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Athens Area School District board meeting, date not confirmed yet

1 h 32 min · 0 public speakers

This board doesn’t post agenda times. Click a board member to jump to where they first speak; we list only members whose voice our check named. Video length 1 h 32 min.

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What happened

What happened at this meeting

Athens Area board votes 5⁠-⁠3 to hold public hearing at SRU 1:25:27

  • The superintendent said approving the timeline sets the steps toward a final decision, does not mean the building is closing immediately and includes a public hearing on September 28th. 41:53
  • A staff member described cost savings of $1.2, $1.4 million, $1.7 million year 1 and $2 million year 2 and said the number is not a firm number. 1:10:15
  • The board voted 5⁠-⁠3 to hold the public hearing at SRU in East Smithfield, after Christopher Jones said the high school auditorium is the biggest one the district has. 1:25:27

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Item by item (15)
  1. Opening and minutes 21:52
    • The meeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance. 21:52
    • The presiding officer asked for board questions on the prior month's minutes. 22:14
    • The minutes were approved via unanimous consent. 22:34
  2. Committee reports 22:34
    • Jason Johnson reported the Finance and Operations committee discussed projects including the metal staircase repair and the pool area, and said winter equipment prep will begin in early October. 23:17
    • Dustin Bishop asked about the status of safety bollards at SRU, and a staff member said the contractors had moved on to another project and were hard to get back. 24:03
    • Kathy Jo Minnick reported the extracurricular committee approved the winter coach list and will next meet October 8th at 5:30. 28:24
  3. Start times and before and after school care 26:21
    • Kathy Jo Minnick asked how the new start times were working, and a staff member said pickup at the end of the day in the Lynch and Rowe bus circle was a hang-up and some times had been adjusted. 26:21
    • A staff member said the district is working with Bradford County YMCA to bring back a before and after school program and will put out a survey to gauge interest. 27:21
    • A staff member said the YMCA is looking to run the program at both Lynch and SRU. 28:02
  4. Service recognitions 30:48
    • A staff member presented PSBA certificates to board members for 5 years and 10 years of service. 30:48
  5. Superintendent's report 31:34
    • A staff member said the first community connection meeting will be September 17th at Growing Foods from 10:30 AM till 12:30 PM and that an FAQ on the potential closure of SRU is on the district website. 32:21
    • A staff member said the district will host 23 students from a school in Wales during the week of October 4th at a $0 expenditure to the district. 34:27
    • The superintendent described recommended changes to the therapy dog policy, including at least $1 million per occurrence in animal liability coverage, and asked the board to either revise the policy or move to a full permanent suspension. 41:00
  6. Solicitor's report on property covenant 43:21
    • The solicitor said the buyer of a school the district sold in Ulster asked the district to waive a covenant requiring taxes to be paid, and recommended the request not be granted. 43:44
    • The solicitor said two board members could put the request on the next agenda for discussion. 45:36
    • Kathy Jo Minnick asked whether the buyer would stop paying if the board took no action, and the solicitor said the buyer could file legal action but giving up now would be giving up forever. 47:05
  7. Financial business 47:50
    • The financial items included bills, general fund checks, cafeteria bills, the secretary and treasurer report, student activity accounts and a real estate tax veterans exemption memo. 48:06
    • A staff member said the veterans exemption is part of a law and confirmed it covered 6 properties. 48:37
  8. Personnel and child care leave agreement 49:31
    • A staff member said the MOU for child care leave brings a person in during child care leave to provide gifted and ESL services and is a non-precedent-setting event. 50:20
    • Christopher Jones asked about junior high basketball coaches, and Dustin Bishop asked whether there would be an assistant junior high basketball coach for boys. 51:21
  9. Printer maintenance and cleaning contracts 53:05
    • The items were a maintenance agreement for district printers and an update to the cleaning contract for the admin office building reducing how often it is cleaned. 53:13
    • A staff member said the cleaning rate dropped from 23 to about 14 and the building gets cleaned once a week. 54:20
    • Dustin Bishop asked whether there was a contracted rate for printing, and a staff member said an email would be sent to the board. 55:11
  10. Second reading of eight policies 57:36
    • The board considered 8 policies on second read, including 005 Organization, 006 Meetings, 100 Strategic Plan and 217 Graduation Requirements, with no changes. 57:43
    • A staff member said Policy 204.1, the wellness check policy for online schools, needs to be added next month. 58:21
  11. FFA trips and online wellness checks 59:14
    • The items were a National FFA Conference overnight trip in October, an FFA State Legislative Leadership Conference overnight trip in March and a WOLA readiness wellness checks recommendation. 59:22
    • Staff members said 6 instructors would receive the wellness check stipend and that it should be reviewed after one year. 1:00:35
    • Kathy Jo Minnick asked whether the state was requiring the checks without providing money, and a staff member answered bingo. 1:01:54
  12. Bus upgrades and driver list 1:03:01
    • The items were a bus upgrade request from Chambers for 2 buses and additions to the driver list. 1:03:09
    • Dustin Bishop asked whether a bus upgrade changes costs, and a staff member said it changes the formula and the district gets reimbursed a significant amount. 1:03:37
  13. Food on regular bus routes 1:04:55
    • A staff member said the district banned food and snacks on the morning and afternoon bus rides and called it a safety factor. 1:05:02
    • Jason Johnson asked about sports trips, and the staff member said the district makes an exception for them. 1:06:27
  14. Proposed consolidation timeline discussion 1:07:27
    • A staff member said a public advertisement would have to be in the paper 3 times over 3 weeks and that the board needed to decide a location for the public hearing. 1:08:56
    • One board member said transportation was a concern, and a staff member said the district would not be able to answer that question until it built that out from the ground up. 1:11:28
    • Jason Johnson asked whether the district's routing software could simulate runs with a ride limit, and a staff member said that could happen with help from Transfinder. ~1:13:44
  15. Public hearing location and timeline vote 1:19:20
    • One board member said SRU was not a good location and the high school auditorium was the one to choose, while another board member said the whole district is impacted and the high school had been used before. 1:19:56
    • A staff member said the SRU auditorium can hold 400 safely and the high school auditorium 800 safely. 1:23:09
    • Kathy Jo Minnick moved to hold the public hearing at SRU in East Smithfield, and a staff member said it would be advertised for 7 PM. 1:24:19
    • The location vote was 5⁠-⁠3, with 5 yes and 3 no. 1:25:29

Written by software from the meeting's transcript and checked sentence by sentence against it.

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Video: posted by the district as “Athens Area School DIstrict Board Of Directors Meeting - September 8th, 2026”