CENTER TOWNSHIP — An after-school club set up in the spirit of discouraging drug and alcohol use by students at Homer-Center High School has completed its transition in name from the former TADD (Teens Against Destructive Decisions) to SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions), a change that brings more resources and program support from the national SADD organization.
Student leaders, 11th-grader Lauren Walters, the president, and senior Dakota Koleszar, the program chairman, told the school board Thursday of the group’s expanded programming.
“SADD has been transferred because we didn’t get any benefits beforehand. Now that we’ve switched, we get a ton of them and that’s awesome,” Walters said. “We can get scholarships for being in SADD, as a school-bound club. SADD is all about keeping kids on the right path, and not getting into trouble and doing bad things. It’s what Homer-Center is all about, like keeping kids in the good.
“I thought that by being president, we could add a bunch of things to the club. We can celebrate life and do the ‘TRU Storm’ (program) connected to health and the American Lung Association. We did it at our school and it was amazing. Things like that are great for our club and our school.”
TRU is an acronym for Tobacco Resistance Unit, she said.
“TRU Storm is about keeping kids away from drugs and alcohol and bad things in the environment” — and vaping, Walters told board member Gerald Bertig.
Faculty adviser Christine Yurky introduced the student SADD leaders during high school Principal Jody Rainey’s monthly summary of school activities.
Yurky said the connection with the American Lung Association resulted in a fully paid carnival night with games, activities and prizes for student members and a $500 grant to the SADD chapter to help with programming; in the spring, TRU will treat SADD members to an all-expenses-paid night at a Pirates baseball game at PNC Park.
In other business Thursday, the school board members generally agreed that an impending issue deserves more than just their collective wisdom.
They want to know what their constituents think: the teachers, students, parents, property owners, taxpayers, voters.
When should the kids go back to school this summer?
The school board agreed by consensus to support an informal, non-binding online survey proposed by board President Michael Bertig to measure local sentiment for how the school calendar should look for 2020-21.
Bertig said he was pleased with the response to a similar survey he pioneered last year.
He said the poll was heavy in responses from teachers and students but also had input from parents and other district residents.
Brief debate over the poll idea included some opposing opinions; director Vicki Smith called for design and promotion of the poll to elicit more answers from taxpayers and a stronger gauge of overall community sentiment; others said the first and last days of classes and when vacations would be held are non-issues for people other than the kids and faculty.
The survey soon will be posted on the district website.
Homer-Center directors also are early in discussion of installing a wheelchair lift for access to the stage and backstage area in the high school auditorium.
On behalf of the Buildings and Grounds Committee, board member Gerald Bertig said the panel has an early estimate of “the low $20,000s” for the lift alone, an amount that would be paid from the district’s capital budget.
Bertig also said the committee will recommend refinishing the gymnasium floor by sanding away years of coatings and refinishing and painting the wood, a project that could run “the upper $20,000s.”
The committee’s priority list also includes replacement of stage lighting in the auditorium, repaving the parking lots and driveways, installation of new doors on the maintenance garage and possible construction of new team locker rooms at the football field, he said.
The Homer-Center school board on Thursday also:
• Saluted student award recipients Ty Steffey, a third-grader, the Wildcat Recognition Award for January in the elementary school; Michaela Catalano, a 10th-grader, the Wildcat award for the high school; and Morgan Faris, the Kiwanis Senior of the Month for January.
• Paid the final bill for the high school stairwell project that was completed in the fall. The district paid CNC Construction, of Penn Run, for the enclosure of an exterior emergency exit stairway into an interior daily-use stairwell between the two levels of classrooms on the junior high wing.
• Was told that the district will pay a higher share of the general operating budget of Indiana County Technology Center for 2020-21 because of an increase in the district’s enrollment. Director Vicki Smith said the preliminary ICTC spending plan calls for a 7.35 percent increase in Homer-Center’s contribution, and an overall 5.4 percent increase in expenses for the tech school.
• Agreed to allow the district to participate in the Allegheny Intermediate Unit joint purchasing program for 2020-21 and to enjoy discount prices solicited through the consortium at no cost to the district.
• Learned of the retirement of Monica Maggio, the longtime manager of the Homer City swimming pool, announced in board President Michael Bertig’s report of business handled at the most recent session of the Homer-Center Recreation and Parks Commission board.
• Approved travel by Jon Stolarz and Laura Root and the band and chorus to Walt Disney World in Orlando, a trip that will be fully paid by the band boosters, in February or March 2021.
• Approved the attendance by Vicki Olinger, Deanne Magolis and Erin Hildebrand at the Armstrong-Indiana Intermediate Unit Technology Integrators seminars on Feb. 12 and May 6. The district would pay for substitute teachers.
• Approved the attendance of school resource officer Joe Clement at the NASRO training session next week (Jan. 27 to 31) in Fox Chapel at a cost to the district of $495.
• Ratified revisions to the district’s policy on suspension or expulsion of students, based on language written and recommended for districts across the state by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association.
• Transferred Timothy Buzzard from an 8-hour, year-round custodian position to a 4-hour, 12-month third shift position, beginning Monday (Jan. 27).
• Granted an adjustment in the schedule of the payroll secretary and business manager assistant position to include a paid 30-minute daily lunch break.
• Approved David King and Mike Arone as volunteers for the softball team for the current school year.
