The recent December board meeting announced changes to the Littlestown Area School District for meeting attendees and volunteers.
Beginning in January, the work and regular board sessions will both start at 6 p.m. In the past, the regular session began at 7 p.m. In addition, the students of the month, honored at the regular session, will now be recognized at the work session to balance meeting content. The Finance and Curriculum Committee meetings will meet one week before work sessions, beginning at 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. For more information, https://www.lasd.k12.pa.us/page/2024-2025-board-documents.
People wishing to volunteer for the district will now be processed through the district central office to apply and submit clearances required by the district. Once one of the three school principals approves their names, they will be brought to the board for approval. Specific questions regarding an applicant will be heard in executive session.
“The simple process change in this was to put our principals back in charge,” Mitzel said. “It’s the responsibility of the principals to know who is coming into their building since they are in charge of the school’s orderly operations,” he added. “I was a building principal for a number of years, and I was always keyed in as to who was coming in. I believe it is their responsibility to oversee their buildings.” He added that board members who wish to volunteer or visit buildings do not need authorization from the principals because they are well-known to the LASD community.
In other board business, a recommendation to approve a contract for a licensed mental health provider to provide staffing for maternity leave coverage was tabled in favor of looking at other, less expensive solutions.
Board President Carl Thompson said the $715 per day contract exceeds by $215 the amount paid for a Superintendent substitute. Thompson said he felt the $11,440 for the 16-day period was “a lot of money.” The substitute therapist would work one day a week at the high school and one-half day a week at the elementary and middle schools for eight weeks.
Dr. Carolyn Fiascki, LASD Pupil Services director, explained the position is for a licensed therapist to serve in place of the one the district’s students are currently seeing. She added that the present caseload of 38 students has been pared back to 20 students with the greatest need during the period.
However, she said the “very specialized” service of someone with the necessary credentials can be challenging to find. Fiascki said she chose ElevateMind, LLC for the contract because she was familiar with them and “its candidates know the school, the pupils and the district needs providing a smooth transition for the students.” The board approved tabling the decision until January when the district can solicit other bids at a lesser price.
Phase 1 of the middle school/high school project is nearing completion, Jan. 17, with staff moving over between Jan. 20 and 21 and high school students beginning at the new location on Jan. 22. Completion dates for Phase II of the project is June 25, 2025, and Phase III will be completed by 11/21/2025.
Funds for additional building projects were sought through a grant last June, which would provide needed repairs to older buildings, such as HVAC, windows, and roofing.
Mitzel explained that the additional projects were part of a six-million-dollar 75/25 split state grant application to improve structures. Because of changes to the final grant disbursements, LASD was awarded one million dollars, which was dedicated in equal amounts to the buildings.
“We scaled back the original projects, decreasing the cost by 1.8 million dollars,” he explained, “and placed the elementary school improvements back on the capital projects lists for 2026/2027.” Both the original and new versions require no tax increase for completion.
LASD resident Susanne Johnson questioned why additional projects were being planned instead of applying the funds to cover the cost of the Adams County Technical Institute. LASD is one of five county districts that will share the cost of the new school. The district’s share is ten million dollars over 20 years.
Residents realized a one percent tax increase in this year’s budget to begin planning for that reality. Mitzel said that starting the process in one percent increases over three years would be “a more steady and predictable way to raise funds, instead of a sudden three percent tax increase when building begins in three or four years.”
As LASD begins to see a decline in student enrollment, board member Duanne Sullivan said he was worried by projected numbers and the increase of students attending cyber and charter schools, effectively taking the state’s per-student spending out of the district’s budget.
Mitzel later said there are only 98 fewer students this year and that the number enrolled in cyber schools is at six percent, not the 13 percent projected more than a year ago. LASD provides cyber learning alternatives through the Thunderbolt Cyber Academy to keep students in the district headcount. “And it gives the students our LASD diploma,” he added.
The cyber school provides students several opportunities to create a learning experience that works best for them. It offers a full range of courses and pathways to create an individualized pathway to a Littlestown High School Diploma—AP Courses, NCAA Approved Core Courses, and career and technical education courses. For more information, https://www.lasd.k12.pa.us/page/cyberschool.
Asked what he would like to see in the new year for LASD, Mitzel told the Gettysburg Connection, “For this coming year, I hope teachers have the resources they need to engage students in learning and that all programs will be successful for our students.”
Featured Image: The current LASD board leadership was approved at a special meeting on Dec. 2. Back row, from left, Duane Sullivan, Brian Lawyer, Board President Carl Thompson, Board Vice-President Nick Lovell, and Steven Yerger. From row from left, Jeanne Ewen, Janell Ressler, Mary Brenneman and Danielle Brenneman.
Judith Cameron Seniura is a freelance reporter. She began her journalism career in the early ‘70s and has written for newspapers, magazines, and other media in Ontario, Canada, Alaska, Michigan, Nebraska, San Antonio, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.