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The Hollidaysburg Area School District Board of Directors approved the 2023-24 final budget with a 5-percent tax increase by a 5-2 margin at the committee of the whole/budget adoption meeting on June 14. Board members Carmen Bilek and Ken Snyder were absent from the meeting, but both had voted in opposition to the budget in an earlier meeting mock vote. Even if present, the budget would have passed despite their opposition. Those supporting the proposed budget were board members Nicole Hartman, Ronald Sommer, Doug Stephens, Lonna Frye, and Scot...
The Hollidaysburg Area Community Partnership (HACP) Board of Directors meeting for June was primarily focused on marketing committee issues. The May spring video for Hollidaysburg merchants is not going to happen with the team from Hollidaysburg Area High School. Lauryn Conway volunteered to do the video herself. She will meet with Board Member Becki Hollen and Marketing Director Alyssa Barilar regarding video content. Blossoms in the ‘Burg was held on May 13. The event was extremely well attended. The Member Mixer was held May 24 at SLY P...
The Northern Bedford County School District Board of Directors approved a 3-percent tax increase with a tax millage of 9.28 in the final budget presentation for 2023-24. The district will be looking at revenues of $15,953,023 and expenditures of $16,766,678 with a deficit for 2023-24 of $813,656. Superintendent Todd Beatty reminded those present that the district had the lowest tax millage of any school district in the county. He stated the final budget was $98,000 less than the previous year’s budget. The district has a special education budge...
Regular meeting A motion to adopt the final 2023-24 general fund budget of the Spring Cove School District for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2023, and ending June 30, 2024, in the amount of $30,655,322 was unanimously approved by the board. This represents no tax increase from the prior fiscal year and puts the final real estate tax rate at 11.2506 mills on the assessed dollar value of all real property taxable for school purposes in the Spring Cove School District. Although the governor’s proposed budget gives schools a record $...
The Hollidaysburg Area Community Partnership (HACP) Marketing and Program and Development committee was active in April and May. The Hello Social Workshop had 15 people participate on April 26 at the Community Room at the Hollidaysburg Area Public Library. The May spring video with the theme of outdoors/spring/summer in Hollidaysburg has begun shooting with Stephanie Everett from Tiger TV and the students from Hollidaysburg Area School District working to put the video together. Blossoms in the Burg was held May 13. HACP is sponsoring the chalk...
The Hollidaysburg Area School District Board of Directors passed the proposed budget for the 2023-24 school year with no tax increase or increase in millage. The budget passed by a 6-2 vote, with board members Nicole Hartman, Lonna Frye, Doug Stephens, Ronald Sommer, Scott Brenneman and Manny Nichols all voting in favor of adopting the budget while members Jennifer Costanza and Carmen Bilek voted against it. Board member Ken Snyder was absent. The budget will carry over a $3 million dollar deficit with local, state, federal revenues along with...
The May Hollidaysburg Borough Council meeting focused on several key issues including the hiring of a ninth police officer, adopting stricter stormwater management policies, and the resignation of the planning/zoning/code enforcement officer. Police position The position of a ninth borough police officer has been vacant since October 2021. Chief of Police Christopher Storm said there were 371 calls for service in April 2023 versus 278 calls in April 2022. Storm wants to see two borough police officers on every shift. Outside police agencies...
Over 300 FFA student members, alumni, and parents packed the Central High School Auditorium to honor Tom Ritchey upon his retirement as ag instructor and Central Cove FFA Chapter advisor for the past 37 years at the May 19 annual Parent-Member Banquet. Central Principal Stephanie Thompson came forward to thank Ritchey for his 37 years of dedicated service to the ag program. "He inspired us to be better people and better educators," Thompson said. "He does so much more than teach. He is...
Students from grades kindergarten through 12th in the Spring Cove School District demonstrated skills they had learned this past year in everything from science, technology, engineering, math, and reading to start the Monday, May 15, Spring Cove School District Board of Directors regular meeting. Demonstrations included everything from exploding film cannisters to motorized Clawbots. "We appreciate all of the K-12 students who attended this evening's meeting to showcase their learning for the...
Spring Cove School District Business Manager Steven Foor did a formal budget presentation for the 2023-24 school year at the May 8 Board of Directors Committee of the Whole meeting. This final proposed budget will be voted on for adoption next Monday, May 15, at the regular monthly board meeting. The deadline for public notice of intent to adopt the 2023-24 final budget will be June 9, with the final budget adopted on June 19. Foor reemphasized that there will be no tax increase in 2023-24 and the millage will be maintained at 11.2506. In a...
The Marketing/Planning and Development Committee of the Hollidaysburg Area Community Partnership (HACP) was extremely active during the month of April with activities involving Hollidaysburg area businesses. The Window Easter Egg Hunt ended April 12. The event incorporated 40 local businesses participating. HACP Marketing Director Alyssa Barilar has collected all forms from those involved. HACP will award two baskets to two winners pulled at random. The board announced March saw the greatest growth in followers, 50 new followers on Facebook,...
Hollidaysburg Mayor Joe Dodson called for Police Chief Chris Storm to be allowed to hire a ninth police officer to the department. Dodson wants Storm to be allowed to go through current list of three potential candidates already approved to present a candidate ready to go for the next council meeting. Storm, during his police report, said the force had 536 calls in March 2023 as compared to 338 in March 2022. There were 10 drug arrests, eight DUI arrests, 11 assaults, five domestic violence incidents, six cases of harassments, 33 criminal...
The issue of political activity and displays reflecting political opinions by teachers in the classroom was discussed by the board for months and was believed to be put to rest at the February meeting of the committee of the whole/voting meeting when Policy 321 was approved by the board in an 8-1 vote. This does not appear to be the case, as classrooms that were to have no political displays, flags, symbols still do. Teachers Union President Mike Rawlins had expressed concerns over the policy from the beginning. He stated that the policy would...
After a 14-year absence of an annual show, the district came back with a strong performance with this year’s production. The cast of Central High School’s production of Footloose received recognition from the board of directors of the Spring Cove School District, administration, the audience in attendance, and parents at the April committee of the whole meeting. The cast was brought forward and recognized individually. Each member stated their name, role played, and class standing. Many were surprised to hear that the cast was comprised of man...
Spring Cove School District’s Director of Special Education Harry Gregg outlined the district’s special education plan for the upcoming year at the April 17 Board of Directors meeting. There are currently 278 students in the district receiving special education services. That represents 16.4 percent of the school’s student population. The state average is 18.6 percent. The school district’s total student enrollment is 1,698. Special education works with multidisciplinary teams to develop specific treatment plans of students. Individual Educati...
During the Spring Cove School District April finance and legal committee meeting, District Business Manager Steven Foor announced that there should be no tax increase for the district according to the preliminary budget for the 2023-24 school year. The millage should be maintained at 11.2506. Total revenues from the local, state and federal levels for the district should be $27,907,140. Other financing sources from assigned debt service, which amounts to $281,598, brings the total projected revenue to $28,188,738. Total expenditures for the...
Stormwater runoff and flooding issues in the borough have been the major topic of discussion at Hollidaysburg Borough Council meetings for months. Major action was taken at the March meeting when the council approved the purchase of 7.85 acres that is part of the former Stowell Farm to construct a stormwater basin. An appraisal was performed and the owner of the property is agreeable to the purchase of the property plus access and drainage easement to Bedford Street for the amount of the appraisal, which is $110,760. The agreement will be...
The marketing committee of the Hollidaysburg Area Community Partnership (HACP) has been active in a number of events in March. The Leprechaun Scavenger Hunt ran March 1 through March 19. Promotions for the hunt were done on the Facebook page. The two winners received a gift card from the business of their choice. For the window Easter egg hunt, Marketing Director Alyssa Barilar will solicit businesses to participate. Participants will find the eggs in windows of businesses and be eligible to win a prize. Winners will be drawn randomly from the...
During the public comment period of the Hollidaysburg Area School District Board of Directors committee of the whole meeting, parent Tony Luther spoke on school bullying. Luther said took him 11 months to be able to share his daughter’s story. He told the board that his 12-year-old daughter and several of her friends were constantly being bullied by the same boy in Hollidaysburg Foot of Ten Elementary School. He said that as a result of the constant bullying, his daughter did not want to go to school, had sleeping issues, and had to seek c...
The regular March meeting of the Spring Cove School District Board of Directors opened with a special presentation on textbooks and resources for secondary social studies, foreign languages, and Central High School’s environmental science. The secondary social studies textbooks will be purchased through McGraw-Hill. It will cover traditional history. A number of options were examined thoroughly before a decision was made. Savvas will be providing foreign language textbooks with a digitally accessible textbook provided to each student. The books...
During the Spring Cove School District March committee of the whole meeting, Superintendent Dr. Betsy Baker announced that the district had submitted a dual enrollment grant. “If our application is approved by the Pa. Department of Education, it will provide over $70,000 to pay for college credits for our students in 2023-24,” Baker said. She said Spring Cove School District already has a strong dual enrollment program. Other districts with few or no dual enrollment courses may be more likely to be funded, but Spring Cove applied anyway bec...
The upcoming marketing events highlighted the February Hollidaysburg Area Community Partnership (HACP) meeting. The Marketing Directors report discussed the Leprechaun Scavenger Hunt with the contest scheduled to run from March 1 to 19. Members Pam Jones and Mandy Baker met Feb. 9 to finalize the landmarks to be used for the scavenger hunt. They will get the information to Maureen Letcher, who will have the Hollidaysburg High School students work on the questions, QR codes, etc. Promos will start as soon as the items are completed by the...
Flooding in the area and pursuing grant money to finally put an end to the problem were the primary areas of attention during the February Hollidaysburg Borough council meeting. A resolution was passed previously to apply for a grant for the Gaysport area of the borough to join with Blair Township to enter as one project for flood prevention. The grant application for Gaysport has had to be severed from the Blair Township piece. A new resolution to continue to process the grant and give them the documents needed to procure the grant money for...
After months of discussion and meetings, the Hollidaysburg Area School District approved a policy on social, political and religious activity and displays that would be allowed in the classroom. There was much discussion about Policy 321 as to what socio-political meant, what size of displays may be allowed, and exactly how to limit social and political views in the teachers’ classrooms. Last month, the policy committee worked on changes to the policy, but there were still concerns about the language of the policy and additional changes. Such l...
During Recognition of Visitors portion of the Spring Cove School District Board of Directors Committee of the Whole February meeting, several representatives from a group of attendees came up to speak on issues of gender identification. Misty Fisher, who has a son in the district, came to the podium to discuss her concern over a female student, identifying as a male, who she said was changing in the boys’ locker room and using the boys’ restroom. She said this prohibited her son from changing in the boys’ locker room. Fisher, upset about this...
The initial meeting for 2023 of the Board of Directors for the Hollidaysburg Area Community Partnership (HACP) was held at the Hollidaysburg Public Library on Jan. 11. All officers and the marketing director plan to meet Fridays (virtually) before the scheduled board monthly meeting to organize the agenda for the meeting. All committee chairs were established: • Marketing – Alyssa Barilar, • Membership – Mandy Baker • Finance – Pam Jones • Program & Development – Becki Hollen. There remains two board vacancies. Marketing was the busie...
During the monthly meeting of the Hollidaysburg School Board of Directors Committee of the Whole/Voting Meeting, the hot topic was the second vote of Policy 321 and the decision by the majority of the board to table any vote on it. Policy 321, which regards political activities and addressing sexual orientation discussions and symbols in the classroom, was tabled until the policy meeting, where what is appropriate can be discussed. Boardmember Doug Stephens made the motion to table the vote until the next meeting because several board members...
Brian and Jennifer Buffone announced at the monthly Hollidaysburg Borough Council meeting that they would be bringing a new business to enhance downtown Hollidaysburg. Brian said they were creating an "upscale dining experience" at 312 Allegheny Street, the former Citizens Bank. The restaurant will be called the Reserve. The pair have brought on Chef David Noto, the Food and Beverage Director at Arnold Palmer's Country Club in Latrobe, to head the food service duties. Notto also served as the...
During the January regular meeting of the Spring Cove School District Board of Directors a number of donations, grants, and awards were announced by Superintendent Dr. Betsy Baker. Baker offered congratulations to Mrs. Rachel Wagner, who submitted an application for the school district to receive a three-performance licensing package for this year's production of "Footloose" through Concord Theatricals' Footloose Competition. Ten low-income schools, including Central High School, won the complim...
Longtime Spring Cove School District School Board Member John Biddle expressed his concerns about school board members and committees at Monday evening's meeting. According to Biddle, if a board member does not sit on a committee, they cannot attend committee meetings, have an active role or give input. "Why does a board member have to sit in the back and say nothing?" Biddle asked. "It sure doesn't make sense to me." Biddle said all committee meetings used to allow board members to participate....
The December Hollidaysburg Area Community Partnership (HACP) monthly meeting began with an update from the new Director of Marketing Alyssa Barilar. Barilar reported that the downtown merchant holiday window decorating contest had 29 participants. Facebook posts from the HACP encouraged people to vote for contestants. Keller Engineers was leading at the time of the meeting with 52 votes. Barilar has already started working on flyers/information for next year’s contest. She will be working with Lightner Communications to promote any e...
The December meeting of the Hollidaysburg Area School District Board of Directors was a re-organizational meeting and reexamined the Amendment to Policy 824 and introduced Policy 321. In election of new board officers, current Vice President Manny Nichols was nominated for the presidency, as was Dr. Ronald Sommer. Sommer was elected president for the upcoming year by a 5-4 vote with members Nicole Hartman, Lonna Frye, Scott Brenneman, Sommer, and Doug Stephens supporting him. Nichols, Carmen Bilek, Jennifer Costanza, and Ken Snyder supported...
The final budget for 2023 for the Hollidaysburg Borough was approved unanimously by council members with no tax increase in the upcoming year and a $6 surplus showing. The budget was available for 30 days for public inspection and no changes were made from the proposed budget put forward last month with revenues of $3,345,450 and expenses of $3.345,444. Borough Manager James Gehret announced the final real estate tax for 2023 will stay at 3.55 mills with no increase. Gerald Harbison, planning/zoning/code enforcement officer for the borough,...
The Spring Cove School District filled an open school board vacancy and elected a new board president at its Monday, Dec. 5 reorganization and regular meeting. The vacancy occurred when board President James Butler resigned at last month's board meeting. Board member Brian Gahagan was nominated as board president and unanimously elected. Gahagan is no stranger to the position as he served previously for four years as president. Amy Acker-Knisely was reelected as board vice-president, where she...
The Marketing Committee of the Hollidaysburg Area Community Partnership (HACP) was active in the month of November, hiring Alyssa Barilar as the marketing director for the Partnership. Barilar attended the monthly board meeting. Her first assignment to coordinate will be the window decorating contest for merchants with a $100 prize for the business winner and $25 prize for one random voter. The purchase of VISA gift cards for prizes was approved. The December Member Mixer will be held Dec. 14 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Mimosa Courtyard Inn. A save...
The Hollidaysburg Borough Council November monthly meeting focused on two primary issues: the final budget for 2023 and options for dealing with the severe stormwater run off. The proposed 2023 budget revealed by Borough Manager James Gehret revealed that there would be no millage increase for next year. The budget was extremely close showing a surplus of $6. Gehret stated that the budget becomes more difficult to work every year. This year, he said that the budget was made more difficult by inflation and salary increases the borough faced....
The Hollidaysburg Area School District Board of Directors encountered a combined attendance of nearly 600 people and 6 hours of discussion over two meetings regarding gender identity and preferred pronouns in the current school policy. Spark of the issue This discussion was sparked by a recent situation at Hollidaysburg Junior High School. A book titled “Gender Queer” was seen on seventh grade English teacher Nicole Stouffer’s desk. Stouffer was also seen reading the book in school on occasion. The book is a memoir written by Maia Kobabe. Kobab...
After serving 17 years on the Spring Cove School District School, Board President James Butler resigned at the board's regular monthly meeting on Monday, Nov. 14. Butler first joined the board in 2002, and had a break of a couple years along the way. Butler said that with all of his children now graduated from the school district, he felt it was the right time to leave and was ready to focus on other things. "It has been a pleasure to serve with the administration here. A great experience and I...
The Marketing and Program Committee of the Hollidaysburg Area Community Partnership (HACP) discussed a number of ways to promote Hollidaysburg businesses and the area at its October monthly Board of Directors meeting. The pumpkin carving contest for Pumpkinfest has 17 merchants participating. Flyers for the contest will be at the HACP table, board member, Becki Hollen will have the information for the Partnership booth. HACP will be selling chances for a restaurant gift card board. Chances are $5 each with proceeds going to the Women’s Club a...
Hollidaysburg Area School District Superintendent Dr. Robert Gildea presented the annual plan containing goals and anticipated outcomes by the district for the 2022-23 school year. The planning committee consisted of teachers, administrators, students, and parents. “The emphasis is on meeting needs of the individual student and meeting the needs of the whole child not just education,” Gildea said. The vision statement was reviewed, which included the following: • Strive to meet the educational, social-emotional, and behavioral needs of all lea...
Retired State Police Major Christopher Storm was sworn in as the Chief of Police by Hollidaysburg Mayor Joe Dodson at the last Borough Council Meeting on Oct. 13. Storm's career has come full circle, as he began as a Patrolman on the Hollidaysburg Police Force from 1989 to 1995. Storm's appointment ends a full year of absence of a police chief, following the retirement of former Chief Rod Estep last October. Storm earned a Bachelor of Science degree in administration of justice from Penn State...
The Spring Cove School District Board of Directors needed to call a special meeting to fill the position of Spring Cove Middle School principal on an interim basis as its newly hired principal Dr. Amy Miller has not yet been released from her duties at Chestnut Ridge School District. Miller has served at Chestnut Ridge as director of special education and central elementary principal. A motion to retain the services of Dr. Norman Hatten Jr. to serve as interim Spring Cove Middle School...
The Spring Cove School District took major steps in bringing back its annual high school musical at the regular monthly Board of Directors meeting for October. There was unanimous approval for appointing Rachel Wagner as head musical director for the 2022-23 school year. The district was able to bring back the school musical due to a $25,000 Dragon Pride Foundation donation. The motion to approve a memorandum of agreement with the Spring Cove Education Association related to the musical production was unanimously approved. The district has not...
Security will be heightened in the Spring Cove School District after directors moved forward with a purchase agreement with Martinsburg Borough for the purchase of an additional police car. Superintendent Dr. Betsy Baker stated in her report, “Many thanks to the Martinsburg Borough for offering us the opportunity to purchase their used police car. We greatly appreciate the support that our district and our school police receive from the local police, fire companies, and municipalities.” The borough will turn over the police vehicle as soon as...
The September monthly meeting of the Hollidaysburg Area Community Partnership (HACP) was held at the U.S. Hotel with the focus on marketing and programming events. The Aug. 13 Family Fun Day was reported as a huge success with over 800 people attending. The event raised over $2,000 and featured musical entertainment, face painting and a family movie night. Board members were thanked for all of their hard work in coordinating the event. Becki Hollen shared a draft of a postcard to be sent to businesses for the upcoming member mixer. The mixer...
The September monthly meeting of the Hollidaysburg School District Board of Directors committee of the whole/voting meeting was highlighted by a spirited discussion over establishment of a gender identity policy. School board member Carmen Bilek wanted a policy established because it is in question whether teachers can initiate any type of gender identity discussion in any way. It was unclear whether a teacher could even address the class to tell them it was safe to approach them if they wished to identify by a different pronoun....
A number of issues were discussed in unfinished business at the Hollidaysburg Borough Council monthly September meeting, but stormwater runoff and resulting flooding was the one given primary attention. Trina Illig was in attendance to discuss the $112,000 the borough will receive in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Funding. The county will take an 18 percent administration fee from this. The council wants to utilize this money toward alleviating storm water runoff. Illig told the council that the spendable $92,487 must be used to...
Having adequate transportation to get all students to school effectively has been an issue of concern for the Spring Cove School District since the start of the 2022-23 school year. During the recognition of visitors portion of the board of directors regular monthly meeting, Charles Maxwell of Maxwell Transportation, which provides student transportation for the district, stated, “We only have 10 drivers for 14 routes and other staff is filling in for the remainder of the runs. We are only two sick people away from not being able to complete r...
Superintendent Dr. Betsy Baker announced at the Spring Cove School District September Board of Directors Committee of the Whole meeting that the district, due to the Pa. Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) grant awarded it, would be able to provide school police services for summer school each year for approximately 30 hours per year. Additionally, the school district will be looking to hire a part-time school police officer position for approximately six hours per day for 186 days per year, covered by the PCCD grant. Baker also...
The Phoenix Volunteer Fire Company was the subject of a great deal of discussion at the Hollidaysburg Borough Council August monthly meeting. The council voted to approve the request for the release of $27,590 to the fire company to cover loan payments and expenditures for the year. This release of money hinges on the fire company releasing copies of checks, invoices, receipts, and its insurance package from now back to 2019 to Borough Manager Jim Gehret for review. If all finances dating back to 2019 are found to be in order, the borough will...
