A member of the public asked the Greater Johnstown School Board to explain several budget items on the agenda, specifically a reported $42,000 repair for Trojan Stadium and a roughly $370,000 contract for the Park Avenue School.

“You're spending $370,000 for an expansion contract for the Park Ave School. I'm curious. You don't own the building. … What are you spending almost $400,000 for on a building you don't own?” the commenter asked.

The district’s superintendent responded during the superintendent’s report that the contract with Effective School Solutions (ESS) at the Park Avenue School is for additional support staff and not building work. “As far as ESS contract services at the Park Avenue School, that is support services personnel, not anything that will happen to the building. It's adding additional behavior, part behavioral support personnel as well as a mental health clinician,” the superintendent said.

The superintendent told the board the ESS contract expands personnel available to students in the district’s choice and alternative-education programs and is intended to reduce the need for out-of-district placements by increasing tiered supports within Park Avenue.

On the Trojan Stadium repairs, the superintendent said the $42,000 is for routine maintenance, explaining that “the press boxes are leaking. It's just wear and tear. We just have to keep up with our facilities and repair them so they don't fall apart and we can continue to utilize them.”

A public commenter also raised concerns about summer wages and unemployment access for paraeducators who work nine months a year and earn about $12 per hour. The superintendent responded that many paraeducators have opportunities to work over the summer through district programs — extended school year, Trojan Summer Academy and other summer staffing — and said that some paraeducators receive year-round benefits such as hospitalization coverage.

No contract award or building expansion motion specific to a purchase of a Park Avenue facility was recorded in the meeting. The superintendent described ESS’s role as expanding behavioral and mental-health staff assigned to Park Avenue to serve students who previously required out-of-district placements.

The board recorded routine approvals of committee reports and other agenda items during the meeting; the $42,000 stadium repairs were described during the superintendent’s report as part of ongoing facilities maintenance.