Albany Township Historical Society wants to say goodbye to the former Albany Elementary School building before it is sold.
The Kutztown School Board agreed to involve the Albany Township Historical Society in the closing of the building. Board member Dr. Christine Ryan, who is also a member of the Historical Society, discussed the Society’s desire to participate at the board’s meeting on April 20.
“The Historical Society would like to say goodbye to the school,” Ryan explained.
The Society’s president, Lucetta Muth, approached Ryan after Muth learned of the board’s decision to initiate the process of selling the former school building at public auction at the board’s workshop meeting on April 7.
Ryan discussed the Society’s interest in potentially turning the building’s sale into a larger, commemorative event, including removing the cornerstone from the building’s 1958 dedication, recovering the items placed there, leading one final tour of the school and collecting an oral history of the school from former teachers and students.
“They just want us to remember that they would really like to be involved with the sending off of the school,” Ryan said.
After hearing her remarks, the board agreed to involve the ATHS in the closing and sale of the Albany Elementary School building. Board President Carl Ziegler instructed Ryan to relay the ATHS’s plans in more detail for the board’s consideration before the public auction takes place.
In other news, a leak caused by a pipe malfunction ruined numerous History Day projects that are going to be presented at the state competition on May 12-13 and were being kept at the Middle School.
“There wasn’t anything we could have done at that point [after the leak was discovered],” said Middle School Principal Jim Brown. “It’ll be a lot of extra work [to redo the projects], and we just feel horrible that it happened.”
The district has purchased replacement items, but the projects will still need to be remade due to the damage caused by the malfunction.
In other discussion items, the board returned to the Eshelman Transportation Contract. Eshelman Transporation is the current bus transportation provider for the district. Business Administrator/Board Treasurer David Miller updated the board on the status of Greg Eshelman’s proposal. Thanks to a downturn in the pricing of fuel, Eshelman has offered suggestions to improve the district’s buses.
“He’s looking to turn that into hopefully an advantage for both of us,” Miller said.
Among the improvements are installing three cameras per bus at the expense of Eshelman Transportation, and reworking the fuel pricing to give KASD more savings if the contract is extended through June 2020. The current contract is scheduled to end in June 2017.
Ziegler requested that the item be discussed further in an executive session at a future meeting.
The board’s next meeting will take place on May 4 at 7:30 p.m. at the Middle School.
