Oct 20, 2014 3 min read

JEFFERSON – Jefferson-Morgan School Board Monday approved the resignation of its middle-senior high school principal and appointed its solicitor to head up negotiations with the teachers’ union that will begin in January.

Bart Donley, who served as principal at Jefferson-Morgan Middle-Senior High since October 2011, submitted his resignation after being hired earlier this month as principal at Mapletown Junior-Senior High School. Donley is a graduate of Mapletown High School.

Board president Lisa Mattish thanked Donley for his service to the district, adding the board was not eager to let him go. The board voted to advertise for his replacement.

The board also voted to appoint solicitor Ernest DeHaas to represent the district as the chief negotiator in contract talks with Jefferson-Morgan Education Association.

Negotiations will begin in January. The contract with the district’s 63 teachers expires Aug. 31.

The current contract, a three-year agreement was negotiated in 2012. It included a wage increase the first year and salary increases averaged about 2 percent in each of the final two years.

Superintendent Donna Furnier reported the building and grounds committee met with the district architect to discuss the list of building improvements the board is considering for the middle-senior high school.

The committee last month announced it would consider a scaled-down list of improvements that included replacing the roof and windows and installing a new heating and air conditioning system.

Furnier said the architect, Tom Durkin of Valentour, English, Bodnar and Howell, reviewed the process the district would follow in proceeding with its project.

Durkin also discussed the process the district would follow in seeking state reimbursement for the work through the Planning and Construction Workbook, or PlanCon, program, she said.

When the board first considered a school renovation, the state had a moratorium on accepted new projects under PlanCon for reimbursement. However, that moratorium has been lifted, Furnier said. The district will investigate whether its project is eligible for state reimbursement, she said.

In his report, Donley told the board the high school band has had a “fantastic year.” The band recently finished first at Autumn Glory Festival in Oakland, Md., he said. The band also placed first this year at the King Coal Show Parade in Carmichaels and the Buckwheat Festival in Kingwood, W.Va.

Parent Juliann Cernuska, addressed the board about the bomb threat last Wednesday, asking if any progress was made in apprehending the person who caused it or in preventing it from happening in the future.

Mattish told Cernuska the district was doing all it could regarding the matter.

Furnier also reported Community Action Southwest received a grant to work with the district on activities to foster better involvement by parents in the schools.