LASD architects to keep working
HS project financing may still be years away
Standard Journal, Posted: Friday, April 26, 2013 10:18 am, By Matt Farrand Staff writer
LEWISBURG — Lewisburg Area School District Superintendent Dr. Mark DiRocco said architects will keep working plans for a proposed high school, even though it may be several years before financing is in place for a new school building for the property on Newman Road.
“Even though we may not be able float a bond for the foreseeable future,” as DiRocco explained to school directors Thursday night; “We’ve asked Crabtree and Rohrbaugh to do as much work as possible that would still be valid if we didn’t float a loan until a future point in time.”
DiRocco said it could be four years before a loan would be floated. He noted that a traffic study associated with the property may only be valid for two years, and would have to be redone by the firm.
The district’s Facilities Committee will meet again April 30.
In the nearer term, DiRocco said a public/private partnership may soon emerge to construct an athletic field on a portion of the Newman property. The superintendent was not specific about what sport or sports would be able to use the field, but he said at least one private organization is considering it and their financial contribution would be significant.
The district voted to endorse a resolution they hope will result in a revision of the formula the state uses to fund cyber charter schools. DiRocco said the $400,000 the district has to spend to fund cyber school is out of line with what the online schools need.
DiRocco noted the cyber schools have far less overhead than a district with brick and mortar schools, but are funded as if they faced the same expenses.
“We finally have the ear…especially of the House of Representatives; we believe they are ready to do something” DiRocco said. “Even if they would reduce the rate at which we pay these folks…I would prefer they eliminate it, but I don’t think that is going to happen…if they would just reduce it to a realistic number, it would save us $100,000 to $200,000 per year.”
The resolution was originally written by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association. Directors also noted the high ratio of students to teachers at most cyber charter schools, and their relatively poor academic results when compared to either traditional or public charter brick and mortar schools.
School directors voted to discontinue a contract with a company that arraigned for advertising on the district website and gave the district a percentage. The contract with Community Corkboard was cancelled for their failure to deliver services and revenues as agreed on. DiRocco said recent calls and e-mails to the company were not returned. He also wanted to alert the participating local businesses of the discontinuation of the agreement.
Staff Writer Matt Farrand can be reached at 570-742-9671, or via e-mail at matt@standard-journal.com.
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