By Imari Scarbrough
The Conewago Valley school board followed up on previous board member inquiries regarding field trip and professional development costs during a study session on Monday evening. The conversations were part of an ongoing deeper look into the district’s budget.
Field trip and professional development proposals were presented in a slightly modified format following requests from the board in its December meeting.
The new format adds a column with letters ahead of each request, intended to make it easier to discuss the same trips. It also adds details about the proposals and how they would benefit the recipients and district.
Dr. Wesley Doll, assistant superintendent for the district, also addressed board conversations last month surrounding the cost of faculty and staff training sessions and field trips.
Doll said he and Scott Fraser, the district business manager and board secretary, reviewed the total field trip costs in the 2024-25 school year.
The total amount for field trips came to $256,847.18, according to Doll. For co-curricular and curricular activities, the cost was $47,583.31.
Fundraising covered $117,397 of the field trip costs.
Clubs fundraise for their own expenses and are not district-funded.
“There’s quite a bit of money that is being fundraised in our district and our school community in order for these things to take place, for students to have those experiences,” Doll said.
Most of the district-funded curricular and co-curricular activities for $47,583 fall under a handful of categories.
The high school marching band and drum line totaled about $9,800 from the 2024-25 district budget. Junior Achievement BizTown for 6th grade came to about $7,300. For music, the high school band costs came to $6,800, the high school orchestra totaled about $5,200, and the high school choir cost $4,700.
“It is quite eye-opening as someone that lives in a district and pays taxes, as well, to identify how much of this is fundraised within our school community for these activities to take place,” Doll said. “When you’re looking at it, it’s quite impressive. And I just want to thank everybody in our school community, because there are a lot of fundraisers that take place and I can tell by the number of times our doorbell rings in our neighborhood.”
Doll reiterated that only $47,583.31 out of the $256,487.18 came from district funds and said that while he acknowledges the district needs to control spending, he feels it was money well-spent.
“Hopefully this brings to light that there are quite a few people in our school community that help to contribute,” Doll said. “But obviously there are some things that are linked to our curriculum or co-curricular that are paid for by our school district and taxpayer dollars. But when you’re looking at the overall amount, it’s still a chunk of money under $50,000 last year, but these are areas that are, I think, well set-aside for and cover for those experiences for kids. We have a number of kids with different interests and I think each of those really help to fulfill what we’re trying to do here and grow and make our students real well-rounded citizens in our community.”
Overall, Fraser said about 0.06% of the 2024-25 school year expenses went to field trips.
Sports were not included in this financial breakdown as they are separate from field trips. Clubs, which fundraise their own money, also were not represented as they do not use district funds.
Superintendent Sharon Perry presented the proposed 2026-27 academic calendar, which now includes adding Monday, Nov. 30 as a vacation day for both students and teachers, effectively extending Thanksgiving break.
“We did receive some feedback asking if we could somehow bring back that day to have off, especially with family traveling and so on and so forth,” Perry said. “So this this year’s calendar, we were able to accommodate that and I just appreciate the flexibility of our administrative team, our faculty and their feedback, as well as CVEA’s review and families and their feedback that they provide to us. We believe we’re bringing forward a calendar for consideration for the board that has taken all of those thoughts and considerations into consideration.”
The calendar also suggests that the last day of school in May 2027 be the same for all students. Normally, graduation would be scheduled for a Thursday and a half-day would be held for students the next day, but the recommended change to the calendar puts May 27, 2027 as a universal last day.
The board reviewed several donations all intended for PE and athletics.
The New Oxford Athletic Booster Club provided a check for $4,200, which the baseball team fundraised. The New Oxford Legion Baseball Club also donated an additional $1,800. Both donations are for the “restoration and maintenance of the (high school) baseball field,” according to the meeting agenda.
Another donation of archery class equipment valued at $250 was made by Marchio’s Sport Hut for the high school PE class.
After the open meeting, the board went into executive session to discuss personnel issues.
The board will hold a regular voting meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 12 in the district boardroom. The meeting will include a vote on a resolution for the Act 34 booklet and maximum project costs for the reconstruction of New Oxford Elementary School.
Imari Scarbrough is a freelance journalist.
