The Conewago Valley School board discussed the ongoing renovation and building projects at New Oxford Elementary School, Conewago Township Elementary School, and Adams County Technical Institute during its meeting on Monday evening.
During the time for public comment, a guest asked about the progress of the Adams County Technical Institute construction project and whether ACTI was any closer to purchasing land for its building.
Dr. Sharon Perry, superintendent for Conewago Valley and the ACTI superintendent of record, said that while properties are still actively being reviewed, there is no purchase currently planned.
While the ACTI board did have two properties it was interested in, Perry said both would have “challenges that would need to be mitigated in order for them to become options” and indicated the board may start over.
“I do think it’s possible at our superintendent meeting this Thursday we’re going to re-review all of the challenges therewith and there’s a potential to go back to the drawing board,” Perry said. “There was a list, a master list, of properties worth consideration. The (joint operating committee) originally was very focused on keeping it centrally located.”
Construction project
Perry said that while the construction projects at Conewago Township Elementary and New Oxford Township Elementary schools have kept faculty and staff busy, she has been encouraged by the cooperation and progress.
“I’d also like to acknowledge the positivity and professionalism of the faculty and staff and administration and the board,” Perry said. “We’ve already seen changes. We’ve already seen shifting that requires us to be adaptable and flexible.”
Perry said faculty have been helping with the project.
“New Oxford Elementary teachers met with design professionals last week to provide input and feedback for the tweaking of the development of the model for New Oxford Elementary,” Perry said.
Despite the potentially complicating nature of having the NOE school building in the borough and the playground and hardscaping in Oxford Township, Perry said the process has been eased by cooperation of both local governments.
“So we have to work with both municipalities, but I would like to thank our two municipalities for working together and saving our taxpayers extra dollars where we’re not paying double fees to both municipalities,” Perry said. “Oxford Township is working with us for the stormwater challenges and issues that we need to work through, so we appreciate that.”
The board approved Resolution 141 for the sale of bonds to support both the CTE and NOE projects.
During its caucus meeting on Sept. 8, the board discussed the project costs.
In the earlier caucus meeting, board members discussed whether to request greater insight into the construction estimate calculations for Monday’s meeting but decided to wait until the architectural design firm, Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates, presents its report to the board in October.
Professional development, data needs
Dr. Wesley Doll, assistant superintendent for the district, said the two-year teacher induction process is well underway for teachers in both their first and second years of the program.
Many sessions are handled on a county level rather than a district level, allowing teachers greater collaboration across the area, Doll said.
Monthly principal meetings are also going well, according to Doll, with the most recent one held on Sept. 16.
“Our focus this year is on data and trying to provide professional development opportunities for our principals to understand a little bit more about data and how to utilize the data we currently have to better inform instruction,” Doll said. “We’re also planning to have some of that professional development for our teachers, as well, as we roll that out and looking at all the data we collect and how it’s being utilized, and do we collect more data than we really need and do we have to assess so many times? We’re going to have some of those conversations this year.”
Doll said the district is also working on applications for federal Title I, Title II, Title III and Title IV program funding.
Recognition
The board recognized football player Brody Holmes for being one of five students nominated, and the only student selected for, Athlete of the Week in the Gettysburg Times for the week of Sept. 1.
The board also recognized the football team at New Oxford High School for winning $5,000 from T-Mobile’s Friday Night 5G Lights program.
The district communications team was noted for amassing thousands of readers for the district’s newsletters.
The board also thanked Bricker’s Famous French Fries for donating $498.29 for the Class of 2025.
Other business
Several extracurricular staff contracts were approved for yearbook and chorus advisors, an assistant director for the middle school musical, and an assistant advisor for speech and debate.
Contracts were also signed for basketball, bowling, swimming, wrestling and lacrosse coaches.
Prior to the meeting, the board and others with the district met with new teachers at a meet-and-greet reception.
Doll thanked the board and administration for welcoming the teachers. Doll also thanked staff members for providing the food and cleaning up afterwards.
“I thought it was a great time for everyone to have a chance to meet some of our newest staff members to the family,” Doll said.
Executive sessions were held both prior to and after the open meeting in order to go over legal and personnel issues.
Imari Scarbrough is a freelance journalist. She was a staff newspaper reporter for five years before becoming a freelancer in 2017. She has written on crime, environmental issues, severe weather events, local and regional government and more.
You can visit her website at ImariJournal.com.