Montour

The school board Thursday approved a $51 million budget which holds the tax line at 18.9 mills, the fifth-lowest rate in Allegheny County.

The board will meet with Victor Graves, the architect for an ongoing renovation project at the high school, within the next week or two to go over changes being made to the plans.

Bids for work came in at about $50 million, about $5 million over budget.

• New audio books on compact disc and books for the elementary school collection soon will be on the shelves at the Robinson Township Library thanks to a donation from Forest Grove Elementary School in Robinson.

The students raised $702 for the library by bringing in pennies for three weeks and by donating $1 in exchange for being allowed to wear a hat all day.

St. Philip

Students at St. Philip School in Crafton donated used children's books to the African library project, which establishes libraries in K-4 schools in Africa. Eight boxes of books were sent to a primary school in Botswana.

Sto-Rox

The Sto-Rox Foster Kindergarten Center has earned enough points to obtain more than $1,000 worth of free indoor and outdoor sports gear through the Go Play! program sponsored by Nestle Pure Life water brand.

Sto-Rox School Director Elizabeth Smith partnered with Nestle's to serve as district champion of the program, which encourages active play and healthy hydration for kids.

Ms. Smith said the Nestle's labels collected as part of the program earned the kindergarten center 8,522 points toward free fitness and sports equipment.

West Allegheny

School directors voted last week to spend $11,450 to use Aesop Automated Substitute Calling Service instead of a person to schedule substitute teachers. The move followed the resignation of the person paid to contact school board-approved substitutes when regular teachers were absent.

The cost includes a $6,450 annual subscription fee, plus a one-time setup and training charge of $5,000.

Assistant Superintendent William Englert said the automated system would be effective and save the district money. He said teachers would have less paperwork to complete when they wanted to request a day off work.

• The school board last week approved increasing from half-time to full-time a special education teaching position at Donaldson Elementary, and adding a half-time special education teacher at West Allegheny High School.