CLARKS SUMMIT — Abington Heights School Board members voted to rotate the location of the district’s monthly work session meetings among different buildings, starting in October.
During approval of the 2015-16 board meeting calendar on July 15, board president Cathy Ann Hardaway announced the Oct. 7 meeting will be held at Waverly Elementary. On Nov. 4, it will be at South Abington Elementary. The Jan. 6 meeting will be held at Newton Ransom Elementary. On Feb. 3, the meeting will be held at South Abington Elementary. The March 2 meeting will take place at Abington Heights Middle School and the April 6 meeting at Abington Heights High School. All meetings will begin at 6:30 p.m.
Abington Heights Superintendent Michael Mahon provided an update on the progress at Waverly Elementary School after a water pipe burst over the Fourth of July weekend.
“We’ve had mitigators in (the building) addressing the damage,” he said. “We’ll soon be moving from a mitigation and recovery phase into a construction phase. Everyone working in the building has been very focused on the environment and safety. We’ve had air scrubbing with large, industrial hepa filters, all areas have been hepa vacuumed regularly, the contractors have been using negative air pressure to control dust, all areas are continually sanitized and sprayed, air sampling has taken place with good results and we’ll be doing ongoing hygienic testing. We discovered two rooms with asbestos in the floor. We’re in contact with professionals and plan to execute their recommendations.”
Mahon characterized the transition for day-to-day substitutes from Abington Heights employees to Kelly Services as “very successful.”
“We’re certainly concerned about the process, because it’s brand new,” he said, “but it seems to be progressing nicely.”
In other business:
• Members of the school board voted to approve a leave of absence for middle school art teacher Jaime Sheehan and high school English teacher Sarah Scranta, effective with the 2015-16 school year.
• Members of the school board approved the resignation of middle school music teacher Susan Gyr, effective June 15.
• Joshua Berry was approved as a full-time school psychologist for the 2015-16 school year. Thomas Kerrigan was approved as a long-term substitute German teacher, Emily Johnson and Krystle Novak were approved as a long-term substitute special education teachers, Jessica Verry was approved as a full-time special education teacher and Amanda Jones was approved as a full-time high school mathematics teacher for the 2015-16 school year. All are replacement positions.
• Teacher Paulette Farry and substitutes Amy Garrison and Karen Davenport were approved as substitutes for the district’s extended school year program.
The next meeting of the Abington Heights School Board will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 5 at the district’s administration building, 200 E. Grove St., Clarks Summit.
