The Kutztown Area School District is forming a professional development school partnership agreement with the Wyomissing Area School District, Brandywine Heights School District and Twin Valley School District, along with the education program at Kutztown University. The partnership was approved at the Kutztown School Board workshop meeting held May 1.
“It’s larger than just Kutztown Area School District,” said Kutztown School District Superintendent George Fiore.
According to Fiore, the school district carries 24 different relationships of some fashion with the university.
“This one is a little more unique because it focuses on a professional development school partnership. We will work with their student teachers,” said Fiore, who recognizes that there is a shortage of teachers coming out of college.
“So we are partnering with the university so that we can create this cohort where we’re training them to high standards across these four smaller school districts so that we can have a pipeline of future employees,” he said.
According to the mission of the agreement, “To accomplish this mission, we commit to collaborating on research-based initiatives that will enable KU teacher candidates and interns from related programs (e.g., library science and counselor education) along with school district (District) educators to better understand and to improve practices related to teaching, learning and schooling.”
The agreement will last for three years and will focus on enhancing the learning and educational opportunities of all PreK-12 grade students; enriching the KU educator preparation programs through transformative school-based learning experiences and creating professional learning opportunities for district and university faculty, administration, and staff.
The partnership will aim to develop strong trusts to capitalize on each other’s strengths, and to work closely together, always with the improvement of PK-12 educational experiences in mind.
Under personnel, the board approved several motions. The board accepted two resignations, Kelsey Williams and Scott Heiter, with regret. The board also passed the approval of Michele Schoener as substitute staff for the summer reading program for 2017 and the approval of Mario Alejandro, Jr. as a paid assistant high school football coach for the 2017-18 school year at a stipend of $2,262.
The approval of Sarah Grutza as an ESY paraeducator in the life-skills support classroom at Kutztown Elementary School was also passed.
Spencer Miller, Justin Shurr, Dianne Zettlemoyer, Heather Hackman, Teresa O’Hare and Joshua Mengel were approved as summer maintenance and custodial help for summer 2017.
The board approved Christie Thomas as a volunteer track and field coach for the 2016-17 school year; Julianne Michalik as high school musical vocal director at a stipend of $1,869 and Julianne Michalik as high school musical producer at a stipend of $250.
In other news, Board of School Directors approved the acceptance of two donations. The first was a check in the amount of $1,000 from the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company’s Right Decision, Right Now Program, to be used for the cheerleading program. The second was a $1,000 donation from an anonymous donor to be used for the baseball program.
The district will be servicing their sewing machines at a cost of $35 per machine with Don Kauffman’s Sewing Machines. Yoder’s Heating Service will clean heaters at Kutztown Elementary, Greenwich-Lenhartsville Elementary and the Administration building at a cost of $1,040 each.
The board approved the purchase of a trailer from Grim’s Trailers at a cost of $4,195. The trailer will be smaller and more fuel-efficient than the one currently being used.
A quote was accepted from Miller Flooring to screen sand and refinish the gym floor at the Middle School at a cost of $2,968.34.