Shippensburg board approves shared elementary assistant principal position after short executive-session pause

The Shippensburg Area School District board voted to create a shared elementary assistant principal position and approved the job description, after briefly pausing for an executive session to consider the item.

The motion to approve the position (item 5a) was made during the action agenda and the board voted to take a brief executive session. After returning, administrators said the position is on this year’s budget and will be primarily based at SACE to address its higher student-to-administrator ratio, with scheduled or as-needed sharing at the other two elementary schools. “The vision is it's primarily at SACE as that has the largest ratio of students to administrators,” an administrator said.

Board members discussed whether to add another assistant or a dean of students in a future budget cycle; administrators said adding another position would follow the regular 26–27 budget process. The board approved the creation of the position by voice vote, then approved the position’s job description (item 5b) in a separate motion.

Board members requested a clearer plan for how the position’s time will be divided among the three elementaries; during the meeting a board member asked administration to produce a description of how dividing the role will ensure all three schools benefit. Administration responded that the bulk of time will be at SACE with sharing to the other schools either on a scheduled basis or as needed.

The board recorded no roll-call tallies in the transcript; on the record the motion carried by voice vote. The action was discussed publicly after the brief executive-session pause and the superintendent confirmed the funding source was this year’s operating budget.

The board’s next budget and finance committee meetings were announced as part of the meeting’s calendar timeline, and administrators said further budget decisions will be taken through that process.