KINGSTON — During Wednesday’s monthly meeting, Superintendent Dave Tosh revealed that Wyoming Valley West High School will receive its initial STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) lab. A room will be refurbished and advanced equipment will be bought using around $200,000 from Federal COVID-19 relief grants.
The school has had smaller-scale STEM programs for years, but has never had a dedicated space, according to Board President Rick Kamus.
The board also endorsed a new Act 93 agreement covering principals and assistant principals, significantly increasing their salaries. The district has had difficulty attracting and retaining principals, partly due to non-competitive pay. In some cases, teachers at the highest pay level were earning more than principals.
Finance committee chairman Paul Keating stated that the starting salary for the high school principal will increase by about $18,000, reaching $105,000. The starting salary for the Middle School Principal will be raised to $100,000, and elementary principals will start at $93,500. All assistant principals will start at $85,000. There are two assistant principals at both the high school and middle school, and one at State Street Elementary Center, which also has its own principal. A “floating” principal oversees the other elementary schools.
Keating mentioned that the district also aims to encourage teachers at the highest pay level to consider transitioning to principals by offering a $1,500 increase over their current teacher salary.
Federal grant funds will also cover the cost of purchasing 300 laptop computers from InegraONE for $334,538, and Data Warehouse Software from LinkIt for $98,922. The software is designed to assist in gathering and analyzing a wide range of data to provide what the company's website describes as “a more comprehensive view of student learning.”
The board also:
• Employed Sarah Ferrer-Arroyo and Jessica Lewis as cleaners at a rate of $13/hour, Andrea Weiskopff and Greg Gover as computer aides at $11.50/hour, Morgan Collura and Amanda Demelfi as life skills aides at a rate of $13/hour, and Vanessa Cintron, Amanda Ruggiero and Cierra Meeker as autistic support aides at a rate of $13/hour.
• Named Fritzy Ortiz as secretary-registrar with a salary of $24,500, Donald Bush as high school head custodian at a rate of $13/hour, and Caitlin Thomas as social worker at $51,000.
• Approved the retirements of Title I reading/math teacher Patricia Burns, first-grade teacher Valerie Packer, and high school Spanish teacher Madonna Ondash.
• Accepted the resignations of autistic support aide Amanda Demelfi, emotional support aide Jessica Sepulveda, general duty aide Melissa Carpenter, cleaner Gregory Gresh, and life skills aides Alora Lee and Linda Urban.
