BY ROBERT L. BAKER
Wyoming County Press Examiner

The Elk Lake School Board approved a president rotation process whereby theoretically anybody who serves on its board would get a one-year opportunity to lead the board’s meetings.

In a 7-1 vote with Chuck Place opposing and Eric Emmerick absent, the board decided to revisit a plan which board president Arden Tewksbury said was in place 21 years ago.

The board established a rotation that would essentially follow an alphabetical arrangement of election districts as follows: Auburn Twp. District #1, Auburn Twp. District #2, Dimock Twp., Meshoppen Boro., Meshoppen Twp., Middletown Twp., Rush Twp. District #1, Rush Twp. District #2, and Springville Twp.

Thus, the first individual to be eligible for President at this year’s reorganization meeting in December would be Auburn Twp #1, and vice president would be Auburn Twp. #2.

Next year leadership would come from Auburn Twp. 2 for president and Dimock Twp, for vice president.

And down the list the leadership would work in succession.

Former board president Place said, “So when we meet in December, we will already know who will be the next year’s leader, is that right? So what will we be electing?” Superintendent Ken Cuomo nodded affirmatively.

When the motion went on the floor for a roll-call vote, Place, who served as board president not long ago, gave a loud ‘no’ to the idea.

The vote for the same president rotation process went the same way when the board also organized as the Susquehanna Career and Technology Center Board.

During the SCCTC meeting, superintendent Cuomo noted that director Alice Davis was absent but extended to the board members an invitation to attend the SCCTC’s National Honor Society induction ceremony March 16 at 5 p.m.

“This is a great way to recognize our top students,” Cuomo said.

He also invited the board to the next Licensed Practical Nurse program graduation on Friday, March 11, at 6 p.m.

Cuomo spoke to the SCCTC’s Emissions Inspector Certification and Recertification Training Program, noting the district incurs no costs.

He asked the board to approve – which it did – a reimbursement of $2,111 for cost of lodging and registration for students at the FBLA State Competition.

The board also approved a House Account transfer to the amount of $25,000 so that SCCTC students can move towards completion of a house they’ve been building.

The board also voted to increase support staff salaries to bring them in line with what Elk Lake support staff were currently getting.

Cuomo said later it amounted to an increase of about 35 cents an hour.

The board voted approval of school policy 004 which essentially defines what is expected of individuals who serve on the school board.
Another policy which changed the official SCCTC and Elk Lake School address to 2380 Elk Lake School Road, Springville, PA 18844, was approved but not without question.

Place asked, “How do you get the address recognized on Internet search engines?”

Cuomo acknowledged the district was having issues with the new address along that line, and said places like Google apparently update their addresses every two years.

He said that GPS (Global Positioning System) coordinates would be on the website as well as actual written directions from certain landmarks would be provided.

In the Elk Lake part of the meeting, Cuomo said the High School Principal Brian Mallory was absent, but the district was planning to hire Bo Bushnell as varsity boys volleyball coach at a stipend of $2,577.54.

Under open items, Cuomo said there were three items that could be coming up at the board’s next meeting March 17.

Cuomo said the district was looking into getting requests for proposals (RFPs) for wireless local access networks for the entire district.

“We are also investigating the possibility of open school-based health clinics from an outside organization,” Cuomo said.

He said the district was also looking into creating a fee schedule for outside groups to rent the gym, cafeteria, pavilion and auditorium.

Tewksbury asked if that meant the district would start charging for attendance at athletic events.

“We’re not ready at this time to go there,” Cuomo said.