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BEAR CREEK TWP. — The board of trustees for the Bear Creek Community Charter School approved three new positions this week and eliminated two others.
The new posts: school business manager, director of curriculum, and literacy specialist. The positions eliminated were academic intervention specialist and school accountant.
No employees lost their jobs, however. The intervention specialist post was vacant due to a resignation, and Tammy Miller, who was school accountant, was approved to fill the newly created business manager job. Kristen Young, who was the school’s director of student affairs, was appointed as director of curriculum.
In other business this week, the board:
• Accepted the resignations of part-time educational para-professionals Maureen Holden and Laura Price, both effective June 7.
• Approved a 2017-18 budget totaling slightly more than $6.66 million. The budget includes staff salary increases totaling $137,150. The board also approved a motion assigning any fund balance at the end of 2016-17 in excess of 12 percent of 2017-18 budgeted expenses to be used for future capital expenditures.
• OK’d revisions to the school wellness policy to keep it compliant with state requirements. Also approved were several revisions to the student/parent handbook. Many of the changes were simple revisions of terminology. One significant change involves the policy for unexcused absences to make it compliant with a new state law.
The policy requires the school to notify any parent whose child has three unexcused absences and begin a process that could require the family to meet with a third-party truancy service or become involved with Children and Youth. There is also the possibility of having a complaint filed in district court. School officials noted they are required to comply with the policy, and parents can avoid any problems by simply avoiding unnecessary absences and sending in a proper excuse when a child is absent.
• Acknowledged the accomplishments of Cassidy Crawford, a Bear Creek student who represented Northeast Pennsylvania at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.