Crowd Gathers at Lenape Tech Last Night

Stephanie Eckman: “I live in Kittanning used to live in Rural Valley. If I was to miss out on academics, I would be very disappointed. My career is culinary. If I didn’t come here I would not get experience. I am a cake decorator at Foodland. In the Skills USA competition, I made it to district and placed second.” Eckman was critical of the academic program at her home school. “At West Shamokin, it was ‘write your paper’. Here they focus on thesis statement, making sure you have enough paragraphs. I would feel more comfortable going a full day.”

by David Croyle

A crowd of more than 200 people filled the cafeteria at Lenape Tech for the Joint Operating Committee (JOC) meeting. The high turnout was over the discussion of changing to a half-day program.

The JOC is made up of two directors from each of the school boards of the participating schools.

Of the four school districts, Apollo-Ridge was the only district that has issued an opinion.

“With the information and comments that we have… Apollo-Ridge proposes that students attend Lenape utilizing  a full day program,” Sharon Jaworskyj stated to the applause of the audience. “Under this format, we will continue to monitor a plan to support students and have a collaboration between Lenape and Apollo-Ridge School District.”

JOC Chairperson Meredith Christy from Freeport encouraged residents there to bring their comments to the next school board meeting. “We are still open for discussion to any possibilities.  Interested residents should address the board at Freeport. Our meeting is the first  and second Wednesday of the month at 8PM. At Freeport, we want to hear residents’ opinions as does each of the others.”

Leechburg director Terri Smith reported that their school board has not met yet on the issue. “We have gathered information on our own, but there has not been an opportune time to get together. It will probably will be next month. Our public meeting is second Wednesday at 7PM in the board room. (Feb 10). There is an open invitation for public to respond.”

Armstrong director James Solak said his district has placed the topic on the agenda for this Monday, January 24. “We will have a vote whether to do a half day study of the costs. The deadline is Feb 15 for our business manager to do study and report.  Prior to next JOC meeting, I hope the Armstrong School District (ASD) will have two more meetings to discuss issues.” Solak said the meeting will be held in the Ford City High School auditorium on this Monday night, but was unsure of the location for the Feb 15^th meeting.

Christy said the discussion is not limited to a half or full day program.

“We at Freeport (FSD) support full day, but we also want to introduce half day. We call that approach a ‘hybrid’. It is based on a study at FSD. Historically, we are lowest sending school. If we are sending 20 students today,  the result of a study showed we would have 60-70 students interested in vo-tech if Lenape offered a hybrid program. Therefore, we at Freeport, are leaning toward supporting hybrid to give most opportunity to students for vo-tech education.  If we could go from 20 to 60, that would be great,” Christy said. “At this stage, the consensus is we support full day. But we would like to see half day option.”

While each of the school directors had their own personal opinions regarding changes to Lenape’s full day schedule, they agreed to bring back to the JOC the consensus of their school boards. “We will represent consensus of their opinion,” Christy said.

ASD director Joseph Close disagreed. “I feel differently. There are three of us representing the ASD board. Two votes would be two-thirds of our board.  I will not come back here and vote the majority of the board. There are two sides of every issue. Regardless where it lands, I will not support majority of the board at this level.”

Because of Close’s remark, Christy asked Solicitor Lee Price, “Do we have to go back and have ballots cast to support decision?” 

“I choose not to answer that from the hip,” Price said. “Your Articles of Agreement from 1969 are very bare-bone. A lot of what goes on with Lenape government is covered by school code.  It is a JOC vote and not a ‘super-board’ vote. I will review that.”

Price also said that Lenape’s policy provides that a new program would require review by a local advisory committee and general advisory committee.

The controversy was not limited to school districts. Often directors of the same district found themselves at odds with each other.

“We at Freeport have done our homework,” Christy said regarding the half-day hybrid sessions. His counterpart, FSD school board director John Marty, disagreed. “I want to see all the facts. I am interested in making right decision.” After applause from the crowd, Christy said he will debate Marty back at their Freeport board meeting.

Part of the reason for revamping Lenape’s program came from Freeport and Leechburg deciding to send students to Northern Westmoreland Vo-Tech.

“We have suspended students attending Northern Westmoreland,” Leechburg director Terry Knepshield said.  “We are not allowing any new students at this point.”

“We would stop students from going to Northern Westmoreland and come to Lenape if a half day session is established,” Christy said.  Freeport has 21 students enrolled at Lenape this year and 6 at Northern Westmoreland.

Apollo-Ridge director Forrest Shultz questioned the ability of the  JOC to vote without an analysis of the costs of a half-day program. Christy said that, if approved, the change to half-day will not be like turning a light on and off. “We have to look at schedules. Our administration would not be able to snap their fingers and have half day,” Christy said.

Solak suggested to Lenape Administrative Director Dawn Kocher-Taylor to direct the administration to do a study of costs for half day. “We know what full day costs are.  You can figure out costs for half-day,” he said. 

Kocher-Taylor disagreed. “It would be inaccurate. There has to be an analysis to determine cots with regards to reimbursements. There needs to be a discussion on what ‘hybrid’ is, what it entails, and how to pilot these things,” she said with frustration.

Christy pressured Kocher-Taylor on the issue. “Is it possible for your administration to put together details of what you have seen, the future of what this will look like with enhancements, and do short presentation next month?”

Kocher-Taylor acquiesced.”Together with faculty and staff, present and past, they have a lot of experience networking with schools. Collectively we could put together a synopsis for board.”

Christy opened the floor up for comments from the audience.

Heather Willyard of Freeport said she did not know a hybrid plus full day was an option. “I moved here from Texas so my daughter could do her last two years of school at Lenape like I did.  I am against half day. The student misses out on two hours of education every day because of travel.  There is a difference between Kittanning and Ford City that get here in 15 minutes verses Apollo, Freeport and Leechburg that takes over half hour to get here.”

Retired Lenape employee Jerry Longwell said he was loyal to Lenape’s full day program.  “There are challenges to part time. It wrecks havoc when students come in at different times.  Of the schools I have visited, if they go back to sending schools, you have to make sure high academic is in both sections of the day. That has to be done for English, Math and Science. If you visit other career centers, you will see the challenges. I am loyal to Lenape and support full time school.”

Former Leechburg mayor and school board director Chuck Pascal praised the JOC for its work.  “This is the one board in our county that represents all areas of our county. It has tremendous potential to work in the best interest of the residents of the county.  It is time to stop playing tribalism and Machiavellian games with our children and the future of our county.  Lenape is one of the best investments this county has ever made. I was on the board for 14 years. We improved education, concentrated on academic and vocational instruction, improved technology and equipment. It is a model technical school. It trains people for real jobs. Kids are incredibly well-prepared to go to college. Most have a recognized certification at the end of their two years here. Employers do not have to spend more money getting certification for employees.”