district moves to sports upgrade | News, Sports, Jobs


LEWISTOWN — A site survey for the potential sports complex and raising funds to upgrade the sports field highlighted Thursday’s Mifflin County School Board voting meeting.

The Board of Directors approved, by a vote of 8-1, that ELA Sport/ELA Group Inc. complete the site survey and utility trace for $51,805. This work is being conducted to maintain existing conditions, topographic and amenities surveys, partial property lines and underground utility locations.

This information from the four areas of the MCSD tenements will be used to create a basemap and existing condition plan for land development and engineering drawings for athletic and facility improvements.

Properties to be evaluated include the area in front of the high school where the existing running track is located, the Highland Park property across Sixth Street from the high school, the existing baseball field and the existing grass field in front of the junior high school.

The proposed improvements include the removal of the existing running track and the current natural grass pitch within the running track and the construction of a new stadium with artificial turf, stands, sports lighting and field-related equipment such as new football goalposts; Construction of a new eight-lane, all-weather surface track with a second inner track artificial turf pitch with athletic field lighting at Highland Park; Construction of the long jump, triple jump and high jump venues within the “D” areas of the track and construction of throwing competitions (discus, javelin, shot put) outside the track area; Provision of pedestrian access routes and connections to the new facilities; and creation of additional parking spaces.

In addition, the Board of Directors of a community group agreed to begin soliciting funding for athletic field improvements, provided that an acceptable amount of community and corporate funding is raised (90% of their share of construction costs). The Board will provide funds in support of the project with a minimum of US$4 million and a total of no more than US$4.5 million.

Final approval for this project will occur on or before December 15, 2022. The vote was 7-2 in favor.

Separately, the board introduced a resolution to ban implementation of the Critical Race Theory and the 1619 project, including downloadable lesson plans, to a future date pending the resolution’s editing for clarity.

Some board members are concerned about the minimization of Critical Race Theory as diversity, inclusion and equity and the ease of downloading the information. They want the downloading of documents and the addition of the new Diversity, Inclusion and Justice curriculum banned along with the Critical Race Theory and the 1619 Project.

The Management Board has also taken the following measures:

• approved the minutes of the August 18 special voting meeting; the meeting of the Committee of the Whole which took place on August 18; and the regular board meeting on August 25th.

• Recommended second reading adoption and final approval of the following draft policies to replace the same numbered Board policies previously approved by the Board: Trauma-Informed Approach (New), Student Enrollment, Student Admission, Eligibility of Nonresident Students, Immunizations and Communicable Diseases (New), HIV Infection, Attendance, Postgraduates (New), Assignment Within District, Student Confidential Communications, Dropout, Health Assessments/Screenings (New), Food Allergy Management (New), Diabetes Management, Ownership/Administration of asthma inhalers/epinephrine auto-injectors (new), student progress report, class rank (new), naming rights (revised).

• Recommended second reading and final approval of the following Board Operations Guidelines (BOGs): Board Appointment, Principal Application Form, Standing Board Committees, Standing Committee Functions, Abstention on Conflict of Interest Memorandum.

• Recommended first reading adoption of the following draft policies to replace Board policies of the same number previously approved by the Board: Promotion and Retention, Student Records, Graduation, Tobacco and Vapor Products, Use of Bicycles and Motor Vehicles, Care of School Property, Searches, Controlled Substances/ paraphernalia, hazing.

• Recommended approval of the following financial items: Review of Treasurer Reports for the month ended August 31, 2022 – Kish Bank, PSDLAF / PSDMAX, Temporary Investment Report and Executive Summary, Capital Project Fund (PLGIT), Sports Project, Review of listing of bills for payment, Review of Revenue – and expense summaries, real estate and per capita tax collector reports.

• Recommended Approval of Cafeteria Financial Report for August 2022, Application for Approval to Pay Cafeteria Bills for August 2022.

• Recommended admission of the following drivers: Megan Stundon (Fisher Brothers), Ray Hartzler (Fisher Brothers), Wanda Shields (Crisis), Ashley Fultz (Crisis).

• Recommended acceptance of Cassandra Goss as co-coordinator for Title I Parent Engagement for the 2022-2023 school year on a $500 tuition at LES. These fellowships are funded entirely from Title I funds. One percent of Title I funds must be spent on parent engagement activities. Half of the Title I grant is paid in December and half in May.

• Recommended Approval for Josh Snook’s Resignation as Paid Junior High Assistant Football Coach. He intends to continue as a Volunteer Assistant Jr. High Football Coach effective August 30.

• Recommended approval of the following coaches for Spring 2022-23: Bailey Hetrick (Volunteer Baseball), Cody Heane (Assistant Varsity Baseball), Brett Leister (varsity baseball), Isaac Maclay (varsity baseball), Kalen Gearhart (varsity baseball), Josh Nichols (varsity baseball), Cole Knable (varsity baseball), Ray Hoppel (varsity baseball), Tamara Sechler (assistance distance), Greg Loht (assistance distance), Allen Hepner (assistance distance), Floyd Ciccolini (assistance distance), Jen Freed ( Volunteer Assistant Track), Richard Yearick (Volunteer Assistant Track), Neil Breneman (Volunteer Assistant Track), Skylar Ciccolini (Volunteer Assistant Track), Lauren Kuykendall (Volunteer Assistant Track), Shannon Specht (Volunteer Assistant Track), Ella Spriggle (Volunteer Assistant Track), Brooke Coburn (Volunteer Assistant Track), Deion Curry (Volunteer Assistant Track), Jeff Mazurek (Assistant Boys Tennis), Steven Hugendubler (Volunteer Assistant Boys Tennis), Carolyn King (Head Junior r High Girls Soccer). ), Barrett Knepp (Assistant Junior High Girls Soccer), Jenna Slepicka (Head of Junior High Girls Volleyball), Aimee Seitz (Assistant Junior High Girls Volleyball), Terry Henry (Assistant Uni Softball).

• Recommended approval of the following coach for Fall 2022-23: Josh Parson (Assistant Junior High Football).

• Recommended approval of the following events staff for the 22-23 school year: Kelly Parks.

• Approval for the Mifflin County School District to donate “school bell” from the former Reedsville High School to the Mifflin County Historical Society. The bell would become part of the society’s extensive collection of county school memorabilia.

• Recommended approval of an amendment to the agreement between the Mifflin County School District and Folium, Inc. d/b/a Laurel Life Services to expand classrooms for the transition from elementary to high school for the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school years. The change includes the addition of a behavior coach to augment the current Laurel Life program at MCHS at a cost of $87,500 per academic year. The change is contingent on the MCSD receiving $175,000 from the PCCD Mental Health and Safety Grant.




Today’s breaking news and more in your inbox










Comments are closed.