Fab Lab to visit Trinity

Trinity Area School District high school and middle school students will get a first-hand look at a mobile Fab Lab, a workshop equipped with computer-controlled tools including 3-D printers and laser-cutting machines, in September.
Superintendent Michael Lucas announced at Thursday’s school board meeting that the Intermediate Unit 1’s Fab Lab will visit Trinity High School from Sept. 8-11 and Trinity Middle School from Sept. 14-18.
The IU1 was one of 10 recipients in the nation to receive a Fab Lab grant from Chevron.
The purpose of the Fab Lab is to enable students to invent and create virtually any project they choose, and it encourages collaborative and project-based learning. The Fab Labs aim to develop the problem-solving and analytical thinking skills today’s students need.
Lucas said the Fab Lab coincides with the school district’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) initiatives, which are designed to help students develop 21st-century skills.
“Our goal is to expose our kids to the type of technology they’ll need to prepare for jobs in STEM fields,” said Lucas, who said district also partnered with Harvard University and Microsoft Corp. to provide computer programming for middle school students.
Chevron, which has committed $130 million since 2011 to create national partnerships with STEM-focused organizations, also funded a hybrid Fab Lab at Carnegie Science Center.
In another matter, Director of Fiscal Services David Roussos told the school board that Landmark Student Transportation, a school bus company that operates in the United States and Canada, is finalizing the purchase of GG&C Bus Co. Inc., which provides student transportation for Trinity and other Washington County school districts.
Roussos said the terms of the school district’s nine-year bus contract with GG&C will remain the same, and Lucas said he does not believe the change in ownership, if the sale is finalized, will affect student transportation.
“It will be the same staff, the same services, the same routes, the same drivers,” said Lucas.
In April 2014, the school board awarded nine-year contracts to GG&C and Schweinebraten bus companies and approved a settlement agreement with GG&C, which ended a nearly 18-month dispute over who would transport district students.
GG&C and Schweinbraten sued the school district in 2013 over a number of issues after the school board awarded an $8.86 million transportation contract to First Student Inc.
A telephone call to GG&C was not returned.
Lucas also announced that the high school’s Trinity Pride Group and JROTC are teaming up to host two senior citizens dances – one in the fall and another in the spring – for residents of Presbyterian SeniorCare. The dances will provide students with the experience of service to the elderly, and an opportunity to interact with elders in the community.
In other business, the school board:
• Hired Anthony Poletti as a high school social studies teacher and Kristen Zelenka as a high school English teacher, both at a salary of $52,576; and Emily Kulla as a middle school special education teacher at the rate of $51,976.
• Approved a one-year contract with school resource officer Rich Horner at a rate of $225 per day for 2015-16 school year.
• Approved advertising for the position of secretary to the assistant superintendent.