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Plum Borough School Board approves 2026–27 budgets and personnel items; some members record no votes on coach hires
Summary
The board approved the 2026–27 operating budgets, an AIU MOU and Forbes CTC budgets, and accepted personnel recommendations; several members publicly opposed specific coaching hires during roll call of personnel items.
At its May 26 meeting, the Plum Borough School Board approved the district's 2026–27 operating recommendations, accepted an MOU from the Allegheny Intermediate Unit on Title funds, and approved Forbes Road CTC budgets. Several personnel items, including coaching hires, drew recorded 'no' votes from some board members.
The presiding officer (identified in the transcript as Doctor Richardson) moved and the board voice-voted to approve the added MOU with the AIU regarding use of Title funding after brief discussion over the item being added following the previous meeting. "It's just more of an informational piece, but I wanted to make sure that we at least paused and had a conversation before you voted," Speaker 4 said before the board approved the recommendation by voice vote.
Finance and budget priorities were emphasized by a board member (Speaker 6) who defended the proposed budget as balanced and student-centered. Speaker 6 said the proposal would make "0 impact on learning," keep every student program intact with no staffing reductions, and redirect more than $1,000,000 trimmed from non-instructional costs into classrooms. The same speaker told the board the district previously faced a $4,900,000 fund-balance deficit and was minutes away from state takeover, framing current reforms as fiscal stewardship.
The board approved the Forbes Road CTC 2026–27 operating and administrative budgets on a voice vote. Lead liaisons also recommended accepting athletics, student activities and transportation items (including district bus use for community events) and those recommendations were approved by voice votes.
On personnel, motions covered items 11–14; while most recommendations passed, at least two board members registered opposition to item 2A and to several coaching hires (cheerleading head coach, ninth-grade football coach and boys basketball head coach). Speaker 7 publicly stated "I'm a no" on those items during the roll call; Speaker 19 also indicated opposition to item 2A. The transcript records vocal 'aye' responses for many approvals and explicit 'no' votes recorded on these discrete hires, but it does not list individual named tallies for every vote in the minutes provided.
The board also announced the appointment of a new principal for Oak Block Elementary, Doctor Sokolsky, who thanked trustees for the approval and said he was "very excited to come home to work and serve the community."
The meeting closed after routine safety and operations approvals and a reminder of the next board meeting on June 16, 2026.
