The Gettysburg Area School District welcomed student representatives, tightened requirements for student athletes, and rejected a construction project and land purchase during its meeting on Monday.
Student Athlete Requirements
The board unanimously approved a student handbook that prohibits students who are failing a class from dressing and participating in games and traveling with the team to away games.
Previously, the district followed PIAA minimum requirements which allow students to be failing one class.
During the Aug. 3 meeting, member David Sites proposed changing the rule so students failing any class cannot compete.
“Being an athlete is a privilege, and they need to earn it. They can’t float through it and go play,” Sites said.
His proposal advanced with no opposition.
Team Room
Last year, the board approved building a team room at Warrior Stadium with a viewing platform. The project is now dead in the water.
Josh Reynolds, director of facilities/school safety, said earlier this month that permit delays forced the project to be rebid, giving the current board a chance to rethink their predecessors’ decision.
A team room with a viewing platform is expected to cost $2.409 million, according to estimates provided with the board agenda. Reynolds said the cost has increased about $300,000 since last year.
Sites encouraged the board and administration to explore adding a team room to the Middle School and questioned whether spectators would be able to see from the viewing platform since goalposts are directly in their line of sight. He also wondered if the platform would require additional security.
Tim Seigman disagreed.
“I went to school here and everyone sat on that hill and watched the games through those goalposts forever and everybody enjoyed it,” Seigman said.
Dr. Jeffrey Matzner, superintendent, said he believes the district would need to add a security guard if the viewing platform is installed.
Seigman and Al Moyer supported the proposal. Sites, Justine Sieg, Ryan Kerney, Donna Harrison, and Alice Broadway opposed it.
ACTI Land Purchase
The team room was not the only decision the board revisited on Monday. However, unlike the team room on which the board changed its opinion, members stood their ground on a proposed land purchase for Adams County Technical Institute.
Three of Adams County Technical Institute’s five participating districts have approved ACTI’s purchase of land near New Oxford for a new school. Gettysburg rejected the proposal in June and did so again on Monday. Broadway was the lone vote in support, noting that she understood concerns over the project’s price but supported buying land that could later be sold at a profit.
Anthony Coleman, project manager from Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates, confirmed last month that ACTI needs 140,000 square feet. Some community members are pushing for ACTI to purchase the current HACC Gettysburg property on Old Harrisburg Road, which is 100,000 square feet. The additional space would require 25 acres of land, which is not possible on the HACC land due to wetlands and zoning issues.
Seig and Seigman, GASD’s representatives on ACTI’s Joint Operating Committee, said they would share the board’s concerns at the committee’s Aug. 26 meeting
Student Board Representatives
The board welcomed students Ian Goldman-Smith, senior, and Rodrigo Ponce Valdez as student representatives to the governing body.
Matzner said the students elected the two to represent them on the board. They will not have voting powers but can weigh in on issues and will share a regular report at meetings.
“I am excited for this opportunity to bridge the school body and the school board,” Goldman-Smith said.
