris’s comments, adding that all employees hired are basically “employees of the taxpayers” and that the taxpayers should know where their money is going.
Elisabeth Lynch also added that private sector money is private, and public sector money is public, therefore, “I don’t see how it could hurt” to list salaries and wages.
Board member Butch Knauff recommended tabling the idea in order to have a discussion regarding this with the association, to inform them that the board is considering going this way with disclosing salaries.
A formal vote to accept or table this will be made next Thursday evening.
The district is also looking to find a third party tax collection company for collecting the Local Services Tax (LST) and the Business Privilege Tax (BPT).
Dr. Redmon mentioned that the administration is recommending that the board find a third party tax collection company while continuing to collect real estate taxes in-house.
Business Manager Joni MacIntyre told the board that four municipalities and the City of Lock Haven have already approved moving to Berkheimer Digital Tax Solutions for collection purposes.
“The more people that leave, the less we will in turn collect,” she added.
The school board will vote on this next week.
Board members also heard from John W. Compton, Jr. and Adam Hartzel of Baker Tilly on audit planning for the previous school year.
The bulk of the audit work will take place in September and October with the district’s deadline for federal reporting being March 31, 2026. Compton and Hartzel will return in late-January to present the final details and findings of the district’s financial audit.
During Dr. Redmon’s Superintendent’s Report, he informed the board that all Title funding for Titles 2, 3, and 4 have been released from the state and that all the monies are there with the same amounts as anticipated.
He also said that the district received two $1,000 checks from wireless network operator T-Mobile for Central Mountain High School and Bucktail High School for partnering and doing some advertising with them.
“The more we work with T-Mobile, the more sponsorship money we will get,” Redmon said.
Dr. Redmon also commended Sam Hoy, Director of Property Services, in getting work done with contractors all over the district in getting the schools ready for teachers and students to return later this month.
He also mentioned that a recent Special Voting Meeting held in late-July to approve spending no more than $200,000 for soil remediation at the new Liberty-Curtin Elementary School ended up costing the district significantly less than anticipated. Remediation came in at just over $92,000 and paving the parking lot was able to be completed.
Unstable soils were encountered when contractors were working on building the new parking lot. Due to wet soils under the old building, the new parking lot would not have been able to adequately support the load under current safety standards. The soils were removed and replaced.
The district announced on social media Thursday afternoon that elementary numbers have increased for the kindergarten classes at Robb Elementary so much that parents had been asked to volunteer that their children be sent to Liberty-Curtin Elementary School instead. The current bussing time to Liberty-Curtin would add about 15-20 minutes to the students morning and afternoon rides.
Lastly, Dr. Redmon mentioned that the Community Homecoming Parade has been set for Thursday, September 25 at 6:00 p.m. in downtown Lock Haven for all KCSD schools, clubs, bands, athletics, and Commonwealth University-Lock Haven to participate in.
In other news, the Ross Library will be the recipient of hundreds of books from the most recent district “library book weeding” where old books, sometimes in rough shape, are removed from the collection.
When approved in next week’s Voting Meeting, Kennametal, Inc. of Pittsburgh wishes to donate $5,511.00 worth of tooling associated with the donated machining equipment announced in last month’s meeting from TRAK Machine Tools.
David Lindsay, Esquire and the firm of Hall & Lindsay to act as school district Solicitor for the 2025-2026 school year at an hourly rate of $175 for non-litigation and/or litigation services. This is the same per-hour fee as the previous school year.
The metal roof on the district’s warehouse will be replaced, carrying a price tag of $39,717.70. Local contractor M&R Construction was the lowest price for the project, saving the district over $64,000 when compared to a similar company’s estimate that has done work for the district in the past. The warehouse roof was part of the district’s 10-year plan. The new roof is estimated to be over 7,000 square feet. Dr. Redmon expressed that he is pleased when the district can spend less money on a project while also using local contractors to carry out work on district buildings.
“This is costing us much less than we thought,” he said. “While saving over $64,000 we can do other projects sooner with the savings than we thought were possible.”
Lastly, board members will vote next week on approving Mike Poorman, Bucktail Dean of Students, as the new Assistant Principal for the Renovo Elementary and Bucktail Campus.
“Recently, Mr. Poorman completed all of his requirements to earn his principal certification. We would like to recommend the approval of transfer of this position from Dean of Students to Assistant Principal for multiple reasons. This is not an additional position. This is only a change of title from Dean of Students to 210 day Assistant Principal,” the agenda stated.
The salary range for the Assistant Principal is between $75,000 and $115,000 annually.
An executive session was held from 5:30 p.m. to 6:08 p.m. for personnel and legal matters.
Board members Tom Cannon and Polly Donahay were absent.
