BVA considers town hall regarding school renovations

Potential dates will be discussed at next week’s school board meeting.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Belle Vernon Area school board members discussed setting a date to consider renovations to the district’s schools.

Superintendent Timothy Glasspool presented the idea of creating a committee to discuss future projects, but the board decided it would be better to hold a town hall and involve the community.

“Some of our schools are getting extremely tight,” Glasspool said. “I was at Rostraver (Elementary) the other day and right next to the main office in the hallway there’s an occupational therapist providing that service to those kids behind a curtain. We do have some growth and we’re pretty stagnant, but we’re running out of spaces for our students, particularly in the elementary.”

Discussion about future school construction projects has been prompted by two presentations in recent months regarding the state of the district’s schools and the cost of renovating them.

Board president Stacey Livengood said the needs of schools have changed over the years and the district must meet them.

“Your special rooms, like those special ed type things, didn’t exist really back in the day,” Livengood said. “Your OT, PT, when I went to school we didn’t have those. Our buildings weren’t really designed for those.”

Director Tara Jurczak agreed with Livengood, adding that the schools have more needs now than ever. Director John Habel agreed with the need for improvements and said previous administrations used to take students elsewhere for treatment, but the situation has changed.

“Students shouldn’t be getting occupational therapy in the hallway behind a curtain, they should be getting it in a private room, so we need to figure that out,” Habel said.

Glasspool plans to bring some possible dates for the town hall to the board’s next meeting Sept. 23.

School resource officers

The board also discussed its contract with Rostraver Township and the need for more school resource officers.

Board members are expected to vote to extend the contract with Rostraver Township police for another year at next week’s meeting, but Glasspool said the district needs more help.

The contract requires the district to reimburse 60% of salaries, training expenses, insurance costs and anything else to the township. Rostraver provides two officers to the district, which covers two of their campuses.

“We’re going to reach out to the other municipalities and see if they have the ability to provide additional support to offset that cost,” Glasspool said.

Washington Township has provided officers to the district in the past.