{"id":11697,"date":"2013-12-11T19:27:07","date_gmt":"2013-12-11T19:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/independentweekender.com\/?p=11697"},"modified":"2013-12-11T19:27:07","modified_gmt":"2013-12-11T19:27:07","slug":"new-directors-join-blue-ridge-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2013\/12\/11\/new-directors-join-blue-ridge-board\/","title":{"rendered":"New directors join Blue Ridge board"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY STACI WILSON<\/strong><\/p>\n

Three new school directors in the Blue Ridge district officially began their terms, Tuesday, Dec. 3.<\/p>\n

Christopher Lewis, Region 2 (Great Bend-Hallstead boroughs); Frederick \u201cDean\u201d Lewis Jr., Region 3 (Great Bend Twp. and Jackson Twp.); and Patrick MacConnell, Region 3B (Great Bend Twp.) took their seat at the board\u2019s reorganization meeting.<\/p>\n

In addition to the three new members, three other school directors retained their seats in the November election and returned to the board: Christina Whitney, Region 1A (New Milford Borough); Shane Rumage, Region 2A (Great Bend Borough); and Michael Detweiler, Region 3A (Jackson Twp.).<\/p>\n

Nothing changed in the board leadership. Laurie Brown-Bonner retained her position as president in a 7-2 vote. Board members Michael Detweiler, Harold Empett, Patrick MacConnell, Shane Rumage, Christina Whitney and Bonner cast votes in the affirmative; while Chris Lewis and Dean Lewis voted no.<\/p>\n

Newcomer Chris Lewis also received a nomination to the post of president but the motion died for lack of a second.<\/p>\n

Cosmello and Rumage received nominations to the position of vice-president. Cosmello retained the position in a 5-4 vote. Cosmello cast the deciding vote.<\/p>\n

The board set its meeting schedule with business meetings and workshops beginning at 7 p.m., a change from the previous 7:30 p.m. start time.<\/p>\n

Business meetings are slated to be held on the first Monday of the month; and workshops on the fourth Monday of the month, except for the May 27 workshop and the Dec. 2 reorganization meeting which are both scheduled for Tuesday evenings.<\/p>\n

However, the schedule adopted by the board listed the year of the meetings as 2013, not 2014.<\/p>\n

Superintendent Robert McTiernan said that the incorrect date was a typographical error and that all meeting dates should read 2014.<\/p>\n

Bonner recommended new board members attend Pennsylvania School Board Association (PSBA) training. She also suggested holding a \u201cboard retreat\u201d at the school with the district\u2019s solicitor.<\/p>\n

Whitney said she felt the board would be better served by bringing in a representative from PSBA rather than the lawyer.<\/p>\n

Superintendent Robert McTiernan will work to find a facilitator for the retreat, tentatively scheduled to be held Saturday, Jan. 11.<\/p>\n

Bonner also asked the new and returning board members to share reasons they ran for the board and goals for the coming year.<\/p>\n

Dean Lewis said he was \u201csports-oriented\u201d and wanted to see the district maintain the sports that Blue Ridge has at this time.<\/p>\n

Chris Lewis said he wanted to give back to the community, furthering education in a positive direction, as well as making fiscally positive commitments.<\/p>\n

MacConnell said he wanted to simply \u201cdiagnose the facts and render an honest opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Appointed to fill a vacancy and newly elected to fill the remainder of a two-year term, Detweiler said he believed people come to the board with certain expectations and motives but realize quickly the full perspective of the board\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

Moving forward, he said he would like to \u201ckeep to the big picture of providing a good, sound, healthy environment for student education in a fiscally responsible way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rumage said that in the years that he has been on the board, he has seen a \u201cseismic shift\u201d in the recognition Blue Ridge has received that has shown what the teachers in the district can do.<\/p>\n

Whitney admitted she considered not running for another term. \u201cIt\u2019s a tough job that takes a lot of time,\u201d she said. But, she said she was committed to the district. She added that she planned to remain committed to career development and preparation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve worked hard to get where we are today,\u201d Cosmello said. She added that she would like the board to stay on course in a fiscally responsible manner. She also said she would also like the district to retain its commitment to sports.<\/p>\n

Bonner said her commitment was to the students and that she wanted to do \u201cwhat is right for the kids and the taxpayers.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the longest serving Blue Ridge school director, Empett said he has seen a lot of board members come and go since he was elected in 2000.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all have agendas,\u201d Empett said, \u201cbut it all comes down to the bottom line \u2013 education.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY STACI WILSON Three new school directors in the Blue Ridge district officially began their terms, Tuesday, Dec. 3. Christopher Lewis, Region 2 (Great Bend-Hallstead…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nNew directors join Blue Ridge board - PS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2013\/12\/11\/new-directors-join-blue-ridge-board\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New directors join Blue Ridge board - PS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BY STACI WILSON Three new school directors in the Blue Ridge district officially began their terms, Tuesday, Dec. 3. Christopher Lewis, Region 2 (Great Bend-Hallstead...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2013\/12\/11\/new-directors-join-blue-ridge-board\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-12-11T19:27:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tpennysaver\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tpennysaver\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2013\/12\/11\/new-directors-join-blue-ridge-board\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2013\/12\/11\/new-directors-join-blue-ridge-board\/\",\"name\":\"New directors join Blue Ridge board - PS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-12-11T19:27:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/75c26bc8e32869a516360463d23964c5\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2013\/12\/11\/new-directors-join-blue-ridge-board\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2013\/12\/11\/new-directors-join-blue-ridge-board\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2013\/12\/11\/new-directors-join-blue-ridge-board\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New directors join Blue Ridge board\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/\",\"name\":\"PS\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/75c26bc8e32869a516360463d23964c5\",\"name\":\"tpennysaver\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d6045c51d67078fca07dea2f9a98096ff872042fa26efc301b1a93de9e6020ef?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d6045c51d67078fca07dea2f9a98096ff872042fa26efc301b1a93de9e6020ef?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"tpennysaver\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/author\/tpennysaver\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New directors join Blue Ridge board - PS","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2013\/12\/11\/new-directors-join-blue-ridge-board\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New directors join Blue Ridge board - PS","og_description":"BY STACI WILSON Three new school directors in the Blue Ridge district officially began their terms, Tuesday, Dec. 3. Christopher Lewis, Region 2 (Great Bend-Hallstead...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2013\/12\/11\/new-directors-join-blue-ridge-board\/","og_site_name":"PS","article_published_time":"2013-12-11T19:27:07+00:00","author":"tpennysaver","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"tpennysaver","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2013\/12\/11\/new-directors-join-blue-ridge-board\/","url":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2013\/12\/11\/new-directors-join-blue-ridge-board\/","name":"New directors join Blue Ridge board - PS","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-12-11T19:27:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/75c26bc8e32869a516360463d23964c5"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2013\/12\/11\/new-directors-join-blue-ridge-board\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2013\/12\/11\/new-directors-join-blue-ridge-board\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2013\/12\/11\/new-directors-join-blue-ridge-board\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New directors join Blue Ridge board"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/","name":"PS","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/75c26bc8e32869a516360463d23964c5","name":"tpennysaver","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d6045c51d67078fca07dea2f9a98096ff872042fa26efc301b1a93de9e6020ef?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d6045c51d67078fca07dea2f9a98096ff872042fa26efc301b1a93de9e6020ef?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"tpennysaver"},"url":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/author\/tpennysaver\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11697\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}