Centennial superintendent highlights device refresh, staffing gaps and plan to recoup tuition under Pa. school code

Centennial School District Superintendent Dr. Abraham A. M. Lukabaugh said the district completed a large back-to-school push that included refurbishing and deploying roughly 5,000 new student laptops and that administrators will pursue collections from other districts under Section 1306 of the Pennsylvania School Code for students placed in institutions inside Centennial’s boundaries.

Dr. Lukabaugh opened his report by saying the district expects to welcome about 5,300 students when school starts Aug. 27 and praised facilities, custodial and technology staff for summer work. “We actually had the partition shut and the back room was almost floor to ceiling,” he said of the device delivery, adding the equipment refresh “far exceeded normal operational operations in its scope and its timeline.”

The superintendent said technology staff led a districtwide effort to ready the devices and software ahead of the school year and singled out named staff for the effort. He also told the board the district has more openings than in a typical start-of-year cycle and is bringing on interim leaders while searches continue. “We are going to bring in an interim director to fill that position until we have a permanent director in place,” Dr. Lukabaugh said of human resources, and he introduced an interim HR contractor and an interim internal director at the meeting.

Dr. Lukabaugh described a technical but potentially significant revenue recovery effort tied to Section 1306 of the Pennsylvania School Code, which requires a host district to educate students placed in institutions located inside the district and permits billing to the students’ district of legal residence. “We are working to bill those districts and get that tuition for the past few years,” he said, citing work to recoup unpaid tuition for the 2022–23 and 2023–24 school years and possibly earlier audit years. He characterized the amounts as potentially “hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars” but did not give a final figure.

On staffing, Dr. Lukabaugh said the district will install an interim director of special education while a national search continues, that Dr. Ross will remain on board through the transition period, and that Mr. Kevin Burns, the district security officer, has accepted a chief of police position and will be succeeded under a planned transition. He also recognized new Willowdale administrative hires and other newly appointed staff during the meeting.

The superintendent’s remarks came during the public meeting after an executive session on personnel matters. He provided weekly updates to the board on hiring and said the administration aims to present recommended hires for assistant superintendent and assistant director of special education for board approval on Sept. 9.

Ending: The district plans to continue reporting both operational progress (devices, facilities and staffing) and financial follow-ups to the board; Dr. Lukabaugh said he will provide updates on the Section 1306 billing effort and on candidate recommendations for interim and permanent administrative posts as they are finalized.