The Peters Township School District is looking at a 0.35-mill tax increase for the 2020-21 school year.

School directors May 18 unanimously approved a $70,787,491 proposed budget that brings the district’s millage to 14.16, or about $1,416 on every $100,000 of assessed property value.

District officials cited an increase in debt service because of construction borrowing for the new Peters Township High School as well as teacher and staff salaries as the major contributors to the tax increase. The district has 24 teachers reaching the jump step, which comes with a salary increase. That’s nearly double the number of teachers in any other given year.

The board will vote on a final budget in June.

Construction on the new high school is ongoing.

“The project has moved forward despite some difficulties with COVID-19 and getting everybody back on the site,” said Roshelle Fennell, of Reynold’s Construction, the district’s construction management firm. About three-quarters of the workforce is back on site.

Several change orders on the project were approved including an $89,632 change from the Farfield Co. for eight lighting fixtures, concrete bases and other work along the new southern road to the school.

Other change orders approved were $15,776 from the Farfield Co. for telephone lines to be used for fax lines, the fire alarm system and the elevator, and $18,191 from Murin and Murn Inc. to remove pyritic soil discovered during the excavation of the swimming pool. The soil will be replaced with structural fill. Related to the removal of the soil, a change order for $5,169 from Hayes Design Group was approved.

In high school-related matters, the Class of 2020 is to graduate via a virtual commencement June 5. The district has set Aug. 1 for a traditional commencement ceremony, provided restrictions on gathering sizes are lifted by that time.

Mt. Lebanon

Markham Elementary will soon have a new principal. The school board unanimously hired Jocelyn V. Artinger for the position at its May 18 virtual meeting.

Ms. Artinger works as the literacy coordinator for the Pittsburgh Public School District’s Office of School Transformation. She previously worked as principal of Propel Braddock Hills Elementary School and co-principal of Propel Northside and Propel Pitcairn. She has also taught elementary school in the Propel Charter Schools, Homestead the Weil Accelerated Learning Academy, the Pittsburgh Public Schools and Sto-Rox Elementary School.

She has a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Pittsburgh and a master’s degree in education as well as her kindergarten through sixth grade teaching certification from Chatham University. She received her principal certification from Pitt.

Ms. Artinger’s start date is to be determined.

The board also unanimously approved Katelyn Deet as assistant principal of Jefferson Middle School at a start date to be determined. She is a unit principal at Mt. Lebanon High School.

North Hills

The North Hills School District will make two changes to its policy on Advanced Placement courses.

Currently, students who take an AP class must take the AP exam for that class, and the district pays the cost of the exam. Starting next year, taking the year-end exam will not be mandatory, and students will have to split the cost of the exam with the district.

Waivers will be available for students in the National School Lunch Program or other government programs.

The changes were approved 7-1 with Annette Giovengo Nolish opposing them and Kathy Reid absent. Mrs. Nolish said the district should continue to pick up the entire cost of the tests.

In other business, Superintendent Patrick Mannarino said the district may receive $330,000 from the federal government’s COVID-19 stimulus package. That money could allow the district to hire more teachers to keep class sizes low.

The proposed 2020-21 budget has additional students in some elementary classes, and board members were asked to temporarily suspend the policy governing class sizes.

The board also awarded a $212,345 contract for the replacement of the warehouse roof and maintenance on the roofs of the administration building and maintenance garage to Triangle Roofing.

The warehouse roof is 30 years old and frequently needs repairs.

Also, Mrs. Nolish, chair of the finance committee, said residents will be able to pay the face value of their school taxes in four installments this year.

West Mifflin

The 2020-21 proposed preliminary budget for the West Mifflin Area School District includes a 0.88-mill tax increase that would bring the millage in the district up to 25.3765.

The board approved the $57,995,350 proposal in an 8-1 vote May 21. Member Nicholas Alexandroff dissented.

The increase would mean taxpayers would pay an additional $88 in school taxes per $100,000 of assessed property value. Final approval is planned for June.

The 2020-21 budget includes all professional staff positions from last year as well as the addition of three full-time special education teachers, which brings the district’s total full-time employees to 196.

In his budget presentation, business manager Joseph Esper said district revenue is projected to decrease by about $1.2 million as a result of lost local revenue as the borough of West Mifflin’s taxable assessed value has decreased by more than $28 million from the beginning of 2019.

In other matters, the board voted to hire P. Emery D’Arcangelo, the retired Franklin Regional School District superintendent, to conduct a superintendent search for the district at the rate of $85 per hour.

Mark Hoover, who has been serving as acting superintendent in the district since June 2019 and assistant superintendent since 2011, is retiring June 30.

The district also plans to roll out a one-to-one device initiative that will provide students in kindergarten through fifth grade with either laptop computers or iPads. Students in middle and high school are already provided with devices.

Steve Fort, of Ford Business Machines Inc. of Pittsburgh, the district’s technology service provider, said he anticipates a seven- to 10-week lead time once the board approves the purchase of the devices, which for students in fourth and fifth grade will be Lenovo 300 series laptops and for kindergarten through third grade will be iPads.

Students in grade four and above will be able to take their devices home with them while the younger students will be required to leave them at school.

The district anticipates having to purchase about 1,150 new devices.

District officials also said that June 4, which had been the date set for West Mifflin Area seniors to graduate, will instead be the date when they can come to the high school to pick up their diplomas and transcripts.

The date of the graduation ceremony for the Class of 2020 remains undetermined.

Several students and parents emailed comments to the board asking for graduation to be held at the high school stadium. Senior Brittany Velez said she would like to have graduation at the high school stadium with chairs 6 feet apart to practice social distancing.

“Graduation is a huge milestone for us,” she said. “I’m the second person in my family to graduate. I would like to walk with my class before I go active-duty Navy.”

Bethel Park

A proposed budget of $92,453,284 for the 2020-21 school year was approved by school directors May 19.

The district’s director of finance, operations and human resources Leonard Corazzi, who gave a presentation on the budget, said the district will set that when the board approves a final budget.

The current millage rate in the district is 21.65, or about $2,165 in taxes for every $100,000 of assessed property value.

The board will vote on a final budget June 23.

In other business at the meeting, the board approved a five-year contract with the Bethel Park Transportation Department District Council 84 AFSCME, the union representing the district’s 60 bus drivers, 16 bus aides and four mechanics. The contract runs from July 1 of this year through June 30, 2025. The current contract was set to expire June 30.

Under the new contract, starting salaries for bus drivers go from $16.03 per hour to $17.78 per hour for the first year. That figure will go up to $22 per hour at the end of the contract with drivers at the top of the scale making $23.

North Allegheny

The school district will end remote learning classes a week early.

The board voted May 20 to end the school year June 5. The next week, staff members will coordinate the pickup or return of student materials. There will also be staff development sessions held that week.

Administrators said the move allows the district “to efficiently close out the current school year and effectively plan and prepare for the upcoming school year.”

In other business, the board appointed Patrick O’Toole, retired superintendent of the Upper St. Clair School District, as acting superintendent, effective July 18, for one year at $680 a day.

First Published: May 28, 2020, 6:09 p.m.