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Richard Cook, North Allegheny Patch
“The Pine-Richland School board voted unanimously Monday night to appoint Dr. Brian R. Miller to a four-year contract as superintendent of schools.
Miller, who currently is assistant superintendent of K-12 education at neighboring North Allegheny School District, begins at Pine-Richland July 1. He will be paid a salary of $153,500.”
Click here to link to the complete article.
Richard Cook, North Allegheny Patch
“Scott E. Russell, the father of four North Allegheny students and an IT Director for General Nutrition Centers, is running for a seat on the North Allegheny School Board.”
Click here to link to the complete article.
Richard Cook, North Allegheny Patch
“Tara Z. Fisher, a member of the group Save NA Schools which has been fighting the proposed closing of any of the district’s elementary schools, is running for a seat on the North Allegheny School Board. ”
Click here to link to the complete article.
Richard Cook, North Allegheny Patch
“The group Save NA Schools , which has been fighting for months against the proposed closing of any North Allegheny Elementary School, said the most recent recommendations by Superintendent Dr. Raymond Gualtieri won’t do enough to alleviate large class sizes if Peebles Elementary is closed.”
Click here to link to the complete article.
Dr. Raymond Gualtieri is now recommending the school close at the end of the 2013-2014 school year.
[To read complete text, click here]
Board member Thomas Schwartzmier said he was very happy with the delay in the Peebles closing.
“I’m glad that we reconsidered that, it’s something that I would have brought up at the vote had we not talked about it in advance,” he said. “I think this will give everyone more time to react appropriately as we move forward.”
Board member Christopher Jacobs wondered about the sudden recommendation to add classrooms at McKnight Elementary.
“I felt the administration did their homework and was very confident in their recommendation,” he said. “Why wasn’t that (adding classrooms to McKnight) part of the initial recommendation? Are we less confident now than we were before?”
“I don’t know that we’re less confident but we heard over and over again from parents that parents were not confident with that,” Gualtieri responded. “The administration was confident that the 12 or so spare classrooms was enough, but we heard that over and over again from 330 people as we went through the various elementary schools and we tried to address that concern.”
Alison Fujito, a parent, told the board she couldn’t buy that argument.
“There’s just too much contradiction here for me to have a whole lot of confidence in your current recommendations,” she said. “I’m kinda shocked that these concerns that we’ve raised, 300 of us have raised, you keep calling them parental concerns, why aren’t they your concerns?”
Board member Ralph Pagone reiterated his opposition to closing Peebles at all.
“The last thing any district should do is close a school,” he said. “I still feel there are stones we haven’t unturned yet and I would ask that we continue to do that. “The thing that’s glaringly missing from this power point presentation to me is the $10-14-million dollars in cost that Bradford Woods elementary is going to need. I’d like to see that addressed. The building is going to continue to deteriorate.”
Board President Maureen Grosheider said, she too, wanted to make sure all options were explored when it comes to operating the district efficiently.
“I want to make sure we’ve done our job and our homework to make sure that we are as lean as we can be in as many appropriate places that we can be,” she said. “I would like to see money in the classroom, that’s where I think it belongs.”
At last night’s school board meeting, the board approved the preliminary budget for the 2013-14 school year. The board also approved the resignation of School Board Member Beth Ludwig.
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Pittsburgh Post Gazette: North Allegheny explores options to reduce proposed budget deficit
North Allegheny Patch: North Allegheny School Board Approves Preliminary Budget, Tax Hike
Pittsburgh Post Gazette: North Allegheny School Board member Beth Ludwig resigns
North Allegheny Patch: North Allegheny School Board Member Beth Ludwig Resigns
There are two school board meetings this month:
1. February 20th Work Session
2. February 27th Regular Meeting
Both meetings are at 7pm at Carson Middle School. These meetings are open to the public and provide time for community members to address members of the school board. If you are interested in speaking, the rules require that you register 24 hours in advance by contacting Rose Mary Ryan at rryan@northallegheny.org or 412-369-5437.
With the plans for McCandless Crossing complete, and construction well underway, planners in McCandless are eyeing another large parcel of land for redevelopment. Click here to read the article from the North Allegheny Patch.
Pittsburgh Post Gazette: December 20, 2012
The hearing will be held Jan. 30. A vote to close the school cannot occur for 90 days after that.
North Allegheny Patch, December 20, 2012
In a meeting that lasted nearly five hours, the North Allegheny School board Wednesday night voted to schedule a public hearing on Jan. 30 on whether or not to close Peebles Elementary school.
Board members Ralph J. Pagone and Christopher M. Jacobs voted against the hearing.
More than 40 parents spoke against the proposal, and many of them asked again for the formation of a community task force to further study the issue. The board did not address that request.
save NA schools 