Plum Borough SD sets O'Block Elementary bid timeline; board approves routine operations, personnel and policy items

The Plum Borough School District board on Sept. 23 directed administrators to proceed with solicitation of construction bids for the O'Block Elementary project and approved a slate of routine operations, personnel and policy items during its action meeting.

The board’s timeline and construction details: Dr. Anderson, who chaired the meeting, said the district and its contractors HDG and Echols advertised the O'Block Elementary construction project on Sept. 11. Bidders will be able to tour the building on Friday, Sept. 26; bids are due Oct. 7 at 1 p.m.; and the administration will review bids and make a recommendation to the board at the Oct. 14 discussion meeting. “Bidders will have the opportunity to tour the building on Friday, September 26 with bids being due on October 7 at 1PM,” Anderson said.

Facilities and operations updates: Work at the middle school is progressing, the board heard. HVAC classroom control work is complete, a dust collector is in place, and work on windows and doors is scheduled to begin. Separately, the operations report noted new turf inserts on the baseball field, new pickleball nets, a completed diesel fuel-tank installation for transportation and an evaluation of a new personal-pan pizza option in high-school food service.

Budget and funding: Dr. Walsh, a district administrator, told the board that federal Title II (class-size reduction) and Title IV (technology and STEM) funding cuts were later reinstated, producing a net increase of $12,812 to the district. He also said the state budget had not been passed as of late September. “While the federal government initially cut title 2, funding, which is class size reduction, and title 4, which is technology and STEM funds, they’re later reinstated, resulting in a net increase of $12,812. The state budget, however, has yet to be passed even as we approach October,” Walsh said.

Awards and professional development: The board acknowledged that Plum Senior High School was named a Special Olympics National Unified Champion School in recognition of its Unified Bocce, Track and Field, Best Buddies and partnered-classroom programs. The board also noted that high-school teacher Tamar McPherson was chosen as one of 15 teachers nationally for the inaugural Computer Science Teacher Association Responsible AI Fellowship; the transcript states she is the only teacher from Pennsylvania selected.

Votes at a glance: The board approved multiple routine items during the action meeting. The motions that passed included the minutes; academic and activity consent items; the August monthly budgetary report; appointment of a PSBA assembly delegate (to replace Dr. Anderson) with a representative to be determined; the ticketing agreement labeled "25 to 20 20 28 huddle ticketing agreement"; personnel items and annual renewals; policy adoptions and revisions; and projects-and-planning items. Each motion was called, seconded and approved without a recorded opposing vote in the meeting transcript.

What the approvals mean: Most approved items were routine consent-agenda actions that allow administration to carry out already-planned activities — for example, proceeding with procurement and construction steps for O'Block Elementary and continuing scheduled facilities work at the middle school. The PSBA delegate appointment will allow the district to send a voting representative to the Pennsylvania School Boards Association assembly; the transcript notes the board preferred to leave the specific delegate name open until logistics were finalized.

Ending: The board announced upcoming meetings: a discussion meeting on Oct. 14 at 7 p.m. and the next action meeting on Oct. 28 at 7 p.m., both in the library. Several votes on the consent agenda were unanimous according to the transcript; no contested policy adoptions or budget cuts were reported during the Sept. 23 meeting.