Meeting roundup
• Date: Jan. 21
• Action: At the request of Warden John Temas, the board approved the hiring of Judith Klobucar as the treatment supervisor at the jail.
The board renewed an agreement with the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Institute to maintain and continue the Statewide Automated Victim Information and Notification program, which automatically notifies victims of an offender’s escape, apprehension, date of release, permission for work release and other developments. The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency will pay half of the maintenance and service fees of operating the database this year. Washington County’s share will be approximately $3,956.
The warden noted that as of the end of December, there were 301 male inmates and 56 female inmates for a total of 357.
As part of the board’s reorganization, Commission Chairman Larry Maggi will continue in his role as prison board chairman. President Judge Katherine B. Emery is expected to soon become a member of the board, a position that her predecessor, Debbie O’Dell Seneca served in for a time before opting out in August 2008.
• Next meeting: 11:30 a.m. Feb. 4 in the seventh-floor conference room of the Courthouse Square office building.
• Date: Jan. 22
• Action: As required by the County Code, the county commissioners convened the annual sinking fund meeting, which is an official acknowledgement of the county’s debt. The county is scheduled to pay $3,562,491 this year. Taxpayers pay 2.05 mills annually for debt service payments, with 22.85 mills designated for the general fund.
County taxpayers are paying for the jail, built in the mid-1990s; the old jail’s renovation into the Family Court Center; airport development and a variety of other projects, such as courthouse renovation and roof replacement. The debt is scheduled to be paid off in 2033.
• Date: Jan. 22
• Action: The board authorized the demolition of a barn, house and other structures on property along Route 519 across from Sedeca Road, which was purchased by the district for the construction of a new middle school. Gregg Inc. will perform the work at a cost of $31,900.
Ken Crowley was hired as a temporary assistant principal in Canon-McMillan High School, effective as soon as he is released from his current employer. He will fulfill the position until June 30, 2017, and will be paid an annual salary of $71,644. District Superintendent Michael Daniels said the position has been vacant since October when Heath Bailey resigned, and Lorien Moyer currently holds a second assistant principal position at the high school. Daniels said one of those positions was made temporary to avoid a furlough once the new Muse Elementary School opens for the 2017-18 school year.
He said one of the positions would have had to be eliminated.
Cecil Intermediate School was named a Title I Distinguished School by the Pennsylvania Department of Education for the 2014-15 school year.
The board approved the implementation of Acellus, an online curriculum program that will allow the district to offer credit recovery and tutorial opportunities after school hours and during summer school.
Lisa Angle, an art teacher at Canonsburg Middle School, and Emily Joyce, a family and consumer science teacher, were recognized for starting a cross-curricular project in which students create soup bowls with clay. The bowls will be used to serve soup to guests at a charitable “empty bowls” dinner.
Pam Moniodes and Amy Barbarino, teachers at Canonsburg Middle School, were recognized for receiving Make Activities Count grants of nearly $500. The funds will be used to purchase Lego MindStorms for seventh- and eighth-grade gifted students, and also to purchase a set of headphones with noise-cancelling microphones to allow students to tell digital stories to share with their peers.
• Next meeting: 7 p.m. Feb. 12 at the administration building