Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

David Ray is new BAHS principal; Coffman named Dean of Students By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director Current Bradford Area High School assistant principal David Ray will be the school’s new principal and current principal Ken Coffman will hold the newly created position of Dean of Students at the school. The moves were made during Monday’s Bradford Area School Board meeting are effective July 1. Both positions have an annual salary of $85,662. Also during Monday’s meeting the board officially approved the 2012-13 general fund budget. “This is our 11th year without a tax increase,” said business manager Kathy Boyd. “I think that’s pretty nice.” She said putting the budget together did not come without its challenges from the state because the basic instruction subsidy is the equal to the amount the district received in 2008-09; this is the second year there is no reimbursement for charter school students (the district has 51); this is the fifth year special education has been level...

During Monday's Bradford Area School Board meeting, superintendent Sandra Romanowski gave a presentation about the cut in education funding in this year’s state budget. She noted that funding for prisons has increased more than funding for education. "What are (the state's) priorities? Prisons or schools?" she asked. "If you look at many of the most vulnerable children that we have served in our community day in and day out, you will see that if nothing else is done and they don't receive good educations, and they don't receive ... the support systems that they need you will definitely have to increase your costs for prisons because those children -- many of them -- will end up there." As the state budget stands now, the Bradford Area School District would see a decrease of $670 per student. Port Allegany and Kane would see decreases of $850 and $845 per student, respectively, and Oswayo Valley would see a decrease of $717 per student. Also during th...

Sandra Romanowski is retiring as superintendent of the Bradford Area School District effective June 29, and current assistant superindentent Katy Pude will take over on July 1. Sam Johnson will be the new assistant superintendent. After reading Romanowski’s resignation letter to the Bradford Area School Board during its meeting Monday night, board member Tim Bean said, “Sandy took over the district at a time of turmoil, to say the least. “But with that, she embraced the position. She embraced the challenges and she embraced the difficult decisions,” Bean said. “Under her decisive leadership, she led the district to not only a position of stability but as a recognized leader among districts in financial strength and student achievement.” In her letter Romanowski said, together we have be able to make this district a better place for our children.” She said she is sure Pude will have the same devotion and “I am confident that the best is yet to come for the Bradford Area School District...

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director For the ninth year in a row, the Bradford Area School Board will not be raising taxes. District Business Manager Kathy Kelly made the announcement during Monday’s School Board meeting, adding that there will be no reduction in programs. School District Superintendent Sandra Romanowski added that although they’re not eliminating programs, they continue to evaluate programs. “If we have a program that’s costing a lot of money and not getting much of a result, and we can’t students’ performance increasing from that, or we can’t see long-term impact from those programs, we will shift money,” she said. “We will move it to where we think it will best serve students,” she added. In her presentation to the board, Kelly noted that the districts revenue locally, and from the federal government, is down a total of $224,000. She said the state share has continued to increase, primarily because “Governor (Ed) Rendell … (has) fought very hard for public educa...

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director The Bradford Area School District may be racing to the top after all. Pennsylvania was a finalist in the national Race to the Top initiative, but was not selected in the first round of funding. Because of that, school districts that did not apply the first time, are being given another chance to apply. The first time, the school board and administration wanted to apply, but the teacher’s union didn’t agree. School superintendent Sandra Romanowski said she will be “reaching out to the membership with the hope that they will join us in our application.” In the first round, the school district could have received between $500,000 and $1.5 million for staff development, instructional planning and curriculum improvement. That’s the equivalent of between 1 and 3 mils of taxes. On March 29, Pennsylvania learned that its application ranked 7th among the 16 finalists competing for the first-round grants announced by the U.S. Department of Education. Tenn...

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director The Bradford Area School District is taking steps to mitigate the anticipated increase in electricity costs when the rate caps that have been in place since 1997 come off in December. During Monday's school board meeting, business manager Kathy Kelly recommended that the district enter into an agreement with OnDemand, an energy solutions company, that will buy electricity for the district. She explained that when buying transportation fuel, the district can get it at cheap rates and store it. However, since electricity can't be stored, that's a different story. "They (OnDemand) actually find large amounts of electricity at different rates and at different times," Kelly said. Superintendent Sandra Romanowski added that school districts in Allegheny County, where deregulation has already occurred, are using a co-op system and it's been "very successful." Kelly said she's increased next year's budget for ...