Clarion-Limestone School Board Welcomes New Members; Athletics Continue to Dominate Discussion

Aly Delp

Aly Delp

Published December 6, 2019 5:35 am
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CLARION TWP., Pa. (EYT) – Wednesday evening’s Clarion-Limestone School Board meeting began with bringing the new board members officially into the fold.

Starting with the nomination and subsequent election of David Schirmer as temporary president to preside over the meeting until after the swearing in of the new members and subsequent election of an official board president, the meeting began smoothly.

New board members Joe Billotte, Dave Eggleton, Nathaniel Parker, Corry Bish, and Rebecca Allison were then administered the oath of office and took their seats at the table.

Nominations for president included Gary Sproul, Nathaniel Parker, and David Schirmer. Sproul’s nomination was voted down in a 2-6 vote, with one abstention, and Parker’s nomination was voted down in a 3-6 vote. Schirmer’s nomination was supported in a 6-2 vote, with one abstention, and he officially took the seat of board president.

Gary Sproul was then nominated as Vice President, and was supported in a 5-3 vote, with one abstention.

The board members then went on to discuss the future meetings, deciding to continue to hold meetings once per month at 6:30 p.m. on a Wednesday evening. The official schedule of meetings will be advertised at a later date.

The board then made the following appointments:

  • Gary Sproul as Legislative Chairperson for PSBA
  • Joe Billotte and Corry Bish as representatives to the Career Center Joint Operating Committee, with Kathy Henry as an alternate
  • Rebecca Allison as representative to the Riverview Intermediate Unit Six board
  • Corry Bish was co-op athletic committee chairperson

The appointment of the co-op athletic committee chairperson brought up further discussion of the issue of the co-op at large.

Clarion-Limestone School District Superintendent Amy Glasl requested that the school boards from North Clarion and Clarion each have a reaffirmation vote on the co-op agreement in January.

“Basically, what it is is that they want to make sure that this is what we want to do before they purchase new uniforms and a new name and all of that,” Glasl explained.

“They hear some rumblings, and they want to make sure that everybody, all the boards are on board with continuing before they spend the money — which is a smart idea.”

Glasl reported that she also checked on clarification on whether or not the district could get out of the agreement. She spoke to a representative of the PIAA about the issue and found that the only way out of the agreement, at any time, is for the PIAA board to suspend the application to the bylaws and make an exception.

Glasl then explained the five reasons why the PIAA will consider termination of an agreement as listed in their bylaws, which include closure of one of the schools; if one or more of the schools enrollment is greater than 300; sustained complains from surrounding schools concerning recruiting by one of the participating schools; substantiated complains from parents, board members, or students in one of the participating member schools; or “other valid reasons as determined by the PIAA.”

She reported the bylaws also say a termination has to occur by the end of December of an odd year.

“They say ‘at any time,’ but then give you a date and a time frame,” she noted.

Glasl said she was also told that since the schools entered their agreement in the middle of a cycle, they will have to go through a whole cycle of two years.

“So really, without all three schools saying, ‘No, we don’t want to do this,’ we have to be in this co-op through the 21-22 school year. Only if both schools agree to terminate at that time would we terminate it. If only one of the schools wants to terminate, they have to do it through this special bylaw request, even after two years.”

Her announcement kicked off further discussion of the co-op, with both pros and cons being weighed, from the athletes support of the co-op, through cost issues.

“I really think this board has spent enough time on this,” board member Dave Eggleton noted. “I don’t know why we’re wasting time on this when we have other things that affect education that we could be spending time on.”

“I wanted to put that out there because I know he’s going to ask, at that meeting next Tuesday, that we reaffirm our position at the January meeting, so I wanted you to be thinking about it and be aware that we may be asked to do that,” Glasl said.

Board president David Schirmer asked that all of the board members get a copy of the spreadsheet comparing the cost of the co-op versus the estimated cost of a stand alone program, a copy of the co-op agreement, and suggested having a sign up to get an idea of how many students would want to participate in football next year with or without the co-op.

“That way you have the data to look at,” Schirmer said.

“I agree with the first thing Dave said,” Parker stated. “There’s been an inordinate amount of time spent on sports — and a sport, and I’d like to get back to education.”

However, he went on to note that he has still heard a lot of concerns from community members about the issue.

“I would like to move beyond this and be done with it, but I think it’s important to do what you said and get information so we have our facts, but I think we should give a forum. I’d like to know what the community thinks.”

The board discussed options for soliciting reactions from the community and decided to send out a survey for students and invite parents and community members who would like to comment on the co-op to attend the next board meeting and share their opinion and/or concerns.

Following the discussion of the co-op, the board members went on to briefly discuss options for individual committees versus working as a committee of the whole, and decided on the latter.

Options for school board ember training were also discussed, and the board decided to plan their own training rather than attending training at the Riverview Intermediate Unit Six.

The reorganization meeting was then adjourned and the regular voting meeting was called to order. The agenda for the regular voting meeting was a light one.

The board:

  • Approved adopting a resolution not to raise the 2020-2021 real estate taxes above the index.
  • Approved a 2019-2020 supplemental contract in the amount of $778 for Shelby Johnson as Head Junior High Volleyball Coach, pending receipt of all required legal documentation.
  • Approved central office staff making vendor payments from December 4, 2019, through the next regularly scheduled meeting.

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