Board of Education Meeting

The Moon Area Board of Education met November 9, 2015, in the High School Board Room, with the president presiding. Directors present were the president, Hauser, LaRue, Testa, Tatone, Bussard, Schisler, and Tranter; Harbaugh was absent. The board first voted unanimously to add a settlement-agenda item. Four residents spoke against releasing claims against contractors and urged the board to table the item.

The board approved the October 5 minutes and the November financial reports. It approved the monthly bills, though the motion to call the question passed 4-4 and the underlying payment motion passed with one director dissenting and two directors dissenting on specific checks amid a dispute over the CFO not answering questions. The board approved participation in the Act 1 Homestead/Farmstead mailing.

The centerpiece was the elementary capital improvement project accounting, covering change orders and a mutual release of claims. After lengthy questioning of the architect and the CFO, the board recessed into executive session from 8:17 to 8:45 pm. It then voted unanimously to table the item until the November 23 meeting, with one director intending to reserve his rights and requesting an itemized change-order list. The board approved the sale of surplus kitchen equipment to an employee, approved conferences for two employees, and approved fall event staff, winter coaches, winter event staff, a building-based substitute, a PE department chair, a maternity leave extension for an employee, remediation facilitators, cafeteria substitutes, an educational sabbatical for an employee, and a settlement agreement with an employee.

Board comments congratulated the "Blue Team" and newly elected members; one director pressed for transparency and praised a senior's photography exhibit. One director noted it was her last meeting. The board adjourned at 9:17 pm.