Keystone Central School District Looking at End of School Year by June 2; Talk of New Liberty-Curtin Elementary School Heard
BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP – In a nearly two-and-half hour work session Thursday night, the Keystone Central School Board and the public received information on school district issues from the effects of the coronavirus to a revised school calendar to a possible new Liberty-Curtin Elementary School.
Superintendent Jacquelyn Martin provided most of the updates. She said the district does not want the school year to extend beyond June 2, given that some district seniors are committed to go into the military, some will be attending summer school and some have employment opportunities. She said provision has been made to make sure applicable district employees get their 186 work days, even with the district being shut down March 16-20.
The superintendent said teachers have been working for the last two weeks and the district has the ability to maintain instruction, all the while working on internet access for those students in need. She said the district is able to do more in terms of instruction than any other school in the Central Intermediate Unit, other than State College, particularly for students in grades 9-12. She said the coronavirus-caused changes result in “learning taking place in a different way.”
Other information from the superintendent included word that she and district staff continue to work on a budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 and said they are “pretty close to a zero tax increase” for next year, with an update expected at next week’s voting session.
There was some discussion on the district’s ongoing development of a 10-year-facility plan. Director of Property Services Rob Pacella talked of a new bond issue several years down the road for construction of a new Liberty-Curtin Elementary School in Blanchard but noted there would be “some stuff added and some stuff taken away” as the plan is finalized. He noted the need for roof repairs at some schools within the district and Martin said the 10-year plan will give the district some budgeting stability, getting away from the “yo-yo” budgets of the past.
The board spent considerable time hearing from two consultants: Alyssa Wingenfeld from McClure Company, who talked about a district energy-saving project, and Audrey Bear from Piper Sandler & Company who related how the energy project could be rolled into a revised district borrowing package.
Wingenfeld touched on currently low interest rates on bonds and offered the board some options for the energy project and other facility improvements. These could be paid back over a 20-year period with the payback amount from $1.5 million to $1.6 million a year, in line with the district’s current debt repayment amount due over the next several years.
The board agreed to advertise to include a vote next week on the next step in gathering information on the energy project which Martin said could begin this summer. It would include new HVAC units at the Central Mountain Middle School and Bucktail High School, bringing air conditioning to both structures.
The meeting was conducted on line, board members and district officials participating from their homes.
